Blizzard Quote [source]

The mortal realms need heroes, and now—for a limited time only—you can save 50% on the digital PC editions of Diablo III and the Reaper of Souls expansion set!

Hurry though, this offer ends Monday, October 6 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. If you still haven't joined the battle against the Lord of Terror and the Angel of Death, your hour has come at last.

Blizzard Quote [source]

Diablo III patch 2.1.1 is now live in the Americas for PC! Check out the full patch notes below to learn all about the latest changes.

Important: Please note that you will not be prompted to download patch 2.1.1 until the patch is live in your home region. If you are logging in from a European or Asian client, you will need to wait for this patch to release in that region before it can be installed. Additionally, if your home region is in the Americas, you will be unable to log into Europe or Asia using Global Play after patch 2.1.1 is live until those regions have also patched.

Diablo III Patch 2.1.1 - v2.1.1.27255

Visit our Bug Report forum for a list of known issues.

Table of Contents:

• Classes
  • Crusader
  • Witch Doctor
• Items
  • Class-Specific Legendary Items
  • Legendary Gems
  • Bug Fixes
• Adventure Mode
  • Infernal Machine
  • Greater Rifts
  • Kadala
  • Bug Fixes
• Crafting
  • Mystic
• Monsters
  • Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts

CLASSES

• General
  • Pets
    • Philosophy
      • We want pet survivability to be roughly equivalent to the player that summoned them
    • Many monster attacks that are intended to be avoided by players, and weren't already dealing reduced damage to pets, now deal significantly less damage to pets
    • Bug Fixes
      • Pets are now properly affected by Shield Pylons

• Crusader
  • Active Skills
    • Shield Bash
      • Can now be interrupted during the hit animation

• Witch Doctor
  • Active Skills
    • Fetish Army
      • Fetish Life has been greatly increased
      • Fetish movement speed has been significantly increased
      • Fetish leash range has been slightly increased
    • Gargantuan
      • Gargantuan is now summoned at the location of your mouse cursor
      • Summon animation speed has been increased
    • Spirit Walk
      • No longer cancels early when the physical body that is left behind takes enough damage
    • Summon Zombie Dogs
      • Zombie Dog Life has been greatly increased
  • Passive Skills
    • Fetish Sycophants
      • Fetish Life has been greatly increased
      • Fetish movement speed has been significantly increased
      • Fetish leash range has been slightly increased
  • User Interface
    • Fetish Army and Fetish Sycophants portrait icons should now display more fitting names on mouseover

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ITEMS

• Class-Specific Legendary Items
  • Wizard
    • Firebird's Finery
      • The infinite DoT debuff should now have a unique effect when it is applied
• Legendary Gems
  • Boon of the Hoarder
    • The number of Gold piles that explode from enemies on kill has been reduced
      • To compensate, the amount of Gold in each pile has been increased
      • The total amount of Gold dropped remains unchanged, but this will noticeably reduce screen clutter
• Bug Fixes
  • The Moratorium secondary power can now be triggered by assists
  • The Bane of the Trapped damage increase will now properly applied to Frozen enemies
  • The Gem of Efficacious Toxin poison DoT can now properly be applied by pet attacks

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ADVENTURE MODE

• Rift Guardians and Greater Rift Guardians now drop more crafting materials
• Infernal Machine
  • In multiplayer games, the Key of Bones, Key of Gluttony, and Key of War will now be considered group drops 
    • This means that, instead of players having an individual chance to find a key, that chance is now exists at the party level
    • If a Key of Bones, a Key of Gluttony, or a Key of War drops, it will drop for everyone in the party at the time
• Greater Rifts
  • The Rift of Trials has received numerous adjustments in an effort to more accurately assess an appropriate level of Greater Rift
  • Large Aqueduct and Sewer maps will no longer show up in Greater Rifts
• Kadala
  • Philosophy
    • While Kadala is doing a great job of giving players more control over finding specific items, we felt the current experience was a bit cumbersome and inconvenient
    • As a result, we're working to reduce the frequency at which players need to run between Kadala and the Blacksmith to salvage unwanted items
  • The cost to purchase items from Kadala has been greatly increased
  • The chance for Kadala to drop a Legendary item has also been greatly increased
• Bug Fixes
  • Fixed an issue that could cause Greater Rift Guardians to sometimes drop multiple of the same Legendary Gem

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CRAFTING

• Mystic
  • Enchanting
    • Philosophy
      • We want players to be able to more reliably add sockets to their jewelry in order to enjoy Legendary Gems
      • We still have long term plans to provide more outlets for excess gems and more ways to farm gems that a player needs; however, since those changes are further down the road, we wanted to improve the quality of life of Seasonal and Non-Seasonal players alike by making it easier to add a socket to your Rings and Amulets
    • The cost to enchant jewelry has been reduced from a Flawless Imperial gem to an Imperial gem

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MONSTERS

• The Electrified monster affix now has a short internal cooldown
• The damage of The Butcher's Fan of Spears attack has been slightly reduced
• The range of the Charging Beasts' Charge attack has been slightly reduced
• Plague Nest Bats have had their health globe drop rate significantly decreased
• Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
  • Maggot Broods no longer start out burrowed in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
  • Sand Dwellers no longer start out burrowed in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
  • Demonic Hellflyers now run away less frequently and no longer ambush players from the air in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
  • Ghosts now run away less frequently and no longer fly through walls in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
  • Rockworms can no longer spawn in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts

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If you are experiencing technical issues with the patching process, connecting to Battle.net after installing the patch, or errors while playing a newly-patched game, please visit our support site or post in the Technical Support forum for assistance.

Blizzard Quote [source]

Some nephalem hunt for portals to the Vault, while others hunt down Easter Eggs. Some celebrate their odd gaming quirks, while others obsess over their latest Legendary. What fascinating discussions are your fellow players sharing? Find out in this week's edition of The Waypoint!

Love At First (Legendary) Sight

/u/Mosaz (also from Reddit Diablo) asked an interesting question: Have you ever looted an item that you decided to try out, ended up falling in love with, and changed your whole play style as a result? Over a hundred players have already chimed into the discussion, citing a variety of Legendaries like Boon of the Hoarder, Wand of Woh, Carnevil, and Fate of the Fell, and more!

Can you think of an item that made you rethink your play style? If so, what was it, and what build did you end up using?

Seasonal to Non-Seasonal Paragon Experience

Are you wondering how many Paragon levels you'll ding on your non-Seasonal characters once the current Season is over? Wonder no longer, as /u/djindjin from Reddit Diablo has you covered with his Diablo III Paragon Calculator! Just type your current Seasonal and non-Seasonal Paragon levels into his helpful calculator, or simply enter your BattleTag, and hit "Go!" 

Becoming a Treasure Goblin Hunter

Since the Vault was released in patch 2.1.0, many nephalem have been hunting for that one Treasure Goblin who will grant them their portal to riches! Over on Diablo Incgamers, several players in Vantek's thread are sharing their experiences tracking down this golden, but often elusive opportunity, discussing different farming locations and techniques. 

Have you had any luck finding the portal to the Vault? If yes, where did your lucky Treasure Goblin spawn?

A Handy Guide to Every Acronym In The Game

DPS? CD? CHD? Even, dare we say, a DW WW Barb using CotA? What does it all mean? Hulktopus on our official forums helps you sort out all of this Diablo speak and more in his "Acronyms - The Definitive List" guide, which was also stickied in our New Player Help forum! It's a long list, but as Hulktopus says: "ctrl + F is your friend!"

Did Hulktopus miss any key phrases? Post your additions below!

What Easter Eggs Have You Seen in Diablo III?

Anuiran of Diablo Hub made a list of all the fun, fabulous, and sometimes freaky Easter Eggs he's found in the game. His database is filled with everything from Legendary items to Lamentations (of the women), and includes a variety of references you might not have recognized.

Know of any other Easter Eggs or homages buried in Diablo III? If so, we'd love to hear your most hilarious or clever finds!

That wraps up this week's discussions! Until next time, heroes. We'll see you in Sanctuary.

Found a cool player-created thread, article, guide, tweet, or video? Then don't hesitate to send it to tyvalir@blizzard.com along with a brief explanation of why you think it should be included in our next column! 

Blizzard Quote [source]

To ensure that StarCraft II continues to offer a smooth experience for players when Patch 2.1.4 goes live, we’re looking for some extra help testing on the PTR, and that’s where you come in. When you test the new features on the PTR in all the various game modes (Matchmaking, Custom Games, Arcade, vs AI) and reach level 5, you’ll become eligible to win some awesome prizes.

How to Qualify

You’ll have from 12:00 a.m. PDT on August 26, 2014 to 11:59 p.m. PDT on September 22, 2014 to reach level 5 on the StarCraft II PTR in order to become eligible for the prizes below. You can check out the official rules here: Patch 2.1.4 PTR Participation Giveaway – Official Rules.

Prizes for participation

To all players who reach level 5 on the PTR:

• A one month subscription for Twitch Turbo

To 50 random players who reach level 5 on the PTR:

• A Twitch subscription for WCS EU/AM

To one random player who reaches level 5 on PTR:

• A pair (2) of 2014 BlizzCon tickets

How to Get In

Accessing the Public Test Realm is easy with the Battle.net Desktop App. Once you've installed and logged into the App, select StarCraft II from your list of games. Next, click the region selection box above the Play button, choose "PTR: Heart of the Swarm" from the dropdown list, and hit Install. If you own a copy of StarCraft II but don’t see a PTR option available, you can enable PTR access by going to Battle.net Account Management and selecting the Public Test Region button under your game license. Once your installation is complete, hit Play to launch the PTR and start digging in to all of the goodies mentioned above.

If you'd like to switch back to the current version of StarCraft II, simply exit the game and head back to the Battle.net App to switch the region selector back to your preferred Battle.net region.

Please note that the Public Test Realm can only be accessed through the Battle.net Desktop App as outlined above. Attempting to launch “StarCraft II Public Test.exe,” found in your StarCraft II installation folder will not grant entry into the PTR.

Thank you very much for helping us test upcoming StarCraft II features on the Public Test Realm. Your participation will be vital during this extended testing period as we prepare to roll out StarCraft II Patch 2.1.4. 

Blizzard Quote [source]

Patch 2.1.0 is now live in the Americas! 

To celebrate the arrival of this major content update, all players who log into Diablo III this week on Windows or Mac will not only receive a +100% bonus to Gold Find, but all Treasure Goblin spawns in the game have been doubled! (As with our previous buff, please note that the Gold Find bonus will stack multiplicatively with existing bonuses including those provided by items and Paragon points.)

This bonus Gold Find and double Treasure Goblin period begins in the Americas region today, August 26, and ends on Tuesday, September 2, at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

We hope you enjoy patch 2.1.0 and look forward to hearing your feedback. In the meantime, good luck, have fun, and we'll see you in Sanctuary!

*The buff is only available on Windows and Mac, but it will apply to all heroes—including those on accounts without Reaper of Souls enabled.