What requiring internet connection at all times does to a MF

66

I never understand why a single player campaign needs to be connected at all times. I want to play offline. All the game files are in my computer.

40

u/Killer-Iguana 14h ago

Not to mention *adding* the requirement to a game that has existed for decades without it. Mind-bogglingly stupid move by Blizzard.

12

u/Odasto_ 14h ago edited 12h ago

There was a comment shortly after the patch that brought up a very good (imo) point. Blizz is trying to gauge how often folks are trying to actually play WC3 in order to determine whether it's financially viable to support it with new shit.

It's not excusable, mind you. But it's impossible for Blizz to collect any internal info on how WC3 is being used if folks play campaign in offline mode. That might lead them to believe that no-one plays the campaign at all.

This is based on the fact that Starcraft: Remastered and Starcraft II both remain perfectly playable offline for whatever reason.

35

u/T_______T 14h ago

Everytime you play offline, a log file could be created locally. If/when you do play online, or maybe when you sign into the blizzard client and launch the game, that log file could get sent to blizzard. It could double as a crash report thing too.

There's ways around this without disrupting player experience.

17

u/Killer-Iguana 14h ago

Precisely this.

8

u/boxen 14h ago

It's not impossible. It's quite easy. Store whatever basic data you want in a log file. Time program started, time level started, time level completed, etc. Try to upload log file at whatever time you want, when game starts, when game closes, when saving game, etc. If it doesn't work, try again next time.

People aren't mad because their plan was to permanently disconnect from the entire internet forever and go play single player campaigns in a log cabin for the rest of their lives. They just want the game to keep working if they lose internet. I know if I lose internet I can't play a MOBA or a FPS against other people. So I look at my other games and think, oh, its a great time to catch up on a single player campaign! And then you can't because the company is an jerk.

1

u/Killer-Iguana 14h ago

On top of that, I didn't even lose internet when i took this screenshot! I'm playing through TFT on hard and that means I'm resetting levels relatively frequently (I'm also very rusty), so this is happening because the host is having a hard time handling frequent restarts of the campaign.

6

u/Necronze 13h ago

To me, they just did it so it's harder to crack it

5

u/xvareon23 10h ago

I think this is the answer, they know a lot of people would have spite pirated it after the disgusting defacement that is reforged

They have the opposite of fan goodwill when it comes to wc3 right now. It's surprisingly savvy for the "don't you have phones" company

-1

u/Ok_Bank_2674 6h ago

This is kind of a silly argument because the only versions people are going to pirate are pre-reforged

1

u/kaiiboraka 5h ago

Lots of people wanted to see what the new campaign was all about. Including pirates, I'm sure.

2

u/Killer-Iguana 14h ago

While what you're saying *might* be their reasoning, it isn't true that this is the only way for them to know if you're playing. There are many, many games that send analytics to the developers without requiring constant internet connection, they simply store the data until there is a viable internet connection it can be sent through. Additionally, reforged already required you to 'switch' to offline mode if you lost internet connection, and you could *manually* do it as well, so they undoubtedly could have gotten analytics on how much people play campaign anyway.

2

u/GuiEsponja 12h ago

How is it impossible lmao you're required to launch it through their launcher

Hit play on launcher = playing wc3, done, no need for constant online

14

u/Cordellium 14h ago

when I was young and I was on road trips, I would be on my laptop in the car playing WC3 campaigns and custom maps with no internet. Good times

6

u/hatePOIS 13h ago

X Hero siege for hours on my laptop was so good in the car!

7

u/Gaming_Friends 14h ago

This made me lose like a hour of progress in founding of durotar.. =)

4

u/cranesarealiens 13h ago

Holy shit same I thought I was the only one

4

u/woke_lyfe 14h ago

Was actually hyped to play this on vacation, then I realized this unfortunate reality... Cmon blizz I had faith

3

u/flameseeker40 13h ago

there's always 1.29

1

u/qndel 4h ago

if you still had faith at this point, I can only call you stupid :D

3

u/dgetgirl 13h ago

just happened to me last night while playing Rexxar’s. deeply disappointing

4

u/AllGearedUp 11h ago

This is why people pirate games.

3

u/stompasaurus 13h ago

I was playing the race mode in the new campaign, trying runs again and again. I finally finished first, but halfway through the lap I got the "disconnected from Battle.net" text. Tried to leave the after completing the quest and the game didn't save. I have not played again since :(

3

u/Bionicman2187 12h ago

It feels downright slimey they slid this into a major update with a new Rexxar-style campaign. If it wasn't for the campaign, I think it would get a lot more of the attention and pushback it deserves.

5

u/E-proselyte-5789 9h ago

And yet some individuals scream "be grateful for update in 20 y.o game", "show blizzard support by buying 30$ dlc"

3

u/kamsen911 6h ago

I regret buying it. I didn’t check and honestly just assumed an RTS game would get an RTS campaign…. Yes sometimes I live under a rock - lol.

4

u/boskee 6h ago

Worse, this is completely separate to the new campaign and a forced update to your existing game. They made it always online and removed LAN without any way of keeping the 2.0.4 as is.

2

u/Bionicman2187 6h ago

Legitimately hoping somebody on the seven seas cracks the last version so I can play most of my custom and the campaign offline. Hell, I didnt even really mind Classic HD letting me play the Frozen Throne dataset of the ROC campaigns on non-reforged graphics

3

u/Jmarcs27 8h ago

Yeah I stopped playing for a couple weeks when this happened near the end of the founding of durotar act 1. Lost hours of progress and was pretty frustrated. Blizzard never changes. One step forward, two steps back.

3

u/vladbat00 6h ago

And let me guess, there are still no cloud saves yet?

3

u/Snifferoni 5h ago

No, much better. After almost every patch, the entire campaign progress resets, even though it's saved on your PC.

1

u/vladbat00 5h ago

Afaik only act progress resets? But considering how long the acts are, and the fact that I'm still on Act 1 in the forsaken campaign, the statement still holds true in my case 🥲

2

u/SleepyBoy- 3h ago

Wait, what the actual fuck.

I thought this was like a DRM thing where they just have the server shake hands with your game.

Removing your saves any time the game gets updated is just nonsense. No game has that issue.

1

u/Snifferoni 3h ago

I think they just become incompatible, but I don't really know much about it. Anyway, it feels like you have to restart occasionally during larger patches. lol

2

u/hbk611 4h ago

Magtheridon is the host and is not letting you play so you don't overthrow his rule of outland.

1

u/Killer-Iguana 4h ago edited 14m ago

I should have seen the writing on the wall when Blizzard was acquired by the Burning Legion 😔

1

u/WillSym 3h ago

He forgot to put the Fel Reavers out on patrol and heard Kael'thas's line and called a do-over.

1

u/SaveOrcas 4h ago

Same issue for me. Very unhappy about internet connection requirement because my provider has microdisconnects all the time.

1

u/Bogdanov89 4h ago

Holy hell that looks hideous , wtf is wrong with kaels 3d profile face.

0

u/NeverFated 8h ago

Straight up cyberpunk dystopian shit, this is the biggest reason I refuse to play 3.0, and as a 2-decades WC3 fan I consider this game dead at this point

0

u/OilZestyclose6677 5h ago

Refund the game and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8ju_10NkGY

1

u/Killer-Iguana 5h ago

The update effects everyone, not just new users, so not an option for me.