Blizzard is taking down the game in order to roll out the update

Aug 21, 2012 09:09 GMT  ·  By

After unveiling the many aspects of patch 1.0.4 for Diablo 3, Blizzard has finally revealed that the long awaited update would go live today and, in order to ensure a proper release, the game is going offline for maintenance across all of its territories.

Diablo 3 came out back in May and Blizzard made sure to release various updates in order to prevent glitches, exploits, and all sorts of other problems.

Now, the biggest update – patch 1.0.4 – is getting ready for release later today.

As always, its launch will herald the start of a planned maintenance period for Diablo 3 across the Americas, Europe, and Asia regions.

According to Blizzard, the game will be unavailable during the following hours:

The Americas: 3:00 a.m. PDT to 1:00 p.m. PDT (August 21) Europe: 8:00 p.m. PDT (August 21) to 6:00 a.m. PDT (August 22) Asia: 11:00 a.m. PDT to 11:00 p.m. PDT (August 22) As we revealed in the last week or so, many changes are included in the update, as Blizzard has tinkered with core mechanics not to mention the game’s different classes and its Legendary items.

The biggest new feature added by the update, the Paragon system, was revealed earlier today and brings 100 new levels to the game.

Check out the general changes in the new patch for Diablo 3 below.

Diablo III Patch 1.0.4 - v.1.04.11327

New System added: Paragon Levels

- After a player reaches level 60, killing monsters and completing combat challenge streaks (Killing Blow, Massacre, etc) will begin to award experience towards Paragon levels - There are 100 Paragon levels Every Paragon level will reward you with: - Core stats such as Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Vitality in amounts similar to what you'd gain from a normal level - 3% Magic Find and 3% Gold Find

In addition, a distinctive border will surround your character portrait in the in-game party frame to denote your Paragon progression, with a new frame earned after every ten levels. Your Paragon level will also be visible to other players wherever your normal level is shown.

- Pets with passive life regeneration (most notably Followers, Zombie Dogs, and Gargantuans) have had their life regeneration greatly increased from levels 30-60 - Nephalem Valor now grants +15% Bonus Experience per stack, as well as +15% to Magic Find and Gold Find - Magic Find will now cap at 300% (Nephalem Valor bonuses will still stack beyond this cap) - Magic Find is no longer averaged among all players in a multiplayer game - Players can now disable or enable music in the Sound Options - Additional Sound Options including Sound Output and Speaker Setup has been added - A new tutorial about "Elective Mode" will now appear when a player enters Nightmare, Hell, or Inferno difficulty for the first time You can check out the lengthy list of changes included in Diablo 3 patch 1.0.4 at this link. Expect the patch to be made available once the planned maintenance periods end in each region.