this has very little to do with age, people could be old enough, or still playing during that time period where the hacked items were abundant. but that doesn’t mean they know how they were obtained in the closed realm.
myself on the other hand well… i know EXACTLY how they were imported. 
One thing I liked about Last Epoch is that it has separated character self found and account self found modes (allowing you to go full hardcore ironman or be able to transfer items between characters)
Bots destroy the reason the vast majority of people play this game - the PVM grind
In two weeks in HC, game is effectively over.
In softcore, it lasts at most 3 days.
People exit within a month. Until bots are banned for some time, its always going to be like this.
I would so welcome the solo self found and group found modes.
Would be a useless waste of dev time
Bots > both modes
You can already do solo ssf - its called single player
Game still dies quickly without bots, but your point is valid. Bots unchecked certainly speed up the process of the decay of ladder.
We haven’t had a (moderately) botless one since s2 so its hard to see how quick it would die.
I think we’d see some serious renewed interest if bots were banned for a full season
But yes, there is some fatigue since people have been grinding the same game for 20 years
You’re 100% correct in that. The first season was botless and it did last quite a bit longer, but that eventual decay still happened. There just isn’t anything to stop the general increase of everyone having everything. You’d need everyone to constantly be building brand new characters. I’m not even sure if it is just the bots killing the game, though in part it is due to them as well. But the chat being awful as well as the game list. The divided game list between tz/non-tz also sucks. There are too many things that prevent a community from playing the game casually with ease.
Honestly, the worst part of the game has just been the battlenet experience(think the worst in game change might be mosaic, and though pvpers might point to the fhr changes) and yes, all of what you said is correct.
A botless season would drive interest i think
Its just too bad we probably won’t get it
Half a year and a solid team I think you could get everything working right. It just won’t ever be worth it financially for them. You’ll never fully get rid of botters, but you could make an impact or at least try to. But the bigger thing is if everyone was having an easy/fun time even if they exist would probably retain a larger player base.
Ber Rune for 4os eth thresh ??? The state of the trading in this game is miserable it should be worth an ist … ya i said ist cause thats what it was every single ladder since this one.
I’ve played since 2009 mostly d2lod but few years recently in d2r. Anyone who knows the old game will agree the prices are getting stupid for one simple reason … lack of interest in the game.
The diablo serious has failed because of the generation of Southpark/Rick and Morty watchers. You took something that was already great and decided that it wasn’t woke enough for you. Gl in life I honestly don’t know how you made it this far. Enjoy the dumptruck that rolls over into your lane while driving to a conservation rally.
You absolute muppet, you do realize South Park runs since '97!? Or that D2 was launched 9 years before you started playing!?
What’s this nonsensical brain fart you decided to pollute the forum with!?
20 charyou right xD
You’re so off base it is kind of funny.
Ber rune rocks like a 1:50,000 to 1:100,000 chance to drop
Thresher has a 1:6000, then only a 5% chance to be eth. Then you have a 1 in 6 chance of it rolling 4 sockets using the cube. OR a 1 in 6 chance of it rolling 4OS on dropping.
In fact a 4OS eth thresher is worth MORE than a ber rune.
They are non stop trade on traderie/jsp and i’ve got many friends still on the game.
We are all on nan-ladder.
Never understand the reason of season and restart from scratch
You must be new…first time around eh?
A ber rune has a 1 in 355624 chance to drop. Those are best odds off of wraiths.
They are rare af. The only reason things can trade for multiple ber runes is because bots farm the heck of out them and they only take up 1 inventory space so are easy to store.
Typically eth 4os threshers are worth Lo.
Edit: I actually found a more fun comparison.
Off a hell bovine the chance of dropping a ber rune is 1 in 730549.
Off a hell bovine a chance of dropping an eth thresher is 1 in 3316 x 20 x 6 = 397920. Where the chance of dropping a thresher is 1 in 3316 x 20 because there is a 5% chance of it being eth, and x 6 for the 1 in 6 chance of it dropping 4 os 
You’re taking the most optimal way of getting a ber.
When there is no optimal way to get a thresher, that rolls eth, that either drops 4OS or that cubes that way.
Now I didn’t make an exactly fair comparison because ber is ber and there is no replacement for it. Meanwhile a 4OS eth thresher has plenty of viable substitutes that are nearly as good or have tradeoffs that equal out such as CA, GT and depending on what you’re building MANCATCHER as well.
I don’t think anyone pays multiple ber runes for one, but as for rarity it is nearing equal to a high rune for a normal one. If you were to add any sort of ED to it, it would be worth a ton more because it would have to come dropped with sockets as the socket quest wouldn’t get it there and you cannot cube superior items.
As for your current valuing of them being worth a Lo the PC says that is close on the low end which seems about right all things considered. Runes maintain value, where as each thresher has substitutes AND requires multiple runes a lot of the time.
For me D2R is one of the few ARPGs it’s worth getting back into after even weeks into the ladder.
I made a lvl 99 java this season which was fun. Now I’m occasionally checking the Tzs and if they are good ima log in and grind an hour with like-minded people for fun.
So in my opinion Tzs are actually keeping people in the game because max level is achievable now.
Obviously the bot issue is a problem. But I guess we can’t help that. It doesn’t seem like this game will receive significant support anymore. That’s said because there is a significant old playerbase that would appreciate it. And with very minimal effort they could make this game better and improve the overall reputation of the Diablo franchise as a whole.
There is a ton of money to be made when the deal goes ahead than when it does not. This is for people in all sides, internal and external.