Blizzard Defends Always-Online For Diablo III: Reaper of Souls

[Robert Marrs]

He should have translated that to "I know there are still a bunch of people who refuse to buy our game because of its always online requirement but we don't really need the money so fuck them". Hell if he came out and said that I might actually go buy the game. Honesty goes a long way.

 

[weirdee]

Oh, okay. So, it's not a matter that people were promised things that didn't happen, it's just that they BOUGHT THE WRONG GAME. Sorry, folks! Should have just gotten something else. Maybe Path of Exile? Torchlight?

Mystery solved! Everybody go home now.

 

[MrBenSampson]

The always-online DRM is the reason why I waited for the console version. That, and the ability to have multiple players on one screen. I also love that you can have 4 people on two consoles, playing in the same game online or over LAN. Diablo 3 on consoles is the perfect co-op game.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

If you read what he quoted you might see the criticism

"We did not make that game"

Except the game that they did not make, has been available on the PS4 without any always-online bullshit and no auction-house.

Edit: And you know nothing about consoles preventing cheating. Heres how you do it; You put your save on a USB stick, go to your computer, open it up with a hex editor or whatever editor you want, change what you want, plug it back in and play.

tada

Its really easy to do on Boarderlands 2 for example.

The console versions of Diablo 3 are not "that game". "That game" is a game in which there is an offline mode with segregated characters from the online mode. This is very clear from the article, the interviewer accepts that always-online prevents cheating and asks "Why not have offline play as an option?" Blizzard guy responds: "We did not make that game."

Yes it's possible to hack on consoles, but it is not as simple and quick as on PCs. The punishments for caught cheaters also tend to be harsher on consoles, often preventing the console itself from online play rather than just the account. Therefore far fewer people will cheat on consoles.

If you'd like to argue that having offline-only characters is preferable to most people than no offline play at all then you would be having an actual disagreement with Blizzard instead of a misunderstanding.

 

[00slash00]

Okay I usually defend Diablo 3 because as underwhelming as it was, I still had fun playing it (the first time through, anyway), but this is just a load of crap. If you want to have DRM to discourage hacking and piracy, I can live with that, but don't make up another reason why this is all just a service for the players. It isn't. I hated the spam bots in Diablo 2 and if always online keeps them out then sure, yeah I can live with it, but don't say Diablo has been primarily an online series. I never went online in Diablo, I finished Diablo 2 with every character before even creating an online account, and I can count on one hand the amount of times I played with other people in Diablo 3. I like going at my own pace and exploring every inch of them map to find all the enemies and items. Most people online do not like to play that way, so it's more fun for me to play solo. I'm sorry buddy but this is not an mmo, you very much do have a game that can be played solo or with other people. Keep telling yourself that, "You don't make that game," but you do. You don't have the always online requirement because this is a multiplayer game that doesn't work if you play it solo, you have the always online requirement because you don't want people pirating your game. That's fine, I can live with that, just fucking own up to it and stop trying to act like you're just the misunderstood hero.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

"I'm really mad that I have to start a new character to play with you." - No one ever, because a few hours of Tristram/Tombs/Council/Baal runs would give you a decently geared level 30.

Conversely, ask someone who bought Diablo III at launch about 'Error 37', and see just how fondly they speak of it.

 

[RicoADF]

Meh, I'd rather have a little bit of lag now and then rather than having a hack-fest like it was for D2. There haven't been any proper hacks made so far so at least it's actually working. Unlike pretty much every other form of DRM that devs have used.

So someone cheating and ruining their own gaming experience is SO important to you that you'd rather others have their game unplayable. Yep you've got your priorities straight..... /Sarcasm.
And before you say "get a better net connection" I have 100mb/s cable, speed isn't the issue, it always being down when I go to play it after work for 'maintinance' because I have the hide to live outside the US and thus they don't care about taking the game down during our peak hours of play. Blizzard can get fucked for all I care I'm not getting another shitty BZ game again if this is how they treat me, like a 3rd class citizen on the Titanic. Oh and I also suppose losing the game when the servers are turned off is also not as important as stopping cheaters too? I got this game to play with mates and only got the chance once due to their stupid system.

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

So amusing. Any time I read reactions to Blizzard posts, I immediately envision this:

Spoiler

Seriously, folks. The world is becoming always online, all the time. If I'm playing Diablo, it's on my main rig ... which is online all of the time. I don't see any kind of problem with this. If I'm on an offline machine I'm playing.. something else, or doing something else.

People are making a mountain out of a molehill, and beating a dead horse on top of it.

"Ooh, I don't know what the problem is with this world. Why are children in the Africa suffering from famine? I have so much food in my house. Those people must have no idea how to eat food."

Just because you have the good internet connection doesn't mean everyone else does.
I would gladly accept DRM if it gives me some kind of benefit-say, like certain online game distribution system that starts with S.
Selling games dirt cheap or something like that.

And now on the topic.

Hmm, Kevin, I would congratulate you on acknowledging that you are not competent enough to make the offline options like that game that came out 13 fricking years ago, But I would really appreciate it if you just be honest.

Just say "I WANT EVERY ONE ON BATTLE.NET ON A LEASH LIKE A DOG"

I am pretty sure this Kevin guy doesn't know what the LAN is, so I won't bother to explain how it was used to play Diablo 2 with offline characters. Besides, I heard Blizzard thinks LAN is evil.(*Cough*HotS*cough*)

Now, I am sure that Some people thinks that I am accusing Blizzard on groundless hatred, if so, explain this.

Spoiler

Because this game totally needed DRM right? BECAUSE IN THIS GAME YOUR CHARACTERS WERE TOTALLY IMPORTANT when playing with your friends.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

People being mad at them for including an off-line mode for Diablo 2, FUCKING BULLSHIT!!!

Actually this is true, at least indirectly. While people weren't really that mad about an offline mode outside of what you mentioned, people were mad about the prevalence of hacking, even on closed bnet. The thing is, having an offline mode puts all of the game's code on your pc. This means that hackers don't have to do any guess work, they can see how they game handles everything and because of that can more easily make a variety of hacks.

You could just make a system that checks if the character has been tempered with, that then allows for transfers between the two modes.

And I suppose you have some sort of solution for this? Afaik, this isn't possible without any form of network connection. For the game to be able to detect tampering there would need to be either a backup somewhere for a comparison or an event log to make sure it all adds up. Problem with that though is that you can just go and edit those as well.

Simple solution, have a off line mode and a online mode. Make it so YOU CAN NOT TAKE YOUR OFF LINE PLAYER ONLINE, that way there is a barrier preventing the two to mix will not tainiting the online.

 

[WildFire15]

ah, the wonders of twisted context. I don't recall anyone being angry they could play offline, just they were unhappy they couldn't bring an offline character online. Quite a significant difference. Also, lets not forget that not everyone wants to play together, sometimes we want to forge a path at our own pace without being disturbed.

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

Simple solution, have a off line mode and a online mode. Make it so YOU CAN NOT TAKE YOUR OFF LINE PLAYER ONLINE, that way there is a barrier preventing the two to mix will not tainiting the online.

Sounds awfully slimier to the game I played about 10 years ago.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

Simple solution, have a off line mode and a online mode. Make it so YOU CAN NOT TAKE YOUR OFF LINE PLAYER ONLINE, that way there is a barrier preventing the two to mix will not tainiting the online.

Sounds awfully slimier to the game I played about 10 years ago.

Kinda interesting that things done 10 years ago can't be used now a-days. Just tells you there is another reason for this implementation of this system.

 

[Makabriel]

"Ooh, I don't know what the problem is with this world. Why are children in the Africa suffering from famine? I have so much food in my house. Those people must have no idea how to eat food."

Just because you have the good internet connection doesn't mean everyone else does.
I would gladly accept DRM if it gives me some kind of benefit-say, like certain online game distribution system that starts with S.
Selling games dirt cheap or something like that.

You know what.. I've seen the light. And why stop there?

Come on Everyone!! The Next Gen Consoles require an HDMI Connection!!! Think of all the poor people with CRT televisions. None of them will be able to play the next gen games!!! Let's Make sure Sony and MS hear our voice!!!

Really. Blizzard hating is so passe these days. I support their position. I like the idea of a secure environment to play Diablo in. If I want to play with my friends, we all get online and play. And millions of other people feel the same. There is -nothing- wrong with what they are doing. It may not be popular, but there is no legitimate tangible reason for taking it offline. Player hate just doesn't cut it.

 

[Raziel]

I never played diablo 2 online and I had no interest in playing diablo 3 online. And I was one of the people who preordered it, waited at a midnight launch to get it, and then couldn't play it until the next night because the servers weren't working.

And then to top it all off even though I never played multiplayer, never used the auction house, and had a totally separate computer just for games I had my account hacked. So screw you blizzard I'm out. Torchlight for me for now on.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Seriously, folks. The world is becoming always online, all the time.

I can't even come up with words to describe how meaningless that statement was.

If I'm playing Diablo, it's on my main rig ... which is online all of the time.

Except when it's not.

I don't see any kind of problem with this. If I'm on an offline machine I'm playing.. something else, or doing something else.

Ok good for you. You don't have a problem with it, others do.

People are making a mountain out of a molehill, and beating a dead horse on top of it.

Is any form of criticism "being butthurt" or blowing things out of proportion?

Don't be such a corporate apologist.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

There is -nothing- wrong with what they are doing. It may not be popular, but there is no legitimate tangible reason for taking it offline. Player hate just doesn't cut it.

Sure, but do connection problems, lag, item loss, account theft, server downtime and lack of features that properly take advantage of the multiplayer (good PvP, raid-style events etc) cut it?

 

[quad341]

Digital signatures work via asymmetric encryption. That basically means that the game executable would have to contain a private key to be able to provide that signature, which means you are relying on that executible's private key to NOT be hacked, which is basically impossible to prevent. You would want to encrypt the key, but it can't be used by your system to create the signature without being decrypted during that process, at which point it is vulnerable. This is why any game can be cracked after release but steam pre-downloads cannot, they become vulnerable only after the game is able to be run to start with.

do calcualtion online. servers can handle mahematics now. and it wont matter of the files are hacked or not, the gameplay is still dictated by server-side calcualtion. yes, it may look way different on the hacked guys screen, but the gameplay wont be ruined for others by it.

I believe you're missing the idea of how offline manipulating of characters works. Either you can create impossible situations (characters/items that could not have the stats they claim to) or improbable situations (you have all of the best gear and every slot in your inventory is also the best gear).

Impossible just requires validation. Improbable is the task we are trying to solve.

Digital signatures by themselves would not be good enough for the stated reason: you just need to find the private key in the game which has to be on ones computer to actually sign the file.

There is a way around that though: we will never keep the private key in memory. This might seem like blasphemy, but that is the idea behind Trusted Platform Modules [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module] (or TPM chips). Though technically not impossible to be able to fake your own signature even with a TPM chip, I'm not aware of it ever happening (and it would probably be popular as TPM chips are used to prevent root kits, amongst other things).

The remaining problem is the availability of TPM chips. They are rather rare to nonexistent in non-high end professional systems. They would probably want to target more than just those systems meaning the feature would essentially never be available.

 

[WeepingAngels]

There is -nothing- wrong with what they are doing. It may not be popular, but there is no legitimate tangible reason for taking it offline. Player hate just doesn't cut it.

Indeed, there is no need for a company to care about what their customers think. Maybe Blizzard will keep your advice in mind, all the way to bankruptcy.

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

there is no legitimate tangible reason for taking it offline. Player hate just doesn't cut it.

Hmm. You may have a point, But then Riddle me this.

Is there a legitimate tangible reason for taking it always online?
If offline characters cannot access online, server's security should be tight, while people can enjoy offline!(GENIUS.)

I could make millions!

Oh wait.

Spoiler

WHAT IS THIS SORCERY