So many of you are trolling the D3 forums....

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Flytheelephant wrote:

I was once suggested to undergo sensitivity training. I quit.
I was once suggested to take a drug test. I quit.
... and when I am done studying I will quit.

I once suggested that you continue this fantastic thread...( fingers crossed )

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Flytheelephant wrote:

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xaenimal wrote:

I have not passed sensitivity training.

I was once suggested to undergo sensitivity training. I quit.
I was once suggested to take a drug test. I quit.
I was once suggested that I am REQUIRED to bow to a flag. The lady who suggested that one was promptly fired.
I was once suggested that I shouldn't hit on women in the workplace. That same workplace now pays me yet I do no work for them, I simply study which they think I will stay with them and be more valuable when I am done studying, and when I am done studying I will quit.

I have no tolerance for weak individuals, weak morals, weak companies, or forced patriotism.

while just a tad misguided your passion is definitely a breath of fresh air. I appreciate your assertions and you sir crack me up. Keep being fucking awesome.

Grinding Gear Games and Blizzard are not at war. You are not required to take up arms. Insights do not equal insults.

We must all be passionate and somewhat misguided. If perfectly guided or entirely impassionate, one becomes a slave to those who sit in nicer chairs and enslaves those who sit in chairs more destitute.

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Flytheelephant wrote:

We must all be passionate and somewhat misguided. If perfectly guided or entirely impassionate, one becomes a slave to those who sit in nicer chairs and enslaves those who sit in chairs more destitute.

*Dribbles*

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AkaAlien wrote:

Grinding Gear Games and Blizzard are not at war. You are not required to take up arms. Insights do not equal insults.

I think that might work even better the other way around. Quite a few insights have been insulting over time; pretty sure a lot of people were very pissed off to finally have to admit the world is round, for example.

But reversed, the point is really made. Insults Do Not Equal Insight. While there have been insulting insights in history, very rarely has an insult become insightful. You approach the two from very different directions, with very different intentions. Insight is the product of an open mind gathering all possible angles and seeing something within them that no one else has -- it might be an insulting idea but that doesn't mean it's not insightful.

Insulting, however, starts from a place of planned attack, and the moment you go on the offensive for offensive's sake, you start to lose that open mind, and insight is definitely not...in sight.

In short: Insight can lead to incite, but very, very rarely the other way around.

PS See Oscar Wilde as an example of the exception, and to a slightly lesser degree, George Carlin or Bill Hicks.

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Flytheelephant wrote:

Slow down there, he is probably right. This game is VERY HIGLY likely to go down a very very bad path 6 months after release, which is the cycle of these newly found f2p companies that come and go. (likely this company, if it remains privately owned, will see past temporary inflated success to sell stock then let the new owners ride it on the way down.) The good folks that make D2 and D3 emulated servers will lend a hand if need be, thusly solving the problem.

What both you, and the OP seem to be saying, is that F2P ensures that a game becomes a failure.

I disagree with such a broad assumption, and so said that F2P is a proven business model. Some of the most profitable games are F2P. If you think WoW is profitable... look at Farmville. ;)

The business model is sound, but what will determine whether the game succeeds will be its marketing and the overall quality.

In short, the F2P model is a poor argument for saying the game will flop. Comparing this game to other low quality F2P games is also a bit off.

And given that the studio has managed to stay around for 6 years and keep 10+ people employed full time without actually selling anything seems to indicate they have enough stability to not go down the drain six months after release. It doesn't strike me as an attempt at making a quick buck.

Brcarter479 and Flytheelephant should kiss. Make their circlejerk a little more remember-able.

Most of the assertions and hypothesis's in this thread could easily be disregarded if GGG did a little more publicity. It seems like everyone's fear of this game dying is from the smaller player base. GGG, try Emailing PCGamer or The escapist, or maybe Maximum PC for a review column after release. It would certainly bring a large number of people subscribed to those magazines in.

And btw Flytheelephant, quit trolling and go somewhere else. We are not impressed by your bravado. You frankly come off as a thick headed asshole.

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StealthNerf wrote:

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Flytheelephant wrote:

Slow down there, he is probably right. This game is VERY HIGLY likely to go down a very very bad path 6 months after release, which is the cycle of these newly found f2p companies that come and go. (likely this company, if it remains privately owned, will see past temporary inflated success to sell stock then let the new owners ride it on the way down.) The good folks that make D2 and D3 emulated servers will lend a hand if need be, thusly solving the problem.

What both you, and the OP seem to be saying, is that F2P ensures that a game becomes a failure.

I disagree with such a broad assumption, and so said that F2P is a proven business model. Some of the most profitable games are F2P. If you think WoW is profitable... look at Farmville. ;)

The business model is sound, but what will determine whether the game succeeds will be its marketing and the overall quality.

In short, the F2P model is a poor argument for saying the game will flop. Comparing this game to other low quality F2P games is also a bit off.

And given that the studio has managed to stay around for 6 years and keep 10+ people employed full time without actually selling anything seems to indicate they have enough stability to not go down the drain six months after release. It doesn't strike me as an attempt at making a quick buck.

The f2p business model reminds me of communism, in the sense that they are both nice in theory but very distasteful in practice.

Saying that the f2p model is financially successful is an argument to pitch to a developer, but not the gamers who are to be sucked dry of their money.

Please note that I'm not arguing that the POE developers will abuse the system as other have done before them. I'm only saying that the apprehension about the model on the players' part is justified.

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P4N1K wrote:

Brcarter479 and Flytheelephant should kiss. Make their circlejerk a little more remember-able.

Most of the assertions and hypothesis's in this thread could easily be disregarded if GGG did a little more publicity. It seems like everyone's fear of this game dying is from the smaller player base. GGG, try Emailing PCGamer or The escapist, or maybe Maximum PC for a review column after release. It would certainly bring a large number of people subscribed to those magazines in.

And btw Flytheelephant, quit trolling and go somewhere else. We are not impressed by your bravado. You frankly come off as a thick headed asshole.

While we're being frank, you're not exactly 'coming off' as someone with whom a conversation would be very pleasant either.

The reason I quoted you, however, was to note that Chris and the other devs are well aware of the careful growth of their product. Questions arose during the beta open weekend regarding international servers, and of course cost is a factor. The closed beta as of last week typically saw about 200-300 people on at any given time. That swelled to over 5,000 this weekend and peaked around 7. Word of mouth is this game's semi-secret weapon and it's working very well. I believe that were GGG to get the sort of attention PCGamer or the Escapist would attract *right now* they'd run the risk of too much, too soon.

Post-release, well, we'll have to see. But I think their current strategy is very good. They're targeting what StealthNerf referred to so succinctly as 'the identified market' -- this includes people like me. I was just entering adulthood when D1 hit, university when D2 took off, entering 'true independent adult life' as the 'Diablo clones' start to pop up and now can more than contribute my fair share to a company that is offering an incredibly nostalgic experience that also happens to be actually quite good in and of itself.

Myself aside, if a company can attract a hundred people who will happily pay not what is asked but what they think a game is worth, they've done better than if they'd attracted a hundred thousand who won't pay a cent. An exaggeration, but the point is made, I think.