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We understand that some of the changes we make via hotfix can have a significant impact on a player's experience, and we want to give everyone as much of a heads up as possible regarding how the game is evolving. In this spirit, below you will find a list of noteworthy upcoming hotfixes for Diablo III.

For clarity, hotfixes are updates we make on our end without requiring you to download a new patch. Some of the hotfixes below will go live the moment they are implemented, while others may require server restarts to take effect. Please keep in mind that some issues cannot be addressed without a client-side patch (including changes to tooltips). We will continue to update this thread as necessary as additional hotfixes are scheduled, so please check back regularly for the latest information.

Spoiler Warning: If you have not yet completed Diablo III on Normal, some hotfixes described in this list may include spoilers.

Upcoming Hotfixes

5/24/2012

• Wizard
• Critical Mass (Passive)
• Fixed an issue with certain powers that had a higher than intended chance to trigger Critical Mass

Once these hotfixes have been implemented, they will be added to the most recent hotfixes list, available here: Diablo III Hotfixes - May (Updated 5/23/12)

As an a reminder for players who intend to purchase Battle.net Balance for use in the Blizzard Store or upcoming Real Money Auction House, please note that you may experience a delay adding funds to your Battle.net account when using certain payment methods including Direct Debit or a credit card. Direct Debit purchases of Battle.net Balance funds can take up to two weeks to process, while credit cards (and similar payment methods) can take up to 3 days to process. This is intended, so please remember to account for this delay when planning purchases with Battle.net Balance.

For more information on Battle.net Balance, see the FAQ, or head to the Battle.net Balance webpagein Account Management to manage your balance

I'm going to respond rather than lock this thread or otherwise moderate it. Let me explain why. First, I think you genuinely are trying to provide feedback in your own way. You obviously decided to take some time to put together your thoughts and share them with us, which is appreciated. Second, I think you were almost successful in making it constructive.

I felt though, that this thread is a good opportunity to explain how you all can provide feedback in a way that helps more than simply criticizes.

So, here's my advice:

First, please refrain from big overstatements such as titles that claim that the game is a failure or that you are sharing "facts". We see it often where flame wars occur because someone states something as innocuous as "We all feel x" or "this is fact" when it's actually just an opinion. It's better to make it clear that you're sharing your own personal opinion rather than speaking for others. You're more likely to get a more constructive discussion that way and get less hostility from other players who disagree.

Second, it's important to avoid overly emotional words such as "x is stupid", "y is completely broken", "z sucks so hard". It's not particularly constructive and may turn people off from what you're attempting to say.

Third, (and perhaps lastly) it's important to be very clear about what it is you dislike and why. It's equally important to explain what you like as well so that you're not throwing the baby out with the bathwater (so to speak). Clarity is key.

Saying Diablo II is better than Diablo III is OK to do if that's your opinion, but these conversations are pretty circular. Diablo III is not Diablo II. That said though, if there is something you enjoyed from Diablo II, it's perfectly OK to say what it is and why you enjoyed it. That's no guarantee that it makes sense for Diablo III, but it could be a potential consideration if the developers feel it makes sense.

In short, we understand that there are a lot of emotions and passion tied up in many posts we've been seeing. We are equally passionate on our end about the game. It's just important to reign in that passion and put it forward in a way that can be used toward potentially improving things that may need improved. We won't be able to please everyone as much as we try, but we are working hard to do our best to make as many gamers happy as possible.

That's not Neth's job. She's here to moderate.
Actually, I do more than moderate. I'm not answering here because answers are being worked on and it may well be Bashiok who does the answering at that time. We all share responsibilities whether they're front and center or behind the scenes.

In this case, I felt that some direction would be helpful for further discussions whether they occur in this thread or in subsequent posts. I'd love to see everyone move on from overly passionate reactions to more constructive posting. It helps our team be able to distill feedback and pass it to the developers much better than having to work through the signal to noise ratio.

I'd also like to advise everyone to please watch using profanity. I dislike having to delete posts simply because there was inappropriate language in it. I also dislike having to moderate people for attacking others. Let's try to keep it civil.

do doubt you will see this or respond to it but how often do you see the game having updates?
Also will the 'patches' or "ninja updates" have notes somewhere with the changes? I always do like reading up on those, be it beneficial for my class (monk) or not. :-) keep up the good work!
To your first question- Unknown. Updates will be done as we feel they are needed. (Outside of our internal development schedule which we don't normally publicize.)

To your second question- We will provide updates as we can. We currently have a Hotfix blog that we'll update regularly as new hotfixes come in. For patches, you can normally find the notes in the launcher (when we do patches) and we also post on the blog as well. (When in doubt, check the blog on the front page or the sticky posts in the forums.)

When can we expect a reply directly answering everyone's opinions about the current state of the game without circling around the point?
We're working on something currently and will be putting it out in the ether soonish.

Blue Tracker on Official Forums
We (the blues) are able to pick and choose which posts are tracked. We do this so that more "important" posts are in the tracker vs. perhaps our witty (and stunningly brilliant) repartee with everyone. You can also find any of our posts by clicking on our names and choosing the "view posts" option if you really wanted to see all the places we've responded. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Latency Indicator
The latency indicator in-game is not a simple ping like most games, and is actually a full process of the game sending an action to the service, the service processing it, and returning it to the client. This means that the latency indicator actually gives a more accurate account of what the experience is for game data, but in comparison to other games will seem high. We're more interested in issues where there is actual performance degradation, and certainly there may be, but the in-game latency number is not a simple ping and therefore shouldn't be used literally as a measurement against performance elsewhere.

I should add that the correct forum for this is really the Technical Support forum. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Australian 'Game' Pre-Orders
As we mentioned in our earlier post, Blizzard will assist players in Australia who preordered Diablo III® from GAME, but did not receive the product.

Players in this situation who have purchased a digital copy of Diablo III from www.diablo3.com as instructed can provide Blizzard with their preorder receipt from GAME, to receive credit from Blizzard.

If you’re one of these players, here’s what to do:

1.In accordance with the original post made on May 14, you must have purchased a digital copy of Diablo III from the Blizzard Store before 12:01 am on May 21, 2012.
2.Take a clear and legible photo (or scan) of your full GAME preorder receipt, and save it in JPEG format.
3.Log in to the Battle.net website using the account where you placed the digital order, and submit a new support ticket. Select “Battle.net” as your game or product.
4.Using the pre-defined topic list, indicate that you “need help with an order or purchase,” and that you “haven’t received a physical shipment.”
5.Proceed to ticket creation where you will have a text field and the option for an attachment.
6.For your ticket text, enter (or copy and paste): “ANZ-GAME Preorder credit request.”
7.Attach the photo or scan of the preorder receipt (in JPEG format), and submit the ticket.
8.You’ll receive confirmation that your ticket has been submitted, and our support staff will process these requests in the order they are received.

Please note:

•In order to be eligible, the preorder receipt from GAME must be dated before May 15, 2012, and your digital copy of Diablo III from www.diablo3.com must be purchased before May 21, 2012. Late orders (those placed after these date) are not eligible for credit.
•Blizzard has obtained a list of the unfulfilled preorders from GAME, and we’ll be cross-referencing that list against any submitted receipts.
•The support ticket must be filed on the website no later than June 30, 2012, using the Battle.net account that ordered the digital copy of Diablo III.
•Credit will be applied as a refund to the payment method used to purchase the digital version of Diablo III from the Blizzard Store, matching the amount of the preorder, up to a maximum of the amount paid for the digital purchase at www.diablo3.com.
•Anyone who prepaid the full Collector’s Edition price will have the Collector’s Edition in-game items applied to their Diablo III license.
•We are unable to process credits for amounts greater than the digital purchase price. Therefore, for any preorder payments exceeding the digital Diablo III purchase price (such as those for Collector’s Editions), Blizzard will credit the amount charged for the digital version of Diablo III to the payment method used to purchase the game from the Blizzard store and then credit the remainder to the associated Battle.net account in the form of Battle.net Balance. To learn more about how Battle.net Balance works, please go here.
•You can track the status of your ticket using the Battle.net Ticket Status page. You’ll also receive email notification when the ticket is updated. Our support team cannot process or expedite these requests over the phone.

We wish you all safe journeys -- and epic loot -- as you continue your adventures into Sanctuary. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)