Making friends and influencing people

Looks like Blizzard/Activision has done it again, and found yet another way to annoy/piss off/infuriate their paying customers. Buying Diablo 3 as a digital download apparently gives you only limited access to the game for the first 72 hours. The Internets are not happy. Check out the Internet tough guys letting their voices be heard on two NON-Blizzard sites. (PS: These are NOT anti-Blizzard websites, but a web-comic site about video games and a tech site which reviews games. These sites are usually mostly positive or neutral to Blizzard.)

GU Comics forums.

Ars Technica post with comments.

I think the whole Real Money Auction House ‘feature’ has been bad for Blizzards reputation so far. I’m not playing the game (to expensive for how much I’d play it right now) but those that WANTED to love the game seem to be getting pissed off at all the stuff they are having to endure for what is essentially a single player game.

I have a bad feeling about this

According to EuroGamer.net Diablo 3 accounts are already being hacked and their accounts stripped bare. I’ve not bought D3 yet, but if accounts are already being hacked, BEFORE the Real Money Auction House (RMAH) goes live, this doesn’t bode well for the typical gamers once the RMAH goes live and real money can be stolen. My advice, either just wait and buy Torchlight 2, or if you really wanna play Diablo 3 get yourself a Blizzard authenticator. You can get a physical authenticator direct from Blizzard here or if you prefer look around the same website for how to get a smart phone app to do the authentication for you. Battle.net is know to be hackable so protect yourself and your game.

Consider this a PSA.