Discussion Community/Mod thoughts on editing computer clock to change Terror Zones?

[Nibiru-]

Back after a long time with a question:

For the record, I haven't done this, but what is the prevailing attitude regarding changing computer clock to set terror zones. I'm on the fence... is it just another "perk of offline/not being able to trade" or is it an exploit? One could say "you can't access this feature via the game" therefore it's an exploit. But by that logic, so is GoMule. I checked the rules but did not see anything. Anyone else care to discuss?

 

[ziambe]

Its like dipping your cheese in ketchup...gross!!

 

[maxicek]

Topics like this are generally best addressed by sending me a PM. That definitely is in the rules.

Technically and morally highly suspect:
- Changing your system clock is not a good idea generally.
- Where is the achievement if you just run terrorised Andariel 24/7?

It is very close to hacking items for me as you are manipulating the game for drops.

If I saw someone who was obviously only running one Terrorised zone, they would at least get a warning.

 

[Nibiru-]

Topics like this are generally best addressed by sending me a PM. That definitely is in the rules.

Technically and morally highly suspect:
- Changing your system clock is not a good idea generally.
- Where is the achievement if you just run terrorised Andariel 24/7?

It is very close to hacking items for me as you are manipulating the game for drops.

If I saw someone who was obviously only running one Terrorised zone, they would at least get a warning.

I missed it in the rules. Thanks for clarifying. Please close topic.

 

[Timinator]

I did PM maxicek about this topic some time back. I do understand why this community would have an issue with it of course. Below are some philosphical thoughts, not trying to advocate one way or the other.

When you are well geared which its a matter of time before any player hits this point, you can play and farm any level. That journey to that point is interesting. Its been a normal thing to repeatedly farm says NM/Hell meph for good gear for alts, or NM Baal runs to level up before getting into Hell. Also we have people doing NM Andariel for things such as SoJ as its useful she can't drop other things which boosts the odds.

The main thing of course for Terrorized is everything non cow is on offer which is new and can be tempting.

Many in this and other communities look at the game from a min/max optimisation strategy. If you want X reward what are the options, what is the fastest or path of least resistance to get to that.

That last bit about optimisation can be tempting for a time poor adult with real life responsibilities.

Still the rules are the rules, maxicek is in charge here and I respect that.

 

[Nibiru-]

My objection to changing the clock to manipulate terror zones comes down to design philosophy. In the case of the GoMule comparison, the devs clearly intend for you to keep items, even large quantities for things like crafting. However, they failed to implement a sufficient stash system that accounts for long-term large-scale single player projects. GoMule and ATMA before it came in to fill that gap, but the experience is largely left intact. Conversely, the terror zone design philosophy is clearly time based. You are offered this one zone to farm for an hour before it changes to another pseudo-random zone, and you are rewarded with better drops during that time frame. Changing your system clock to manipulate it effectively eliminates the time-based intent of the design and is therefore more of an exploit than an app that simply allows you to keep and organize your items.

It took me a little time and thought to arrive at this conclusion but for me, it all boils down to intent.

 

[Timinator]

I wonder how much the limited in game stash was a mixture of different things. Remember Classic only gave us 6x4. with LOD we had double that, but after playing D2R it seems far too small. D2R even with 4 empty tabs can fill up quite quickly depending how fussy you are what you keep.

1) Worried about storage space on Battlenet, bigger the space, the more data storage, the more electricity etc needed
2) Actual in game design of scarcity of space and needing to choose.
3) Perhaps overlooking how much people would want to hoard/share and how they would try to get around this. Luckily in SP we have these tools. You'd hear on Bnet about "perming games" and moving things. You wonder if they had either more space in game/easier ways to move things, they would have had to pay less in electricity for server costs if people could more easily do what they wanted?
4) I wonder how much it was about not wanting to design/implement some other way to move things between characters which we didn't get till D2R.

I'll tell you one thing at least I enjoy about their design philosphy these days. Its that they don't keep the special toys only in their online space, eg Pandemonium event etc which before D2R wasn't possible in forum accepted ways. The fact they have come up with things, and sometimes with a limited time delay they have come to Offline/Single Player is a massive PR win in my opinion.

I wonder if some of this was a ploy to get people to get excited about the Diablo Universe before the launch of Diablo4? Eg also see Diablo3 got its biggest and coolest patch a few months before D4 release.

One other thought I had is in some other place I saw someone sharing an opinion that they didn't think a certain streamer getting the grail was "legit". Their reasoning, in Single Player he had used the Players X command, which wasn't available on Bnet. To the commenter, the only acceptable grail was in Bnet on ladder. Basically we can never please all the people all the time. A place like this with common rules is good.

 

[snickersnack]

3) Perhaps overlooking how much people would want to hoard/share and how they would try to get around this. Luckily in SP we have these tools. You'd hear on Bnet about "perming games" and moving things. You wonder if they had either more space in game/easier ways to move things, they would have had to pay less in electricity for server costs if people could more easily do what they wanted?

When I played on bnet, I noticed that there were certain WPs that rushers didn't get. So, I got those WPs (I forget which ones, but I think it was in Act 2), and then I'd join random games and stow my items behind a WP that I knew most players wouldn't have. Then I'd leave and rejoin with the mule. I only did this on low stakes items, of course, and I never lost anything by doing that.