Interview Topics

Combat Changes and Lifesteal

Q: With patch 2.0 and then Reaper of Souls coming out, it sounds like almost all of the combat changes will be in 2.0. How many combat pacing changes should players expect in Reaper of Souls itself?

Face-Tanking

Q: Right now, it seems like all the classes end up face-tanking, with a possible exception of Witch Doctors. Is that something you expect to see changing; for some of the classes that were originally ranged and are now face-tanking, do you think that'll be changing a lot in the expansion?

Basically, are ranged classes going to be ranged in the expansion? Do you see that changing a lot...

Build Diversity

Q: Do you think something like a perma-stun Wizard is going to be viable, or something that's going to be scaled back a little bit?

Damage Reduction on the Crusader

Q: Is the Crusader going to have the melee damage reduction?

Item Stats and Priorities

Q: As far as item diversity goes, right now the majority wants trifecta and quadfecta items. The AH obviously fed into that. Do you think with the removal of the AH and the Loot 2.0 changes, there is going to be more item diversity? Are there other new stats that are going to be added in the expansion that might change it?

Class Popularity

Q: We focus a lot on the site on Diablo III class popularity. Do you expect that the Barbarian is going to continue to be the most popular in the expansion? Or do you think with the Crusader being added, or with all the changes being made, that other classes will be a little bit more popular?

Console vs. PC Stats

Q: I don't know if you have the stats available, but is the console version class popularity similar to the PC version?

Class Uniqueness

Q: Right now, it seems like Witch Doctors have this dichotomy where they are the least popular level 60 class for softcore, but they're very popular with hardcore. With the expansion, are there going to be other classes with other abilities to lend themselves to being similar?

Proc Scalars on Skills

Q: Very early on, players were complaining about Lifesteal and saying it wasn't worthwhile. You predicted, running the numbers, that Life on Hit was going to scale back and Lifesteal was going to win there...

So obviously that prediction came to fruition. Are there other things like that, that you saw or predicted, that ended up being completely different than what you expected?