Blizzard's Mess

[Parsnips]

Blizzard's Mess

I know this has been said a million times, but what has this game been reduced to??

The hacks in this game are strangling any hold legit players may have. Its so bad that even myself, a legit player for years knows about at least 4 new, different hacks for killing people in the last week. They're so prominent that these people are everywhere like the bacteria of diablo. I know that a lot of you oldies are no longer playing for this reason but, something must be done. Who else to do it then the people that have been playing the game the longest? All the skill in this game has been replaced by hacks so much that a charger chickens 3 times to a sorc, same lvl. Then sits in town thinking that they have grounds to talk trash.

There was a tread a long time ago that addressed the matter of death due to lag. A reply to this thread stated that your characters should be built to be able to resist a little lag. An honorable yet realistic assumption. How can anyone legit to this game prepare for this counterpart of "lag"? No preparation can be done to prevent this onslaught of hacking virus that is infecting this game. Even if the legit chars are made to kill chickeners, the hacks become more and more diverse. Every ounce of skill that a legit player may possess is being thwarted over and over and over again by people that contain very little to no skill for this game.

We as legit players just keep rolling over to this matter and this should not be standing. Either by playing "untwinked", classic or by dropping the game all together we submit. There's select few that remain loyal against this barrage of humility that has taken this game. But I feel more should be included. Everyone who writes on this forum has an obligation to this matter, Imo. Because, you still have love for this game after all the years of posting on this forum. Its a choice to take the constant hacking, you old members made this game so popular in the beginning, there's more authority within you then you realize. What I'm proposing is a unified complaint not only on this forum, but to blizzard. Not only once, but until change occurs.

I realize many of you would rather brush this aside, because its an easy thing to do and lets face it getting change out of blizzard is as useful as **** on a bull but this is not acceptable. Don't you wish to play the game again the way it should be played, not just in dueling but in all fields? I strongly urge anyone reading this post to respond for a change. This may not be possible and a huge shot in the dark but it's at least worth a great try to get back something that I feel is ours. Thanks for your time and I hope to talk to you soon.
I am mostly on *carrots on diablo if anyone wants to come on and talk about this change. I will go all the way to blizzard to get this overturned, but I need support.

Trish / Parsnips/ Carrots/ Greenbeans

 

[Relativity]

Hi Trish. Are you the same Trish I knew many years ago from GAT-West?

I understand your frustrations, we've all had them, but we've also come to the realization that nothing will be done about them.

The last e-mail I sent to blizzard regarding a game issue was given a response of "I have forwarded this e-mail to the right people, but it may not get a response". So until a new patch, nothing will be fixed. And even then, I doubt they would fix anything important. They're lazy. They fixed a few spells for tppk but ignored the rest. It's ridiculous.

What do you plan on doing? While I believe all of us here would support you, we only amount to a very small portion of diablo 2 players; especially considering as you said, many people leave due to the current state of d2hc.

 

[Parsnips]

Hi Trish. Are you the same Trish I knew many years ago from GAT-West?

I understand your frustrations, we've all had them, but we've also come to the realization that nothing will be done about them.

The last e-mail I sent to blizzard regarding a game issue was given a response of "I have forwarded this e-mail to the right people, but it may not get a response". So until a new patch, nothing will be fixed. And even then, I doubt they would fix anything important. They're lazy. They fixed a few spells for tppk but ignored the rest. It's ridiculous.

What do you plan on doing? While I believe all of us here would support you, we only amount to a very small portion of diablo 2 players; especially considering as you said, many people leave due to the current state of d2hc.

LOL, yes indeed I am, nice too see some old faces out there!
I realize the laziness of blizzard in this matter but I plan to make them respect the old players. Despite the percentage of people on this forum I strongly believe we can make them see our case if we band together, all I need to know is that I'm supported and by whom. I would like to urge the old players to return to the game and letting our numbers stand against these hackers. I know that the members of blizzard north who created diablo are no longer there but, blizzard still holds responsibility over their games by trademark and I will follow this through to the bitter end no matter how rocky it gets. I believe anything is possible and it is obvious that if any change is going to be taken it's going to be on our shoulders to make it happen.
I'm on diablo a lot if anyone feels that they should be swayed to support, feel free to drop me a message.
Change can happen, lets make it so

Trish / carrots / greenbeans / parsnips

 

[Corn]

"Duel me."

"Uh, this is my PvE char."

"No duel? Dodge more noob."

"...."

"Dodge more. Dodge more. Dodge more plz."

"Lol ok."

"Dodge more."

Yes I know what you are saying, I haven't logged onto D2 for a while now.

 

[Unko Talok]

If there were some way to support this, I would in an instant. I don't know how, though.

What kind of plan do you have in mind?

 

[Parsnips]

If there were some way to support this, I would in an instant. I don't know how, though.

What kind of plan do you have in mind?

Well I plan at tackling this 3 fold. I would also like to say real quick that any supporters in this please don't hesitate in giving suggestions to this matter, anything helps.

1st, I would like to get as many old forum members as I can on our side. After that is done I would like everyone who offers their support to do two things I would like them to go to the suggestion forum on the blizzard website and make a post thread called "Free Diablo" then I would like them to post the current problems with hackers, the severity of the situation and the need for change. It all cannot be in the same thread, different threads with this name, so everyone individually. 2nd and i'm sure it can be the same email content, i would like everyone to write blizzard a personal email to this matter. I would like to orchestrate this on the same day with a large amount of members making the posts, I feel it will have a larger impact this way.

2nd, after I have regained the alliance of the old members I would like to go into the game itself and start making games for legit members called "Free Diablo" where legit players can play freely and this will take notice. People in the game will know what their for and that their all together on this. I realize their will be a threat from hackers on this matter but its just something we'll have to withstand for the time being.

3rd, I will be researching gaming media websites and trying to gain a hold onto the creators of these sites to gain some sympathy to our situation.

Something else that might help me to get the word out that if anyone could bring to my attention to any channels in dii that still hold legit players. Also, if anyone knows about any media based gaming sites that i could get in contact with. This would help a lot. We'll have to carry around "Free Diablo" as a banner from everyone in this, get the word out as much as possible and stay strong.

Trish/ carrots/ greenbeans/ parsnips

*I'm mostly on *carrots and *greenbeans for in-game contact.

 

[WrongdayJ]

You have my support.

I think you're doing the right thing. . .although I seriously doubt that Blizzard is going to listen. Even if they did seriously consider our recommendations. . .the other games out there right now are the cash cows. Diablo II is not the heavy hitter on their priority list (much to my personal dissmay).

But, having said that, I will join your efforts anyway.

 

[Tai.]

You know I'm down Twishy, it's true that Diablo II is no longer the flagship product at Blizzard, but it cannot be ignored that almost no d2 players have faith in Blizzard anymore. We trust their product to be fun, but not to be supported, or able to stand the test of time. I personally feel that Blizzard has overlooked this aspect, they are losing valuable repeat business because they REFUSE to act.

Just let me know when and where and I'm behind ya trish (might i add the view ain't bad )

Cheers
-Tai

 

[Unko Talok]

1st, I would like to get as many old forum members as I can on our side. After that is done I would like everyone who offers their support to do two things I would like them to go to the suggestion forum on the blizzard website and make a post thread called "Free Diablo" then I would like them to post the current problems with hackers, the severity of the situation and the need for change. It all cannot be in the same thread, different threads with this name, so everyone individually. 2nd and i'm sure it can be the same email content, i would like everyone to write blizzard a personal email to this matter. I would like to orchestrate this on the same day with a large amount of members making the posts, I feel it will have a larger impact this way.

This is a good plan, so long as the people in question have "old accounts" on the forum in question. Otherwise, it's going to be a huge banfest from the Mods. (I.E. hoards of new posters all ranting about the same thing... It smells funny and of spam. Mods squish Spam.)

Also, Set the date now. since you've now typed this, someone is going to see it and go "Yeah! Yeah! We need to *do* this! Let's gogogo!!!" post the thread, get no response, then the word will trickle over time in and it will be some sad and neglected corner of the forum instead of the tremendous boom that you're going for. If you're going to organize and lead this, set out your goal of members, and set the date (and make it *well known* when this date will be) that you would like it done, and begin trying to reach your goal of members involved. I have no idea how massive you intend this to be, so I can't give advice on how far out the date should be.

As for the Emails, again set the date (since this is going to be a huge effort, maybe on a weekend?), and perhaps list the points that you would like members to hit in said emails?

2nd, after I have regained the alliance of the old members I would like to go into the game itself and start making games for legit members called "Free Diablo" where legit players can play freely and this will take notice. People in the game will know what their for and that their all together on this. I realize their will be a threat from hackers on this matter but its just something we'll have to withstand for the time being.

I like this, too! It raises some unique problems, though.

1) People thinking that it's a free diablo run. Perhaps change the name to something "revolutionary?" (Nothing so cliche as "Diablo Revolucion!" or anything... perhaps something like "Diablo Reformists" or some other such phrase.)

2) Making sure that only legit players get in. The huge issue here is that, as soon as word gets out about this movement, people will be trying to get their hackers in. Sure, we could have some kind of code and Password, but hw do we know who to give it to and who not to? The only solution I can see to this is the following: Once you've gotten your army of followers, have set times and games that people are going to head into. The password for any given game can be determined among the members at the given meeting place. This will require some kind of forum-like setting. Still, this idea has huge holes.

3rd, I will be researching gaming media websites and trying to gain a hold onto the creators of these sites to gain some sympathy to our situation.

Something else that might help me to get the word out that if anyone could bring to my attention to any channels in dii that still hold legit players. Also, if anyone knows about any media based gaming sites that i could get in contact with. This would help a lot. We'll have to carry around "Free Diablo" as a banner from everyone in this, get the word out as much as possible and stay strong.

As for the channels, I've got nothing for you. As for the media-based gaming sites... I don't know that you'd be getting any adspace (unless you payed for it), but I'm sure that there are a few of them out there. I, sadly, am only part of a Dungeons and Dragons site, and trying to garner support there will quickly be squished as spam by the staff.

I mean for these to be suggestions, and my thoughts on the matter. I don't pretend to be any sort of expert. I'll be here when I can, as I can! Good luck!

 

[Tai.]

1) People thinking that it's a free diablo run. Perhaps change the name to something "revolutionary?" (Nothing so cliche as "Diablo Revolucion!" or anything... perhaps something like "Diablo Reformists" or some other such phrase.)

2) Making sure that only legit players get in. The huge issue here is that, as soon as word gets out about this movement, people will be trying to get their hackers in. Sure, we could have some kind of code and Password, but hw do we know who to give it to and who not to? The only solution I can see to this is the following: Once you've gotten your army of followers, have set times and games that people are going to head into. The password for any given game can be determined among the members at the given meeting place. This will require some kind of forum-like setting. Still, this idea has huge holes.

This seems dangerously close to just being a reborn GAT with a new name to be honest (not a bad thing) or perhaps a KTA style thing is more appropriate. I feel one of the goals is to let people know that legit gaming is out there and an option as well as letting Blizzard know the extent of the problem.

I'm all in favor of a community supporting legit gaming, but in my experience thats never enough

Cheers
-Tai

 

[Parsnips]

This is a good plan, so long as the people in question have "old accounts" on the forum in question. Otherwise, it's going to be a huge banfest from the Mods. (I.E. hoards of new posters all ranting about the same thing... It smells funny and of spam. Mods squish Spam.)

Also, Set the date now. since you've now typed this, someone is going to see it and go "Yeah! Yeah! We need to *do* this! Let's gogogo!!!" post the thread, get no response, then the word will trickle over time in and it will be some sad and neglected corner of the forum instead of the tremendous boom that you're going for. If you're going to organize and lead this, set out your goal of members, and set the date (and make it *well known* when this date will be) that you would like it done, and begin trying to reach your goal of members involved. I have no idea how massive you intend this to be, so I can't give advice on how far out the date should be.

As for the Emails, again set the date (since this is going to be a huge effort, maybe on a weekend?), and perhaps list the points that you would like members to hit in said emails?



I like this, too! It raises some unique problems, though.

1) People thinking that it's a free diablo run. Perhaps change the name to something "revolutionary?" (Nothing so cliche as "Diablo Revolucion!" or anything... perhaps something like "Diablo Reformists" or some other such phrase.)

2) Making sure that only legit players get in. The huge issue here is that, as soon as word gets out about this movement, people will be trying to get their hackers in. Sure, we could have some kind of code and Password, but hw do we know who to give it to and who not to? The only solution I can see to this is the following: Once you've gotten your army of followers, have set times and games that people are going to head into. The password for any given game can be determined among the members at the given meeting place. This will require some kind of forum-like setting. Still, this idea has huge holes.



As for the channels, I've got nothing for you. As for the media-based gaming sites... I don't know that you'd be getting any adspace (unless you payed for it), but I'm sure that there are a few of them out there. I, sadly, am only part of a Dungeons and Dragons site, and trying to garner support there will quickly be squished as spam by the staff.

I mean for these to be suggestions, and my thoughts on the matter. I don't pretend to be any sort of expert. I'll be here when I can, as I can! Good luck!

Ok I have given this all some thought and have come to a number of conclusions. You raise excellent points Talok, and I believe you are right on most things so keep the suggestions coming.

First off, for the old members anyone that really frequents the threads are respectable on dii, most people have been known for quite some time. Also, in hc at least everyone knows everyone else, I hoping any question of legitimacy will come up in the treads. On another note I am going to make a post of the same respects on the sc community forum as i'm sure that they are experiencing the same problems. Another reason is that they hold numbers in the diablo population. Despite some of the spam I might receive I believe it will be worth it in the end. My goal is to gain as many members 100+ as possible for this aim.

I strongly believe that I should be setting the date immediately also, but this is very important. However, I will post the date in a matter of hours, once I've chewed it over for a bit. I would like to send the emails the same day so blizzard gets swarmed. Please to anyone hold off on writing the emails untill a date is set, as to go for a bigger impact. Suggestions here would be helpful as well.

The name of the movement will be "Diablo's Decree". Also, I agree about the public games that's why I am going to secure a moderator in the channel op xbananax to rally players together so that we can discuss this matter. This will open up all moderating power to myself to block hackers from entering. Also, it will create a strong hold on the people who are for this movement by making them feel supported.

I would like to create a strong hc base before taking this argument to sc, as mixing the two worlds is going to prove some risk, although the differences must be put aside for this cause. Thanks for everyone who supports this change. Despite the fact that diabloii is an older game and not making hardly any money, I believe with enough force blizzard will have to submit. It's a huge force to take on but only by forming together can this be possible. I continue to urge both suggestion and support in this cause from the players who will not roll over to this ongoing threat of this diablo disease.

Trish / carrots / greenbeans / parsnips

One last thing, for anyone who supports this, please PM me your email, as to keep you updated on changes. I will be on the forums as much as humanly possible and will be in op xbananax for any further contact and information.

 

[ToolMan]

I'm down. I haven't played in a long time, but coming back I see that there is still a lot of hacking/cheating going on. Dissapointing.

You do the paperwork I'll make the bombs, deal?

 

[Parsnips]

I'm down. I haven't played in a long time, but coming back I see that there is still a lot of hacking/cheating going on. Dissapointing.

You do the paperwork I'll make the bombs, deal?

lol! you know it!

 

[Gambitsreturn]

Count me in Trish! I agree strongly with what your saying and I want you to know that you have my support. WooOT! Lets make some noise!:grin:

 

[Barrynor]

I will not venture online anymore, as I do not play online games at all, but I will make noise when required. And I am quite good at making a racket.

Yours truly,

Baranor

 

[MrKaxe]

I would say i'm all for it...being a member of KTA and a very long standing EuHC player (i'm new to the forum thang) but i seem to be in the wrong hemisphere...i will support from overseas though!

dk

 

[Manago]

play classic

Play classic, I came back after a 2 year WoW stint to find TPPKing has gone waaay out of control (no realm has more than 1-3 nightmare HC games up, and only 1-2 hell games that aren't trade/duel/advertisments).

I got rich pretty quick (80+ first week, starting getting enigma/cta the next) or "rich" in the sense I have one guy that can do anything. But it's no fun. The community has been shattered by all the TPPKers, it used to be legit and even non-legit (who remembers hydra sorc = TPPK? lol) PKing was accepted. People didn't really like it, but it DID keep the economy pretty good, now though, it's just slowly killing the game.

There's no way to tell for sure, but just from coming back I'd say 15-25% is just playing private games, or basically single player with a trade function, they've been scared into hiding from TPPKers. Then there's another 25% or so that play public games, these could be just regular joes, or maybe they aren't very nice people, either way they're the prey for TPPKers. The rest is TPPKing script kiddies.

What bothers me most is that it's easy to live through a TPPK attempt, last night I killed my 86 on purpose, stripped him completely naked and went TPPK baiting. I joined every public hell game I could and survived 8 games, 4 were direct hits that didn't do enough damage (3200+ life shape shifted with 1000+ cyclone armor) to kill me, 3 missed and the last one (the one that got me) took about 6 attempts. It's pathetic how bad they are, I remember when they patched the usual TPPK methods, there were some really "good" TPPKers, people that could manually TPPK with blade fury, guided arrow and LF, now they struggle to line up ib and push their i-have-no-skill button.

So I sold off the "leet" gear I got, and I traded it for shards and goldskins. That's right, I went to classic. Classic HC Ladder, probably the smallest community right? Wrong! The biggest selection of people you would be happy to meet IRL are playing the out-dated part of this game. ...and loving it.

It's so much better!

1. Gear, there's no runewords, theoretically the best gear is rare gear, you have way more potential for upgrading. It's no longer, crap gear to 75 then mule what you'll wear until you die/get bored of the character.
2. Difficulty, in expansion now (before I went classic) and before I went to play WoW I died to two things: TPPK and SEVERE lag, in classic you actually will have those heart pounding moments that drew me into the HC addiction in the first place! Doing CS runs at 23 and nearly dying to venom lords is pretty sweet. Again, no runewords, no charms, no equippable mercs makes it WAAAAAAAY harder (think, sorc/range has no tank, no extra auras).
3. Co-op, I've been playing classic now for about a week and a half, at any given time both USEast and Europe will have a full list of normal games, sometimes you'll even need the scroll bar (so like 6-10 games). I haven't even had someone attempt to kill me (as opposed to the every-other-game in expac).
4. Community, since blizz has no hard channels for HC classic people to meet in they make their own, if you just log in you won't realize anyone's around, but check out op hc-1 through op hc-4 on Europe and you'll quickly see it's not as small as you think.
5. Fun value, not going to lie, weapon switch is annoying, no charms or anya makes getting resists up to par VERY difficult, and the lack of sockets (or ability to socket outside of sojs) is hard. Toss in the lack of a merc and you suddenly feel VERY fragile against monsters that I've found to be just as hard as they are in expansion. ...and I love it, I haven't been challenged like this in years, back when I'd die in baal runs just 'cause my character wasn't built right, or I didn't know the basics of gearing properly I really enjoyed the struggle, now the only place to find that is in classic.

Op hc-2 is the best place.
Europe ladder
Hardcore Classic

P.S. Another sweet thing about going EuHCCL is while the community is bigger than what you'll find on the TPPK ravaged expac pubby realms, it's still recognizably small. People will help you with enchants etc.

If you decide to swap over, leave your account here and I'll message you when I'm online (I have a couple sets that you can use to help level). It's so bizzare to think of death's hand/sash or sigons gloves/belt as being "standard end-gear" but it is. Imagine how difficult hell CS is with normal act3 gear. Just remember, the gear is crappy, but there ARE rares that compare and surpass quite a few runeword weapons, they're just really REALLY rare

 

[Manago]

...and

oh and I'm not saying it's not a good idea to petition and what not, it's just as it stands now, expac isn't fun. Unless they reset the ladder with a new patch that removes TPPK (and hopefully does a mass banning of anyone that's using trigs) and patches dupe methods it won't be fun.

Right now expac is too easy except for the garbage TPPKers that just make it cheesy, you can do great, get the best gear and then just wait to die as you level.

Classic is much harder, you have to worry about everything except your fellow man, that's not to say that there isn't a couple TPPKers on classic, there is, but there's maybe half a dozen of them and with a total possible +8 skills (and then crappy FCR) it's quite possible to live through it. I haven't even met one personally but I've seen talk about a couple (one has the account *PK-o on europe).

Until the ladder resets either find a new game, or jump into classic and feel what made the game great... again.

 

[Enigma]

To the above poster, I understand what you mean, but I also think limiting yourself to playing classic is letting people who ruins this game win. I think the whole point of this cause is to actually take back what was once ours, and not letting hackers steps on our foot and do nothing about it anymore.

I completely agree with the meaning behind what you're trying to do parsnips, as farfetch as some people think it might be. Sure, blizzard never listens, but doing nothing is probably not going to change the environnment in which we currently play. Trying to group together is a good alternative to make them at least consider doing something, and that's a start.

For myself, I've been playing this game since the very beginning. I've been more pvp hardcore than anything else, and the game is at a point where it's who who has the bigger hack that wins, not the player who has the best build/skill. I've heard so many "dodge more" after making them chicken 10 times that I could puke. So you are left with pvm, which is also plagued by tppk and the sort. Legit players are then stuck with playing into small groups in private game, which kinda defeat the purpose of having a community surrounding the game.

I would like to see a ladder reset, along some kind of constant support, could even be a small patch every month to disable hackers programs for a while. They might go tired of having to change them all the time.

Of course, the best solution in my mind to stop the hacking is to implant fear into the mind of the hacker, fear of actually losing something when they hack. Constant monthly bannings are in this case a very good option to consider. I understand there is alot of hacks out there, and it might be hard to code, but stopping the bigger hacks that ruins others gameplay would be a good start. They banned jsp bots a while ago, why not do it for tppk and triggers.

I'm all for changes, and I'll be supporting you. People that says, "oh well it's not gonna change a thing" will in fact never change anything and will continue to say how bad it is, when we could actually try to make it better.

 

[squiggle]

Big words

I played classic hc (East not europe) for awhile, I ended up doing the same as you but I didnt ungear him first.(Reason being i had to many servers/Ladders/Sc/hc at the time)

Classic is still full of hacks, I can't comment on the Community of Europe but east was pretty dam empty. Had 2 people i could play with that i knew from LOD.

It's not that hard to avoid tppk. You can tell what they are just by how they follow you/there name/lvl/Alot. It's part of HC imo and doesnt really ruin the game for me, Just adds another challenge. Sends alot of kids back to SC =]



Still good luck on this.

Me and a mate PK everyone and then, Legit though

Eg. We host someone and guess where they are and kill them..It's fun.


My sort of opinion there..

(BTW me and a freind are going to start 2x classic HC sorcs and going to try and solo game untinked. One is firewall/nova other is Hydra/frost nova.)