Blizzard has invited 3,000 of its "most active" Diablo III players to its Friends & Family beta for the Reaper of Souls expansion, ahead of the closed beta later this year.

The beta includes the entire Reaper of Souls expansion, minus the final boss fight.

"In the past, participants in this particular phase of public testing usually only include friends and relatives of Blizzard employees," wrote Blizzard on its Diablo III site.

"With Reaper of Souls, however, we've decided to buck that trend and extend invites to valued media contacts and key members of the Blizzard community. We're also inviting 3,000 of our most active Diablo III players from around the world who've opted in for beta testing—something we've never done for any Friends and Family Beta test before!"

Over the next few months, Blizzard also says it will "continue handpicking community members to invite to the Closed Beta and bringing in additional players through opt-ins to ensure that all of our features like the Crusader, Mystic, and Adventure Mode get the testing they deserve."

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls adds a new chapter to Diablo III, as well as a new character class--the Crusader--and a new loot system.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls will launch for PC in 2014. Blizzard has also confirmed the expansion for PlayStation 4.