While I don't condone DDoS attacks, the only reason for D4 to be online-only is monetization IMO: Blizzard wants to sell cosmetics, so people have to see other people wearing them. There is little gameplay benefit from being an MMO-lite.
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
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Probably all sorts of datamining regarding the way people play also. Can't do that so easily if people are playing offline.
Brilliant insight. They probably are tracking metrics on what will encourage people to buy stuff the most too
Activision owns patents on the following:
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A system that tracks what store items you might be interested in, and places you in matches with high-skilled players who own that item, making you associate the item with high skill
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A system that places you against lower-skilled opponents immediately after you bought an item, making you associate making a purchase with being better.
From here to "they want you to look at other players and how expensive their shit is" is only one step. Honestly at this point I'm even surprised they're not faking it entirely, making other players just happen to be wearing expensive skins on your screen even if the actual account hasn't bought that. It's not like you can check anyway.
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I experienced this first hand playing wow. The team will straight up send out email surveys asking if players would be willing to pay x for y service with different people getting different prices. They calculate these things to extract as much money from the dedicated fans as possible. I went back to playing the private servers.
Potentially unpopular opinion, I like running into random other players in the world, particularly when doing events. I don't give a fuck about Blizzard's cosmetics and, frankly, unless I'm examining people, I can't even tell what they're wearing half the time.
And you should have the option to do so.
But that doesn't mean other people shouldn't have the option to play offline if they so choose.
I came to the same conclusion as you: why would people buy their stuff if they could just run an unlocker script or edit a config file to give that stuff to them? It's basically malicious DRM
All DRM is malicious, and DRM is why not to buy. Plenty of other games that you can buy and also own.
This one is hard for me to have an opinion on.
Loot rolls need to be controlled by the server, or else people will just exploit all that stuff.
Diablo doesn't have a lot of mechanics that really need players to interact with each other, but games like that and WOW are entirely based around gear grind. All accomplishment requires players to have a level playing field or players just won't want to play. It's just wierd like that.
If people want an offline game, they should buy an offline game. It's not that smart to buy an always-online game and then complain about it.
That was probably the intention of the DDoS attack. Screw always-online singleplayer games.
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Forced online is literally the only reason my husband and I didn't buy this game. We can't be the only ones and they're definitely missing out on a good chunk of money
Online requirement for single player content is insane.
It’s a dealbreaker for me, personally. I just won’t buy a game like that, no matter how much I want to play it.
Yup. Unless it's a multiplayer-only game, there's no reason to require an always-on Internet connection except to data mine you.
I actually bought Diablo 4 during the downtime, and refunded it the next day when their support page was back up.
I find their claim of DDoS a bit dubious, and it's not like there aren't playbooks against DDoS. A 12 hour outage is insane either way.
Even if it was a DDoS, they're the ones that decided to make the game vulnerable to such attacks in the first place. Even if they had valid reasons (which I find suspect), actions have consequences.
That's why I don't buy a bilzzard game until like 6-12 months after. its cheaper and actually finished. D3 launch was a fuckfest too.
People are still buying games from Blizzard? It's like everybody forgot what a terrible company it is.
This sadly works for people these days.
Doesn't matter. You can rape children and murder an entire bus of puppies. If you're releasing a new version of everyone's favorite thing, you're immediately forgiven.
That's the society we live in. "my entertainment and desires above all else!"
Look, it's a shitty version of a game I loved 20 years ago. Rape all the kids you want, just please let me have diablo 4!!!
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Forced online is literally the only reason my husband and I didn't buy this game. We can't be the only ones and they're definitely missing out on a good chunk of money
If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend Grim Dawn.
I'm not exactly a fan of forced online games, but I decided a long time ago that any game that I couldn't download the server for wasn't worth 10¢ let alone how ever much they charge for it
This has never been a problem for Path Of Exile, but that is free to play.
I quit everything Blizzard after Starcraft 2, that game had so much down time, and although it did have an offline option, you couldn't get new technologies as rewards in the campaign, when servers were down. Making it kind of redundant to have the offline mode IMO.
You can call it a boycott, but a company gone bad, rarely turns back to good again.
Fool me once and all that.
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I would not be surprised if they tried to make this a subscription offer.
I don't buy games that don't have an offline mode.
Only reason I haven't bought the game yet. If I can pirate the game and get a better offline experience, they're doing something wrong.
Path of Exile is online only as well. Diablo 3 however many years ago was online only too. This genre has been this way for a LONG time now. I understand people would like an offline mode but that fight should have happened 12 years ago if they really cared.
That figtht happened 12 years, we lost..
I disagree, the genre has not been this way for a long time. You named two games and one was Blizzards test for online only. Should I counter those examples with Grim Dawn, Torchlight 2, Diablo 2 Resurrected, Van Helsing, and Titan Quest?
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but if they did that, how would they try and tempt you into buying Mtx by showing other whales with all the cash shop gear?
They spent money patenting for this shit after all.
Between always online games, and Starfield confirmed not having a physical disc release, I am weary for the future of gaming.
Don't worry.
At the end of the day, a good piece of art will always be the one thing that stays in people's minds.
Sure, "triple A" gaming might crash and burn if it's built on endless growth and monetization, but indie games will always be there.
We saw this coming when, what was it...Xbone was announced as Always Online only to get scrapped later due to backlash? They've just been waiting and slow-rolling it into everything.
Easier to pull metrics and your data if you're always online. Easier to force other players into your games so they can show off MTX and battlepass items if you're always online.
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Simple solution, wait for someone to crack the game if it's not already and bam. Offline mode for your single player game
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