Tag: diablo 3

Geek

Diablo 3 Day I Pitstop: How’s your Internet Connection?

Post author By Jayvee Fernandez
Post date May 16, 2012
11 Comments on Diablo 3 Day I Pitstop: How’s your Internet Connection?

If it’s one thing gamers will never compromise, it’s their Internet connection. The launch of Diablo III has prompted gamers around the country to scrutinize the quality of their Internet connectivity. As a fan myself, I really take these things seriously and no amount of marketing BS will convince me otherwise. The proof is in the pudding and it seems that not everyone is a chef.

This feedback is based on a number of qualitative feedback from friends and personal experience as well.

So far, it seems that Diablo 3 works fine with the following ISP’s

Wireless:
Smart (tethered) â€“ I tether my MacBook with my iPhone 4s and get to play just fine. Some people prefer a fixed wireless broadband connection though.

Globe (tethered) – I get to play with Rico of Technogra.ph (he tethers using a Samsung Galaxy S II)

Wired
PLDT – Generally good. I hopped into a number of games of friends and we’re rolling seamlessly.

On another note, one ISP stands out to be the provider to avoid for Diablo III:

Sky Broadband – Woes to Sky Broadband. They really dropped the ball on this one. I used to swear by Sky publicly as the best wired connection money can buy in the country. Service has dropped to a really poor rating in the past 2 months.

Brendan outlined it all here in a comment:

Hi there,

Many many emails to Skybroadband support center regarding Blizzard downloader P2P issues and unplayable in game experience with Diablo 3 (may be DNS, but may be that they have restricted Port 1119, which Diablo 3 uses) â€“ to no avail.

Sky simply does not respond to queries and when you call them they tell you to send an email through to support center. Its a vicious circle.

Playing it on my friends PLDT connection works perfectly.

After 2 years with Sky, seems like PLDT really is the way to go.

– Brendan

As my cousin said, ” Pre-term fee for Sky is PHP 2,000.00, Diablo 3 is priceless. If it doesn’t work at 3Mbps, I’m dropping them for (insert ISP here).” Sorry Sky Broadband. I swore by your services. I really did. But sad gamer can’t compromise.

You know what’s most interesting? My wireless tethering is faster than my ethernet connection. Why, Sky, why? Note that I write this not to smear Sky’s reputation but 2 months of your IT support not knowing what the problem is makes for really bad service. Fans have waited for Diablo III for about a decade and we absolutely need to be online to play this (there is no offline mode). So you definitely should understand why gamers feel really bad about this and need to switch. We waited 9 years for Diablo III. We absolutely can’t wait for you.

To the others: how’s your gaming experience? Add me up: LOLMOWER#1648

Tags diablo 3, Diablo III, Globe, latency, Problems, rocket, rocket wifi, sky broadband, sky broadband best internet, SMART, SMART Bro, smartbro, speed, tattoo

Mostly Everything

Stay a while and listen: The Diablo III Launch

Post author By Jayvee Fernandez
Post date May 14, 2012
2 Comments on Stay a while and listen: The Diablo III Launch

EDIT: In the finishing stretch of the installer, the devs change the color of the progress bar and go into minute details of how much longer it’s going to take. Brilliant. The anticipation!!!

—————–

At 8:01AM PDT servers around the world opened for the launch of Diablo III. But Blizzard really knows how to tease and the servers only unlock the installer, in time for the actual launch of the game which is sometime on the 15th of May PDT.

You know what’s better than trending on Twitter? Crashing a server. After the game unlocked, everyone got this error:

“ERROR: Unable to initialize streaming. Please check
your Internet connection. If this problem persists,
please contact Blizzard Techinical Support.
(CreateStreamingManifest::GetStreamingManifestContents)”

Looks like the seed hasn’t been uploaded yet. Or something. Or really there are just too many people.

This is the most in(tense) product launch ever. A launch I’ve been waiting for over a decade. Exciting!

Tags deckard cain, Diablo, diablo 3, installation, launch, Philippines, Problems, seed, stay a while and listen, torrent

Mostly Everything

One day till Diablo III. Retail Version vs Digital Download

Post author By Jayvee Fernandez
Post date May 14, 2012
No Comments on One day till Diablo III. Retail Version vs Digital Download

Don’t be surprised if a lot of people call in sick tomorrow. Starting 3AM, Tuesday, May 15 the servers for Diablo III are going live. Fans have been waiting a decade for the triumvirate to be completed. I still remember my days in college, cutting a few classes just to join in on the LAN sessions at the gaming cafe beside school.

For the record I didn’t buy the collector’s edition as I’ve learned the hard way that these things take up a lot of space (case in point: Warhammer Online Collector’s Ed) and despite the fact that the box comes with cool add ons to your character, the real-money auction house system will definitely spark a number of doodads that will make the Collector’s Ed exclusives cry manly tears.

On the D3 Facebook group, Joseph Datu has unboxed his PHP 11,000 Collectors Edition with the Diablo Skull + 4GB USB Soulstone. It’s huge!

D3 Collector’s Ed photo by Joseph Datu. Congratulations! If I had more space in my place, I’d definitely get this.

Instead of the retail box — Collector’s Edition counted, I really just wanted to download the game way ahead of time so it would be a breeze installing. No box. No lines. I still own the game. Not sure if this is symptoms of getting old, but at this point in my life, 10 years after Diablo II, I prefer foregoing the formalities and getting it on. Save paper.

So that’s it. Looks like a long evening. 3AM guys. See ya in New Tristam.