I can totally understand how frustrating it must be to find out that the very feature you were anticipating the most has been postponed, and that it might not even be released in the same format as was previewed earlier, but we hope that people understand that we truly want the best for Diablo III... we want to give you guys the best content possible, and the truth is that Team Deathmatch mode in its current form simply didn't deliver the kind of experience that we want it to.

The only way we can make Diablo III a better game is to release new features and content that is as great as possible. If we release content that is mediocre or rushed, then we might make some people happy for a little while, but after a couple of hours they will no longer feel it is fun to do and that will not be good for the game in the long run.

It is important to emphasise that PvP hasn't been scrapped, it is still being worked on.

Set up ptrs keep people's interest and keep them involved, you know more like it used to be. It's all so damned closed nowadays.
Are we to trust these testers?

First of all, you should never expect to see PTRs and other forms of player testing for all new features and announced content, but nobody has said that there will not be PTRs or other forms of public testing for something as massive as PvP content.

It is commonplace for most game developers (including Blizzard) when planning an external player test, to do internal testing first to see if the new content live up to the design goal. If it does not, then the content must be reworked. But as soon as the internal tests shows that things look to be working as they are supposed to, that is when we make the content available for external player testing to see if the content is truly working as intended.

The Team Deathmatch mode did not live up to the design goal during internal tests, and it must therefore be reworked. Does that mean PvP in Diablo III has been scrapped? No, but PvP may need to take a different form than a Team Deathmatch mode, and that was what the PvP blog was about.

The fun in D2 was to destroy other players and get their ears.

So yeah, PVP IS the Holy grial for a Diablo game, this is not WOW were you strugle to complete content.