Diablo 3: Auction House Does Cash, More
On the plus side, Blizzard will provide an auction house that deals in cash. On the negative side, Diablo 3 will require a constant Internet connection. You can forget about mods, too.
As reported earlier, Blizzard scheduled a press event last Tuesday giving the media access to Diablo 3. Because everyone was under an NDA, the info couldn't be released until today. That said, a good number of details are starting to make their way into the stream including the game's required constant Internet connectivity and an auction house dealing with real cash.
But first, Monday brought the unsurprising news that Blizzard's highly-anticipated action-RPG will require a constant Internet connection. Naturally this DRM method will help fight against a flood of pirated versions that could potentially flood torrent and Usenet channels. But Blizzard has also chosen this route so that player characters can move from single-player to multi-player seamlessly.
In essence, Diablo 3 cannot be played offline.
"We thought about this quite a bit," said executive producer Rob Pardo. "One of the things that we felt was really import was that if you did play offline, if we allowed for that experience, you’d start a character, you’d get him all the way to level 20 or level 30 or level 40 or what have you, and then at that point you might decide to want to venture onto Battle.net. But you’d have to start a character from scratch, because there’d be no way for us to guarantee no cheats were involved, if we let you play on the client and then take that character online."
"Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t play a game by yourself – of course you can," he added. "You can go into and start any game that you want, you’ll just be connected to the Battle.net servers, and we can authenticate your character."
In addition, Pardo revealed a list of Battle.net features that will be embedded in the game, requiring a constant Internet connection. These include: persistent friends list; cross-game chat via the RealID system; persistent characters that are stored server-side; persistent party system; player-versus-player and public game matchmaking; dynamic drop-in/out for co-op; larger item stash, shared among all of your characters; the auction house; achievements and detailed stat-tracking; the Banner system.
Now comes another shocker: no mods for Diablo 3. “For a variety of gameplay and security reasons, we will not be supporting bots or mods in Diablo 3, and they’ll be expressly prohibited by our terms of use for the game," read an official Diablo 3 FAQ handed out during the press event.
So no offline mode, no bots and no mods. Is there any good news stemming from the press event? Certainly. Joystiq reports that Diablo 3 will feature two in-game auction houses to sell items from player to player: one using in-game gold and one using real-world cash.
According to the report, the latter auction house will be like an "eBay for Sanctuary," allowing players to put items up for sale in each of the game's various regions around the world. Blizzard will take a fixed fee out of the eventual sale for listing and selling the virtual item. Players can either keep the cash in their Battle.net account to use on other Blizzard-related items, or cash out and pay a set percentage-based withdrawal fee. So far Blizzard hasn't revealed what third-party financial institution it plans to use.
"Ultimately, players want it," Pardo said in regards to the cash-based auction house. "If Blizzard doesn't do this system, I'm not so naive to think that [third-party auctions are] not going to happen. In the past we've really taken this hardline stance of, we will just try to stamp it down in every place that we can. And we could take that approach. But I actually think that with Diablo, it actually will end up being a good thing, at least something that players will be excited about. It really is something that a lot of players are already looking to do."
Stay tuned for more as the lifted NDA releases the Diablo 3 flood.
- Blizzard,
- Activision,
- Diablo-3 ,
- Rob-Pardo ,
- Auction-House ,
- DRM ,
- Battle.net
- Windows 8 Will Run Windows 7 Software Just Fine
- After Crysis: Crytek Working on New FPS Franchise?
- New Acer AIO Can Be Desktop, HDTV Combined
- Deals for July 29: EA Store: $4.99 for Select PC Games
- KDE 4.7 Released
- The Start of an Empire: MS-DOS Celebrates 30th Birthday
- THQ Says Goodbye to Red Faction Franchise
- Asus Ultra-Thin Netbook Goes Official, Under $200
- Deals July 28: Logitech Wireless Headset + Free Game $89
- Deals for Aug 1: Dell Inspiron Core i5 & 24" LCD for $659
- ViewSonic Readies 3D Vision-Ready 24" Monitor
- Google Estimated to Have 900,000 Servers
- Kingston Ships High-Speed HyperX SSDs
- A New Study Suggests Internet Explorer is for Dummies
- Why Apple Can Produce Tablets for Less Money
- Deals August 2: Logitech G27 PS3/PC Racing Wheel $205
- Texas Instruments May Sell OMAP Division
- DRAM Growth May Slow as Operating Systems Get Leaner
yay... more cloudy days ahead... I am beginning to hate large game devs, 1st ubisoft pulls this stupid 100% connected BS outa there asses, now blizzard with a game that has a campaign
youd think they could setup some system that tracks how quickly your char lvls up\gets certain skills\ w\e and use some piece of software to filter... but no, gonna be lazy and screw over anyone that would have wanted to play campaign via mobile... oh well guess its time to buy an android after all, 3g wifi hot-spot here i come -_-
(yes i dont have a *smart phone* yet as i find the name moronic and like my regular old cell phone fine
Let me put on my /nerdhat here.
A few months after Star Wars Galaxies came out, I found a "legendary" stone dagger that did something like 400 poison damage for 400 seconds every 4 seconds.
I sold it to some bounty hunter for $125.00. Needless to say I quit thereafter and made a nice profit.
Maybe luck like that will come to me or others with D3.
Not that i like deablo but this is pretty much why i stopped buying thier games. i waited years for sc2 only to have it be raped by the dev. DRM killing one game at a time!
This is what happens when people pirate games. Happy now, assholes?
i don't see the problem with DRM. If the game is going to be multiplayer based, then go for it! SC2 and Diablo 3 is meant to be played online.
Blizzard is raping d3 like it did with sc2. Even worse. No offline? Why? now theyre just being a-holes. And mods are the only thing that made offline any fun.
I like the idea for using cash in game. I'd love to sell enough to make the game basically free for me to play. Plus, blizzard can steal profits off of all the 3rd party gold sites. Although I imagine there would be a large gold inflation as it would become nearly worthless.
Thanks for ruining all that I loved about Blizzard games, Activision. Job well done...
Well, up yours, Blizzard. Can't wait for your stupid DRM to be cracked just so you shut up. First SC2 doesn't have LAN mode so I can't play it on LAN parties, now this BS.
Totally happy. It'll be even more funny when even THIS gets cracked despite Blizzard's efforts.
What the hell, really... This isn't goddamn WoW! Constant Internet connection, sure... that's NOT how I want to play my games. I feel like pirating is totally justified in this case.
Why do I care, anyway? Never liked Diablo. Just hope the stupid tendency doesn't spread to good game makers, like BioWare... Games for Windows LIVE was annoying enough in GTA 4 and DoW 2.
Blizzard is raping d3 like it did with sc2. Even worse. No offline? Why? now theyre just being a-holes. And mods are the only thing that made offline any fun.
I haven't bought SC2 just for that reason. I won't be buying Diablo 3 for the same. Not for the mods reason, but the lack of offline where I can play in on a laptop where I don't have a net connection.
Very lame. Tired of these companies pushing the mandatory online connection. Also very tired of the 1 time activation crap. Will not support or buy products from anyone trying to pull this crap.
This is what happens when people pirate games. Happy now, assholes?
Yea I am sure that with 11 million constant subscribers to WoW, buying new expansions at $50 a pop and paying $15/month really hurts Blizzards bottom line.
Yep. All that money is pointless for them.
This is just a cover up...they really just want the DRM in place. I would like to have the choice of playing online or offline like in D2(which allows you to play alone in Bnet too). My internet connection isn't very reliable, and it would suck if I d/c while playing the single player option.
I wouldn't mind making some money off of this game though. hehe
Well, the constant connect thing is the least bothersome. The online real cash system is the disturbing part. I can see kids stealing their parents money in order to buy a "sword" very easily.
I hope that after the game is released and out for a few years they list the Total BAN on Mods the mods are part of the reason to buy the game it makes it an entire new game
I'm not angry at them for these moves, but I do think it's stupid. If you think people will get upset having to start a new char for online play, give a big warning when making an offline only character. Don't take away functionality. Yes, then it would be easier to pirate, but you can't stop the pirates. I feel bad for those with no/inconsistent internet.
Not that i like deablo but this is pretty much why i stopped buying thier games. i waited years for sc2 only to have it be raped by the dev. DRM killing one game at a time!
...well you somehow managed to misspell Diablo so I guess that's no surprise. StarCraft II requires an online connection as well, and as you might imagine there were a LOT of people screaming and complaining prior to its launch about how restrictive and unreasonable it would be to play. It's turned out to be an absolute non-issue.
In my opinion (actually owning and actively playing SC2) this is one of the least restrictive forms of DRM out there. Most people buy these games (SC & D2X) to play online anyway. I would certainly prefer this method over requiring a play disk, or limiting the number of installations, like other developers have done. This is 2011 not 1996, and I would think that anyone considering buying a game like this, even just for single player, would at least have a connection capable of accepting a login.
You're right. That's what still keeps WC3 alive
You know what I prefer? Buy a damn game, install and play. No activation, no Internet BS. Ever thought of that?
Love how blizzard has been progressing, sc2 was great and this will be as well.
Crap, i was looking forward to this game, now I'll pass on it.
I hate how everything in this world is about money.
All of this is about profits, profits, profits.
I'm sick of it. It's such a bleak outlook.
All of you like to whine, but you will buy the game and you know it, so it doesn't really bother you that much so just STFU.
You know what I prefer? Buy a damn game, install and play. No activation, no Internet BS. Ever thought of that?
Certainly makes it easier to pirate.
Battle.net's upgrades are awesome... You can still play "LAN style" on SC2 it's called custom game or make a team and do quick matches. No one buy's these games to play vrs a computer; that gets old quick. As for the other implementations in D3 (loot dropping for each person instead of fighting for it, AH with real cash, etc) will alleviate baal bot style runs in which you are forced to never get any good drops. I for one will be buying D3
I won't. As I said, I don't like Diablo.
Easier or not, everything gets pirated in the end, no matter how much money they waste on protection and DRM.
i like building levels and makeing mods thats the fun part of it but some people dont have an always on connection or any if that it seems like there singeling people out but thats what our govornment dose now
I don't want that. I want to bring my laptop to my friend's house and join the LAN party. I had that option in WC3 and I don't see why I shouldn't have it in SC2.
I haven't bought SC2 just for that reason. I won't be buying Diablo 3 for the same. Not for the mods reason, but the lack of offline where I can play in on a laptop where I don't have a net connection.
You don't need a constant connection to play the single player campaign in SC2.
But to be entirely honest with you, if you actually do consider buying SC2 based on this new information, you probably won't be hurting to constantly replay the single player campaign every time your laptop lacks an online connection. The bulk of the interest in SC2 is in the online multiplayer experience, and I think this is something that pretty much anyone who actually owns SC2 realizes. If I'm without a connection, there's really just no reason for me to play SC2.
I hate how everything in this world is about money. All of this is about profits, profits, profits. I'm sick of it. It's such a bleak outlook.
That really is the bottom line for companies, and always has been. But they get away with it now. It seems that as soon as a company gets large and does an IPO, they need to do what is best for the shareholders, which is profit, not create a brand name with amazing products and great customer service.
The problem is enough people will continue to buy things that they don't agree with, rather than hold off and wait until the company listens to the customers.
I don't want that. I want to bring my laptop to my friend's house and join the LAN party. I had that option in WC3 and I don't see why I shouldn't have it in SC2.
It effectively gives the same experience, so I'm still little lost as to why this is such a huge problem with you. Is it an issue with your internet access or bandwidth?