One year ago this week, we launched Diablo III in over 10 languages and 30 countries around the world. Since then, with the help our awesome community, we've made some significant improvements to the game, shipping upwards of 15 patches and implementing numerous hotfixes to make your battle against the forces of the Burning Hells that much more epic.

In celebration of Diablo III's anniversary, we wanted to take a look at the road so far, recapping some of the more notable changes made to the game since release and providing quick access to all the latest updates.

This is in part a retrospective, but mostly it's to help catch players up on anything they might have missed. So, if you haven't played in a while or are new to the realm of Sanctuary, definitely stay a while and listen!

– PARAGON LEVELS –

When a hero reaches level 60, experience earned from quests, monsters, and massacre bonuses will begin to count toward Paragon levels. There are 100 Paragon levels in total, and each level will reward players with a permanent bonus to Gold Find and Magic Find, as well as core stat increases (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Vitality). For every 10 Paragon levels, players will also earn a new hero portrait border which will display in the in-game party frame. This border will not only become more impressive as you level up, it will also display your Paragon level in any place where your normal hero level is shown.

For more information on Paragon levels, click here or check out the game guide.

– INFERNAL MACHINE –

The Infernal Machine is a device that will allow level 60 players to battle "uber" versions of some of Sanctuary's most nefarious bosses. While the rewards for defeating these bosses will be great, some assembly is required. Only the most powerful Nephalem can unlock the secrets to building the Infernal Machine, but once forged the device can be used to open portals to special encounters featuring not one, but two bosses which have been augmented from their original versions, both in terms of difficulty and appearance. Defeating each boss pair will provide players with extra items and gold, as well as a chance to find components for a new Legendary: the Hellfire Ring!

For more information about the Infernal Machine event, click here or check out the game guide.

– LEGENDARY ITEM IMPROVEMENTS –

In patch 1.0.4, we made some changes to Legendary items to make them more powerful, more memorable, and ultimately more fun to use. Through the addition of spell procs, many Legendary items now have a chance to activate rare and unique abilities, such as summoning an angel to fight with you, conjuring an icy projectile, or igniting the very ground you walk on. Legendary items are also far and away more powerful, possessing higher damage and affix values than their predecessors. In addition, many Legendary items have had visual effects added to their original models, giving them a distinct and detailed flair. 

?For more information about these improvements, click here.

– BRAWLING –

For those who wish to test their mettle against fellow Nephalem, head on over to the Scorched Chapel! This zone can be accessed by speaking with Nek the Brawler in any of the four Act hubs, and supports 2 to 4 players in a Free-For-All format.

For more information about Brawling, click here or check out the game guide.

– MONSTER POWER –

Similar to the "Players X" command in Diablo II, Monster Power is a system designed to give players more control over how challenging enemies are in each difficulty. With this system, players can choose to increase the health and damage of monsters according to different "power levels" and in return they'll receive scaling bonuses to experience as well as boosts to Magic Find and Gold Find which will stack above the 300% cap. The option to increase Monster Power is available to all players starting at level 1 in the Quest Selection window, and can be adjusted separately for Normal, Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno difficulties.

For more information about Monster Power, click here or check out the game guide.

– MULTIPLAYER IMPROVEMENTS –

In patch 1.0.8, we made several improvements to the multiplayer experience in Diablo III, including adding a special bonus for multiplayer games that grants +10% Magic Find, Gold Find, and Experience for each additional player in the party, combat alerts for whenever a player is engaged with an Elite monster or treasure goblin, multi-user conversations (a new chat option that allows players to chat privately with up to 98 of their friends), and matchmaking tags for Public Games.

These changes focused on buffing existing social features, making it easier for players to find one another online, and providing direct bonuses when playing in our cooperative mode.

?For more information about these improvements, click here.

– MONSTER DENSITY –

More demons, more fun! As of patch 1.0.8, players in Inferno difficulty at Monster Power 1 and higher will find an increased number of enemies across Acts I, II, and IV. By adjusting density in these areas, all four Acts should now be more comparable in terms of difficulty vs. reward, giving players more options for farming (and more monsters on which to enact their revenge).

For more information, click here.

– OFFICIAL PATCH NOTES –

But that's not all! Be sure to check out our official patch notes for updates to Diablo III in all their gory details.

Looking for more retrospectives? Head on over to Diablo Fans and Diablo Somepage for their 2012/2013 recaps!