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General discussion (archive)Starcraft II Discussion Thread (266 posts)(266 posts)
(266 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted August 02, 2010
I didn't notice any activation. Don't really get it.
To me at least, the installation is the same as WoW. Download it from Battle.Net, install, log on with your account.
Posted August 02, 2010
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KavazovAngel: I didn't notice any activation. Don't really get it.

You didn't notice any activation because you were online and logged on in Battle.Net, do the same offline with the retail version of the game and, the game will refuse to install before you input a special code only found on Blizzard website (don't have any problem with that, after all it's only to check if the release date and the code is the same for everybody, so you can just copy and paste is somewhere) and after install the game will ask you to activate your copy online before you can start offline mode.
Of course the "you need to reactivate every 30 day" was never mentioned that's why I initially thought that it was a one time activation.
Post edited August 02, 2010 by Gersen
Posted August 02, 2010
If this is true, which it seems that it is, it's a major blow to customer trust that this has been completely stuffed under the carpet so far. I've followed the game closely since the launch of beta, even participating in the beta, and I never heard of this.
Since I plan to play multiplayer it's not a practical issue for me personally, but it's the principle of the thing. You can't point to the "requires internet connection" on the box and assume that statement covers any re-activation scheme you might want to come up with.
Fe fi fo fum ... do I smell .. Activision scum?
Post edited August 02, 2010 by stonebro
Posted August 02, 2010
I would be upset about this, but you have to remember that you can still redownload the game as many times as you want, even if you bought it from a brick-and-mortar store. And if Blizzard still keeps the StarCraft I/Warcraft III/Diablo II servers open, after all these long years, and with Blizzard's constantly amazing financial state, there's literally nothing to worry about.
Posted August 02, 2010
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TheCheese33: I would be upset about this, but you have to remember that you can still redownload the game as many times as you want, even if you bought it from a brick-and-mortar store. And if Blizzard still keeps the StarCraft I/Warcraft III/Diablo II servers open, after all these long years, and with Blizzard's constantly amazing financial state, there's literally nothing to worry about.

I doubt that the ability to download a game you already have a hard copy of was a major factor in peoples' decision to buy the disc version. I mean, if I wanted to, I could download DA:O from the EA servers but that is not why I bought the DVD.
Honestly I would suspect that Blizzard/Activision know that they can simply get away with this due to the celebrity status of the game, so why not chance their arm?
Posted August 02, 2010
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Lobsang1979: Honestly I would suspect that Blizzard/Activision know that they can simply get away with this due to the celebrity status of the game, so why not chance their arm?

They could indeed get away with nearly anything, as I pointed out elsewhere. What I fail to understand is why they would want to. What's the point of having to reactivate every 30 days? It makes absolutely no difference to piracy, and since the initial activation ties the game to your Battle.net account, second hand sales are already taken care of. So why? The only tangible result I can think of, is pissing off a segment of potential customers.
Posted August 02, 2010
This whole 30 days reactivation thing seems like a ******** to me, really. There is absolutely no need to reactivate. Who came up with this rumor, and is it really true?
EDIT:...................
It appears that the reactivation stuff is to stop any guest exploits. Not bad, I would say. Blizzard appear to have a valid reason for this.
EDIT2:.....................
I just tested something... Apparently, you only need a guest pass from a friend to unlock the single player portion of the game, meaning, the single player campaign and the challenge missions ARE ALL FREE. I think Blizzard kind of put themselves in a stupid situation here. :)
If you don't play online, you don't even have to buy the game to play the campaign.
Post edited August 02, 2010 by KavazovAngel
Posted August 02, 2010
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KavazovAngel: I just tested something... Apparently, you only need a guest pass from a friend to unlock the single player portion of the game, meaning, the single player campaign and the challenge missions ARE ALL FREE. I think Blizzard kind of put themselves in a stupid situation here. :)
If you don't play online, you don't even have to buy the game to play the campaign.

Hm. The more I think about it, the more likely it sounds.
The guest passes state that they are good for a total of 7 hours of playtime, or 14 days duration, whichever comes first.
But if you have no internet connection at all there is no legitimate way to track that. Saving it locally wouldn't work as it'd just get sniffed out and cracked.
Posted August 02, 2010
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stonebro: ...

I'm not talking about the 7 hours of playtime here. :) I'm talking about the full single player offering of the game (minus the achevements and stats). The guest mode. :) It freaking works even after your trial account ends.
Posted August 02, 2010
Interesting article
Posted August 02, 2010
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stonebro: I'm not talking about the 7 hours of playtime here. :) I'm talking about the full single player offering of the game (minus the achevements and stats). The guest mode. :) It freaking works even after your trial account ends.
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KavazovAngel: Are you really sure about that ?
It would be extremely stange that they force you to reactivate online every 30 day for Single player if you buy the game, but let you play forever if you use a guest pass and never bought the game.
Post edited August 02, 2010 by Gersen
Posted August 02, 2010
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KavazovAngel: I'm not talking about the 7 hours of playtime here. :) I'm talking about the full single player offering of the game (minus the achevements and stats). The guest mode. :) It freaking works even after your trial account ends.
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Gersen: Are you really sure about that ?
It would be extremely stange that they force you to reactivate online every 30 day for Single player if you but the game, but let you play forever if you use a guest pass and never bought the game.

I assume, although I could be wrong in assuming this, that he means it's free for the extent of the 30 day period before reactivation, which is more than enough time to beat the single player game.
Posted August 02, 2010
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PoSSeSSeDCoW: I assume, although I could be wrong in assuming this, that he means it's free for the extent of the 30 day period before reactivation, which is more than enough time to beat the single player game.

Yea, exactly. :)
Posted August 02, 2010
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PoSSeSSeDCoW: I assume, although I could be wrong in assuming this, that he means it's free for the extent of the 30 day period before reactivation, which is more than enough time to beat the single player game.
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KavazovAngel: Yea, exactly. :)

I am highly suspicious of any competent business that leaves such loopholes within their products; I usually suspect a more well thought out reasoning behind such 'mistakes'. For example, Joe Bloggs uses the guest pass to play SC2 single-player even though he initially wasn't very interested in the game. But, hey, it's free so why not? The second episode of SC2 mysteriously has this loophole fixed because, you know, the developers had better things to be focused on than such quirks. Now Joe Bloggs has to buy the second episode because he got sucked in by the single player campaign and wants to see how it plays out. The end result is +1 sale for Blizzard/Activision.
Now, the above scenario is a bit tongue in cheek and worthy of a conspiracy theory periodical, but my suspicion of such 'mistakes' remains. :)
Posted August 02, 2010
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Lobsang1979: I am highly suspicious of any competent business that leaves such loopholes within their products; I usually suspect a more well thought out reasoning behind such 'mistakes'. For example, Joe Bloggs uses the guest pass to play SC2 single-player even though he initially wasn't very interested in the game. But, hey, it's free so why not? The second episode of SC2 mysteriously has this loophole fixed because, you know, the developers had better things to be focused on than such quirks. Now Joe Bloggs has to buy the second episode because he got sucked in by the single player campaign and wants to see how it plays out. The end result is +1 sale for Blizzard/Activision.
Now, the above scenario is a bit tongue in cheek and worthy of a conspiracy theory periodical, but my suspicion of such 'mistakes' remains. :)

That is actually one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever heard! If they did intend it that way, then they are even more intelligent than I thought they were (and I thought they were pretty brilliant in the first place).
Post edited August 02, 2010 by TheCheese33
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This is my favourite topic
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General discussion (archive)Starcraft II Discussion Thread (266 posts)(266 posts)
(266 posts)