Diablo III‘s first expansion, Reaper of Souls, will officially launch on 25 March 2014, Activision-Blizzard has announced.
The expansion is available now to pre-order digitally. In addition, Blizzard has revealed the contents of their various physical and digital editions. As usual with the developer, both editions come with a wealth of extras.
The Digital Deluxe edition includes:
- Helm and Weapon transmogrification recipes (cosmetic)
- A Spectral Hound pet (cosmetic)
- 3 extra character slots
- A Treasure Goblin companion pet for World of Warcraft players
- Crusader-themed Battle.net portraits
- Malthiel-themed decals for Starcraft II
In addition, the retail-exclusive Collector’s Edition comes with all of the above, plus the following goodies:
- Malthiel Mouse Pad
- Hardback Collector’s Edition Artbook
- Behind-the-scenes Blu-Ray/DVD two-disc set
Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be an original soundtrack CD included this time around, which is a shame as musical compositions are something that Blizzard has previously excelled at. There is a possibility that this might change however.
Reaper of Souls brings a whole host of new content to the popular action-RPG. Aside from a new story Act pitting you against the angel of Death, Malthiel, players will be able to enjoy an increased level cap, a new character class in the Crusader, a Mystic that allows you to both change the appearance and attributes of items, an overhauled loot system (dubbed as Loot 2.0), an overhauled Paragon System (Paragon 2.0), overhauls to the design of the game in order to maximize replayability (Adventure Mode and the Bounty system), and fully randomized dungeons (Nephalem Rifts). In addition, every outdoors location will now be full randomized, addressing concerns that the original game didn’t have as much replayability as predecessor Diablo II.
When Diablo III originally launched on PC and Mac back in May 2012, it came under heavy criticism for a raft of connection issues and design choices which many perceived to be too much of a simplification compared to the previous title. Blizzard have since made significant efforts to address player complaints, including endgame content, balance changes, alterations to loot tables and other alterations and additions. Reaper of Souls, however, is more of a complete design overhaul seeking to answer a whole wealth of remaining issues. Despite these troubles, Diablo III performed incredibly well at retail, breaking records left, right and center. It was followed earlier this year by a port for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, and will also appear on Playstation 4 next year (with strong indications that it will also surface on Xbox One).
You can pre-order the digital version of Reaper of Souls by following this link.
In the meantime, in case you’re not familiar with the title or want a quick recap, here’s a gameplay trailer, originally released earlier this year:
Dale Morgan
@spamdangled
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