The Diablo III installer is now live, as Blizzard has flipped one of their switches, or turned on a server, or whatever they do to allow us to install the game.
If you already have the client downloaded from Battle.NET, you can go ahead and run the setup application, beginning the installation process. You still have to wait until tonight to play the game, though. In what should be a pretty active launch night, it’s highly recommended you install now so you can log in sooner and grind faster.
Servers will go live at 12:00 AM PDT. That’s 3:00 AM EDT.
One interesting thing of note about the installer: it’s the same exact process as World of Warcraft: you can play the game even though the game isn’t fully installed/patched, so long as enough files have been set up for a “playable” state.
We’ll be streaming launch night/day, so make sure you watch me play if you can’t get access to the game just yet.
If you’re still on the fence about picking up Diablo III, though I’m not sure why you would be, Blizzard announced the Diablo III Starter Edition & Guest Pass, which is a fancy word for “demo.” You’ll be able to level up to 13, complete Act I, and join games with other Starter Edition players. Every boxed copy of Diablo III will contain a guest pass key, so make sure you bug your friends for one if you still want to try it out.