Blizzard Admits Diablo III End-Game Failure

[HamsterPants]

The game is broken because it treats the players like criminals, has crappy servers that won't allow people online on a whim and, on top of it all, if you dare to buy a digital copy, you're not going to get to play it for three days after the purchase because they want to validate it due to the ridiculous auction house.

1. I'm not getting how it treats the players like criminals.

2. I don't think anyone is experiencing any logging issues anymore because that issue was sorted.

3. They stopped doing that stupid thing where it caps you for 3 days if you bought a digital version.

The game works just fine, it's not broken.

If I may interject for a moment, but it seems your exchange of opinions is filled with misunderstanding. The game is not actually broken, it works exactly the way that Blizzard wants it to, but that doesn't mean that it's a good thing.

SpiderJerusalem was merely saying that the auction house is the reason that the game is bad, because it gives Blizzard their 'justification' for implementing a ton of security measures that nobody wants to deal with. Also, you can't sort the issue of people struggling to log into servers if they have terribly inconsistent and unreliable internet connections, I've had to live with that burden for years, it's not fun.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Here's a thought, how about finally making a patch that allows players to game WITHOUT BEING ONLINE ALL THE TIME?! I have no interest in making a diablo account, a battle.net account and I have no interest in having the game lag and be tied to the whims of my (relatively poor) internet connection.

Hence, no sale. Do something Blizzard. It's not your end game that's broken. It's your GAME.

The game is broken because your internet connection sucks?

The game is broken because it treats the players like criminals, has crappy servers that won't allow people online on a whim and, on top of it all, if you dare to buy a digital copy, you're not going to get to play it for three days after the purchase because they want to validate it due to the ridiculous auction house.

1. I'm not getting how it treats the players like criminals.

2. I don't think anyone is experiencing any logging issues anymore because that issue was sorted.

3. They stopped doing that stupid thing where it caps you for 3 days if you bought a digital version.

The game works just fine, it's not broken.

All of these are things that people are still reporting. That they even were there in the first place for what is primarily a SINGLE PLAYER GAME is retarded.

And yes, it treats gamers like criminals by enforcing ridiculous DRM, forcing numerous registrations, constant online presence and multiple checks and passes before one even gets to hope to start the game. In fact, now that the game has been cracked, it seems that the pirates are offering a better service than Blizzard is!

Well it's not really primarily a single player game is it. Considering they were originally intending to make Diablo III an MMO [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117939-Diablo-II-Dev-Diablo-III-Was-Originally-an-MMO]. Just because the other 2 were single player doesn't mean this one is. Also I'm still not seeing how having to always be online and having to register a battle.net account is "treating players like criminals".

 

[Korten12]

Having never played D2 and haven't played D3 it doesn't matter to me, but I am curious about what 'end game' means in these types of dungeon crawlers? What does D2 have that D3 doesn't? I thought the 'end game' in these things was just repeatably grinding the high level dungeons over and over for RNG-stat loot, so it will take a really long time to get the perfect gear, hence the long play time. Both games have this as far as I'm aware.

So what's different with D2 apart from the auction house?

As far as I know and heard at least, Diablo 2 didn't have end game either.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

The game is broken because it treats the players like criminals, has crappy servers that won't allow people online on a whim and, on top of it all, if you dare to buy a digital copy, you're not going to get to play it for three days after the purchase because they want to validate it due to the ridiculous auction house.

1. I'm not getting how it treats the players like criminals.

2. I don't think anyone is experiencing any logging issues anymore because that issue was sorted.

3. They stopped doing that stupid thing where it caps you for 3 days if you bought a digital version.

The game works just fine, it's not broken.

If I may interject for a moment, but it seems your exchange of opinions is filled with misunderstanding. The game is not actually broken, it works exactly the way that Blizzard wants it to, but that doesn't mean that it's a good thing.

SpiderJerusalem was merely saying that the auction house is the reason that the game is bad, because it gives Blizzard their 'justification' for implementing a ton of security measures that nobody wants to deal with. Also, you can't sort the issue of people struggling to log into servers if they have terribly inconsistent and unreliable internet connections, I've had to live with that burden for years, it's not fun.

The game isn't bad because of the AH though. Yeah, sure, it's the reason Blizzard are implementing all these dumb security measures, but it's not making the game bad. The AH has nothing to do with how fun the game is. And as for people struggling to log in because of bad internet connections, that's not exactly Blizzards fault. I think people are just getting far too worked up about the always online connection and the AH. Raging over nothing really.

 

[Aeshi]

Also, you can't sort the issue of people struggling to log into servers if they have terribly inconsistent and unreliable internet connections, I've had to live with that burden for years, it's not fun.

Well then prehaps they shouldn't have bought a game whose 'Minimum Requirements' section flat out states that it requires a stable internet connection if they couldn't guarantee they would have one.

 

[HamsterPants]

Also, you can't sort the issue of people struggling to log into servers if they have terribly inconsistent and unreliable internet connections, I've had to live with that burden for years, it's not fun.

Well then prehaps they shouldn't have bought a game whose 'Minimum Requirements' section flat out states that it requires a stable internet connection if they couldn't guarantee they would have one.

Oh come on, have a little sympathy for people who have been waiting for this game for years but didn't happen to meet said requirements.

 

[Vrach]

My question is, what kind of endgame is even really considered an "endgame" for ARPGs? Endless dungeons? PvP? The only games of this type that I have played recently are Torchlight and Diablo 3 so I'm not exactly sure what an endgame would even entail with this genre. What did Diablo 2 do that kept people around for like a decade? and was it even an endgame or did people just play the game over and over with different characters?

^This is actually what I was wondering too. Is Diablo 3 open world with some dynamic content? I was under the impression it was an ultimately linear game (in the same sense that say, Dragon Age: Origins was linear, divergent paths, some freedom of choice, but not open world).

 

[Newtonyd]

So they didn't make an interesting endgame, huh? Too bad they shot themselves in the foot by banning mods. I spent far more time playing Diablo 2 modded (with Median XL) than I did playing vanilla Diablo 2. Looking back on it, vanilla Diablo 2 itself was a pretty insubstantial game compared with the fun and content modding brought.

It's like game developers don't realize that there's a free workforce willing to develop content for good games, given half the chance.

 

[lacktheknack]

It just goes to show: People have beaten "I Wanna Be The Guy" on Nightmare mode. STOP UNDERESTIMATING PLAYER OBSESSION.

 

[teebeeohh]

why does Diablo 3 need endgame anyway? shouldn't endgame just be grinding for max level?

 

[Nazulu]

Well it's not really primarily a single player game is it. Considering they were originally intending to make Diablo III an MMO [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117939-Diablo-II-Dev-Diablo-III-Was-Originally-an-MMO]. Just because the other 2 were single player doesn't mean this one is. Also I'm still not seeing how having to always be online and having to register a battle.net account is "treating players like criminals".

Why couldn't it have a single player option? That's the problem. I see absolutely no reason why it couldn't have. Why is it everyone brags that new technology gives us new options (and instantly makes new games better) but instead they take shit out? That's why the complaint is there.

Same with always having to be online, it's another inconvenience. Sure, there will be some fuck wits that love to point out how they've had no internet connection problems, but just like everything else, that doesn't go for everyone, doesn't it? I'm not to keen on registering to anything either but that's just a minor annoyance.

 

[Realitycrash]

What do you mean "nothing to do", wasn't Diablo always about running the same few stages over and over again and gather better and better loot, until you got the best set, and then you began again, but with another character?
Has it ever had another point?

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

Here's a thought, how about finally making a patch that allows players to game WITHOUT BEING ONLINE ALL THE TIME?! I have no interest in making a diablo account, a battle.net account and I have no interest in having the game lag and be tied to the whims of my (relatively poor) internet connection.

Hence, no sale. Do something Blizzard. It's not your end game that's broken. It's your GAME.

Can people PLEASE stop crying about this? The game runs off of Blizzard's servers. Everything from damage numbers to creature spawns and map generation is run off their server. They CAN'T make an offline mode at this point. That ship has sailed. Get over it.

On topic:
I'm not surprised. I've gotten bored of D3 already. Inferno is just a huge brickwall of grinding items to progress slowly. It's more frustrating than fun, even after the nerfs.

 

[Fasckira]

I recall playing D2 for ages trying to find awesome items and feeling pretty proud when ever I came across specials. The auction house doesnt remove that directly, as I dont _have_ to use it, but it does however detract from the emotional worth you place on items if you can buy them just as easily from somewhere.

 

[Piflik]

The game isn't bad because of the AH though. Yeah, sure, it's the reason Blizzard are implementing all these dumb security measures, but it's not making the game bad. The AH has nothing to do with how fun the game is. And as for people struggling to log in because of bad internet connections, that's not exactly Blizzards fault. I think people are just getting far too worked up about the always online connection and the AH. Raging over nothing really.

The game is bad EXACTLY because of the AH. Hunting for items is fun, buying them not so much. And the item hunt is ALL there is. This alone might not be that bad, had Blizzard not balanced the game solely around the AH. The drops are ridiculus. I played the game for 100h, with 4 characters on 4 difficulty levels, and I had exactly 1 single unique drop. Once I reached Nightmare, it was nigh impossible to progress, without getting stuff from the AH. The items I found were simply too bad. I know that they wanted to make the AH work and so they needed the players to need tge AH, but by doing that, they sucked the fun right out if the game. They didn't really sell a game with an AH supplement, they sold an AH with a game supplement.

 

[weirdee]

game making 101 tip #583: never underestimate the ability of obsessed players to reach the end of your game. it will take a week at most for the people who represent the forefront of the fan community to hit the limits of what is possible, not counting any technical delays. BE PREPARED TO MEET THEM AT THIS POINT AS NOT HAVING ANYTHING PREPARED FOR THEIR ARRIVAL IS UNPROFESSIONAL.

tip #583b: do not tell your players that they are 'ruining your game's vision' or 'not playing it right' when they do speedrun competitions to see who can complete the game first.

 

[4173]

Huh. In my day, endless cow or baal runs was the end-game. Do they actually expect you to reach level cap in D3?


(also, get off my lawn)