Players testing the Diablo 3 Friends and Family beta are claiming that Blizzard has found a way to remove the delay of character combat action stemming from network latency. In fact, players are claiming that nearly all combat actions are seemingly instantaneous — it’s as if they’re playing a local, single-player campaign. This is good news for players in Australia, New Zealand and other high-latency regions that don’t have access to localized servers.

According to the testers, Blizzard has developed a secure and tamper-proof method of client/server communication that allows the local client to handle its own calculations and send the data to the server for verification. Latency is eliminated because the client does not wait for the server to respond, but instead moves on as business as usual. However, the server inspects the data for tampering, and if it detects foul play, it will disconnect the player from the network.

Meanwhile, Blizzard has launched a Diablo 3 Skill Calculator wizard for creating a blueprint of a character prior to the game’s release. Players can choose from a list of five classes including the Barbarian, the Demon Hunter, the Monk, the Witch Doctor and the Wizard, and then choose six active skills by sorting through the entire skill tree. Once those are chosen, players can socket runestones within those skills and then choose an additional three passive skills. Naturally the characters can’t be used in the actual game, but the creations can be shared via Twitter and Facebook.

“If you think you’ve found the deadliest combination for your class, be sure to export your build and spread the word!” Blizzard states.

Also on Wednesday, Blizzard announced that PayPal will be the payment-service partner of choice for Diablo 3′s auction house, allowing players who trade with real-world currency the ability to cash out the spoils of their battle-torn adventures via a PayPal account.

“PayPal will also soon be added in several regions as a payment option on Battle.net, providing another convenient and secure payment method for digital purchases of Blizzard products and services,” Blizzard said. “We’ll share region-related specifics, as well as further details on everything mentioned above, in the near future.  Stay tuned!”