'Diablo 3' patch 1.0.3a removes level cap and act restrictions

Diablo 3 patch 1.0.3a removes level cap restrictions and allows players to progress past Act 1.

Diablo 3's 1.0.3a patch removed restrictions that capped some digital purchases at level 13 and prevented progression beyond Act 1 for up to 72 hours after purchase, according to a post on the Battle.net forums.

Stephanie Johnson, a community manager for Blizzard who posts under the name Lylirra, characterized the revoked restrictions as "an unintended consequence" of security measures enacted to ensure payment verification.

In an earlier statement to Polygon, a Blizzard representative said that the security measures exist to prevent hackers and gold spammers from easily creating multiple accounts. The restrictions applied only to those who purchased digital versions of the dungeon crawler through Battle.net or Blizzard's online store.

Johnson also detailed several restrictions on digital purchases that will remain in place until payment is verified.

• No public game access for unverified digital purchasers
• No auction house access (real-money or gold) for unverified digital purchasers
• Unverified digital purchasers cannot trade items or drop items for other players to receive
• Unverified digital purchasers are not able to chat in any public or game channels
• Unverified digital purchasers cannot attach a custom message to friend requests, but they can send/accept friend requests, and play with their friends
• Global Play is not available for unverified digital purchasers

In a separate post, Johnson also detailed a slew of hotfixes for Diablo 3 deployed to modify drop rates and fix bugs. Unlike patches, hotfixes are performed on the server and do not require players to update their software.