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[Spirals]

Diablo III PvP Update


by Jay Wilson 27 Dec 2012 18:00 GMT
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We've been working really hard on the features, content, and systems for PvP in Diablo III and I wanted to take some time to provide an update on where we're at. Of course, our goal has been to release our Team Deathmatch mode as soon as possible, but we don't want to put anything out there before it's ready. Right now, Team Deathmatch isn't where we want it to be, and I want to provide some insight into where we are at in the development process.
 
The State of PvP
 
Our original intent with PvP for Diablo III was to provide more formal support for the dueling community that existed in Diablo II. We wanted to give players some kind of structure that would not only make it easier for you to duel with one another, but also allow you to have duels that were team-based. This is how our Team Deathmatch mode emerged, and it's been instrumental in making a lot of improvements to Diablo III. But in continuing to develop this mode, playtest it, and put it in front of other developers within the company, we've found that it falls short of our expectations for a high-quality Blizzard experience.
 Putting people into an arena and letting them hurl fireballs and swing crazy-ass swords at one another always has an element of fun to it. I imagine it's no surprise to anyone reading this blog that people like battling each other in video games, so if you had the chance to play Team Deathmatch at one of the BlizzCons where we featured it you might not understand why we'd say that we don’t feel the current mode is good enough.
 
Well, Here's Why…
 “...we don't believe Deathmatch is the experience we feel it needs to be in order to ship, so we will be shelving it for now and exploring other options...”
For us it comes to a few issues, one of which is depth. Simply fighting each other with no other objectives or choices to make gets old relatively quickly. We've brought a lot of people in to try out Team Deathmatch and, while some found it entertaining, most of our testers didn't feel like it was something they'd want to do beyond a few hours. Without more varied objectives, or very lucrative rewards, few saw our current iteration as something they'd want spend a lot of time in.
 Another is class balance. Like Diablo II, Diablo III was designed to be a PvE-first kind of game, where we never compromised on player abilities in the name of future PvP balance. We want to be able to carry over as many of the crazy runes, items, and skills as possible, with their crazy effects, and alter them as little as possible. In a casual PvP mode, something equivalent to a WoW Battleground, this would be fine, but Team Deathmatch felt very hardcore, and it put a laser focus on class balance in a way that we didn’t think would be good for the game as a whole.
 Certainly, we've gotten a lot of benefits from the development of Team Deathmatch, especially in the areas of controls and combat model tuning, but at this point we don't believe it's the experience we feel it needs to be in order to ship, so we will be shelving it for now and exploring other options.
 
What's Next
 “You’ve been asking us for dueling for a while, so we're going to add it to the game soon”
So, our core problem is that our Team Deathmatch mode doesn't feel like a great addition to Diablo III. It's not up to the quality that Blizzard gamers expect or that we feel you deserve, and it doesn't really fit with our goals for the rest of the game. The question now is what are we going to do about it?
 First and foremost, if our original goal was to support dueling, then we're not achieving that goal very well if we don’t actually give players a way to duel in-game. You’ve been asking us for dueling for a while, so we're going to add it to the game soon. Dueling is currently scheduled to release with patch 1.0.7, which is set to hit sometime after the new year. (We'll be providing details about that feature very soon, so stay tuned.)
 But as I mentioned before, we are going back to the drawing board on a new replacement for Team Deathmatch, something that feels more appropriate for Diablo III. And as we stated previously, regardless of when we release it, it'll be a free addition to the game. Team Deathmatch provided us with the foundation that we needed and served us well. Hell, it may even still be added in some form in the future. For now, though, we're going to first be looking at new modes that play up to the strengths of the character classes, focus on objectives beyond just defeating other players, and possibly even integrate PvE elements and rewards.
 
Keepin' It Real
 
We wanted to be upfront and honest with the community about where this particular project is at. It's certainly not ideal, and I know some of you got to play Team Deathmatch at BlizzCon and are probably thinking, "It seemed good enough! Just give us that." I also know how I feel whenever a game or game feature I'm looking forward to is delayed, but, as with all things Blizzard, we want to be sure that the features we add to Diablo III are actually worth it and will make the game better.
 While we don't have further information to share right now about our plans for additional PvP modes, we look forward to posting more about dueling in the next few days.

source: http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6816948/Diablo_III_PvP_Update_-27_12_2012

Comments on news http://www.d3cl.com/en/news/view/109/diablo3-pvp-blog.htm

[hessu]

atleast we are about to get duels soon, and well.. in d2 that was enough 

[Mr.Mag]

only 1v1 mode but better this than nothing

[hessu]

mm yea true, didnt notice that first, in case it's wow-like challenging

[Nemra]

I hope for the sake of this community that if we begin crafting rules for custom pvp, then one of them will be that characters must be level 60 with no Paragon level.

For simple reasons..
- anything above level 60 does not help in any way in wearing better armour
- anything above level 60 does not help in any way in providing more skill customisation
- anything above level 60 wastes people's time to irrational proportions
- concluding from this, this will allow people have more than one character to pvp with as it is easy to level 1-60.

[Mr.Mag]

interesting idea but i think it'll be hard to convince anyone to this. paragon levels are not bad at all, of course, they require a lot of time to reach max lvl which can be spent on pvp, not exping

[Nemra]

Any rational human being who reaches paragon level 100 on more than one character is either loaded with cash to pay someone $1500+ to do 60-160 or should seek medical help.

Of course paragon levels do add some value, but personally I think having one character with paragon level 100 for MF'ing is sufficient enough - doing PvP with "just" 60 is just a solution that doesn't require spending ENORMOUS amounts of time doing pointless grinding and allows people to enjoy what they should, which is PvP.

I intend on PvP'ing with more than one character, but there is no way in this world that I will level them all up to plvl100 (life is too beautiful  ).

[Mr.Mag]

i understand, personally i have no time to lvl to 100 so your idea fits to me, but diablo is and was created for nolifes

[Spirals]

Any rational human being who reaches paragon level 100 on more than one character is either loaded with cash to pay someone $1500+ to do 60-160 or should seek medical help.

Of course paragon levels do add some value, but personally I think having one character with paragon level 100 for MF'ing is sufficient enough - doing PvP with "just" 60 is just a solution that doesn't require spending ENORMOUS amounts of time doing pointless grinding and allows people to enjoy what they should, which is PvP.

I intend on PvP'ing with more than one character, but there is no way in this world that I will level them all up to plvl100 (life is too beautiful  ).

Same as in diablo 2 really? There wasn't a rule your character had to be lvl 99 in order to compete? I'd say make lvl 60 the minimum lvl for now and let people free in their lvling choices. Having the possibilitie to invest time/money into your characters comes with a return: higher base amount of stats. This is even less when compared to d2 where you'd get more skillpoints aswell.

Also, going with your point implies setting limits on items - you can use the same reasoning; money to buy best items vs casual gamer..  let people decide for themselves

good to finally start talking about these subjects!!!! Shame we have to, but it's thrilling aswell 

[jointit]

If the community decides to cap pvp here on lvl 60 + para 0 i will leave instantly. What a load of crap. You can hit para 100 in 2 weeks if you dedicate yourself.

The argument that paragon levels doesnt bring much is better used to disregard a potential capping of them in pvp.

Oh god, is this the bnet forums?

[Mr.Mag]

I doubt that this rule will go. unbalanced items are much more problem. problably we'll start with no specific rules to figure out pvp

[Hamer]

for sure we have to start without any limits whatsoever, so the league can attract players new to diablo pvping or that dont know anything about d2 pvp communities, then some limitations may be added

[Ajantis]

for sure we have to start without any limits whatsoever

Depends on the exent to which Blizz is going to balance the duels in 1.0.7. If they decide just to give us the DECLARE HOSTILITY button with no balance changes, not applying any limits will be pointless. The game will be unplayable.

[Glasgow]

1. Where is no balance, there is a place we can act.
2. The whole process of setting ban list /skills(runes) or items/ should be made by an experienced players who spend tons of hours for practice, so they can decide what is OverPowered (u'r still able to counter) and what is Pure IMBAlanced (u cannot). I think D3CL could co-operate here with other fan sites (surveys etc).
3. After the ban list i ready, i can see a possibility of customization like no paragon lvls, but guys - this is almost the last step before Arenas and TDM will be implemented

cheers

[Hamer]

Ajantis, thats obvious, but i hope we will host the first tournament within 1-2 weeks from start, and that period is too short to come up with some wise rules, but later we will do whatever is necessary