Only sometimes? I can't bring myself to buy those games anymore. It's not some lost technology to make a video game work without an internet connection.
But I'll usually be online even if I have the option to be offline. It just means that I know the game will continue to work even if they're not running a server somewhere. The dominant use case is still going to be going online to see their new goofy costumes that I can buy, because it's easier than setting up a private server, and because that's where everyone else is.
Since the Steam Deck I've been prioritizing games that don't require high frequency of online check backs. Or I guess I could use cracks, but I don't want to have to do that.
I could understand forced online for ladder ranking I guess? But that should be opt in. I could understand seamless online/offline since they’re trying to make it seem more like an MMO. But kicking people off or getting hardcore characters killed because your servers go down is something I thought they already learned and yet lol. Nope.
counterpoint: DDOS'ing has been around for a while and is something every mid-sized or bigger online service has to deal with eventually.
If you release an always online product in order to sell your shitty microtransactions and take away control from the player, then you should at least make sure the always online product can stay online and incorporate some DDOS protection.
Every season brings on new unique challenges. The playerbase is nice. And- there are a billion and two different ways to build a character. That was one thing that game did better then any other game- the sheer amount of customization.
Although- I think the complexity also drove away a lot of players too. But, I really enjoyed it.
There are a few different games like PoE that I think are amazing for who they are made for. Eve online, super great for those who wanna do their job… but in SPAAACE. PoE great for people who like way too ridiculous customization in their ARPG. Guild Wars 2 I think is probably the best server example tho. That shit been down for something stupid like 24 hours combined in US+EU (dunno about China) total over 10+ years. Also definitely has its niche in MMO you can pick back up after 6 days, 6 months, or 6 years and you’ll still be good with some minimal effort. Basically the opposite of PoE I feel.
In a single night, lost a FULLY pimped out Golem, A 90% pimped out T4 cruiser. Got pod-killed a few times, and lost YEARS (LITERALLY YEARS!!!) of skill-points.
Then- I said F- that. Never touched it again.
I guess these days, you don't lose months or years of skill-points when you get podded. But- too late for me.
This is most of the reason why I haven’t bought D4. (Well, that and I got burned real hard by D3 midnight release.) I liked single player games BECAUSE they didn’t require internet access.