First the old function of the Alt key  will not change in Diablo 3. We can still press our beloved Alt key and we can still mix it with the Windows key to mess up our Level 87 Hardcore Char. But function of pressing the Alt key to see the names of items lying und the ground has been improved as Bashiok explains in his new Battle.net post.

“The way it works now is that when an item drops the name shows for about 5 seconds and then they fade out and disappear. Pressing Alt shows all dropped item names for again about 5 seconds and then the names fade out and disappear.

I actually didn’t like it at first, I liked the on/off state of pressing or not pressing Alt, but with the names showing immediately after drop and having a sort of “grace period” after just tapping Alt, it’s really grown on me and is a lot more intuitive. It’s a lot easier to see what just dropped quickly and decide if you care, and it isn’t necessary to constantly hold down Alt while scavenging after a large fight.

I still want to see -nopickup return but I haven’t really asked anyone what the possibility of that is. I don’t think it would work well with the current system, so options may have to be a possibility.”