Diablo 3 - "No Mods, Online-Only, Cash Trades"

No offline mod? It's the most ridiculous decision that ever made by Blizzard I think. If it really is a problem than build two single player modes, one for battle.net, two for the one who wants to play offline. I think they get used to money flowing with WoW and scares for the pirating of Diablo 3. Pity. I'm sure there won't be any impact on the sales, but I'm not going to buy the game after hearing that decision. At least Torchlight 2 and Grim Dawn is on the horizon.
 
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Diablo 3 will sell well, we're all sure of that. But what really worries me is this "you must always be online to play" model will be an example for other RPG publishers/developers. There's a consensus among the AAA firms that if a game is being made only to PC, business failure will be inevitable. So it's really obvious that this model stems from this fear. And they aren't all wrong about that fear because Witcher 2, biggest PC only game (at the moment), sold 500.000 copies in its first month. 500.000 is not bad, but what they want is millons, five millions. For me, Diablo 3 would be the game shows the world that a solid, single player, PC only title can still be a succesfull business model. But not like this. But with this approach, it only strengthens the notion that PC-only games must be online in order to sell well.
 
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hishadow said:
The only way to predict the future is to prevent it!.
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Unfortunatley, I wouldn't characterize the gaming community as one having a lot of discipline protesting business models with their wallets. I'm no better, there are probably ZERO games I would have boycotted in my younger days because of a business model.

But I'm older now, and it doesn't phase me in the least to skip a game where the business model is just plain gross - such as the way the D3 business model seems to be shaping up. I skipped Starcraft 2 because of a lot of this kind of nonsense - a game I otherwise would have purchased. Doesn't phase me at all, plenty of other games out there to play.
 
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I could have never thought that something would compromise me buying D3, but here it is.
 
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I was quite surprised by the RL Auction transactions...but it really doesn't effect me, none of the 3 do actually.

I'm always connected to the net and I'll continue to play at my own pace and mostly solo.

I'm sure there will be the normal assortment of BOE/BOA items as well as crafted items, this actually could be somewhat profitable motivation for those interested in Crafting to Max their craft asap and start selling...

A Brave new world...
 
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Well, from where I´m standing an already crappy game just got crappier, so meh.
The outrage surrounding this might turn into a solid popcorn material though.
 
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About the mandatory constant internet conection, I just want to add bandwidth limitations.

Most ISP in my countries limit your download traffic. Most "packages" only include between 2 and 10GB per month. I personally have unlimited traffic, but I pay 50€ for it. Most families won't or can't spend that per month.

The auction thing doesn't affect me, because I don't like to play online. But I can see how it can be frustrating for some. People who are willing to pay for it, will have an advantage over other players. It's almost like cheating or at least unfair.
 
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I have no problem with auctions. If you don't like it, don't use it. It may be a nice feature if you want some real money, though. :p
Online play? it's not a big deal. I'm always online. What worries me though, is that my character/game is saved on Blizzard servers. I am using a crappy internet connection, which means saving may take A LOT OF TIME.
Modding? Now this is a big problem. I can't see why they shouldn't encourage modding. Modding is innovation, expansion. More play hours, more players and more money (for Blizzard). Modding has brought them DotA. I know modding may compromise their auction system, but it could be allowed under certain circumstances and conditions which wouldn't go as far as ruining the auction system.
 
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I will probably pass on this because it won't be on Steam and with the exception of GOG, I'm pretty much buying exclusively on Steam these days. I'd rather keep all my games in as few places as possible for convenience sake.

Also, unless they've done something really revolutionary, the Diablo style hack and slash has been done to death so I see no reason why I need this one vs any other one out there. The auction house does not interest me and that seems like the biggest selling point here, otherwise it's probably your usual Diablo style game. 10 years ago it might have been a big deal, but now? *YAWN* I still cannot fathom why this game has taken such an extremely long time to be released.

IF it somehow managed to show up one day on Steam at a sale price of $10-$20 I'd probably grab it but otherwise I'll pass. It will probably do well I'd imagine. I just won't be one of those buying it. I don't think what they have to offer is so much better than comparable games I can already get on Steam or even GOG for that matter.
 
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Not thrilled by this news, will not pre order now for sure. Hope they bring a demo which I can play test. Had tons of fun with D1 and D2, but that was also ages ago. We'll see what happens in the (near) future and how it plays out.
 
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Wow. Real money auction house and now it's officially an MMO. You know how nobody talks about Starcraft 2 anymore? Yeah, that. :p
 
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Gotta love how the reaction to Ubisoft doing this is "OMG TRAVESTY" and the reaction to Blizzard doing it is much more mixed. "Well, I have internet all the time anyway..."

For one thing I do not have internet all the time, nor do I know anyone who does. It goes down from time to time and just recently I went 4 days without internet due to a wiring issue in the neighborhood. Not to mention moving or whatever else.

I don't play mutliplayer games, that's the end all be all really. By making Diablo 3 a multiplayer only experience Blizzard have removed any desire for me to buy the game. I'm sure this decision will pan out for them because millions of people won't care, but for me it's waaaaayyyyy over the line and just as bad as Ubisoft.

The really scary thing is that I am considering piracy for the first time in my adult life. I cannot give them money and support this decision, but I know a singleplayer offline version of the game will be on torrents eventually if not on day one. It will take a lot of moral struggling to decide what to do about that.
 
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There is a way to combat piracy with this- run the game LIKE an MMO. Stream levels from a server and store characters remotely. That's what they're doing right? That will combat day one piracy and make it very difficult. Server emulators for WoW took years. But it does make Diablo 3 an MMO.

What a bunch of crap. Blizzard are horrible :(
 
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ChienAboyeur said:
I thought it was EA. These guys answer a demand. The root lies into segments of players.
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I thought it was Atari. Or THQ.

But now, then, we've got the probably 4 worst publishers in the world : Unfortunately they also happen to be the giggest gaming forms in the world ...

I don't think this is by chance ... I rather sense some sort of connection between sze and crappy behaviour in companies ...
 
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Gorath said:
In the end it will be the most successful Diablo ever.
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I'm sure you'll be right.

Especially the younger generations who have grown up with Internet and even with broadband will have nothing against this game ...
 
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freestonew said:
I read in Wired magazine, and in other computer articles, that the "cloud computing" is our future and everything will be Streamed, thus no DVDs, no movies, no cds, all combined with television, even now computer monitors and large screen tvs are Converging. Everything is online.
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I believe this as well.

But : Not everything can be translated into an online experience.

Younger generations might be easy to dismiss the haptic and otherwise feel of a printed book -

- but this sensation of something we hold in our hands - like a book - is something even the best online experience cannot provide.

That is - unless we end up in a similar state like being descriped in the almsost Sci-Fi novel of "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley ... A state where devices are connected to our bodies (like with cables, for example) to stimulate our senses to give them the required (and wished) sensory input ...

In the end, humanity might evolve backwards - into babies which only live by sensor(ical) signals fed into our bodies by machines - a bit of a Matrix ...
 
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DoctorNarrative said:
I don't play mutliplayer games, that's the end all be all really. By making Diablo 3 a multiplayer only experience Blizzard have removed any desire for me to buy the game.

The really scary thing is that I am considering piracy for the first time in my adult life. I cannot give them money and support this decision, but I know a singleplayer offline version of the game will be on torrents eventually if not on day one. It will take a lot of moral struggling to decide what to do about that.
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Someone will crack it for offline play I am sure, but the thing is I don't see myself wanting to jump through those hoops so I can pay $60 for yet-another-Diablo-style-game, even if this one is Diablo.

I don't really consider it piracy if someone buys it and then cracks it, however I don't plan on buying it at full retail and I don't know that I give a crap enough about it to pirate it for free even if that were my thing.
 
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Ovenall said:
I don't get the internet issues people have. Do you have an internet connection at home? Is it somehow onerous to have it on while you play a game? I never turn my connection off at home. Why would anyone do that?

I get that some people may still be on dial-up, but that has to be a tiny percentage, and certainly a very tiny percentage of the people who will have a PC capable of playing this game.

Why is having to have an internet connection a deal-breaker?
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Because it shouldn't be required for single player games is that so hard to understand. I only see two or three companies forcing this drm on the pc so its not the future.

PCG: Diablo III is following in StarCraft II’s footsteps and going online-only. Is it possible, though, that you might be pushing online functionality a bit too hard? I mean, what about the players who just want to tune out the world? If they, say, slay a big boss and then a chat bubble suddenly pops up, doesn’t that sort of ruin the moment?

Bridenbecker: I don’t think that individuals want to isolate themselves and be solitary cave people. But I definitely believe that individuals prefer to play in more isolated environments at times. That doesn’t necessarily have to compete with the goal of having things online. The capabilities that get presented when you push people into an online connected environment are so much broader. It’s like Rob [Pardo] was talking about: Imagine you have a world where you want to play in an entirely single-player environment. You go through and you level up your character and you get all these awesome item drops and so forth. Then you say, “OK, I do want to play with my buddy.” Well, guess what? We have to make you re-roll a new character because we can’t guarantee [a lack of cheating or hacking]. In an online environment, we can do that.
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Yeah because no one likes playing by themselves nowadays. Show me your proof blizzard. It's probably based off all there wow players.
 
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I think an offline version on "day-one" is pretty unlikely. Now that they've completely designed the game for online-only play - they'll most likely make the game rely on the online infrastructure as much as possible.

I think pirates will have to wait until they've learned how to emulate servers for this game.

Personally, I don't understand the appeal of an offline Diablo game - but to each his own.

I can appreciate the reluctance to support this kind of thing - and I would never discourage anyone to do anything but what they feel is right. However, I'm surprised to see this level of resistance for something as inevitable as an online environment.

Everywhere else people seem almost gratified to be able to support the little steps on the way, like they do with Steam.

It's ALL part of a slow but steady movement towards requiring an active Internet connection for everything you do. It's been going that way for quite a while now.

To think something like Diablo 3 demanding it is what provokes such a passionate backlash, I can only think that people must have been asleep the past few years. It's not just the future - it's the PRESENT.
 
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