Diablo PvP – an E-Sport?

With the recent announcement that Blizzard would be removing PvP from the game’s launch, many people’s heads turned and caused controversy – thought it seemed that most are okay with it getting the initial axe before release. Amongst the controversy, theories had been thrown about as to why they would cut a dominant feature from the game – one of which pointed to making the Arena system much more robust and possibly to make it e-sport bound.

But what future can be speculated for PvP? Since its debut, fans have been ensured that PvP would never drive PvE. While some skills would be retooled for the Arena, the game would largely foster an imbalanced system – and they were okay with that.

It seems like that will no longer be the case, however. Bowser has recently pointed out an interview with the CEO of Major League Gaming (MLG), Sundance Di Giovanni, who alludes to why PvP was delayed for Diablo III. The delay, he purports, is to make it E-Sports ready.

Skipping to 1:14:30, you can can see the conversation that takes place on the matter.

As of yet, we are unsure of how this could affect its PvE counterpart. The world of E-Sport gaming largely revolves around balance, but there are ways to prevent PvP balances to affect PvE. Falling short from creating an entirely different game, tournaments can be held with pre-made characters similar to how World of Warcraft tournaments are held. PvP in-game would largely revolve around practice and a formal ranking system similar to Starcraft 2. As for balance, many skills will likely have a PvP counterpart as part of the previous design.

Personally, I welcome the delay to make the PvP as good as it possibly can be. But how good is good? And does creating a competitive scene make it good? Competitive PvP has never been a part of Diablo 2. While you could have competitive games, it never reached a sustainable audience for major league tournaments – nor was it ever meant to be. The major draw for me was the non-commitment of it and the easy-come easy-go nature of dueling games. Creating the infrastructure for a competitive scene could do a lot for Diablo 3 – both good and bad.

On the positive side, creating a sustainable and balanced league for an e-sport will provide longevity to the game while adding another stream of continuous revenue. It secures another stream of revenue, making it so the game will not be heavily relying on the RMAH‘s success.

On the negative side, it can polarize the community and begin to encroach upon PvE players. As mentioned previously, we have been ensured that PvP will never drive PvE. Since its debut, developers had even poked fun at those who asked questions at Blizzcon ’11, which gained cheers from the fans. It seemed then that an e-sport would never hedge its way into the game… a thought that is now being put to question.

When it comes down to it, we’ve seen the Diablo 3 team flip-flop on issues since its announcement, so this doesn’t come entirely as a shock. Even so, how does the community feel about this new development for the PvP scene? Are you a pro E-sport player? Or are you vehemently against the possibility of PvP affecting PvE?

Thanks Nathan for the tip.