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I was reading that post just a bit ago and stopped after the "While there are some downsides... I still believe..." bit. When someone can acknowledge problems exist and still stand behind what's creating the problems, you know they're never going to fix anything.
I mean i see the point in having a multiplayer only char and thats fine with me but the thing that pissed me off with diablo and starcraft was that I could not have a single player only char that I could just fuck around with. one of my fav fuck around around things was just to use cheat codes in the original starcraft and just build a massive army and just roftlstomp around. I dont see why they couldnt include this also
I am actually amazed at how disappointed I was with Diablo 3, especially when I consider how much I played Diablo 2. I remember creating crazy builds, building new characters, attempting to hit max level, hunting for unique items and rares, and playing with more than 4 of my fiends.
Diablo 3 had NONE of that magic for me. The moment I hit 60 I was greeted with the worst item hunt I have ever seen. ( whats that your the max lvl well now 90% of the gear you can equip is garbage and only 10 % of gear that can only drop in inferno is any good )
I dare say that this game shouldn't be called diablo 3. It should be called Auction House Tycoon.
Diablo 3 had NONE of that magic for me. The moment I hit 60 I was greeted with the worst item hunt I have ever seen. ( whats that your the max lvl well now 90% of the gear you can equip is garbage and only 10 % of gear that can only drop in inferno is any good )
I dare say that this game shouldn't be called diablo 3. It should be called Auction House Tycoon.
They also recently admitted they released an unfinished game. I really think Diablo 3 is the result of Activision mandating simplicity, rehashing existing formulas (with the iterative difficulty and linear itemization profession from WoW), and forcing premature release.
Arguing semantics here, DRM or not DRM anything that limits the user based on actions of a minority is bad in my book.
The only exception I see is something like steams offline mode which Blizzard could have easily implemented because the game was in development for so damn long. I just moved from an area where every hour or so the internet would disconnect and reconnect which I'm sure happens to a lot of people in more "rural" areas or dorm rooms. This and the simplification of the leveling system made me ignore D3's release and preorder Torchlight 2.
The only exception I see is something like steams offline mode which Blizzard could have easily implemented because the game was in development for so damn long. I just moved from an area where every hour or so the internet would disconnect and reconnect which I'm sure happens to a lot of people in more "rural" areas or dorm rooms. This and the simplification of the leveling system made me ignore D3's release and preorder Torchlight 2.
It is a fun game and all, but I am quite fatigued. I haven't run into issues regarding the DRM, but it is still quite funky that there couldn't be a separate online and offline component. I mean... the first two games had that, why not this one? I guess I'm just going to have to try playing the game come PVP-time to see if I still enjoy it. I don't feel like gearing for another 120 hours to min-max my guy and grow my e-peen or whatever.
But still, all of my complaints still lack the rather interesting (and incredibly controversial) DRM issue. I am pretty strongly against that type of practice, yet I still have not faced any sufficient agony to personally bitch about it other than on a principle of the matter. Strange.
But still, all of my complaints still lack the rather interesting (and incredibly controversial) DRM issue. I am pretty strongly against that type of practice, yet I still have not faced any sufficient agony to personally bitch about it other than on a principle of the matter. Strange.
I remember the times Blizzard was known for refusing to release something that wasn't up to their highest caliber of quality.
Well, I guess that's what being purchased by Activision will do to a company.
Well, I guess that's what being purchased by Activision will do to a company.
It's nice that Blizzard is finally acknowledging the possibility that maybe, just maybe, most gamers are gifted with a modicum of rudimentary intelligence at the very least.
This bummed me out. I was fully ready to buy Diablo III but all the negative backlash that happened when it was released turned me off to it. Its a shame too as I had been waiting for this game for years. Oh well, maybe I'll pick it up super cheap in a few years.
Its just a shame that what they made in hopes to make the game more enjoyable is what is absolutely keeping me from getting the game.
I don't have a problem with it. I have internet at my beck and call, and I am used to playing WoW.
However I can understand why others might complain. Unfortunately expect more games to go online only, because piracy is way too easy for anyone to do these days.
However I can understand why others might complain. Unfortunately expect more games to go online only, because piracy is way too easy for anyone to do these days.
@RedComet - Which is astonishing considering how antiquated Bioware's game design generally is. We're talking mid-90's stuff most people got past. At least they farmed out the multiplayer to the right people.
@Occams - Starcraft 2 still hasn't become super cheap. With all of D3's record breaking sales figures, I think it'll stay expensive. Unless the game significantly changes, I really don't think you're missing anything - leveling is fun, but the endgame loot chase is pathetic and vapid.
To me Diablo III is a multiplayer game with a possible singleplayer mode. The singleplayer is a bore. 95% of my time in the game I spent playing with a friend and it was a blast... until we both got bored. Don't get me wrong: the game's exactly what I wanted it to be and I'm fully satisfied with it. I spent over 100 hours in it. That's more than in any I've played since Diablo II (WoW not included) and I play a lot.
Diablo 3 was such a major disappointment. As if watering down down Diablo 2 was not enough by removing character creativity, Blizz felt the need to make the game unplayable at random times due to server load or network issues.
It's really a no win situation for most PC developers nowadays. If they don't include DRM (especially in a game with a large single player component like Diablo III) then piracy runs rampant and they have shareholders to answer to for the loss of profits (and those shareholders are people like you and me... investors who want to see a return on their investment so that their retirement funds continue to grow or at least maintain - we're not some evil corporate entity), but if they include DRM, then gamers get pissed off.
It really is a no-win but I think they did the right thing by including some form of DRM and enhancing the co-op gameplay and other online features to offset the always-on requirement.
It really is a no-win but I think they did the right thing by including some form of DRM and enhancing the co-op gameplay and other online features to offset the always-on requirement.
I don't know man, this is one of the only things I disagree with you on. I actually see his point and where always-on connectivity can be a great asset to a game. It certainly makes the development of such an online system easier. I know it's consumers over ease of development/ongoing support but in some cases having always-on brings some features that might not be feasible at all to the game. The fact that it also helps (or attempts to curb) piracy and hacks is just a bonus, albeit a bonus that is taken seriously by devs (and more seriously by everyone else).
@Elsa
There is one solution tho. Steam, steam is the DRM pill most have been able to swallow gladly.
There is one solution tho. Steam, steam is the DRM pill most have been able to swallow gladly.
Really didn't need to cop to anything, its not like we had any doubts that it was the reason for it.
"Diablo III was designed from the beginning to be an online game that can be enjoyed with friends..."
This, however, pretty much confirms that Blizzard's totally lost sight of the original point of this series: the single-player, dungeon crawling, lose yourself for hours, grindfest. Its really no wonder at all that we're only a few months past the launch and people are already saying "People still play that" (even if they're trying to be asses), when people played Diablo 1 and 2 for YEARS after, without people questioning their sanity.
But I guess that's what we get in a world where most people (or developers) thinks a game isn't complete without multiplayer. (And yeah, I realize mutliplayer was a thing in Diablo 2, and was a precursor to WoW -but it was hardly essential to the game, and there wasn't whole oppressive system created to support it and make it the centerpiece of the experience)
"I'd been calling Diablo III's online requirement DRM since the day it was announced, despite arguments from some claiming it wasn't DRM because Blizzard hadn't been calling it DRM."
Well, those people arguing with you obviously have very little clue when common sense dictates that any game that requires you to be online to play it, or it won't play at all (or will knock you out of the game if you lose connection), is a form of DRM. And, in fact, is one of the oldest forms of it... Anyone fighting that needs to take off the rose colored glasses, since they probably only argue that point because they think Blizzard wouldn't lower themselves to such things. But boy do they have that wrong.
@joeman098
I'm with you on that. I don't really know what they're showing with this, but for a company that always had some awesome cheat codes, its a bit of a disappointment where we've ended up.
@Arttemis
I'm not questioning Activisions influence here at all, because I don't think we can doubt that they have a lot to do with the complete tonal shift in all of Blizzard, but I don't know if we can say the game was rushed.
I mean, the game was first announced around 6 or 7 years ago and had already been in development for a while before they let it slip into magazines that the game was happening.
So they had plenty of development time, if anything Activision pushed them to actually release the game at all, before the development cycle became a decade long (if it hadn't already been close to it)
@Jack Dandy
I also remember when "Soon" from them wasn't meant to be snarky. But look where thats gone.
Its all really a sign of the times it looks like. I don't really see, WoW revenue aside, how they'd possibly be able to keep up their old tactics for much longer, even without prodding from Activision. I also don't see even an amazing release being received very well, if it was just a complete rehash of what they've already made, we've already played, and probably still own -that kind of pressure pushes you to make sloppy mistakes, and it only proves that Blizzard isn't immune to it, for better or worse.
@Occam
Sadly, like Arrtemis said, I think we'll need to wait a long while before it does, seeing how SC2 is coming up on 2 years olf hasn't really budged in price aside from a few sales here and there. I'm only expecting it to go down in price when they decide it needs to be released as a battlechest -which probably isn't going to happen -at least- till all the parts of the game are released (seeing how its split into 3) Even then I'm expecting that chest to be pretty pricy, seeing how they're going to be packing in 3 "games" that released at $60 each.
"Diablo III was designed from the beginning to be an online game that can be enjoyed with friends..."
This, however, pretty much confirms that Blizzard's totally lost sight of the original point of this series: the single-player, dungeon crawling, lose yourself for hours, grindfest. Its really no wonder at all that we're only a few months past the launch and people are already saying "People still play that" (even if they're trying to be asses), when people played Diablo 1 and 2 for YEARS after, without people questioning their sanity.
But I guess that's what we get in a world where most people (or developers) thinks a game isn't complete without multiplayer. (And yeah, I realize mutliplayer was a thing in Diablo 2, and was a precursor to WoW -but it was hardly essential to the game, and there wasn't whole oppressive system created to support it and make it the centerpiece of the experience)
"I'd been calling Diablo III's online requirement DRM since the day it was announced, despite arguments from some claiming it wasn't DRM because Blizzard hadn't been calling it DRM."
Well, those people arguing with you obviously have very little clue when common sense dictates that any game that requires you to be online to play it, or it won't play at all (or will knock you out of the game if you lose connection), is a form of DRM. And, in fact, is one of the oldest forms of it... Anyone fighting that needs to take off the rose colored glasses, since they probably only argue that point because they think Blizzard wouldn't lower themselves to such things. But boy do they have that wrong.
@joeman098
I'm with you on that. I don't really know what they're showing with this, but for a company that always had some awesome cheat codes, its a bit of a disappointment where we've ended up.
@Arttemis
I'm not questioning Activisions influence here at all, because I don't think we can doubt that they have a lot to do with the complete tonal shift in all of Blizzard, but I don't know if we can say the game was rushed.
I mean, the game was first announced around 6 or 7 years ago and had already been in development for a while before they let it slip into magazines that the game was happening.
So they had plenty of development time, if anything Activision pushed them to actually release the game at all, before the development cycle became a decade long (if it hadn't already been close to it)
@Jack Dandy
I also remember when "Soon" from them wasn't meant to be snarky. But look where thats gone.
Its all really a sign of the times it looks like. I don't really see, WoW revenue aside, how they'd possibly be able to keep up their old tactics for much longer, even without prodding from Activision. I also don't see even an amazing release being received very well, if it was just a complete rehash of what they've already made, we've already played, and probably still own -that kind of pressure pushes you to make sloppy mistakes, and it only proves that Blizzard isn't immune to it, for better or worse.
@Occam
Sadly, like Arrtemis said, I think we'll need to wait a long while before it does, seeing how SC2 is coming up on 2 years olf hasn't really budged in price aside from a few sales here and there. I'm only expecting it to go down in price when they decide it needs to be released as a battlechest -which probably isn't going to happen -at least- till all the parts of the game are released (seeing how its split into 3) Even then I'm expecting that chest to be pretty pricy, seeing how they're going to be packing in 3 "games" that released at $60 each.
I'm just saying, when you start experiencing disconnects and lag on your single-player game, you have some problems there. It's damn frustrating.
"Diablo III was designed from the beginning to be an online game that can be enjoyed with friends, and the always-online requirement is the best way for us to support that design."
If that bullshit was true, the game wouldn't become nearly impossible to farm the second 3 friends joined you. Imagine 4 people in a vent channel all farming act 3 solo just because it's less frustrating. Imagine 3 melle characters sitting at the entrance of whimsyshire waiting for the DH to Kite everything to death and call us over loot.
glad i quit.
If that bullshit was true, the game wouldn't become nearly impossible to farm the second 3 friends joined you. Imagine 4 people in a vent channel all farming act 3 solo just because it's less frustrating. Imagine 3 melle characters sitting at the entrance of whimsyshire waiting for the DH to Kite everything to death and call us over loot.
glad i quit.
@Occam
Somehow talking about D3 morphed into me talking only about SC2, but I think you get what I was getting at.
Somehow talking about D3 morphed into me talking only about SC2, but I think you get what I was getting at.
And mind you, i know the game has a huge focus on multiplayer, but still, come on. I just want to play alone some...
@Arttemis, BoomingEchoes I can wait a long time, especially since it appears I'm not missing too much. I really don't like endgame loot chase bullshit. It makes a game feel like a chore. And really, if I never end up playing it, eh, no big deal in my waking world.
Meh. Don't give a damn about this game until the loot drop rates are improved substantially or the RMAH is shut down, permanently. Blizzard cast their credability to the wind for a $1 listing fee and a 15% taste of the transaction.
Fuck off blizzard, seriously. That goes to every other pub/dev who tries to blatently lie to the gaming community by sugar coating bullshit with pr spins. It's like a somewhat eloquent person with no pants on is sitting in front of me trying to convince me he DOES have pants on as underwear can be considered a form of pant coverage or some dumb shit. No. Just no.
I use to love blizz and their games so hard. When did it come to this?
I use to love blizz and their games so hard. When did it come to this?
So Jim hates piracy but yet when companies take measures to curb the practise he hates that too. Way to stick to your guns buddy.
I passed on Diablo 3 because there was no Offline mode and people I know that bought it said it sucked and then bitch about always connected to play. People need to stop buying game with this DRM or it will just get worse.
I love the fond memories everyone has of D2. Getting pked by hacked builds, botspam filling up the chat screen in public matches, people grabbing loot from drops for builds they don't even use, characters getting deleted after 3 months, doing baal runs over and over for weeks on end trying to find a decent upgrade. Fun times indeed.
Space moose: new dtoid troll or new dtoid idiot?
I know, the difference seems negligible but there is still a slight discrepancy between asshole and stupid.
I know, the difference seems negligible but there is still a slight discrepancy between asshole and stupid.
Didn't Blizzard announce you'd have to be connected to play before the game was released? If you knew that, then why buy the game then cry and complain about it? So far there isn't any mass duping which ruined D2, which some of you forget was a on-going problem. I played D1 & D2 from launch. Duping and hacks ruined the online play. Seems to me the people who are crying the loudest want more easy-mode games and less difficulty.
Except you're not pointing out the obvious. Jims stance on piracy and DRM has shifted and everything you said about d2 can be fixed without requiring an always on connection.
Quickly moved onto Torchlight 2 when they announced the online only requirement. Haven't looked back since and Torchlight 2 beta was a blast.
Moose has a point, to many people have rose tinted glasses over D2, that game was a disaster filled with exploits out the ass, botters where rampant, duped items where everywhere and PvP involved level 99 ganking level 40's, not sure what people mean about all these amazing builds either, inferno was nearly impossible unless you where a hammerdin or did some gimmicky build.
Stat points? Don't make me laugh, everyone just dumped everything into one stat, accidentally put one into energy? OOPS time to start over.
D3 isn't perfect by any means but it streamlined a lot of the more archaic and frustrating mechanics, they just need to keep working on balance, act 3 and 4 still need a lot of work and they need to make it so all classes can go through game, not just dumb gimmicky builds or tanky barbs and monks.
And fix WD goddammit.
Stat points? Don't make me laugh, everyone just dumped everything into one stat, accidentally put one into energy? OOPS time to start over.
D3 isn't perfect by any means but it streamlined a lot of the more archaic and frustrating mechanics, they just need to keep working on balance, act 3 and 4 still need a lot of work and they need to make it so all classes can go through game, not just dumb gimmicky builds or tanky barbs and monks.
And fix WD goddammit.
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