DiabloFans

Of course this might not be the case here as I know DiabloFans has commented on business conferences for Blizzard in each quarter. So do we know which Quarter Blizzard are in right now, using those business conferences as a guide?

Yes, ActivisionBlizzard's Fiscal year lines up with the calendar year so Q1 = Jan - March, Q2 = April - June etc. etc.

If you want further proof look here.

http://investor.activision.com/events.cfm

At the top you'll see

Activision Blizzard Third Quarter Calendar 2011 Results Conference Call

The conference call today is for the end of their last quarter (Third Quarter) Which ended September. The title also calls out it being the third calendar quarter.

One can work for Microsoft and be a lead dev for Windows, but they'd have no clue how things work at Apple regarding OS X, so the "I'm in the industry" comment means nothing.

That's not entirely true. Being a Microsoft Lead you know certain checklist type things that have to be done to make an OS no matter who is making no matter what OS. Furthermore you have an idea of how long some of these checklist type tasks take, what challenges and what requirements these have. They don't change for different developers which does give someone in the industry a better understanding of *some* things any developer has to deal with.

Remember the recently leaked backup date from the email? It was January 17th, 2012, and I'm willing to bet money on that date now

You also realize that same "leak" said the release date for Diablo 3 was going to be announced at Blizzcon right? Now why do you think that didn't happen at Blizzcon?

You are far from the only industry man on this forum, bud

Oh really? Then what do you think about these release date guesses?

History will prove whomever of us was right. And I have a gut feeling that the history will take place soon

We shall see!

You are correct that nowhere they explicitly stated Q1, but "early" in the year generally means the first three or four months (although is less strictly defined, which probably is why they chose that term instead).

That's unfortunate, I was actually hoping Blizzard stated Q1 somewhere and I just missed it

The following four months would be "middle".

Based on Blizzard's definition of "soon" I am hesitant to start defining what Blizzard means by "early", or accepting other people's definition of "early"

The earlier prospective release window was Q4 2011 ("by the end of the year"), so although Blizzard did not lock themselves into Q1, it's right now very much the release window.

As much as Q1 of 2012 comes directly after Q4 of 2011 so it's a fair assumption, however I am always reminded of how often Blizzard delays and pushes back their estimates though so I am not fully sold on 2012 Q1

Who say's we're excluding March? However, there simply is just so little game left to develop that March (or April) is what I'd call a "pessimistic" scenario.

This is one thing I've heard for almost a year now and I do understand why people come to this conclusion. The thing is the profession I've been in for the last decade (and currently employed in) is mainstream video game development. I have a significantly more in depth understanding of what there is to develop and how long it takes than probably everybody in this forum. Sure they've told us a ton of stuff that is "almost" done, but there's a lot of stuff people don't even realize that hasn't been mentioned or identified as finalized. People were convinced that Diablo 3 was coming out in 2011 because of how much of the game was done and "how little there is left" to develop. I told them they were wrong over a year ago (http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=27797299614&sid=3000&pageNo=1) and was right.

All that aside most of the *content* in the game (May I remind you they've never mentioned what state non-content was in) is actually in a finished state. Content-wise we still have item database updating, difficulty tuning, HC PvP functionality, the Rune system and server infrastructure. They also apparently have some RMAH issues they are working through which ends the known to-do list. That still seems like a fair amount of stuff to get through in just 2-3 months (And legal/Fiscal issues with something like a real money auction house worldwide can get lengthy and complicated).

I'm not saying February isn't possible (in fact I’d be really happy if it came out in February), I'm saying don't get your hopes up because I do not believe it's as likely as your article is making it out to be based on what Blizzard has told us about Diablo 3, what I know about Blizzard historically and what I know about Video Game development. My personal Guess is before the first half of the year (so May-June)

Like I said, a February release date is mostly a guess, the main point (involving no false hope) is that we can expect an announcement in December by latest if we are to get a February release.

A guess is fair enough, it's just that the entire tone of your article seems to indicate that Diablo 3 is being released late January or early February (Which is why I was wondering why March wasn't even mentioned)

And where did Blizzard state Q1 2012? All's I've ever heard was "early 2012".

And even if they DID state Q1, March is in Q1 so why are we completely excluding March?

Sounds like more fans creating false hope for themselves again.

I'm getting the same problem pmpch...

So, please, stop making assumptions base on what gossip you've heard from somebody else or from sites that doesn't have the full detailed interview,

If you actually looked at the link he provided, it was from the OFFICIAL Blizzard slide at gamescon and it said the MAX level for monsters was 61 specifically contradicting what Jay said. It's probably a typo but legitimately worth pointing out.

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=27822633767&sid=3000

Inferno Difficulty is the intended End-Game for ship. There was some speculation if it there was going to be other end game, but Inferno is it (and I'm actually okay with that being the end game atm provided they have some really rare drops to find)

Heyo! This forum seems a lot more positive and upbeat than the cess pool the official Blizzard D3 forums has become lately so I think I shall be coming here more often now

A few of you were bragging about "calling" a fourth difficulty (or Inferno being a 4th difficulty). A fourth difficulty has been guessed and suggested for years and with the announcement of Inferno a ton of people have been guessing it's the fourth difficulty. It's been about an old a suggestion as an endless dungeon

And second of all, as a purely HC player Inferno scares me... in a good kind of way though. I forsee lots of deaths.