NeoGAF

Ashodin · 05:55 AM

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/1164...way-11-19-2013

The Diablo® III: Reaper of Souls™ Friends and Family Beta is now underway!

In the past, participants in this particular phase of public testing usually only include friends and relatives of Blizzard employees. With Reaper of Souls, however, we've decided to buck that trend and extend invites to valued media contacts and key members of the Blizzard community. We're also inviting 3,000 of our most active Diablo III players from around the world who've opted in for beta testing—something we've never done for any Friends and Family Beta test before!

Participants in the Reaper of Souls Friends and Family Beta are not required to abide by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). As a result, you may see coverage in the form of articles, videos, streams, and forum posts appear over the next few weeks regarding various features and changes in the expansion. When reviewing this coverage, please keep in mind that the Friends and Family Beta is still an early glimpse at Reaper of Souls, which means that all content is subject to change before release. We also encourage you to be mindful of story spoilers, as the Friends and Family Beta includes the entire expansion, excluding the final boss fight.

You can see a guy or many play it here:

http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/...r%20of%20Souls

http://www.twitch.tv/datmodz - Guy playing Crusader (female)!

Shit looks tight. Crazy stuff being shown!

ITADAKIMASU · (11-20-2013, 05:53 AM)

Sweet will check out. Blizzcon was a disappointment in RoS info...

kasane · (11-20-2013, 05:53 AM)

Looks great!

I'll play this on PS4 ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ

Ashodin · (11-20-2013, 05:54 AM)

I can't stop watchinggggggggggg

Jennifer Hale is the female Crusader. yup.

K.Sabot · (11-20-2013, 05:55 AM)

Reforging stats : \

Ashodin · (11-20-2013, 05:56 AM)

Originally Posted by K.Sabot

Reforging stats : \

Hey I love that idea man.

GodParticle · (11-20-2013, 05:56 AM)

DatModz is a cool streamer. Can't wait for this expansion to drop

Teknoman · (11-20-2013, 05:56 AM)

Hopefully there will be one where I can spoil myself on the soundtrack. I've been hyped since those links were posted in the other thread.

ITADAKIMASU · (11-20-2013, 05:57 AM)

It's really weird seeing this cause I have 0 clue on what abilities he use and what it does. ;/ I like the quick sprint with the horse ability though.

Fularu · (11-20-2013, 05:59 AM)

Watching the D3fans stream, the music is amazing

Marvelous · (11-20-2013, 06:01 AM)

Female crusader and monk. <3
Can't wait to try out the crusader.

CottonBaller · (11-20-2013, 06:02 AM)

Diablo 3:RoS remote play in bed.... I fkn can't wait!

Teknoman · (11-20-2013, 06:02 AM)

Originally Posted by Fularu

Watching the D3fans stream, the music is amazing

Link please?

Fularu · (11-20-2013, 06:03 AM)

http://fr.twitch.tv/diablofans

MrDaravon · (11-20-2013, 06:03 AM)

Been watching for the last hour or so, so far it has been goddamn glorious. Imagine if this was the game that had shipped at launch.

Dahbomb · (11-20-2013, 06:04 AM)

Man Crusader looks kinda fun!

Alric · (11-20-2013, 06:06 AM)

hmmm, should I re-install diablo 3 to get back into it or not. hmmmm

Raticus79 · (11-20-2013, 06:06 AM)

Hmmmm, wonder why Kripparian didn't get invited.

lol

DragonSworne · (11-20-2013, 06:11 AM)

Woah reroll specific attributes through the mystic? Awesome!!!

Teknoman · (11-20-2013, 06:12 AM)

I cant really hear the music outside of town, but the new act town music sounds decent enough.

Dahbomb · (11-20-2013, 06:16 AM)

Wow there are usable Scrolls now in your inventory that give you a specific buff for quite some time.

demosthenes · (11-20-2013, 06:18 AM)

Originally Posted by Alric

hmmm, should I re-install diablo 3 to get back into it or not. hmmmm

When RoS drops, yes. Until then, no reason.

CrashPrime · (11-20-2013, 06:19 AM)

Paragon leveling hoooooooooooooo!

Goal is to have 5 SC p100's before RoS and possibly 5 HC 60's with undetermined plvl's.

D3 is back in a big way after the stupid AH goes away for good. Thank you based blizzard for making the game I originally wanted.

Originally Posted by demosthenes

When RoS drops, yes. Until then, no reason.

Blizz has announced paragon experience will carry over, so you can get a huge head start it. I'd say it's worth it to get a jump.

Fularu · (11-20-2013, 06:21 AM)

Interesting, Marquise emeralds now drop, will make reaching the higher levels a lot easier

InsaneElite · (11-20-2013, 06:21 AM)

Gambling looks pretty good. You earn Blood Shards from Bounties, and either gamble 5 at a time for a random item slot, or save up 100 for a greater loot bag ordinarily only received from completing 5 Bounties in an Act.

Raticus79 · 06:35 AM

Originally Posted by Fularu

Interesting, Marquise emeralds now drop, will make reaching the higher levels a lot easier

Third-hand info now, but someone said they saw an imperial gem drop too. I'm going with the drop rates being cranked up for them right now - they're really common.

Edit: There we go, I just saw an imperial ruby drop on the diablofans stream.

Valnen · 06:34 AM

I dunno if it's possible to tell this from a stream but it looks like stutter could be fixed? One of the worst things that plagues this game on PC.

Edit: Nope still there =(.

Funchameleon · (11-20-2013, 06:26 AM)

Jesus christ the new loot is great and Crusader looks like a lot of fun. Is this really not expected until March 2014 or whenever they're closing down the Auction House?

Skab · (11-20-2013, 06:31 AM)

Crushing blow is back and does 25% of the monsters health as bonus damage.

Delicious.

Fularu · (11-20-2013, 06:34 AM)

Originally Posted by Raticus79

Third-hand info now, but someone said they saw an imperial gem drop too. I'm going with the drop rates being cranked up for them right now - they're really common.

Doubt it. With the AH gone, gems need to drop more

Funchameleon · (11-20-2013, 06:34 AM)

The new emphasis on procs is amazingly exciting

Fularu · (11-20-2013, 06:35 AM)

An imperial ruby just dropped. So yeah we can get higher level gems than just marquise

Raticus79 · (11-20-2013, 06:36 AM)

Heh, I think they removed CM and sort of gave it to the Crusader. There's a legendary effect that gives cooldown reduction on block.

Valnen · (11-20-2013, 06:37 AM)

Loot is definitely improved or the guy I'm watching is super lucky. Since I've started watching he already got a legendary mace and several armor upgrades.

neonglow · (11-20-2013, 06:39 AM)

Does this mean the expansion is close to release? What was the timeline for Diablo 3?

Funchameleon · (11-20-2013, 06:40 AM)

I'm watching a high level wizard stream and a fair few skill runes have been remixed significantly and look like a lot of fun. Frozen orb is BACK. Hopefully this introduces some more varied "viable" builds.

Originally Posted by Valnen

Loot is definitely improved or the guy I'm watching is super lucky. Since I've started watching he already got a legendary mace and several armor upgrades.

Also the loot is actually interesting now.

Raticus79 · 06:44 AM

The DiabloFans stream is fine: http://www.twitch.tv/diablofans

jersoc · (11-20-2013, 06:44 AM)

Well this could be out sooner than I thought.

Hazaro · (11-20-2013, 06:47 AM)

Originally Posted by Dahbomb

Man Crusader looks kinda fun!

It's super fun.
Wizard just felt like a level 33 DPS machine (same as usual).

I also found the best Legendary Ring in Diablo at Blizzcon so I'm a bit soured I don't get to keep it (Summons a Treasure Goblin that picks up 20?30?40? whites and drops a rare with a chance at a legendary).

Sciz · (11-20-2013, 06:48 AM)

It's astonishing how much the dev team seems to have learned about making a loot game in the year and a half since launch compared to all the years they spent completely failing to understand how the genre works during the original development cycle.

Fularu · (11-20-2013, 06:49 AM)

The D3fans guy needs to stop standing in fire

CarbonatedFalcon · (11-20-2013, 06:51 AM)

Originally Posted by Fularu

Interesting, Marquise emeralds now drop, will make reaching the higher levels a lot easier

Something that was needed. Honestly they should have had higher rarity gems dropping before on an exponential scale - higher level the gem, the rarer it would be. Possible that wouldn't work though if they dropped too often.

ITADAKIMASU · (11-20-2013, 06:51 AM)

Really liking what I'm seeing and the music on diablofans stream is good.

Fularu · (11-20-2013, 06:53 AM)

LOL the guy keeps dying and the game suggested a drop in difficulty

Perfect Cha0s · (11-20-2013, 06:54 AM)

Did they change the damage font? Or was that an option the whole time that I missed?

Sothpaw · (11-20-2013, 06:57 AM)

cant' watch atm. Does the crusader have any spells that are targeted with the mouse or is he designed for a controller (all direction facing spells and cast on character position).

hitsugi · (11-20-2013, 07:01 AM)

Originally Posted by Funchameleon

Jesus christ the new loot is great and Crusader looks like a lot of fun. Is this really not expected until March 2014 or whenever they're closing down the Auction House?

Plenty of time for tuning.

ITADAKIMASU · (11-20-2013, 07:01 AM)

just dropped on diablofan stream.

dat set bonus

CarbonatedFalcon · (11-20-2013, 07:08 AM)

Originally Posted by Perfect Cha0s

Did they change the damage font? Or was that an option the whole time that I missed?

I think the font of the loot drops was changed too, unless my eyes are deceiving me.

Night Angel · (11-20-2013, 07:09 AM)

Originally Posted by ITADAKIMASU

just dropped on diablofan stream.
Image

dat set bonus

Did I miss something, or are account bound items tradeable for a limited time?