Blizzard: Diablo 3 Internet Requirement Prevents Hacking

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wildkitten

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Server architecture on the player's computer? Blizzard just let us all know the real reason there is no offline mode and that would be the real money AH.

Since even single player will be played off their server, the server will control the drop rates of items. They have already said that they will change items if there are too many of them. This means legitimate players who are playing solo will be competing with the gold sellers and others running bots to get the best items to drop so they can put on the real money AH.

The more they talk, the less Diablo 3 is sounding like a game that is intended for genuine players. I know my money will be going elsewhere.
 

mute20

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Duping was super bad in diablo 2. Literally 80% of all high end runeworld items where duped. It was really gambling when you traded cause the item could disappear right after the trade.
 

heroictofu

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After reading this article, I'm taking a different stance from the norm and say this is a step in the right direction. Almost anyone who is going to read this article in the first place is already connected online and odds are, they spend all their time online regardless with a broadband connection. The few that only see this on their cell phone won't get the game anyway. While I have no real statistics, I'm sure at least 99% of the people who have played or continue to play Diablo 2 are connected online all the time anyway. As long as Blizzard doesn't mess with the server hardware to a point where you're getting disconnected all the time, I don't see why this is such a problem for so many people.

I have tons of single player games on my PC (Mass Effect comes to mind). If they suddenly required an online connection to be present at all times, I still, personally, would have no issue with this as I'm connected online all the time regardless.
 

aniklues

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is like Starcraft2. I don't oppose their policy, but I'm very sad that it seems like it is losing its color as a PC gaming. Blizzard's thought is very reasonable.
 

Sequences

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As bad as dupes were, it was the driving factor in the Diablo 2 economy due to the absurdly low drop rates of high runes. Duped items often become a sort of currency. Unless Blizzard has developed some kind of in-game currency, this is the kind of stuff that could kill a game economy.
 

keeno83

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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.
 

shoelessinsight

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There are people who live in rural areas where broadband connectivity is extremely unreliable, or they have to use dial-up. There are people whose only internet connection is through an internet cafe, in which they are paying by the hour.

Hotels and plane flights don't always have stable internet either. Sure, you may have nine different wireless networks visible from your hotel room, but have you ever tried playing an online game on one of those networks? In my experience, it's not usually feasible.

All of the above cases are situations where a single-player gaming experience can be destroyed by a required internet connection. Many people simply don't have an option for reliable internet, and now they're having their options for single-player games taken away as well.
 

joshyboy82

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I didn't have an internet connection at my house when D2 was released, and even though I've since become entangled in webs, I still never multiplayered D2. It was about me building up and killing the bastards. If I was sucking, I knew I needed to go back kill some more. I didn't find some asshole online to steal all of my drops. If what wildkitten said is true about the control of drops, that's going to be a bummer for me, but I wouldn't know it anyway, because I'd power through with a lesser weapon or armor without ever seeing the drop. I'm still only playing this game single player, and my internet has been solid for years. I plan on buying the game because of my love/frustration with the Diablo series. FTR, I still haven't beat Diablo in the first one. No matter how many times I tried.
 

wildkitten

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[citation][nom]mute20[/nom]Duping was super bad in diablo 2. Literally 80% of all high end runeworld items where duped. It was really gambling when you traded cause the item could disappear right after the trade.[/citation]
Yes, but they could have done something about the duping issue. The main problem is that it's the online server controlling the single player game, and that will affect drop rates. I mean theres a difference between requiring online mode as a DRM tool to avoid piracy and still letting your local computer control the single player drop rates.

I really do not understand how people are not seeing this. It's like people are burying their head in the sand. Do you really think with the battle.net server controlling drop rates even for single player games that you will somehow be immune to all the bots that will be run by gold sellers and others in an attempt to get the best items to put on the real money AH? Blizzard will not allow a flood of good items because that would lower the price drastically thus reducing their profits to next to nothing on their AH cut.

Yes, there are connectivity issues some people will have that also is legitimate argument and will shut some people out of the game. But don't kid yourself. This online required single player mode has NOTHING to do with game hacking/duping or piracy. It's all about Blizzard's cut on the AH.
 

Montezuma

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Essentially everyone? That's rich. I might have access to the internet at my home, but I am severely limited(less than 5GB per month) and it relies on spotty network coverage(Verizon Wireless). Outside of the provider I am using, there is no other option, outside of dial-up.

I will never purchase another Blizzard game. Firstly, I refuse to continue to have to be online to play a single-player game. Secondly, I cannot afford to give such resources to a game when I need my limited bandwidth to run my firearms business.

In closing, if Blizzard either decides to properly support all potential customers, or offers to run a T1(or better) data line to my home, Blizzard can do pound sand.
 

zoemayne

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BS they can make the single and multiple player mode separate entities and let the single player get offline mode. single player mode wouldn't need as many updates either.
 
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Grumble... I have a hard time with someone dictating that I am playing a game wrong just because I DONT want to play with anyone else, by saying "The game’s not really being played right if it’s not online," and "He indicated that it wasn't designed for players to opt out of the cooperative experience, to opt out of the trading experience." This is F***ing retarded, if I really wanted this I would play WOW but this is the exact reason I dont. That is one of the reasons I still play Diablo II, I can play the game how and where I want, I dont have to wait for anyone to join me, I dont have to be connected, I just get to play. Now I may be different though cause I never cheat at a game I simply play it on my own time and if it gets tough I simply wait for a walk through, and they really should re-think their position because games like Diablo II were big hits because of the way the game was designed.
 

wildkitten

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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? I could see the problem if they were to allow those items to be tradable, but single player items were not tradable even in D2. Now I know some people will just say "You just want to dupe!!!". No, I don't. I prefer the challenge of playing the game as it was made. But someone else duping items in their single player game does not affect me, or you, in the slightest. Is this just a desire to control how others play the game even though how they play would have no effect on you? I really want to understand.

Because also requiring an online mode for single player isn't just an issue for those who don't have good internet. I know a lot of friends who play Starcraft 2. They complain often about how battle.net's servers are slow a lot of the time, and their personal internet connection is good. And what happens if Blizzard's network is hacked like Sony's Playstation Network was? Do people just suck it up and live without playing the game for weeks or months? That doesn't exactly sound like good marketing.

And let's not forget, requiring online for World of Warcraft (obviously since it's an MMO) hasn't stopped the hacking their. For years gold sellers have done underground hacks for herbing/mining and Blizzard doesn't even seem to try to stop it anymore.

As I said earlier, to me this just seems like an attempt to gear everything to the real money AH so they get their cut. But I honestly do want to know why someone duping in a single player offline mode would in anyway affect someone else.
 
Diablo 3 was designed from the ground up to be an online, multiplayer game. "The game’s not really being played right if it’s not online,

they should name this games as World of Diablo not Diablo 3. if they do that i honestly believe less (or even none) people will complain about this game.
 

Kamab

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[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? I could see the problem if they were to allow those items to be tradable, but single player items were not tradable even in D2. Now I know some people will just say "You just want to dupe!!!". No, I don't. I prefer the challenge of playing the game as it was made. But someone else duping items in their single player game does not affect me, or you, in the slightest. Is this just a desire to control how others play the game even though how they play would have no effect on you? I really want to understand.Because also requiring an online mode for single player isn't just an issue for those who don't have good internet. I know a lot of friends who play Starcraft 2. They complain often about how battle.net's servers are slow a lot of the time, and their personal internet connection is good. And what happens if Blizzard's network is hacked like Sony's Playstation Network was? Do people just suck it up and live without playing the game for weeks or months? That doesn't exactly sound like good marketing.And let's not forget, requiring online for World of Warcraft (obviously since it's an MMO) hasn't stopped the hacking their. For years gold sellers have done underground hacks for herbing/mining and Blizzard doesn't even seem to try to stop it anymore.As I said earlier, to me this just seems like an attempt to gear everything to the real money AH so they get their cut. But I honestly do want to know why someone duping in a single player offline mode would in anyway affect someone else.[/citation]

They aren't talking about people cheating in offline mode, they mean the architecture of the game that is designed for single player is easier to in some way truly hack than a game based off a server (server vs client side information). In diablo II it was possible to dupe items in the multiplayer setting, load maps, and predict drops because so much of the information was on the client's side.

The hacks* you are talking about in WoW i have never heard of. I HAVE heard of bots/chinese convicts herbing/mining for Gold which they sell for real money. That's not to say the hacks didn't exist, I just doubt that WoW was as severely hacked as D2.

Then again, I don't totally disagree with you. Some of this probably has to do with the AH in the in game economy. And it will be simpler for them to make the platform secure.
 

DroKing

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[citation][nom]renz496[/nom]they should name this games as World of Diablo not Diablo 3. if they do that i honestly believe less (or even none) people will complain about this game.[/citation]

I agree with this! Why are they completely furbaring diablo's original design... makes me very sad bc i loved blizz my whole life till wow came out... blizz that i knew and loved is gone forever *sniffles*
 

bin1127

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I want to hack it offline and flip through the story like a picture book. Give us a kiddy mode with super high drop rates and easy monsters as a choice at least.
 

Darkerson

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Here's a solution to the problem: Torchlight 2 by Runic Games. They seem interested in listening to their customers and wont tell you you're "playing it wrong" when you dont want to be online to play your game.
 

wildkitten

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[citation][nom]Kamab[/nom]They aren't talking about people cheating in offline mode, they mean the architecture of the game that is designed for single player is easier to in some way truly hack than a game based off a server (server vs client side information). In diablo II it was possible to dupe items in the multiplayer setting, load maps, and predict drops because so much of the information was on the client's side.The hacks* you are talking about in WoW i have never heard of. I HAVE heard of bots/chinese convicts herbing/mining for Gold which they sell for real money. That's not to say the hacks didn't exist, I just doubt that WoW was as severely hacked as D2.Then again, I don't totally disagree with you. Some of this probably has to do with the AH in the in game economy. And it will be simpler for them to make the platform secure.[/citation]
In the second paragraph toward the end, Jay Wilson specifically mentions the duping issue for why they have the single player mode requiring online all the time. To me, that's a very apparent hollow excuse. And yes, I know one part of multiplayer allowed trading and that was an issue. The closed part didn't. This could easily be solved by having the multiplayer work by keeping it the way they have set it up while allowing a traditional single player model.

And let's not forget, 2 to 3 years ago Guild Wars had a duping issue. So having things run off a server does in no way guarantee there will not be duping. As for the WoW hacks, I played from launch until a couple of months ago when it was just painfully obvious that Bobby Kotick's influence was all over decisions with Blizzard's titles. Gold sellers in WoW have for years been using an underground hack to allow fast travel to a herb/mining node, gathering them while underground, and then moving very fast to the next. It was something a lot of players noticed in places like Wintergrasp and other mineral/herb rich areas. Blizzard tried putting a stop to it, but the hackers within days had a workaround and for months Blizzard has apparently not even attempted to stop it anymore. So I have no confidence that similar things won't be done in Diablo 3.

It just seems like a very bad business decision, one that is built more around them getting their cut from the real money auction house, to force players who only want to play single player mode to have to play online and have our gameplay experience affected by server slowdowns, maintenance and the, in this day and age, likelyhood of a Blizzard network hack.

But none of this still addresses my question why people respond to with the "this is good because it stops duping" to people who complain about the single player game being online when nothing about duping in single player will affect those making these statements.
 
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