I’ve been asked to comment on the news that Diablo 3 will not have PvP Arenas at launch.
I don’t know whether to be glad that Blizzard was wise enough to hold back something they knew wasn’t up to their level of quality or sad that they’re going to release the game before it is 100% complete. The only reason this is news at all is because of Blizzard’s long-standing tradition of only releasing a game when it is ready. I remember waiting for every Blizzard game since WarCraft 2. One memory in particular is from back in middle school. My friend and I were in PE running walking the track talking about when Diablo 2 was going to come out. I vividly remember our discussion, even back then, how much we both hated the time it took Blizzard to release a game after announcing it, but we always knew it was for a reason.
Understandably, many people are very upset. This sounded like a cool system, and it will be fun I’m sure when it is patched in. However, how many of the people freaking out actually played Diablo 2? The video game industry has grown so much since 2000. If this were a MMO, I’d venture less than 1%. Diablo 2 didn’t have arena pvp. Players had to enable pvp and then agree to fight. This resulted in just a handful of player created rooms, capping at like 8 people, basically fight clubbing it in the first town.  PvP was pointless.
The point I’m making is Diablo 3 can be entirely without any form of PvP and it will not change the Diablo experience familiar to the fans. Diablo is about dungeon crawling hack n slash loot finding mayhem. It’s about the story, coop runs with friends, and magic finding. Diablo isn’t about arenas.
That said, both Graev and I are very sad since this would have been fun to do right away. We’re also sad to see the change in policy at Blizzard.
Graev has been whispering to himself in the corner these past few days: “First they came for our custom maps, and I said nothing.” I better go check on him.
Diablo II was good fun back in the day. I don’t really remember any PVP, probably because I didn’t play it online. Bioware/Black Isle’s Icewind Dale also came out in the same month, so it was a very busy July for PC gaming.
D3 was to have PvP? Yes, that’s a serious question. I didn’t follow the D3 news _that_ much, but it seems it never was marketed as a great feature if I had never even heard of it before…
But but but! Keen!
If there aren’t Arenas, how will Blizzard make additional money through their oh! so cherished “eSport”?
😉
I wouldn’t use/wont miss pvp in the game, but Blizzard’s changing policy of ‘it will come out when it is done’ worries me. I haven’t enjoyed all of Blizzard’s games, but I always knew that they would come out polished and complete. Now I will always wonder.
I LOVE PvP. But to be honest click, click, click everywhere pvp doesn’t excite me.
Am I only one that wishes D3 and LoL etc hate a different form of control? Great for dungeon crawling, but PvP?
Also…where’s Torchlight 2. They are missing on some GOLDEN sales!
I don’t really care about the lack of pvp in Diablo as much as I do the change in blizzard. I really just call it activision taint and it seems to be spreading.
As you said… PvP in Diablo? Really, it was going to be a nice feature for people, yet unneeded.
The bigger issue is Blizzard’s recent cycle of putting things out clearly before they are ready. They are seeing the bigger picture of the bottom line rather than seeing the bigger picture. In this regard, we will get a game that has had system after system cut, scrapped or reworked from the ground up all since the “guessed at” December release date.
Now, were these changes better for the game? Only time will tell, but what does not need time to do the telling, is the simple fact that Blizzard has changed its core philosophy in the past handful of years. Where we once saw passion and art take precedence, we are now seeing the financial bottom line as the priority. The reason Blizzard is who they are, is because of that drive to make a product they are proud of regardless of time and financial restraints. I only hope we see a return to that instead of the Activision “lets make some money” philosophy that has taken over as of late.
I’ll be concerned that Blizz’s stance has changed if Diablo 3 isn’t fun and polished. Diablo 2 was the 1st computer game I was truly hooked on and the way it followed up on Diablo was awesome. My biggest concern is that the horadric cube has gone away?
I really prefer the larger scale pvp of mmorpg’s…maybe just because I suck at 1v1. Not the point I know but maybe I am a little nervous after all…
I’ve felt that Blizzard sort of shot themselves in the foot when it came to announcing Diablo3 and they’re trying to make up for it. It’s taking them a lot longer than they want and they know the longer it takes to come out, the more people are going to be annoyed with the delay. This reminds me of my sister, who played the original Diablo when we were in grade school and she loved it. She never played D2 because it took so long for it to come out that it ‘broke her heart.’ Perhaps a little dramatic, but there you go.
I’m sure money is part of these decisions; it always is. But with every pushback from their estimated release date, people get more and more upset at the delays. Sometimes I think Blizzard is caving in to peer pressure more than anything else.
I wonder what has spurred on this change in Blizzard. Has there been shifts in the upper management? Perhaps the parent company taking more control?
Personally I don’t care about no pvp in D3. I’m not buying the game anyway, since I lost all interest when they announced the pay to win auction house. Still…this shift in how they handle their games is…unsettling.
Lol Blizzard has lost its edge. A major product missing key components is pretty lame.
The Diablo games have been primarily about co-op play. The PvP spect always felt like a tacked-on afterthought — it wasn’t ever very compelling and I never found it to be particularly fun, especially compared to “true” PvP games like Doom, Quake, Unreal Tournament, etc.
There is certainly no precedent for PvP Arenas in Diablo; this is a feature tacked on purely to serve the WoW crowd, IMO.
At any rate, people need to stop whining about it: A) Most players will likely not participate in PvP anyway, and B) Blizzard will release PvP in a patch; they could have eliminated PvP altogether.
It will be interesting to see if they release PvP as a patch or part of a hodgepodge expac.
I don’t care one jot about the arenas so if I had the choice on this one I’d say “release the game and add them later”.
I think Blizzard truly expected the game to be ready a lot sooner so are finally making a push to get it out there before people give up waiting or before it risks being outdated at launch.
It’s remarkable that Torchlight appeared as a stopgap but Torchlight 2 might even appear before this!
I’ve had D3 on order with Amazon for 2 years now! Only paying £22 but frankly I’ve got a bit sick of the endless teasers and “ability showcases” with no game.
Release Date confirmed as 15/05/2012
Can anyone confirm the pricing? I can’t see it as I can’t login to Battlenet at work, but I am hearing rumblings that the pricing is “Absurd”.
Thanks to my pre-order it won’t impact me but I like to know.
http://www.ingame.msnbc.msn.com/technology/ingame/diablo-3-finally-gets-release-date-454851
“Diablo 3” is headed for both Windows and Mac and will come in two flavors. The standard edition is just the game for $60, but the truly hardcore can get the collector’s edition for $100. In addition to the game, there are a behind the scenes Blu-ray/DVD set, the soundtrack, an art book, a fancy looking USB stick that includes “Diablo 2,” a corresponding base, and exclusive in-game content for the new release.
Blizzard repeated another message: gamers can obtain “Diablo 3” for free if they sign up for a “World of Warcraft” annual pass. Given the dwindling interest in that latter MMO, some are calling such an act a shrewd and smart business move. Others have a slightly more negative and cynical point of view.
@Intruder313 I wouldn’t say the pricing is ‘absurd.’ Isn’t it being released at the exact same price as SC2?