YOU SHALL NOT PASS – until the weekly maintenance is over
#1 Weekly Maintenance
You can get around this by creating a character on one of the other sets of servers (ie. EU, US, whichever the other region is) since they have different maintenance windows. But dammit, you shouldn’t have to.
Blizzard could have avoided so many of these issues by having a solo offline version and just making it clear that playing offline meant no access to AH, chat with friends, random groups, and even special online events or ladders if they want to go that way. Just make it impossible to use the offline characters in online or group play to avoid the cheating and a lot of people would have been much happier.
I also think they could have been more explicit (maybe a handout in the box) in explaining exactly what the online side meant in terms of access and gameplay.
#2 Being hacked
So reports are increasing about people having been hacked, and some of those reports imply authenticators were in place. It’s probably best to avoid random groups until this has been sorted out.
I can buy that hackers will be out in force any time a MMO/expansion/online game is released, but this is not something you would ever expect to see in a single player game.
What would D3 have been like if Bioware had written it?
- One of your companions would have betrayed you, probably the healer.
- You would have turned out to be the last of the Horadrim, or Diablo. Probably both.
- Your character would have been able to sleep with Tyrael. Or Adria. Probably both.
- Ranged classes would have been hugely overpowered. (Wait, maybe they already are…)
- At the end of the game, you’d have either to destroy Diablo, control him or make everyone a demon-human hybrid. Either way, you die and all magic in Sanctuary is gone forever. (Anon.) [G]Kill, [B]Banish, or [R]Bond With? (azaael)
- When Deckard Cain begins one of his stories you can use the dialogue wheel to choose whether to listen or tell him to shut up. Doing so earns you Heaven/Hell points. (bernardparsnip)
- It would have given you a character visual customizer! I’d have taken this. On the flipside, after Blizzard put the votes in for what color the stock female Demon Hunter should have, the fanbase splits over ‘Red’ or ‘Blonde.’ Wars are almost started. (azaael)
- Even MORE cutscenes! (azaael)
- 6th Character, the Shapeshifter Druid! Available for 12.99 on the first day. (azaael)
- Feel free to suggest more …
Welcome to Spinksville! 
RunicGames must be gleeful about all this. Seeing as Torchlight 2 will have real offline single-player, LAN and Internet multiplayer.
Everytime the server disconnects me for no reason and I come back to a fully unexplored map, I dislike the always-online thing more.
Of course, right now I would take any playtime, seeing as my computer went kaboom in the middle of fighting Diablo himself. Bah!
#3 Classes abilities getting hotfixed and balanced.
Fair enough if some classes find the higher difficulties more difficult than others, but if this was a single player game most players would just accept it as the knowledge that they’d have to work harder to complete the game with some classes than others. But as soon as Co-op comes into question, don’t think anyone would put up with being the weaker link, except Blizzard balance just goes on and on trying to make everything perfect, can just imagine people getting fed up and just want to have fun with classes that should be a mix of strengths and weaknesses. How long was the game in development and they still insist on balancing after release.
I understand where you’re coming from, but also remembering that part of the reason I never got into Skyrim is that I struggled badly through the first dungeon with my pure mage character. Then got told by friends that it was much easier with a 2H weapon.
And I thought “Ah, screw it, I cba to start over. Why can’t these devs just either balance the specs or make it easy to figure out really fast when one isn’t working?”
They absolutely should have had time to figure this one out in testing though. I’m assuming they had some testers on the harder modes.
Heh, I was going to mention Skyrim in there somewhere, didn’t have the same problem though, characters start weak and just get overpowered to the point it becomes less fun (mage characters included). Bethesda are still patching for bugs, which is much less tolerable.
Have only played the open beta of D3 yet, but what I’m going to watch out for is how the future PvP mode is balanced, are some runes going to be changed or locked or is there going to separate skills between modes, the only thing I remember reading is that they are not going for absolute balance, yeah right good luck with that, with the audience and the expectations Blizzard have of themselves. The current fixes seem for things decidedly OP, and hopefully it is short-lived but would dislike for another few rounds to happen after the PvP mode comes out.
Pity I didn’t like Torchlight 1 and do like Diablo 1-3. Not sure why everyone is posting this as the solution to every thing they don’t like about Diablo.
Toootally replied to the wrong comment.
I am sure it won’t be the perfect solution for everyone, but from a game standpoint, I felt the beta of TL2 was a lot closer to Diablo 2 than Diablo 3. The most common grievances I have heard about Diablo 3 are all strong points of TL2: skill trees, real single-player, etc.
I personally think that D3 is more enjoyable for me than TL2 is going to be, because like Spinks I do not miss the skill trees at all. But I also vehemently dislike the lack of offline game in D3.
5. At the end of the game, you’d have either to destroy Diablo, control him or make everyone a demon-human hybrid. Either way, you die and all magic in Sanctuary is gone forever.
That actually would have been a better ending 🙂
6. When Deckard Cain begins one of his stories you can use the dialogue wheel to choose whether to listen or tell him to shut up. Doing so earns you Heaven/Hell points.
If those authenticator tokens are older, they might be susceptible to hacking. Remember when RSA got hacked last year and it was all hush hush as to what exactly was stolen? More and more evidence is coming out that RSA IDs and the algorithm for anticipating numbers on those badges were taken, so it doesn’t shock me at all that hacking in spite of authenticator tokens in place is happening.
Though I am going to point out there hasn’t actually been anyone hacked who had an authenticator there before they were hacked.
There is a way to hack one, but it’s hardly worth the effort for rewards invovled.
Reblogged this on york g33k.
8. PVP would be completely removed from the game … oh wait.
9. There would be MORE SPECULATION!
Hmm, BioDiablo:
-It would have given you a character visual customizer! I’d have taken this. On the flipside, after Blizzard put the votes in for what color the stock female Demon Hunter should have, the fanbase splits over ‘Red’ or ‘Blonde.’ Wars are almost started.
-[G]Kill, [B]Banish, or [R]Bond With?
-Even MORE cutscenes!
-6th Character, the Shapeshifter Druid! Available for 12.99 on the first day.
😉
If it was a Blizzard game you’d have one of your female leads switch sides against their will to become a super powered villain, à la Sylvanas or Kerrigan.
Oh wait …
Awesome post Spinks the Bioware bit kicked arse!
Not being able to play D3 during wow patch outage it THE biggest criticism I have for it. It’s the most serious flaw of their “online” strategy as that is the time I most want to play it.
#2 would have totally happened if it were a Bioware game, lol.
There would have been a goddamn Immoen and people defending their desire to have hot lesbian sexxors in the first game with some ridiculous fem-ablo meme.
Though, what I’m hearing is Barbarian is the one that’s in for a nerf.
It’s a shame that the lack of an offline mode is taking away from genuine discussion about the quality of the game, but I think it’s fair to comment on it; because it DOES impact on the quality of the game if you can’t play it. 😦
10. When you confront Diablo, he reveals that you used to be the Emperor of hell and his master. After you were badly wounded in the battle with angels, Deckard Cain have messed with your head to make you a good guy.
I think there’s something wrong with me.
Re-reading through the Bioware suggestions, I think I would have preferred that game rather than the one we get in the end!
#11 sanctuary would be a complex, malleable world in which your decisions over the course of 3 games would impact the lives of millions… until the last 5 minutes, where you are presented with a choice between 3 identical outcomes which nullify all previous decisions. And you die.