Delays and Release dates

The Delay:

Diablo 3 has been delayed until 2012. I am hoping this is so they can rethink the always connected DRM which I have heard from the BETA sucks.

I do not mind having to log in to play a game. Steam does this seamlessly and doesn't bother me. Starcraft 2 was ok as well but with Diablo you are playing online and are relying on that connection for your enjoyment.

At launch of Starcraft 2 I was constantly getting messages that I have disconnected from Battle.net and that achievements would not be tracked or something and thats about it. My guess is Battle.net could hold the load. With Diablo 3 if this happens you will be kicked from your singleplayer game, loosing any progress since the last way point. You won't loose any items but you will have to hack your way across the map again. Also you can not pause in singleplayer because its not really singleplayer and if idle you will be auto disconnected from Battle.net.

This is why I am against Blizzards Diablo 3 DRM its full this increasing sort sightedness the company has been having since around 2006. Where is the voice of reason in BlizzHQ or did they all leave to go work on Torchlight 2.

The Release:

In other news, now that EA know Blizzard won't have Diablo 3 out this year, The Old Republic has a Launch Date.

December 20, 2011

Unless you live outside of America and most of Europe. Then its unknown. What is known is the subscription costs are the same as every other MMO.  $14.95 USD per month.

If I was a Bioware network engineer I would be totally pissed off with EA/Bioware right about now. As they won't be getting a Xmas this year.

As mentioned a paragraph above, there is no talk on the release date for OZ/NZ. They won't even comment if the delay is because they are securing server space for us down here. I am not fussed, the game has lost a lot of its magic from a few years and my excitement is nearly gone. I put this partly down to Rift showing just how generic MMO's have become.


Summing up, I think Blizzard have played their cards well. The old republic will be out over Xmas then at a guess Blizzard will try to release around the 1 month anniversary of The old republic, tempting people to cancel there subs.


Bioware better hope that their game isn't a two week ride to the level cap. There needs to be enough content there to last 3 months on a single character. My guess is there isn't and they are hoping people will just rolls alts until  more content shows up.