Tue, May 15, 2012 | 08:59 BST

Diablo III servers go live across US, AU; immediately fall over

Blizzard is scrambling to bring Diablo III’s servers online after launch-hour demand proved just as rabid as anticipated.

“Please note that due to a high volume of traffic, login and character creation may be slower than normal. If you’re unable to login to the game or create characters, please wait and try again,” the game’s Facebook page advises.

“We’ve temporarily taken our Battle.net websites offline and launched more servers to accomodate for the traffic. We hope to resolve these issues as soon as possible and appreciate your patience.”

Impatient users are flooding the game’s social media presences, as well as those of Blizzard and Activision, with mass complaints of errors and log outs. Many users who had been playing prior to launch have found themselves unable to get back online. See the fun for yourself on hashtag #Error37, for example.

The issues have highlighted complaints about online activation – which left those with retail copies from Australia sitting on their hands for eight hours – as well as the game’s always-on Internet requirement.

European and Asian servers went live overnight, and despite problems with the game’s installer, seem to have experiences a much smoother launch; some Korean players have already finished the game.

29 comment-trail-alt Posted in: Activision Blizzard, Mac, PC, RPG
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29 comments

#1

The_Red
15/05/12, 9:09 am

Ah… remember the Single player days? When you could play your Diablo without having to worry about busy servers and stuff like that? Also, pirates and crackers are gonna be free of stupid Always-online thing and can enjoy their game however they want.

#2

Patrick Garratt
15/05/12, 9:17 am

http://i49.tinypic.com/2vdqr02.gif

#3

Llewelyn_MT
15/05/12, 9:22 am

It baffles me how there still are morons up there thinking “It surely won’t fail this time.” only to learn they are wrong again. Every single time.

When will people learn? Online single player = GTFO.

#4

endgame
15/05/12, 9:36 am

@1 Why do you bother? Just wait for the c***k! Pirates usually offer better services in cases like these.

@2 LOL Pat!!

#5

The_Red
15/05/12, 10:05 am

@4
That’s sadly true. Those that pay $0 for the game and pirate it get to enjoy their game free of online restrictions and other annoyances while people that pay $60 for it, have to suffer the most.

Really makes me wonder why people (Mainly suits) still think piracy can be fought by hurting the legit consumers even more.

#6

Llewelyn_MT
15/05/12, 10:14 am

$60? That’s a bargain. It’s 60€ in Europe.

#7

Logic Incarnate
15/05/12, 10:18 am

I saw it coming (which is why I haven’t purchased the game)…but that headline still made me laugh.

#8

Talkar
15/05/12, 10:45 am

I’m just surprised by the amount of news articles regarding D3 on this site. IMO 2/3 of them didn’t need an article, but i guess the staff was/is excited for this game xD

#9

Kabby
15/05/12, 10:47 am

Talkar is just mad that no one cares about Starcraft at VG247.

#10

Da Man
15/05/12, 11:27 am

Only mediocratic PC nerds care about this Gauntlet clone. Diablo belongs to butthurted mediocracy.

#11

MFBB
15/05/12, 11:31 am

#6 buy it in the UK, got mine for 19Euro, free delivery to Germany and no custom fee etc (zavvi.com and amazon.co.uk had those 19Euro offers if you pre ordered early enough).

Gotte love the cheap UK prices compared to the rest of Europe.
Also movies, music, books etc everything is so much cheaper in the UK.

Gonne play Diablo 3 in a few weeks when its all patched and the servers are stable.

#12

Hunam
15/05/12, 11:49 am

@11 Thank George Osborne for that!

#13

Llewelyn_MT
15/05/12, 11:50 am

The earliest you could preorder D3 was March 15. The price that day on battle.net was 60€. I will not believe anyone would ever offer 66% discount on such a hot title. Preorder discounts rarely go beyond 25% not to mention it’s a Blizzard game. They hardly ever discount games.

#14

freedoms_stain
15/05/12, 12:05 pm

@13, D3 has been available for preorder for years from some retailers, I have heard of people who preordered from Amazon for less than £18 and the preorder was honoured.

#15

endgame
15/05/12, 12:37 pm

@11 That is IF you live in Germany. It’s different for most European countries. For example I have to pay the price shown on Amazon UK (which includes the UK VAT) + shipping and handling + 24% (my country’s) VAT.

@6 Stop talking like that! PC games should not cost 60 units but 50. And of course every gamer on Earth should buy the game at the same price. Or we’re talking discrimination here.

#16

MFBB
15/05/12, 12:38 pm

What has this political dude George Osborne done? :)

#13 you could pre order it like 2 years ago on some sites.

Was a few month long avaibable on amazon.co.uk for 19Euros, then the price got up to ~25Euros and increased again a few months before release.

Zavvi had it for 24Pound and at this time a voucher you could use for like 6pounds or so.

#17

deathgaze
15/05/12, 1:42 pm

@Pat: So you’re saying we’re actually a bunch of guinea pigs desperately trying to knock over Blizzard’s servers?

I love it!

#18

PowerT
15/05/12, 3:32 pm

I really wish you could downvote/upvote comments on this site. Back to Reddit I go…

#19

TheWulf
15/05/12, 4:52 pm

I’m not surprised, really. Blizzard games have a following, sure, but Blizzard are invariably lazy. Anyone who’s played any Blizzard game since Vivendi bought them out knows this. I’ve been told no end of tales by a friend about the Mists of Pandaria beta and all the corners they cut because lazy, which resulted in problems that ‘Blizzard couldn’t possibly have foreseen.’

I’m just expecting Torchlight II to be a more polished affair, really, despite it being from an indie dev. I mean, sure, it has a different art direction (but I would argue that it actually has one) and style, but the gameplay mechanics thus far according to those who’ve played it are second-to-none, and you don’t have to be online to play single player.

So… just waiting for Torchlight II. I’m glad I skipped the frustration. I already knew better, though. Silly Blizzard.

#20

DSB
15/05/12, 5:26 pm

@19 It’s not from an indie dev. Runic Games are an owned subsidiary of Perfect World Entertainment. A company that is currently worth half a billion dollars on NASDAQ.

#21

Phoenixblight
15/05/12, 5:33 pm

@20 My point still stands and you know that RUnic Games didn’t get the same amount of investment that Blizzard has put into D3.

#22

DSB
15/05/12, 5:35 pm

@21 So, are you taking TheWulfs calls now? :P

Fact is, it’s not an indie, by any definition of the word. And there’s no reason to believe that Perfect World aren’t every bit as ambitious about their business, as any other publisher. They have a market to answer to, and a share price to grow.

I don’t see how investment plays any sort of role in judging a creative work. Either it’s good or it’s not. Judging a work from how deprived its creator is, is a judgement based partly on pity.

Fatshark are a real indie company, and they’re making a game that actually tries to be different, unlike Diablo 3 or Torchlight 2. Crate Entertainment is also a real indie.

Runic is not. Runic answers to Perfect World Entertainment, Perfect World Entertainment answers to the market. Fatshark and Crate answer to themselves, and the gamers who fund them.

And honestly, making a Diablo/Mythos clone in WoW graphics is hardly pioneering. It might make for a perfectly good game, which Torchlight certainly was, but the second coming it is not.

#23

Sadismek
15/05/12, 5:39 pm

@21 Last time I checked, “indie” meant “independent”. It has nothing to do with the amount of investment you put in a game.

#24

OrbitMonkey
15/05/12, 5:47 pm

@19/20… Siamese twins? Or did you forget which persona you were commenting with? :-P

#25

DSB
15/05/12, 5:48 pm

@24 Maybe he logged into the wrong account, and didn’t realize it?

We have the makings of a legendary internet conspiracy theory here.

#26

OrbitMonkey
15/05/12, 6:01 pm

@25, obviously Pat is a puppet master for the dread lord cthulla and those are his thralls he uses to spice up the comments section…

#27

Phoenixblight
15/05/12, 6:20 pm

Again my point is that they do not get the same investment from their owner that Blizzard has put into D3. I didn’t know RUnic was owned by someone else so yes they aren’t an indie. My point still stands that a team of possibly 20 people had made a console version of their game where a team of 100 can’t with 6 years of development?

#28

DSB
15/05/12, 6:25 pm

@27 I think that was a different comment thread dude. No one was discussing that.

Of course they can make it for console, if they want to.

Although given their ambitions of making 15% off the real money auction house, I’m pretty sure that especially Microsoft would have a thing or two to say about it.

For that purpose the PC is a lot better suited. No corporate taxes levied by platform holders.

#29

Phoenixblight
15/05/12, 6:32 pm

” I think that was a different comment thread dude. No one was discussing that.”

You are right the two threads are talking about the same thing and lines were blurred. My bad!

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