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Diablo 3: Items Giving Abilities 06.24.2010 by Nocturne
One of the most controversial additions to Diablo 2 was the addition of items that allowed a character to use skills that were from a different class. The most infamous items include Call of the Arms, Enigma, Heart of the Oak, Breath of the Dying, and Infinity (this is but to name a few). As Diablo 3 continues its path of development, the community has expressed their concerns for such items.
The primary arguments state that they drastically alter and unbalance gameplay, allow only the very rich or certain class combinations viability in PvP and PvE. As a veteran Diablo 2 player myself, I can agree to the majority of community concerns. There just seems to be something wrong about a teleporting paladin or a whirlwinding assassin. While I think that it added a lot of new possibilities and strategies to PvP, the fact that the D2 developers had to resort to such a drastic change meant that they were willing to forgo character balance to breathe some new life into the game. It worked, more or less, but the lasting repercussions have left its mark upon the Diablo community. Bashiok has addressed this issue in a recent post on the battle.net forums.
Bashiok@Battle.net Forums (1)
Still, that's quite a long time in game-years. I mean, it *IS* an exciting feature. Build items that give you other class abilities? Hell yes I'm going to start playing again, that sounds AWESOME. But which abilities were given determined the long-term effects. Also, in their defense, they're generally very difficult runewords to create under normal circumstances. It's fairly easy to justify creating some of these things with the idea that only a few people will be running around with these powers.
As it relates to Diablo III, I wouldn't say "never", but providing a way to gain access to other class abilities is not something we're looking to or planning on implementing in the foreseeable future. I think if at some point years after the game is released we need some way to spice things up, honestly it's one fairly easy way to do it. I also think we have enough knowledge and know how and experience to be able to intelligently control such things. But I would also hope that those smarts could maybe help us find better ways to keep things interesting.
I think many will be breathing a sigh of relief, but there is much to be seen in the upcoming months of Diablo 3 development, as Blizzcon is right around the corner.
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