So, Pirates are Playing Diablo 3

[Grey Day for Elcia]

Why are we in a situation where people who stole Diablo 3 are able to launch the game and just... play, while people who purchased the game have to wait for servers to be fixed to play single player?

Steal the cracked game, play it.

Buy the game, don't get to play it.

That DRM sure did work >_>

 

[Dryk]

Source?

I wouldn't be surprised though, this always happens

 

[Rawne1980]

To be fair, if anyone thought it would stop the pirates then they have to be amazingly naive.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

To be fair, if anyone thought it would stop the pirates then they have to be amazingly naive.

And yet here we are, once again seeing the honest consumer screwed.

Piracy has so much going for it--it's free, you bypass all DRM, it's free, you get all the on-disc DLC, it's free--so why is Blizzard giving their honest supporters, the people doing the right thing, more reasons to steal their product?

I'm against piracy (the artist deserves to be paid for their work and you don't get to steal something because you want it for free) but I'm finding it hard to hold it against anyone who would choose to steal D3. Yeah, they did the wrong thing, but how much is enough, ya know?

Really blows me away that D3 has sold so well. You'd think all these people complaining would see poor sales >_> Are we really just gonna roll over every time this DRM issue comes up? Yeah, I'm sure with record pre-orders and massive sales, Blizzard (or anyone else) will never use DRM again -_- Nice message you're sending them, guys; "We hate DRM! But we will buy your stuff anyway."

 

[Bostur]

Are Pirates actually playing D3? Do you have any sources for this?

The online DRM in D3 is a different case than in most games. D3 is dependant on a server infrastructure that does more than check the copy of the game. To 'crack' D3 would require developing a standalone server for it. Unless it is leaked by Blizzard such a server wouldn't be identical to the official one.

 

[Esotera]

Source on how they did it? I'm interested in what sort of system Blizzard were using.

Happened a day or two quicker than I thought it would - I imagine there's a big incentive seeing as people are still having issues playing the game.

 

[Rastien]

Do you have the source/proof of this or are you blowing hot air? either way im intrested.

edit- doesn't looke to be cracked yet. Which im glad about its a good game bloody buy it . shame about servers being shitty at the moment mind you.

"It's not yet cracked. #edit so i don't get banned# site will tell you when IT'S AVAILABLE. So stfu and w8

albert885 5 hours ago"

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

Obviously I'm not going to link anything or recommend anyone look. I'll just say that it involved the beta files.

 

[GiglameshSoulEater]

Another issue this kind of DRM means is that what happens when Blizzard shuts down or scrolls back he servers? I guess people will no longer be able to play.
This is why I preferred old games. They don't have crap like this.

 

[Coldie]

I'm interested in what sort of system Blizzard were using.

Same as the one they use for WoW.

To be honest, you wouldn't need a server to emulate what is occurring between the D3 client and the Bliz servers. All you would need is to figure out a way to locally replicate what is occurring and route all D3 client requests to the local "server emulator." Easy squeezy. I'm sure someone's already figured it out. This isn't the most fool proof DRM method in the world.

The drawback? You won't get to play with other people unless you're able to replicate B.Net but lets face it, Pirates and crackers aren't going to go that far.

The only issue with that is the "locally replicate" bit. You're going to have to replicate everything that involves: random world tiles, object/event/dungeon placement, actual event and quest scripting, monsters, movement, combat, loot, achievements. With time, it can be emulated, of course, even the beta was, but it will never be identical to the real thing.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

This is the next Assassin's Creed 2. First they'll come up with a server emulator and then they'll create a proper crack that doesn't even need an emulator.

I don't even want to play the game.

Me neither. It doesn't look like something that's been in the works for 12 years. More like 2 years. I can't believe it took them this long for a game like that. And they butchered the game. Took away half of the feature one would expect a PC exclusive to have. A PC developer that doesn't add LAN support to their MULTIPLAYER games doesn't deserve my money. Instead I'm gonna buy 4 copies of Torchlight 2 for me and my friends.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Instead I'm gonna buy 4 copies of Torchlight 2 for me and my friends.

I don't have four friends who like Diablo-style RPGs. Heck, I don't even go for them that much myself (save for Borderlands) but I'm still going to buy Torchlight 2, just to spite ActiBlizz.

 

[Admiral Stukov]

The only people who's ever bothered by DRM are legit customers, simple as that.
Piracy is a service problem, the more accessible the service, the lower the piracy rates.
True, there will always be people who want to get something for free, but they wouldn't buy the game anyway. Not lost sales.

Does the escapist support a high five smiley? Cause it really needs to.

Source:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/misc.php?action=showsmilies

 

[Baldr]

Why are we in a situation where people who stole Diablo 3 are able to launch the game and just... play, while people who purchased the game have to wait for servers to be fixed to play single player?

Steal the cracked game, play it.

Buy the game, don't get to play it.

That DRM sure did work >_>

Online only was never about the DRM or piracy. It was keeping the game less susceptible to cheating and hacks.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

Why are we in a situation where people who stole Diablo 3 are able to launch the game and just... play, while people who purchased the game have to wait for servers to be fixed to play single player?

Steal the cracked game, play it.

Buy the game, don't get to play it.

That DRM sure did work >_>

Online only was never about the DRM or piracy. It was keeping the game less susceptible to cheating and hacks.

If they are worried about cheating and hacks, make an online mods and an offline mode, where a character made in the later cannot be used in the former and vice-versa.

This has nothing to do with hacks and cheats and everything to do with money.

 

[Pandabearparade]

I doubt pirates are playing Diablo 3 free, at least not yet. Diablo 3 is designed to work a lot like an MMO, which means the data required to make it work without battle.net isn't on the disc. It isn't simply an issue of copy/pasting a crack.

 

[if_then_else]

Well, you can't just download the game via BitTorrent, crack it and play it, you need a server to connect to, because most of the information the game needs to run is server-side.

Hell, you don't even need to crack it, you just need to find a private server. Google "diablo 3 private server", the second link seems like a viable option.

The problem with private servers is that they don't work really well. I have experience playing on a WoW private server, a lot of the spells/talents don't work, forget about quests using phasing, and it crashes every couple of hours or so. I don't know if this is the case with Diablo III though.

 

[Pandabearparade]

This has nothing to do with hacks and cheats and everything to do with money.

Sorry, but you're wrong. The reason it's always online is -not- piracy, it's to add a layer of anti-hacking security, which is in turn necessary to make Blizzard money on the RMAH.

This is not a defense of that, by the way, I just want to see anger for the right reasons.

 

[distortedreality]

Why are we in a situation where people who stole Diablo 3 are able to launch the game and just... play, while people who purchased the game have to wait for servers to be fixed to play single player?

Steal the cracked game, play it.

Buy the game, don't get to play it.

That DRM sure did work >_>

Online only was never about the DRM or piracy. It was keeping the game less susceptible to cheating and hacks.

If they are worried about cheating and hacks, make an online mods and an offline mode, where a character made in the later cannot be used in the former and vice-versa.

This has nothing to do with hacks and cheats and everything to do with money.

It's both really. Publishers have always said that DRM is an attempt to block day one piracy - it's not designed to stop them for any longer than that.

As far as the separation of online and offline characters, the ability to have the same character for each and for it to be totally integrated was a big selling point of the game, and personally I welcome it.

Btw, pirates aren't playing the full game yet, although i'd assume it won't be too far off. Legal purchases of the game will be playing the game well before that happens though.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

This has nothing to do with hacks and cheats and everything to do with money.

Sorry, but you're wrong. The reason it's always online is -not- piracy, it's to add a layer of anti-hacking security, which is in turn necessary to make Blizzard money on the RMAH.

This is not a defense of that, by the way, I just want to see anger for the right reasons.

Wait, I think we sort of agree... Blizzard wants people to be unable to cheat and hack, as doing so would make their little auction house money grab useless.