Diablo 3 Officially Announced

[entrerix]

okaaaay...

 

so blizzard made diablo 2, not as a sequel to diablo, but as a counterpoint to baldurs gate 2?

 

gonna step out of this now

[Drowsy Emperor]

okaaaay...

 

so blizzard made diablo 2, not as a sequel to diablo, but as a counterpoint to baldurs gate 2?

 

gonna step out of this now

 

You're being too literal. Or my English failed.

Edited August 11, 2011 by Drowsy Emperor

[HoonDing]

Apart from the Lost Vikings which was a nice little game, for me Blizzard is the video gaming equivalent of Satan.

Blizzard had nothing to do with Lost Vikings.

 

They did develop another platformer though, Blackthorne, which is a obscure but stellar game.

[entrerix]

blacthorne was the bomb.

 

i miss games like that, flashback, out of this world etc

[greylord]

Yeah, Blizzard fans have always been like this. I think the WoW forums aren't even as bad as the WCIII community was after Frozen Throne apparently "broke the game" according to all the whiners.

 

No, not really. Blizzard lost a lot of faith with SC2. I actually think that may be part of why they removed the demo (playable offline) and came out with a starter set. They sold well at first (2 million+ copies) but retainability is going downhill faster then they originally thought. They are concerned about the expansion, and what will happen in five years time if their downhill trend continues.

 

Their solution is to create another MMORPG type game(yes, I know some will say it's not, but the server side characters, and it's going to have massive numbers on a server...even if there are multiple games/server divisions in that one server, and a pay model), Diablo 3, but with a payscale via the AHRMT (face it, that's the REAL reason they want everyone to play online and no cheaters, he's right, it's not really the piracy so much as trying to create an MMORPG type money model off Diablo 3 that's different then the typical Money Model found in something like WC3).

 

I think this is losing the faith that Blizzard built up over years. I know if what he says really does occur with Diablo 3, I'll probably trust the guys making Torchlight 2 MUCH more than Blizzard. In fact, I'd probably be more likely to pay for a new MMORPG from those guys than any new Blizzard MMORPG.

 

It's hard to blow two decades of hard trust, but I think Blizzard is effectively destroying the image they had of a Gamer's perfect game company into just another one of the guys type company...nothing special or outstanding about them other than they just want to yank your cash any way they can...just like everyone else.

 

Edit: What I'm really wondering is if the Console version, if they come out with it, is going to have that same cloud model for characters or not. It will either fail spectacularly if they do that, or create a new model for Consoles that will change the market so that even consoles will no longer be safe from this entire online always authentication and play model that hit the PC market. It drove everyone to consoles already...I wonder what will happen if it get's to Consoles, where the video game market will go then?

Edited August 12, 2011 by greylord

[Drowsy Emperor]

Apart from the Lost Vikings which was a nice little game, for me Blizzard is the video gaming equivalent of Satan.

Blizzard had nothing to do with Lost Vikings.

 

They did develop another platformer though, Blackthorne, which is a obscure but stellar game.

 

Yeah I forgot. Well, now I can hate Blizzard all the way.

 

The Lost Vikings is a side-scrolling puzzle/platform video game series which was developed by Silicon & Synapse (later Blizzard Entertainment)

[Drowsy Emperor]

No, not really. Blizzard lost a lot of faith with SC2. I actually think that may be part of why they removed the demo (playable offline) and came out with a starter set. They sold well at first (2 million+ copies) but retainability is going downhill faster then they originally thought. They are concerned about the expansion, and what will happen in five years time if their downhill trend continues.

 

Dunno if its at the rate they expected but SCII is still selling really well.

[Lexx]

I just realized that I haven't played Diablo 2 offline since like 10 years or so. Always when I went back to it, I just played it online, because alone I get bored with it very fast.

 

So... in this case... I don't care if D3 will need always-internet, because I wouldn't play it alone and offline anyway.

 

 

/Edit: I just hope it will not cost 60 euro, because I for sure will not pay 60 euro for it.

Edited August 12, 2011 by Lexx

[Morgoth]

/Edit: I just hope it will not cost 60 euro, because I for sure will not pay 60 euro for it.

Of course it will. Like any Activision game.

[Blarghagh]

Yeah, Blizzard fans have always been like this. I think the WoW forums aren't even as bad as the WCIII community was after Frozen Throne apparently "broke the game" according to all the whiners.

 

No, not really. Blizzard lost a lot of faith with SC2. I actually think that may be part of why they removed the demo (playable offline) and came out with a starter set. They sold well at first (2 million+ copies) but retainability is going downhill faster then they originally thought. They are concerned about the expansion, and what will happen in five years time if their downhill trend continues.

 

Their solution is to create another MMORPG type game(yes, I know some will say it's not, but the server side characters, and it's going to have massive numbers on a server...even if there are multiple games/server divisions in that one server, and a pay model), Diablo 3, but with a payscale via the AHRMT (face it, that's the REAL reason they want everyone to play online and no cheaters, he's right, it's not really the piracy so much as trying to create an MMORPG type money model off Diablo 3 that's different then the typical Money Model found in something like WC3).

 

I think this is losing the faith that Blizzard built up over years. I know if what he says really does occur with Diablo 3, I'll probably trust the guys making Torchlight 2 MUCH more than Blizzard. In fact, I'd probably be more likely to pay for a new MMORPG from those guys than any new Blizzard MMORPG.

 

It's hard to blow two decades of hard trust, but I think Blizzard is effectively destroying the image they had of a Gamer's perfect game company into just another one of the guys type company...nothing special or outstanding about them other than they just want to yank your cash any way they can...just like everyone else.

 

Edit: What I'm really wondering is if the Console version, if they come out with it, is going to have that same cloud model for characters or not. It will either fail spectacularly if they do that, or create a new model for Consoles that will change the market so that even consoles will no longer be safe from this entire online always authentication and play model that hit the PC market. It drove everyone to consoles already...I wonder what will happen if it get's to Consoles, where the video game market will go then?

 

You know, I see posts like this on MMO-Champion all the time. "Blizzard ****ed up, that's why they're losing subscribers", but I don't buy this. Blizzard is the only AAA company with the dedication to make their game fun for every player even after the game came out and they've already gotten their money out of it. So I spent a long time thinking about this, and I realized why Blizzard is losing people. And now that I've figured it out, it seems so simple. Blizzard is losing people because their community has gone to ****. A casual player will ask a regular question in WoW chat, and someone will tell him to go **** his mother's balls, n00b. Trying to play SCII and winning for the first time ever through sheer luck? Well, the player will accuse you of and report you for hacking. You go on battle.net to discuss a feature, you will get a what can only be described as a ****storm. You attack a mob that you didn't see someone else was targeting? This guy will harass and grief you until the game is no longer fun.

 

Couple that with nostalgia, some fable in which Blizzard games have ever had amazing storytelling, and this odd belief that Blizzard will always do what you want because unlike 99% of game developers they have occassionally been known to take fan opinion into account*, that's a recipe for disappointment. This is not Blizzard's fault. And yanking money? Have you been forced to pay for something? Is the sheer availability some sort of hypno-toad advertisement that brainwashes you into forking over your cash?

 

*Which led to disaster almost every time because their fanbase consists mostly out of morons.

 

As for DRM, here's an interesting article. I'm not very good at math, but I guess that's means if you take all those copies of StarCraft 2 over there, around 40% of them are pirated. Now, I'm not dumb enough to think that's all lost sales, but in a number like 2.3 Million, that's got to be a significant amount. And StarCraft 2 already had the online authentication DRM method. It obviously didn't work. What is a company supposed to do? Lots of gamers think they have to let **** like this just slide so they can keep pleasing all their paying customers, in this case the rare ones that don't have a proper internet connection. I guess because letting is slide worked for Valve or something? Oh wait, no it didn't, they got their source code stolen by some of these self entitled douchebags.

 

I mean, the fact that I just found an article titled "the worst **** moves pulled on developers by gamers" when searching for confirmation on that source code thing pretty much shows what kind of people they're up against.

Edited August 12, 2011 by TrueNeutral

[Drowsy Emperor]

I'll just like to point out that the stuff about the community is true, and that it applies to other developers as well. Game fan bases have grown to the point that the online experience is dominated by pricks, and I've had more than one friend quit a multiplayer game, particularly WoW because they couldn't stand the constant harassment of one sort or another.

 

In my experiences from a large local forum the type of people you get depends on the genre and community size. More complex/obscure genres and smaller communities lead to a more enjoyable community experience and vice versa. The worst crowd tends gather around action games and MMO's, as most newer and casual gamers usually start with those type of games.

 

@True neutral: yes, but the online only piracy prevention measure failed at game release day. Therefore Blizzard got nothing out of it, and customers got an annoyance they could do without. The lack of LAN in a game that owes its longevity to it was a real slap in the face. Regional separation and the lack of functional chat rooms at the beginning killed any positive community building aspect of the game. Back in beta, the matchmaking experience was so alienating I could have been playing against the AI and wouldn't notice the change.

Edited August 12, 2011 by Drowsy Emperor

[Lexx]

I mean, the fact that I just found an article titled "the worst **** moves pulled on developers by gamers" when searching for confirmation on that source code thing pretty much shows what kind of people they're up against.

 

Lots of stupid shizzle in that list. It's a pure "See, developers are so good and cool and how do people thank them!!111"-thing.

[pmp10]

Blizzard is losing people because their community has gone to ****. A casual player will ask a regular question in WoW chat, and someone will tell him to go **** his mother's balls, n00b. Trying to play SCII and winning for the first time ever through sheer luck? Well, the player will accuse you of and report you for hacking. You go on battle.net to discuss a feature, you will get a what can only be described as a ****storm. You attack a mob that you didn't see someone else was targeting? This guy will harass and grief you until the game is no longer fun.

But doesn't Blizzard react to behaviour like that?

AFAIK they may be one of the few devs that allow you to report someone for insults.

[MrBrown]

Is it some kind of fact that Blizzard is losing fans, aka buyers?

 

Or is this the usual logic of: I don't like the game = others don't like the game = they're losing fans!

[Gfted1]

They've lost about 900k WoW subs in the last two quarters.

[Morgoth]

They've lost about 900k WoW subs in the last two quarters.

Do you think this has anything to do with SC2 and/or the recent Diablo 3 infos?

 

Doubt it. WoW crowd lives in it's own little world.

[kirottu]

They've lost about 900k WoW subs in the last two quarters.

 

Yeah, but isn?t it about time? Wow gets new content quite steadily, but it is still the same game it was when it came out and boredom has to strike sooner or later.

[Morgoth]

I'm afraid if the massive revenue income from WoW breaks down, Bobby Kotick might become greedy and force Blizzard to release games annualy.

 

Because remember, Profits above everything!

[Gfted1]

They've lost about 900k WoW subs in the last two quarters.

Do you think this has anything to do with SC2 and/or the recent Diablo 3 infos?

 

Doubt it. WoW crowd lives in it's own little world.

 

Yeah, but isn?t it about time? Wow gets new content quite steadily, but it is still the same game it was when it came out and boredom has to strike sooner or later.

 

I dont think it has anything to do with those games, more a "meh" reception to the Cataclysm expansion coupled with some unliked class mechanic changes made for PvP that negatively impact PvE and probably a bit of the burnout Kiro mentions.

[Malcador]

What does source code "theft" have to do with DRM exactly ?

Edited August 12, 2011 by Malcador

[MrBrown]

WoW is, what, 7 years old? It has to go down at some point. While even Ultima Online is still alive, the popularity of WoW has to peak at some point. Seeing as Blizzard is already developing other MMOs, maybe they themselves have realized the peak is going to be around soon, and it's time to move the big money on.

Edited August 12, 2011 by MrBrown

[Oner]

WoW is, what, 7 years old? It has to go down at some point. While even Ultima Online is still alive, the popularity of WoW has to peak at some point. Seeing as Blizzard is already developing other MMOs, maybe they themselves have realized the peak is going to be around soon, and it's time to move the big money on.

While I don't really disagree, note that you're talking about the guys whose RTS became and still is a national sport. Edited August 12, 2011 by Oner

[MrBrown]

That has to end some day too. If Blizzard would have had their way, it would have ended already and they'd all be playing SC2.

[Blarghagh]

They've lost about 900k WoW subs in the last two quarters.

Do you think this has anything to do with SC2 and/or the recent Diablo 3 infos?

 

Doubt it. WoW crowd lives in it's own little world.

 

Yeah, but isn?t it about time? Wow gets new content quite steadily, but it is still the same game it was when it came out and boredom has to strike sooner or later.

 

I dont think it has anything to do with those games, more a "meh" reception to the Cataclysm expansion coupled with some unliked class mechanic changes made for PvP that negatively impact PvE and probably a bit of the burnout Kiro mentions.

 

Not really, Cataclysm gave it a subscriber boost. Really, all that's really happened is that it settled down to pre-Cataclysm levels again. People are blowing this 900k subscribers thing way out of proportion. Cataclysm boosted it to 12 million so it's still a little above what it had during Wrath. It's just regular players who have finished with the Cataclysm content and are waiting for new content.

 

What does source code "theft" have to do with DRM exactly ?

 

I'm not saying there's a direct link, I'm saying in an industry with **** like that going on and the consumers actually supporting these hackers and crackers it's no wonder companies are getting increasingly draconian in their protection methods. I'll start caring about gamer DRM outcries when gamers start making sure they're no longer neccesary. It's about time gamers grew out of this self-entitlement phase and turned their attention on the ****ers who are ruining it for the rest of us.

[Malcador]

What does source code "theft" have to do with DRM exactly ?

 

I'm not saying there's a direct link, I'm saying in an industry with **** like that going on and the consumers actually supporting these hackers and crackers it's no wonder companies are getting increasingly draconian in their protection methods. I'll start caring about gamer DRM outcries when gamers start making sure they're no longer neccesary. It's about time gamers grew out of this self-entitlement phase and turned their attention on the ****ers who are ruining it for the rest of us.

 

Hm, maybe. HL2's case I doubt it as it wasn't like he was in a scene group or something, if I recall. Not exactly how you seem to blame all gamers for pirates existing though, thus leaving them to get boned by any quirks or failings of a DRM scheme that the pirates themselves evade. But yeah, I can see us getting stuck with heavy handed DRM schemes in the future, as well, not much we can do to rub out warez groups