I have no idea why Blizzard keeps cutting on the features that Diablo 3 will launch with, but it’s obvious now that they’re not done: the company announced that the Diablo 3 launch will come without the PvP arena mode and we’ll have to wait for a future patch to get it (at least no “DLC” was mentioned, meaning that we’ll most likely get it completely free of charge).

The multiplayer mode was delayed so that Blizard can add some extra polish to the single player campaign and deliver a game as perfect as possible – in single player terms, of course. And I am sure everybody is expecting a truly epic campaign having in mind that we’re starting to get the feeling that we’re waiting for Diablo 3 ever since Duke Nukem Forever was initially announced…

Of course, no exact date has been announced for the PvP Arena release after the release of Diablo, but rumor has it that we’ll get it before the summer time, which would be great since that’s not that long left to wait, actually. And when we finally get it, the PvP Arena will have multiple maps with themed locations and layouts, PvP-centric achievements, and a matchmaking system that will help you and your team get into fairly matched games quickly and easily”.

Hopefully they don’t change their mind again…