Diablo 3 Beta - Feedback :}

So I thought I knew a lot about diablo but I didn't realize it ran like an MMO with constant server pinging! I mean what's the point if you're not co-oping or pvping. It's not like you can randomly run into other people when playing solo! This sounds like bs anti piracy to me! So I there never going to be an entirely offline mode?
 
Isengard said:
While playing alone, which feels pretty stupid tbh... But I have hope, since the servers are all the way in the US and they are clearly overburdened. Hopefully when we get EU servers things will improve.

They really need to fix the stutter though, it makes the game near unplayable.
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That is a bit... odd. Co-Op I can understand but SP o.O. I for one am glad I am in Europe, my lag should then me minimal come full release.

Is it the always online thing causing the lag? SC2 didn't have that problem... well not that i've experienced anyways.
 
Cobalt said:
So I thought I knew a lot about diablo but I didn't realize it ran like an MMO with constant server pinging! I mean what's the point if you're not co-oping or pvping. It's not like you can randomly run into other people when playing solo! This sounds like bs anti piracy to me! So I there never going to be an entirely offline mode?
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While I wouldn't call it anti-piracy BS, it is in part Anti-Piracy and in part due to the new "social" approach to gaming.

shibobo said:
Is there no way that local servers can be organised? Maybe Mweb?
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Have you got (official) local WoW Servers? No, well there is your answer.
 
OmegaFenix said:
That is a bit... odd. Co-Op I can understand but SP o.O. I for one am glad I am in Europe, my lag should then me minimal come full release.

Is it the always online thing causing the lag? SC2 didn't have that problem... well not that i've experienced anyways.
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I always thought that you'd just need to be logged into Battle.net in order to play SP, but the way it's currently implemented in like an MMO system where you're always logged into a server. It's pretty ridiculous and I can see a lot of complaint's regarding this come full release, unless latency is really good across the board.

I'm not sure why Blizzard went this route since it's going to be more alienating than anything else. I can only hope that things work smoothly come release, else I might end up being really disappointed with my purchase...
 
Is this a Blizzard issue then? Expensive to buy the rights to host them or something like that? So many other PC games manage to get local servers. It would really suck balls if we don't get them.

Personally I've played the beta on my Dell XPS 17 i7 laptop. 16GB ram, GeForce 445M running the latest drivers and I get a shitload of stuttering. Without Vsync Fraps tells me that I'm getting 80+ FPS and it never goes below 60. Latency-wise if I get in the region of 400ms things tend to run smooth with very little rubberbanding. It's just the damn stutter that makes the game near unplayable. It has definitely improved since I've tweaked some of the settings such as the sound quality etc.
 
Isengard said:
I always thought that you'd just need to be logged into Battle.net in order to play SP, but the way it's currently implemented in like an MMO system where you're always logged into a server. It's pretty ridiculous and I can see a lot of complaint's regarding this come full release, unless latency is really good across the board.

I'm not sure why Blizzard went this route since it's going to be more alienating than anything else. I can only hope that things work smoothly come release, else I might end up being really disappointed with my purchase...
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Maybe its to do with the Auction house, if they want real time transactions and to keep it up to date on a minute to minute basis then this would be the most logical choice? Or they figured since most people will play online co-op that that's the best option. Having not tried it myself I can only speculate. But Im figuring it has something to do with the Action House.
 
OmegaFenix said:
Maybe its to do with the Auction house, if they want real time transactions and to keep it up to date on a minute to minute basis then this would be the most logical choice? Or they figured since most people will play online co-op that that's the best option. Having not tried it myself I can only speculate. But Im figuring it has something to do with the Action House.
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I think it's to prevent item duping rather than up to date auctions.
 
Endev8003 said:
I think it's to prevent item duping rather than up to date auctions.
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That's a valid point and I reckon you might be right but it is also then partly to do with the auctions, since duping/ cheating could play havoc with the auction system.

I think I can see why they are doing it that way then, I still don't like it though.
 
It's about control.

It's the reason why neither D3 or SC2 has LAN support, they want to make sure they have full control over the entire platform and dictate exactly what and how you experience it. For SC2 it was because of the pro gaming scene and their desire to profit from it, for D3 it's about the auction house and how they want to funnel as many people as possible in that direction.

Their flimsy as hell excuse for not having offline/non battle.net mode for D3(like they had in D2) was because they and I quote "didn't want someone playing all the way through with their offline character and then deciding they want to go online only to find out they need to reroll". Coz I heard so many people complained about that in D2... oh wait no I didn't. :(

Anyway, spitting in the wind here, online only 24/7 mode is here to stay.
 
Isengard said:
That's a valid point and I reckon you might be right but it is also then partly to do with the auctions, since duping/ cheating could play havoc with the auction system.

I think I can see why they are doing it that way then, I still don't like it though.
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Well I've Preordered two copies already so I REALLY HOPE there is no lag in the game at all. According to Blizzard all the online authentication crap is supposed to add to our user experience :/
 
Endev8003 said:
I think it's to prevent item duping rather than up to date auctions.
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Its exactly this I believe. The RMAH makes it so that item-duping means someone could potentially make a shitload of money from exploiting. Also, if your account gets hacked, its your money. And we've seen through current phishing trends with banks, that even though a customer will give their details away, the banks are always to blame and the customer rarely admits to responding to phishing. This means more reputational risk and forces Blizzard to make the system as secure as they possibly can.

Its also true that they want to monitor the heck out of every game session to ensure legitimacy is upheld at all times. Having an offline mode means you would need to have a 100% offline client, which may be susceptible to hacking/modding which may lead to unfair/illegal activities giving someone an advantage. Then all they do is go online and sell all the "offline-hacked-version" gear they got.

Thats how I understand it atleast.. It probably could've been designed so that it had a smaller impact on bandwidth usage (or anything that increased latency) but hey, we're not Blizzard. Also, it seems we're not alone in this issue. There are people who get good latency that are complaining about always online and AU/NZ players are also experiencing lag to US servers.

ALL IN ALL, its still beta, and the servers are still in the US and getting rammed hard at the moment.. We could very well see "brand-new" hardware, in larger amounts, in better locations for us SA players, once its released. Till the day the game goes live in SA and someone gives it a shot, we don't know.
 
Phatso said:
Its exactly this I believe. The RMAH makes it so that item-duping means someone could potentially make a shitload of money from exploiting. Also, if your account gets hacked, its your money. And we've seen through current phishing trends with banks, that even though a customer will give their details away, the banks are always to blame and the customer rarely admits to responding to phishing. This means more reputational risk and forces Blizzard to make the system as secure as they possibly can.

Its also true that they want to monitor the heck out of every game session to ensure legitimacy is upheld at all times. Having an offline mode means you would need to have a 100% offline client, which may be susceptible to hacking/modding which may lead to unfair/illegal activities giving someone an advantage. Then all they do is go online and sell all the "offline-hacked-version" gear they got.

Thats how I understand it atleast.. It probably could've been designed so that it had a smaller impact on bandwidth usage (or anything that increased latency) but hey, we're not Blizzard. Also, it seems we're not alone in this issue. There are people who get good latency that are complaining about always online and AU/NZ players are also experiencing lag to US servers.

ALL IN ALL, its still beta, and the servers are still in the US and getting rammed hard at the moment.. We could very well see "brand-new" hardware, in larger amounts, in better locations for us SA players, once its released. Till the day the game goes live in SA and someone gives it a shot, we don't know.
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Yeah the reducing duping/cheating/hax reasoning seems sound to me. In D2 I remember countless exploits or editors to get you l33t loot. If this where to happen in D3 and people then start selling item obtained through Hax in the action house it would ruin the game experience for everyone. It will no longer be a case of simply not playing with suspected hackers/cheaters anymore but of people actively trying to steal you money.

MOnk said:
It's about control.

It's the reason why neither D3 or SC2 has LAN support, they want to make sure they have full control over the entire platform and dictate exactly what and how you experience it. For SC2 it was because of the pro gaming scene and their desire to profit from it, for D3 it's about the auction house and how they want to funnel as many people as possible in that direction.

Their flimsy as hell excuse for not having offline/non battle.net mode for D3(like they had in D2) was because they and I quote "didn't want someone playing all the way through with their offline character and then deciding they want to go online only to find out they need to reroll". Coz I heard so many people complained about that in D2... oh wait no I didn't. :(

Anyway, spitting in the wind here, online only 24/7 mode is here to stay.
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I think we have to remember that both SC and D2 where released 10 years ago, comparing what worked in it and what works now seems foolish.
 
OmegaFenix said:
I think we have to remember that both SC and D2 where released 10 years ago, comparing what worked in it and what works now seems foolish.
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Not really, the split between battle.net play and 'unranked/unmeter' play worked very well and prevented most cheating on official bnet servers. Having an option between unranked local play/characters and ranked/official play/characters has worked in numerous games since typically you have your stats and/or characters stored on the official servers so there is no chance of any kind of funny business.

If you can point out a valid reason why technology would have devolved to no longer allow this I would be happy to hear it but as far as I am concerned no benefit to the customer is obtained from not having offline play.

Hell you could do the 'local/official' play thing with World of Warcraft if you wanted by running your own emu server, it sure doesn't mean I can take those characters into official servers, so why is it different for D3?
 
I tried to play the Diablo III beta last night, but as my internet connection goes through sporadic bouts of instability, I found it unplayable. If this is how the game is going to work [constant connection needed], I think I'll pass-as I did with StarCraft II. I hope that this sort of security measure does not become more commonplace. While I know that there are local server hacks out there, I am not THAT technically inclined and prefer not to tread on ActiBlizzard's toes.
 
Think this was mentioned above but:
Duping/hack preventing is not a valid reason. Why can't there be an entirely offline experience which is not able to take part in the online stores etc. it would be as easy as:
Choose your character, name it, offline or online, are you sure? Start game!
What I can guarantee is that I they do release the final product as above, groups like reloaded will do everything in their power to create offline servers and hacks! By taking the stance blizzard is they are actually laying down the gauntlet..."challenge accepted"
 
Cobalt said:
Think this was mentioned above but:
Duping/hack preventing is not a valid reason. Why can't there be an entirely offline experience which is not able to take part in the online stores etc. it would be as easy as:
Choose your character, name it, offline or online, are you sure? Start game!
What I can guarantee is that I they do release the final product as above, groups like reloaded will do everything in their power to create offline servers and hacks! By taking the stance blizzard is they are actually laying down the gauntlet..."challenge accepted"
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There isn't a DRM that isn't breakable. It's more a case of whether it's worth the effort to crack it for the average user. Running your own private server to play D3 offline is likely going to be beyond what your average user will be capable of. Connecting to local private servers has the same pitfalls as WoW private servers: bugged or broken with the risk of resets or being taken down permanently, with the only advantage being a lower ping.
 
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