DiabloFans

Quote from Snaks42

Quote from Dezarius

Quote from Pokpokpok

The only things Diablo takes from MMOs is the very rich lore and some basics (leveling, items with stats, abilities). That's it.

There aren't enough classes to make an MMO, and all classes are dps. Diablo is fine the way it is.

Those traits are not entitled to MMO's alone, it's called RPG. So no Diablo doesn't take those things (leveling etc) from MMO's, as RPGs came before that and Diablo is an RPG. If anything they took it from RPGs, but well, as an RPG it would be odd if it didn't have RPG elements.

Anyways, just pointing that out. An MMO is usually an RPG just online, and well MM (massive multiplayer) it's intended to be massive, Diablo for one isn't in that sense. That's what I like, that's how it's a different kind of RPG game that despite that, still is online. For us who prefer to game online and not solo. (not saying that can't be fun.)

But I enjoy the online aspect, and having left MMO's for the first time I have no intention to go back to that again.. so Diablo is just the thing for me now, I can play online without it being this endless worlds with endless possibilities that never end. Diablo is still limited compared. I fancy the idea that this might work as more "Casual Play" for me, and I can keep my online gaming to that extent.

Oh I agree, i left wow and other mmorgs (played everything from aion, rift, WH, blah blah) because it dawned on me one day; This feels like a damn job. When I have to be online at a certain time, for a certain time frame, that's a job. When my success and failure is dependent upon other players, it's no fun. Not saying MMORGS don't have their place, I'm just glad I'm not a part of it anymore.

Ahh, diablo. I can hop on for 10 minutes or 10 hours, doesn't matter. No longer will I be standing around a city, waiting on others before I can play a game. I can get the best possible items by myself if I want, or join with friends.

Yep you can either go hardcore or casual with diablo, and your success will be dependent entirely on your own time =)

Btw, diablo fanboi right here <---

Oh I do agree. Nice to see someone that sees it from the same viewpoint, most just seem to say "if you don't go pro go home" so to say. I play for fun, and I have a daughter, a job and all that. At the end of the day, a game is a game, real life is real life. No matter how you look at it. If something virtual convinces you that it's more than that, then you should reflect on your life for a while, and find out what's best for your future. That's when you'll get your payback, whether it be good or bad.

Depends on what you did with your time, I sure won't look back and regret I spent mine playing games, that I have nothing to show for. That's just my opinion though, and I haven't been so sure of anything since I quit WoW back in August 2010. Had a better life since, got out of the addicting habit of gaming. Well, more the addicting habit of MMO's, but I play close to nothing in general anymore. So I feel it's okay for me to play Diablo casually, I'll just have to keep it that way..

And I want to address some of the things you point out; You said it feels like a damn job, which is exactly how I felt playing, and the part about being too tied down and how you relate to other players. More work than fun really. Nothing wrong with team work and success, but my idea of fun isn't how I can't just enjoy my game laid back, having to watch my every step so I don't mess up for others and it's a big deal if one does. Of course, these people are serious and spend a lot of their time to achieve this, virtual grandeur, so each has to play his part. Maybe there was a time like that for me as well, but I'm just too old and it doesn't suit me.

If I do play games now it is to lay back and have some fun, without having responsibilities even when I'm playing the game.. I have my share of those in real life already haha. A game shouldn't be work per say, progress yes, but it shouldn't feel more like actual work than a game. Then you're playing it more like a sport, if that's what you want sure.

Like you said there is a place for MMO's, but thanks but no thanks. And as you said, it's up to you what amount of time you choose to invest in the game, spend time as you have it. With MMO's it's a little more complicated than so, I for one know I can't play one casually. These games urge you to spend more time, the more you spend the more you'll achieve. If you don't want that, then why play an MMO. Diablo should stay Diablo, there are oh so many options for those of you who want MMO's. This is what sets Diablo apart if you ask me.

Oh and yes I've played a few myself. Started with Anarchy Online, guild wars, wow, age of conan, aion, I'm sure there was a few more.. Anyways here's to Diablo becoming that jolly good funtime to be had, with no strings attached. Haha.

At this point, you could just release it. Because I'm pretty sure most would be happy anyway. But oh well, it's their game. Let's hope they don't forgot it's nothing without it's fans. At least I would like to see a beta, how and how many get invites, and when will the beta REALLY hit. Then I would feel more content right now, cause the beta is what's on everyone's mind.

Simply because at least that's a bone, all we have for now. Beta info please?

From casual reading of various D3 Beta forums I have concluded that the reason there aren't any mass waves of invites going out is because the Beta is riddled with bugs.

Must be nice to work on a project that doesn't have to meet deadlines or schedules and has the mission statement of "when it's done" at some point company execs have to put their foot down and light a fire under the devs team ass!

And I'm really over hearing about how Blizzard only releases fully polished quality products, Diablo 1 & 2 were great games, never saw the big deal about the starcraft and wow games, some of the old Warcraft games were ok but nothing earth shattering, and that's really about it.

I wish Blizzard north were still on the scene still because we would all probably be playing Diablo 5 now and not queuing up for a chance to try out a bug infested beta.

The problem with mmo's and particularly mmo rpg's is you feel like you are committed into logging in so you don't fall behind or hold back your buddies. It almost becomes a really easy fun job, but time consuming as anything. However on the same token these things are the same characteristics of a "great game". I was completely blown away when I switched to wow, even from diablo 2. I had never seen anything even close to as immersing and detailed. There was a social aspect of the game which meets psychological social requirements in the brain, as well as instant gratification and also elements for more hardcore players like world (eventually rated arena) pvp.

The game kicks ass. Unfortunately I think the game kicks so much ass that it kicks your ass while you play it.

I think there's going to be some of that present in any RPG, but once you're interacting with tons of people like you do in everyday life it's hard not to get hooked, cause it's a lot easier to sit there and type/click your mouse than to be employed, date, and hold up other normal social functions/hobbies that would actually help you improve your actual self.

That said, I don't care. I'm playing diablo 3. I've written off mmo's because of my experience in lotro, wow, and warhammer and I know how time consuming and addictive they are. If diablo makes me feel that way I'll drop it too and get back on a healthier game genre like fps or rts where the game starts, 15-30 minutes later the game ends and you put the game down and move on.

At least more people are playing at the same time, hopefully this time next week it will be OVER 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote from snowhammer

I don't think its quite fair to say compare D3's beta to Battlefield 3's beta. One is open and one is closed.

Yeah I agree that wouldn't be fair.. That's not exactly what I was trying to do, but a point-to-point comparison is kind of inevitable I suppose.

Quote from snowhammer

To say "Blizzard's PR should be like this!" and point to a Beta that is structred tottally differently (a competitive, online shooted as aposed to a coopertive RPG) just doesn't work IMHO.

Another good point. I'm not really saying Blizzard should be any particular way, and especially not specifically like any one company. I just think some elements of Blizzard PR are not working, and I wanted to find out what they can do better by comparing them to specific communications by other companies.

Quote from snowhammer

Do I wish they would tell me when waves of invites are going to REALLY start going out? Yes. But if they do tell us "this Friday at 4pm" and then nothing happened they would have to explain what went wrong.

Exactly, they purposefully avoid accountability to their own customers.. which in itself is ok.. but they way they portray that idea to the community (in my opinion) comes off as arrogant and obtuse.

This is where Blizzard sets themselves ahead in quality, but behind in PR. Let's think it though, though. Is their philosophy working?

The idea is, "Hey, if we don't tell them a release date for X, they won't get disappointed and grill us!" Thing is, it doesn't work like that! The community at large still gets really angry when Blizzard takes a long time, and they get super-pissed when *perceived* delays happen (such as DH resource re-write, rune re-writes, etc). They don't tell us it's a delay, but we assume it is.. Because SOMETHING is making this take a long time, and we don't have any useful info as to why that is.

Blizzard LETS US ASSUME THE WORST.. and often, we humans tend to do that.

The negative response is almost exacerbated by the fact that we have NO idea what time impact anything is going to have, because Blizzard, in trying to "save us from the disappointment of a missed deadline" is, in fact, letting us assume the worst.

It's not that we can't handle delays. What we can't handle is being manipulated and mis-directed, which is the only tool to use when hiding things like dates from your customers.

I can't question their game quality, it's obviously top-rate. But since they refuse to talk straight with their loyal customers, I can't have much good to say about their PR.

Quote from Tekkiller

Now, please, point to my OP and tell me where I say:
(1) that Blizzard is lying
(2) make unfounded accusations.

I simply state that confusion exists on the forums, which you even seem to agree to as you admit that there are many threads on the topics out there. To provide a better measure, I asked for a concurrency meter, which some helpful posters (clearly not you) have actually provided.

Being adversarial for the sake of being adversarial also isn't "productive, and it isn't original"

Yea.. this. I'm not really sure why a few people jumped on the 'wtf another whiny poster' bandwagon without actually reading his post. I didn't see any accusations or stuff of that nature, just a logical attempt to pin-point where we are currently in the Beta. By that I mean where we *actually are* not 'Beta invites may go out at any time now, but not for at least a week.' Some people like to know how many people are playing, it gives a much better impression than a meaningless qualitative statement.

Some of us are merely interested in statistical (scientific) data, not everyone who is curious about this information thinks blizzard owes us anything, or feels cheated somehow, just curious, and personally kinda bored waiting for my quantum theory class to start. Some of you need to chill with the rudeness, specially since the OP wasn't.

Quote from Tonikor

Pwnd.

Blizzard has been very clear as to which stage of the beta they are in.

False. I would argue very clear is a quantitative statement, not a qualitative one. ~60 Players in public games consistent for a whole week tells me way more than 'Public Invites will be going out when we are ready to send them out'

Edit: For example this link (http://d3inv.com/) was very helpful.