Vote: No PvP in D3 at Launch
Posted 21 March 2012 by FluxBlizzard recently announced that we would not see a functional PvP system in Diablo III at launch. This created some fan outrage, but since the feature cut was framed in their usual, “Do you want System X or another six month delay?” no one was able to refute it too powerfully. And then the release date was revealed five days later, wiping away all memory of the latest and largest promised feature to get cut from the game during the rush to release.
Let’s go back to that no-PvP decision for a moment, though. If you can, look at the issue as an actual feature debate, rather than just a matter of “soon.” After all, as long as we’ve been waiting for D3, would you guys object to *anything* being stripped out for a quicker release? If Jay Wilson said, “The Demon Hunter isn’t working that great right now. Do you guys really want 5 classes if it means waiting until 2013?” I imagine a strong majority of fans, at least on Battle.net, would be perfectly fine going to war without an archer class. (Vote results on our Facebook page reflect that attitude quite clearly.)
So, try and weigh PvP on its own terms, rather than entirely in terms of “soon,” or “inevitable result of terrible time management from 2008-2012.”
How upset are you at no PvP in D3 at launch?
- 3) Mild approval. I don't really care about PvP. (45%, 4,094 Votes)
- 4) Great news. PvP sucks and would have distracted from PvE balancing. (18%, 1,685 Votes)
- 5) I reject your reframing effort. A SOON release date is all that matters. Cut all the features! (17%, 1,604 Votes)
- 2) Angry. Was really looking forward to PvP. (17%, 1,590 Votes)
- 1) Outraged. Won't buy until PvP is patched in. (3%, 212 Votes)
Total Voters: 9,185
Loading ...Last Vote Results
The last vote measured public opinion on Diablo 3′s 
Magic Find system, in which the MF (and GF and +%exp) for all characters is added up, then divided by the number of players in the game. I figured we’d have a lot more fragmented results on this one, with no one option over 30% or 35%, so apparently Blizzard is doing it right, at least in terms of pleasing the fans with their system plans.
How should Magic Find be handled in Diablo 3?
- 2) I like the D3 system; everyone’s MF shares. (53%, 3,989 Votes)
- 1) As it was in D2. No sharing of MF bonuses. (24%, 1,770 Votes)
- 4) There shouldn’t be any MF in D3 at all. (11%, 828 Votes)
- 5) Don’t know/no opinion. (7%, 524 Votes)
- 3) Some different system than D2 or D3. (5%, 356 Votes)
Total Voters: 7,469
While we’re on the topic if fan votes and release dates, check out the results of our release date vote from September 2011. Would you be surprised to learn that the correct answer was the least popular?
Personally, I think Bliz is getting away with this largely since so few people have actually played D3′s PvP. Everyone I know who was at Blizzcon the last 2 years hates this feature cut, and is perplexed that Bliz isn’t just releasing the game with a slightly-upgraded version of the Blizzcon 2011 demo, which was fantastically fun and certainly “good enough” for a release feature to get patched/improved over time.
Agreed.
But while I am angry, I am also happy to know they’re putting more thought into it. A more robust PvP Arena system is extremely welcome in my opinion.
Had there been another option, I’d have voted for “Angry about the initial cut, but optimistic for a better implementation in the future.”
EDIT: Here are some options that are now possible that weren’t in at the demo that will probably be in the PvP patch later:
-Spectators
-Practice/Custom Arena Lobbies
-A Real Ranked System + Meaningful Achievements
-Better Balance (I’m sure they’re confounded as to how to make a simple UI show PvE and PvP versions of skills in a noob-friendly way)
This is just a small list. What I do want to point out is that the PvP showcased at Blizzcon ’11 mainly captured the energy of what Diablo PvP brings – which is EXACTLY what people want. It’s just that repetition with no reward becomes a chore. In the end, what was lacking was the structure to make it meaningful.
I look forward to see what they implement in the future.
I think a lot of people consider PvP to be a form of end-game in and of itself; this feeling probably comes from Diablo 2′s lack of any ‘real’ end-game. Anyway, I would play PvP just because I enjoy it. Any rewards are sort of gravy to me.
I hope you’re right, but after the slooooow improvements in SC2, I’d be surprised if ANY of those options ever got into D3. We’ll get PvP, but probably not until holiday 2012, and it will likely be with only a few or no extra features.
Well, having not played it, I choose option six which is I will take the delay if it means a better pvp experience from the limited amount of content they were planning to ship.
Arenas are not good enough for me, no matter how fun they are in once-a-year fifteen minute bursts.
They probably needed more features for it to really work out, that they didn’t need at blizcon. They clearly need a system for balancing people based on gear, level, and general skill level.
It would turn a lot of people off if their first experience in PvP was to queue up at level 30 and get stomped by a team of level 60′s. Similarly, gear can have an impact like that as well. Balancing Matchmaking for the 3 variables (level, gear quality, and player ranking) is pretty complicated, and one of the biggest gripes with pretty much any moba right now is Matchmaking.
It’s wise for Blizz to take the approach they are taking.
But they had to have been working on that stuff all this time while working on the campaign. There’s no way they didn’t have a decent matchmaking system in place already. They are holding it back for some other incomprehensible reason…
I would guess that it’s just lacking overall in features. It was just a few deathmatch maps, and that was it.
Which is plenty. I’m not expecting much more from what we ultimately get, really.
I disagree, because I can see the massive potential it has. I’m just hoping that the development team sees some of what I do.
Agreed. I was pretty angry when they announced pvp was out for now. But I get it. I am just surprised from the voting how many have “meh’d” the whole pvp thing. Trust me when I say that is was really, really, really fun.
I’m sure a lot of people are expecting it to be like WoW pvp and are voting accordingly. I didn’t like arena in wow, if D3 pvp runs along the same lines I’ll probably avoid it.
As one of the few that got to play the PvP at Blizzcon. I was disappointed that they felt that it needed to be held back, but it didn’t send me into a rage.
This is not the first time Blizzard has done something like this. If we look back at how PvP was back when WoW first launched (nov 23 2004) it was nothing more then 1v1 sparring (no deaths) or gank PvP servers. 6 months later they introduced the honor system (a reward system for PvP) One month later (7 months after the release of the game) that they introduced the battle grounds. (zones made just for PvPing) Then Dec 5th 2006 they introduced the Arena system
If this was any other company I would have been worried cause I would have thought “O great, they are just going to release this stuff later as DLC and charge us for it” But Blizzard isn’t like that. They give their gamers free content. Think of all the patches D2 has gotten. Most game companies wouldn’t have even bothered updating a 2 year old game let alone a 10 year old game. At least they aren’t like EA, with all the services shutting down.
http://www.shacknews.com/article/72913/ea-shutting-down-online-for-more-games
I will gladly wait for a fully featured PvP system.
How is “mild approval” not caring about PvP?
I REALLY Care about PVP…. But i will PVP only after I maxed out at lvl 60… where is that option? I think it is the “Mild approval” option? but I do care about PVP….
Trust me , you will have 75% of people voting for
“Mild approval, I will not PVP at early level anyway, and it will come out as Free Patch too”
Captcha = As You Wish
I played it at blizzcon, and I thought it was bad.
If it takes more time to make it good, more power to them.
I saw those Blizzcon PvP vids, can’t recall what level those chars was but they had less HP then I was able to achieve in beta… that Blizzcon PvP was more of a show off / preview of what they probably had in mind but didn’t really “perfect” it Blizzardstyle.
I would like to see more beyond then just Arena matches, maybe even some big battleground where more then just a few are able to enter in and have some awesome battles for more fun, because lets face it arena’s are always abit more the competitive way (not that that’s a bad thing). But I do like choices depending on the mood I’m in.
So you were able to get almost 10,000 health? Really? Really? REALLY? They were lvl 60 characters by the way. That was also before they changed the health, so now I would guess their health sits around 20,000. (probably more)
You forget, the 2011 Blizzcon demo was using the old skill system…
It’s likely they didn’t want to risk having to delay the game again because of the PvP rebalancing they need to do… working on PvE balance for another month or two is much easier if it’s the only thing you have to worry about.
I was actually at Blizzcon the last two years and though yes the PvP was fun. What fun could you have with it at level 1? I’m guesstimating that you can’t get to max level in a few weeks if leveling is anything like D2 leveling so I’m not worried about it. PvP was fun but never what Diablo was about to me, give me my item grind give me my randomization. And if PvP needs to be on the chopping block to get me to that point I’m more than happy to lose it for now.
Sad that it won’t be there on release, but glad that they want to make PvP a great experience and will wait until it is good and won’t delay the whole game.
This
Heard
Diablo has PvP?
You need better poll options. Is it impossible to like PvP and be okay with the delay?
Exactly. While I and everyone else want the game as soon as they can, I’m not going to be jumping straight into PvP. I’d like to play the game, learn the story and understand the mechanics before beating up on other people. For me, it’s not a huge problem but of course I’d like everything done, even if I don’t use it right away.
This…. is what i thought… I really care about PVP, but not at early level…. And since it will come out as Free Patch anyway….
I agree, the poll doesn’t leave room for any positive reaction, whatever you pick is negative towards either Blizzard or pvp. Most of us will probably level up to 60 before going pvp so we’ll have all our skills and runes. I’m don’t mind Blizzard delaying the pvp aspect to a later patch.
Dat how Flux rolls.
Exactly! Im serious about PvP, but I don’t mind that they want to polish it before release.
Poll options here have always been questionable, regardless of feedback that’s been received on the issue. I just shrug and pick the option closest to my “general attitude”, if I care to respond.
The way I see it is – it sucks that PvP isn’t ready right off the bat, but I’m not going to rage about something that I probably won’t play until I’m at max level and have a good feel for my character, anyway. And I’d much rather just play Diablo 3 in 2 months rather than wait 6 months just to derp around in the Arena with a level 11 character for kicks.
/2cents
I probably would have jumped in around level 30, but what I said above still stands.
I’d prefer quality PVP with interesting features, and more than one play type, with brackets, ideally. I’d love a DotA/WoW BG-style mode, too.
Eh… Where is the option for ‘not upset, but i still enjoy pvp.’?
What Celibar said
On principle, I agree with Blizzard’s decision on this. No PvP for now is better than bad PvP; it’s not the first time they canceled or delayed something that wasn’t up to their quality standard.
On a personal level, this is good news for me because I don’t care about PvP in Diablo. ^^
I think you have gone too far with your little comments next to each choice.
I am very glad PvP is being delayed, but I love PvP.
The thing is, PvP in Diablo 3 is arena based. There is no ‘open world pvp’ that we are missing out of while leveling because of this change. Also remember that different skills may seem more or less OP at different levels with different gear. I know blizzard said they don’t intend to balance around PvP but that said, PvP will only be stable at max level. By delaying PvP until we have experimented with our classes, tried out different combinations and (for the more obsessed of us) leveled to 60 they will ensure that there is a lot less rage (balance), confusion (understanding a loss) and misunderstanding (of skills and game mechanics) generated by Arena play.
wow lots of pvm no…I mean poeple :d
I voted 2 for the obvious reason, that I loved pvp in d2 and was looking forward to it in d3 aswell.
However, since the anouncement, Blizzard did say they will add it later on with several mods, so I don´t mind the wait in the beginning, because that means, that I can enjoy the story and farm some items and play HC aswell.
Where’s the “I’m a hardcore PvPer, I absolutely love PvP, and I’m very glad they’re deciding to take more time into making it as great as possible before releasing it” option?
If you genuinely believe that they, Blizzard, the people who put everything before PvP, are taking time from their summer to work on PvP and make it orders of magnitude times better than what we’ve already seen, you’re delusional. We may see some UI changes in the PvP patch. Maybe an altered ranking system. That’s it.
If that were true, they wouldn’t have bothered holding it back.
Ok, Mike Morhaime.