I can 99% garuntee that it will be local, I’m sure (at least hopefully) GBX wouldn’t make the game unplayable when not connected to the Internet.

Remember this game isn’t a MOBA (definetly not in business model sense), it’s a retail game that has a campaign, splitscreen and (maybe, no offical confirmation yet) offline bots. Why would they make a large portion of the appeal of those aspects null?

It’s also on consoles, which are traditionally a lot more “offline friendly” than PC.

Online saves should only ever be used on games that are 100% online, so you wouldn’t be able to play anyway if there’s no internet. Online verification for singleplayer is something I am VERY against, and I REALLY hope it doesn’t become the norm.

Look what happened to Borderlands 1, gamespy shutdown and not only was multiplayer affected but the game didn’t work properly on PS3 (it wouldn’t save, I lost a perfect parts Torgue Anarchy), the issue was worked-around by disconnecting your PS3 from the Internet, and eventually fully restored (thank you so much GBX). It was all ok, but issues like that are going to become more and more common place as companies shutdown severs for things they assume no-ones playing. I still play games from 1996, will I be able to play games from 2015 in 2034? I hope so, but I’m getting more and more scared I won’t.

Online cheating may end up being an issue, but I’m sure the combination of Valve, Sony, Microsoft and Gearbox will sort that out. They were very lax about that sort of stuff in Borderlands (rightfully so, as it wasn’t competitive) but I’m sure cheaters will be dealt with more harshly in this game.