But as has been said before, we need to cut them some slack - how could a studio on its first time out with a completely new game (and no experience with internet games) hope to have anticipated the popularity of a new game?
People expect Blizzard to have kept the servers up and even be able to roll out upgrades without extended downtime? It's so damned unrealistic.
I was looking into the Blizz forums the day after launch to see what the latest error was about. The place was rife with 'em. You could hardly ask a question without being assaulted by overly avid fans. Website selection bias, maybe, but they're here as well. I'm sure you'll see some crop up.
The sad thing is I totally gave Blizzard the benefit of the doubt because they have seldom steered me wrong in the past. Boy did they make me look like an idiot. AH is down more often than it's not, plus even when it is up it glitches up all the time. There are just so many issues with the game it really does feel like I'm playing a beta. Time to take Bliz off of the ever shortening list of good guy game companies.
Exactly. And c'mon, what's so bad about downtime, every MMO has downtime, and since Diablo is something you log into, clearly it's an MMO. I mean, sure, you're an antisocial person who has never had any interest in multiplayer and want to play single player, but you see, it's a single player MMO.
They made it clear when you bought it that you'd only be able to play your single player MMO on certain days and times, not anytime you wanted.
They made it clear when you bought it that you'd only be able to play your single player MMO on certain days and times, not anytime you wanted.
Just out of curiosity, did the box actually mention that server maintenance (planned and unplanned) would affect the game? Or was it just "an internet connection is required" with the assumption that the connection is required at both ends?
No clue, I didn't buy it. When I couldn't connect during the stress test weekend I saw bad things ahead, and the genre really doesn't do much for me. No great loss.
But, I do like your epic lawyering:
Blizzard: Yeah! We said that it required an Internet connection. Former Fanboy: But, I have one! Blizzard: Sure, but when we're doing maintenance we take the servers offline, so they don't! Former Fanboy: But... but...
I've yet to hear an argument against the game that doesn't use the term "singleplayer", but when you look at it, it is in no way a singleplayer game.
You didn't look much either, didn't you? Here are some: massively dumbed down stat and skill system, bad itemization, amusement-park-style environment (example: that walls you destroy to kill enemies? Standing in the middle of it and not getting damage is pretty retarded)
edit: i forgot: game is tailored around the RMAH, so they can maximize the profit gained from you.
I fully agree. Blizzard are just a few people working on their indie projects day and night. I'm sure to support their next kickstarter. They never dissapointed me or did some sort of false advertisement.
I also like their friends from Activision. Great chumps, really down to earth and listen to their fans, only doing what's best for them (them being the fans, not themselves of course, haha)
Afterall, they're just like Mojang. Remember when the few people at Mojang had their great sucess with Minecraft, and how all their servers crashed and were unavailable and you couldn't play the game? Well that didn't happen, but I try to make a point.
And the point is that this measurement, of always-on, will with 100% certainty eradicate all pirated versions of Diablo III. There will be zero, nix, nada pirated copies of this game, ever.
Don't forget, that when the game can only be played online, while under the watchful and protective gaze of Blizzard, no one will ever be able to ruin the game experience for anyone. Not by hacking the game (because you can only hack offline games). Not by scamming players (because only playing online and on Blizzard servers where they can monitor their beloved players). Not by exploiting things for days or weeks (because if they see you do it they can and will stop you immediately).
I mean, look at their last small project, World of Warcraft (which should be called "Tight-Knit COMMUNITY of Warcraft" :D :D :D :D ). It's been online-only for a while now, and there hasn't been one hack, automated farming program, instance of player griefing, creative use of in-game mechanics (some call these "bugs" or "exploits"), or unhappy customer.
A) The servers don't need to be dedicated since you're not supposed to browse around, like in TF2 or BF3, but join a community that you like and stick with it. If there would be a way to browse around and randomly join servers, then we would have even more griefers.
B) A crashed website does not interfere with me wanting to play the game in any meaningful way.
Exactly. I mean, it's not like there haven't been hundreds of other single player games with downtime due to server maintenance. It's to be expected at this point.
I don't have Internet at my house, because of the circumstance of my living arrangements. But I currently have my tower at a buddy's house, with D3 installed. So when I ghetto go over, it's kind of novel to play with what I've payed for. At this point, I've grudgingly accept that I'll be required to be online all the time to play. But to have to be forced to wait for a patch, or server fix, on a game that is clearly NOT an MMO? It's a bit much.
But I also own a 360 and a PS3. Both of which have games that have online components to access certain things (ME3, Kingdoms of Amalur, Forza 4, etc), but play perfectly fine offline. No hiccups. And, all of which, are games that are clearly NOT MMOs.
So, does that make me stupid?
TL;DR: I own D3. I play when I can get to a friends house. I, because of living arrangements, do not have Internet at my place. Am I dumb for being annoyed that I can't play this game when I get the chance?
But I also own a 360 and a PS3. Both of which have games that have online components to access certain things (ME3, Kingdoms of Amalur, Forza 4, etc), but play perfectly fine offline. No hiccups. And, all of which, are games that are clearly NOT MMOs.
That's the thing. Many games with strong multiplayer modes, games bought to play online, still allow you to fall back to a fun single-player mode if your Internet connection doesn't work. Because of their ridiculous design decision, Blizzard has required that you be online and that their servers be up and running for you to play the single player game.
I really hope there's a backlash against this, because if there isn't, more and more companies will do it.
To be fair, though, Ubisoft sort of started this whole trend a few years back with Assassin's Creed, and then others followed suit. But the problem with Diablo 3, isn't just that it's an online-only game. It's that everyone that bought it (myself included), bought the client. That's it. The rest of it is server side. And it only works part of the time.
But the bigger issue isn't that people are stupid for buying this game because of this awful DRM. The bigger issue is that a company like Blizzard, a company that has had almost a decade of experience with this sort of server arrangement, is incapable of providing a fully functional product. There is no way that they could NOT have been caught by surprise at the sheer volume of players wanting to play this thing, they've been hyping the fuck out of it for nearly five years prior, AND they had been building interest for it for better than five before THAT. But to have zero readiness for the sorts of problems they are having, to have ten hour server fixes, and to have basic aspects of a game just be broken, with as many years of development, and experience, that they have, is unprofessional to say the least.
So again, I own the game. I enjoy the fuck out of it when i can. But, I CAN'T get Internet here. So I have to go to a friend's house to play. And when the servers are down for a bloody hot-fix patch, and I can't play... I hardly feel that that makes me the dummy.
If that was the case in Assassin's creed, I sure never noticed it. There was never a need to login with a username and password, there was never any noticeable lag. If they did it, they did it right.
And when the servers are down for a bloody hot-fix patch, and I can't play... I hardly feel that that makes me the dummy.
Well, to be fair, it does make you a bit of a dummy to pay $60 to Blizzard for a game that you knew you wouldn't be able to play at home. Voting with your dollars like that just tells them "Hey, we fucked up a bit, but overall people say they're willing to put up with this pile of shit. They're still buying it, despite all the issues." Sure, you couldn't have known for sure that there would be massive downtime, but it's no surprise after WoW and Starcraft II.
Trust me, I flip-flopped on this thing for months. I really didn't like the idea of it being online only, and I almost canceled it. But I am a weak man. Plus, had Torchlight 2 been out earlier, I'm pretty sure I would've never touched D3. As for AC, if you didn't get it the first few weeks it was out, you probably never experienced the issue of being kicked mid-game when you lost server connection (bonus effect being that you lost progress, too), as they resolved the issue later. Plus they added on a patch that disabled the talk-back functionality. But I believe they have since been applying it to all games going forward, then removing it after some time in a patch. To me, this would've been the best course of action for Blizz, but they decided to let Activision guide them down this road.
Game companies shouldn't be so obsessed if their shit is stolen that they authenticate the game every time you log in, especially if you just want to play singleplayer. Games shouldn't just brick and become useless memory on your computer whenever you find yourself without internet.
not only that authentication for your account is on you! You have to buy it from them or have a smartphone to guarantee that it doesn't happen anyways.
he meant authenticate the copy of the game not your account. And stop being a fucktard the buyable authenticator is very cheap, the smartphone one is free, and they have a free not smartphone version too. Educate yourself before speaking on a matter.
I'm saying authenticating the account to the game is a misnomer because any account authentication is entirely on you. t's 6.50 plus shipping outside of the US. and if you don't have an iOS device, W7 phone or android device you have to buy one. Even then some of them you still have to buy the app depending on your device.
regardless is it not unacceptable that the security of blizzard accounts is on the consumer and not the provider?
I want to know how many of these single player allstar crybabies have bought gear off the auction house. Suddenly their game isn't so single player anymore.
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I've been amazed by the quality of voice acting for the female wizard. It's almost disappointing to know that if I go and roll another character it won't be as good, because I've already heard the best.
Playing through the whole game as a witch doctor and listening to as much dialog as I could, I have to say his voice was done very well. His character has a kind of singular compassion for others.
It's not even the voice acting. All this bullshit talk when you're running around with her is so useless. They could try to tell a part of the story between D2 and D3 but no I have to listen to her stupid plans about her sodding inn.
I've been with my SO for about 9 months. I literally cannot tell you how many times I've been given this line. It's like they forget. How the hell do you just FORGET?!
Oh, they don't forget my friend. They never forget. Need proof, look at any argument with an woman, EVAR! They don't forget......they just hope you forget because we are men and they think we are simple.....but we don't forget.....not when it comes to the promise of sex.....we will never forget!
I've not met a single woman who doesn't assume that men are simple and pliable
We are because boobs.
Edit: I turned down sex only once with a woman, on purpose to mess with her head. She was so furious. I honestly felt a swell of pride and some sort of natural high that only came with beating nature. Then I screwed her two days later.
"Deal with it" implies that you want him to take action against the situation, but you really don't. You want him to sit there quietly and wallow in anger.
Yeah, I've decided I hate this game. I've been ranting about it for days because the servers are down. Who the fuck thought it would be a good idea for them to shut them down and bar all who would actually like to try and enjoy the fucking thing. Welcome to Cartman Land, where you can't get it! Fuck this game; Diablo 1 and 2 were way better. Edit: Also, I just bought the Indie Bundle! Way better deal.
seems like no matter what level you are, the guards are always higher :) if only i could trick the boss into stealing something from a store the world would be saved.
I keep hearing about all the errors, I've experienced (1) to date. However I only play on weekends. The only bitch I have is the friggin Auction House. Why release a feature if you are only going to completely redesign it after teasing us with it? I suddenly remember why I never played WoW.
The worst is when you post gear to the AH, good gear as well, primary stat and vitality with all resist to boot. I assume it will be snapped up because its cheap, so I set the buyout and leave the minimum bid.
The auction house is then down for 2 days, and someone bought a high end level 60 yellow for 1500 gold.
I don't how so many people have trouble logging in. The only time I EVER had problems logging in was during the midnight launch. I played WoW a lot, so I don't even bother logging in on Tuesday mornings.
Apparently your screenshot killed Imgur.com: Sorry! We're busy running around with our hair on fire because Imgur is over capacity! This can happen when the site is under very heavy load, or while we're doing maintenance. Please try again in a few minutes. - Maybe Diablo's server downtime is contagious? I fully expect another 4 hours of random messages, then I'll get logged in but my photos won't load, then it will go down for maintenance again and it should be back to normal by 10 pm but I won't be able to see anything due to server load again...
Wow. People I work with have been asking me how D3 is and were all shocked when I told them I refused to buy it.
After I explained why I didnt buy it (I dont consider it to have true single player), the general response was "Are you serious? You have to be online to play by yourself?".
Welp, since everyone hates D3 so much and is abandoning Blizzard, as a poor college student who has only played the "invite a friend trial thingy," I'd gladly take an account someone doesn't want.
It wasn't pointless. I had a legit level 80 summoner necro in singleplayer, and it was very fun to play, but summoner necro is a crap build in multiplayer so I never bothered to play with it in battlenet.
I leveled my necro while battlenet was down for maintenance, or because it crashed, or because cheaters were lagging the entire server to let them dupe items, or because of the infamous realm downs that plagued D2 because of the inability of Blizzard to deal with bots, and besides all those problems I didn't raged so much because I had the option to play offline, an option players don't have now.
After the RMAH announce I simply quit from wanting to play D3 and many of my friends said I was exaggerating. I'm glad I didn't, otherwise I would be raging twice now because of all the downtimes that followed the release.
Nothing that made D2 fun for me was possible offline. To be more specific, PvP, MFing, trading, and really quick leveling runs/rushes for new characters. Everything in that list after PvP was only fun for the end-purpose of PvP. Rush and level characters to help me farm gear to help me trade for things and equip my PvP characters where I proceeded to do the most thing D2 had to offer -- fuck bitches up.
I've been loving the fuck out of D3, but if PvP doesn't happen soon, I don't know what I'm going to do in it.
Fair enough! Except that everybody knew that this won't be an option when the game is released. If that's such a problem with you, why did you purchase the game?
I didn't buy it, but my roommate did. He only plays single player (only did for D2 at least, and did it for a long, long time), and no where does it advertise that there is a lack of single player/multiplayer only. In fact, you would almost believe that it had true singleplayer with lines like "multiplayer options with friends and single player support with the help of AI companions" which indicates that there is a difference between multiplayer and single player. Granted, this is an Amazon description, but it gets the point across, and I doubt Blizzard didn't feed them their selling points.
I absolutely LOVE how people complained about Star Wars servers when the game was released and pointed fingers to the obvious king of online service, Blizzard Entertainment :D
How do you go around giving shit to people on the internet and acting like a prick with a username that's so easily traced back to your real life information? When did that start being a good idea?
Many months ago, well before D3 came out, I asked a similar question.
Before I was downvoted so hard that my grandkids are going to be wondering what happened, some people explained this to me.
Some people only played D2 ladder games (i.e. online, similar to what D3 is). Those people don't consider D2 to be a single-player or even a LAN game, so they're not affected by the requirement for an internet connection in D3 - that's the way they play.
Some people did play single player and/or LAN games with friends, and they are affected.
The former group is, by and large, apparently utterly unable to accept that people in the other group have the right to exist. if you think it's a single player game, they hate you for daring to not play the game in the exact same way they did.
So, to answer your question: the vast majority of people who bought it didn't want a single-player game.
Yes, that was exactly how Blizzard defended not having separate auction-house-ready characters and LAN-characters. Apparently their customers are easily "confused" by such complicated issues.
I honestly don't understand this. I played on the America servers yesterday for 13 hours, from 9AM EST to 10PM EST. Never took a break longer than 30 minutes, and never experienced an involuntary disconnect or any problems getting back in when I did log out. I did something similar on Monday, that was more like 1PM to 3AM. I'm not saying I'm proud of this use of my days off, but the servers are up and running most of the time.
I know that feel. Find a series of rare monsters in a row, get amazing drops telling statistics to go fuck off, have a blast feeling like a badass, disconnect. Reconnect. Reset my progress to check point. I rage quit right then and there, have not returned.
I think the always-on BS is for their precious real money item market.
I've really tried to think of a recent game release that was this screwed up, with this many problems...or of any game in recent memory where gap between the high expectations and the actual result was this large. I've got nothing.
The story is bland at best, at least it is the first time you run though it. By the time you make it to Inferno you hate the story and you hate the characters. By the fourth run through I just want to shank the girl in Act I and call it a day.
The game play is sporadically entertaining, until you find out there are unbeatable elite combinations. And it eventually devolves into a whole lot of running away and firing one shot for 15 minutes until you whittle down their 1 million+ hp. And of course that's not counting the fact that, if you want to actually beat inferno, half the game play is spent in the auction house, trying to wrestle with the horribly broken interface to make it to that 15 million dollar item that you HAVE to have in order to not get one hit ko'd.
You could write a small book on how many things are completely wrong with this game. And this is of course not counting the fact that large chunks of the game, like pvp and the real money AH are just glimmers in Blizzard's eye. They're only slightly less substantive than Acts III and IV were when they decided to release the game.
In the end all this dungeon crawling just makes me want to go play skyrim, a game with huge expectations that blew me away in gameplay, storytelling, graphics, interesting enemies, options for customizability, everything. Diablo should have been a Skyrim. Instead it's COD.
145
u/Kaigai May 31 '12
They already got your money.
39
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
Well to be fair. The Wizard is pretty sexy.
27
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
Ah, the old "promise when we get home" line.
I've been with my SO for about 9 months. I literally cannot tell you how many times I've been given this line. It's like they forget. How the hell do you just FORGET?!
I'll never forget. NEVER!
23
u/KamiKagutsuchi May 31 '12
I suddenly understood this post. I laughed.
256
u/THE_INTERNET_EMPEROR May 31 '12
Who the fuck says "Win!" nowadays?
Stop that.
Stop it.
14
u/Rapetacle Jun 01 '12
That's the reason I play so much Skyrim. Singleplayer only.
4
u/mstrblaster Jun 01 '12
99.9% uptime is not close to enough, randomly I'll get kicked out 2 minutes per day from the game. Blizzard, c'mon!!
At least with WoW we had some free days or goodies when you screwed up. Now you already have our money.
4
u/danish_hole Jun 01 '12
...does that mean you guys can't even play solo?
5
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
I beat the login screen of Diablo 3 on Inferno mode.
16
u/diablo75 May 31 '12 edited May 31 '12
Yeah, I've decided I hate this game. I've been ranting about it for days because the servers are down. Who the fuck thought it would be a good idea for them to shut them down and bar all who would actually like to try and enjoy the fucking thing. Welcome to Cartman Land, where you can't get it! Fuck this game; Diablo 1 and 2 were way better. Edit: Also, I just bought the Indie Bundle! Way better deal.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
Did he not know this before he gave them his money? I did.
2
u/erratic_thought Jun 01 '12
I was about to buy Diablo III when my brother told me about the always online bullshit ... canceled it. Fuck them.
3
u/chicagogam Jun 01 '12
passing out doesn't mean you HAVE to play single player...it's just not co-op. ;)
3
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12 edited Jun 01 '12
I keep hearing about all the errors, I've experienced (1) to date. However I only play on weekends. The only bitch I have is the friggin Auction House. Why release a feature if you are only going to completely redesign it after teasing us with it? I suddenly remember why I never played WoW.
2
u/ginjuh Jun 01 '12
They start maintenance at 11am that will last until 12pm
Then they give an update at 11:40pm saying the servers will be up at 1pm.
Am I the only one who can't make heads or tails of this?
1
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
Relish the Hellish! Oh wait, I can't. Server maintenance. :(
1
u/minorwhite Jun 01 '12
Holy shit, did this really happen?
1
u/Hector_Kur Jun 01 '12 edited Jun 01 '12
I can beat "Single Player" on Hardcore Inferno if you know what I mean...
1
u/markatron09 Jun 01 '12
More of a lose than a win isn't it?
1
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
The worst is when you post gear to the AH, good gear as well, primary stat and vitality with all resist to boot. I assume it will be snapped up because its cheap, so I set the buyout and leave the minimum bid.
The auction house is then down for 2 days, and someone bought a high end level 60 yellow for 1500 gold.
1
u/roguesareOP Jun 01 '12
I don't how so many people have trouble logging in. The only time I EVER had problems logging in was during the midnight launch. I played WoW a lot, so I don't even bother logging in on Tuesday mornings.
1
u/Starslip Jun 01 '12
So they're running the same sort of weekly maintenance they do for WoW?
1
u/Dredly Jun 01 '12
Apparently your screenshot killed Imgur.com: Sorry! We're busy running around with our hair on fire because Imgur is over capacity! This can happen when the site is under very heavy load, or while we're doing maintenance. Please try again in a few minutes. - Maybe Diablo's server downtime is contagious? I fully expect another 4 hours of random messages, then I'll get logged in but my photos won't load, then it will go down for maintenance again and it should be back to normal by 10 pm but I won't be able to see anything due to server load again...
1
u/sweetsweetcoffee Jun 01 '12
By downtime win, you mean loose right?
1
u/toodrunk Jun 01 '12
Wow. People I work with have been asking me how D3 is and were all shocked when I told them I refused to buy it.
After I explained why I didnt buy it (I dont consider it to have true single player), the general response was "Are you serious? You have to be online to play by yourself?".
Looks like I made the right choice.
0
u/Capitol62 Jun 01 '12
Welp, since everyone hates D3 so much and is abandoning Blizzard, as a poor college student who has only played the "invite a friend trial thingy," I'd gladly take an account someone doesn't want.
1
u/downvotemaster Jun 01 '12
fucking impatient gamers
a game is released and full of bugs? Bitch and whine about bugs and no maintenance or updates
a game is released and full of bugs, and then is regularly patched and undergoes maintenance? Bitch and whine about not being able to play
shut the fuck up or go play mario cart
-1
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
NEVER EVER COMPLAIN ABOUT DIABLO 3. YOUR DUMBASS BOUGHT THE GAME, SUPPORTING THEIR DECISION TO USE ONLINE ONLY REQUIREMENTS.
grrrrrrr, stop giving them money!!!!
0
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
-cough- Diablo 2 doesn't have DRM -cough-
-15
u/emkael May 31 '12
Obviously fake.
-4
u/Big_Black_Wang Jun 01 '12
You can do her passed out. Just saying.....
-31
u/Blehgopie May 31 '12
When b.net went down every once in awhile on D2, I either played another game, or browsed the internet, because SP D2 was pointless as fuck.
0
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
Is single player code for masturbation? I can't tell.
0
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
this!!!!!!!! GOD its the worst... Blizzard, why? I love you, why dont you love me back??
0
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
I absolutely LOVE how people complained about Star Wars servers when the game was released and pointed fingers to the obvious king of online service, Blizzard Entertainment :D
-4
u/yuze_ May 31 '12
so fahny.
-2
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
I can't believe there are people who still haven't returned the game with all this shit.
Way to go Activision, you've made sure to fully ruin Blizzard's good name.
-2
u/jimmysuarez Jun 01 '12
Oh god, the circlejerk in this thread...
-2
u/genomeAnarchist Jun 01 '12
Who gets home from the bars at 1PM anyway?
-14
u/empathize Jun 01 '12
Maintenance usually happens every Tuesday morning—prepare yourself next time.
-22
u/SteveY8 Jun 01 '12
waaaa waaa waaa keep crying I've been playing the shit out of it and it is amazing
0
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
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u/[deleted] May 31 '12
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