Blizzard Surprised by Reaction to Online-Only Diablo 3

[jamesworkshop]

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.

Great logic you have working there. There is no difference between Diablo 3 (action / hack &
slash role-playing game) and Guild Wars 2 (A massively multiplayer online role-playing game.) I'll be damned, my Magic: DOTP 2012 supports up to 4 players so there must not be a difference between them either.

I don't think anyone needs to take you up on the point because there is nothing to your argument that there is "no difference."

Just because Blizzard can shoehorn in a Real Money auction house and Persistent online does not make them the same or even similar.

------------------------------------
Back on topic:

People are rightfully pissed because the previous iterations of the series have had offline and LAN play.

As for others mentioning that offline toons would ruin the economy via importing offline characters go back and play Diablo 2, they have/had an open and closed battle.net. Open was rampant with cheaters while closed only allows players to play with a character created on the
multiplayer aspect only.

I've always played Diablo and Diablo 2 offline because I don't like playing with others unless I personally know them. So this game is going to be a definite no buy for me.

As much as people don't want to blame Activision it is hard to because that is about when Blizzard started making all of their really dumb ass decisions. Blizzard can say all they want that they have complete control over themselves but I believe it is just a PR stunt to take all the heat vision gets off of them.

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


if people don't want to play it then that is fine but i'm not accepting that this is any different from another other game like say guildwars 2 which has gotten tons of good press without being any different in the terms of how people interact with the product

 

[EonEire]

The peoblem is that there are times for whatever reason your connection is out of your controll, and then you are denied acess to a product you paid for that has no legitimate reason to require an internet connection in relation to have a single player campaign option. And SC2 has so many offline hacks thinking it stops piracy is also not a vaild reason.

 

[IDTheftVictim]

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.

wouldn't that lower the prices of the items? Supply/Demand whatever


It is odd he didn't se criticism coming, but I'll withold judgement for a little longer

 

[Spygon]

Blizzard are surprised by the negative reaction where have they been over the last five years there has been an on going argument against it for years. Single player games should not have a online only mode ever and i will refuse to buy diablo 3 if you have to be always online to play it.

The always online mode has never made any sense on single player games ever who cares what you get from it your not letting people play games they have paid for because there are not connected to the net that is terrible. The can not get a good internet connection everywhere on the planet so you are stopping a percentage of people playing your games.

Wake up blizzard as this is a huge question in today's age.Why do i have a feeling activison leant on blizzard about this.

 

[Cptn_M]

I already see the Headline "DB3 most pirated game of the year; CEO is shocked: "nobody saw that one coming" "
Srsly: Way to encourage piracy.

 

[NightHawk21]

All he's asking for is for people to pirate Diablo 3 so they can play by themselves on the go.

 

[BoogieManFL]

I am surprised that their surprise at that is genuine.

I saw it coming the instant I read about it.

 

[jamesworkshop]

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


if people don't want to play it then that is fine but i'm not accepting that this is any different from another other game like say guildwars 2 which has gotten tons of good press without being any different in the terms of how people interact with the product

I'm going to spell this out for you nice and slow, since you seem incapable of understanding it.
Diablo 3 is far far from being anything close to Guild Wars 2, or even 1, no matter how much you scrape at the straws. Having played Guild Wars since its release, every one of your examples are completely baseless.
Able to re-assign skills? Sorry to say, but most every game lets you do this. Game level data on hardrive while servers handles networking and updates? Hey guess what buddy, so does every single console game sans Wii. Now, I could continue to break down the rest of your invalid bullshit, but I'd be better off wasting my breath speaking to a brick wall instead.

every one of your examples are completely baseless.

oh really

so it does have an offline single player mode

players do randomly walk into the middle of your party in a quest zone

characters are not saved onto servers

you simply have nothing to say against the possition

bringing up the wii is pointless

guildwars is a game
diablo 3 is a game

games on the wii are also games

are guildwars and diablo 3 now not games because they share something with games on the wii, being games


after wow and starcraft 2 if people didn't see this comming they probably need help dressing themselves in the morning

 

[Xanadu84]

How many people are going to want to do that? COUNTLESS! I'm not necessarily going to trash on Blizzards decision to let you pay for power in an AH (Which is the de facto state of, for example, WoW, so they might as well get a cut of the action), but Blizzard really should do some research before they every try a F2P game. A game is more enjoyable if you know that there isn't an option to let your success be based on how loose you are with your money. If people want to min max with there MasterCard, you might as well get a percentage, but it seems like the real, proper game would be in offline mode.

Who wants an offline mode? I gotta say, that answer really, REALLY seems obvious. But you know what? Ill cut the guy a break. He was mistaken. And now the customer base has spoken, probably in completely unnecessary harshness that garners me some sympathy for the guy. Now, include an offline mode into the game, and I will point to you as a shining example of how a developer should make games. Otherwise, you risk mediocrity for a franchise that has always been stellar.

 

[Vaccine]

wouldn't that lower the prices of the items? Supply/Demand whatever

Yeah, and that's why I believe them when they say it's not about DRM, but more about them saturating their market with duped items, because Blizzard will be taking a cut when these transactions happen with the real money auction house(I believe it was something like 3 or 4% from the stuff I read).

It's not about DRM, it's about trying to turn D3 into a long term cash cow.

 

[bakan]

double post...

 

[Jay Satish]

I can understand why there's so much negative response, and I don't see why he's so 'surprised' by the reaction. Either way, it's not going to affect me and honestly, I quite like the fact that it's online-only.

 

[bakan]

Just like they were surprised about the whole real name on forums crap. Blizzard makes amazing games but they really have no clue what their customers actually want until the excrement hits the twirling blades.

Blizzard North made nice games, Blizzard Irvine not so much...automatically assigned stats, no movable camera, health orbs, dumbed down skill system, ah, somewhat the art style, no offline mode, no mods, no more open/closed battle.net, etc - D3 seems to become quite bad game compared to D1 and D2.

edit:

I can understand why there's so much negative response, and I don't see why he's so 'surprised' by the reaction. Either way, it's not going to affect me and honestly, I quite like the fact that it's online-only.

How can you be comfortable with losing rights and content because of always-online?

(well, should I be surprised that it is a new account from today?)

 

[poppabaggins]

This is one of the more arrogant things I've heard from a dev recently.

 

[Enrathi]

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


if people don't want to play it then that is fine but i'm not accepting that this is any different from another other game like say guildwars 2 which has gotten tons of good press without being any different in the terms of how people interact with the product

Except Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 were always advertised and promoted as F2P MMOs. I'll be picking up GW2 when it launches along with SW:TOR for my MMO fixes. And I fully understand that in order to play my MMOs I need to be connected to the internet.

Diablo 3 was never said to be an MMO, even now it's still not being classified as an MMO. The first two were single player hack n slash action games with multiplayer features. The multiplayer is a nice bonus and I would play it with my friends, but the single player was the big draw for me.

Since this is equivalent to asking me to always be connected to the internet to play solitaire, I find it unacceptable. As much as I was looking forward to this game, I'm going to have to pass on it and not play.

If they wanted it to be a F2P MMO, they should have just said so from the beginning and I'd be ok with it; but I was expecting a single player game with some multiplayer features to pass time with my friends when our schedules allowed. Diablo 1 and 2 were about the single player experience and since they didn't say otherwise, it's what was expected of D3.

 

[Keewa]

Everyone knows the best way to fight pirates is to punish your customers.
I give it less than a week before a singleplayer mode is cracked.

 

[Tsaba]

Robert Bridenbecker

Didn't we go over this when SC2 came out Rob? Do you really think that we forgot that you forgot that little tidbit so you could try it again this year? (ie. oh they forgot this shit, lets try it again and see how the community takes it)

 

[UbarElite]

Hmmm...Interesting. From the MTV Games page.

"In the end, there's little option but to accept that this is where the most successful gaming company on the planet has decided to go. You could, I suppose, not play "Diablo 3." But really, what are the odds of that happening?"

Show of hands?

*Raises hand.*

 

[jamesworkshop]

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


if people don't want to play it then that is fine but i'm not accepting that this is any different from another other game like say guildwars 2 which has gotten tons of good press without being any different in the terms of how people interact with the product

Except Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 were always advertised and promoted as F2P MMOs. I'll be picking up GW2 when it launches along with SW:TOR for my MMO fixes. And I fully understand that in order to play my MMOs I need to be connected to the internet.

Diablo 3 was never said to be an MMO, even now it's still not being classified as an MMO. The first two were single player hack n slash action games with multiplayer features. The multiplayer is a nice bonus and I would play it with my friends, but the single player was the big draw for me.

Since this is equivalent to asking me to always be connected to the internet to play solitaire, I find it unacceptable. As much as I was looking forward to this game, I'm going to have to pass on it and not play.

If they wanted it to be a F2P MMO, they should have just said so from the beginning and I'd be ok with it; but I was expecting a single player game with some multiplayer features to pass time with my friends when our schedules allowed. Diablo 1 and 2 were about the single player experience and since they didn't say otherwise, it's what was expected of D3.

what wrong with reading between the lines, effectivly all they have done is made the closed battle.net of diablo 2 as the sole focus of diablo 3.

diablo 2 is 11 years old, making diablo 3 like an online mmo is just like when they turned the lore of warcraft 3 into the MMO world of warcraft instead of doing another RTS.
I mean the first thing people screamed when they showd the first screen shots was, lol
world of warcraft + rainbows