In the past, multiplayer in the Diablo games was a dicey proposition thanks to the constant threat of griefing from seemingly friendly players who could turn hostile at any moment. By contrast, Diablo III’s player-versus-player gameplay will be predominantly focused in the separate arena, where teams of four can do battle with each other. Due to the sheer number of skills, runes, and random gear, the development team at Blizzard isn’t even going to attempt to balance this mode for e-sports, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a nice addition to the main story mode of the game.
While PVP was revealed at BlizzCon 2010, this year’s showing was a little different. The basic setup was the same: four against four in a small arena, with health orbs placed at strategic locations. The playable BlizzCon demo was using pre-built characters loaded out with some great gear and a specific set of skills, but thankfully, in the final version of the game you’ll be able to bring in your own campaign characters. There will be matchmaking and some form of ranking with its own progression system, but that doesn’t appear to be linked to earning gold, experience, or items that you can bring back into your campaign.
What was different, however, was the ruleset for the game. Last year, matches were a series of games with no respawns. It was last team standing, and those that died were forced to spectate. This year, respawns were enabled and victory went to the team with the most kills at the end of our playtime. It's not clear if both modes will be available in the final game.
As the skill system in Diablo III has been changed from Diablo II--where each skill is unlocked as you level up--the limitation is now placed on the amount of skills you can equip at once. Because of this, the game and by extension its PVP multiplayer feel closer to Guild Wars than Diablo II or even World of Warcraft. You’re free to set up your loadout prior to joining a match, but once you’re in, you cannot swap your skills and runes.
This year’s outing was a bit more hectic than the previous demo, because teams didn’t spawn together and players could respawn at any time in various places around the arena. This resulted in a confusing experience where it was hard to ever really stop and take stock of the situation. Instead, it forced me to sort of always be running around and hunting for respawning enemies. Again, it's not known if these specific rules will be in place in the final game, or what kind of options you'll have for setting match specifics before you jump in.
The toughest part about previewing a game mode like this is that most of the enjoyment in a game like Diablo comes from building your own character and learning it thoroughly as you progress through the game. I had a lot of fun, but it was hard to jump right into high-level PVP without hours and hours of learning the ropes through the campaign.