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[Hellsing321]

Its like I'm on crazy pills. But yeah, that sure as hell seems to be whats going on.

What gets me is the notion that not being able to play the game at all is preferable to maybe mean old hackers ruin the auction house economy at some point in the future.

 

[NullPointer]

It's basically the insane justifications of junkies who can't admit they are getting screwed over.

Its also justification for any game with a mutliplayer mode of any kind (read: almost every game made nowadays) to force this very same always-online requirement. Ya know, for the integrity of the game.

Or does Diablo 3 get a pass?

What gets me is the notion that not being able to play the game at all is preferable to maybe mean old hackers ruin the auction house economy at some point in the future.

And yet people pay a monthly fee to do that very same thing in Eve Online. These are strange times ;P

Also, I wonder what Blizzard has planned in case the real money auction house doesn't take off to their expectations. How do they plan to cover the long term costs of the infrastructure needed to support so much client-side processing?

 

[GrizzNKev]

I stopped paying attention after they annound always on drm but how D3 isn't singleplayer game but D1 and D2 are?

Apparently forcing you to login and wait in a queue to play reminds people so much of an MMO experience that they started calling it an MMO. Except when you start playing, you're playing it alone until other people join your game... which is the same as any other SP game with coop.

 

[Kalnos]

You're really okay with Blizzard forcing you to use their servers for the game, essentially turning the single-player Diablo 3 into a ticking time-bomb that explodes when Blizzard stops caring about keeping the servers open?

Who cares about "Auction House Integrity" when the game is going to disappear once Blizzard stops caring?

The "integrity" will be just as shot once hackers find dupes and exploits in the game.

Blizzard has kept up profitless (outside of box sales) servers up for ages. You know, games such as Warcraft 3, Diablo 2, Starcraft. The last of which has been up for at least 12-14 years. Why would they stop caring about Diablo 3? They profit off of the box sale and the in-game economy, it's in their best interest to maintain.

By the time they stop supporting the game you will have to jump through tons of hoops just to get it to run on whatever new OS exists at that point.

 

[sleepykyo]

So glad I don't game on PC. I'd never put up with this shit.

It was already on consoles. The PSN version of final fight specifically.

 

[krystallinity]

Blizzard has kept up profitless (outside of box sales) servers up for ages. You know, games such as Warcraft 3, Diablo 2, Starcraft. The last of which has been up for at least 12-14 years. Why would they stop caring about Diablo 3? They profit off of the box sale and the in-game economy, it's in their best interest to maintain.

By the time they stop supporting the game you will have to jump through tons of hoops just to get it to run on whatever new OS exists at that point.

Just like you have to jump through "tons of hoops" to get Dosbox running, right?

I'm sure there will be Windows 7 emulation by that time.

You should never, ever trust companies to keep game servers alive for any significant period of time. Who knows what will happen in the future.

 

[GrizzNKev]

Blizzard has kept up profitless (outside of box sales) servers up for ages. You know, games such as Warcraft 3, Diablo 2, Starcraft. The last of which has been up for at least 12-14 years. Why would they stop caring about Diablo 3? They profit off of the box sale and the in-game economy, it's in their best interest to maintain.

By the time they stop supporting the game you will have to jump through tons of hoops just to get it to run on whatever new OS exists at that point.

...but without the insane DRM you could still play it after getting it running. That's the point.

 

[ElRenoRaven]

It was already on consoles. The PSN version of final fight specifically.

Yup. This shit is coming to consoles. Just as you pointed out there has been a couple games pulling this shit on consoles already. That's the real war coming for gamers. This shit will become the norm as long as people accept it. Sadly I think they will too. People are hypocrites. They'll attack other companies pulling this shit but the second it's one they love doing it they bend over and thank them for screwing them. It's really sad that gamers had a chance to take a stand and of course aren't. Well most aren't minus a few of us.

 

[Retro_]

I'm sure you're not being intentionally obtuse so I'm trying to keep a level head here.

I know that. What we're saying is that this is bad and the practice should not be continued. The fact that incremental addition to the number on the game's title is the only difference, not a fundamental change in the network/game structure for players, should demonstrate why this is just a terrible concept in general.

The fact that you brought up Phantasy Star Online, which you can play offline, as a comparison to the type of game Diablo III is (a comparison I agree) is incredibly ironic considering that you are defending this practice.

My comparison worked under the assumption that there was no separate mode for "single player" in either game. You were just choosing to play solo. but a little research shows that PSO did have a separate "offline mode" so like you pointed out there's a certain irony in bringing it up. lol

It's basically the insane justifications of junkies who can't admit they are getting screwed over. If they can convince themselves that what the big companies are doing isn't really that bad, then it's ok that they can't resist shelling out money to get that next hit.

Easier to fool yourself, than admit you might have a problem.

ooooooooooooor you come back to planet earth, decide that the conditions to play the game don't really bother you, and have fun playing a fun game you've been pretty excited for.

(I play Diablo 3 for multiplayer anyways. ooga booga)

I mean christ it's simple entertainment. If the conditions for play aren't acceptable to you don't buy the product. There's no holy war to be fought over it

You can be mad all you want about it. Just don't start calling me stupid because I'm not. I've thought about how it affects myself just as much as you have

 

[krystallinity]

ooooooooooooor you come back to planet earth, decide that the conditions to play the game don't really bother you, and have fun playing a fun game you've been pretty excited for.

(I play Diablo 3 for multiplayer anyways. ooga booga)

I mean christ it's simple entertainment. If the conditions for play aren't acceptable to you don't buy the product. There's no holy war to be fought over it

You can be mad all you want about it. Just don't start calling me stupid because I'm not. I've thought about how it affects myself just as much as you have

While we're at it, let's also set ticking time-bombs on all books written, all movies produced, and all TV shows aired, because surely no one would ever want to watch or read them more than 20 years after they're produced, right?

 

[Retro_]

While we're at it, let's also set ticking timebombs on all books written, all movies produced, and all TV shows aired, because surely no one would ever want to watch or read them more than 20 years after they're produce, right?

Hell man I don't even know if I'd want to play this game a few months from now, let alone 20 years. I mean I've barely played it!

All I know is I want to play it now so I will.

I can't imagine getting worked up over something like that. Worried over if you'll be able to play a game you've barely played in 20 years or not.

 

[Freezie KO]

I guess you aren't a SOCOM fan, because that game was broken as hell on PS3 when it came out. Or I guess you probably don't own a PS3 at all, since I recall that entire network being down for a couple weeks.

Can we all quit pretending that this kind of stuff never happens on consoles? It may happen more often on PC's, but consoles are not immune to launch day wrinkles.

I don't own a PS3 at all. You're right.

I've certainly dealt with networks going down online, but that never affected a single-player experience. I understand that networks will go down. But tying a single-player game to a network that it doesn't really need to run seems like yet another anti-consumer measure from the gaming industry.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Everyone can stop complaining.

I just logged in.

 

[OmnipotentO]

Am I crazy for not wanting to play with my friends on first playthrough?

 

[Dead Man]

When the integrity of the game is more important than the actual experience of playing it, I know I am not long for this hobby. Thankfully it will be a long time before that is the universal view.

 

[saunderez]

When the integrity of the game is more important than the actual experience of playing it, I know I am not long for this hobby.

Likewise. This whole situation has me concerned that I won't be gaming in 10 years for the first time since I got some weird console that could only play Pong.

 

[dragonelite]

You're really okay with Blizzard forcing you to use their servers for the game, essentially turning the single-player Diablo 3 into a ticking time-bomb that explodes when Blizzard stops caring about keeping the servers open?

Who cares about "Auction House Integrity" when the game is going to disappear once Blizzard stops caring?

And like others said, I think this is just some fabricated excuse to justify this horrible, horrible move by Blizzard.

The "integrity" will be just as shot once hackers find dupes and exploits in the game.

Blizzard needs to understand that this move is not okay. This must not become an industry standard.

Gamers have made noise before...they can do it again.

A game this popular will have server emulators or server files leaked when necessary.
Be glad you dont have to pay monthly fee i got a few people asking me about it and were surprised it doesn't have it.

 

[krystallinity]

A game this popular will have server emulators or server files leaked when necessary.
Be glad you dont have to pay monthly fee i got a few people asking me about it and were surprised it doesn't have it.

But if it becomes an industry standard, not all games will have that luxury.

That's why it's incredibly important that we stop the spread of this dreadful concept now, before it catches on.

 

[GrizzNKev]

Hell man I don't even know if I'd want to play this game a few months from now, let alone 20 years. I mean I've barely played it!

All I know is I want to play it now so I will.

I can't imagine getting worked up over something like that. Worried over if you'll be able to play a game you've barely played in 20 years or not.

That's because it hasn't been an issue until very recently. You'll keep on ignoring the issue until it starts affecting you, and you'll regret every word you just said. We can't measure the impact of a game universally ceasing to be playable because it hasn't happened yet, at least not to any large extent that I'm aware of. Your extreme short-sightedness, if it persists, will come back to haunt you the moment you decide to try out an old game and it no longer exists in any playable form.

The fact that we would have to rely on pirates and cracking groups to make that possibility exist is hilarious.

 

[snap0212]

Average Joe has all right to complain. If you're posting on NeoGAF then I just assume that you knew about the always online stuff and you simply shouldn't have bought the game if you weren't okay with that. I'm not even into PC gaming or Diablo and I knew about this. Always online DRM has been proven to be faulty in the past, authentication servers have gone down / not worked correctly in the past.

Is it incredibly shitty? Sure. Still: You knew what you were getting into.

 

[Black_Stride]

bu bu bu bu auction house

Hey guys I have a good tip, buy Max Payne 3 and shoot fools in the air or in slowmo while waiting in the queue

This is exactly what im going to do....well not quite I held off buying Diablo 3 day one cuz ive been burned by too many day one PC launches so instead ill just get MP3 and wait for the Diablo 3 servers to get their shit together and/or wait for Blizzard to release a patch to allow offline(singleplayer) Diablo 3.

Ill jump on the Diablo 3 bandwagon later.

 

[Tain]

I bought this game because I felt that the pleasure I would get from it would be worth sixty dollars and my time, despite the online structure.

I am so sorry. I should have been more selfless. I could have saved the hobby.

oh god i've ruined everything

 

[saunderez]

I bought this game because I felt that the pleasure I would get from it would be worth sixty dollars and my time, despite the online structure.

I am so sorry. I should have been more selfless. I could have saved the hobby.

oh god i've ruined everything

No you haven't ruined anything. But don't bother complaining when all games have always online DRM because consumers said it was fine when Diablo 3 did it. It'll be too late then. It's the perfect anti-piracy model as far as publishers are concerned, they'd be stupid not to do it if customers are accepting it. It's only going to get worse, Simcity 5 is the next big game I know about with this awesome feature.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

I'm surprised that this petition hasn't been mentioned yet. It's quite old at this point, and only amassed about 2000 signatures: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/diablo-3-offline-single-player-petition.html

 

[NullPointer]

Is it incredibly shitty? Sure. Still: You knew what you were getting into.

There were certainly Gaffers that just found this out, and I can only imagine how many others got a rude wake up call today they tried to play some solo Diablo. D3's structure is pretty unique so I'm going to bet it took quite a lot of people outside of the hardcore fanbase by surprise.

Sure I knew what was up when they first announced it, but its Blizzard that brought it right back into focus with their server issues and brought the reality home. Is it the end of the world? God no. But I'd like to think that always-online drm is something that doesn't need to catch on. It would be a horrible trend for a media already treated as disposable too much of the time.

But then hey, how big could Diablo 3 be? ;P

 

[bangai-o]

When the integrity of the game is more important than the actual experience of playing it, I know I am not long for this hobby. Thankfully it will be a long time before that is the universal view.

your experience is a response to the games integrity. Its gaming design that goes all the way back to Nintedno. Blizzard making a game almost perfect in its features is akin to a Mario game having great platforming or Quake having great level design.
arguably, drm is a gameplay feature when in comes to this game. you might automatically scoff at this comment but how often does gaf complain about a once great game ruined by the community. the gamers do often ruin games for other gamers.

 

[Retro_]

That's because it hasn't been an issue until very recently. You'll keep on ignoring the issue until it starts affecting you, and you'll regret every word you just said. We can't measure the impact of a game universally ceasing to be playable because it hasn't happened yet, at least not to any large extent that I'm aware of. Your extreme short-sightedness, if it persists, will come back to haunt you the moment you decide to try out an old game and it no longer exists in any playable form.

Already happened.

Hurricane Packs for the original Ninja Gaiden were lost with the original Xbox Live servers being taken down.

AFAIK they haven't been preserved and distributed online in any form either.

Sucks since I always wanted to try the Intercept technique in the games, but what can you do. Just the grim reality of digital gaming.

I think your war is better fought with digital services like PSN and XBL than Diablo 3 DRM. Because when those services go down your entire purchase history will be lost to time. And that's probably going to happen sooner than Blizzard ceasing to support Diablo 3.

 

[MrBelmontvedere]

Have they released one for SC 2? (serious question)

yes, the game is fully cracked by now. playable without the insane DRM.

it's only a matter of time before D3 is cracked as well.

 

[krystallinity]

Already happened.

Hurricane Packs for the original Ninja Gaiden were lost with the original Xbox Live servers being taken down.

AFAIK they haven't been preserved and distributed online in any form either.

Sucks since I always wanted to try the Intercept technique in the games, but what can you do. Just the grim reality of digital gaming.

I think your war is better fought with digital services like PSN and XBL than Diablo 3 DRM. Because when those services go down your entire purchase history will be lost to time. And that's probably going to happen sooner than Blizzard ceasing to support Diablo 3.

You're wrong again.

They were preserved under the title "Ninja Gaiden DLC Installer.rar" and can be applied to an .ISO of Ninja Gaiden for Xbox and played on a modded console.

 

[Retro_]

You're wrong again.

They were preserved under the title "Ninja Gaiden DLC Installer.rar" and can be applied to an .ISO of Ninja Gaiden for Xbox and played on a modded console.

Shoot me a PM my man

I was looking for AGES

 

[EternalGamer]

your experience is a response to the games integrity. Its gaming design that goes all the way back to Nintedno. Blizzard making a game almost perfect in its features is akin to a Mario game having great platforming or Quake having great level design.
arguably, drm is a gameplay feature when in comes to this game. you might automatically scoff at this comment but how often does gaf complain about a once great game ruined by the community. the gamers do often ruin games for other gamers.

But the thing is, for many, many players the integrity is NOT compromised because they didn't give a shit about the auction house economy. The just want to play the game by themselves or with friends.

Why the hell isn't there just "official" and "non-official" servers. Official servers for people who care about PVP or the legitimacy of item creation, and non-official for those who paid $60 and just want to play by themselves or with friends.

Hackers, please offer an alternative so those of us who bought this fucking game play it how we damn well please. You will be doing the idiots at Blizzard a favor by letting their fans actually enjoy their game.

I dont give a flying fuck about Activisions ability to maintain a certain profit percentage model on a 10+ sword of awesome.

 

[NullPointer]

I think your war is better fought with digital services like PSN and XBL than Diablo 3 DRM. Because when those services go down your entire purchase history will be lost to time. And that's probably going to happen sooner than Blizzard ceasing to support Diablo 3.

I look at it as a sea change with all things digital. DRM is not exclusive to games by any means. And each industry is setting precedents for the others.

You're wrong again.

They were preserved under the title "Ninja Gaiden DLC Installer.rar" and can be applied to an .ISO of Ninja Gaiden for Xbox and played on a modded console.

I don't pirate but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm glad it exists.

 

[krystallinity]

Shoot me a PM my man

Find your way into private trackers...you know...the places that care enough to preserve content like that so you can play it even though it's long gone legally.

There are a couple of main ones that are easy enough to find...once you get in to one of them, search for the archive with a title similar to "XBOX DLC & Arcade (updated 12-01-11)."

You'll find it there.

 

[Retro_]

Participating in this topic validated. Can't tell you how pleased I am to learn that content is preserved.

 

[Aaron]

I bought this game because I felt that the pleasure I would get from it would be worth sixty dollars and my time, despite the online structure.

I am so sorry. I should have been more selfless. I could have saved the hobby.

oh god i've ruined everything

Yes, you should be thankful Blizzard lets you experience the joy of lag and random disconnections in a single player game. They are so innovative.

 

[derdriu]

Diablo 2 was the fastest selling game ever when it came out, so it's entirely reasonable that Blizzard just didn't realise there would be so many wanting to play the game. I mean, it's not like they know how many digital preorders there were or how many physical copies were pressed. Also, they probably don't even have any experience in a large scale online venture.

THIS and i also have much rage. I had the exact same issues connecting, getting kicked off, missing hero when I was playing the "beta" . Nice to see that wasn't a weekend wasted !

 

[Zizbuka]

Lol @ all the bitching in here. It's the biggest game release of the year, of course the first 24-48 hours are going to be mental. Even Apple's website crashed with the release of the iPhone 4S, and that was just from visitor numbers let alone two-way traffic.

CHILL people, in a day or two the servers will be 50% less busy and you won't have to queue.

And I still won't be able to play it on the train, on my laptop. Diablo II is installed on my netbook, runs like a charm. As is Torchlight. And Torchlight II will be on my laptop.

 

[djfist]

I forgot to ask. Are you guys insinuating that this "always online DRM" shit makes this game immune to piracy? If so, then the retail price of this game should be reduced. After all, the high price of software is always justified by the devs due to the high rate of piracy in the first place, right? If it doesn't make it immune then they're just jerking everyone around for no good reason.

 

[tafer]

glad i didnt buy this shit yet

Too late for me, peer pressure sure is a pain in the ass.

 

[PairOfFilthySocks]

Sure feels good to have stuck by my principals and refused to buy this. Suckers.

 

[rdrr gnr]

Sure feels good to have stuck by my principals and refused to buy this. Suckers.

They must be good people.

 

[Bomber Bob]

I'm totally ok with always on DIABLOIII

I don't want separate characters for online & offline

 

[Eusis]

I'm totally ok with always on DIABLOIII

I don't want separate characters for online & offline

It's shit for the launch though. Seriously considering waiting until next month before bothering, but I'm going to wait to hear how it sounds later today before making a firm decision.

 

[Kem0sabe]

I forgot to ask. Are you guys insinuating that this "always online DRM" shit makes this game immune to piracy? If so, then the retail price of this game should be reduced. After all, the high price of software is always justified by the devs due to the high rate of piracy in the first place, right? If it doesn't make it immune then they're just jerking everyone around for no good reason.

Your an idiot, blizzard looses money with every game sold. They obviously do this because they love their fans and what us to have the best experience possible... hence the online only "quality of service" move by them.

 

[IrishNinja]

man, OP's problem is some ol' bullshit. if you've got a single-player mode, it's a single-player game, there's no excuse for that.

I would love to see these same stats as my guess is that the multiplayer-only crowd would be surprised to see that they were far from the majority.

Havent we heard very recently that the majority of COD players never play multiplayer? And that its the same with Halo?

huh..can you cite that? never heard that before (apologies if it came up later).

also, can someone explain something to me? the Auction House, i get what it's about, as i recall all the sites selling equipment on D2 - but i can still drop jewels/weapons/etc for someone in my room, can't i? what's the difference here, can't i still theoretically buy from a site, log on and meet for the drop?

 

[Morokh]

Don't worry, they'll compensate with free days/weeks like with Wow !



... oh .. wait ..

 

[Mr. Pointy]

So I got a Error 3007 during a game and the server swallowed up my character.

I can't recover it. It's fucking gone.

 

[Eusis]

Also: pretty sure this isn't anti-piracy so much as a combination of the auction house, achievement bullshit, and social bullshit. Blizzard games sell so damn well that all they REALLY need to do is make sure people can't play online with pirate copies.

 

[Glass Rebel]

also, can someone explain something to me? the Auction House, i get what it's about, as i recall all the sites selling equipment on D2 - but i can still drop jewels/weapons/etc for someone in my room, can't i? what's the difference here, can't i still theoretically buy from a site, log on and meet for the drop?

I guess the AH makes it easier and safer for players to buy/sell loot and makes Blizzard also some money since they get a share of the money.

 

[IrishNinja]

I guess the AH makes it easier and safer for players to buy/sell loot and makes Blizzard also some money since they get a share of the money.

makes sense, i guess i was just confused because earlier stuff implied to me that it'd eliminate the black market, not just compete with it.