The quest log

Roadmap

Where Diablo II Forever is, and where it's going. A realm held by everyone who plays it — built in the open, so you can watch it grow the same way you can verify it.

The promise everything is built toward

D2F is a realm no one can shut down: every node runs the same exe, holds the whole chain, and is an equal peer. Every character's life is played and signed onto that chain, so the data lives everywhere at once — and legitimacy is something you verify, not something you're asked to take on faith.

That's also why you earn your heroes here rather than importing them — a character's history is only trustworthy if it happened on the chain. (Closed Battle.net characters live on Blizzard's servers and can't be exported anyway.)

✓ Live now ◐ Building ○ Planned ◆ Big bets

Live now

Shipped and running on the realm today.

  • ✓
    Every node is an equal peerOne exe. Bring your own legal Diablo II files and you're a full peer — no origin, no central host, no allowlist, nothing to configure. Anyone who runs it holds the whole realm.
  • ✓
    The public chain, held everywhereEvery character and account on a signed, hash-linked, encrypted ledger that replicates to every node — so the record survives any node, or all-but-one node, going dark. Backups can't read it, forge it, or lose it.
  • ✓
    A realm that can't be shut downThere is no coordinator to lose — every node runs login, matchmaking and games at once, and the relay spreads players across them. Validated: we stopped a machine mid-session and there was nothing to hand over; the other was already serving and we kept playing, with every item exactly where we left it.
  • ✓
    One realm across many machinesEvery node's game list shows the whole realm's games, joining a game hosted on another machine is routed to it, and everyone shares one chat lobby with whispers that cross nodes. Proven: two players on two different machines, in the same game, talking in the same channel.
  • ✓
    Join with nothing but the gameA brand-new machine with only its own Diablo II files pulls the entire realm — every account and character — and joins as a full node. Proven: we wiped a machine to bare game files and it rebuilt the realm on its own.
  • ✓
    Federated game serversMany people's machines contribute game servers to one realm at once. Proven: a second machine registered as game server #2 and games routed to it. Host, and you're prioritised onto your own low-ping server; pure players spread across the pool.
  • ✓
    Many patches, one realm1.08, 1.09d, 1.10 and 1.13c run side by side — one realm, one account, one chain, each patch with its own game list. Every character is stamped on the chain with the patch it was made on, so a hero can only be played on the version it belongs to. Proven: 1.08 had no game server to run on — Blizzard never shipped a server library for it — so we drove the 1.09 engine against 1.08's game code and closed the ABI gaps one at a time until characters entered games and saved.
  • ✓
    Verify it yourselfRe-check every hash and signature in your browser against the pinned public key, trusting no server. Trust you can audit, not just claim.
  • ✓
    Anti-cheat with teethImpossible heroes are caught on import and rolled back to the chain — level-vs-XP, stat/skill budgets, and item legality (sockets, item level, quality) across inventory, stash, and mercenary — so anyone can join without anyone injecting forged items.
  • ✓
    Accounts, protectedCredentials are encrypted at rest on the chain and stripped of personal info, so no node holding the feed can read them — and the worst, most-guessed passwords are blocked at signup.
  • ✓
    One-click joinAdds "Diablo II Forever" to your in-game realm list. No hosts file, no admin.
  • ✓
    Host with nothing to configureA built-in reverse tunnel replaces WireGuard and port-forwarding — each node dials out to a public relay, so players always reach one stable address — and the relay decides which node serves each arriving player.
  • ✓
    Seasonal ladder, chain-anchoredThe ladder auto-resets each season with its reset date written into the chain — no node can pop it early.
  • ✓
    World EventDiablo Clone with a real Battle.net-style Stone of Jordan trigger.
  • ✓
    Self-healing game serverIf the game server hangs, the realm detects it and relaunches in seconds. Live status is on the site.

Building now

In progress, close to the surface.

  • ◐
    Testing at scaleThe coordinator-free model is validated across two machines. Next is hardening it across many independent nodes and messier networks, so a realm spread over many machines still behaves like one place.
  • ◐
    More than one relayThe nodes are decentralized, but players still arrive through a single public address. Anyone should be able to run a relay — so losing one costs nothing, and players can use whichever is closest to them.
  • ◐
    Deeper item validationAffix-level legality for magic, rare, set, unique, and runeword items — closing the gap on subtle edits.
  • ◐
    Game-server hardeningDiagnosing and softening the closed engine's occasional hangs so recovery is invisible.
  • ◐
    A ladder per patchGame lists already separate by version, but the ladder does not: every patch is ranked on one shared board, so a character from a classic era competes directly against the live one. Each patch needs its own standings before any of these ladders mean anything.
  • ◐
    The classic patches, soak-testedEach old version has its own engine quirks, and they only surface with hours on them. The current patch has had that time; 1.08, 1.09d and 1.10 are getting it now — one fixed crash at a time, until a classic ladder is as boring to run as the live one.

Planned

Designed and queued next.

  • ○
    Realm-wide duplicate detectionThe item validator already reads each item's unique ID — next is tracking those across the whole realm to catch the same item existing in two places (duping).
  • ○
    Live ladder boardStandings on the site, straight from the chain.
  • ○
    Public launchThe downloadable host, once the security bar and multi-node testing are cleared.

Big bets

Ambitious, later-phase — the reasons this realm is different.

  • ◆
    Carry a hero across erasThe classic ladders now run — the bet is letting a hero move between them. Finish a 1.09 season and bring that character and its gear forward to the live realm, with the chain vouching for where every item came from. Old-patch loot that arrives provably legit: things you genuinely cannot get anywhere else, and cannot fake.
  • ◆
    A realm that outlives its foundersThe core is proven — peers are symmetric, there is no coordinator, and any single machine can carry the realm alone. The bet is reaching enough independent nodes that no one — including us — can shut it down, rewrite it, or let it die. The endgame the whole design points at.

Honest about the edges

The chain decentralizes the record — durable, signed, verifiable. Game execution still runs Diablo II's closed engine, so we catch gross cheats and self-heal its occasional hangs; we don't claim to catch every subtle edit or to rewrite the engine itself. Trust here is minimized and checkable, not magic.

Diablo II's own login fixes the password algorithm — we can't change it without changing your game — so your credentials are kept encrypted at rest, but treat your realm password like a game password: strong, and not reused from anywhere that matters.

Plans move. Items shift tiers as we learn — this page tracks intent, not promises with dates.