Server Issues Mar Diablo III's Launch

[Simonoly]

I've had zero issues logging in. It's been pretty smooth for me.

First impressions of the game are not great and it's just annoying that I can't play on a higher difficulty than normal until I've completed the game once. That combined with the always-on DRM is making the game feel so restrictive, like I have zero choice over how I want to play this game. It's weird.

 

[The Human Torch]

I will just leave this here. Since this is pretty much all that needs being said.

 

[Abedeus]

'cept it didn't. You could play SC2 in offline mode.

You could? I thought Battlenet 2.0 made that impossible. Oh well.
As I said, I haven't played any of the Blizzard games after Frozen Throne, so my understanding is only second-hand.

You could most definitely play it in offline mode and, contrary to what PercyBoleyn said, you could do so on your account and not need a guest account. I have done so when my internet was down.

Yep. You didn't get achievements or anything of the like, but who cares. At least the functionality was there.

In Diablo 3, drops are server-side. That's to prevent people from getting data about items, coming up with duping methods, then ruining the market. Like in Diablo 2.

 

[The Forlorn]

Mandatory internet access, for single player? That is immeasurably idiotic, if not least because some people will now not purchase the game.

We already have massive bandwidth issues, so even if you have the capability to be constantly jacked in, you might well be dropping packets faster than you can pick them up, depending on location and time of day.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

And this is why Torchlight 2.

Yes, that's the whole sentence.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Let's see here... people complaining about always on internet... regrettable but in the long run potentially helping to prevent piracy (this traffic will pass) and looking like the new blizzard model.

People complaining about Blizzard being unprepared... maybe but I still find it hard to think that they could accurately guess traffic rates on day one. I'll let there underestimating go.

Someone said that blizzard is nickle and dimeing customers... HAHAHA... no. With all their employees working over time for these last few months to finish Diablo 3 I doubt if there doing anything short of putting all there effort into makeing this thing work.

Somebody saying the pirated version will be just as good. Maybe. Blizzard doesn't really give a shit if you're running ona private server though since they aren't paying for it and you don't have access to their services and you aren't contribution to their gameplay environment. It's a lost sale but at least its not leeching off the company. That you can't earn money with a pirated version since there will be no real money marketplace (outside of the existing black market).

Now that I'm done venting on that... That's really unfortunate. I wish Blizzard had tried to work its server architecture to prevent this but I understand if there is an issue on day 1. I'll be watching and expecting a complete fix by day 7 though.

 

[J9ACK9]

Adam Jensen stole my sentence.

Don't get me wrong: I enjoyed Diablo. I bought it back in '97, I bought Diablo 2 on release day along with everybody else, but I wasn't about to wait twelve goddamn years for the third one.

Torchlight was a clone? Yep. A perfect clone of a fantastic game becomes a fantastic clone.

Twenty bucks apiece? I'm sold.

 

[Aeshi]

For those mentioning blizzard taking down the D3 servers eventually. They still have the Diablo 2 and StarCraft servers up and those games are ancient. I wouldn't expect them to pull the plug on these servers for another 10-20 years.

And what about in, say, 50-60 years time?

Sorry, but who the fuck is going to be playing this game in 50-60 years? Given how much computers have changed there's no guarantee the computers of then would even use the same type of electronics (we might have advanced to Quantum Computers or something), let alone that they would be capable of installing it (I mean good luck playing a game on a Floppy Disk on a modern computer)

 

[GiantRaven]

Sorry, but who the fuck is going to be playing this game in 50-60 years? Given how much computers have changed there's no guarantee the computers of then would even use the same type of electronics (we might have advanced to Quantum Computers or something), let alone that they would be capable of installing it (I mean good luck playing a game on a Floppy Disk on a modern computer)

I would assume the same kind of person who would watch films made in the 50s in 2012. But I guess that sounds equally ridiculous to you right? Why should we bother to make our media and entertainment last?

Imagine if a game like Super Mario Brothers had this shit in it. People still play that game today and I bet still will be in decades to come because it's a great game.

 

[jetriot]

While I agree with you in principal, the idea that we won't be able to play Diablo3 if we REALLY want to in 50-60 years is just silly. Someone will have a workaround. I don't have the DRM manuals from my old games but I can still play those.

Oh and it is still very possible to play old floppy games, there are communities and services built around playing old games, like GOG.com.

Again, I agree with you on the issue of making us play on their servers, however the argument of us not being able to play in 50-60 years is a dumb one.

 

[The.Bard]

I'm totally going off on a slight tangent here, as I don't own Diablo 3 and have no plans on getting it for exactly this reason; I don't like playing multiplayer games, and not being able to play by myself in an offline server was just too stupid for even me to accept. (I accept much in the name of games I want!)

When ME3 came out, a lot of people were complaining that EA's marketing was disgusting, that they had bought reviews, and that they oversaturated the market with advertising.

I'd just like to say Blizzard can officially put on their floaties and jump in the boat with them. I humbly submit the evidence:

[http://i.imgur.com/MD8gB.jpg]

 

[chaosbedlam]

nothing i say hasn't already been said but here is my 2 cents any way. If we all had thought about it hard enough we could have foreseen this happening. the shear size of the diablo franchise fan base means that the likely hood of problems on launch day, for a game required to be on line, is pretty much a certainty. I'm now kinda glad that i wont be able to afford it for a couple of weeks, hopefully some of the issues have been fixed by then.

 

[Eggbert]

No way. The always-online DRM bullshit is getting in people's way? Well, I never would have expected that precise thing to have happened. I mean, DRM never gets in the way of legitimate customers; it's there to keep the pirates from playing the game. It's not like there've been any other companies who've taken flak for getting in the way of legitimate customers before. That'd be ridiculous.

inb4 "It's not DRM, it's there to prevent cheats". Right, because there's no way to just let people run separate singleplayer in an offline mode. That borders the brink of sheer madness.

 

[Zer_]

'cept it didn't. You could play SC2 in offline mode.

You could? I thought Battlenet 2.0 made that impossible. Oh well.
As I said, I haven't played any of the Blizzard games after Frozen Throne, so my understanding is only second-hand.

You could most definitely play it in offline mode and, contrary to what PercyBoleyn said, you could do so on your account and not need a guest account. I have done so when my internet was down.

Yep. You didn't get achievements or anything of the like, but who cares. At least the functionality was there.

In Diablo 3, drops are server-side. That's to prevent people from getting data about items, coming up with duping methods, then ruining the market. Like in Diablo 2.

You can easily compartmentalize, as in retain server side drops while providing drops client side in a separate file for single player.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Entirely non-unexpected. I'm just downloading the client now, and I'll wait a few days for the excitment to die down before I start off with it.

Sort of considering doing a Let's Play. I generally suck at Diablo, so it'd be amusing if nothing else.

 

[Wuvlycuddles]

Diablo died when Blizzard North was closed and dispersed.

Fortunately we have Runic, who are pretty much the same thing and they are bringing us Torchlight 2 in the not too distant future.

 

[Inkidu]

No way. The always-online DRM bullshit is getting in people's way? Well, I never would have expected that precise thing to have happened. I mean, DRM never gets in the way of legitimate customers; it's there to keep the pirates from playing the game. It's not like there've been any other companies who've taken flak for getting in the way of legitimate customers before. That'd be ridiculous.

inb4 "It's not DRM, it's there to prevent cheats". Right, because there's no way to just let people run separate singleplayer in an offline mode. That borders the brink of sheer madness.

Can I hug you? That was awesome!

 

[TheRealCJ]

i remain unsurprised

since you know, this happens every time any thing 'online' launches

Breaking News: Popular game is popular.

And wow, we're about 9 posts in and already the stuck-up anti-DRM cretins have crawled out of the woodwork to whine.

disappointing isn't it, you'd think they'd have something better to do.

Yeah, they should stop complaining and just enjoy playing the new game they just bough- ooooh...