Blizzard: Diablo 3 Internet Requirement Prevents Hacking

[Guest]

There seems to be plenty of hacking in World of Warcraft, the online connection didn't stop it there!

 

[wildkitten]

[citation][nom]otacon72[/nom]The only people this is going to hurt are the people who pirate the game. The dial-up excuse is weak since such few people are suck on it. If you have an unreliable connection then call your provider and have them fix it. Bunch of whiners in here.[/citation]
How is this going to stop pirates? World of Warcraft has pirated private servers. I have little doubt that within a week of release hackers will have server software up allowing people to run the game offline on their home computers.

Honestly, if pirating hasn't been stopped yet, what makes you so confident this will?

 

[darasen]

So if I want to play good old hack n' slash Diablo the game isn't for me? Thanks for that information. Sorry, I do not want to play another MMO.

I hacked my Diablo 2 characters to amend the annoying, no fun of having to walk everywhere after running for 30 seconds. If I want to alter my characters and cheat on my game on my P.C. I will.

This guy from Blizzard comes across as an elitist a-hole as well. God forbid someone have the audacity to live in a rural area that doesn't have high speed internet connections. "Essentially everyone" must mean essentially everyone close enough to a population center.

 

[Guest]

This strategy did not seem to cause much negative impact on Starcraft 2's sales. So I would expect the same for Diablo 3. It doesn't matter to me I didn't buy Starcraft 2 nor will I buy Diablo 3. I do take issue with this. I've played the original Starcraft, diablo and Diablo 2 off and on for many years. Let's see how many who bought Starcraft 2 and will buy Diablo 3 say the same for these games when their servers are shut down.

 

[bison88]

Will pirate and upload to other trackers.

 

[Travis Beane]

Once upon a time, in a land far far away (couple years and a dozen or so city blocks) I would lose my net connection for a week at a time, and when it did work, for years I would disconnect every couple hours. This made online only games difficult.

 

[Guest]

This is 2011 folks, having an internet connection to your computer is like having electricity to your home. In other words, you don't have one without the other.

I recommend you YouTube "Get Over It - Eagles."

 

[zinabas]

I live in the middle of nowhere in a town of 200 people. I can get reliable (down for 1 hour 1 day a month for maintenance) 12Mb DSL. If you don't have a good internet connection where you live, complain to someone who cares or can do something. The game devs don't care if you weren't going to play anyways. My problem is what happens when the servers get overloaded like they are right now all the time. I've been playing D2 recently to have fun til D3 came out and the battle.net server are having horrible load balancing issues it seems. I can only imagine this is because of D3 being beta tested and that its only going to get worse when the game actually comes out.

 

[Guest]

It's sad to see how Blizzard games move further and further away from atmosphere and genuine fun( journey being more important than the destination and all that ), and instead focus on addicting players with loot-drops. This online-drm -scheme with RMT just enforces this.

P.S. Sure the D3 gameplay seems fun for a while, but with the limited customization and respecs( well, rune-respecs, what else is there? ), it will quickly become all about the loot-addiction. Although Inferno-mode might be nice.

P.P.S. Really wish I'd get in the beta, just to test things out. Nowadays I don't buy games I can't test beforehand ( demos or pirated ).

 

[jdt77]

[citation][nom]keeno83[/nom]I really dont see a problem with an only online mode.If someone has a pc capable of playing d3, why wouldnt they have an internet connection. Understandable if the server go's down, the power go's out.. or like a couple years ago the link between Australia and the rest of the world went.. but how often does that or would that really happen. Maybe if I was a hardcore gamer like these people who spend 2/3 of their day paying wow etc.. I would be pissed.. but for the majority.. I dont see what people are complaining about.[/citation]

Yup. It really is great to live in the first world. If you live in a crappy country like South Africa, where bandwidth's costing me $10 per Gb, an it still has a ping that makes online gaming impossible, then this type of news is truly saddening. For those of you that can play D3, enjoy it. The rest of us will have to find something else to play...

 

[renz496]

[citation][nom]JimSchoo[/nom]This strategy did not seem to cause much negative impact on Starcraft 2's sales. So I would expect the same for Diablo 3. It doesn't matter to me I didn't buy Starcraft 2 nor will I buy Diablo 3. I do take issue with this. I've played the original Starcraft, diablo and Diablo 2 off and on for many years. Let's see how many who bought Starcraft 2 and will buy Diablo 3 say the same for these games when their servers are shut down.[/citation]

don't worry. later on they will start charging monthly fees if you want to play the game. the excuse is they need the money to maintain and prevent the servers from shutting down downs even after several years after the game was out. but even with that they eventually have to shut down the servers so they can make way for any new games that coming out :lol:

 

[wildkitten]

[citation][nom]gnookergi[/nom]This is 2011 folks, having an internet connection to your computer is like having electricity to your home. In other words, you don't have one without the other. I recommend you YouTube "Get Over It - Eagles."[/citation]
And none of you who keep saying the line "If you have bad internet tough" line still do not adress the issues of the fact that...

One - Players of the single player game will be competing with everyone else for drops because the server handles the game even for single players. Do not think for a moment that Blizzard will allow massive drop rates of good items because even drops in single player games will be able to be sold on the AH and Blizzard knows that a lot of an item means lowering of cost thus reducing their cut.

Two - Has everyone already forgotten when Sony's Playstation Network was hacked? Players of games that required a connection could not play those games for nearly 2 months. Is this something those whose primary interest in the single player mode (and yes, there are more of us than you want to admit) will want to put up with when there is no real need.

Three - Battle.net is currently very laggy for those who play the multiplayer for Starcraft 2. I have friends who play it, they have excellent internet connections, but this is an issue a lot of those players face. Do you think having EVERY player of D3 having to be on those servers will improve the situation?

 

[michalmierzwa]

What a shame with Diablo 3 single player experience. What is the world coming up to taking fin out of games and replacing it with "JOB LIKE" feeling. Let me explain, instead of playing you will be working online to get D3 items, and more online time you put in the better. Kinda works like ZINGA attitude, doesn't it?

 

[renz496]

[citation][nom]michalmierzwa[/nom]What a shame with Diablo 3 single player experience. What is the world coming up to taking fin out of games and replacing it with "JOB LIKE" feeling. Let me explain, instead of playing you will be working online to get D3 items, and more online time you put in the better. Kinda works like ZINGA attitude, doesn't it?[/citation]

i think from now on we should consider Diablo 3 as MMO. i believe most Diablo fans wants both great experience in single player and multiplayer mode in this game.

 

[crus_russ]

[citation][nom]wildkitten[/nom]In the few articles Tom's has had on the Diablo 3 requiring an online mode even for single player, I see a lot of people bringing up the duping issue. I want to ask an honest question of those that keep bringing it up and hope those who keep saying it will explain their reasoning to me because I really do want to understand.My question is, if Diablo 3 had a normal single player game mode, what difference would it make if people duped items?[/citation]


I am so glad Blizzard finally answered this because this is what I have been saying all along. I work in IT security so I know something on this topic unlike the plethora of whingers seemingly without internet on this forum.

To allow the game to work as a single player game, the character content needs to be stored on the user's computer in files. These files can be opened/inspected by hackers and the "internal architecture" of the game (item codes, memory addresses etc.) can be understood. This information is a HUGE benefit to hackers because now all they need to do is work out a way of injecting this information into the live-online game and getting it saved into your online character - ala duping.

With online-only, the ability for hackers to understand the internal game architecture is extremely limited and so it will take a lot longer and be a lot harder for the game to be hacked.

Secondly, Blizzard see the "i dont have internet" group of people as a tiny minority who they don't care about - the cost of implementing them a single player mode that didnt compromise the online-mode's security outweighs the sales they would get from said minority.

The irony of the whole thing is that this forum is one of the few places on the internet where these people congregate and flame Blizzard. Frankly they can go play Torchlight on their Intel Celeron's and 15in CRTs.

 

[dillonpeterliam]

Stop complaining! It obviously worked with Starcraft.

 

[HappyBB]

"Diablo 3 was designed from the ground up to be an online, multiplayer game."

I was expecting to play Diablo 3 when it comes out. However, after reading this article and knowing the game's true nature, I am going to pass. It's my opinion that online games of this nature are too time-consuming! I would really enjoy a simple and decent RPG that is not as complicated as Diablo 3. I'll spend my time on other games instead.

 

[crus_russ]

And secondly while I am on this topic - a true Diablo fan would not carry on like such a baby. A true Diablo fan would sell their cat or dog to upgrade their internet connection, or move house/area.

The people on this forum saying, "well that blows it for me, cya Blizzard I won't be buying" are no better than Zygna iFarm gamers who think of Diablo 3 as "another title".

For those of us whom are true fans we have been waiting for this game for 10 years, and we find it insulting, disgusting and frustrating and, frankly, down right irritating that a bunch of Zynga iFarm "jump on the band wagon and complain about a big corporation being successful" trolls even have a voice on this topic.

 

[bebangs]

I had the choice to buy starcraft2 or "download and play" offline with the torrent version. Guess which one did i decide?

hint - I only played for less than a week and never played it again.
i might do the same thing again in Diablo3.

 

[wildkitten]

[citation][nom]crus_russ[/nom]I am so glad Blizzard finally answered this because this is what I have been saying all along. I work in IT security so I know something on this topic unlike the plethora of whingers seemingly without internet on this forum.To allow the game to work as a single player game, the character content needs to be stored on the user's computer in files. These files can be opened/inspected by hackers and the "internal architecture" of the game (item codes, memory addresses etc.) can be understood. This information is a HUGE benefit to hackers because now all they need to do is work out a way of injecting this information into the live-online game and getting it saved into your online character - ala duping.With online-only, the ability for hackers to understand the internal game architecture is extremely limited and so it will take a lot longer and be a lot harder for the game to be hacked.Secondly, Blizzard see the "i dont have internet" group of people as a tiny minority who they don't care about - the cost of implementing them a single player mode that didnt compromise the online-mode's security outweighs the sales they would get from said minority.The irony of the whole thing is that this forum is one of the few places on the internet where these people congregate and flame Blizzard. Frankly they can go play Torchlight on their Intel Celeron's and 15in CRTs.[/citation]
This still doesn't answer my question.

For one thing, I disagree that it will take people long at all to hack the system. Hackers have been getting the best of Blizz for years on WoW. Duping was an issue on Guild Wars.

My question is, why, when the discussion is on the SINGLE player portion of the game, do people bring up the "item's won't be able to be duped" argument (which I don't believe they won't be able to be duped. I think they will easily be duped within weeks of release)?

Let me give an example. Let's say Blizzard did allow a normal single player experience and that, like in Diablo 2, items dropped in single player are not tradable, thus could not be placed on the auction house. If someone wanted to dupe items in their single player experience, so what? What does it matter to me or those that make that argument? While I have no interest in duping items, if someone else does it in their single player game, so what. All they are doing is cheating themselves out of the gameplay experience and are not affecting me or anyone else one bit.

That is what I want to know, why people are so concerned with what others do when it has no bearing on anyone else.

 

[dragonsqrrl]

[citation][nom]wildkitten[/nom]Three - Battle.net is currently very laggy for those who play the multiplayer for Starcraft 2. I have friends who play it, they have excellent internet connections, but this is an issue a lot of those players face. Do you think having EVERY player of D3 having to be on those servers will improve the situation?[/citation]
I haven't noticed any issues with server side lag. When I have experienced lag in SC2 multiplayer matches it's always attributable to individual players timing out. This is probably why I basically never experience lag issues in 1 vs 1 matches, but 4 vs 4 can be hit or miss. The more individuals there are in a single match, the higher your chances of encountering that one player with a bad connection, slowing down the match for everyone else.

 

[wildkitten]

[citation][nom]crus_russ[/nom]And secondly while I am on this topic - a true Diablo fan would not carry on like such a baby. A true Diablo fan would sell their cat or dog to upgrade their internet connection, or move house/area.The people on this forum saying, "well that blows it for me, cya Blizzard I won't be buying" are no better than Zygna iFarm gamers who think of Diablo 3 as "another title".For those of us whom are true fans we have been waiting for this game for 10 years, and we find it insulting, disgusting and frustrating and, frankly, down right irritating that a bunch of Zynga iFarm "jump on the band wagon and complain about a big corporation being successful" trolls even have a voice on this topic.[/citation]
So making legitimate points is "carry(ing)on like a baby"?

Sorry, but considering that the battle.net server will control drops for items even in single player games, how is it not a legitimate point to point out that we will be competing with the bots and gold sellers? Blizzard has already said that if too many of an item drops they will nerf it. That is letting the effects of the real money AH affect single game mode players.

There is also the point of situations like the hacking of Sony's Playstation Network. Don't think for one moment that Blizzard will not be the target of such an attack sometime in the future. Why should we not be able to play the game, especially single player fans, for weeks, if not months, because the servers are down because of a hack?

And then there is the matter of the fact that the multiplayer on Starcraft 2 which uses battle.net and has a serious lag issue. How will putting EVERY Diablo 3 player on battle.net affect that? It sure won't be for the good.

Yes, I have made these points before. But people like you seem to like to ignore legitimate points just so that your name calling looks more "cool".

 

[wildkitten]

[citation][nom]dillonpeterliam[/nom]Stop complaining! It obviously worked with Starcraft.[/citation]
Really? I don't have to be online to play single player on Starcraft 2 so how has it worked there?

 

[renz496]

[citation][nom]wildkitten[/nom]Really? I don't have to be online to play single player on Starcraft 2 so how has it worked there?[/citation]

totally agreed. maybe he never did play the campaign?

 

[crus_russ]

[citation][nom]wildkitten[/nom]So making legitimate points is "carry(ing)on like a baby"?Sorry, but considering that the battle.net server will control drops for items even in single player games, how is it not a legitimate point to point out that we will be competing with the bots and gold sellers?[/citation]

Regarding your points:

1.) Regarding "competing" for drops with gold sellers. Unless you are a hardcore gamer you will NEVER get to the 4th difficulty and you will never see the true end game items. If you ARE hardcore enough, you will. This is a scalable game, to expect that you can play it "casually" and still come across the most rare/hardcore stuff is a stupid position to have. Blizzard have designed the game to take a very long time to acquire everything. Also, blizzard will be doing everything they can to stop bots, so in effect you are only "competing" with other hardcore gamers (i.e. real people), whats wrong with that? You want to breeze through easy mode and get the god gear? Get real kid.

2.) The entire network being hacked and none of us being able to play? If this happens Blizzard will repair and be back online ASAP. I am willing to risk it.

3.) To raise the issue of lag you really need to read up on scalable server clustering. Blizzard will be adding MASSIVE amounts of additional capacity to their network to cope with the new load of players. Blizzard will have hired very expensive architects like myself (Salaries up to $1500 USD/day) to analyse server load, expected growth %, scaling capacities and growth plans such that lag does not become an issue. If it does become an issue Blizzard will quickly add more capacity.