Identifying With Vendor Open
We certainly appreciate the feedback, but I wanted to offer some clarification about a feature that went into patch 1.0.7 a few months ago that might have slipped your notice.

One of the changes we made in patch 1.0.7 was that you could now identify items while in the vendor window. So if you talk to a vendor, you'll be able to identify it using right click, and then you can also choose to sell it with a second right click. As usual, if you accidentally sell an item, you can still retrieve it from the vendor’s buy-back tab while still in the same game.

While you are in the vendor window, you should no longer be able to right click on an item in your inventory and accidentally equip it. Effectively, having a vendor window open while identifying your items should help ensure that you do not inadvertently equip items while you are identifying them. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

There Has Been No Key Drop Nerf
It's unfortunate that you're having a bad luck streak, but I can assure you that the drop rates on keys have not been nerfed or otherwise changed in patch 1.0.8. The drop rate is still 5% on MP0, 10% on MP1, and 20% on MP2, all the way up through a 100% drop rate on MP10.

Having a “hot streak” of good drops, or by contrast, a streak of poor drops can happen because the probability of each roll is not tied to the previous one. Because of this, you are not guaranteed any set number of Legendaries, set items, or rares within a certain period of time.

While Magic Find does not impact your key drop rates, it does affect the quality of loot drops you’ll see, though not necessarily the number of drops you get from a particular kill (you can find out more about Magic Find here). Thus having high MF and being able to quickly and effectively clear challenging monsters will certainly aide your cause, but at the end of the day, the “luck” each player has will vary widely.

Hopefully that helps explain things a bit! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

The Smell of Diablo
Which area within Diablo III do you think would smell the worst?

I'd wager that the variety of stenches and foul odors found within the Halls of Agony would fairly difficult to tolerate, for one. I'm all for BBQ, but that is precisely the wrong sort sort of BBQ.

Oh, heck yeah. Especially that big burning mound of dead in the area with the torture barrows, guillotine, and iron maidens below the entrance to the second level.

Though I think the sewers of Caldeum rate up there too. There are times when I don't even want to touch the health globes, especially the ones that come from the insects and serpents that emerge from the exploded bloated corpses. Yuck :P
I agree! I'd also imagine that just going down into the Caldeum Sewers would make your clothes reek for weeks on-end.

Whoever has a laundry business there must be making a killing! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

This week's Community Commentary shout-out goes to runit3 and his awesome project known as the "Philanthropy Station."

Designed to give new players and veteran players a way to connect, the Philanthropy Station is all about helping others out. The way the project works is pretty simple: veteran players volunteer their services in one of several categories -- including Hardcore, Ubers MP10 (or requested MP), Paragon leveling MP10 (or requested MP), power leveling, questing, and build advice and game mechanics -- and then other players sign up to matched with verified volunteers according to the type of gameplay or assistance they're looking for.

There's an application process as well as a few rules for players to follow (all in place to provide the best experience possible for everyone involved), so if you're interested in supporting this project or think you might benefit from a little philanthropy, be sure to head over to the official forums to learn more!

Know of any other similar community-run projects, services, or groups that focus on new player help? Share a link in the comments or send an email to lylirra@blizzard.com.

Just as a reminder for all players, the Diablo III anniversary buff will expire in the Americas on Thursday, May 23, at 9:00 a.m. Pacific (12:00 p.m. Eastern).

For those of you with characters in our other gameplay regions, the buff will be disable on Wednesday, May 22, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific in Asia and on Thursday, May 23, at 12:00 a.m. Pacific in Europe.

Note: We elected to extend the buff by 1 day, so this time frame is bit later than we first communicated. Apologies for any confusion, but yay for another day of demon-slaying buffs!

Is there a hidden queue system for public games?
There is a system that matches players with available games as some of the other posts in this thread have mentioned, but sometimes that system takes a little bit to fill the open spots in a public game.

I thought about that, but i don't have a second monitor to use, i wish this game had the feature wow has, where you can set it so you can hear your game even if it's minimized in the background.
That's good feedback, and I'll be sure to pass it along. Thanks!

Written by Aaron Williams (Nodwick, North 40) and illustrated by French artist Joseph Lacroix (L'Encyclopédie du mal), Diablo: Sword of Justice is set to release in trade paperback this July!
From the dark world of Sanctuary comes the tale of a hero's birth. Haunted by his harrowing past, a wanted man named Jacob finds his destiny at the foot of a mountain shattered by the legendary sword of Tyrael, the archangel of Justice.

Issue #3

Issue #4

Issue #5

Previously released, these five issues will now also be sold together in one volume. Preorder your copy today at Amazon and Barnes and Noble!

It's been one hell of a year.

Heroes have risen, angels have fallen, and the mortal realm of Sanctuary has once again been saved from the brink of despair. As Nephalem, your accomplishments are innumerable. You’ve saved a village from the risen dead, laid to rest the tortured soul of a dishonored king, solved the mystery of the Fallen Star, avenged the death of a powerful Horadrim, unlocked the secrets of the Black Soulstone, cast Belial from his throne of deceit, stopped a demonic invasion almost single-handedly, restored Hope, and vanquished the Prime Evil, preserving the sanctity of the High Heavens and ushering in a new age for the world as we know it.

But have you ever wondered how your deeds measure up in the real world? To showcase the strength of the Diablo III community and how awesome you all are, we've put together some interesting statistics.

How many heroes have been created? How many demons have been slaughtered in pursuit of treasure? And just how many times has the Lord of TERROAR Terror been killed? Find out below!

If you'd like to view the infographic in a separate browser, click here.

Rubberbanding (especially as it relates to movement-based abilities like Whirlwind, Strafe, and Tempest Rush) is an issue that may not always come with a quick-fix. The source of the problem is not always easy to identify, and sometimes it may not always be the same thing for every player. As a result, there will be times where we implement potential fixes which we know will work for some players, but don't know if it'll work for all plays. In other cases, we'll make improvements -- i.e. changes that probably won't stop rubberbanding from happening completely, but should at least help reduce the frequency with which rubberbanding occurs. This was the case for 1.0.8a and with previous hotfixes we've made throughout the year. Again, we know these fixes may not resolve the issue for every player, but they should help reduce the occurrences of rubberbanding, and lessen the effects should rubberbanding occur for most players.

Now the important thing is that we're still working on these issues -- just because we implemented some changes that we hope will make the situation better doesn't mean we've called it day. So, if you're still experiencing rubberbanding, here are a few things you can do.

First, you can try performing the following troubleshooting steps to ensure that external causes are not adding to this issue (this isn't required, but recommended):

1. Ensure that your network connection is optimized.
2. Make sure that no other program is interfering with the game by running in a Selective Startup.
3. Check for updates to any drivers.

If those steps don't help -- or if you've chosen to skip them -- please let us know so we can continue looking into this issue by posting in the Bug Report forum (and be sure to check out this guide on reporting: http://us.battle.net...opic/4926752662). That's really the best location for those types of reports, as it'll allow our QA representatives to document them and forward them on to our development team for additional review.

(We want your experience in the Diablo III to be as fun as possible, so working on these issues is important to us. That also means we're extremely grateful for any reports receive that can help us troubleshoot -- so thank you to everyone who's already posted!)

We agree, it's a pain in the booty to try to find upgrades for a BoA item on the AH right now. Not a big issue, but still something that'd be a nice QoL change. Just spoke to Wyatt, and this is something that's been tasked to be added (don't have an ETA, though).

while you are at it, mind checking if they can let us compare our items without having to pay 5m to unsocket them first?
I don't know of any immediate plans off-hand, but I'm happy to make sure that the feedback gets passed on. :) (Or gets passed on again. I know it's something we've relayed before, and the developers agreed that it would be great-to-have feature.)

Can you delete the sentence where it says "The buff is only available while logged in to the game". Thanks! I know when i walk outside and kill an ant or 2 that i wont get more magic find and experience! I just know!!!
How do you know your MF and EXP has been increased IRL? ;)

The line just means the buff isn't permanent, attached to an on-use item, or accessed through other means (i.e. it's only available when logged into the game; conversely, the only requirement is that you log in and play). While that may seem pretty obvious to you and other players, those kind of details are best clarified whenever possible rather than left open-ended. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

When does the anniversary buff end?
It end at May 22 @ 9:00 a.m. PDT (we'll be posting another reminder tomorrow evening). (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

How about a extra buff for paragon 100 huh? Next patch maybe?
Certainly an idea I can pass on. :)

What kind of buff (or other rewards) would you find meaningful? Keep in mind, we'd prefer to not to put players in a position where they'd feel like they have to farm up to p100 or miss out on something critical, so try to form your suggestions around that principle if you can.

We will be performing scheduled game maintenance for Diablo 3 on Tuesday, May 21st. Maintenance will begin at 3:00 AM PDT and is expected to last for 6 hours. During this time Diablo 3 will not be available for play. In addition, many web services may be unavailable.

Thank you for your patience.

Hi all,

When an account is actioned, we do our best to communicate as clearly as we are able to let you know what's going on. Our intention is to keep players in the game, not close the door without allowing a player to appeal their issue to us. As ever, if you wish to contact us, we encourage you to do so. Please keep in mind that although we do not typically review account actions over the phone or through live web chat, we will still discuss details of the account with you over these channels upon verification of the account. Also, in every notification message that is sent out regarding account actions, is a link included that allows players to repetition to have us look directly at this action itself.

@ Paen: I do sincerely appreciate you taking the time to write this. I would ask though that you refer to us directly through the aformentioned channels, instead of using a friend's account to access these forums.

Regards,
Araxom
Blizzard Customer Support (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Battle.net accounts can get temporarily locked if it looks like it's being accessed from a location that the system is unfamiliar with.Resetting the password will help you get past this, if that's all the issue is. A BNet lock is not the same thing as having a license on the account suspended - without seeing the account that OP is referring to, I'm unsure what is going on - which is why it's best if they reach out to us directly.

As I was previously referring to, the Authenticator will help prevent those kinds of locks. Also, having the SMS Protect set up will help you out if the authenticator ever has an issue, (like if the phone it's on gets updated/reset). (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

I have been watching the forums and how blizzard treats this attrocity that has happened since the patch and I am in the customer service realm myself and I feel he/she is doing an awesoem job and mitigating the issue reported and handeling them with pride. I hope he/she gets a merrit raise and even a THANK YOU from the community!!!
Even though I am NOT affected I still appreciate good customer service when I see it given!!
THANK YOU
Right on Hambone! To be fair though, if it weren't for all the awesome people in our different departments who help me out, I really wouldn't be of much service at all. Without trying to make this sound like an Oscar award acceptance speech - there is a number of people in our different departments who I constantly lean on for specific help - ranging from checking into known technical issues, administration details, Community stuffs, and other black magic wizardry. It's one of the great things about Blizz that we get along so well and are willing to drop what we're doing (most of the time!!) to help our fellow coworkers out.

Anyway, thanks for the shout out! I hope you and all my fellow Diablo peeps score some phat loots today and this weekend!
:D

/Araxom
Blizzard Customer Support

So how do we "reach out" to Blizzard?

Whenever I submit tickets, it's taken like 3-4 days to get a response, and I get a generic copy-paste answer that doesn't even answer the question.

How are we supposed to get in contact with someone at Blizzard that actually reads the question?
Hi TianZi, we read each appeal that comes in. In cases of certain account actions though, we may not be able to discuss or provide many details about how we arrived at that conclusion.

We do want to provide our players the opportunity to appeal such issues which is why we will review these again. As previously stated in my other response to you, after a time we may not continue to offer such appeals if we have repeatedly reached the same conclusion. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Hellish anniversaries abound! The Blizzard Music section of our site has been updated to include Diablo’s 15-year Anniversary album. We think the game's score is just as atmospheric and haunting now as when it was released (back when our computers had a whopping 16 MB of RAM).

Visit the page to read notes from the album's composers, listen to samples of classic Diablo arrangements, and download the album (or individual tracks) through iTunes.

It's been a busy year in Sanctuary. When the risen dead aren't threatening New Tristram and Azmodan's forces aren't relentlessly pouring into Bastion's Keep, a few (hundred) wasps can always be found keeping travelers company outside Caldeum. Despite these threats, heroes like you have kept a steadfast watch on the forces of the Burning Hells, and your tenacity deserves recognition.

As a salute to the trillions of monsters valiantly vanquished in the past year, we've crafted some new Facebook covers and Twitter headers so that you can celebrate Diablo III's one-year anniversary in style while staying connected with fellow Nephalem outside of Sanctuary.

Enjoy!

Be sure to visit the official Diablo Facebook and Twitter pages, too. (We have cake!)

One year ago this week, we launched Diablo III in over 10 languages and 30 countries around the world. Since then, we've made significant improvements to the game, shipping upwards of 15 patches and implementing numerous hotfixes to make your battle against the forces of the Burning Hells that much more epic.

In celebration of Diablo III's anniversary, we wanted to take a look at the road so far -- recapping some of the major changes made to the game since release and providing players quick access to all the latest updates.
(If you haven't played in a while or are new to the realm of Sanctuary, definitely stay a while and listen.)

- PARAGON LEVELS -

When a hero reaches level 60, experience earned from quests, monsters, and massacre bonuses will begin to count toward Paragon levels. There are 100 Paragon levels in total, and each level will reward players with a permanent bonus to Gold Find and Magic Find, as well as core stat increases (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Vitality). For every 10 Paragon levels, players will also earn a new hero portrait border which will display in the in-game party frame. This border will not only become more impressive as you level up, it will also display your Paragon level in any place where your normal hero level is shown.

For more information on Paragon levels, click here or check out the game guide.

- INFERNAL MACHINE -

The Infernal Machine is a device that will allow level 60 players to battle "uber" versions of some of Sanctuary’s most nefarious bosses. While the rewards for defeating these bosses will be great, some assembly is required. Only the most powerful Nephalem can unlock the secrets to building the Infernal Machine,  but once forged the device can be used to open portals to special encounters featuring not one, but two bosses which have been augmented from their original versions, both in terms of difficulty and appearance. Defeating each boss pair will provide players with extra items and gold, as well as a chance to find components for a new Legendary: the Hellfire Ring!

For more information about the Infernal Machine event, click here or check out the game guide.

- LEGENDARY ITEM IMPROVEMENTS -

In patch 1.0.4, we made significant changes to Legendary items to make them more powerful, more memorable, and ultimately more fun to use. Through the addition of spell procs, many Legendary items now have a chance to activate rare and unique abilities, such as summoning an angel to fight with you, conjuring an icy projectile, or igniting the very ground you walk on. Legendary items are also far and away more powerful, possessing higher damage and affix values than their predecessors. In addition, many Legendary items have had visual effects added to their original models, giving them a distinct and detailed flair.

For more information about these improvements, click here.

- BRAWLING -

For those who wish to test their mettle against fellow Nephalem, head on over to the Scorched Chapel! This zone can be accessed by speaking with Nek the Brawler in any of the four Act hubs, and supports 2 to 4 players in a Free-For-All format.

For more information about Brawling, click here or check out the game guide.

- MONSTER POWER -

Similar to the "Players X" command in Diablo II, Monster Power is a system designed to give players more control over how challenging enemies are in each difficulty. With this system, players can choose to increase the health and damage of monsters according to different "power levels" and in return they'll receive scaling bonuses to experience as well as boosts to Magic Find and Gold Find which will stack above the 300% cap. The option to increase Monster Power is available to all players starting at level 1 in the Quest Selection window, and can be adjusted separately for Normal, Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno difficulties.

For more information about Monster Power, click here or check out the game guide.

- MULTIPLAYER IMPROVEMENTS -

In patch 1.0.8, we made several improvements to the multiplayer experience in Diablo III, including a special bonus for multiplayer games that grants +10%  Magic Find, Gold Find, and Experience for each additional player in the party, combat alerts for whenever a player is engaged with an Elite monster or treasure goblin, multi-user conversations (a new chat option that allows players to chat privately with up to 98 of their friends), and matchmaking tags for Public Games.

These changes focused on buffing existing social features, making it easier for players to find one another online, and providing bonuses when playing in our cooperative mode.

For more information about these improvements, click here.

- MONSTER DENSITY -

More demons, more fun! As of patch 1.0.8,  players in Inferno difficulty at Monster Power 1 and higher will find an increased number of enemies across Acts I, II, and IV. By adjusting density in these areas, all four Acts should now be more comparable in terms of difficulty vs. reward, giving players more options for farming (and more monsters on which to enact their revenge).

For more information, click here.

- OFFICIAL PATCH NOTES -

But that's not all! Be sure to check out our official patch notes for updates to Diablo III in all their gory details.

Looking for more retrospectives? Head on over to Diablo Fans and Diablo Somepage for their 2012/2013 recaps!