Diablo 3 - Preset Attributes Editorial @ Diii.net

In the third of a series called On the Drawing Board, Diii.net examines Blizzard's decision to use preset attribute progression in Diablo III.  Here's the intro:

The Blizzcon announcement that they’d removed player-customized attributes, and that D3 items would not have attribute requirements to equip, caused a huge stir of controversy. Blizzard said it made the game easier to balance and kept noobs from wrecking their characters. Angry players lamented the loss of character customization and the “training wheels” approach to D3. Approving players said they’d never liked attributes in the first place and pointed out that everyone on Battle.net has the same build anyway. There were more arguments than just those, of course, and they’re all summarized in this installment of On the Drawing Board.