Diablo! In the foil… crafts… badass costume… flesh!

Are you bored this weekend? Would you like a chance to give your soul to the dark Lord of Terror himself? Battle his minions in a futile attempt at besting him to save your foolish, pathetic little world? Well look no further and wait no longer, for this limited time special offer!

By the time this likely hits your screen (give or take noon on Friday), Blizzard Entertainment will open up their highly anticipated and highly controversial Diablo 3 for an open beta test weekend. Venture through the first 13 levels and best some of hells own minions while choosing from any of the game’s classes. Wield spell and sword in an ever-futile attempt at besting the darkness that seeks to devour the world…

Now Blizzard is well known for these brief but high-intensity tests, usually called ‘Stress Tests’. They’re designed to actively test Blizzard’s hardware and software at ‘Near Launch’ conditions. As any game developer will tell you, no matter how much time Quality Assurance and Control has spent in a game, no matter how long your beta tests and no matter how enthusiastic your testers are… there will, without fail, be detrimental bugs within the game within a day of full release to the public. Thankfully Blizzard products are becoming less and less known for such things due, to in large part these weekends.

When they made the announcement, Blizzard also released a small FAQ to go along with it. As it contains instructions on how to get started in your very own adventures in Tristram, I’ve included it here for your convenience… here’s hoping the queues aren’t too long this weekend!

The Line Starts Here!

FAQ

What steps do I need to take?

• · Log in or create a Battle.net account at http://www.battle.net
• · Create your BattleTag™, which is required to play Diablo III (What is BattleTag?)
• · Download the game client, install, and play between 12:01 p.m. PDT April 20 and 10:00 a.m. PDT April 23

I don’t have a Battle.net account — can I still play?
Absolutely! Just visit http://www.battle.net to create a free Battle.net account. Next, download the client from https://us.battle.net/account/download/index.xml and install it. Create your BattleTag, and then log in to the game using your Battle.net account name (email address) and password to begin slaughtering the demonic hellspawn that dare stand in your way.

Are there any differences for stress test participants versus invited closed beta testers?
Stress test participants will only be able to access the beta between Friday, April 20 at 12:01 p.m. PDT (noon), and Monday, April 23 at 10:00 a.m. PDT. In addition, stress test participants will not have access to post in the beta forums and will not be provided Beta Bucks for use in testing the currency-based auction house.

Can all regions/countries participate?
Due to regional differences and features of the stress test client, Korean players will not be able to partake in the stress test weekend. However, beginning the week of April 23, we will be conducting a separate, invitation-only closed beta test that will give players in Korea a chance to try out the game, along with players in the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

What if the service is down/laggy/disconnecting me?
It’s very possible that players connecting to the stress test could experience issues with the service. While not ideal, this is exactly why we’re having a stress test. We want to catch and analyze as many bugs as possible during this stress test period, so that we can try to ensure a smooth launch on May 15.

I’m having an issue, how can I get help?
Due to the limited window of the stress test we encourage you to visit the Technical Support or Mac Technical Support forums if you’re having any issues running the game, and checking the Known Issues list if you’re running into a bug. As a stress test participant you will not be able to post in the beta forums.

What platforms and languages do you support?
For the stress test we’re offering the client in English, French, and German for both Windows and Mac. At release the game will be fully localized into English, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, European Spanish, Italian, Polish, Korean, and Traditional Chinese for Windows, and English, French and German for Mac.

I’m an invited closed beta tester, what happens after the stress test weekend ends?
As an invited closed beta tester you’ll continue to have access until the beta ends on May 1.

Nobunaga

An eccentric millionaire bent on world domination, or at least trying to find happiness and ponder the existentialism-… oh who are we kidding he's just an evil eccentric who wants to take over the world while having an amazing time playing whatever games strike his fancy. Known amongst the Blizzard community as "The Dreadmist Man".

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