Diablo III Wild Speculation and Rumor Mongering Abounds

[Murgos]

No, the true evil that all this hoopla is a smokescreen for is the final enforcement of RealID required to play, combined with their willingness and intent to mine, sell or publish anything and everything they learn about you through that to Facebook, ad agencies, collection agencies, your future employer, or anyone else willing to shell out a few pennies per data item for it.

How is this any different from any other online service you entered credit card and billing information for?

[Malakili]

No, the true evil that all this hoopla is a smokescreen for is the final enforcement of RealID required to play, combined with their willingness and intent to mine, sell or publish anything and everything they learn about you through that to Facebook, ad agencies, collection agencies, your future employer, or anyone else willing to shell out a few pennies per data item for it.

How is this any different from any other online service you entered credit card and billing information for?

Its different because the optional real money AH is one of the signs of the apocalypse.

[Ginaz]

This is an anti-piracy move, pure and simple.  The problem is that those that were going to pirate the game will do it anyway.  SC2 was pirated the day (before even?) it came out.  All shit like this does is make it harder for your paying customers to play the game and piss them off.  Looks like I won't be buying D3 for the same reason I don't buy Ubi Soft games anymore.  Fuck.

[Tannhauser]

It's hard for me to be too outraged over charging for D3 when I fork over dough for World of Tanks special ammo and LOTRO goodies.
 

[Stabs]

I'm sure there will be an element of real info sharing. I'm planning to make sure they have an email I keep specifically for spammers. It seems quite likely to me that they will offer to improve our game experience by connecting us with friends.

As for involuntary identity sharing I see no evidence that this will be the case, in fact they've taken pains to assure us that players using the AH will be anonymous. How did you leap from using the AH anonymously to axe murderers will know where my kids go to school?

[Furiously]

I wonder how much they deal with stolen equipment sold on 3rd party websites. My guess is enough to make this worth doing.

I see this as an enforcement method and not a money grab.

[lamaros]

I have no idea why you people are whinging so much.

Who the fuck cares if there is a $ AH? It's just their way of getting the jump on RMT that would have happened regardless...

The game will suck because the people making it will retard it up like they did with SC2 (which has nothing going for it outside of competitive multiplayer), not because of an auction house.

[Malakili]

I have no idea why you people are whinging so much.

Who the fuck cares if there is a $ AH? It's just their way of getting the jump on RMT that would have happened regardless...

The game will suck because the people making it will retard it up like they did with SC2 (which has nothing going for it outside of competitive multiplayer), not because of an auction house.

Starcraft 2 is pretty much better than SC in every regard except for possibly the competitive multiplayer, ironically enough.

[lamaros]

I have no idea why you people are whinging so much.

Who the fuck cares if there is a $ AH? It's just their way of getting the jump on RMT that would have happened regardless...

The game will suck because the people making it will retard it up like they did with SC2 (which has nothing going for it outside of competitive multiplayer), not because of an auction house.

Starcraft 2 is pretty much better than SC in every regard except for possibly the competitive multiplayer, ironically enough.

Completely disagree. You might be right about the multiplayer. I got bored of it very quickly, though I put that down to my lifestyle these days.

Perhaps it is worse in every single way.

[Rokal]

Starcraft 2 is pretty much better than SC in every regard except for possibly the competitive multiplayer, ironically enough.

I thought the mod community was also kind of fucked over by the way Blizzard filters custom maps so that new maps are practically impossible to discover, the size limit, and the "Activision owns any ideas you come up with" EULA that would have lead to DOTA being a Blizzard trademark if the mod had been created today.

The only thing that actually felt improved was the campaign, which I really enjoyed.

[Megrim]

So, on the Diablo 3 front; am I correct in understanding that if I buy this game from a shop, take it home and install it, and then don't have access to the interbutts, I will not be able to play the game?

[kildorn]

So, on the Diablo 3 front; am I correct in understanding that if I buy this game from a shop, take it home and install it, and then don't have access to the interbutts, I will not be able to play the game?

This would be a good assumption.

[Malakili]

Starcraft 2 is pretty much better than SC in every regard except for possibly the competitive multiplayer, ironically enough.

I thought the mod community was also kind of fucked over by the way Blizzard filters custom maps so that new maps are practically impossible to discover, the size limit, and the "Activision owns any ideas you come up with" EULA that would have lead to DOTA being a Blizzard trademark if the mod had been created today.

The only thing that actually felt improved was the campaign, which I really enjoyed.

There are a lot of solid custom games in Sc2.  The problem is that most people went from having a well matured modding community in SC1 and WC3 to a SC2 system that people didn't figure out right away.  It took comparatively long to get a lot of the standard stuff up and running I think.  Also I think in HotS they are making it more mod friendly, allowing users to sell their own mods.

Anyway, I still think that SC2 is pretty much across the board better, and the though I said Sc1 competitive was better, its likely that by the time all in said and done SC2 will rule that arena too.

[Ingmar]

I am relatively certain DOTA is the entire reason *for* that rule.

[Amaron]

I wonder how much they deal with stolen equipment sold on 3rd party websites.

I'm curious how they will handle this.    Officially sanctioning RMT means the potential cash to be made will be much larger.  Hacking accounts for items is going to be huge.

[Sheepherder]

I'm surprised they don't allow mods for D3.  Just segregate your players away from unmodded or differently modded games.

[rk47]

Except that arena play isn't the heart of Diablo. Not even a little bit. PvP is just a tacked-on shit and never the main premise of the game.

Newsflash: Diablo is about killing shit and watch loot pop out. ID scroll - scuffle. Happy? No? Kill MOAR!

I don't see a problem here. I'm not the obsessive type who searches for the ultimate set items or perfect build item just to blaze till level 99...then farm for chipped skulls to do..whatever the fuck they're supposed to do in that Horadric Cube. So yeah, bring on real cash for me to cash out my items if I get bored. As long they kept soul-bound system the fuck away from this game, I'm all ears.

It's good news. I'd sell away some loot for real cash, and use the money for something else...as long games created can be made password locked, I can just take my sweet time with my pals to have dungeon romps online. Tears of arena are worthless to me. Diablo isn't a competitive game.

[Tebonas]

I wonder how much they deal with stolen equipment sold on 3rd party websites.

I'm curious how they will handle this.

"Did you use one of our Authenticators? You didn't? Sorry, we can't help you then."

[Ingmar]

I wonder how much they deal with stolen equipment sold on 3rd party websites.

I'm curious how they will handle this.

"Did you use one of our Authenticators? You didn't? Sorry, we can't help you then."

That's not how they do it for the other games, why would it be different for this one?

[Sjofn]

Because oh my god the world is ending.

[Tebonas]

Because Activision and Real Money are involved?

Its not like they did have Real Money Auction Houses for other games either, so it already is different for this one.

And thats not even evil of them (compared to the other stuff). If I provide added security to my customers so that they don't have to rely on their weak passwords and they then get hacked, its their own fault for not using the heightened security I provide for them.

[Merusk]

So, on the Diablo 3 front; am I correct in understanding that if I buy this game from a shop, take it home and install it, and then don't have access to the interbutts, I will not be able to play the game?

Hey, poor and rural people can't afford machines to run D3 so why should we care about their lack of an always-on 'net connection.

 

[Lantyssa]

Correction:  Rural people with no internet can't generate free income.

[statisticalfool]

The barrier for playing Diablo 3 is going to be effectively the same as posting on f13. 

I feel like a lot of my mindless "killing stuff for loot" gaming (right now: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup) comes on bus rides and in airports and in other places where fast internet is tricky. I'm not saying OMG the world is ending I'll never play Diablo 3. Just that it's more than an edge case.*

 * If it's just a heartbeat, and single player games don't depend on internet speed, then it's actually a lot easier, as crappy internet/tethering is a lot easier to do.

[Khaldun]

I have to say that it's hard to understand why this is going to be legal but online slot machines or online poker aren't. Depending on what kinds of money somebody who plays 6 hours a day can make, I wouldn't be too surprised if some legislators and some gambling-industry folks start to see it the same way.

[Malakili]

I have to say that it's hard to understand why this is going to be legal but online slot machines or online poker aren't. Depending on what kinds of money somebody who plays 6 hours a day can make, I wouldn't be too surprised if some legislators and some gambling-industry folks start to see it the same way.

I'm not going to sell things in this game for embarrassment of having to claim the income.

[DLRiley]

I would prefer Valve be my evil overlord/employer but Blizzard works just fine.

[Amaron]

I have to say that it's hard to understand why this is going to be legal but online slot machines or online poker aren't.

That's even more true for a lot of the F2P games.   The big ticket items in many of those games is just a box with a random possibly extremely valuable reward.   It's underage gambling plain and simple.   Even worse (or better from their point of view) there is no regulator to watch the odds.

[statisticalfool]

*double posting for stupidity*

[Ingmar]

I have to say that it's hard to understand why this is going to be legal but online slot machines or online poker aren't. Depending on what kinds of money somebody who plays 6 hours a day can make, I wouldn't be too surprised if some legislators and some gambling-industry folks start to see it the same way.

The existence of a secondary market for goods, virtual or not, does not make the process of obtaining them gambling in a legal sense. If it did, CCGs and CMGs would need to be regulated as gambling, among other things.

[eldaec]

I have to say that it's hard to understand why this is going to be legal but online slot machines or online poker aren't. Depending on what kinds of money somebody who plays 6 hours a day can make, I wouldn't be too surprised if some legislators and some gambling-industry folks start to see it the same way.

It's because the LARP industry doesn't employ lobbyists.

[eldaec]

So, I hear Torchlight 2 has a feature that allows you to play the game using 0s and 1s stored on your own PC's hard drive. True Story.

[Ragnoros]

Dear Blizzard. It has been over three years since you announced D3, stop cock teasing us and tell us WHEN DO WE GET TO FUCKING PLAY?

[Paelos]

Dear Blizzard. It has been over three years since you announced D3, stop cock teasing us and tell us WHEN DO WE GET TO FUCKING PLAY?

Survey sez....Q4 2011

[Ingmar]

I'm still saying Q2 2012.