Blizzard Apologizes for Diablo III Launch Troubles

[The Wooster]

Blizzard Apologizes for Diablo III Launch Troubles

Server reinforcements and tweaks are coming soon, but the auction house will take a little longer.

So, as expected, Diablo III launched with all the beauty and grace of a wildebeest careering over a cliff. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117262-Server-Issues-Mar-Diablo-IIIs-Launch] Those players who managed to make it past the game's login screen and its notorious "Error 37" - which countless Twitter japesters have labeled the game's first boss - were dismayed to find that the game suffered from performance problems and at least one game breaking bug. As a result, Blizzard has delayed the release of the game's real-money auction house.

The company also issued an apology that was only a tiny bit self-gratifying. This was posted on the official Diablo III forums. [http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5149146687]

Diablo Players:
We'd like to extend a very sincere thank you to everyone who joined the global Diablo III launch celebrations this week, as well as to everyone who was ready to jump into Sanctuary the moment the game went live.

To that end, we'd also like to say that we've been humbled by your enthusiasm - and we sincerely regret that your crusade to bring down the Lord of Terror was thwarted not by mobs of demons, but by mortal infrastructure. As many of you are aware, technical issues occurring within hours after the game's launch led to players experiencing error messages and difficulty logging in. These issues cropped up again last night for the Americas and Europe servers. Despite very aggressive projections, our preparations for the launch of the game did not go far enough.

We've been monitoring the game 24/7 and have applied several optimizations to help our systems better weather the global rush. As of late last night, specifically 11:50 PM PDT on May 15, all systems have been online and running relatively smoothly. We're continuing to monitor performance globally and will be taking further measures as needed to ensure a positive experience for everyone. This includes some maintenance to implement additional improvements for each region.

In order to make sure everything is continuing to run as it should, we've decided to move out our target launch for the real-money auction house beyond our original estimated date of May 22. We'll post further updates on that in the near future.

Aside from the tremendous number of players simultaneously logging in to the game, one of the launch-day service issues was linked to the achievement system. Some players began to notice early on that achievements were either not being earned properly, or not being saved between multiple logins. We're investigating this issue and will provide a specific update as soon as possible.

We greatly appreciate everyone's support, and we want to sincerely apologize for the difficulties many of you encountered on day one. Please visit the Battle.net Support site or Support forums for the latest service-related updates or for help in troubleshooting any technical issues you may be having downloading, installing, or while playing the game.

Thank you again for your patience while we reinforce the gates of Sanctuary and further strengthen it for your onslaught.

Respectfully,
Blizzard Entertainment

I don't think anyone expected Diablo III's launch to go off without a hitch - I can count the number of online games that have launched without being at least partially broken on the fingers on one foot - but, in case you missed the bleating, numerous players have picked up Diablo III for its single player content. The merits of requiring a constant internet connection for single player games are still up for debate, but I don't think its unreasonable for gamers to expect that if you require them to log into a server to play the game they just purchased for $60 then that server should actually work.


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[SnowyGamester]

Didn't work in the minutes after launch, was fine 2 hours later despite slow logins and a bit of lag, works perfectly next day. Not sure how different it was for others but it seems a bit overblown nonetheless.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I think its more "I paid for it, I should be able to play it."

Maybe Ubisoft should have told Blizzard just how well online DRM actually works.

 

[Sylveria]

Shitty, rushed game made by soulless corporate drones who have no concern about the quality of the game they make or consumer satisfaction is shitty.

Personally I can't wait till they release Diablo III Gold which, for a nominal monthly fee, will allow you access to a higher quality server with better drop rates and exp multipliers as well as two new classes only available to Gold membership holders.

 

[oplinger]

Shitty, rushed game made by soulless corporate drones who have no concern about the quality of the game they make or consumer satisfaction is shitty.

Yeah! just like that duke nukem forever crap! Rushed as all hell! And look what happened.

 

[Tony2077]

shit happens and too many people are blowing this way out of proportion

 

[Abedeus]

Shitty, rushed game made by soulless corporate drones who have no concern about the quality of the game they make or consumer satisfaction is shitty.

Personally I can't wait till they release Diablo III Gold which, for a nominal monthly fee, will allow you access to a higher quality server with better drop rates and exp multipliers as well as two new classes only available to Gold membership holders.

Did you play the game?

No?

Then shut up and don't say it's shitty without having played it. Rushed? It took 10 years to release, and was announced in... 2008 or 2009? That's not rushed.

I remember problems Half Life 2 had after release. Game was unplayable not for the first few hours, like D3, but DAYS.

 

[oldtaku]

It's always easier to apologize than to put in the hard work (and money) to get it working right to begin with.

This is right on schedule, like the connection errors.

Wait a month or so if you're smart. You've already waited over 10 years, why spoil it with a crappy experience?

 

[darkknight9]

"but, in case you missed the bleating, numerous players have picked up Diablo III for its single player content. The merits of requiring a constant internet connection for single player games are still up for debate, but I don't think its unreasonable for gamers to expect that if you require them to log into a server to play the game they just purchased for $60 then that server should actually work."


Professional bleating ex player here. This is why you don't give them the $60 in the first place. Solo players and Weekend Lan parties still exist. Think of the savings in bandwidth from just freeing them from your online requirements.... Oh well. Good luck dealing with the initial issues.

 

[PingoBlack]

Again Escapist turns to sensationalist side.

Yesterday I saw zero reports that there were any problems. That apology was posted after they sorted out most of issues, especially log in ones.

So they seem to have managed to make it "actually work" in 2 days, Johnny. Not to mention you should be experienced enough to know D3 runs server side, so it is not quite single player with DRM. But then again, we knew this before purchase, didn't we? Especially professionals in the field of gaming should know the difference. Press then could explain it to lay people, right?

Guess you are going for hipster rage, one day too late. Or is this caused by Blizzard not giving you early access before masses for your review post?

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Of course, YMMV, but I went in around 1am and things were fine for me, I think I suffered maybe 2 quick disconnects in 3 hours or so.

I agree with most critics that they could have fixed it, but I'd have offered a compromise.

Assuming the game is similar to D2, and there's multiple playthrus at various difficulty levels, offer 'normal' in single player, away from the server.

This could serve as a playable demo, and it would have allowed people to play their game at 12:01 without having to get in the queue and fight for server space.

As much as I don't have sympathy for big business, there's no real sense in building double the number of servers for the launch, when, given a week or so it'll have calmed down to 'normal levels'.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I remember problems Half Life 2 had after release. Game was unplayable not for the first few hours, like D3, but DAYS.

Half Life 2 did have the distinction of being the first ever to do it though, it was also nearly eight years ago now and 56k was still more common than broadband in the UK.

I admit this one's passed me by, but Battlefield 3 and Ubisoft-everything suffered the same crap shoots at release, it seems games are becoming less and less convenient for the (honest, legal) end user and more about the creator dictating how and even when you 'play' a particular game. It's become an us vs them scenario, with 'them' being the people making the damned games!

 

[Stormtyrant]

This is why I'm gonna wait a week or so before I buy the game. Also my final exams require me not to be spending every waking moment in Sanctuary...

 

[happy_turtle]

Damn you Escapist,
When you have a hyperlink titled "wildebeest careering over a cliff." I expect, nay, demand a funny video to that effect.

Yours Sincerely,

Happy_turtle

 

[bravetoaster]

The merits of requiring a constant internet connection for single player games are still up for debate

Who is actually debating this? What benefit does the consumer gain from not being able to play a legally-purchased $60+ game?

 

[paketep]

The merits of requiring a constant internet connection for single player games are still up for debate

Are they?. I'd say that there's absolutely no debate: forcing your customers trying to play single player to authenticate online has absolutely NO MERITS, especially when you're Actiblizz and you didn't put enough servers to handle the load despite knowing you had 2 million preorders incoming.

So glad I didn't buy this POS.

 

[burningdragoon]

I think my favorite part of all this that the main reason for the forced online single-player, the real money auction house, isn't even available yet