Diablo 3 Anniversary buff is here to stay

Blizzard announced that the Anniversary buff for Diablo 3 will be made permanent. The buff was made available on May 15 in honor of Diablo 3’s two-year anniversary, and was meant to last until May 22. The company said earlier in a Battle.net post that the increased Legendary drop rate will remain the same even after the buff is removed.

“I come bearing exciting news. Due to the overwhelming popularity of our Anniversary buff we have decided to keep the increased Legendary drop rate once the Anniversary celebration ends. Once the buff is disabled tomorrow morning, you will find that the new base line drop rates for Legendary items will be the same as those you have all enjoyed for the last week.”

Aside from the 100 percent increased Legendary drop rate, the buff also awards players with double Rift Fragments during May 15 – 22. The buff applies to all characters and stacks with other similar bonuses, but it was only made available for the PC and Mac versions of Diablo 3. Blizzard didn’t mention anything about the fragments so we assume they might go back to normal once the buff is disabled.

Diablo 3 was released back in 2012 and has generally received positive reviews from critics. However, many long-time veterans of the series were disappointed by the game and criticized its persistent online authentication and auction house. On the other hand, its Reaper of Souls expansion that was released last March received critical acclaim from both players and gaming websites. The expansion managed to sell more than 2.7 million copies after only one week.

In related news, a new gameplay trailer for Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls: Ultimate Evil Edition was released recently. The trailer focuses on the new Crusader class that was introduced with Reaper of Souls and features PS4 footage. Ultimate Evil Edition will be arriving August 19th for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, and PS4, and includes both the core game and its expansion pack.