While Blizzard's intentions are good, the implementation leaves much to be desired

May 18, 2012 20:41 GMT  ·  By

Diablo 3 has finally been released all around the world earlier this week and, while it may seem to offer the same dungeon crawling role-playing game experience as its predecessors, it does boast some pretty big changes, chief among which being the mandatory online connection to Blizzard’s Battle.net servers.

While such a feature was also an option back in 2000’s Diablo II, as players needed to be connected to Battle.net if they wanted to experience the RPG with their friends, the new game requires them to stay connected at all times.

As you can imagine, this led to some serious backlash from fans, as many only wanted to experience the game without worrying that, if their connection were to be interrupted, all their progress would have been lost.

This “feature” already caused a big problem at Diablo 3’s launch, as Blizzard’s Battle.net servers were overwhelmed by the sudden influx of users. As a result, they stopped working and, just like that, players were locked out of the game they had paid for.

Blizzard has since apologized for its error and once again highlighted that the permanent online connection is a necessity in order to maintain an optimum experience for regular players.

In case you forgot, the mandatory connection is supposed to keep players from cheating or from modding the game in order to produce special items, which are then sold through Diablo 3’s different Auction Houses, either the virtual gold one, or the upcoming real-money one that has yet to be released by Blizzard.

While the purpose is certainly noble, the mandatory system is causing unnecessary stress for regular players, who find that their entire experience depends on the stability of their connection.

It’s hard knowing that when you die you’ll revert back to the last checkpoint, but at least in this situation you can always be more careful and play better. However, at any moment, your progress can disappear because of your internet connection, a factor that you can hardly keep under control.

Are you coping with Diablo 3’s mandatory internet connection requirement or are you still unhappy that an offline mode isn’t present?