A user at the Diablo III community forum asked as much, professing that "the forces of both gravity and friction are way too weak to look right."
While Bashiok did say that there are "some straight up issues that [the team] intend[s] to correct," he also explained that much of what is seen in-game is a faithful rendering of their vision of the game:
Official Blizzard Quote:
I don't want anyone to get the impression that we're shooting for realism here, because our goal is absolutely to make it feel like you're an over-the-top human god laying waste to the demonic masses and setting their carcasses flying free like so much loosed meat.
The moon physics, as trend followers have come to call the phenomenon, isn't limited to the Barbarian. The effect is common among many skills, such as the Wizard's Energy Twister. Dead bodies behave more like toy dolls in a hurricane than anything of a like scale in our world. But most of this is intended:
Official Blizzard Quote:
It is absolutely intentional that the barbarian's skills have crazier impact physics than other classes, because we think that fits with the visual and feel of the character - huge impactful strikes that send dudes flying, whereas the monk might be more of a 'thousand cuts' kind of fighter.
Or perhaps this is all really the work of Gravitablo, the Lord of Gravitational and Frictional Disruption, and Bashiok is merely an unwitting pawn in the nefarious Demon Lord's dastardly work.
If you haven't had the chance to observe the controversial physics yourself, or you haven't been invited into the beta quite yet, Force Strategy Gaming has an excellent video that shows just how out-of-this-world the force of gravity behaves in the world of Sanctuary:
Don't mock DBZ - that show was freaking EPIC!
If my opinion matters, by toning this effect down to a certain degree (like some have said..triggered by a critical hit or maybe a passive skill/rune with bonus damage), "moon" physics in moderation will actually appease more to the players than moon physics effects after every hit.
If after release the majority of the community will ask for the gravity to be fixed.
They will fix it, because it's probably just some variables that need tuning.
Then there was the super cartooned look they had given the graphics, they looked more like an update of Warcraft III graphics than Diablo II. I understand that they need to make the game more available to people of all ages and what not, and with the resolution substantially higher, I can understand the need to tone things down a bit... even if I didn't personally agree. This series is dark, really dark, the story line is gruesome, I expect the graphics to match the game. Oh well.
This moon physics though, I'm seriously debating whether I'll be able to even play this game now.
"I don't want anyone to get the impression that we're shooting for realism here, because our goal is absolutely to make it feel like you're an over-the-top human god laying waste to the demonic masses and setting their carcasses flying free like so much loosed meat."
In the previous games, I had no doubt that I was laying waste to the enemies with "over-the-top human god" like powers, and they didn't fly at my screen when I smited them. I was quite certain that my powers were more than sufficient when I rained down a 60k meteor on the enemy and watched them burn to the ground in a demonic fire. "...like so much loosed meat." I'm not sure this really makes sense, this looks more like something from that game Blosics than it does laying waste to demons.
I dunno... just some thoughts from a long time Diablo gamer.
On the other hand, Blizzard has stated they're a) not aiming for realism, and b)not done with the iteration on physics. So I'm curious what the end product will be like =)