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Blizzard yoinks Diablo III companion pets due to excessive cuteness

by Jef Reahard on Jan 26th 2012 5:00PM

Betas, Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, Patches, News Items

Charges of extreme cuteness have been directed at Blizzard ever since the company unveiled its Panda-themed expansion for World of Warcraft. If a new post on the Battle.net forums is any indication, that won't be an issue for Diablo III.

A Blizz community manager penned an update regarding D3's beta patch 10, and among the notes is the fact that the game's companion scrolls are going away temporarily. "The companion pets felt like they were mandatory to maximize play efficiency and some of the pets were too cutesy for the gritty, dark world of Sanctuary," Nethaera wrote.

The pets (and scrolls) aren't gone for good, as the devs have plans for "a much cooler system (both mechanically and visually)" in the future.

Source: Battle.net forums
More coverage: Official site

Tags: action-rpg, battle.net, blizzard, Blizzard-Entertainment, companion-pets, d3, diablo-3, diablo-iii, game-mechanics, nethaera, pets

Reader Comments (82)

This better not be one of the things holding up launch. Yank it and implement something else in a patch. Game is already way overdue.

@Nearly Departed Overdue? I don't think so. We don't want another rushed release like SWTOR. We all know how that went down.

@chrisredfield31

So.. lets see... D3 is just D2 with very few new systems other than money grabbing ones like RMAH. It is a game that was supposed to launch 2011. Blizzard might well be forced to delay the release expansions of their other games simply because of this.

D3 is already a huge disaster. Its litterally unplayable for many cause of lag issues based on forced server connection. And how is Blizzard gonna fix that ? Yes.. by cutting PC version features to make more money on consoles.

@Nearly Departed Clearly you don't know how Blizzard works. We'll get the game when they think it's good an ready. Only once have they ever rushed a game/expansion, and they learned their lesson that time. Took months before things like runewords were properly implemented in Lord of Destruction, and I recall there being a lot of outrage about it. So yeah, let them take their time and get it right.

@Nearly Departed

"When weighing these systems against releasing the game, we decided to cut these scrolls and stay on track for the game’s release."

It usually helps to read the article/post/info being talked about.

@Deadalon

I dunno where you get your information...but you need to find a new source. Or maybe stop doing drugs?

I'm not exaggerating at all when I say..nothing in your comment is even remotely true.

@Deadalon : "litterally unplayable for many cause of lag issues based on forced server connection"

Absolute 100% rolled-gold unblemished NONSENSE.

Anyone who managed to play Diablo II online 10 years ago can play Diablo III. The bandwidth demands are mild (being, as it is, non-massively multiplayer), and the network code is top-notch, like all of Blizzard's games.

@Traptz so his comment is very similar to the garbage you spew about SWTOR?

@DoctorSmart

If you think Blizzard has only ever rushed one game/expansion then you obviously have no idea what you're talking about.

@(Unverified)

See how well it plays with no net connection at all. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but a lot of people have no net, or worse than 28.8 where they live.

@NeverDeath Only Lord of Destruction that I can think of. I don't count anything released post Activision.

@DoctorSmart

Activision or Vivendi, blizzard has always had a parent company. They call their own shots. Stop trolling and face the facts that blizzard can be in it for the money or do "bad" things. Its not always activision.

@rhorle Of course they do things for money. Never said they didn't. What comments are you reading?

@rhorle
Sorry, they don't call their own shots. Bobby Kotick is the CEO of Activision Blizzard. He is their boss. If youthink there has been no changes since the merger, either your head has been in the sand or you weren't familiar with pre merger Blizz.

Yes, they have had bosses. No, they never had bosses in the gaming division.

@Traptz
Actually Deadalon was right, it was supposed to be a holiday 2011 release.

http://techland.time.com/2011/05/10/yes-you%E2%80%99ll-be-able-to-play-diablo-iii-this-summer/
"The leaked Blizzard timeline from December last year (dated April 2010) put Diablo III’s goal-launch in fourth quarter 2011."

They also want the SC2 HoS campaign out this year. They need to do D3 and SC2 before MoP so there won't be conflict with releasing D3 or SC2 at a time they are releasing new content for MoP.

@(Unverified)

During the merger all of Vivendi Games except for Blizzard was given to Activision to run. Blizzard remain separate and run by the same people that have been calling the shots. Blizzard is Autonomous http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision_Blizzard

Acitvision and Blizzard are two separate companies under one name Activision Blizzard. Bobby Kotic is the head of every other division of Activision Blizzard except for Blizzard..

The only ones to blame for Blizzard's recent decisions is Blizzard. Blizzard can do wrong, stop wearing the tin foil hat and remove Blizzard from the pedestal.

http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/04/12/activision-blizzard-is-not-blizzard-part-2/

@rhorle lol at using an almost 3 year old article to prove a point. If you can't find a more recent reference, then you're talking out of your ass.

@rhorle If you're going to argue a point, find a more recent article to reference. A lot can change in 3 years.

@(Unverified)

Fourth quarter 2011 is the current quarter we are in. While they likely aren't going to meet that launch it isn't looking like it will be by that much. The Q4 Conference call is on feb 9 2012.

Also SC2 came out around the same time as WoW content. So they have no problems with doing multi-game content/launches around each other.

@DoctorSmart

The merger and rules for the corporation happened over 3 years ago now. Why would I need an article from 2011 or 2012 to prove a point that has existed since the merger?

Perhaps instead of talking out of your ass actually refute the cold hard facts.

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Blizzard yoinks Diablo III companion pets due to excessive cuteness

Reader Comments (82)

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 5:02PM Nearly Departed said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 5:09PM chrisredfield31 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 5:15PM Deadalon said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 5:21PM DoctorSmart said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 5:22PM rhorle said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 5:27PM Traptz said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 6:12PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 6:46PM Clemalum07 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 6:52PM NeverDeath said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 7:00PM drunkingamebar said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 7:08PM DoctorSmart said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 8:13PM rhorle said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 8:29PM DoctorSmart said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 9:05PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 9:10PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 9:21PM rhorle said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 9:25PM DoctorSmart said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 9:30PM DoctorSmart said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 9:31PM rhorle said

Posted: Jan 26th 2012 9:33PM rhorle said

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