Blizzard gain a flash of insight?

[smegged]

Diablo 2, for all its flaws, had enough gameplay and customisation in it to allow nearly infinite builds. The only real problem with its build system is that you had to start at level 1 (why they couldn't have allowed you to start naked at level 30 in nightmare after you had beaten normal once is beyond me). Now there were huge flaws in itemisation (if you were to play the game normally, you would never see a rune higher than Vex and yet in nearly all of the runewords, Vex was one of the lower level runes) and combat system (defence was entirely useless for 99% of builds) but you had concrete choices which gave you an entirely different game each time.

The only difference between choices in D2 and in D3 is that there were no takebacksies in D2. You can build an enormous variety of characters and skillsets in D3, from cookie cutters to weird variants and everything in between. If you want a "no takebacks" system like D2, you can play that yourself - just play it as a variant.

We've been given more choice, but people seem to be interpreting it as less. I'm not sure why.

-Jester

Yes and no. The difference between the two systems is the connection you feel with the character. You have to debate whether you get the extra 5 strength to be able to wear that item or not. In Diablo 3 there really isn't that choice. Sure, we can always instantly respec our build, but the primary currency is not stats and skills, but items. That's the fundamental difference.