Diablo III™

UPDATE6: Alrighty! Friends & Family Alpha/Beta has begun just an hour or two ago, so be careful! Now that the Beta has started, phishing and scamming attempts will become even more rampant. So again... Make sure you go directly to your Battle.net account, you do not click any links, and you do not reply with any information.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3123035242

---

UPDATE5: Friends & Family Alpha/Beta will be happening "soon," but it has not yet begun.

---

UPDATE4: It appears that an ex-Blizzard employee has leaked some beta footage and screenshots. Yes, these are legit. No, Beta has not yet started.

---

UPDATE3: People are claiming that BlizzCon Keys are going out. 99% sure that this is not true. Do not get scammed! Again, if you think you got an invite, check your Battle.net account first!

---

UPDATE2: Those of you curious, I received an invite, as well as my good buddy Force and our third on the Podcast (also from DiabloFans), ScyberDragon. Again though, unless you're press or you run a fansite, do not expect an e-mail. If you do get one, don't click anything!

---

UPDATE: Recently, some major press sites have received e-mails from Blizzard, These are just collecting information (their Battle.net accounts) so they can be added to the Beta when it goes live. So unless you run a major press site or fansite, or should be getting a personal invite from a Blizzard employee friend of yours, you likely will not be getting an e-mail pre-beta. And no, this does not mean the Beta is starting now, just that it's starting soon! SC2 Press/Fansite invitations went out ~3-4 weeks prior to the start of the SC2 Beta. So... We've got a few weeks!

Post from Bashiok on the matter:

We have begun early media and fansite outreach in preparation for the upcoming Diablo III beta test. The email they are receiving clearly states that we do not have a date to announce for the start of the beta test.

While we appreciate the interest in the beta test, we’d like to take this opportunity to caution everyone of potential phishing attempts or scams. Emails from Blizzard Entertainment will NEVER ask you for your password, and if you are selected for participation in the beta test, you won’t need to click any links in any corresponding email that you’d receive from us. When the time comes, players accepted into the beta test will be able to sign in to their account at www.Battle.net and see a Diablo III Beta license as one of their game licenses, as well as the ability to download the beta.

In order to be eligible to participate in the Diablo III beta test, you should set up a Beta Profile on your Battle.net account, by following these instructions: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=27087

You'll want to stay tuned to the front page blogs of this community site for future announcements regarding the Diablo III beta test.

---

The Beta is currently not yet underway, even though these forums are now live. That in mind, Beta invites have not yet been sent out, so do not fall for any scams! If you receive an e-mail, the first thing you can/should do to verify it's content is to go directly to Battle.net, login to your Battle.net Account and check to see if Diablo III appears on your Game Management. If it does not, show up, this e-mail is likely a scam, so be sure not to follow any links.

In the mean time, you may opt-into the Beta by logging into your Battle.net Account and following the directions Bashiok listed:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3077927797

If I opted in to the Diablo III beta, how will I know if I’ve been selected to participate?

If you are selected, you will receive an email from Blizzard instructing you to log in to your Battle.net account at www.battle.net if you don’t already have one. You’ll then be able to download the beta client directly from within Battle.net Account Management. We plan on inviting players in waves, so if you do not receive an invitation in the beginning of the testing period, there’s a chance you might receive one in a later wave.

As far as BlizzCon keys go, 1000 participants will be randomly selected and have the key e-mailed to them, after the beta has begun. For those attempting to opt-into the Beta, here's a quote from Bashiok on the selection process:

Is this a rhetorical question?

Well for our StarCraft II opt-in beta participants we do have a program that they need run that collects some basic system information. Central processing units, random access memories, vidjuh card, what have you. And when we send out keys we can look at everyone's specs and choose who to send invites to. Some of that is definitely ensuring that people can even run the game, sure, but some of it is also targeting specific hardware regardless of performance for testing reasons.

So yeah, we want to make sure people can run the game before we invite them. We may also want to throw more invites at some specific piece of hardware for testing. We also have special invites and keys that are given away for contests, attending BlizzCon, etc. and it's probably pretty likely that a Diablo III beta would follow pretty closely with all of these things.

Otherwise, Blizzard has confirmed that the Beta will begin prior to September 30th, so keep your fingers crossed and your eyes on the lookout!

For more information, you can check out the Beta Overview and FAQ:
* http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/events/diablo3-announcement/index.html#beta:d3-faq
* http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/events/diablo3-announcement/index.html#beta:d3-overview
________________________________________________
The Chat Gem Lives!
Fansite Administrator: DiabloFans, SC2Mapster, SC2Replayed