Patch 10 Removals Update – Scrolls of Reforging and Companion Gone
Posted 26 January 2012 by EllyWe mentioned there would be an update on removed features that were not highlighted in the patch notes and Blizzard has confirmed the removal of 
Scrolls of Companion and Scrolls of Reforging.
A few more changes have made their way in to Diablo III beta patch 10, including the removal of Scrolls of Companion and Scrolls of Reforging, and we’ll be updating the patch notes to reflect that.
In both cases these are features we felt were underdeveloped and just not quite good enough for the game in their current state. The companion pets felt like they were mandatory to maximize play efficiency and some of the pets were too cutesy for the gritty, dark world of Sanctuary. Neither of those are issues we felt like we could solve without a lot of additional work, and we’re trying to close in on a solid release date for the game, not move further away. When weighing these systems against releasing the game, we decided to cut these scrolls and stay on track for the game’s release.
We think we can make companion pets into a much cooler system (both mechanically and visually), and evolve the reforging scrolls into a more meaningful system at some point in the future. For the time being, they will not be in the initial release of the game.
Source. Thanks DiabloIIIChris for the heads up.
The Scroll of Companion was a no-brainer for removal in its current state.
I missed my gold pig playing yesterday. And the gold bunny. I always enjoyed summoning a new pet and not knowing what it would be. Usually one flavor of snake, but the variety was fun.
As a side effect, this has definitively removed any reason to click a single bookcase in Act One.
Agreed
Me too.
I liked getting scrolls out of bookcases, and I HATE having to track down every gold piece, especially since gold is more valuable now that blacksmith leveling is done with gold only and not mats.
Yeah… I guess this means there are no scrolls whatsoever in the game now. So it will just be health pots that drop from bookcases and lecterns (if there’s no lore book)? How lame…
And recipes. You know, for crafting. Not like crafting is a big deal or anything, right?
I found both the pig and bunny inane. Are you going soft on us Flux?
As for the bookcases, lore journals still drop out of them and surely they can adjust simple things like “some awesome item blacksmith recipes only drop from bookshelves in act 1 Hell difficulty.”
I’m covered:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#T!!a
I never really liked those companions. I always thought they were a bit ridiculous and very WoW-like, the movement speed of some of them looked really off too (such as a snake moving faster than your running character). Overall, I did’t think they had a place as a regular unit which you always have to have with you.
That said, they may be more suited as a shrine buff, as it will keep them rare enough where the above concerns wouldn’t be much of a problem.
Hmm. They’re really starting to cut a lot of stuff in the name of getting the game out sooner.
Good for getting the game quicker, but bad if their mentality is “This aspect isn’t quite perfect yet? Remove it entirely (or hold it for the expansion)!”
Hopefully we won’t see too much other stuff on the chopping block.
I suspect that if D3 sells as well as everyone expects, they’ll be developing content immediately after release and features like this might find their way into major patches rather than being held until the expansion.
True, but I think the Mystic is a full blown expansion addition.
I’m sure the Mystic and Talisman returning will be saved for an expansion, but hopefully these scrolls are small enough features that they can get around to them a little while after release…
I’m not in beta so I can’t comment on whether the change itself is good or bad, but I take the news post as very good news. After the Jay Wilson post the other day there seemed to be two camps – those that thought this meant release was close, and those that panicked and felt it meant a delay to late ’12 or ’13.
This post supports the former group. Clearly, there has been a “come-to-jesus” meeting of the minds in recent weeks and they started making the hard go/no-go deicisions for what’s in the release and what isn’t. This now allows them to set an internal-only release date that they are working to – the remaining tasks can now be defined and time-lined as they steer the ship for port.
All this was still a bit murky in Jay’s post so this now clarifies. Release is within 2 months – write it down.
While it’s great that it means they are getting closer to a real release date announcement, it’s sad that so many nice features had to be cut to do so…
Boo! Companions were cool and helpful, running around to get all the gold that lies around got annoying after the first hour of playing the beta.
That was probably the point. They were so convenient that they felt mandatory.
Couldn’t they simply code the fellas so that they would pick op some gold and not all that lays around?
After all we still need to move around to pick up the loot its not like we all turn into lazy people all of the sudden!
I dunno. I don’t know if there is a compromise or a solution to this. I think the best they could do is inflate the variable amounts of Gold Radius that can spawn on an item but that stat is kinda lame as it is.
Snake/bunny/pig following me while I hunt gruesome demons? No thank you I’m fine! And don’t visit the concept with animals again. Plz. It’s not cool. “Ohh what a pretty demon, will you pet me plz? I’m really soft and can totally take everything you throw at me, not like my wimpy summoner whom I collect gold for!”
I wouldn’t bring an animal companion even if it gave me +100% MF. It’s not Diablo. Some necro companion stuff on the other hand…
Edit: Not a reply to you Rising, posted wrong ><
No DH ferrets for you then, huh?
Correct! I dunno, I just feel that what always compelled me with Diablo is its badass and brutal style. Cute little animals just spoil that. I mean, even in TL1, which look like a game for children, the god damn dog ruined the atmosphere. If Blizz needs to have animals in the game, let them run around in Tristram (and give the player the ability to slaughter them)!
No more Mr.Piggy :’(
so.. they are aiming for a rls date.. thats a plus i guess.
Yeah thats all I got out of this. Hoorah!
I guess? child puh..leaze.
they looked stupid. a ferret and rabbit as companion in a Diablo game? get ****ing real. I’d rather have a baby dragon or an ugly little gremlin following me. actually I wouldn’t mind one of those winged demons from the Azmodan vid
Then take out the bunnies and the ferrets, leave snakes ravens and little frikkin dragons, but why cut them completely?
They’ll prooly make a bigger system for pets, having pets that would cost a lot of Gold to buy is a perfect goldsink ( and the pets would be permanent of course) .
because, I repeat, this is a DIABLO game, not stupidass WoW. we’ve never had companions and we never needed them. honestly, I’m not opposed to the idea of having a companion, but cutting them out completely and leaving them for later is far better than reworking them NOW and delaying the game for an extra year or two. like we don’t have enough delays lined up already.
when we’re all playing the full game, we won’t even notice their absence. they can put the stuff back in at a later expansion and take all the time they want, we’ll at least have the core game to get on with.
solution: dont use them.
I like having temporary summonable pets that have a use. the gold collecting was nice. sad it is gone.
I prefer Blizzard’s solution: REMOVE THEM COMPLETELY
suffah
The companions weren´t working as they were supposed to. People were still picking up gold manually even though they had a a companion with them, so it´s understandable, that they were removed. I did however like the companions, and I don´t think the mechanics itself is out of place in diablo, but they just weren´t as good as intended I think.
I was gonna name by barb ‘Dar’ and be like Marc Singer…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV_U9FyijaY
wow, he actually said “release” four times in that short post
I’m very encouraged by the ”When weighing these systems against releasing the game, we decided to cut these scrolls and stay on track for the game’s release” sentence. Sounds like they’re getting serious about getting the game out soon in terms of what a normal person regards that word to mean & not Blizzard’s definition.
Also if they’re cutting out all these systems to tighten up the game for release, it could be suggestive that an expansion might be out in much less time than the poor Starcraft crowd seem to be having to wait for their next game if they’ve sort of got half-finished content already.
totally agree with removal of companions, they are def way to cute for this game it just doesnt fit well. i personally dont think removing stuff from game is making it worse. So many ppl complain about removal of scrolls of ID, its not a big deal at all and it saves space. people said how about making a tome of id where you can put a bunch of scrolls in there well then whats the point of that. its exactly the same thing as not having the scrolls in the first place
Scroll of Companion was a great idea!! Im actually a little disappointed about the cutoff. Hopefully they upgrade it as good as they say they will!
Also, they had a lot of companions, not only rabbits and pigs, all the bugs where great, the scorpion and the centipede where great and had an excellent size, it was almost imperceptible but still there!
About nailing down the release date, thats good news! Seems like someone from above is starting to push things to the final stage!
Elganame just notied ur avatar… demonic tutor haha MTG !
If Diablo would have a tutor, he would be the one!