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In recent posts on the Diablo III forums community manager Bashiok revealed new information about the upcoming action RPG. This time the discussion covered a variety of topics including item durability, destructable environments, and the skill rune system.

On item durability:
Regardless of any arguments on specifics of how long it should take, or a burden to your mental capacity, it's one of the few ways that gold can be drawn out in a nice steady stream and isn't specific to any features or choice. It's a constant deflation technique that counts on nothing more than someone playing the game (ie fighting monsters).

It's a true gold sink, you get no real benefit from it, but it's also one that makes sense thematically, is accepted as a game mechanic already, and hell, it works. I wouldn't expect everyone to be cool with the concept of it, but hey, sometimes you have to do unpopular things to keep more important aspects in check (ie A working economy).

On destructable environments:
Only specific interactive objects will actually damage enemies. The falling wall, detachable chandeliers (AND MORE!). They're specific 'trap' items that you can lure enemies toward and then spring on them. The little bits of physics objects that bust apart from destructables don't cause damage. You're in charge of doing damage - not seeing how much debris you can fling at a monster.

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