It’s a very subjective quantifier & as an accountant, I’m not too fond of those.
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It is, otherwise we wouldn’t have the debate here over this, because it’s stated in one of the linked threads that offline-skills would’ve been possible if there would’ve been still some sort of an online-authentification even if you play offline. But people (like me) asked for a true offline-mode that’s why the took the decision and to exclude cosmetics. And again, i’m pretty happy with that.
I mean they still could pull off an scam on that regard, and the offline-mode is a lie, but at this point i geniunly would find it wild, if considering how often the pointed out the last months that it’s in, that they pull of a stunt like that.
In all honesty, no, i rather feel the opposite to that, because again they pretty much listened to quite some people here who wanted a true offline mode and that would rather encourage me to spend a dime or two for cosmetics. Due i 've to point out, just because a true offline-mode is very important to me, doesn’t mean i won’t play the Online-Mode at all, and i find it more encouraging to dig into online-modes when i know i can fall back to the offline-mode because i’m in the mood or i just can’t play online at the moment, and have some engaging features (like trader faction) fitting for online-mode, then being forced and bound to an online-service. And for that, it’s stil a supportable concept for me.
Would i also like in the best case scenario to have Cosmetics for the Offline-Mode, for sure and i’d argue again, it would give the cosmetics a bit more value, because you not really “renting” a skin which you only “kinda” own as long as the online-servers are running, you have them no matter what.
And there could also be the argument / debate made about, if it will in the end effect that much (in a worse way) if they would make them offline in a way, because cosmetics often sells better for online-games because of bragging rights and also if in the long run via mods people will be able to get on these mtx (or atleast some sort of skins) anyway… so there could be a potential that offline-players would be very supportive if the devs show some goodwill.
But than again i also can understand why don’t wanna risk it, because considering what they planned out on the long run, they need the financial support (and plus in generall people want to be payed / rewarded for their work as well, and as much as people want to dismiss cosmetics often, there is also work involved like the artists want to be paid as well) and by enabling cosmetics for the offline-mode it might make it way easier to hack/unlock/mod them in, and that can backfire/be bad.
And again, if the decision is just between semi-offline but with cosmetics or real offline… i always take the latter one.
The only “request” or “feedback” or whatever i’d have and who knows maybe @EHG_Mike reads this would be for one:
Maybe they might look into this situation from time to time and maybe they will find a solution / compromise (or a technology) which works on both sides.
But moreover if the devs could consider if - god forbid never happens (or atleast soon) that you’ve shut down the server of the games, maybe then making the cosmetic mtx available for offline players. I’d thing for some people it might be a bit more open to the idea to support them/pay for cosmetics if it’s just for the time being them being online-only, but don’t need to fear that the money might be wasted in the end because they’re gone as soon as servers are shut down.
We are always open to feedback. The only thing that’s set in stone is what will happen at 1.0.
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I wouldn’t call it a scam, but as someone who backed the game a while ago and tends to play Offline more because of occasional connectivity issues I’ve encountered, I’d really appreciate being able to use Cosmetics offline.
Not a dealbreaker for me, but it’d certainly be a nice thing.
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See, this is why I encourage my friends to get the game. But now also I’ll add a disclaimer regarding the cosmetics and they will of course decide for themselves. I’ll probably play both online and offline too. My net can be spotty so I prefer the offline option as I tend to solo anyway.
Still, my personal stance on the cosmetics stays - I know these are “just cosmetics” but the people who are offline can essentially be barred from using a part of the product they paid for. This might also be legally wonky I guess… Anyway, I really hope they can come up with a solution that works for both sides of this equation.
It’s strange for me that they worry for cosmetics piracy in offline mode as AFAIK most of the people get them to look different than other players in multi, and this is similar to piracy - “cracked” cosmetics wouldn’t work online. And since people mod single player they can do whatever there really.
And I also don’t support the claim that it’s a scam - if someone wants to see a scam they can launch Diablo 4 and see their macrotransaction store with stuff more expensive than a lot of good indie games. I see no ill will on the devs’ side but IMO this is just wrong approach where they should pick the pro-consumer option.
As long as it is properly, clearly and obviously stated for the consumer before buying = all good.
Scam doesn’t mean expensive. Completely different.
You can lie to someone and scam them for 1 dollar. And you can have a perfectly honest 1 million dollars transaction.
Translated to this thread, the issue is not that cosmetics are only available online, even less the price of cosmetics. The issue is that it is not mentioned during the sale process.
[To be clear, I absolutely agree that this is not meant as a scam. Just a huge oversight, that should hopefully be corrected quickly before it brings trouble.]
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Of course that 1-dollar scam remains one. It’s just that the Diablo one costs as much as an indie game. Blizzard devs promised that the ingame cosmetics will be on par with the store-bought ones. This promise was broken so yes, it’s a scam (see this thread and read linked there official articles published by Blizz itself: When will shop quality cosmetics be added to the game for free as promised? - #14 by Latimere-1192 - PC General Discussion - Diablo IV Forums).
So this can be also perceived as a broken promise by some (I don’t think so because here there was no malicious communication, no taking back stuff and as you state more of a miscommunication).
Threads like this are why general discussion forums are always a complete dumpster fire. This one is because of Steam. It’s their policy regarding all games that use digital currency for purchases instead of direct purchase.
Studios like this that are professional organizations that fail to do simple tasks like warning players their cosmetics they bought are only available offline are always going to face scrutiny. You can’t defend a studio’s “oversight” when it costs people real money, followed by an apologetic reply on a forum that barely anyone will see, with a statement of “Yeah, my bad. I’ll fix it”. EHG is a professional studio, backed by investors and people with reputations on the line. QA and Marketing teams exist for a reason. If they fail their job and leave the door open for the studio to be publicly criticized for their failure in (insert topic here), then they need to be evaluated and restructured. Aka fired. There’s no room for an organization to have an “oversight” when it comes to people’s money. What if this topic never came up? What if the studio never noticed until after release? Someone out there would have noticed. Someone with a lot more pull and publicity would have pulled the rug out from under EHG, with a lot more chaffe to follow. It doesn’t matter that it was a perceptively innocent mistake. It’s about accountability, and questioning the competency of the studio, and whether or not other crap like this can and/or will slip through the cracks. Which, mind you, has before already.
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It’s not an oversight, did you even read what I posted?
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Also, professional organisations all contain these things called “people”. “People” are flawed and make mistakes from time to time and even with the most soul & creativity destroying best processes & checks, things fall through the cracks from time to time.
Firing people for making a mistake might work in the US (& it’ll have it’s own costs such as loss of knowledge and skill), but in the rest of the world (or at least the UK & EU) there is this thing called “employment law” which often serves to protect the employee against unjust or unreasonable acts by the more powerful employer. It’s generally seen as bad form for an employer to act like a tyrannical feudal overlord.
You know the games that have those “Write your toons name to delete it” prompts so noone delets a toon by mistake? In all my years of playing games the ammount of stuff like “There is no rebuy window I sold the wrong item!” or “I accidently delted my toon!” all my hope is gone that a simple “Read before buying!” prompt will help in any way shape or form 
.
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I recently got promoted to Serf, First Class. I am so proud of being a (slightly) more important slave to my employer.
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They don’t know or don’t want to do it. Is just that. I work in enterprise software, and there are MANY ways to secure assets without a constant connection to the internet. You may need to connect from time to time, but you also need to connect to download the game…
Yes, that is exactly the issue. To make sure things aren’t being hacked, you’d need to connect every once in a while. However, the devs have promised a fully offline experience. That means that, after the first time you connect to validate the client, you don’t connect to the server EVER AGAIN.
This was as requested by players.
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Anything can be hacked with enough knowledge and patience. The only real question is how much effort the want to invest into obstructing/discouraging that potential violation of the game.
Fully offline, no connections even after a month or whatever the expiry date is decided, is just out of place. I believe the issue for people is having to connect each new game session. Fully offline… how do you expect for people to update the game? We are in 2024, please.
People will update via steam like normal. For people that have no internet, for whatever reason, won’t update until they can connect to steam as well.
Also, even online is no guarantee of safety. Right now there are multiple hacked versions of LE that bypass both steam and EHG servers. There are even online games, like Vermintide, that get cracked and running on a different server.
Which just brings us back to square 1, and the original question: “what does EHG gain by not allowing cosmetics offline?” If someone wants to go online, pay for them, and then use them offline, who gets hurt? If someone hacks, which you just admitted they will eventually, won’t they have access to the cosmetic assets, that need to exist on the client to display them – graphically – in the first place? If losing revenue is the big concern, why allow an offline client at all, if the game itself is already hacked, and able to be played in offline mode without purchasing?
Well, and if you are well past the theoretical expiry date, you will just lose your cosmetics until you connect to update the game. Is not that the game breaks. Is not that big of a deal.