Diablo 3

[drauch]

Odds are good, yeah.

[Elixir]

I genuinely don't want to see this game released within the next year. Diablo II was and is life consuming.

I don't want everything shoved on the backburner for one game. Ugh..

[drauch]

Yeah...you make a fine point. I've been consistently playing Diablo 2 since it came out and have obviously spent the most time on it that any other game I've played.

[BryanM]

Ah, I've just been really down since the offline mode was removed. This sums up my feelings on the matter:

"It's like Daddy got me the pony I always wanted. However, he doesn't want me to ride too far, so he cut off its legs."

[drauch]

Wait, they removed the offline mode...?

[BryanM]

Yes.

Why:

* They have a RMT auction house. They want to force people to use it.

* They want some $ from those internet cafes in Asia.

Of course it completely bones a ton of people. People like BryanM, Australians, and deployed troops. Oh well.

[drauch]

Goddammit. The only reason I haven't read up on this is because when I highly anticipate a game I barely read up/watch videos of it. I've played both Diablo games on the internet since birth, but with this particular one I planned on keeping it offline only, mainly because of past internet addictions, as well as the decline of friends who are into PC gaming due to the easy access of console gaming. This is a real bummer. I mean, obviously I can play a campaign by myself, thus creating a 'single player' scenario, but this is still bullshit for those who don't want to mess with Bilzzard's online tomfoolery, as well as the select few who may not have internet. Blizzard has easily been on a steady trail for biggest bullshit game company.

[ryu]

i know why i'm boycotting blizzard games

[BryanM]

i know why i'm boycotting blizzard games

Is it because they already have enough of your money?

[Jeneki]

There's a ton of Diablo-style games out there these days. If someone wants to make a point and not buy D3 (for whatever reason), there are plenty of alternatives.

I'll likely grab it eventually, perhaps wait for a Battle Chest edition later on, I haven't decided yet. Its been delayed so long that waiting even longer doesn't even phase me anymore. I didn't bother picking up Starcraft II until the local convention needed another copy for a tournament, and I was way more interested in that than Diablo 3.

[ryu]

i know why i'm boycotting blizzard games

Is it because they already have enough of your money?

pretty much. they've become a joke. of course business wants to make money, but as a game comapany you don't make it so obvious you just want your customer's money and hardly give a damn about what the customer thinks.
i'm not gonna support their bullshit just to have them fuck me in the ass.

[Ruldra]

WTF no offline mode? I have no intention to play this game online

Well, the cracking community always come up with something at these times...

[Despatche]

You know, Torchlight II is on the way. And it's still $20.

[idchappy]

Totally loved the first 2 games and the add on packs, looking forward to this

[TrevHead (TVR)]

IIRC There still will be a single player mode, its "just" persistant online DRM, blizzard say its to stop cheating both for online play and online autions which use real money to buy virtual items. If you ask me they are asking to be the next Sony / PSN.

[Elixir]

I'm pretty sure you can still play your games offline on Sony's consoles.

[alastair jack]

Hoping they don't use Starcraft 2's servers for D3, in Australia you get about 200-400ms ping delay, lols. But there was at least offline mode in SC2.

[maxlords]

,,!,, online only games. Also....Diablo...um....has it changed? Cause the first two games were practically identical. I can't see this being any different and Torchlight was plenty enough for me to scratch the itch for the genre...

[BryanM]

Hoping they don't use Starcraft 2's servers for D3, in Australia you get about 200-400ms ping delay, lols.

They will never have servers Australians can make use of, not until they take a direct hand in running their Chinese market.

World of Warcraft has "oceanic" servers that Aussies can use - they are located in the USA close to where the doohicky comes in from out of the country.

With Starcraft and DikuWar, a ~300ms ping is at least playable. But every sale of Diablo 3 in Australia will be another screwed over customer.

[Elixir]

I played D2 with 300-350 ping back in the day, it was fairly playable, and this was on USEast. This time I'll try the Asia servers, or USWest (which, against people with REALLY good connection's in California, I get 3 bars to (which usually means under 200ms)).

[drauch]

,,!,, online only games. Also....Diablo...um....has it changed? Cause the first two games were practically identical. I can't see this being any different and Torchlight was plenty enough for me to scratch the itch for the genre...

I'd strongly disagree on that...Diablo 2 is a vast improvement to the original game

[BryanM]

In many ways, yeah.

But in a few others it falls behind. It's an ugly brown mudball compared to the original (no excuse really, they could have rendered the art out to any arbitrary resolution or at least put hooks into the source to support inserting more refined art later. Examples: Barbarian, Werewolf. They also could, in a make-believe universe, create a 3d remake where things are as "good" looking in their product renders, such as the splash screens for the credit screens.), monster design is worse across the board (midget skeleton guys instead of fuckin' DEATH KNIGHTS (Knights that which are dead and bound to their armor, who explode and yell in anguished agony as they double-die)), and level design is torture. Anyone who's actually done Act 3 more than once, with all the fun of wandering around a space the size of Detroit to find waypoints miles distant from the dungeons you have to go through to get some guy's gonads... that is true horror.

In theory I still like Diablo 1 more. Played that thing on a 486, through on each class. On a 486, one play through takes over a hundred hours. It was a bit more tactical kind of game at that speed - I maximized the value out of every damn firewall I cast. I wish they'd release the source to it - break up the tiles, speed up the walking, refurbish the item game, add mana regeneration, eliminate item destruction at 0 durability, toss in a storage box, distinguish the character classes (there are resources in place already to make a fantastic Necromancer class), and build-in a "hold the button down to attack" function and it'll be pretty fantastic.

Modding games has always been too brutally limited - sure I can remove the timer from Immolation Arrow, but I can't go in and create an "Epic" tier of item quality (which would be like rares, except able to have some unique-only level affixes) for example..

The only people who loved this series more than me are the guys who've poured thousands of hours of their lives into creating a mod...

[moozooh]

Agreed on the count of enemy design, btw. Many of the original Diablo's enemies were very charismatic, and I still remember sounds every one of them dies with. They're juicy.

[Obiwanshinobi]

ALL sounds in the first Diablo are juicy, even the sounds of items in the menu (like some demon's brain for example).
Still cracking co-op. Heck, the PSX port, inferior as is, makes for fine co-op on one telly. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance may be technically better, but does not have Diablo JUICE.

[Ruldra]

How Diablo III's DRM will affect you

TLDR: no offline play, no pausing, lose lots of progression if disconnected (either by staying idle or if servers goes down).

[gct]

How Diablo III's DRM will affect you

TLDR: no offline play, no pausing, lose lots of progression if disconnected (either by staying idle or if servers goes down).

WTH! I might try Torchlight instead, never knew about this series until now.

[moozooh]

How Diablo III's DRM will affect you

TLDR: no offline play, no pausing, lose lots of progression if disconnected (either by staying idle or if servers goes down).

This is so outlandish I refuse to believe they're actually going for it. o_0

All the more bogus that they're the one company who could actually get away with it.

[BryanM]

There is a rumor out there that they're using a rollback technique for combat to create the illusion of no latency, like GGPO.

Picking up and shuffling around items will still be sluggish as hell. And unless they're enormously generous with rollbacking, you'll be unable to play with other humans.

That's if this is true. Which I am assuming it isn't.

[Obiwanshinobi]

What I like about Guild Wars and Torchlight is that even with the framerate diving below 30 on a slow computer, the interface seems to be updated at the screen refresh rate. Not sure how fair twitchy PvsP fights feel played this way, though.
The first Diablo is still somewhat alive on BN. Co-op felt mighty fine last time I played it. Diablo 3 isn't likely to be MUCH worse, is it? Past the beta testing stage, that is.
I thought "lagless" netplay has been about hacks since Quake or so. To uneducated me this GGPO thing sounds similar to what I read Quake did.

[DragonInstall]

Well not going to get this game the way it stands.