I haven’t seen this many people complain about a non-issue in a long time.
Delaying Ladder does not mean the game is not ready for launch.
The Beta test is not long enough to test for full wide-spread stability and catch bugged items/glitches/dupes with certainty. Let alone server stability etc.
Aside from technical and security reasons, it gives many players time to do a slow-burn playthrough and appreciate all the new graphics and cinematics before sinking into the efficiency grind. Plenty of people want to do both, and still not miss out on being competitive during the first ladder.
And even if you disagree with my opinion on the topics above; so what. You’ve waited so long already. Whats another week or two, or however long it takes for ladder to come out?
Play some singleplayer. Play some hardcore NL. Or dont play at all. They owe you nothing.
Trying to time my vacation.
If ladder starts a week after, no point playing intense on Sept 23rd.
People are complaining because they can’t communicate clearly, and can’t plan accordingly.
Yup well said. I think having them start a ladder season on launch and finding out there security measures on duping and all you said fails…it would be a bigger disaster then waiting a few weeks for the ladder to start
I’ll need to delay my vacation too. I’m not taking time off to play non-ladder
There is zero reason they can not start a season without a ladder. A ladder is just a list of Char. Levels and EXP totals nothing more. Just something for people to EPEEN over.
If something bug wise comes up and they need to reset so be it other wise let the season start and add the leader boards later on.
D2: R releases on a Thursday. D2/D3 Ladders usually start on a Friday, so I’m guessing that D2: R Ladder will start Friday, September 24th, or Friday, October 1st. Once the game launches they probably don’t want to start Ladder on Thursday launch day because if issues arise then they might have to clear/wipe the Ladder, and have it start over. I would rather them launch the game, fix any issues that arise within a reasonable matter of time, and only start Ladder when everything is running smooth. So, 1 or 8 days isn’t that bad. Also, if I had vacation days I wouldn’t plan them around a launch anyways. Issues could arise, and servers could be down for a matter of time, or anything could happen. I would only put vacation days in after the game launches, and everything is running up to par.
I don’t get it either… I enjoy Diablo 2 as much as anyone can and eagerly await launch/ladder. The frustration isn’t unfounded but the ruffled feathers are making me feel… old, lol. You said it better than I cared to though.
What if they start with ladder… and then because of a game breaking bug have to do a server roll back? Probably a #1 priority issue in their eyes.
People keep talking about the time they took off and the lack of communication… but the info will come. As far as vacation time is concerned that’s a personal problem.
I was so excited I took the week off months in advance but things aren’t going according to the plan I had in my head and it’s all their fault so you get 1/5 staaaarrrsss naaaow!
The problem is the “or however long” part. WC3R has been waiting for their ladder system for over a year now. And they do owe us something. A product that was promised.
No one is even particularly upset about this. A very large portion of people who play Blizzard games have a relationship with them that only works when they’re t’d off about something. If they aren’t angry, they’ll FIND something to be angry about, and go to town on it. For 48 hours. Then the drug wears off and they need a new fix. At a certain point, it will be someone pointing out they don’t like the way the new embalming tables in the mummy areas look contrasted with the original. Perpetual grievance about Diablo and WoW is a full-time hobby in and off itself.
That takes a few hours then what?
If they unlock ladder runewords for non ladder play then people could at least feel like its not a waste of time to play past normal difficulty in the first day.
A ladder is more than that. Items are gated behind the ladder classification. Do some research on it.
Yup I don’t mind, this is actually good. let the game stabilize, maybe there will be unforeseen bugs or glitches that come up. I don’t want to rush and race ladder first day. I want to enjoy the game for a bit. As for ladder-only items, I don’t really care about those I can get them when ladder comes out. The only problem I have is they should have mentioned no ladder at launch earlier though, because people assumed it was coming and took vacations/time off already etc.
I’m very happy to hear ladder won’t start with launch. I love ladder and it will be what I play most but the last thing I want is for some day 1 exploit to ruin the entire 3 month duration.
I feel weird for being so out of the loop I wasn’t expecting ladder on launch day to begin with. I can’t think of a game that has released with a season start at launch that wasn’t in head start before hand so I just never expected it.
think of it as a positive. If you’re playing ladder for items to trade you don’t have to worry about login queues on the first day messing up you being behind the “curve”
If they really launch as non-ladder and don’t add ladder-only RWs to the game, there will be no point playing because you’ll have to reroll as soon as the ladder switch is flipped on.
If that happens I’m probably going to play Classic instead…
Indeed. its not about ladder at all (at least for me) its about ladder-only items and runewords… if they ll add it from the start to the game, I am ok with that
So…no point to play intense since day 1…
I think the issue many people have with this is, that they officially canceled the 3rd test phase and now shove it in through the backdoor.
They should just have it called Early Access Beta instead 
Many people took a few days off and planned their social life around the release date just to find out that they won’t be able to play Ladder on release - which is a huge letdown for those who only play Ladder mode.
I don’t mind If I start on Ladder or Non Ladder when the game release. I just want to play my favorite game once again with improved graphics 