Diablo III senior producer leaves Blizzard amid sweeping system changes

Shawn Knight

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Senior producer for Diablo III Steve Parker announced via Twitter that he is no longer working at Blizzard or on the game, leading many to speculate that further delays could be coming for the highly-anticipated role-playing game that was first announced in June 2008.

Parker didn’t give a reason as to his departure from the company or the project but there are some worthwhile ideas floating around the net today. Some believe that despite an announcement just a few days ago about multiple system changes within the game, it is virtually ready to go and his work on the project is done. It’s possible that his departure is a sign of this and he is moving on to a new project elsewhere.

Others, however, suspect that Parker was perhaps fed up with the seemingly endless delays and threw the towel in. Either scenario is plausible but we likely won’t know the real reason why he left for some time, if ever. In the interim, Blizzard has posted a job listing for a new senior producer for Diablo III to fill the open position

Game director for Diablo III Jay Wilson announced late last week that they were making several changes to the game before it would be ready for public release. While the majority of these changes are small, such as removing items and adding dedicated buttons to the UI, Wilson goes on to detail some of the changes being made to core character attributes and stats. Additionally, the team is modifying the skill and rune systems, although he wasn’t ready to talk about them just yet.

Wilson concludes his post by reaffirming that there is still a lot of work left to be done, leaving eager gamers with no launch date to speak of.

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If you didn't like diablo 2 you probably wont like diablo 3. Much like sc1 to sc2 the changes for a decade between sequels seem minimal, sure its shinier but if sc2 is any indication it wont be much different. Which is sad because blizzard used to make huge leaps like warcraft 2 to starcraft to warcraft 3, diablo 1 to diablo 2. As for a release date they released the sc2 release date 2 months before it was released so elementary dictates we have at least 2 months to wait for d3 at any given time until the release date is released. I love diablo 2 so I wont mind a diablo 2.5 but I am yearn for a d3.
 
UnknownSky said:
I hope this game lives up to the hype. I would hate to see all this work go into it just to be a flop. x_x

Doubt it will be a flop, iv seen some videos and it looks great so far. Sad to see a Blizzard employee leave, but guess people have to do what they have to do.

Can't wait for the Project Titan info, its so mystical! :O
 
I am a beta member and I was also a big Diablo 1 and 2 fan. I'm considerably older now and my gaming time is much, much more constrained due to that nuisance called "adulthood," but I am really enjoying Diablo 3 when I sit down and spend an hour or two playing it.

The game doesn't have that "Blizzard Polished" feel because there are numerous little things that need to be tweaked. I'm glad to see they have moved on to that stage of development however and I'm glad they are taking the time to really make it shine.

As it is right now, I would say if we're using Diablo 2 as the measuring stick -- Diablo 2 was a 10, Diablo 1 was a 9, and Diablo 3 (in beta form) is a solid 8.5.
 
Yes, let us speculate on something with no information or evidence available.
 
So thats it, you heard it here first. Set in stone, Diablo3 is an unmitigated disaster and has been delayed until 2013 at the earliest. They realised this guy was taking the game in completely the wrong direction and have decided to go back to the drawing monitor. What a sad day for the world of PC gaming..
 
We may never know why exactly Mr. Parker left Blizzard.

But we can be 100% sure that this movement caused a tremendous burden to the game.

If you allow me a little bit of phylosophy: people really need to reflect about what they really need, not about they want. Somebody was not happy and both the game and the company suffer.

It really is a shame for such requested title.


There's nothing left for us, but believe things will end up well and the game will be a big hit.
 
"While the majority of these changes are small, such as removing items"

Can someone clarify this? Does this mean that they are removing certain aspects/items of the UI and NOT actual items like weapons/armor?
 
Guest said:
"While the majority of these changes are small, such as removing items"

Can someone clarify this? Does this mean that they are removing certain aspects/items of the UI and NOT actual items like weapons/armor?

Looks like both if you read the whole article techspot links - Says: "Scrolls of Identification are no longer in the game" (Instead your character just has the spell to do it I guess.). Also talks about "decided to remove the Cauldron of Jordan and Nephalem Cube". And mentions rearranging part of the UI.

As much as I really want to play Diablo 3 - I also don't want a half-*** game that needs to be patch 4 times the first week its out just to make it playable & is full of glitches (Skyrim....). I'm really tired of the "push it out now - patch latter" approach. So I'm willing to wait.
 
I've lost my interest in D3 awhile back. It keeps getting dumbed-down. Console version might be on the horizon. Bleh.
 
Has any of the guys making comments here played the D3 beta?

It really doesn't look like they did, I've played it through several times and I found it to be working quite well. Someone mentioned diablo 2.5, and you know what I don't mind that at all. D2 was perfect, just doesn't run well on todays systems.

This doesnt quite feel like diablo 2.5 tho, it has enough changes to be quite new and fun as is.
 
I decided to go ahead and leapfrog these problems and play Torchlight2.
 
hello ...

pfff, @ least it gives me some time to finish all my other games .... I really want to buy the collector's edition though.

cheers!
 
xclusiveitalian said:
Another Captain abandoning his sinking ship!

this is either sarcasm or very stupid , sinking ship , lol .

No point speculating why he left as we have no idea. Probably because his work was done.
 
I was fool enough to pre-order BF3 and hate it so once you are able to pre-order this game I'll pass and just wait for the reviews. Loved the 1st two Diablo's and haven't played in years but am looking forward to this game if it's ever released.
 
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