The Diablo 3 beta opens up

Update 2: Blizzard evidently didn't release any more information at 4pm BST. But we're keeping an eye on this and will update when necessary.

Update: Blizzard has waded in. It sounds like the beta wasn't supposed to open up, and that Blizzard has taken the servers down across the board while the issue is resolved.

Wrote Blizzard community poster Ulvareth: "The Diablo 3 beta is currently not available for play while we're working to resolve an issue. We don't have a current ETA for the beta to be back and running at the moment, but we plan to share an update with you in approximately 2 hours from now."

That post was made at roughly 2pm BST, which means we'll know more at 4pm.

Original story: The doors to the Diablo 3 beta are open - it appears that anyone can trial the upcoming game.

Members of Reddit shared the news, and there's been plenty of confirmation from subsequent posters.

"So if you don't have a Diablo 3 beta game account on your main Battle.net page, you can log into the beta," noted the opening post. "Not entirely sure if this is a bug, or if they've opened up the beta for the last 13 days to stress test it once this spreads.

"If it's not a bug, ENJOY!"

Whether this is accidental or something Blizzard intended we're attempting to find out.

Blizzard last night announced an end date for the long-running Diablo 3 beta: 1st May. The full game is out two weeks later, on 15th May.