How to remove the online component?

[himmatsj]

I don't give two ♥♥♥♥♥ about the online component in Watch Dogs, just like any other game. Maybe later when I'm done with the story and missions, but not now for sure.

Is there any way to disable myself from connecting online? It's a bit irritating getting the purple icons challenging you, and sometimes some guy hacks my phone when I NEVER even consented to a challenge!

[vovin999]

Go into Options / Online and turn all the features off.

[Drothen]

I love you bro, im same like you, annoying piece of shat kids who force the online on you even tho you do not like to participate in it.

[untmdsprt]

The online feature is not what they make it out to be. I promptly turned that feature off the first day and check to see if it's still turned off after all updates. Even playing with known friends the tailing and hacking wasn't that great. Online races with friends are good, but the public sessions try my patience when people either can't fix their mic/headphones to get rid of the feedback, or they're just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and want to ♥♥♥♥ with everyone else.

[rhobherto]

Originally posted by vovin999:

Go into Options / Online and turn all the features off.

"Go offline" in Uplay client settings, before opening the game, another way

[Julveyo]

Originally posted by untmdsprt:

but the public sessions try my patience when people either can't fix their mic/headphones to get rid of the feedback, or they're just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and want to ♥♥♥♥ with everyone else.

But do you know of your capabilities to mute them, right?
I'm always muting every racer during the track's presentation.

[bigbadbedwetter]

I've found that if I activate the Focus mode enough intermittantly, I never get any other players intruding and trying to hack me. I don't know what the exact frequency of activating Focus mode is needed to keep invaders out, but I'll guess that a short blip of Focus every 30 seconds is enough. Also, I've never gotten hacked while doing one of the random crimes that pop up on the map. Avoiding hacker interruptions into your game this way allows you to keep noteriety points that you may have earned during online activities with other players, so there is no need to turn off online mode in the game menu and have your noteriety points reset to zero.

A little back-story: Early in the game, I found it annoying to have my game interrupted by other players. I'd be going to do something, then get hacked and have to divert to do that. Then I'd forget what I had been doing before I was interrupted. Back then, I did what others have suggested by turning off online hacking in the game's options. Unfortunately, this causes your noteriety points earned in online modes to be reset to zero. After I'd completed the game, I thought that I'd try turning online mode back on to earn skills by collecting noteriety points. I had some fun with that, but I'm not really all that into pvp in general, so I tried to go back to what I really like to do with this game which is to turn on the music, cruise the beautiful city, find things to jump with vehicles and do the random crimes that pop up.

Somewhere along the line, I'd heard that you can know if another player has entered your game if nothing in the game actually slows down when you activate Focus mode. So, I kept testing Focus mode during one session so that I could at least make a mad dash to avoid the invader getting close enough to me to even start hacking. It was in doing this that I found that I never got invaded if I activated Focus mode with enough frequency.

[himmatsj]

I went into settings and disabled the online stuff. However I still get hacked by others and constantly receive challenge notifications. Any ideas .

[Clone303]

you cant get the hackers off your back i self set all to offline in Watch Dogs and they will stay be able to hack you so only way most by both Watch Dogs offline and Uplay to offline mode

[himmatsj]

Originally posted by Clone303:

you cant get the hackers off your back i self set all to offline in Watch Dogs and they will stay be able to hack you so only way most by both Watch Dogs offline and Uplay to offline mode

♥♥♥♥ man. I seriously hate this forced nature of the multiplayer. Whenever I realize someone is hacking me, I just take a 3 min break and walk around. I don't even bother finding the guy.

[bigbadbedwetter]

Originally posted by himmatsj:

♥♥♥♥ man. I seriously hate this forced nature of the multiplayer. Whenever I realize someone is hacking me, I just take a 3 min break and walk around. I don't even bother finding the guy.

Yeah, I hate the forced aspect too. I wish they would at least let you play the game as if nobody was hacking you, but you can't do any other mission or activity or even fast travel to a hideout while being hacked. Luckily, having someone get into your game can be avoided with the Focus mode blip trick. However, that doesn't stop the challenges popping up for you to accept (same as with turning off online mode in the game's menu), but I found the popping up challenges easy enough to ignore. I haven't tried turning off online mode in the game's menu since the last two updates, so maybe it doesn't work anymore to keep people from entering your game. Also, I can't find the Uplay option to go into offline mode, so I guess that blipping Focus on every 30 sec. or so or disconnecting your whole computer from the internet are your only other options.

EDIT: Found the Uplay offline setting by clicking on the little "gear" icon in the upper right.

[himmatsj]

Originally posted by bigbadbedwetter:

Originally posted by himmatsj:

♥♥♥♥ man. I seriously hate this forced nature of the multiplayer. Whenever I realize someone is hacking me, I just take a 3 min break and walk around. I don't even bother finding the guy.

Yeah, I hate the forced aspect too. I wish they would at least let you play the game as if nobody was hacking you, but you can't do any other mission or activity or even fast travel to a hideout while being hacked. Luckily, having someone get into your game can be avoided with the Focus mode blip trick. However, that doesn't stop the challenges popping up for you to accept (same as with turning off online mode in the game's menu), but I found the popping up challenges easy enough to ignore. I haven't tried turning off online mode in the game's menu since the last two updates, so maybe it doesn't work anymore to keep people from entering your game. Also, I can't find the Uplay option to go into offline mode, so I guess that blipping Focus on every 30 sec. or so or disconnecting your whole computer from the internet are your only other options.

It's easy to go into offline mode on Uplay. Just hit the settings icon and select Offline mode. But I do not accept that that is the only solution to this "problem".

[rhobherto]

400 hrs of WD gameplay here, the first 200 completely offline with ZERO invasions or invitations to Online Contracts. Select "go offline" in the settings drop-down menu of the Uplay client (looks like a little 8-tooth, round gear, upper-right corner of the client window), and you're on your own, uninterrupted.

[himmatsj]

Does going offline affect anything like actions, rewards and achievements?

[bigbadbedwetter]

Originally posted by himmatsj:

It's easy to go into offline mode on Uplay. Just hit the settings icon and select Offline mode. But I do not accept that that is the only solution to this "problem".

Thanks, I just found it myself probably about the time that you posted this and edited my post above. I say, F these funny shaped icons that look like graphic decorations! :)

Anyway, rhoboherto says that going offline in the Uplay menu is reliable, so I'm going to try that myself. I would like to be rid of the challenge pop-ups too. It seems strange that you'd have to do it that way rather than in-game, but oh-well. I guess they thought it would be a good idea to make it more of a bother rather than less of a bother to play the game as many prefer and opt out of online stuff in order to do a little arm twisting to get people to play the online stuff. Grrrr! :(

[bigbadbedwetter]

I tried 1/2 hr playing with Uplay set to offline and I didn't get any invasions or challenge popups or problems with game saving, but I found that I also had no Uplay overlay which means no screenshot capability since I can't get the steam overlay to work with my Uplay version of Watch Dogs. So, I guess for me just blipping the Focus mode on every so often is what will work best.