This blog is part of my series about my experience in the Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (RoS) beta. I was playing a female Crusader named Joan. In the previous blog, Joan had hit Level 11 and was very close to hitting Level 12. All of the screenshots in this blog were taken on December 20, 2013.
By this point, Joan the Crusader had rescued Kormac the Templar, and together they fought Jondar. They were now working on the quest called “Reign of the Black King”. It involves going through the rest of the Cathedral in search for the Royal Crypts. On the way, Joan hit Level 12. She “dinged” at 9:40 p.m. on December 20, 2013.
Treasure Pygmy! This might be the first one I encountered in the RoS beta. Check out the group of skeletons that are in the air. Pretty sure they got there after I dropped a chandelier on them. Fun!
Joan the Crusader hit Level 13 at 9:50 p.m. on December 20, 2013. It took just 10 minutes to get from Level 12 to Level 13. I should probably note that I was playing on Normal difficulty.
To me, it was very interesting to hit Level 13. In the beta for the original Diablo III, players were capped at Level 13. You could keep playing, but you would never get higher than Level 13. The original beta ended immediately after the fight with the Skeleton King. After that, you basically started over on the road to New Tristram (but at Level 13 instead of Level 1).
I guess what I’m trying to say is that Level 13 still felt like a “landmark” for me. In the original beta, characters that hit Level 13 were unstoppable. They could easily take on anything that came at them. What about Joan the Crusader? She’s been a bad ass since the very beginning, easily slaying everything in her path. Joan at Level 13 was no different. I found it interesting to compare what hitting Level 13 felt like in the two betas.
There is a checkpoint that pops up immediately after a player finds the Royal Crypts. That completes the previous quest. It starts the next quest “Find the Crypt of the Skeleton King”. The other cool thing about entering the Royal Crypts is that you get an achievement the first time you do it.
Thorough Investigation: Explore the following areas of the Cathedral.
Cathedral Level 1, Cathedral Level 2, Cathedral Level 3, Cathedral Level 4, Leoric’s Passage, Cathedral Garden, The Royal Crypts.
The battle against The Skeleton King began at 10:14 p.m. on December 20, 2013.
It took about a minute for Joan the Crusader and Kormac the Templar to pin The Skeleton King against a railing.
The battle against the Skeleton King was all over by 10:15 p.m. on December 20, 2013. It was a good fight, but not nearly as exciting this part of the game was when I was playing the original Diablo III beta. What made up for the missing excitement was the Crusader class itself. Incredibly powerful and so much fun to play!
Kill The Skeleton King, and you earn an achievement.
The Mad King’s End: Kill the Skeleton King.
There used to be four achievements related to the Skeleton King. You could earn The Mad King’s End in Normal, Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno. Each was worth 10 points. As you can see in the screenshot above, that has changed for RoS. The first time you kill the Skeleton King, you earn The Mad King’s End achievement that is worth 40 points. I believe this was a necessary change since Diablo III had the four difficult levels, and RoS has a completely different system.
I have now reached the part on the RoS beta where the original Diablo III beta ended. It was going to feel really weird to continue past this point. The next blog will pick up where this one stopped.