[OH, INTERNET] The Diablo 3 Experience Thus Far

"Diablo 3's first level is a tough one" - Reddit user Flash_09

Reddit is aflame today, specifically /r/gaming, who had their sick days called and their Doritos in-hand in preparation for the Diablo 3 launch. Except, few have actually been able to play it, what with constant connection to the Battle.net servers a requisite for even single-player mode.

And with the hundreds of thousands frothing - no doubt, frothing - to get back to Sanctuary, it seems the Battle.net servers can't handle hundreds of thousands of near-simultaneous logins.

But seriously, how long have we been doing this first-day-of-an-online-game thing? How long, folks? And you didn't expect the developer of the most high-profile launch of 2012 to come out of this with egg on their face (or title screen, which is about as far as most got in the early hours of the morning.)

The good thing - at least for those who haven't gotten around to D3 yet - is that the outcry is hilarious.

"Where is everybody?" - Reddit user "scottyeah"
(image by DeviantArt user "~darkmadcreature")

Despite the deplorable server fortitude, Rock, Paper Shotgun does, in fact, have much love for Diablo 3:

After a terrible first post-launch hour, with players unable to access the servers at all, then tantalisingly let half way in before being booted, the installed and released game was unplayable. And since, ridiculously, there are frequent server drops, instantly throwing you out of the game and back to the login screen. It is, without question, ludicrous... 

And even without those delightful moments, there’s the frequent presence of lag. It’s not the end of the world to have to run the same few steps a second time, but it’s bloody idiotic to be experiencing it when playing solo.

"Waiting to log in" - Reddit user
"VoiceOfInternet_haha"

Online, these concerns are, as is everything on the Internet, multiplied hundred-fold, fueled by the rage of millions of early adopters. Currently, Diablo 3 is (not) enjoying a average 3.3 user score on Metacritic, handed down by furious and anonymous consumers, no doubt.

After an "emergency maintenance" was called, D3 users had plenty of time to make angry memes before the servers came back on at 6:30 p.m. EST.

But in the event of future server fail, Reddit user "dyingbabycat" has come across this:

I could be losing my mind or it could be a total coincidence, but twice this worked: enter your password, hit enter, but before it rejects you, hit the Cancel button. Then right away log right back in again. Worked for me twice. Again, could be a coincidence but I figured I share just encase.. 

Possibly a glitch? A nugget of wisdom and server trickery, to be sure, but the viability of this seems to be confirmed in the comments, with lots of users reporting success. Perhaps it will work for you, too?

"Best Diablo 3 Review ever." - Reddit user "stroud"

In any case, there's some good press to come out of the Diablo 3 launch, believe it or not.

When it was discovered that Australian vidya retailer GAME wouldn't be stocking Diablo 3, the retailer, which recently went into administration, told pre-order customers they wouldn't be getting a refund on the money they plunked down.

But Blizzard has turned it all around, giving copies of D3 away to the slighted GAME customers:

Australian GAME customers with a valid preorder/prepurchase receipt dated before May 15, 2012 can do the following: 

1. Purchase the digital version of Diablo III from http://www.diablo3.com now or anytime before May 21, 2012. 

2. Download and start playing when the servers go live! 

3. Submit your GAME Australia preorder/prepurchase receipt to us before June 30, 2012. 

4. Receive a credit from Blizzard, for the amount you paid in advance to GAME Australia for Diablo III. This credit will be applied to the payment method used for the digital purchase. 

Awwww.

Have you been able to log in yet? What are your initial reactions? Is the lag as bad as RPS suggests? Let us know in the comments, yo!


SOURCE: Rock, Paper Shotgun | Battle.net | Reddit | Metacritic