This just in...

[StevehRogers]

Re: This just in...

Sorry cheeseburner?

When I refer to 'single player' I mean solo play, I know you 'cannot play off-line' I just read the article which stated it which also started this thread which I am replying to...

The only thing I can see how it is different is that fact you cannot do p8 or stuff like this, but it is a new game, not everything can be the same, the leveling system sounds completely different and like it has been said there will be no 'grinding'. I'm sure the game will pose many new challenges which will be just as difficult as the ones you guys set yourself here on the forums (hell you can still set your own new ones when the game is relseased! =)

I reckon sit tight and see, play the beta (if your lucky) or the demo (if PC games still do that?) lol, I am still looking forward to the release. Games evolve over time I think you may be pleasantly surprised

 

[Greebo]

Re: This just in...

Honestly, just read this very thread from the beginning (read, not skim) and you will understand what the difference is.

 

[Freire]

Re: This just in...

Well, thats just sad news...

Diablo and rogue likes in general for me are perfect games to play when you just want to be left alone, in your own private world, following your own rules. Call me a weirdo, but just logging in even to play alone pretty much breaks that "feeling" for me.

I like to play diablo 2 in private TCP games at maximum. I've tried battle.net a few times, but found it annoying with all the dupes, braindead people etc.

I'm a diablo player since 1996 (15 years ago!), had so much fun playing this in that boring rainy days and nights...

 

[Jason Maher]

Re: This just in...

I guess I will be playing D2 for a few more years. I am basically a hermit, and I resent having to be connected to the internet and to the cattle.net servers just to play a game by myself. 3 years of expectation has just become "I could give a **** if this game never actually comes out."

 

[corax1]

Re: This just in...

*is not surprised*

that will be all

 

[JihadJesus]

Re: This just in...

Bliz, **** on the SP community? I am shocked by this news. Shocked.

It's sad to see the worst aspects of PC gaming (treating your customers like criminals) and MMOs (gold farms and real world money!) inserted into a series I've pored more hours into than I'd like to admit.

Sadly, I'm probably not all that interested in D3 at this point. Nothing about it is really getting me all that hyped, and this really doesn't help. It feels like it's missing the soul of D2, like it's what you'd get if you took the game back to be redesigned by committee.

 

[Nightfish]

Re: This just in...

The only thing I can see how it is different is that fact you cannot do p8 or stuff like this

Not everyone has internet 24/7, as has been said. Of those that do, not everyone has *good* internet 24/7. Not everyone wants their save games on blizzards servers either. I could go on, really, but it has been said many times already and if you haven't figured it out by now you probably can't think any further than "this does not bother *me* so it bothers no one". Personally I do have good internet most of the time, but as I have stated, D3 is exactly the kind of game I want to play when I *don't*.

Another thing is that their argument is complete bull****. It's already impossible to bring a SP character to closed battle.net, so there is really no need for this "protection of the online community" from us nasty SP cheater people. All this says is that they do not trust me to legally buy their game if I have any way left to pirate it. And the funny thing is, it's not going to work. It never does.

On the other hand, I buy games instead of pirating them even if there is no copy protection whatsoever. But this one I'm neither buying nor pirating.

 

[angiras]

Re: This just in...

I am not surprised at this move by Blizzard. They have made so much more money from WoW than from Diablo, its not even funny, and that "online 24/7" model is being carried over to D3. But I am with you all the way Nightfish. This kills D3 for me. I too play D2 to relax in solitude. So guess I will be playing D2 till my hairs turn gray, my teeth fall out, and my hands are shaking from palsy.

 

[Yuka]

Re: This just in...

"Only 10 characters per account"
Does this mean we have to buy several copies if we want to make more characters?

Also the biggest disappointment about the no offline mode is the fact that we may not be able to play the game at all in 10 or 20 years when the servers close down, since even the characters are stored on their servers and not locally.

 

[Dudzy1]

Re: This just in...

"Only 10 characters per account"
Does this mean we have to buy several copies if we want to make more characters?

Also the biggest disappointment about the no offline mode is the fact that we may not be able to play the game at all in 10 or 20 years when the servers close down, since even the characters are stored on their servers and not locally.

The whole 10 characters a account thing dont really matter with te skill change thing dose it? I mean 2 of each class will be plently the way they designed the system.

Its a bummer in some ways but i guess i also see there point, not many people want to trudge through normal and nightmare a ton like we did.

 

[jjscud]

Re: This just in...

The whole 10 characters a account thing dont really matter with te skill change thing dose it? I mean 2 of each class will be plently the way they designed the system.

Not so, the skill runes are now the major form of customization, but with the 10 char limit (maybe they misunderstood some of the shorter posts around here) you can't really try much out without undoing (removing, and probably destroying, the runes) what you've done.

It comes back to the online only mode. I too have a decent internet connection at home so most of the time its ok, but not all the time. Its still blizzard forcing me to play in their own little (as in simplistic, narrow-minded) vision of the game and not the way I want to.

When they force the rules that tight, it leaves the realm of "not being able to play the way I want to" and enters "not the game I want to play" area.

 

[Mydienon]

Re: This just in...

I haven't tried Guildwars, but reading through some of the Diablo 3 Q&As reminds me more and more of Guildwars. Low level limits, choose your skills before each quest, focus on items, online play only...

I wonder if part of the D3 design process was to recapture former WoW players?

Anyway, I'll likely opt out of purchasing D3. If several of my friends get it and we agree to play together online, then I'll change my mind. However, I can't think of any good reason why I'd want to play an online-only game as a single player. It forces me to deal with lag, corrupt packets, save game instability, technical issues/downtime with servers, and opens both my PC and my account up to hacking attempts.

A note about that security thing though... Blizzard is allowing real world currency on the auction house. How can they not expect to draw attention from hackers? And they have the audacity to claim this game will have almost no risk of duping, hacking, or other scams?

Wasn't there a similar announcement about Diablo 2 having such state-of-the-art security, or such nonsense?

 

[RobbyD]

Re: This just in...

Capitalism ****s you over everywhere you look. No-one/nothing is spared.

I beg to differ with you on this assertion. Yeah, Blizz is defecating on the SP playing community, but the orginators of the Diablo series are actually planning a lauch of thier own game (Torchlight 2) that, in Max Shaefer's own words, is going a different direction than big guys are going - they are focusing on people being able to play the game in they way that is most fun for them. If T2 ends up being even a decent game (and I think it might since they are taking much longer to launch it and are incorporating feedback from the player base), it will be my alternative to the **** sandwich that D3 is looking like it will be.

That is capitalism at work.

He even said they were focusing on making Sets plausible character gear (yay!)

 

[Paradigmshift]

Re: This just in...

"Only 10 characters per account"
Does this mean we have to buy several copies if we want to make more characters?

Also the biggest disappointment about the no offline mode is the fact that we may not be able to play the game at all in 10 or 20 years when the servers close down, since even the characters are stored on their servers and not locally.

Blizzard doesn't even want us to be playing d2 right now, much less d3 in 10-20 years. They'll string you along with expansions in the meantime, while they continue to figure out ways to extract more cash from the unbelievably blind sheep that will buy their product simply because it is the new "next best thing." And that product will be released in 10 years and they will bring those d3 servers offline so that they will force you to find something else to play, and oh yeah... we just released D4!!!

I am still on the fence regarding D3. Don't like any of what I have read, but I do have some friends that are excited about it and could care less about the issues we've discussed within this thread and so, I'll probably do just what my Mom always told me not to: " Don't jump off the cliff just because your friends do, honey!"

 

[NatNit]

Re: This just in...

Y'know, when the NDA lifted, and all the crappy news rained down (RMAH, no mods, always online, etc.) I was pretty darn sad. Definite /ragequit times.

But after a couple days of reflection, I think I'm back on track to buy this. Bottom line is, this thing is probably gonna be pretty damn fun, and that's all that matters to me.

I'm excited to play online again, and I think the real money inclusion in the auction house puts a greater impetus on them to really stop botters, cheaters, and spammers. There's too much at stake for them not to. And while Diablo 1 and 2 were great solitary strategy games, I feel like they really did shine when playing through with a friend.

I hope I'm right, and this game is worth the $60 price tag. And if it is, I hope you guys join me: this is a very skilled, intelligent, and fun community; with enough experience and dedication to really tear up any kind of ladder or economy that D3 has.

 

[Ugla]

Re: This just in...

Well, guess why I didn't buy starcraft 2? Aside from the "trying to sell me the same game 3 times" bit...
...Well then you can not have my money. Not that they care but yea. I can at least do that much.

..and I don't care whether they care. Never played SC2 either, never had any intention of playing D3 nor read any info about the game whatsoever. I'm far more interested in Metalstorm project.

I still have the NWN "Hordes of the Underdark" expansion waiting for me at home, along with NWN2, not to mention unfinished Homam3 datadiscs and the entire Homam5 box (with two datadiscs iirc).. Seems I have enough to do for the rest of my gaming days.

 

[skunkbelly]

Re: This just in...

Does anyone have an idea of how much bandwidth an online game like this might suck up, on average? I've never played an MMO, so I don't really have a clue what the data load is like... I worry that with my limited data allowance, I won't be able to play (not to mention that my connection could be more reliable). This offline only thing just sucks. Complete stupidity.

The rest of the changes, I don't have any problem with yet... I'm willing to take a wait-and-see attitude. I don't want D3 to be the same as D2... if I want to play D2, I can play D2. But no true SP mode could be a deal-breaker.

 

[Mydienon]

Re: This just in...

The amount of data going back and forth isn't a huge problem, in my experience. The problem is the communication time, which equates to lag. The data packet sent from the server to your PC (or vice versa) may only be a few bytes, but if it takes one second, you're basically responding to something that happened one second ago...and, your response takes one second to arrive at the server...and, in that interval, your character has already died, which you find out one second later...

I've played online games using a T1 line from the office, which had 1-2 seconds of lag due to poor lines of communication between my PC and the server. I've also played online games using dial-up, and it can work great if you live in a location near a server. You don't necessarily need to be physically near a server, but you want to be "near" in the sense of the fewest number of nodes/connections and avoid any particularly slow nodes between you and the server.

What really sucks, in my opinion, is that I won't know whether or not my connection speed allows viable play until I purchase the game. I guess I can approximate my lag expectations by accessing battle.net with D2.

 

[baldanders]

Re: This just in...

My thoughts are that if we as a community can band together and express our disdain, perhaps Blizzard can reverse/change this standing. Does anyone know if that is possible/how we would go about this?

I've worked for a number of software houses, of varying sizes, and my advice is to save your breath. They knew how unpopular this would be when they made the decision, but they also decided it would be in their best interests. You won't sway them by pointing out something they knew ahead of time. The "community" is a small part of their audience, and the part of the community that will actually not buy the game because of this is even smaller. NF is likely right- D3 will sell well anyway. If it doesn't sell well it won't be because of this.

Later on, once they stop worrying about getting their lunch eaten by pirates and start thinking about milking the title, it might make sense to hit them up for a patch that allows offline play (assuming their architecture can be adapted to that.) And you never know- they might even change their mind about this before the release, again assuming they have built the ability to change their mind about it into the software (way too late, otherwise.) But, though I would save my breath here, I wouldn't hold it.

 

[Asmodeous1]

Re: This just in...

What's the big deal? You can still play single player. You don't have to play online if you don't want to, or trade online (even though most of us do on here anyway). Fair enough you have to be logged in but you all have the internet.

Am I missing something? I for one will not play single player D3, I only play SP now because of all the hacking and duping in D2, if that is irradiated in d3 then brilliant, if not, play single player 'online' nothing to stop you?

Not everybody in the world can access super fast internet. Personally my wired internet connection can download approx 1.1 megabytes per second however, the POP is on the other side of australia, a distance of 4,000 kilometres before its routed out of the country. Hence any online game incurs a high ping, between 700-1,100 m/s to all of the battle.net servers, asia being the quickest. Heck, even a peer to peer connection to my brother has a 300-400 m/s ping and he lives 15 kilometres away!
This isn't just a personal problem either. It affects every internet connection in western austrlia, South australia, ACT, NT, etc. basically the further you are from the east coast, the higher your pings.