Diablo III closed beta available now

As some of you may have noticed if you’ve checked your email recently, Blizzard has officially kicked off the Diablo III closed beta, with the first wave of invites being sent out yesterday.

If you didn’t get into the beta during the first wave of invites, don’t fret; as always, Blizzard will be rolling out additional waves of invites at an unspecified time. You’re not guaranteed to get in, but at least there’s a good chance you’ll get an invite at some point. Even if you don’t get invited by Blizzard, there’s always going to be giveaways.

According to the press release sent out by Blizzard, the beta will allow participants to sample half of the full game’s first act both alone or with companions over online co-op. The first half of the act climaxes in a battle against the Skeleton King, so you don’t have to worry about your sampling ending abruptly.

All five classes – barbarian, witch doctor, monk, wizard and demon hunter – will be available to players, along with a chance to try out the game’s crafting system, and a small helping of the game’s skill system. You’ll also be able to meet a couple of the game’s Artisans along the way.

“This closed beta test is an important milestone for us as we enter the final stages of development on Diablo III,” said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime. “Our goal is to create the best action role-playing game experience to date, building on everything we’ve learned since the release of Diablo II and incorporating the powerful features of the new Battle.net platform. We hope players enjoy participating in the beta test and we look forward to hearing their feedback.”