In D2:LoD there was a simple rune system. Everybody made various rune words during end-game, and there were even some casual rune words for leveling. I don’t understand why this was removed in D3, and it’s also not in D4. It’s an iconic Diablo system, which everybody liked. It’s simple, fits the theme, and it’s relatively easy to implement and balance. Why isn’t it in the game?
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Runewords post 1.09 was aweful powercreep that made 99% of uniques obsolete. If they do something with runes it should be something different to LoD.
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They already said that’s is not in the game cause they didn’t have the time to do a good job of it
Because aspects ruin any kind of synergy or build using runes. The runes would just be aspect aspects. Its the same reason you cannot have sets or an ah…
They would have to scrap the aspect system and admit it sucks. So, don’t count on it in the near future.
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No it was not. It was like by some and hated by others. The reaction to runes was mixed at best.
Because bad systems shouldn’t be carried over just for nostalgia.
I do not believe the current D4 team could implement a tasteful rune system; they currently make things way too complicated
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I don’t think they could flip burgers.
We have a rune system already. Just take the first letter from each Aspect in your build and now you have a string of characters that looks like a bunch of rune letters and they represent the power your character now has.
the RP in aRPg can do wonders 
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speaking of runes , i personally prefered the skill runes system of D3 : each skill had 5 or so variation , which were ACTUAL variation of skills
not what we have on D4 with a mere 2 choices per skill , each of them not changing anything to skill both mechanically or visually
D2 runewords made too many items obsolete
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Rune system may be interact with skills like season3 construct thingy (whatever the name was)… some runes will give cdr some will alter projectile etc etc
Runewords were just a different way of getting uniques, basically, as a runeword item had specific affixes.
Although it would allow a different method of item hunt, in its D2 form, it would be redundant to unique hunting in D4.
There’s something cool about the D2 rune system, but there’s also a reason no other games have copied it. Runewords are fun because they give you a big reward you can make incremental progress towards, and they give a bunch of trade currencies that are harder to get than gold. The problem is that they have to be overpowered to be worth the extra effort and to drive the market value of the runes. But if they are overpowered, then they restrict your choices, just like D3 set items did. You have to get certain runewords and when you do there are no more items of use in that slot. If they brought back runewords and the items they produced didn’t have an explosion of affixes on them, would people actually enjoy it?
One place I could see either runewords or set items being interesting enough to be worth using but as an alternative to legendaries and uniques instead of a superior replacement, is if they didn’t have an aspect, but instead had a ton of affixes. So imagine that they got the usual 3-4 base affixes, 2 affixes from the tempered pool, and then another 3-4 affixes from either pool. And if you could then make them on different item bases to give some flexibility like runewords often had, that could be an interesting space. Same with set items, where you could imagine having set items that drop with 2 random affixes like rares, but then for each additional item of the set equipped it adds a fixed-roll affix or two.
I do wonder, based on there being a new tab in the jeweler and based on some of the cryptic comments from devs and partners, if we are getting some form of rune words or at least jewel crafting.
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I guess something like rune and sets might come in d4 sooner or later, i guess something like from season 7 (post expansion)
The D2 system was nothing more than a way to create unique or legendary items.
I really like the rune system they made during the development of Diablo 4: custom conditional effects.
Yes, it is a “Damage on Thursday”, but at least you choose the day and the damage.
(Freeze on Saturday :v)
the d2 rune system is only ever wanted by the people who have thought about it the least…
these are usually the same people who want sets…
none of it was particularly great somehow…especially the rune system…was completely overrated…when i think that i have to search the internet for the rune words every time again…no thanks, that was ok 20 years ago…not anymore today
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I would say that it is the opposite… those who want the D2 system do not want sets (D3 sets, to be precise).
I want Alfa D4 rune system and the DI set system.
(I guess I can’t have a more unpopular opinion 
)
I think there’s something cool about the idea that the runeword is just the natural consequences of the runes you selected and the sequence you put them in (and that it potentially does something more interesting than 3 different types of +damage).
That said, spending a whole rune just to choose the conditional type seems like a waste and the outcomes didn’t sound that impactful.
What might be a cooler version would be to have every rune be some form of conditional and some form of triggered effect. So like,
- On activation, 20% chance for your next skill to echo. All runes on this item have a 10% chance to activate when you are hit.
- On activation, your next Blizzard has 50% greater effect size. All runes on this item have a 20% chance to trigger when you freeze an enemy.
- On activation, remove 10% of current health from all CC’ed enemies. All runes on this item trigger when you CC an elite or stagger a boss.
This would let you find cool synergies between runes, especially if they allowed 3 on some items.
Just because it doesn’t seem to have an impact doesn’t mean it doesn’t have an impact.
Imagine creating a freezing effect every time you hit a vulnerable enemy… or creating vulnerabilities with every critical hit… or poison nearby hit enemies …
These are all conditional effects that can create insane builds and even exist in the form of legendaries/skills.
What you do when creating a conditional effect is literally creating your custom legendary. That’s what I like about the system.
(In my opinion, D4 Legendaries should be like Diablo3 runes. It works quite well in Diablo Immortal.)
Runewords is a fun way of crafting as opposed to material grind in D4. You are given a random set of runes and then you look up what you can craft.
Players had fun creating runewords in D2, but not everyone is aware how runewords also ruined the itemization.
It was not, no. Fundamentally, it was a progression based system. You could make incremental progress toward the item you wanted. Anything interesting you found could be bartered for the runes you needed to complete your project. It was deeper and more interesting than what we have now.
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