Diablo 3 in 3 minutes (spoilers)

Why Diablo 3 took 10 years to make & the future of gaming (debate)

I think the main reason that Diablo 3 got postponed for so long is because it doesn't bring profit over time as a genre and orientation (if any1 can help here with sales vs. production cost figures it'd be great).

Most games and companies have resorted to all sorts of methods to make an extra income from their work. This in the past used to be a "simple" expansion - LoD, Frozen Throne, TBC, WotLK, etc. Now (because I'm assuming production costs went up a lot and well because money is nice :D ), we have a short term strategy for an over time income. Things like certain features/payment in WoW (mounts, char names, faction change, pets, etc), DLCs (many games do this, so the content of a DLC is short compared to expansions but brings maybe the same income), features that give advantages or simple pimp-my-char options (we can mention Valve and TF2 here with items and crates that require keys to open) and ofc, many more such systems needed to make one's work benefit of revenue over time instead of only through the release and occasional buyers over time (due to either interest, advertising or fame of the product).

Now (and I myself am guilty of QQing towards the fact that I couldn't post on WoW forums w/o an active subscription - explanation will follow), it is crystal clear that a subscription based game will produce a LOT more revenue (given it's success) over time. Still we forget that for WoW we payed 4 games (4 releases) + subscriptions (monthly fee and other services)!!! Even by doing a few simple calculations, it becomes clear how large the gap is between the two models. 15 million players (at some point) paying 12$ / month VS. 7 million D3 buyers (period). This much is clear to us all I think ... BUT (yes, that part comes along ^^)

But... After reading thru posts for the past month, after my own experience within D3, after I myself raging about whatnot (and I'm not saying I was wrong all the time either -.-), I think it's a good exercise to stop and try a different approach in dropping subjectivity (and I hope y'all can contribute on this). The starting issue for me was the amount of rage found on the forums and the fact that I myself started to think how much is nostalgia and conservator-ism involved (repair costs are not fine -.-), when talking or thinking about several matters in a game that holds A LOT OF INTEREST TO BOTH ITS DEVS AND ITS FANS!

I figured a few simple statements and questions (trying to keep them as simple as possible ...Ocam's razor ...sorta):

a. fact: a company needs and wants to make money (not getting into details)

b. fact: there is A LOT of rage on several topics regarding the game and it's patches

This made me wonder: are we all really just victims of mass behavior or a mass psychology issue? Are we really blind and Blizz has not changed? If this is a good game, why don't I feel like playing a good game?

Reviewing my two statements above (a and b), I was able to get the following answer (open to debate): the amount of negative opinion is just too large in order to consider it false AND it conflicts directly with the main purpose of making a product and a company's goal: money.

As a conclusion to the wall of text I think that:

- MMOs and the different schemes used for multiplayer make a lot more money and are part of today's strategy as they seem much more appealing for developers (this is easy to understand tbh);

- the implementation of such systems may conflict with the overall manufacturing and construction of the game, thus it is a KEY issue when building one with this in mind. From my limited knowledge on this matter, I think most games implemented such schemes AFTER a while and AFTER game release. Thus they did not build the game around such a concept (the current opinion about RMAH is the opposite of this);

- is it still worth making single player games? From all points of view... hacking, botting, revenue wise, etc. If not, what can we expect of D3 and the future of gaming?;

- the main difference between an MMO and a single player is dynamics of the game. This can also be translated into the life span of interest in such a game, while at the same time it seems almost like a definition that a single player game is short life span oriented by make, while an MMO would defeat it's own goal if this happened. Thus, D2 had a grand life span for various reasons, some other games kick back out of nostalgia, but wouldn't it have been much more profitable if D3 was a game built for a game and later on it would have provided the option to RMAH and so on? for me D2 meant going fishing for items while being able to stay young and not age 1 month with every 5 hour session of gameplay.

D3 is stuck in between somehow. It's neither single player (not thru rmah but thru balances since THE EXISTENCE OF AH MOTIVATES THE NEED TO BALANCE CLASSES IN THE ABSENCE OF PVP!!! I see no other reason for nerfs! The only reason for that would be the exact lifespan I was talking about), nor is it or will ever be more than a co-op game. RMAH only makes the imbalance between players, the time they invest in the game and RNG luck more obvious and also forces the devs into taking a global MMO like approach in balancing the game in the manner that they do in d3 atm. Decide what you want to do with it 1st.

There is clearly a large gap between user demand and company goal.
To quote master Kripparrian: "Why nerf a game that is nerfing itself?"

DIABLO 3 BETA KEY FRAUDS, HOAXES and TROJANS

This is towards any desperate BETA lurker out there... DO NOT TRUST ANY LINKS AND SITES THAT PROMISE DIABLO KEYS THROUGH STRANGE METHODS! Sites or links from sites like http://vimeo.com/27169336, http://bit.ly/pdaQSv or http://diablo3betaforfree.blogspot.com/ for example, will try to profit from your temporary madness :))!! THESE ARE FAKE AND WILL GET YOU IN TROUBLE :P. [ We have recently seen an increase of page visits from Russia . This thread is getting A LOT of attention from Russia ;) ]

Adds and videos like these:

OR

(this almost had me goin xD)

OR

(diablo3tester) lol

...will get your money stolen, privacy trashed, accounts, passwords or who knows what stolen!!! As a simple test, ANY and ALL links provided there end up in SURVEY based downloads. Also, try ADDING comments to such vids and you'll see that posting comments (if not fully disabled) will enter Comment Pending Approval.

As an experiment, I myself have tried a client download from one such youtube posted video, with a FAKE B-net ID, (by fake I mean that I've made an ID that I afford to loose having NOT 1 bit of real info on it :">) and used the client's login, normal and official "new" UI but with a strange trashed out look and a strange gray band on the upper side...

new Logscreen

old Logscreen

...well (and it's no beta key winning answer), guess what happened after the client turned me down (as it was normal since NO license was attached to the account) ... :D. I tried to log into my B-net account ... but something didn't quite go as expected :p, i COULD NOT log on to my account that i had logged and been logged on (since at some point i saw it auto-logging me out). 

...so, bottom line is: 

- Blizz, get more betas out for GOD's sake, (we know your servers can hold it :p, so much WOW population missing from your servers must have made space for new stuff ;) ), 

- rest of us, grab a little more patience or at least try and be CAUTIOUS and do a little research before going click frenzy-berserker mode,

- help with clean-up and do as I did... flag the hell out of every single piece of shit account info stealing bit of video, site or blog that you visit in an effort to make our wait a little less perilous ;).

For additional info and for your piece of mind it seems there are a few "leaked" BETA clients, just that I for one, can't be sure where they connect to and how many places they send info to (if any1 that has such skills is willing to try it out, please contact me with the results).

MMO-champ has had such a thread up since september (here) and even diablofans (witch is currently HOSTING a BETA KEY contest, listed right here on this blog in the BETA thread) has provided such a client since september and even official us.blizz D3 forum has a few of these running but with threads like THIS, where the guy tried it, hit the wall with his face and now when asking for help is getting a lot of lame answers just cuz he tried :p. Feels like Blizzard isn't even wasting time on such ppl... desperate crawlers that try and cheat ... such bastards they are rlly... lol (this just brings me to another matter and subject but I'll struggle to stay on topic ... you let every1 host and post tons of gameplay, someone puts out some BAD game clients, you find out ...prolly 1st to find out, say nothing, ppl bite the bait, you still say nothing), we could have had an official client out or at least a firm statement that ALL other things out there are fake and bad for you, as hilarious as it may sound :p.

To strengthen the above statements and make everything a bit clearer and after taking a  quick look at the official FAQ, we have picked out a few relevant bits of info on this matter:

How will i know if I am selected as Diablo 3 beta tester?

You will find this information from an official invitation sent to your B-net account or by email (the email attached to your Battle.net account). Make sure check your beta opt-in settings on battle.net. Please also make sure that you are on the REAL battle.net domain when submitting sensitive information.

Where can I download Diablo 3 beta?

Currently you cannot download Diablo 3 beta (officially).

Where can I get Diablo 3 beta demo?

Currently there is no demo of Diablo III or it's beta version and there will most likely not be any until official launch.

Can I get into Diablo 3 beta via Fansites or Contests?

It has not been announced yet, but it is most likely that d3 fan sites will run contests where fans will have the opportunity to participate and win a beta key. We will inform you if we will run an official Blizz beta key contest.

Diablo 3 beta scams?

Your first line of defense against scams and/or fake emails is to always check where the original message comes from, to make sure  that when submitting account information, you do it on official sites and not mirror fakes ones (phishing) and ofcourse to only "login" on your battle.net account page and on secure, unmodified game clients. There are many scam emails, youtube vids, websites, rapidshare downloads about Diablo 3, stay away from them or make sure you know what you are doing.

"HELP I GOT HACKED" Battlenet Account Security and standard support protocol. Go there ASAP if you are in trouble and follow the instructions EXACTLY as presented.

Hacks & Cheats in Diablo 3 Beta?

Any form of cheats and hacks in Diablo 3 beta will not be tolerated and will get your account banned from Blizzard Entertainment. As everything will run via battle.net, known tools from Diablo 2 such as maphack, character editors, item editors and mods will get you banned.

That being said and to wrap this up, do tend to your accounts be it WoW (like mine) or SC, as you won't only expose your personal data to unknown entities from the undergound, you will also pop millions of neurons, grow some white hairs (or hares), learn to swear in 3 different languages fluently, feel frustrated, pissed (while someone from china might make you farm in SCHOLAZAR after your ...hunter's pets have been deleted, your banks emptied ...even tho your own guild members will soon be able to do that...just liek them hackin gold farmers :>) and so on and so forth, you will lose time or worse risking your account and  your "reputation" with blizz.

So, stay safe and NI-HAO to all.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/k6r3j/diablo_3_beta_client_link/

Visit our Horadric Page for more NEWS, info about the ONGOING CONTESTS and lulz, Cheers.

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• Zygor Alliance & Horde World of Warcraft Leveling & Dailies Guides, seems to be the best selling WoW guide out there HERE

Diablo 3 Beta Keys

OFFICIAL BLIZZARD BETA KEY FAQ AND INFO

The Diablo 3 beta has officially begun, and Blizzard has sent out the first wave of beta keys to some lucky participants.  If you opted in to Blizzard’s beta testing program (which is required to qualify for a key) then you can go check your inbox for a key.

If digging through your inbox doesn’t sound like fun, an even safer way to check for your invite is to log into your battle.net account and see if the Diablo 3 Beta shows up under your list of games.

The official Blizzard post states the following:

"Interested in signing up for an advance look at Diablo’s coming invasion of Sanctuary? To be eligible to participate in the Diablo III beta test, you need an active Battle.net account with any Blizzard game title attached to it. If you don’t already have an account, it’s easy to create one. Once you’ve set up a Battle.net account, or if you’ve already got one, you can access it by visiting http://us.battle.net/en/ and clicking the Account button on the upper right. Then, to opt into the beta, just click the Games & Codes section of your Account Management page, and then select the Beta Profile Settings option from the drop-down menu. You’ll be prompted to download the System Check beta opt-in application; running it will opt you in to the Diablo III beta. If your system specifications change, you can run the System Check application again to update your information.

While running the System Check application doesn’t guarantee you a place in the Diablo III beta, we wish you luck and hope to see you in Sanctuary."

FAQ LINK

Blizzard President Mike Morhaime, wants to assure everyone that the beta isn’t just being used as a publicity demo like some other games have done, and that player feedback will be heavily taken into account during the beta.  He adds that there are so many moving parts to Diablo 3 that there’s just no way to test it all internally, and as a result the public beta will be crucial.  He even gave some hints that part of the reason that no firm release date has been set for the game is that they’re waiting to see what player reaction is to the beta. They don’t want to commit to a release date and then realize after the beta that there isn’t going to be enough time to fix all those things.

We don’t see the harm in a date though, we’re all used to Blizzard delays anyway and most of the time they are for the good. As a matter of fact we LOVE the fact that Blizz just puts out the game when THEY think it's ready and NOT when marketing studies, deadlines or other greedy bastards say it's most appropriate. Onwards!

For the end of this post, I will provide a  list  of links to most Beta Key Contests I could find. Even tho this list has been filtered, user caution is advised. Excepting Google Ads, that this blog has chosen to work with, I am under no circumstance providing ANY service to any of the other hereby listed sites, or am affiliated to them. The listing here DOES NOT bring me any monetary benefice and thus this blog's owner cannot be held responsible for ANY kind of issue that may come from visiting the related sites. Proceed at your own risk and with caution to fraud.

http://www.diablo3beta.co/diablo-3-beta-has-begun-beware-of-fake-giveaways/d3-beta-keys/

http://d3db.com/contest/beta

http://www.blizzplanet.com/blog/comments/diablo-3-beta-key-giveaway-1-live-stream

• HunterStarcraft - is giving away one key Wednesday Oct 5 8:00 PM CST. Subscribe to his channel and leave a comment. He mentions in his video that he'll be doing a few more of these.

• OMFGCata - is running a contest for 5 beta keys. Contest runs until Wednesday Oct 5th 9pm PST

Submit a video response of your best Decard Cain impression. 4 keys will be random, fifthe will be for best video selected by Jesse.

• WoW Head 1 key - post in the news thread. Deadline October 4, 2011 6:00 PM PST

• Tenton hammer - 2 mini contests - 1st is to like their facebook page. 2nd, to sign up for their premium service and enter into a draw for premium members only.

• ForceStrategyGaming - 7 keys. Giveaway complete Friday Oct. 7 12:00 PM EST: Go to his Twitter account and follow. 7 random winners. See video for details.

• Diablo3forum states, from lack of better ideeas :p:

"Hey Guys!

We are currently working to get a hold of a bunch of Diablo 3 Beta Keys for you guys!

Since we can only get several keys, we'll give the beta keys to the members who have the most posts by the time the beta is out.

I think this is a fair way to decide who gets the keys...
If you guys have other suggestions we would love to hear them

Goodluck fellas!"

• diablofans.com hosts a caption based give-away, pretty nice too :D. The 1st week's contest has ended with a big disappointment to most of the participants having a non-caption entry win the caption contest. My own participation captions for the first week can be seen here:

One that clearly should be a winner at this time is this guy's post! I lold hard :D

Our Blog will refrain from future participation due to having serious doubts about the selection process of this contest. Please visit out Horadric Page for full coverage of the story.

If all this doesn't work for you, maybe Path of Exile BETA key give-away will do the trick :)).

• BlizzCon Scavenger Hunt is hosting: "Hunt for a Chance to Win Over $35,000 in Prizes and a Killer Gaming Rig", for more info on this visit the Horadric Page.

• Blizzard is hosting a new beta key give-away  !!!!  "2000 keys going out over eight weeks"

Blizzard posted information about a sweepstakes on Facebook today that puts fans in a position to win one of two hundred beta invitations each week, in addition to a second key to every fourth winner.
For those of you that weren't fortunate enough to get into the beta yet, it's simple: All you have to do is sign up for the drawing through Facebook.

There is one "minor" problem... not EVERYONE and to be more specific every country can participate (a thing that many of you are quite accustomed to from several other competitions or tournaments)... lame ofc.  For a list to those countries and more info, you are again welcome to check out the Horadric Page.

For those eligible tho, the drawing is running today through December 12, so get to it!


Visit our Horadric Page for more NEWS, info about the ONGOING CONTESTS and lulz, Cheers.

WE ALSO RECOMMEND:

• Fapturbo is the only automated forex income solution that doubles real monetary deposits in under 30 days. No backtest tricks. The best converting and best performing forex product on the Planet, period. No wonder it sells like candy.

• Would you like to become a BETA tester? (@www.becomeagametester.com) Link can be found HERE.

• ProFlightSimulator #1 Flight Sim Game - Real-Life Flying with Accurate WorldWide Scenery Based On Actual Terrain With Over 20,000 of the World's Real Airports & 120+ Different Planes. Seems it's very well rated too.

• Multiboxing software for WoW - Play 5+ games at once! HERE if you're one of those people ... :-L

• X-Elerated Guides - One of the best World of Warcraft guides on the web... if any1 does care :p.

• SC2MASTERS - a great STARCRAFT GUIDE but it ain't free

• Zygor Alliance & Horde World of Warcraft Leveling & Dailies Guides, seems to be the best selling WoW guide out there HERE

Would you seriously trust that face?

Honestly? He has the face of a perverted drunkard that recently lost his mind... Still, it will be him that will keep sending you to places and go slaying hordes of risen and what-not!.Rejoice and meet Deckard Cain before he went into the whole... Diablo business :D. LEND HIM YOUR TRUST HEROES for THIS