[MattNo5ss]

This thread is meant to discuss anything and everything Diablo III. Official announcements, game updates, character classes and builds, strategies for both PvM and PvP, items, achievements, etc. are all fair game. Just two weeks before many of us will be lost in the world of Sanctuary yet again...

Be sure to find allies for your journey through Diablo III in the OCF BattleTags thread.


Game Introduction

Twenty years have passed since the Prime Evils were defeated and banished from the world of Sanctuary. Now, you must return to where it all began – the town of Tristram – and investigate rumors of a fallen star, for this is the first sign of evil’s rebirth, and an omen that the End Times have begun.

System Requirements

Minimum

OS	Windows XP/Vista/7 with DX9c, Mac OSX 10.6.8
CPU	Intel Pentium D 2.8 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT or ATI Radeon X1950 Pro
RAM	1GB (XP), 1.5GB (Vista/7)
Storage	12 GB available HDD/SSD space
ODD	DVD-ROM (Retail disc version only)
Internet---	Broadband internet connection
Monitor	1024x768 minimum resolution

Recommended

OS	Windows Vista/7, Mac OSX 10.7.x or newer
CPU---	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 or ATI Radeon HD 4870 or better
RAM	2GB

Server Status

Click here to see the status of the game servers and auction house servers of each region.


Classes

Which hero will you take into battle against the horrors of the Burning Hells? Choose wisely.

Barbarian - "Wayfarer" Short Story

Barbarians are savage wanderers who never flinch from close-quarters combat. Mighty ground stomps, leaping attacks and dual-wielded slashes leave a barbarian’s enemies dead in their boots and send any survivors fleeing for cover. Thanks to their size and strength, barbarians can dominate a melee with nearly any combination of weapon and approach, though they tend towards massive and imposing weaponry. Barbarians are no strangers to the pains of battle, and often fare better in the midst of several opponents, taking and giving cuts, than when attempting to chase down single targets. Barbarians’ attacks are primarily melee focused. Their quick weapon swings whittle down the number of weaker foes in seconds, while their slower, ground-shaking slams and stomps can send approaching hordes reeling and crack the armor of mightier foes.

Skill Calculator

Barbarian Story/Background & Gameplay

Demon Hunter - "Hatred and Discipline" Short Story

Demon hunters are relentless vigilantes who execute their infernal targets with an arsenal of ranged weapons. They crouch and take aim far from danger, relying on bows, deadly traps, and projectiles to swiftly bring an end to the creatures that haunt their world. With sweeping blasts of shot, wide salvos of arrows and timed explosives at their disposal, demon hunters excel at devastating groups of foes who cluster together. Hunters’ pinpoint accuracy also allows them to deal with stronger monsters at a distance: they can snipe at key targets or fall back while snapping off kill shots at advancing foes. However, demon hunters’ focus on ranged combat and limited melee-weapons training leave them in danger when they’re cornered or surrounded. Evasive skills like defensive rolls and jumps, as well as targeted attacks that hamstring and slow enemies, are as crucial to survival as any arrow in a hunter’s quiver.

Skill Calculator

Demon Hunter Story/Background & Gameplay

Monk - "Unyielding" Short Story

Monks are sacred warriors who channel divine power through sheer force of will. Healing waves, mantras of protection and attacks empowered with holy might are all within their purview. Skilled monks deliver rapid-fire attacks unarmed or with a variety of well-balanced weapons. In combat, they emphasize high maneuverability over staying power, darting in and out of melees and avoiding protracted slugfests. Monks’ attacks are primarily melee-focused. They can eliminate single foes with extreme damage, or deliver short-range area-of-effect assaults with waves of elemental power that emanate from palm strikes or crescent kicks.

Skill Calculator

Monk Story/Background & Gameplay

Witch Doctor - "Doubtwalker" Short Story

Witch doctors are spiritual warriors who summon dead souls and crawling creatures to do their bidding. By surrounding themselves with conjured zombies and vermin, witch doctors are free to assault their enemies with exploding skulls, acrid poison clouds, and wasting curses. The ability to infect, slow and terrify their enemies gives witch doctors unprecedented control over a battlefield. They can manipulate opposing attacks and movements with debuffs and crowd control spells, rendering enemies easy prey for hungry pets. Witch doctors can also lay down fields of fire and venom that slowly leech life from advancing foes. Although some witch doctors avoid melee combat in favor of augmenting their pets and crippling their enemies from afar, they are also more than capable of slaying weakened foes with their own hands.

Skill Calculator

Witch Doctor Story/Background & Gameplay

Wizard - "Firefly" Short Story

Wizards are renegade spellcasters who use their bodies as vessels for arcane energy, forsaking the more careful path favored by other magic users. They manipulate all manner of forces to disintegrate, burn, and freeze their foes, and they can control time and light to teleport, create powerful illusions, and deflect oncoming attacks. Wizards grip wands and staves to focus their less potent magics, blasting at their enemies while gathering the energy or time necessary to destroy them in a dazzling hail of arcane might. With few exceptions, wizard attacks are conducted at a distance, away from danger. As living artillery, wizards are well suited to relying on long-range destructive power.

Skill Calculator

Wizard Story/Background & Gameplay

Followers

Only fools and those who fancy themselves “brave” face their enemies alone. Who will stand beside you in the war for Sanctuary?

Templar

Peerless holy warrior who challenges demons head-on in melee.

Scoundrel

Expert grifter who poisons, blinds, and skewers enemies from range.

Enchantress

Mistress of magic whose powerful illusions disable and confuse her foes.

Follower Skill Calculator

NPCs

Spoiler:

Auriel

Auriel is the only female member of the Angiris Council. When Sanctuary was discovered by the High Heavens, she was first and the most passionate of the Angels who defended the existence of the hidden world. She sought to uphold the inhabitants' right to life and wanted to see them grow and mature.

Azmodan

The Lord of Sin is a Lesser Evil, one of the seven Great Evils of the Burning Hells, and even more notably, one of the two surviving ones as of now. During the Exile, Azmodan ruled half of Hell opposite Belial.

Belial

The Lord of Lies took part in the Dark Exile overthrowing the Prime Evils, wrongfully believing Diablo and his brothers to have hesitated in the Great Conflict. During the Exile, Belial ruled half of Hell opposite Azmodan.

Cydaea

She is one of the lieutenants of Azmodan, Lord of Sin.

Deckard Cain

Also known as Cain the Elder, is the last living human in the line of Horadric mages. He is the brother-in-law of Aiden, Warrior from Diablo I and Dark Wanderer.

Diablo

The Lord of Terror is the most powerful of the three Prime Evils as well as the youngest of the three brothers. Diablo, his brothers and their immediate underlings are said by some to have been born from the heads of the dragon Tathemet. Diablo's evil, actions and methodology are best understood in the context of creating and fostering terror and fear, for its own sake and not specifically for conquest or power. The Realm of Terror within the Burning Hells is sparsely populated, for even demonkind cannot stand against its unrelenting torment.

Ghom

The Lord of Gluttony. He serves alongside Cydaea, the Maiden of Lust, and Rakanoth, the Lord of Anguish. Ghom appears to have been modeled after the original Thousand Pounder monster type.

Imperius

A member of the ruling Angiris Council. He is the Archangel of Valor, and is even said in the Book of Cain to be the commander of the Heavenly Host and the leader of the Angiris Council.

King Leoric

Later known as the Black King and ultimately the Skeleton King, he was the ruler of Khanduras just prior to the events of Diablo I. He was a devout follower of the Zakarum religion of the Light, and was a great lord from outside the country prior to declaring himself king. Though he was a foreign king, the people of Khanduras eventually grew to respect him for his evident purity of heart and deed. He made his court in the abandoned Horadrim monastery under which Diablo's soulstone secretly lay.

Leah

Leah is the daughter of Adria the Witch and Prince Aidan and thus the granddaughter of King Leoric. She was conceived a few days after Diablo's "defeat" in the catacombs beneath Tristram.

Malthael

A member of the Angiris Council. He is the solemn and mysterious Archangel of Wisdom, and is speculated to also somehow hold the aspect of Death.

Rakanoth

The Lord of Anguish, which may be related to Andariel, the Maiden of Anguish although Andariel is thought to have created lilith with Mephisto. Rakanoth is a servant of Azmodan and serves alongside Cydaea and Ghom.

Tyrael

A member of the legendary Angiris Council. He is the Archangel of Justice. After the Dark Exile, Tyrael was the one responsible for establishing the Horadrim and the creation of the three Soulstones from the Worldstone itself in order to protect Sanctuary from the Prime Evils. Moreover, he helped Tal Rasha and his fellow mages to imprison Baal, offering crucial aid and advice to them. Tyrael's actions caused the Horadrim to hail him as their "Savior", for without his aid, Sanctuary would have long since fallen to Hell's unholy slavery.

Possible Additions

• Item info
• Quest info

Taking suggestions for OP additions

[MattNo5ss]

Introducing Global Play for Diablo III

Originally Posted by Blizzard

Want to take on the hordes of the Burning Hells with a friend from halfway around the world? In Diablo® III, you'll be able to play on game servers in regions outside your own, with a few restrictions, using Battle.net®'s new Global Play functionality. Here's how it works....

Diablo III's global game servers are grouped into three distinct game regions:

• The Americas - For players in the US, Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.
• Europe - For players in the European Union, Eastern Europe, Russia, Africa, and Middle Eastern countries such as Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
• Asia - For players in South Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

In general, players will create characters and play in their "home" region, which is determined by where they live (specifically, the country of residence registered to their Battle.net account). Global Play gives players the ability to switch to any of the other game regions via the in-game options menu, either before or after they log in to the game.

Note that characters, items, and friends lists do not transfer across regions. Playing on a different region's servers means you'll be creating characters and friends lists specifically for that region, and you'll be accessing the gold-based auction house for that region.

In addition, players will only have access to the real-money auction house (where applicable) when playing in their "home" game region. That means that, for characters outside of your home region, items cannot be bought or sold in any real-money auction house. The focus of Global Play is simply to give you the ability to play Diablo III together with your friends in any region.

For more information on Global Play in Diablo III, see the FAQ.

Diablo III Auction House Update

Originally Posted by Blizzard

Want to know more about Diablo III's new auction house feature? We've just updated the Diablo III web site with a comprehensive Auction House guide that walks you through the ins and outs of Diablo III's in-game item marketplace, including details on buying and selling, a breakdown of how the real-money auction house works (in regions where available), and more. You'll also find some important information on Battle.net account-security requirements that players interested in using the real-money auction house will need to know about.

The gold-based auction house opens its doors worldwide on May 15 with the launch of Diablo III, and we plan to bring the real-money auction house online approximately one week after that. This is a new service that includes lots of complex elements, so we are going to take a little extra time to ensure the game gets off to a good start before we flip the switch and open the real-money auction house for business.

For more information, head to the freshly minted Diablo III Auction House website, or check out the updated Auction House FAQ.

[Janus67]

The % cut that Blizzard is taking with their RMAH is huge. For things that aren't equipment (gems/gold/recipes) they are taking 15% of the value and then 15% more (of the 85% left) to transfer to your paypal account. So if you sell a recipe for $15 it drops to $12.75 ($15x.85), then if you want to transfer the money to your account take off an additional 15% to give you $10.84 ($12.75x.85), making you lose a total of ~28% or $4.16.

For equipment it is a flat $1 charge to sell, then if you transfer to paypal/convert it they take 15% of that so a $15 item - Blizzard takes $1 to give you $14 then 15% of that to give you $11.90 (or 79% of the total value [Blizzard's cut being ~21%])


Granted I may still try to use it for the heck of it depending on the price of things if they are actually selling, I mean $20 is still $20 that I wouldn't have had otherwise I suppose.

And if you want you can always not cash it out and put the money into your Battle.net account to be used in the RMAH later or to buy Blizzard products (I assume including WoW game time, etc). To note though, once the money is in your Battle.Net account you can't do anything else with it but spend it on Blizzard products/in-game [you can't convert it later].

[micjmac]

I also read that a sale is capped at $250.

[HARAMOSH]

Looking forward to d3 very much. currently building a pc that is more or less dedicated to d3. once the game starts, im looking for some peoples to game with on opening night/day so if anyone is planning to do the same pm with an account you make and lets do it.

Other than that i was unable to play the beta so any opinions im having on the game are going to have to wait until it releases and i buy it.

[Pvt.Dancer]

LOL why didn't we do this sooner? we totally hijacked the other D3 thread that you made Matt.

But I am very excited cant wait to see the other environments and videos they will have in this game.

[MattNo5ss]

Originally Posted by Janus67

...Granted I may still try to use it for the heck of it depending on the price of things if they are actually selling, I mean $20 is still $20 that I wouldn't have had otherwise I suppose.

This is how I see it. I'm hoping to use it just enough to make $60 and pay for the game

Originally Posted by HARAMOSH

Looking forward to d3 very much. currently building a pc that is more or less dedicated to d3. once the game starts, im looking for some peoples to game with on opening night/day so if anyone is planning to do the same pm with an account you make and lets do it.

Other than that i was unable to play the beta so any opinions im having on the game are going to have to wait until it releases and i buy it.

D3 isn't demanding from looking at the system requirements, so you won't need anything beastly for it.

For players, you just have to look in the OCF BattleTags thread mentioned at the beginning of the OP. Be sure to post your BattleTag as well

Originally Posted by Pvt.Dancer

LOL why didn't we do this sooner? we totally hijacked the other D3 thread that you made Matt.

But I am very excited cant wait to see the other environments and videos they will have in this game.

Yeah, since the beta is over, no need to post in the beta thread anymore

[pinky33]

maybe it was the beta, but anytime I played with a few friends and a large horde came on screen my q6600 at 3.22 and 285 had trouble.

Also Thanks MattNo5ss for keeping us updated on all the D3 stuff.

I like to play through things by myself once or twice, but after that I am all for playing with all of you.

Happy hunting.

-pinky

[bigben6]

so they are arranging a real cash auction house, that is just insane to me.... that someone will spend real hard earned dollars on video game crap though given ebay had to specifically ban selling mmorpg avatars maybe i should not be surprised... my buddy sold one of his WOW (thank god i never played that game) account with some level 90 warlock mage wizzard ninja assasin monk midget sheep herder for $750 before ebay banned that kinda thing...

[RADIO_ACTIVE]

OMG we are getting so close

[SteveLord]

They now have video introductions for all classes. They are a good watch and I like the narrator.

[MIAHALLEN]

Thief/Assassin is now "monk"?

[Janus67]

Originally Posted by MIAHALLEN

Thief/Assassin is now "monk"?

I do believe so, and Monk is pretty darn fun to play as well.

[sHape oF gReY]

Originally Posted by Janus67

I do believe so, and Monk is pretty darn fun to play as well.

Monk was my #1 choice for a long time, unfortunately, towards the end of the beta he got nerfed pretty hard... Now I'm torn between the monk and the witch doctor.

[Janus67]

Originally Posted by MattNo5ss

I probably won't use Sacrifice as a main source of damage, since I wouldn't want to sac my dogs unless I know they're about to die or going to die no matter what. Using Next of Kin and Circle of Life can help you keep dogs out though, but I'm not sure if it'll be enough to make Sacrifice worth building your character around.

I'll most likely be using Soul Harvest + Anything combo for damage

lol getting a 5-stack of soul harvest = win damage. I bursted down the BK in 30 seconds solo

[zitnik]

I'll be using the Barb first time around, probably the Witch Doctor after.

I got some creative names for them, too.

Can't wait, two weeks! I'll be requesting that Tuesday off, too

[MattNo5ss]

To me, the Demon Hunter seems to fit the Thief/Assassin role more than the Monk. The Demon Hunter = Amazon + Assassin (Traps) from D2, and the Monk = Paladin + Assassin (Hand-to-Hand) from D2.

I think I'll be using the Witch Doctor my first time around.

[Janus67]

WD was fun to play in the beta (was my first character). Although I wonder about looking at various builds for it and they all seem to take the sacrifice ability which seems like it would be difficult to have consistent DPS if you are constantly sacrificing your dogs (which have a long respawn time). I really liked using the blow dart that shot 3 at a time.

[MattNo5ss]

I probably won't use Sacrifice as a main source of damage, since I wouldn't want to sac my dogs unless I know they're about to die or going to die no matter what. Using Next of Kin and Circle of Life can help you keep dogs out though, but I'm not sure if it'll be enough to make Sacrifice worth building your character around.

I'll most likely be using Soul Harvest + Anything combo for damage

[bigben6]

Thief = Demon Hunter IMO.... and will be my first class because i am a big fan of the glass cannon hit and run kinda game play.... though witch doc was fun to play in open beta, it caused me trouble because im not used to that kinda play style, but it looked like a neat class to play...