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Q u o t e:
Lengthy read, but please do take the time to read:

Jay Wilson, I am directing this thread at you because you seem to severely dislike PvP for some reason, and yet you are the head of the Diablo 3 development team, and those 2 facts combined honestly chills me to my bones, thinking about what Diablo 3's PvP mode might turn out to be like -- terribly supported.

You've stated (on video if I might add) that you laugh in the face of those who value PvP in Diablo games. "Shut up PvP guy" is what you said. That honestly hurts, and I'm sure I share the same sentiments with a ton of other people.

So let me ask you: Have you been on Diablo 2 recently? Maybe even just 3 years ago, or yesterday? I'm guessing not, because you've been so busy with developing Diablo 3. But let me mention that the reason why Diablo 2 has survived until this day is due to PvP. Just pure PvP. That is the reason why people still purchase the Diablo Battle Chest at Best Buy for $40 a pop 10 years after release, when there are modern games like Portal 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on the shelves. For Christ sakes, Diablo 2 is over 10 years old, and thousands upon thousands of people still play it religiously every single day. As you've even claimed yourself, people spend actual $$$ on D2 pixels via 3rd party sites. Even for those people who do not spend real $$$, you know what they do? They do countless Meph runs, Chaos runs, Baal runs, and other such runs just to find better items. Why do people do all of that still? Because farming the same bosses over and over is fun? Because people enjoy spending money on pixels to look cool? No. It's because people want to build their characters up and become the best at PvP.

You've really got to be out-of-touch with the Diablo 2 player base if you think that people still play that game just so they can kill Baal one more time. As harsh as that may sound, it's the truth. Your stats might say people spend countless hours in the Baal Throne Room or spend countless hours killing Mephisto, but what they are doing is farming for better gear so that they can use it in PvP. PvP is the ultimate endgame. And it is going to be the same way for D3. Simple as that.

With that said, I think I speak on behalf of the majority of potential Diablo 3 players when I say: We want more PvP features. More PvP features doesn't equate to "promoting e-sports". I know you are vehemently against balancing the game for the sake of e-sports, and that's okay. Diablo 3's PvP is meant to be casual anyway. But features like replays, spectator modes, 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, Last-man-standing, are all COOL features. They don't have to be linked to e-sports to be cool. They are just inherently awesome in any game, whether it is in an FPS or an RPG. They add depth to the PvP, and they make the PvP aspect of the game infinitely more enjoyable and replayable. Heck, you can even twist the new PvP features to benefit Blizzard financially. More features on PvP = more people who want to get better at PvP = more people spend money to buy gear on your RM AH. You get more profit, we get more features.

Relying on PvM alone to make people's interest for D3 last is just plain foolish. I understand that in an ideal world with unicorns and rainbows, the Diablo 3 team that you are heading would like everyone to be completely enamored with the main campaign and PvM aspect of D3 for eternity. But like clockwork, people will get bored and tired of the campaign after a certain number of play-throughs. If I learned anything from my history professor: Analysis of past events is the best tool you can have at your disposal to better prepare yourself for the future. In this case, Diablo 2 is what you should be looking at. Diablo 2 solved the staleness by having PvP as the endgame. Heck, if there were no hacks/mods to sour the Diablo 2 PvP experience right now, and if Diablo 3 weren't coming out, PvP alone would carry Diablo 2 for another 10 years.

So Jay Wilson, please I am begging you: don't skimp out on D3's PvP. It is immensely more important than you think it is. PvM is great, but PvP is greater.

Hopefully I didn't come off as sounding too childish or hostile, but I feel strongly about the potential neglect of D3's PvP mode(s) and features. People if you agree, bump and reply to this post. I want Jay Wilson, Bashiok, and the entire D3 development team to realize how big of a population of people actually care about the success of PvP in D3.

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