Blizzard: "We acknowledge Diablo III needs to be a better game"

Blizzard has spoken before on the need to shape up Diablo III's grindy end-game and gear issues . Now, in an official forum thread (via PCGamesN ) collating a sizable pile of player concerns and requests, Community Manager Vaneras acknowledged the RPG "needs to be a better game" overall but re-iterated its intention as a sequel with a standalone identity instead of "an HD version of Diablo II."

"A great sequel pays homage to its predecessors and at the same moves forward with new content," Vaneras wrote in a separate post . "It's fairly normal that sequels replace features from predecessors with new features, and I can of course agree that it is an issue if those new features fall short of what is intended.

"All I can say is that we are trying to make Diablo III the best game that it can be, but some things take more time to improve than others," Vaneras continued. "I totally understand if this is hard to accept for some people."

Last week, former Diablo III Director Jay Wilson left to work on other projects at Blizzard. In his farewell message , he commended the team for "making the best decisions we can with the information and knowledge we have at the time" and making "exception efforts" to correct problems.

The player-created list suggests ideas for fixing outstanding issues regarding story, itemization, the lack of PVP, skill trees and attributes, and other topics. Some proposals get quite granular, such as "Sockets that roll as a non-property but an implicit item quality must be brought back" and "Remove those goofy comments from Diablo and Azmodan during acts, revealing tactics and making them sound tryhardish."

It's a comprehensive effort, but what do you think? Do you agree or disagree with the ideas? Would you add anything more that's troubled you since the last time you played?

Omri Petitte

Omri Petitte is a former PC Gamer associate editor and long-time freelance writer covering news and reviews. If you spot his name, it probably means you're reading about some kind of first-person shooter. Why yes, he would like to talk to you about Battlefield. Do you have a few days?