Blizzard has once again tackled the issue of Diablo 3’s mandatory internet connection and revealed that, while it understands the desire of many players to experience the game without being online, it won’t implement an offline mode.Diablo 3 came out two months ago and, while it had some controversial features, like the
Real-Money Auction House or the mandatory online connection, the title still managed to break sales records and sell millions upon millions of copies.
This success hasn’t stopped players from often asking developer Blizzard to release an offline mode for the game, which would allow them to experience the role-playing dungeon crawler without a constant internet connection.
Blizzard co-founder and CEO, Mike Morhaime, has talked about this aspect of the game and admitted that the decision to require a permanent connection was made both from a design standpoint and to prevent piracy.
“One common topic we’ve seen in the forums is the always-connected experience, and the perception that the online requirement is nothing but an ineffective form of copy protection that has already been cracked. While we’ve never said that this requirement guarantees that there will be no cheating or game cracks, it does help us battle those problems (we have not found any fully functional cracks),” he said.
Fans should remember that the online connection is critical to the design of the game, which emphasizes playing with friends and uncovering epic loot.
“More important to us is that the online requirement is critical for the long-term integrity of the game experience. I fully understand the desire to play Diablo III offline; however, Diablo III was designed from the beginning to be an online game that can be enjoyed with friends, and the always-online requirement is the best way for us to support that design.”
Morhaime does admit that there’s still plenty of work to do in order to make the co-op mode an attractive experience and pledged that it’s one of the many areas that will be improved by Blizzard.
“That said, there are still improvements we believe we can make to expand the online experience and make co-op play even more rewarding, and this will remain one of our priorities moving forward. Overall, while there are some downsides to the online-only approach, I still believe this was the best long-term decision for the game.”
Have you gotten used to Diablo 3’s permanent connection or are you still upset because of this “feature”?
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