The Secret Cow Level returns as Diablo 3 anniversary event

Can you believe it has already been three years since the release of Diablo 3? It feels like just yesterday I was greeted with Error 37 when attempting to login for the first time. Thankfully, the "high traffic" problems have subsided over the years, and with enough patches and updates, Diablo 3 has become the game we had all hoped it would be.

Celebrating the game's third anniversary, Blizzard has something special planned — something that'll tug at your Diablo 2 nostalgia. From Blizzard's anniversary page:

Effective immediately, we encourage all residents of Sanctuary to steer clear of the wilds. From dawn on May 15 to dusk on May 21, it is also recommended that you avoid entering any strange portals that may or may not lead to alternate planes of existence. This activity cud be potentially hazardous to your health and, in the opinion of this humble civil servant, is a veally bad idea in general.

Based on the rest of the post, it appears Blizzard has created portals that transport you to a secret cow level, as made famous in Diablo 2. For those unfamiliar, in Diablo 2, players could enter this secret level from a portal created by combining Wirt's Leg and a Tome of Town Portal in the Horadric Cube while standing in the Rogue Encampment. The cow level posed great difficulty as the small area was packed with Hell Bovines, bipedal cattle with polearms, led by the all-powerful Cow King (which if killed would prevent you from ever creating another portal to the Secret Cow Level again). But as long as you kept him alive, the promise of a secret cow level with great rewards was always available.

Whether or not Diablo 3's anniversary cow level will reward you with tons of experience and bountiful loot remains to be seen, but you have until May 21st to find out. Unfortunately, the secret cow level is only accessible in the PC, PS4, and Xbox One versions. For Xbox PS3 and Xbox 360, you get a +100% EXP and Gold buff.