The end of desync and alt-f4ing

Now that the devs are introducing lockstep and desync will be a thing of the past, perhaps it is time to remove alt-f4ing from the game, e.g. introducing a logout timer. I would even go as far as to suggest a short timer for being able to use a town portal after being damaged.

Desync isn't the only reason for ALT+F4.....

There is also the fact that the game is balanced around you being able to log out at any time, it allows for much more dangerous situations.

The same goes for bossfights, if you couldn't escape these situations they would have to be nerfed so that you would never have to log out and at that point the game would be a joke.

while Blackie may be correct, this isn't the reason that Alt-F4ing will never be removed from the game. There are 3 simple reasons:

1) It is impossible to distinguish an Alt-F4 (here taken to mean "intentional disconnection by the player" rather than simply the key combination) from a legitimate accidental disconnection (internet interruptus, power outage, computer crash, angry parents forcing kids to do chores NOW, etc).

2) While it is possible to disable the Alt-F4 keystroke combination, it would lead to people using a workaround (scripts, manual disconnects, manual power cuts, etc).

3) While a death due to uncontrollable circumstances may be annoying in SC, it would lead to a desertion of HC. Nobody wants to play a game where a character they have sunk 100s, if not 1000s of hours into will die due to a logout timer+power outage.

Put those together, and it just isn't going to happen.

Leave alt f4. If no one uses it, then great.

But generally no one wants to ever alt f4, but sometimes real life happens.

"Dad, dad, dad! Timmy got his wee-wee stuck in the pool jet again." well f4ck.

That's not a reason to Alt-F4, that's a life lesson... especially if it's "again"... leave the little bugger in there this time, maybe he'll learn his lesson ;p

Also, they're leaving in the current sync model as an option for those who can't reliably use deterministic lockstep, so taking out the ability to emergency-exit would be awful.