Blizzard Surprised by Reaction to Online-Only Diablo 3

[Levethian]

I'm curious - how many people aren't connected to the internet 24/7?
I never turn off my modem. When my computer is on, I'm online. Isn't that normal?
You can play solo online, with friends at home online, and auction houses will exist anyway.
So what in sainted trousers is the problem?

Is this some unconscious backlash from years of WoW's domination, or the mere fact that Blizzard are so stonkingly wealthy? Because the base reasons are total ballsacks (imo), except for a minority who genuinely can't go on the internet much. There must be something else.

It's not like they're the only show in town.

True, although there aren't many developers like Blizzard around. They make quite good games, so I've heard.

 

[Rouzeki]

You make a good point Starcraft Bnet 2 literally made me not wana play sc2 anymore. I have gone back to wc3 literally just for the social so just based on that point im not gonna argue with you and I see you as a brother.
But yeh Diablo 3 is a different beast they are not making a Diablo 3 thats going to be worse in any way shape or form on the social aspect then diablo2. In alot of ways ( for the hardcore gamers which im not) it makes it better you have to understand that hardcore gamers to be actually literally rewarded in the real world in terms of money is an amazing thing THAT NO ONE HAS DONE.
Ill be flat honest i dont agree with the none offline mode but that wont make me not buy the game ( simply cause im always online to begin with). I understand your point of view now and I see that you are more understanding of blizzard games a whole then the common escapist poster on this forum and I agree with you on alot of points. It just anoys me that ingrates will dismiss a game that is way beyond any other game in that current genre ( if u say torchlight 2 wil be better gameplay thats simply lawl on so many levels).
Torchlight 2 will not be better then diablo 3. If it is I will get it happily say i was wrong and go about my way but for me its inconcievable that it will be.
I am not saying your one of the I am gonna get torchlight 2 followers I am just reiterating some of the statements of this thread.
To be honest msot of the people that say I am not going to get it will. You can say they wont but if a game is SO GOOD that it will surpass its anoyances ( online always etc) then its not blizzard that will make them get the game but their friends and community.
Anyways I am not attacking you I understand your point I may not even agree totally with Blizzards approach to this But there is no way in hell I am not buying it - its FUCKING DIABLO 3 anyone who likes action rpg will get it if they have anything going on between their ears.

(warning for stream of consciousness towards the end of the post.)

Ill admit this. if the auction system works as your telling me it does, then I suppose it IS cool. its just I spend so much time watching SCII pros that it comes as little surprise to me that the hardcore could turn a profit from playing a game. hope it doesn't become work for them though.

I could care less about torchlight 2. I want to see games and game developers reach their full potential and make awesome stuff, and that also means more money for them to make even better stuff. this mess with D3 just kind of muddles the mixture. As I've said before, everyone knows a move like this is unwelcome, so why would you do such a thing? the way times are I wouldn't be trying to disable people from enjoying your work. and a online requirement where one wasn't anymore is one of top in its class of shunning moves. feigning ignorance of its no better. it makes the man look... I don't have a good word for "stupid" on this one.

As much as it pains me- and I've done it once before- I'll stick to my guns and not pick this up unless something changes. This franchise was a big part of my past, but I have to ride this tide out if I expect things to improve. I was Disappointed all year- at least this time ill have a heads up for the next. My friends already have called off picking it up as well. This kind of thing just pains me more then most because... well...

When your childhood comes into conflict with something, it paints a dim portrait. I guess ever since WoW: WOTLK (post ulduar, for the most part), its felt more and more like someone you know that you spent great fun with grew senile. then coughed up, died, and came back. SCII's boycott able issues alone were like a dead corpse somehow gasping for air to me. Missteps when the things removed were the prior games lifeblood, times changing or not. why skimp when you created the RTS equivalent of one of the best candies ever? This just salts the wound. it'll burn me every time I hit a box retailer to see that game sitting there because the franchise represents the continuation of old memories with friends and my father, but its been marred by something I find reprehensible. I apologize if that comparison earlier does strike any nerves.

Yeah, I know, perhaps TMI, perhaps im getting to worked up. but why SHOULDN'T I be? look where this company was and where it has gone. look where MOST have. Blizzard may still rake in mountains of cash, but aside from the core experience the quality is questionable. more so now then ever. Time erodes everything, I just wish THIS didn't have to be eroded as well. I knew something was fishy when SCII's Bnet issue came up.

EDIT: noting the post above me, i figured i should throw this in as well. http://broadbandmap.gov/technology . this link is of a map maintained by the national broadband plan at http://www.broadband.gov/ . the idea is to give as many spots in the US as possible some form of a broadband connection. dunno how to actively link them, but theres the urls.

 

[Herbsk]

What a complete load of bullshit. The industry has not been going this way thanks to consumers' requests - its that stupid corporations trying to force new, ridiculous requirements like this down our throats.

He also claimed that the always-on requirement has absolutely nothing to do with DRM. "I don't think [DRM] ever came up when we talked about how we want connections to operate," he said. So why not just make an offline mode for people who want to play that way? "You're introducing a separate user flow, a separate path that players are going to go down," he explained. "And, at the end of the day, how many people are going to want to do that?"

Me - I want to play that way! If there is an always online requirement - they can kiss my purchase goodbye! I'm not going to buy a game I can't play when its away from an internet connection - Kiss my Keester Blizzard!

 

[EvilScoop]

You make a good point Starcraft Bnet 2 literally made me not wana play sc2 anymore. I have gone back to wc3 literally just for the social so just based on that point im not gonna argue with you and I see you as a brother.
But yeh Diablo 3 is a different beast they are not making a Diablo 3 thats going to be worse in any way shape or form on the social aspect then diablo2. In alot of ways ( for the hardcore gamers which im not) it makes it better you have to understand that hardcore gamers to be actually literally rewarded in the real world in terms of money is an amazing thing THAT NO ONE HAS DONE.
Ill be flat honest i dont agree with the none offline mode but that wont make me not buy the game ( simply cause im always online to begin with). I understand your point of view now and I see that you are more understanding of blizzard games a whole then the common escapist poster on this forum and I agree with you on alot of points. It just anoys me that ingrates will dismiss a game that is way beyond any other game in that current genre ( if u say torchlight 2 wil be better gameplay thats simply lawl on so many levels).
Torchlight 2 will not be better then diablo 3. If it is I will get it happily say i was wrong and go about my way but for me its inconcievable that it will be.
I am not saying your one of the I am gonna get torchlight 2 followers I am just reiterating some of the statements of this thread.
To be honest msot of the people that say I am not going to get it will. You can say they wont but if a game is SO GOOD that it will surpass its anoyances ( online always etc) then its not blizzard that will make them get the game but their friends and community.
Anyways I am not attacking you I understand your point I may not even agree totally with Blizzards approach to this But there is no way in hell I am not buying it - its FUCKING DIABLO 3 anyone who likes action rpg will get it if they have anything going on between their ears.

(warning for stream of consciousness towards the end of the post.)

Ill admit this. if the auction system works as your telling me it does, then I suppose it IS cool. its just I spend so much time watching SCII pros that it comes as little surprise to me that the hardcore could turn a profit from playing a game. hope it doesn't become work for them though.

I could care less about torchlight 2. I want to see games and game developers reach their full potential and make awesome stuff, and that also means more money for them to make even better stuff. this mess with D3 just kind of muddles the mixture. As I've said before, everyone knows a move like this is unwelcome, so why would you do such a thing? the way times are I wouldn't be trying to disable people from enjoying your work. and a online requirement where one wasn't anymore is one of top in its class of shunning moves. feigning ignorance of its no better. it makes the man look... I don't have a good word for "stupid" on this one.

As much as it pains me- and I've done it once before- I'll stick to my guns and not pick this up unless something changes. This franchise was a big part of my past, but I have to ride this tide out if I expect things to improve. I was Disappointed all year- at least this time ill have a heads up for the next. My friends already have called off picking it up as well. This kind of thing just pains me more then most because... well...

When your childhood comes into conflict with something, it paints a dim portrait. I guess ever since WoW: WOTLK (post ulduar, for the most part), its felt more and more like someone you know that you spent great fun with grew senile. then coughed up, died, and came back. SCII's boycott able issues alone were like a dead corpse somehow gasping for air to me. Missteps when the things removed were the prior games lifeblood, times changing or not. why skimp when you created the RTS equivalent of one of the best candies ever? This just salts the wound. it'll burn me every time I hit a box retailer to see that game sitting there because the franchise represents the continuation of old memories with friends and my father, but its been marred by something I find reprehensible. I apologize if that comparison earlier does strike any nerves.

Yeah, I know, perhaps TMI, perhaps im getting to worked up. but why SHOULDN'T I be? look where this company was and where it has gone. look where MOST have. Blizzard may still rake in mountains of cash, but aside from the core experience the quality is questionable. more so now then ever. Time erodes everything, I just wish THIS didn't have to be eroded as well. I knew something was fishy when SCII's Bnet issue came up.

This would only make sense if in this discussion the quality of the game was called into question.

In Starcraft 2 what I recall being one of the biggest issues discussed was the lack of chat channels. The other thing was region locking and a similar system of online authentication. Which all ties into BNET2.

But the problem is that the game, the game play and all of that didn't diminish. The work put into it was just what you would expect. But just because you expect it, means that these other things that you don't expect somehow makes it seem less. Even though it's a different problem all together.

The game by itself isn't being called into question here, while it may be in some other topics. Playing the game by ourselves is what is causing a few people grief. The last ten years of game development isn't designed just to cause you grief. They made some decision they thought were good ones. Instead they pissed a few people off. They tried to explain their reasoning, tried to show their side of the argument and people reacted negatively to even that.

When the game releases and it's still in the same state, then you can feel hurt.

Until then, watch, wait, and voice your concerns reasonably.

You might be surprised.

 

[Rouzeki]

I truly hope to be surprised. lately Ive just become a skeptic Evilscoop. I've no choice but to keep tabs on this, so lets see what develops, yes? As someone who really likes blizzard games and once liked the company on a whole, i hope im wrong. but it remains to be seen if this WILL change or not.

 

[EvilScoop]

Snip

That's quite a lot of speculation you have there. It's all certainly a theory.

 

[TheDooD]

I actually agree with Blizzard in this case. Online and offline experience were never the same in Diablo and Diablo 2. In fact, the offline component of the game actually made the online component less secure.

Personally, I don't see how anyone can argue against this "on principles". There are no principles here at stake - simply put, Blizzard does not want to invest the effort in creating a seperate governance mechanism for offline play when they want to invest those resources into the secure online play - and their right in the regards that most people are going to hop online and join multiplayer games anyway so they'd not only be investing resources into a development path that comprimises their model, they'd be doing it to placate a very small minority of players.

I don't actually think they're "surprised at the reaction" to sort of speak, but just using that phrase to point out that it's not 1999 anymore and people should get over themselves. But nicer like.

How in the hell is offline LESS secure then online. All the have to do is make sure you can't use an offline char online is that so hard for them. I say offline is more secure because they aren't waving shiny things in my face temping me to buy'em. When most likely I can find better in game. Online is there as a cash grab, so what if players that want to play offline that's still a day one $60 blizzard gets either way. It's looking like Blizzard wants players to shell out 100's of dollars on this game, eventhough they know good and well it isn't needed. AH is pointless because why buy gear and you'll turn around and find better anyway. If you and a massive amount of people plan on putting shit into the AH and nobody buys it because they found and can find better. Guess what you just gave Blizzard money. Really people should get over themselves when they're feeding Blizzard. Ok I paid for a game now I'll deal with all the bullshit they added because they want more of my money what the hell is wrong with you.

 

[EvilScoop]

I actually agree with Blizzard in this case. Online and offline experience were never the same in Diablo and Diablo 2. In fact, the offline component of the game actually made the online component less secure.

Personally, I don't see how anyone can argue against this "on principles". There are no principles here at stake - simply put, Blizzard does not want to invest the effort in creating a seperate governance mechanism for offline play when they want to invest those resources into the secure online play - and their right in the regards that most people are going to hop online and join multiplayer games anyway so they'd not only be investing resources into a development path that comprimises their model, they'd be doing it to placate a very small minority of players.

I don't actually think they're "surprised at the reaction" to sort of speak, but just using that phrase to point out that it's not 1999 anymore and people should get over themselves. But nicer like.

How in the hell is offline LESS secure then online. All the have to do is make sure you can't use an offline char online is that so hard for them. I say offline is more secure because they aren't waving shiny things in my face temping me to buy'em. When most likely I can find better in game. Online is there as a cash grab, so what if players that want to play offline that's still a day one $60 blizzard gets either way. It's looking like Blizzard wants players to shell out 100's of dollars on this game, eventhough they know good and well it isn't needed. AH is pointless because why buy gear and you'll turn around and find better anyway. If you and a massive amount of people plan on putting shit into the AH and nobody buys it because they found and can find better. Guess what you just gave Blizzard money. Really people should get over themselves when they're feeding Blizzard. Ok I paid for a game now I'll deal with all the bullshit they added because they want more of my money what the hell is wrong with you.

Always online by itself doesn't get them anymore money.

In fact with the way people are reacting it proves to make them less.

So it obviously can't be a money grab.

 

[LostAlone]

Mammoth post of absolute pure distilled truth and while it deserves to be full re-quoted, for the sake of sanity, I will refrain from doing so.

You sir, speak absolute truth on this issue.

As a gamer, I understand and respect that games developers wants to makes a much money as possible. However, I do not appreciate developers trying to milk us for pennies after we have paid. Particularly when that milking is basically taking content away from us.

The micro-transaction auction house will wreck the online portion of D3. I'm sorry, it just will. The economy just isn't made to deal with the kind of market forces that are going to show up quickly. The sheer inflation caused by gold farming will make trading for anything with in-game money (ie opting out of micro-charing) will be completely unrealistic for most people. You will have to grind like a MMO for weeks to buy a few bits of top end gear, and there is no way to control the inflation in game, because anything you would do to tackle the gold farmers will nuke the legitimate players too.

So the AH is going to screw regular players. It's going to make MTing the only competitive option, and that is fucking terrible for the game. A lot of people won't want to do that, and that'll kill the games online interest in under a year (a guess, but I think a fair one).

The AH in fact does segregate the game more completely than having an offline mode ever could. It draws a line in the sand. On one side, people who just want to play the game and enjoy leveling characters and getting random loot and... well playing. And on the other side are people who want to pay to win. Never the two shall meet because, the regular plays just get ganked or can't achieve ANYTHING compared to the twinks.

Think im exaggerating ? Then you don't know just how gear dependent high level diablo 2 was, and how gear dependent blizzards othe baby (WoW) is. You either have the optimal build or you don't play with the big boys, end of story.

If I buy D3 (which is maybe a 50/50 chance atm... i was never particularly excited, but plenty of my friends are, so I may just tag along) then I'm definitely not playing with anyone who I trust not to twink out. I want to enjoy the game, even being low level and using all the wrong gear, because that is the whole fun part of Diablo. I don't want to end up in a game with a twink who does everything for me, nor do I want to spend real life money on skipping the low level part and go right to a maxed out character who walks through the whole game with ease and ganks everyone lower level than me. That is not fun, thats terrible. Ganking people who are too poor or too 'casual' to spend lots of real money diablo is NOT good game design. Jesus blizzard, its like you never even spoke to people who enjoyed diablo.

 

[Strazdas]

Jesus people just download the cracked version, which will be available like 3 hours after the official launch. People can be such babies.

That's illegal, if I'm not mistaken. And quite a few people here respect the law.

cracks are not technically illegal. its illegal to download a cracked game. but to buy a game and then use no-cd crack is not illegal. in fact on multiple games securrom creators have advised their costumers to do that when their security system has locked "legitimate" players out of the game.

 

[Brandon237]

Blizzard is going insane now... The new SC2 EULA which I just got presented with was acceptable for me, but seemed rather... Evil. No resale. Ever. No cheating, even for single player, even when cheats do disable your achievements. No making money, EVEN through COACHING, using the game O.O Coaching? Really?

And many people lose their connection from time to time, should not affect a SINGLE-PLAYER GAME! And some people do not have a very good internet connection, and some just don't like the hassle / extra cost of playing a single-player game on the net. You know, there were days where single player meant you got the game, registered it, and enjoyed no matter what happened to the internet and phone-lines and cables and satellites, it was steady, always there, free and easy after purchase. God I miss those days.

 

[Gitty101]

If it's not a DRM issue, then I cannot see a reason for it. Hopefully thanks to this 'entirely unpredictable' reaction from the gaming community they'll do something about it.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Actually what is funny is in their zeal to create the walled garden blizzard really shot themselves in the foot.

With an integrated real money auction house there is a familiar and straightforward method for private server operators to make money. All you need to do is couple in a "donation" payment system and its big bux.

I bet the hackers are salivating thinking about it. And also think about this...blizz claims they won't be posting items for sale but what would stop the private server operator from doing the same?

How would a private server operator transfer what is essentially duplicated items from their server onto Blizzards server without them noticing?

You wouldn't xfer onto bnet. You would run your own private server with some mods for the people who don't want to or were banned from bnet.

There was a story about one private server operator that made 3 million before they were shut down. I don't know about you but that is a good chunk of change to me.

With bitcoin transactions you can't even trace the money transfers to identify the server operators.

 

[Joseph Alexander]

heres what i see in the heads of blizz PR department:
always online for single player> be shocked at backlash> make offline single-player> fans will think we actually listen to them.

hey I'm not bashing them, hell its fucking genius, but its not rocket surgery.
granted PC gamers(or console gamers for that matter) don't seem to be a capable lot compared to gamers who just game.

you know it'll be funny as hell if they did that and since we don't a have release date there is a slim slim chance.

at this point i wouldn't say slim, they'll likely announce at the end of the beta that there will be an offline normal mode and the hardcore mode will be fully offline.

 

[Nesco Nomen]

So the AH is going to screw regular players.

Yes.

Real money AH will put your average scrubnab on the bottom of the food chain where it belongs.




Blizzard is so soooo ahead of the time, no wonder cave dwelling casuals will have hard time adjusting

 

[Levethian]

...and make it Pay2Win...

Even if it was Pay2Win, how do you 'win' at Diablo 3?

Copy/pasted from MMO Champion forums, arguing that Diablo 3 is not 'Pay2Win':

"In a Pay2Win game, you pay for advantages. Item's that are unobtainable to non-payers, things that put you above and beyond what a non-payer can achieve. This can be in the form of really strong equipment, potions, enchants, whatever. By paying 5$, you are given an item that gives you a distinct, unobtainable advantage over Play2Win people.

This is not how D3's real money AH system works. It gets you nothing but gear that anyone else can get without paying a dime. At the end of the day, Person A (Someone who buys gear) will never have an unobtainable advantage over Person B (Someone who plays the game and farms gear). So person A bought 100$ worth of gear that took you hours to farm. Did you enjoy farming that gear? I would hope so, that's what games are for. So, not only did you save 100$, but you had more fun then person A."

I don't really see the big deal about it...you just have your internet connected while playing Simple as that.

A vocal minority don't have good internet connections.
Hopefully their ISP's will improve, because most games are going this way.

 

[raankh]

Considering the insane flame-war that erupted above, I think this goes to show just how little Mr Bridenbecker understands his audience and the product he is speaking about.

Has Blizzard really lost touch finally? I've been studiously claiming they wouldn't, but I guess their (and my) critics will be proven right after all?

The "no mods" and "always online" did it for me, I cancelled my pre-ordered Collector's Edition.