It’s been nearly 11 years since Diablo 2 came out. So when Diablo 3 was announced in 2008 the internet was jumping for joy, but today the internet is having a bit of a backlash against Blizzard for some of the announcements this morning. So what exactly is going on?
First: It has been announced that Diablo 3 will be online play only. Many people were excited to have a good single player game like the first two but it seems this game is going the way of World of Warcraft in that you are completely unable to play the game offline. So not only can you not play the game without the internet but can Blizzard keep two highly successful online only games running at the same time?
Second: No Mods allowed under any circumstance. To the new gamer that doesn’t seem like a big deal but to the advanced gamers that’s like a shot in the foot. The entire DOTA franchise was created because of Mods made to the Warcraft 3 engine and so many people were already chomping at the bit for mods they could apply to the new Diablo game however it seems they will be unable to do so. Here’s from the official FAQ on Blizzard’s website:
“For a variety of gameplay and security reasons, we will not be supporting bots or mods in Diablo III, and they’ll be expressly prohibited by our terms of use for the game.”
Third: The online Marketplace will only use real money. Instead of farming for gold it looks like the only way you’ll be able to buy anything is with your real hard earned cash from outside of the game. It won’t be buying from Blizzard however it’ll be online transactions between players from one person’s bank account to another. There are just too many insane things that could come out of this. New people can quickly buy the best weapons without working for it, others could scam others by offering awful prices, and since mods aren’t available on the stores you may end up buying something for much more then you should without knowing about it. Of course there are a few who if they play it right could make money by always playing this game and getting all of the best weapons and selling them at high prices.
There are a very few who are praising Blizzard for these new things and most people are quite angry about these new developments. What do you think? Could this lead to a better gaming system? Or will it simply become a giant mess?