Is the DRM on Heroes VI a dealbreaker?

[Selis]

I am considering getting Heroes VI, but I'm not yet sure. I noticed that even if I acquire it on Steam, it requires Ubisoft DRM? How bad is it? Is it less restrictive if you skip Steam and just go to Ubisoft?

Do you regret getting the game (due to the DRM)?

I really don't think every company and their mother are entitled to my personal details, and I'm really unhappy about this DRM stupidity. I'm conflicted, any tips?

[ℭ𝔬𝔭𝔶𝔠𝔞𝔱]

Uplay is required to play the game, Steam is not. Take a look at gameplay videos and read some reviews before you decide to buy it. I had no problems with Uplay, but I loathe the persistent connection requirement in order to be able to play with weapons and bonuses.

[Mick]

There's still a very annoying bug where the screen sometimes goes black during combat. It means you lose all unsaved progress.. Super annoying. I wish I could get a refund

[Selis]

Mmm, clarifying. Thank you both for providing commentiary. I think I'll wait until Unisoft perhaps removes it from the game.

PS. Is hotseat still included? I started playing the game from the very first version and it really caught on since version 2 and 3. Hotseat was amazing.

[Wundsalz]

Well, Ubisofts U-Play DRM thingy prevented me from starting the game:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/48220/discussions/0/594820656474208222/

There is no reason to regret the purchase though. Steam processed my refund request smoothly and in a timely fashion.

[Selis]

I don't always have internet on the computer (laptop) I want to play this on anyway, so having to be online all the time is sort of a huge hassle to begin with. For an offline game I don't understand why. I reckon there's a pirated version that works just fine, but I think I rather just skip it altogether until Ubisoft stops being such an ass to its legitimate customers.

I feel they've alienated the community quite a bit when they started doing this.

[Raiden74]

You don't have to be online all the time, you just won't have acess to your weapon artifacts and traits... yes, they are good things to have, but you can play without it...

[Dimitrii Anghelov]

not really but the lack of random custom maps is.

[old Charlie]

get heroes 5 instead. Its better, cheaper and runs without uplay altogether.

[StormCloud]

I truly wish I would have bought this game when Steam offered refunds, I've never been able to play VI for more than a few minutes at a time due to all the bugs. Uplay also tends to really muck things up as well during play sessions. Definitely only play in offline mode if you do play the game. I had a love hate relationship with the game. Beautiful sound and graphics for a Might And Magic Heroes game, horrible bugs though, and Uplay to just kill the experience completely. If I could choose whether or not to buy this game again, I would have never bought it to begin with. Heroes Of Might And Magic 1-IV were all amazing to me, V is where Uplay came into existence and it really destroyed that game. I really really wish, UBISoft would have never touched the Heroes Of Might And Magic series and the old company that made the series was still alive.

[Raiden74]

I play this online a lot (single player). No issues 99% of the time. Ppl complaining about Uplay are a bunch of cry babies.
Yes, the game still has some bugs, but not game breaking bugs...

[Viking]

Originally posted by Raiden74:

Yes, the game still has some bugs, but not game breaking bugs...

What about that bug where your dynasty weapon drains your spell power every single turn, unless you unequip it before hitting end turn?
Sure, you're not in any way forced to play with dynasty weapons, but then you might as well just pirate it and be rid of the headache that is uplay drm.

Now, you might ask what I have against uplay. It's simple. Uplay randomly disabling dlcs I've bought for HoMM VI from time to time.

[Selis]

Originally posted by Raiden74:

I play this online a lot (single player). No issues 99% of the time. Ppl complaining about Uplay are a bunch of cry babies.
Yes, the game still has some bugs, but not game breaking bugs...

I mostly just want to hotseat offline. I guess if you don't mind Uplay and their weirdass backdooring DRM and are always online, you may not notice too many issues. Supposedly the new DRM they're using is absolutely insane though.

I'm a big fan of the game, I have the manual of HoMM3 in my bookcase still - I still love the awesome pencilart in it.

I just don't get why Ubisoft is trying to force these things down our throats, judging from the comments here it's as horrible as it sounds. I'm sure they'd love to have us all sit in electric chairs that start electrocuting at higher and higher voltages until you reconnect to Uplay and show you're paying them.

They're punishing their legitimate customers. Pirates have a version that works just fine. I want to purchase this game, but I'm not going to pay to be put on an electric chair...

[Raiden74]

Yes, as I said, there are some bugs, but I can play pretty well still.
About Uplay, yes, I agree that they are "punhising" legitimate consumers, but anyway, I play this and other games from Ubisoft with Uplay and most of the times, there aren't any issues.
But you can also talk about D3 being only online and other games I'm sure also have the system. There are always going to be problems, but I really don't think all this hate towards Uplay is justified. Especially when many games are critised just because of it. :(

[Selis]

I think the criticism is fair because Heroes of Might and Magic is not an online game. And I do feel it's terrible that Diablo 3 also wanted an internet connection for the solo playthrough. It got the same slack for it. Diablo is however not a hotseat type of game, and is one you typically play over LAN or internet with some friends.

Either way, just because others are doing stupid things, doesn't mean Ubisoft should do stupid things.

I think Ubisoft had a chance after the utter backlash from the last time they did DRM. They chose to implement even worse DRM. I think that reflects on how they treat us as customer; I'm sure the game's developers weren't too happy about it either, and it was probably some idiotic CEO that was born into money that made the choice.

But for us it doesn't matter, we can only do one of two things: purchase or not (yet) purchase.

But I'm sure whomever made the call will look at the numbers of Heroes of Might and Magic VI sold, notice a decline (because of their idiotic DRM), claim it's because of piracy and implement previously suggested electric-chair-DRM to combat their dwindling sales.

And yes, I am fairly upset, it was a great game. Hell, it may even still *be* a great game. I don't know, I can't / won't install such terrible things.

They need to remove their DRM completely. They need to apologize to everyone that has bought a copy of their stupid DRM-riddled-game, probably by offering those customers the next version for free or something.

I think that they've been completely alienating their fanbase. But I reckon you're a fan, Raiden74, and you still supported either way. But truth be told, don't you agree you're just trying to wave the nuisance? Wouldn't you rather have had the game without all that DRM?

[Raiden74]

To be honest, I really don't mind / don't care at all about the DRM. I have a stable internet connection and their servers, the majority of the time work, so I have no problems with it. I am a fan of HOMM since HOMM 2 and for me H6 is a great game (playing it now, again... never finished it completly, because I get bored of games.... its too long). Sure, if it didn't had any DRM it would be better, but I really don't mind it. Plus, there are some bonus ingame for playing online and there are the Uplay rewards. I know, all of it could be part of the game anyway, without the DRM, but at the same time, even if it is a nuisance for the paying consumers, it also rewards them at the same time.
I have some games on Uplay and I really don't have any problems with them, or any reason to complain.

As for H7, I already pre-ordered the game when a couple weeks ago they did a promotion (or more probably, the had the price by mistake for some hours) for the deluxe version for 15€. I played the beta and to be honest, wasn't very glad with it, but still believe there is hope, yet again.

And about them removing their DRM completly, I REALLLYYYYYY doubt that will happen. What is probably going to happen with more devs is the adoption of such things.