My critique of Diablo III.

[Beriallord]

I'm not a person who usually strays away from a challenge as long as it is a legitimate challenge, meaning you can master the mechanics and be able to win. Dark Souls for example, the tutorial level Asylum demon, instead of running, I spent 15-20 deaths and finally beat it down with my bare fists. Because its possible though positioning and rolling to evade every single attack from every single enemy in that game. Some might argue the game is hard, but everyone starts with the tools and mechanics they need to win. I don't mind 1hkos as long as they give me the option to use positioning and rolling/evading to not get hit. Diablo III does no such thing, its 100% gear based, with a few characters having skills to avoid damage for a few secs, but those usually have large CDs.

 

You want to know how you "get better" in diablo III? If you are too weak to kill anything you get someone to give you a waypoint somewhere in act 3-4 inferno, find a spot to smash pots for gold while wearing high gold find gear. smash pots/objects then remake the game. There are several spots in act 4 with a lot of pots, but no enemies. The area before Izulal for example. Do that for several days and then look online and copy someone's build who is doing better than you. If you get lucky and are able to save enough for some OK gear, you can find a spot where a defenseless treasure goblin spawns and kill them with high damage/magic find gear. Keep in mind, the chances of actually finding something good you can use is probably 1 in 5000. While 95% of the rares you find are going to be junk, and once in a while you might find something worth 500k to sell at the auction house. High level rare rings/amulets seem to be the most expensive pieces at the moment. If you can find a ring/amulet drop with high Stats + 50-60 resist all, you can probably get 2m for it. Honestly I think farming gold with high gold find by smashing pots will get you better results in the short run and long run. Someone could also try the trading forums at battle.net. Sometimes people might give you better deals than at the AH, where things are frequently overpriced. I know someone who bought a very, very good Demon Hunter weapon for 5 mil by doing that. 1300 damage, 202 dex, attack speed + and critical damage +.

[aruless]

Well, I'm actually okay with the server instability because that won't last forever. I pre-ordered D2 and when it went live server instability was seen with that game as well. It eventually got worked out. No, my biggest concern is the gameplay itself, and you've pretty much got that covered. And honestly, I don't see a class that really appeals to me all that much. Oh well.

 

 

Thats so wrong in many levels my friend, why should u be ok with that? they have a lot of time to avoid that, is not possible to say im ok with my car dont having break, right? why should a game be diferent? is a product, cost money, and should have an standar of quality, is time to stop saying is expected, is normal and that kind of stuff, or the game industry is gonna keep ra**** us >_>

 

PS This is only my personal opinion.

[hoofhearted4]

ok, this is off topic, but i just dont understand it,

 

ive heard countless times when people get frustrated with a game, they uninstall it. Vindekarr with D3. people on YT that im subbed to did so with BF3 when it came out. people did so with SWTOR. like are you so offended by the game that you cant have it on your computer? are you soo hurting for room on your HDD that you cant afford to have a game on there you dont play? im just confused. cause even still, many of the people who have uninstalled a game for whatever reason, usually end up reinstalling it to try again at a later date. sometimes they install/uninstall multiple times...idk. even if i dont like a game, i dont uninstall it from my computer. its not like the game knows. its not like im saying "so there game. you are no longer on my computer. how does that make you feel?" it doesnt affect the game any. the Devs/Publishers dont know if its not installed. you already bought it. thats all they know. and as long as you arent on their servers, they have no idea if you have the game installed and arent playing it, or if you dont have it installed and arent playing it.

 

im just not sure im clear on the rationality behind it, as ive seen a good number of people do such a thing. like its the ultimate thing to do when your frustrated by a game. the end all be all....its more like, you uninstall it so your not tempted to play it again? i think that might be a plausible answer to my question as well. idk. maybe someone can PM me the rational behind it. i dont mean to change the subject of the thread of hijack it. but with another example of this sitting right there, im just curious. also, i mean no offense. i could care less that you do it, i was just wondering why so many people do it? :P

[aruless]

its not like im saying "so there game. you are no longer on my computer. how does that make you feel?"

 

That crack me out xDDDD, well in my case is mostly for space, i usually have two or three games installed and no more, i dont have time or the will to play a lot of games at the same time.

[lonewolfkai]

ok, this is off topic, but i just dont understand it,

 

ive heard countless times when people get frustrated with a game, they uninstall it. Vindekarr with D3. people on YT that im subbed to did so with BF3 when it came out. people did so with SWTOR. like are you so offended by the game that you cant have it on your computer? are you soo hurting for room on your HDD that you cant afford to have a game on there you dont play? im just confused. cause even still, many of the people who have uninstalled a game for whatever reason, usually end up reinstalling it to try again at a later date. sometimes they install/uninstall multiple times...idk. even if i dont like a game, i dont uninstall it from my computer. its not like the game knows. its not like im saying "so there game. you are no longer on my computer. how does that make you feel?" it doesnt affect the game any. the Devs/Publishers dont know if its not installed. you already bought it. thats all they know. and as long as you arent on their servers, they have no idea if you have the game installed and arent playing it, or if you dont have it installed and arent playing it.

 

im just not sure im clear on the rationality behind it, as ive seen a good number of people do such a thing. like its the ultimate thing to do when your frustrated by a game. the end all be all....its more like, you uninstall it so your not tempted to play it again? i think that might be a plausible answer to my question as well. idk. maybe someone can PM me the rational behind it. i dont mean to change the subject of the thread of hijack it. but with another example of this sitting right there, im just curious. also, i mean no offense. i could care less that you do it, i was just wondering why so many people do it? :P

What's so hard not to understand why? If you're not going to play it anymore, why have it on your computer?

[hoofhearted4]

idk. if you are never going to play the game again, youd sell the game. get at least some money back. if all your doing is uninstalling the game, then your not really accomplishing anything, again unless you need space.

 

as for the server issue. it truly is pathetic. its not like this was Blizzards first time with a big game launch. this wasnt some indie game developed in a year by an indie company. this was Blizzard. they have the time, money, and the experience to make sure this server stuff doesnt happen. idr if there were issues at the launch of SC2. i preordered it and i dont remember not being able to log in. they really have no excuses and its unacceptable that it happened in the first place. and while it is a Con to the game, its not an indefinite Con. its not a reason to never buy the game, its a reason to not buy the game now.

[Ferodaktyl]

just watch the movie, i laughed my ass off

 

http://www.arhiblog.ro/s-lansat-diablo-3/

[Vagrant0]

as for the server issue. it truly is pathetic. its not like this was Blizzards first time with a big game launch.

The thing is that as much as you feel entitled to it, it doesn't make financial sense for Blizzard to have bought servers and other hardware to manage the demand at launch since this amount would be several times higher than their normal expected server load. That's the main truth to the matter.

 

Most of the problems could have been resolved completely by having an Open and Closed system similar to what they did with D2... where:

 

Open doesn't have the AH, and just requires an authentication through a login server, allowing people to play locally, offline afterward, with their characters and everything stored locally, and some options for multiplayer through a matchmaker lobby.

 

Closed being more like it is now, where there is an AH, and everything is constantly online.

 

In this model, the majority of people would have spent their first few months of playing the game on the Open system, having relatively little network demand so that those who wanted to play in an always-online mode would not be particularly affected.

 

But they were greedy and wanted to have a system where the AH was always a component of the game, and therefore became a constant lure for people to potentially spend real money on game items which no longer drop.

 

 

As for uninstalling games. With a game that connects online, the company can see trends in the amount of accounts logging in, and if they see a large fall-off of activity it can be an indicator that a good amount of customers are unhappy with a product. Unfortunately since this is not a subscription game, they probably couldn't care less since they are now not having to handle server demands for you, already have your money, and you'll probably be dumb enough to buy the DLC (content which was just removed from the game) as soon as it comes out.

 

If you really wanted to get their attention, you would encourage people to login, and livestream the game of you just sitting in town standing there for 13+ hours while you do something else (playing torchlight in another window, sleep, play another MMO, play skyrim, ect). And go and try to promote the hell out of your channel. That way, you're still drawing server traffic from them, but you're clearly indicating that you have better things to do than actually play their game.

[hoofhearted4]

The thing is that as much as you feel entitled to it, it doesn't make financial sense for Blizzard to have bought servers and other hardware to manage the demand at launch since this amount would be several times higher than their normal expected server load. That's the main truth to the matter.

 

Most of the problems could have been resolved completely by having an Open and Closed system similar to what they did with D2... where:

 

Open doesn't have the AH, and just requires an authentication through a login server, allowing people to play locally, offline afterward, with their characters and everything stored locally, and some options for multiplayer through a matchmaker lobby.

 

Closed being more like it is now, where there is an AH, and everything is constantly online.

 

In this model, the majority of people would have spent their first few months of playing the game on the Open system, having relatively little network demand so that those who wanted to play in an always-online mode would not be particularly affected.

 

But they were greedy and wanted to have a system where the AH was always a component of the game, and therefore became a constant lure for people to potentially spend real money on game items which no longer drop.

 

 

As for uninstalling games. With a game that connects online, the company can see trends in the amount of accounts logging in, and if they see a large fall-off of activity it can be an indicator that a good amount of customers are unhappy with a product. Unfortunately since this is not a subscription game, they probably couldn't care less since they are now not having to handle server demands for you, already have your money, and you'll probably be dumb enough to buy the DLC (content which was just removed from the game) as soon as it comes out.

 

If you really wanted to get their attention, you would encourage people to login, and livestream the game of you just sitting in town standing there for 13+ hours while you do something else (playing torchlight in another window, sleep, play another MMO, play skyrim, ect). And go and try to promote the hell out of your channel. That way, you're still drawing server traffic from them, but you're clearly indicating that you have better things to do than actually play their game.

 

sounds like what they did with SC2. you log into battle.net but you dont have to play online. however, you can also not log into battle.net and play offline as well (such as when your internet is down, or when battle.net is down) although, i think that if you can log into battle.net, then you have to. but im not sure on that as ive never tried to avoid logging into battle.net when i was able to, only when i couldnt (such as one of the two previous examples occurring)

 

EDIT: so basically how it works for SC2, is as long as you have the real copy (ie not the free starter edition they offer) you can log in as a guest. as a guest you can play the campaign (however you wont get achievements) but no multiplayer, meaning your offline. which is because you are playing as a guest and are not logged into Battle.net (which you can do whether or not youre actually able to connect to BNet or not). while it sucks you dont get achievements (they are just plain fun to try to get)and anything you do wont actually transfer over to your actual account. at least its something. if your internet or BNet are down you can still play AI games (or campaign if you want). cant say the same for D3. youre screwed if either are down.

Edited June 7, 2012 by hoofhearted4

[Vindekarr]

That's correct. If either fails, you'll be unable to get online. Furthermore the large amount of server lag requires a high-spec ADSL2+ connection to get anything near playable. Why bother when there's cheaper, more entertaining, more compelx and more rewarding games available.

 

Even Ubisoft isn't this crazy about DRM. I've been playing through Ghost Recon Future Soldier the past week when I'm not having my soul devoured by Dragon's Dogma, and while people were raving about it's DRM, I can't say it's anywhere near this bad. You have to install part of the game to play it... I've heard that isn't even unusual on PS3, first time I've done it on Xbox360. It takes about 5 minutes, once it's done, you're set. No annoying checks or codes, it's clearly got heavy DRM, but it's unobtrusive. DiRT: Showdown(why do they have to spell it like that?) has a similar system-genuine boxed copies get an online code they need to enter. The game works fine without it though, the code simply gives you access to online play, and a little bit of a career head start. Collector's edition version's codes also provide a an extra level of free upgrades and accelerated levelling 'till 10.

Edited June 7, 2012 by Vindekarr