Diablo 3 to offer global play

Diablo 3's servers will be region free, allowing players to create alliances with no borders in what Blizzard has dubbed 'Global Play'.

While the Diablo 3 servers have been split up into three regions - Americas (also including Australia and New Zealand), Asia and Europe - players will not be region-locked into their zone.

Regardless of the region a player resides in, players will be able to play with friends across territories. While Blizzard will allow players to experience 'global play', there are still restrictions on how the function will work. For starters it won't be 100% region free, as each region will require you to play as a separate character.

Likewise, to play in a region other than your own, you'll need to recreate friends lists, characters and items from scratch.

Unfortunately, the restrictions don't end there. When participating in auction house, normal gold auctions will apply regardless of what region you are in, however if you want to participate in real world money auctions, they must be accessed by characters in your home region.

Perhaps the term 'global play' may be used a tad loosely here, but at least you can team up with people from different parts of the world.

What are your thoughts on Diablo 3's region free servers? Is it worth recreating characters, friends lists and items, or is it just easier to stick with your home region? Let us know if you think Blizzard dropped the ball on 'Global Play' in the comment section below.