If you are a fan of Blizzard’s Diablo franchise, you’ve probably been waiting eagerly for the release of its third installment, Diablo III. Some details of the game recently surfaced but some hardcore gamers won’t be happy to hear them.
Diablo III will require a constant connection to the internet to function. Unlike the past Diablo titles, the third installment will have no offline single player mode, similar to the MMO-RPG World of Warcraft. What’s worse, Blizzard has disallowed game mods and bots, which means there will be no hacks for the new game as they are “expressly prohibited.”
Diablo III’s senior producer Alex Mayberry said that there were many reasons for the decision to eliminate offline play, which includes the prevention of players cheating.
“It’s the trend that we’ve been moving towards,” said Mayberry. “Obviously StarCraft 2 did it, WoW authenticates also. It’s kind of the way things are, these days. The world of gaming is not the same as it was when Diablo 2 came out.”
Gamers asked the developers to keep the offline mode separate from the online game. Blizzard said that they felt that if gamers have started playing offline and builds up their characters, there will come a point when they will have to venture onto Battle.net. Online play eliminates the need of having to build another character from scratch and it guarantees that there are no cheating involved.
Another bad piece of news is that all items in the game’s online auction house will be paid using real world money. This means that instead of making loot killing enemies and farming for gold, you will have to use your hard-earned cash.
Is Blizzard just finding ways to make more cash by requiring players to use their own money?
via: Rock Paper Shotgun
This article is incorrect. Players will not be required to pay money for items on the auction house. There will be two auction houses – one for real money transactions and one for in-game gold transactions. If you're going to compose such a biased piece the least you could do is get your facts straight.
And if I understand this correctly, "hardcore gamers" will be upset about the fact that you cannot cheat or play offline? I cannot think of one "hardcore gamer" who cheats, bots, or mods in order to win or who doesn't play online. All garbage aimed at inciting some sort of PC gamer anarchist revolt. Give it up.
Not really. I think this move by Blizzard denies players their right to play an offline mode. And who would enjoy the game if you have to pay real world money to get items? Yeah, sure you can use the other auction house to buy items, but the more important items are sold at the other auction house, the one requiring you to pay real cash.
Yes, "hardcore gamers" will be upset because we have no choice but to follow the restrictions given by Blizzard. They should have made a separate offline mode for players who're not into those things.
You are still going to be able to play online, another fact that this article does not get right. Blizzard discourages it, because the game is designed to be played with friends, but single-player offline mode is still available. Not LAN though, but that's a different discussion.
This information is found in the Diablo forums on http://www.diablo3.com
Just in general a fairly biased, untrue article.
Man i wish there was a +9000 button AND a +1 button.
I agree with Josh, hardcore gamers are the ones that love games and love the companies that make them. By introducing these restrictions Blizzard is reducing the ability for people to break the game experience that they've created for players, bots and game hacking mods do this.
As for buying stuff with real world money, I find it intriguing. The writer of this article failed to note that if you a person wants to take part in the real money transactions they also have the chance to sell stuff. In theory an intelligent person could buy and sell on the AH with no real net loss.
As for farmers, there are reasons to worry and reasons not to. If farming companies DO become an issue they're likely to bid each other down to the point where everything is really cheap, therefor the game fails to be profitable, and they'll have to stop.
the best part of diablo was playing online
and it was only ruined by ppl who used hacks and mods
this article is total fail
they should get real gamers to write articles on games
Still don't see the point as to why you have to be online to enjoy a single player campaign. Seems very elitist and stupid of Blizzard to leave out other gamers who might not be fortunate enough to have a reliable internet connection. I was looking forward to this title too.. but now I'll just have to look towards another title that doesn't require to be online and deal with online really crappy community. *cough* Batman *uncough*
I have played Diablo II and I am looking forward to Diablo III. Everyone has internet at home, especially true gamers! I dont think the online mode will be a problem for me. I will not be using my hard earned cash at auctions tho! I hope it doesnt give advantages to other players who will!
letz get one thing straight. people whos bashing this move by blizz are probably ones that download their games from torrent and play for free. EVERYONE HAS TO MAKE MONEY TO LIVE! GET REAL!