A general complaint and discussion thread with issues created by d3.
WARNING: This thread exists because there are a few complaint threads, one that is locked. Questions about discussions of issues and complaints from players exist in the OT, but they get lost in the speed of that thread before the discussion can really begin. I made the thread because I asked if there was a thread up to discuss the controversies. I got no response. It seemed sensible to make a thread for people wanting to discuss the problems, so that the discussion won't be lost in the stream of item posts. For this, I gathered a couple of threads into links and articles on complaints as links into the OP.
The original DRM thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=474270&highlight=diablo+3+drm&page=22
DRM problem: Forces every purchaser, even those looking to play single player, to go online to be able to play the game.
Problems created by this problem:
-Login servers crash or overflow, keeping paying customers from playing their game.
-Exposes every consumer to being hacked
Diablo 3 Accounts hacked thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=474937
Reasoning behind DRM: It protects against piracy, hacking and duping.
Reality behind DRM: Forces everyone into the AH, which leads to the real money auction house, which attracts hackers like a god damned bat signal.
Response to hacking issue: Get an authenticator! Sure, just as soon as a buy a gun to go to the ATM.
This gets to the question of whether or not Blizzard's standard security protocols are secure enough and if the authenticator is so important then shouldn't it be included with the game? After all, Blizzard is forcing every purchaser into this situation through the DRM.
Of course, there are further issues such as latency issues, the Auction House going down repeated times and the fact that though the game forces you to be online, it doesn't offer nearly as much of the benefits of being online as an actual MMO does.
Press Responses
Some articles:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/05/18/how-diablo-iiis-solo-experience-reveals-a-hollow-game/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/05/17/opinion-why-the-problem-with-diablo-isnt-diablo/
The Real Money Auction House and how it impacts the game's design
Here's an Extra Credits on the possibilities, made before the game's release:
http://extra-credits.net/episodes/the-diablo-iii-marketplace/
What makes looking at that video interesting is realizing that now that the game is released, we know that the difficulty in D3 is based on gear checks and that all the highly "useful" gear is Inferno mode, which is a large difficulty jump that requires that useful gear to survive.
Taken from blog which I won't promote:
...
Of course, it is naturally a lootwhore game. The difference s in the way builds and itemization work now. Gear checks and linear gear progression vs D2 system:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hI4peeO3yzY
Korean FTC raids Blizzard Offices:
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/0...ids-blizzard-over-alleged-diablo-iii-wrongdo/
(An important note here is that the consumer complaints weren't directly about DRM, but that the consequences of the DRM and crappy launch kept consumers from playing the game they paid for and that Blizzard was denying these people refunds.)
So how can a company that has run WoW for years fuck up an online game launch? This reddit post might illimunate:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comm..._diablo_iii_experience_seem_so_poorly/c4up19r
tl;dr - WoW has its own servers and is a shard system. While some of WoW's systems are tied to Battle.Net, the whole of their systems are not. Diablo 3 is underneath the big BNet umbrella and it seems that umbrella can't handle the load. In many ways, this is a new system for Blizzard and it may take months for them to smooth it out.
General Questions and Issues
-Was the game designed to funnel people towards Auction Houses and then make profit through the RMAH? Is this an ethical design? Is this putting profit over fun?
-Should the consumer base support online DRM for a non-mmo game?
-Is Blizzard getting less heat because they're Blizzard? Would this receive a different reacton from the enthusiasts if it was Activision or EA? (I guess it's sorta Activision as is.)
-Should Blizzard offer refunds to players since accessing the game is unreliable?
Here's another question for the public:
There has been a lot of negative reviews on metacritic in reaction and a ton of angry threads on the diablo 3 forum. These sort of responses aren't new to a product launch that garners negative attention. I think the usual way to look at these things is to see them as spamming, but are these things also consumer activism in some part? The game has sold 6 million copies. If its taken as a success, certain practices could be taken up by other companies who are watching this launch. Does the spamming then become a way to voice a displeasure that will get drowned out by sales and other protective fans? This is an interesting way of looking at things. There was one thread on the d3 forums that got reposted many times, in almost an organized manner. Is that spam or activism?
Have fun.
WARNING: This thread exists because there are a few complaint threads, one that is locked. Questions about discussions of issues and complaints from players exist in the OT, but they get lost in the speed of that thread before the discussion can really begin. I made the thread because I asked if there was a thread up to discuss the controversies. I got no response. It seemed sensible to make a thread for people wanting to discuss the problems, so that the discussion won't be lost in the stream of item posts. For this, I gathered a couple of threads into links and articles on complaints as links into the OP.
The original DRM thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=474270&highlight=diablo+3+drm&page=22
DRM problem: Forces every purchaser, even those looking to play single player, to go online to be able to play the game.
Problems created by this problem:
-Login servers crash or overflow, keeping paying customers from playing their game.
-Exposes every consumer to being hacked
Diablo 3 Accounts hacked thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=474937
Reasoning behind DRM: It protects against piracy, hacking and duping.
Reality behind DRM: Forces everyone into the AH, which leads to the real money auction house, which attracts hackers like a god damned bat signal.
Response to hacking issue: Get an authenticator! Sure, just as soon as a buy a gun to go to the ATM.
This gets to the question of whether or not Blizzard's standard security protocols are secure enough and if the authenticator is so important then shouldn't it be included with the game? After all, Blizzard is forcing every purchaser into this situation through the DRM.
Of course, there are further issues such as latency issues, the Auction House going down repeated times and the fact that though the game forces you to be online, it doesn't offer nearly as much of the benefits of being online as an actual MMO does.
Press Responses
Some articles:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/05/18/how-diablo-iiis-solo-experience-reveals-a-hollow-game/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/05/17/opinion-why-the-problem-with-diablo-isnt-diablo/
The Real Money Auction House and how it impacts the game's design
Here's an Extra Credits on the possibilities, made before the game's release:
http://extra-credits.net/episodes/the-diablo-iii-marketplace/
What makes looking at that video interesting is realizing that now that the game is released, we know that the difficulty in D3 is based on gear checks and that all the highly "useful" gear is Inferno mode, which is a large difficulty jump that requires that useful gear to survive.
Taken from blog which I won't promote:
Diablo 3 works in a repetitive manner. You clear the game on normal difficulty, then proceed to Nightmare mode, then to Hell mode and finally Inferno mode. Diablo 3 itself is largely a loot based game, but Diablo 3 has emphasized this by making all difficulty in the game a gear check. Blizzard’s World of Warcraft followed this same pattern. In gear check games, all progression is linear and vertical. You have an item, then get a similar item with upgraded stats numbers which replaced the old item. The new item allows you to handle higher level content. This works until you reach a new tier of difficulty which requires the process to start all over again. In WoW, this progress was often tied to dungeon and raid tiers with select item drops on bosses and later token drops which could be handed in for gear. Diablo 3 turns this into a bit more of a lottery by making drops randomized, and then it makes the legendary drops (the really high tier items) appear at a very low rate until you hit Inferno mode.
...
It has become clear to the userbase that its far easier to get these items through the auction house than it is through farming kills in the game. You will get drops by farming monsters, but there’s no certainty that the drop will fit your character. This in turn leads to selling the item on the Auction House and making gold to buy the items you need off the Auction House. It is unfortunate that progression has been tied to the Auction House, but it’s probably tolerable up until the point the Real Money Auction House launches. At that point, you may start finding all the items you need and all those items hackers stole appear only on the Real Money Auction House. When this happens, Inferno mode will become a Pay to Win game.
Of course, it is naturally a lootwhore game. The difference s in the way builds and itemization work now. Gear checks and linear gear progression vs D2 system:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hI4peeO3yzY
Korean FTC raids Blizzard Offices:
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/0...ids-blizzard-over-alleged-diablo-iii-wrongdo/
(An important note here is that the consumer complaints weren't directly about DRM, but that the consequences of the DRM and crappy launch kept consumers from playing the game they paid for and that Blizzard was denying these people refunds.)
So how can a company that has run WoW for years fuck up an online game launch? This reddit post might illimunate:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comm..._diablo_iii_experience_seem_so_poorly/c4up19r
tl;dr - WoW has its own servers and is a shard system. While some of WoW's systems are tied to Battle.Net, the whole of their systems are not. Diablo 3 is underneath the big BNet umbrella and it seems that umbrella can't handle the load. In many ways, this is a new system for Blizzard and it may take months for them to smooth it out.
General Questions and Issues
-Was the game designed to funnel people towards Auction Houses and then make profit through the RMAH? Is this an ethical design? Is this putting profit over fun?
-Should the consumer base support online DRM for a non-mmo game?
-Is Blizzard getting less heat because they're Blizzard? Would this receive a different reacton from the enthusiasts if it was Activision or EA? (I guess it's sorta Activision as is.)
-Should Blizzard offer refunds to players since accessing the game is unreliable?
Here's another question for the public:
There has been a lot of negative reviews on metacritic in reaction and a ton of angry threads on the diablo 3 forum. These sort of responses aren't new to a product launch that garners negative attention. I think the usual way to look at these things is to see them as spamming, but are these things also consumer activism in some part? The game has sold 6 million copies. If its taken as a success, certain practices could be taken up by other companies who are watching this launch. Does the spamming then become a way to voice a displeasure that will get drowned out by sales and other protective fans? This is an interesting way of looking at things. There was one thread on the d3 forums that got reposted many times, in almost an organized manner. Is that spam or activism?
Have fun.