Diablo 2: Resurrected - Released

Connecting to a service like UPlay, Steam, or Epic is completely different. Still the comment above stated save games/progress was getting wiped from the server.

That does not mean they played offline but server-side. Battle.net is a server.

I've known a game that required a connection to a server for antipiracy reason, is that the same motive?

It was often a problem with that game, every new DLC would put the server under pressure and it wasn't possible to play for a few days.

Redglyph said:

I've known a game that required a connection to a server for antipiracy reason, is that the same motive?

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I'd have to say say yes it's stops your game from getting pirated. As the pirates would have to crack the server connection, and get the files needed to play offline.

It just takes to much work most groups just don't bother.

Couchpotato said:

I'd have to say say yes it's stops your game from getting pirated. As the pirates would have to crack the server connection, and get the files needed to play offline.

It just takes to much work most groups just don't bother.

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If the game is worth it, or if the challenge is worth it, there'll be groups to try

Redglyph said:

If the game is worth it, or if the challenge is worth it, there'll be groups to try

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No not with current scene I'm afraid to say. They can't even crack the latest DRM fast enough. You can even read about this on certain forums,discord, and reddit groups.

You might have noticed high profile AAA games don't get cracked on release anymore.

Ivanwah said:

I'm just saying that people are weary of Blizzard in that regard.

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I'm not sure why. In the case of D2:R, it's literally the same thing as signing in to Steam or any other launcher.

I'm not sure if I misunderstood something here but Diablo 2 Resurrected (PC) just like the classic Diablo 2 has three different types of modes basically.

1) You can play an offline single player character (that can not be taken online). This character is stored on your local HD/SSD and AFAIK you can play such a character fully offline as you please.

2) You can play an online B.net character that can be played single player or you can join games of other players or create a game to allow other players to join you. This multiplayer/online character can not be played fully offline.

3) A ladder play online-only character. This is actually not enabled yet since Blizzard wanted to avoid the onslaught at launch. This is the most competitive option, i.e. a character that can only be played online where the goal is to level as fast as possible and to get the best possible equipment for max ladder rank.

If you launch the game you actually get tutorial tips explaining options no. 1 and 2 in detail. It all makes perfect sense, too, as it did back in Y2K. An offline character can be hacked so you were never able to take an offline character online even back in the year 2000. Offline single player fans should be served satisfactorily with option no. 1.

As a reminder: This is mostly a remaster. Under the hood this game is still classic Diablo 2. You can even press a hotkey ("G" by default) in the game (just like it was with the C&C remaster) to switch between classic Diablo 2 and Resurrected on the fly.

That was very well explained, thanks @Moriendor;.

It's why with Diablo3 there was this controversy, that option 2 [play fully offline locally] was never offered. Either way, Diablo 4 is around the corner, so we'll see what they do with that.

Couchpotato said:

No not with current scene I'm afraid to say. They can't even crack the latest DRM fast enough. You can even read about this on certain forums,discord, and reddit groups.

You might have noticed high profile AAA games don't get cracked on release anymore.

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Ah OK. I'm not really following that, nor buying those games anymore. Now and then I see a bit of news that such and such have been cracked, but it's rare. It makes my day when it's about Denuvo.

It's one of the best remastered games I've played so far, if not the best. The fact that they did these graphics over the original 2D game and there's still the good old game under the hood is simply amazing. Therefore every game mechanic could be preserved. If only there will be more remastered RPGs like that. Imagine playing Divine Divinity, Arcanum, Fallout 1-2 or M&M4-5 with modern high res sprites like they did to D2. Or any Infinite Engine game. It would be awesome.

By the way for those with hesitation, I'm playing the game offline without any problems. Like Steam, all you need to do is opening the game once while connected to internet. That's it. But unlike Steam, you have to be online once in every 30 days.

Gokyabgu said:

If only there will be more remastered RPGs like that. Imagine playing Divine Divinity, Arcanum, Fallout 1-2 or M&M4-5 with modern high res sprites like they did to D2. Or any Infinite Engine game. It would be awesome.

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Tbh, I'm not a big fan of the remaster craze. There are already too many of them being done for a quick cash grab. D2:R is obviously an example of a remaster that had a significant amount of work put into it, but most of them aren't on that level.

That said, there are a few games I wouldn't mind if they were done right. M&M VI-VIII come to mind.

Couchpotato said:

No not with current scene I'm afraid to say. They can't even crack the latest DRM fast enough. You can even read about this on certain forums,discord, and reddit groups.

You might have noticed high profile AAA games don't get cracked on release anymore.

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Seems like hackers are becoming a relic of the past. Even the best hackers are seemingly working to stop hacking now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXXoO0FwUKQ
He has a phd in computer science and is a computer science researcher now.

True as Denuvo was developed by some of the best scene members when they realized they could make money off their talent instead of cracking games for the ungrateful masses. It's amazing no one has been able to crack it, bypass yes but not crack.

I for one am glad for the collapse of videogame piracy. Stealing is not okay only because you did not physically lift the products through the store's gates.

I understand there are problems with the industry, ie not localised prices that make some games cost as much as a whole week of your salary in some places, also the whole DRM crap and more. Those need to be addressed, but not by stealing from the hard work of professionals that also have families and goals in their lives, and work at times stupidly low wages for oppresively long work weeks to make a living.

Nereida said:

I understand there are problems with the industry, ie not localised prices that make some games cost as much as a whole week of your salary in some places, also the whole DRM crap and more. Those need to be addressed, but not by stealing from the hard work of professionals that also have families and goals in their lives, and work at times stupidly low wages for oppresively long work weeks to make a living.

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There's also a serious problem with game preservation. Plenty of games, when they become either unprofitable or when the company that handled it goes under, remain unplayable either due to DRM that never gets patched out, or because the company decides to retire the servers and offers no ability for players to host the servers themselves.

There really should be legislation to force company to offer an end-of-life plan for most games and software. They don't get to cut off your product just because it's no longer profitable, or because they decide to cut off activation servers. Adobe did something like this recently, but plenty of ther game studios to it pretty regularly.

Also, let's not forget about the monopoly of companies that use software to force people into buying new hardware when only parts of that need replacing/fixing. I'm reminded of the recent "right to repair" movement, that involves plenty of IT companies also. But in this case in particular, people that own John Deer farming equipment are forced into official repairs that usually gouge them for more money than is actually required. And the company also refuses to offer diagnostics software to find out which part needs fixing/replacing. So farmers have to resort to pirated software for that.

So yeah, in these cases pirated software is mandatory until they get resolved some other way.

JDR13 said:

Tbh, I'm not a big fan of the remaster craze. There are already too many of them being done for a quick cash grab. D2:R is obviously an example of a remaster that had a significant amount of work put into it, but most of them aren't on that level.

That said, there are a few games I wouldn't mind if they were done right. M&M VI-VIII come to mind.

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That's my point. There are too many so called remasters in the market that too little effort put into them. D2 Resurrected shows that with enough dedication, manpower and time, much could be accomplished.

Gokyabgu said:

That's my point. There are too many so called remasters in the market that too little effort put into them. D2 Resurrected shows that with enough dedication, manpower and time, much could be accomplished.

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After the disaster that was Warcraft 3 remaster anything but a stellar remake/remaster would be a disappointment. Blizzard is on some very, very thin ice for a lot of people.

Is the cow level there, too ?

Yeah, I don't steal games, ever. Even something like this isn't even a temptation, because there are just so many great classic games that I can always replay, with no worry of repercussions. Blizzard has been such a disappointment for me personally, I just don't see me ever giving them any more of my funds these days.