Blizzard has a real bad (or good?) habit of pushing back release dates on their games whenever they feel that it is not yet ready for prime time. While this no doubt is better for the game, it really leaves Blizzard fans feeling let down. I guess I am starting to get used to things being pushed back by Blizzard, but I have to say that it is starting to get annoying.
On Jan 19th, Jay Wilson the game director for Diablo 3 announced a whole boat load of new system changes being brought into the beta. The first major change is the removal of the Mystic artisan. The Mystic artisan was supposed to be able to enchant players items, but now that apparently isn't going to happen. Next they removed the Cauldron of Jordan and Nephalem Cube which enabled players to sell items and break down items into materials anywhere in the world. This lead to a change in the town portal having no cooldown and having to go to the Blacksmith artisan to have items salvaged. Character stats were also totally changed and are now integrated into the inventory UI.
Anyone who has played the Diablo 3 beta knows that these are some really serious changes. These are not changes that are easy to go back on because they change the whole dynamic of the game. You used to be able to dungeon for ages and just salvage tons of items out in the field of battle, but now you have to go back to town and use NPC's to do it. Blizzard thinks that this will break up combat and allow people more time to look at any possible upgrades players may be able to equip from their adventures.
These types of major changes indicate that this game is nowhere near completed. I cannot see this game being released anytime in the next 3 months, which is somewhat depressing considering the last Diablo game was released in 2001. My bets are on a May or June release date at the earliest.
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