'Reaper of Souls' Beta Hints in Battle.net Update

The upcoming Reaper of Souls Expansion looms large on the horizon, with Diablo III players looking for any sign of a beta test for the expansion. While Josh Mosqueira has stated that he would like to see the Reaper of Souls beta start sometime this year, we haven't heard much more since. The latest tantalizing tidbit comes from the Battle.net Beta Profile Settings, where you can choose which Blizzard game beta tests you are interested in. The image for the Diablo beta test has changed, from the regular Diablo III-style graphic to the Reaper of Souls image, as seen above. (The online image used for the beta opt-in also includes a fifth game, not yet displayed on the website: the action real-time strategy game Heroes of the Storm, which will be re-introduced at BlizzCon.)

Shortly before the expansion itself, there will be massive game changes in the Loot 2.0 Patch. The scheduling for that patch was narrowed a little, in a discussion Lylirra had about the timing of the patch, and the PTR for it. As mentioned, these major patches that Blizzard releases for their games before an expansion are generally released 2 weeks to 2 months before the expansion itself.

There are many other changes happening on the battle.net website, both for the Diablo III expansion, and the many other games that will be shown at BlizzCon. There is a new Battle.net Shop now in beta, making it easier to buy Blizzard games and services. Other changes include tweaks to the forums, including updates to the history of user's posts.

We'll know much more about all of this in less than a week, when BlizzCon 2013 kicks off!