Thoughts on Maphack

[Gandolph]

Just wondering peoples thoughts on this. I'm only talking about the map feature itself, not any of the other exploits.

My thoughts: I know it is considered cheating because it isn't part of the game supplied by Blizzard. However, I don't feel that having a map is necessarily a bad thing. The game is very repetitive. The maps vary from game to game. This could be fun for those who want to kill everything in their path, but for those who are just trying to get to Baal or Nilithak, I think it's unreasonable to believe that they shouldn't know the way. We use maps in our daily lives, why not here? It's only a map and doesn't give any advantage to the player. In fact, a player with Enigma and no maphack will still beat a player without Enigma to any location.

Not quite as heated a discussion as dupes, but I just wondered where people stood.

[stephan]

If it doesn't give an advantage, why would you need it?

Either it does, and then it's cheating, or it doesn't, and then there is no reason for you to install it.

[ffejrxx]

it is a hack/cheat/exploit

it gives an unfair advantage to those that use it, the same arguments can be used for bots and bot followers

those that know how maps are generated can easily run bosses as fast as those that use mh

tower is easy, the exit always points 90º clockwise from the entrance path
nih is easy too, there are only 3-4 maps, and nih is always directly across from the champions
who needs mh for finding diablo? :laugh:

[Feysal]

I have a shameful confession to make. I've used maphack.

Years ago, before I even owned a legit copy of D2, I got it from a friend along with some hack to make it work without the CDs. The hack contained a maphack, which I didn't even know at the time: I thought it was how the map was supposed to behave. I could see all monster locations, which enabled me to find and kill them faster.

For the record, I only played SP then, and got bored with it fairly quickly. I ended up deleting the hack and the game, and two years ago I bought it legitimately and started playing on bNet. I've sinned, but I have redeemed myself by paying my tithe to Blizzard - and by having a honorable career online ever since I got there.

Being able to see on the map where the monsters are would be quite nice in my opinion, but I don't really care for seeing the maps revealed - I don't do Mephisto runs anyway, which is the place where it would be most useful. These days I wouldn't touch any type of hack with a ten-foot-pole, since they're likely to cost me my account or even my CD key.

[TurbulentTurtle]

Well the thing is, Blizzard has been making adjustments to the game so that we play them through normally with friends and stuff and not just rush through the game and power level in Baal games or whatever. I think that's one of the reasons why they make the first boss drop have a chance of dropping a better item than all the other drops you're gonna get from constantly farming.
Also why they made the 10 day expiry thing for the new characters, it's so you don't just MF and collect items and make mules to store them in. Blizzards expects you to actually play the game through normally and kill everything in your way. If you had maphack, it pretty much goes against what they were trying to do with the no farming of bosses for items and stuff.

[MrKaxe]

I have a shameful confession to make. I've used maphack.

I have sinned as well dude, like you, many moons ago...1.07 i think...

Being able to see on the map where the monsters are would be quite nice in my opinion, but I don't really care for seeing the maps revealed - I don't do Mephisto runs anyway, which is the place where it would be most useful. These days I wouldn't touch any type of hack with a ten-foot-pole, since they're likely to cost me my account or even my CD key.

But i feel the opposite to you...i'd like to see the rough idea of the map and not what you will encounter along the way; you enter say, the Crystalline Passage, you can see on the map 2 locations where you can depart this area (Frozen River and Glacial Trail...they look the same...might not work for Underground Passage for instance) but you don't know which is which or the twists, turns and monster encounters on the way...just a rough idea of which direction to head which has a 50/50 chance of the way you want to go (think Durance 1 or 3 if running Meph) saving a bit of time on your journey and the map retains a bit of ambiguity and fun for you...from a narrative standpoint talking to NPC's might garner some folklore/legend as to what a brave adventurer might have encountered while journeying in such locations which might be roughly pinpointed on a map for you...does that seem weird or maybe it's the way i'm wording it?!

Thoughts...

dk

EDIT: Turbulent Turtle raises an excellent point there...Hell is hard and to me looks like it's been designed for working as a big balanced team to do it with average gear...not using duped runewords and being able to walk it solo...although it is nice to be powerful and have the ability to solo...not saying i advocate duped runewords though!

[sirmessbu]

If it doesn't give an advantage, why would you need it?

Either it does, and then it's cheating, or it doesn't, and then there is no reason for you to install it.

Totally express my mind on subject.



@ Gandolph : I believe you simply need to justify the need of using MH to yourself, please refrain from using our trading forums if do use it.

[rykuss]

It doesn't matter how many of these threads pop up, and there have been many, it'll never be acceptable here. I thought that was painfully obvious already yet I still see these threads being created. It's a third party program(it's a friggin' hack already!) and violates Blizzard's ToS and you'll eventually get banned for using it. That is, if the keylogger doesn't get you first. :rolleyes: Why anyone would want to take the chance is beyond me.

[Cozmo]

It would be cool if in the next patch they made it so that you could buy a map of Durance level 2 in town for a bit of gold or something.

[BobTheWarrior]

I'm conflicted on the whole maphack issue. I, personally, would never use it, but only because it might (will) get me banned. However, I appreciate it's value in accelerating baal runs. I have joined a pub run or two where the runner openly admitted having maphack, and the runs were very fast and efficient. It maximized my time spent playing (and not standing around waiting for a TP), and therefore my enjoyment of the game for that evening.

I have also played in groups of high-level characters where the runner said they didn't use maphack, and were just as efficient as those using maphack.

I have also played with groups that don't have maphack, and don't know the maps, and take forever to find the throne. :grrrr: And, I've been one of the runners that has taken forever to find the throne. :laugh: :embarassed: Those runs are not enjoyable, and I usually go and search out another runner/group.

It's Blizzard's fault for making certain aspects of the game require running the same area over and over and over (is there any way to get to level 99 without doing so?)

I liken it's use to those that play in SP games. Once the map is known, it's known. Granted, there are certain things that can be done to erase/reset the map, but if you avoid those, you can run areas very fast, as you know exactly where to go. (Does Mh show the enemy locations too? I don't know, never seen it...)

Why should Bnetters have to re-explore a dungeon every time, when SP'ers don't? If Blizzard would allow maps to remain known, then there's no longer a need for Mh.