17 replies to this topic

[Wilhelm van Huyssteen]

Hi.

Would like to know if others are also vexed about this.

I live in South Africa. Bandwidth is extremely expensive and speeds are very slow. 2 days ago I bought heart of the swarm on DVD because downloading the game on my internet connection would cost me about $100. So I was pretty pissed when I realized that all the DVD does is start the patcher which then downloads the entire 8 GB... So apart from the fact that I'm still busy downloading it (8 GB will take me about a week to download) I'm also paying more than 3 times the amount for the game.

I understand that it has become the norm to have launch day patches. However. This is not a patch. It is the entire game.

Anyone else here that feels the same?

Edited by Wilhelm van Huyssteen, 14 March 2013 - 07:17 AM.

[Hodgman]

That is really silly, the DVD should at least contain most of the data. Does the disk really contain no data at all? What's on it?

 

I was really pissed when HL2 came out, and for the same reasons I bought the 5-CD version... only to find out that 100MiB of data was missing (which was a huge amount of data for me on my connection at the time).

Edited by Hodgman, 14 March 2013 - 07:13 AM.

[Dragonsoulj]

If this one is like the first SCII, then I wish you the best. I had to go without internet for a while after having installed SCII and playing some of the campaign. I went back a month or two after not having internet and it told me I could not run the campaign because I was running something to the equivalent of a trial. Apparently every month or so you have to actually login to battle.net or that happens. I think I was able to run a generic multiplayer but that was it.

[Wilhelm van Huyssteen]

The DVD contains 8 gig of data yes. However the installer doesn't use it. I've looked through the blizzard forums and confirmed that its like that for everyone.

It would seem that instead of containing the data for the expansion the DVD contains most of the data of the original game and the reason given for this by blizzard is "To make it easier for first time starcraft players who might not have the original discs"

Edited by Wilhelm van Huyssteen, 14 March 2013 - 07:50 AM.

[Hodgman]

I had to go without internet for a while after having installed SCII and playing some of the campaign. I went back a month or two after not having internet and it told me I could not run the campaign because I was running something to the equivalent of a trial. Apparently every month or so you have to actually login to battle.net or that happens.

That doesn't happen from not logging in, that happens from not having a SC2 license registered with your bnet account. Sounds like you somehow bought the game but then installed the free version of SC2?

8 GB will take me about a week to download

Do you have any friends in the country who have already downloaded it? Sounds like it would be faster for them to zip up their SC2 folder, burn it / copy it to flash, and post it to you!!

[slicer4ever]

This i did not want to hear,  I'm pretty much in the same boat as op, I pay 10$ a gig,  I was planning to pick up the expansion this weekend, but if i have to download an additional 8 gig's just to play, screw that.

[Dragonsoulj]

That doesn't happen from not logging in, that happens from not having a SC2 license registered with your bnet account. Sounds like you somehow bought the game but then installed the free version of SC2?

 

Full version off of my SC2 disk. Registered through my account. Was working fine (campaign and all) but logged in one day without internet and it wouldn't let me continue. When I finally got internet again, it was okay.

[The_Neverending_Loop]

Wow that sucks.... do you guys want me to download it for you and send a USB?  (I dont even think thats possible or legal but it really does suck, i remember the hell i had to go through back in the day with dialup and what not)

[Nypyren]

Install Apache and configure your hosts file to route the traffic back to your DVD? (not exactly, but you get the idea)

Madness? THIS IS STARCRAFT!

Edited by Nypyren, 14 March 2013 - 01:57 PM.

[j-locke]

That doesn't happen from not logging in, that happens from not having a SC2 license registered with your bnet account. Sounds like you somehow bought the game but then installed the free version of SC2?

 

It does, unfortunately, happen from not logging in as well. If you go over about a month without logging in, it will essentially treat your install as being a trial account as it can't verify that you have any higher level. Having being stung by it a couple of times, I now make sure I log in just before I take my laptop somewhere that might leave me without an internet connection.

 

My Heart of the Swarm disk never even made it into the drive. The game was already patched to the latest Wings of Liberty patch, which apparently includes all of the needed files for HotS. So once I added the HotS key to my bnet account, I just needed to log in with no additional downloading.

Edited by j-locke, 14 March 2013 - 02:58 PM.

[Khatharr]

Seems like exactly the kind of anti-piracy measures that encourage people to pirate software.

 

Good job, Blizzard.

[Hodgman]

It does, unfortunately, happen from not logging in as well. If you go over about a month without logging in, it will essentially treat your install as being a trial account as it can't verify that you have any higher level.

Ah I misread; I thought Dragonsoulj was saying that if you don't log in for a month, then when you next log in, your account will be downgraded.

 

I didn't know it was even possible to play at all without logging in -- it is basically an "always online" DRM system. I thought that without logging in to battle.net, you could only play skirmish mode and watch replays, and maybe the first campaign level without saving or some such... I didn't know you could play campaign for a month without logging in.

do you guys want me to download it for you and send a USB?  (I dont even think thats possible or legal

If you just copy the installed directory to a new PC, the installer can 'repair' the installation instead of re-downloading. So, not sure if it's legal, but it's possible 

[slicer4ever]

If you just copy the installed directory to a new PC, the installer can 'repair' the installation instead of re-downloading. So, not sure if it's legal, but it's possible 

I don't see why it'd be illegal, it's not like you'd be providing a cracked version, it's just moving data from one pc to another.

 

also, the idea brings this to mind: http://what-if.xkcd.com/31/

[Heath]

That's some good customer service all around. 

[Ryan_001]

Ever since Blizzard was bought by Activision its been downhill.  I skipped on HOTS simply due to how poor the original SC2 was.  Its sad, SC1 practically made the 'e-sport' community and was one of the greatest games made of all time.  SC2 on the other hand...

[Hodgman]

I don't see why it'd be illegal, it's not like you'd be providing a cracked version, it's just moving data from one pc to another.

Most EULAs don't give you the right of redistribution. Obviously you're not doing any harm, so it would be silly to say you're doing something wrong... but technically you can't distribute copyrighted material without permission or a valid exception.

 

Good job, Blizzard.

Ever since Blizzard was bought by Activision its been downhill

Blizzard is dead. All hail Acti-lizzard.

 

I skipped on HOTS simply due to how poor the original SC2 was.  Its sad, SC1 practically made the 'e-sport' community and was one of the greatest games made of all time.  SC2 on the other hand...

 

SC2 has continued to expand the popularity of e-sports. KeSPA has embraced SC2 and ditched brood war, there's more televised SC2 matches than there ever were Brood War ones, and faaar more prize money has been given out by SC2 tournaments in it's few years of existence than the entirety of Brood War's competitive history. How often did you see Korean BW pro's travelling to the US to play the final match of a tournament in front of tens of thousands of foreigners?

 

Sure, the story behind SC2's single player campaign seems like it was written by a sophomore, but people who opine that BW is a better competitive game than SC2 are a very tiny minority, even among pro-gamers and commentators.

[slicer4ever]

man, what is up with the hate on the campaign(not directly related to what hodgman said, but i see it get bashed alot), I thought it was pretty top-notch for an rts.  I'm still going to get HotS eventually, i'll probably spend a day at my local library though. =-\

 

Most EULAs don't give you the right of redistribution. Obviously you're not doing any harm, so it would be silly to say you're doing something wrong... but technically you can't distribute copyrighted material without permission or a valid exception.

 

those pesky technicalitys=-).  I'm actually happy with the direction SC has gone, the arcade is glorious, the competitive play is pretty top-notch(although i still feel terrain's MMM strategy is far too powerful, but at least zerg has great harass skills=-) ).

[Rakilonn]

SC2 has continued to expand the popularity of e-sports. KeSPA has embraced SC2 and ditched brood war

Ah finally D: So it was just a matter of time.
The last time I was interested in the esport for SC2, KeSPA said a big 'no' for SC2 and there was only GomTV which broadcast SC2 matches.
And I think it's better this way. Sure SC1 was really well balanced for the progamers and all that, but it's kind retrograde to not move in the new versions when they are quite good.

Edited by Rakilonn, 15 March 2013 - 06:15 AM.