Diablo III launch marred by server issues, #error37 trends on Twitter

[Shawn Knight]

It’s been 12 years in the making but fans of the popular Diablo series are finally getting their wish. Diablo III servers were activated at midnight PDT / 3am EDT but unsurprisingly, the launch has been marred by a high volume of traffic that crashed servers in the US.

A large number of gamers were unable to activate their copy of Diablo III and play the game at launch, receiving the following message instead: “The servers are busy at this time. Please try again later (Error 37).” The issue became a trending topic on Twitter as frustrated gamers used the hashtag #error37 to voice their grievances.

ComputerAndVideoGames notes that Blizzard addressed fans this morning, telling them to wait and try again if they were unable to log into the game. At the time, the company said that new servers were being launched and that Battle.net had been taken offline.

A quick check at the Diablo III forums shows that some people are still experiencing issues this morning while others are able to log in without incident. In fact, some players have already finished the game completely in seven hours, others in twelve.

Also read:
Diablo III server debacle demonstrates the problem with ‘always-online’ games

Blizzard sold more than two million preorders for Diablo III and held more than 8,000 midnight launch events at retail stores worldwide but many fans haven’t been pleased with the company’s decision to require online activation to play the game.

It’s hard to believe that Blizzard didn’t see this one coming after the title became their highest pre-sell of all time. But really, nobody should be surprised at the server snafu. It’s the same story every time a high-profile game launches because the developer / publisher behind the title simply doesn’t allocate enough servers for the initial hit of traffic when the game becomes available.

Either way, the wait is now over and Diablo III is here. We would love to hear your feedback on the server issue and the game in general in the comments section below!

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/48598-diablo-iii-launch-marred-by-server-issues-error37-trends-on-twitter.html

 

[mevans336]

"In fact, some players have already finished the game completely in just seven hours."

7 hours? Please tell me the AVERAGE gameplay time will be longer?

 

[Guest]

I call BS
there is no way to finish this in 7 hours. if it was 7 hours then im the next pope...

 

[Julio Franco]

Just updated the links with stories about players who finished the game in 7 hours, some others claim they were done in 12. Way to enjoy a game, huh?

 

[TomSEA]

User reviews on Metacritic are slamming the game (seems to be a regular occurrence these days with high-profile game releases). Of course many of the negative scores are the result of the inability to log-on, but there are also numerous references to the short story line as well as lack of difficulty:

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/diablo-iii

 

[Guest]

I beat it in 8 hours. Very disappointing game. It is the most dumbed down Diablo experience ever. Even Diablo-clones do a much better job. The game is ready for console.

 

[Mister_K]

Ha

I beat it in 8 hours. Very disappointing game. It is the most dumbed down Diablo experience ever. Even Diablo-clones do a much better job. The game is ready for console.

Have fun in Hell+

Completing Normal in 7 hours with a constant leveling is easy, it will take on average more then 7hours to complete Normal.

Julio, some may enjoy it? Leave them be. Others like to RP and pretend to be kings and queens in a game, does that mean its wrong? Also people have time for this with second toon to actually "enjoy" the game.

Once you really beat the game, that would imply you have done Inferno. Many games can be done within 10 hours.

A large number of gamers were unable to activate their copy of Diablo III and play the game at launch, receiving the following message instead: “The servers are busy at this time. Please try again later (Error 37).” The issue became a trending topic on Twitter as frustrated gamers used the hashtag #error37 to voice their grievances.

As far as I recall that was no the activation issue. That was Blizzard simply limiting the amount of connections able to log into the game to prevent servers from crashing.

PS:

This launch was big, this was expected. Just look at the other MMO launches (I know Diablo isn't an MMO). That said Blizzard knew this was going to be big, why not get extra temporary servers until it calms down. But hey, non of us work there so don't know how it is behind the scenes.

 

[howzz1854]

that's not a good sign. I almost pre-ordered the game but the price tag of $60 is just hard to swallow. I ended up buying a pair of shoes instead and decided to wait it out. I know my shoes will last me way longer than 8 hours. much better investment.

 

[wcbert]

"It is the most dumbed down Diablo experience ever"

Sounds like the current trend of games. Dumb it down, give it better graphics and make it appeal to the average computer/twitter user which has a short attention span so it can sell more copies to the masses.

 

[Guest]

@Artix: Yes but without World PVP (only arena pvp to be added later), only Four Person Co-Op (downgraded from diablo 2's eight person co-op), and no LAN play, I have no incentive to play past the initial difficulty just to know the story. Now I know the story and wish I would have just waited to watch the cinematics on Youtube, I'd be $60 richer.

The game was bland and obviously created with the idea of being released on console. Why else would they remove character customization? You no longer distribute skill points or attribute points. Skills are unlocked automatically when you level up. The voice acting is awful, not on par with Diablo 2 at all... and what's up with the checkpoints, definitely console ready. All the scenes are scripted...

Don't even get me started on the pay 2 win auction house!

If you had never played Diablo 1 and 2, or you were never that into either of them, well you might like Diablo 3. They really should have named the game Call of Demon or anything other than Diablo. BAH!!!

/ragequit

 

[Guest]

Yes it is hack and slash and the normal mode is piss, hence it being the normal introductory mode. Get to Nightmare and "dumb" down won't be the case, get to Hell and be ready to rage quit several times and once you get to Inferno, goodluck you will most likely uninstall considering the mindset of some of you "oh its so easy, lets whine about it" ... let me guess, most of you do the same in other games and then cry because its too hard and vice versa, ey?

 

[Guest]

Wow, 12 years in the making and 7 hours to finish the game. Glad I didn't buy this one. Go Go Blizzard!

 

[Guest]

While the difficulty in Normal is easy, I never commented on the difficulty, I was referring the everything else about the game.

 

[Guest]

Perhaps the first 12 hours is not enough time to fully experience, review/rant about how horribly easy the game is.

I used to be able to complete D2 in roughly one hour per act (in normal)
Was it hard powerleveling? No. Was it fun? Not really, it was just a race.

It'll be fun reading all the Metacritic reviews tomorrow that say "I gave it a 1 because it sucks, glad I didn't play this piece of trash game."

 

[Guest]

@Guest on May 15, 2012 12:53PM:
Actually Blizzard North was working on Diablo 3 from 2000 - 2005, then the game was cancelled, Blizzard North was fired, and all their work scraped. Diablo 3 that we have here today is by the creators of World of Warcraft and Activision. However, two of the main Blizzard North employees went on to create Runic Games, the creators of Torchlight and the soon to be released Torchlight 2.

If you're looking for a good ARPG to play, try Titan Quest if you haven't already. Two of the main developers from Iron Lore are actually creating a new ARPG, Grim Dawn. They have a KickStarter running right now that has already surpassed their goal, but if you want the game for cheap and to support them, go make a pledge.

Finally, Path of Exile is in closed beta but you can buy into it for $10. If Diablo 3 was a huge disappointment for you, Path of Exile is like a modern Diablo 2 with a new take on a few things. Definitely a cut-throat game what will make you it's ***** in harder difficulties.

 

[Guest]

Looking for a good unbiased review of the top 3 ARPGs this year with Pros and Cons?

http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=24327

 

[Mister_K]

@Artix: Yes but without World PVP (only arena pvp to be added later), only Four Person Co-Op (downgraded from diablo 2's eight person co-op), and no LAN play, I have no incentive to play past the initial difficulty just to know the story. Now I know the story and wish I would have just waited to watch the cinematics on Youtube, I'd be $60 richer.

The game was bland and obviously created with the idea of being released on console. Why else would they remove character customization? You no longer distribute skill points or attribute points. Skills are unlocked automatically when you level up. The voice acting is awful, not on par with Diablo 2 at all... and what's up with the checkpoints, definitely console ready. All the scenes are scripted...

Don't even get me started on the pay 2 win auction house!

If you had never played Diablo 1 and 2, or you were never that into either of them, well you might like Diablo 3. They really should have named the game Call of Demon or anything other than Diablo. BAH!!!

/ragequit

1) Yes I wish there was WPVP, PvP coming in at later date.
2) Talent system sucks, with the current system you have way more viable options then before.
3) Already discussed "PW2" and it has been present since early Diablo games, this time its legal, therefore argument is flawed.
4) Yes I never liked D1,D2 but that is because I tried it once when I was like 7 so that's tad biased.

 

[Guest]

 

[gwailo247]

Its pretty messed up not to have sufficient server capacity at launch. Its not bad enough that you're always beta testing at launch as it is, but not to be able to play your game because they oversold the server capacity? That's really getting towards consumer fraud.

If you pre-sell 2,000,000 units, then you need to make 2,000,000 server slots available. Simultaneously. Yes, you have a very successful game on your hands, and part of that success means letting people play it. Just take a small fraction of that pre-sale money (120,000,000 dollars, give or take), and rent some additional server space for launch. Scale that down over the course of the next few months as game play trends indicate. No problem.

 

[Mister_K]

Its pretty messed up not to have sufficient server capacity at launch. Its not bad enough that you're always beta testing at launch as it is, but not to be able to play your game because they oversold the server capacity? That's really getting towards consumer fraud.

If you pre-sell 2,000,000 units, then you need to make 2,000,000 server slots available. Simultaneously. Yes, you have a very successful game on your hands, and part of that success means letting people play it. Just take a small fraction of that pre-sale money (120,000,000 dollars, give or take), and rent some additional server space for launch. Scale that down over the course of the next few months as game play trends indicate. No problem.

Wonder how people a server can hold, something around 5000? (WoW has something like 5K afaik). It does suck though...

 

[Guest]

7 Hours seems about right. Back in Diablo 2 we used to rush players through the game in about 15-20 minutes or so (w/o mh)... Playing straight through in 7-12 hours, for someone familiar with the gaming style, shouldn't be too much of an issue when you consider the franchises past.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Its pretty messed up not to have sufficient server capacity at launch. Its not bad enough that you're always beta testing at launch as it is, but not to be able to play your game because they oversold the server capacity? That's really getting towards consumer fraud.

If you pre-sell 2,000,000 units, then you need to make 2,000,000 server slots available. Simultaneously. Yes, you have a very successful game on your hands, and part of that success means letting people play it. Just take a small fraction of that pre-sale money (120,000,000 dollars, give or take), and rent some additional server space for launch. Scale that down over the course of the next few months as game play trends indicate. No problem.

Careful how you define it. There's a difference between the authentication server (which makes sure you're playing a valid copy of the game, and in WoW, makes sure you're payments are up to date) and the game server which would handle things like the auction house and anything else. I'm speaking only from WoW experience, but Blizz would occasionally have sign-on issues where it could take a few mins or more to log on. Once you were on, it'd be fine.

There's no reason to upgrade authentication servers for the 2 days it's going to matter at launch. For game servers, you'd hope they'd get it right, especially if they expect the game to grow. Don't forget though... this was the biggest selling pre-order game over. To say it exceeded expectations would probably be accurate.

 

[Per Hansson]

Well if this isn't a valid enough reason for why we don't want games that have a single player component to require authentication to some online game server I don't know what is.

I had the game in my mailbox today, install took about 90 minutes and now it just hangs on login with "Error 37" Trying I few times I can get past that but then it hangs on the "Authenticated" part.

 

[ramonsterns]

Where's all the "Blizzard is the last good company" posts?

Or did they finally break their brainwashing?

 

[yRaz]

1) Yes I wish there was WPVP, PvP coming in at later date.
2) Talent system sucks, with the current system you have way more viable options then before.
3) Already discussed "PW2" and it has been present since early Diablo games, this time its legal, therefore argument is flawed.
4) Yes I never liked D1,D2 but that is because I tried it once when I was like 7 so that's tad biased.

Pay to win is a legitimate complaint. BTW, tell me about the PTW system in D1. IIRC, everyone just duped items. I'm going to make my position clear on PTW. It has no place in any game anywhere.

Your point number 4 raises some questions. You seem to be a huge fan of the Diablo series, but you never liked D1 or D2? You have legitimate complaints about D3, so why are do defending it so? It was a bust, just like Duke Nukem Forever.