Last week we reported that Blizzard had implemented several restrictions on new purchasers of Diablo III. Some of these restrictions were intentional, such as the inability to create private games or use the real money auction house, and some of them were the result of a glitch found after the restrictions were put into place.
Players who buy Diablo III digitally will no longer be subject to the level 13 or be restricted to the first act of the game. They would will however not be able to access public games, the auction house or trader received items for up to 72 hours. This allows Blizzard to verify the credit card information used to purchase the game and helps prevent gold farming and credit fraud.
As Blizzard wrote in their official announcement on their forums:
For security reasons and to help ensure the integrity of the game and auction house service, players who purchase the digital version of Diablo III may have to wait until payment verification is complete before they can access certain game features. (See below for a full list of restrictions associated with digital purchases.) While most payments are approved and restrictions are lifted within a day, in some cases it can take up to 72 hours to complete this process.
Similar to World of Warcraft, these restrictions were put in place to deter credit card fraud, which in turn helps reduce gold spam and other harmful activities that can have a negative impact on the game experience for everyone.