Diablo's Still Always Online Despite Auction House Removal

[Aeshi]

I'm afraid you'll have to explain to me how adding an offline mode would affect the integrity of the online mode.

Adding offline mode would involve adding the code that is kept on the servers (like Loot Data) to the clients the users run. This would mean that said "offline client" would contain all of the games code (as opposed to now, when a few key bits are missing), which would be a lot easier to develop hacks for.

I admit I don't know the precise methods of getting said hacks onto the online servers, but a quick look at Diablo II (minus the nostalgia filters) shows it's clearly possible, since even on Battlenet/Ladder games/servers you're never more than a few minutes searching from somebody who has a charm that gives them every Paladin aura at once, maxes out all their stats, allows them to use other classes abilities and/or something else along those lines.

And if you're lucky they might even be nice enough to not either 1-shot you and camp by your corpse so you can't get your gear back or join your game and THEN 1-shot you and camp by your corpse so you can't get your gear back.

 

[Nilanius]

LOL!!

So all this time "It needs to be always online to take advantage of the AH and RMAH". Now it's "It needs to always be online for reasons". Let's face it folks, Activision Blizzard has no respect for their player base. And they never will. The AH removal was a panic button reaction because all their players are dwindling away, while still maintaining a deep level of disrespect towards their players intelligence and morales.

I ask you, is this a company you really feel deserves money or attention anymore? I honestly think Activision Blizzard should take the worse company in american award over EA. At least EA is cleaning their act up!

 

[Makabriel]

Bravo, Blizzard. Stick to your guns. Never had a problem playing the game as it is, so this is fine by me. Still play the game now and then when I need some quick action. Love being able to seamlessly jump into a public game that's ongoing and grab some quick cash and loot.

 

[nightmare_gorilla]

I'm afraid you'll have to explain to me how adding an offline mode would affect the integrity of the online mode.

Adding offline mode would involve adding the code that is kept on the servers (like Loot Data) to the clients the users run. This would mean that said "offline client" would contain all of the games code (as opposed to now, when a few key bits are missing), which would be a lot easier to develop hacks for.

I admit I don't know the precise methods of getting said hacks onto the online servers, but a quick look at Diablo II (minus the nostalgia filters) shows it's clearly possible, since even on Battlenet/Ladder games/servers you're never more than a few minutes searching from somebody who has a charm that gives them every Paladin aura at once, maxes out all their stats, allows them to use other classes abilities and/or something else along those lines.

And if you're lucky they might even be nice enough to not either 1-shot you and camp by your corpse so you can't get your gear back or join your game and THEN 1-shot you and camp by your corpse so you can't get your gear back.

so what you're saying is blizzard decided to take something that is 100% their problem and make it 100% MY problem. I played d2 a lot, used trainers on occasion but mostly in single player to see if classes would be fun at high levels. hackers and game breakers may be a problem in multiplayer but it's in no way MY PROBLEM i'm not a hacker or a cheater or anything like that. yet blizzard sees fit to punish me for hackers and cheaters and pirates. no, just no. blizzard are dicks and they still haven't stopped hackers because if you don't go their way with the "authenticator" BS your account is basically unprotected. I had my account hacked and my stuff stolen and when I contacted blizzard about it they acted like it was MY FAULT for not having their 4$ extra POS authenticator tied to my account. blizzard in every way possible has taken problems that are for them to solve and pushed them off on the consumer with d3. they are Dbags and even if their doing something that benefits you it's entirely by accident.

 

[Aeshi]

so what you're saying is blizzard decided to take something that is 100% their problem and make it 100% MY problem. I played d2 a lot, used trainers on occasion but mostly in single player to see if classes would be fun at high levels. hackers and game breakers may be a problem in multiplayer but it's in no way MY PROBLEM i'm not a hacker or a cheater or anything like that. yet blizzard sees fit to punish me for hackers and cheaters and pirates.

blizzard in every way possible has taken problems that are for them to solve and pushed them off on the consumer with d3.

Firstly, I like how you accuse Blizzard of "screwing you over by taking their problem and making it the consumers problem" when your solution (remove the always-on) is basically "make it the problem of the consumers who AREN'T me, I'm ok with them being screwed over"

It wasn't a choice between:
"screw/mildly inconvenience the singleplayers by requiring a constant connection OR don't screw/mildly inconvenience the singleplayers"
It was a choice between:
"screw/mildly inconvenience the singleplayers by requiring a constant connection OR screw over the multiplayers by allowing their gameplay experience to be reduced to hack-dominated garbage"

And personally? I think that given a choice between happy singleplayers and happy multiplayers I'd pick the latter, because the latter can do far more damage if you irk them. Although if you have some sort of magic solution that renders Always-Online unnecessary without screwing over people who play Multiplayer in the process, I'm sure we'd all love to hear it.

Secondly, expecting you to read the system requirements isn't punishing you, it's just expecting you to have basic competence. If you're not happy with being always online, then why did you buy a game that explicitly says it requires that to play? It's like buying a retail game when you have no DVD drive and then saying the devs are "punishing" you by expecting everyone to have a DVD drive.

This is less them "taking their problem and making it the consumers" as much as it is "taking their problem and solving it in a way (some of) the consumers doesn't like"

All the mice want the Cat to wear a bell so he'll be easier to hear, but none of them want to be the one who risks death by actually putting the bell on him.

they still haven't stopped hackers because if you don't go their way with the "authenticator" BS your account is basically unprotected. I had my account hacked and my stuff stolen and when I contacted blizzard about it they acted like it was MY FAULT for not having their 4$ extra POS authenticator tied to my account.

I don't have an authenticator and I haven't been hacked once in the decade or so I've had a Blizzard/Battlenet account, but then I don't bother paying attention to the "Free XP & Gold only at Virus.com" emails from "Blizz@dTechSupp0rt"

 

[Odbarc]

Now when I find crap, I can't get rid of it. Even more worthless legendaries. :~(

The problem might really rack up when your playing Hardcore. Sitting back and grinding for items versus getting to 60 ASAP to recontinue your Paragoning.

 

[Aeshi]

I played D2 and LoD for 3 1/2 years, the only hack I ever saw was MapHack to make Baal runs faster. I never saw the mythical 999999999 to every stat items or hacked skills. And I leveled 3 characters to 90 or higher (StrafeZon, HurriDruid, FrenzyBarb).

You either have better luck or better servers for your country than I do then, I admit the +9999 to every stat & skill may have been a tad hyperbole, but I doubt I have even half the time on D2 you claim to and I have seen plenty of hacks like at least one Paladin with multiple (if not all of the) different auras on at once, Numerous magic items on par with uniques thanks to having about 4 different Prefixes/Suffixes/Both (Grinding Grandmaster Vulpine Colossus Sword of Evisceration (of) Transcendence (of the) Lamprey anyone?) and the aforementioned MapHack, might be more that I just forgot about, too.

 

[Gizen]

This is infuriating because it's a bold faced lie. Or what they said in the past was. It doesn't really matter which, I take offense to someone lying to me point-blank. Because when Diablo 3 launched, they explicitly said that the auction house WAS the reason why online was mandatory, and up until right now pretty much, it's the only reason they have ever given why online was a requirement.

I mean, it's obvious now, and always was, that the real reason for the online requirement was just to have some DRM, but the fact that they don't come out and admit that and feed me a line of bullshit instead is what pisses me off.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

And just like that any chance of me getting D3 was brutally murdered and dumped in a back alley.

What was the point of removing the RMAH if they are still keeping the Always Online bullshit?

 

[piinyouri]

And just like that any chance of me getting D3 was brutally murdered and dumped in a back alley.

What was the point of removing the RMAH if they are still keeping the Always Online bullshit?

Needing to be online doesn't effect anything related to the drop rate.

 

[Otaku World Order]

So now the console version of Diablo III is going to remain the better version. I always thought Blizzard appreciated it's PC fanbase.

I guess not.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

And just like that any chance of me getting D3 was brutally murdered and dumped in a back alley.

What was the point of removing the RMAH if they are still keeping the Always Online bullshit?

Needing to be online doesn't effect anything related to the drop rate.

I'm sorry but what does the drop rate have to do with my post?

 

[piinyouri]

And just like that any chance of me getting D3 was brutally murdered and dumped in a back alley.

What was the point of removing the RMAH if they are still keeping the Always Online bullshit?

Needing to be online doesn't effect anything related to the drop rate.

I'm sorry but what does the drop rate have to do with my post?

The auction house affected drop rates. In order to keep rare things rare, they couldn't have a typical offline single player type of drop rate otherwise the AH would be flooded with items in no time, thus it's inclusion was responsible for the lower drop rates of equipment.

Removing the auction house allows them to possibly alter the rates, bringing them up more. This benefit can be had without the game needing to be offline. (I personally would like for it to be made offline as well)

 

[Balimaar]

Cheat prevention huh Blizzard? Because us Starcraft 2 players know how well you guys do that /sarcasm

I reported a guy for map hacking (proof - http://drop.sc/347244) and he has been logging in 2-3 times a week. Despite my report and the report of those who saw the replay - he is still active.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

All the mice want the Cat to wear a bell so he'll be easier to hear, but none of them want to be the one who risks death by actually putting the bell on him.

Wuuuuuut?

And personally? I think that given a choice between happy singleplayers and happy multiplayers I'd pick the latter, because the latter can do far more damage if you irk them. Although if you have some sort of magic solution that renders Always-Online unnecessary without screwing over people who play Multiplayer in the process, I'm sure we'd all love to hear it.

And how would the multiplayer crowd "Do far more damage" than the single player crowd? I'm not sure I follow that logic.

 

[Lunar Templar]

And just like that, they've pretty much ensure a fuck ton of people never play it, and those that did and left, never return.

Cause this is a load of total bull shit. It's possible to do all the BS they're talking about with out 'always on line', not only possible, but very likely easier on the system then the always online nonsense they have now.

 

[00slash00]

And just like that any chance of me getting D3 was brutally murdered and dumped in a back alley.

What was the point of removing the RMAH if they are still keeping the Always Online bullshit?

Needing to be online doesn't effect anything related to the drop rate.

I'm sorry but what does the drop rate have to do with my post?

The auction house was needed because item drops in Diablo 3 were garbage so to have decent gear you needed to keep running to the auction house. The loot overhaul and elimination of the auction house wasn't so they could get rid of the always on requirement, it was a response to the complaints about how awful the loot drops are. The always online requirement isn't going anywhere because it's DRM. They can make any justification they want for it but at the end of the day, it's DRM. It doesn't bother me and I look forward to playing again once the loot system is fixed, next year, but let's not kid ourselves. The always one requirement is primarily for the benefit of Blizzard, not gamers

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Yeah, well. That's like one problem down, half a dozen more to go.

The only somewhat valid excuse would be the cheat prevention bit, but there are plenty of less offensive ways to skin that cat.

If you love Diablo, as I do, I find it extremely hard not to be offended with Diablo III. As a PC user and lover of the franchise, you just get a shit deal, no two ways about it.

If you got a console, and you don't know anything much about the franchise, haven't played Diablo or Diablo II, go get it, you might like it, even love it. Controls are good. Couch coop works fine. LAN works fine. Everything the PC folks didn't get, you got. All the nonsense that was forced upon the PC crowd, you don't have to deal with.

If you like Gauntlet, get Diablo III. It's the best Gauntlet ever.