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You cannot play Diablo 2 resurrected after 30 days of being offline

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Re: You cannot play Diablo 2 resurrected after 30 days of being offline

#161

Post by Sverigevader »

rickosborne wrote: post #152
alickz wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consumers need to demand better refund systems from the big console makers. On Steam if you don't like a game, or if it doesn't work for you, you can get a full refund no questions asked as long as it's within 14 days and with less than 2 hours playtime. In certain circumstances they even give refunds after 2 hours playtime (e.g. you spend 2+ hours debugging the game and trying to get it to run) This should be standa…

> On Steam if you don't like a game, or if it doesn't work for you, you can get a full refund no questions asked as long as it's within 14 days and with less than 2 hours playtime. There's a hole here: that 14 days is from time of _purchase_ not _access_. I preordered _Humankind_ a month or two before launch, because it was listed as supporting MacOS. At launch, it didn't. It didn't get Mac support until 3 weeks late…

>Refunds on Pre-Purchased Titles

>When you pre-purchase a title on Steam (and have paid for the title in advance), you can request a refund at any time prior to release of that title. The standard 14-day/two-hour refund period also applies, starting on the game’s release date.[1]

I'm not going to debate you on the importance of being careful with preorders, especially outside of Steam, but this is the case as it stands right now.

I do however remember reading something like your scenario a long while ago, perhaps even so far back as to the beginning of Steam Refunds.

[1] https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

Re: You cannot play Diablo 2 resurrected after 30 days of being offline

#162

Post by mdp2021 »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #94

I know folks on this site don't like it, but in the wider gaming community, there is essentially no demand among legitimate buyers for an always offline gaming option. We have access to the internet almost no matter where we are, or can easily get it. Why should we care if a game needs to check in periodically? What harm is it likely to do to any given legitimate buyer? It's almost certainly worth it to Blizzard to l…

> there is essentially no demand

And? You remove the 'Z' key from the keyboard because it is the least used letter?

> we have access to the internet almost no matter where we are, or can easily get it

No, not everywhere - secondarily. Primarily, some people keep some devices airgapped, and only specialized ones online.

> Why should we care if a game needs to check in periodically?

Because it is absurd - the worst sin.

Re: You cannot play Diablo 2 resurrected after 30 days of being offline

#163

Post by mdp2021 »

anthonypasq wrote: post #111
salamandersauce wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens when Activision decides its no longer worth keeping the server up? Or some other problem occurs keeping it from checking in, e.g. death of Nintendo Switch Online. I can still play Gameboy games I bought 20+ years ago with no problems besides maybe replacing the save battery and the occasional contact clean. Will I be able to do the same with Switch games I bought? For some titles that already seems to be…

well the Diablo 2 servers have been online continuously for over 20 years already, so I'm not exactly sure this is a valid concern for the vast majority of people.

> I'm not exactly sure this is a valid concern for the vast majority of people

If people do not note the reason for concern in being dependent from third party infrastructure for having a purchased good in working state, their societies have immense problems.

> valid concern ... vast majority of people

Absurd. The concern is valid irregardless of the individual.

Re: You cannot play Diablo 2 resurrected after 30 days of being offline

#164

Post by hlbjhblbljib »

ddtaylor wrote: post #26
marcus_holmes wrote: post #7

At this point I'm just not buying anything by the dumpster fire that used to be Blizzard.

Most of us don't care and we just want to play vidya games.

Would be nice to only play good ones. If only you could predict the experience you'd have by the developer.

Re: You cannot play Diablo 2 resurrected after 30 days of being offline

#165

Post by mdp2021 »

ddtaylor wrote: post #147
AlwaysRock wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are getting down voted but that is what most players care about it. It's the reason COD and every 2K or sports game gets worse every year. It's the reason Pokemon somehow continues to become more and more souless. It's the reason companies can put out shit and still print money.

Firstly, I'm not concerned with being downvoted. Reminding people of the reality we actually live in isn't always popular. People enjoy being outraged and love to hate on big companies like Activision, yet they will and do continue to buy their products in massive numbers. There is a disconnect between what the public says and what they actually do.

> People enjoy being outraged

Very certainly not. Some people are probably perverts as you indicate. Others are just outraged legitimately, making it a statement and acting accordingly.

So, no, some people will not accept being part of it.

> People ... yet they will and do continue to buy

You are fighting a strawman if you focus on those few or many that pollute the market. And you seem to be supporting both a polluted market and its supporters.

Re: You cannot play Diablo 2 resurrected after 30 days of being offline

#166

Post by mdp2021 »

KyleBerezin wrote: post #135
daneel_w wrote: post #90

What is the actual effect? Are your characters deleted? Is your legally purchased copy (license) of the game forfeited?

This is the kind of question that should be the top comment on HN. I'm surprised to see so much jumping on the bandwagon for an obviously exaggerated claim. note: I am not defending what blizzard is doing.

The points are

-- that they are mandating your machine to be online, and

-- that the working state of the product will depend on infrastructure outside your power

and possibly more.

Re: You cannot play Diablo 2 resurrected after 30 days of being offline

#167

Post by mdp2021 »

ddtaylor wrote: post #148
Majromax wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see any explanation about 30-day online requirements at your link. However, you may have provided the wrong link: the FAQ is about a technical alpha build rather than the full release.

> PLEASE NOTE: Although the Technical Alpha is single-player, an internet connection is still required to download the client and play the single-player in the test. The final game will permit off-line play in single-player mode, but you will be required to connect to the internet periodically to check for updates.

> but you will be required to connect to the internet periodically to check for updates

"But you will be required to return to the reseller with your purchased goods [shoes / book / trolley ...] periodically for a check"

The point is not that the clause exists, the point is that the clause is absurd and indefensible.

Re: You cannot play Diablo 2 resurrected after 30 days of being offline

#168

Post by autoexec »

hlbjhblbljib wrote: post #164
ddtaylor wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of us don't care and we just want to play vidya games.

Would be nice to only play good ones. If only you could predict the experience you'd have by the developer.

You could always just wait. I'm only now working my way through the PS3 library and I could look up which games were considered the best on that platform, each title was ~$10 on average, that price often included a bunch of DLC, and every game is as patched as it's ever going to be. I'm playing Uncharted 3 right now which I picked up for $4. The box says that it includes $45 worth of DLC and on install it downloaded over 500MB of patches (which the internet tells me were very badly needed). I get all the fun and none of the frustration at a tiny fraction of the price

Once I run out of PS3 games I'll pick up a PS5 and work through the PS4 games that were actually worth it.

Re: You cannot play Diablo 2 resurrected after 30 days of being offline

#169

Post by crtasm »

lithos wrote: post #144
tehbeard wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have numbers or links to hand, but i've seen this issue brought up by a number of indie devs. > so it’s not a lost sale Refunds probably count negatively to your rep. with a store.

Developers are responsible for all card fees related to refunds, fraud, and scams. Some indie devs are seeing Steam cuts of 46% due to fraud purchases and refunds. The Steam store is also set up so that “the customer wins” so heavily that most devs are afraid of clawing back fraud keys (since they’re going to turn into negative reviews, or the key fraudsters get revenge by targeting their game more heavily).

> Some indie devs are seeing Steam cuts of 46% due to fraud purchases and refunds.

Which devs and are they selling enough copies for 46% to be a meaningful amount?

Re: You cannot play Diablo 2 resurrected after 30 days of being offline

#170

Post by crtasm »

baud147258 wrote: post #127
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Steam tracks that without DRM, too. Yes and no. They can track play time when you launch a game through the Steam client, and they can use DRM to enforce launching games through the Steam client. If you launch one of the few DRM-Free Steam games without using Steam, your play time won’t increase. GOG also tracks play time if you launch a game via GOG Galaxy. The difference is, every single-player game in their cata…

> the difference is, every single-player game in their catalog can also be played without GOG Galaxy From my (admittedly limited) experience with GOG games and Galaxy, only games downloaded via the GOG website (with 'offline backup game installers') can be launched without Galaxy; games installed with Galaxy will force Galaxy to be running alongside it

I recently installed Galaxy and used it to install 4 games from my library, testing now they all load up without Galaxy running.
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