Diablo III requires constant internet connection

[CVSiN]

It's 2011, there are very few situations where you won't have access to an internet connection. I don't see what the big deal is.

LOL.. people are so stupid..

Sure around metro areas that may be true.. you do know there are still HUGE chunks of the world that have NO TELECOMMUNICATIONS AT ALL.
no fiber.. no towers.. NO NOTHING.. it's sat phones or NOTHING and that doesn't help internet..
.


Military, Oilworkers, offshore, rural areas, flat out wilderness areas, deserts, etc.. yet people work and live and go to these places..

Such narrow minded people.. people forget there is life outside of metro areas.

 

[Pens1566]

Blizzard hates the troops.

 

[JackSpadesSI]

So, is Diablo now an MMO-style game a la Guild Wars? If it's officially an MMO then it's cool to require an always-on connection. If it's not an MMO then requiring an always-on connection is console type bush league bullshit.

Wha?? Although I'm not familiar with PS3, I can't think of any Xbox 360 game which REQUIRES an always-on connection for single player.

Even if you could think of one or two examples where I'm wrong, that wouldn't make it some sort of console stereotype where a PC game which requires always-on is console-like.

 

[Anubis]

LOL.. people are so stupid..

Sure around metro areas that may be true.. you do know there are still HUGE chunks of the world that have NO TELECOMMUNICATIONS AT ALL.
no fiber.. no towers.. NO NOTHING.. it's sat phones or NOTHING and that doesn't help internet..
.


Military, Oilworkers, offshore, rural areas, flat out wilderness areas, deserts, etc.. yet people work and live and go to these places..

Such narrow minded people.. people forget there is life outside of metro areas.

even in metro areas there are those who dont opt to have internet, its not a requirement for life it shouldent be for single player games

 

[JackSpadesSI]

I think it's actually mainly about the auction house. Despite the comments in this thread Diablo and Diablo II were single player games for most people that bought the games. Blizzard can't allow items aquired in offline play to be traded in the auction house because the items would be generated on the client. While they can trust that the items generated on the server during an online game are legitimate, they can't trust the client.

I'm not sure that's accurate. Diablo 2 has both open and closed characters. They cannot play with each other. Open characters can play online or off, while closed characters are online only. Yet, closed characters have dupes. Online only doesn't seem to have solved duping.

 

[stlcardinals]

even in metro areas there are those who dont opt to have internet, its not a requirement for life it shouldent be for single player games

Using your argument, single player games aren't a requirement of life either.

 

[JackSpadesSI]

I'm also with him that I find it far more relaxing to play ALONE sometimes.

How does always-on mean that you can't play alone?? Just because you're connected to the internet doesn't mean that you can't create a private game with a password!

 

[Zenoth]

Without Internet (well, without a connection to it) I'm losing roughly 80% of my PC games library (or rather, access to it). The rest are my retail games I have, but that's not all, even if I do have retail games to play off-line in case I do not have access to Internet then I am stuck to play pretty much all of them non-updated, since the patches for them are on the Internet and just so happens not to all be backed-up on physical discs (which I did, but not for all of them).

Internet is "required" for a lot of things, I don't see it being bad that D3 requires such a thing to be able to play it. And honestly, who would want to play D3 off-line? For Diablo 1 and 2 I can understand, of course, but Diablo 3's game-play mechanics and features pretty much rely on dynamics, live stuff happening as the players make it happen (dynamic economy, friends, contacts, games creation, arena, planned matches, co-operation, etc), it wouldn't be much interesting playing it off-line unless someone just wants to learn about the story through a single play-through and then call it a night. But then that's not playing Diablo 3, that's merely following a story that can be watched on YouTube after the game is released, and such a person would save money by doing that rather than buying the game to find out what happened to Tyreal.

I just don't mind at all.

 

[techwanabe]

I can see how gamers may wish to have an offline ability for a game that has single player content. Anyone who can't see this is just selfish and trying to force their view of gaming onto others. Sure, online is the wave of the present and the future but as others have pointed out, there are instances when gamers still play without it. Blizzard should simply listen to their customers and provide the option, end of story. They would gain more sales - so it's a no brainer.

 

[Phobic9]

Blizzard hates the troops.

I'd agree with this, but only because I'm deploying in a few weeks. I was really looking forward to playing this game during my stint in the desert but luckily I won't have to worry about it. The internet connection where I'll be is just enough to check email, let alone play online games.

I'll have to load up on some Bethesda goodness that hopefully won't have such nonsense.

 

[Anubis]

I'd agree with this, but only because I'm deploying in a few weeks. I was really looking forward to playing this game during my stint in the desert but luckily I won't have to worry about it. The internet connection where I'll be is just enough to check email, let alone play online games.

I'll have to load up on some Bethesda goodness that hopefully won't have such nonsense.

hopefully Torchlight 2 wont require you to be online

 

[Newbian]

even in metro areas there are those who dont opt to have internet, its not a requirement for life it shouldent be for single player games

If it requires you to be online to play then it's not a single player game anymore.

Just because earlier versions let you play single player doesn't mean this one has to be also.

 

[Phobic9]

hopefully Torchlight 2 wont require you to be online

Oh god I hope not.

Fake edit: Phew..

http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/...ey-auction-house-offline-mode-loves-mods-7409

 

[Ross Ridge]

I'm not sure that's accurate. Diablo 2 has both open and closed characters. They cannot play with each other. Open characters can play online or off, while closed characters are online only. Yet, closed characters have dupes. Online only doesn't seem to have solved duping.

I think the problem is that even when online the Diablo II client is still responsible for creating items. The "server" in Diablo II just a matchmaker, when when playing the game it's peer-to-peer with little or no involvment of the server.

 

[RedRooster]

This. If my internet goes down I have a much bigger problem than not being able to play D3.

You're right, that just sounds so funny when you put it like that.
Oh the trouble us modern day folk have to survive.

 

[Jaskalas]

As a Steam user, the connection requirement is meaningless to me.

 

[Teknic]

I for one, only like to play single player games. One reason is that in the past I've had intermittent problems with the internet. For example, I usually can't play a game of Bad Company 2 without being kicked off due to one problem or another.

However, not only does Diablo 3 require always on DRM, but it also forbids the use of any mods and such, which is also a big deal to me. Almost all my games are modded to some extent, to get them working properly or to change things I don't like. Also, if Blizzard happens to go down or removes their servers, you are screwed. What if I want to play years down the line?

Examples

-Fallout 3: doesn't work properly without mods, and I have high-res textures installed
-Jagged Alliance 2: one of my favorite games, but the company is out of business yet I can still play it
-Need for Speed (?): I read that for one of their games, they removed multiplayer support after a year because they determined not enough people played it. Correct me if I'm wrong or I'm thinking of something else.

Anyways, it's great if you like multiplayer but not everybody wants to play online. If Diablo 3 was a MMO or multiplayer only game of course it has to be online, but it's not. It's got a nice single player component to it as well, which is what interests me.

How would you guys feel if Windows had to authenticate online prior to using the OS? You could use the same argument: don't you always have online access?

 

[-Slacker-]

D3 won't have community mods??

 

[ZzZGuy]

Gawh, more of this "I have the internet so EVERYONE must have the internet ALL THE TIME". Guess what [decided to remove term(s), you can fill in the blank]? People who don't have the internet aren't posting at the moment and not everyone eats the same cereal as you and takes a crap at the same time as you. You can say that you and everyone you know won't have issue with this, but that is where it ends.

People move, people have unstable internet, people live in areas without internet (as shocking as you may think it is). I had line of work at one time requiring me stay at work camps in the middle of nowhere with no internet, I couldn't carry enough books with me so I took my laptop filled with games (which can play crysis on low/medium), and one hell of a power surge protector.

That said, who plays Diablo SP? Aside from that weird guy over there...

 

[Ichigo]

Buy Torchlight 2 instead. Problem solved.

 

[paperfist]

even in metro areas there are those who dont opt to have internet, its not a requirement for life it shouldent be for single player games

Man that's the truth, went to visit a relative in NYC of all places and it was a painful 3 days without Internet.

 

[Chiropteran]

even in metro areas there are those who dont opt to have internet, its not a requirement for life it shouldent be for single player games

Yeah, what about the poor Amish people? Blizzard needs to release a version of diablo 3 that will work without electricity for those people who live life in the ways of hundreds of years ago.

 

[CVSiN]

D3 won't have community mods??

nope Blizzard is flat saying NO MODS of any sort will be allowed.. basically they just killed thier own game..

Mods are the ONLY thing that has kept D2 going this long.. without the mods expect D3s life expectancy at less than 2 years.

 

[titan131]

Yeah, what about the poor Amish people? Blizzard needs to release a version of diablo 3 that will work without electricity for those people who live life in the ways of hundreds of years ago.

lol the Amish people CHOOSE to live that way, and they are a tiny minority, there are far larger numbers of people who don't have internet or don't have a reliable connection or just want to play when travelling on a laptop.

 

[gothamhunter]

nope Blizzard is flat saying NO MODS of any sort will be allowed.. basically they just killed thier own game..

Mods are the ONLY thing that has kept D2 going this long.. without the mods expect D3s life expectancy at less than 2 years.

Um..what? I've never played D2 with mods, and the tens of thousands of people who play d2 online probably don't either, because I'm sure they're not allowed online.

D2 is still going strong because it's an insanely fun and addicting game; I would still play it if it looked even remotely playable on my 1920x1080 resolution.