Diablo III's latest snag: temporary restrictions for digital buyers

More online issues have emerged for Blizzard's Diablo III this week, as the game's latest patch has unintentionally, according to the company, locked new digital purchase players out of the full game for up to three days after purchase. Despite its extensive online experience with its hit MMORPG World of Warcraft, Blizzard is still grappling with issues unique to digital distribution and online games, including Diablo III's initial 'Error 37' messages and Korean refunds investigation. The latest update for the game level-caps new players who buy the game after the release of the latest 1.0.3 patch through the official Diablo III website. The update stops these new players from proceeding past the first act of the game. The new security measures, said Blizzard in a statement, were put in place to reduce gold spam and other harmful activities that have a negative impact on players. The security measures come into effect when a player first purchases the game online, and are removed once the payment has been authorized, which can take up to 72 hours. However, while the update was meant to restrict access to the auction house, item-trading, public or private chat and Global Play, it is also currently halting players from progressing past level 13 or Act I of the game. These two issues, says Blizzard, were unintended, and will be corrected "as soon as possible."