I like the fact they limit the passives in their own category. What I really want to see it the stats. In D2 stats were so unbalanced, almost all builds used nothing but vitality, spending points in energy was totally useless unless your either an energy shield sorc or strictly play SP. Str was only good for a few builds, dex has SOME versatility because most classes wanted at least a mid range dex for attack rate and many others for max block %. That needs a lot of work, there really is no build that uses a nice balanced stat spread, your always trying to hit a high range for a certain stat for a specific advantage it gives.
Is there any specific info on the runes and/or stats? I haven't really seen any, not sure where it would be.
Stats was possibly one of the first controversy since they said those would be automated.
Basically old players would all know the exact number of stats to spend on a specific stat, which usually meant getting the exact number of str or agi you needed for a requirement and then pumping one stat a lot (like vit).
There wasn't really a lot of experimentation, and it was another case were players would play by not actually playing and reading builds online.
As for runes : They're still changing them, so nothing is set in stone yet. But at the moment they are used on skills to change how they work + give you stats (random).
You have different types of runes (Crimson, Indigo, Obsidian, Golden, Alabaster) and they all affect skills in a different way. The way they affect skills is, I believe, consistent on different skills. (So if Crimson does one thing on one skill, it will do something similar on a different one)
A rune could change the type of damage being dealt, or increase the potency of the attack, or decrease it but make it damage more enemies at once. It could also add a defensive aspect to an attack, or an offensive aspect to a skill that is usually defensive.
Basically, it makes it possible to play around a bit with your skills and change how they work.
And like I said, there should normally also be a random enchantment on them which gives you some bonus stats, meaning that even if you already have a good rune on you, you won't end up never touching that rune again, since you'll want a better one eventually. (To keep players farming, and to keep the thrill of discovering new runes)
Still, I think that will be removed as well since items won't get bonuses like that anymore. It's for the best anyways, just because you could do it doesn't mean it was intended.
