This just in from the "Ya Think?" files: According to a short report at GamesIndustry.biz, Blizzard has admitted that, despite twelve years in the making, its preparations for the launch of Diablo III "didn't go far enough".

"Despite very aggressive projections, our preparations for the launch of the game did not go far enough," it admitted.

"We're continuing to monitor performance globally and will be taking further measures as needed to ensure a positive experience for everyone. This includes some maintenance to implement additional improvements for each region."

Releasing a patch to get rid of that ridiculous requirement to be online all the time would no doubt help...

pretty much every game they release they are overwhelmed by the demand. 

any blizzard veteran knew they would have server troubles for at least the first few days. Regardless, I don't mind waiting. I haven't had this much fun playing a video game since when WoW launched. Good to be back in sanctuary.

It goes to show that time and money cant solve everything. Hopefully the sever maintence wont be a common thing this month.

Split the SP components from the MP ones and let SPers play offline.  Problem solved.

Originally posted by Unlight

Split the SP components from the MP ones and let SPers play offline.  Problem solved.

   I agree. I think the whole "online all the time" thing is actually keeping them from a handful of sales worldwide, I dont get it, you are going to get hacked regardless.

They should IMO take a look at the game and go "After 12 years this is all we could come up with?"

No playing offline is not an option, its a relic from the past.

From business side its a simple equation:

$ lost from illegal copy  > $ lost from gamers that dont buy couse online only

File this under "No Shit." Considering that Blizzard has the most popular MMO with WoW and one of the most popular multiplayer franchises with Starcraft, this debacle is inexcusable.

Everyone screws up one time or another, no use throwing stones at them.

I've enjoyed Blizzard games for years and while i understand this irratates people i can let it slide its not like its life or death or anything really important.

Still like Starcraft 2 they should have had an option to play offline with no achievements and the items obtained could not be auctioned off.

My take on it...

"We tried to maximize our profit on D3 by being very conservative with our infrastructure upgrades required to handle all the extra traffic going through the already very busy Battlenet... and it shows... woopsies!

PS. Thanks for all your money."

Blizzard has become comfy and complacent.

Originally posted by Mari2k

No playing offline is not an option, its a relic from the past.

 

 

From business side its a simple equation:

$ lost from illegal copy  > $ lost from gamers that dont buy couse online only

Ask Ubisoft how well that kind of mentality has been working out for them.  The tighter the DRM they slap on their games, the bigger a target they paint for pirates and hackers.  Meanwhile, legitimate gamers like myself are left with either jumping through a lot of stupid, arbitrary hoops placed in our path or not buying their games.  I can't remember the last time I bought something from Ubisoft.

As for Blizzard, they can only get away with it because of the legion of drones they command who do as they're bid and buy what they are given with unquestioning loyalty.  Anyone else trying that kind of bullshit would be drawn and quartered by the gaming community.

Originally posted by Scalebane

Everyone screws up one time or another, no use throwing stones at them.

I've enjoyed Blizzard games for years and while i understand this irratates people i can let it slide its not like its life or death or anything really important.

Couldn't you say that about purchasing anything that isn't directly related to food, shelter or health when it doesn't quite live up to its promise or doesn't work as advertised?

Admirable tolerance I guess, but isn't there a point where getting shafted when buying "non-essentials" annoys you?

Originally posted by Mari2k

No playing offline is not an option, its a relic from the past.

 

 

From business side its a simple equation:

$ lost from illegal copy  > $ lost from gamers that dont buy couse online only

That's a wrong equation. Many of the ones that were going to pirate, won't buy it anyway, but now you also lose the people that would have bought, but don't because of the only online thing. Also, the always online preventing piracy, for a time at least, is just a side effect to the game being made from the ground up around the RMAH, so I don't think their primary concern was piracy when deciding on no offline.

Originally posted by Mari2k

No playing offline is not an option, its a relic from the past.

 

 

From business side its a simple equation:

$ lost from illegal copy  > $ lost from gamers that dont buy couse online only

Do we really need to get into this silly debate again?

They already hacked the Closed Beta client and create private server code to run your own private server.

They are now working on the Retail version crack + private server code as we speak. Won't be long till they are finished!

If history hasn't teached you any lesson (just like the stupid suits at Blizzard), then you know that any form of DRM implementation had the total opposite effect of what it tried to achieve! As it will only give more reason for hackers to crack it! The more challenge for the hacker, the more they can brag about it when they crack it!

So the pirates continue to pirate as usual, while the "honest" customers are suffering due to DRM and all the issues that come with it!

He, preparations. If by "preparations" they mean "development" i totally agree. No clue about the actual preperations as i didn't buy it as a result of the beta.

Originally posted by korat102

Releasing a patch to get rid of that ridiculous requirement to be online all the time would no doubt help...

The way they designed the game, they made this incredibly difficult to do.  It treats everything like an mmo, you get most of the data from the server on things like mob placement hit detection, everything that the server is responsible for in an mmo the server is responsible for ind Diablo III.  Good or bad?  I'm sure some will vilify it and some will defend it, but it is what it is.

Edit:  At least this is my understanding of what they have done, if I am incorrect please feel free to correct me.  This is also why some people complain about lag in a single player game.

Originally posted by AvatarBlade

Originally posted by Mari2k

That's a wrong equation. Many of the ones that were going to pirate, won't buy it anyway, but now you also lose the people that would have bought, but don't because of the only online thing. Also, the always online preventing piracy, for a time at least, is just a side effect to the game being made from the ground up around the RMAH, so I don't think their primary concern was piracy when deciding on no offline.

QFT