Blizzard Surprised by Reaction to Online-Only Diablo 3

[Rack]

... It's not just spoofing server calls you actually have to write a small chunk of the game.

Wow, that's a big F.U. to anyone who wants to buy the game but has a limited cap or a dodgy internet connection. That's be a right turn off from buying the game in the first place for people in that position. On top of that you've got the people who won't buy the game on the principle that DRM is just getting more and more ludicrous.

Well, I won't disagree with that, Blizzard are taking away useful features in order to make more money. Those with slow internet connections as well as those with unstable connections are really going to be excluded. I just think it might actually work Blizzard might make more from those encouraged towards the auction houses and discouraged against piracy than it loses from those it purposely excludes.

 

[silasbufu]

Believe it or not, you pompous assholes, some people do not have good internet connections / or at all for that matter.

 

[kebab4you]

Jesus people just download the cracked version, which will be available like 3 hours after the official launch. People can be such babies.

That's illegal, if I'm not mistaken. And quite a few people here respect the law.

It's not, if you bought the legal version. This is why ROMs are controversial.
Quite a few people here throw their ignorant opinions around too, apparently.

As a mater of fact it is, unless you made the crack yourself(and didn't share it with anyone else) it's illegal to download one even if you own the game.

 

[silasbufu]

Really

Do people still not get it, it's not intended to be a single player game, the comparison with AC2 is false.

It's always online for the same reason guild wars 1 and 2 will be when it arrives, same as world of warcraft or the upcomming star wars the old republic.

If you avoid this game then i must insist that you avoid all thoses others because they are no different.

Yes, because Diablo 3 is an MMO.

yes that is exactly what they have made, people are thinking that diablo 3 was just some graphical update/remake of diablo 2 which clearly is not the case.

everything about this game screams guild wars, mmo, instanced player groups, single one time payment and subscription free.

soloing a mmo is not the same thing as a single player game

Its actually called Blizzard trying to shoe-horn their "Battlenet 2.0" into everything they are making now. That's why you have to always be online to play Starcraft 2, that's why you can only have ONE account per CD-key for it. That definitely ain't an MMO though.

Diablo 3 is about as much of an MMO as Diablo 1 or 2 was. You're just confusing unnecessary bullshit with "features".

battlenet 2.0 a single profile cross-title xbox live style system for blizzard titles much like the single account that hold your characters in an mmo

no starcraft is not an mmo but thats fatuous when the comparision i made was with guildwars which diablo 3 clearly is 99% the same

i'm still baffled why people are soo confused by greater online intergration in an industry moving towards non-local machine rendering (cloud) from one of the most online focused developers on the planet.

No one seems willing to take me up on this point because their simply is no difference between diablo 3 and guildwars 2 which a ton of people are hyped for.

This man knows what he is talking about. D3 is an MMO, only not an open world MMO. Its a cloud based fully instanced world. That, by definition, is an MMO. People are morons buddy. That is why they are not taking your point.

D3 is about as much an MMO, as StarCraft was a turnbased tactical roleplaying game. The Diablo series was always about a single player game, with mulitplayer added for those that enjoyed online, or Lan, for those that enjoyed playing with friends. Guild Wars..jeez.

Think about it, though. In Guild Wars, you can play the shit out of that game by yourself, as you can in most MMO's. You can finish the story-line by yourself, solo-farm, etc etc, all you need is an internet connection. If you choose to play with someone else you go into an outpost and get yourself a party. When you go outside, you get your own copy of the world so no one else is there. So the guy above does speak some truth.

 

[Sir CheezyPie]

I personally want to play D3 at some point in the future but I am hoping for just a nice, smooth, single player experience to numb my mind over.

 

[Ba22crow]

Me my brother, and several friends still turn Diablo 2 on from time to time and play LAN, because it has staying power, just look at how many people are still online. But with an online requirement, thats 3 sales I can name right off without thinking they are not going to make. And I'm sure there are plenty others that feel the same way. I don't see why they would force an online requirement. they did'nt do it with the first two, basically they are saying "If you guys will play WOW online only, then we are as important as WOW and you will play Diablo online only" there is no reason to do it, they are not charging a subscription to keep playing right? so there is no need to force people online to deny them access when their subscription runs out. I see no purpose to this and believe they would gain many more sales by not locking it to online play, but, their choice. If they change it to allow offline I'll buy it plain and simple, I have many good memories with Diablo, but not worth driving to a place with wi-fi when I want to play it.

 

[Juggalofx]

im sorry and i could be wrong but wasn't your offline char and your online char in d2 2 different games. If i can remember right my items never went between the two. also i loved playing LAN party D2 with my friends. this new way kills all that. While yes the whole idea of me not being on the internet while playing will prolly never happen i still don't like it. Hell i learned how shitty it can be when the psn was down and i couldnt play half my games because the game had to be connected to the psn to play even signal player. Oh well i will just stick with BF3. Yes i know thats a online game but i can play offline if i want. and that does matter to me

 

[Epona]

i can see hundreds if not thousands complaining about this always on drm and saying they will boycot it. many despite their claims of a boycot will still go a head and buy it. it will still sell millions regardless and blizzard will regard it as a hit.

the only way to change the way a company does business is to refuse to buy their products as it hurts them in the only place they care about.the bottom line. instead support other companies that do the right thing.. they may not be diablo 3 but there are alternatives out there.. torchlight 2.. dins curse for example

yes i understand that my refusal to purchase anything from ubisoft and now blizzard on its own doesnt even register to those giants but its how i choose to make a stand before this becomes standard in the industry

People say that they aren't going to buy this game which is what you ask for in your second paragraph but you won't believe them.

 

[Epona]

Jesus people just download the cracked version, which will be available like 3 hours after the official launch. People can be such babies.

That's illegal, if I'm not mistaken. And quite a few people here respect the law.

It's not, if you bought the legal version. This is why ROMs are controversial.
Quite a few people here throw their ignorant opinions around too, apparently.

As a mater of fact it is, unless you made the crack yourself(and didn't share it with anyone else) it's illegal to download one even if you own the game.

Actually it's illegal to crack the DRM in the first place. See, you have the right to back up any media you buy BUT you can only do that if it's not protected media. That is a silly little loophole that allows publishers to take away your consumer rights just by adding DRM.

Really though, some laws are too stupid to follow blindly. I assure you that I will play games that I buy.

 

[pirateninj4]

If you're so mad about it, don't buy it. Nothing speaks louder than lower than expected sales...

But I know you types...***** about it, and then buy it when it's time.

 

[Croaker42]

Way to keep an ear on the industry. *clap*
Its the same issues we saw with the removal of Lan and in the end I doubt it will affect the games sales in a negative way.

Wait how will it not affect game sales in a negative way? Some people only buy games to play offline, I think it will have a huge impact on game sales.

Dig around a bit. People who want to play off line will play off line.
Also even excluding the "I only play single player" demographic, this is diablo three and will sell like the second coming.

Or we can do this.
They are not making this game for the "I only play single player" demographic.
So that group will have no impact on the projected sales of the product.

 

[Mariena]

At the end of the day, it's Diablo 3. I want to play Diablo 3. I'm not going to lose interest because of this always-online thing. Sure, it sucks.. but it's still Diablo 3.

If I had to ditch every game because of obtrusive DRM and install limits, I wouldn't be playing games anymore.

What games are you playing that you allow obtrusive DRM? I just do my best not to touch those games with a 10 foot pole and play the games that want my money. That works a lot better.

My point is, even the most draconian DRM (like the one that ubisoft uses, or Starforce in the past) wont stop me from playing the games. And while I really do not support it, my other option is to pirate it or not buy the game.

People are losing interest in Diablo 3 over this.. online-only thing. It is still Diablo 3, people!

When you buy a game with those draconian DRMs you are supporting the use of that DRM, because when a ton of people buy it they will know that its OK, no matter who they screw with.

And who cares if its Diablo 3? Apparently a name is all it takes to sell you? Not the most discriminating consumer to begin with I would say...

Captcha:
nuclear crigine

Only some titles. I will blindly buy Mass Effect 3 as well. And so what if a name is all it takes to sell me? Do you have an issue with that? You're coming across awfully hostile there.

It sucks, but I weigh DRM vs the game itself, and the game holds way more value for me. I'm not gonna pass up an excellent piece of cake just because a fly landed on it.

And to be quite honest, if the DRM gets in my way, I would just install a crack. So far I haven't had to do that yet. Not a single piece of DRM has bothered me so far.

I am quite shocked that publishers continue to do so though, despite all the outrage.

Then again....

 

[dimensional]

Taking away peoples choice is always a good way to annoy someone and forcing a persistent online in something that dosent really need it is just a slap in the face of common sense (note:common not business sense) this is purely a business decision and a potentially bad one at that.
While I dont see it affecting many people who were dead set on getting the game those (like myself) who were interested may now turn away seriously I dont see why they are so surprised by the negative reaction though they are basically saying we have decided to restrict this game to people who have internet access what did they expect a congratulatory round of applause?

Also as many people have mentioned many internet connections while fine for posting on forums and generally browsing are not particularly stable (mine included) steam is practically unusable for me and it pisses me off enough when I get kicked off my xbox account and sometimes game because the connection dropped but at least there I have the option of offline play and of course what happens when they decide they dont give a crap about maintaining the game anymore can I not play it?

 

[Drago-Morph]

This "always on" stuff is complete crap. It's using piracy to prevent piracy. I bought the game with my money, and they reserve the right o keep me from playing it? That would mean I paid money for nothing. They took my money and provided nothing in return. Same thing as me taking their game and not paying them.

If I have two choices for getting a game, paying for a game that the developers won't let me use, or getting a superior copy for free, which will I take? This is the problem with "always on". I buy games, even though I could get them for free, to support the industry and out of respect for the developers. That respect goes out the window when those same developers try to rob me.

 

[Flutterguy]

I hope this gets changed, I still play Diablo 2 online when my ISP is down. Also i get 100gigs a month on my internet plan, so basically if i go over it while owning D3 I'll prolly end up loading up D2.

 

[Furrama]

I think Blizz people on the coast forget how bad the internet situation is in the rest of America, and a goodly portion of the world. We just aren't there yet, and to force it to be online during single player is locking people out more than helping people have a better experience. IN SINGLE PLAYER.

I ran Diablo 2 on a 56k dial up connection, and I can't imagine D3 is going to require much more than that either. If you're posting on this forum right now from your home machine, you will not have an issue playing the game. The only people this is going to affect is people who literally don't have access to the internet (like those oversees). And as I said in a post before, if you don't have internet then you're not going to be able to play anything on steam, and a number of other games that have one time online validation.

Have you ever been to middle America? The internet situation is so bad that most people don't even bother trying to connect, and if they do play computer games and need verification they have to drive out a long way to get it. And it's one thing if you have to do it once for verification. It's another to have to be connected constantly. And don't even start me on the frequent thunderstorm systems that leave what little internet you have shotty for a goodly portion of the spring and summer.

 

[duchaked]

sometimes you just can't get any Internet...and sometimes you want to play a game offline because for some reason the Internet is unavailable...maybe?

I know I was sitting in my apartment for 2-3 months doing all my gaming offline because the cable wouldn't be installed until halfway through summer

 

[Ilyak1986]

Honestly, when people say "we will boycott"...

Hey people...why do you bother boycotting?

Tell me, if you're not going to buy the game, what keeps you from enjoying it besides a vaunted set of morals that greedy game developers are only all too happy to exploit?

 

[DarkTenka]

Theres really NO reason to complain, and it IS a surprise that people are complaining.

Oh, for fuck's sake. Because the noob can't figure out he can't use the same characters offline and on Battle.net, there's no reason to complain? Give me a break.

There is a reason to complain - multiple, actually, on this issue alone.

1) You can't play wherever or whenever you want.
2) Even when you do play, the vast, vast majority of the players will experience high ping because they're forced to play on Blizzard's servers, the client and the server going out of sync every few seconds, and disconnects every once in a while because their connection so much as coughs for a second.

It's a surprise only if you blindly believe whatever Blizzard is telling you, and they've been known to spin their bullshit every way possible, or, hell, outright lie [http://www.the-ghetto.org/content/battle-net-2-0-the-antithesis-of-consumer-confidence] to make themselves look better. Just stop believing whatever they tell you, start thinking for yourself once in a while.

1. Internet is everywhere, you can play everywhere.

2. Lol .. if this is what you think then your internet connection must suck.

And yes .. we all get to use online only because the noobs need to be appealed to, deal with it. From a business standpoint it makes total sense, and think about the poor noobs who get shafted every time they want to make a transition from offline to online. Are you that selfish that you would have all these people have major negetive experiences with the game just so that you can avoid having a minor inconvenience?

The bottom line is, you will put up with it if you enjoy the game and blizzard knows this. However a noob is more likely to rage quit when he finds out he has to start again.

In order to maximise appreciation for the game, the only option is to appeal to the noobs, since hardcore gamers dont give a fuck about lag/bugs/disconnects (other than occasionally whining about it).

 

[UnusualStranger]

1. Internet is everywhere, you can play everywhere.

2. Lol .. if this is what you think then your internet connection must suck.

And yes .. we all get to use online only because the noobs need to be appealed to, deal with it. From a business standpoint it makes total sense, and think about the poor noobs who get shafted every time they want to make a transition from offline to online. Are you that selfish that you would have all these people have major negetive experiences with the game just so that you can avoid having a minor inconvenience?

The bottom line is, you will put up with it if you enjoy the game and blizzard knows this. However a noob is more likely to rage quit when he finds out he has to start again.

In order to maximise appreciation for the game, the only option is to appeal to the noobs, since hardcore gamers dont give a fuck about lag/bugs/disconnects (other than occasionally whining about it).

Alright, I feel the need to do a play by play since this is still going on.

1. Alright, the internet can be everywhere. Know what? It also depends on how strong it is. Poor internet? F*ck you, play something else. You read what they said? If you want to play their game, but don't have a good internet connection, play something else. Thats right, its a concept that right there tells you what is wrong with it.

2. Its not a fact of the internet connection sucks, its that he has to trust many more things don't go wrong. Blizzard's connection get severed? You are screwed. Servers are extremely busy? You are screwed. Updates for their servers? You can't play. Your internet goes down? You can't play. Router goes crazy? You can't play. You have to depend on so many additional things that it should not be worth it.

From a business standpoint, they should simply charge you to play online, as that would separate you from your cash much faster, and mean that they don't have to worry about the funds to maintain their servers, the second you try to play you have to pay for it. Almost like some other game I can't think of the name of right now for some reason......


And the bottom line to this discussion (For myself anyways) is that this is a stupid idea, and implementing it on big titles just so people are forced to use it if they want to play your game (A la Starcraft 2) is a real bastard move on the companies part. People always say "You don't have to get it", and yes, I don't. I also don't have to have an up to date computer, but it sure as hell helps with security flaws. Its just a move that really needs to be shot in the face now, before it spreads to other companies thinking that this sort of behavior should always be acceptable.