Diablo III / Diablo II Battle.net Thread

Well for example, my girlfriend likes to play Diablo/Starcraft with me. So instead of just playing via LAN, I now have to buy two copies of the game. Even worse for Starcraft, I'll have to buy six copies!? It's ridiculous.

Unless of course they do a "guest account" type thing like Xbox LIVE, then it's not really a big deal. Although for all the features they are putting into these games for tournament play, killing LAN multiplayer seems pretty backwards to me.
 
[quote name='xycury']If the online service is good... then what's there to worry about?[/QUOTE]

* For playing with your friends LAN is easier and faster than WAN and LAN doesn't require internet access.

* I think they're also taking away IP-2-IP multiplayer out. If I just wanna play with a friend why do I have to go through b.net? Then I have to go through the hassle of password protecting my game so noone else can join.

* What if 20 years from now b.net is no more and you want to play D3 with your friends?

* It's the principle of the thing. They're not going to stop pirates from playing it offline or even mp games while they're taking away a feature many of their paying customers care about. How many pirates are going to buy this game because they can't play LAN? I suspect very few. To me that means they care more about making a small bit of extra profit than they do about keeping loyal customers happy.

* If B.net is so great then why force LAN people to use it? I feel like they don't respect their customers enough.
 
[quote name='Teh Nitwit']* What if 20 years from now b.net is no more and you want to play D3 with your friends?
[/QUOTE]
You play World of Diablo 4 instead.

But I do know what you mean. I was into Hellgate: London enough that I had purchased 3 copies, one for myself and two as gifts for family members so that we could play together. No LAN support and no private servers that I have ever found, so when the servers went down, that was it.

However, Blizzard is certainly not in the same position as Flagship as far as needing Diablo 3 to be a hit, even though it probably will be, they have other, larger, sources of income. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Diablo 3 servers will go down any time soon, especially with all their games being based on their new battle.net which they seem to have high hopes for as it is to be integrated with at least 2 of their biggest franchises.
 
Now Diablo II (I still played it, just not as obsessively as most people) was a bit before my time so pardon the ignorance but if I play D3 offline, do my levels, items and quests carry over to online?
 
[quote name='yukine']Well for example, my girlfriend likes to play Diablo/Starcraft with me. So instead of just playing via LAN, I now have to buy two copies of the game. Even worse for Starcraft, I'll have to buy six copies!? It's ridiculous.

Unless of course they do a "guest account" type thing like Xbox LIVE, then it's not really a big deal. Although for all the features they are putting into these games for tournament play, killing LAN multiplayer seems pretty backwards to me.[/QUOTE]

Not to be rude but "PC's are not consoles". Multiplayer on one pc is almost unheard of. And most pc licenses require multiple copies.... it's been that way for a long time. I wish this was different but the dollar wins here. And this is blizzard we're talking about.

[quote name='Teh Nitwit']* For playing with your friends LAN is easier and faster than WAN and LAN doesn't require internet access.

* I think they're also taking away IP-2-IP multiplayer out. If I just wanna play with a friend why do I have to go through b.net? Then I have to go through the hassle of password protecting my game so noone else can join.

* What if 20 years from now b.net is no more and you want to play D3 with your friends?

* It's the principle of the thing. They're not going to stop pirates from playing it offline or even mp games while they're taking away a feature many of their paying customers care about. How many pirates are going to buy this game because they can't play LAN? I suspect very few. To me that means they care more about making a small bit of extra profit than they do about keeping loyal customers happy.

* If B.net is so great then why force LAN people to use it? I feel like they don't respect their customers enough.[/QUOTE]

Unbulleted point : 21st century, in a wired world we live in.... who doesn't have internet?

as for your bullets:

*SupCom is just like this, and it's fantasitc... no worry about figuring out IP address, just find him on my buddy list and play away, simple 3 clicks and the game is passworded and I yell at him over Vent/Teamspeak.....

*b.net will still be around because people like money and blizzard will still support it, plus by that time you should be playing Diablo 5....

*Pirates still happen and Blizzard ultimately wants money.. not going to happen either way. If stopping LAN will give Blizzard more control, they have that right, but I don't think it will impede on using the product.

*If B.net is so great, why bother with LAN anyways? It's another technology they don't want to support or code. Same with SupCom, their GPGnet software is excellent and works flawlessly.... I would hate to have to setup a LAN for someone up state to play with...


I just don't see any benefit ... much like people griping on Steam... if it just works, then why complain about it.

The last time I played LAN was well over a decade ago... every game since then either is online anyways... or has a client online that handles it far better than having to do it otherwise.

Again... what glaring mistake is Blizzard going to do, by refusing to support LAN?
 
[quote name='Hydro2Oxide']Now Diablo II (I still played it, just not as obsessively as most people) was a bit before my time so pardon the ignorance but if I play D3 offline, do my levels, items and quests carry over to online?[/QUOTE]
If Diablo 3 is like Diablo 2 you've got a few ways to play.

Single Player
Closed Battle.net for one of the four realms (west, east, asia, europe)
Open Battle.net
TCP/IP

Characters stored locally, ie those made in single player, can only be played on Open Battle.net and via TCP/IP.

This is done because users can very easily edit their locally stored files to modify their characters and items in a variety of ways. As such, if you wish to play "legit" you stay the hell away from open battle.net, as not only are items hacked to hell, but even people with banned cd-keys can still play on open battle.net so its generally a massive shitfest unless you are specifically playing with a set group of friends.

Closed Battle.net is the battle.net most people talk about, and while it is still possible to find hacked items or duped stuff, it is far less common and not publicly available, where as tools to mod your single player stuff are widely available. In Closed Battle.net, your files are stored on Blizzard's servers.

While it is not offered by Blizzard, you can copy your closed battle.net character onto your own machine for use in single player, however, it requires a 3rd party tool. So usually closed battle.net is a completely separate entity.
 
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I think one of the problems people have about not supporting LAN is that they'll have to use multiple copies to play a game with people in the same household or the inability to share a game with a friend and do some LANing. I don't know how often other people do that, but I know that my father is a fan of the Diablo series and he will certainly want a copy of Diablo 3 when it comes out, provided it features offline single player.

However, he is absolutely 100% against online gaming. So much so that when he decides to buy a game with LAN or single player, he then turns around and gives it to me with the CD-Key and all, since I actually play online multiplayer. He also refuses to buy any game that features online-only game play. Now I can't speak for his reasoning behind that, we have a reasonably stable internet connection and he plays on a desktop that is constantly connected to the internet, probably a principle thing, but I'm sure there are others with a similar mindset.

Traditionally, only one of us has ever had to buy a game if we wanted to play together. The first break in that was for Hellgate: London, and we got burned when those servers went down. If more games decide to omit LAN play, so be it, I guess I'll just have to get two copies, but I think many older PC gamers are used to heading out to the store, getting their game, and then installing it on all the computers in their network and playing some games via LAN.
 
[quote name='crystalklear64']I think one of the problems people have about not supporting LAN is that they'll have to use multiple copies to play a game with people in the same household or the inability to share a game with a friend and do some LANing. I don't know how often other people do that, but I know that my father is a fan of the Diablo series and he will certainly want a copy of Diablo 3 when it comes out, provided it features offline single player.

However, he is absolutely 100% against online gaming. So much so that when he decides to buy a game with LAN or single player, he then turns around and gives it to me with the CD-Key and all, since I actually play online multiplayer. He also refuses to buy any game that features online-only game play. Now I can't speak for his reasoning behind that, we have a reasonably stable internet connection and he plays on a desktop that is constantly connected to the internet, probably a principle thing, but I'm sure there are others with a similar mindset.

Traditionally, only one of us has ever had to buy a game if we wanted to play together. The first break in that was for Hellgate: London, and we got burned when those servers went down. If more games decide to omit LAN play, so be it, I guess I'll just have to get two copies, but I think many older PC gamers are used to heading out to the store, getting their game, and then installing it on all the computers in their network and playing some games via LAN.[/QUOTE]

This mindset is from 1988 and needs to change I think.

I remember Heroes of Might and magic 2 to get a promotion to buy a second CD for only $10 for a friend, which I did actaully participate in, and then there is Total annihilation that had 2 CDs for playing , one for SP(Campaign) and the other LAN only multiplayer disc so that you can do LANs with a friend....

but with games and legalese now, what game actively makes it legal to install and share????

SupCom requires one game per person... same with one game per console, I don't think you can play across Live with any game with only 1 person owning it right, on the 360?

LAN ≠ Local Multiplayer Consoles

Local Multiplayer Console ≠ PC

I can't remember playing multiple people on a PC for a game besides Bomberman.


I think this argument is similar to the complaint of ... buying Windows 7 and installing on all 6 of my pcs.... it's against the EULA and licensing terms.
 
[quote name='crystalklear64']I think one of the problems people have about not supporting LAN is that they'll have to use multiple copies to play a game with people in the same household or the inability to share a game with a friend and do some LANing. I don't know how often other people do that, but I know that my father is a fan of the Diablo series and he will certainly want a copy of Diablo 3 when it comes out, provided it features offline single player.

However, he is absolutely 100% against online gaming. So much so that when he decides to buy a game with LAN or single player, he then turns around and gives it to me with the CD-Key and all, since I actually play online multiplayer. He also refuses to buy any game that features online-only game play. Now I can't speak for his reasoning behind that, we have a reasonably stable internet connection and he plays on a desktop that is constantly connected to the internet, probably a principle thing, but I'm sure there are others with a similar mindset.

Traditionally, only one of us has ever had to buy a game if we wanted to play together. The first break in that was for Hellgate: London, and we got burned when those servers went down. If more games decide to omit LAN play, so be it, I guess I'll just have to get two copies, but I think many older PC gamers are used to heading out to the store, getting their game, and then installing it on all the computers in their network and playing some games via LAN.[/QUOTE]

In NFS:Hot Pursuit 2 the game checked the keys on machines in LAN to make sure they have different keys. There is no reason why Blizzard can't do that.

I personally play only with people that I know, so b.net is worthless to me. I don't appreciate them trying to force me to use it and so I will vote with my money and will not buy it. If someday they will enable LAN play then I will reconsider.
 
Thanks CK, while I understand they can't do the simultanious offline/online character progression I'm still bummed. I can't take my online character on the road with me on my laptop =/

Whatever keeps hackers off though.
 
I'm not talking about playing multiplayer on one PC, but rather two. As far as I'm aware it has always been the norm and perfectly legitimate to install games you bought on more than one computer either for single player or LAN multiplayer. Do you seriously buy more than one copy of the same game to do this? Do you uninstall the game from the other computer beforehand?

If so, that seems absurd to me, and get me eye-patch matey!

I'm not talking about burning a copy of the disc and writing the CD key down for friends. I just want to install the game on two computers, that I own, for either single player or to play locally via LAN. If I want to play online, yes I need to have two unique CD keys to do so. This is how it's always been, obviously Battle.net is where it's at and I'm going to be doing a majority of my playing on it. But instead of being able to install on two PCs, and play a couple matches of SCII with the girlfriend via LAN. I'll now have to buy two or more copies of the same game to play via Battle.net, assuming my network can even handle it.

Doesn't this make local tournaments a huge pain in the ass as well?
 
You get access to your online character whenever you log in, Hydro, wherever you log in.
It's stored on Battle.net servers.
 
[quote name='Liquid 2']You get access to your online character whenever you log in, Hydro, wherever you log in.
It's stored on Battle.net servers.[/QUOTE]

On the road, i.e. in the car, at a store (Without WiFi) though it is nice that where I do have WiFi, I will have my character.
 
[quote name='Teh Nitwit']In NFS:Hot Pursuit 2 the game checked the keys on machines in LAN to make sure they have different keys. There is no reason why Blizzard can't do that.

I personally play only with people that I know, so b.net is worthless to me. I don't appreciate them trying to force me to use it and so I will vote with my money and will not buy it. If someday they will enable LAN play then I will reconsider.[/QUOTE]
But then you only need 2 seperate CD Keys. You can google a CD Key if thats all you need for LAN play and you already have a copy.
 
[quote name='xycury']This mindset is from 1988 and needs to change I think.

I remember Heroes of Might and magic 2 to get a promotion to buy a second CD for only $10 for a friend, which I did actaully participate in, and then there is Total annihilation that had 2 CDs for playing , one for SP(Campaign) and the other LAN only multiplayer disc so that you can do LANs with a friend....

but with games and legalese now, what game actively makes it legal to install and share????
[/QUOTE]
Sacred 2 offers two simultaneous activatations just for this reason. It allows you to play with two people by only buying 1 copy in a LAN enviornment. You still need your own accounts for their version of a closed battle.net, but for LAN, you get two activations.

Now I don't think this is a requirement for studio to put in their games, but when they do, I notice. If the game is built for co-op, a second license is very nice of studios to throw in.
 
If I ever want to play Diablo 3 when it comes out I will have to build a new pc. I'm not looking forward to the funds I will have to drop on the parts though...
 
Hopefully Blizzard makes every character info server side so we don't have any more cheats.

Seriously, I actually had fun with Diablo 2 for almost a good year a half when cheats were so little known/didn't exist.

I think cheating ruined Diablo 2 for more then anything. The game never really got old to me when it came to hacking monsters and what not.

I would gladly spend $5 or whatever a year for b.net to have everything server side and b.net only if it means hack free servers. Hell I'd do the same for Starcraft 2. Right now Blizzard is saving the PC industry by having SC2 and Diablo 3 exclusive. Everything is out on consoles even if it doesn't look as gorgeous as it could on the PC. We need more PC exclusives...
 
[quote name='GogetaSS4']If I ever want to play Diablo 3 when it comes out I will have to build a new pc. I'm not looking forward to the funds I will have to drop on the parts though...[/QUOTE]

I really don't think the game is that graphically intensive.
 
^^^I agree. Blizzard usually has the lowest pc requirements of any developer...They want people to be able to play them without an upgrade.
 
A new class has been leaked...introducing the Monk! Looks like a martial arts class, kinda like the assassin.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175710

media


From the Orange County Registry:

"Vice president of creative development Chris Metzen — perhaps better known for his “WarCraft” artwork — announced the addition during the keynote speech. It’s based, like the other Diablo classes, in “old-school fantasy,” brought up to speed to a modern sensibility, he said.


"In a brief video, the monk’s shown uisng open hands and weapons to decimate demons, including a scene in which he deflects a magical, fiery blast.
An in-game video shows the character crushing multiple creatures at once, reflecting magical attacks and literally exploding unfortunate baddies."
 
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Official or not I'm afraid there's no way in hell we are getting this before 2011. As much as I want it to come out next year I just don't think Blizzard will release 3 games in 1 year. We can all officially blame WoW's new expansion for this. Diablo looks so polished in the videos it looks like it could come out in 3 weeks and be perfect.
 
I really like the Monk's offensive style. I'm curious as to what kind of skills he will have.

This isn't the first time the monk has appeared in a Diablo game. Hellfire, the Sierra produced expansion for D1 included a monk class. Of course, in that game, there were no skill differences between the classes.
 
[quote name='Moxio']Hellfire was so bad that I don't think many people played it.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='cgarb84']Man Hellfire was a a freakin turd of an expansion.[/QUOTE]


considering that Sierra wasn't even associated with Blizzard, I think it's fairly well of an expansion condisering it's just a mod.

It didn't crash and introduced a new charater and additional features. Plus a whole new dungeon.

It just never sold that well. And now it's rare, it goes for a good price on the used market.

I have a copy and enjoy it, it is worth it for the time that d2 finally came around.
 
Hmm to each his own I suppose. I for one really hated Hellfire. I was a big fan of Sierra back in the day but I wasn't with them on that one.
 
I think I'm going to get back into D2. What relms does everyone play on? As for D3 it would be nice if it came out some time next year.
 
D3 coming out in 2010 seems really unlikely, to be honest. I expect a 2011 release.

I'll play D2 again once the ladder resets with the new update.
 
That is the one thing I hat about D2 is the resets. I hope that changes with D3. I know it is not every update that they reset it. So when is the next update that will reset everything coming out? I was going to start up D2 today but see no point in it now if I'm just going to have to start over so soon. I'm now also thinking about getting a 60 day card for wow so I can level up some before the expantion comes out.
 
[quote name='sendme']That is the one thing I hat about D2 is the resets. I hope that changes with D3. I know it is not every update that they reset it. So when is the next update that will reset everything coming out? I was going to start up D2 today but see no point in it now if I'm just going to have to start over so soon. I'm now also thinking about getting a 60 day card for wow so I can level up some before the expantion comes out.[/QUOTE]

The expansion won't be out for quite awhile, so you could just wait on that.

As for D2, I wish they'd hurry up with the damn patch. I lost interest in playing when they announced the patch, and it's been like 4-5 months now. I know they had that WC3 issue and all, but I wish they hadn't announced it until it was just about ready to go.
 
Yeah I really want to play Diablo 2 but don't want to start a ladder character if they are going to reset. It is almost pointless making a ladder character with the resets but when I know one is going to be coming up I'm not starting one at all. Anyone know why you lose the ladder character and why they reset all of it when they do a big update? Also have they said that with 3 this wont happen?
 
You don't lose the ladder character in the sense that it's gone forever, it's just moved off the ladder to the non ladder realm list.
 
I thought you just couldn't play it. The last time I was playingit I stopped playing for I think a week then got back in updated it and my character just said expired. It was a character that I had been about 2 months playing with and if I remember right you have to get it to a level within around 10 days or it will expire and I was at I think 20 also had it for 2 months. Also it is what you cant go more then 90 days with out playing it.
 
[quote name='sendme']I thought you just couldn't play it. The last time I was playingit I stopped playing for I think a week then got back in updated it and my character just said expired. It was a character that I had been about 2 months playing with and if I remember right you have to get it to a level within around 10 days or it will expire and I was at I think 20 also had it for 2 months. Also it is what you cant go more then 90 days with out playing it.[/QUOTE]

I don't think there's a certain level you have to get to, but there is a certain number of hours you have to play within the first 10 days for the character to be permanent. When I last played (about 1.5 years ago), this was a PITA when making a mule character.
 
Now that you say that I think it is a certain number of hours in the first 10 days. However I don't remember it being much of a PITA. Also as for the reset on the forums at bliz some were talking like it was going to happen about a week ago. I'm going to install it tomorrow and see if it is 1.3 that I update to or not.
 
I for one enjoyed Hellfire. I loved it how they added the ability to see all items laying on the floor when you hit tab (or was it shift...) Too many times when playing Diablo 1 I'd hear a "tink" and get all excited that a piece of jewlery was dropped only to be unable to find it. I didn't like it hwo the "crystalline" ability couldn't exist on high quality items. Also, I liked the extra levels/quests but I didn't much enjoy the monk class or the barbarian.
 
Yeah, I agree Hellfire was decent enough. I know I've still got it laying around here somewhere. The only thing I really hated about Diablo was how you'd drop all of your gear when you died, making it very difficult to get the stuff back. I remember finding Demonspike Coat, only to lose it a few days later due to being unable to get to my body and retrieve it lol. Didn't play much after that.
 
Some good news.


[quote name='Bnet']Update - 9/30

The Diablo II 1.13 patch is on temporary hold while we investigate potential impact on the Battle.net service. As we moved closer to launching the patch concerns grew that an increase in the player stash size (a feature in the patch) could compromise the Diablo II Battle.net service. The hardware and configuration could potentially not handle the increased stash size gracefully under heavy load. Currently we’re investigating potential impact as it is one of the larger content features in the patch and we’re hoping it can remain a part of the release. If it does have to be removed it will require additional time to remove it, generate new patches, and test, which will add time before we can go live on the PTR.

We’re hoping to have our diagnostics and a final decision on how we’ll be moving forward decided by early next week and we’ll have an update for you at that time.[/quote]
So, sounds like this week we'll be getting another update.

Its ridiculous how long this has gone on for, but it is blizzard and most of us expected as much.
 
I'm still ticked off about the lack of LAN play in future Battle.Net games. This, from the company who introduced the "Spawn" idea so you could play with your friends? This, from the company who's still selling 10 year old games at a huge price considering their age?

Maybe I'm getting old, but I've pretty much decided to boycott Blizzard for this move. I attend LAN parties that regularly have 50-100 people show up, and there's never an internet connection. Steam is enough of a headache in those situations, but now they're making Battle.Net even worse.
 
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