Blizzard to Legitimate Customers: Get In Line and Wait!

[DoctorFinger]

Oh, Blizzard. This isn't going to end well. The company announced today that anyone purchasing a digital version of Diablo III will be restricted to the Starter Edition of the game for approximately 72 hours ("sometimes less") while the company authenticates the purchase. For now the restriction doesn't apply to physical retail copies. If you buy a digital version, here's what you're limited to for the first three days of ownership.

• Act I up to the Skeleton King is available
• Level 13 cap
• Matchmaking available only with other Starter Edition players
• No Auction House access (Real Money or Gold)
• Global Play is not available. Players attempting to connect to Diablo III Starter Edition in a region other than their Battle.net Account's home region will receive Error 12. See the Global Play support article for more information.

Why make new customers jump though hoops? Guess. Nope, you're wrong. It's the real money auction house, which - I'm shocked to report - has apparently been exploited by unscrupulous sorts. The exact nature of the problem isn't widely known, but if Blizzard is locking down new digital purchases until they can be manually verified we can hazard some guesses.

This will of course reignite the debate over DRM in games. As I'm sure many, many people will point out, this restriction affects legitimate buyers, but not the pirates. They can play the game right away. I'm not condoning piracy in any way, shape or form, but at the same time I'm not condoning Blizzard's actions either. If they can't give you access to the game you bought for 3 days because of the RMAH, maybe they should take down the RMAH instead of inconveniencing legitimate customers. By their actions Blizzard is showing exactly what the most important part of the game is. It's not the loot hunting, it's the loot buying.

Sources - Battle.net; Shacknews; Polygon

[Gorvi]

Wow, good job Blizzard.

[Ink Asylum]

Originally Posted by DoctorFinger

Why make new customers jump though hoops? Guess. Nope, you're wrong. It's the real money auction house, which - I'm shocked to report - has apparently been exploited by unscrupulous sorts.

I'm betting a lot of people guessed right. I know I did. Blizzard's desire to push as many people as possible towards their money-making RMAH is the "Why" to a whole lot of poor decisions they've made with Diablo III.

[Knightsaber]

Funny, I was going to pick it up soon, digitally. Now, nah. I'll just play with the Steam Summer Sale.

[DarkDay]

lol, as sick as this is and shitty for legitimate buyers out there, im getting a kick watching Blizzard dig an ever deeper hole with this. I should probably shut it though as I fell for it and bought the piece of crap game..im guilty..dam.

[Sl1pstream]

Originally Posted by DarkDay

I should probably shut it though as I fell for it and bought the piece of crap game..im guilty..dam.

How is D3 a piece of crap? They've made a lot of mistakes and they seem to keep making them but I actually enjoyed the game.

[DarkDay]

ya, sorry, i should refrase that, for a game with the diablo name and expected 10 years of making and my insanly high standards I had, its crap. However, for a game without all of these with perhaps a 2 year cycle and different name I would say it was average to good.

But then I still play way too much Diablo 2 so Im sure I have some crap goggles on.
Just seems to me that for all that time, it couldve been much,,much better.

[MagGnome]

Originally Posted by Ink Asylum

I'm betting a lot of people guessed right. I know I did. Blizzard's desire to push as many people as possible towards their money-making RMAH is the "Why" to a whole lot of poor decisions they've made with Diablo III.

This. I won't ever be purchasing the game at this rate. It's a shame, as I was thrilled when it was announced.

I'd love to see people White Knight for Blizzard over this latest travesty.

Torchlight 2 is going to be great, and without all the hoops, online DRM, RMAH, and other garbage.

[Grifter]

I think we should change the name of that other thread to "Blizzard is Bullshit" instead of "Diablo 3 is Bullshit". Diablo 3 just seems to be an unfortunate casualty in the wake of the mass infusion of stupidity that has washed over Blizzard.

It's almost like they don't want their customer base any more. I'm still enjoying D3 for what it is but sometimes I think Blizzards new motto should be "Thanks for your money... Now get the fuck out!"

[Suave Peanut]

Originally Posted by MagGnome

Torchlight 2 is going to be great, and without all the hoops, online DRM, RMAH, and other garbage.

All we need is a frickin' release date!

[violent]

Originally Posted by DarkDay

ya, sorry, i should refrase that, for a game with the diablo name and expected 10 years of making and my insanly high standards I had, its crap. However, for a game without all of these with perhaps a 2 year cycle and different name I would say it was average to good.

But then I still play way too much Diablo 2 so Im sure I have some crap goggles on.
Just seems to me that for all that time, it couldve been much,,much better.

If they catered to players like you, they would lose a larger sector of buyers. Leaving your high standards shattered guarantees greater profit margins. Capitalism.

[MagGnome]

Originally Posted by Grifter

I think we should change the name of that other thread to "Blizzard is Bullshit" instead of "Diablo 3 is Bullshit". Diablo 3 just seems to be an unfortunate casualty in the wake of the mass infusion of stupidity that has washed over Blizzard.

It's almost like they don't want their customer base any more. I'm still enjoying D3 for what it is but sometimes I think Blizzards new motto should be "Thanks for your money... Now get the fuck out!"

Yeah, that sounds about right. I know they are still rolling in millions, but one would think all of this negative press would bite them eventually. Who knows though, most gamers have short attention spans.

Originally Posted by Suave Peanut

All we need is a frickin' release date!

Yes! Hopefully soon.

[Grifter]

Originally Posted by MagGnome

Yeah, that sounds about right. I know they are still rolling in millions, but one would think all of this negative press would bite them eventually. Who knows though, most gamers have short attention spans.




Yes! Hopefully soon.

I think it's less of an "attention span" thing and more of a "if the fun out ways the stupid/bad" sort of thing and of course that varies per user.

[MagGnome]

Originally Posted by Grifter

I think it's less of an "attention span" thing and more of a "if the fun out ways the stupid/bad" sort of thing and of course that varies per user.

I was thinking of things like the Call of Duty "boycott" a few years back. Attention span was probably the wrong term. Perhaps false outrage would be a better way of describing it. Short-lived outrage? I don't know, something like that.

[Doogie2K]

So if the problem is the RMAH, just block access to the RMAH for the first few days and leave the rest of the game open. Whoopdey fuck.

[Widgetcraft]

It's like they're slowly unlearning how to make online games.

[DoctorFinger]

Originally Posted by Doogie2K

So if the problem is the RMAH, just block access to the RMAH for the first few days and leave the rest of the game open. Whoopdey fuck.

Instead they graciously give you full access to the RMAH and restrict access to the game.

[Widgetcraft]

Eh, the OP says that they don't get any AH access at all, real money or gold.

[Vanthar]

It's probably easier to restrict access to the game rather than patch out the RMAH for new buyers...

Does anyone know how long the wait actually is and if it actually effects your play at all? It would take something like an hour or two to get to Skeleton King depending on your speed. If you get activated within that time.. who cares? You don't need AH access when you first start anyway.

EDIT: I misread, and if it actually takes 72 hours that's silly.

[TheKeck]

Originally Posted by Vanthar

It's probably easier to restrict access to the game rather than patch out the RMAH for new buyers...

Does anyone know how long the wait actually is and if it actually effects your play at all? It would take something like an hour or two to get to Skeleton King depending on your speed. If you get activated within that time.. who cares? You don't need AH access when you first start anyway.

The biggest issue for me is that you can't play with non-starter-edition people. Would really suck to buy the game to play with a friend and have to wait until who knows when.