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Quote from Belcebu

Why are people so concerned about the rune change? D3 team did it for a reason after testing all difficulties and playing for thousands of hours. They are diablo fans more than we can ever be Have some faith in them and wait for the finished product!!

I had faith in them, and still mostly do, but this change was unecessary. If they really wanted to keep the runes the way they were and satisfy the player base that actually plays and grinds through inferno, they would have simply reverted to the first iteration of runes, IMHO THE BEST, and made the types stackable. Then made a good rune sink, maybe make them actually worth a decent amount of gold or salvageable for some nice mats for super cool armors.

They didn't need to take them away as items. They could've easily dealt with their "inventory" problems with my solution. Plus it allowed for a fairer overall game experience. They repeatedly stated that they wanted everyone to experience all the rune changes and test them to see which fit their style best. They also said casual new players won't reach inferno. Yet here they are making it so casuals can't experience the end game runes because they'd have to farm normal or nightmare thousands of times over to get to 60. It makes no sense.

At least with the old system I can make a choice of which runestone I want asap, Jay said they "dropped like candy" so anyone saying oh well you might not have found the right runestone is complete bullshit, This new system though just forces a player into a set path, it's not right I should have a little freedom when choosing my build and gear. What's next I can only use fire items past level 20?

Quote from Nastai

For all the people who are liking the changes to the rune system, I'd like to hear from you on this. Not because I am trying to start a war, but because I'm actually curious about your opinion on it -- and everyone's for that matter.

What about the skill without a rune affix? Once you get that first skill rune unlocked for that skill, you will in all likelihood start using that rune on that skill, until you unlock a better one (one that more fits your playstyle). The base skills are useless once you have a rune unlocked for it.

I understand this is true in the old system too, but it wasn't necessarily guaranteed that you'd find a rune that was worth putting into that skill. Now the decision seems kind of forced upon you, does it not?

This is the blunder of the system, They should've made it you get all skills at lvl 30 and then 30-60 you unlock ALL the runes for the skill at once. Instead of slowly progressing. They're forcing a path on you that some people might not want. If Ray of frost crimson is first unlock and alabaster is last, and I want alabaster i'm forced to wait while someone who wants crimson gets it much sooner. that isn't fair or warranted. They solved the blunder of useless itmes by creating a blunder that forces you to play a certain way. TBH i'd rather have useless items. The only thing that rights itself is that at level 60 you'd be the same either way. And the problem to that is it'll be hard for casual players to get to 60 because they said it themselves most casuals wont get through nightmare. So they'd have to farm normal which will be slow. This essential makes it so much harder for a casual player to unlock all skill combinations which is what I thought they wanted originally. IDK why they didn't think of any of this before.

Quote from Britward

Several people had seen this change coming from a long way away. It made sense. Think about when Blizzard reduced stash size. The writing was on the wall at that point. Runes in the forms of items were gone.

And good riddance. Listen, I enjoy the item hunt as much as the next guy. But stop pretending that this was because we were hunting for uniqueness. The core principle behind the item hunt was to find the precise items that would most benefit the build you had selected, a build that had been mathematically determined to be one of the best builds. Thus, tons of people had it. Runes were a way to customize our characters. And they still really are. I don't want that system tied to items, particularly when the item is hard to find.

We will still be item hunting for optimization. We will still be item hunting for the top end use of our build. But at least our playstyle (which runes are directly tied into) will not be tied into waiting on that item, particularly one that will be rarer than all the other items out there.

They weren't "hard to find" Jay said they dropped like candy at Blizzcon.

Quote from CherubDown

Quote from Entity

Quote from Kylie1998

So happy for this! There would have been countless of useless runestones that nobody would use just like in early diablo 2 with so many lower level runestones. They are opting to have a much more cleaner environment, and this makes perfect sense. It would be super annoying to have to wait to get the rune you want to socket your skill. Then to have to upgrade it.... that would suck!

If you actually understood the rune changes you wouldn't have said this because this "better" system actually does what you're complaining about. In the older system runes dropped like candy of all types, so it wasn't hard to find obsidian crimson or alabaster it was all equal. Now they FORCE YOU TO WAIT. So if anything you should be upset at the new design not the old one...

The reason the old system didn't work (and they undoubtedly figured this out in testing) is because level 60 players have absolutely no need for them anymore, but they continue to drop nevertheless. It's the same reason they got rid of identify scrolls. Once you had 50 of them (because too many dropped), there went another thing that drop that had NO VALUE!

Blizzard knows that this game is supposed to be designed for the level 60 characters. The end game is all that matters for those of us who will play this game for the next 5+ years. I don't want to have these damn items that have no value dropping all over the place and polluting my item game.

Yes, I agree they become useless. But again It was a terrible design choice to force players to only use certain runes at a certain time. At least with the initial system I could use crimson asap. Now I have to wait before I can get crimson effects. That to me is where this entire blunder lies. If they made it so as soon as i got disintegrate i could only use disintegrate but at level 20 i got ALL runes for disintegrate then yeah maybe I'd say it's a better system, but this is not how it works. they limit choice until you get to 60 in which case you would have all the choice in either system. So to me this is a fail, just as much as the initial system was a fail because it just overproduced items.

Quote from Kylie1998

So happy for this! There would have been countless of useless runestones that nobody would use just like in early diablo 2 with so many lower level runestones. They are opting to have a much more cleaner environment, and this makes perfect sense. It would be super annoying to have to wait to get the rune you want to socket your skill. Then to have to upgrade it.... that would suck!

If you actually understood the rune changes you wouldn't have said this because this "better" system actually does what you're complaining about. In the older system runes dropped like candy of all types, so it wasn't hard to find obsidian crimson or alabaster it was all equal. Now they FORCE YOU TO WAIT. So if anything you should be upset at the new design not the old one...

This is the first thing I'm truly disappointed in with Blizzard. Limiting my skill variation choice, and making 0 permanence to your skills. I can't believe they enacted these dumbed down changes. The first I don't mind as it doesn't affect me I'm going for elected mode, fuck that baby shit if you're that stupid you honestly shouldn't be playing a mature videogame, or a complex video game such as diablo... something like maplestory would better suit your needs here. The second thing though affects everyone and to anyone denying this you're simply just buying into too much shit. I have followed D3 since before its announcement in 06 played D1 and D2 and am in the beta, so I have some background here. The removal of item runes is the dumbest thing in the world. First juggling with your inventory has always been a part of diablo whether you say it's a bad part or a good one it's always been there. Second it completely FORCES a playstyle upon you until you reach a certain level. THAT MOST PEOPLE WON'T REACH!!!. They've said it themselves, most people won't play through nightmare or hell. If you're getting to 30 at normal then you're fucked you don't get to play with all the skill combinations because hey you suck at this game. Let's face it this is the worst decision they could've made. It sucks because now i have to wait to put an indigo rune in my skill whereas before I could do it at anytime. This whole problem could've been solved if they just transfereed the rune sink to the jewler. Upgrading runes was fairly simple you gathered a number of shit rank runes and then combined them into a higher rank and proceeded till you got a lvl 7 variant. NOT HARD. Just make the runes a stackable ITEM and VIOLA YOU'VE GOT YOUR SOLUTION. You didn't need to make a rune drop specific to a skill you could've just kept them as a standard crimson rune or obsidian. FFS does anyone at Blizzard think? We're not five year olds who can't manage inventories, we understand game mechanics and how the game works. I don't need the devs forcing a playstyle on me so i can beat the game. I can find out on my own. This is the first time i've been dissapointed with blizz and I honestly feel it is justified. They just took the game and said fuck it let's force them to play this way.