Diablo 3 Requires Constant Internet Connection

[ClayMeow]

That's not true at all - you just can't play on B.Net servers with them. You can host LAN games with mods all you like and people can connect to them via your IP as long as you have the ports forwarded properly. The Steam overlay makes this extremely easy to do in game with friends.

 

 

 

This is Waco btw, I'm on BluePanda's machine.

 

To me, that is still single-player because you're using your single-player characters, whereas those characters cannot be used on B.Net. That is what I meant.

[Waco]

To me, that is still single-player because you're using your single-player characters, whereas those characters cannot be used on B.Net. That is what I meant.

So multiplayer == single-player unless you're playing with "multiplayer" characters?

 

Of course you can't play with modded characters on B.Net...that would kinda defeat the point of playing.

 

 

You have odd ways of defining things.

Edited August 3, 2011 by Waco

[ClayMeow]

So multiplayer == single-player unless you're playing with "multiplayer" characters?

 

Of course you can't play with modded characters on B.Net...that would kinda defeat the point of playing.

 

 

You have odd ways of defining things.

 

No, you're just completely missing the point. Did you not see my sentence after that: "Go load your game and enter one of the B.Net servers and see how many people/games are still active - there are no mods being used there."

 

Your argument was that D2 is popular today because of modding, which is not the case and was my point.

[Waco]

Your argument was that D2 is popular today because of modding, which is not the case and was my point.

So because people still play unmodded on B.Net that means nobody plays it with mods? Sorry, I don't agree with that.

 

I was also referring to WC3 with that statement - go try to find a vanilla game of that on B.Net.

[ClayMeow]

So because people still play unmodded on B.Net that means nobody plays it with mods? Sorry, I don't agree with that.

 

I was also referring to WC3 with that statement - go try to find a vanilla game of that on B.Net.

 

Do I really have to go back and quote yourself because you don't seem to remember what you said?

 

No modding, no LAN. Those two things are the only reason Diablo 2 and Warcraft III are still being played.

 

So what I was saying is that you're incorrect in claiming that D2 is played for those reasons alone. Hell, they're not even the MAIN reasons.

[Waco]

So what I was saying is that you're incorrect in claiming that D2 is played for those reasons alone. Hell, they're not even the MAIN reasons.

I was talking more about WC3 in my post, but whatever, I was unclear. I was wrong - but we're both right. D2 is still played for many reasons, mods and LAN do certainly help that. For WC3 the mods are essentially the only thing keeping the game alive.

 

 

Regardless, we're way off topic. D3 requiring an internet connection to play at all is annoying at best and removes any ability to mod the game. Sure, not all people play with mods, but that doesn't mean no one does. I also think that the cash marketplace is a very big step in the wrong direction.

Edited August 3, 2011 by Waco

[ClayMeow]

I was talking more about WC3 in my post, but whatever, I was unclear. I was wrong - but we're both right. D2 is still played for many reasons, mods and LAN do certainly help that. For WC3 the mods are essentially the only thing keeping the game alive.

 

 

Regardless, we're way off topic. D3 requiring an internet connection to play at all is annoying at best and removes any ability to mod the game. Sure, not all people play with mods, but that doesn't mean no one does. I also think that the cash marketplace is a very big step in the wrong direction.

 

I never said nobody plays with mods, but it really is a small niche compared to all those that play on B.Net, so I don't think that decision will negatively impact sales.

 

As for the cash auction house, I'm definitely wary. The only saving grace is that it's not something we'd be forced to participate in.

[Waco]

The only saving grace is that it's not something we'd be forced to participate in.

Unless you play online - in which case people can legitimately buy their way to good gear.

 

I really think you'd be surprised how many people play with mods in Diablo 2 though. I wish there was an easy way to keep track of who was playing what.

[WhenKittensATK]

Sure, not all people play with mods, but that doesn't mean no one does. I also think that the cash marketplace is a very big step in the wrong direction.

I enjoy mods and play them, but I must admit it is very rare to find any mod more popular than the original game. The only game I've played that had a mod equally popular if not more was Red Orchestra and Darkest Hour Mod (Not talking about standalone games released based on another, an actual mod).

 

That aside, cash marketplace has its benefits for both sides.

 

Blizzard:

• 
   
  
• They get a cut from all cash trades
  
• They lower the item seller black market (where they get no revenue from)
  
• Micro-transactions (although not exacly the same implementation) work very well for small and large companies. Following suit with Valve + TF2 Item Store (TF2 has a rather large item selling cash black market, that Valve gets zero revenue from).
  

 

Players:

• 
   
  
• People can make some side cash on surplus items, they no longer have room to store
  
• Fills the urge of instant gratification players
  
• Safety from scammers (hopefully, trading with real cash on the black market isn't exactly stress-free)
  

 

Cons:

• 
   
  
• Pay to win, PVP (however items alone doesn't mean you will win)
  
• Trade offs, just because you can buy items, doesn't mean its going to come cheap. (I got some pretty rare items in D2, by purely trading items and services vs buying a rare item for $5-10+. Using TF2's free market as an example some rare items cost like $50+, so you tell me how many people you know are willing to drop that much for one item. Maybe a few thousand people, but with a player base in the hundreds of thousands to millions, they won't even make a dent.)
  

 

In conclusion, the black market is gonna be there whether or not you do something about it. It's better off to be a part of it and make some revenue than none at all. It's like piracy, you can fight it all you won't but it won't change anything. You can offer free trials or samples and at least try to convert some of those to purchasers like what many companies do. Really no easy fix, unless the law is ready/able to enforce the law.

Edited August 3, 2011 by Krazyxazn

[ClayMeow]

PvP never appealed to me in D2, so the imbalance the auction house will undoubtedly bring in doesn't matter to me much. Blizzard has also stated in previous interviews that they will not let PvP affect any of their decisions. It's simply an extra mode to the core game.

[WhenKittensATK]

PvP never appealed to me in D2, so the imbalance the auction house will undoubtedly bring in doesn't matter to me much. Blizzard has also stated in previous interviews that they will not let PvP affect any of their decisions. It's simply an extra mode to the core game.

Diablo 2 wasn't balanced around PvP either, except the very end. When they removed Enigma runeword, which was the center of both PvE and PvP gameplay

 

No balancing around PvP makes for some really fun and interesting character builds. Whirlwind Assassins, Melee Sorceress, and etc. Hybrid WW/Traps Assassin was probably one of the funnest to play and the most skill swapping heavy PvPer to play. Very rewarding when you kill a WW Barbarian as a WW Assassin

Edited August 3, 2011 by Krazyxazn

[MandoPatriot]

I don't think this is an issue. Everyone is comparing D3 to D2. They are two different games. It's not another D2 expansion. So please stop comparing it to an old old old game.

 

Second, who cares if you only have to play online? If you are seriously that desperate to play when you don't have an internet connection for a while, then you need a new hobby. Or just play something else. I don't have a great computer to play all of my games right now, and it's been that way for months, but I don't complain at all.

 

And third, no one complains about MMO's, and you HAVE to be online to play that. Look at how many people play MMO's, and tell me that it isn't a good model to copy off of? Gotta be online to play WoW, but it's OK because it's a MMO? Maybe Blizzard wants to move towards that genre more.

 

Stop complaining and just enjoy the game if you can. If you can't, sucks for you. But I'll be having fun.