I've tried to stay engaged in Diablo III, I really have. I got my monk to level 60. I played into Act IV of Hell mode. I created a Demon Hunter for a change of pace. I've even tried playing the AH game to make some money. But in the end, the game offers the same trap as World of Warcraft: Grinding for gear and leveling up alts is more of an addiction than it is enjoyable game play.

Blizzard has finally caught on to its end-game problem publicly, admitting in its forums that it knows the game does not have a "long-term sustainable end-game." Community manager Bashiok said they are working on lots of fixes and changes in patch 1.0.4 as they move toward PvP arenas in 1.1, but any further changes are still only a distant work-in-progress:

Read more: Not much planned beyond PvP patch »

Blizzard is making an effort to get out in front of reports that the company is banning Diablo 3 players who use third-party software to play on Linux. The users claim they were not running any bots or exploits using the alternative operating system, but Blizzard seems confident that it has only banned cheaters.

Read more: 'Playing the game on Linux will not get you banned' »

A recent hotfix to Diablo III has increased the drop rate of high-end items in Act III of Hell difficulty and beyond, while ensuring that bosses will definitely drop at least one rare item when a player has four-plus stacks of Nephalem Valor.

Read more: Digital restrictions lifted »

Earlier today, Blizzard posted in its forums that players making a digital purchase of Diablo III would only open up the Starter Edition version of the game for the first 72 hours. No reason was given so we contacted Blizzard to find out why. Late this evening, they issued a rather lengthy response.

Read more: For game and auction house integrity »

Update: Blizzard has responded to us and said the post in their forums was partially incorrect, adding some new information. You can find their long reply here.

If you've waited to pick up Diablo 3 for your epic speed run, you'll have to wait a little longer. The recent 1.0.3 patch implements new restrictions on digital copies of the game, such as forcing new players to play only the "Starter Edition" for the first 72 hours.

Read more: No Auction Houses, no Global Play »

Server and connection problems with Diablo III in South Korea have forced Blizzard to go against its previous policy and offer refunds to dissatisfied gamers after prodding from a Korean consumer protection agency.

Read more: Refunds to begin June 25 »

Diablo III only launched a month ago, and already two adventurous gamers have risen to the Hardcore challenge: Complete the game on Inferno difficulty without dying. What makes it more interesting is that they did the job before the 1.0.3 patch nerfed the difficulty of Acts II-IV.

Watch: The final battle (Spoiler) »

A large-scale patch for Diablo III has hit today, offering loads of class balance changes, the addition of an item level to gear, and some damage adjustments for monsters in Act II-IV in Inferno difficulty, among many others. It also fixes a laundry list bugs and reduces the rewards given for replaying quests. Sorry, grinders.

Read more: Crafting costs down, repair costs up »

My monk finally hit level 60 working his way through Hell difficulty in Diablo III. While having five stacks of Nephalem Valor makes it easier to farm for better gear drops from bosses and elite mob groups, the randomness and vast array of stats makes it exceedingly difficult to find upgrades to prepare for Inferno. So I have found myself spending more time in the auction house and the early experience was as useful as the items I've been vendoring and as exasperating as a group of molten arcane desecrator jailer elites.

Read more: The auction house bidding wars »

While everyone was having fun testing out the new real-money auction house in Diablo III that launched late yesterday afternoon, Blizzard has added a limit to the number of games players can create within a certain time frame.

Read more: No concrete time frame listed »

Diablo 3's real-money auction house is now live for players in the Americas. The long-awaited system will allow Diablo fanatics to buy, sell, and trade rare loot from the game with real US dollars.

You can access the auction house from the campaign screen, prior to entering a game, by selecting the Auction House button from the left-side menu. If you are in the middle of playing a game, you will first need to leave the game and return to the main campaign screen in order to access the auction house.

Read more: Tons of fees for sellers »

Blizzard doesn't tolerate cheaters. Or hackers or botters for that matter. To make the point, Blizzard said today that it has suspended or banned thousands of Diablo 3 accounts suspected of taking unfair advantage in the game or exploiting loopholes in the game that violate the terms of service.

Read more: Cheating won't be tolerated »

Having your Diablo III account hacked and stripped of items is horrible when you've put so many hours into getting them, but if you'd paid genuine cash money for that snazzy sword you'd be more than a mite annoyed at being plundered. As rapscallions continue to plunder accounts the length and breadth of Sanctuary, Blizzard has announced that players will be required to use a security-boosting Battle.net Authenticator to wheel and deal in the real-money auction house.

Read more: "Will help foster a safer auction house environment" »

[Update] And hey, patch 1.0.2b just launched.

Yes, yes, E3, great, lovely. Trailers and screenshots, wonderful, but what about video games we can actually play? Well, you can't play it quite yet, but Blizzard has shared thoughts on the changes coming to Diablo III in patch 1.0.3, which you might like to dote on as you actually play an actual video game.

Read more: From repair costs to Increased Attack Speed »

The Diablo III experience has gradually gotten better after a rocky launch, with Blizzard working diligently to fix in-game issues, stabilize servers and improve the experience. But the company is in hot water in South Korea over those same issues because of its refund policy.

Read more: Enough complaints for an investigation »