D2R lifespan

I wonder how long blizzard will keep the servers going for D2. They can’t be making much money off it. And when they do shut them down you think we’ll all lose our characters? Feel like they would get a lot of backlash

As far as I know, the LoD servers (for the original game, not D2R) are still going strong, so I don't think there's any risk of D2R shutting down.

Also - Blizzard literally is about to officially release D2R in China (it hasn't been released there before), as you can read about here:
forums/new-d2r-version-available-for-pr ... 14956.html

I wonder if they do eventually shut down they would offer a way to port our characters to offline so we don’t lose all our hard work. Lmao. That would be sad

I wonder what the actual load is on their servers to begin with. Meaning, take a game like WoW (yes I know they

Charge monthly fees) but that's much more resource intensive. What's cool about Diablo2 is that even if the servers do 'shutdown', we have offline.

I would really miss the trading community. That’s half the fun.

Randall67 wrote: 4 months ago

I wonder if they do eventually shut down they would offer a way to port our characters to offline so we don’t lose all our hard work. Lmao. That would be sad

This way is easy (albeit tedious) - just use a cheating tool to re-create your characters offline.

Anyway, old D2 servers are still online despite the launch of D2R. And they (old D2 and D2R - most improvements, including HD graphics, are client-side) likely run on potato servers (they just need to handle the overwhelming number of bots). I see no reason for them to shut the servers down - nothing to save on, but a huge risk of a community backlash.

ShadowHeart wrote: 4 months ago

Also - Blizzard literally is about to officially release D2R in China (it hasn't been released there before), as you can read about here:
forums/new-d2r-version-available-for-pr ... 14956.html

99.9999% they will be hosted on separate servers, controlled by the CCP. They will be running completely independently, including the possibility of a shutdown (like they did with WoW in China).

Trang Oul wrote: 4 months ago

99.9999% they will be hosted on separate servers, controlled by the CCP. They will be running completely independently, including the possibility of a shutdown (like they did with WoW in China).

Oh yes, agreed - my point was more that Blizzard is doing something new/more with the game still, even if it in this case is just releasing the game in a new country with some exclusive content for that market. It means the game isn’t dead from their perspective.

I wonder if they care about their fan base for future releases. Or just because they are grateful. Which seems to me the most absurd in both cases. Since d2r fans puke on other Diablo releases.

rikus wrote: 4 months ago

I wonder if they care about their fan base for future releases. Or just because they are grateful. Which seems to me the most absurd in both cases. Since d2r fans puke on other Diablo releases.

Let me tell you an open secret. Activision Blizzard does NOT care for their fan base. All they care about is what is in their pockets...

Semirotta wrote: 4 months ago

Let me tell you an open secret. Activision Blizzard does NOT care for their fan base. All they care about is what is in their pockets

Again - But they do pay for D2r servers to keep it alive. Even though most of us on other Diablo releases?

Most likely would get too much poop at their end if they closed the servers. The game does have its loyal playerbase.

rikus wrote: 3 months ago

Again - But they do pay for D2r servers to keep it alive

We all have paid for servers. why would they close them ?

Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard on October 13, 2023, which included Blizzard Entertainment. So the question shouldn't be will Blizzard shutdown the D2/D2r servers, but will Microsoft do it? I can't see how shutting the servers down would be a good business move. Blizzard servers don't just house our games, they also keep a sizeable gaming community within easy reach to advertise any future game releases. They could in effect add the cost of their servers to their advertising budget.

Tornado_OLO wrote: 3 months ago

We all have paid for servers. why would they close them ?

We paid for D2R once, but servers need constant upkeep (electricity, and at least some support). D2 is old and can run on a potato server, so the costs may be low, but still not zero.

Trang Oul wrote: 3 months ago

We paid for D2R once, but servers need constant upkeep (electricity, and at least some support).

The costs are included in the price you paid for the game.

Says who? For Infinity? That doesn’t sound right. And I’m sure if we check the ELAU or whatever that huge document you sign before agreeing to install a game - you won’t find a guarantee or a promise for having active servers for life. No matter how pricey you think the game is. It’s just not real.

rikus wrote: 3 months ago

Says who? For Infinity? That doesn’t sound right. And I’m sure if we check the ELAU or whatever that huge document you sign before agreeing to install a game - you won’t find a guarantee or a promise for having active servers for life. No matter how pricey you think the game is. It’s just not real.

I never said servers had to stay online for Eternity. For sure, one day they will close.
Just saying when I bought that game, online mode was included, no matter the costs for servers, it's included in the price I paid.
If that wasn't included, then they may had to add a subscription to pay for or asking extra for online mode. But they didn't.

Don't get brainwashed by all those games trying to make you believe that you have to pay extra to continue enjoying the services.

You and I paid a complete game with an online mode, so with servers too.
That's dishonesty to ask extra because game keeps living.

Tornado_OLO wrote: 3 months ago

Don't get brainwashed by all those games trying to make you believe that you have to pay extra to continue enjoying the services.

You and I paid a complete game with an online mode, so with servers too.
That's dishonesty to ask extra because game keeps living.

OTOH, games that are pay-to-play (either literally, like WoW, or with free-to-play mode which is essentially only a demo, like Tibia) receive frequent updates - fully fledged content updates, not mere bugfixes, which require full teams of developers. In those cases, paying extra is justified.

Trang Oul wrote: 3 months ago

OTOH, games that are pay-to-play (either literally, like WoW, or with free-to-play mode which is essentially only a demo, like Tibia) receive frequent updates - fully fledged content updates, not mere bugfixes, which require full teams of developers. In those cases, paying extra is justified.

So buying a game isn't enough to get update because no subscription ?

The updates on d2 and d3. And d4 are cosmetic and balance mostly. So I get what

Tornado is saying.

But if it’s not a chicken with golden eggs. I wouldn’t submit myself as a producer of games to infinite paying of the servers. Assuming I’m losing cash.