Diablo III Digital Copies Get a Waiting Period and Korea Players Get a Refund
Posted Thu, Jun 21, 2012 by Martuk
Last month Blizzard found itself in the crosshairs of the South Korean Fair Trade Commission, who raided the developer’s office in Seoul following allegations that it had violated the country’s laws on electronic commerce and commercial contracts following huge connection problems with Diablo III, more specifically relating to Error 37 and extended server downtime. But according to a post on the Diablo III Korea website that was translated by The Wall Street Journal, Blizzard is now offering a full refund to affected players in South Korea.
According to the report, players under level 40 can apply for a refund between June 25th and July 3rd. Blizzard will also accept refunds from players under level 20 within the first 14 days of the purchase.
In addition, game news site Joystiq also picked up on a little controversial waiting period added to Diablo III's digital editions with update 1.0.3, which restricts players that purchase the digital copy to Starter Edition access for, at maximum, 72 hours in an effort to combat fraudulent purchases and activity.
As of patch 1.0.3, when purchasing a digital version of Diablo III through the online store or your Battle.net Account, players are restricted to the Starter Edition for the first 72 hours (sometimes less). Players on Starter Editions have the following restrictions:
- Act I up to the Skeleton King is available
- Level 13 cap
- Matchmaking available only with other Starter Edition players
- No Auction House access (Real Money or Gold)
- Global Play is not available. Players attempting to connect to Diablo III Starter Edition in a region other than their Battle.net Account's home region will receive Error 12. See the Global Play support article for more information.
Needless to say, new customers are not too happy about that, especially given that some of them are claiming to be using the same credit card to purchase Diablo III that they use to subscribe to World of Warcraft. Maybe Blizzard can phone up Steam, GoG.com, or virtually any other digital game distributor to find out a way to help shave down that waiting period. So if you guys want to play all of Diablo III right away, you may want to head out and grab a retail copy to avoid a possible 3-day wait in Starter Edition Purgatory.
via CVG, Joystiq
Sources: Diablo III Forums, The Wall Street Journal
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Genre: Fantasy
Status: Published
Release Date: May 15th, 2012
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Is it possible for Blizzard to digress beyond this? Man the soil they are a smearing is a great one. Done with you Blizzard and thanks for ruining my favorite franchise of all time.
Very simple why they are doing this, every time you log on you get bombarded by thousands of gold spam message, guess farmers are buying digital accounts and spamming the hell out of chat. Sucks having to wait, but sucks more being unable to use the general chat at all because its full of spam.
Your actually endorsing this seriously? YOU are the problem of today's game rage.
Actually I believe its more people like you that are ruining games today. People who have no patience, and need instant gratification. Same people who created the gold farmers and the hackers, "Earn my own gold? NO! I want it right now, take my money and shut up!" If you need to play that quickly, man up and go buy a physical version from the store.
You know nothing about me. Perhaps you should spend more time in the forums here. This isn't about patience it's about getting what you paid for plain and simple. I created gold hackers did I? What pipe dream are you living in again? I don't support gold hackers and never have. I don't buy shit from cash shops either. I suppose your all for the RMAH that was created solely to line Blizzard's pockets. I am sure the 20 pages of a legendary monk belt listed on the AH was legit too? Everybody I knew farming Inferno never got one of those drops.
Yet, we have to have constant connection for our own safety? Blizzard has really blown smoke up your arse and you seem to be enjoying. Regardless of initial sales, there are a ton of players who are fed up and done. This last piece was the straw that broke the camel's back. In a world that is moving far away from box sales to more lucrative and cost effective digital sales then yea its absolute BS.
Pull this crap on STEAM and see what the community would do. Man up, pffft, how about you wise up?
So you are whining about Blizzard doing exactly what they said they would do. Before release they said you would need an internet connection and to be connected to play, says the same on the box, says the same in the EULA when you first start it.... did you really think they were going to do differently? "Omg they said they would do it... and they did! How dare they!?!" It's very very simple, if you don't like it, don't buy it. If you read all they said and bought it anyway then had the balls to complaining about them doing what they said, I have no pity for you.
For that reason I chose not to buy. But that's me I spend half my life at Sea and cant play games that require constant internet. People are upset. They said they would do it so I guess that means we have to like it and shut up? How dare the consumer have feedback. The moment gamers or any consumer stops voicing there likes and dislikes then its over. Hey company ________, just shell out any ole shit, as long as you say you will, its cool we will just eat it over here in our Fanboy corner.
Out of everything I posted you glued your eyes to that one comment that was just added for yet another excuse why so many others are complaining. I knew what I was getting into in this regard,however, what they preached and sold to me is not close to what I or so many others perceived to receive. Last comment however as a troll is a troll premium member or not. If you spent anytime with the rest of us in the forums you would never say this crap to me because you would know exactly where I am coming from.
"The reason why they have a guarrantee on the box is because they know all they sold you is a guarranteed piece of shit. Hell, I can take a crap in a box and slap a guarrantee on it for you, if that's what you want. But then all you have is a guaranteed piece of shit!" Tommy Boy
Never bought it and if I spent time in the forums I would know where you are coming from eh?
"Submitted by OneEyeRed on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 10:42.
Having a blast back in the Diablo universe. As a devote fan and by far my most favorite ip ever from Diablo on through, I am thoroughly enjoying D3. The beta did not do the game justice and now on Act 4 normal (been very busy with RL) I like it more than D2; imagine that!"
Hmmm, strange. Oh and I said in my very first post that how they handled it sucked, but the spam sucks more, you decided that I said something about loving it, learn to read.
....
Why cant i play a single player rpg without all this nonsense Blizztard?
Gee, another article about how bad Diablo 3 is doing.
I find it especially ironic since ten ton hammer gave the game a near flawless review. It can be seen on metacritic.
Average "professional" critic review score - 9.9
Average player review score - 3.9
Wouldn't I have had to have written that review for it to be ironic? =p
all pride and prejudices aside. I love the passion some of us have.