Despite both AH shutting down, Diablo III will continue being an online-only PC game. The confirmation comes from Rock, Paper, Shotgun who talked to a Blizzard representative shortly after the big announcement. You can read the quote by the representative RPS as talked to below, but make sure to read the whole article as well.
DiabloFans Quote:
We do not have plans to implement an offline mode. While the always-online requirement made the auction house possible, the auction house was never the driving factor in our decision to make the PC version of Diablo III require an Internet connection. The game was built from the ground up to take full advantage of Battle.net, which provides a number of important benefits, including persistent server-side character saves, a seamless PC multiplayer experience, cheat prevention, and Real ID and BattleTag social features.
iOS Update May Reset Authenticators
Originally Posted by (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Greetings, everyone!
In just a few hours, Apple will be releasing the latest iOS update as well as the new iPhone. The upcoming iOS update may cause iPhone Mobile Authenticators to reset. When you update your phone's OS, we recommend taking any one of the following precautionary steps:
In just a few hours, Apple will be releasing the latest iOS update as well as the new iPhone. The upcoming iOS update may cause iPhone Mobile Authenticators to reset. When you update your phone's OS, we recommend taking any one of the following precautionary steps:
- Sign up for the free SMS Protect service. In the event of a lost, broken, or accidentally reset authenticator, users with SMS Protect can remove the old authenticator from their account with a texted security code. For more information, visit the SMS Protect FAQ.
- Write down your authenticator's Serial Number and Restore Code so that you may restore your authenticator to your phone after the OS update is finished. You may also wish to take a screenshot of this information.
- Temporarily remove the authenticator before updating. Reattach the authenticator again once your iOS update is complete. You can remove the authenticator through our Web Chat option if necessary by contacting the Blizzard Support page and selecting Battle.net > I have an issue managing my account > I want to remove my authenticator > Live chat. If Live Chat shows offline, refresh the web page and try again.
- Update over Wi-Fi. iPhones that are updated over Wi-Fi rather than through a computer are less prone to accidental resets.
Clarification on the AH, Self-Found and Loot 2.0
Originally Posted by (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
I believe Josh noted this in the video, but making the call to remove the gold and real-money auction house wasn't easy--and it certainly wasn't done in a vacuum. On the one hand, we invested a lot of time and resources into the development of the auction house system, and (for all intents and purposes) the auction houses achieved the goals we originally set for them when they were implemented. We also knew that many players appreciated if not outright enjoyed using the feature, be it because they worked long days and didn't always have time to farm, because they liked having a convenient way to sell off unneeded goods, or because they got a lot of enjoyment "playing" the AH economy. These were all things we considered and debated heavily. (Keep in mind that we actually evaluated different options that would allow us to preserve the auction houses and just diminish their temptation. This one initially one of the big goals of Loot 2.0.)
On the other hand, it's become increasingly clear that despite the benefits the auction houses provide, they ultimately undermine Diablo's core gameplay and warp our ability to deliver a great in-game experience. A big part of Diablo is the thrill of battling demons and finding epic loot. While buying epic loot in the auction houses might be more convenient, it doesn't feel anywhere near as heroic as plowing through a pack of fearsome-looking monsters and having them drop that one awesome item that seems like it was made for your character.
Removing the auction houses is only one part of the equation, though. The other is Loot 2.0, which is aimed at making playing the game the best and most satisfying way to get items. This system focuses on better loot drops, targeted loot drops, and giving players additional ways to customize their items. We feel that these improvements, along with the removal of the auction houses, will improve the overall gameplay experience for all of our players and help address the initial loot concerns voiced by our community.
Now, we still have a lot of technical and mechanical details to work out, but we'll be sharing all that info once it's available.
TL;DR: The decision to remove the gold and real-money auction house wasn't about validating "self-found" or invalidating those who enjoyed using the auction house. That's a very binary way of looking at things, and I would sincerely encourage players to avoid falling into the whole "we win/you lose" trap. Locking this up.
On the other hand, it's become increasingly clear that despite the benefits the auction houses provide, they ultimately undermine Diablo's core gameplay and warp our ability to deliver a great in-game experience. A big part of Diablo is the thrill of battling demons and finding epic loot. While buying epic loot in the auction houses might be more convenient, it doesn't feel anywhere near as heroic as plowing through a pack of fearsome-looking monsters and having them drop that one awesome item that seems like it was made for your character.
Removing the auction houses is only one part of the equation, though. The other is Loot 2.0, which is aimed at making playing the game the best and most satisfying way to get items. This system focuses on better loot drops, targeted loot drops, and giving players additional ways to customize their items. We feel that these improvements, along with the removal of the auction houses, will improve the overall gameplay experience for all of our players and help address the initial loot concerns voiced by our community.
Now, we still have a lot of technical and mechanical details to work out, but we'll be sharing all that info once it's available.
TL;DR: The decision to remove the gold and real-money auction house wasn't about validating "self-found" or invalidating those who enjoyed using the auction house. That's a very binary way of looking at things, and I would sincerely encourage players to avoid falling into the whole "we win/you lose" trap. Locking this up.
Paragon 2.0 Q&A
One of the many hot topics at the moment is Paragon 2.0 and the Community Managers took some time to discuss it, turning a few forum threads into a kind of Q&A session.
Originally Posted by (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Apologies if this has been asked and answered. Have only heard speculation so far. Any chance of getting info on what will happen when we reach a new paragon level but have maxed out categories to allocate points? Thanks!
The Paragon 2.0 system is still under development, but there are currently four different categories for players to allocate their Paragon points into: Core Stats, Offensive, Defensive, and Adventure.
Three out of the four categories (Offensive, Defensive, and Adventure) can be maxed out if you put a total of 200 points into each of those categories. Any excess Paragon levels earned after these categories have been maxed out will still grant a Paragon point, but you will only be able to spend these excess points in the Core Stat category. The Core Stat category will allow you to choose between added Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Vitality.
No cap on attributes, nice. Any word as to if they can be reallocated?
They can indeed! Players will be able to re-spec their Paragon points at any time.
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Just returning to the forums after hearing rmah closing later on and wanted to ask what is the plan for paragon levels come xpac? Did Blizz specify?
I'm going to move this thread on over to the Reaper of Souls Discussion forum since it's more appropriate there.
Paragon 2.0 is still under development, but in its current implementation all Normal characters on an account will share one combined Paragon level, and all Hardcore characters will share a separate overall Paragon level.
Rather than capping out at Paragon level 100, you'll instead be able to earn as many Paragon levels as you please, and rather than earning the innate bonuses granted by Paragon levels, you'll instead earn Paragon Points each time you level up. You'll be able to spend and respecc these points however you like in order to boost up various stats in four different categories: Core Stats, Offensive, Defensive, and Adventure. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
I've seen a lot of speculation/infos on paragon 2.0 patch and there's one thing I'd really like to know if someone got an answer to it. According to a post from a bliz member I saw in another thread (can't find where since it was quite some time ago), paragon player 100 will be rewarded according to the time they spent playing. Does that mean that if I am paragon 100 and I keep farming with this account, I can still accumulate the overall experience points for my account?
Well the actual question I really want answered is : Do I have to create multiple duplicate characters and level them to gain benefits on the overall paragon level patch coming, or can I keep playing my main character that is already paragon 100 and still get the benefits of the experience I will gain?
Any answer would suit me, but I really like playing my barbarian and I'd like to know if I need to create another one like everyone or should I keep using my main.
Thanks to anyone that has an answer!
Else, have fun and keep playing!
We're still working out some of the finer details regarding Paragon 2.0, but our intention is to remove the cap on Paragon levels, so after Paragon 2.0 is implemented, you can continue playing and leveling up your Barbarian if that's what suits you.
In the meantime, the highest amount of "stored" Paragon experience you can have for one character is the current cap, which is Paragon level 100.
(Edited the last sentence for clarity.)
So the following quote means that having two level 100 paragons was a waste =/
Not at all. With the way the system works right now, we'll first start by adding up Paragon experience across all your heroes of specific type. That cumulative experience will then be applied to the new Paragon leveling curve to determine what your Shared Paragon level will be. Depending on how many characters you have and what Paragon levels they are at the time Paragon 2.0 goes live, it's definitely possible that your Shared Paragon level will be above 100 (remember that we're removing the cap on Paragon at the same time). So, a player with 2 or 3 p100 characters will certainly be farther along than, say, a player with only 1 or 0.
(Note that Shared Paragon levels are broken down by game type, though. By this I mean that all of your Normal characters will share a unified Paragon level and all of your Hardcore characters will share a unified Paragon level.)
* In case someone asks, the experience curve for Paragon 2.0 is still under development, so I can't give you an exact conversion just yet.
The original post to which Vaeflare is responding clearly asks whether or not experience will continue to accumulate on a P100 character. It will not. However, there have been several blue posts which clearly state that the total amount of paragon experience on your account will be used to calculate your account-wide paragon level - which means that having 2x P100 characters will grant you a paragon level somewhere above P100 when the new system is introduced.
Correct. The questions was "if I am paragon 100 and I keep farming with this account, [can I] still accumulate the overall experience points for my account?" The answer is no. At present, once characters reach Paragon 100, they will no longer continue to accrue Paragon experience.
Sorry for the confusion! As a side note, Travis Day went into Paragon 2.0 details and philosophy a little more here, if you’re curious:http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/9882180012#9
Without being shot down by " Ugnnn pc is better, you suck', Are these changes likely to happen on the console versions?
Still TBD. Similar to the answer we give whenever asked "Will you bring 'X' from the console to PC?" the same applies when considering whether or not we will bring PC features to console. If it makes sense for that particular platform, will benefit the gameplay, and can actually be translated over in a seamless way, then yes. If not, then no. (Generally speaking.)
But to answer your question directly: We'd love to eventually bring Reaper of Souls and related changes to console. I don't have any details to share beyond that (I mean, we just shipped Diablo III on the PS3 and Xbox 360 this month), but it's definitely a goal.
Thank you for the clarification.
Mah pleasure! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The Paragon 2.0 system is still under development, but there are currently four different categories for players to allocate their Paragon points into: Core Stats, Offensive, Defensive, and Adventure.
Three out of the four categories (Offensive, Defensive, and Adventure) can be maxed out if you put a total of 200 points into each of those categories. Any excess Paragon levels earned after these categories have been maxed out will still grant a Paragon point, but you will only be able to spend these excess points in the Core Stat category. The Core Stat category will allow you to choose between added Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Vitality.
No cap on attributes, nice. Any word as to if they can be reallocated?
They can indeed! Players will be able to re-spec their Paragon points at any time.
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)Just returning to the forums after hearing rmah closing later on and wanted to ask what is the plan for paragon levels come xpac? Did Blizz specify?
I'm going to move this thread on over to the Reaper of Souls Discussion forum since it's more appropriate there.
Paragon 2.0 is still under development, but in its current implementation all Normal characters on an account will share one combined Paragon level, and all Hardcore characters will share a separate overall Paragon level.
Rather than capping out at Paragon level 100, you'll instead be able to earn as many Paragon levels as you please, and rather than earning the innate bonuses granted by Paragon levels, you'll instead earn Paragon Points each time you level up. You'll be able to spend and respecc these points however you like in order to boost up various stats in four different categories: Core Stats, Offensive, Defensive, and Adventure. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
I've seen a lot of speculation/infos on paragon 2.0 patch and there's one thing I'd really like to know if someone got an answer to it. According to a post from a bliz member I saw in another thread (can't find where since it was quite some time ago), paragon player 100 will be rewarded according to the time they spent playing. Does that mean that if I am paragon 100 and I keep farming with this account, I can still accumulate the overall experience points for my account?
Well the actual question I really want answered is : Do I have to create multiple duplicate characters and level them to gain benefits on the overall paragon level patch coming, or can I keep playing my main character that is already paragon 100 and still get the benefits of the experience I will gain?
Any answer would suit me, but I really like playing my barbarian and I'd like to know if I need to create another one like everyone or should I keep using my main.
Thanks to anyone that has an answer!
Else, have fun and keep playing!
We're still working out some of the finer details regarding Paragon 2.0, but our intention is to remove the cap on Paragon levels, so after Paragon 2.0 is implemented, you can continue playing and leveling up your Barbarian if that's what suits you.
In the meantime, the highest amount of "stored" Paragon experience you can have for one character is the current cap, which is Paragon level 100.
(Edited the last sentence for clarity.)
So the following quote means that having two level 100 paragons was a waste =/
Not at all. With the way the system works right now, we'll first start by adding up Paragon experience across all your heroes of specific type. That cumulative experience will then be applied to the new Paragon leveling curve to determine what your Shared Paragon level will be. Depending on how many characters you have and what Paragon levels they are at the time Paragon 2.0 goes live, it's definitely possible that your Shared Paragon level will be above 100 (remember that we're removing the cap on Paragon at the same time). So, a player with 2 or 3 p100 characters will certainly be farther along than, say, a player with only 1 or 0.
(Note that Shared Paragon levels are broken down by game type, though. By this I mean that all of your Normal characters will share a unified Paragon level and all of your Hardcore characters will share a unified Paragon level.)
* In case someone asks, the experience curve for Paragon 2.0 is still under development, so I can't give you an exact conversion just yet.
The original post to which Vaeflare is responding clearly asks whether or not experience will continue to accumulate on a P100 character. It will not. However, there have been several blue posts which clearly state that the total amount of paragon experience on your account will be used to calculate your account-wide paragon level - which means that having 2x P100 characters will grant you a paragon level somewhere above P100 when the new system is introduced.
Correct. The questions was "if I am paragon 100 and I keep farming with this account, [can I] still accumulate the overall experience points for my account?" The answer is no. At present, once characters reach Paragon 100, they will no longer continue to accrue Paragon experience.
Sorry for the confusion! As a side note, Travis Day went into Paragon 2.0 details and philosophy a little more here, if you’re curious:http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/9882180012#9
Without being shot down by " Ugnnn pc is better, you suck', Are these changes likely to happen on the console versions?
Still TBD. Similar to the answer we give whenever asked "Will you bring 'X' from the console to PC?" the same applies when considering whether or not we will bring PC features to console. If it makes sense for that particular platform, will benefit the gameplay, and can actually be translated over in a seamless way, then yes. If not, then no. (Generally speaking.)
But to answer your question directly: We'd love to eventually bring Reaper of Souls and related changes to console. I don't have any details to share beyond that (I mean, we just shipped Diablo III on the PS3 and Xbox 360 this month), but it's definitely a goal.
Thank you for the clarification.
Mah pleasure! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
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Posted Sep 18, 2013Erm isn't this news ? Well at least it is to me, finaly i know how it'll work, i'm ok with it.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013And shoot...I updated my iOS before removing my Authenticator. I dunno what happened to my bnet settings yet, hopefully it's okay.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013This is a BIG mistake. In fact the AHs should be kept if the offline mode was implement as one AH-free system, The worst part is seeing machines weaker than a PC running the game in offline mode, and the PC locked out.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013Its' definitely news. The initial gamescom screen shot showed a max of 50 points into each core stat. I guess they decided to uncap those which is nice as there's always some kind of progression.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013-
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Posted Sep 19, 2013-
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Posted Sep 19, 2013The difference is that you can place those points into whichever stats you want. So instead of having useless Dex on a barbarian, you can put those Dex points into Str/Vit and get a lot more value for your levels.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013They likely still haven't a clue themselves.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013I really want to see the affix being removed completely. Not just on new items, also from all existing items. MF became a stupid requirement and created an extremely artificial gap. There was even no choice in whether or not to get MF.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013I like how it was implemented in Van Helsing.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013Initially, I was really excited about the AH and what it meant--for all the reasons that it was pitched when it was announced. I'll agree that it made gear more accessible, that it saved time and rewarded casual players, that it gave us another mini-game to fool with, and all that other stuff. But for all these little things that it did, it just ripped out the soul of what I found fun for over a decade in 2 and to some degree in 1.
It simply removed the need for any form of communication. You don't need to ask anyone what optimal stats are--overall or for a given goal--because you could just look up the best-selling gear and glean the information from that. You didn't need to barter with anyone, which was a big part of the trading experience in the older games (it has its downs, yes, but it also has its ups).
Because of the brevity of the endgame (which there is basically none of) in this one and the others, trade and PvP became the only real reasons to talk in channels--you know, those things that are basically empty 24/7 on D3. With hardly any PvP to speak of--despite the tantalizing features we glimpsed for a BlizzCon or two before launch--trade is the only real dialog that even has a chance in this game, and that's gone, too.
Yes, this will mean a lot of spamming if no alternative trade route is created. But I don't really look at that as a bad thing, now. No one talks, anyway, so it's not like anything important would be spammed out.
Part of the fun is figuring out what you need, doing everything you can to find a buyer or seller, haggling the price, figuring out the market, and learning the street language. Doing all of this also encourages making friends and actually talking with them regularly. We don't even need to talk to friends, anymore--the game tells us exactly what they're doing and lets us hop in without a thought. Questing and killing is so streamlined, so linear, that nothing needs to be said. It's easy to forget you're playing with people. There's a lot of players that hate that this game is online-only--I can barely tell the difference.
I miss all of that. If it weren't for the bots, I'd probably still be playing Diablo 2. (Arguably, the gameplay is much better in 3, too, but gameplay isn't the only selling point in a game for me.)
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Posted Sep 19, 2013I usually try to stay away from using overly strong language when voicing my dislike of something, but this...I'm sorry...this is some of the biggest loads of bull**** I have heard from Blizzard, though sadly that seems to be par for the course. The AH WAS the driving factor because they HAD to keep people from finding ways to hack and abuse it with an offline mode that gave them access to so much more than what we have now. Even more so with the fact that there was a RMAH involved and you can bet that if someone had found a way to screw around with that through unscrupulous means and stole items/money that Blizzard would've really been up the ****creek without a paddle or life jacket when it came to people suing them for lost goods/money or credit card numbers or whatever. It just boggles my mind that they honestly believe that this statement will (and sadly it will) convince people that it's the other things they mention as the driving forces as to why they wanted the game to be online only and DRM put in...bull-*******-****.
Big deal on server-side character saves, and Battle Net 2.0 is a terrible abomination compared to the original Battle Net and that's saying nothing about the horrendous GUI for chat channels and communications in general. So bare bones minimum and it's going to get even worse with the removal of the AHs and trading needing other avenues, and that's saying nothing about just wanting to make games for public or for friends. So far the Real ID and 'social features' have been sorely lacking and the only real thing that has had any real use is the 'cheat prevention', and even then that seems sketchy now and then, which just makes me shake my head even further. Add to that you have the console versions which clearly have an offline mode and no AHs to be seen...so WHY can't the PC version get the same thing now that the AHs will be gone?
It just reeks of poorly thought out and pathetic PR spin that's rivaling some of the stupid stuff that Microsoft spouted out with their whole XBox One E3 conference and the whole "Buy an XBox 360 if you can't get stable/good Internet". I can't say I 'fail to understand' why Blizzard is keeping the game online only...I see why...I see it and it just makes me shake my head at how ******* stupid it is.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013The most important thing to any game designer is the gamer's experience. Cheats, dupes, hacks and stuff like this in a game that is essentially just about loot kill this experience (ever played Torchlight? An amazing game but after ~15 hours you're done because it's easier to cheat than not to cheat).
I feel really sorry for people with bad Internet connection (and I'm not talking about those who are too lazy to pause their Bittorrent, but those who live in areas or countries with bad latency in general, like our Brazilian friends). But for those who want a dupe-/hack-/cheat-free environment, the online only mode is the best thing that ever happened. And to be honest, if that's the only remaining thing someone hates about Diablo 3, just buy D3 for console.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013If by leaving the game online to give us more features and reduce the combat with cheats and hax, i think its the right call.
some people who want offline mode, don't even know WHY they want offline mode, they just want to say something to include themselves with the angry mob.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013I couldn't agree more. I think MF is a wasted itemization slot. I think needing specific gear to find better gear is a poor design.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013So, so much this. I wish I could up-vote your post more than one time. I think this .gif pretty much sums it up: http://i.imgur.com/g8r5wmN.gif.
I am still really very frustrated over how Blizzard treated D3 players on some many things, including the biggies - RAH and GMAH. Always-online does not make for a stronger multi-player experience - one player in the game with a degraded connection causes problems for the other players in the group. Always-online makes for a crap experience in solo play, too, when a family member hops on to my wi-fi or starts downloading a big file (for example, a WoW patch) when I'm connected via ethernet.
I also don't need the game saving my character to the server as often. The only real reason for the amount of "persistent server-side character saves" was for the players who used RAH and, especially, GMAH to buy gear for their characters. Imagine the b****-fest from those players when something happened to the characters they spent real dough on. But the RAH and GMAH are going away next year!
Which leads into the "full advantage of Battle.net" statement. Did anyone else think of the Steam-like game launcher which currently is in beta? Or how Blizzard stated and followed through on making B.net work with importing Facebook contacts? Or the recently tested tech for a World of Warcraft in-game store? "Full advantage" here means (and I don't think this an unreasonable conclusion considering other actions and words) leveraging the tech so they can make money. I'm not against a business making money, but when they are jack***** about how they make money then I take issue.
(As a related side-note, who on Earth does Blizzard think its fooling about cheat prevention? Cheating and duping and other shenanigans are still very prevalent in the game. Always-online has done little in protecting against cheating.)
What is disturbing to me is how sharing information about yourself and what you are doing and when you are doing it has become so much of a social norm that desiring something offline is somehow wrong and potentially deviant. I just want to play a game that isn't always reporting back to its masters. Games don't need that. When I wanted to play with friends - real friends and not the diluted version of the word - for D1, I held fun LAN parties. Blizzard helped make that fun happen then... why can't it do it now?
Dumping the auction houses is a start, but there is so much further to go before I would be willing to pick the game back up.
TL;DR Yes I am bitter.
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Posted Sep 19, 2013get proper internet or move to a city country boy...
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Posted Sep 20, 2013So, how would this player with a degraded connection benefit from having offline mode while playing in your group? I mean, he has to be online in order to play with you anyways. If the game would just use a direct IP connect for online play, you'd have the same problems. Online-only is not the problem here, the crappy connection/PC of your friend is.
I agree that there are some valid arguments against online-only, but this ain't one of them.
Despite whatever has been said, the only reason for server-side character saves is cheat prevention. And it worked.
Cheating and duping are prevalent? That's news. Any proof for that claim? The only dupes we have seen were those from rollbacks, and this isn't possible anymore since rollback items are BoA now. Considering that this game is out for 15 months I'm actually happy to see almost none of the BiS items being duped (except for a few top items a year ago due to the rollback service, but it's nowhere near "prevalent").
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Posted Sep 20, 2013The amount of duping in the PC version of D3 is minimal, it's nothing compared to what it would be if it ever went offline. The only thing that's rampant is botting, but that is a whole different story. Also, I have long accepted that modding will not be a part of Diablo 3, and even though I realize such a feature would keep the game fresh for a long time, it is something I can certainly live without if the original content is good enough.
Of course it would be amazing to play without latency, rubberbanding and fear of disconnects, especially since I mostly play hardcore, but it seems to me that Blizzard will never do an offline mode for D3.
PoE is always online as well, and Blizzard seems to be taking the route GGG took, probably offering us an in-game store to buy transmorg stuff, vanity pets, dyes and so on, now that the AH is going to be shut down. I firmly believe they intend to keep Diablo 3 online only for good, and that people should just learn to accept that and move on.