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I'm actually hoping maybe they will tie in that additional info with.... info on skills/runestones? Hopefully =D

So, you have to complete the game in normal mode before starting Hardcore? oooo that is going to make some people maaaaaad! well, if i understand it correctly...

Release date inc?! Please??

would it be to optimistic to say that rune/skill systems are the last major hurdle? or am i just clinging to false hope?

Yes! They're perfectionist so the more bugs people find the better the chance it will get released! They want to "put [out] the best possible game" so if people send in the reports to be fixed they will eventually say "okay we've done enough! Ship it"

EDIT: [out]

Hmm, isn't that old news? I could have sworn Jay Wilson said at Blizzcon '10 or '11 that you'd have to beat normal difficulty before starting a hardcore character. Not that it's not interesting seeing it, in-fact, in the game, just wondering.

Nothing surprising about requiring Normal beaten before going hardcore.
Not only Diablo 2 was that way, but beating Normal is planned to be the introduction to the game. Simply "Hey, this is the game, how you play it and these are the guys you're going to meet. Make sure nothing is unexpected before we throw death at you, so don't blame if you start dying later!".

About bug reports: they're glad that people is using the beta for it's intended purpose, ie, testing and reporting.
You can be certain, there's no threshold they'll say "Enought bug fixes, release.". But you can be certain they'll say "We can't release with that bug in."
Proof? WoW Patch delayed by a week due to serious bug

Quote from FreddyBenson

Quote from sbsgrinth

would it be to optimistic to say that rune/skill systems are the last major hurdle? or am i just clinging to false hope?

you are pretty much right

in saying that, i dont play the beta so not 100% ontop of what bugs or changes are left to be done, or blizz keeping certains things hush hush

but ye thats really thats left, unless.....more changes come about and beta 11 will have a load of stuff to test

i doubt it tho

it feels like end production now, i mean proper the end

As far as beta feels, it seems complete, just with the absence of runestones. I really do feel that's the last major change, and they can release when it's completed =P cmoooon feb 5th

Quote from Snaks42

Quote from FreddyBenson

Quote from sbsgrinth

would it be to optimistic to say that rune/skill systems are the last major hurdle? or am i just clinging to false hope?

you are pretty much right

in saying that, i dont play the beta so not 100% ontop of what bugs or changes are left to be done, or blizz keeping certains things hush hush

but ye thats really thats left, unless.....more changes come about and beta 11 will have a load of stuff to test

i doubt it tho

it feels like end production now, i mean proper the end

As far as beta feels, it seems complete, just with the absence of runestones. I really do feel that's the last major change, and they can release when it's completed =P cmoooon feb 5th

Well, I say hold on to your seat cause it will still be a week or so before we "new information soon"

Can't wait for that new info. I am already getting some of my friends to buy D3 so I wont play alone once it is released. But do we know if the companion scroll is removed from game? Cause it is still posted on the D3 site.

Quote from falcompsx

Quote from sbsgrinth

would it be to optimistic to say that rune/skill systems are the last major hurdle? or am i just clinging to false hope?

it would be optimistic to say that indeed. We can all hope! Of course there's no timeframe on how long that could take either so who knows.

They also said cheers to finding 5000 more bugs...took 5 months to find 5k, and the flipside pessimistic view could interpret that as 5 more months of beta.

The bottom line is we have no clue. I'm much more pessimistic than most, but i'll keep that to myself

Lol a 10 month Beta.. I highly doubt it mate.

Thanks for the update!

I think when Blizz will tell us about runestones we will be able to say the game is ready.

Let's wait and hope.

Quote from Arciks

if there where 5000 bugs in first act, than how many there are in all of them? THis really shows that game is far from release.And they say thats its a important news,Can't think of any other beta where would be so many bugs in first 30min of gameplay. Blizz really sucks

Well actually that's a completely misinformed view on this subject. Those bugs had almost nothing to do (save a couple) with act1 normal. They were almost all user interface, character server relations and more, meaning they span the entire game. Blizzard has had internal testing on D3 for YEARS. I can guarantee you acts 2-4, as far as environment, boss fights, monster mechanics, and NPC interactions, are going to be 99% bug free. What these 5k bugs and counting are doing, is preparing the server for launch.

Edit: Took out flaming words targeted at your grammar, punctuation, and overall childish attitude. =D trololol

Quote from FreddyBenson

Quote from Snaks42

Quote from FreddyBenson

Quote from sbsgrinth

would it be to optimistic to say that rune/skill systems are the last major hurdle? or am i just clinging to false hope?

you are pretty much right

in saying that, i dont play the beta so not 100% ontop of what bugs or changes are left to be done, or blizz keeping certains things hush hush

but ye thats really thats left, unless.....more changes come about and beta 11 will have a load of stuff to test

i doubt it tho

it feels like end production now, i mean proper the end

As far as beta feels, it seems complete, just with the absence of runestones. I really do feel that's the last major change, and they can release when it's completed =P cmoooon feb 5th

Snaks42 if something big is anounced on feb 5th im going to kiss you, u might resist but im sorry i am gona kiss you

not in a gay way, not thats anything wrong with that

It might be a little gay from me. Diablo III does that to me.

Quote from Snaks42

Quote from Arciks

if there where 5000 bugs in first act, than how many there are in all of them? THis really shows that game is far from release.And they say thats its a important news,Can't think of any other beta where would be so many bugs in first 30min of gameplay. Blizz really sucks

Well actually that's a completely misinformed view on this subject. Those bugs had almost nothing to do (save a couple) with act1 normal. They were almost all user interface, character server relations and more, meaning they span the entire game. Blizzard has had internal testing on D3 for YEARS. I can guarantee you acts 2-4, as far as environment, boss fights, monster mechanics, and NPC interactions, are going to be 99% bug free. What these 5k bugs and counting are doing, is preparing the server for launch.

Exactly. Blizzard has said time and again that the whole point of the Beta for them is to test the server infrastructure. They have their own QA team that is perfectly capable of testing the playthrough aspects and catching most of the bugs there, but they really have no way to internally test how the servers will stand up to X number of people playing and what happens when somebody connects with a terrible dialup connection while running the game on a toaster. Beta testers are a huge help to them here, but they don't need much content in the beta to get those things tested.

Also remember that of those 5000+ reports, many were either duplicates or not really bugs. ~850 were actually passed on to the developers (though, some number of those would have been caught by the QA team eventually anyway). They also don't break the bugs down by severity level. For every "AH ate my item"-type bug, there were probably many more mundane ones like "there is a misspelling in the tooltip for X skill" or whatever.

If the "additional changes snuck in to Patch 10" is not the runes, what ells can it be? I have a hunch it might be something with the RMAH, Blizz giving each beta player $1 to use in the RMAH with Paypal integrated into it? Just think about it. I was kinda joking at first but know, not so much. 99% not happening.

If Blizz give each player $1 (or 50 cents) and have a universal "beta-player-$1-account" for all players, they can effectively test the integration. Blizz don't give them the bank details, but rather a "sent to bank" button. Blizz will advise them to regularly deposit some cents into their bank to test it of course. But they only get $1, if they deposit all of it, they're done...and stupid.

Stupid idea, probably, but this is a way to test it effectively.

Quote from sbsgrinth

would it be to optimistic to say that rune/skill systems are the last major hurdle? or am i just clinging to false hope?

Yes...kinda. Well we know nothing about the integration of the RMAH with Paypal yet along with the Battle Bucks. But they've stated that they have been working on the RMAH with real money with Paypal even before the beta started.

Quote from Snaks42

Quote from Arciks

if there where 5000 bugs in first act, than how many there are in all of them? THis really shows that game is far from release.And they say thats its a important news,Can't think of any other beta where would be so many bugs in first 30min of gameplay. Blizz really sucks

Well actually that's a completely misinformed view on this subject. Those bugs had almost nothing to do (save a couple) with act1 normal. They were almost all user interface, character server relations and more, meaning they span the entire game. Blizzard has had internal testing on D3 for YEARS. I can guarantee you acts 2-4, as far as environment, boss fights, monster mechanics, and NPC interactions, are going to be 99% bug free. What these 5k bugs and counting are doing, is preparing the server for launch.

Edit: Took out flaming words targeted at your grammar, punctuation, and overall childish attitude. =D trololol

Well Wow had 180 000 bugs in 2009...and since most of those 5000 are duplicates and less than 1000 have been sent to get fixed. And as Snaks said, most of the bugs are either the UI, server issues, system mechanics (which is the same throughout the game), so less than 1000 bugs was actually "worth" fixing or something.

Also the beta is just 1/3 of act 1 with for arguments sake 1000 (including the system mechanics, which if fixed now, will probably work correctly in later acts) proper individual bugs. 4 acts = 12 000 bugs. That's fuck all! [I know nothin of Wow, so the following might be wrong] But WoW is a much bigger game, but not as randomized as Diablo, meaning, more possible bugs in Diablo than WoW.

Also Blizz themselves had had internal testing well before the beta even began. They probably also tested acts 2-4 far more that they did act 1.