Diablo III Launch May Get Messy

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Guess who won't have a log-in problem?

 

[mfeff]

My interest dropped to 0 when I found out the always online requirement.

Binding of Isaac expansion at the end of the month, time to drop another 80 hours into that one. I still have Dungeons of Dredmor to finish post-expansion. Legend of Grimrock has at least 40 hours in it. Torchlight 2 will be out soon enough.

Plenty of other stuff to do and plenty places to spend money that don't contribute to Bobby Kotick's hooker and blow fund.

QFT

To avoid another ding for low post content? (I mean really... someone has time to do that?)

Could not agree more with the current sentiment... but it is already in effect... let's just take a look at Simcity... same story... there does seem to be a growing sense of disenfranchisement with the consumer concerning lease-ware. Ahh EA daring to be different... and by that, exactly the same. Fun times.

 

[Marudas]

Side note about the article and grabbing your battletag:

Battletags are Non-exclusive, in the sense that as many people as there are players can have the same battletag. Its like Starcraft 2 ids, you get your name, and then you have a hidden Character Code (Like, Yourname.425, where Yourname is all thats visible and 425 is the hidden character code.)

So there's no rush to get your battletag, except that if you try to do it on launch day, there may be quite a bit of traffic all over blizzards various servers that might make it harder for you to get going.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Yeah, I'm not totally against the always online thing, as when you're playing a co-op game, it's good to be able to report offensive and griefing players, and should they get banned, well, online just got a tiny bit better.

However, could they not have made the first part of the game available offline? Sure it may have been pirated (and it WILL be fully pirated, and running on pirate servers, if it's not already out there!), but offering the first part means people have somewhere to learn the game, something to do if there's queues, etc.

For instance, if it's set up like D2, offer normal mode offline, and Nightmare and Hell have to played online, where a moment's lag can murder your hardcore character permanently

 

[happy_turtle]

My interest dropped to 0 when I found out the always online requirement.

Torchlight 2 will be out soon enough.

Totally agree, However I for one will be helping Blizzard's server issues by not buying their game, therefore not clogging their systems. As will the rest of my co workers, friends, family and vaguely close acquaintances. I'm predicting the Torchlight devs have blizzard beat on the release plans, by releasing 30 days after D3 they will scoop up all the dissatisfied players in one fell swoop.

 

[snowfi6916]

Ditto. I was excited about Diablo 3 until I heard about the online DRM can't play unless your online bullshit.

I'll just do LOL.

 

[kouriichi]

<---- Not getting it anywhere near launch for this reason.

While i want to play D3, the DRM and server problems have already turned me off from it. Im not going to say "its gunna ruin the game", but its an annoyance i dont feel like paying 60$ for. I'll wait a month or two, let all the dust settle and then decide if i want it or not.

 

[Loop Stricken]

And whom exactly are you affecting by that? You're making your own game easier and... that's it.

They're entire game system is built around getting people to use the RMAH for equipment, they removed all the stats and skills so there won't be any "imba builds" they can't control and the only way your character can get "better" in the game is through better equipment.
Seeing as the hardest difficulty is with monsters starting above the max. character level that seems to be the most likely way to "progress" in the end-game.

The entire game is about getting better gear. That's Diablo in a nutshell. If you don't want to buy it, stack magic find and farm for whatever counts as legendaries.

And as far as PvP goes, so what? If the person beating you bought their gear, then so be it. It hasn't been generated out of the æther by real money; it's dropped for someone actually playing the game. If the guy currently showing you what your bowels look like from the inside wasn't using that weapon, maybe it'd be the guy who originally found it. Such a massive difference.

I find that the only people who really complain about entirely optional features are the ones who will crack under the pressure of being perceived as being worse than those who use it. Big effin' deal.

===

incidentally, for all the people who complain about the 'always-on DRM'; realistically, for how long in the past God-knows how many years have you actually been offline?

I've been playing WoW since release, so that's about seven years? if my Internet goes down, if I'm cut off from the net, WoW is not the first thing that comes to mind. Sheer terror grips my heart and my balls rise back into my body cold and inert as I realise I'm utterly cut off from the outside world unable to know what's happening, unable to call any of my geographically-disparate friends, unable to access knowledge at a whim and generally being cut off from anything I haven't already stored.

If I'm playing D3 and my net goes down, I have more serious shit to worry about than my online game.
Namely, my online life.

What, you think it sounds a tad hyperbolic? Think about how ubiquitous mobile phones are. never mind smartphones - I'm talking dumb bricks good only for voice communication. A few years ago, why would I want to be able to be contacted all the bloody day?
now? SHIT I LEFT MY PHONE AT HOME NOW I FEEL NAKED AND VULNERABLE WHAT IF PEOPLE NEED ME URGENTLY WHAT IF THERE'S AN EMERGENCY OH GOD.

Same deal with net access.

 

[Loop Stricken]

Oh goody, another insane launch because they underestimate the demand. Just like TOR trying to limit how many people could play at launch and failing utterly.

or like how Darkfall 'ran out' of digital 'copies' in the months leading up until it finally stabilized.

As odd as the terminology sounds, this is in fact possible, and it's happened to Blizzard's digital store products before. Essentially, the redemption codes are not automatically generated by the store, only retrieved from a cache. Once they're gone, someone has to manually generate a shit-tonne more.
... at least, that's my understanding of it.

 

[Loop Stricken]

Diablo has always been about you and your party finding great gear, either to bargain with or use. The way D3 has been configured, you will NEVER find the top pieces of gear in the game. They will be RMAH exclusive.

Citation needed.
Especially since everything on the RMAH will have to have dropped for a player in the first place. It's not Blizzard putting the items up there for sale.

In Diablo 2, out of about 170 legendary pieces of equipment, and about 90 rune words, only a handful of them are useful in the hardest difficulty. I can name all of them off the top of my head. Everything else is so much trash.

Okay?

My friends and I spent about 300 hours in Hell difficulty farming for items. Of that list, we found 2 items and 1 rune. THAT'S IT. And now the drops are being manipulated to drive up the value of the most important items because it's an easy way to sucker people like you into paying MONEY.

Stack magic find.

And as far as internet goes, my internet dies every hour or so, and I need to reset the router. Makes playing a game like D3 (which you usually play for hours straight) REALLY REALLY HARD.

That's unfortunate for you, truly. Have you thought about switching your ISP?
That sounds like a terrible inconvenience, online gaming or not.
__________
Edit: I have no intention of using the RMAH, just so we're clear.

 

[AntonMTL]

Stop complaining about the DRM and Online only issues. If there were't so many thieving douchebags around this would not be necessary. What do you expect? This is the future of PC games. Its not Blizzards fault. They do deserve to get payed for there work and if you are so dead set against it don't by it. Its a free country.

I have many other issues with D3, such as the cartoon art style and lack of skill tree, but the mild annoyance of online only to prevent cheaters and pirates I support.

 

[Loop Stricken]

that was the first explanation, then they right out said they were only selling a set number of subscriptions per day...

I was more referring to when Blizzard added the Celestial Steed to the store, but fair enough.

Also as an aside I think Blizzard have enough beta testers for MoP; something like 1.2 million from the Annual Pass alone.
I'd be giving mucho feedback if they didn't make it a pain in the arse for European players to do so.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Guess who won't have a log-in problem?

...is that the right answer? Is it the pirates?

Or did you mean the Swedes? Damn those Swedes!! >;o

 

[samsonguy920]

I will be sitting back and enjoying my zero delays on the games that don't require me to be online, which will include Torchlight on Steam. Hell, I will set Steam to offline mode on that day, all day, and enjoy every minute of it.
I love the power of choice.

 

[The Lugz]

Blizzard is creating their own damn headache just to have complete control over customers. If they had a regular game with offline mode and reasonable drop rate that isn't manipulated to increase demand on their auction house, people could just play the damn thing without accounts or logins or all other sorts of corporate money grubbing bullshit.

I might not be giving them money, but the way they and others do business now just drives me nuts.

i tend to vote with my wallet when company's pull this bs, if consumers would wise up for a moment they'd realise we could simply buy the game a day late
( 0 sales on day 1 would certainly embarrass someone enough to be taken seriously )

unfortunately with the ultra competitive nature of players in these types of games any movement like that would be nearly impossible
we HAVE that power. but people wont use it
oh well, they sell 1 copy less. serves them right imo

I will be sitting back and enjoying my zero delays on the games that don't require me to be online, which will include Torchlight on Steam. Hell, I will set Steam to offline mode on that day, all day, and enjoy every minute of it.
I love the power of choice.

^ Been doing this myself recently, my network isn't the best even when there are no problems or delays so i prefer single-player games these days
been working on trine and serious sam this week, it's a nice break from multi-player and its loading screens and logins

 

[Loop Stricken]

oh well, they sell 1 copy less. serves them right imo

You're... 'punishing' a company because they're trying to make sure their login servers don't get overloaded on release day?
Well done.

 

[samsonguy920]

Stop complaining about the DRM and Online only issues. If there were't so many thieving douchebags around this would not be necessary. What do you expect? This is the future of PC games. Its not Blizzards fault. They do deserve to get payed for there work and if you are so dead set against it don't by it. Its a free country.

I have many other issues with D3, such as the cartoon art style and lack of skill tree, but the mild annoyance of online only to prevent cheaters and pirates I support.

Welcome to the Escapist. Let me give you a little primer on DRM. It isn't just to combat piracy as the publishers want you to believe. Many developers and publishers have so much love for their game they refuse to believe in the concept where they are selling the game to you. Instead they are giving you limited control so you only receive only what they want you to receive.
Consider this: Thanks to the always online mode, there will be no mod content for Diablo III. Blizzard, a company that has benefited from every single game they have released due to the ability of people being able to mod those games has just put a stop to that with one highly anticipated game. Why? Who the hell really knows.
Games like League of Legends and DOTA are about because they are modded forms of Warcraft III. How many people bought a copy of Warcraft III just for the sole purpose of being able to play LoL or DOTA? Quite a few. There are a number of mods floating about for both Diablos I&II, as well, which helped drive up sales for those games.
Why is DRM crap? I just gave a good reason here. But Blizzard won't be complaining about the smaller sales on Diablo III because of their bullshit Auction House which they get a cut of every dollar purchase. Of course some of that will be put to maintenance of the game servers required for the always-online content, but you can bet there will be enough left over for steak dinners and mansions for the crew in Irvine.
Now I would imagine that wouldn't bother you if your mommy and daddy pay for all your online content or you are some wall street whizkid ripping off people of their homes and stuff, but those of us who aren't so greedy will be screwed over in the game when it comes to multiplayer content.
There is a lot more to be said against this game and Blizzard's attitude, but I will just leave it at this. Consider yourself informed.

 

[Andrewtheeviscerator]

Just know, that by buying this game you're supporting Always-Online DRM without an Offline Mode, No LAN, Real Money Auction House / Pay2Win, No Mods, Dumbification by removal of Skills/Stats and you're directly feeding your money to this guy if you do that...

If other games "learn" from Diablo III and move even more towards that way, if you see increasing Always-On DRM or Auction House Ripoffs know that YOU, YES YOU are responsible.

Well since I don't have a problem with DRM, the "always-online" part is because of the real money auction house which they have a pretty good reason for, LAN I don't care about, I think the real money auction house is interesting, there is no pay2win in this, don't care about mods, and the "Dumbification" is completely subjective, I find what they've done with the skills/stats more interesting and refreshing (and I played alot of Diablo 2 so I know what the old system is like), and since I like to support the developers and publishers I see no harm at all in me buying this game, and I for one cannot wait for it to get released.

 

[Voltano]

Which... Has nothing at all to do with my post or my point. I'm not talking about some system that won't get rid of the 3rd party sites, I'm talking about the decision to enforce an Online-only policy on a game that has never needed it.

Not to mention, of course, a policy that's going to be cracked within days of the games release to allow for offline single-player.

Online games like these are pretty hard to crack when compared to a single-player game since the authentication happens on the server, not through encryption process right on the user's machine. Plus, if Blizzard is smart (which they are), they would have every player's character account saved on the server like a typical MMORPG. So the chance of a potentially malicious user hacking/cheating in the game might be minimal at best.

But malicious users will probably go after the servers themselves instead of cracking the game. Remember last year how Sony's servers went down due to a hacker getting in and getting a whole bunch of credit card info? That scenario showed that most game companies out there don't have good security when it comes to protecting user accounts from malicious users like Credit card companies or banks do with their customers. Of course this is comparing Sony with Blizzard, with the latter having some good experience with protecting their customers (albeit to the best of their ability) in online games. But if they're not careful, some lucky hacker could potentially screw that entire auction house service if they could repeat what happened to Sony last year.

 

[ShotgunZombie]

Hmm, well that's a certainly a doozy Blizzard. Now I think I know what can be done. What if, and bear with me now, with if you gave up this insane idea of Always-On DRM huh? Anyone? No? Yeah I guess it was a stupid suggestion. Forget I said anything.