We need mods to confirm this is permitted. But are 3rd party overlays PERMITTED in Diablo IV to give us Quality of Life that is (currently) not in the game? When I say 3rd party, I mean software such as overwolf.
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I am another player, not a Mod. I can give you the basics though.
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Blizzard will not approve any third party software. They don’t make it or control it so will not tell you that it is ok. They depend on you to read the rules and make good decisions.
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ANYTHING that provides functionality not provided by the core game, that automates any portion of a game/rotation, or that changes game files, is not allowed.
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Blizzard did not make a Mod sandbox for D4 like they did for WoW. There are no approved means to modify the game.
License Limitations. Blizzard may suspend or revoke your license to use the Platform, or parts, components and/or single features thereof, if you violate, or assist others in violating, the license limitations set forth below. You agree that you will not, in whole or in part or under any circumstances, do the following:
- Derivative Works: Copy or reproduce (except as provided in Section 1.B.), translate, reverse engineer, derive source code from, modify, disassemble, decompile, or create derivative works based on or related to the Platform.
- Cheating: Create, use, offer, promote, advertise, make available and/or distribute the following or assist therein:
- cheats; i.e. methods not expressly authorized by Blizzard (whether accomplished using hardware, software, a combination thereof, or otherwise), influencing and/or facilitating gameplay, including exploits of any in-game bugs, and thereby granting you and/or any other user an advantage over other players not using such methods;
- bots; i.e. any code and/or software, not expressly authorized by Blizzard, that allows the automated control of a Game, or any other feature of the Platform, e.g. the automated control of a character in a Game;
- hacks; i.e. accessing or modifying the software of the Platform in any manner not expressly authorized by Blizzard; and/or
- any code and/or software, not expressly authorized by Blizzard, that can be used in connection with the Platform and/or any component or feature thereof which changes and/or facilitates the gameplay or other functionality;
Overlays also have a tendency to cause game conflicts with Blizzard games such as crashes, grey screens, and non-responsive screen areas.
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TL;DR
Blizzard only really cares about game data modification or tools that provide a tangible advantage to the user over other players. An overlay like Overwolf does neither.
While technically not “allowed” in the TOS, as long as the overlay in question doesn’t provide the user with an advantage over others, or modify the game’s data in some way, Blizzard is unlikely to act on it. Discord’s game integration, FPS/system resource monitors, even streaming tools like OBS can all count. Software overlays are a dime a dozen these days; it would be a waste of time and resources for them, not to mention a PR nightmare, to try and deny them all.
Your specific example, Overwolf and it’s plugins, aren’t doing much more than opening a browser window in-game. D2R’s is a little more advanced in that it scrapes for character data, but in the end it’s not providing an advantage over someone who just opens a browser window on the side for trading purposes.
That being said, Overwolf’s D4 overlay tends to be extremely performance hungry, leading to the issues MissCheetah mentioned. When I tested it out, even “hidden” it caused FPS drops, and while open, I had to be selective about the icons displayed on its map or else it’d become unresponsive. I don’t know if it’s just my system or what, but it wasn’t a good experience for me.
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Hi there,
I’m Dana, from Overwolf’s support team, and I came across your post 
I wanted to clarify that we work closely with game developers and publishers to ensure that all apps that are available on the Overwolf Appstore fully comply with their 3rd party policies and terms of service.
I’m sorry to hear you were experiencing these issues while using Overwolf!
While they can come from the Overwolf client in general, it’s not always the case - it can also be an issue with the specific app or even a conflict with other overlay programs, like RivaTuner.
If you would agree to share additional information with me and my team, it will definitely help us to determine what happen and, hopefully - resolve it. You can reach out to us here: (https://overwolf.freshdesk.com/en/support/tickets/new)
Thanks
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I understand that they can not endorse a third-party program as it isn’t in their control, and it can change its behavior or functionality to become unapproved without their immediate knowledge which would lead to a sticky situation where players would be banned for using something they were expressly given permission for.
However, I can not think of one reason why they can not say “The current build of [third-party software] is NOT allowed.” and even give a reason as to why.
They expect us to use good judgment to interpret their TOS, which was written by a lawyer, when many people can barely comprehend a 280-character Tweet. And let’s not ignore that it is so broad and vague that they’re forced to selectively enforce it, as even your mouse software includes macro functionality that breaks the automation rule.
Now, I’m forced to take the word of a thrid-party software company rep that claims they communicate with devs to ensure their product is compliant, which they have a vested interest in leading me to believe, which I can not verify, and which their own TOS attempts to protect them from any liability if they make a mistake or lie about its compliance and I end up getting banned by Bliz as a result.
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I can tell you why If they start letting people submit approval requests for overlays, macros, software, etc - it would create a massive queue that only rather technical people at the specialist level can answer. The average CS role is not to dissect and approve/decline third party items for use with their games. That is the Hacks team and they handle ALL Blizzard games.
It is just time and labor intensive to approve/decline software they don’t ever have any control over so they just don’t get involved.
True. A good rule is that if you are suspicious and you have to ask, don’t do it.
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That’s fair but what isn’t fair would be to ban users for using them. If blizzard don’t like a certain software they could at least warn people before banning.
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They consider the EULA our warning. Do NOT use anything with Blizzard games that touches provides game information to you, modifies game files, touches networking traffic for the game, etc. It is pretty detailed.
Cheating: Create, use, offer, promote, advertise, make available and/or distribute the following or assist therein:
- cheats; i.e. methods not expressly authorized by Blizzard (whether accomplished using hardware, software, a combination thereof, or otherwise), influencing and/or facilitating gameplay, including exploits of any in-game bugs, and thereby granting you and/or any other user an advantage over other players not using such methods;
- bots; i.e. any code and/or software, not expressly authorized by Blizzard, that allows the automated control of a Game, or any other feature of the Platform, e.g. the automated control of a character in a Game;
- hacks; i.e. accessing or modifying the software of the Platform in any manner not expressly authorized by Blizzard; and/or
- any code and/or software, not expressly authorized by Blizzard, that can be used in connection with the Platform and/or any component or feature thereof which changes and/or facilitates the gameplay or other functionality;
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I feel this is just an excuse now for companies to get rid of the majority of their support staff. It’s a growing trend with companies getting rid of phone support and replacing it with automation. We should not give them excuses because it just leads to poorer service.
Blizzard has never ever allowed people to submit software to be approved for use with their games.
App shops have that function where an app developer submits for approval before it can be listed on the store. Game companies are not in that business though.
I don’t like the lack of CS most companies have now either, but in this particular case it is not something CS has ever done for Blizzard, or any game company I can think of. They don’t have a “submit your macro/overlay/software” for us to approve type of ticket.
If they want something used with their games like WoW Addons they provide a sandbox for people to develop in that only has capabilities the company wants. WoW addons for example only move UI interface info around or display it. They can’t change the game beyond what Blizzard makes available.
They also said they were never creating something like that again. Heh. That was a long time ago they said that so I take it with a bit of salt.
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It’s about respecting your customers. The customer has spent a lot of money and time on the game and to just suddenly decide that something isn’t ok and banning them isn’t right.
It’s very easy to give people warning that if they continue to use a certain software they are going to ban.
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Can you give a link to the overlay you are mentioning?
google overwolf diablo 4 overlay
I prefer a link though. You have it readily available?
If it is something widespread that was considered allowed, they do give a warning. The policy change on Multiboxing is an example. They used to allow key clone software/hardware solutions to send the same keystroke to multiple game instances. Before they started banning for it they did warn people.
However, seeing as they don’t approve/reject things overall, they are not going to give individuals special warnings each time they break the rules. They just ban people.
Do NOT use anything with Blizzard games that in any way touches the game, game info, game files, game UI, game communications.
They never said anything WAS ok, so it is a matter of catching people and determining actions on them. They tend to do big ban waves, not singles. It can be weeks or longer after someone is detected using something before a ban wave goes out.
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I’m not a software engineer, I wouldn’t have a clue what an overlay does.
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It helps give you an advantage over others. Cheating essentially.
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I am sure you can google what an overlay is Each one is going to have different features depending on the application it is for.
Does it show you data from Diablo 4 on your screen that you can’t see using the game features built into the game? If yes, don’t use it.
If it is a Discord overlay or Stream overlay that don’t have any game functions or interface then that is not an issue.
This! Which as the EULA says, is considered cheating.
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From what I can tell it is basically just something like one of the diablo 4 interactive map websites.
But it overlays in the game.
Does it read the diablo files? I have no idea.
The simple reality is that - unless the game is built explicitly with mods in mind like WoW - opening the ‘is this allowed?’ can of worms costs money because they then need to hire specialists to evaluate each and every tool that gets submitted. And given the number of overlays and third party tools that get made every year, that would probably require several employees.
All for something that wouldn’t generate any money. Hard to get executive to approve that when it provides really no tangible value.