At the BlizzCon Systems Panel, the developers very clearly stated “Offline mode will not be supported”. They did ask for our feedback on how to make Diablo 4 a better game.
They did not say “We are still considering whether to add offline mode”.
They did not say “Please try to convince us to implement offline mode”.
They said, very clearly, “We will not support offline mode”.
Your feedback regarding offline mode is not needed, because they have already made their decision.
Debating the pros and cons of offline/online-only are moot, because the decision has already been made.
You can ask every day until the game comes out if you want, but Blizzard was very clear on their answer. Time spent on other topics would be much more productive.
Some of the kids on this forum need to give it a rest already, what part of “We are not going to support an offline mode” do they not understand?
Angela Del Priore responded to a question about being able to play offline, and Del Priore stated…
“We are not going to support an offline mode. But as I said before, nothing in DIablo 4 is going to require partying up. You can play solo and dungeons are private. Campain quest areas will [also] remain private.”
Uh, why should people stop asking for offline mode? Makes no sense.
People ask for all kinds of things around here, that might or might not happen.
It is not even close to being the most unlikely topic being discussed in the last few months.
Blizzard changes their decisions all the time. We already have examples of that in D4, after a few months.
It does not matter that you “want” a mode that in essence enables script-writing and open cheating. It will not happen. In fact, I am not sure of any game outside of truly single-player ones that is offline in 2020.
When I first started D2, I played offline. Took me like 3 years to realize I was playing an inferior system with no trading. I played almost-exclusively solo, but online simply made more sense.
The reason we are tired of the threads is we dont want good feedback to be drowned out by complaining on dead issues. We dont want to be the Boys Who Cried Wolf and lose the Devs’ attention. It is a stupid point to be fighting.
People did the same thing for Diablo 3 - asked for offline mode over and over and over.
And you see what the end result was.
I suppose some people are still waiting for offline mode for Diablo 3. I wonder how long they will wait until they finally convince Blizzard to add it?
This is a feature that Blizzard feels strongly about, and will not change, so it’s pointless to keep asking.
I am going to go ahead and say no, what you said is not accurate. Take Dota2. You can play bots or with your friends offline. But ranked or public? Online 100%. You cannot reach the close to the optimal use of the game offline.
People asked for removal of AH and adding BOA.
It actually happened.
Plenty of people were convinced back then that it could never happen.
Sure, but DOTA2 can apparently still be played offline (I had no idea, I would surely have counted it among those 1% online only games). When you can play with friends you pretty much have access to the whole game outside of the competitive aspect (ranking). And most games have more or less full gameplay available offline.
Technically, there is offline mode in D3, just only on consoles.
I get that offline mode is quite unlikely. But it is certainly not 100% guaranteed never to happen.
To me I’d rather have them think a good/better DC/reconnect system rather than offline mode
IF you can summon a portal D2-style and get out of it on time during “laggy sessions” it’s not only ok but justified not having an offline mode… Otherwise it’s gonna be as annoying as D3 was for HC but not completely unplayable I suppose
So yes, IMO this new wave of people asking for an offline mode reconsideration is mostly a consequence of bad DC D3 playing experience, and perhaps/probably the more important topic to talk about rather
The multiplication of “Offline mode” threads is the result of a seemingly innocuous matter having two opposite sides with very strong feelings on the matter, and , thus devolving in a flame war (which is why I comment very little on the matter, despite having strong feelings about it myself).
The only ones capable of solving the situation are the moderators, by issuing temporary bans to the most recurrent flamers (those who often make disparaging comments). Barring that, the only way to have these threads stop is to let the flamers tire themselves out.
To put the issue into perspective :
Blizzard announces Diablo 4 at BlizzCon. Among the design choices they announce is the one that the game is going to be online only.
A part of the community disagrees with it. Someone posts the first thread to try to get Blizzard to change its mind.
Some very dismissive and/or unconstructive comments get mixed in some of the messages in the thread. Both sides feel the need that they have to respond to most of the posts of the other side, thus feeding a never-ending loop containing always the same arguments, both the good and the bad ones.
Whether due to the feeling that they are being oppressed on the existing threads, or because they didn’t see them, some pro-offline create new threads.
Return to step 3.
Frankly, at this point, everything has been said, and probably seen by Blizzard. If you still want to participate in the debate, in a constructive manner, here are a few tips :
Try to understand the other side’s point of view, and show that you understand it, or are at least trying to understand it. For example, coming from the pro-offline point of view, I can honestly tell you that bringing up the BlizzCon statement as an anti-offline argument is highly likely to get you seen as either a troll or someone that has no understanding on the matter, as this whole mess is happening in answer to that specific statement.
Avoid sarcasm (and other nasty comments). Sarcasm surely helps vent when having a discussion, but it also annoys the heck out of your interlocutor, thus increasing the chances of the discussion being heavily unconstructive.
Make sure you don’t mischaracterize the position of your interlocutor, and that you don’t throw hidden agenda accusations, unless you have strong proof.
Generally, try to show empathy to your interlocutor. On a forum without facial expressions, it’s easy to misunderstand your interlocutor and think they’re complete idiots or trolls, but most people are actually genuine and simply missing some information on your point of view, or you on theirs (or both).
In my case, it’s more of happening to recently have had over a whole month without the internet (and an extra few weeks a few months before that), and understanding that an equivalent situation would happen if I brought a computer with me on holidays (to a place that doesn’t have the internet because no one’s living there most of the year). All that in a rich country, with a supposedly serious internet provider.
