United StatesThis brings up a good point. Is there a list of modifications allowed in D2 speedrunning? The only one that I'm aware of is glide wrapper, specifically keeping mouse movement inside the window. I assume this is allowed, as many speedrunners use it. If a list does not exist, I would highly prefer these exceptions made public, all in one location, and easily accessible. The rule is that the game cannot be altered using outside tools, so any exceptions to this rule must be made public, preferably listed together and easily accessible.
I d2 speedrun because I love the huge swing in RNG. I like seeing underdogs having WRs because they grinded out the RNG. I also enjoy seeing RNG come together and seeing someone get the WR, or not getting the WR because of absolute BS. I feel like seeded runs will dampen all of this. The seeded category is not for me. Diablo 2, players 1 speedrunning is perfect in its natural state.
However, I think this category could be a game changer for some people, and will be quite interesting for some viewers. I support letting this category be apart of our community if some runners have dedicated interest in it, and it’s not an unfair burden on the mods. I sort of doubt there will be any real interest in the seeded runs though, outside of sorc p1 or px. Maybe limit to sorc only, or have all classes in the same category like pacifist, so it’s not a lot of empty categories like px and p8.
This extension is awesome! Here's the gear from my recent barb PB - https://d2.leede.ee/character#Barbarian1696
If I had the option to vote, I think I would let HC runs count as SC too. I think it will empower both categories. HC tends to be the more popular run for viewers, and that's probably why HC tends to be played more and have faster times (my opinion). If HC times are counted in SC as well, overall this will push SC times to be faster, because it is either faster than the HC counterpart, or the same time. This makes SC more competitive, and might bring back more attention to SC, especially in hell runs. Kind of like what 327 is saying, now you are vying for the fastest possible finish (for P1, or category it is) for this class, rather than the gold trophy of that category, which for SC tends to be slower than HC, so it's a less meaningful if you get the SC record with the HC time being faster in that category.
I think we would all agree that if SC was given the same amount of attention as HC, the SC times would probably be faster than the HC, on average. So if we implemented this rule, it will now give the speedrunner more interesting decision-making: A) run HC and try and improve your times in both categories (or WR both categories) in one run, or B) run SC and probably have a better chance of getting your personal (or WR) fastest time completed for that class. From a viewership standpoint, this would probably make SC runs more exciting, because now we all agree that SC times are always the fastest possible times, which would bring back meaning to having a SC record. This also makes HC more valuable because now it holds more weight to it, because having a HC time that is both ranked 1 in HC and SC, makes you absolute king (or queen) of the category.
Lastly, I do not think this will negatively impact any big streamer's viewership (as full time or part time streamers). I wouldn't want to implement something that could damper someone's livelihood. I think this will actually making both SC and HC runs more interesting, based on what I said above, but have no negative impacts on those who typically only do HC or SC runs. However, I am definitely open for others opinions on that.
