I have a love hate relationship with Wrath and Archon for that matter. This is a topic that I felt I should at least comment on since it's come up on many occasions. There is no fundamental flaw with having a 2 minute cooldown ability that transforms your character and is really powerful, the problem is when it becomes a forgone conclusion that these AWESOME abilities are up 100% of the time and instead of being excited that they are up you are annoyed when they fall off. We have talked about what if anything we want to do with these abilities in the long term. I will say we have no short term plans to change them but we don't like that they aren't fulfilling their original purpose which is to provide a really awesome button that mixes up the tempo of combat for a small window of time.

Whatever you do, I hope you don't penalize those of us that use it as intended, that is people that just use it for the occasional boost and not a permanent boost.
I want to make this point clear. Wrath is an awesome ability, when the game first launched players used it the way it was designed to be used which was as a huge, temporary, power boost to kill a hard champ or fight a boss. The problem stems from the ability to keep it up 100% of the time. Any future change that we would consider making to either this or Archon would be focused on making these not a 100% uptime abilities. So yes as was stated above Wrath isn't the problem, Thrive on Chaos and the assist duration extending mechanic of Archon are the problems.

We are still working to improve monster density across all Acts, and this includes tuning the monster density on Act IV. There have not yet been made any additional changes to Act IV though, but you should hopefully see some improvements on this in a future PTR patch.

Shrines are former sacred places, now desecrated. But, unlike many random surprises scattered throughout Sanctuary, they're always a welcome sight to wayward adventurers.
Purifying these ancient obelisks will grant you and your allies one of six temporary buffs:

• Enlightened: You gain 25% increased experience from monster kills.
  
• Frenzied: Your attack speed increases by 25%.
  
• Blessed: You reduce all incoming damage by 25%.
  
• Fortune: You gain 25% increased magic and gold find rate.
  
• Empowered: You have 100% increased resource gain, and 50% reduced cooldown time.
  
• Fleeting: You gain 25% increased movement speed and increase your pickup radius by 20 yards.

Out of these shrine types, which is your favorite? Some of them you may skip, but which one will you go out of your way to click (potentially risking both life and limb to get there)? Let us know by voting below!

PTR PATCH 1.0.8 – v.1.0.8.16033
These notes will be updated through the course of the testing process. Please be aware some changes may not go live until a new PTR build is released.

GENERAL

• The bonus experience granted by Enlightened shrines is now also calculated multiplicatively

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Bug Fixes
  
  • The "Massive Blow" achievement should once again be obtainable
    
  • The "Fallen Angel" achievement now only requires the player to kill Izual within 120 seconds
    
  • The "Bashanishu" achievement no longer requires the player to use Basic Attack to complete it
    
  • The "Hero's New Clothes" achievement no longer requires the player to deliver the fatal blow to meet the criteria
    
  • The "Uncaged" achievement now requires the player to stay alive during the encounter
    
  • The "Good Eye" achievement now requires the player to stay alive during the encounter
    
  • Fixed an issue that caused the "Self Sufficient" achievement to sometimes not be awarded the first time a player killed Diablo
    
  • Fixed an issue that caused the "Death Trap" achievement to not be awarded the first time a player completed the criteria

CLASSES

• Barbarian
  
  • Active Skills
    
    • War Cry
      
      • Skill Rune – Invigorate
        
        • Now regenerates 620 life per second (up from 310)
  • Passive Skills
    
    • Inspiring Presence
      
      • Now regenerates 4% of maximum life per second (up from 2%)
        
      • Now affects all party members
• Demon Hunter
  
  • Active Skills
    
    • Companion
      
      • Skill Rune – Boar Companion
        
        • Now regenerates 310 life per second (up from 155)
    • Sentry
      
      • Skill Rune – Aid Station
        
        • Now heals nearby allies for 2% of max life per second (up from 1%)
  • Passive Skills
    
    • Brooding
      
      • Now regenerates 2% of maximum life per second (up from 1%)
• Monk
  
  • Active Skills
    
    • Mantra of Healing
      
      • Now causes party members to regenerate 620 life per second (up from 310)
        
        • Skill Rune – Sustenance
          
          • Now increases Mantra of Healing’s life regeneration to 1240 per second (up from 620)
  • Passive Skills
    
    • Guiding Light
      
      • Damage bonus increased from 16% to 20%
• Witch Doctor
  
  • Active Skills
    
    • Firebats
      
      • Now has a larger initial cost but a much lower continual cost while channeling
        
        • Base weapon damage increased from 180% to 385%
          
        • Skill Rune – Cloud of Bats
          
          • Initial damage increased from 234% to 500% weapon damage
        • Skill Rune – Plague Bats
          
          • Maximum damage increased from 270% to 578% weapon damage
  • Passive Skills
    
    • Blood Ritual
      
      • Now regenerates 2% of maximum life per second (up from 1%)
• Wizard
  
  • Active Skills
    
    • Familiar
      
      • Skill Rune – Vigoron
        
        • Now regenerates 620 life per second (up from 310)
    • Ray of Frost
      
      • Base weapon damage increased from 215% to 280%
        
      • Skill Rune – Black Ice
        
        • Ice patch weapon damage increased from 387% to 504%
      • Skill Rune – Sleet Storm
        
        • Weapon damage increased from 280% to 364%
      • Skill Rune – Snow Blast
        
        • Maximum damage increased from 280% to 364% weapon damage
  • Passive Skills
    
    • Galvanizing Ward
      
      • Now regenerates 620 life per second (up from 310)

FOLLOWERS

• Templar
  
  • Skills
    
    • Loyalty
      
      • Now regenerates 310 life per second (up from 155)

MONSTERS

• General
  
  • The damage dealt by the fire pool left by Blazing Guardian attacks has been reduced by 50%, but it's minimum damage has been increased
    
  • Bug Fixes
    
    • Monsters with the Avenger affix now correctly gain +25% damage each time a monster in their pack dies
      
    • Monsters with the Vampiric affix now correctly heal for 200% of their damage done in all difficulties

Hey all, update on this.

1.0.8 will now have XP shrines multiplicative, and MF/GF from Fortune shrines will exceed the 300% cap.

As an aside, we realize XP shrines aren't useful to players who are P100. I want to acknowledge the issue but you won't see any changes to address this in 1.0.8. We also realize that the MF/GF 25% from Fortune Shrines is small relative to the 300% you already have when you are P100. Again, something we could look to improve in the future, but not in 1.0.8. For 1.0.8 we're only going with the change to exceed the cap.

The zones that are bolded had their density increased (i.e. there are now more monsters). These zones include:

• Leoric’s Hunting Grounds
  
• Whimsyshire
  
• Vile Caverns

The ones that aren't bolded had their density adjusted so that there are less groups spawning overall, but the number of monsters in each group has increased. This should give a feeling of “clumpiness” where you see big packs of monsters and some open spaces. These zones include:

• The Lyceum
  
• Cave of the Moon Clan Level 1
  
• Weeping Hollow
  
• Cathedral Level 1
  
• Cathedral Level 2
  
• The Storm Halls
  
• The Unknown Depths
  
• The Eastern Channel
  
• The Western Channel
  
• Dahlgur Oasis

Hope that helps!

Is act 4 going to be worked on? It seems like a lot of players were interested to play this act but many comment that its still too bare.
We're still tuning density across all Acts, and this includes Act IV. We just haven't made any additional changes to it just yet.

Adding Notes to Items
Interesting idea. That would probably require more data storage (and UI space), but I'm happy to pass it on. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Legendary Dyes Still in the Work
We're keen on the idea as well, and we're currently working on making dyes usable with Legendaries. As I mentioned previously, our artists actually have to go back and redo the textures on each of the Legendaries in order to make them dye-compatible, which is why it isn't a quick-fix.

When we have an update for you on this, we'll make sure to let you know. :) (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

The media section of our Diablo III website includes your submitted comics and fan art, in addition to Blizzard screenshots,wallpapers, artwork, videos, audio clips, and much more. When you submit a piece of original Diablo fan art to us, there’s a chance that we’ll highlight it here!

We recently added ten winning illustrations from last year's Portrait of a Champion art contest to the Diablo Fan Art Section. You can check out these impressive pieces below.

Winners:

by Yang Mansik (Yam)

"Rain Dance" by Dylan Pierpont

"Victorious" Dmitriy Prozorov (Tamplier)

Runners Up:

"Wiz n Chant" by Isuardi Therianto (ijur)

"Barbarian" by Turovec Konstantin (KAaSTuroveC)

by Sehyun Kim (PRU)

"Demon Hunter" by Sung-a Park (Kyrie)

"Shadow Power" by Jimmy Xu

by JiHun Lee

by Kim Tae Kyeong (Sia)

Interested in sharing your own original work with the Diablo community? Read our Terms and Conditions of Fan Art Submissions to Blizzard Entertainment, and then submit your piece of fan art here.

Keen on contests? Considering entering the Blizzard Comic Contest by creating a fun original comic based on the Warcraft, Diablo, or StarCraftuniverse and submit it to us for a chance at some fabulous prizes we give away each month!

We look forward to seeing the results of your creativity!

In the latest PTR patch notes for build 16033, we noted that "certain areas in Act I and Act II have received further adjustments to Monster Density." We've seen some players ask what zones this change applies to, so here's a bit more information.

Zones that are bolded received a straight-up buff to their density.
Zones that are italicized were slightly nerfed.
All other zones had monster spawns adjusted to make them feel more "clumpy."

Act I:

• The Lyceum
  
• Cave of the Moon Clan Level 1
  
• Weeping Hollow
  
• Cathedral Level 1
  
• Cathedral Level 2
  
• Leoric’s Hunting Grounds
  
• Whimsyshire

Act II:

• Realm of Shadow
  
• Dahlgur Oasis
  
• Vile Cavern
  
• The Storm Halls
  
• The Unknown Depths
  
• The Eastern Channel
  
• The Western Channel

Thank you to everyone who's posted about the density changes so far; your feedback is incredibly appreciated. We're still fine tuning monster density across all Acts, so please be sure to keep sharing your thoughts and experiences from the PTR. :)

Good discussion!

I should mention that PTR builds are snapshotted off our current "work in progress" and sometimes picks up some changes and not others. In this case, the Disintegrate change was picked up, but the Ray of Frost change was not. Ray of Frost got a comparable damage buff as well, which will be seen in the next PTR build (along with the Witch Doctor Firebats damage numbers)

There are no plans to buff the proc coefficient on Ray of Frost or Disintegrate. I understand that means they won't replace existing skills that are used to combo with Critical Mass. We aren't trying to compete for synergy with Critical Mass but rather to create the possibility of playing in an entirely different way.

While we totally understand that you would like to see patches more frequently, a high quality and well-polished update is better for the life of a game than the quantity provided. If we tried to rush the patches that we're working on, it would result in us releasing content that doesn't meet our desired level of quality.

Iam trying to think of good reasons but so far i was not able to come up with any.
Patches take time, creating improvements and making changes to such a wide variety of systems requires a lot of work.

Making the changes like those listed in the 1.0.8 patch notes are not as easy as simply tweaking a few numbers. The changes we make to the game are a lot more complicated than what you may initially assume them to be and a great deal of time is required in order to develop, implement, test and prepare every change for a live environment.

Because Blizzard is working on 6 big projects at the same time and PoE is just... PoE.
I don't think Diablo3 patches are top priority.
Actually, every game at Blizzard has its own dedicated team of developers, so the amount of resources allocated to Diablo III isn't affected by other projects we may have in the works. You can rest assured that the Diablo III team holds it as their highest priority.

Firebats Bugged on PTR
The Firebats change in the current PTR build is incomplete, and we intend to buff the damage in the next build. Here is a quote from Wyatt that explains what happened a little better, and a link to the thread if you want to read more.

Wyatt: The Firebats changes were halfway done when we snapshotted the PTR patch.

The mana cost change was one change. The other change is buffing the damage of Firebats. The mana change made this PTR patch, the damage change did not. Look for it in the next PTR patch after this one.

I've also seen a few post reporting that the mana cost for Firebats doesn't seem to have changed correctly, but the tooltip did. We're investigating this, and hope to have it worked out before the next PTR build. If you ever come across inconsistencies like this while playing on the PTR, but sure to post in the PTR Bug Report forum so we can take a look: http://us.battle.net.../forum/7328696/

Are you also investigating the similar problems with other skills, rapid fire in particular?
We're working on testing all the class changes currently intended for patch 1.0.8, and that includes Rapid Fire for Demon Hunters. You can find the class changes in the patch notes, and if you've noticed any bugs with those changes you can report them in thePTR Bug Report forum. We definitely appreciate the feedback! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Multiplicative Shrines
specifically, enlightened and fortune shrines?
The shrines are not multiplicative, but it's an interesting idea. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Still No Date For Itemization
We see a lot of discussion about when the itemization changes will be implemented into Diablo III, and I would like to help out with some clarification on the subject. The Developer Journal: Itemizationblog (where these changes were mentioned by Travis Day) was written independently of any particular patch information, and we never mentioned an estimate on when we might see those changes. Currently we don't have any updates on when we might see them, but we'll be sure to let you all know as soon as we do.

I know we already have legacy versions most legendary items. What is going to happen if you update the items yet again? Are we going to have Legacy-Legacy items?
This is a good question. I don't have an answer for you, but I will bring it to the developers attention.(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

When Do You Get XP in Coop?
I have an answer for you. :) In order to get xp or loot from a slain monster you need to be in proximity of it when it dies or have been in combat with it. For example, if you go back to town to repair your armor after fighting a nasty elite and your friend kills it while you’re not around, you'll get loot and xp, because you had already tagged the monster. However, if your friend then finds a new elite and kills it before you come back, then you will not get loot or xp.

Awesome. Thanks for the answer. Straight from the horses mouth as they say.
Or goat in this case. :) (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

The eternal conflict is always raging between the forces of the High Heavens and the Burning Hells, and it’s hard to believe that the Archangels of Hope, Valor, Fate, Wisdom, and Justice have much time for anything other than the war at-hand. But every now and then, every virtue of Anu deserves a break.

This week’s community spotlight showcases fan artist Crimson-Nemesis and her adorable renditions of Diablo III’s Archangels.

Many of Crimson-Nemesis’ illustrations feature members of the Angelic Host partaking in activities that wouldn’t necessarily be connected to the tastes and past-times of the High Heaven’s finest. There are angels playing pranks with Imperius’ halo, Auriel’s unique method of breaking up fights, and even Tyrael being treated to an ice cream cone by a kindly Barbarian. But they all share one thing in common: a distinctive comic style we can all enjoy.

Crimson-Nemesis was also nice enough to answer a few questions we had for her:

Q. How long have you been creating art?
I've been drawing and painting since I was little with any sort of medium I could get my hands on, but when it comes to digital art it started about 4 years ago when I finally got my first tablet.

Q. Your chibi Diablo III characters are incredibly endearing! What prompted you to start drawing them?
Mainly the urge to draw Diablo fanart and turn the ideas in my head into pictures. Because most of these ideas are rather silly I decided to draw chibis - they're cute and more suited for jokes.

Also all my attempts to draw Diablo characters in their true form never turned out how I wanted them to be. They were not horribly bad but for me not good enough and whenever I fail with my art I tend to return to something which usually works for me and also cheers me up - like sketches of chibis for example.

Q. Where do you get your ideas from?
Mainly from conversations with friends when we talk about the game and the chars but also from seeing Diablo based fanart or reading fan fictions.

Q. Which is your favorite Diablo III comic that you’ve created?
Hm, that's kinda hard but I'd say this one mainly because it is the result of a really shallow and silly word-play - which is a good example for my special sense of 'humor'.

Q. Do you have any other Diablo-themed pieces in the works?
Nothing big right now but I tend to doodle on a canvas once in a while which only consists of Diablo based sketches and mini comics - when I find the time some of them will get to be cleaned and colored. Nearly all of my current Diablo sketches have their origin on this canvas as well.

Q. We have to ask: who is your favorite Archangel?
Tyrael of course - he was one of my favorite chars since I discovered Diablo back in 2001 - I always admired his character and design.

Q. What programs do you use to create your art, and how long do your pieces take you to create?
At the moment I use Paint Tool SAI for my digital art. As for the time, that's not so easy to tell but since most of my Diablo art is just sketches with simple colors they take about 1 to 3 hours, depending if it's just a single image or a comic strip.

Q. What tips do you have for aspiring artists out there?
My main tip is always to keep practicing! Many younger artists I talk to tend to complain about the little progress they do or how much trouble they have with certain areas of art - like anatomy or coloring or drawing hands. But drawing/painting, art in general, is a skill and with practice everyone can get better. Complaining won't help, they have to sit down and practice or they'll never reach their desired goals.

Another tip would be to accept challenges. It is normal that every artists feels most comfortable with the things they are good at but if an artist wants to thrive they have to leave their comfort zone and try new things, new techniques, challenge themselves with areas or ideas they have problems with or unfamiliar with. They might not like how their first tries turn out but if they never try new things they won't learn anything new and never find out if they might be able to master a challenge. Practice and challenging ones skill is the only way to move forward.

Thank you again for the chance to feature my art!

Can’t get enough of Crimson-Nemesis? Check out her DeviantArt page to indulge in her colorful gallery!