Diablo 3 Officially Announced

[Magnum Opus]

Always online? Even if you're playing single player?

 

That's... well, that's a pretty big strike against this game, actually, and that's coming from someone who often forgets that his internet connection is still active. The "wealth of improvements and features" listed above have absolutely no benefit for the single player mode in which I'm looking to play the game, so from my perspective there's no comparison at all: online-only provides me with a lot of restrictions for no gain. I no longer own a laptop, and I've only flown twice in my entire life (there and back again), but in this Mr. Pardo is spot on: there ARE other games to play. Diablo 2 might just be one of them.

 

Anyone know if that frustrating-as-hell checkpoint save system that they used in Diablo 2 is going to plague us again in Diablo 3?

 

Have to admit that I'm a little interested in seeing just how much money I might have earned from hawking wares that are useless for my current character -- am sure that the player base will form guilds to collude with or against each other to turn the whole thing into a parody of itself eventually -- but that curiosity might just have to go unanswered if Blizzard keeps going with the boneheaded design moves.

 

I do have to admire the peculiarly unified mindset that evidently has all the major players of the entire computing world moving toward the "cloud" model of application design, though. *golf clap*

Edited August 1, 2011 by Magnum Opus

[Drowsy Emperor]

I assume the prices in real world cash will be rock bottom except for some very rare items.

[Magnum Opus]

Probably so. And that, as a corollary of the "security", is probably the main reason it's online-only, no mods, etc.etc: So that some players don't find a way to make it rich via scamming the system in some sort of offline mode without Blizzard keeping an eye on things. When it was just pretend money, you could dupe items and even trade them, and it was all just playing. Frowned upon as cheating, certainly, but it was still just play with the only things at stake being bragging rights and bruised egos. But with the addition of real world monetary transactions? Different ballgame. Hyper-commercialization changed the character of the internet back in the middle 90's, now it looks to be doing the same to gaming (or it will if this model gains traction).

 

Ultimately, though, I just have to agree with your earlier sentiment: Pity.

[Majek]

How much real world money do you people think it'll be possible to earn?

A gazillion.

[pmp10]

How much real world money do you people think it'll be possible to earn?

A gazillion.

Or about as much as a Chinese item farmer.

If auctions will bring in real money they'll quickly adapt and corner the market.

[Morgoth]

Lvl up to 100, sell your Hammer of Morgoth for 5 bucks, repeat.

 

Yeah, sounds like a career plan.

[Drowsy Emperor]

How much real world money do you people think it'll be possible to earn?

A gazillion.

Or about as much as a Chinese item farmer.

If auctions will bring in real money they'll quickly adapt and corner the market.

 

The comparison has crossed my mind. I wonder how much they earned.

 

Also, lets presume that leveling will be much faster than in WoW. If so, access to high level endgame loot drops comes much more quickly and easily.

I assume that means the prices will be even smaller than in WoW.

Edited August 1, 2011 by Drowsy Emperor

[Orogun01]

How much real world money do you people think it'll be possible to earn?

A gazillion.

Or about as much as a Chinese item farmer.

If auctions will bring in real money they'll quickly adapt and corner the market.

 

The comparison has crossed my mind. I wonder how much they earned.

 

Also, lets presume that leveling will be much faster than in WoW. If so, access to high level endgame loot drops comes much more quickly and easily.

I assume that means the prices will be even smaller than in WoW.

Nothing; they are serving 3 consecutive life sentences on Chinese prison and forced to play WOW, tragic fate really.

Edited August 1, 2011 by Orogun01

[Drowsy Emperor]

How much real world money do you people think it'll be possible to earn?

A gazillion.

Or about as much as a Chinese item farmer.

If auctions will bring in real money they'll quickly adapt and corner the market.

 

The comparison has crossed my mind. I wonder how much they earned.

 

Also, lets presume that leveling will be much faster than in WoW. If so, access to high level endgame loot drops comes much more quickly and easily.

I assume that means the prices will be even smaller than in WoW.

Nothing; they are serving 3 consecutive life sentences on Chinese prison and forced to play WOW, tragic fate really.

 

The last part is what makes it tragic.

[Orogun01]

Of course.

 

On a more related note: **** millenials and their social networks have ruined games!

Diablo the MMO

 

idon'twannaliveinthisplanetanymore.JPEG

[Tigranes]

I'm not sure what to think. For me, none of the changes really kill the game per se - I always thought Blizzard games are mediocre and boring in single player, with their completely dull 'epic' storylines and repetitive gameplay. They only become fun in multiplayer where the excellent balance and grinding mechanism maximises the competitive/cooperative aspect. So always online doesn't affect me in practice. Neither does the modding rule, since the only non-cheat mod you could use in D2 multiplayer was maphack. Etc. etc. But it really is annoying what they are doing and I don't want to support it. With SC2 and D2 they're showing that they've decided the best way to go about these things is decide on a blanket rule (often on the strict side), make up some transparently nonsensical BS as an excuse, then get the riot police out on anyone who 'disobeys'. Talk about overdoing it.

 

Ironically, I think as someone who played a lot of MP D2, the auction thing will affect my experience the most. Of course I knew people were trading characters and items for money in D2, but integrating it into the game is different - I don't want to be sitting there killing bosses and looking every nook and cranny hoping to get the last drop in the Set, and have someone in the game say "screw it, I'm leaving and buying it for $20", or people discussing builds & strategies saying "so start off by buying this and this....", playing with my friends and having them buy crap to get stronger than me, etc. In a game like Diablo where so much is competitive/comparative and the trade economy affects every serious player (think how much the valuation of a Stone of Jordan changed over D2's lifetime), having an integrated auction is a huge annoyance and disruption.

[Malcador]

Well, that was interesting. Blizzard getting a cut from that marketplace ?

[Humodour]

It's disappointing but not surprising and it's probably also to try and beat the dupe black market much like iTunes has done with mp3s.

 

Either way I'll enjoy myself and probably gravitate to playing with 'clean' players.

[Morgoth]

Is it true there won't be CGI cutscenes this time around (except intro and outro maybe)? Somewhere I read they make sepia style hand-drawn cutscenes now.

 

No wonder really, since Blizzard's cutscene team is mightily busy with making the in-engine cutscene for Starcraft 2. Still, kinda sad, I thought the D2 cg cutscenes were really impressive and one of the reasons to finish a chapter.

[Blarghagh]

Okay, I have some issues with this plan myself, but I don't think it's a make or break issue. Honestly, I'll play a demo or trial version, and if the game is fun enough, these things will be soon forgotten.

 

I'm also interested in seeing how this business model goes, so I hope they don't listen to kneejerkers and keep it.

[Drowsy Emperor]

If they wanted to make it more annoying and obstructive to having fun they should just bundle iTunes with it.

Edited August 2, 2011 by Drowsy Emperor

[kirottu]

Either way I'll enjoy myself and probably gravitate to playing with 'clean' players.

 

It would be nice to play with other people in hardcore mode. That wasn't really possible in D2 if they weren't your friends.

[Morgoth]

I really enjoyed playing D2 back then with a couple friends over B.net, even with a lousy ISDN connection..

 

Sadly, my friends nowadays don't play video games, and I'm not really keen on playing with some jerks and strangers.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I really enjoyed playing D2 back then with a couple friends over B.net, even with a lousy ISDN connection..

 

Sadly, my friends nowadays don't play video games, and I'm not really keen on playing with some jerks and strangers.

 

[Humodour]

Either way I'll enjoy myself and probably gravitate to playing with 'clean' players.

 

It would be nice to play with other people in hardcore mode. That wasn't really possible in D2 if they weren't your friends.

 

Yep, and in that sense I guess we here on Obsid make for a good pool of intelligent people to play with outside our real-life social circles!

[trulez]

Always online huh ?

Don't have to buy this game then as I don't care about multiplayer at all (several years in WoW were enough and I did enjoy that ride). Always online for singleplayer game is something that I just can't support.

What kind of ****ty internet connection do you have that isn't always online ?

 

This is what your complaint sounds like:

"I have to keep my PC plugged in to the power outlet in order to play? Outrageous!"

 

Because in these modern times internet connections have about the same uptime as your power does, it's maybe down couple hours a year during a storm.

[Morgoth]

Well, and what if you're in a plane or train or some hotel that hasn't WiFi? Can't play Diablo 3 there.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Its the principle of the thing. You're losing something (offline mode) that you're been used to since forever for no justifiable reason and getting nothing in return that you wouldn't get anyway (battle.net).

 

Bad trade is what it is.

 

Other than that its not really an obstacle for most people - maybe for those that use a laptop for gaming and move around a lot.

[Gorth]

This is what your complaint sounds like:

"I have to keep my PC plugged in to the power outlet in order to play? Outrageous!"

...and nobody said anything, because it didn't affect me. When they started demanding that your webcam was on all the time, so they could watch your behavior while playing, nobody said anything, because it didn't... etc.

 

It's just as much about moving borders and thresholds for what is acceptable.

[Magister Lajciak]

Executive vice president of game design Rob Pardo notes that the wealth of improvements and features Diablo 3 brings to Battle.net necessitate the always-online requirement. Specific additions that he refers to include:

 

A persistent friends list.

Cross-game chat via the RealID system.

Persistent characters that are stored server-side (no more having to play online once every 90 days, nor item duplication cheats).

Persistent party system.

Player-versus-player and public game matchmaking.

Dynamic drop-in/out for co-op

Larger item stash that gets shared among all of your characters (at the moment, up to 10)

The auction house, outlined here.

The Achievement system and detailed stat-tracking, both of which feed into the final point:

The Banner system, a visual way to display your prowess in the game. Banners start out like emblems, where you can choose from an array of symbols, patterns, and overall shape/design. Then, you can tweak its appearance through Achievements and other accomplishments. Examples Pardo cites include whether the character is in Hardcore mode, how many Achievements have been earned, how many PVP victories, and so forth. Additionally, the Banners also have gameplay features; in-game, rather than use Town Portal, you can click on a player's Banner to instantly teleport over to said player.

While Pardo recognizes that people sometimes want or need to play offline (such as internet outages, or playing on a laptop during an airplane flight), he notes that the increased security, plus benefits like the above, outweigh those other concerns. "I want to play Diablo 3 on my laptop in a plane, but, well, there are other games to play for times like that."

 

Always online huh ?

Don't have to buy this game then as I don't care about multiplayer at all (several years in WoW were enough and I did enjoy that ride). Always online for singleplayer game is something that I just can't support.

 

Well, I cannot support this either and will pass on the game. I have already passed on Starcraft II for the same reason (the various online requirements). Oh well...