Not even remotely close, P8/1 is a gigantic difference. This is why botters, cheaters, streamers, and discord groups are fighting so vehemently against /players online. They know they are generating an advantage for themselves over people who just want to play a bit of D2 when they get home from LIFE. Even though by the stated design philosophy of D2R, they are ‘working around’ this and already doing P8[Shared stash anyone? Cow King, remember that guy? Etc.]
I can empathize with the desire for this, but it does not belong in D2/D2R. Griefing and PKing has always been integral to the era and culture of this game, and full banning players is a solid no. However, what they’ve done with their wretched new chat system is make it WAY HARDER to actually ditch griefers. We need back the old system which provided adequate recourse, but did not delete PK from the game.
Strongly disagree with you on all points and reasoning here.
By the way, I’ve seen this line of reasoning in a lot of logic leading to the most toxic and lame mechanics, behavior, and net results for this game. Not just from you, but from many posters on this forum. Let me point out that what you’re doing is making a derogatory moral judgement against players who are technically suggesting a more level playing field. P8 multiplayer exists and the workarounds are methods which would be considered a sort of organized cheating in other sorts of competition. Then again, it’s a giant joke to literally everyone that Ladder is supposed to be referred to as ‘competitive’.
Putting an emphasis on vindicating your sense of morality is not a philosophy that is going to generate good game design. Especially when we’re talking about a remaster of a monster of a classic like Diablo II which began an era. Literally still marketed as ‘Classic gameplay—the same Diablo II you know and love, preserved.’ Then again, they didn’t bother to implement the basic chat features which existed 20 years ago before they started changing a lot of other things.