DVD-ROM Needed?: A Horrible, Dated Question from a Diablo 1&2 Player

[LiftedUp]

Morning,

I'm considering purchasing a hard copy of D3 to avoid the unholy download times I can only imagine will plague digital purchasers on May 15th. I don't pretend this will spare me any in-game lag/frustration; rather, I'll be simply comforted by the knowledge that I have the game safely installed.

...but I haven't purchased a hard copy of any game in years (PC-based D2:LOD may have been the last one). So, then, my horrible, embarrassing and terribly dated question is: do you think then I'll need to keep that DVD-ROM handy post-install to actually play the game? That can't be possible, right?

Thanks and I'm sorry,
Lift

[Raesene]

You won't need the disk to play.

If the only thing holding you back from a digital purchase is the download times on launch day, you should know that you can download right now.

[Axamas]

You won't need the disk to play.

If the only thing holding you back from a digital purchase is the download times on launch day, you should know that you can download right now.

Can you post the link ? Maybe it could help

Thanks

[LiftedUp]

You won't need the disk to play.

If the only thing holding you back from a digital purchase is the download times on launch day, you should know that you can download right now.

Not the only thing. I am debating whether or not I'll purchase the collector's edition, but thanks for the info.

[Raesene]

I'm sorry, I don't know the link. I'm getting the collectors edition myself.

[MRR]

"The link" is battle.net. Create an account if you don't already have one (you'll need one for Diablo 3 regardless), log-in, and find a link to "Buy Digital Games" (there are a few ways to get there, but there's one on the right under a green "Add A Game" box on the main account summary page). Voila!

You can pre-download most of the game, but the game will still need to connect in order to authenticate things and finish the installation after the game has gone live. There may be some server clogging when this happens, but I'm sure that'll be no different from a) the time spent driving home after picking up the game from your software merchant of choice and b) the time required for people who purchase a hard-copy to do the initial patching after things go live.

[Goury]

Buy digital one and dl it from blizz. They r usin custom torrent downloader so times wont be anything but okay. I DLd entire 8gb of it on max speed (twas less than 15 minutes with my 100mbps). U can do it even if u got uber-bad connection via 64kbps or sumthin.
28.8kbps may be bad as itll be 26 days on dat speed =)

BTW, i never used optical drive since 2007. I do have two in my gaming pc and two in gfs pc yet they sealed for five years. Im not sure if they works or not, im usin em only as decor.

I wonder why wont every pub to pub games on usb-roms? Everybody nowdays have usb (but not everybody have optical drives), usb is u = universal. Usb connector + rom chip is much cheaper than cd or dvd, can be writed easily (no need of factory to write decent amount, just dozen of dozens of usb hubs and computer newer than before 2002. Copy protection is also very easy and protective with this kind of roms (just add drm-chip next to rom-controller and bang!). But main reason is to lower shipping and producting costs! Shippin tiny usb-flash-sized rom is really cheaper than huge dvd-box. Its not that it will lower end-user cost noticeably but in global view can save few millions of bucks (free yacht!). So i wonder - are all pubs so dumb at marketing or they just in agreement with plastic-makin factories?

[Neinball]

I doubt you'll need the DVD any longer once it's installed. My friend used a DVD to install SC2 and it no longer needed it afterwards, so I imagine D3 will be the same.

Not the only thing. I am debating whether or not I'll purchase the collector's edition, but thanks for the info.

Just a tip, you can download the install file here: Windows Mac

They don't require pre-purchase of the digital copy and those installers will work with the key-code in the Collector's edition. I would suggest biting the bullet and downloading it as it'll install much, much faster. Unless space is a concern for you, there really is no downside to downloading it ahead of time.

[Goury]

U may not use dvd at all, just add game via key to bnet acct, dl it and play.

I wonder why wont pubs just sell pieces of paper with game codes like game-time-cards.
Itll be great deal for those without credit card or whishes about "real feelable box which u can touch and sense real product".

[Hellpyre]

That's what a digital distributor (I.E. Steam, Origin, Ect., as well as Blizzard digital purchases) provides. If you don't want to buy the box, you almost never have to now, at least on the PC.