I'm just curious to see how many people plan on playing the starter edition before deciding to buy it. I most likely will buy the digital version a day or 2 before release.
was wondering that myself, Im sure we will get information about this soon. But I indeed wonder how long after release (if not at release) it will go live. I know we had at least two blue posts about the starter edition, and wanting it close to release, ill try to find one now for clarification.
We probably won't end beta until shortly before release, and traditionally we've tried to announce release dates about two months before release. I couldn't speculate how invites might ramp up or down when the beta finally comes to a close, it definitely is not coming to a close yet though.
Bashiok did say there was a strong possibility of a demo after release
We'll probably make a trial edition at some point. It's sort of a demo I suppose, but it's a bit better because it's essentially the full game just with locks put on certain areas. So you'd be able to jump into multiplayer games with your friends, but maybe you wouldn't be able to play beyond a certain place and wouldn't have access to all the game systems (certainly not auction houses) but if you choose to buy the game all that stuff just unlocks.
I hope they don't do that at least not if the servers are going to be laggy as they were in the beta during stress tests (I don't want stress tests on release day, I want smooth gameplay).
Starter Edition players can wait a couple weeks more.
I just post something here due to what I just found what.
It looks like the starter edition WILL BE ready at release (that does not mean they will have it up at live, but that it CAN be up right at live)
the reasons we got the starter edition bug today, looks like it is due to the fact the beta is now on live diablo realms (in US) or at least the battle.net (due to realid and battle.tag working)
I just post something here due to what I just found what.
It looks like the starter edition WILL BE ready at release (that does not mean they will have it up at live, but that it CAN be up right at live)
the reasons we got the starter edition bug today, looks like it is due to the fact the beta is now on live diablo realms (in US) or at least the battle.net (due to realid and battle.tag working)
It's likely that they'll wait about a month or so before releasing the starter edition. Otherwise some people might not buy the game at launch and decide to just try it beforehand. And 1st day sales are one of the most important things to a gaming company.
It would be cool if the starter edition was available at launch. Also, I wonder if your starter edition characters will exist after you upgrade to full version.
I want to purchase a physical copy of the game, and I may not have time to go to a game store until the weekend. It would be awesome if I could play the starter edition and level up my characters and then just upgrade after I get the cdkey.
May as well just release it at launch. No matter what the servers are going to most likely crash and be pretty laggy. I remember when D2 launched battle.net was so laggy I had to play on open battle.net because it was less laggy. Little did I know what I stepped into haha.
Also, I wonder if your starter edition characters will exist after you upgrade to full version.
I want to purchase a physical copy of the game, and I may not have time to go to a game store until the weekend. It would be awesome if I could play the starter edition and level up my characters and then just upgrade after I get the cdkey.
They will. Starter edition is just the regular version with locks on certain areas and features (as described in the above blue post). It'll be exactly like the WoW starter edition, if you're familiar with that.
You can level up to a certain level, do maybe some of the first Act, then you'll be barred from continuing. If you were to purchase the full version you could take that same character and do the rest of the game with no restrictions.
May as well just release it at launch. No matter what the servers are going to most likely crash and be pretty laggy. I remember when D2 launched battle.net was so laggy I had to play on open battle.net because it was less laggy. Little did I know what I stepped into haha.
As great a game D2 was, I prefer to think Blizzard has improved every flaw of D2 for D3... including internet play and lag.
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Blizzard used to care about releasing Diablo III, then they all took an arrow in the knee...
I hope they don't do that at least not if the servers are going to be laggy as they were in the beta during stress tests (I don't want stress tests on release day, I want smooth gameplay).
Starter Edition players can wait a couple weeks more.
man you blow my mind...id love to try starter edition before buying it on day one. stop being so selfish! gosh
May as well just release it at launch. No matter what the servers are going to most likely crash and be pretty laggy. I remember when D2 launched battle.net was so laggy I had to play on open battle.net because it was less laggy. Little did I know what I stepped into haha.
As great a game D2 was, I prefer to think Blizzard has improved every flaw of D2 for D3... including internet play and lag.
I would like to think that but fact it took them 6+ months to even put chat channels in bnet2.0 I am skeptical. I don't remember what SC2 launch was like, it wasn't nearly as bad as D2 but there also was less people in a game.
I don't play SC2, but I've heard there was quite a lot of issues, and whatever those were I'm quite sure Blizzard has done whatever they could to prevent similar shit.
You would think but they have had issues at launch with every game thus far. It isn't unreasonable either, I mean a million+ people will be logging in at once. I wouldn't want to have to maintain that network.
I hope they don't do that at least not if the servers are going to be laggy as they were in the beta during stress tests (I don't want stress tests on release day, I want smooth gameplay).
Just because the server may have been changed to the actual live server hub doesn't mean that it is representative of how the game will play. A realm (US, EU, SEA etc) is composed of many seperate servers that interact with each other, and for the sake of beta, you don't need full access to all servers of a realm. When the servers are being stress-tested, Blizzard gets data on how many people can fit onto one server before it becomes laggy, and when it finally crashes. This gives Blizzard numbers to work with when it comes to allocating servers for D3.
If recent Blizz releases are any indication, the only bottleneck we can expect are login servers, but those can be manipulated to prioritize license owners over testers. The actual gameplay was pretty stellar though for WoW and SC2, and those games had big crowds waiting at the floodgates as well
Login servers are indeed a huge bottleneck. And SC2 was pretty good indeed.
I will not be buying the game until I know how my internet works with the game. $60 for me is a lot money and I do not have any other option for the internet that I can afford. If I can download the Open Beta and get to play before the close of the Open Beta then I might buy before hand. It depends on how much play time I get. If the game had offline mode than I would buy it at launch.
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I most likely will buy the digital version a day or 2 before release.
was wondering that myself, Im sure we will get information about this soon. But I indeed wonder how long after release (if not at release) it will go live. I know we had at least two blue posts about the starter edition, and wanting it close to release, ill try to find one now for clarification.
edit: here we go
http://www.diablofans.com/news/1045-weapon-throw-q1-not-confirmed-bashiok-on-beta-timeline-and-demo-bestbuy-release-countdown/
Official Blizzard Quote:
We probably won't end beta until shortly before release, and traditionally we've tried to announce release dates about two months before release. I couldn't speculate how invites might ramp up or down when the beta finally comes to a close, it definitely is not coming to a close yet though.
Bashiok did say there was a strong possibility of a demo after release
We'll probably make a trial edition at some point. It's sort of a demo I suppose, but it's a bit better because it's essentially the full game just with locks put on certain areas. So you'd be able to jump into multiplayer games with your friends, but maybe you wouldn't be able to play beyond a certain place and wouldn't have access to all the game systems (certainly not auction houses) but if you choose to buy the game all that stuff just unlocks.
Not sure if anything after that.
Starter Edition players can wait a couple weeks more.
It looks like the starter edition WILL BE ready at release (that does not mean they will have it up at live, but that it CAN be up right at live)
the reasons we got the starter edition bug today, looks like it is due to the fact the beta is now on live diablo realms (in US) or at least the battle.net (due to realid and battle.tag working)
Ha. Bagstone.
I want to purchase a physical copy of the game, and I may not have time to go to a game store until the weekend. It would be awesome if I could play the starter edition and level up my characters and then just upgrade after I get the cdkey.
You can level up to a certain level, do maybe some of the first Act, then you'll be barred from continuing. If you were to purchase the full version you could take that same character and do the rest of the game with no restrictions.
As great a game D2 was, I prefer to think Blizzard has improved every flaw of D2 for D3... including internet play and lag.
Amazon listed may 18th... :-/
I feel better now. Thanks