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Blizzard CEO on Diablo 3 problems, incoming improvements
seen at joystiq
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/19/blizzard-ceo-on-diablo-3-problems-incoming-improvements/
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/4940437236
Dear Diablo Players,
Now that Diablo III has been out for two months, I would like to take a step back and discuss the launch, the feedback from the community, and talk about what the future holds for the game.
We’ve had an enormous amount of feedback since the launch. I speak for everyone at Blizzard when I say that we appreciate the passion and affection many of you have for the Diablo series. We truly believe “Every Voice Matters,” so I want to thank you for sharing your experiences in an effort to help us improve the game. Your support makes it possible for us to continue doing what we do, and we never take that for granted.
The launch week of Diablo III was memorable for many reasons — some positive, and some not so positive. We were thrilled that Diablo III had the biggest PC-game launch ever, surpassing the lifetime sales of Cataclysm (the previous record holder for biggest PC-game launch) in a matter of weeks. We’ve been floored by the response.
However, the launch had many challenges as well. It has always been difficult to forecast how many players we will have. With World of Warcraft, it was a challenge to handle the immediate demand when we launched back in 2004, and that was just in North America. We eventually expanded to other regions and reached nearly 5 million players by the end of the first year, and there were a lot of growing pains with that. However, we’ve never gone from 0 to more than 6 million players across multiple continents within a few days with a brand-new game. For Diablo III, we looked at historical sales for Blizzard games and other top-selling PC games and watched preorder numbers. We even upped our estimates to ensure we had additional capacity, or so we thought. In the end, it just wasn’t enough, and that is something we will work hard to conquer for future releases.
In response to the immediate and overwhelming demand for the game, the team worked around the clock to support all regions, increase capacity, ship additional hardware to our datacenters, and troubleshoot and fix bugs as they sprang up. While things have by and large been running smoothly for several weeks now, various game-related issues have come up that we have either already responded to or are continuing to investigate (such as the latency issue some of you are experiencing) and make adjustments for. Rather than address every subject individually, I’ll just say that even as we work to address or resolve current issues, it’s always possible that further issues will crop up. We hope that our actions in the past have demonstrated that above all else, we’re committed to delivering an awesome game experience, and we hope you’ll have faith that we will continue to keep that commitment and respond to any new or outstanding issues quickly.
We are not satisfied with breaking launch records; we want people to continue playing and enjoying Blizzard games for a very long time. The Diablo III team has made an epic, entertaining, and beautiful gaming experience. That being said, we know that it isn’t perfect. Our teams are working hard to improve the game balance, build on our design, and listen to what players are saying to make it the best game it can be.
You’ve seen some of that work already in patch 1.0.3, and you’ll see additional improvements with patch 1.0.4. On the game balance front, this update will contain changes designed to further deliver on the team’s goal of promoting “build diversity,” with buffs to many rarely used, underpowered class abilities. Another topic we’ve seen actively discussed is the fact that better, more distinct Legendary items are needed. We agree. Patch 1.0.4 will also include new and improved Legendary items that are more interesting, more powerful, and more epic in ways you probably won’t be expecting.
We’re also working on a number of interface updates, including social improvements that will allow players to more easily view their friends’ achievements, more quickly join games, and more efficiently communicate with each other. In addition, we’ll be making updates to the auction house in the future to provide players with better information through tooltips and notices, offer improved search functionality, and more.
Regarding the real-money auction house, our primary goal for including this in the game was to provide convenience and peace of mind for those players who might otherwise turn to third-party services to buy items. Black market trading sites can put accounts at risk and create many customer service challenges. We felt that the players themselves also deserved the opportunity to benefit from the extra loot they found, as opposed to having all of the benefit go to the black market/illegal trading organizations. We know the auction house isn’t perfect, but with your help and feedback, we’ll be able to continue making it a better experience for those who choose to use it. On the flipside, we are also committed to ensuring you have a great experience with Diablo III without feeling like the auction house is mandatory, which was never our intention. Thank you for all the feedback about that.
One other common topic we’ve seen in the forums is the always-connected experience, and the perception that the online requirement is nothing but an ineffective form of copy protection that has already been cracked. While we’ve never said that this requirement guarantees that there will be no cheating or game cracks, it does help us battle those problems (we have not found any fully functional cracks). More important to us is that the online requirement is critical for the long-term integrity of the game experience. I fully understand the desire to play Diablo III offline; however, Diablo III was designed from the beginning to be an online game that can be enjoyed with friends, and the always-online requirement is the best way for us to support that design. The effectiveness of the online elements — including the friends list and cross-game communication; co-op matchmaking; persistent characters that you can use by yourself, with others, and in PvP; and some of our customer support, service, and security components — is tied directly to the online nature of the game. These and other online-enabled features are essential to our design for Diablo III. That said, there are still improvements we believe we can make to expand the online experience and make co-op play even more rewarding, and this will remain one of our priorities moving forward. Overall, while there are some downsides to the online-only approach, I still believe this was the best long-term decision for the game.
I know many of you are also looking forward to patch 1.1, our PvP update, which will provide new experiences and give you a whole new way to apply the skills you’ve picked up while battling demons. This patch will also build on the social and auction house changes I mentioned above, and the team will continue to fix bugs and further tune game balance as well.
We’re also working on a gameplay system that will provide players who have max-level, high-powered characters new goals to strive for as an alternative to the “item hunt.” We’re not ready to get into specifics just yet, but I can say that we’re actively taking your feedback into account as we plan out the future of the game.
As always, we appreciate your candor and passion. Your constructive feedback and thoughts are valuable — they will continue to help us be a better company. I just want to reiterate that while we can’t claim to have ever shipped a perfect game, we are committed to supporting our games relentlessly and making improvements where we can. Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Mike Morhaime
Comments
Good to go, I am perfectly fine with never purchasing the game if they insist on staying "always online".
Sounds to me like a big PR spin of "We know our game has a lot of problems, but we want your money, so umm, yea, we are fixing things just for you." What a bunch of bull.
I didnt buy D3 but I appreciate their intentions to extend gameplay
EQ2 fan sites
Maybe someday you will get access to the internet like the rest of the world and be able to play on-line games. Games tend to be more fun when playing with others, or even playing solo while chatting with others. I'm sure there are many anti-social people who prefer to be off-line all the time. Oh well.
Sorry being on-line is such a chore for you, but for most people, it's a non-issue. (I said most, there are plenty of complainers)
Awesome decision, my friend. Because one day, they will pull the plug on the game, and when they do, you are left with a coffee coaster with "Diablo 3" printed on it.
As to the interview itself, Morhaime did nothing impressive here. He should be apologizing here, not justifying.
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well they are are unlikely to do that in the next couple years, so ill avoid gnawing my own nose off to spite my face - im enjoying the game as a great arcade style blast.
edit put it this way, if a person would enjoy playing the game, but does not buy it because its online then that person is an out-dated fool
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
Good luck playing HC. Online only wasn't a big deal to me, but once I died due to massive lag I said screw HC.
Awesome decision, my friend. Because one day, they will pull the plug on the game, and when they do, you are left with a coffee coaster with "Diablo 3" printed on it.
As to the interview itself, Morhaime did nothing impressive here. He should be apologizing here, not justifying.
Diablo 1 was launched December 1996. Online play for Diablo 1 is still supported. By the time they pull the plug on Diablo 3 for Battlenet I'll probably be long dead. They can cremate me with my coffee coaster.
You know what else is suppprted in Diablo 1? *gasp* offline play! Shocking concept... guess which game I will play between fishing and campfires while on vacation? Hint: It's not the one where the devs tell ME how I can play with the game I spent MY cash on.Error: 37. Signature not found. Please connect to my server for signature access.
I have no clue what game you will be playing. I'm guessing it will be one you play alone. Good for you! Single player games are a lot of fun.
After playing quite few MMOs, I actually enjoy social aspoects in games. And since diablo was always lobby room game it suits there nicely and doesn't bother me at all. Maintenances are during nighttime and server issues are long gone for me.
Anyways, if you are solo offline only player, Blizz doesn't want you as customer as simple as that. No idea why all the bad feelings because something isn't for you. Torchlight will be launched soon, it has solo and offline play, should be nice pick.
Well after a month of playing this game got insanely boring very very fast. Lack of build types made the replayability very low. But with that said I am looking foward to seeing the PvP update and other new content for max level characters that doesnt include item hunting.
The first and possibly biggest mistake blizz made with d3 was: forcing you to always be online, and adding an auction house to a game that should not have one at all. I wish i never wasted money on d3 it was the most disapointing piece of shit I have played/bought in recent years. If it had offline single player and lan multiplayer at least so we could mod the game to make it actually decent it'd not be so bad. I bet you if the game didn't have blizzard or diablo 3 on it, it probally wouldn't have gotten higher than a 5/10. But since its blizzard they can throw lots of money around for good reviews. The only way d3 can be made a decent game tbh is if they totally redo it from the ground up to make the game, well actually fun. D3 took themepark to the extreme by even taking away most choices as to char building and such, then again what do you expect when the same idiot who made wow is the one who took over d3 after the d2 team dumped it.
I tried to play d3 but I just didn't see a point the game has 0 replayability, just wasn't fun at all for me (hell the torchlight 2 beta blew diablo 3 clean out of the water from the start in terms of whats most important: the gameplay). Path of exile also blows d3 out of the water in terms of gameplay and fun factor. Normal on path of exile is probally equil to hell diffculty in d3, maybe even inferno in some instances.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Either way, you can't lose! Try it out sometime!
People want offline sp/lan multiplayer and such so they can mod the game, take skyrim for examle, IMO the base skyrim have is pretty shitty, and was a major step backwards for the elder scroll series, however since its offline play you can downbload mods that can change the game entirely, giving you a fresh experence and such, where as d3 will always be stale since you have to wait for blizz to get off their asses and actually put something new in the game. They bascally tried to turn diablo into world of warcraft and it backfired imo. I don't care much for wow, but I have to admit I had more fun playing wow up to lv cap where I quit (I find pve raiding to be pointless without a pvp aspect that uses said pve raid gear). Than I ever have in diablo 3.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Either way, you can't lose! Try it out sometime!
All games can't be all things to all people. Having a modable game would be nice. I know a lot of people would like to be able to do this. Unfortuanately for you and them, this game went a different direction. Better luck with your next game. I'm sure it will have all the features you want, plus won't saddle you with the brand name "Blizzard" to soil your experience.
Not all of the world is blessed with 24/7 fast connections and low pings relative to the location of their servers. But, regardless of that, you miss the most important aspect you can gift to players. Choice.
if you see the words of ceo carefully . he has refused to acknowledge that anything is wrong with the game .instead he is making the same claim that bush made on aircraft carrier that battle has been won .no mention as to what the 1.4 patch will bring . it is total ignorance . i was so much waiting for this game .but i was wise enough to not throw my 60 dollars straight away .i waited for the trial and waited for people feedback. another interesting thing is that they are using wow customer support team to answer queries of diablo 3 which has seen increase in the time that you have to wait before you get the response . almost 5 to 7 days .in some cases even 11 days . blizzard either need to get this game fixed or scrap it out before it eats up the whole company
Want to fix it?
Make it D2 with better graphics and no Korean item mall.
I'm not Asian, that shit won't fly with me.
Riding on your brand name and IP popularity (success from previous games and developer's talent) wil no longer hold you over after this last pile of fail.
You ruined a game some of us have been waiting a decade on.
I already have WoW, I don't need let alone want a slightly different version with a rotated camera and a stylized "Diablo" stuck on some DDS textures.
Then this game isn't for them. It's no different than a new game with high minimum computer specs releasing and someone with a 5 year old computer won't be able to play it. It unfortunate, but that's the way it is. Not "Everyone" will be able to play...but the vast vast vast majority will.
You meantiuon "choice". Well the developers "Chose" to make their game a certain way. Not all choices get to be made by the end user. The sense of entitlement from the current crop of gamers really need to be toned down.
Dont bad-mouth korean item malls, the game is quite far from korean f2p+cashshop or a game with a working economy.
Flame on!
Striaght PR bullshit. Not even a good job at it either.
It has nothing to do with entitlement. But, there was already a precedent set for diablo gameplay. It also isn't about your old computer analogy. There are places where you can't get good internet connections. There isn't a money limiter there. There is not a Diablo3 server located in every corner of the world. Do they put location requirements on the box with the minimum computer requirements? It's already been proven that always on drm does not make a game exploit/cheat proof either. We all know why they really made it an online only game. Greed. They removed a choice to make sure you see and are tempted by the RMAH.
No, but they do say this:
Broadband** Internet connection
Note: Be advised that some wireless connections do not meet the minimums required to be a true Broadband internet connection. Wireless results may vary.
http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/diablo-iii-system-requirements
Edit: I guess that doesn't asnwer your question. But at least they say Broedband is required and people in locations with internet issues will know their own limitations.
And how will you know how bad your pings will be without knowing where the servers are or being able to test a connection. They didn't offer the trial at launch.
This is all besides the point.
Good luck with your crusade.
Internet connection...
where to start...
A) is it in requirements on the box? If yes, then there is no point, if no there is.
Flame on!
Last night I was beginning Act IV on my Wizard and got message that the Server was shutting down.
I logged off and played another game.
I didn't RAGE. I didn't go scream on the forums. I din't go to Metacritic and rate the game a ZERO. I logged off and played something else. Tonight I'll continue with my Wizzard.
Life is good when you don't get all EMO about every inconvenience.