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Diablo 3 patch limits new players from accessing entire game for up to 72 hours
I'm just gonna put this here..
Diablo 3 update 1.0.3 restricts new players who've bought the title online from accessing the entire game for up to 72 hours, Blizzard has announced.
New copies purchased through Blizzard's online store will initially be restricted to the game's Starter Edition. Here's what that means:
- Act I up to the Skeleton King is available
- Level 13 cap
- Matchmaking available only with other Starter Edition players
- No Auction House access (Real Money or Gold)
- Global Play is not available
- Players attempting to connect to Diablo III Starter Edition in a region other than their Battle.net account's home region will receive Error 12
A support agent, as spotted by Kotaku, then popped up on the Diablo 3 forum to explain why it's decided to implement the measure.
"Digital purchases do require a review period before they kick over from Starter to Full editions. We apologise for the inconvenience, but it is a necessary step to combat fraud and other malicious activities that can weaken everyone's play experience," they wrote.
"The delay is no longer than three days, and is often much quicker than that. Hang tight. 
"
Comments
I've been supportive of Blizzard and D3 up to this point (well, unless you ask me what I think of Metzen's story, lol) but this is quite possibly the stupidest decision I've ever heard of a company making.
I understand they want to fight gold farmers and spammers, but this isn't going to harm them in the slightest. Only regular paying customers are going to be hurt by this, which is unacceptable. UNACCEPTABLE. The person(s) who made this decision need to be fired immediately.
There are no words in elvish, entish, or the tongues of men for this treachery...
Wut?
Wow ...
They must have some serious illegal activity issues to even consider this.
My brand new bloggity blog.
They must be testing how much thay can take a dump on there customers and get away with.
How many people are going to play straight for three days? I don't like it but then again come on, it isn't the end of the world, go outside...
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
Am I the only one finding this funny as fuck the giant has just finished it's self off and will never rise more then a knee from this point on. LOL THE KING IS DEAD BY IT'S OWN HAND AFTER MANY MANY TRYS BEFORE HAND.
They always say only WOW can kill WOW but maybe it will be el diablo.
More fail from blizzard, no shocker here, how anyone can support a company that wont let you play the game you just bought, forcing you to trial it for 3 days, is beyond me.
Apparently stating the truth in my sig is "trolling"
Sig typo fixed thanks to an observant stragen001.
I wonder why they chose to do this. Maybe it has to do with payment processing. It is silly because the only benefit of the online store is that you get the game instantly and can play right away whereas from online retailers, where the game is much cheaper, you have to wait a couple of days....
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Who's this really gonna affect, the 5 people that don't already own D3? Blizzard always has, and always will do whatever they need to do to ensure the security of their games. This is just more pointless crying from more pointless crybabies. Newsflash...they don't care what you think! They make video games, you can play them or not play them.
D2 had a ton of crazy problems for years after it launched, it still turned out to be an amazing gaming experience overall. Just like D3 will ; )
Damage control.
There are probably good reasons for them to do so but in the end, the amount of compromises asked from players to play a hack & slasher with a functioning RMAH is starting to add up.
There's tons of players who never intend to buy stuff on the AH with real money, yet they;
- Have to play the game online
- Are restricted in their ip ranges
- Can only play a trial the first three days
- Suffer atrocious drop rates while playing the game (to stimulate the amount of AH use)
- Endure a very hard "endgame" without the right gear (to stimulate the amount of AH use)
- Have to spend a lot of gold on repairs as a major gold sink (to stimulate the amount of RMAH use)
- Need to worry about their account security and take more extensive precautions compared to other games.
My brand new bloggity blog.
They sold so many copies I wouldn't be surprised even if they make a new patch that shows the entire Blizzard team shouting '' F**k you stupid customers , we own you!.''
The more I read about this game the more glad I am I didn't buy it. Guess after all that, I have to thank whoever it was in Blizzard who decided to make this online only, that single fact prevented me wasting my money on the game and how glad I am I made that decision. Each day they just seem to pile one bad decision on another. I'll watch with interest to see how bad it has to get before even the most ardent Blizzard fans wash their hands of the whole thing...
Yep.
Except on the part where Blizz doesn't care what everyone thinks. You can be sure they care. in other words they want you to like their game becasue that gets them more money.
Todays' example with the "up to 3day restriction" shows nicely how many internet dwelers has no idea on basic concepts and everyday logic (or have their own agendas). You have to be on the verge of dumb to think Blizzard or any other company does a step like this just because they are arrogant and don't care about their customers.
The only party where they "fail" is being human. Something that many forget and expect them to be perfect. Even tho they're big they still make mistakes and are far from perfect, yet still one of the most professional gaming companies and that is exactly why so many people buy their products.
I'm not saying this limit is a mistake (or not), I am not a Blizz employee and don't know enaugh about technical parameters and selling strategies to make an educated opinion; But if Blizz can't handle it than I doubt there'd be many that could and am fairly sure they wouldn't do such a measure if it wasn't for the better.
In the end of the day, no matter what, there will always be a percentage of people butthurt, crying out loud on forums.
The problem is that they are a bit to professional. Thats why there are many people that are disappointed and prefer Blizzard the way it was 10-15 years ago.
The "profit first" mentality is typical for big corporations. And I guess that is both professional and expected. But the "gamers making games for other gamers" mentality is lost. That way of thinking and having fun creating games made them special a long time ago. Now they are just about big business... The products are also exactly what you would expect. Polished, streamlined, mainstream and the companies interest and profit is main focus. They would never create a game that is more fun but less profitable...
There's no defending this without being a gigantic tool.
The ball was dropped, and crapped on. End of story.
It's because hackers are stealing CC numbers to buy the game. I have to assume most people see the weird charge and get it canceled within a few days so this prevents them from doing much damage.
I think all trial accounts should not have access to the general chat channel.
This one was pretty hard not to.. oh no, it's coming I can't stop it, help help oh noooes it's here arrggh--
Blizzard does the same thing to new WOW accounts - if you buy direct from blizzard
there's a waiting time to upgrade WOW trials
http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/world-of-warcraft-starter-edition-account-faq
Note: Most Starter Edition restrictions will be removed immediately after payment information is entered for an upgrade, but some restrictions (such as certain in-game chat privileges, use of the auction house, the ability to trade and the ability to use in-game mail) will remain in place until payment verification is fully complete. This may take up to 72 hours. See the Direct Online Upgrade FAQ for more information.
EQ2 fan sites
Blizzard fanboys in denial already? thats the only explanation for anyone agreeing with this.
Apparently stating the truth in my sig is "trolling"
Sig typo fixed thanks to an observant stragen001.
not sure if i agree
the 3 day rule does not apply to anyone buying a boxed copy of D3
why hasnt StarCraft 2 needed a waiting period for digital sales ?
EQ2 fan sites
Kind of nuts eh? So if you buy the game right now, lets say you've got a free weekend to play away. You can't play with your friends. You can't level past 13, or past the Skeleton King. You can't even check out the AH. I don't know how this is a good thing for the player. Regardless of whether or not you think someone should not be bothered with this or it's a small amount of time, it's anti-gamer to force trial restrictions on honest players after they spend 60 bucks on the game.
Now, I have a feeling that for most of us here in NA/EU/AUS and the like, it will not be 72 hours. BUT I don't know, as I am not about to find out how long it takes them to review my purchase. It's comparable to invasive DRM (like D3 doesn't already have enough of that) because you are assuming someone purchasing the game is up to no good right away, instead of dealing with it after the fact. Much like DRM (activation limits, uplay, etc) that assumes you are a pirate the minute you install the game.
I seriously doubt it. Don't forget that DB3 was the fastest selling game ever, what was it 6 million in two days. And from this post there are people still buying it.
About one percent (60,000), if that, of players come on-line to complain about stuff the other 5940000 just play and will continue to play.
All the measures that Bliz are putting into their games, like requiring you to be connected to the Internet whilst playing and perhaps this measure(what ever it is used for) is down to the behaviour of some players.
So don't blame Bliz for doing what they do to protect what is theirs, or alternatively blame them, I doubt they really care if 1% stop playing because of it. And many of the complainers just complain and bitch cause they can but still play anyway lol
D3 was available for 2 months of preorders, direct from Blizzard
the 1st day sales included those 2 months
but regardless, D3 was a smash seller
EQ2 fan sites
thats the same lvl and act restriction they had in the open beta weekend...
Im sure that took me less than an hour to do...
I am glad i didnt bother buying this LOL