Diablo III Starter Edition Now Available

The Wooster

King Snap
Jul 15, 2008
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Diablo III Starter Edition Now Available


New to Diablo? Now you can try before you buy.

The "Starter Edition" of Diablo 3 - a fancy title for what is essentially a long demo - is now available on Battle.net.

The trial allows players to play any class up to level 13, and lets them fight their way to the game's first major boss, the Skeleton King.

There's a few caveats however. Players who haven't ponied up for a full copy of the game can't access the auction house, and they can only play with other Starter Edition players.

All the progress, achievements and loot you earn in the trial are carried over, should you decide to pick up a full copy of the game. It's worth noting, however, that players who opt to buy a digital copy of the game may have to wait up to 72 hours for their account to be verified.

Diablo III has had somewhat of a mixed reception. The game is an enormous commercial success; it received a record-setting number of preorders, and once launched, it quickly became the fastest-selling PC game to date. Said launch didn't go entirely smoothly, however. The game's always-online requirements invoked consumer ire, particularly when server hiccups and high demand prevented many users from logging in during the first few days following the launch. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117262-Server-Issues-Mar-Diablo-IIIs-Launch] Now criticism is being leveled at the title's endgame content, which even Blizzard admits is somewhat lacking. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118274-Blizzard-Admits-Diablo-III-End-Game-Failure] That didn't stop it from squeezing a respectable 4/5 from our own Justin Clouse. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/9628-Diablo-3-Review]

On the bright side, now you can try the game before you drop the best part of $60 on it.


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King of Asgaard

Vae Victis, Woe to the Conquered
Oct 31, 2011
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So... they just renamed what was in the beta?
How long did that board meeting take, I wonder?
 

Karoshi

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Jul 9, 2012
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King of Asgaard said:
So... they just renamed what was in the beta?
How long did that board meeting take, I wonder?
It's not about "how", it's about "when". WoW and Starcraft 2 have a starter edition, Diablo wasn't going to be an only exception. I guess they were wondering when exactly to drop it.
 

snowfi6916

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Nov 22, 2010
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So who's gonna get Torchlight 2 when it comes out?

I honestly hope it outsells Diablo 3, just to shove it in Blizzard's faces that they fucked up.
 

Falterfire

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Jul 9, 2012
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snowfi6916 said:
So who's gonna get Torchlight 2 when it comes out?

I honestly hope it outsells Diablo 3, just to shove it in Blizzard's faces that they fucked up.
When it comes out? You mean you didn't preorder it several months ago?

I mean honestly, don't you realize that RPGs are srs business?

Full disclosure: I totally did preorder it a little before D3 released, but really only because I wanted to play a Diablo-type game and I wouldn't have paid $60 for D3 even if it was 1.5x as good as Diablo 2.
 

Smertnik

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Apr 5, 2010
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A pity that you can only play with other SE folks, I kinda hoped that this "feature" would remain exclusive to the guest passes. But I guess you can just create a new battle.net account to play with indecisive friends. Still an inconvenience, albeit a small one.

snowfi6916 said:
I honestly hope it outsells Diablo 3, just to shove it in Blizzard's faces that they fucked up.
You can't seriously expect that.
 

Scyla

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Jul 26, 2010
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King of Asgaard said:
So... they just renamed what was in the beta?
How long did that board meeting take, I wonder?
Nope, in the beta there were no zombies before the gates of New Tristram in the starter edition there are three!!! Totally different game.
 

King of Asgaard

Vae Victis, Woe to the Conquered
Oct 31, 2011
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Karoshi said:
King of Asgaard said:
So... they just renamed what was in the beta?
How long did that board meeting take, I wonder?
It's not about "how", it's about "when". WoW and Starcraft 2 have a starter edition, Diablo wasn't going to be an only exception. I guess they were wondering when exactly to drop it.
But did either of those two just use their beta game as the starter edition?
This smacks of laziness, is the point I'm trying to make here.
They could at least level cap at 15, and extend the trial period to the second major quest, instead of leaving it EXACTLY as it was in their beta version.
 

King of Asgaard

Vae Victis, Woe to the Conquered
Oct 31, 2011
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Scyla said:
King of Asgaard said:
So... they just renamed what was in the beta?
How long did that board meeting take, I wonder?
Nope, in the beta there were no zombies before the gates of New Tristram in the starter edition there are three!!! Totally different game.
MY WORD... You're... you're right!
I have shamed my family!!
 

deth2munkies

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Jan 28, 2009
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That exact offer launched right when the game did, this is nothing new at all. Why is it being reported NOW?
 

Jhooud

Someone's Dad
Nov 29, 2011
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deth2munkies said:
That exact offer launched right when the game did, this is nothing new at all. Why is it being reported NOW?
Didn't you have to have some sort of pass or something like that? I didn't think this was generally available before, but I may well be wrong.

Odd that they lock demo players out of their auction house - I had the idea that the AH was sort of the whole reason for the game from their point of view.
 

deth2munkies

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Jan 28, 2009
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Jhooud said:
deth2munkies said:
That exact offer launched right when the game did, this is nothing new at all. Why is it being reported NOW?
Didn't you have to have some sort of pass or something like that? I didn't think this was generally available before, but I may well be wrong.

Odd that they lock demo players out of their auction house - I had the idea that the AH was sort of the whole reason for the game from their point of view.
Bots will be kept out of the AH, and I'm pretty sure you got an online pass with the game that you could give to other people, but the same offer was already available on Blizzard's website. I know this specifically because I was at a LAN party the day after it came out, and I was the one guy who didn't have a spare $60 or the willingness to buy a game at that price that I knew I wouldn't enjoy, so I had to look at my options.