Sadly, the solution is not to make Diablo IV playable offline, although that would eliminate error messages due to server disconnection. However, that would be too easy for Activision Blizzard.
Diablo IV management held their campfire chat for June. One of the key takeaways was that deaths in Hardcore mode are not always the player’s fault. If the game (or worse, the PC, or possibly the console!) crashes or our internet disconnects (these can all happen!), the game simply ignores what is happening. Our character is lost, even though we could have spent up to 82 hours on the game. As several streamers have fallen victim to this issue or even bugs (!), the game’s director, Joe Shely, has said that they are investigating the problems and will make fixes as soon as they find the root cause.
Yes, but beyond bugs, deaths due to server disconnection are another matter. For these, they’re introducing the Scrolls of Escape, which are automatically activated if the player suddenly disconnects. This consumable item will only be available in Hardcore. If you encounter difficulties during a challenging boss fight, you can use it to teleport back to town if you bind it to one of the keys. Shely says the item could lead to more exciting moments because players can be more risk-taking.
Shely says the process of determining disconnections is complex, so there could be some who can be protected and some who can’t, and because there won’t be an unlimited number of these scrolls, you can’t just unplug the Ethernet cable from your computer if you’re not doing well. Plus, Scrolls of Escape is only coming in season 2, and since season 1 starts in mid-late July and lasts about three months, the issue will be expected until October (the bug fixes will come sooner). Until then, Activision Blizzard could look into how to bring back Hardcore characters who have been unfairly killed off if the game can’t be played offline…
Diablo IV’s “endgame” will also change. “First off, the significant majority of our players haven’t finished the game yet, but many of the people who are watching this stream, and our dedicated players, play through content much more quickly and have been experiencing this situation with the dungeons,” Shely said. The standard side dungeons are much more usable for grinding than the original Nightmare dungeons, and the developers want to make the latter replayable and thus give more XP.
We still think the game should be offline.
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