In short- please give us resource management, not queues. MrLlamaSC summarizes the issue well:
https://youtu.be/Bg3mFSbkaN4?t=1340
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He makes a good point; but I think there is something enjoyable about cooldowns as well.
Like with resources (like mana) – being able to manipulate a cooldown can also be fun.
I’m thinking of Critical Mass Wizards before they were nerfed into oblivion. The game-play of manipulating cooldowns can be great – I just don’t think the devs have found a way to implement more interesting and creative things about it yet without just allowing purely unhindered destruction.
Which, I might add, CAN be a problem with pure resource reliance and 0 cooldowns. Sure it might be cool to spam 8000 Meteors if you have the mana for it; but is it good for game balance?
There’s give and take on both sides and I think the best answer is that some skills should be resource based, while others are cool down based, and both should have options that bend the rules they’re bound to for player enjoyment.
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I am mostly with you but it is possible to create mechanics which are NOT cooldown based.
Look at how Overwatch and Smash handle Ultimate Abilities.
That is just one way.
There are many others, a couple I can think of off the top of my head,and there are many others which can be discovered, if a Dev team as talented as this one, puts their minds to it.
Problem is that they have not totally embraced the Diablo model that D2, being flawed, embodies so well.
They have found their way with Dark Girty vibe.
But with regards to Skill Trees, Skill Systems and Itemization, they have yet to embrace Diablo.
I hope they do, because I am 100% certain that they will make a great game out of it.
Diablo 3 was an excellent game in my view but it was not a Diablo game.
I can’t way for the Devs to release a Diablo game that is as excellent.
2 other solutions:
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For each consecutive spell, mana cost increases by 1.
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For each consecutive spell, damage is reduced 5%
And this can slowly over time reset. Like this it encourages both diversity and creativity.
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I’d prefer the no cool down route personally and rework the flashier high cooldown skills that were 60 seconds. From watching some of the Diablo 3 streamers stream the gameplay of the 3 classes. The Sorc gets to be immune to damage and spark lightning all over the place. The Barb had WoTB which didnt seem that impressive but just made them tougher ( Should work that way, but it could just be a passive talent or a skill tree as a passive ability ) .
The druid is the biggest let down in my opinion. Id personally like to be able to stay in the form and use abilities within that form instead of constantly changing back and forth. Don’t get me wrong the animations and everything look smooth and fluid when the druid shapeshifts.
Another one -
Ground Stomp
Requirement for Cast 100% Fury
When activated it consumes all Fury to stun all targets within 15m radius for 3 seconds.
Enemies who are effected return 15 Fury with each hit.
No cooldown. (in PvE)
It cannot be spammed (costs quite a lot). You know exactly how to cast it (have a full Fury globe) and immediately after casting you have a way to get your Fury back (promotes Fury Generators, which are often seen as weak spells, but also promotes some spenders like Whirlwind, that cost only 10 Fury per cast).
100% agree that cooldowns have no place in arpgs and are more for full fledged mmos (even then they probably shouldn’t exist). I want to be able to keep my bear up. If I’m a bear druid I don’t want to be transforming 205 times per second, i want to build my bear druid.
I know they talked about wanting the classes to feel different from each other. But to me the druid just feels like the Sorc and Barb had a baby and were like oh crap we cant have one and left it in the wood where a shaman overlooked after him and showed him the ferocity of a warrior due to animal spirits and magic based on the nature.
In all honesty and I know its super early, but i wish they’d go back to 3 separate paths for skill trees. Sorc ( Fire , Cold , Lighting ) , Druid ( Summon , Shapeshift, Nature ) etc you get the idea.
Would be very interesting to see the Druid expanded and have the form at your own will with different skills to enhance the form. Werewolf having more agile speed and defeat its foes, and the Bear to savagely rip its foe with its mighty paws.
The D3 necro was interesting when skills required life to cast. There’s no cooldown, but casting a skill brings you closer to death. I’d rather have consequences than delays.
anything but a cooldown. it limits my gameplay and feels like the devs are forcing me to play a certain way.
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Let’s be fair though, Diablo 2 had very few skills that you’re going to be switching between, resource management was rarely ever an issue. You mostly had your utility skills (teleport, valkyrie, leap, etc) and your 1-2 damage skills. There really wasn’t any strategy behind Diablo 2 skill usage when it came to resource, except maybe early game.
I guess you COULD design a game better and it would be possible but it seems hard to do. Look at PoE, another game where resource management is a minor inconvenience as you can spam any spell you want with a little bit of work. They did start adding “cooldown” skills though and honestly the game feels much more interactive than it did without them.
-I think most skills should be resource managed, maybe even to the extent of the demon hunter in D3 that has 2 separate resource bars. I do think some skills should have cooldowns though- namely good defensive skills and ultimate skills. Having to drain your mana bar to use a defensive skill or an ultimate kinda takes away from the purpose. Imagine trying to use iron skin but you need half your mana to use it- it has to be expensive otherwise people would spam it. I guess you could have ultimates “build up” like in Overwatch", either way it should have some system that doesn’t take all your resources.
The big difference is you had 2 buttons to cast spells instead of 6. So you would have to switch using hot keys to the other spells. Sure you only had a few damage spells, but you also had buffs / debuffs ( necro ) that you would sometimes need to keep mind fight. The resource management really didnt become a problem for some classes because of the runeword that had meditation on it.
Melee characters didnt have an issue that if they had the items that granted %mana leech.
countdown are just bad for diablo game
again 1 more feature from d3 
, developer liar too us, they dont give us the control and option , they control and block us with countdown diablo is not wow no countdown
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People will always end up making resource management a non-issue, that’s the problem. Everyone in Diablo 2 had infinite mana at endgame- even without meditation. Why? Because mana potions were a thing and they were easy to get.
I’m all for an alternative to cooldowns, I love resource managment in games. I love thinking, “if I use this now, I may not have enough mana to heal myself.” Problem is, I’m not sure if they’d ever want to force people to make those decisions in an action game. They’d also need to balance the whole game around it, removing mana potions, nerfing mana leech, etc.
That was the gold sink for the game in d2 to stock up mana pots, but gold was never an issue either lol.
I guess what i dislike if you play a caster type class like the sorc it really sucks sitting there using the generator to gain more of the resource to cast your spells.
Yeah, not really a fan of resource generators either. I guess you could go the classic WoW caster approach where your fights are basically managing the mana you start with- very few things will change how you get your mana back while in combat. You could still use mana pots but they only give so much and have cooldowns. Other mana skills were never enough to really allow casting your strongest spells indefinitely. Other classes, like barbarian, could be changed to generate fury more like a warrior- any damage done or done to you would generate fury without the need for generators.