Crono

I am elated to know a date - 2 months is usually pretty short - but with this news in the back of my mind at all times I know that time is gonna drag even more slowly. Hooray! We finally got a release date!

Cutting PVP for a quicker release is fine with me since the core game is still in tact. I can't wait for Diablo 3 much longer so knowing it will NOT be delayed further is a rather welcome surprise from a company like Blizzard.

I'm not a one-game kind of guy either - I have a very poor attention span - but once Diablo 3 comes out I won't be playing much else for months to come. I have been playing the beta religiously and after getting a taste of some of the "unreleased" beta content over the weekend, my appetite for this game just grew 10-fold. I am perfectly fine with the PVP being dropped in lieu of a post-release patch and that doesn't make the game feel any less "final" to me.

I can't wait for this game to release. I am really hoping that during their press event this week that we hear something about D3s release date (even though the event is focused around Mists of Pandaria) either this week, or once the info is allowed to be publicly disseminated (next Monday, the 19th). While I doubt we'll see a late April release, I sure wouldn't complain if it happened.

I don't know about the rest of you but I plan on hitting 10 with a softcore character then logging off of him and jumping straight into hardcore. I am really excited about doing a 'blind' hardcore run of the game and I managed to convince my friends to get on board with it. I haven't been this amped up about a game for YEARS. I am at the bursting point of excitement... having a concrete release date may either make things a bit better, or make things exponentially worse.

This story deserves my audible anger. I shall begin shouting immediately.

@Video_Game_King said:

@Crono said:

@Video_Game_King said:

Question: will I be able to go to war with other cities?

Yes, and if your account has Battlefield 3 linked to it you'll be able to fight that war! If you have Sims 3 installed you can customize your soldier, see if he needs to go to the bathroom, and even bring your friends along to help fight by your side!

You mean Battlefield 3 doesn't have this feature already?

Sim Friends!

@Video_Game_King said:

Question: will I be able to go to war with other cities?

Yes, and if your account has Battlefield 3 linked to it you'll be able to fight that war! If you have Sims 3 installed you can customize your soldier, see if he needs to go to the bathroom, and even bring your friends along to help fight by your side!

Sexual harassment is part of the culture, so its ok! I really can't believe that such a quote even exists. It disgusts me.

I like this system but I don't like the interface at all. I would have preferred the old UI but with the same system. Oh well, I think I will manage :p

I think a mid to late April release is entirely plausible at this point. I wouldn't say that just because some Dutch advertiser said it that it must be true but their date could be real for the following: The game is done and now the company is just going through the process of marketing. Marketing is a lot more than just making people aware your product exists, it also entails the distribution of that product. Also keep in mind that Blizzard wants to have a synchronized world-wide release. So there is a lot of background work that goes into play with any release. Yes, they have had release plans in place, but without a firm conclusion to development, it will take them a little time to dot their "i"s and cross their "t"s and make sure everything in the final stretch is done properly.

Also, we know the game is done because of a message Jay Wilson left on the Official Diablo 3 forums. In there it is implied that all of the final systems are in place - which was allegedly the hold-up for the game - not to mentioned the obvious fact that a release date is right around the corner. Messages from Blizzard community managers have taken a shift in tone as well, being more open. Bashiok, a well-known CM on the forums, commented earlier today about the finalized game:

Now that we have all the new systems in I'm going to start from the beginning as soon as I get home, and hope to share more about how systems work for me personally beyond level 13.

Historically, Blizzard's turn-around time has been about 2 months from release date announcement to release. While this prediction would be a bit shorter than 2 months (especially since a date hasn't been announced just yet) I think it is entirely possible because supply chain management has improved a lot in a short amount of time and Blizzard has become increasingly better versed in global marketing. Many of the cases where they could not release globally had less to do with getting the product to its destination, and more to do with localization of the product. That's all been taken care of well in advance with this title.

Thanks for the link. I am signed up!