An update on recent technical problems and more from the admin: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/250292/on-technical-difficulties-mod-coverage-and-other-things/p1?new=1
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[DIABLO II] Not even death can save you from me!
ronya
Arrrrrf.the ivory tower's basementRegistered User regular
Arrrrrf.the ivory tower's basementRegistered User regular
Patch 1.13 is OUT! Ladder Season Six now ongoing!
Patch 1.13 changelog:
Diablo II Version History
- Patch 1.13c
A new Mystery has been revealed!
- Adventurers of Sanctuary are hereby warned once again, that a new challenge
awaits you. Within Diablo's Bosses, spanning across the world from the
ancient Monastery Catacombs to the Throne of Destruction, is where you'll
find what you seek...
Major Bugs
- Fixed an item dupe bug.
- Video improvements for Intel Mac machines with OS 10.5 or greater.
- Fixed an issue where some players could kill other players while in town
("TPPK").
- Fixed an issue where some players could disconnect other players when
they had too many active states.
- Fixed two issues where players could stack auras in an unintended way.
Minor Bugs
- Uber Mephisto now checks for both Uber Baal and Uber Diablo to be killed
before spawning summoned minions (Before he would only check for Uber Baal).
- The game will no longer stop and then restart the game music after the
window loses and then regains focus.
- Fixed an issue where the game window would minimize when running in
windowed mode when it lost focus.
- Fixed an issue where the game window wouldn't center properly when it
was created.
- Fangskin should now properly drop loot in Hell difficulty.
- Fixed an issue where auras were not re-applied to your mercenary after
it was resurrected.
- Fixed an issue where if you had two items which provided auras to
a mercenary and you unequipped one, the aura from the remaining
item never became active.
- Fixed an issue where the Paladin class runeword 'Principle' wasn't
having all of its stats applied properly.
- Fixed an issue where the Paladin's Charge ability would become locked
out if Holy Shield faded while charging.
- Fixed an issue where the Barbarian's Leap ability could become locked
out if they were hit when they started to leap.
Specific changes/improvements
- Respecialization is now possible! Completing the 'Den of Evil' quest
will now additionally reward 1 free respec which can be saved. Players
who have already completed this quest should receive 1 free respec in
Hell difficulty.
- Increased the drop rate of high runes.
- Support for blit scaling in windowed mode. The game can now be
maximized to the largest 4:3 resolution supported (hooray widescreen users).
- Some rare drop items now have an orange color. i.e. Runes and items
required for Uber Tristam.
- Modified the gold bank limit to be a flat cap not bound by level.
- Removed the requirements to create a hardcore character.
- Greatly reduced the explosion damage dealt by Fire Enchanted monsters.
- Uber Mephisto and Uber Baal's summoned minions no longer give experience.
- Removed Oblivion Knight's Iron Maiden curse.
- Hellfire Torch Firestorm proc rate has been reduced to 5%.
- Users can now toggle the display of text over the Health and Mana
globes by clicking on the bottom area of each orb.
- When creating a single player game, each difficulty button is now bound
to a unique key: Normal 'R', Nightmare 'N', and Hell 'H'.
- The 'Enter Chat' Button in the battle.net waiting room is now
bound to the 'Enter' key.
- Added the windows system buttons to the game window (MIN, MAX, CLOSE).
- Added new command line parameter '-nofixaspect' which allows users to
not fix the aspect ratio to 4:3 when maximizing in windowed mode.
This lets the game 'stretch' to fill your monitor.
- Added support for '-sndbkg' command line switch. This enables sound
in background.
- Added the following aliases for pre-existing command line options,
'-nosound', '-window', and '-windowed'.
Revised Skill balance for Player Character classes
Amazon
- Immolation Arrow - Increased radius of Explosion effect by 33% and
Immolation effect by 50%.
- Immolation Arrow - Explosion effect damage increased by 20%.
- Immolation Arrow - Increased base duration by 33%.
Assassin
- Dragon Claw - Synergy receives 4% additional damage per point of Claw Mastery.
- Dragon Talon - The bonus to Attack Rating per point has been increased to 35.
- Shadow Master - Increased resistance range per point from 5-80 to 5-90.
- Combo points awarded by combo moves now last 15 seconds, up from 9.
Barbarian
- Whirlwind - Reduced initial mana cost by 50%.
- Masteries - Changed critical strike chance from 0-25 to 0-35.
Paladin
- Blessed Hammer - No longer ignores resistances of undead and demons.
Druid
- Werebear - Damage bonus increased by 15% across all ranks.
- Werebear - Increased health by 25% and armor by 1% per point.
- Shockwave - Synergy from Maul adds 5% damage per point.
Necromancer
- Blood Golem - Removed negative shared life effect (player no longer
loses life when the golem takes damage).
- Corpse Explosion - Increased base damage dealt from 60% - 100%
to 70% - 120% of corpses health.
- Poison Nova - Increased base damage by 15%.
Sorceress
- Firewall - Synergy receives 1% damage per point of Inferno and
4% per point of Warmth.
- Blaze - Synergy receives 1% damage per point of Firewall
and 4% per point of Warmth.
- Hydra - Increased base damage by 15% per rank.
- Hydra - Increased base speed of Hydra projectile.
- Hydra - Reduced cooldown by 25%.
TL; DR version - respecs, dramatically improved rune drop rates, less duping
List of your fellow ArcadiansDiablo II Version History
- Patch 1.13c
A new Mystery has been revealed!
- Adventurers of Sanctuary are hereby warned once again, that a new challenge
awaits you. Within Diablo's Bosses, spanning across the world from the
ancient Monastery Catacombs to the Throne of Destruction, is where you'll
find what you seek...
Major Bugs
- Fixed an item dupe bug.
- Video improvements for Intel Mac machines with OS 10.5 or greater.
- Fixed an issue where some players could kill other players while in town
("TPPK").
- Fixed an issue where some players could disconnect other players when
they had too many active states.
- Fixed two issues where players could stack auras in an unintended way.
Minor Bugs
- Uber Mephisto now checks for both Uber Baal and Uber Diablo to be killed
before spawning summoned minions (Before he would only check for Uber Baal).
- The game will no longer stop and then restart the game music after the
window loses and then regains focus.
- Fixed an issue where the game window would minimize when running in
windowed mode when it lost focus.
- Fixed an issue where the game window wouldn't center properly when it
was created.
- Fangskin should now properly drop loot in Hell difficulty.
- Fixed an issue where auras were not re-applied to your mercenary after
it was resurrected.
- Fixed an issue where if you had two items which provided auras to
a mercenary and you unequipped one, the aura from the remaining
item never became active.
- Fixed an issue where the Paladin class runeword 'Principle' wasn't
having all of its stats applied properly.
- Fixed an issue where the Paladin's Charge ability would become locked
out if Holy Shield faded while charging.
- Fixed an issue where the Barbarian's Leap ability could become locked
out if they were hit when they started to leap.
Specific changes/improvements
- Respecialization is now possible! Completing the 'Den of Evil' quest
will now additionally reward 1 free respec which can be saved. Players
who have already completed this quest should receive 1 free respec in
Hell difficulty.
- Increased the drop rate of high runes.
- Support for blit scaling in windowed mode. The game can now be
maximized to the largest 4:3 resolution supported (hooray widescreen users).
- Some rare drop items now have an orange color. i.e. Runes and items
required for Uber Tristam.
- Modified the gold bank limit to be a flat cap not bound by level.
- Removed the requirements to create a hardcore character.
- Greatly reduced the explosion damage dealt by Fire Enchanted monsters.
- Uber Mephisto and Uber Baal's summoned minions no longer give experience.
- Removed Oblivion Knight's Iron Maiden curse.
- Hellfire Torch Firestorm proc rate has been reduced to 5%.
- Users can now toggle the display of text over the Health and Mana
globes by clicking on the bottom area of each orb.
- When creating a single player game, each difficulty button is now bound
to a unique key: Normal 'R', Nightmare 'N', and Hell 'H'.
- The 'Enter Chat' Button in the battle.net waiting room is now
bound to the 'Enter' key.
- Added the windows system buttons to the game window (MIN, MAX, CLOSE).
- Added new command line parameter '-nofixaspect' which allows users to
not fix the aspect ratio to 4:3 when maximizing in windowed mode.
This lets the game 'stretch' to fill your monitor.
- Added support for '-sndbkg' command line switch. This enables sound
in background.
- Added the following aliases for pre-existing command line options,
'-nosound', '-window', and '-windowed'.
Revised Skill balance for Player Character classes
Amazon
- Immolation Arrow - Increased radius of Explosion effect by 33% and
Immolation effect by 50%.
- Immolation Arrow - Explosion effect damage increased by 20%.
- Immolation Arrow - Increased base duration by 33%.
Assassin
- Dragon Claw - Synergy receives 4% additional damage per point of Claw Mastery.
- Dragon Talon - The bonus to Attack Rating per point has been increased to 35.
- Shadow Master - Increased resistance range per point from 5-80 to 5-90.
- Combo points awarded by combo moves now last 15 seconds, up from 9.
Barbarian
- Whirlwind - Reduced initial mana cost by 50%.
- Masteries - Changed critical strike chance from 0-25 to 0-35.
Paladin
- Blessed Hammer - No longer ignores resistances of undead and demons.
Druid
- Werebear - Damage bonus increased by 15% across all ranks.
- Werebear - Increased health by 25% and armor by 1% per point.
- Shockwave - Synergy from Maul adds 5% damage per point.
Necromancer
- Blood Golem - Removed negative shared life effect (player no longer
loses life when the golem takes damage).
- Corpse Explosion - Increased base damage dealt from 60% - 100%
to 70% - 120% of corpses health.
- Poison Nova - Increased base damage by 15%.
Sorceress
- Firewall - Synergy receives 1% damage per point of Inferno and
4% per point of Warmth.
- Blaze - Synergy receives 1% damage per point of Firewall
and 4% per point of Warmth.
- Hydra - Increased base damage by 15% per rank.
- Hydra - Increased base speed of Hydra projectile.
- Hydra - Reduced cooldown by 25%.
TL; DR version - respecs, dramatically improved rune drop rates, less duping
PA name - Realm account name
PM me to be added to the list.
Offline Single Player
Chat Channel
US East
US West
Europe
Asia
Softcore
Goose! - Branta
Ringmaster - Sinuath
Sven - Archcannon
PierceNeck - bl1pjrh
nealcm - nealcm
noobert - ntravis
eelektrik - eelektrik
Morkath - Morkath
Zen Vulgarity - Zenvulgarity
KalTorak - KalTorak
jars - jarsdeux
dinoarus - dinoarus2
Mustachio Jones - mustachiojones
Rakai - Rakai (mostly hardcore)
Ultimakay - Ultimakay
Tag - Tagged (softcore), Toe_Tag (hardcore)
DanOrc - Danorc4511
Deswa - Deswa
Kivutar - morgant1, etc.
Dr_Faust - Dr_Faust
Grislo - Grislo4, javskill
lordswing - FlipPaulHewitt
Al_Wat - AWATTS
Big Red Tie - Confrijoles3 and Confrijoles4 (SC NL)
local flavor police - fortysixand3
Fatty-McPhat - tmntrocksteady and tmntbrosteady
evilthecat - evility
Garthor - garthor
Vic - nordain
Metacortex - metacortex
Chen - pachen
SkutSkut - skuttie
Marek - MDS01 (MDS'zero'1)
Asharaxx - asharaxx
Joker - Zegga
cncaudata - cncaudata
BrilliantInsanity - dolosus
breton-brawler - Bbrawler
Ianator - Ianator
Oatmeal - beyonk
The Doctor - timmymouse
Skitoria - skitoria
Joeslop - joeslop
Angelshade113 - angelshade
Gatsuioki - ?
Rhapsody - PA-Rhapsody
TehChowd - techowd (no this is not a typo)
E.Coyote - grolorm
ParisInFlames - skoot
Tarantio - bucket
starfall - ?
Logicow - logicow
beasteh - gungnir85
Xenogears of Bor - xob
monoplexblob - monoplexblob
MeowMixx - rotiart
Robman - Robman
SeñorAmor - senorarmor
ResIpsaLoquitur - ResIpsaLoquitur
ogcam777 - ogcam7
darklite_x - darklite_x
Zulkir - Forged_in_Fire, Forged_of_Flame
Mahnmut - jericho89
Roe - Reo-Roe
Tkane - Tkane
OtistheGuard - Pa-Cleomenes
Zehkal - Zehkal
AlsoD - AlsoD
Beefjerky - Beefjerky
Hardcore
No Great Name - nogreatname (hardcore because I am not a bitch)
BahamutZERO - BahamutZERO10 (pretty much just hardcore because NGN beats me when he thinks I was looking at other modes)
stfuad - daufts and wagako and okagaw (classic)
Rakai - Rakai (mostly hardcore)
Tag - Tagged (softcore), Toe_Tag (hardcore)
Feldorn - Mortenya
RazzleDazz - RazzleDazz
RawrBear - RawrBear
Lu Tze - lutze
Enfilade - loudog004
Kias - Kias
Goose! - Branta
Ringmaster - Sinuath
Sven - Archcannon
PierceNeck - bl1pjrh
nealcm - nealcm
noobert - ntravis
eelektrik - eelektrik
Morkath - Morkath
Zen Vulgarity - Zenvulgarity
KalTorak - KalTorak
jars - jarsdeux
dinoarus - dinoarus2
Mustachio Jones - mustachiojones
Rakai - Rakai (mostly hardcore)
Ultimakay - Ultimakay
Tag - Tagged (softcore), Toe_Tag (hardcore)
DanOrc - Danorc4511
Deswa - Deswa
Kivutar - morgant1, etc.
Dr_Faust - Dr_Faust
Grislo - Grislo4, javskill
lordswing - FlipPaulHewitt
Al_Wat - AWATTS
Big Red Tie - Confrijoles3 and Confrijoles4 (SC NL)
local flavor police - fortysixand3
Fatty-McPhat - tmntrocksteady and tmntbrosteady
evilthecat - evility
Garthor - garthor
Vic - nordain
Metacortex - metacortex
Chen - pachen
SkutSkut - skuttie
Marek - MDS01 (MDS'zero'1)
Asharaxx - asharaxx
Joker - Zegga
cncaudata - cncaudata
BrilliantInsanity - dolosus
breton-brawler - Bbrawler
Ianator - Ianator
Oatmeal - beyonk
The Doctor - timmymouse
Skitoria - skitoria
Joeslop - joeslop
Angelshade113 - angelshade
Gatsuioki - ?
Rhapsody - PA-Rhapsody
TehChowd - techowd (no this is not a typo)
E.Coyote - grolorm
ParisInFlames - skoot
Tarantio - bucket
starfall - ?
Logicow - logicow
beasteh - gungnir85
Xenogears of Bor - xob
monoplexblob - monoplexblob
MeowMixx - rotiart
Robman - Robman
SeñorAmor - senorarmor
ResIpsaLoquitur - ResIpsaLoquitur
ogcam777 - ogcam7
darklite_x - darklite_x
Zulkir - Forged_in_Fire, Forged_of_Flame
Mahnmut - jericho89
Roe - Reo-Roe
Tkane - Tkane
OtistheGuard - Pa-Cleomenes
Zehkal - Zehkal
AlsoD - AlsoD
Beefjerky - Beefjerky
Hardcore
No Great Name - nogreatname (hardcore because I am not a bitch)
BahamutZERO - BahamutZERO10 (pretty much just hardcore because NGN beats me when he thinks I was looking at other modes)
stfuad - daufts and wagako and okagaw (classic)
Rakai - Rakai (mostly hardcore)
Tag - Tagged (softcore), Toe_Tag (hardcore)
Feldorn - Mortenya
RazzleDazz - RazzleDazz
RawrBear - RawrBear
Lu Tze - lutze
Enfilade - loudog004
Kias - Kias
US West
Softcore
ReadinRainbo1727 - Spire110, Spire 011
Beefjerky - Beefjerky
ReadinRainbo1727 - Spire110, Spire 011
Beefjerky - Beefjerky
Europe
Asia
PM me to be added to the list.
Offline Single Player
Mod: Median XL
Zen Vulgarity
Beasteh
Sven
Beasteh
Sven
Most of the time, we'll be in-game - message account names from the list above. (command: /m *accountname message).
When not in-game (which is rare) we hang out in the channel named PA. This is also an Italian Warcraft III clan or something, we have no idea who they are, but they don't normally bother us. Enter Chat > Channel > type "pa" in the box, no password.
When not in-game (which is rare) we hang out in the channel named PA. This is also an Italian Warcraft III clan or something, we have no idea who they are, but they don't normally bother us. Enter Chat > Channel > type "pa" in the box, no password.
Game Naming Conventions
The Softcore crew tends to start up a Normal game/pass with the following: panr1/wang
The Hardcore crew tends to start up a Normal game/pass with the following: pahnr1/wang
Nightmare difficulty games tend to be: panm1/wang for Softcore or pahnm1/wang for Hardcore
Hell difficulty games tend to be: pahhl1/wang for Hardcore. Softcore can be pahl1/wang or pall1/wang.
Muling or whatever games are usually pamule/wang.
Since the start of ladder season six there have been issues with people failing to join games; the situation has improved but occasionally you will see this happening. If someone appears to have joined pahl2/wang but the game tells you pahl2 doesn't exist, the person is probably currently stuck at a loading screen. Etiquette permits you to go ahead and create pahl3/wang.
Further iterations of the number for new games (in case folks need the earlier completed quests). Or just add any of the account names above to your Diablo II friends list by typing /f add AccountName (no asterisk needed) and you'll be able to see who is online or available to private message. Feel free to start up the PA games on your own, and other people might find you.
Also, when you start up a new game, post the game to this thread, if you want to have more visibility and attract some PA lurkers.
Why should you follow these naming conventions? Well, you want to play with other PAers, don't you? It makes it much easier to find you and play with you when we all use the same names/passwords for games.
The Hardcore crew tends to start up a Normal game/pass with the following: pahnr1/wang
Nightmare difficulty games tend to be: panm1/wang for Softcore or pahnm1/wang for Hardcore
Hell difficulty games tend to be: pahhl1/wang for Hardcore. Softcore can be pahl1/wang or pall1/wang.
Muling or whatever games are usually pamule/wang.
Since the start of ladder season six there have been issues with people failing to join games; the situation has improved but occasionally you will see this happening. If someone appears to have joined pahl2/wang but the game tells you pahl2 doesn't exist, the person is probably currently stuck at a loading screen. Etiquette permits you to go ahead and create pahl3/wang.
Further iterations of the number for new games (in case folks need the earlier completed quests). Or just add any of the account names above to your Diablo II friends list by typing /f add AccountName (no asterisk needed) and you'll be able to see who is online or available to private message. Feel free to start up the PA games on your own, and other people might find you.
Also, when you start up a new game, post the game to this thread, if you want to have more visibility and attract some PA lurkers.
Why should you follow these naming conventions? Well, you want to play with other PAers, don't you? It makes it much easier to find you and play with you when we all use the same names/passwords for games.
ronya on
0
Posts
The Diablo II Wiki, one of many increasingly useful sites. List of numbers of sockets items can get. Things you [strike]should[/strike] MUST know about Diablo 2.
PPR's calculators - how much damage do you really do, how much dex you need to block, how accurate your weapon really is. This is a great way to get around the Lying Character Screen.
Werebear/werewolf weapon speed calculator.
Weapon speed calculator. Ingame.de also has other useful calculators, like this affix calculator.
The Poorman.
Old list of many items, by given bonuses. List of items which grant chance to casts, auras, cross-class skills, and other special effects.
Because people always ask, here are the alvls of all areas in the game (source):
Act II Desert Mercenary auras:
Quests and Rewards
1.13 rune drop table (also known as "why the hell do I have so many Orts?"):
Nowadays, building a Diablo 2 character has been refined into an art. With greater knowledge of various game systems (and unfortunately, bugs), along with the new Synergies and Runewords added in the 1.10 patch, a myriad of fun and exciting character builds have been refined. You don't have to follow any "builds" to the letter (unless they are Advanced builds which require careful calculation of stats and skills), but it helps to know what options are out there.
There's typically a discussion of build "viability" in most Diablo 2 forums and threads. This generally only refers to end-game Hell difficulty. For the most part, any intelligent application of skills and stats will result in a character that can do all of Normal and at least the first two Acts of Nightmare.
General character building
Very few builds will need points into Energy - your mana increases with levels, and it's easy to get large amounts of mana from gear. Drink mana potions like water until then. No points into Energy unless your build absolutely need it.
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Recommended New Player Builds
The general recommendation for a New Player is to pick a build that doesn't require a lot of gear (as you won't have much gear as a newbie) and is primarily skill dependent for damage (as skills will give you decent damage for every point you sink into them). Most folks will recommend that you play a beginning build that isn't reliant on a high level skill to deal damage, as you won't be able to plow through the early Acts in Normal difficulty.
Here are some good early options:
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Note the runeword Leaf (Tir+Ral), which grants +3 to Firebolt and +3 to all fire skills. Make it in a staff with +3 to firebolt, and you've got a +9 to firebolt staff! The Countess in Normal difficulty can drop both Tir and Ral, and Qual-Khek in Act V will give you a Ral rune (and Ort and Tal) as the second quest reward.
Two-tree sorceresses like these can be effective without expensive gear, and can use Teleport to run bosses more quickly than a summoner. They may have some trouble beyond Hell Act III without decent gear, though - too many tough Fire immunes, especially if you don't have a well-armed mercenary.
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Barbarians are quite gear dependent to be viable at harder difficulties, but on the bright side, everyone knows that your Barbarian is a frontline fighter and tank, and so they are more willing to give you loot drops that help a frontline fighter (unless you are playing a Singer or Throw Barb, in which case you probably should have a lot of experience under your belt first, anyway).
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Moderately dependent on gear (boots and a fast weapon, mostly) and knowledge of what makes Dragon Talon work. Once you get Death Sentry, you can let your traps carry you, saving your Dragon Talon kicks for act bosses.
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"Cookie-cutter" build names for Googling are as follows:
Mercenary Choice
Yes, that mercenary is an essential part of your character. Your faithful buddy through thick and thin, your mercenary choice can greatly affect how well you survive and deal damage.
Most people choose Act II mercenaries (the spear/polearm users with auras), because their auras can be extremely useful. Many key runewords that grant auras also work in polearms. The most popular choices tend to be Normal Act II Combat (Prayer), Normal Act II Defensive (Defiance), Nightmare Act II Defensive (Holy Freeze), and Nightmare Act II Offensive (Might).
Most caster characters on a budget go with Normal Act II Combat with an Insight polearm, granting a high life and mana regeneration (Prayer synergises with the Meditation granted by Insight, doubling the life regeneration). Nightmare Act II Defensive with Insight is another cheap option, granting more crowd control (via mass slow) instead of life regeneration.
At the high end, a few folks go for Act 1 Rogues with a aura-granting runeword bow, but the desirable auras are hideously expensive. Edge (granting Thorns) and Harmony (granting Vigor) are both cheap, though their usefulness is dubious when compared to Act II mercenaries.
Popular weapons for mercenaries are runeword items that add an aura (paladin-in-a-box!), life leech weapons (crucial for Act I, II and V mercenary survival), and Crushing Blow weapons (helps kill bosses).
Note that virtually no one uses the Hell mercenaries, because they have slightly lower stats than one hired in Normal difficulty.
Detailed Build Lists
Here are some websites to get you started:
New Player Tips
Early in the game, you will have a very small earning potential. In Act I, I recommend picking up everything not nailed down and selling it. Throwing weapons are surprisingly profitable (Throwing Knives, even cracked ones, sell for 480 gold+), and constitute the majority of my sellable loot when I start out. Jewelry is always modestly profitable (and you can't beat the inventory space cost). Most people keep their Chipped gems and Rune drops rather than selling them. Scepters, Staves, and Wands all potentially sell well (the more skills they buff, the more money you can get). In later acts, Heavy Armors sell for a reasonable profit.
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Store enough to resurrect your mercenary and repair your stuff... then gamble the rest. In Softcore, you'll lose it when you die anyway, and you have low caps to your gold in your stash until level 30. In Hardcore... well, you lose everything anyway. So go ahead and spend it on the local gambling vendor (Gheed, Elzix, Alcor, Jamella, Nihlathak, Anya). Gamble for gear pieces that fit into slots in which you don't already have something decent. If you don't have a good belt, gamble for Belts until you get a nice rare one. Or run out of money.
If you plan on gambling a lot (which is an entirely viable way of acquiring high-end equipment, especially if you trade), consider making an Edge bow (Tir+Tal+Amn), which bizarrely grants -15% vendor prices. And get a Gheed's grand charm too.
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Unfortunately, you'll just have to raise your Lightning Resists or use Poison weapons on these bastards. Raising your Lightning Resists is always a good investment, even if it's just three Chipped Topazes in a shield. Use hit and run tactics, healing after every few hits (since you're going to eat a few Charged Bolts). Or use a Ranged weapon/distance spell.
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When you are running, enemies have a very chance to hit you (any attacks that get past your shield will hit, and your shield block is capped at 25% when running). So don't run through a crowd. Or switch to walk to get away, then flip on the run when you are clear. Faster Run/Walk is a surprisingly useful investment. You can get up up to 40% faster run/walk on boots. Note that heavy armors reduce your run/walk speed.
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You can dodge these projectiles, but some classes have skills that allow them to mitigate ranged attacks. Amazons have Slow Missiles, Assassins have Cloak of Shadows, Necromancers have Dim Vision. Carrying a shield is often worthwhile to block a few projectile hits and can be essential in Hell difficulty with some builds.
Hardcore Gameplay Tips
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* Remember that antidote and thawing potions will temporarily boost your cold and poison resists. Chug 'em before taking on Andariel, Duriel, Mephisto, or Baal for the first time.
** Lightning Resists are paramount in Normal difficulty. The leading cause of death is a carpet of Charged Bolt death from a Scarab or Lightning Enchanted boss. Get a 3-socketed shield and dump 3 Chipped Topazes in there, if you have to.
*** We've also had folks killed or almost killed by Meteor spells in Act 3 Durance of Hate. You should probably have some decent Fire (for Meteors) and Lightning resists (for Mephisto) by the time you get to the end of Act 3. Mephisto also occasionally launches a cold ball that does a stupid amount of cold damage. Rare but deadly - drink a thawing potion.
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Hardcore Character Killers
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Also good reading for the prospective Hardcore player: a very detailed FAQ. anti-TPPK guide.
Technical Help/Troubleshooting
If you are having problems with video/framerate performance, try using DirectDraw instead of Direct3D. Also, try running the game in windowed mode (add a -w to the command line) or running the game in compatibility mode with an older version of Windows (98, 2000, etc.).
Also note that since this is a (mostly) 2D game, you won't get realistic framerates in the 60s. In fact, the gameplay framerate is locked at 25 frames per second. The /fps will show higher values, however. Some people "claim" they can tell the difference, but really what they are seeing is the frame averaging. If you have above 30 fps, you should be fine for most situations. The higher framerates give you a buffer when the game starts to chug (if you are running at 30 fps, you may drop to as low as 5 fps... whereas a computer that can handle 60 fps will drop to around 30ish fps, which is still quite playable).
Really, for the best performance on Diablo 2, you need an ancient (by today's standards) Voodoo graphics card. But those cards aren't made anymore.
I still have my CD keys written down on a sticky note next to my computer, but I don't have my CDs anymore! Help!
If you still have your CD keys, but you don't have one or more of your discs, you can download Diablo II directly to your computer through battle.net. Just register for a battle.net account and attach your CD Key to your account. Once the game is linked to your account, they will give you a downloader for the game (which supports both torrenting and direct download). You'll have to download Diablo II and Lord of Destruction separately.
I keep lagging at Diablo and Baal when they die. Any way to speed things up?
As of patch 1.12, you can play Diablo II without using the CDs, as long as you copy over all of the files on both Diablo II and Lord of Destruction that end with the extension ".mpq". If you do a full installation, you are probably missing the d2music.mpq file. Copy all of the .mpq files to your Diablo II directory (there should be other .mpq files in there), then remove the CD from the drive. If you use the downloader from battle.net, you should already have everything installed.
Terms and Definitions
"Single Player" and "Open" characters are the same thing - they are saved on your local hard drive, and can be modified with character editors. They can be played online, but only with other Single Player/Open characters. Most people don't tend to play Open except with real-life friends and family. People also play Open when they run a popular Diablo II mod like Eastern Sun or Median.
Battle.net characters are saved on Blizzard's Battle.net character servers, and can't be modified with character editors. There are still hacks and cheats on online play, but not nearly to the degree that is seen in Open play. On this list, we assume that you are playing on Battle.net. Unless we suddenly all decide we want to play Eastern Sun instead...
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This is the realm name. There are 7 Diablo II realms for multiplayer Battle.net play (Asia has three). Accounts created only exist on their home realm; characters created on a server cannot be migrated to other servers. Most folks on Penny Arcade at this time are playing on the USEast server, including some of us on the West Coast. With a broadband internet connection, it shouldn't matter much which server you play on, but USEast appears to be more populated at the moment (or at least, more organized).
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There isn't an actual "softcore" word, as such, but most people refer to non-hardcore play as softcore. You can create hardcore characters once you have beaten the game on Normal in any game mode or added the right Registry key (see below, this is not considered a hack).
In softcore play, when you die, you will lose gold and XP (in Nightmare and Hell difficulties - Normal has no death XP penalty). You leave a corpse with your gear where you died, but your shiny items can be retrieved by simply clicking on your corpse (your character will automatically pick up and re-equip the items) or by exiting and reentering a game (the corpse will then appear at your feet).
On the other hand, in hardcore, when you die, you stay dead instead of kicking it next to Warriv by the fire. You will be unable to create or join new games, and your avatar appears as a ghost. The only thing your fallen hero will be able to do is chat in the channels, although you will retain your Ladder standing (most people won't get this far). To keep playing, you will have to start a new character.
Needless to say, Hardcore is not for the faint of heart, and requires a different mindset when playing. Otherwise, the game is identical. Note that you can let other players loot your corpse of gear in Hardcore (this has to be toggled manually in the Party screen) - if you play with friends (or PAers
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When you create your character, you may create it as either a Ladder character, or as a non-Ladder character. Ladder characters cannot interact with non-ladder characters and vice versa. Every so often, Blizzard starts a new Ladder season, so everyone there will (initially) be at level one, nobody will have old bugged/hacked items from their non-Ladder characters, and everyone gets to experience a fresh new Diablo multiplayer universe. Ideally, anyway.
When a ladder season ends, all Ladder characters will be converted to non-Ladder (retaining all their items and stats), and will now be able to interact with characters from earlier seasons or from before Ladder.
There are certain abilities that only Ladder characters can do (mostly 1.10 runewords and some uniques), but the game is mostly the same. Most people here are playing on the Ladder. We don't care about all that cool Non-Ladder gear that you've been hoarding. Roll up a brand new Ladder guy, with the rest of us! One of us! One of us!
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* Amazon = Zon (also "Bowazon" or "Javazon" or "Tankazon")
* Assassin = Sin ("Trap-sin" or "Kick-sin")
* Barbarian = Barb ("Throw Barb")
* Druid = Umm. Druid? Usually abbreviated by the type of skill used ("Fury Wolf")
* Necromancer = Necro, although subspecies can be "Mancers" ("Summonmancer
* Paladin = Pally or "-adin" ("Hammerdin")
* Sorceress = Sorc, with distinctions based on skill or tree ("Fire Sorc" "Meteorb" = Meteor + Frozen Orb)
This isn't a hard and fast rule.
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Notice that I put several abbreviations above in parentheses. When people describe their characters, they typically say it in a manner similar to this: "My ESCNL barb is level 50". This means USEast server, SoftCore, Non-Ladder barbarian.
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Anyone have one for pgems?
Geeze, how many people in your household play Diablo? Is it the family pasttime?
They also played Diablo 1 and Hellfire.
They even gave WoW a try!
Edit: So yeah, that's 100% of my family. It's also the reason my wealth seems to disappear so quickly.
This has made me realize how little D2 tells you, because there is so much I have to explain to her.
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
That's something I love about the game, just how deep it is. Builds and breakpoints and those little things you need to know if you absolutely want to get the best out of your character and items etc.
I remember the Season Five threads used to have more people on West. Odd, huh?
still iso: tal's ammy+armor, soj, treks, cold skillers, anny, storch (trade for my low ntorch)
and eth reaper's, gaze and shaftstop for my merc
picked up dracul's, nos' coil, nature's peace and dwarf star so i guess i have those for trade
edit: In fact, who wrote the "In the beginning (a decade ago), I found that it was fun to place stat points and skill points in whatever I felt was best at the moment" etc. bit? It sure as hell wasn't me, I just copied it off the Season Five thread. Which as I recall was produced from a post I prepared from an even older thread that quoted liberally from someone else's post which quoted... yeah.
The paragraph is still good advice, but I should probably amend it on principle. And also give some credit to whoever wrote it.
Care to wait for me later tonight :P
friiiiiiiiiiiig
Steam id: skoot LoL id: skoot
what do you have for trade?
Steam id: skoot LoL id: skoot
Red B/Gold Professor
[15:53] <+juju-work> ArsonIsFun is one of the best people I know.
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
360
Bayonetta
Fable 3
DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
No, I'm not going to waste a Lo on an eth armor.
Sorry, it's been a long time since I've fired D2 up.
What time do you guys play 'til?
was sad i had to leave before i could see if there was a storch
and I shall wait for you lordswing.