Diablo – Are the original Starcraft 2 WoL and HotS DVDs still useful for installing the game

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It's been many years since those games came out, and in preparation for Legacy of the Void I'd like to replay the whole series. However, the Battle.net application is quoting me a ~20 GB download which is quite a lot for my internet connection. I'm also aware that the games have been heavily patched since their original release. If I can find copies, would using the original installation media reduce this number significantly?

This question would also apply to Diablo 3 and Reaper of Souls as its a similar situation.

Best Answer

Yes it will reduce the amount of data that you will be required to download.

From Blizzard Support Rep:

[the disk] contains a pretty up to date client [1.5.x (stated in another comment)] which will take you some way but as with all of our games, StarCraft II is constantly evolving and it will reach a point where downloading the client on a broadband Internet connection will be quicker and simpler than installing from a disc and then patching up with the latest data.

By how much though is a very difficult to answer question without actual testing of the build on the disk as well as the current production release available to download. It would depend on many things such as how the patching system works and how much data has been changed since the DVD version.

As a guess I will say that it may save up to 4gb.

A possible solution for you may be to download and install the game somewhere else, perhaps at work or school (if they let you) or a net cafe, and then copy the install files onto an external harddrive and then bring it home and copy it onto your home computer. This will likely mean you will not have to download any thing else.

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