Blizzard has been talking about its plan to update Diablo 3 with a competitive multiplayer mode since the game released back in May. Despite this delay, Blizzard's Player vs Player mode still isn't ready to release. What's taking so long?

Every Diablo 3 player is expecting the PvP system since the launch of game in May. Blizzard had introduced about the PvP yet it was not ready for us to play till now, with time after time's delay. Months ago Blizzard said that the PvP mode will be live soon, while with more and more new patches are updated, we are still seeking for the PvP mode.

This time, when the New Year's coming, we are disappointed again. A new post by lead designer Jay Wilson on the Diablo 3 website has revealed that the Team Deathmatch PvP mode has now been pushed to the drawing board amidst claims that "it falls short of our expectations for a high-quality Blizzard experience".

Our original intent with PvP for Diablo 3 was to provide more formal support for the duelling community that existed in Diablo 2. We wanted to give players some kind of structure that would not only make it easier for you to duel with one another, but also allow you to have duels that were team-based. This is how our Team Deathmatch mode emerged, and it's been instrumental in making a lot of improvements to Diablo 3. But 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.

Putting people into an arena and letting them hurl fireballs and swing crazy-ass swords at one another always has an element of fun to it. I imagine it's no surprise to anyone reading this blog that people like battling each other in video games, so if you had the chance to play our Team Deathmatch at one of the BlizzCons where we featured it you might not understand why we'd say that we don't feel the current mode is good enough.

Speaking to AusGamers earlier in the year, just prior to the game's launch, Jay Wilson had a very different projection for the PvP update's launch:

For the PvP patch, we definitely... I would say, we want to get it out within months after release. I would say, if it showed up close to the end of the year, that would be... I would say, almost a disaster. So I don't see it slipping out of this year at all, and I think it'll be much sooner.

However, we're not sure what the effects of that so-called disaster might be. Balance is also a problem. "We want to be able to carry over as many of the crazy runes, items, and skills as possible, with their crazy effects, and alter them as little as possible," Wilson notes. "In a casual PvP mode, something equivalent to a WoW Battleground, this would be fine, but Team Deathmatch felt very hardcore, and it put a laser focus on class balance in a way that we didn't think would be good for the game as a whole."

As we all know, Diablo 3 languished in development purgatory for many years. The entire game was scrapped at one point, and an entirely new team took over the game's new direction. The patches and updates to the game so far have been excellent, and the openness about the current struggles with PvP is welcome. While I do think the WoW Battleground casual PvP mode would be a good tide-me-over for players itching to bash one another's heads in now, I understand why the team wants the PvP to be excellent right off the bat. Anything less could easily be a worse step than nothing at all.

But the continued delays may also have something to do with Blizzard's plans to eventually get in on the ARTS genre that their own Warcraft 3 helped lay the groundwork for. Blizzard All-Stars remains extremely short on details, and one hopes they come up with a better name for the game when it does launch, but Blizzard is almost certainly devoting resources to that project. Is cross-pollination between the game and the Diablo 3 PvP taking place?

While the news is disappointing for those who were expecting the touted PvP mode before the end of the year, Blizzard has also revealed that a dulling system will be put into place in the early part of next year with patch 1.0.7, allowing those wanting to fight their friends in-game. While this is the first step to a proper PvP experience in Diablo 3, Blizzard has reassured that Team Deathmatch will find its way back once they are happy with it, something Blizzard strives for most in their long history of gaming.