Why do I need CloudExtract and EAC Bypass for editing my save file?

I know this question sounds pretty stupid, but I'm clearly misunderstanding something. As I understand it, if you have cloud saving disabled in Steam, then your save file for DbD is only stored locally. Why aren't we just editing our saves with an offline editor (the way we used to)?

Did something change, and if so, does that mean we can no longer back up our save files by simply saving a copy of the save data stored locally in our Steam Steam directory?

Thanks!

BHVR moved the save files from steam cloud to their own servers so your save wont show up in the steam directory

Our save files got placed on a server because of the loss-of-progress bug that a lot of users experienced.

The EAC bypass is required so that our data can be dumped from the server using CloudExtract and be injected back into it.