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Last night, Blizzard issued an apology to gamers for the rough (understatement?) launch of its long anticipated, treasure-hunting click fest, Diablo 3. The statement came shortly after Diablo 3 servers took yet another nose dive yesterday evening, angering some players who have spent more time trying to log on than actually playing.
Diablo 3's server failures are particularly controversial because of its always-online DRM scheme. Even gamers who prefer the intimate privacy of single-player must log on and maintain connection to battle.net servers... or else.
"We’ve been humbled by your enthusiasm -- and we sincerely regret that your crusade to bring down the Lord of Terror was thwarted not by mobs of demons, but by mortal infrastructure."
Source: us.battle.net, "Bashiok" - Blizzard community manager
In addition to thanking everyone who's been playing -- or trying to play -- Diablo 3, Blizzard reports that the overwhelming technical difficulties it has experienced have been in spite of aggressive projections and planning. In order to provide temporary demon slaying relief, Blizzard says is has applied "several optimizations" which are expected to help during peak times. The company also states that it will closely monitor the Diablo servers to address additional technical shenanigans, should more problems arise.
Citing its recent difficulties, Blizzard has also pushed back the release date of its real-money auction house. The already delayed feature was slated for a May 22 launch, but as of now, there is no ETA until Blizzard posts more updates in the "near future".
If ever always-on DRM had a chance to work properly, you might think Blizzard, an experienced developer with deep pockets, and Diablo 3, a record-breaking game birthed with immediate highborn status, would be able to make it work. Instead, Diablo's server woes highlight a fundamental problem which always-on DRM schemes always suffer: honest players pay the price. Ubisoft helped us understand this a couple years ago, but Blizzard's recent failures manage to once again showcase its shortcomings.
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User Comments: 31
Got something to say? Post a comment-
I don't see why people are complaining... did you not know how the game worked before you paid 60.00 for it?? If you didn't, then you're basically admitting your a ***** that pays for things before looking into them in any way shape or form. And really, Would you like to go back to Lan Co-op, sure, lets just go back to the 80's. Lets not use better systems, new technology, or our brains. 10 or so hours of downtime, not that big of a deal really. I think, bottom line, people just like to *****.
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Am I the one that gets my a$$ handed to me in Hell difficulty. Im not really complaining about the error 37 code. I am just frustrated that it seems I can't find any good items and I have to buy everything on the auction house.
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<p>IAnd really, Would you like to go back to Lan Co-op, sure, lets just go back to the 80'sp>
Never left actually, I still do regular Lanning. The cloud gaming does allow for some of my friends who have kids now to play more often though. Actually a local dedicated server would be ideal.
I did not purchase D3 btw... and it's true... people do like to complain.
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The worst thing about all this is it all leads back to money. Blizzard have turned into a company that would rather have more money than happy customers. Do the F**k care about you guys not being able to play, you've lined their pockets already, they couldn't care less. Bullshit? Have you hard about there real money auction-house plans? Still think the always on thing is just to make the game "better for everyone"? What a joke! If people could dupe items, they could sell the in these shitty auctions and Blizzard would
Lose money? I have lost so much faith in this company since this game was announce/released, they are just another blood sucking corporation solely intrested in taking money. Diablo is a brilliant game, but they have really taken advantage of this to suck as much money as they humanly can without outright stealing you money. -
<p>There has been approximately 10-hours of down time in 72 hours of release. I would call that a success.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Also, the game is f-ing amazing, single-player or not, and I don't notice the online bit of it at all - it's completely non-intrusive. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anyways, if you don't like it, don't play it. Return the game and go offline. Despite the problems, none of the people I've played with have considered returning it and use the downtime to sleep.</p>
well EU servers are donw almost every day with a problem , the last 2 days they been down as long as they been up , last night more problems , today login problems. EU servers are rubbish.
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Problem with games you can play offline and online is the second a game is introduced
people work to cheat or steal from others. With online game only Blizz servers control
what drops, if your own computer determines it I can see the 135 pages of "dupe"
programs for D3 overnight. Its sad that so many people feel they have to cheat and steal
to enjoy a game but I'm just as happy that Blizz is keeping the control of the game in their
back pocket and not giving hackers a freebie.
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