Branching out: How limiting skill choices made Diablo 2 more fun

On Diablo 2’s 18th anniversary, Blizzard North’s designers recount the triumphs and pitfalls of growing the game’s skill trees.

In the mid-1990s, computer role-playing games were not easy to play. Their beginnings were mired in rolling virtual dice to set dozens of character attributes, their interfaces cluttered screens with buttons and icons and text. Worse, gameplay plodded along, making even best-sellers like publisher SSI’s vaunted Gold Box series of Dungeons & Dragons-licensed titles appealing only to players who spent their free time agonizing over every roll of a d20.