Diablo 3 to get major free update alongside Reaper of Souls expansion

Even if you're not planning to peer inside Malthael mysteriously masked face-hole with Diablo III's Reaper of Souls expansion , the fallen angel's appearance will still have an effect on the base game. Much like World of Warcraft expansions, Reaper of Souls will be pre-empted by a huge "2.0" patch that will overhaul Diablo III in preparation for new items, abilities and areas.

Lead content designer Kevin Martens ran us through the free features of patch 2.0. "You're going to get all the loot, you're going to get all the new item types, you're going to get all the new legendary affixes, you're going to get our new gem type - which is the diamond - and you're going to get all the changes to the rules, the smart drop system, the targeted drop system, probably you'll get loot runs - we haven't figured that one out yet - probably you'll get paragon, etc, etc."

Martens explains the division as being between systemic changes to the game's rules and new content for the player to discover. "All the content is Reaper of Souls, like the act five stuff and the new higher level items, from sixty to seventy - so that level cap increase, which includes the new abilities, the new runes and the new passives for existing classes."

The new loot system is a particularly significant addition. Blizzard told us that it's a way to bring players away from the Auction House , and back to splatting monsters.

Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.