Beta and myself will be taking the next day or off to be with our families. Don't fear though, for we'll be back streaming and coming up with content for you all after the holiday!

Just wanted to take a quick moment to put a YouTube player in here of our D3 "Reaper of Souls" Beta videos. We got a lot coming so que up, sit back and enjoy! More added daily.

With BlizzCon behind us and the whirlwind of activity, here are the winners for the recent contest!

1^st Place - Motox

• Diablo 3: Collector’s Edition signed by the Development team!
• SteelSeries Flux Pro, Ear buds

2^nd  Place - killerojrc

• SteelSeries Flux Pro., Ear buds

3^rd  Place - Moogle Stiltzkin

• SteelSeries Flux Reg., Ear buds

PMs will be going out tonight!

The artisans will become of more benefit to us in “RoS”. There was an acknowledgement, as often is the case with expansions. After the many retuning/buffing of gear, the increasing ease of obtaining the gear, along with RNG and cost of making gear was not valuable enough to do. That is, with exception to the BoA gear introduced. However, they were created specifically with above average stat allocations on purpose. Each of the current artisans are getting upgrades and we will be seeing new possibilities with the newest one; the Mystic.

Crafting Materials:

With new content comes new crafting materials. With new difficulties being unveiled and current materials the organizing and keeping track of them all will be quite a chore. With this in mind, they have gone ahead and will be unifying all the crafting material tiers from 1-60 currently in the game to just one tier. This will simplify the system and free us of precious bag space.

In theory, there will be one set 1-60 and one 61-70. This also brings up an interesting thought of will they also add more materials for different effects? There were a few threads that gained popular support in the community for say elemental crafting mats to add elemental effects; a thought.

Blacksmith:

Not too much was mentioned for the blacksmith in regards to “RoS”. It was stated that the recipes would be getting a tuning pass for the re-stat allocation that Itemization 2.0 / Loot 2.0 will be bringing. In addition, new recipes will be coming that will hopefully give some alternative progression, at least before you get that low rolled, yet still amazing weapon or armor.

Jeweler:

The Jeweler doesn’t have any planned additions that we heard of at the convention. In the datamined information leading up to it announced a new type of gem; Diamond. That was confirmed in the playable demos and had its effects listed.

• Weapons: Increase Damage to Elites (3% @ Flawed)
• Helms: Reduce Cooldown of Skills (11% @ Flawed)
• Other: Increase All Resistance (10 @ Flawed)

Something to quickly note, the Jeweler was not available to use (same blacksmith – Mystic not even around yet). We could not see any changes, new recipes, or the increment changes per upgrade for diamond gem. An educated guess at 1% for weapons and helms you’d max out at 15% damage to elites & 23% cooldown reduction. Seeing as flawed is the second rank gem, the amount per rank for all resistance is 5, so max rank will be 70. Again all subject to change, but seems like a decent, unique three properties for a new gem.

While talking to developers of the Q&A Panel, they hinted that there may be a new tier of gems after (hopefully cheaper than live – prices rescaled). These will still serve as gold sinks for sure, but if the rewards in Adventure mode for bounties are any indication, patience will be rewarded over the long term with our character(s) and geming out.

Mystic:

Ah, the long journey home. The mystic was an original part of the game. She was planned to be an enchanter that would ADD a property to your gear. The development team figured at that point she didn’t add enough uniqueness to the game. The curtain came too early, but with hopes of her returning set.

Now that she is back, she is better than ever. Her main purpose in “RoS” is twofold. The first is Enchanting (rerolling a property) and Transmogrification.

Enchanting:

Here is how it will work. At the end, I have linked a video that was made by a fan that explains in more detail (for both subjects here). Remember things subject to change.

1. Talk to Myriam and select her "Enchant" Menu.
2. From there, place an item onto the Enchanting window. A list of properties will appear under your item. You can choose to reroll any one of these properties, and you can find out what resulting properties you have the possibility to obtain by clicking on the question mark to the right of each property.
3. Once you've decided what property you want to reroll, simply gather the required crafting materials and the necessary gold, select the property you wish to reroll, and then hit "Replace Property" to lock in your choice.
4. Select your replacement property from the list of available choices. You can view the possible replacement properties to the right on the advanced Enchanting window.
5. After you've Enchanted an item, you will have the option of replacing its previously Enchanted property with a new property for an additional gold and crafting material cost.

Things to remember as well. You’ll always have the original affix you re-rolled to choose from after committing to enchanting it. You will only be able to re-roll one, and only one property (whether it be a Primary or Secondary) and once done, locks in the remaining properties.

Transmogrification:

This is the cosmetic part of the Mystic. This will allow you o change the appearance of your gear to anything you like. You’ll unlock looks for gear by leveling up the Mystic (Common, Magic, and Rare) but will only unlock looks of Legendary and Set items by first attaining them and identifying them.

Here is the order to transmogrify:

1. Talk to Myriam and select her "Transmogrify" Menu.
2. From there, place an item onto the Transmogrification window.
3. A list of new visual options will appear under your item. You can select any of these appearance options and check out their look on your character in the Preview panel on the right.
4. Once you've decided what item look you like, simply gather the necessary gold, select the new item look you crave, and then hit "Transmogrify" to lock in your choice.
5. Adventure on, in style!

*This time start at the 1:50 mark*

Here is a list of restrictions to keep in mind. Can’t say it enough, things can change!

• Item appearances you collect in Normal mode will be separate from the unique item appearances you collect in Hardcore mode.
• While all items with a visual appearance are eligible for Transmogrification, the item appearance you want to use has to have the same underlying animation set as the item you want to Transmogrify. (For example: You could replace the appearance of one two-handed sword with another two-handed sword, or a one-handed sword with a one-handed axe or one-handed mace.)
• As you acquire new items you're eager to Transmogrify, you'll need to return to the Mystic again in order to have her work her magic on your armor and weapons. This is because Transmogrification affects an individual item, not the item slot.
• You can dye Transmogrified items; however, if you Transmogrify an equipped item that’s dyed, that dye will be overridden with the current color of the item appearance you’ve selected.
• Legacy items (items that drop before the expansion or pre-expansion patch goes live) will not unlock unique item appearance, but they can be Transmogrified.
• As with Enchanting, Transmogrifying an item will also bind it to your account, so it pays to plan ahead.

That’s it for the Artisan’s news and previews. Stay tuned for more soon!

Diablo III: “Reaper of Souls” is the 1^st expansion for Diablo III. There has been a lot of contention over the ways Blizzard has set for Diablo III itself over the last year and a half of live and decisions in Beta, but “Reaper of Souls,” stand to correct a lot of those points.

The first complaint that comes to mine is the environment. Some people have said it was too bright, not gritty enough, “blood for the blood god, skulls for th-“ whoops wrong game. So with that, let’s move into how they have set the stage for us.

Environment: Westmarch

“Fear is the Dark, for you know the hollow abyss is cold and leaves you motionless. Terror, that is your absolute nightmare come to life in the brightness of light, unfazed, unyielding, unrelenting.”

The beginning of the demo for “RoS” thrusts you right into Malthael’s maddening yet lethal plans. You start by meeting up with the fleeing member of Tyrael’s Horadrim (from the cinematic) and he sets you on your way. You immediately start to approach the outskirts of the city of Westmarch with the foul corruptions of Malthael coming at you. For this though, is just the tip of the unholiest that lies within the city walls.

Westmarch is a warzone with no bullets, no explosions, but silent and deadly servants out to literally kill and take your soul to bolster Malthael’s ranks. You run to the draw bridge with citizens running away, but at last, they can’t escape Maltheal’s grasp. They are turned and you must fight them. You muster through to the gate at the end of the bridge, but it is sealed from within – “Dark magic bars our way,” sorry I had to. More servants come out you must do away with. No time for apathy, “kill or be killed!”

It is here the technology they are working on comes to light. The overall tone (that well expand on after) of dark, gothic, old, not welcoming are there right there at the gates. That is all before Maltheal came to town.

As you start to travel in the city’s sewers, the phasing from outside to inside back to outside areas is truly top notch and works. The less portals you need to click the better. Helps to keep you in the mood and brings “life” to the game and why your there – stop Malthael at all costs!

You get through to the city itself. It is a labyrinth of narrow roads and passages with people fleeing, but as before, turned to the greater cause of Maltheal and is Maidens. The mood darkens each time a corpse pile is resurrected, helpless citizens corrupted, a sense it is almost impossible to save anyone from this invasion. There are however glimmers of hope in the city.

There are many “Alley Way” passages. These are the random side areas you can portal into, like Den of the Fallen and such. Each one is different and is more involved than a simple, “Oh! – A random elite. Kill, loot, move on” They are mini quests to themselves and help push the atmosphere they are trying to build further. This is also a nice reprieve from just the shear death that surrounds you throughout the city. I counted at least 4 of these on one run, but may be many more; 15 minutes is not enough to find and see each one when rushing ahead. You fight your way and get to the Chapel within.

You meet up with Tyrael at this point and fight of Malthael’s Maidens. A whirling void, acting as soul vacuum cleaner, pulling in from the local area behind her. You dispense of her. Once you do the area outside becomes a small hub for you.

You continue in the labyrinth. Westmarch almost seems to help Malthael’s army in his plot. All along the cold feeling of despair comes alive in shivers of sudden traps, events, and even hounds ready to snack on you – and pee on your dead corpse too, no joke!

You venture, a harden soul, to find the main Death Maiden to strike the first major blow to Malthael and his plans. You get there and the horrifying scale of what has happened comes to light. Bodies…bodies…not gravel roads, just endless piles. You fight and kill the Death Maiden and destroy the much bigger “Soul Vacuum Cleaner.” 

…and at last, the demo ends. We must wait to see what lays beyond.

Environment: Pandemonium Fortress (The Forgotten Battlefield)

"Can you believe this place? Did you ever dare to dream that you'd one day stand upon the crossroads between Heaven and Hell? This Pandemonium Fortress is truly miraculous.” - Deckard Cain

As stated, this place is beyond humanity. It lies at the cross between the High Heavens and Hell. It is where we are the outsiders, were the abnormal on this plane of existence. Here are a few concepts to begin to show you this twisted version of reality:

The developers say and by the concept art is truly unreal. It is really had to grasp how strange this place will be to us and more so add to the effect of darkness, other worldly, and ancient.

The Forgotten Battlefields have ancient creatures of Hell stuck in time as traps for you, originally set by the old angels. Old Titan fossilized on the frontlines, a memory of battles long ago. Ruin pillars, structures of a fortress torn a sounder of eons of battles during the eternal conflicts. This is the setup, this is the place Maltheal calls home.

Furthermore, we have a few in-game screenshots that seem to be just the tip of the iceberg for this zone:

Environment: More Randomness

The concept of randomness in inside, but mainly outside areas has been hot and loud. Diablo is built upon a legacy of never really knowing where to go. Always explore to find where you need to go. This carry over was never fully realized and done correctly.

This is set to be revisited in a major way in “RoS.” The team went back and made sure not only the randomness was done much better, but locations of entrances and exits can be in different locations as well. Here are a few examples:

This will hopefully encourage more exploring, which will turn into more memories and hopefully great loot too.

Thanks for reading this Diablo III: “Reaper of Souls” Environment article. More to come on other subjects soon!

Betta and Dred at Blizzcon 2013! Loads of fun.

Threw this together last night, better quality coming soon!

We give our best BlizzCon Predictions for Hearthstone, Diablo 3, World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Heroes of the Storm (The game known as Blizzard All-Stars...formally known as Blizzard DOTA…Legal departments, sheesh).

TIME STAMPS:

Heroes of the Storm: 12:40
Diablo III: 22:10
Starcraft: 51:38
World of Warcraft: 1:01:54
Hearthstone: 1:26:02
Final Thoughts: 1:39:46

Also don't forget about our Diablo 3 Character "Costume" Contest, still have plenty of time to enter to win great stuff for easy contest!

“Demons wear red, angels wear white, you pick what you want, all thanks to Transmogrification!”

Hello there everyone! With Halloween coming, along with all the fantastic news on Diablo 3: “Reaper of Souls” (notable transmogfication coming) we wanted to celebrate both in one contest! You know, to get those creative juices going and see what we can do now.

What you will need to do for this is to simply find items in Diablo 3 and come up with a unique looking “costume” based around an idea you have for your character - easy!

Prizes:

1^st Place

• Diablo 3: Collector’s Edition signed by the Development team!
• SteelSeries Flux Pro, Ear buds

2^nd  Place

• SteelSeries Flux Pro., Ear buds

3^rd  Place

• SteelSeries Flux Reg., Ear buds

Rules:

1. Please post entries in this thread on our forums, if posted elsewhere, it will not count!
2. When posting entry, please take a screenshot from the “Character Select Screen” preferably with any quest from Act 2, 3 or 4 for an easier view of your character. Act 1 tends to be dark, no biggie if you don’t or forget.
3. Lastly, write a short description of what you were going far!

Eligibility & Restrictions:

1. This is a global contest so anyone can enter.
2. Contest will go from October 24^th – November 13th.
3. You can submit as many entries as you would like, BUT please “edit” you first post and add additional entries to it. This helps us out a lot during picking winners!
4. There is no item restrictions, as in you can use any item rarity from Inferior to Legendary.
5. You will have up to and including midnight (PDT) (November 13th) to get your entry(s) in.
6. We will take stock of entries and post winners 2 (2) days later November 15th so we do not feel rushed and really pick out the best ones.
7. Winners will be PM-ed over the forums and have 24 hours to respond, if you fail to do so, a new winner will be picked in your place.

***PLEASE POST ENTRIES HERE***

Well will be giving away x1 beta keys during our Twitch live stream on Friday, October 25th.
Follow us here: http://www.twitch.tv/grindexp
Time: 7:30pm - 9:30pm EDT (4:30pm - 6:30pm PDT)

All you need to do is simply watch the stream and have fun, we take care of the rest.

Good Luck!