diff --git a/NEWS.txt b/NEWS.txt
index a7e56eca70..18d61a3ccf 100644
--- a/NEWS.txt
+++ b/NEWS.txt
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ New features
 
 Upgrading
 ---------
+   - The 'memtable_allocation_type: offheap_objects' option has been removed. It should
+     be re-introduced in a future release and you can follow CASSANDRA-9472 to know more.
    - The LIMIT clause applies now only to the number of rows returned to the user,
      not to the number of row queried. By consequence, queries using aggregates will not
      be impacted by the LIMIT clause anymore.
diff --git a/conf/cassandra.yaml b/conf/cassandra.yaml
index 4fd249fa87..33ca4a89f3 100644
--- a/conf/cassandra.yaml
+++ b/conf/cassandra.yaml
@@ -403,7 +403,6 @@ concurrent_materialized_view_writes: 32
 # Options are:
 #   heap_buffers:    on heap nio buffers
 #   offheap_buffers: off heap (direct) nio buffers
-#   offheap_objects: native memory, eliminating nio buffer heap overhead
 memtable_allocation_type: heap_buffers
 
 # Total space to use for commit logs on disk.
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java
index b06821a2ba..40eac5f432 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java
@@ -1830,7 +1830,8 @@ public class DatabaseDescriptor
                 }
                 return new SlabPool(heapLimit, offHeapLimit, conf.memtable_cleanup_threshold, new ColumnFamilyStore.FlushLargestColumnFamily());
             case offheap_objects:
-                return new NativePool(heapLimit, offHeapLimit, conf.memtable_cleanup_threshold, new ColumnFamilyStore.FlushLargestColumnFamily());
+                throw new ConfigurationException("offheap_objects are not available in 3.0. They should be re-introduced in a future release, see https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CASSANDRA-9472 for details");
+                // return new NativePool(heapLimit, offHeapLimit, conf.memtable_cleanup_threshold, new ColumnFamilyStore.FlushLargestColumnFamily());
             default:
                 throw new AssertionError();
         }
diff --git a/test/conf/cassandra_pig.yaml b/test/conf/cassandra_pig.yaml
index 286434b9b5..ce71410992 100644
--- a/test/conf/cassandra_pig.yaml
+++ b/test/conf/cassandra_pig.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # Consider the effects on 'o.a.c.i.s.LegacySSTableTest' before changing schemas in this file.
 #
 cluster_name: Test Cluster
-memtable_allocation_type: offheap_objects
+memtable_allocation_type: heap_buffers
 commitlog_sync: batch
 commitlog_sync_batch_window_in_ms: 1.0
 commitlog_segment_size_in_mb: 5