Blizzard vs Diablo III's Player vs Player
It's done when it's done has long been the Blizzard maxim, but apparently no longer. Diablo III will be released before it's entirely done, Blizzard having recently revealed that it will be launched without its Player vs Player mode. Uh-oh. Admitted lead designer Jay Wilson, "the PvP game and systems aren’t yet living up to our standards... After a lot of consideration and discussion, we ultimately felt that delaying the whole game purely for PvP would just be punishing to everyone who’s waiting to enjoy the campaign and core solo/co-op content, all of which is just about complete."
"All of which is just about complete." ALL OF WHICH IS JUST ABOUT COMPLETE.
ALL OF WHICH IS JUST ABOUT COMPLETE.
ALL OF WHICH IS JUST ABOUT COMPLETE.
Blizzard are being as coy as a kitten dressed as Shirley Temple about a D3 release date, but that's a big fat humdinger of a clue that it's surely very soon now. As for PvP, it hasn't been axed entirely - there'll be a post-release patch at some point. Knowing Blizzard it'll probably take a while, of course. Still, the remarkable element of this is that even the apparently unassailable Blizzard appear to be bowing to market pressure to some degree, which is a stark change from their usual policy of doing whatever they want whenever they want and not until they're 100% happy with it.
It's semi-disappointing I suppose, but personally I was very unlikely to play PvP anyway. It's all about the co-op for me. If this really is being done out of consideration for those who want that and the campaign and have already been waiting years, this is laudable. I just hope that is the reason, and that the heavy hands of Blizzard's parent firm haven't demanded it.
Wilson added a few details on how PvP will work when it's finished and released in the year 2342. "It will add multiple Arena maps with themed locations and layouts, PvP-centric achievements, and a matchmaking system that will help you and your team get into fairly matched games quickly and easily. We’ll also be adding a personal progression system that will reward you for successfully bashing in the other team’s skulls."
What if I just want to share a nice cup of mana with the other team? I demand a Player ♥ Player mode in Diablo III, and that the game is not released until it's included.