Diablo 3 Open Beta Stress Test This Weekend

Haven’t gotten your Diablo 3 beta invite yet? Consider downloading the client anyway, as this weekend, all existing and new Battle.net members can login to the Diablo 3 beta. That means everyone that’s willing to sign up for Battle.net

The beta will be open to everyone from April 20th (Friday) at 12:01 PM PDT to 10:00 AM April 23rd (Monday). People with existing invitations can play during this period, but the beta will be shutting down on May 1st to make way for its May 15th release date. All current World of Warcraft annual pass holders get a free digital download copy of the game, and anyone who has the annual pass or has pre-ordered the digital download from Blizzard can download the client now. Click here for the beta client download, and login to your Battle.net account for the release client download.

Click-through for the full FAQ.

Diablo 3 Open Beta Weekend FAQ 

We’re pleased to announce the Diablo III open beta weekend, which offers open access to all players with a valid Battle.net account! Beginning this Friday everyone is invited to log in and help us put the game and servers through their paces in this three day stress test as we march toward the game’s release on May 15. You can begin downloading the Diablo III client right now!

From Friday, April 20 at 12:01 p.m. PDT (noon), until Monday, April 23 at 10:00 a.m. PDT you’ll be able to log in, team up with friends, and play each of the five heroic classes to level 13 as you fight to save the world from the impending demonic invasion.
FAQ

What steps do I need to take?

I don’t have a Battle.net account — can I still play?
Absolutely! Just visit http://www.battle.net to create a free Battle.net account. Next, download the client from https://us.battle.net/account/download/index.xml and install it. Create your BattleTag, and then log in to the game using your Battle.net account name (email address) and password to begin slaughtering the demonic hellspawn that dare stand in your way.

Are there any differences for stress test participants versus invited closed beta testers?
Stress test participants will only be able to access the beta between Friday, April 20 at 12:01 p.m. PDT (noon), and Monday, April 23 at 10:00 a.m. PDT. In addition, stress test participants will not have access to post in the beta forums and will not be provided Beta Bucks for use in testing the currency-based auction house.

Can all regions/countries participate?
Due to regional differences and features of the stress test client, Korean players will not be able to partake in the stress test weekend. However, beginning the week of April 23, we will be conducting a separate, invitation-only closed beta test that will give players in Korea a chance to try out the game, along with players in the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

What if the service is down/laggy/disconnecting me?
It’s very possible that players connecting to the stress test could experience issues with the service. While not ideal, this is exactly why we’re having a stress test. We want to catch and analyze as many bugs as possible during this stress test period, so that we can try to ensure a smooth launch on May 15.

I’m having an issue, how can I get help?
Due to the limited window of the stress test we encourage you to visit the Technical Support or Mac Technical Support forums if you’re having any issues running the game, and checking the Known Issueslist if you’re running into a bug. As a stress test participant you will not be able to post in the beta forums.

What platforms and languages do you support?
For the stress test we’re offering the client in English, French, and German for both Windows and Mac. At release the game will be fully localized into English, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, European Spanish, Italian, Polish, Korean, and Traditional Chinese for Windows, and English, French, and German for Mac.

I’m an invited closed beta tester, what happens after the stress test weekend ends?
As an invited closed beta tester you’ll continue to have access until the beta ends on May 1.

6 Comments

  1. Blizzard drops the ball again! Battle.net has been down for the past half hour and nobody can log in. With their current track record, current estimates are that it will be down the rest of the day at the bare minimum, with some doomsayers predicting that bad things will continue to prevent access to the beta until the open weekend ends, causing more people to hate blizzard.

  2. It’s a stress test, the idea was to strain their systems so they could make improvements for launch day. They can always extend it if they want more testing time. Beta isn’t “hey you get a free game!”, its “you can check it out and help us patch it up for release.”

  3. Yes, but it sort of defeats the purpose if nobody can actually get into it. Even the diablo3 bnet website is down from what I can tell. I realize my original post boils down to “I”m mad because I can’t get in!”, but this seems to happen a lot with Blizzard’s new games. IMO, you’d think they would have found a way to plan for this by now… then again, I’m not them, I don’t know what the heck happened. I’ll eventually just wait it out. If it’s up, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. If not, I won’t be disappointed. I just hope that this helps them fix it up by the time May 15 rolls around, as I’ve nearly paid off my CE pre-order and wouldn’t want to be buying a broken game and have wasted the money.

  4. the stress test did its job, they already fixed the connection issues by around 8pm est. they needed to do this to see what their current servers could handle, it worked exactly as they planned.

  5. the stress test did its job, they already fixed the connection issues by around 8pm est. they needed to do this to see what their current servers could handle, it worked exactly as they planned.

    Yes. They did indeed. I was merely frustratedly excited at the time, and sort of “rage posted”. Since that time I have been playing the beta almost non-stop and currently have “tested” (aka – reached end of beta) with 3 of the 5 classes, Wizard, Monk and Barbarian. I am currently pushing my way through a 4th iteration with the Witch Doctor. The grand finale will be the Demon Hunter. Then I can officially say I have tested every single available class.

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