Blizzard Surprised by Reaction to Online-Only Diablo 3

[Vigormortis]

I think the problem with allowing people to play offline with the same char as the one you use online is that characters would have to be saved on the computer, and then they could be easily edited to give you all the good items and an infinite amount of gold.

It's not about DRM, it'd be about cheating the Auction House system they're going to be using, what would be the point of the AH being flooded with duplicated items from a single player file, this would also be the same reason for mods I assume.

You don't see the error in this logic? I'm wondering how Blizzard can make this sequel and yet seemingly forget one of the key aspects of the previous two. Namely, the separation of online and offline. Play offline, solo, or LAN? You save your character locally. And, you can't use that character file on Battle.net. Play online? You save your character on Blizzard's servers. You can't mod the file, copy the file, or otherwise touch the file unless you're playing on Battle.net. Ergo, can't cheat. (save client side hacks, which Battle.net usually deals with anyway)

So again, I fail to see why this design model is so out of the question for Diablo 3. I just can't fathom why Blizzard wouldn't go this route instead of this "always online" model or why they would do something so tedious to their fan base.

Oh wait...
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.63822-Activision-Blizzard-Officially-Official

Never mind. Questions withdrawn.

 

[MrCherry]

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.

Those games all started off being an MMO. Diablo did not. I have played alot of MMORPG/RTS/FPS but people wanted a Diablo game that was offline.. You know, like the Diablo games I myself grew up with.

Maybe if they wanted it all online, they should have announced it when they started making the game.

So much for Diablo 3, Roll on Torchlight 2.

 

[Saelune]

Nature of the industry? Well its the nature of the consumer to be mad at poor choices. And Industry kinda relies heavily on consumers.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

"We've been doing online gameplay for 15 years now...

So why not just make an offline mode for people who want to play that way? "You're introducing a separate user flow, a separate path that players are going to go down," he explained. "And, at the end of the day, how many people are going to want to do that?"

Sooooo... THEY have been doing some online only stuff for fifteen years, what does that have to do with ME?

Also: "Separate user flow, blah blah I'm lying"..." How many people are going to want to do that? Appearantly, almost every single one at first. What a bastard, not owning up to the real reasons they decided upon to sour the user experience. DRM-smell all over it. THIS is what makes pirates get people to download stuff illegaly. He's either stupid or just not admitting he makes actual customers bend over backwards with crap like always on!

-10 respect for Blizzard from me. :\

 

[Antari]

Its a fairly classic example of the suits of a company being totally out of touch with their customers and product. I really can't be too shocked by this.

 

[jamesworkshop]

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.

Those games all started off being an MMO. Diablo did not. I have played alot of MMORPG/RTS/FPS but people wanted a Diablo game that was offline.. You know, like the Diablo games I myself grew up with.

Maybe if they wanted it all online, they should have announced it when they started making the game.

So much for Diablo 3, Roll on Torchlight 2.

Warcraft started off as an RTS and is now an MMO

Blizzard has been an almost totally online focused company since 2004

this anger around this game would be like me getting angry because a car company sells a family car that i have no use for from not owning a family.

Hey i'm still going to get torchlight 2 much like how the silly contest between battlefield 3 and MW3 doesn't bother me because i'm just going to get both titles anyway

 

[Traun]

But god dammit, I want that game so bad.

Sometimes sticking to your principles really blows goats.

Yeah, thank god us gamers are strong willed creatures who will fight to the last.

 

[Nurb]

Oh, he's shocked to learn people don't like the idea of not being able to play thier single player games if their internet goes out for a few hours? No, he's bullshitting because Bobby said he wanted subscription/online-only based gaming for ALL games and this guy is following orders

Fuck you, Blizzard.

Fuck you Activision.

God save the pirates and game crackers because anything that makes Bobby Kotick lose money is a good thing.

 

[Frotality]

blizzard releasing asinine statements in a pathetic attempt to convince us that WE are somehow in the wrong for wanting single-player games to only require a single player. itll probably work on some people, but theyve already lost my sale. theyve already decided to counter the black market by just making their own official one....theyre treating this game like an MMO, so its gonna end up like an MMO with no one else in it and no updates...probably not fun.

 

[mrwoo6]

Yeah, though this is a bit of a dick move, its not really that big of a deal Trying secure a revenue of income from customers and minimize piracy is something I can understand.

Blizzard aren't stupid, they don't do shit for no reason and despite playing dumb they know that they will sell, and sell well.

 

[Signa]

I guess I'll be going back to Sacred 2. I called BS on Diablo 3 years ago when things were starting to look grim, and now I see the game as irredeemable.

 

[instantbenz]

"And, at the end of the day, how many people are going to want to do that?"

A lot of people you jackass! Wouldn't it be amazing if the creators of games would listen to the people talking like right here in forums? What about if they would listen so much they would completely redesign a playable race in their game just to make their consumers happy? That would not be Blizzard ... It would, on the other hand, be ANet. Funny how the founders worked at Bliz and decided to jump ship.

 

[godofallu]

He didn't know because he is bad at his job. The only other possibility is that he did know and went with it anyways.

 

[Baresark]

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 excatly 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

What about this game screams that exactly? In an MMO, you pass by, interact, fight with other players. There is a PVP in this game, but it's a separate mode that in no way has any direct consequence on the main game. There is nothing in this that screams MMO. No persistent world after you stop playing. When you connect to their servers, you are not playing on their servers, the game is played on your PC with information stored on your PC. I have not seen anything that makes it anything like an MMO. The only thing that is like that seems to be the fact they want to store you save games externally. But, if you play a G4WL game, you store your save games externally as well, but they are not MMOs. I'm not trying to be argumentative, but besides a store most players don't seem to embrace, how is this like an MMO exactly?

online only, no single player = guildwars

quests are done in parties, otherwise you don't meet players in quests that are not part of your team = guildwars

characters saved onto servers = guildwars

able to re-asign skills = guildwars

game level data stored on HDD, server handles network connections + updates only = guildwars

it even does the same business model of one time retail boxed product payment

It couldn't be more the same if it tried

Wow, a good many of those things are not true.

There is a single player, but you must maintain a connection to the server. Co-op is optional and you do not run across other players in the single player campaign.

Quests are not done in parties, that is the single player aspect of the game. Just like Diablo 1 and 2. You can play it cooperatively, but it's not necessary.

Characters saved onto servers is right, that is one of the many things that people are mad about. But as I mentioned, G4WL does this exact same thing by storing your player data externally.

You could reset your skills in skills and stats in Diablo 2.

Game stored locally, and the servers handling network connections and updates are not a hallmark of an MMO. They include these things, but you get this with any game on Steam, for example. Not proof of being MMO like.

The only games that don't have the one time retail boxed product payment are games with a monthly fee, this has existed since videogames, VHS or beta max tapes, the entire music industry... when you buy a car (all at once, not financed)......

This has almost nothing in common with an MMO besides basic functionality of how business is done, and now a constant online connection. Also, I feel stupid for pointing this out, but MMO means Massively Multiplayer Online. It's not massively multiplayer.... you are in your own world and no one come in uninvited, just like Diablo 2. PVP only has 8 total players. You did not make your point. =p

 

[TheDooD]

This is serious bullshit from blizzard and I find it insulting. They didn't think that everybody doesn't have Korea like internet and can't afford being to be online all the time. This isn't about DRM what a bunch of bullshit. People want Singleplayer for a lot of reasons, they want to be able to play on the go. Or they want to test out all the characters before going online. Thinking about it some people like to play online after they beat a game by themselves.

 

[Inkidu]

Wow... really? Come on, Blizzard I've always thought you kind of on the greedy side, but I've never thought you stupid. This kind of thing is never received well. I can't think of one instance where someone said, "Oh boy! I now get to stay online for everything I do ever in a game."

It was not received well in Command & Conquer 4 or Starcraft II... now who made that game? Oh, wait! You did! I didn't really need another reason not to buy another Blizzard game ever, but now I can't even play Diablo III even if I wanted to. Stellar job.

 

[MarsProbe]

this anger around this game would be like me getting angry because a car company sells a family car that i have no use for from not owning a family.

Except I'm still sure that car would still work if you tried to drive it without you having a family in it at the time. The car may have been designed with families in mind but it will still function perfectly well as a car without there being a family in it.

Does an "internet connection always required" singleplayer game still fit that analogy?

 

[Nurb]

Yeah, though this is a bit of a dick move, its not really that big of a deal Trying secure a revenue of income from customers and minimize piracy is something I can understand.

Blizzard aren't stupid, they don't do shit for no reason and despite playing dumb they know that they will sell, and sell well.

It will be pirated and cracked to allow people who download illegally to play without a net connection on day one. This does nothing to stop piracy

This isn't about "fighting piracy", it's a shameless money-grab so they get a cut of 5-10 dollar auction house sales in a game people pay full price for.

Once again, paying customers are getting the worst end of the deal, and "loyal fan" just means "sucker" to the execs as they nickle and dime more money out of someone.

"And, at the end of the day, how many people are going to want to do that?"

A lot of people you jackass! Wouldn't it be amazing if the creators of games would listen to the people talking like right here in forums? What about if they would listen so much they would completely redesign a playable race in their game just to make their consumers happy? That would not be Blizzard ... It would, on the other hand, be ANet. Funny how the founders worked at Bliz and decided to jump ship.

This is the corporate age of gaming. Ever since around 2003-04, most games are no longer created and controled by people who love gaming. People who enjoyed playing video games and made them didn't do shit like DLC to soak customers for more money between expansion packs. Day-one DLC and online leashes are things guys in suits come up with to appease stockholders

 

[T'Generalissimo]

This is so depressing. This implies that despite all of the complaining that people do about these systems, all of the promises that they won't purchase it or will pirate instead, all of the people that have switched to buying console versions (when that's possible) and all of the people decrying how PC gaming is dying, the guys in charge of making these sorts of decisions aren't even aware that this is a problem. This makes me really, genuinely worried about the future of PC gaming.

 

[Keava]

Warcraft started off as an RTS and is now an MMO

It's still an RTS as well, played by quite many people to the boot despite it's age. WoW is separate entity. If Blizzard want's to do Diablo MMO they are free to do so, but don' call D3 an MMO.

Blizzard has been an almost totally online focused company since 2004

That must be why Starcraft2 has fully functional offline play with campaign, challenges and play versus AI, right?

this anger around this game would be like me getting angry because a car company sells a family car that i have no use for from not owning a family.

No the anger is more in line of a car company sells you a city-oriented car but also slaps in mandatory sports car engine that will eat through your gas tank because that's clearly what you need to get around between your home and workplace.

Hey i'm still going to get torchlight 2 much like how the silly contest between battlefield 3 and MW3 doesn't bother me because i'm just going to get both titles anyway

Good for you. I don't like my games, which are playable single player, become unavailable for me only because my internet connection is not working for one of many reasons (cable issues, me being away from my home in a place where i'm limited to still expensive and low bandwidth mobile-internet, ISP maintenance periods to name a few). I still consider the AH a bigger issue however so D3 is already no-buy for me. Hopefully Torchlight 2 will deliver on the polished hack-and-slash fun game front.