Cancelling Diablo III

Last year, for my Birthday, my wife asked me what I might like.  I decided on a pre-order of Diablo III, and there we've left it... So, I actually got nothing for my Birthday last year... hey ho...

We've probably all seen the materials being released from Blizzard about the game, a whole host of lucky souls have enjoyed the beta release and the "accidentally" released demo... Certainly there's been an explosion in the number of videos and images showing the game world.

Many people have stated that the demo left them "wanting more", whether that meant more action, or more as in the game does not deliver... But, whatever it left them wanting, there's one thing that has decided me to cancel my pre-order (even though I'd be getting the game £7 cheaper than RRP - because I ordered it when its estimated price was sub £29!)

And that reason is... You can't play the game offline... Now, I have nothing against online games, in fact I get a little too addicted to them.  But, for this title, an offline mode of play; I feel; is necessary.

Not least because the weekend of release, I plan to be mobile with my new spanking performance laptop, not tied to an internet connection... And whilst waiting for whatever to go on (looking at the rain pouring down) I figured I'd play some Diablo... But I won't be, because I have to be synched up to their servers.

The arguments from Blizzard about why there's no offline play, stand up in some perspectives, such as competitive play, but it makes me too nervous, too nervous that they would soon jack a subscription (if they've not already) on talking to their server...

I've heard how they want to buy and sell in game items through some store, that also makes me nervous, how much input has one to make "for free" to make it to the levels of "end game".  I'm no fool, I'm a recovering WoW addict, I worked over a year of my life into that game to see myself just end up a good (but not top end) raider, and the amount of time sink that gamers around me in that game soon became prohibitive to an enjoyable gaming experience... In my opinion Diablo III will go that same way, if its not already planned to already.

So, I'm out, no Diablo III for me... I'm going to buy a big fat C++11 reference manual instead... How geeky am I!