Blizzard Opposes D2ROffline and D2RModding Mods in Diablo 2 Resurrected
Blizzard Entertainment has disabled two popular mods for the alpha version of Diablo 2: Resurrected despite assurances that, like the original, the title would support them.
Blizzard Entertainment seems to be slowly preparing us, the players, for the release of Diablo II: Resurrected. In recent weeks, we were able to get a glimpse of refreshed models of NPCs, monsters and items. Now, however, the enthusiasm of fans might have been dimmed a bit, as Blizzard - who declared to have taken mods as benchmark when designing the remaster and assured that, just like in the original Diablo II, they will receive full support - has disabled two of the most popular (and the most controversial) mods for the game.
We are talking about D2ROffline and D2RModding. The first enables ud to play without having to maintain a permanent connection to the Internet (required by Resurrected), and the second enabled us to play with characters that were not available in the alpha version. What did they have in common? As you may have guessed, they both violated the guidelines that Blizzard issued for mods. So-called C&D letters (short for "cease" and "desist") were sent to their creators to make them stop their "illegal" activities.
This doesn't mean that mods won't be supported at all in the full version of the game. Blizzard has simply made it clear that it will not tolerate creations that pose a potential threat to its security policies. One of the company's representatives commented on the whole situation in the following words:
“We acknowledge that a big part of Diablo II’s longevity is the modding community and we appreciate their enthusiasm for the game,”. (...) we’re going to do our best to continue to support the mods for Diablo II: Resurrected as well. That said, some mods are atypical and pose security threats to our games. Security has always been a top priority for us and programs that could pose major security issues will not be tolerated.” (via Kotaku).
Let's hope that Blizzard will not change its mind before the game's release. Its exact date is still not known, unfortunately. One thing is certain, though, we won't get to know it at BlizzCon 2021, because it was officially canceled. However, we would like to remind that each and every one of you can sign up for beta tests of Diablo II: Resurrected... whose schedule, however, we don't know either. We have to wait patiently for both.
