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    Neinball and Aahz join Flux to discuss his recent visit to Blizzard for the Diablo 3 Open House. Topics include Diablo 3’s future and upcoming patches, Diablo console playtesting, community relations, and more.

    See the Blizzard Visit Mega Report for more information about many of the topics in this podcast.

    Speed warning. I had a ton of material to get through and the weather was scorching hot the afternoon we recorded this, so I was talking at a machine gun pace. Apologies to Neinball and Aahz for hogging the conversation far more than I do on usual podcasts when I’m asking the questions, rather than relaying the info.

  • 0:00 — Intro and Bliz Trip background details. IncGamers no longer blacklisted and Blizzard PR issues.
  • 7:20 — Nutshell summary: No new Diablo III patches coming until after Blizzcon. Blizzard is very interested in improving fansite and community relations. Flux speculates that Blizzcon will bring D3X, and why. Diablo droughts and Blizzard opening the development content archives?
  • 21:20 — Bold predictions about Blizzcon and D3X.
  • 25:20 — Diablo 3 console playtest info. The glorious return of “couch rules” Ninja Looting. Controls, “dodge” roll, melee vs. ranged play, economy projections.
  • 43:20 — Hearthstone playtest discussion. Flux knew/cared zero about it going in, but actually found it quite interesting.
  • 49:50 — Diablo III Open House conversation. Blizzard employees talk every other video game they’re playing non-stop when they have the chance. Diablo 3 feature conversation: bottomless dungeons, open world mode, variant builds are killed by open info, difficulty issues, the Auction House.
  • 1:06:00 — Recap, final thoughts, finally better communication from Blizzard to the fans, Blizzard’s big last Friday of the month meetings,

    • The Diablo 3 Podcast Episode Guide in DiabloWiki.net provides links to every show, plus quick summaries.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:10:27 — 64.5MB)

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