01-07-2009, 04:21 AM
Excuse my bluntness, but anything we have to say about bliz decision re: D2 means squat now. For what little it's worth, I think the current online, D2 realm game does both. *It flips the bird to players who wants to play legitimately and lets cheating goes on (albeit on bliz terms).
After 1.10 onward, bliz said they are done with any major changes to the game. And for the most part, they've stucked to that. The change to merc hiring in 1.11 is welcomed IMO, but that's not really major like skill changes or game changing new runeword activations etc.
Second, while bliz stance on cheating IMO is at best schizoid, the bottom line for bliz is a cheater's dollar is as good as Johnny Legit's dollar. Good or bad, like it or not, the D2 casino has a revolving door policy.
Perma-banned for caught cheating? Oh well, nothing a new CD key won't fix. Which is conveniently available at the bliz gift shop. A cynical argument can be made cheaters are actually more valuable to Bliz for a game like D2, because they can potentially keep paying, while Johnny Legit paid once for the game, and that's probably the last time he does.
*see various changes like Durance area and Pindle drops that were supposed to counter maphack and bots, but have little impact to cheaters but affects non-cheaters alike. Right, I always liked it when in school some a-hole starts trouble, and the entire class gets detention. All for the greater good. But that's another whole can of dead horse.