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Last week, over 20,000 Diablo III players world-wide participated in our "Choose Your Theme" poll. This was the second poll we held for the "Design a Legendary" project, and it was one that would ultimately determine the visual look and theme of the Legendary one-handed sword we're designing.
Here are the results:

• Caldeum: 1.7%
• Westmarch: 9.2%
• Serpent: 2.8%
• Ancient Culture: 21.3%
• Mephisto: 32.5%
• Duriel: 7.6%
• Diablo: 24.9%

As you can see, taking nearly 33% of the global vote, our winning theme is: Mephisto!


"This blade would be styled to connect thematically to the wispy, skeletal Lord of Hatred. In addition to being a favorite character of the art team, Mephisto has a unique appearance among the Great Evils, and a blade associated with him would need to find a way to echo his character."

Now that we've locked down the two critical components of this particular Legendary item's visual design (type and theme), we can start bringing it to life. Our next step is to have 3D character artist, Aaron Gaines, begin concepting, modeling, and implementing our one-handed sword into the game. Stay tuned to diablo3.com for in-progress shots as well as a quick Q&A with the artist himself!
Also, as with our last vote, thanks to each and every nephalem who've participated in some shape, way, or form in this project so far. We hope you're enjoying it as much as we are. <3

Another BlizzCon’s come and gone, but there’s still a chance to snag some cool commemorative Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo merchandise from the show. From now through November 17, anyone can purchase select items from the BlizzCon 2013 Store directly through the Online Blizzard Store—no need to have a BlizzCon ticket or Virtual Ticket in order to participate. Here’s a sampling of the legendary loot you’ll find:





You’ll find lots of other stuff too, including select items from past BlizzCon events, though keep in mind supplies are limited. Head to the online Blizzard Store’s BlizzCon storefront to begin browsing, or click More Products > BlizzCon from the Blizzard Store home page.

Check out the Post-BlizzCon Sale now!
Shipping Note: Orders will be shipped from the United States, so international shipping rates may apply.

Great googlely-mooglely.

Hokay. So, here's what I posted on Reddit Diablo earlier this week:

For clarity (before anyone gets too crazy), we don't have any additional details or information right now about ladders in Diablo III. At this point, [ladders] are still something we're looking into and experimenting with -- i.e. in terms of how a ladder system might integrate into the game and mesh with features like Paragon, for example -- but not something that's confirmed 100%. We'd love to hear your thoughts/feedback/desires in the meantime.

In other words:

"Currently no plans for ladder" just means they are not ready to announce it yet. It's in no way an indication that they won't ever happen.
Nothing's been cancelled or scrapped. Also, keep in mind that nothing's been announced, either. Datamined information != confirmation. (Please keep that in mind.)

That said, we still would love to implement some sort of ladder system in Diablo III. As a noted over on Reddit, it isn't something that's confirmed yet (which is why we didn't talk about it at BlizzCon), but we still encourage players to share (or continue sharing) their thoughts and ideas about what they would like from that kind of system. We're listening.

So, which is it? Is the Pandemonium Fortress in Pandemonium, the battleground where Angels fought Demons before Sanctuary became the site for their current (D1-3) guerilla warfare? Or is the Pandemonium Fortress the foothold Heaven has on Hell? Are they one in the same? Will this be explained, or just a retcon of what came before?
Great question! I reached out to Brian Kindregan, our lead writer for Reaper of Souls, about this. Here's his answer:

The realm of Pandemonium is the ancient battleground where much of the Eternal Conflict took place. The reason for this is twofold. One, it is connected to both Heaven and Hell, but belongs to neither place. Two, it was the site of the Worldstone, the most powerful artifact in existence. So the angels built the Pandemonium Fortress in that realm. When the Worldstone was stolen by Inarius and Lilith, the main reason for the fighting disappeared. Since then there have still been some limited fights in Pandemonium. (And there are still angels and demons lost in the vast landscape, fighting battles that ended millennia ago – they just don’t know it yet.) But the Fortress has mostly sat abandoned – until Malthael moved in.

The quote is: The Pandemonium Fortress is the last bastion of Heaven's power before the Gates of the Burning Hells.This is still absolutely true – when the angels control the fortress, it is the furthest extension of their power – closer to hell than any other angelic possession.

At the time of Reaper of Souls, the Fortress is under Malthael’s control and as it always has, the Fortress’s appearance shifts and changes to reflect whoever possesses it. So it may look quite different from the rooms you saw in Diablo II.

Hopefully this helps.