The release of Diablo 4 is approaching, and now some players have discovered a detail in the PlayStation Store that suggests Blizzard might be bringing a controversial feature to the action RPG: the obligation to be “always online”.
Actually, everyone in Diablo just wants to loot and level up. Everyone is driven by the goal of continuously improving their character. During the increasingly challenging battles, reaction time and speed come into play.
What players definitely do not need are lags or connection dropouts. It is just as frustrating when you have to restart a dungeon because your internet connection failed during the final boss fight. Now, players have discovered a detail in the PlayStation Store that announces the return of a controversial feature.
Diablo 4 receives controversial feature
What feature is it about? On the page for Diablo 4 in the PlayStation Store, it is stated that “Online play required”. This means players need an internet connection at all times to play Diablo 4 – they are “always-on”. Such online compulsion was already a topic with Diablo Immortal.
In general, the online compulsion is a controversial feature in the Diablo community; many players just want to loot and level offline and as single players. On the page where the detail from the PS Store was shared, a disappointed player wrote: “It’s really stupid. Always-on Diablo is such a dumb thing (via resetera.com).”
Also, in November 2019, the online compulsion was a topic after Diablo 4 was announced with a “shared open world”. In Blizzard’s official forum, the user Kelderon wrote:
“I already made the mistake with D3 [Diablo 3] of giving in to the ‘Always-On’ obligation. That was a lesson for me, because D3 tends to negate progress when there’s a connection drop […]. I will not put myself through that again, and that’s why I’ll skip D4 since I’m not a group player in Diablo anyway (via eu.forums.blizzard.com).”
What speaks for the online compulsion? As some players mention in the Blizzard forum, there are reasons that speak for the online compulsion. For example, the permanent internet connection can better ensure that a player does not cheat.
Alternatively, a player could cheat in single-player mode, bot, exploit, or possibly even use mods and create an extremely strong character, causing unfair conditions in multiplayer (via eu.forums.blizzard.com).
A solution players mention in the forum to avoid a permanent online compulsion while ensuring that no characters that have been strongly cheating offline are used online would be special “offline characters”. Such an offline character could then only be used in offline sessions and not imported into multiplayer.
In December 2022, first tests on Diablo were already released. Although it came without special offline characters, it did have some details about the gameplay.
First tests explain the gameplay of Diablo 4: Here are 5 cool details – And 2 that are annoying
In December 2022, first tests on Diablo were already released. Although it came without special offline characters, it did have some details about the gameplay.
First tests explain the gameplay of Diablo 4: Here are 5 cool details – And 2 that are annoying
