Hey guys,
 
So I just got word that a potential fix has been pushed to Battle.net. However, because of the nature of this fix, it's going to take a couple hours for the fix to really do its thing.
 
I'd recommend taking a nice break from the forums and Beta. Come back in a few hours and let me know if it's still giving you issues.

Jay Wilson wanted to share a message with the Diablo III community:
 
Some of you might have seen some headlines or a certain (obviously sarcastic) blue post that implies that we're unsteady about where Diablo III stands, and that you should temper your expectations when it comes to the next installment in the Diablo series.  
 
Let me be clear: Nothing could be further from the truth.
 
As those of you in the beta have seen, the game is in good shape. Actually, I should say that the beta version of the game is in good shape. The latest full build we've been testing here in the office is in great shape.  
 
We get a lot of sympathy from the other teams because of the long hours of crunch our design team is putting in, but the secret is that playing through the game as we do final tuning, bug fixes, and optimizations is a real joy. We always know a Blizzard game is almost ready when we have to ask members of the team to stop playing so they can get their work done. That’s definitely been the case around here.
 
We think you're going to love Diablo III when it's released, and speaking of release plans, you can seriously expect a launch-date announcement from us in the near future. See, I didn’t say “soon,” so I’m not taunting you. You’ll know as soon as I know for sure the exact date.
 
And by the way, we want you to have high expectations for Diablo III and all Blizzard games. That’s what pushes us to try to make the best gaming experiences we possibly can. If Diablo III wasn’t a worthy next installment in the Diablo series, we wouldn’t release it. That’s the way we do it. That’s the way we’ve always done it.
 
As I’ve said many times in the recent past, we think Diablo III is coming along great and we can’t wait for you to get your hands on it. We’re doing all we can to ensure you have one hell of a time once you step foot in Sanctuary…
 
Also, I think Diablo is much more comparable to the Evil Dead series personally, and those just kept getting better. OK, I know a lot of you prefer Evil Dead 2 to Army of Darkness, but come on, Bruce Campbell fights a squad of little Bruce Campbells! Priceless. =)
 
Jay Wilson is the Game Director of Diablo 3, and wants to know “Hey, uh, what’s that you got on your face?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxBCSautRXY

Hey guys,
seeing as the recent changes again caused loads of controversy I dediced
to make the same attempt I did with the last changes (attributes etc).
Since the last time I explained the possible reasoning's behind Blizzards
decision in more detail than the article of Jay could (time/space) was
at least somewhat effective and helped a handful of people, I will
motivate myself one more time for this effort.
 
 
So:
 
We will start with the information we have about the 2 old systems and its
flaws and what we may be able to further conclude about these.
 
Design 1:
Runes drop attuned (ex: lvl 5 Indigo, lvl 7 Golden)  
 
In this first design, you could use a lvl 7 Crimson rune, and socket it in any Skill.
Also you could take the rune and "resocket" it into any other skill.
 
What this means is, once you obtain 30 lvl7 runes, your rune game is finished.
(5types of runes times 6 skill slots equals 30 runes required for every possible build)
 
Since you can "mule" these via shared stash, this includes every char (SC/HC =60 runes)
 
Now we are faced with some problems/flaws (even though it would be good enough
for ship). You either have:
 
1.) finishing collecting 30 lvl7 runes too quickly (lets say 3 months intensive gaming)
this defeats the purpose of them in the first place, the longevity they aim for
is "another decade(10 years)". A feature that "lives" for 3 months is not worth  
its time in general. (not saying normal mode(etc) is not worth its time since it  
caters to a different audience than the "1 decade" argument caters to.)
 
2.) collecting lvl5+ runes much more rarely/slowly.
This makes runes a real longtime part of "itemization". But what does it really do?
 
Lets take a look what this accomplishes in reality:
 
The upgrade of your lvl 5crimson rune to a lvl 6 one will be comparable to any stat
increase on your chest piece of armor. Let me explain.
 
There is a hierarchy in itemization:
Every item you equip will have 1 of 2 effects: Make you stronger or weaker.
Getting stronger(upgrading) splits into defensive or offensive capabilities.
The same goes for weaker(downgrading).
 
Now every game that has items differs in the next step. How does "offensive" split?
Its a long list in D3(great), some are: atk spd, dmg, crit chance, crit dmg, etc.
 
Quick compare:
lvl6 rune in Seven sided strike changes it from 7to10 strikes.
Lvl7 rune increases it to 11 strikes. Simple 10% increase of 1 skill.
Depending on play style this might equal 1-5% overall dps.
 
Any item upgrade inside Diablo would easily outweigh this for a long time.
 
Which means you either wont buy runes for a long times (remember
they are going to be expensive if they are rare, and if they are not
rare they have no real purpose because you will have 30 quickly) because
their effect is bad compared to the items, or you have to make items bad,
or you have to reinvent the rune effects to be relevant.
And while your at it, balance them all.
 
So not only are runes inside this design nothing more than additional "items".
Just like adding 5 new item slots (5 new rings ex) that increase your skills.
But it would also require them to rebalance the whole item system around them.
 
There is a different way to customize your skills we will learn about later when
we come to the new system.
 
Runes have 2 effects. 1. Changing and 2. Upgrading your skill.
 
The changing part is insanely awesome and one of a few recent innovations in rpgs.
(guild wars weapon dependent system is another decent example)
 
The upgrading part is cool as well, since it resolves the "skill points" issue/effect.
We want to specialize and increase what we love to do in life/gaming.
 
But runes dont do that good enough for blizzard standards. (though again, they said
the system was good enough for a release but they believed they could do better)
 
Also its a linear upgrade, more is better.
Yes you have to choose which runes to upgrade first, which feels kind of a specialization,
but you quickly or slowly get to a point where every skill is "maxed".
 
Once you have 30 lvl7 runes this system is "beaten" quickly or slowly. If it is too quick
it sucks, if it is too slow you either have to make the upgrades bigger or otherwise
no one cares. And if you make the gap between 5 and 7 too big, you feel impotent or
crippled without them, much more so than without the bad !@# high end sword.
 
Also this system hindered specialization, because you could easily swap all the runes
and never committed to a build EVER. which is bad (I explain why further down)

Now what did Blizzard try to address some of these issues?
 
Design 2:
Runes drop unattuned and fixed to a skill. (your lvl6 rune drops and becomes:
Lvl 6 golden multishot rune)
 
 
Roughly 20~ Skills on 5 Chars for 5 rune types = 5*5*20= 500 different lvl 7 runes.
(and insanely more lvl 1-7)
 
This fixes the "itemhunt" issue. Because it will take forever to hunt 500 runes and the
trade market for runes would be decent. Everyone would look for certain runes and
trade/sell those they cant or dont want to use.
 
This fixes the "build" issue, because once you buy 6 runes for a certain build, you are
gonna stick to it for a while, because you either have to sell the runes to get other ones,
find all the ones you want, or buy them instead of gear.
 
It was also invented because Blizz wanted more randomness and itemization.
So they added + attributes on runes and wanted the "identify" moment more often.
However we will see why the new system increased item diversity even more.
 
In this solution the amount of builds per time you have comfortably access to is limited
by your wealth. You always have the freedom to sell your "build" and make a new one.
But tendencies will be that time by time you upgrade your favorite builds first with equip.
And slowly upgrade your char with more builds + the necessary equipment.
 
Customization/individuality is good and bad, as is identity and belonging...
 
By that I mean, why is it so nice to find griphons eye in Diablo 2? Or wearing it?
 
Because seeing it often on high end chars of certain builds, gives it identity.
 
Being a lightning sorc gives you identity. People who like to play the same as you
do. And certain places, items and skills that you belong to.
 
Everyone wants to be special and a way to achieve that. But everyone also wants
to belong and not be alone. Some of us might tend to the extreme of one of those
but generally speaking it lies in our nature to strive and balance both.
 
Achieving this in a game is a tight balancing act.
 
If everyone has 50 000 builds and 100 000 items to choose from in the endgame,
no one will remember diablo 3. No one will create a strong identification with
something.
 
You dont care if "you are the monk with X Y and Z" if no one cares and relates.
 
You dont have anything to strive for if everything is valued equally.
 
Many people in D2 wanted to wear a perfect Maras. Even if it wasnt
optimal for their build. Just because of the prestige and identification that
went with that amulet.
 
 
Soo without getting too much off topic:
 
Its nice that some builds would be more "sought after" and streamlined.
And you would have to choose which of the (many) best builds you would want
to relate to first and which to get after that.
 
The number 1 problem with this design though is obvious: Space.
500 runes are nuts, even 30 is a bad number but 100+ gets real messy.
 
Blizzard said that they tried every UI solution they could think of but none
seemed polished and intuitive/smooth enough for their taste.
 
So even though this design resolved the longevity issue and the build identification
issue, it still wasnt very smooth and still had the issue that once you had lvl7
runes you basically "maxed out" your skill potential and could only upgrade further
via equipment.
 
Now I will address the recent solution and why it is the best.

The current design:
Runes are part of a deeper skill system, dont upgrade themselves.
 
So they still change, but dont upgrade the skill. (they do but only once)
 
This does make runes:
 
Smooth, intuitive choices that create build diversity.
Satisfying upgrades and rewards while 1-60 leveling.
(I ll explain on a footnote why you get runes the way you get them right now)
 
Nothing more , nothing less. They themselves dont belong to the  
itemization anymore.
 
Why do I bother to say "they themselves"?
 
Well we delve into the realm of educated speculation now, but please bare
with me =).
 
Clues:
 
1.) Jay wilson stated that they added skill related affixes in the game.
2.) http://media.diablofans.com/images [...] eweler.jpg
this datamined info implies a link between the jeweler and the runes.
3.) diablo 2 did it with great sucess
 
 
What I m getting to is, that blizzard did not abandon or postpone the idea
of skillpoints <3 (read above if you didnt get it).
 
Imagine the following item:
 
Monk helm:
Spirit star of epic dodge build:
 
+X Agility
+X Crit
+X Resistance to Whatever
+3 to indigo runes / +3 to Mantra of evasion / +3 to Mantra of evasion "indigo"
(I know they are not "indigo" anymore, you get the idea)
 
Does that sound D2 to you? Whole builds in D2 were based around certain
items that boosted skill or gave you entirely new skills of other classes.
 
Now you wont have +skillpoints in D3 since we dont have any.
But we have runes and we have skills.
Thus enabling the mentioned affixes.
 
I did mention a few possibilities to point out that I have no clue,
how those affixes will look in reality.
We do however have the above mentioned clues (especially Jays statement),
that lead to the assumptions that we will be able to specialize.
 
Remember the change skills, upgrade skills statement?
Runes now change skills. And they do a good job with that.
 
Items now upgrade your universal strength (+crit etc) AND
your specific strengths (+ability/rune).  
 
 
So we didnt loose anything from the game that was awesome at all.
They AGAIN like the last time with attributes, just shifted the design
to fix several issues.
 
We dont have a inventory/space problem now, because those affixes
are on the same items we would be wearing / storing anyways.
 
Its pretty straightforward and intuitive what those affixes do, even more
so if they are introduced in NM/Hell when people already understand the game.
 
It also greatly increases the quantity of items possible, therefore the
longevity of the item hunt and the zenith of perfection you can achieve.
 
Can you even imagine the time it takes to roll 10+ rares/legendarys in
a way that you get the right combination of attributes and +skills for a
certain build?
 
You could upgrade,perfect and fine tune your beloved build for years.
Getting a good and playable build early (easy to learn) but a perfect
build only after years (hard to master).
 
 
I strongly believe that blizzard didnt take their time for nothing.
Also they have been working on the itemization the whole time and
they didnt rework them just for the changed attributes would be
my guess.
 
 
This system allows blizzard (just like the attribute change did) to create
better items. Some generally good and some very specific.
 
A griphons eye in D2 knew 4 states, low, mid, high and perfect.
All because of a handful of stats that could vary.
 
 
A Diablo 3 griphons eye will be:
crit monk griphons
dodge monk griphons
pvp monk griphons
...
crit DH griphons ae
crit DH griphons single target
...
etc
etc
etc
 
All in 1 item. giving you identification and customization in 1.
 
 
I cant wait to see the way they implemented the way to
customize your build outside of general stats.
 
 
You all know it.
 
You don't want every build to be "capped" by lvl 7 runes.
You don't want every skill to be viable by force because
you only get crit/dmg/spd upgrades and you cant make your skills better.  
 
You want to be that wizard with a 100 000 dmg meteor build...

So, my conclusion and the footnote that I promised earlier.
 
I love the changes. Runes are a great addition to the skill system.
 
They are clean and do their job in creating build diversity,
level rewards and the possibility for build depth via items.
 
The new skill system is basically only an UI improvement for
newer players. For us gamers nothing changed. You can
still make any build and change your hot-keys as you wish.
 
Thx blizzard for catering to the noobs and still catering to us.
 
(They force you into certain runes at a time, so new players WILL
try most of them and learn the game and not pick obvious choices.
 
It shouldn't concern anyone on this forum. You will play this game
maybe 1-3 months below lvl 60 (every chars combined).
Everyone here will play 95%+ of their time with every rune unlocked.
So suck it up. Normal-Hell is the story and the tutorial.
The real game begins at lvl 60)  
 
And btw, blizzard play tested this. So if you die in hardcore and blame
it on the rune choices you have. You might ask yourself if you
chose the right mode, since blizzard obviously designed them
in a way that people were capable to defeat HC ...
 
feel free to discuss and criticize.
Dont waste your time on grammar and the likes, I wrote this in a hurry
and will maybe take the time to edit some stuff myself.