Blizzard Puts Restrictions on New Copies of Diablo III - briefly
(hx) 08:34 PM CEST - Jun,22 2012
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If you're just now getting around to Diablo III, you might want to buy a retail copy instead of downloading one. In its most recent patch of the game, Blizzard Entertainment has capped how far players who purchase a digital copy of the game can advance in the first 72 hours. Despite inevitable protests to the contrary, it doesn't look like the company is planning to change its mind about the decision. Blizzard explained in a forum post that new owners of the full-priced digital edition would essentially be restricted to the 'Starter Edition' for the first three days.
"For security reasons and to help ensure the integrity of the game and
auction house service, players who purchase the digital version of
Diablo 3 may have to wait until payment verification is complete before
they can access certain game features," it explained.
"While most payments are approved and restrictions are lifted within a
day, in some cases it can take up to 72 hours to complete this process.
"Similar to World of Warcraft, these restrictions were put in place to
deter credit card fraud, which in turn helps reduce gold spam and other
harmful activities that can have a negative impact on the game
experience for everyone."
Here's the official list of restrictions:
- No public game access for unverified digital purchasers
- No auction house access (real-money or gold) for unverified
digital purchasers
- Unverified digital purchasers cannot trade items or drop
items for other players to receive
- Unverified digital purchasers are not able to chat in any
public or game channels
- Unverified digital purchasers cannot attach a custom message
to friend requests, but they can send/accept friend requests, and play
with their friends
- Global Play is not available for unverified digital
purchasers
New digital players are also not allowed to access the game's auction house, play with people in other parts of the world or play with people who aren't locked into the same Starter Edition. Blizzard didn't explain the specific rationale behind the 72-hour restriction, but presumably it's meant to thwart troublesome users like gold farmers, spammers, and those previously banned from the game.
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Updated:05:42 PM CEST Sep,21
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