I was honestly shocked they even tried to leave TCP/IP and Open Bnet in given the security issues. I expected it to be removed or replaced during the initial announcement. It was the one thing that really surprised me.
So, yeah, having the Hacks team come back and tell them just how bad it was during/after Alpha… yeah.
I give the Blizzard/VV team credit for wanting and trying to keep it though. Their passions and heart were in the right place.
What I don’t know is if it will be replaced with something else (I doubt it), and how mods will be impacted. I know they want to support some modding, but I don’t know what form that will end up taking.
They were excited about having accessible data for modders to use so maybe something like an API? That can lead to things like Interface mods that use data Blizz provides but display it differently (like WoW addons). Maybe maps? I have no idea.
They have not gone into it and I strongly suspect that will evolve after game release. Sort of a back and forth between modders, Devs, and whoever keeps the security side/Intellectual property side under wraps.
I don’t think Blizzard wants modding and I also don’t think given the removal of the TCP/IP function that it would even be possible. That’d mean modding on their primary online servers which would in and of itself be a security risk.
I think their end goal is to have it be like Diablo 3, all in one online server with nothing beyond that except an optional offline-only mode that may or may not be moddable.
They DO want it. Interestingly enough. They know how important it is to the D2 community.
However, I suspect the lawyers and hacks team have had some words with them about intellectual property, hacking, game security, and even customer security. It would look really bad if customers were suddenly getting hacked via the games.
I only watched the first 35 seconds. Blizzard did not say that all mods would work with D2R. In fact, Blizzard stated that mods that inject into the game would be forbidden.
I do not have time for this video based on a false premise. Here is a news article from February 22 stating that not all mods would be allowed. Almost all of the popular D2 mods inject into the game.
It does yeah. But since my group would be my wife, my father, and myself. I’d like to know what the “threat” is. They vaguely hinted at “player experience” I assume they mean duping and the like, but if you only link with known users then that shouldn’t be a problem. Anyone using TCP/IP should know it is a ‘user beware, enter at your own risk’ kinda thing. If we want to group with shady people in OUR GAME it should be OUR CHOICE.
I love that the hill to die on now (because they literally can’t find anything worthwhile to complain about) is LAN parties in mid-late 2021. I know I for one am upset I can’t hold Zoom meetings on my old rotary phone.
Pffft. Try IPX over AppleTalk with Strategic Conquest 3 and 4. That was fun, especially in a computer lab that was mixed Quadra 650, Quadra 840AV, Quadra 950, an IBM Model 60 tower, and a fleet of IBM Model 30 desktops with their hard drives that were a bastardized amalgomation of MFM and ESDI. The only thing I hated more than trying to finagle AppleTalk to work with IPX (usually for Marathon, Marathon: Durandal, and Marathon: Infinity/Tempus Irae) was trying to actually get through that ginormous 27 floppy OS/2 installation.
AFAIK, single player offline mode will still allow you to keep your maps for speed running. Only online (single player and multiplayer) will have procedurally generated maps for every session. In offline mode you had to delete your CharacterName.map file to generate a new set of maps.
You never know - modern tech means modern solutions. If Vicarious Visions did their homework, and we really hope they did, then implemenation of sanity checks will eliminate duped and hacked gear from single player saves. No need to rely on ItemIDs since the sanity checks would verify stat ranges, affix types, and number of affixes on an item against a table that has a list of legitimate ranges/data.
My guess is that they would go the Steam route, which uses mod folder structures that leave the game data files untouched and act solely as replacement data that is loaded after the game loads. That makes the most sense from a security standpoint as it keeps game data and mod data separate, unlike the D2/LoD-C setups where the executables and actual game data were modified. The best analogy is actually Apple’s approach to the OS in Big Sur and iOS: system files are not allowed to be touched by the user at all, and drivers and anything else that modifies the system behaviour exists in its own APFS volume container and essentially acts as mods at the operating system and hardware level.
Sanity checks can remedy this.
Right, but if they move to a mod folder substructure that acts as data overrides without touching or injecting anything into the main game files, that would likely allow virtually any mod to work so long as there was enough RAM to do so (data overrides are loaded in addition to the base game data that will always load regardless of whether a mod is present or not).
if you don’t want to play a mod that already has a dedicated server i am sure the clever mod makers will eventually find a work around for it.
they also said they were supporting dialup at the same time so we should probably crucify them for requiring a broadband connection now too on the system requirements. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you want to look at it plans change. It’s much better they remove it now than after launch.
I assume they’re doing this to drive up monthly active users right? So Vicarious Visions is being pressured by Activision-Blizzard to do this right? This is trash, I know a LOT of people that will cancel their pre-order and I might go ahead and do that now. This company is on EXTREMELY thin ice with it’s customers. Probably time to stop screwing us over and do actual work. My reply improves the conversation by letting them know how strongly I disapprove of this and trust me, that is echoed greatly.
Yeah that would probably result in action from the community, like reinstalling Path of Exile, private mods and boycotting any further garbage from them.
