Diablo III Expansion Reaper of Souls Announced!

[420]

Blizzard has announced an expansion for Diablo III called Reaper of Souls.

In addition to the intro movie in the above link there is also a gameplay video featuring the new class, Crusader.

Act 5 will take place in Westmarch and Pandemonium, and the main baddie is Malthael, the Angel of Death.

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[cuchulann]

Cool. Too bad there is only one more PC class introduced. Sounds a bit like the paladin from D2, Heavy mele with some casting options. I wonder if we will get a few more character slots with the expansion.

[420]

Cool. Too bad there is only one more PC class introduced. Sounds a bit like the paladin from D2, Heavy mele with some casting options. I wonder if we will get a few more character slots with the expansion.

No official word from Blizzard but some of the community who seem to be in the know said there will be more character slots.

The Crusader does seem a lot like the D2 Paladin. In the gameplay video it shows two abilities, one looks just like Blessed Hammer and the other looks like and is actually called Fist of the Heavens.

I would also assume that the Crusader gets the 30% damage reduction that the other two melee classes, Barbarian and Monk, have. And Throbble thinks their will be a class specific shield item added for the new class.

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[Mo]

Any release date? Holidays?

[420]

Any release date? Holidays?

2014, no month given.

I was hoping for a Christmas release too since that has been Blizzard's pattern in the past.

-420

[420]

I missed these videos when they were first released but one of the Blizzard Devs posted a link on the forums yesterday.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Crusader Class Gameplay Demo

Loot 2.0 - Diablo III: Reaper of Souls

The Loot 2.0 video is very interesting. Lot's of good details. Customized drops, scaling legendary item level, rerolling stats, customizing item appearance, etc.

The Loot 2.0 video also contains some information about Paragon 2.0 and how it's going to be used to customize your character's stats. Also, they are removing the level cap for Paragon so there is no limit.

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[Mo]

Very cool.  Looking forward to playing the new game!

[420]

Blizzard posted a couple new expansion related articles last week and this week. The first contains details about the Mystic artisan and shows some screenshots of the item enchantment and transmutation interfaces. The second is a history of Westmarch and explains the origin of the Crusaders. Check them out if you haven't already.

Reaper of Souls First Look: The Mystic

Reaper of Souls First Look: Historical Westmarch

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[420]

New article: Reaper of Souls First Look: Westmarch Level Design

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[420]

New article, and this one is on my favorite topic... monsters!

Reaper of Souls First Look: Westmarch Bestiary

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[Mo]

hehe looking forward to slaying some new baddies.

[420]

Reaper of Souls First Look: Westmarch Soundtrack

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[420]

Alright, this one is the best "First Look" so far in my opinion.

Reaper of Souls First Look: Adventure Mode

Adventure Mode looks like it will be awesome. Basically it removes the story elements of the game and opens all waypoints and acts. Then you can either collect a set of "Bounties" for rewards and Rift Keystones. Rift Keystones will allow you to open randomized dungeons called Nephalem Rifts. Which are sort of like the Infinite Dungeons mod for NWN. Randomized tilesets, environments, and monsters.

Be sure to check out the video at the bottom and watch it through to the end.

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[cuchulann]

That looks promising. Adds the ability to just free roam slaughter or to do so with a bit of structure and a definite goal in mind. Something for everyone.

[420]

Reaper of Souls Closed Beta Now Available

So make sure you have a check next to "Diablo" in the beta preferences for your b.net account! I'd love to get my hands on this just to see what loot 2.0 is all about and see what my combined paragon level will be.

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[420]

After two nights of downloading I started up the D3 PTR and the log in screen says "Reaper of Souls"! So, it looks like I got into the closed beta.

Unfortunately, Blizzard will be performing "load testing" through Sunday the 15th, so I'm having a hard time connecting. I may have to wait until Monday.

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[Illutian]

I'm surprised none of you have talked about the purposed changes to trading that Blizzard is exploring....all of the valuable items are "soul bound".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akrqAFWD7lk

[420]

I'm surprised none of you have talked about the purposed changes to trading that Blizzard is exploring....all of the valuable items are "soul bound".

Yeah, it's a little unclear what they are going to make soul bound and what they aren't so I haven't bothered to bring it up. I'll check out the video after lunch, but, yeah, they are pretty much eliminating trading, which is fucking stupid because they are also eliminating the auction house. I understand why they want to get rid of the AH but why also restrict the trades?

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[Illutian]

but why also restrict the trades?

-420

Because Blizzard is run by a bunch of idiots.

They wanted to get rid of the RM AH because you could sell items and then use the cash, which is deposited into your Blizzard Account (think like Steam Wallet). And then turn around and use that money to buy card packs in Hearthstone.
...making $2.99/week is easy in D3...well, was, until the RM AH was removed
(($3 * 4 = $12/mo; almost the sub price of WoW))


They claim they made the change to prevent scamming and deter less-than-honorable players. But then why did they wait until Hearthstone left Closed Beta, and thus wasn't going to have anymore resets, where they refund all your money spent as Gold [coin].  Why not remove it way in the beginning when this shit was starting to happen? Why even put it in in the first place?!
--Essentially, the RM AH was removed right when they would no longer be forced, legally, to return the money spent in Hearthstone. And could keep it.