In response to Blizzards explanation for no offline play, which reads:
"One of the things that we felt was really important was that if you did play offline, if we allowed for that experience, you’d start a character, you’d get him all the way to level 20 or level 30 or level 40 or what have you, and then at that point you might decide to want to venture onto Battle.net. But you’d have to start a character from scratch, because there’d be no way for us to guarantee no cheats were involved, if we let you play on the client and then take that character online."
"Their reasoning for the feature makes me more angry that the feature itself. (Or rather, the lack of feature. Whatever we want to call his hole where offline single-player mode should be.) This boils down to, “Sometimes some people make bad choices so we have taken away the ability for anyone to make any choice.” So, because some people wish they could take their single-player character online, nobody is ever allowed to play offline ever again? Apparently you are too stupid to make choices about how you want to play the game. As a bonus: The server will be mediating the game, so single-player Diablo III gamers will be able to experience the fun and excitement of lag death and disconnects."
Even if you believe that online only play is perfectly acceptable, you have to admit that Blizzards explanation is both stupid and insulting. I'd say it's most likely strait up false as well, which means people are being lied to.
The only people that will care that there is no offline play are people that had planned on getting a pirated version.
I for one have planned to buy the game from day one. And no offline play didn't even make me flinch.
It will still be a day one purchase for me.
Only the pirates eh? What about those of us who spend 6 months a year in the middle east with limited/no internet access yet still would like to play a game?
The only people that will care that there is no offline play are people that had planned on getting a pirated version.
I for one have planned to buy the game from day one. And no offline play didn't even make me flinch.
It will still be a day one purchase for me.
Only the pirates eh? What about those of us who spend 6 months a year in the middle east with limited/no internet access yet still would like to play a game?
And on the official forums there were some people talking about things like one guy, a big D2 fan who was looking forward to D3, who's getting a job in Africa where the internet will be... unstable at best, and that he'd like to play while he's there (which will likely be for years) but he's screwed now.
This whole idea that "only poor people and pirates care about offline play" is false, not to mention stupid and insulting.
Good luck pirating it now, since you need to be logged into the bnet servers to play.
Just like you need to be logged into Steam to install Steam-exclusive games, right? Ignorance.
lol, the character data is stored on the server (like an mmo) unlike steam.
Good luck though!
Alright, if you want to think it won't happen, that's cool. I don't really care, either way. I have no intentions of playing the game, but if that IS the case.. Blizzard is making a big mistake.
See you on Battle.net. Blizzard will make a killing off this game so I highly doubt they have anything to worry about....
The only people that will care that there is no offline play are people that had planned on getting a pirated version.
I for one have planned to buy the game from day one. And no offline play didn't even make me flinch.
It will still be a day one purchase for me.
Only the pirates eh? What about those of us who spend 6 months a year in the middle east with limited/no internet access yet still would like to play a game?
And on the official forums there were some people talking about things like one guy, a big D2 fan who was looking forward to D3, who's getting a job in Africa where the internet will be... unstable at best, and that he'd like to play while he's there (which will likely be for years) but he's screwed now.
This whole idea that "only poor people and pirates care about offline play" is false, not to mention stupid and insulting.
None of these 3 issues bother me any, what does bother me is how bad the combat in this game looks, yet i will try it and see for myself , but the videos dont make it look exciting at all.
the .01% of blizzards potential playerbase for this game that's qq'ing and boycotting because they made decisions on how they want THEIR game to be run, we wont miss you. and i'm positive blizzard wont miss you. if videogames were catered towards the minority we wouldn't have the quality or quantity of amazing games around nowadays.
they're trying NEW ways of combatting things that have plagued the diablo universe for over a decade. GOD FORBID WE TRY NEW THINGS.
I just read those... How are they an issue at all for anyone?
1) No Offline play?
If you don't have internetz... You should probalby go get a job so you can afford the internetz before you waste time on any games! I'm sure you can play by yourself if you really wanted to... This sounds no different than Diablo 2, where they had "secure" characters only available only... And yes, people will very likely "hack" the game to be playable offline so just get the hack!
2) No Mods?
GOOD! The auto-teleport + auto loot any epic drop was a huge exploit and really ruined group play in diablo 2. People used so many hacks to exploit farming in that game it left almost no chance for a normal player.
3) Cash Shop from Blizzard
So, You can sell items for real money using a safe blizzard interface rather than do it on some website hosted outside the United States that will likely steal your account info and sell your credit card or paypal account to multiple bidders!
People are going to buy/sell game virtual game "stuff" no matter what, so might as well make it easily available to anyone!
the .01% of blizzards potential playerbase for this game that's qq'ing and boycotting because they made decisions on how they want THEIR game to be run, we wont miss you. and i'm positive blizzard wont miss you. if videogames were catered towards the minority we wouldn't have the quality or quantity of amazing games around nowadays.
they're trying NEW ways of combatting things that have plagued the diablo universe for over a decade. GOD FORBID WE TRY NEW THINGS.
What exactly was plaguing the Diablo universe with offline single player and mods?
the .01% of blizzards potential playerbase for this game that's qq'ing and boycotting because they made decisions on how they want THEIR game to be run, we wont miss you. and i'm positive blizzard wont miss you. if videogames were catered towards the minority we wouldn't have the quality or quantity of amazing games around nowadays.
they're trying NEW ways of combatting things that have plagued the diablo universe for over a decade. GOD FORBID WE TRY NEW THINGS.
Yes, you're right; the majority is always right and catering to them is for the best.
That's why Justin Bieber is the greatest musician of our time, and catering to the likes of Rebecca Black is in the best interest of modern music.
That aside, you haven't actually established that only a minority of people care about any of these issues. Plenty of people likely care, but not enough to post on internet forums about it.
I just read those... How are they an issue at all for anyone?
1) No Offline play?
If you don't have internetz... You should probalby go get a job so you can afford the internetz before you waste time on any games! I'm sure you can play by yourself if you really wanted to... This sounds no different than Diablo 2, where they had "secure" characters only available only... And yes, people will very likely "hack" the game to be playable offline so just get the hack!
And when your job that pays for your internet sends you somewhere without internet you shouldn't be able to play? Not even a single player character that's not importable to online play?
2) No Mods?
GOOD! The auto-teleport + auto loot any epic drop was a huge exploit and really ruined group play in diablo 2. People used so many hacks to exploit farming in that game it left almost no chance for a normal player.
Those aren't mods, those are hacks. Mods are these
So, You can sell items for real money using a safe blizzard interface rather than do it on some website hosted outside the United States that will likely steal your account info and sell your credit card or paypal account to multiple bidders!
People are going to buy/sell game virtual game "stuff" no matter what, so might as well make it easily available to anyone!
Yeah, now they make money off of you selling stuff that they own to someone else and they take part of the money and retain ownership of the item. Would you really be cool if I gave you my car to sell, took part of the profit and then kept ownership of the car to take back if I ever wanted to?
its ok, i give it a week before D3 is hacked/cracked enough to allow you to play it offline (like UBI's DRM was crippled in 24hrs)
as for the mods. while that is really lame and sucks.. some mods do corrupt games and unless its an offical mod..its far to easy for a keylogger or something to be slipped in to a mod installer. so i can see the not allowing mods PER-say...
still most games get more enjoyable with mods. like COH's eastern front mod that added russians.. it makes it more enjoyable.
So, You can sell items for real money using a safe blizzard interface rather than do it on some website hosted outside the United States that will likely steal your account info and sell your credit card or paypal account to multiple bidders!
People are going to buy/sell game virtual game "stuff" no matter what, so might as well make it easily available to anyone!
Yeah, now they make money off of you selling stuff that they own to someone else and they take part of the money and retain ownership of the item. Would you really be cool if I gave you my car to sell, took part of the profit and then kept ownership of the car to take back if I ever wanted to?
You do realize that Blizzard owns the item regardless of if you buy it from another player using their service, or if you buy it from another player using a 3rd party service...right? Comparing this to cars is not exactly a proper metaphor. This is an intellectual property, not an object. Blizzard owns the code and they still own it according to the EULA you accept every time you install one of their products.
the .01% of blizzards potential playerbase for this game that's qq'ing and boycotting because they made decisions on how they want THEIR game to be run, we wont miss you. and i'm positive blizzard wont miss you. if videogames were catered towards the minority we wouldn't have the quality or quantity of amazing games around nowadays.
they're trying NEW ways of combatting things that have plagued the diablo universe for over a decade. GOD FORBID WE TRY NEW THINGS.
What exactly was plaguing the Diablo universe with offline single player and mods?
i have nothing against mods. but offline playable games are plagued with piracy. granted hackers will find a way around this roadblock i'm sure, but i can't say anything bad about blizzard trying to fix a problem.
not to mention this is 2011, and internet is commonplace for a majority of the populated portions of our planet.
the .01% of blizzards potential playerbase for this game that's qq'ing and boycotting because they made decisions on how they want THEIR game to be run, we wont miss you. and i'm positive blizzard wont miss you. if videogames were catered towards the minority we wouldn't have the quality or quantity of amazing games around nowadays.
they're trying NEW ways of combatting things that have plagued the diablo universe for over a decade. GOD FORBID WE TRY NEW THINGS.
Yes, you're right; the majority is always right and catering to them is for the best.
That's why Justin Bieber is the greatest musician of our time, and catering to the likes of Rebecca Black is in the best interest of modern music.
That aside, you haven't actually established that only a minority of people care about any of these issues. Plenty of people likely care, but not enough to post on internet forums about it.
yes, i am right. the majority is always right and is ALWAYS BEST for business. when you create a game catered towards MINORITIES that rakes in 11 million+ subscribers worldwide, you let me know and i will bow and kiss your gold-plated feet.
as for justin bieber and rebecca black. their music sucks (in the minorities opinion). i for one am part of the minority. but for the majority of people that like them(TWEENS), their music is god and in flows the money. i hate them as musicians but can't knock them for making a living catering towards the MAJORITY that is their fanbase.
and yes, i did establish that only the minority cares, because only the minority will be boycotting the game, while the MAJORITY will be online first day, playing the crap out of Diablo 3.
I see talk about Justin Beiber... And "Majority" like him? Says who? What Majority? Honestly, he's HUGE because of the millions of little girls who's parents buy his music for their kids...
Take the % of people who listen to music in the world and I would bet my life the Justin group in that % is pretty tiny. Unfortunately the big money is in selling to tweens... Adults won't buy that garbage for themselves and the ONLY way to sell it anymore is to kids who will cry and whine until their parents give in!
I told my Boss if his daughter ever walks in the front door listening to Justin he's failed as a father! He agrees!
well I am not gonna argue with anyone here, however i do have my own opinion. and that opinion is that Blizzard has lost what it once was. It is no longer a company of gamers making a product they love. it is now a corporation trying their best to make as much money as they possibly can. Their reasoning on each of these issues just doesnt seem solid and true to me. Blizzard truely is a thing of the past in my opinion, it is now only about how they can make money. Sad to see.
As someone already mentioned there are a ton of reasons why a lot of people want Diablo II offline. I stopped playing Diablo II on cattle.net back in jan06. I still play the game today offline hardcore mainly. I don't want to go online hit a lag spike and just waste X amount of hours because of my internet hiccup, there servers screwing up or some other reason.
Now add in the cash shop which I endorse simply because if I do get the game, I can see me selling some stuff as I sold stuff on eBay for D2. But do you really think they will stop the hacks from crippling this game now since a real world money system is in it? Not a chance, infact I'd say this is a reason alone to allow offline play and probably the reason why I won't have two CE of the game like I do of D2.
well I am not gonna argue with anyone here, however i do have my own opinion. and that opinion is that Blizzard has lost what it once was. It is no longer a company of gamers making a product they love. it is now a corporation trying their best to make as much money as they possibly can. Their reasoning on each of these issues just doesnt seem solid and true to me. Blizzard truely is a thing of the past in my opinion, it is now only about how they can make money. Sad to see.
They're setting up a system where they, and their entire playerbase, is able to make money from this game if they should choose to participate in the AH. They're completely building this game around stopping cheating, and removes any need of third party sites - whether for modding, gold/item buying, etc.
In my opinion, this is evolution, whether or not the game itself feels the same once its released.
With all my love for Blizzard they really fucked up this time. Or maybe it's activision influence. I won't be buying D3 if no offline play stays true.
Guess i'll play Torchlight (2) instead, heard it's actually developed by a lot of buys that worked on the original diablo.
Also the ironic part is that pirates will be able to play it offline day 0, the only one Blizzard is screwing is their legit customers.
they didn't fuck up anything. they made a decision on how they want their game to run. they don't want piracy, so they negate the ability to play this game offline. if that keeps a few thousand people from playing the game from antarctica, big ****ing deal.
torchlight will be nothing compared to diablo 3.
and i highly doubt pirates will be able to play this game offline day 0. just because you can download the game doesn't mean you can code it to play offline. blizzard is going to give hackers a run for their money, i'm sure.
and blizzard isn't screwing their "legit" customers, they're catering to them to keep the game as hack/pirate/chinese farmer website free as possible.
they didn't fuck up anything. they made a decision on how they want their game to run. they don't want piracy, so they negate the ability to play this game offline. if that keeps a few thousand people from playing the game from antarctica, big ****ing deal.
torchlight will be nothing compared to diablo 3.
and i highly doubt pirates will be able to play this game offline day 0. just because you can download the game doesn't mean you can code it to play offline. blizzard is going to give hackers a run for their money, i'm sure.
and blizzard isn't screwing their "legit" customers, they're catering to them to keep the game as hack/pirate/chinese farmer website free as possible.
Yeah like it totaly stopped SC2 (which used the same exact b.net system) from being playable offline at day 0 by pirates. Right.
And they are screwing their legit customers that want to play offline. There is absolutely zero valid reason to disallow offline playing of a single player game. Who cares about cheating in single player (as long as those characters can't play the online version, like in D2)?
And if torchlight is nowhere near, so be it, i still won't pay for ActiBlizzard to tell me where and how to play MY copy of the game.
they didn't fuck up anything. they made a decision on how they want their game to run. they don't want piracy, so they negate the ability to play this game offline. if that keeps a few thousand people from playing the game from antarctica, big ****ing deal.
torchlight will be nothing compared to diablo 3.
and i highly doubt pirates will be able to play this game offline day 0. just because you can download the game doesn't mean you can code it to play offline. blizzard is going to give hackers a run for their money, i'm sure.
and blizzard isn't screwing their "legit" customers, they're catering to them to keep the game as hack/pirate/chinese farmer website free as possible.
Yeah like it totaly stopped SC2 (which used the same exact b.net system) from being playable offline at day 0 by pirates. Right.
And they are screwing their legit customers that want to play offline. There is absolutely zero valid reason to disallow offline playing of a single player game. Who cares about cheating in single player (as long as those characters can't play the online version, like in D2)?
And if torchlight is nowhere near, so be it, i still won't pay for ActiBlizzard to tell me where and how to play MY copy of the game.
starcraft 2 required you to be online for authentication purposes only. diablo 3 will require you to be logged in to their servers before you're even able to play the game. unless people are going to sit and code their own version of the diablo client to have a "play offline" button, i doubt much will happen with hackers and pirates playing this game offline.
in diablo 1, you could create an offline mode character, cheat and give it tons of cash, and then play online.
in diablo 2, chinese farm websites plagued the online portion of the game.
in diablo 3, both of these issues wont be a problem. you can't play the game unless you're logged in to their servers and they have created their own, regulated, in game cash auction house, which will also have a seperate auction house to allow you to buy the same in game items for in game gold instead of cash.
they aren't screwing anyone. they're trying new methods of improving their services for, once again, the VAST MAJORITY of their playerbase.
Gold farmers live, breath, eat, and shit farming gold in games. This doesn't solve or help anything. With it being live currency now as being part of the in game economy. Gold farmers will make double the profits. Why sell for in game currency when you can sell hundreds of Stones Of Jordan's for 3 bucks a pop. Know what $3 x 500 farmed SoJ are? You do the math.
When did you start playing "old school" MMO's. World Of Warcraft?
This decision broke it for me. I ain't buying a $60 game without offline play. Seperate the online and offline play, make online a different character system, but no. Acti-TARD just proved to me they can become more ignorant. Thier Diablo 2 was legendary for offline play, and they remove it. If I want a mmorpg, I play it, but now Diablo 3 reminds me of those MOBA games. $60 for MOBA games guys, oh and 10% royalty on selling your in game items that Asia farms for you legally now. You can choose to create your own room, you can invite people or play with randoms, but sadly, they want to close their games to people. Funny thing is, sales in Asia will make up for the few leaving in EU and USA. Closing their doors on mods, and removing offline play won't change much, just now 80% of the population will be able to speak Chinese and Korean.
I struggle not with life, money, emotions, and world, but against old mindsets and selves to be proven obsolete in a age and time of rapid changes. Go create fun, so you can have fun.
Comments
In response to Blizzards explanation for no offline play, which reads:
"One of the things that we felt was really important was that if you did play offline, if we allowed for that experience, you’d start a character, you’d get him all the way to level 20 or level 30 or level 40 or what have you, and then at that point you might decide to want to venture onto Battle.net. But you’d have to start a character from scratch, because there’d be no way for us to guarantee no cheats were involved, if we let you play on the client and then take that character online."
I'd like to quote Shamus Young from http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=12510 on why this is stupid and insulting (and mostly likely an outright lie):
"Their reasoning for the feature makes me more angry that the feature itself. (Or rather, the lack of feature. Whatever we want to call his hole where offline single-player mode should be.) This boils down to, “Sometimes some people make bad choices so we have taken away the ability for anyone to make any choice.” So, because some people wish they could take their single-player character online, nobody is ever allowed to play offline ever again? Apparently you are too stupid to make choices about how you want to play the game. As a bonus: The server will be mediating the game, so single-player Diablo III gamers will be able to experience the fun and excitement of lag death and disconnects."
Even if you believe that online only play is perfectly acceptable, you have to admit that Blizzards explanation is both stupid and insulting. I'd say it's most likely strait up false as well, which means people are being lied to.
Only the pirates eh? What about those of us who spend 6 months a year in the middle east with limited/no internet access yet still would like to play a game?
And on the official forums there were some people talking about things like one guy, a big D2 fan who was looking forward to D3, who's getting a job in Africa where the internet will be... unstable at best, and that he'd like to play while he's there (which will likely be for years) but he's screwed now.
This whole idea that "only poor people and pirates care about offline play" is false, not to mention stupid and insulting.
See you on Battle.net. Blizzard will make a killing off this game so I highly doubt they have anything to worry about....
NVM
None of these 3 issues bother me any, what does bother me is how bad the combat in this game looks, yet i will try it and see for myself , but the videos dont make it look exciting at all.
the .01% of blizzards potential playerbase for this game that's qq'ing and boycotting because they made decisions on how they want THEIR game to be run, we wont miss you. and i'm positive blizzard wont miss you. if videogames were catered towards the minority we wouldn't have the quality or quantity of amazing games around nowadays.
they're trying NEW ways of combatting things that have plagued the diablo universe for over a decade. GOD FORBID WE TRY NEW THINGS.
I just read those... How are they an issue at all for anyone?
1) No Offline play?
If you don't have internetz... You should probalby go get a job so you can afford the internetz before you waste time on any games! I'm sure you can play by yourself if you really wanted to... This sounds no different than Diablo 2, where they had "secure" characters only available only... And yes, people will very likely "hack" the game to be playable offline so just get the hack!
2) No Mods?
GOOD! The auto-teleport + auto loot any epic drop was a huge exploit and really ruined group play in diablo 2. People used so many hacks to exploit farming in that game it left almost no chance for a normal player.
3) Cash Shop from Blizzard
So, You can sell items for real money using a safe blizzard interface rather than do it on some website hosted outside the United States that will likely steal your account info and sell your credit card or paypal account to multiple bidders!
People are going to buy/sell game virtual game "stuff" no matter what, so might as well make it easily available to anyone!
What exactly was plaguing the Diablo universe with offline single player and mods?
Yes, you're right; the majority is always right and catering to them is for the best.
That's why Justin Bieber is the greatest musician of our time, and catering to the likes of Rebecca Black is in the best interest of modern music.
That aside, you haven't actually established that only a minority of people care about any of these issues. Plenty of people likely care, but not enough to post on internet forums about it.
its ok, i give it a week before D3 is hacked/cracked enough to allow you to play it offline (like UBI's DRM was crippled in 24hrs)
as for the mods. while that is really lame and sucks.. some mods do corrupt games and unless its an offical mod..its far to easy for a keylogger or something to be slipped in to a mod installer. so i can see the not allowing mods PER-say...
still most games get more enjoyable with mods. like COH's eastern front mod that added russians.. it makes it more enjoyable.
You do realize that Blizzard owns the item regardless of if you buy it from another player using their service, or if you buy it from another player using a 3rd party service...right? Comparing this to cars is not exactly a proper metaphor. This is an intellectual property, not an object. Blizzard owns the code and they still own it according to the EULA you accept every time you install one of their products.
i have nothing against mods. but offline playable games are plagued with piracy. granted hackers will find a way around this roadblock i'm sure, but i can't say anything bad about blizzard trying to fix a problem.
not to mention this is 2011, and internet is commonplace for a majority of the populated portions of our planet.
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
yes, i am right. the majority is always right and is ALWAYS BEST for business. when you create a game catered towards MINORITIES that rakes in 11 million+ subscribers worldwide, you let me know and i will bow and kiss your gold-plated feet.
as for justin bieber and rebecca black. their music sucks (in the minorities opinion). i for one am part of the minority. but for the majority of people that like them(TWEENS), their music is god and in flows the money. i hate them as musicians but can't knock them for making a living catering towards the MAJORITY that is their fanbase.
and yes, i did establish that only the minority cares, because only the minority will be boycotting the game, while the MAJORITY will be online first day, playing the crap out of Diablo 3.
I see talk about Justin Beiber... And "Majority" like him? Says who? What Majority? Honestly, he's HUGE because of the millions of little girls who's parents buy his music for their kids...
Take the % of people who listen to music in the world and I would bet my life the Justin group in that % is pretty tiny. Unfortunately the big money is in selling to tweens... Adults won't buy that garbage for themselves and the ONLY way to sell it anymore is to kids who will cry and whine until their parents give in!
I told my Boss if his daughter ever walks in the front door listening to Justin he's failed as a father! He agrees!
well I am not gonna argue with anyone here, however i do have my own opinion. and that opinion is that Blizzard has lost what it once was. It is no longer a company of gamers making a product they love. it is now a corporation trying their best to make as much money as they possibly can. Their reasoning on each of these issues just doesnt seem solid and true to me. Blizzard truely is a thing of the past in my opinion, it is now only about how they can make money. Sad to see.
As someone already mentioned there are a ton of reasons why a lot of people want Diablo II offline. I stopped playing Diablo II on cattle.net back in jan06. I still play the game today offline hardcore mainly. I don't want to go online hit a lag spike and just waste X amount of hours because of my internet hiccup, there servers screwing up or some other reason.
Now add in the cash shop which I endorse simply because if I do get the game, I can see me selling some stuff as I sold stuff on eBay for D2. But do you really think they will stop the hacks from crippling this game now since a real world money system is in it? Not a chance, infact I'd say this is a reason alone to allow offline play and probably the reason why I won't have two CE of the game like I do of D2.
They're setting up a system where they, and their entire playerbase, is able to make money from this game if they should choose to participate in the AH. They're completely building this game around stopping cheating, and removes any need of third party sites - whether for modding, gold/item buying, etc.
In my opinion, this is evolution, whether or not the game itself feels the same once its released.
With all my love for Blizzard they really fucked up this time. Or maybe it's activision influence. I won't be buying D3 if no offline play stays true.
Guess i'll play Torchlight (2) instead, heard it's actually developed by a lot of buys that worked on the original diablo.
Also the ironic part is that pirates will be able to play it offline day 0, the only one Blizzard is screwing is their legit customers.
they didn't fuck up anything. they made a decision on how they want their game to run. they don't want piracy, so they negate the ability to play this game offline. if that keeps a few thousand people from playing the game from antarctica, big ****ing deal.
torchlight will be nothing compared to diablo 3.
and i highly doubt pirates will be able to play this game offline day 0. just because you can download the game doesn't mean you can code it to play offline. blizzard is going to give hackers a run for their money, i'm sure.
and blizzard isn't screwing their "legit" customers, they're catering to them to keep the game as hack/pirate/chinese farmer website free as possible.
Oh no. If there are no offline play and no mods , blizzard just want to ruin DIablo 3 ?
Im waiting for Tochilight 2 now.
Yeah like it totaly stopped SC2 (which used the same exact b.net system) from being playable offline at day 0 by pirates. Right.
And they are screwing their legit customers that want to play offline. There is absolutely zero valid reason to disallow offline playing of a single player game. Who cares about cheating in single player (as long as those characters can't play the online version, like in D2)?
And if torchlight is nowhere near, so be it, i still won't pay for ActiBlizzard to tell me where and how to play MY copy of the game.
starcraft 2 required you to be online for authentication purposes only. diablo 3 will require you to be logged in to their servers before you're even able to play the game. unless people are going to sit and code their own version of the diablo client to have a "play offline" button, i doubt much will happen with hackers and pirates playing this game offline.
in diablo 1, you could create an offline mode character, cheat and give it tons of cash, and then play online.
in diablo 2, chinese farm websites plagued the online portion of the game.
in diablo 3, both of these issues wont be a problem. you can't play the game unless you're logged in to their servers and they have created their own, regulated, in game cash auction house, which will also have a seperate auction house to allow you to buy the same in game items for in game gold instead of cash.
they aren't screwing anyone. they're trying new methods of improving their services for, once again, the VAST MAJORITY of their playerbase.
Gold farmers live, breath, eat, and shit farming gold in games. This doesn't solve or help anything. With it being live currency now as being part of the in game economy. Gold farmers will make double the profits. Why sell for in game currency when you can sell hundreds of Stones Of Jordan's for 3 bucks a pop. Know what $3 x 500 farmed SoJ are? You do the math.
When did you start playing "old school" MMO's. World Of Warcraft?
This decision broke it for me. I ain't buying a $60 game without offline play. Seperate the online and offline play, make online a different character system, but no. Acti-TARD just proved to me they can become more ignorant. Thier Diablo 2 was legendary for offline play, and they remove it. If I want a mmorpg, I play it, but now Diablo 3 reminds me of those MOBA games. $60 for MOBA games guys, oh and 10% royalty on selling your in game items that Asia farms for you legally now. You can choose to create your own room, you can invite people or play with randoms, but sadly, they want to close their games to people. Funny thing is, sales in Asia will make up for the few leaving in EU and USA. Closing their doors on mods, and removing offline play won't change much, just now 80% of the population will be able to speak Chinese and Korean.
I struggle not with life, money, emotions, and world, but against old mindsets and selves to be proven obsolete in a age and time of rapid changes. Go create fun, so you can have fun.