24 replies to this topic

[xg4bx]

We as consumers have gotten to the point that we just accept this bullshit as "normal launch-day bugs," when it should have never gotten to this point in the first place. I read through those forums, and you wouldn't believe the number of people defending Blizzard through this whole ordeal. Throwing out arguments like "It's going to happen. You can't expect the servers to handle that many people logging on all at once." And "Every MMO in existence has these problems on launch day."

And nobody is getting the core point: The single-player version of this game should have never been hosted on a remote server to begin with. I and millions of other people bought this game because we love the Diablo franchise, and we have been waiting for 12 years to jump back in and throw fireballs at evil. There is an absolutely enormous amount of us out there who couldn't give two flying f*cks about an auction house or a chatroom or even the ability to play the game with our friends. We just want to play the goddamn thing.

If any other company in the world sold you a product that didn't work, and then refused to hand over some sort of compensation in return, you wouldn't even need a lawyer. The judge would tell them straight up, "Give them a working product, or give them their money back, or go to f*cking jail." But for whatever reason, the video game industry gets away with this now? Every time they have a problem with their servers, I can't play the game I already bought? In an era when people carry their entire music library around with them on their phones, I have less ownership and control of my games than I had in 1979?

And make no mistake, we have every right to bitch. We don't want to hear condescending assholes telling us, "Calm down. It's just a game. Be patient." It's not just a game. It's the principle: We paid for it.

Read more: 5 Reasons 'Diablo III' Represents Gaming's Annoying Future | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.c.../#ixzz1vAY74lj5

i don't play diablo but theres some damn fine points here.

Edited by xg4bx, Thu May 17, 2012 4:40 PM.

[Hyper_Eye]

I'll play Torchlight while I wait for Torchlight 2. I am pretty sure the single-player portion of that game will be playable directly on my computer. Diablo III looks great but this is too much.

[Albert]

I was interested in Diablo III, but lost all interest when I found out you need to login to Battle.net to play a single player game. If this is the way gaming is headed, good thing I have a huge collection of classic games that don't talk to the internet at all.

..Al

[cimerians]

Tell those suckers Diablo III is NOT an MMO.

When I first found out about the single player must be online bullcrap I could not beleive it. I think I posted a thread about that a while back.

It's not right.

Torchlight II --> 20$ and no online requirement "DRM" (These guys did the original Diablo games)
Diablo III --> 60$ with online requirement DRM.

Blizzard\Activision may not call it DRM but thats what it is.

I will buy the usual mainstream games (Skyrim, Borderlands 2) but I am having lots of fun with Steam....Indie games....android games.... and of course the huge backlog of classics.

Edited by cimerians, Thu May 17, 2012 7:35 PM.

[moycon]

I bought the original Diablo 2 with the expansion disk for $5 at Goodwill. I loved it. I mean really loved it. I'd wake up, and play Diablo 2 untill my girlfriend got home, she'd make dinner and I'll be pissy because I was playing Diablo 2!! I even spent real life cash to get items off eBay. I think I topped out at a level 92 Tals Sorc.....but had dozens of Mules spread across 3 accounts. Then I stepped back and looked at all the time I was wasting. Hours and hours a day. I was actually ashamed. To want to keep spamming the same levels over and over to gain a tiny fraction of experience instead of sitting down to eat with my girlfriend??
I dropped it then. Lost all my characters. Didn't care. I heard Diablo 3 was coming and never really got excited. I don't care. I'm glad it's all server tied, now I have a hip excuse to not play it!!

[JamesD]

Let me just point out that you will always get a bunch of fanboys defending <insert company name here> whenever you complain about something in the gaming community.
Diablo III has bugs? Not really surprised. It pays to wait.

[Arkhan]

I finally played the game last night. It's neat. It sure aint D2 though.

I got it launch day, and when shit hit the fan, I just said "fuck it. I got other shit to play".

I sat and played a bunch of other games all week.

Where I work, (a software place, where I am a programmer), we have a company intranet forum with a gaming section.

Naturally, all the gamers were talking about D3. Of course, ALL of them were defending Blizzard and their issues like a bunch of mindless sheep.

I on the other hand, do not roll like this, so I was like "hey, when you buy a video game, its supposed to work. Remember when you used to go to the store, buy a Genesis cart, go home, and play it?"

I said Blizzard got bit by this in the past with WoW, and should have seen it coming. What were they expecting with Diablo 3? There is over a decades worth of dorks waiting for this shit.

What did the dipshit know-it-alls (who are mostly software testers that pretend they actually have a clue about game companies) where I work say?

"thats the wrong attitude from someone who works at a software company. You should know better than anyone that unforeseen errors and problems can occur, and its our job to fix it as quickly as possible. It's not a simple matter of server load. They have to factor in cost and whatever". All of their excuses just ran on and on.

I replied saying basically, that this isn't an unforeseen error. Server overload is the most obvious possible problem for an online oriented game. One dipshit (who always has to be contrary) said "you don't know that's what the problem is". I followed up by copy pasting a direct quote from Blizzard stating that they had to add more login servers to handle the overload. He ceased to post, because that basically made him look full-retard.

I said its idiotic to buy a game you've been waiting 12 years for, only to be told hey you can't play this yet. We fucked up. our servers blow. We didn't plan ahead.

All the dipshit know it alls at work really annoy me though. they all excuse this shit as "oh, its software, it happens."

No. It SHOULDN'T happen. Plan ahead. Blizzard ain't a smalltime company. they've had this happen before. It's their job to preempt it in order to make sure the gamers can play the game when they plan on it.

The problem is, a lot of gamers now are getting jobs "in the field". They equate their Geeksquad/tech support/software testing/web programming jobs as the same thing as a game company job.

They aren't the same thing at all. Business software != game software. Fixing computers in the back of a best buy != game software. Helping some 45 year old lady install a printer over the phone != game software.

You can't comment on "the industry" unless you have frigging worked in it. QA testing business software doesn't clue you into a video game launch at all. Pretending it does, makes you look dumb.

Anyone that excuses crap like this trainwreck D3 launch, are dumbasses. Wake up and remember what we're doing here. We're playing games.

If we could have flawless launches in 1988, we can have flawless launches in 2012. We shouldn't be devolving.

[Curious Sofa]

I remember working at an arcade back when Mortal Kombat II came out. People loved it, but that game was in all seriousness completely unfinished, it was so buggy. Games would freeze in the middle of a battle and the entire system would reset maybe every fifth or sixth game. But people kept pumping in quarters at a record-smashing pace in order to pay Midway to play-test their game. And Midway would release updates to the boards, sometimes charging the arcade vendors for them (?!?!), but no one stopped playing, no one stopped making money. It was a travesty, but in ways Midway was the smartest guy in the room. Why spend the money to play-test if people are willing to do it for you while paying you?

And same with D3. If people didn't buy the game (and defend it), if enough people lobbied for their money back....
But as a whole, our society is not principled enough. So this is indeed the way of gaming, and has been for quite some time.

[Austin]

Arkhan, on Sun May 20, 2012 3:45 PM, said:

If we could have flawless launches in 1988, we can have flawless launches in 2012. We shouldn't be devolving.

Amen!

[Arkhan]

Curious Sofa, on Sun May 20, 2012 4:46 PM, said:

I remember working at an arcade back when Mortal Kombat II came out. People loved it, but that game was in all seriousness completely unfinished, it was so buggy. Games would freeze in the middle of a battle and the entire system would reset maybe every fifth or sixth game. But people kept pumping in quarters at a record-smashing pace in order to pay Midway to play-test their game. And Midway would release updates to the boards, sometimes charging the arcade vendors for them (?!?!), but no one stopped playing, no one stopped making money. It was a travesty, but in ways Midway was the smartest guy in the room. Why spend the money to play-test if people are willing to do it for you while paying you?

And same with D3. If people didn't buy the game (and defend it), if enough people lobbied for their money back....
But as a whole, our society is not principled enough. So this is indeed the way of gaming, and has been for quite some time.

You can't really use one other (crappy) game from the mid 90s, in your tiny example situation, as a way to claim its been this way for awhile.

This cracked out mannerism going on right now started back when WoW really took hold, and all these stupid DLC's / updates for games.


You buy a 60$ game for 360, pop it in, and it's already got bugfixes and critical updates. Gimme a break. Test that shit before it goes to the pressing house!


They have frikkin playtesters. What are they doing?!

[cimerians]

I read accounts have been hacked already. Isn't that something?

http://massively.joy...acked-accounts/

Edited by cimerians, Mon May 21, 2012 3:59 PM.

[Rex Dart]

Eh, seeing as they're just Battle.net accounts same as WoW, I'm not surprised.

But yeah, it's disappointing how the launch went. My wife had to download the game software off a torrent site because the official downloader was completely dead.

[iswitt]

I am firmly standing by my decision to not purchase this game ever. Online tether? I'll play my stacks of non-DRM filled games, thank you.

[Albert]

iswitt, on Mon May 21, 2012 7:32 PM, said:

I am firmly standing by my decision to not purchase this game ever. Online tether? I'll play my stacks of non-DRM filled games, thank you.

I'm in the same boat--there are plenty of games I can play to satiate my gaming needs. I'm looking forward to Torchlight II, and I still need to play a million Xbox/PC games, such as Mass Effect 2 and 3, Fallout Vegas, Deus Ex, Skyrim, and so on...

..Al

[mister_pal]

Well I decided to wait a week before purchasing the game and all things considered I find the game to be as enjoyable as the previous two in the series, now that it seems most of the issues are ironed out.
Also I have found it odd given that Starcraft 2 has the same not-so-great DRM but the number of DRM complaints this game is getting is exponentially greater compared to the relatively mild reaction Starcraft 2 got.

Edited by mister_pal, Mon May 21, 2012 8:18 PM.

[RARusk]

Albert, on Mon May 21, 2012 7:37 PM, said:

iswitt, on Mon May 21, 2012 7:32 PM, said:

I am firmly standing by my decision to not purchase this game ever. Online tether? I'll play my stacks of non-DRM filled games, thank you.

I'm in the same boat--there are plenty of games I can play to satiate my gaming needs. I'm looking forward to Torchlight II, and I still need to play a million Xbox/PC games, such as Mass Effect 2 and 3, Fallout Vegas, Deus Ex, Skyrim, and so on...

..Al

Count me on this as well. And I should also add that Tethering needs to be made ILLEGAL, like right now. It makes more pirates than it stops (people looking for cracks to get the damn thing to work) and it allows these companies to steal your money, especially when these servers eventually get taken offline for good and the game becomes useless (that is without an illegal crack).

[Arkhan]

This game made me reinstall Ultima Online and reactivate my accout.
son of a fdsagfhdgdsg.

[iswitt]

^^ Lolz @ Ultima Online.

If anything, I'll find a DRM-free copy on the Internet somewhere and pirate it. I'd like to play this, but I just don't want to be tied to a server that could burn up at any second.

[JamesD]

Maybe they will be like EA and turn off the servers after a year so they can force you to buy Diablo III.5 to get your dungeon crawling fix.

[cybercylon]

RARusk, on Mon May 21, 2012 9:26 PM, said:

Albert, on Mon May 21, 2012 7:37 PM, said:

iswitt, on Mon May 21, 2012 7:32 PM, said:

I am firmly standing by my decision to not purchase this game ever. Online tether? I'll play my stacks of non-DRM filled games, thank you.

I'm in the same boat--there are plenty of games I can play to satiate my gaming needs. I'm looking forward to Torchlight II, and I still need to play a million Xbox/PC games, such as Mass Effect 2 and 3, Fallout Vegas, Deus Ex, Skyrim, and so on...

..Al

Count me on this as well. And I should also add that Tethering needs to be made ILLEGAL, like right now. It makes more pirates than it stops (people looking for cracks to get the damn thing to work) and it allows these companies to steal your money, especially when these servers eventually get taken offline for good and the game becomes useless (that is without an illegal crack).

Same boat here. I probably have enough of a back log to keep me going for a decade at least.

While I don't think it is common in the US yet, at some point, we are all going to be facing caps to our data usage from cable, DSL, satellite providers, etc, and if you want more bandwidth... be prepared to pay more. Smart phone users face that now, and it is coming for the rest whether we like it or not. Having everything tethered and always online won't help with this. Imagine sitting down to play Diablo 4, Final Fantasy 15, or whatever, and you can't because you are already over quota for the month....

[Rex Dart]

cybercylon, on Wed May 23, 2012 10:03 AM, said:

While I don't think it is common in the US yet, at some point, we are all going to be facing caps to our data usage from cable, DSL, satellite providers, etc, and if you want more bandwidth... be prepared to pay more. Smart phone users face that now, and it is coming for the rest whether we like it or not. Having everything tethered and always online won't help with this. Imagine sitting down to play Diablo 4, Final Fantasy 15, or whatever, and you can't because you are already over quota for the month....

Well, that's why Microsoft's been snuggling with cable companies. Gettin' their traffic excused from caps.

[Mord]

Rex Dart, on Wed May 23, 2012 10:13 AM, said:

cybercylon, on Wed May 23, 2012 10:03 AM, said:

While I don't think it is common in the US yet, at some point, we are all going to be facing caps to our data usage from cable, DSL, satellite providers, etc, and if you want more bandwidth... be prepared to pay more. Smart phone users face that now, and it is coming for the rest whether we like it or not. Having everything tethered and always online won't help with this. Imagine sitting down to play Diablo 4, Final Fantasy 15, or whatever, and you can't because you are already over quota for the month....

Well, that's why Microsoft's been snuggling with cable companies. Gettin' their traffic excused from caps.

And that's precisely what Net Neutrality is suppose to be protecting us from.

[VW]

mister_pal, on Mon May 21, 2012 8:12 PM, said:

Also I have found it odd given that Starcraft 2 has the same not-so-great DRM but the number of DRM complaints this game is getting is exponentially greater compared to the relatively mild reaction Starcraft 2 got.

I have not bought Starcraft 2 and am not buying Diablo III or ME3 due to DRM issues and high price. I don't pay over $20 for any PC game that has DRM/one time use code crap on it, and most of the time I pay just $5 - $10 with Steam sales. Vote with your pocketbook everyone, if they are going to take away your ownership rights and sell you a service instead of ownership of a game, the price should be much lower.

[cimerians]

LOL

This probably deserves its own thread:

http://kotaku.com/59...ce-piss-you-off

Annoying gaming future indeed.

[HatefulGravey]

I knew I couldn't play offline, and I got it anyway. I don't play the Diablo games single player, works perfectly for me. Sure the DLC is crappy, but in this case I'm kind of ok with it. Maybe it will stop the non-stop ad bots and run bots, and dup bots, and map hacks and all that crap from screwing up the game play.

At least we didn't have a launch date expansion waiting for more money when we got Diablo 3.