News

Fans express outrage at offline/LAN play for console version of Diablo III
Posted: 21.02.2013 23:02 by JonahFalcon Comments: 49
With the announcement that the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 version of Diablo III will offer offline and LAN play, PC users on the Diablo III forums have expressed outrage.

The forum post has such angry words as:

"Blizzard allows Playstation 3, 4 users to play Diablo 3 offline and LAN. They screwed PC gamers by providing no offline option. Nice one, ActiBlizz."

"If my rage could be contained right now i could nuke the world!"

"I'm so glad I spent the time to grind paragon 100 to literally get this news as soon as I hit. Good-bye Diablo 3 and all of ActiBlizz games, hello :enter some other non-bull shit company built game here:. "

"So the question is, is Blizzard going to man up and back-port LAN play into the PC version? If not, PC users can feel justified in feeling a little jilted. Like... a lot."

Let us know what you think, and if you think Diablo III will have an offline mode on PC in the future.

Comments

By Chosen_One (SI Elite) on Feb 21, 2013
Chosen_One
oh my...shit move spotted...
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Feb 22, 2013
herodotus
Disgraceful, Blizzard...bloody disgraceful.
Yet another reason for me to boycott and actively participate in lobbying for Blizz to up their game, or go and die quietly in a corner of the world forever Warcraft.
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Feb 22, 2013
JonahFalcon
Console piracy is far less of an issue than PC piracy.
By Chosen_One (SI Elite) on Feb 22, 2013
Chosen_One
Sony PS4 will be hacked pretty easily now. Cuz it has PC architecture.
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Feb 22, 2013
JonahFalcon
No. Sony will do what MS does - have PSN on their side. They made that huge backdoor on the PS3 itself.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Feb 22, 2013
FoolWolf
And still EA admitted to make more money on PC than consoles (sorry for this - it is more than the PS3!)... oh Pirates beware...
We need a new scare - or simply - some honesty from game developers and publishers would be a very welcome change.

Diablo 3 has more flaws than being always online requirements. But it was sold to the PC crowd that the RMAH was the deal with why they had to be always online and in game play the RMAH is the biggest flaws with the game making its gameplay rather moot.
So PS3/4 won't have RMAH then?
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Feb 22, 2013
JonahFalcon
Well, I think the deeper problem, at least from my viewpoint, is that D3 isn't very good.
By Chosen_One (SI Elite) on Feb 22, 2013
Chosen_One
Wolf can U provide a link bout EA admit that?
By danfreeman (SI Core) on Feb 22, 2013
danfreeman
Well screw you blizz you double-crossing assholes,hope you choke on a dick made of TNT and it explodes while you suck on it.I didn`t much enjoy D3 as it was but now i am done playing it.

"Console piracy is far less of an issue than PC piracy."

Anything to back up that statement Jonah? Xbox 360 and PS 3 were hacked quite a while ago,Wii had an emulator or two last i checked and don`t even get me started on the amount of homebrew psp has so i would really like to know how console piracy is any less of an issue than PC.
By HenoKutus (SI Core) on Feb 22, 2013
HenoKutus
Because its easier for PC,no firmware updates to play the disc or Fat 32 system backups if you know the systems.
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Feb 22, 2013
SiyaenSokol
Holy shit!!! I am shocked out of my mind. Now they have pulled the ultimate and I don't know how they are going to recover from this other than giving PC gamers an offline/LAN mode as well.
By danfreeman (SI Core) on Feb 22, 2013
danfreeman
Heno,i have a homebrew psp,other than maybe 2 games i did not have to do anything to the firmware and when i did,it was easy and quick.Do you have any other reasons?
By djole381 (SI Elite) on Feb 22, 2013
djole381
Didn't see this one coming. This just goes to show how much respect Blizz has for it's loyal PC customers.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Feb 22, 2013
FoolWolf
@ Chosen - i actually remembered wrong - PC generated more than PS3 - I guess it was a wishful thinking that it would beat also the Xbox ;)

here is a financial link:
http://investor.ea.com/releases.cfm?ReleasesType=Earnings
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Feb 22, 2013
FoolWolf
@Jonah LOL! Agreed, d3 being a not so fun game: that is the biggest problem.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Feb 22, 2013
herodotus
But will this stop anyone from buying the next installation of "Starcraft II"?
No, didn't think so. So Blizzard will continue to thrive while we silently rage yet continue to throw money at them.
For shame.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Feb 22, 2013
SirRoderick
So much for it being a feature eh?

*is glad he never cared for the game*

As for Starcraft II, no it will not. I'm still buying that....simply because I refuse to pirate it. A lot of people will have less scruples.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Feb 22, 2013
herodotus
I'll be sitting with a begging bowl outside EB Games. I have scruples too, ya know:)
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Feb 22, 2013
nocutius
Damn, this really is a total bullshit move :(
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Feb 23, 2013
SiyaenSokol
Good statement herodotus. I have to admit, I too will be getting the game after it is released, and it makes it difficult, because I love Starcraft, but I am losing more and more respect for its maker.

That is what happens when I company becomes too powerful, and starts to make too much money. Back in the day it wasn't like this. After WoW all changed.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Feb 23, 2013
FoolWolf
I'm not so sure about getting Heart of the Swarm - too much focus on the on-line play for my taste and I don't like the competition twitch play any more. I simply don't have the time to keep the skills up.
The single player experience from SCII was OK - but not what I hoped - not wished for.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Feb 23, 2013
nocutius
I haven't played a single regular pvp match in SC2, it's all about the campaign and the custom maps for me and I'm sure the new campaign is gonna deliver just as much as those before it did. I simply love campaigns in all the SC games.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Feb 23, 2013
SirRoderick
You can play customs and unranked matches for your multiplayer Wolfy, no need to get stuck into the competitive ladder :)
By CytoToxicProxy (SI Member) on Feb 23, 2013
CytoToxicProxy
I only finished Diablo 3 because it's so short. I started the nightmare mode and almost immediately lost interest. It was fun and the story was kinda good, but it was way too short, very little depth had no lasting appeal to me at all. I wish I had continued to boycott this game till the very end.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Feb 23, 2013
SirRoderick
On a related note, never quite got why people call it "Boycotting" when they don't personally buy a game. I mean is it really out of protest you're not dealing with the game, or just because you don't like it? ^^

For me it's the latter, but hey.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Feb 24, 2013
herodotus
Well for me it IS all about boycotting Blizzard. Yes, I would like to buy and play the game, but I won't just as despite all of the negativity I'd still like to give "Diablo III" a go.
I'm passively boycotting you could say, but still boycotting nevertheless.

I don't believe Blizzard deliver the goods any more, and actually haven't done for a number of years now. Their heyday has come and gone, and the glory days of "WoW", their apex, is nothing but history written in sand.
The bloated, well-fed fatcats at Corporate HQ know that simply by updating an old game to meet today's standards (well, those of a few years ago really) and adding a healthy dollop of PR flash they will reap millions from the sadly faithful.

So, I like the games (they are good, but seriously they are not "great") but I loathe the Publisher and think the Developers lazy.
By wwallace61 (I just got here) on Feb 24, 2013
wwallace61
Lol, blizz is just going crazy. I hope Blizz wont enable LAN for pc!! Just because with that hate the gamers maybe wont buy their future games. That would be a lesson.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Feb 24, 2013
FoolWolf
Well, seeing as Blizz has fallen mightily with D3 and SC2 in my eyes - I'm not going to pay that ridiculous price for an expansion at least... I'll wait for it to drop.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Feb 24, 2013
FoolWolf
@Hero - yeah i think I will try and get back a bit into the mp scene a bit and skip the ladders. Nice suggestion! :)

For boycotting - I'm still mostly angry with Blizzard - not outright pissed., so I'm not boycotting - I'm mostly applying a bit of doubt and no rushing in...
By S_C_A_R (SI Newbie) on Feb 24, 2013
S_C_A_R
Not even worth it to play Diablo 3 LAN anyways, they made it too un-Diablo-like. I was a Diablo 2 Fanatic and played Median mod and all, so I would still choose Diablo 2 over Diablo 3 to LAN anytime
By Hammerjinx (SI Veteran Member) on Feb 24, 2013
Hammerjinx
I kinda wonder if there's some kind of limitation in the Playstation architecture or some licence requirement from Sony that prevents Blizz from making it online only.

Making it online only immediately killed any mod scene the game might otherwise have enjoyed, and probably put it out of reach for a number of people. Given the number of copies they gave away electronically also, I think that they were expecting to make it back on their cut on the real money auction house.

Sadly, the game is just too damn short. Rehashing the same content in such a short time frame became way too tedious, way too fast. There probably are a lot of people still grinding away on it, but RMAH purchases are pretty much just for the most hardcore players who simply *must* have that helmet that is 1.5% better.

The RMAH and PvP were both added too late, and both were too lackluster. I'd be quite interested in seeing Blizz's internal papers on D3, regarding expenses vs income, and postmortems on their tactics, like giving away free copies. I think they were expecting better results.

I'm not Boycotting Blizz per se, but I also have no plans to buy anything from them. I'd like SCII, but I've got enough games on my plate atm, so couldn't really justify paying more than a fistfull of dollars for it. I'd prolly buy it at $10, but stop and think about it at $15.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Feb 25, 2013
FoolWolf
I re-installed Diablo 3 today just because I wanted to give it another try. Been a few months since I played. Lo and behold - the trouble to login and locked accounts are Blizzards doing - not hackers.
The damn system locked my account because I changed region. And you can't change password once - no twice... urgh...
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Feb 25, 2013
herodotus
You're not alone worry Wolfy. I have the same problem with "Starcraft II" every time I try to re-install the bugger.
I give up. Blizzard are just frakked in the head (FITH Syndrome, if you want to be clinical).
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Feb 26, 2013
SiyaenSokol
I don't understand their security system... Blizzard is really damaging their own reputation. Though maybe after enough people have gotten annoyed, and something major happens, they might revert to their good old days.
By Chosen_One (SI Elite) on Feb 26, 2013
Chosen_One
They will never revert, it is the path of the Dark Side.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Feb 26, 2013
FoolWolf
Well - thinking about buying SC2 expansion is mere thoughts and after reading som of the pre-views of the new Tombraider and reading some interviews with Rhianna Pratchett makes me much more interested in spending money on that...
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Feb 26, 2013
herodotus
Not alone again. With Blizzard prices so astronomically high (at the very top of the food pyramid) I can't justify spending that amount on an Expansion, no matter how hard they've polished their, I mean...the game.
Too many other good titles on the way, and most I can buy two of for Blizzard's asking price.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Feb 27, 2013
FoolWolf
Buggerit - I watched like six movie reviews of Tomb Raider yesterday - and one was from Machinima and the only ones that actually had something to really say about the immersion and had plenty of faults to line up. While some of the faults are dissmissive such as game cutscenes and the actual gameplay differ on a horrbile level - something they all agreed upon was a problem of the format not the actual story - you could probably live with. But for me, those are the things that really aggrevates me. I can rip through entire hordes of enemies in gameplay but in cutscenes I can't hit the side of a barn - from the inside - that just force fed and i don't like it.
And too many mash buttons to open doors and going to the toilette is also something I really hate. just bloody open the door on action click or kick it in. Why the hell mash a button so many times...

Oh - and OT . the latest SC2 movie seemed like they reused most of the material...
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Feb 27, 2013
herodotus
I actually re-installed "SC II" yesterday, but couldn't get the full game as my son registered the serial number (ON MY PC) and I don't have his password. Blizzard want me to send photos of my serial number and receipt for the game (bought at launch online). I won't tell you what I said in my response to them, as I'd have to censor myself severely.

Suffice to say, that after playing for a bit, with everything maxed out to Ultra or Very High it looks ancient.So I went and played "Sup Com" instead and uninstalled forever "SC II", never to be played again.

Up yours, Blizzarse!
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Feb 28, 2013
SiyaenSokol
I also think that Blizzard is a bit too extreme when it comes to security. I mean why in the world would you keep your receipt?

Had a lot of trouble with them when it came to Diablo 3, but haven't had to complain for a while now.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Feb 28, 2013
FoolWolf
Blizzard is extreme with security but still has a wide hole in the net for the real problems - hackers...
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Mar 01, 2013
SiyaenSokol
Yeah, I can't really get my mind around that part. Consume billions of dollars yearly, but can't even sort out their security problems as well as please their fans.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Mar 01, 2013
herodotus
There's actually quite a simple explanation. They are all idiots and cannot do anything except the most basic of security measures that only punishes legitimate gamers. Hackers just don't even bother concentrating to get around Blizzarse's so called security.
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Mar 02, 2013
SiyaenSokol
That does make sense. I luckily haven't had trouble with hackers yet... but then again, I have nothing they can steal from me. Guild Wars 2 has a cool feature, the minute you log in from a different internet IP, they want you to confirm that it is you, otherwise, you can't log in.
By Hammerjinx (SI Veteran Member) on Mar 03, 2013
Hammerjinx
Depends on the measure of proof you need. WoW requires username and password every time. People blame Blizz a lot, but at the end of the day there's nothing real they can do to protect you from your lack of security. If you get keylogged and they swipe your username and password then that's it. Any serverside measures they take beyond that just hurts legit players.

They have their authenticator devices which block hacks pretty effectively. There's still man-in-the-middle attacks, but these still need stuff loaded up on the player's computer and are still not very reliable because of the narrow window of opportunity after the player tries to log in.

There is a lot of hacking in WoW, but that's purely because there's a lot of players in WoW. They're either hacking to grief, or hacking to profit, and in both cases a larger player base makes their efforts more effective.

Really, the only thing Blizz could do better is to make the authenticators free. I think, given that the sole reason they're needed is because of their high level of success, that it's not unreasonable to ask that they be given out free.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Mar 03, 2013
SirRoderick
I do agree with that Hammer, people tend to go after Bliz for some reason even though in reality it's a pretty damn positive track record in relation to the sheer amount of players. The more players, the more hackers and conmen will be targeting them, that's just mathematics.

Now the whole Diablo server thing is a completely different thing, but you can't reasonably claim they do a bad job at securing their games...at all. Millions of people play their games, how many have actually suffered any damage due to factors beyond their own control? It almost always due to phishing or things like keyloggers that Bliz can't be held responsible for.

As for authenticators, could give those free I guess. The least I would expect is that they don't make a profit out of them...but alas they are still a corporation.

Mixed results out of Bliz, just as always.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Mar 03, 2013
herodotus
Well EA made a packet out of selling security keys for "TOR", citing "WoW" as proof-positive that keyloggers were out to get "TOR" players.
Guess what - they weren't. This is Blizzard's problem and always will be.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Mar 03, 2013
SirRoderick
BLizzard can't stop keyloggers from being deployed. Not liking Blizzard is fine, but you're being quite the anti-fanboy here. Let's keep some footing in reality please -_-
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Mar 03, 2013
herodotus
Actually I wasn't being anti-Blizzarse at all, Roderick. I don't know where you got that from, unless you are appending this to my previous comments. This company is in a league of it's own, and to my mind is a bloated and over-rated league of fat cats and lazy developers.
I stand by my comments.