Diablo 3 PvP update: team deathmatch shelved

Diablo 3's long-awaited team deathmatch mode has been cancelled, although Blizzard will issue a patch adding duelling support while it works on a new solution.

In an update to the game's blog, game director Jay Wilson said the new gameplay mode just wasn't up to snuff.

"In continuing to develop this mode, playtest it, and put it in front of other developers within the company, we've found that it falls short of our expectations for a high-quality Blizzard experience," he said

The developer went on to explain that simply piling players in an arena and letting them duke it out doesn't provide long-lasting appeal.

"Most of our testers didn't feel like it was something they'd want to do beyond a few hours. Without more varied objectives, or very lucrative rewards, few saw our current iteration as something they'd want spend a lot of time in," he said.

Additionally, Blizzard has struggled to re-balance classes designed for strict PvE gameplay, with Wilson commenting that the team has learned a lot from the experience in terms of combat tuning.

"But at this point we don't believe it's the experience we feel it needs to be in order to ship, so we will be shelving it for now and exploring other options."

Although Blizzard can't deliver on this particular mode, it will work on a replacement, and in the meantime won't leave PvP fans hanging out, promising to add duelling support in patch 1.0.7, due early this year.