Diablo III Catch-All 2.0

Giantbomb is streaming their error messages if anybody is interested.

Monk at 0500 + no 37 = Happy. Work at 0900 = very sad.

Cant get a game going suddenly... I hope its just this emergency maintenance they're talking about.

I was actually going to pass on this game - I haven't played a Diablo game since the original Playstation port .. but I'm glad I did, this is pretty legit. Witch Doctor is fun so far.

After playing the TL2 beta over the weekend I'm really glad I grabbed D3. I'll play TL2 when it comes out (pre-ordered a while back) but I definitely prefer the feel of D3. It just works so much better and I'm not getting the confusion deaths that I was in TL2.

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Giantbomb is streaming their error messages if anybody is interested.

I'm watching and cackling, this is the third livestream that D3 has ruined so far.

Servers down for an hour.

Maintenance aside, I'm really impressed that the servers have been up without a hitch all morning.

Everybody should be at work anyway, go back to work!

The worst part of this downtime is seeing the achievements roll in from the people who are still in their games.

If any game needed the ability to create your own chat channels, it's this one. The B.net integration isn't as robust in D3 as it is in SC2 and WoW.

Xeknos wrote:

The B.net integration isn't as robust in D3 as it is in SC2 and WoW.

Don't forget, SC2 didn't ship with chat channels. Which still boggles my mind.

Yeah, I was surprised I was unable to join or create a GWJ channel.

WHY DID I QUIT FOR FOOD?!

LiquidMantis wrote:

WHY DID I QUIT FOR FOOD?!

+1

However, my index finger, middle finger, and wrist are appreciating the break to be honest.

Sure. Of course UPS drops off my copy when the servers are down.

Error #666 stuck at work till 5 then have a rehearsal until 830 and won't be home till 9.

My wife is awesome and picking it up for me on her way home from work at least:) Though that means she will probably play it first....

Rainsmercy wrote:

Error #666 stuck at work till 5 then have a rehearsal until 830 and won't be home till 9.

My wife is awesome and picking it up for me on her way home from work at least:) Though that means she will probably play it first....

That's okay, you probably wouldn't be joining a game until then anyway ...

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Sure. Of course UPS drops off my copy when the servers are down.

Sending you a Shalalm Baskur to aid you in this time of crisis.

Rainsmercy wrote:

Error #666 stuck at work till 5 then have a rehearsal until 830 and won't be home till 9.

No, that's #665...#666 is burning a vacation day and being unable to play.

Should have known better, Blizzard is still new at all of this. Oh, wait...

Really glad my copy won't arrive until today and I probably won't have time to play tonight anyway so I won't have to deal with this. This is the future of "single player" games if publishers get their way. It's a horrible catch-22 because this experience proves why always-on DRM is a bad idea but Diablo 3 will sell so well that many publishers will undoubtedly think people are cool with it going forward.

Anyone rolling hardcore? Contemplating a hardcore DH over here.

Blizzard memo:

To: The Banner Customization Team
From: Director of Marketing

Dear team,

I am pleased to report that the banner customization feature is a HUGE hit after the release [size=9](and subsequent server failure)[/size] of Diablo III. People are lining up in droves to customize their banners over and over again [size=8](as they wait for the servers to come back up)[/size]! They love it!

Keep up the good work!

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I added everyone in the google doc. In case anyone is looking for it, it is here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...

These BattleTags showed up as invalid when I tried them:

Dethroned#1780
Lothar#1531
Senkrad#?? (obviously)
sirjoekcb (obviously)

I fixed a couple that didn't have the # character. Thank god for fullscreen windowed mode. That would have taken forever without being able to copy/paste back and forth quickly.

Fixed: Senkrad#1614

ScurvyDog wrote:

Anyone rolling hardcore? Contemplating a hardcore DH over here.

Yup, I'll be rolling HC with at least one character.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

This is the future of "single player" games if publishers get their way. It's a horrible catch-22 because this experience proves why always-on DRM is a bad idea but Diablo 3 will sell so well that many publishers will undoubtedly think people are cool with it going forward.

I still don't get the impression that they did this with the same intent as say Ubi's always-on DRM schtick. However, and this applies to SC2 as well, I do think that they had some misguided assumptions about the benefits of forcing people always online. I definitely agree with their point about making it easier for people to play by getting rid of the "offline/open" and "realm" distinctions, but I really think they've compromised the single-player experience by forcing the game online all the time. I also think they're over-estimating the number of people who are going to use either auction house.

There's also something about security and paranoia as well, and I suspect things like bnetd, Glider, and the various issues they had with hacks in past games have really forced them into a lockdown mindset in regards to Battle.net. Which is unfortunate.

I really want to believe that eventually they'll relent and include an offline mode for SC2 and D3 in a future patch.

Logged in. Was able to create one character but unable to start game. Think it was an error 317002. Tried to create a different character, getting relentless timeout errors. Hooray for single-player game modes that require a server to be up!

ScurvyDog wrote:

Servers down, yippee!

OH NO!!!!

Can't SC2 already be used offline? I didn't play it much but I thought it could be.

It would be so easy for them to make an offline mode with encrypted character data that can't be moved online. There are ways to allow people to play offline while still ensuring that those that to are kept secure, just make them aware of the needed sacrifices and let them decide for themselves. Beyond either trying to stop piracy or forcing people to be exposed to their RMT auction house, I can't see a reason for forcing this game online, especially when they seem incapable of scaling to demand, even after numerous betas (one of which was a stress test).

What is the recommended difficulty level? From what I played of the beta it seemed too easy.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

Can't SC2 already be used offline? I didn't play it much but I thought it could be.

It would be so easy for them to make an offline mode with encrypted character data that can't be moved online. There are ways to allow people to play offline while still ensuring that those that to are kept secure, just make them aware of the needed sacrifices and let them decide for themselves. Beyond either trying to stop piracy or forcing people to be exposed to their RMT auction house, I can't see a reason for forcing this game online, especially when they seem incapable of scaling to demand, even after numerous betas (one of which was a stress test).

Starcraft can be played online-- but it's parallel. Can't do the same campaign save.

Stupid faulty wi-fi double post.

EvilDead wrote:

What is the recommended difficulty level? From what I played of the beta it seemed too easy.

Gotta go through normal first. It'll get tougher, don't worry.