Diablo III Digital Copies Restricted to Starter Edition For Up to 72 Hours

Before we can stop scratching our heads over some of the other changes made in Diablo III’s v1.0.3 patch comes word that Blizzard is now retricting new digital copies to the Starter Edition for three days in order to combat credit card fraud and other malicious activities. What this means for legitimate purchasers is that you’re essentially spending $60 to farm the Skeleton King on normal for up to 72 hours. Yikes:

As of patch 1.0.3, when purchasing a digital version of Diablo III through the online store or your Battle.net Account, players are restricted to the Starter Edition for the first 72 hours (sometimes less). Players on Starter Editions have the following restrictions:

‘¢ Act I up to the Skeleton King is available
‘¢ Level 13 capMatchmaking available only with other Starter Edition players
‘¢ No Auction House access (Real Money or Gold)
‘¢ Global Play is not available. Players attempting to connect to Diablo III Starter Edition in a region other than their Battle.net Account’s home region will receive Error 12. See the Global Play support article for more information.

More information regarding the Starter Edition is available here: http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/diablo-iii-starter-edition-guest-pass

If you are still encountering the Starter Edition restrictions over 72 hours past the date of purchase, please let Customer Service know: http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/contact

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Outside of the issue that we fixed, digital purchases do require a review period before they kick over from Starter to Full editions. We apologize for the inconvenience, but it is a necessary step to combat fraud and other malicious activities that can weaken everyone’s play experience.

The delay is no longer than three days, and is often much quicker than that. Hang tight. 🙂