Global Play FAQ

This Official Global Play FAQ comes from Blizzard's Battle.net support page. It was last updated May 1, 2012.

Diablo III Global Play FAQ

With Battle.net®’s Global Play functionality, you’ll have access to Diablo® III game servers in regions outside your own, making it easy to play with your friends in other parts of the world. In general, you’ll be playing in your “home” game region, defined as follows:

• The Americas for players in North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia

• Europe for players in the European Union, Eastern Europe, Russia, Africa, and Middle Eastern countries such as Israel and the United Arab Emirates

• Asia for players in South Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau

However, you’ll be able to freely switch between regions via the in-game options menu. A few important restrictions apply:

• While you can access the gold-based auction house in any region in which you’re currently playing, the real-money auction house is only available in your “home” game region -- you can only access it for the characters you have in your “home” region, and you cannot use the real-money auction houses in other regions. Note that players in some regions do not have access to a real-money auction house at launch.

• Heroes, items, and friends lists do not transfer across regions.

• Players are subject to the policies in their selected play region.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the available regions? What is a “home” game region?

Diablo III players will have access to three game regions at launch: The Americas, Europe, and Asia. Your “home” game region is determined by the home address (specifically, the country of residence) registered to your Battle.net account. Your home game region and country of residence also determine which real-money auction houses you have access to (if applicable).

The Americas game region includes players in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. Europe includes players in the European Union, Eastern Europe, Russia, Africa, and Middle Eastern countries such as Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Asia includes players in South Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. For a complete list of which countries belong to which home game region, visit http://www.battle.net/support/article/5200052.

How do I play in another game region?

You can select which game region you’d like to play in via the game’s Options menu, either before or after you’ve logged in to Battle.net. Note that if you are installing Diablo III for the first time, your game region will default to The Americas, Europe, or Asia based on the version of the client you’ve installed (e.g. you will default to the Europe game region if you install the French-language client). Once you’ve logged into the game at least once, you will default to whichever game region you logged in to last.

Note that in order to use Global Play, you will first need to agree to the legal terms and conditions for the country in which you reside.

Can I play my hero in another region?

Heroes are available to play only in the game region in which they were created, and you are not able to move a hero from one game region to another. Each game region has its own independent hero list, and you can have up to a total of 10 heroes per region (counting both normal and Hardcore characters) at a time. You will be presented with a region-specific hero list whenever you change game regions.

Will my shared stash be accessible across regions?

Your shared stash will not be available across regions. As with your heroes, stashes in each region exist independently from one another, and items cannot be transferred between game regions.

Can I use the auction house in other regions?

Players are able to use every game region’s gold-based auction house. However, players are only able to use the real-money auction house (where applicable) when playing in their home region. As with items and heroes, auction houses are region-specific, and players cannot buy or sell items across game regions. See the Auction House FAQ for more information.

For example, a North American player who logs in to his or her home region (The Americas) will have access to the real-money auction house and gold-based auction house for The Americas. If that same person switches to play in the Europe game region, he or she will have access only to the gold-based auction house for the Europe region. When the player switches back to The Americas, the gold- and real-money auction house for The Americas will be available once again.

Does it cost anything to change which region I’m playing in?

No, changing play regions is free.

Can I change my region back if I want?

You can change your play region as many times as you’d like.

Can I transfer my character to another game region?

There are no hero-transfer services available for Diablo III. We do not have any plans to allow players to transfer characters between regions.

What are the customer-support policies for each region?

Players will be held to the policies for each region while playing in that region. For example, while playing in the Europe region, European policies will apply; while playing in The Americas region, policies for The Americas apply. This is the same for all players in a region regardless of where their home region is located.

Note that account penalties are global, meaning any actions applied to your account when playing in one game region will apply to other game regions as well.

Will my interface or game language change if I switch regions?

Your game language and interface will remain the same when you change regions. If you purchased the full-language version of Diablo III, you will be able to play in all available languages in all regions. To play in a different language, you will first need to download the Diablo III game client for that language from Battle.net. If you purchased the Korean, Russian-language-only, traditional-Chinese-language-only, or another language-limited version of Diablo III, you will only be able to switch to the languages you’ve purchased. You will, however, be able to play in all three game regions using the language you purchased. Note that the Korean-language client does not contain the real-money auction house inferface.

Do my Real ID and BattleTag™ friendships carry over to other game regions?

Real ID and BattleTag friendships are region-specific, so you will need to re-establish your existing friendships in each play region. In addition, players are only able to communicate with each other and see each other’s status when they are playing in the same game region.

Will I need to create a new BattleTag when I switch my region?

Your BattleTag is the same in every game region. However, you will need to establish BattleTag friendships on a region-by-region basis.

How will server maintenance affect my ability to play in other regions?

If Diablo III-related servers in your home region are undergoing your maintenance, in most circumstances you should be able to access Diablo III-related servers in another region, as long as they are not undergoing maintenance as well. Note that if you haven't previously logged into another region using your current login credentials, your ability to connect might be affected while your home region is in maintenance.

Are there any restrictions on who can use Global Play?

At the launch of Diablo III, Korean players who log in to the game at an IGR (and are not playing using a full Diablo III license they purchased themselves) will only be able to play in the Asia game region. In addition, players who are using a Diablo III “guest pass” (available after Diablo III launches) will only be able to play in the game region in which they redeemed the guest pass.

Can I use my own language to create character names and/or chat when playing in game regions outside my home region?

You are able to chat and see other players’ chat in any language Diablo III supports, regardless of the game region you’re playing in or which localized client you’re using. In addition, other players will see your chat text in whatever language you’re using.

You are able to create a character name only in the language of the client you’re using; however, if you switch to a different language client, your character will still have his or her name.

Updated: May 1, 2012