Dhruin
SasqWatch
Patch 1.03 for Diablo III has been released in most regions, introducing a range of balance changes and some other interesting consequences (below). As previously discussed, loot and drop rates have been tweaked to address criticism.
Moving on, whatever your position on Blizzard's always-online design for Diablo III, they sure are working hard to turn players against them.
During the week it became evident that, as of v1.03, newly purchased digital copies of Diablo III were locked into the "Starter Edition" for around 72 hours, restricting access to a range of content. From GameSpot:
More information.
Moving on, whatever your position on Blizzard's always-online design for Diablo III, they sure are working hard to turn players against them.
During the week it became evident that, as of v1.03, newly purchased digital copies of Diablo III were locked into the "Starter Edition" for around 72 hours, restricting access to a range of content. From GameSpot:
Though some of these posts have been removed by Blizzard, it seems this was to address credit card fraud - though I'd note much larger vendors seem to have no trouble providing online purchases without delay:Gamers who pay to download Diablo III won't have full access to the game for up to three days, thanks to tweaks made in the game's latest patch. According to a post on Blizzard's forums, Diablo III downloaders will only be able to play the Starter Edition of the game for up to 72 hours after purchase.
The Starter Edition for the PC dungeon crawler caps character levels at 13 and progress through the end of Act I. It also prohibits auction house access and multiplayer matchmaking with anyone who is not also using a Starter Edition or in the same region.
At Kotaku, Blizzard responds by saying some of the restrictions are necessary but some were unintentional:A customer support article on Blizzard's site states that the restrictions remain in place until payment verification is completed, a process that can take up to three days. The change was made Wednesday along with several other modifications in the game's 1.03 patch.
"We apologize for the inconvenience, but it is a necessary step to combat fraud and other malicious activities that can weaken everyone's play experience," Blizzard support forum agent Kaltonis said in a forum thread about the issue.
Good job, Blizzard.However, as an unintended consequence of these security measures, players who purchase the game digitally after patch 1.0.3 are temporarily being capped at level 13 and not able to proceed beyond Act I. We are working to correct this as soon as possible and will provide another update when we have more details to share.
Aside from the two unintended restrictions noted above, below are the standard security-related restrictions that will be in place for digital purchases until payment verification is complete:
· No public game access for unverified digital purchasers
· No auction house access (real-money or gold) for unverified digital purchasers
· Unverified digital purchasers cannot trade items or drop items for other players to receive
· Unverified digital purchasers are not able to chat in any public or game channels
· Unverified digital purchasers cannot attach a custom message to friend requests, but they can send/accept friend requests, and play with their friends
· Global Play is not available for unverified digital purchasers
Again, we want to be perfectly clear that these are temporary restrictions (often lifted within a day and at most 72 hours) associated with digital purchases for the protection of players. We appreciate player feedback and will continue to evaluate the best methods for ensuring a positive game experience for everyone.
More information.