It's still possible and last time I used it, it was about as easy as can be.
When I last did it, you just downloaded the regular program, installed it, then you ran a patcher and that was it. This was a couple years ago now, but Adobe already had their current business model.
Would you describe it further? I don't see how coming to a subscription-based model makes it not piracy. I feel like I miss something there.
I died a little inside by remembering that I was there when their lifetime CS licenses were sold and that licensing servers went offline at least a dozen of years ago... On the other hand, it raises a question if breaking CS versions is a piracy if they are abandoned. There's no way to use them even if you are a paid customer wanting to install it on your new PC.
It used to be that you could install a legitimate Adobe and use then the only thing you would need is a key generator that would open the software. In essence, the entire software is located on your computer.
I was under the possibly mistaken impression that they took away the ability to register offline, and put the license server online. In other words, you’d have to patch the code or fake the license server to do accomplish the method of years prior
It is, yes. They do a ton of really small updates all the fucking time now, sometimes breaking critical shit, sometimes fixing things. (I don't remember which version it was that ended support for PANTONE; now you have to pay for a subscription to PANTONE also, and the plug-in is trash and buggy as hell.) Since it wants to be always connected to the internet now, it's more of a pain in the ass to pirate, although it's likely still possible.
I have to use it for my job, so my company pays for it. But TBH, if you're an industry professional, there's really not any viable options on the market. Half the stuff clients send to me are in proprietary formats.