Blizzard Investigating Nasty Diablo III Lag Issue
Are you having lag issues with Diablo III in both single-player and multiplayer scenarios? Has the lag made the game unplayable? Apparently, you're not alone, as the "major lag" complaints that sprouted up over the weekend have caused Blizzard to open up an investigation into the issue. The network engineers are now asking players to supply some information in this sticky update.
"We'd like to have your trace route info when you trace to 12.168.209.68," said support agent Omrakos. "We'd also like to see the results when you run our Looking Glass utility to see the return path of the trace from Blizzard to you. Be sure to select Diablo III in the utility. And lastly, please identify your ISP and geographical location in your reply post with the above info."
Instructions to perform a trace route are listed here for both Windows PC and Max OS X gamers as well as the IP address of Blizzard's Diablo III server for the Americas. Using the trace route on a Windows machine includes accessing the CMD window, running it as the administrator, and typing "tracert" along with the destination server's IP address. In the case of Diablo III in North America, that number will be 12.129.209.68 as Omrakos states.
The instructions note that customers performing the trace route may see several hops later in the path that return a "Request Timed Out" or "Destination Net Unreachable" error. If their labels end in attens.net, att.net, alter.net, telia.net, then these are likely Battle.net servers, and users can ignore the error messages. These errors are likely the results of "safeguards" that protect the Battle.net servers.
Blizzard customers not wanting to fool around with the CMD option can instead use Looking-Glass to supply the needed data. This is a network diagnostic tool that allows users to ping the Battle.net Authentication server; the Battle.Net websites; and the servers for Diablo III, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II and Hearthstone. The available tests include MTR, Trace Route and Ping.
The current lag issue could be seen as a good example of why Diablo III needs to have an offline mode in the single-player experience. Blizzard has stressed time and time again that the online requirement is baked into the game's core and provides a number of cool features that can only be delivered by an Internet connection, such as local chat. Regardless, the online requirement may be seen by most Diablo III players as a form of DRM.
Should Diablo III have an offline mode? Blizzard will never cave in to that request, but it doesn't hurt to dream.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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knowom "cool features that can only be delivered by an Internet connection, such as local chat"Reply
Grim Dawn thanks Crate with cool features such as a LAN play ;) and cool online features such as chat and private servers so you don't need to play with spammers and bots! Along with cool features such a semblance of game balance, quirky builds are functional, lastly team play and builds that don't look and feel like a after thought tacked on. -
photonboy ONLINE vs OFFLINE:Reply
Why not let us CHOOSE with a HUD element?
Default to ONLINE if you wish but let us choose OFFLINE if we want. -
Jim90 "cool features that can only be delivered by an Internet connection, such as local chat"Reply
...???
-->erm... single player!!
ok..take two, please convince us with one good reason why an internet connection is needed (and remember, we've already passed the DRM bit during initial install). -
Vecinul Maybe in an online enviroment Blizzard can control the game better and not let hacks for crafting lot, that would eventually distroy the game....Reply -
codo blizzard is, by far, the worst company in the whole industry. haven't done a thing right since LOD. them and activision, and terrible cancer on the entire mediumReply -
lpedraja2002 Anyone with common sense knows that their reason for online only is for the money. An offline mode could have been added easily and made so that offline characters and items couldn't be used in online mode as to not affect balance.Reply -
derekullo ReplyAnyone with common sense knows that their reason for online only is for the money. An offline mode could have been added easily and made so that offline characters and items couldn't be used in online mode as to not affect balance.
I don't see how they would make money with online diablo 3.
Doesn't require a monthly fee and I don't see any advertisements ingame.