Blizzard Entertainment released Diablo III Beta Patch 14 (v. 0.8.0.8815) tonight. You can find previous patch notes here. Blizzard surprised beta testers with the addition of Hardcore Mode unlocked at level 10 (beta only).

Another big highlight is a new powerful incentive to play in Co-op groups (Cooperative online play) … Magic Find and Gold Find are now shared between players, which means better chances to find uber gear for yourself, or for Auction House / RMAH.

Looks like Blizzplanet is up for some Diablo III Beta Patch 14 livestreams tonight. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: We will be performing scheduled maintenance beginning on Thursday, March 8th, at 11:00am PST and we expect the service to be available again at approximately 7:00pm PST (10:00pm EST/New York). During this time the game will be unavailable for play.

UPDATE: Server Maintenance schedule has been moved to end 9pm PDT (12am New York).

General

  • Hardcore mode is now available, and can be unlocked by reaching level 10 with at least one character
  • Cast time to resurrect a fallen ally has been increased from 1 second to 3 seconds
  • Player created games now default to Invite Only. Check "Allow Quick Join" in the Social tab of the Options menu to allow your friends to join
  • Magic Find and Gold Find are now shared amongst party members. The average combined value of the entire party’s Magic and Gold Find applies to all players regardless of location in the game world. The averaged values will not display in the UI
  • Skill UI
    • In Elective mode, skills can now be dragged and dropped from the skill interface into hot-key slots
    • Right-clicking a skill hot-key will now open the skill interface
  • Auction House
    • The Sell interface has been updated to better match the in-game inventory and stash
    • Combined the advanced and basic search features
    • The Active auctions tab now allows users to see all active auctions
    • Searches for recipes and tomes have been added

Classes

  • Barbarian
    • Barbarians now have innate 30% passive damage reduction versus all sources. This damage reduction is applied at the same time as all other damage reducing effects (such as Armor), but prior to shield block
    • Ground Stomp
      • Now destroys barrels
    • Leap Attack
      • Ability renamed to Leap
      • Weapon damage reduced from 125% to 85%
      • Now slows enemies in the landing zone by 60% for 3 seconds
  • Demon Hunter
    • Hungering Arrow
      • Rune of Puncturing Arrow pierce chance reduced from 55% to 50%
    • Impale
      • Rune of Impact stun chance reduced from 100% to 65%
    • Smoke Screen
      • Duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
      • Cost increased from 15 to 24 Discipline
  • Monk
    • Monks now have innate 30% passive damage reduction versus all sources. This damage reduction is applied at the same time as all other damage reducing effects (such as Armor), but prior to shield block
    • Breath of Heaven
      • Heal amount reduced
    • Crippling Wave
      • Damage increased from 100% to 110%
    • Deadly Reach
      • Damage increased from 100% to 110%
    • Exploding Palm
      • This skill has been redesigned.
      • No longer generates Spirit, now costs 40 Spirit
      • Now deals 220% weapon damage over 3 seconds
    • Fists of Thunder
      • Damage increased from 100% to110%

Crafting

  • Gold cost to craft items reduced
  • Cost to train Blacksmith doubled
  • More crafting materials are now required to craft items
  • Chance to salvage rare crafting material from blue Magic items reduced from 10% to 5%

Followers

  • Templar
    • Normal attack now deals 15% weapon damage
    • Intervene taunt reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds

Items

  • Several aspects of the game economy have been adjusted, including but not limited to:
    • Gold drops
    • Item sale values
    • Vendor costs
    • Repair costs
  • Rings and Amulets now become available at a higher level. As a result, these items will no longer drop in the in beta. Fear not – sparkly baubles await you in the retail version of the game.

Monsters

  • Mira Eamon now drops better loot.
  • Monster damage has been increased

Bug Fixes
For a full list of documented game and service bugs, please review the Known Issues sticky located in the Beta Bug Report forum.

  • Players are now able to leave the game if unexpectedly disconnected from Battle.net
  • Public Games can once again accommodate up to four players
  • Players can now queue for a Public Game involving any quest they’ve unlocked
  • Players should now properly be able to send and receive friend invites
  • Friends should no longer appear as [ ] in chat