Updated the game client to be able to scale the rate at which players can join and create games based on server capacity
Added in-game messaging to communicate how much time is left before a player can join or create another game
Added join/create game rate refunding so that if a player joins a game that is full, in addition to other cases, they will now be able to immediately try to join another game rather than being limited
BUG FIXES
Fixed a crash caused by the Amazon when using Arctic Blast
Fixed crashes that could occur when a user quits the game
In an effort to align patch versions, we will begin posting patch version #s for console patches.
A new patch will be available this morning for consoles including Xbox, PS4 and PS5 consoles. Nintendo Switch will receive this update later and we will update this thread when this occurs.
Updated the game client to be able to scale the rate at which players can join and create games based on server capacity
Added in-game messaging to communicate how much time is left before a player can join or create another game
Added join/create game rate refunding so that if a player joins a game that is full, in addition to other cases, they will now be able to immediately try to join another game rather than being limited
BUG FIXES
Fixed a crash caused by the Amazon when using Arctic Blast
Fixed crashes that could occur when a user quits the game
Fixed crashes relating to exiting the queue to play offline
Fixed crash that could occur when fighting Baal
Fixed crash that could occur when playing in legacy mode for extended periods of time
Fixed performance issue while playing in legacy mode in Furnace of Pain
Fixed an issue where Friend Lists wouldn’t show player location information correctly
Fixed an issue where the ‘Game Settings’ tab label would show as blank in non-English languages
We jumped onto the PTR to take a look at the seasonal theme for the upcoming Season 25. The theme revolves around Soul Shards, which are new legendary gems that can be inserted into helms or weapons with sockets. These Soul Shards will drop during Season 25 and only on a seasonal character. There are 7 in total, 3 for helms (Prime Evil) and 4 for weapons (Lesser Evil). Each gem can be upgraded up to 3 times using a new item called the Hellforge Ember. This is an early look at the PTR and things are subject to change.
Prime Evil Soul Shards
Fragment of Destruction
You move unhindered through enemies. Each enemy you pass through will be marked by destruction for 7 seconds. Each marked enemy that dies removes 1 second from one of your skills on cooldown. If the Mark of Destruction expires before the enemy dies, you lose 2% of your maximum health as damage. Marks are not applied if you are below 35% health.
Rank 1
+X% Life
Reduces cooldown of all skills by X%
Reduces all resource costs by X%
+X% Extra Gold from Monsters
+X% Experience. (X% at level 70)
Rank 2
+ Vitality/Strength/Dexterity/Intelligence, All Resist, or Reduced Damage from Ranged Attacks
Rank 3
You now leave a trail of fire in your wake that slays enemies with the Mark of Destruction that are below 10% health.
Shard of Hatred
You deal 15% reduced damage while you have 3 or fewer enemies within 25 yards. If more than 3 enemies are within the same distance, you deal 10% increased damage per enemy (to a maximum of 100%)
Rank 1
X% Life
Reduces cooldown of all skills by X%
Reduces all resource costs by X%
+X% Extra Gold from Monsters
+X% Experience. (X% at level 70)
Rank 2
+ Vitality/Strength/Dexterity/Intelligence, All Resist, or Reduced Damage from Ranged Attacks
Rank 3
Killing an elite enemy pulls all enemies within 40 yards to where the elite died.
Sliver of Terror
Your cooldowns are increased by 25%. For every skill on cooldown, you take 12.5% reduced damage and deal 75% increased damage.
Rank 1
+X% Life
Reduces cooldown of all skills by X%
Reduces all resource costs by X%
+X% Extra Gold from Monsters
+X% Experience. (X% at level 70)
Rank 2
+ Vitality/Strength/Dexterity/Intelligence, All Resist, or Reduced Damage from Ranged Attacks
Rank 3
Your attack speed and critical hit chance are increased by 7% for each skill on cooldown.
Lesser Evil Soul Shards
Stain of Sin
You deal 25% less damage. When you kill an Elite enemy, you spawn a pool of blood that increases the damage non-elite enemies receive by 250% and lasts 7 seconds.
Rank 1
+ Damage
Critical Hit Damage Increased by X%
Increases damage against elites by X%
+ Life per Hit
+ Thorns Damage
Rank 2
Elemental Damage
Rank 3
The pool of blood now collects Rift Progress Orbs
Remnant of Pain
Your Critical Hit Chance is reduced by 15%. Attacks against Incapacitated enemies are automatically critical hits.
Rank 1
+ Damage
Critical Hit Damage Increased by X%
Increases damage against Elites by X%
+ Life Per Hit
+ Thorns Damage
Rank 2
Elemental Damage
Rank 3
When you critically hit an enemy, you increase the attack speed of all players by 5% for 5 seconds. Max 10 stacks.
Essence of Anguish
Every time you deal poison damage to an enemy you increase your cooldown reduction, move3ment speed and damage received by 5% for 10 seconds. Max 10 stacks.
Rank 1
+ Damage
Critical Hit Damage Increased by X%
Increases damage against elites by X%
+ Life per Hit
+ Thorns Damage
Rank 2
Elemental Damage
Rank 3
Your movement speed and cooldown reduction can be increased up to 15 times by dealing poison damage to an enemy.
Dregs of Lies
Reduce the damage of enemies hit by 33% for 5 seconds. Damage you deal is reduced by 50%
Rank 1
+ Damage
Critical Hit Damage increased by X%
Increases damage against elites by X%
+ Life per Hit
+ Thorns Damage
Rank 2
Elemental Damage
Rank 3
On receiving fatal damage, spawn a shadow that prevents your death, restores your health to 35%, and grants +225 All Resist to all party members while it is active. The shadow only lasts 15 seconds.
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment (Official Post)
Our two-week PTR testing period for the 2.7.2 update begins November 4 and we're asking for your help to quell the tides of surging demons. Take a look at the preliminary patch notes below and start theorycrafting how you'll make the most of the Soul Shard system and item balance changes; Patch 2.7.2 PTR will be arriving soon.
Please note that this is a preview for PTR content, which is subject to change.
PTR Focus & Details
We’ll be conducting the Patch 2.7.2 PTR starting Thursday, November 4. During this time there may be periodic maintenances, outages, hotfixes, or minor patches.
There will be three PTR-unique buffs active to help you on your journey: increased Legendary drop rate, increased experience gains, and double Blood Shard drops. You can also buy new gear for testing from the special PTR vendor, Djank Mi'em, who will exchange Blood Shards for class-specific bags full of Legendary items that we'd love for you to test!
Class and Balance Changes: To ensure that the most significant class changes receive an ample amount of attention, we'd love for you to focus testing and feedback on the set changes to the Witch Doctor, Barbarian, Necromancer, Wizard and Demon Hunter.
New Season Theme Testing: We're looking to gather feedback on the seasonal theme content featuring Soul Shards.
So that we can efficiently review your posts, feedback should be provided in the PTR Feedback forum while bug reports should be provided in the PTR Bug Report forum.
PTR Testing Tips
As with our previous PTRs, this testing period is short, so it's best to hit the ground running. Whether you’re a PTR veteran or newcomer, we thought we’d pass along a few tips to get you started.
Because of the limited duration of this PTR, we ask that participants pick a particular portion of this update to focus on testing.
For example, if you’re primarily a Wizard player, consider what changes impact the Wizard specifically. What you like best, what you think may still need adjustment, and what you’d want to see in the future (even if that may be beyond the scope of this patch) are all good questions to ask yourself.
Prior to the start of PTR, consider stocking up on items like Puzzle Rings and Bovine Bardiches. Having these available after you import your character can make any necessary PTR farming much faster!
Try to break things! Just tell us when you do so we can make sure that the patch launch is as smooth as possible.
When providing feedback, focus less on a solution and more on your experience. How did the changes make you feel? Was there something “off” that you noticed? Did something seem wrong or insufficient? Suggestions are always welcome but identifying the issues themselves is most important.
Patch Notes
Below you will find the patch notes for the upcoming update for Diablo III, Patch 2.7.2.
New Season Theme: Season 25 introduces a new type of socketable item called Soul Shards. Nephalem can find 7 unique Soul Shards, based on the Lords of Hell, which give players demonic new powers. One of 3 Prime Evil Soul Shards can be equipped into Helms and one of 4 Lesser Evil Soul Shards can be equipped into Weapons. Each Soul Shard can be upgraded three times using a new seasonal-exclusive consumable, the Hellforge Ember.
Soul Shards and Hellforge Embers can drop from anywhere in Sanctuary, but Soul Shards have a higher chance to drop from Bosses. Soul Shards cannot be traded, but can be salvaged or utilized in Caldesann’s Despair. You may only equip one Prime Evil Soul Shard and one Lesser Evil Soul Shard at a time. Lastly, Soul Shards and Hellforge Embers only drop in Seasonal play, and will not transfer to your non-seasonal character when the season ends.
Developer's Note: With the upcoming 25th Anniversary of the Diablo Franchise, we wanted players to delve into the darker side of the Nephalem's past. In Season 25, players can embrace evil by infusing themselves with the essences of the Lords of Hell. Players will embark on their Season Journey to discover and upgrade demonic Soul Shards based on the seven Lords of Hell. By embodying a Prime and Lesser Evil, players will inflict new forms of pain and suffering on the demons of Sanctuary. We can't wait for players to get their hands on Soul Shards to start unlocking their true power.
Items
Item Changes
Remorseless: While both Wrath of the Berserker and Call of the Ancients are active, Hammer of the Ancients deals 600-800% increased damage.
Developer's Note: We wanted to buff the Barbarian's Hammer of the Ancients playstyle without putting the power into a specific set.
Shukrani's Triumph: Spirit Walk lasts until you attack 3 times or until an elite enemy is within 20 yards of you. Attacks while in the spirit realm deal 75-100% increased damage.
Lakumba's Ornament: Reduce all damage taken by 60% if your Soul Harvest stack is at least (1-3), and an additional 2% for each stack of Soul Harvest.
Spider Queen's Grasp: Corpse Spiders deals an additional 600-800% damage and releases a web on impact that Slows enemies by 80%.
Brood of Araneae: Corpse Spiders deals an additional 75-100% damage, and each spider bite causes the target to take an additional 1% damage from Corpse Spiders for 5 seconds.
Spirit of Arachyr (2-piece bonus): Corpse Spiders now spawns with health and attacks twice as fast.
Spirit of Arachyr (4-piece bonus): Summon a permanent Spider Queen who leaves behind webs that lasts for 15 seconds and Slows enemies. You take 75% reduced damage while in the web. The Spider Queen is commanded to move to where you cast your Corpse Spiders.
Developer's Note: We've reworked Witch Doctor's Spirit of Arachyr set, as well as several legendary Witch Doctor items. With these changes, we hope to infuse Spirit of Arachyr with more flavor and gameplay, as well as give Witch Doctors a much needed power increase.
Marauder's Encasement (4-piece bonus): Sentries deal 400% increased damage and cast Elemental Arrow, Chakram, Impale, Multishot, and Cluster Arrow when you do, as well as automatically cast your equipped Hatred spenders.
Marauder's Encasement (6-piece bonus): Your primary skills, Elemental Arrow, Chakram, Impale, Multishot, Cluster Arrow, Companions, Vengeance, and Sentries deal 12000% increased damage for every active Sentry.
The Shadow's Mantle (6-piece bonus): Impale deals an additional 75000% weapon damage to the first enemy hit, and 25000% to subsequent enemies.
Developer's Note: We adjusted the Demon Hunter Embodiment of the Marauder set to give it some of its legacy functionality and shifted power back to the Sentries. Additionally, we buffed The Shadow's Mantle set to make it more effective against multiple targets.
Bones of Rathma (6-piece bonus): Each permanent active minion increases the damage of Army of the Dead by 1750%, up to 31,500%.
Developer's Note: The Necromancer's Bones Rathma set redesign has not been as strong as we had initially hoped, so we've increased its power.
Firebird's Finery (2-piece bonus): Disintegrate Ignites enemies, causing them to take 1500% weapon damage per second until they die. When you die, a meteor falls from the sky and revives you. This effect has a 60-second cooldown.
Firebird's Finery (6-piece bonus): You gain 2500% increased damage while Ignite is applied to a target. Hitting an Ignited enemy with a non-channeling fire spell deals Ignite damage multiplied by Combustion stacks.
Developer's Note: The Wizard's Firebird's Finery was reborn in patch 2.7.0 and has been one of the strongest builds in the game for all activities since. It's time to reduce the power of Firebird's Finery to bring it more in line with other classes and builds.
Step 2: Navigate to the Diablo III tab on the left-hand menu.
Step 3: On the Diablo III screen, there is a drop-down menu right above the "Play" button (note that this may say "Install" if you do not have Diablo III currently installed). Select "PTR: Diablo III" from this drop-down menu before proceeding.
Step 4: Click Install to begin the installation process.
Your PTR account will be created automatically if you do not already have one. The PTR is available in all supported languages, and accounts from all regions are eligible to participate. For additional assistance with installing and launching the PTR, click here.
PTR Character Copy
The option to copy your existing Diablo III characters from your live account to the PTR will be available and can be done directly through the PTR client. However, only one region per account can be copied at a time. So, if you choose to copy characters from your account in a different region, any previously copied PTR characters will be lost.
Step 1: Log into the live game and then log out.
Step 2: Log into PTR client and create a level 1 character. After you're done, return to the main character screen.
Step 3: Click on the "PTR Copy" button located in the upper right-hand corner. (The PTR Copy button will not appear in-game until you have created a new level 1 character.)
Step 4: Select your region.
Step 5: Click "Copy." This will copy all characters on your account from the selected region.
Step 6: You will be disconnected from the PTR client.
Step 7: Log back in. Your copied characters will be available for play.
Please note that you can only copy characters from one gameplay region at a time. If you choose to copy characters from a different region, any previously copied PTR characters will be lost. In addition, you can only copy characters over to your PTR account once every 24 hours. Attempting to copy characters before this cooldown is up will result in an error.
As this is a test server, please anticipate uneven game performance, and note that restarts and downtime may occur without warning. Thank you, and we look forward to your feedback!
The Diablo Immortal Closed Beta starts today! There are a few key notes for this test:
Controller Support is being added
The region of Canada is opening up to testing.
Monetization is being added for testing, and any money spent will be credited for the player to use once the game officially launches.
Due to monetization being added, this test will be Android only.
Set items are being added
The Necromancer is now playable
A new 30 v 1 event will take place in the Cycle of Strife
Diablo Immortal is set to launch in the first half of 2022!
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment (Official Post)
Adventurers, prepare. Diablo Immortal is entering its Beta testing phase, bringing us one step closer to worldwide launch. Select participants will experience a host of exciting new features and updates. Starting October 28 select participants in Canada and Australia will journey back to Sanctuary.
Additionally, we’ll be expanding Closed Beta access to users in South Korea, Japan, and China at a later time. We’re thrilled to introduce the Necromancer class, new challenging PvE encounters, epic battles to become the Immortal, controller support, and more!
Canada
5:00 p.m. (PDT) on October 28
Australia
5:00 p.m. (PDT) on October 28
Back in August, our team shared a Development Update on Diablo Immortal, highlighting key areas of focus we were going to revisit and level up following the Closed Alpha test. After diving into feedback from across channels like Reddit, social media, in-game surveys, and even collaborating with players in our community, we saw many opportunities to iterate on key gameplay systems as we progressed on the road to Beta. Today we kick off our Closed Beta and we can’t wait to share the exciting changes we have in place. Let’s dive in!
PLEASE NOTE:Diablo Immortal is still in-development. Game content in the Closed Beta is not final and subject to change.
NEW CLASS
Haunt your foes with the dead, so even the demons of the Burning Hells will feel dread.
Reanimate corpses to protect the living. Curse the damned with baneful skills. Inflict pestilence on the enemy. Alienated and shunned by society, those who underestimate your power are ignorant of their grave mistake. Only your commands echo in eternity.
Raise the dead. Raise the stakes. The Necromancer is here (one of six classes that will be available at worldwide launch).
CYCLE OF STRIFE UPDATE
The journey vying for the Eternal Crown is arduous and gripping. Requiring Shadow players to rally under a single banner to form a Dark House, fight other Shadows in competing Dark Houses in the Rite of Exile, and ultimately qualify as the top Dark House to challenge the Immortals. The Shadows who win the Rite of Exile will progress to a new endgame PvP confrontation. In a desperate struggle, the Immortal will harness ancient powers to defend their reign as a raid boss. The Challenge of the Immortal pits 30 players (Shadows) against 1 (Immortal), a decisive moment in the larger Cycle of Strife. The outcome will ripple across the realm.
PVP UPDATES
In addition to the exciting feature coming to the Cycle of Strife, other PvP systems that have undergone iteration will be making their debut.
Those with the ambition to become the best PvPers in the game will be able to stake their claim. The Battleground Ladder is coming, enabling players to measure their prowess against others in their realm.
There is no better time to jump in the fray, as we’ve also made changes to class balance, time to kill, and other impactful elements of Battleground PvP in Diablo Immortal.
SET ITEMS
On top of the above changes, a new end-game gear system has been implemented. In Closed Beta, Set Items will become available for secondary gear slots. Once a player wears a sufficient number of items from the same Set, that player will be bestowed an additional bonus.
To elaborate on this new system, each "Set" is for the same six slots, including Hands, Feet, Rings (2), Neck, and Waist. Each Set has two unique bonuses: one for wearing three pieces, and one for wearing six pieces. So, ultimately, you can wear a full Set for its two bonuses, or alternatively, mix three pieces of two different sets for two different three-piece bonuses.
Sets contain attributes around primary attacks, survival/health, fast movement, damage over time, summoning pets, or crowd-controlling enemies, allowing players to mix and match to their desired playstyle.
ENHANCED ITEM DROPS
Active players who progress in Paragon level or seek challenges by adventuring in higher-difficulty content will reap greater rewards. Both paths unlock the potential for the game to drop more powerful items. More powerful items will enable players to battle the minions of Hell on greater difficulties with even greater rewards.
THE HELLIQUARY UPDATE
Muster your courage and rally your friends. More mayhem is coming to the Helliquary. Helliquary bosses are now designed for raids of eight players. This is one of many changes we’re making to PvE, to make it more challenging and rewarding to players who complete these objectives as they cycle weekly.
PVE UPDATES
Beyond the Helliquary, we’re making changes to the various PvE activities. We want to provide players with choices about whether they prefer doing Bounties, Elder Rifts, or Dungeons to progress their character. You get to choose which activities you want to engage in and no matter what you choose, you’ll earn progress on the Battle Pass. The rewards from Bounties have been moved to the Battle Pass so players have the flexibility to earn the rewards in any way they want.
Dungeon crawling is a hallmark of the Diablo experience—the pursuit of loot and earning new gear is a critical ingredient to the formula of fun in our games. We’ve made Challenge Rifts a core part of your gear progression, especially higher Challenge Rifts. For players who want the highest level gear, seek out new upgrade materials in Challenge Rifts that can’t be acquired any other way.
CONTROLLER SUPPORT
We’ve heard players loud and clear and our long-term goal is to provide full controller support for Diablo Immortal. We’re not there yet, and there is more work to do. The Closed Beta will give players an early preview of this functionality. This early look at controller support will allow the use of a controller to navigate around the world and engage in combat with monsters. This early controller support comes with some major caveats:
The Closed Beta does not include controller support for UI menus such as inventory, skills, Codex, Paragon, or vendors. You will still need to use the touchscreen to navigate UI screens.
Not all controllers are supported. Device compatibility is part of our testing goals during Closed Beta.
You may experience some technical difficulties such as controller disconnection.
SUPPORTED CONTROLLERS FOR THE CLOSED BETA
Xbox One Wireless Bluetooth Controller
Xbox Series X|S Bluetooth Controller
Xbox Elite Controller Series 2
Xbox Adaptive Controller
Sony Dualshock 4
Razer Kishi
PLEASE NOTE:More mobile compatible controllers will be supported at global release.
We look forward your feedback as we work to make the game more accessible to all.
MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES
Beyond these exciting PvP and PvE changes, more tuning and polish is happening behind the scenes affecting the Codex, Paragon, and XP systems. Many of these tweaks and changes are aimed at smoothing the leveling and progression experience. For example, the Codex Power Progression UI has been improved to provide players a clearer path of progression through tutorials and goals.
OPTIONAL IN-GAME PURCHASES
The Closed Beta will, for the first time, enable in-game purchasing on Android devices. This marks an important development milestone as we progress forward. We want all Diablo Immortal players to feel good about their investment in the game, and that any purchases they choose to make deliver the value they expect. Validating the appeal of the game in this way is an important component of ensuring a smooth launch, while also enabling us to support the game for years to come. Players will be able to purchase the Empowered Battle Pass, Eternal Orbs (which may be used to purchase consumable items such as Crests in-game), and promotional bundles. For more information on the team’s approach to monetization in Diablo Immortal please see our Free to Play Approach and Values.
PLEASE NOTE:All purchases made during Closed Beta will be credited to the account used as in-game balance at game launch. In-game progress will be wiped when Closed Beta has completed. For example: If you spend $5.00 during the Closed Beta, when you download Diablo Immortal at official launch and connect your Battle.net account, you’ll receive a $5.00 in-game credit. You will then have the option to apply this in-game credit when you make real-money purchases.
LET THE BETA COMMENCE
The Closed Beta is here and we’d love to hear from our participants! We welcome you to share your impressions and feedback on the r/DiabloImmortal subreddit or across our other channels. As we progress through the Closed Beta, we’ll be listening to your feedback as we aim to craft an awesome Diablo experience.
If you want to learn more about Diablo Immortal, check out our website here, or for real-time updates, follow our official Twitter @DiabloImmortal!
Heroes of Sanctuary, thank you—and have fun raising some Hell this Halloween season!
FAQ
Q. Why is the Closed Beta only available on Android devices?
A:For the Closed Beta we have chosen to only test on Android in order to access and study the optional in-game purchase experience.
Q. How do I take part in the Closed Beta?
A:Currently, the Closed Beta is primarily limited to Android users in Canada, Australia, South Korea, Japan, and China. Please reference the dates and times above for when those tests begin.
Q. How many players will take part in the Closed Beta?
A:We anticipate tens of thousands will be able to take part in the Closed Beta. Mobile game development can often benefit from multiple rounds of public testing. By holding this Closed Beta in limited regions, we’ll be able to take in valuable server stability and client performance data, as well as critical gameplay feedback, to ensure that Diablo Immortal feels like a wonderful experience before going wider in the future.
Q. How long will the Closed Beta last?
A:We are aiming to keep the Closed Beta running under three months. We’ll be testing more late-game systems and controller support this time around, so we’re keeping it up longer to make sure players have enough time to play through all of them.
Q. What devices does Diablo Immortal support?
A:We are aiming to bring epic Diablo gameplay to as many devices and players as possible. The Diablo Immortal Closed Beta will be playable on Android devices and have the following minimum requirements:
Android Minimum Requirements
CPU - Snapdragon 670 / Exynos 8895 and higher
GPU - Adreno 615 / Mali-G71 MP20 and higher
RAM - 2GB of RAM and higher
Version - Android OS 5.0 (Lollipop) and higher
Q. When will Diablo Immortal be released?
A:We are planning to release Diablo Immortal in the first half of 2022.
SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 28, 2021-- Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) CEO Bobby Kotick today sent the following letter to all employees.
October 28, 2021
A few weeks ago, I reiterated our commitment to become the most welcoming, inclusive company in our industry. Today, I want to update you on some initial progress and important, additional steps we are taking to advance our commitment with greater impact, transparency, and urgency.
First, I want to offer my sincere gratitude for your continued focus and dedication to our players – and to each other. You’ve shown incredible resilience throughout the pandemic, exceptional care for colleagues and communities, and the relentless commitment to excellence, creative independence, and purpose that always sets our company – and our franchises – apart. During a tremendously challenging time for so many people, you’ve continued to bring joy and connection to our players and communities around the world.
My goal – and the goal of our Board, our entire senior corporate team, our business unit leaders, and their teams – is to make sure you have the resources, culture, and commitment from leadership you need to succeed in our collective aspiration to be the model workplace in our industry.
Over the last decade, as we’ve brought in new companies, grown our workforce, and expanded our business, we believed we had the systems, policies, and people in place to ensure that our company always lived up to its reputation as a great place to work. Clearly, in some vitally important aspects, we didn’t.
The guardrails weren’t in place everywhere to ensure that our values were being upheld. In some cases, people didn’t consistently feel comfortable reporting concerns, or their concerns weren’t always addressed promptly or properly. People were deeply let down and, for that, I am truly sorry.
Being welcoming and inclusive, in the context of our workplace, is crystal clear. We will still passionately debate ideas, employ healthy skepticism when appropriate, and demand excellence and rigor in all of our pursuits – but we will always treat each other with dignity and respect. And regardless of differences, voices will be heard, perspectives welcomed, and contributions valued.
We are a business fueled by passion and performance. These are cornerstones of our creative excellence but we must constantly recognize, embrace, and celebrate that the very best ideas, the most rigorous execution of those ideas, and ultimately our responsibility to our players and each other are best served by a culture that recognizes and respects that true excellence comes from diverse views, voices, and talents.
We’ve made progress over the last few years fostering that diversity and creating a better work environment – a commitment that has improved in scope and speed in recent months. We’ve tripled our investment in anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training; we’ve made meaningful organizational changes; and we’ve substantially increased resources for reporting and carefully investigating improper behavior.
The EEOC’s investigative process, public discussion on discrimination and harassment, and your reports and suggestions helped shine a light on practices we need to improve, policies that need to be strengthened, and resources we are now adding. The EEOC’s review was a catalyst to sharpen our focus on the ways we can become a company others emulate as a model for workplace excellence and one with an unwavering commitment to its values.
We havea lot more to do if we are to be the company that others emulate.
I want to share five new changes we are implementing, but recognize being a model for workplace excellence will be a dynamic process requiring additional changes and an unrelenting commitment to improvement.
We are launching a new zero-tolerance harassment policy company-wide – In the past, when we discovered and substantiated harassment, we terminated some employees and provided verbal or written warnings or different disciplinary actions to others. In retrospect, to achieve our goals for workplace excellence, this approach is no longer adequate. We need tougher rules and consistent monitoring across the entire company to make sure reports are being handled correctly and discipline is appropriate and swift.
As a result, we are implementing a zero-tolerance policy across Activision Blizzard that will be applied consistently. Our goal is to have the strictest harassment and non-retaliation policies of any employer, and we will continue to examine and tighten our standards to achieve this goal everywhere we do business.
Any Activision Blizzard employee found through our new investigative processes and resources to have retaliated against anyone for making a compliance complaint will be terminated immediately.
In many other instances of workplace misconduct, we will no longer rely on written warnings: termination will be the outcome, including in most cases of harassment based on any legally protected category.
Future employment contracts and equity awards will be clear: termination for these reasons will result in the immediate forfeiture of future compensation.
We also want to ensure that employees who file reports are encouraged, protected, and heard. For all reports of harassment and retaliation, we will investigate the allegation and whether the Activision Blizzard personnel who received the report of such behavior took the appropriate steps to protect the integrity of our compliance processes.
There may be some places around the world where local law may restrict some of these measures. In those cases, we will apply the highest permissible standards and the strongest possible discipline.
We will increase the percentage of women and non-binary people in our workforce by 50% and will invest $250 million to accelerate opportunities for diverse talent –Today, approximately 23% of our global employee population identifies as women or non-binary. Building on the success that King and other business units have achieved, we will seek to increase our percentage of women and non-binary professionals by approximately 50% – to more than one-third across the entire company – within the next five years and hopefully faster. Each franchise team, business unit, and functional area will be expected to have plans to help fulfill this ambition.
With respect to diversity, while we perform better than our peers with 30% of our U.S. workforce from diverse or under-represented communities, broadening this progress will continue to be a significant focus of mine as well as company, business unit, and franchise leadership.
To further this commitment, we’ll be investing an additional $250 million over the next 10 years in initiatives that foster expanded opportunities in gaming and technology for under-represented communities. This commitment includes inspiring diverse talent to pursue career opportunities in gaming through an ABK Academy that includes partnerships with colleges and technical schools serving under-represented communities, mentorships for participants, and a rotating apprenticeship program that leads to game development jobs, similar to the programs we began with the United Negro College Fund and Management Leadership for Tomorrow. We will also provide learning, development, and advanced degree opportunities for current employees to increase the number of women and those from under-represented communities in leadership positions across the company and in our industry.
In the coming months, Brian Bulatao, Julie Hodges, and I will share details about how we are operationalizing these goals and implementing and measuring this expanded investment.
Based on feedback from employees, we are waiving required arbitration of sexual harassment and discrimination claims – For any Activision Blizzard employee who chooses not to arbitrate an individual claim of sexual harassment, unlawful discrimination, or related retaliation arising in the future, the company will waive any obligation to do so.
We will continue to increase visibility on pay equity – As described in the recent note from our President, Daniel Alegre, and our Chief Administrative Officer, Brian Bulatao, the company continues to focus on pay equity for employees. In fact, our U.S. analysis showed that women at the company on average earned slightly more than men for comparable work in 2020. To ensure transparency on our continuing commitment to pay equity, we will report these results annually.
We will provide regular progress updates – We will be monitoring the progress of our business units, franchise teams, and functional leaders with respect to workplace initiatives and we will provide a status report quarterly. We also will be adding a dedicated focus on this vital work in our annual report to shareholders and in our annual ESG report with information on gender hiring, diversity hiring, and workplace progress.
Specifics on how these measures will be implemented and tracked will be forthcoming.
Lastly, I want to ensure that every available resource is being used in the service of becoming the industry leader in workplace excellence. Accordingly, I have asked our Board of Directors to reduce my total compensation until the Board has determined that we have achieved the transformational gender-related goals and other commitments described above. Specifically, I have asked the Board to reduce my pay to the lowest amount California law will allow for people earning a salary, which this year is $62,500. To be clear, this is a reduction in my overall compensation, not just my salary. I am asking not to receive any bonuses or be granted any equity during this time.
There’s a tendency when companies face challenging moments to lose sight of what makes them special, what makes them great. You are a truly special group of people who – through passion, conviction, drive, and determination – keep accomplishing extraordinary things. While the critical work ahead won’t be easy, I am confident our collective commitment to workplace excellence will be achieved.
I truly wish not a single employee had had an experience at work that resulted in hurt, humiliation, or worse – and to those who were affected, I sincerely apologize. You have my commitment that we will do everything possible to honor our values and create the workplace every member of this team deserves.
I am grateful for how much people care about this company, and I appreciate that many past and present employees have reached out with their thoughts, concerns, complaints, and suggestions. Your experiences, so courageously shared, serve as reason and reminder for why it is so important for us to do better. And we will.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We may, in some cases, use terms such as “predicts,” “believes,” “potential,” “proposed,” “continue,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “may,” “could,” “might,” “will,” “should” or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to numerous important factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from the Company’s current expectations. These and other risks are described in the Company’s periodic reports, including the annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statements that the Company makes in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.
Blizzard have announced the cancellation of the previously announced BlizzConline event scheduled for next year, and are instead taking the time to re-imagine what BlizzCon may look like in the future.
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment (Official Post)
To the Blizzard community,
We’ve decided to take a step back and pause on planning the previously announced BlizzConline event scheduled for early next year. This was a tough decision for all of us to make, but it’s the right one.
Any BlizzCon event takes every single one of us to make happen, an entire-company effort, fueled by our desire to share what we create with the community we care about so much. At this time, we feel the energy it would take to put on a show like this is best directed towards supporting our teams and progressing development of our games and experiences.
Additionally, we would also like to take the time to reimagine what a BlizzCon event of the future could look like. The first BlizzCon was held 16 years ago, and so much has changed in the time since—most notably, the multiple ways in which players and communities can come together and feel like they are a part of something bigger. Whatever the event looks like in the future, we also need to ensure that it feels as safe, welcoming, and inclusive as possible. We’re committed to continual communication with our players, and we see BlizzCon playing a big role in that going forward. We’re excited about what we’ll do with the event when we revisit it in the future.
One more thing we wanted to make clear: even though we aren’t holding BlizzConline in February, we’ll still be making announcements and updates for our games. We’re proud of our teams and the progress they’ve made across our games. We have a lot of exciting upcoming news and releases to share with you.You’ll continue hearing about those through our franchise channels, with the talented people on the BlizzCon team playing a part in supporting these efforts.
We’ll miss seeing you, but don’t worry. We’ll be back together soon.
Since the launch of Diablo II: Resurrected, we have been experiencing multiple server issues, and we wanted to provide some transparency around what is causing these issues and the steps we have taken so far to address them. We also want to give you some insight into how we’re moving forward.
tl;dr: Our server outages have not been caused by a singular issue; we are solving each problem as they arise, with both mitigating solves and longer-term architectural changes. A small number of players have experienced character progression loss–moving forward, any loss due to a server crash should be limited to several minutes. This is not a complete solve to us, and we are continuing to work on this issue. Our team, with the help of others at Blizzard, are working to bring the game experience to a place that feels good for everyone.
We’re going to get a little bit into the weeds here with some engineering specifics, but we hope that overall this helps you understand why these outages have been occurring and what we’ve been doing to address each instance, as well as how we’re investigating the overall root cause. Let’s start at the beginning.
The problem(s) with the servers:
Before we talk about the problems, we’ll briefly give you some context as to how our server databases work. First, there’s our global database, which exists as the single source of truth for all your character information and progress. As you can imagine, that’s a big task for one database, and wouldn’t cope on its own. So to alleviate load and latency on our global database, each region–NA, EU, and Asia–has individual databases that also store your character’s information and progress, and your region’s database will periodically write to the global one. Most of your in-game actions are performed against this regional database because it’s faster, and your character is “locked” there to maintain the individual character record integrity. The global database also has a back-up in case the main fails.
With that in mind, to explain what’s been going on, we’ll be focusing on the downtimes experienced between Saturday October 9 to now.
On Saturday morning Pacific time, we suffered a global outage due to a sudden, significant surge in traffic. This was a new threshold that our servers had not experienced at all, not even at launch. This was exacerbated by an update we had rolled out the previous day intended to enhance performance around game creation–these two factors combined overloaded our global database, causing it to time out. We decided to roll back that Friday update we’d previously deployed, hoping that would ease the load on the servers leading into Sunday while also giving us the space to investigate deeper into the root cause.
On Sunday, though, it became clear what we’d done on Saturday wasn’t enough–we saw an even higher increase in traffic, causing us to hit another outage. Our game servers were observing the disconnect from the database and immediately attempted to reconnect, repeatedly, which meant the database never had time to catch up on the work we had completed because it was too busy handling a continuous stream of connection attempts by game servers. During this time, we also saw we could make configuration improvements to our database event logging, which is necessary to restore a healthy state in case of database failure, so we completed those, and undertook further root cause analysis.
The double-edged sword of Sunday’s outage was that because of what we’d dealt with on Saturday, we had created what was essentially a playbook on how to recover from it quickly. Which was good.
But because we came online again so quickly in a peak window of player activity, with hundreds of thousands of games within tens of minutes, we fell over again. Which was bad.
So we had many fixes to deploy, including configuration and code improvements, which we deployed onto the backup global database. This leads us into Monday, October 11, when we made the switch between the global databases. This led to another outage, when our backup database was erroneously continuing to run its backup process, meaning that it spent most of its time trying to copy from the other database when it should’ve been servicing requests from servers. During this time, we discovered further issues, and we made further improvements–we found a since-deprecated-but-taxing query we could eliminate entirely from the database, we optimized eligibility checks for players when they join a game, further alleviating the load, and we have further performance improvements in testing as we speak. We also believe we fixed the database-reconnect storms we were seeing, because we didn’t see it occur on Tuesday.
Then Tuesday, we hit another concurrent player high, with a few hundreds of thousands of players in one region alone. This made us hit another incident of degraded database performance, the cause of which is currently being worked on by our database engineers. We also reached out to other engineers around Blizzard to work on smaller fixes as our own team focused on core server issues, and we reached out to our third-party partners for assistance as well.
Why this is happening:
In staying true to the original game, we kept a lot of legacy code. However, one legacy service in particular is struggling to keep up with modern player behavior.
This service, with some upgrades from the original, handles critical pieces of game functionality, namely game creation/joining, updating/reading/filtering game lists, verifying game server health, and reading characters from the database to ensure your character can participate in whatever it is you’re filtering for. Importantly, this service is a singleton, which means we can only run one instance of it in order to ensure all players are seeing the most up-to-date and correct game list at all times. We did optimize this service in many ways to conform to more modern technology, but as we previously mentioned, a lot of our issues stem from game creation.
We mention “modern player behavior” because it’s an interesting point to think about. In 2001, there wasn’t nearly as much content on the internet around how to play Diablo II “correctly” (Baal runs for XP, Pindleskin/Ancient Sewers/etc for magic find, etc). Today, however, a new player can look up any number of amazing content creators who can teach them how to play the game in different ways, many of them including lots of database load in the form of creating, loading, and destroying games in quick succession. Though we did foresee this–with players making fresh characters on fresh servers, working hard to get their magic-finding items–we vastly underestimated the scope we derived from beta testing.
Additionally, overall, we were saving too often to the global database: There is no need to do this as often as we were. We should really be saving you to the regional database, and only saving you to the global database when we need to unlock you–this is one of the mitigations we have put in place. Right now we are writing code to change how we do this entirely, so we will almost never be saving to the global database, which will significantly reduce the load on that server, but that is an architecture redesign which will take some time to build, test, then implement.
A note about progress loss:
The progress loss some players have experienced is due to the way we do character locks both in the regional and global databases–we lock your character in the global database when you are assigned to a region (for example, when you play in the US region, your character is locked to the US region, and most actions are resolved in the US region’s database.)
The problem was that during a server outage, when the database was falling over, a number of characters were becoming stuck in the regional database, and we had no way of moving them over to the global database. At that time, we believed we had two options: we either unlock everyone with unsaved changes in the global database, therefore losing some progress due to an overwrite that would occur in the global database, or we bring the game down entirely for an indeterminate amount of time and run a script to write the regional data to the global database.
At the time, we acted on the former: we felt it was more important to keep the game up so people could play, rather than take the game down for a long period of time to restore the data. We are deeply sorry to any players who lost important progress or valuable items. As players ourselves, we know the sting of a rollback, and feel it deeply.
Moving forward, we believe we have a way to restore characters that doesn’t lead to any significant data loss–it should be limited to several minutes of loss, if any, in the event of a server crash.
This is better, but still not good enough in our eyes.
What we are doing about it:
Rate limiting: We are limiting the number of operations to the database around creating and joining games, and we know this is being felt by a lot of you. For example, for those of you doing Pindleskin runs, you’ll be in and out of a game and creating a new one within 20 seconds. In this case, you will be rate limited at a point. When this occurs, the error message will say there is an issue communicating with game servers: this is not an indicator that game servers are down in this particular instance, it just means you have been rate limited to reduce load temporarily on the database, in the interest of keeping the game running. We can assure you this is just mitigation for now–we do not see this as a long-term fix.
Login Queue Creation: This past weekend was a series of problems, not the same problem over and over again. Due to a revitalized playerbase, the addition of multiple platforms, and other problems associated with scaling, we may continue to run into small problems. To diagnose and address them swiftly, we need to make sure the “herding”–large numbers of players logging in simultaneously–stops. To address this, we have people working on a login queue, much like you may have experienced in World of Warcraft. This will keep the population at the safe level we have at the time, so we can monitor where the system is straining and address it before it brings the game down completely. Each time we fix a strain, we’ll be able to increase the population caps. This login queue has already been partially implemented on the backend (right now, it looks like a failed authentication in the client) and should be fully deployed in the coming days on PC, with console to follow after.
Breaking out critical pieces of functionality into smaller services: This work is both partially in progress for things we can tackle in less than a day (some have been completed already this week) and also planned for larger projects, like new microservices (for example, a GameList service that is only responsible for providing the game list to players). Once critical functionality has been broken down, we can look into scaling up our game management services, which will reduce the amount of load.
We have people working incredibly hard to manage incidents in real-time, diagnosing issues, and implementing fixes–not just on the D2R team, but across Blizzard. This game means so much to all of us. A lot of us on the team are lifelong D2 players–we played during its initial launch back in 2001, some are part of the modding community, and so on. We can assure you that we will keep working until the game experience feels good to us not only as developers, but as players and members of the community ourselves.
Please continue to submit your feedback to the Diablo II: Resurrected forum 117, report your bugs to our Bug Report forum 37, and for troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum 20. Thank you for your ongoing communication with us across all channels–it’s invaluable to us as we work on these issues.
The Diablo community team will keep you updated on our progress via the forums.
A new patch is now available for Xbox consoles and PlayStation 4 consoles. PC, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 consoles will follow shortly and we will update this thread when they become available on those platforms.
Improvements to character deletion to help users from accidentally deleting their characters.
STABILITY AND PERFORMANCE
Fixed a crash that could occur when using the legacy toggle after extended play sessions
Fixed a crash that could occur when the Korean IGR playtime warning UI would appear (PC Only)
Fixed a crash that could occur after launching the game with no existing settings file (PC Only)
Fixed a crash that could occur when binding passive abilities to the interact button
Stability improvements in the effects system
Stability improvements on game shutdown
Fixes to localizations and subtitles
Other minor crash/stability fixes
Wyatt Cheng Twitter Thread Regarding Diablo III & The Auction House
Wyatt posted an insightful thread on Twitter that debunks the old thought of Diablo III originally being tuned the use of the Auction House.
Gonna set the record straight on a Diablo 3 tidbit. This won't be popular but I feel with D2R on everybody's mind, now is a more relevant time than others to bring this up. With the design lessons I learned at the end /thread.
Hello, and welcome once again to a new Diablo IV Quarterly Update.
I'm Joe Shely from the Diablo IV team. As a design lead who has been working on this dark, shared, open world action role-playing game from the beginning, I’m honored to continue the vision of Diablo IV as its new Game Director, and I’m humbled to represent the team pouring their hearts into this game.
Like many of you, our team has been reflecting upon recent events. A lot has happened since our last blog and the hard work of practicing the values we aspire to must continue. In parallel with that important work, development of Diablo IV continues too.
Over the past few years, we've assembled a strong team with incredible passion for Diablo IV. You, Diablo’s fans, are a critical part of this team. With the help of your valuable feedback, we've steadily refined and deepened the game experience. We have ways to go, and while much has changed, our commitment to the game is unwavering.
Sanctuary should always be items glittering in dark dungeons. Tales of powerful heroes standing against the onslaught of hell. Lands where trials, treasure, and terrible monsters lie around every corner, equal parts familiar and boundless in its possibilities. Doing this world justice is a solemn responsibility. Today, we're taking a deep dive into the sound design of Diablo IV. Sound is a sometimes underappreciated yet integral element of the game's design, serving as a channel for communicating everything from incoming damage, to confirmation that a button press was registered by the game, to the intensity of a combat sequence. Try turning off the sound in a Diablo game sometime; you'll find your eyes have to work a lot harder to follow the action.
Sound also conveys the subtext of the world through which you adventure. It supports the rising and falling action of the campaign and immerses you into the ambient life of a region, transporting you into the game world. While you're reading through the blog, I encourage you to listen to the ambient tracks and pay attention to their effect on your heartrate and emotions. Try closing your eyes while listening to get a better sense of how much is being communicated.
Crafting Diablo's sound requires science, art... and the occasional ball of fire. Sound Supervisor Kris Giampa and his team have fascinating insights to share in this behind-the-scenes look at how it all works.
We hope you enjoy this update and look forward to your thoughts and reactions. As promised, our next blog will cover endgame systems and visual effects. It's been a while since we looked at systems, and there's a lot we're excited to share. Let us know what topics you'd like to hear about in the future too!
We are grateful to have you with us on this journey. Thank you for playing the stuff we make.
-Joe Shely, Game Director, Diablo IV
The Sound Design of Diablo IV
Hello traveler, I’m Kris Giampa, Sound Supervisor for Diablo IV.
The sound team has been steadily cranking away on the soundscape for a while now, and while we aren’t ready to go in depth about the music side of Diablo IV quite yet, we wanted to start to give you some insight into some of the audio processes, content, and motivations behind the sound for the game.
Before we begin, we wanted to give you something to listen to while you are reading this quarterly update blog. Please enjoy the snowy, dark, and stormy ambience of Fractured Peaks below as you start on your journey.
Sound and music in games are the invisible glue that supports the storytelling and ties you to your character and their actions during gameplay. Creating sound for games is an exciting artistic endeavor that you can’t see— only hear. However, you can feel it literally, with the soundwaves against your body depending on what you are listening back on. It’s an amazing medium that can also affect how you feel emotionally while playing a game. A lot of the time it’s subtle, and other times it’s over the top, but always there to support the moment-to-moment gameplay. We hope you enjoy this dive into various aspects of the game’s soundscape, and you’ll have plenty more to look forward to and experience when you finally get to play it!
Naturally, we want anyone and everyone who might be hearing impaired to enjoy the experience of Diablo IV as well. So, we are taking measures to broaden the experience to be inclusive for people with hearing or visual disabilities. There are various accessibility features underway that we hope to talk about more in the future.
The Devil is in the details
For the Diablo IV soundscape we’ve continued the tradition of gratifying combat, expanded upon the ambience to support the epic open world, continued to embrace the darkness in tone and gore while also trying to deliver a cleaner-yet-punchy audio mix that’s adapting to the situations as you play.
One of the biggest goals we try to focus on as sound designers is to make the highest quality sounds to be triggered back in the game real-time and make them seem believable as well as grounded within the game world, tied to what you are experiencing. The randomness of audio playback is of the utmost importance when it comes to gameplay. If you think about real life, nothing is ever heard the exact same way twice due to your listening environment and the positioning of a sound source. Sounds never play back at the same exact sound pressure level along with the reflections within your environment and everything else happening around you at that moment in time. In essence, there are always subtle, real-life reasons as to why nothing ever sounds exactly the same. So, as sound designers for video games, we always strive to introduce subtle, randomized variation to not only the sound design itself, but also for when you hear it in the game. When we are doing our job correctly, it’s something you tend to not notice and supports your immersion into the game world by backing up the incredible visuals, story, and end-to-end experience.
Another huge goal we have when creating audio for Diablo IV is to fill in sounds for just about everything that’s occurring on your screen. Whether it’s the world ambience, monsters idling offscreen, the tiny chunks of wood that are colliding off a wall when you break an object... everything should make a sound. We pour countless hours of effort into covering almost everything you see and don’t see, while also keeping it subtle enough to not be distracting and just feel right. The devil certainly lurks within the details...
However, just because we are filling in as much sound as we can, it doesn’t mean you need to hear it every time. The playback engine within the game will not trigger too many instances of a sound if they are trying to play at the same time based on strict settings we create as basic rules. Because of the isometric camera view and being able to see so much on screen at once, we must limit how many instances of each sound will playback at any given moment. Once dialed in correctly, you tend not to notice that some instances were never triggered, and that helps with the clarity of the audio mix. It’s a fine line we straddle during big moments with a lot going on screen.
How about we get on to more of the creative side of sound design? Naturally, there is no Diablo game without the heroes who do your bidding to vanquish the various evils that lie in your path. Let’s talk about some of the fire-based Sorcerer skills that partly define the class...
Hero Fire Skills
The sound crew luckily gets to record all kinds of neat and unique sounds for the game so that we have plenty of sound source to edit from when it comes time to start sound designing. Sound Design is technically described as taking a recorded audio source, editing it, and processing it to be used in another medium. In the case of Sound Design for games, we’ll record raw audio, re-process them, and edit it for our gameplay needs in various ways to achieve something that sounds clean, usable, and replayable for gameplay. The sound could be exactly what it was originally meant for or end up sounding completely different and used for something else entirely.
Something we always tend to need for a game like Diablo is, of course, fire! When time permits, we plan for some time to record sounds out in the field. For Diablo IV, one of the first big recordings we did as a team was a desert fire session before the lockdown for COVID-19. We traveled far from Blizzard HQ to record various types of fire sounds in the deserts of California, armed with multiple recording rigs and microphones. Thankfully, since it was wintertime, it wasn’t too hot during the day and just a bit cold at night. While our main goal was to capture fire, we ended up capturing all kinds of other sounds we have used during production, like ambience, rocks impacts, foliage movements, wood impacts, door slams, wooden cabin creaks, metal impacts, and scrapes.
Sorcerer Skills
Firebolt and Inferno
Some of the fire recordings were then used specifically for the Sorcerer skills Firebolt and Inferno. For the skill Firebolt, we recorded sets of wispy and smoldering flame whooshes using a fire staff or a dried-out medium-sized log of wood and performed the sound in various ways around sets of microphones. Once we had a nice assortment of different types of fire sounds, we then edited and processed those fire whooshes into game-ready one-shot audio files for the casting and impact sounds, as well as longer loops for the projectile traveling through the air. It all comes together as one cohesive-sounding experience once we get it hooked up in the game to play back as the entire skill sound effect set for Firebolt.
For the Inferno Sorcerer skill, we then used other takes of the fire recordings and processed them to sound more aggressive and powerful for the larger skill. Just like Firebolt, there’s a set of casting one-shot sounds, a set of loops, and another set of one-shots for when the snake form constricts its body. One cool thing about the Inferno skill is that while it’s fire, it’s fire that has taken the form of a snake. Because of this form, we are able to take some liberties on pushing it away from just fire sound design. We added some light snake-rattling SFX paired with a darker-toned ethereal end to the skill sound to make it feel a bit more magical. When all these pieces re-trigger in-game, it will always sound like the same skill, but be slightly different each time—which increases the replayability sound-wise.
Monster Sound Design
Diablo games wouldn't be as fun if you didn't have monsters to slay. One of the most fun things about working on a Diablo game is the vast amount and variance of monsters that exist. This makes monsters ripe for both experimental and more traditional sound design, so let's dig into some monster sound design for foley and voice.
Monster Movements
The combination of expert animation and AI brings life and personality to the creatures as they undertake their nefarious activities. When we start the audio process for a brand-new monster, I always recommend that the sound designers start by adding footsteps and foley (clothing or skin) to their movement animations. The moment the creature has footsteps and foley, the creature's cadence and rhythm of their movement really comes to life. It’s at this point I consider that they are becoming grounded and attached to the world. This also dictates how vocal they might sound based on their patterns of movement.
Monster Voice
The next layer that finishes the birthing of the creature into existence is their voice exertions. These are the grunting or yelling sounds of them exerting at the player as they attack, or the screams of pain as you take them out one-by-one. Each monster family can be quite different from the next, so depending on the type of monster, we might have intense sound design layers of animalistic-type sounds or even everyday objects that we will manipulate to sound like a screech or scream to create a layer within that final voice. Other times it can be simpler, as we’ll hire creature voice actors to help create the core tone of the monster’s voice that we can then build around with other sounds.
In the case of the Wood Wraith, it's almost fully sound designed from wood creaks and strains processed to extreme lengths and choosing the right sounds to convey emotion. The Wood Wraith was a blast to sound design as it’s mostly freaky and creaky wood sounds, with a touch of very low-pitched human tone underneath it all.
Another monster we had the pleasure of working on is the disgustingly awesome Fly Host. This beast walks around birthing flies to attack the player. We ended up using some of our early gore session recordings where we ripped and smacked cabbages and melons, and stirred and squished mayonnaise, salsa and a delicious 7-layer dip into a not-so-great smelling slurry to make some great slimy and disgusting sounds to use in our sound design.
Open World Ambience
One of the audio pillars for Diablo IV is “Living Audio”. What this means is that the soundscape is ever evolving and never static. This pillar is built deep into the sound design variations we create for all types sounds, including when it plays back real-time in the game— especially the ambience. Because of the importance of the massive open world, we wanted to give the ambience as much detail as possible and think of it on the same level of Hero sound design. Having the audio and the systems changing subtly over time is key to this pillar. We always want the subtle changes in ambience (that might not be very noticeable) less repeatable and feel more natural and immersive overall.
The World Building team has done an amazing job giving us huge amounts of inspiration in filling out the regions visually so that we can follow it up with immersive ambient audio.
Since the player might be in the open world for a large amount of time, we wanted to support each exterior region with unique-sounding environments that also include subtle changes to the audio mix over time. To help achieve this, we use audio systems like real-time occlusion, high-quality reverbs, and environment reactive delay/echoes.
We’ve provided some long-form recordings of in-game footage with a static shot where you can hear the ambience changing over time. Not only does this show some cool ambient sound design, but we also wanted to provide these to you for your tabletop RPG sessions, or even just to sit back and get lost in while working. The clips were recorded around 5-6 minutes and looped to be almost one hour.
Dungeon Ambience
When it comes to the Diablo dungeon crawling-style ambience, we take a special delight in creating various and unique sounding experiences to heighten your immersion. Our approach to the dungeon ambiences is a bit less intense compared to the new open world, as we don’t want to distract you away from a key part of what makes a Diablo game fun— dungeon crawling. This is one area where we can take more liberties in diving deeply into the hellish and creepy soundscapes while having the monsters onscreen to accompany the audible experience. For Diablo IV we are taking a more realistic approach to “what you hear is what you get” when within a dungeon. With long reverberation and sound occlusion, we want you to pay close attention to what might be just around the corner, mentally preparing you for the next pack of enemies.
Breakable Interactives
Scattered around the dungeons are a plethora of gratifyingly great breakables. The Interactives team have been creating hundreds of amazingly detailed breakable objects in Diablo IV. For the amazing amount of detail they put into objects as they break, we in turn wanted to fill in every sliver and chunk of destruction you see with believable physics audio. Destroying objects in Diablo should sound just as gratifying and believable as taking down monsters. We put a lot of effort into making sure that all objects have an extremely gratifying break sound, while supporting the debris with tiny bits of audio to accompany the pieces that break apart and fly across a room. I’m still amazed at the level of detail we have for the breakables in Diablo IV. One of my favorite things to do when I see a room full of them is to have at em’!
Game Mix
Finally, I wanted to talk a little about the isometric camera. It provides some interesting challenges when it comes to bringing all the elements of the game mix together. Because you can see battlefield at a certain angle out to a certain range, we have to make sure that the monsters existing on the screen are covered with audio, but have the overall mix not feel too cluttered, nor too empty. There’s a lot of real-time juggling of sound playback based on priorities and importance to you, the player.
For Diablo IV we are able drive the real-time audio mix more than ever before. Because of the isometric camera view, we must trigger sounds on just about everything you see but focus your ears on the most important sounds you should be paying attention to. We've been carving away at audio mix states and an audio importance system that will allow certain important monster sounds to poke out when they are needed. Clarity of game audio mix is hard to achieve in a game where you can have multiple heroes as well as various amounts of monsters on screen, while having detailed ambiences means we need to craft different audible mix states depending on the situation.
We hope you have enjoyed this brief look into the sound design of Diablo IV. There’s so much more to talk about, but alas, we will have to save it for another time. We welcome any feedback you might have about anything you have heard in the videos or learned about in this quarter’s blog. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the soundscape of Diablo IV!
We wanted to provide an update on the Advanced Vector Extension (AVX) items from the dev team after some further developments from this past weekend. The team believes they have a potential fix, but this goes beyond just AVX specifically. The fix could potentially affect all users, even those outside of not having AVX support, so we are wanting to make sure we do proper testing.
While CPUs without AVX are below our minimum spec, we want to try to ensure as many people as possible can play. Setups without AVX were working in Beta. In optimizing the game, we inadvertently included the need for AVX for launch. QA is going to spend another few days of testing across all of these scenarios and setups in an effort to ensure we are not impacting existing players.
We will update this thread once we have an update from the testing over the next few days.
We apologize for the added delay and appreciate your patience.
For those that may have already purchased but would prefer to purchase post fix, we do recommend reaching out to Customer Service for a refund.
Diablo II: Resurrected Datamined Cinematics & Live Action Commercials
We have datamined the remastered Act II through V cinematics from the Diablo II: Resurrected PC pre-load! If you wish to experience the cinematics in-game, then feel free to pass these over. Blizzard has also published some live action trailers featuring Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and Winston Duke (Black Panther, Us, Spenser Confidential)!
Diablo III Patch 2.7.2 PTR - Soul Shard Preview
