DiabloFans

IGN doesn't know more than anyone else. They're just putting a release date at the very end of Q1 for hits and attention. Retailers also don't do it just so they can take preorders. They use it as a marketing tool so people will be willing to pay for said preorders. TBA looks boring, and people don't care. But show them a date, and people start lapping it up.

Early 2012 implies a Q1 release and I think IGN realizes that. I know there are a lot of blowhards that will claim that "ANYTHING BEFORE DECEMBER 31ST IS EARLY 2012 LOL", but that's a ridiculous assertion. I think IGN is probably just using common sense and playing it safe.

Source?

The OP gave his source? IGN.

ign.com

Not difficult.

Quote from Vagelis4VP

..i read on a Blue Post that they removed the Dark Gold because it was difficult to read, and they like for the items to be easy to read in D3...

It's that it's too similar to the color for rare. It's either, change the color of legendaries to dark gold, or change the colors of rare. Regardless of what they do it's "not the same as D2" and someone will complain. Though I would agree, given the color scheme of the interface itself, gold was hard to read. Now before someone tells me to get my eyes checked, I have 15/20 vision (or 20/15, whichever means "better than normal" :P), it's just a matter of colors starting to become muddy. This may not be a problem with D3's darker interface.

That said, people need to understand that Uniques aren't Legendaries. So applying the same logic to a completely different rarity type, regardless if it shares a similar tier of rarity as its predecessor is silly.

Adding an option for this would be pointless busywork that really accomplishes nothing. I know people think more options are better, but that's actually not the case when it comes to an interface and game being intuitive. If more options were better, we could come up with options for everything and have a 400 page options menu.

Orange is probably the best, and closest option without completely ruining or changing the color scheme by say making rares, purple.

Quote from Charybdasity

Quote from Illythia

Bashiok has said twice now, that they aren't willing to discuss "regions" quite yet (both were in regards to the RMAH, but it's pretty safe to assume that realm regions will be the same, else it will just create the very thing they want to eliminate... third party trading. If I can *play* with Americans, but can only access the Canadian RMAH, then what's stopping me from creating a website for trading within the North American region?)

That realms will be more or less the same as they were in D2? -> I could be mistaken, and in fact I probably am, but I thought that the Auction House in WOW was universal. That players could and would often unknowingly buy things from other players located on different servers.

Also - If you could play with Americans then your auction house would also probably be linked with them(?). It seems likely then, that NA would only be able to trade with NA, if this was the server --- and that other regions would not have any influence on our North American server. (this was my original thought).



[ IF Blizzard is not willing to discuss this yet, then I suppose this thread will only lead to sheer speculation... that is unless anyone has uncovered anything? ]

To be fair, a lot of discussions surrounding D3 at this point in time, are just speculation

There are no "servers" in Diablo. There's just regions in which you can create servers within. And yes, in WoW the AH is universal to the region, but there's a big difference... there's no real world currencies, exchange rates and profit margins to take into account.

Blizzard has already hinted (ages ago now) that the RMAH in D3 will likely be consolidated to specific countries (read: currencies), rather than being universal. They've made really no comment to expand on that quite yet though.

I think it's mostly geared towards Europe, where there's a very significant difference in the number of currencies and exchange rates. Ireland as an example, uses both the GBP and the Euro (depending on region), Russia uses the Ruble, Pretty sure some areas of France are still using the Franc (could be wrong), etc. It would be difficult for Blizzard to create a "European Region" because of such varying currencies.

This is why I think that their decision regarding the currency separation used for the RMAH, will be what determines how regions themselves are implemented, and who you play with.

For North America, It might not be nearly as much of an issue since the CND and USD has been fairly similar for the last several years. Blizzard may lose some, but they also may gain some. We have somewhat stable economies that play off each other, and I can't remember a time in my life where the CND was significantly higher than the USD to warrant Blizzard being concerned about a loss from the exchange rate. Generally speaking, because the CND will dip lower than the USD before it will spike for any significant time, Blizzard will likely profit off of this so I can see a North America region for both trading, and playing. Europe.. is another story.

Bashiok has said twice now, that they aren't willing to discuss "regions" quite yet (both were in regards to the RMAH, but it's pretty safe to assume that realm regions will be the same, else it will just create the very thing they want to eliminate... third party trading. If I can *play* with Americans, but can only access the Canadian RMAH, then what's stopping me from creating a website for trading within the North American region?)

Quote from enkeria

Quote from Tonikor

Bad try at bragging.

1. Pictures like that shouldn't be posted on the internet. (instant 4chan)
2. Big arms & big wrists = not my thing.

Its not about bragging, its about the t-shirt on a girl.

Lol, keep telling yourself that. I don't know a single self respecting female that would want her bf/fiance/husband posting her picture on a public forum and say "HEY GUYS CHECK OUT MY GF LOL".

It's great that she likes Diablo, but something tells me she probably wouldn't enjoy the fact that you're showing her off to a bunch of random people in an attempt to fish for comments. And if she does like that sort of thing, refer to my self respect comment above.

Quote from Ardikus

You aren't the only one who has this complaint, but there's a misconception floating around that swords and axes will somehow be superior to wands and staffs. Caster weapons have lower DPS than other weapons, but to make up for it they have mods like "Increase wizard damage by 100%".

It makes sense from a lore standpoint to require a powerful weapon to cast powerful spells. Look at fantasy stories like lord of the rings and harry potter, the wizards need staffs and wands to cast their spells.

Something tells me that they're going to be removing the +Wizard Damage and equalize the DPS of caster weapons to that of melee weapons. The item database on the site is old, and reflects the beta game database. This announced change, as far as I know, hasn't hit beta yet has it?

It really doesn't matter if a staff has 500 DPS on it, because a Wizard smacking stuff with their staff is going to be suboptimal anyway, and a Barbarian probably isn't going to use a Staff over an Axe or Sword. The abilities that makes a casting Wizard into a melee Wizard will then be affected by the weapon DPS, and not modifiers. This would also have the affect of people upgrading their weapons to that of current "tier", rather than keeping their Staff because the upgrade only has +200% rather than +300%.

It just makes sense to me. Modifiers makes it unnecessarily complicated not only from a player standpoint, but from a coding standpoint (yes I understand that it would be rather simple math. But it's rather simple math that doesn't need to happen. Every line of you code you add, increases size and read time). Their goal is simplicity and consistency and equalizing weapon damage is the best way to accomplish that.

Just a hunch though.

I know myself, I'll just be downloading it as I'm pretty confident they'll provide a direct download, unless of course some retailer starts offering beta keys for a preorder

And while I'm dying for D3, I would have to concede that at this point in time, Skyrim is probably more anticipated.

Quote from R3FORM

Makes me laugh at all the folks who said Max Shaefer was wrong in this thread: http://www.diablofans.com/topic/27469-max-schaefer-says-no-diablo-3-in-2011/

I think Feb is being optomistic, I'd say March.

It was less about him being 'correct', and more that he just made a guess and happened to be right. I wouldn't put him on a pedestal for it though.

Well this is a recipe for disaster.

Look at it this way. Religion is about faith. There's absolutely nothing a religious person could ever say, or do, that would convince someone that has deemed themselves an atheist or agnostic otherwise. Agnostic and atheists have chosen their belief, as have religious people. It's akin to a Christian convincing a Muslim. Your faith is your faith, and if you truly believe that, there's no room for convincing because you won't be convinced. Just because Atheism/Agnostic isn't a "religion" won't change the outcome.

Hence why I say this is a recipe for disaster. While I'm not going to claim that your intent is trolling, it's really all that will come out of it. If not, you're going to incite pointless arguments that have no resolve.

And for the record, I am not at all religious, but I also don't label myself as anything. Personally, I don't believe a "god" exists as we have personified as a race, but I believe there is something out there far beyond our comprehension whether it's a civilization, or just an energy or form of matter that we can't fathom. I'm a very firm follower of Science, but at the same time I know our knowledge is limited. Personally, I think relying on one set of beliefs without having an open mind to the possibility of something beyond our comprehension is the epitome of ignorance. In other words, to me, there's little difference between a Christian and an Atheist when you boil it right down.

Lol, Super Smash Brothers is played competitively? Wow, competitive gaming has gone downhill. Then again, I'm former CPL Counter Strike, so I generally don't recognize much outside SC and CS

Personally I think they just need to turn up the gravity and speed, just slightly and it would be perfect.

I do agree though, it looks very moonlike due to how they essentially float up.

Quote from proletaria

Quote from Moxx

Nothing of value was lost.

I really hate mac products myself, but this is far from the truth.

As do I, and nobody deserves to lose their life. Unfortunately, it happens but everyone is valuable to someone.

That said, he resigned and stepped down as CEO late August, the company will likely do fine.

Quote from Bubeech

Due to whining from general masses (e-mail from blizzard) Ten Ton Hammer had to open the give away to everyone -- not sure whats going to happen to those who paid $$$ for premium membership in hopes of getting D3 Beta Key.

We have opened this giveaway to all registered members. If you purchased a premium membership in hopes of winning a key, we'll be posting further information soon.

Link.

[edit] looks like they edited that announcement, sneaky.

While I don't feel sorry for the people that paid (even though I'd pay 10 bucks for a (guaranteed) key lol), it was false advertisement and the marketing attempt was blatantly obvious. I still don't think they're doing anything illegal in regards to "lotteries" as I was discussing in another thread, but Blizzard obviously thought it went against the spirit of the key distribution and told them to take it down.

Then again, these fansites (I believe) were given rules on how they were allowed to distribute keys, and maybe TTH just simply didn't read them It's also possible they didn't technically break any rules, but because of the outcry and public opinion, Blizzard asked them to open it to everyone. Are those rules accessible anywhere by chance? Just for curiosity sake.

And as mentioned above by Ardikus (just in case you missed it), go "Like" and visit TTH's Facebook page at 5:00pm CST, for another chance to win. You only have a 1 minute window. Good luck guys.

I don't win anything, but it won't stop me from trying

Quote from fuglypump

Quote from Ginobli

Another Beta Key Contest here, I haven't seen anything about on this site yet.

2 options, Like their facebook page for a chance against everyone, Lame: pay money for a better chance.

Good luck fellow DiabloFans.

http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=58648

very lame i hope blizzard sues them.

Blizzard wouldn't sue them. They would enforce a cease and desist, if anything. Suing people is convenient, until you see the costs associated with actually doing it. Not to mention, if TTH finds a loophole and Blizzard ends up being wrong about it, it's a potential PR disaster.

Oh neat, I'm a zealot now.

Quote from hawkeyenick

Quote from Illythia

Quote from hawkeyenick

Quote from Illythia

Quote from hawkeyenick

Operating a lottery or sweepstakes without a license is illegal.
Qualifying better chances with any form of payment makes it gambling.

Not really.

Existing premium members didn't pay to be entered into the draw, they paid for access to the premium section of the site. The same goes for you. If you're buying a premium membership just so you have a chance to be in the beta, that's cool, but you're not just getting entered into a draw, you're being given a 3 month premium service to their site. Whether or not you'd actually use it, doesn't matter. They're selling you a premium membership, but they're holding a draw for premium members to get a beta key. If the Beta drawing was the only thing being offered for 10 bucks, you'd have a point.

Shady/cheap for advertising the premium membership in order to generate subscriptions, rather than keeping the announcement within a members only area? Sure. But definitely not illegal. They're covered.

A someone who actually worked in the gaming industry in the US, I can assure you that you're completely wrong.
A better example would be when mcdonalds has the monopoly game, you can get entries for free by mail if you ask, but purchasing more things increases your odds. They have to register with the gaming commission on their state and operate with a sweepstakes license. This keeps them from scamming people by making them report any and all winners to the commission so there's a record of someone actually winning the prize instead of them just making up a sweepstakes and collecting money and never paying out to anyone.
Any purchase that can increase your chances falls under a lottery or sweepstakes depending on the jurisdiction.

The particular statutes in violation can be found here:
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/GV/htm/GV.466.htm

You make a comment on "depending on jurisdiction" and link a Texas site. Are you certain the same law applies to California? Also, possibly a more important question... are you sure that it applies to something like a beta key, that has no actual monetary value?

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I don't think it's quite the same thing as the McDonalds example because there's real money at stake, not a worthless beta key (by worthless I mean, has no real world value)

If you pay to increase your odds of winning, no matter what the circumstances, it's gambling. This is clearly defined in the US. The only question is whether it's a sweepstakes or lottery, both require a license most places.
I linked to Texas because that's where they list their place of operation.

Okay, but you still aren't answering my questions.

Why doesn't it apply to Blizzard then? You have no chance if you don't pay money. That to me, sounds much the same as buying a lottery ticket. You don't buy one, you have no chances to win. So does the law not apply to them? If Blizzard has a license to distribute "winnings" to subscribers, what's to say TTH also doesn't have one?

Does it apply to something that doesn't need to be reported to this "commission"? From skimming over what you linked me, it appears to only matter if it has monetary value and needs to be officially tracked, and really makes no mention of something that doesn't, like a virtual access to a service (beta)

The internet is a grey area for a lot of things (copyright infringment being the most prominent, but I digress). I just don't really see how it's any different for Blizzard to be able to enforce a "buy our stuff, be entered to win" than TTH doing the same thing for their premium members. Again, you make a valid and great point, but it seems to be inconsistent since the source of the keys, is proving the exact same reward for buying their service.