Blizzard Surprised by Reaction to Online-Only Diablo 3

[commasplice]

I'm not sure what you guys are doing but its not going to do anything in the end seems more like venting since no one here can do anything other then agree or disagree or be a troll like me

We're discussing, sharing ideas and, yes, even venting. That's what this forum is here for, not serving as a platform to get into contact with Blizzard representatives. I'd be surprised if anyone here honestly thought that this thread existed for any other reason.

 

[Tony2077]

I'm not sure what you guys are doing but its not going to do anything in the end seems more like venting since no one here can do anything other then agree or disagree or be a troll like me

We're discussing, sharing ideas and, yes, even venting. That's what this forum is here for, not serving as a platform to get into contact with Blizzard representatives. I'd be surprised if anyone here honestly thought that this thread existed for any other reason.

yeah but 19 pages seem like overkill to me

 

[Okysho]

Next I imagine it'll be region locked and have a cash shop.

The game IS region locked and it DOES have a cash shop (player ran cash shop, but cash shop nonetheless).

I didn't actually type that... the site quoted this weird...

 

[Twilight_guy]

*obligatory snickering at "play with/by yourself" comments*

Obviously he didn't have his ear to the ground if he didn't notice the giant Ubisoft blow out. I don[t really think it will significantly affect the sale of games though. Diablo games have always been really geared towards multiplayer anyways.

 

[Tony2077]

*obligatory snickering at "play with/by yourself" comments*

Obviously he didn't have his ear to the ground if he didn't notice the giant Ubisoft blow out. I don[t really think it will significantly affect the sale of games though. Diablo games have always been really geared towards multiplayer anyways.

well its fun to play by/with yourself so why not

 

[Twilight_guy]

*obligatory snickering at "play with/by yourself" comments*

Obviously he didn't have his ear to the ground if he didn't notice the giant Ubisoft blow out. I don[t really think it will significantly affect the sale of games though. Diablo games have always been really geared towards multiplayer anyways.

well its fun to play by/with yourself so why not

You probably already got this but the joke was that I was snicker at the double entendre that the phrase means that you're playing single player but also can refer to masturbation, which is taboo and snickered at by the immature. Thus the joke is funny due to me pointing out that possible meaning. (In case you haven't noticed, overexplaining this joke is also a joke).

 

[Atmos Duality]

Do you even understand the concept of single point of failure? Trust me, for 99% of people, you are the weakest link.

Fine. I amend my statement to: "Another point of failure". This one being a NEEDLESS point of failure at that.

...But then I stopped reading after you assumed that anyone who is overtly complaining is a scammer.
Which is just about the most bullshit argument I've seen all day.

I don't debate arguments which, by their own premise, are fallacies. There's no point.

 

[lowkey_jotunn]

They're going to complain that "DRM is icky" and that "A requirement for a persistent connection is too restrictive." When in reality, this is the 21 freaking century. Over 75% of the US has internet connectivity. If you're on this forum right now, you are probably one of them... so get with the times, hookup the cable internet, and enjoy you some D3.

Look, I'll admit that I've used mods in an MMO before, but never anything that gave me a real tangible advantage over other players. Just aesthetic stuff, really.

Edit: Derp. Forgot my real point. I'm not a scammer, but I oppose this decision. Just because someone doesn't like something that would make it harder to pirate or scam does not mean they are a pirate or a scammer.

Oh, you and me both. I used to raid in WoW, so I'm quite familiar with addons and mods. Not trying to take anything away from them. But I can see why D3 might shy away from them. It's not like Ba'al or Mephisto have an aggro table that needs to be carefully monitored, or certain abilities on very specific timers that require extreme planning. Or maybe they do, I dunno haven't played it yet, natch... but I'm prety sure Diablo will always be a clicky clicky slashy smashy type of game, not a WoW'esque raid.

Basically, I'm not too miffed about the lack of mods and add ons for D3. Would be nice, but I'm not losing any sleep over it.


But I was mostly talking about the Internet Connection requirement. If a game has an offline mode, than the save-files for your character will be stored on your PC. Giving certain unscrupulous types access to dissect the files and begin the duping and other shenanigans.

Personally, I'd possibly support an offline mode that required Online to login and setup temp files that you could use offline for a bit... but what do I know, I'm a hardware engineer, not a software nut (which means I don't get to take 45 minute breaks throughout the day because "it's compiling")


Either way, I'm willing to trust that Activision-Blizzard (a company worth $14,000,000,000. that's Billions, with a B) has a team in place that evaluated all the possible options: Online, offline, etc... and this was the solution that had the best rating in their cost to benefit analysis.

 

[Sylveria]

"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?"

Well, apparently a lot, considering how many people are pissed off that they have to be online and signed up to play single player. Oh, and I don't buy for a second that DRM was never brought up in the discussion. Once again I smell Activision making Blizzard bend over and submit.. or Blizzard's become just as dirty as their master.

 

[Tony2077]

*obligatory snickering at "play with/by yourself" comments*

Obviously he didn't have his ear to the ground if he didn't notice the giant Ubisoft blow out. I don[t really think it will significantly affect the sale of games though. Diablo games have always been really geared towards multiplayer anyways.

well its fun to play by/with yourself so why not

You probably already got this but the joke was that I was snicker at the double entendre that the phrase means that you're playing single player but also can refer to masturbation, which is taboo and snickered at by the immature. Thus the joke is funny due to me pointing out that possible meaning. (In case you haven't noticed, overexplaining this joke is also a joke).

thanks for clearly that up i wasn't sure where you were going

 

[Tony2077]

well i suppose i'll stop being a troll for a few second i don't mind this always on stuff since my internet is good enough to not worry about it crapping out except when the router decides to be stupid but that is very rare

 

[lowkey_jotunn]

(In case you haven't noticed, overexplaining this joke is also a joke).

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DontExplainTheJoke

But I suppose Over-explaining can be permitted.

I think that falls into the self referential humor category

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME, TVTROPES??!??

 

[JourneyMan88]

Laptops are portable, maybe people want to take their game with them? Not everywhere has free wi-fi.

There are plenty of reasons why people might want to go offline, and not having the option in a single player game is just ridiculous.

I got into both Diablo I and II while on dialysis. (Long story short: had kidney disease since childhood, was on dialysis from '99 - '07, got kidney transplant '07, so far--so good) Diablo has been a large part of passing the hours of treatment through a tough time in my life. That being said, it is rare to find wi-fi at a dialysis unit (or cancer center, etc...) as 85 - 90% of patients are older and don't have a want or need for it. I see this move as a big middle finger to an entire section of the population they haven't even considered.
I've been waiting for years for this damn game, and this is a deal breaker for me.

WTF is with this GODDAMN CAPTCHA TONIGHT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Seriously! 10 times, it's BROKEN, can someone look at that.

 

[bushwhacker2k]

How didn't he? Didn't D1 and D2 both have offline?

Seriously, I don't understand if they're just lying or if they're honestly totally oblivious to inconveniences caused by things they don't pay much attention to...

Though yeah, with this and the auction house that requires real money, seems like Blizzard is making a lot of "let's piss the fanbase off" choices.

 

[giggetygooo]

you just lost urself a customer, asswipe

 

[commasplice]

Either way, I'm willing to trust that Activision-Blizzard (a company worth $14,000,000,000. that's Billions, with a B) has a team in place that evaluated all the possible options: Online, offline, etc... and this was the solution that had the best rating in their cost to benefit analysis.

I dunno, man. I'd agree with the point that they have a team in place mulling all this over, but at the end of the day, they're still people. It's not like there's a master formula they can go to that will always provide the best results for any problem.

I think that Blizzard has made a mistake. I'm sure they saw the loss of a few thousand potential sales. I'm sure they calculated that it wouldn't be enough to turn this game into a flop. And I'm sure they're right about that. But I really think that knowing this and still going ahead with their plans is the real oversight.

It's little things like this that keep a game from reaching its full potential. I mean, could you imagine if they never gave StarCraft LAN? Or a map editor? Or online play? Changing any one of these things would have kept the game from being the mega-hit that it was. The fact is that they're artificially limiting their potential userbase by forcing these changes, when they wouldn't be losing any sales at all if they hadn't.

I don't think anyone's play experience would be ruined by offline single-player. I don't think anyone's play experience would be ruined by not having an auction house (as long as there is still a trading system, anyway). I don't think anyone's play experience would be ruined by LAN access. I don't think anyone's play experience would be ruined by changing the art to mesh better with the other games. I can't defend modding, really, but I can say that I really can't think of any good reasons for these recent decisions outside of the auction house and the single-player, and all that boils down to is money and pleasing the investors (re: more money).

Edit: I guess I should add that I know that I know that Blizzard is a big company with a big bottom line. I know that, at this point, it's just about money, and not about the love of games and money. I don't think anyone would dispute that. But money grabbing and screwing over part of your consumer base (no matter how small) will lose you good will. It may not seem like a whole lot, but Blizzard isn't just a company; it's a brand. This bullshit is the kind of thing that makes people choose Apple over Microsoft. It's the kind of thing that makes people choose Pepsi over Coke. A couple thousand lost sales on a single game may seem like no big deal to a billion dollar company, but these things add up.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood had the same sort of constant connectivity and it was cracked within a month. The only difference now is that the hackers have experience with cracking games like this because of their work with AC:B.

We'll see then. But why do they even try...

They don't appreciate this constant connectivity bullshit any more than I do. Only difference between me and them is that they have the knowledge to do something about it.

 

[Harlief]

If it's not DRM then it's flat out stupid.

Even if it is DRM it's still flat out stupid. Internet outages are not uncommon, and beyond control of the gamer. Always on internet connection games are built without the realities of current internet infrastructure in mind. It's like designing a car with features that don't work because the laws of physics don't allow the new features to operate.

Dammit captcha, I don't have a lambda button on my keyboard!

 

[Baresark]

"single player" is clouding peoples minds it's like people are telling blizard that they know more about what kind of game blizzard is making than blizzard themselves do

No, single player means single player, but you seem to think it does not. You are trying to cloud peoples minds by trying to redefine what single player means. They claim single player, so people who want single player games mean they do not want to be forced to be around other players if they do not wish to be. Also.... would it kill ya to use some punctuation? I know it's killing me. =]

people are saying single player when what they mean to say is soloing, something possible in most mmos' singler player and soloing is not the same thing

diablo 3 is online only, but can be played solo, that is not single player like an assassins creed game is

Wow, you don't even know what you are talking about. It's a single player game that requires a constant connection. Just like AC2. It's literally the same situation. Now, they have an option that allows you to play with or against other players. But that does not mean that the single player is the same as soloing an MMO. Just stop debating this point, because you are no good at it. You cannot make a compelling argument by telling half truths. If Blizzard was making this an MMO, they would simply say that. But they are not, so they do not say that.

 

[Baresark]

That's all fine and dandy, but people do not want to be forced to participate in these things. If you choose to, you can be part of that a great many ways, most of which do not mean being connected to their servers all the time.

You will have to make a hero from scratch for online play, Blizzard want to remove the hassle for that. They force you to make one.

What I did for StarCraft 2 was buy the game, then download a crack that did not necessitate me being online. It worked quite well. I bought their game, and then I was never bothered by their online BS. They don't like this, but I don't really care.

By buying the product you are encouraging this behavior from companies.

Why would you have to make a hero from scratch to play online? There are so many games out there that you can play cooperatively and do not have to make a new character just for it.

I know I encouraged it, that is why I am not bothering to play this if they do not change their tune. It's as simple as that. Just like I don't purchase the vast majority of what EA puts out, or Activision, or Ubisoft either. They think they can step on the customers and do as they please. They cannot, at least not with me. And I choose to take the high ground and not pirate any of it either.