Blizzard Responds to Diablo 3 "Online" Complaints
After fans began to complain about Diablo 3's "always connected" requirement, Blizzard responded with a lengthy answer to their concerns.
Previews of Diablo 3 released earlier this week revealed that the upcoming action-RPG PC game will require a constant Internet connection even when playing the single-player campaign. While the news isn't unexpected, it means that gamers won't be able to hack their way through dungeons on their laptops while the home network is down or if they're on the road where connections aren't available.
According to prior reports, this Internet requirement possibly serves as a means to curb piracy. But it also prevents the user from having to generate a separate character -- a separate "path" --in order to play multiplayer games on Battle.net.
"We thought about this quite a bit," said executive producer Rob Pardo earlier this week. "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."
Senior producer Alex Mayberry told MTV that gamers can play by themselves, but the characters are stored on Blizzard's Battle.net servers. "You have to authenticate through our servers to be able to play the game," he said. "I think it's not just 'Diablo 3' but with our games as a whole we're tying everything into Battle.net these days...We can provide a much a much more stable, connected, safer experience than we could if we let people play off-line."
In addition to the player character aspect, the single-player mode will have Battle.net elements including a persistent friends list, cross-game chat via the RealID system, player versus player and more. These require a constant Internet connection obviously.
But despite the reasons behind the always-connected requirements, fans are not happy with the decision. MTV uses this posting on Reddit as an example which has more than 2,700 comments, most of which express their distaste for the always-connected requirement.
"I'm actually kind of surprised in terms of there even being a question in today's age around online play and the requirement around that," said Blizzard's vice president of online technologies Robert Bridenbecker. "We've been doing online gameplay for 15 years now…and with 'World of WarCraft' and our roots in Battle.net and now with 'Diablo 3,' it really is just the nature of how things are going, the nature of the industry. When you look at everything you get by having that persistent connection on the servers, you cannot ignore the power and the draw of that."
He went on to add that piracy and DRM really weren't a topic of conversation when discussing how the team wanted the connection to operate. Instead, they focused on the feature-set and storing the player character in the cloud.
"You're guaranteeing that there are no hacks, no dupes," he said. "All of these things were points of discussion, but the whole copy protection, piracy thing, that's not really entering into why we want to do it. I'm a huge purveyor of online sites and from my standpoint, I don't look at DRM solutions and go, 'Wow, those are awesome.' I look at those and say, 'Wow, those kind of suck.' But if there's a compelling reason for you to have that online connectivity that enhances the gameplay, that doesn't suck. That's awesome."
He also offered other explanations such as eliminating the need to have a separate offline and online path. To find out more, head here.
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Sounds like they just copied the online supporters from the previous Diablo thread.. same lame excuses.
The success of WOW3 is the demise of their other games. They see so much money from from WOW3, that there is no denying that it has to serve as the model for success for their other games. Personally, I have never done an MMORPG and never plan to. I am against paying a monthly subscription fee for a game. I want to be able to puchase it, then it is mine, then I can play it when and where I please. I don't want to have to be connected to enjoy a single player experience. I am glad and hoping that Bethesda still continues this. I bleive that there are many others that feel as I do and this is really two different markets. Blizzard seems ok with losing one of them.
no hacks no dupes right... how about kids who will buy godslayer with dads credit card
Who the f**** uses a computer with no internet connection nowdays? I'm from a 3rd world country, but even here if someone has a PC, he has internet also.
Plz. if people can afford to buy god like items, look at WoW. Did the auction house break anything? did the black market place break anything? It didnt disrupt the enjoyment as far as I'm concerned
It's not about having the Internet or not, it's about not wanting to use it for single-player, because why should we?
Who the f**** uses a computer with no internet connection nowdays? I'm from a 3rd world country, but even here if someone has a PC, he has internet also.
The real question is: Is this going to require a high-speed connection? There are a surprising number of rural & less developed areas here in the US that do not have any affordable high speed solutions available....yup some folks are still on dial-up.
The point is, I shouldn't have to have a internet connection to play single player. If I want to cheat through single player that is MY decision and some company shouldn't tell me what I can do with MY purchased game. The easy way to stop them from requiring a constant connection is to not buy the game. I don't plan on buying it just because they require a constant connection. I am using my lack of purchasing to cast my vote on this issue.
Who the f**** uses a computer with no internet connection nowdays? I'm from a 3rd world country, but even here if someone has a PC, he has internet also.
Dunno, but maybe someone would want to play a SINGLE player game without running up their monthly bandwidth limits.
-Of course this only applies to people with an ISP that has such limits.-
Dunno, but maybe someone would want to play a SINGLE player game without running up their monthly bandwidth limits. -Of course this only applies to people with an ISP that has such limits.-
If they're able to go anywhere near their cap by playing a few online video games here and there, the ISP needs to be shot. I know a few people with a 10gb per month and they barely hit that with casual youtube and Hardcore Raiding.
They obviously didn't think hard enough.
The success of WOW3 is the demise of their other games. They see so much money from from WOW3, that there is no denying that it has to serve as the model for success for their other games. Personally, I have never done an MMORPG and never plan to. I am against paying a monthly subscription fee for a game. I want to be able to puchase it, then it is mine, then I can play it when and where I please. I don't want to have to be connected to enjoy a single player experience. I am glad and hoping that Bethesda still continues this. I bleive that there are many others that feel as I do and this is really two different markets. Blizzard seems ok with losing one of them.
Did you decide after 1996 passed, that you were going to completely stop progressing?
WoW definitely is not meant to be single player - and honestly the subscription rate isn't even bad - considering the fact that WoW is by FAR the longest investment of hours I've ever put into a game. When you look at value, and price paid, WoW actually comes out pretty cheap.
will require a constant Internet connection even when playing the single-player campaign
That stops any sale to me.
The point is, I shouldn't have to have a internet connection to play single player. If I want to cheat through single player that is MY decision and some company shouldn't tell me what I can do with MY purchased game. The easy way to stop them from requiring a constant connection is to not buy the game. I don't plan on buying it just because they require a constant connection. I am using my lack of purchasing to cast my vote on this issue.
You're like the people who don't believe in birth control, so obviously don't choose to use it. Problem with that is, you're like 1%, while the other 99% goes on with their everyday life and have no problem with it.
You're going to have to raise a lot more of people with your mindset.
Sure, they might have lost 1 person's business - but they picked up 5 more that would've otherwise been pirated. Plus they get to track you and your habits that also translate to more money for them.
As you can clearly see, the benefits outweigh the risks (of losing you).
You're going to have to raise a lot more of people with your mindset.
Sure, they might have lost 1 person's business - but they picked up 5 more that would've otherwise been pirated. Plus they get to track you and your habits that also translate to more money for them.
As you can clearly see, the benefits outweigh the risks (of losing you).
And this is exactly why I won't bother with it. I don't want to have my every online thing tracked. Have you ever heard of a funny little thing called Privacy? just because others choose to throw it away doesn't mean I am going too.
There is already a patch to fix offline play on single player ready before it hits the shelf so much for the online protection.
"...We can provide a much a much more stable, connected, safer experience than we could if we let people play off-line."
I call bullshit. Simple as that. "Connected" may apply, but absolutely not the others. I'm irritated, as long as I waited for this, but insofar as I anticipated playing it specifically when I did NOT have an Internet connection (e.g. while traveling), I will have to pass. Blizzard, you need to allow offline play. Some guy being unable to move a character onto Battlenet is on him; don't put it on me too.
It's not about having the Internet or not, it's about not wanting to use it for single-player, because why should we?
So that others who might want to level a little in single and then go online don't have to level again. And to make sure that the ones that do are legit when they do come online.
I can't understand all the fuss, unless you just wanted to cheat your way through, or you're too broke to have internet (then why are you here typing?) or just wanted to pirate the game, I don't see a valid reason why they shouldn't, I mean, so many other games are only playable online.
And this is exactly why I won't bother with it. I don't want to have my every online thing tracked. Have you ever heard of a funny little thing called Privacy? just because others choose to throw it away doesn't mean I am going too.
What makes you think you would be throwing away your privacy by playing an online game? You're throwing it away just as much by coming on here and rambling.
what a laugh, you guys do realize that pirates will be able to play off-line from day one and all the loyal paying customers will need to be constantly online? until now not even a single DRM scheme ever worked (even if they say its not DRM). once again: pirates get all benefits without paying (well, not multiplayer, of course).
"All of these things were points of discussion, but the whole copy protection, piracy thing, that's not really entering into why we want to do it."
Riight.
Also puts a lot of traffic on our already overloaded internet highways
I can't understand all the fuss, unless you just wanted to cheat your way through, or you're too broke to have internet (then why are you here typing?) or just wanted to pirate the game, I don't see a valid reason why they shouldn't, I mean, so many other games are only playable online.
Your not getting anything free for sucking up to the man.
As long a they deliver a solid product that is fun... I have no complaints. My PC is always on the net. If it's not that means I'm on the phone with Comcast and wouldn't be playing anyway. Besides... it has to be better than the rampant cheating I remember from Diablo I/II.
ActiBlizzard will get my money for DIII assuming they don't screw up prior to launch.
It's apparent to me that a vast proportion of the internet like to get annoyed for the sake of being annoyed.
By that, I mean the overwhelming majority of people complaining about this will have an active internet connection anyway. So, they're not complaining about a real problem - just an imagined one.
It would be a very small proportion of gamers who would want to play the game who do not have an internet connection, or those who want to play without a consistent connection (for example, on the train), and there are plenty of other games for them to play.
As an experience, Blizzard have made it quite clear that 'single player' is a small piece of their plans with Diablo 3, and personally I don't think design decisions should be made to suit a minority of gamers.
I will enjoy playing Diablo 3, enjoy taking my single-player character online (may just play it online permanently for the lulz), and enjoy the social integration aspects. I really don't care about online authentication because I have a business-grade ADSL connection which is never down, and if it ever did fail I have a HSDPA mobile broadband modem with 10GB/month.
Why should I lose out on Blizzard's desired functionality because people have nothing better than to QQ about it?
And yes, I do understand that some users may be inconvenienced by this but anyone with a shred of maturity will know that the VAST majority of users complaining about this are doing so for the sake of it or because they wanted to play a cracked version, NOT because they are actually going to lose out.
Just my two cents anyway, feel free to flame me as much you want just like everyone has been flaming Blizzard. Caremode /off
Booooo! Booooo!
It's not about having the Internet or not, it's about not wanting to use it for single-player, because why should we?
really? honestly if your on here posting about something, you're connected to the internet. I mean SC II you are "connected to the internet" to play single player (not required), and it tracks all your goodies. battle.net is a very good service for online community, its pretty much steam, but just for blizzard games (i play mine through steam anyway, so i get the best of both worlds).
Dunno, but maybe someone would want to play a SINGLE player game without running up their monthly bandwidth limits. -Of course this only applies to people with an ISP that has such limits.-
you do realize that the "online" part of d 3 wont be anymore of a bandwith hog than an im client... aka dial up will handle it just fine.
Honestly all of the complaints about "having to be online" stem from people who are broke (if your broke do something to fix your situation instead of wasting time playing video games) and want to pirate, just want to pirate, or somehow thing when you buy anything digital its yours. Its not, look at the laws we have in this country. It doesn't matter what your personal belief on that matter is, the laws in this country are such that if you own the ip, you can do with it as you please, and you have every right to defend it. So when you buy any piece of software you are just licensing it like a rental fee. complain to your congressmen and women instead of qq'ing about it on a forum.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but at the end of the day, its not a bad system, it effectively protects their ip without some intrusive software running (i just logged in, it took all of 10 secconds), and it provides them ways to add new content to the gamers experience.
and ps
for all of you who live in rural America (or other places similar) I am sorry that the infrastructure in this country is about making a corporation as much money as possible, instead of actually serving the citizens of America. I understand it sucks, but again, you need to complain to your congressmen and women so they understand what a travesty it is that we are Flipping America and 3rd world countries have better internet connections than we do, and we get essentially held hostage for it by paying excessive monthly fees for it, and if they don't do something about it elect someone who will.
/steps off soap box
I guess I'll just have to keep playing torchlight. If Diablo 3 turns out to be anything like StarCraft 2 then Blizzard is doing me a favor by turning my business away.
I can't understand all the fuss, unless you just wanted to cheat your way through, or you're too broke to have internet (then why are you here typing?) or just wanted to pirate the game, I don't see a valid reason why they shouldn't, I mean, so many other games are only playable online. Your not getting anything free for sucking up to the man.
The Fuss is the fact that some people like to play through a Single player campaign without the interference of having to be on a system that is connected to the internet - this requirement adds running processes to the system slowing gameplay - makes it impossible to play at times (when on the road traveling) so why if I am playing a single player game should I have to be connected ?? I do not play multi-player games and as long as companies are providing single player campaigns in the game then do not require that portion to be connected (If you want to make it a requirement that only characters that have been developed while connected in order to use them in multi player campaigns that's fine but don't stop the players that never play online from being able to enjoy the single player campaign at any time they want -- Or release a separate version of the game that is just the single player campaign and charge less for it !!
In addition why did they wait so long to announce that this was going to be a requirement ?? possible because the wanted all o those pre-orders to be placed before they let the users know they were requiring it ? ANd are they planning on charging a subscription fee for connecting to their server (and storing your character there) in order to play the single player campaign ?
I didn't write that I was responding to that.
The more that publishers/developers try to justify this model, the more I disagree with it. But of all the excuses offered by Blizzard, the more it seems that the only single reason for doing this is to curb "piracy" (I hate the term, but I'll use it for conventional reasons).