First off, I’m not one of those people who shout “BOYCOTT” out of spite or anything. The simple matter is that while I used to be very excited about Diablo III, that excitement has turned to disappointment and in all likelihood I won’t be playing this game. While many people may be purchasing Diablo III for an excellent multiplayer experience, I usually prefer to play these types of games for the solo experience. It seems that each new announcement about the game from Blizzard just spoils the excitement further. While one of these things wouldn’t cause me to skip the game, their combined effects set a depressing cloud over the game for me.
No UI Modifications
Not only are they not supported, they are explicitly prohibited! This is a terrible decision. As a mod developer, I love to create mods for games, improving the user interface for both myself and others. Mods allow games to endure and create new experiences, and allow a wider variety of players to enjoy the game. I understand it may be difficult to limit modifications to prevent cheating, but I think wow does a fantastic job at it.
Online Only Play
I’m against this type of move. While sure it may help Blizzard avoid piracy, it also puts creates an unnecessary inconvenience for their customers. You cannot play the game on a laptop. Our troops who often times have unreliable or limited access to the internet cannot play this game. The game has a maximum lifetime; it will only be playable as long as Blizzard seems fit to run the servers. Time has proven again and again that players like to go back and play old games. I still play Diablo II from time to time. I just bought FFVI for PSN. The final straw is, because Blizzard refuses to enable a privacy/offline mode for Real ID, I’ll be forced to deal with people anytime I play. The appeal of Hack-n-slash games for me is the ability to shut off my brain and slay millions of monsters. It’s a perfect escape from reality!
Purchasable Items.
I have never seen the appeal of this in a game. If you can just buy the best of everything, what is the point of even playing the game? The point of a game is to face a challenge and use your skills to overcome that challenge. It’s very satisfying! Being able to purchase items is very tempting, and once done ruins the game in a lot of ways. Sure you may be able to kill everyone super easily, but is it really as satisfying to kill them with over-powered equipment as opposed to spreading their blood across the battlefield with your skill? While mostly I can just avoid not purchasing items myself, it creates another problem. Players that play straight and achieve prowess through hard work and skill alone don't receive any recognition. People will begin to just simply assume that anyone who is good just bought their stuff online. So having this feature available to other players affects everyone.
Eyefinity / Surround Support.
Again, not only is the game not support these features, they explicitly ban the usage. Most games that I play with my eyefinity setup don’t provide much advantage or even usefulness in the extra monitors. Instead having the peripheral vision creates a sense of immersion that simply makes games more fun! For example, I play Civ 5, Anno 2070, Might and Magic VI, WoW. The benefit in those games is near 0, and in fact you usually have to work a bit harder to handle the UI. But the immersion is fantastic. It makes you feel like you’re really in the game! PC Gaming is about embracing new technologies that pushing the field. Deciding to explicitly ban this feature is just silly.Anyways, I’m not saying Diablo III will be a bad game. For many people it will still be awesome, but for me it lost most of its appeal. I’ll probably be playing Torchlight 2 which offers a great hack-n-slash experience without any of negatives that come along with Diablo III.
Comments
(appearing newest to oldest)Not intending to be a jerk...but absolutely none of the issues you raise will effect me at all in playing the game and my enjoyment level.
And just to add...I'm pretty sure I read that you can "create" a closed game, so basically your own private SP experience if that's what you want, it's the way I intend to mostly play ;)
Hopefully you'll wind up enjoying the game more than you expect!
Regards
I agree with you on your first and third points.
Not allowing mods is definitely going to kill it for quite a few people in today's gaming world. You're stuck with whatever Actiblizz decides to give you, and while that may turn out to be quite a bit, it'll never be enough of what you actually want to see. It also limits the amount of people working to improve the game. Without modders, the only people working to improve and add to the game is the team they assign to it. Sure, they could assign quite a number of people, but a team of hired people is nothing compared to the thousands of people who mod games at home, because they just love it that much.
I've never liked purchasable items. Granted, things do eventually even out, because the people who simply buy their way to the top usually never stay for long, but that's also a downfall, because the quicker people get tired of a game, the quicker it dies out. Also, like you said, many will assume that top players simply bought their way to the top, so being recognized because of your skill will be difficult. Not saying it's impossible, but the store definitely won't help.
-Although, don't the 'awesome' items still have to be found anyways? So at least SOMEONE has to do the work to get the item, and will probably sell it for a ridiculously high price, which will probably keep people from buying their way to the top, or at least slow them down a lot. IDK.
I half agree on your second point.
While I agree that FORCING you to play online is stupid, 1) laptops are perfectly capable of a good connection, and 2) you CAN play solo. Still, yeah, forcing the player to be connected to the internet in order to play the game is stupid, and they're only doing it because they want you to be able to access their shop. Nevermind the whole 'it's to prevent this/that/the-other-thing' arguments, they want you to be able to see and use their shop. That's where the money is, and they want to make sure you are at least tempted to use it.
Can't agree or disagree on your last point. Never used any of that =/
I've never personally been a fan of the Diablo series. I played 2 co-op with a friend all the way up to lvl 70 something kill Baal in hell mode, but never felt the urge to play solo or ever again.
Even that said, I will say this: All that Blizzard is doing with online only and disabling mod support is issuing a challenge to the pirate community. The game will be cracked, there will be pirate servers (ICCUP for example), and there will be a community dedicated to working around these issues. It's been proven time and time again.
I'm not buying it for any of those reasons, though, I'm buying it because it looks like a terrible game. It's an outdated concept with little to no improvement and completely repetitive gameplay style that rewards luck and grinding over any sort of actual skill. They've already said they're never going to attempt to balance PvP so anyone thinking it'll be an e-sport is a fool. Just don't bother with it.
First sentence of the last paragraph should have a "not" in it, it doesn't make any sense otherwise <_<
What he meant by "laptops" is those used by our troops in uniform, as in those far, far away from broadband internet connections. I wholeheartedly agree, actually. I miss my MMO fix whenever I'm sent away. While I sorta-kinda enjoyed D2, I clearly won't be playing Diable 3 anywhere away from home, if I should purchase it.
I can understand how the points you raise can be viewed as detractions, at least at a gut level.
However I am a little confused on some of your points. You raise concerns over how you're not allowed to play solo, when in point of fact I do believe the game's central experience is designed as a Single Player game. If your concern is solely in regards to being annoyed by other players contacting you via Real ID, then I have to wonder why you're even bothering to grant Real ID access to other players.
Additionally, if what you're looking for is primarily a single player experience, then why are you concerned with the recognition you receive for accomplishing difficult tasks without resorting to buying gear with real money? You specifically state: "Players that play straight and achieve prowess through hard work and skill alone don't receive any recognition" Except you previously indicated that you: "usually prefer to play these types of games for the solo experience." If that holds true, then why are you allowing yourself to be put off by the playing habits of individuals that won't be a part of your own game experience?
While I am disappointed with the lack of UI Modifications, I am also attempting to keep this in perspective. By and large, the majority of the video (computer and console) games that I play I never bother to modify with third party mods. To me, just because Blizzard isn't supporting it (at this time) doesn't mean to me that a standard feature is "lacking". To me it more accurately means that a non-standard benefit that some games have hasn't been included for this one. If I only allow myself to play the games with the most bells and whistles versus choosing games with the most solid core gameplay, then I'd be more disappointed.
As for the always on DRM, that is indeed annoying, especially in regards to folks whom might not have internet access. However, there was not just a little, but a LOT of rampant abuse and corruption in the Diablo 2 black market scene. At least half of my friends have been victims of cyber crimes which was (and frankly still is) highly prevalent, and if sacrificing my offline option to play this game helps prevent that from occurring in Diablo III, then it's a sacrifice I'm more than willing to make.
I might get it to play with friends, but only if I can get it for what I think it's worth, i.e. under $40.
I'm getting Diablo 3 through the Annual Pass mostly because a bunch of friends will certainly get it, and where I live a whole year of WoW paid upfront is roughly $88 (so, even if I thought WoW worth just a $5 per month sub, I would be effectively pre-ordering D3 for less than $30).
If not for that offer, your points #1 and #2 (online only play, no mods allowed) would have killed the game for me.
The Diablo-like game I'm really looking forward to is Torchlight 2, though. I love the original, the new game seems to be coming along quite nicely, and it's being designed from the ground up to be mod friendly.
Yeah, I'm really excited about Tourchlight 2.
I wish I could spell.
I would only suggest to check game: Path of Exile - it what D3 should be..
I agree with you. I love diablo 2, but diablo 3 is a sick idea for me, and I will never buy it.
Post new comment