Major Changes Coming To Diablo 3 Says Blizzard

In a post on the Battle Net blog, Game director Jay Wilson detailed some extensive changes coming to the game’s systems, some small, some very significant. He promises that even more revisions are in the pipeline.

Buckle down for the list of changes I’m about to drop on you, it’s a tad heart-breaking.

The means in which character stats and itemization work is being overhauled, along with several adjustments to interface, crafting, and overall customization. Wilson went on to mention that “we’re working on major changes to the skill and rune systems that we’re not ready to talk about.”

“While working on Diablo 3 we’ve been called out for messing around with systems too much, that the game is good as-is and we should just release it.

I think that’s a fair argument to make, but I also think it’s incorrect. Our job isn’t just to put out a game, it’s to release the next Diablo game. No one will remember if the game is late, only if it’s great.”

Most notable of these changes is to the character attributes, which will be changing from Defense, Attack, and Precision to Strength, Dexterity, Intellect, and Vitality. The concept is to give each class a core statistic and reduce the amount of item overlap, diversify our item pool, and create a cleaner, more exciting itemization system,” Wilson adds.

Additionally, the Mystic, one of the artisan crafting characters, is being let go from the game, accompanying the also departing Enhancement customization system. According to Wilson, “it simply wasn’t adding anything.”

The ‘Nephalem Cube’ and ‘Cauldron of Jordan’, two items that allowed players to sell or salvage items, have both been removed as well. It’s argued that the Stone of Recall (now called the Town Portal) does these tasks simply enough.

The Blacksmith can now salvage items, but common items can no longer be salvaged.

The Scroll of identification has been thrown out, as players have been given the ability to identify items by default. The fifth quick-slot is now a dedicated potion slot, and character stats can be seen via the inventory.

Wilson went on, describing why the game was being so effortlessly edited, much to the amiss of impatient fans:

“There’s a lot of work left to be done, though. We’re constantly tuning and making balance changes; it’s a massive task.

Our hope is that by embracing our iterative design process in which we question ourselves and our decisions, Diablo 3 won’t just live up to our expectations, but will continue to do so a decade after it’s released.”

Blizzard is applying the Duke Nukem Forever technique, it seems.

It’ll be out, “when it’s done.”