I played on the closed bnet, did it for years. But I could have cared less if you or anyone else cheated, it didn't affect my game play one bit. If you had 100 dupped stones of jordan, didn't affect me. I keep hearing you act like D2 was an MMO, and I just never saw it like that.
Like I said earlier, the constant online isn't for our protection, its for them. Just another way to slip in shitty DRM and act like they are doing us favor by doing it.
That's a slightly different argument. The way I see it, they're forcing everyone into the sandbox I played in (or at least a slightly more idealized version of the sandbox I was trying to play in). I think it was the most fun box for me. I am totally willing to support you in that they stole your sandbox from you by forcing online play. And they stole the mod communities sandbox as well. All for preferential treatment for my kind of sandbox (which is great for me), but I do understand and respect your point there.
Yes and no. Most of the time the ladders were a joke. A few specific ladders at certain era's were competitive. Did you know that they moved to a second level of player segregation for ladder characters? They operate in an economy of their own for ~6 months, then the ladder characters get moved to generic battle.net and a new ladder is created. Were you even aware of that mechanic? It sounds like Scrym didn't actually play the game during any of those stages.
I decided immediately that all of that was, to be blunt, stupid. The game was not a good multiplayer game. Like I said, we all (a wide array of old high school friends and modern FRC) played solo or hacks. These other aspects of the game appealed to something I've never cared about, and I scoff to this day at the idea of "competitive" Diablo II.
Diablo II was a game I pirated and beat when I was bored while chatting on ICQ. The mere idea of taking it any more seriously than that was silly.
The whole deal with the ladder was interesting I guess, but was never that big of a deal to me. If I remember right, it was added quite a few years after the LOD xpac. It was more a thing to try and drum up interest in an older game from what I could tell. I was pretty much done with the game by the time it was added, at least if I remember right.
Give it time. Watch their other games. They have two basic models now: subscription forever or free to play with DRM lockdown to force purchases. They need to extend both, and this is one step in a long road of acclimating players to the models.
I thought you were referring to Diablo II. Diablo II added battle.net exclusive content semi-consistently for years after the games popularity waned. The 1.9 patch was pretty major, the later respec patch, uber diablo, and uber tristram all added a lot to the game. And at no additional charge, but exclusive (without serious game modification) to battle.net games.
As for whether or not they add subscriptions to D2... it's going to depend on how much money they make off the economy. They've been pretty smart about things so-far, with Starcraft's map marketplace and World of Warcraft's subscription model. They also use different rules for the service in different regions. I think the US servers will probably not have a subscription model in order to simply play the game. They are hoping people are more than willing to make donations via the item economy. I would not be surprised, at-all, if they add additional revenue streams in other ways... even subscriptions for additional services, but their current tactic will probably pay for the servers and bandwidth unless something goes horribly wrong.
The whole deal with the ladder was interesting I guess, but was never that big of a deal to me. If I remember right, it was added quite a few years after the LOD xpac. It was more a thing to try and drum up interest in an older game from what I could tell. I was pretty much done with the game by the time it was added, at least if I remember right.
It was added very late in the lifecycle. What's important to me is that the feature was something to make the game "more like the idealized version of the game I wanted to play". It was always there, under the surface, but mechanics didn't enforce that type of play. I had a personal rule when I first played the game where my characters could trade with other players, but they could only trade whatever wealth they had independently accrued. So there was no twinking of characters either.
Similarly in Diablo I, I felt the game had to be played straight through. No going back to previous floors after resetting the game to clear them out again. It was always forward, and if you actually couldn't kill Diablo with the wealth and experience accrued on the way, I had to start over. Fun times.
"The problem with using a Game Genie is there was no risk for all the reward, removing a certain element of interest in the game."
Re-reading, I realized I needed to correct the analogy. And also stress that there's a significant difference between using the game genie at home, and using it to modify your advantages in a multiplayer game. And further, you could very well use a game genie, and find that using it caused you to enjoy a game less. There's nothing wrong with any of that. Then you stop using it. Which is what I did, as a general rule. I played closed.
My problem was certainly not with the existence of open battle.net (which would be analogous to "owning" the game genie as you put it). My problem was with actually playing it myself. It was boring. Funny how you ALSO found it incredibly boring, isn't it? Maybe there's something to that...
You guys will probably have to wait until the next Diablo is released to get it at any significant discount.
I'm not sure that this version of Diablo is going to hold it's value nearly as good as D2 did. This is just D2 with better graphics and shitty DRM, I haven't really seen anything new in it.
I have heard people say that it is D2, just better, I was hoping for something newer. I logged into the game, and said "hell, I've played this game, like 10 years ago". I'm kinda disappointed in Blizzard, I can't believe it took them over 3 years to get this game out. It looks like all they did was reskin D2.
Ignoring the talk about Evil DRM-Mongering Hate Machine Corporations Scannin' Yer DriveZ for Cheatz, the always-online model seems to be aimed at encouraging as much co-op play as possible. It seems designed to shove you into MP by keeping your friends list lit and Steam-like match notifications visible. Hey, WIP just logged in *BLIP* u wants him in game nao?
I just woke up and skimmed the thread. It would take too long to correct most of the errors I'm seeing.
Quite simply put.....
I am a former Blizzard employee who helped enforce penalties for cheating in all Blozxard titles. While I hav to be vague about certain things, cheating was everywhere and it was always hunted down and punished. If there is one thing blizzard does not take kindly to, it's cheating.
I just woke up and skimmed the thread. It would take too long to correct most of the errors I'm seeing.
Quite simply put.....
I am a former Blizzard employee who helped enforce penalties for cheating in all Blozxard titles. While I hav to be vague about certain things, cheating was everywhere and it was always hunted down and punished. If there is one thing blizzard does not take kindly to, it's cheating.
Cheating at multiplayer StarCraft definitely needs to be taken down. The only parties that get hurt when you "cheat" at WoW or Diablo is Blizzard and satan the devil.
There is a real money auction house. That is, as far as I can tell, the main reason for persistent DRM. Also if you're not playing online with friends then don't play because it's only really fun with other people, so you're not missing out. Also I don't see what the big deal is about online-DRM. Guild Wars has basically the exact same setup minus the hub city and no one bats an eye at the proposition that I can't play that game offline and it requires me to be online. Sure it's sort of annoying but it's only stands out because the original Diablo and Diablo 2 weren't like this. Maybe they should have just given the game another name to avoid all this controversy.
Cheating at multiplayer StarCraft definitely needs to be taken down. The only parties that get hurt when you "cheat" at WoW or Diablo is Blizzard and satan the devil.
In both WoW and Diablo there is a PvP element. Also it could be asked is it fair if one player of co-op group cheats themselves best gear while rest of the group want to do the things the hard and right way.
If cheating at multiplayer StarCraft should be taken down, so should cheating in multiplayer WoW and Diablo too.
Cheating at multiplayer StarCraft definitely needs to be taken down. The only parties that get hurt when you "cheat" at WoW or Diablo is Blizzard and satan the devil.
I want to point you at my new thread on Legibility. :P
Comments
That's a slightly different argument. The way I see it, they're forcing everyone into the sandbox I played in (or at least a slightly more idealized version of the sandbox I was trying to play in). I think it was the most fun box for me. I am totally willing to support you in that they stole your sandbox from you by forcing online play. And they stole the mod communities sandbox as well. All for preferential treatment for my kind of sandbox (which is great for me), but I do understand and respect your point there.
Diablo II was a game I pirated and beat when I was bored while chatting on ICQ. The mere idea of taking it any more seriously than that was silly.
As for whether or not they add subscriptions to D2... it's going to depend on how much money they make off the economy. They've been pretty smart about things so-far, with Starcraft's map marketplace and World of Warcraft's subscription model. They also use different rules for the service in different regions. I think the US servers will probably not have a subscription model in order to simply play the game. They are hoping people are more than willing to make donations via the item economy. I would not be surprised, at-all, if they add additional revenue streams in other ways... even subscriptions for additional services, but their current tactic will probably pay for the servers and bandwidth unless something goes horribly wrong.
beefy, you're welcome to not get into this game. And to feel a bit robbed because they made it without including the sandbox you enjoyed. :P
Totally valid perspectives on why you don't enjoy a thing. Part of it also sounds like you never really played the game I was playing either.
Similarly in Diablo I, I felt the game had to be played straight through. No going back to previous floors after resetting the game to clear them out again. It was always forward, and if you actually couldn't kill Diablo with the wealth and experience accrued on the way, I had to start over. Fun times.
My problem was certainly not with the existence of open battle.net (which would be analogous to "owning" the game genie as you put it). My problem was with actually playing it myself. It was boring. Funny how you ALSO found it incredibly boring, isn't it? Maybe there's something to that...
The DRM is still bullshit, however.
Oh, what's this? My giant pile of unplayed games? Yeah, I'll be ready for Diablo III in about a year.
I have heard people say that it is D2, just better, I was hoping for something newer. I logged into the game, and said "hell, I've played this game, like 10 years ago". I'm kinda disappointed in Blizzard, I can't believe it took them over 3 years to get this game out. It looks like all they did was reskin D2.
Quite simply put.....
I am a former Blizzard employee who helped enforce penalties for cheating in all Blozxard titles. While I hav to be vague about certain things, cheating was everywhere and it was always hunted down and punished. If there is one thing blizzard does not take kindly to, it's cheating.
If cheating at multiplayer StarCraft should be taken down, so should cheating in multiplayer WoW and Diablo too.
I bought the physical copy. It's the same as having the digital with some extra bits.
It does this: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/05/diablo-3-starter-edition-and-guest-pass-announced/