Media Coverage

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This page lists all Diablo III coverage; previews, interviews, pictures, videos, designer diaries, forum post, and more. Anything from the D3 Team that's substantial enough to warrant a news post on Diii.net gets an entry on this page. Larger interviews and other features are sometimes archived in this section one month after they go online, to ward off link rot.

  • If you're interested in updating this page, please check out the Media Coverage/Guidelines first.
  • Jump back to the earlier years of Media Coverage, archived to keep down the page size. Links right below here.


If you are new to Diablo or Diablo III development, you can read up on the topic here:

  • Diablo 3 Basics - The light source of all known Diablo III data in one fact sheet.


Media Coverage Archive:
2008 - 2009 - 2010


May 2011

  • Other: May 9, 2011 -- The first news item on Unicorn Day is that Diablo II will be featured at a video game exhibit in the Smithsonian museum in the United States. Contentions mount over which games were or were not selected for the exhibit.
  • Blue Post: May 6, 2011 -- @Diablo cruelly teases about the diablo beta by offering 5,911 winning points to someone participating in the hashtag twitter promotion. It is widely accepted specualtion that 5,911 points refers to Unicorn Day, the 9th of May, where the Blizzard conference call will be held speaking in one manner or another of the Diablo III beta.
  • Blue Post: May 3, 2011 -- Bashiok offers an explanation on the changes to the skill hotbar on the interface, and it proves to be almost as confusing to explain as item tiers. Concerns are raised over the loss of the swap function on the interface as it pertains to forcing players to use keyboard shortcuts over the mouse.
  • Picture: May 2, 2011 -- Another BlizzCon graphic featuring Diablo is shown on the Blizzard BlizzCon website; this time it is an animated flash file showing a mysterious four-sectioned hole in Diablo's animated chest. Speculation ranges from humorous to absurd.


April 2011

  • Blue Post: April 29, 2011 -- Bashiok dips into the bnet forums to speak on why BoE was dropped from the game, and also elaborates a bit on how set items will function in Diablo III, revealing that they are all of legendary quality.
  • Interview: April 26, 2011 -- A preview emerges by the New York Times with Jay Wilson, offering fans a commentary on trade, and also a tantalizing quote by Jay Wilson about how the game is in the final stretch. Those who are not excited are those who followed StarCraft II's development, realizing that "the final stretch" can extend well past the horizon into cosmic space where time has no meaning.
  • Commentary: April 23, 2011 -- The demo specs were revealed for the machines running Diablo III at G-Star in Korea. It is widely accepted that these specs have no true bearing on the final system requirements for the game, as the game had yet to be optimized at that point.
  • Blue Post: April 22, 2011 -- Bashiok replies to a fan's question about whether or not the game plays differently from 2008 to 2011, and also @Diablo comments in a sarcastic tone to a request for a new monster description, and some shallow commentary on lore.
  • Commentary: April 19, 2011 -- Speculation ramps up over the conference call, revealed to be May 9th (Unicorn Day), which promises to reveal something (or nothing?) about the Diablo III beta. Speculation seems to point amongst a varied or vague timeframe for the beta to occur.
  • Blue Post: April 19, 2011 -- This posting by Bashiok is rather a milestone in the development process of Diablo III as, for the first time, semi-specific details about the Diablo III beta are released. Part info, part expectation management, Bashiok informs fans that the beta will only contain a small part of the game, and it won't be underway until the remaining systems are announced. It is unknown how many systems are left, or when they will be announced.
  • Blue Post: April 19, 2011 -- Bashiok breaks up a slappy fan-fight on the battle.net forums on the subject of breakpoints in Diablo III. Breakpoints have ever been a point of contention amongst the fanbase, and it is readily apparent by Bashiok's explanation that it is, indeed, a very hard thing to explain accurately. Fan consensus is that not enough data is available to judge one way or another how breakpoints will affect Diablo III.
  • Blue Post: April 16, 2011 -- Bashiok comments on unchanging skill runes in Diablo III after a fan voices concern that the base skill won't be represented or used within the game. It is once again emphasized that there are runes that do not change the nature of the skill, only boost things such as damage, duration, or reducing resource cost.
  • Picture: April 15, 2011 -- The eleventh edition of facebook likes shows off a fancy torture device, in addition to a screenshot that does not contain the torture device. However, a high-resolution shot of an as-of-yet unnamed Monk skill can be seen in the screenshot.
  • Blue Post: April 14, 2011 -- Bashiok covers the subject of when and how the game is randomized, and the differences in randomization between the "overworld" and in a dungeon. He also talks smack about the cowardly Fallen, ironically represented by one himself in the battle.net forums.
  • Picture: April 13, 2011 -- New artwork for Diablo emerges for BlizzCon 2011, showing Big Red himself taking center stage, in all of his/her/its fiery glory.
  • Commentary: April 6, 2011 -- Flux comments on the Diablo Drought, and the community lets out a collective sigh. It seems that, amongst all of the Blizzard development cycles, Diablo III seems to have more stretches of time between any information whatsoever than many other games, yet the community errs on the side of reluctant excitement.
  • Picture: April 5, 2011 -- A latent April Fool's Day grenade blows up amongst the Diablo community when a fake concept box for Diablo III appears from a Polish website. The graphic is very unimpressive, and yet somehow manages to fool a large portion of the community.


March 2011

  • Commentary: March 29, 2011 -- A poll appears on diii.net asking players how they played the PVE game. Large numbers of them chose the option of experimentation along with several favorite characters and builds.
  • Blue Post: March 28, 2011 -- @Diablo announces that Blizzard is not ready to make a beta announcement, despite the paradox. The community is shocked and surprised that Blizzard requires more time.
  • Blue Post: March 22, 2011 -- Bashiok speaks on how to enter the beta and how the beta keys will be given, and Flux is threatened multiple times for a very attention-grabby headline. Shenanigans ensue.
  • Blue Post: March 22, 2011 -- The Diablo II ladder tale finds itself entering another chapter when it is announced that the reset will occur March 28th.
  • Commentary: March 16, 2011 -- DIII.net posits to gamers whether or not they'd play in a Diablo III ladder season, with the results being heavily skewed towards "no".
  • Blue Post: March 15, 2011 -- Bashiok speaks at length on the philosophy behind balancing PVP and PVE separately, stating that PVP balance shouldn't ever affect PVE.
  • Blue Post: March 9, 2011 -- Blizzard shows off the underwhelming Blizzard timeline for their 20th anniversary, being referred to by one fan as a "WarCraft wankfest".


February 2011

2005 shot from Blizzard North's early D3.
  • Blue Post: February 11, 2011 -- Blizzard kicks off their 20th anniversary celebration with a shiny page that has no real content.
  • Blue Post: February 9, 2011 -- The 4Q 2010 Activision/Blizzard conference call creates a huge controversy by seeming to rule out any Blizzard game releases in 2011. That conclusion is disputed by Bashiok later that day, then in a more formal forum post, then by Rob Pardo later that week. All say that D3 may still be released in 2011, and that Tom Tippl's investor legalese was misunderstood in the conference call.
  • Blue Post: February 7, 2011 -- The Diablo Facebook page "looks for likes" program kicks off, promising new images for every 25,000 likes from 550k to 1 million. Updates commence at a pace of about one per week.



January 2011

  • Blue Post: January 19, 2011 -- Blizzard reveals the winners of their 2010 Holiday Card Contest, and amusingly includes one entry that reused official Diablo II artwork from 2004. (Blizzard sticks the newest CM hires and interns with judging fan contests, and they tend not to know anything Blizzard did before WoW.)
Strong and sexy?
  • Commentary: January 17, 2011 -- Class silhouettes are compared to the final versions and found... to represent early concept art, not the finished model.
  • Blue Post: January 11, 2011 -- Bashiok reports that Diablo III pets and minions won't have direct control in their AI.


Older News

Earlier headlines and articles are archived on the Media Coverage Archive pages: