Here is an important thing to consider. Will a D2:R client and a non-D2:R client be able to play together in a off-line LAN game? If the answer is no then it amounts to the devs breaking the game and fragmenting the community in the process. This would only affect off-line LAN games.
The toxic nature of the community, the FFA aspect of the loot system, the bots (click bot in particular), the ease of PVP ganking as a means of farming (looting your corpse), the entirety of JSP, and several other reasons are why I quit playing online in D2. I play off-line solo and LAN exclusively. Personal loot, some change to how PVP works to remove ganking, removing chat spam, etc. would be part of the reasons to buy the game. I don’t want any dependency on Apple’s Bonjour protocol. Bonjour will be viewed as a reason to Not buy the game. Leave the old LAN feature intact. Lastly, I would prefer Blizz to work with the modders. If I’m going to play off-line solo/LAN then I want my external infinite stash mod and runewords. I doubt Blizz will write code to implement a feature that they support, that will replicate GoMule and ATMA so, work with modders to facilitate their work. They could just enable runewords and the other ladder exclusives, like the torch, in off-line games.
Someone said in another thread that Blizz isn’t removing the old game (I do not believe this). So if changes are implemented in D2:R then those who wish to adhere to the old game play can just stick to 1.14d.
What are the changes you think are must haves in D2:R to make it worthy of you dollars and your time.
Blizzard uses Bonjour to handle LAN in their older games so if that’s a dealbreaker then it sounds like the game might be done for you already.
As for me to make it worth my time and money I want it to be as close to Diablo 2 gameplay as possible. That means the loot system and ganking in PvP ought to be there.
We’re already getting Diablo 4 as a Diablo game with the modern touches and it looks pretty good so far. I want D2R to stick to Diablo 2 and mostly just remaster it.
Actual cheating should be cracked down on regardless of the game. I would hope they do more about botting than they historically have for any Diablo game, which has left a lot to be desired.
Bonjour is unnecessary. There is no point in a zero config client when the client is already configured. There is no point in service advertisement and discovery when the game is not a service and should not be redesigned to be a service. Windows comes pre-configured with dual stack (IPv4 and IPv6). Macs only require a quick setting change to enable dual stack. Most routers do not come pre-configured with only IPv6 enabled and if they did it would be a minor quick setting change to enable IPv4. Bonjour is not even needed or used to connect to b-net.
The above shows that adding Bonjour does nothing to enhance the product. Employing it would be like putting on a pair of summer shorts under long pants, while wearing underwear, and going outside in 100 degree weather at the height of summer heat. It does not serve a purpose in a world that is not ready for IoT and is running on dual stack or IPv4 only. Even Mac users don’t need it.
Let Apple keep their crappy protocol to themselves. I would be making the same argument against Apple talk and IPX/SPX. Blizz needs to stick to making games and stay out of the imposing network protocol business.
@beefhammer:
They are putting D2:R on modern b-net servers. Why would they want to keep the old servers? This runs counter to their business model.
PVP farming isn’t even possible in D2. WTF are you talking about? You get nothing but an ear from killing someone. Have you ever played D2? Also, you have to declare hostility from town to kill someone, which means they can easily just go back to town and you can’t kill them.
They’re going to patch the game for balance and such after release, they just want the initial release to be true to the original.
I think LAN play in Diablo 2 was IPX-based. IPX is obsolete and probably not supported in the Windows network stack anymore… that’s probably why they’re using another protocol (Bonjour?). Who cares about the protocol though? If Windows supports this Apple Bonjour thing, what do you care? It’s a tool that does the same thing, no?
It uses IPv4 not IPX/SPX otherwise you would have to install IPS/SPX protocol software in windows. No it does NOT do the same thing. If you have IPv4 enabled, which you most likely do, then you do not need any other network protocol software to play offline LAN with 1.14d. They is no point to Bonjour. By the time IoT and IPv6 become mandatory Microsoft will have zero config enabled by default and you still would not need Bonjour. Let Apple keep their crummy trash to themselves. It is a solution looking for problems aka ssa wards back. It’s more work to replace something that is working. Stupid plain and simple.
Better treasure table logic. I play solo. Don’t know how many hours I put in over the years, but I don’t think I ever completed more than one or two sets, and none of them particularly good. Same with runes, where I don’t think I ever completed a single rune word. I had so much fun playing the game, but so much of my stash space was devoted to loot I never actually got to use.
That is one of the things I’ve loved about D3, by the way. The first time a set item dropped I cringed so hard, and when I found the cube recipe to convert them I literally laughed with relief. Of course I didn’t realize just how easy sets are to complete, but the D2 experience was so terrible in that regard, it really stuck with me.
You didn’t need to install IPX because it was natively supported by older versions of Windows. IPX was the defacto way for old Blizzard games to play on LANs with practically no configuration. From what I read, this is what Bonjour does… except it’s newer and supported in modern operating systems.
I don’t like Apple either… but this is a tool that seems to accomplish the same thing as IPX.
D2 was built from the ground up to be played online with a trade economy. Targeted loot drops or any other “loot 2.0” gimmick would ruin the trade economy and the main feature of the game
Well, like the thread asked, what would need to change to make it worth buying, and an items market that allows for solo play is my answer. The trade economy may be a main feature of their game, but it doesn’t exist at all in the game I want to play. Which, sadly, means I probably just won’t be playing.
That’s why i play Solo in D3, as a casual, like i want, not like the PvP’ers or thrillseekers want.
It works and i have fun from day one at D3, staying in my own bubble.
WTF man are you talking about Win v3.11? From Win95, Win XP, Win NT, Win 2000, Win 7 and beyond they all come with IPv4. IPv4 was and is the defacto standard protocol. You actually had to install IPX/SPX protocol software in order make use of that protocol. I should know because I worked in the 1990s in a Novell IPX/SPX corporate environment. IPX/SPX was NOT installed by default. If you go back to the older patches of D2 there is a dialog in the single player LAN code that asked the player to type in an IPv4 IP address. This is for a player to join a game being hosted by someone else.
Bonjour is NOT an IPX/SPX substitute. No one is trying to go back to IPX/SPX. There is no point in trying to mimic or emulate IPX/SPX. IPv4 is the standard (some might argue dual stack IPv4 and IPv6 is the current standard) and we will eventually be moving toward IPv6 as the standard but that is well beyond the next 5 years. I could totally see in the year 2035+ where it would be absolutely insane to ask a casual human user to type in an IPv6 IP address. We are no where near the point of requiring an IPv6 address unless it is in a corporate environment. Small private networks (which include home networks) can work just fine with IPv4.
Again, by the time we are required to use IPv6 as a standard Windows will install it by default. This means there is no need what so ever for Bonjour. Even Macs do not need Bonjour.
@ImmortalKing:
No one is questioning the use of modern b-net.
@Cyonan:
Notice they did not advertise that change in SC:R or War3:R. Please notice that many complained after the fact that Blizz devs removed the old LAN code. War3:R auto logs one into b-net and you digging through menus to get to offline LAN. It is not immediately obvious with the 2 products above that there is a dependency on Bonjour. It is only at the point of attempting to start offline LAN that one is presented with a dialog requesting permission to install Bonjour. It was unnecessary in both products. The LAN code works just fine. Bonjour is not needed for b-net play.
I never purchased War3:R but my game was patched to force me into using a new client with a Bonjour dependency. I will not be installing Bonjour. Blizz management made public statements, claiming “we hear you” in the aftermath of the War3:R fiasco. So, I’m not waiting for after the release. I’m making it known up front. Please do NOT create a dependency on Bonjour in D2:R for offline LAN. There is no point is trying to fix something that is not broken. Bonjour will not make the 20 year old game cutting edge, or increase security, or provide convenience. There is no point is me playing D2 on b-net without necessary changes. The devs should assume that I will never log into b-net with D2 or D2:R.
If you only plan to play D2:R online then the devs NOT creating a dependency on Bonjour has no effect on you.
Look, there’s a fundamental misunderstanding here on your part. Old LAN options like IPX and AppleTalk made multiplayer LAN gaming very easy to setup. And these were options in many old Blizzard games (just find some screenshots man!)! You didn’t even need to configure anything to use these options. You just host, list or join a game and bam! It just works. You don’t have to type an IP or port or anything like that!
What do you think Bonjour was designed for? Heck, apparently it replaces AppleTalk which was also a common option for LAN gaming in old games. How do you even manage to have prejudice over a communications protocols that made LAN gaming easier? It’s like hating and not using CUPS because Apple made it (that would be really dumb btw).
I don’t care about your indepth knowledge of IPX or its origins. What it did in old games was allow a player to switch the game to LAN mode, host, list and join games WITH NO CONFIGURATION (and this is key! Please understand the main point here!). Anything else about you working in 1990s and so forth? I absolutely don’t care! Understand easy no-configuration LAN gaming with old Blizzard games and Bonjour seems to make a lot more sense.