Diablo 3 PVP Arriving Months After Launch

Earlier this month, Blizzard announced that Diablo 3 would not ship with PVP arenas. Now they've confirmed that there will be no other means of PVP in the game, and also revealed when we should expect arenas to be patched into the game.

"There are many reasons why we’re focusing PvP into the arenas and not bringing back hostility," Blizzard said during a Q&A with fansites (via DiabloFans). "PvP Arenas will only be a few months after release, and in that time people will be trying out classes and perfecting their gear and builds. When they do arrive they’ll be an awesome addition to the game, and players will be ready to face off in some awesome PvP action in a designed and crafted experience."

Blizzard previously said that they removed arenas from the launch build of the game because that feature wasn't "up to their standards" yet. They didn't want to delay the game further just to fix PvP because it would punish the players who were more interested in the single-player/co-op content.

"When the PvP patch is ultimately ready, it will add multiple Arena 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," D3 director Jay Wilson said at the time. "We’ll also be adding a personal progression system that will reward you for successfully bashing in the other team’s skulls."

Diablo 3 will launch on May 15th in most countries throughout the world.