In light of the recent DDoS attacks, something came to my attention that I think should be crucial;
Access to the bloody game.
If the master server is down, that shouldn't mean that the entire program gets locked out for us - that's not the way it used to be, and I don't see any reason why it should. Perhaps the launcher could use a little update, instead of relying on a direct master server connection to authenticate and verify the game. I understand that this feature was implemented and that feature removed for a reason, but I don't understand why I should not be allowed to play the game if this kind of thing happens.
If anybody knows how to work around it and get me into my singleplayer server so I can at least make build progress on my own, please let me know. I have alot to do and it isn't being done because the launcher won't work.
I don't expect to need an internet connection to play a single player game, it's almost literally pointless in that aspect to even include a singleplayer functionality altogether in the game. There has to be another way of making sure the player is using a legitimate copy of Blockland rather than forcing everybody through this one giant bottleneck that once sabotaged,
breaks everything for
everyone. Not only is it a monstrosity of a design flaw, it's ruining the design entirely by making it literally disable itself - and I can almost see why someone would target the master server for a DDoS attack, especially since it's evidently the one thing holding the entire game together now.
Not everybody knows this secret "hush-hush don't tell anyone" work around that allows for them to play, and it's not as unfair that people play the game for free as it is that people who bought the game don't even get to play it at all. At least provide them with a way around the problem, and don't make it this huge legal deal. Obviously the design forgeted up somewhere, not the players - they don't deserve to be locked out of the knowledge of how to make their retail item
work, even temporarily.
I just want to make it apparent that relying on internet connection to keep pirates from playing the game is not an elegant strategy, as seemingly opposed to multiple gaming companies' opinions. It's clear now and the DDoS attacker clearly sees it too. If something happens to the bottleneck, the whole system collapses. It needs to be reinvented if people want to actually play the game in this kind of situation, or else if this ever happens again we'll all be sitting here hoping for the best case scenario to work itself out in the next couple of weeks.
Edit:I believe there is a way to at least get Singleplayer access, and possibly access to the server list - even got it to authenticate my BL_ID more than once.
I can confirm that having master2.blockland.us
open in a tab on your browser will allow you to connect not only to the game itself, but also to some servers. My authentication is checking out, my login name is up and the game is basically working again.
Let me know if this works, or if it doesn't work for some - it seems to be the most reliable method for me.
