Originally posted by HeroEvermore

[mod edit]

On top of that you can actually MAKE money playing it. So it's like you never even paid for it! And Blizz gets a cut too.

Though to be honest I think Op is saying that it failed because people arn't replaying it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over like you are meant to play it.

whats xfire?

Originally posted by mithoss

whats xfire?

See sig above your post.

Or below sig in this post.

It's all bullshit really.

[mod edit]

[mod edit] Address the points made or move on. I'm not playing, right now, because I'm getting ready for work and don't want to get lost in the game, again, and be late. I'm also not vehement. Just factual.

It is probably a representative sample, but still ... how much of that drop back is simply natural? Players going back from intensive gameplay in the first weeks to a more healthy amount of time investment?

Originally posted by DarkPony

It is probably a representative sample, but still ... how much of that drop back is simply natural? Players going back from intensive gameplay in the first weeks to a more healthy amount of time investment?

That's partially it, the other thing is that who the hell plays a game like Diablo 3 for months at a time? I am a pretty big Diablo 2 fan, but I basically never play that game for more than 2-3 weeks at a time either. I usually come back in 1-2-3 years time though. I think I have 4-5 such periods of Diablo 2 gaming.

Diablo 3 isn't an MMO and they don't get payed for holding subscribers. They get payed for box sales. The box sales are awesome and it will probably keep on selling for a couple of years, if not exactly in huge numbers. They already sold to just about anybody interested in an arpg.

We probably have to wait for the expansion to come before we can say if Diablo 3 is as well received as Diablo 2. People voting with their wallet is something I have more belief in than any score they have on metacritic. ;)

Originally posted by Blackbrrd

Originally posted by DarkPony

It is probably a representative sample, but still ... how much of that drop back is simply natural? Players going back from intensive gameplay in the first weeks to a more healthy amount of time investment?

That's partially it, the other thing is that who the hell plays a game like Diablo 3 for months at a time? I am a pretty big Diablo 2 fan, but I basically never play that game for more than 2-3 weeks at a time either. I usually come back in 1-2-3 years time though. I think I have 4-5 such periods of Diablo 2 gaming.

Diablo 3 isn't an MMO and they don't get payed for holding subscribers. They get payed for box sales. The box sales are awesome and it will probably keep on selling for a couple of years, if not exactly in huge numbers. They already sold to just about anybody interested in an arpg.

We probably have to wait for the expansion to come before we can say if Diablo 3 is as well received as Diablo 2. People voting with their wallet is something I have more belief in than any score they have on metacritic. ;)

Good points. Didn't play D3 myself yet but that's how I played D2 and TQ as well: a few weeks on, a few months off, rinse and repeat. I guess it is kind of unrealistic to project full mmorpg player tendencies on hack & slashers.

They're working on some of the major issues.  If they can't get rid of most of the bots it will kill the franchise though.  what's the point of online only if you can't keep the bots out?

Originally posted by FrodoFragins

They're working on some of the major issues.  If they can't get rid of most of the bots it will kill the franchise though.  what's the point of online only if you can't keep the bots out?

 How do bots in any way affect a single player online game? I'm not seeing the connection. The franchise does not depend on the success of the auction house. Cheaper items on the auction house is not a bad thing either for those who choose to use it. If anythiing the auction houses shorten the shelf to bargain bin cycle.

Originally posted by FrodoFragins

They're working on some of the major issues.  If they can't get rid of most of the bots it will kill the franchise though.  what's the point of online only if you can't keep the bots out?

There are deeper issues with the game, like replayability and the dependence on the auction house.

D2 was FULL of bots and still is, but it didn't seem to hamper it at all. The problem is that in D3 you rely on the AH to progress due to the drop rates, which was an intentional design due to the RMAH.

When bots inflate the price of gold it affects your progression to no end, since you will be less able to afford things from the gold auction house as time goes on.

D2 was robust against the value of gold, since drop rates were much better.

In fact, gold was nearly worthless in d2. People were bartering with SoJs more than anything.

Originally posted by zymurgeist

 

[mod edit]

Address the points made or move on. I'm not playing, right now, because I'm getting ready for work and don't want to get lost in the game, again, and be late. I'm also not vehement. Just factual.

A sample being "representative" is kind of irrelevant for non-parametric methods, since all you need is i.i.d and a symmetry assumption for location.

If you mean typical tests that require assumptions of normality, then yes, but it is actually representative, since "users who play d3 and use xfire" can be replaced by "users who play d3 were randomly selected" the use of xfire does not correlate with preference at all. 

Sad to say but I believe it just might be the end, or at least the end of quality Diablo products.

Blizzard North is dead. Long live the king!

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by FrodoFragins

They're working on some of the major issues.  If they can't get rid of most of the bots it will kill the franchise though.  what's the point of online only if you can't keep the bots out?

 How do bots in any way affect a single player online game? I'm not seeing the connection. The franchise does not depend on the success of the auction house. Cheaper items on the auction house is not a bad thing either for those who choose to use it. If anythiing the auction houses shorten the shelf to bargain bin cycle.

In D3 the droprates are so low that you depend on the AH to progress.

Bots don't make things cheaper, they make things more expensive for the player who decides not to pay real life money.

The value of gold is already going to 0.

The purpose of the game was to force you to pay real money to progress and the awful thing is that when they release a new expansion all your items will be worth nothing.

MMOs do this all of the time, but they have much more content to offer in comparison. 

Originally posted by simplyawful

Originally posted by zymurgeist

 How do bots in any way affect a single player online game? I'm not seeing the connection. The franchise does not depend on the success of the auction house. Cheaper items on the auction house is not a bad thing either for those who choose to use it. If anythiing the auction houses shorten the shelf to bargain bin cycle.

In D3 the droprates are so low that you depend on the AH to progress.

Bots don't make things cheaper, they make things more expensive for the player who decides not to pay real life money.

The value of gold is already going to 0.

The purpose of the game was to force you to pay real money to progress and the awful thing is that when they release a new expansion all your items will be worth nothing.

MMOs do this all of the time, but they have much more content to offer in comparison. 

Still, the game is about grinding gear and buying said gear is taking away that purpose...

The whole idea of playing Inferno in bought gear to boost that you beaten the game seems rather odd to me.

My problem with Diablo 3 is that in the original Diablo it was about killing monsters, loot was a secondary thing. Here it is just about loot.

Originally posted by Loke666

My problem with Diablo 3 is that in the original Diablo it was about killing monsters, loot was a secondary thing. Here it is just about loot.

Not to be overly clever or anything, but Blizzard is leaning far too hard on their Skinner Box formula for success.

But the rats they're dependent upon are clearly aging.

Originally posted by simplyawful

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by FrodoFragins

They're working on some of the major issues.  If they can't get rid of most of the bots it will kill the franchise though.  what's the point of online only if you can't keep the bots out?

 How do bots in any way affect a single player online game? I'm not seeing the connection. The franchise does not depend on the success of the auction house. Cheaper items on the auction house is not a bad thing either for those who choose to use it. If anythiing the auction houses shorten the shelf to bargain bin cycle.

In D3 the droprates are so low that you depend on the AH to progress.

Bots don't make things cheaper, they make things more expensive for the player who decides not to pay real life money.

The value of gold is already going to 0.

 

The purpose of the game was to force you to pay real money to progress and the awful thing is that when they release a new expansion all your items will be worth nothing.

MMOs do this all of the time, but they have much more content to offer in comparison. 

 

 

 The value of gold in Diablo has always been nearly zero. The droprates are the same as in D2 according to the producers. You never need to use the auction house at all. You don't have to spend a dime of your own to use the real money auction house either. Farm your items, sell what you don't need, and buy what you do. The vast majority of players won't play the game after the first run through anyway. Many won't even make it through hell mode. Its the same as Diablo 2. Diablo 3 has already outsold Diablo 2 by three million plus copies.

Originally posted by simplyawful

the use of xfire does not correlate with preference at all.

 

 

 This is false. Xfire users overwhelmingly favor first person shooters and are not representative of the people who buy Diablo games.  

Originally posted by Loke666

Originally posted by simplyawful

Originally posted by zymurgeist

 How do bots in any way affect a single player online game? I'm not seeing the connection. The franchise does not depend on the success of the auction house. Cheaper items on the auction house is not a bad thing either for those who choose to use it. If anythiing the auction houses shorten the shelf to bargain bin cycle.

In D3 the droprates are so low that you depend on the AH to progress.

Bots don't make things cheaper, they make things more expensive for the player who decides not to pay real life money.

The value of gold is already going to 0.

The purpose of the game was to force you to pay real money to progress and the awful thing is that when they release a new expansion all your items will be worth nothing.

MMOs do this all of the time, but they have much more content to offer in comparison. 

Still, the game is about grinding gear and buying said gear is taking away that purpose...

The whole idea of playing Inferno in bought gear to boost that you beaten the game seems rather odd to me.

My problem with Diablo 3 is that in the original Diablo it was about killing monsters, loot was a secondary thing. Here it is just about loot.

People that like to grind gear dont think they find enough useful or interesting gear to have fun. At least most people that are unhappy with the game complain about that. The fastest or best way to progress is to play the games economy (gold or real money). Not to play the game itself. This makes some people dis appointed. Im sure some are very satisfied with it however.

It would not be a problem if it was all about loot if you could find most of the loot you need when you play. Without spending twenty times more time grinding compared to people that use the AH...

If good enough/useful loot dropped often enough to make people that want to find everything they need when playing happy it would be to common in the AH. It would be worth nothing. Thats why drop rates are they way they are.

Even if you try to play it like single player game and ignore whatever other people are doing you will probably recognize its very difficult  to find the gear you need to progress. And that its different compared to how it was in D2...

Well it sure wasn't worth my 60 bucks, thats all I know.

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Xfire is meaningless. Learn what the phrase representative sample means.  The game is being patched on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis.  The first of two expansions is already in production. Diablo 3 is the fastest selling PC game in history. The RMAH is a huge success and extremely popular. Your premise fails.

Xfire is a statiistical example and based on scientific extrapolations of known data to make guesstimations.  Trust me its very easy to extrapolate the data from Xfire and make a very close guess that is correct.  Its the same thing as Polls done by Gallop or Pew research.  Same principles.

Originally posted by Chrisbox

Well it sure wasn't worth my 60 bucks, thats all I know.

Mine either. I refuse to give Blizzard any more money for the rest of my life.