Rapid Game Changes
There's a time and a place for fast-action, high-priority designations. And believe me, we do have those types of approval pipelines. I'd argue though that reacting in a rash manner does not, in most cases, make for great game design.
Game design really is an art form more than a mathematical equation, even with so much math involved. The end goal should be amazing gameplay. And how that's defined will differ from person to person.
Sure, we can be slow to act. Sometimes we can be too slow. But even with the mistakes we've made -- and the mistakes we're sure to make in the future -- I think we're better off taking a measured approach to potential design changes.
If you know you're slow to react and implement changes, can't you be a little more forthcoming with informing us of what you want to do?
We're always striving to improve our communication. The primary function of the community team is to listen to the players, so we've spent a lot of time these past few weeks compiling feedback and taking it to the developers.
The flip side of that coin is for us to relay information back to the community as best as we can and as often as possible.
Does your team simply hate talking with the public for fear of "breaking promises"?
No, but you're asking very specific questions about late-game class balance only a couple of weeks into Diablo III's life cycle. The overwhelming majority of the community isn't even there yet. We're watching things very closely and have a lot of tweaks in mind, many of which are already being worked out, but we're not looking to jump all over balance adjustments and catch players off-guard. And it's certainly not an MMO where balance is among the biggest concerns.
For those who have already invested a lot of time into this game I'm sure these last couple of weeks have felt like a lifetime. But with regard to this game's lifespan, we're barely in our infancy.
All of that said, we're already preparing another game design update to share with everyone soon. We hope that'll provide additional insight into our plans for the foreseeable future. (
Blue Tracker /
Official Forum)