Krug
Newshound
Blizzard: Diablo III Hits Early 2012
Hmm hoped it would hit by Christmas but guess will have to wait..
Hmm hoped it would hit by Christmas but guess will have to wait..
Diablo III hits early 2012
StreamOfTheSky
Adventurer
"Auction houses" where Blizz takes a massive cut on people legitimately buying gear.
No offline play.
The whole RealID thing.
Yeah, screw you, Blizzard. Not interested.
No offline play.
The whole RealID thing.
Yeah, screw you, Blizzard. Not interested.
Liked the first two, but not enough to pick up a new video card for the desktop I barely use (and currently have set up as a test server) or a new desktop entirely; if Blizzard's talk about a console version isn't all talk, then I'll probably pick it up for the 360, but otherwise I'll probably be skipping DIII.
LightPhoenix
First Post
Anyone who has been seriously following D3 knew it wouldn't hit stores before 2012. They're still talking too high level for the game to be nailed down - changes to runestones, revamping the Demon Hunter resource, etc. These are the kind of things that wouldn't be talked about if the game were to be released in three months.
On the system reqs side, I think it's a bit early to rule out playing based on that. Optimization is usually one of the last things done before the game goes gold, and I don't see Blizzard, who is known for liberal requirements, deliberately cutting some people off based on it.
On the system reqs side, I think it's a bit early to rule out playing based on that. Optimization is usually one of the last things done before the game goes gold, and I don't see Blizzard, who is known for liberal requirements, deliberately cutting some people off based on it.
Which is true... but my primary PC is a laptop with an "okay, it's better than integrated graphics" video card (which is to say that while everything else is pretty good for a pre-Sandy Bridge business laptop, it's a business laptop). The desktop I've got was a $500 C2D box I bought a few years ago when my old laptop was acting up and I didn't wan to spend enough for a new laptop with similar specs to the old laptop that was acting up because it wouldn't have been much better than what I had (except for the whole not working thing). And it needs a low-profile graphics card. So PC games are pretty much right out for me.
Define massive cut? Has Blizzard even stated what kind of cut to expect? In WoW the AH's take 5% of the sale price. I would imagine something similar in the D3 AHs and that will really add up w/the real money AH.
RealIDs never happened. They were going to, people bitched, they backed down. The no offline play is fact, but that's destroying threads of actual Diablo 3 discussion to the point that the people who don't really care about the online only can't actually read what they want. Witness any Diablo 3 thread at Arstechnica heh
Impeesa
Explorer
a) I'd be interested to know where you heard it would be a massive cut. I got the impression the cash auction house would have a fairly small cut/deposit to discourage spamming auctions and cover the extra costs associated with running a real money service, and in return, it would drive down prices and shut out scammers for those who'd be buying gear either way, and give other players a chance to make some cash off the game. Personally, I'm excited about it, even though I was never a big D2 player.
b) Like every other Blizzard game since 2002*. People who regularly engage in PC gaming yet regularly have no internet access are an increasingly small corner case, and probably just aren't worth the time for them to adapt all their features for.
c) Though I guess if you don't regard one of the online features as a feature, I could see your complaint. They never went through with the forum thing, so nobody ever has to see it if you aren't mutual friends, and I kind of like not having to repopulate my friends list on each new WoW alt, let alone across games.
*I think they added an offline 'guest' mode to Starcraft 2, but I don't think it was in at release, and I believe you still need access to the internet once only to validate the install.
Croesus
Adventurer
What I've read to date suggests that D3 will be online only (meaning a player has to be online the entire time, not that they cannot play a game with only their own character), no exceptions - at least, no legal exceptions.
While Blizzard spokespersons have given a number of reasons why this is a "feature, not a bug" (to quote old MS-speak), they appear to have two specific reasons for doing this: 1) to limit the potential for cheating in the marketplace, and 2) to limit piracy of the game.
I applaud any reasonable efforts they make in keeping the marketplace fair, but I can't help but see their efforts to combat piracy as another case of causing honest customers hassles, while having limited impact on actual piracy. Time will tell, but I expect someone will crack their protection fairly soon after release, and at least some of their patches will be designed to crack the crackers, who will crack that...ad nauseum. And since I don't use game cracks, if I buy the game, I'll just be caught in the middle, when all I'd want is to enjoy the game.
Given this feature, I'll hold off on purchasing it until I see how things fall out. I expect Blizzard will stick to their guns and that, therefore, I'll never purchase the game. A pity, as I'm a huge fan of the first two games.
