Blizzard Entertainment released Diablo III Beta Patch 8 (version 0.5.0.8059) adding the new BattleTags feature and some class changes.

Barbarians in particular had a nice buff to Cleave doing damage to all enemies caught in the swing, and all damage radius increased from 8 to 11 yards.

The Options, Banner Customization, and Friend List UI have been redesigned. After the patch notes, I posted the Patch 8 known issues list.

Diablo III Beta Patch 8 – v.0.5.0.8059

Released 12/15/11

General

  • Battle.net BattleTags are now live! To learn more about BattleTags and how to set up yours today, check out the official FAQ (https://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/4132437). Please note that in order to log into the Diablo III beta, you must create a BattleTag via Account Management.
  • Due to a change in the way we store character data, all characters have been wiped. Please note that this wipe will also affect gold, achievements, followers, and artisans.
  • Achievements have been temporarily disabled and will not be available again until a future patch. During this time, characters will be unable to earn new achievements or complete any additional objectives of achievements in progress.
  • Players will now see recommended items for their active character when accessing the auction house Search tab.

Classes

  • Barbarian
    • Active Skills
      • Cleave
        • Ability will now deal 115% weapon damage to all targets caught in its swing, rather than 120% weapon damage to the primary target and 90% weapon damage to secondary targets
      • Revenge
        • Radius increased from 8 yards to 11 yards

  • Demon Hunter
    • Active Skills
      • Bola Shot
        • Hatred generation increased from 2 to 3
        • Damage reduced from 105% to 100%

      • Elemental Arrow
        • Hatred cost increase from 5 to 10
        • Damage increased from 125% to 145%

      • Fan of Knives
        • Speed reduced from 200% weapon speed to 140% weapon speed

      • Grenades

        • Hatred generation increased from 2 to 3

      • Hungering Arrow
        • Hatred generation increased from 2 to 3
        • Damage reduced from 90% to 85%

      • Rapid Fire
        • Initial Hatred cost reduced from 30 to 20

  • Monk
    • General
      • A new skill has been added: Cyclone Strike
        • Available at level 7
        • Costs 75 Spirit
        • Pulls all enemies within 24 yards towards you, followed by a furious blast of energy that deals 275% weapon damage as Holy

    • Active Skills
      • Breath of Heaven
        • Spirit cost increased from 25 to 50
        • Healing amount increased by 200%

      • Crippling Wave
        • Base effect duration increased from 4.5 seconds to 5 seconds

      • Lethal Decoy
        • This skill has been removed

      • Mantras
        • Mantra of Conviction, Mantra of Evasion, Mantra of Healing, and Mantra of Retribution
          • Cooldown removed
          • Now costs 25 Spirit
          • Duration increased from 1 minute to 3 minutes

  • Wizard
    • General
      • Signature spells no longer cost Arcane Power, regardless of level
        • These spells include: Magic Missile, Electrocute, Shock Pulse, and Spectral Blade
      • The order in which skills are awarded from levels 1 to 13 has been slightly adjusted:
        • Arcane Orb is now available at level 3
        • Disintegrate is now available at level 8
        • Electrocute is now available at level 13
        • Shock Pulse is now available at level 5
        • Spectral Blade is now available at level 6

    • Active Skills
      • Diamond Skin
        • Cooldown reduced from 25 seconds to 15 seconds
        • Duration reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds

Items

  • The introduction of magical items into the game has been slowed

Monsters

  • General
    • Baby Quill demon health increased from 1% to 25% of normal Quill Beast health (they grow up so fast)

  • Affixes
    • Arcane Enchanted will now appear at level 7, up from level 1
    • Mortar will now appear at a level higher than current beta content
    • Plagued poison cloud duration reduced from 12 seconds to 9 seconds

    Quests and Events

  • All quests and events have had their item and recipe rewards removed and will now only award gold and experience on completion
    • This does not affect treasure received from event objects for events like the "Jar of Souls”"and only applies to rewards obtained through the quest UI

  • Gold rewards from quests have received a tuning pass

User Interface

  • The Options UI has undergone several improvements, but remains a work-in-progress. Please report any issues in the Beta Bug Report forum.
  • The Friends List has been redesigned to be smaller and more accessible while in other menus and screens
  • The Banner Customization menu has been reworked to improve navigation and usability

Miscellaneous

  • Fire gate damage has been reduced

Known Issues in Patch 8

Here is the list of known issues for Beta 8. This is by no means a complete list, but covers several of the general issues player will encounter or find during their testing.

Issues that occur in specific places are notated with "Act – Level Area". The level area is the name of the location you are in. It is displayed above your minimap.

General

  • The game client will lag slightly when it is loading new assets for the first time. This is not Battle.net lag, but your game trying to load assets that it has already loaded.

  • It is possible to disconnect from the client while casting channeled spells, including Firebats, Electrocute, and Disintegrate.

Battle.net

  • The Promote to Party Leader menu option does not work when in-game. It does work when forming a party outside of a game however.

  • When adding a friend’s BattleTag, your BattleTag will be auto-populated into the Add Friend line. Simply deleting it will let you add your friend correctly.

  • When going to Block or Report another player, you end up Blocking or Reporting yourself.

  • Clicking on "Remember Account" does not remember your account if you exit the game. However, if you logout of the game, it now remembers your account.

  • Default banner options will sometimes use art that is locked.

  • Your BattleTag ID will be missing on the Add Friend dialogue window.

  • It is possible to cause an assertion by changing your banner and mousing over the tooltips quickly.

  • Characters become momentarily stuck when using a player banner in a co-op game.
  • It is possible for the client to freeze if the player accepts too many friend requests at the same time.

  • It is possible for the client to freeze if a player sends multiple party requests while in-game and anyone other than the first person to receive an invite accepts the request.
  • It is possible for your Friends List to show you as offline even if you are online.

Battle.net Achievements

  • All achievements have been disabled, please do not report this as a bug!

Combat

  • It is possible for the player to make the server think he is speed hacking if the player is affecting by the Chilled effect.

Items

  • Items are displaying full durability when they are slightly damaged. This is preventing players from posting them on the Auction House. This is not a problem with the Auction House, just a problem with the durability display on items.

  • Rapidly moving items in your inventory can cause them to temporarily become unresponsive. The current workaround is to not spam-click your items when moving them to your stash, equiping them, etc.

Monsters

  • It is possible for monsters to not play their death animation and remain standing instead of dying and disappearing. They are, however, dead.

  • The lore entry for the Skeleton still will not play its voice over. The lore entry itself shows up correctly in your Journal.

User Interface
We have completely redesigned our Options UI. Please bug away!

Compatibility

  • We are aware of issues affecting nVidia Optimus users.