blizzard can SUCK IT!

[IPD]

DailyTech - Diablo III to be Online Only; Will Allow Players to Buy/Sell Loot for Cash (http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=22311&red=y#704593)

all i wanted was for D3 to be D2 with better graphics, increased depth, and aggressive farming/bot control.

blizzard responds by giving us WOW2; zero offline play.

i think i'm pretty much done owning any blizzard product ever again. last one i bought was WC3. i've watched them start charging for online play (WOW), require online registration before allowing ANY gameplay (SC2), kill off LAN (SC2), and this new development just takes the cake.

time to find something else. f**k you, blizzard. f**k you and the horse you rode in on.

[futurevr4man]

i can see your point. but at the end of the day, blizzard does make good games.

[IPD]

USED to. activision would probably do the same thing to blizzard that EA has done to practically every developer it's bought out; except that blizzard is too big. so now, instead of killing off blizzard--blizzard simply becomes twisted & corrupted by activision.

there've been plenty of games i intentionally chose NOT to play, because i didn't approve of something the developer did. blizzard has decided to go down that path. sad for me, because i won't be able to recreate the same gaming joys that i'd had in years prior--but there will be other games. if nothing else, i'll have time to explore some games that i've never even tried before; like civilization.

[Zaroth]

Sounds like its going to be a more efficient version of what it use to be? I'm actually more excited to play it now that I have read that. Is it just the no offline mode you are upset about?

[UTRacerX9]

Hmm. So long as they don't charge you to play online, I don't care too much. I'm not a hardcore gamer like I was in the past though, I liked D1 and D2, but I probably won't even buy D3 unless I see it months later at a decent price.

[IPD]

Sounds like its going to be a more efficient version of what it use to be? I'm actually more excited to play it now that I have read that. Is it just the no offline mode you are upset about?

"more efficient"? it's a giant sham which is going to make it impossible to find high-level gear without having to pay for it. i don't play games where i end up having to "buy" anything. i don't use xbox live; i don't play WOW. rather than BANNING bots and punishing people for openly advertising sales inside of the game (like the d2 servers are RIFE with) d3 promises to make the practice EVEN WORSE. and now it will be impossible to play offline, where you don't have to "SCRAMBLE LIKE MAD" to collect item drops from kills.

efficient? no. it's just WOW without the monthly fee. there is NOTHING to differentiate it from WOW now. epic fail.

[Alan92RTTT]

Its not like WOW. You can not play an MMO single player in a private setting. D# can be played single player in a private game.

With d3 your character is stored on line. Your save content is online. If you want to play single player your game is still private. So you wont have to ""SCRAMBLE LIKE MAD" to collect item drops from kills".


According to Rob Pardo, executive producer of Diablo III, this was done mainly to combat the style of hacking present in previous versions of Diablo. "In both Diablo and especially in Diablo II, I think the intuition for a lot of people when they're playing the game is 'I want to make my character offline away from that scary battle net environment. And then once I have this powerful character, I'll jump online.' But the problem with that concept is we can't really detect if they're cheating. They might have the capability to hack their character, things like that, so at that point we can't really allow that character to be in the battle net environment. Then they're going to have to restart their character, which is exactly what happened in Diablo II, which was really unfortunate."

"Your character will be online on battle net the moment you start playing," said Pardo. "You can play a solo experience like you would in Diablo II, it's just your character is on Blizzard's servers and authenticated." This character can then hop into multiplayer games and trade items with others through battle net.

Personally I do not care. I hated that in D2 my single player world was not persistent over a save. I hated that areas that were cleared would not stay clear, I hated that things left on the ground would be gone when you came back. Trying to play the game over multiple sessions to complete the story was a frustrating mess. I never completed it because I got tired of having to fight through places that I had been.

[Zaroth]

"more efficient"? it's a giant sham which is going to make it impossible to find high-level gear without having to pay for it. i don't play games where i end up having to "buy" anything. i don't use xbox live; i don't play WOW. rather than BANNING bots and punishing people for openly advertising sales inside of the game (like the d2 servers are RIFE with) d3 promises to make the practice EVEN WORSE. and now it will be impossible to play offline, where you don't have to "SCRAMBLE LIKE MAD" to collect item drops from kills.

efficient? no. it's just WOW without the monthly fee. there is NOTHING to differentiate it from WOW now. epic fail.

Going to make it impossible to find high level gear? You mean instead of botting people are going to have to actually play to get gear? Sounds terrible...

Why would you have to spend actual money on anything? If you didn't spend money on it before why would you now? Items being sold for money is nothing new. It was in Diablo 2 right from the start. All blizzard did was make it safer for the consumer to do.

If you don't want to "scramble like mad" you just play in a private server by yourself...

You sound like somebody who is pissed about Diablo 3 that never actually played Diablo 2.

[IPD]

Its not like WOW. You can not play an MMO single player in a private setting. D# can be played single player in a private game.

With d3 your character is stored on line. Your save content is online. If you want to play single player your game is still private. So you wont have to ""SCRAMBLE LIKE MAD" to collect item drops from kills".



Personally I do not care. I hated that in D2 my single player world was not persistent over a save. I hated that areas that were cleared would not stay clear, I hated that things left on the ground would be gone when you came back. Trying to play the game over multiple sessions to complete the story was a frustrating mess. I never completed it because I got tired of having to fight through places that I had been.

alan, your biggest pet-peeve isn't going to be fixed by going online. just like in d2, areas you cleared are still swarming when you join a new server. bottom line is, drops won't be persistent (nor could they, given how much it would litter the area & clog servers); nor will monsters remain dead. none of that will be fixed by d3.


Going to make it impossible to find high level gear? You mean instead of botting people are going to have to actually play to get gear? Sounds terrible...

Why would you have to spend actual money on anything? If you didn't spend money on it before why would you now? Items being sold for money is nothing new. It was in Diablo 2 right from the start. All blizzard did was make it safer for the consumer to do.

If you don't want to "scramble like mad" you just play in a private server by yourself...

You sound like somebody who is pissed about Diablo 3 that never actually played Diablo 2.

you're misunderstanding me. i think this is going to make botting WORSE. blizzard is sanctioning it, which means it will become even MORE prevalent. it's possible that at times, bots on the servers would be nearly equal to actual human players on the servers.

i've played diablo2 extensively. in fact, i'll be playing it when i get home this evening (as i have been for the past week or so). the only thing i dislike about d2 is the chat spam from bots. at least with offline play, that's not a problem. and LAN play was awesome because you could multiplayer w/o the bs. blizzard has already decreed that LAN is dead, and now they want to kill offline play altogether.

so once again, f**k blizzard.

[MADMarc]

Mmmm....I'm still extremely excited :) bf3 and swtor will keep me company until their ACTUAL release date in four decades :P

[UTRacerX9]

I miss StarCraft LAN parties in college. Nothing more amusing than marching your soldiers into your friend's base and destroying him piece by piece while hearing them scream "Fuck you bitch!" from the other room. :)

[Alan92RTTT]

alan, your biggest pet-peeve isn't going to be fixed by going online. just like in d2, areas you cleared are still swarming when you join a new server. bottom line is, drops won't be persistent (nor could they, given how much it would litter the area & clog servers); nor will monsters remain dead. none of that will be fixed by d3..

I get that, thats why I said, I do not care.

IMO the single player D2 was a halfassed multiplayer game you could play solo. D3 will be the same.

[BigTyla]

IPD, you need to do some research. D3 incorporated private drops into the game. You won't have to "scramble like mad" to pick up drops. All drops will be seen by you only, and drops for other people in the game will be seen only by them.

I can understand that some people would disagree with the lack of offline play, especially if said people live in the boonies with a terrible internet connection, but if you are mad about this because you just want to play by yourself, why can't you just create your own game and password protect it? It's really not that big of a deal.

[stealthify]

I definitely have mixed feelings about this. Part of my wants to believe it's not that big of a deal (my computer is usually hooked into the net 24/7 anyway), but the other part of me is a little disturbed by the 'what if' situations where, say, I'm waiting for a flight or am on the road. A situation like that would make this game worthless to me.

I would still prefer to be offered the offline option (for single player mode), and I am disappointed to see that Blizzard decided to axe it. Chances are, I'll still end up giving it a chance though. I'm just looking forward to seeing if it brings back the memories of D2.

[BigTyla]

Without attempting to ninja edit my post, I'll recognize that online play will lack persistence. You're one of the few that actually wants that. Personally, I found single player to be pretty frustrating BECAUSE of the persistence. The map was the same throughout the entire game, all areas remained cleared so I couldn't farm my favorite places for experience, items, or just plain fun. It was terrible.

[IPD]

IPD, you need to do some research. D3 incorporated private drops into the game. You won't have to "scramble like mad" to pick up drops. All drops will be seen by you only, and drops for other people in the game will be seen only by them.

I can understand that some people would disagree with the lack of offline play, especially if said people live in the boonies with a terrible internet connection, but if you are mad about this because you just want to play by yourself, why can't you just create your own game and password protect it? It's really not that big of a deal.

i'll believe that when i see it, tyla. it would take a LOT of wind out of the sails of people selling items if they can't grab all the runes/weapons/armor from a drop. even still, sanctioning the monetization of a game takes camraderie out of it. whereas before, if i'm playing as a sorc, i'll happy give any druid equipment away. now? everything will be up for sale.

and yes, having an internet connection is a HUGE problem. i'm actually LUCKY that my hotel has the crappy internet it does; there's a lot of places i go to where it's next to impossible to get online.

[IPD]

Without attempting to ninja edit my post, I'll recognize that online play will lack persistence. You're one of the few that actually wants that. Personally, I found single player to be pretty frustrating BECAUSE of the persistence. The map was the same throughout the entire game, all areas remained cleared so I couldn't farm my favorite places for experience, items, or just plain fun. It was terrible.

i don't want persistence; alan does. i'm ok with how it was in d2. if i wanted to beat a boss multiple times, all i have to do is join a different server.

...and like i was alluding to above, one of the key things i like about d2 is that there's camraderie. i HAVE gotten great items "given" to me. i've tried to give away my share of others. i want this to continue. i don't want it to be "yeah, i've got that occulus. how much will you pay me for it?"

[MADMarc]

I miss StarCraft LAN parties in college. Nothing more amusing than marching your soldiers into your friend's base and destroying him piece by piece while hearing them scream "Fuck you bitch!" from the other room. :)

lmfao I remember that! :D

[stealthify]

...and like i was alluding to above, one of the key things i like about d2 is that there's camraderie.

This part makes sense to me. But isn't that what friends are for?

[IPD]

lmfao I remember that! :D

i also enjoyed many a lan party. we played up to 6 with descent. we had over 2 dozen playing facing worlds on ut99 in the lab. :)

[BigTyla]

i'll believe that when i see it, tyla. it would take a LOT of wind out of the sails of people selling items if they can't grab all the runes/weapons/armor from a drop. even still, sanctioning the monetization of a game takes camraderie out of it. whereas before, if i'm playing as a sorc, i'll happy give any druid equipment away. now? everything will be up for sale.

Diablo 3 Blog: New Drop System in Diablo 3 (http://diablo3blog.blogspot.com/2008/07/new-drop-system-in-diablo-3.html)

You can still trade items to your friends, and unlike in D2 your treasure chest will be account-wide, so you won't have to make mules to hold your cool stuff for future characters.

[FeaRpb]

Qq moar


I can't wait to play.

[IPD]

Diablo 3 Blog: New Drop System in Diablo 3 (http://diablo3blog.blogspot.com/2008/07/new-drop-system-in-diablo-3.html)

You can still trade items to your friends, and unlike in D2 your treasure chest will be account-wide, so you won't have to make mules to hold your cool stuff for future characters.

only cool if your treasure chest is virtually unlimited in size. with d2, you don't even have enough space for 1 character.

[FeaRpb]

I had plenty of room for 1 character and then some.

[IPD]

I had plenty of room for 1 character and then some.

must depend on character class; or you don't keep much. i always keep some p-gems/skulls/socketable items, a couple of rings/amulets, and maybe a spare weapon. add in quest items (khalim's flail, you suck) & you're totally out of space.

[FeaRpb]

I have every class but barb. multiple classes of different specs. Every char is built for MAX dmg and defense. I only kept the uber items.

[FeaRpb]

Tho I can say, not a single one of my chars have more than 8 units of inventory space because they all have atleast 7 or 8 Skill GC's

[BigTyla]

only cool if your treasure chest is virtually unlimited in size. with d2, you don't even have enough space for 1 character.

Your account-wide chest has multiple pages. More space can be bought with gold.

[IPD]

Tho I can say, not a single one of my chars have more than 8 units of inventory space because they all have atleast 7 or 8 Skill GC's

that's 1 weapon or suit of armor (in most cases). what happens if you run into 2 or 3 really nice items you want to keep?

[Zaroth]

you're misunderstanding me. i think this is going to make botting WORSE. blizzard is sanctioning it, which means it will become even MORE prevalent. it's possible that at times, bots on the servers would be nearly equal to actual human players on the servers.

i've played diablo2 extensively. in fact, i'll be playing it when i get home this evening (as i have been for the past week or so). the only thing i dislike about d2 is the chat spam from bots. at least with offline play, that's not a problem. and LAN play was awesome because you could multiplayer w/o the bs. blizzard has already decreed that LAN is dead, and now they want to kill offline play altogether.

so once again, f**k blizzard.

I think the only reason botting is so bad on Diablo 2 is because the game has been around so long and so many accounts have been stolen and sold off that the amount of bots could actually be that bad. In Diablo 3, if bots are that bad, It wouldn't be for a LONG time as Diablo 2 wasn't like that for years and years after it was released.

If you don't want bots in your game or you want an "offline experience", you make a game with a password. If you want a LAN like experience just make a game and put a password on it. Pretty simple stuff.

[Zaroth]

that's 1 weapon or suit of armor (in most cases). what happens if you run into 2 or 3 really nice items you want to keep?

You put them in your chest. When that gets full you put the extra stuff on a different character.

[IPD]

that still doesn't address play access for those without ready access to the internet.

p.s.
yes, i know how mules work, zaroth. problem is, if every character has the same treasure chest, it really defeats the purpose. i'd almost rather that all items had a shelf-life/service-life. you'd need to continually find new items to replace the old.

[Zaroth]

that still doesn't address play access for those without ready access to the internet.

p.s.
yes, i know how mules work, zaroth. problem is, if every character has the same treasure chest, it really defeats the purpose. i'd almost rather that all items had a shelf-life/service-life. you'd need to continually find new items to replace the old.

It's addressed. They can't play. I enjoy getting on these forums. If I don't have internet access I can't, so I make sure I have it so that I can. It's not Alan's fault if I don't have internet access.

With the difficulty of obtaining high level items in Diablo, I would stop playing if items had a shelf life. If I spent tons of time(maybe months) collecting pieces for a set only to have a never ending cycle of replacing my high end gear and never having a chance to collect gear for my other characters It would be horrible. Half the fun of Diablo is hoarding items.

[BigTyla]

if every character has the same treasure chest, it really defeats the purpose. i'd almost rather that all items had a shelf-life/service-life. you'd need to continually find new items to replace the old.

Sounds like WoW is the game for you.

[Zaroth]

Sounds like WoW is the game for you.

Items last forever in WoW, you just spend money to repair them, just like Diablo.

[IPD]

It's addressed. They can't play. I enjoy getting on these forums. If I don't have internet access I can't, so I make sure I have it so that I can. It's not Alan's fault if I don't have internet access.

With the difficulty of obtaining high level items in Diablo, I would stop playing if items had a shelf life. If I spent tons of time(maybe months) collecting pieces for a set only to have a never ending cycle of replacing my high end gear and never having a chance to collect gear for my other characters It would be horrible. Half the fun of Diablo is hoarding items.

i didn't "buy" this forum. i'm not required to pay to interact here. i'm not restricted from viewing any content unless i register even. so your comparison is a weak one at best.

when i pay $50 for a game, you damn well bet i want to be able to play it offline. that's a MAJOR turnoff for WOW (besides the monthly fee that's a huge turnoff. i know i spend way too much time gaming, i don't need to be reminded of how much by being hit with monthly fees). my being a supporter of this forum is a CHOICE. i don't have to do that in order to enjoy the forum. tyla & madmarc up there don't have that nifty "3sgto supporter" logo on their names; yet they're still able to use it. the only way your argument makes sense is if d3 was a free game.

tyla, i'm not in favor of items that wear out. i'm just saying that if they're going to hamstring storage space; they should at least build the idea of volitility into the game; rather than just allocating barely enough for 1 character. this is partly tied in with the existing setup--where you could lose gold in storage if you died. saving too many items in storage would allow you to sell them & never really lose gold.

i think the whole system needed an overhaul, but blizzard is taking it in the wrong direction. i really don't see how d3 is going to be any different from WOW--except for the monthly fee.

[Zaroth]

i didn't "buy" this forum. i'm not required to pay to interact here. i'm not restricted from viewing any content unless i register even. so your comparison is a weak one at best.

when i pay $50 for a game, you damn well bet i want to be able to play it offline. that's a MAJOR turnoff for WOW (besides the monthly fee that's a huge turnoff. i know i spend way too much time gaming, i don't need to be reminded of how much by being hit with monthly fees). my being a supporter of this forum is a CHOICE. i don't have to do that in order to enjoy the forum. tyla & madmarc up there don't have that nifty "3sgto supporter" logo on their names; yet they're still able to use it. the only way your argument makes sense is if d3 was a free game.

Nobody is forcing you to buy the game. Buying this game is a CHOICE. They are not keeping the internet only restriction a secret. You act like they are trying to trick people into buying the game. They are making a game for people that play games on the internet(The VAST majority). So they are not pleasing the market of people without internet(probably can't afford a 50-60 dollar game anyways). In what world do you live in that everybody gets what they want?

If you like what they are selling buy it. If it doesn't fit your cup of tea then don't. Either way it's going to be a great game just like every other Blizzard game that has ever come out.

[FeaRpb]

when i pay $50 for a game, you damn well bet i want to be able to play it offline.

Well then make sure you pick up a game that says it has offline mode, don't spend money on online only games. It even says it on the back of the case/box for the consumer to know. Problem solved.

Don't like its online only mode, dont play it.

[BigTyla]

Items last forever in WoW, you just spend money to repair them, just like Diablo.

The items become obsolete when new raid content is introduced, so in WoW you are forced to farm for gear all over again in order to compete.

Trust me, I know the routine. I PvPd competitively for 5 seasons. I hated the beginning of the newest season because I knew I had to farm BGs for hours on end to upgrade my gear. :p

[IPD]

Well then make sure you pick up a game that says it has offline mode, don't spend money on online only games. It even says it on the back of the case/box for the consumer to know. Problem solved.

Don't like its online only mode, dont play it.

again, missing the entire point. this isn't a new genre of game. this isn't even a new title of game. it's a sequel. and one that has apparently diverged so much from its predecessors that it's hardly worth the title. THAT'S what i have a problem with. yes, it's my consumer choice not to buy/play it. so what? imagine that you're a big HALO fan. suddently MS announces that halo is no longer a 1st person shooter, but now a 3rd person adventure game. are you still on board?

so what if it's a decent game? it's not HALO. it may in fact be a great game--but it shouldn't be called halo. or how about if the new HALO could only be played online. what happens if you're deployed?

i survive on games when i'm stuck in the worlds asscrack for months at a time. taking my favorite titles & turning them into a profiteering-minded, user-rights trampling abomination is reprehensible. i WILL find different games; but the pain of having my favorites spit in my face is brutal. i hate the "hunt & peck" of finding new games that do actually cater to my user needs.

so yes, blizzard HAS made great games; but those days are done. they gameplay is still stellar; but the composite user experience has been taking a nosedive.

[FeaRpb]

First off I hate Halo. But if I was a halo fan, yeah I would buy it and try it out. I would still have the previous halo to play if I ended up hating it.

[onebadmollafolla]

First off I hate Halo.

http://i.imgur.com/GDLtj.gif

































But seriously, Halo is quite terrible.

[FeaRpb]

The first one was fun. It was the game of its time. Then it turned into the COD series and just added new maps and revamped graphics and skins.

[Zaroth]

again, missing the entire point. this isn't a new genre of game. this isn't even a new title of game. it's a sequel. and one that has apparently diverged so much from its predecessors that it's hardly worth the title. THAT'S what i have a problem with. yes, it's my consumer choice not to buy/play it. so what? imagine that you're a big HALO fan. suddently MS announces that halo is no longer a 1st person shooter, but now a 3rd person adventure game. are you still on board?

And you were saying my analogy was poor? Lol. They are adding features. The game play is going to pretty damn similar to its predecessors. Your example makes 0 sense.




so what if it's a decent game? it's not HALO. it may in fact be a great game--but it shouldn't be called halo. or how about if the new HALO could only be played online. what happens if you're deployed?

Again, very similar game. Maybe a little less morbid than previous versions, but I'm willing to accept that. If I was deployed, hopefully I would have planned ahead and had more than one game.


i survive on games when i'm stuck in the worlds asscrack for months at a time. taking my favorite titles & turning them into a profiteering-minded, user-rights trampling abomination is reprehensible. i WILL find different games; but the pain of having my favorites spit in my face is brutal. i hate the "hunt & peck" of finding new games that do actually cater to my user needs.

How dare they profit off their games. Selfish bastards. Have fun finding new games. The rest of us will be here enjoying the hell of out Diablo 3(literally).


so yes, blizzard HAS made great games; but those days are done. they gameplay is still stellar; but the composite user experience has been taking a nosedive.

The tens of millions of people that play their games daily would likely argue that.

[IPD]

say whatever you want, zaroth. i actually do follow this stuff. the current of dissent against blizzard is approaching the currents against netflix. it's almost as bad as the customer dis-satisfaction with cellular companies' overage/throttling.

clearly you're a big blizzard fan. they've had their day. they're far too big and impersonal now to actually CARE about the consumer. all of the "craft" founders/programmers have pretty much fled at this point. that kinda says something.

[BigTyla]

say whatever you want, zaroth. i actually do follow this stuff. the current of dissent against blizzard is approaching the currents against netflix. it's almost as bad as the customer dis-satisfaction with cellular companies' overage/throttling.

Dissent has certainly increased since Hacktivision bought Blizzard out. That being said, I don't think it compares in the slightest to Netflix, especially since they are two entirely different types of services.

[IPD]

hell, activision makes EA look saintly by comparison. seems like every damn day i'm hearing more and more SUCK eminating from that direction.

[BigTyla]

hell, activision makes EA look saintly by comparison. seems like every damn day i'm hearing more and more SUCK eminating from that direction.

Tell that to the WAR players with autopay that had thousands of dollars taken out of their account in one day.

[mb3000]

Sounds like you do a little too much gaming Imperfect :lol:

[eljefefx]

Kind of pisses me off. I was never into playing D2 with others.

[IPD]

Kind of pisses me off. I was never into playing D2 with others.

you've been to the sandbox even more than i have. are "online only" games a friendly choice?

[eljefefx]

you've been to the sandbox even more than i have. are "online only" games a friendly choice?

He'll no they aren't, not out there. The "decent" net connection at Bagram runs you $100/month and it is sub-56k. I laughed my ass of when one of my coworkers had his wife mail him SC2 while we were out there. Took him a day to get back to me and say "Now I know why you laughed."