Around Tristram: Diablo 3 or Bust

First, let’s start with the bust.

Upon the launch of the game, Blizzard’s servers buckled under the popularity and many people saw these sorts of errors crop up. I was one of them – although that’s not my screenshot – there was a plethora of errors that got displayed.

Fortunately, Blizzard managed to get things under better control this week and we’re seeing more stable servers.

They also apologized for their issues.

I’ve been setting myself up with a very nice Witch Doctor. It’s a fun class that in the beginning feels like she plays as a sort of pets + crowd control class. However, as with everything that Diablo 3 does, there’s a lot of different mechanisms that come into play with each of the different skills.

Role can change literally at a level.

I’m not even level 20 yet and I’ve seen: CC, pet-powers, ranged-slow, poisons, melee-drain-tank, …

The in-game graphics are very nice looking.

Alright. That’s a minor spoiler (anyone who got through the beta missed this because it’s the part immediately after the Skeleton King.) Most of the game involved seeking the origin of the fallen star and the blue glow in the cathedral.

Here it is. It’s Tyrael. Anyone who has played Diablo 2 knows who this is and what he represents.

So far, it’s been an excellent experience.

Although truthfully a little bit of the lag can be really frustrating and a bit confusing.

Diablo III: Eschews offline play and adds cash auction house

In an actual that generated a giant swell of vitriol among fans, Diablo III will not have offline play—the entire game and campaign will require an Internet connexion. In related news, a Blizzard executive appears baffled that the fans are very pissed about this.

Also related to this happens to be something that I wrote about which involves the addition of the cash auction house to the game. Something fans have been mixed on.

It’s hard to say exactly how these two elements will change the already extremely popular Diablo franchise or the highly anticipated game; but it’s easy to say that Blizzard, as always, is at the forefront of experimenting with extremely effective business tactics.

No strangers to angering their fans in World of Warcraft; perhaps they just saw it as time to get the goats of their Diablo fans. Many of my friends and peers in the gaming community have already revealed that they may not want to buy D3 due to the online-only move. Still, it’s hard to dismiss the power its popular momentum.

Link, via GameOgre; and link, via SiliconANGLE.