Though a lucky few got to start playing Diablo III this week when beta invites began going out, the unlucky masses not in the beta will have to wait even longer. Blizzard announced this morning that the clicktastic action-RPG has been delayed into "early 2012."

"While this news might not be a complete surprise, I know that many of you were hopeful that Diablo III would ship this year. We were too," Blizzard president Mike Morhaime explained in the announcement. Blizzard has said since February that it hoped to launch in 2011, but never committed to it.

"However, this week we pulled together people from all of the teams involved with the game to decide whether we felt it would be ready before the end of December, and we grudgingly came to the conclusion that it would not."

"Ultimately, we feel that to deliver an awesome Diablo sequel that lives up to our expectations and yours as well, we should take a little more time and add further polish to a few different elements of the game," he said.

The closed beta test will be extended accordingly, and Blizzard intends to invite more people than originally planned. That's some small consolation, at least. If you want a shot at getting into the beta, which you surely do, be certain you've opted-in through your Battle.net profile.

If you're still waiting by your inbox for an invite to land, you can satisfy your loot lust a little with the thrilling item database, which includes all of Diablo III's magic, rare, legendary and set items.