Blizzard Re-Enabling Diablo 3 Game Limits; Duping Returns

On Monday night Blizzard announced that it would re-enable game limits in Diablo 3 in the near future. The studio said the limit is meant to help stamp out bots and exploits, and that anyone who is locked out of Diablo 3 for making too many games in a specific time period can contact Blizzard and explain the situation in order for Diablo 3 to be unlocked.

The news arrives after Diablo 3 players have reported that item duping seems to have returned despite Blizzard's best efforts. "[Item duping] is still occurring, as indicated by screenshots showing items with identical stats here, here and here," reports GamingBlend. "The items also sold quickly, which a player was able to screenshot before the items were completely gone from the auction house, which you can view here. What's more is that the duped items were also spotted on a live stream at Twitch TV, just fast forward to the 2 hour 25 minute mark."

According to the report, details on how to dupe items on the Battle.net forums were deleted by Blizzard. However Team Vietnahm has reportedly stepped forward to claim the duping, and is actually selling the instructions for 1 billion in-game gold. Additional screens and more info about the new duping process can be seen here on d2jsp.org.

As for re-enabling game limits, Blizzard said it's tuned and tested to ensure that it only affects those abusing the Diablo 3 game service in a way that violates the Terms of Use. An example would be using bots that create games in rapid succession.

"The use of bots not only impacts the stability of the game service, but it also has an impact on the player-driven economy," the company said. "While we regularly take action against accounts for the use of unauthorized third-party programs and bots, this additional measure will help us further preserve and protect the integrity of the game and economy in between ban waves."

Once the change goes live, Blizzard will be looking for feedback to help ensure that the limit is working as intended. "If you encounter the 'Input limit reached' message and feel you should not have, please let us know how many games you were creating and why," Blizzard added. "This information will help us ensure the limit minimally impacts legitimate players while still protecting the game against bots."

Blizzard also warned cheaters and botters that it will continue to pursue them "in other ways" without elaborating any further. Maybe the studio could use that rare 2-handed Sovereign Zeal bow item dupers are passing around -- it does 1244.8 points of damage per second. Then again, the Blizzard Banhamer probably does more than that by a long shot.