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[Game On! And On! And On!] Diablo 2: Stay a while and listen!
Hahnsoo1
Make Ready.We Hunt.Registered User, Moderator, Administrator admin
Make Ready.We Hunt.Registered User, Moderator, Administrator admin
Special thanks to ronya for editing the following Megapost.
Latest Patch News
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=16474108702&sid=3000
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=16474166159&sid=3000&pageNo=1#18
And regarding the evil end-of-April-but-no announcement:
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=16904296443&postId=171109027775&sid=3000#6
tl;dr 1.13 will be a "content" patch, or so Blizzard says. There is, alas, no other information available regarding 1.13 - we don't know whether "content" means "yet another one line code fix" (1.12!), "a few new runewords" (1.11), or "A WHOLE NEW WORLD, A NEW FANTASTIC POINT OF VIEW" (1.10). There will be a "test realm" to get the patch early and play around with it. Don't expect the patch to arrive until they give fair warning, which will be about 2 weeks before the release of the patch. In other words: GAME ON!
Terms and Definitions
If you are brand new to Diablo II, you will need to know the distinctions between the following types of gameplay.
Most of the time, we'll be in-game - message account names from the list below. (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.
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 may also be pa/wang or pa1/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.
Quests and Rewards
from 0blique (mistakes edited out by me):
Essential quests (need these to advance the story)
A1Q6: Kill Andarial. You can skip to Catacombs 2 to do this, without doing any prior quests.
A2Q2-6: Technically you can skip some of these, but unless someone knows the location of Tal Rasha's True Tomb and has the Staff of Kings, you won't save any time. You need to break the altar at the Claw Viper Temple to go into the Palace and Arcane Sanctuary, and you need to defeat the Summoner inside the Arcane Sanctuary to reach the final waypoint (and get Tal Rasha's True Tomb symbol).
A3Q3,5,6: You only need to defeat the Council at Travincal Waypoint, talk to Deckard Cain, then teleport directly to the Durance of Hate 2 waypoint to Kill Mephisto. If there are no characters with the Durance 2 waypoint, however, you'll need to have the Khalim's Will flail to break the Compelling Orb.
A4Q3: You only need to Kill Diablo to advance to Act 5
A5Q5,6: You need to beat the Ancients to advance to the Worldstone Keep and Baal, and you need to Kill Baal to get to the next difficulty/beat the game.
For all act bosses (last quest in each act), you will get a special bonus drop if you get the killing blow: all items will be magic or better. This is called the quest drop. If you have not finished the quest, and you kill the boss in a game created by someone who already has, you will get the quest drop and still not complete the quests. You can then continue to get more quest drops by joining other such games.
Skill point quests:
A1Q1: Den of Evil, gives 1 skill point when you talk to Akara.
A2Q1: Book of Skill, gives 1 skill point, drops from Radamant. No, you cannot buy/hoard these.
A4Q1: Kill Izual, gives 2 skill points, when you talk to Tyreal.
Stat point quests:
A3Q4: Lam Esen's Tome. You will ALWAYS find this in the Ruined Temple at Kurast Bazaar.
Other quests with useful bonuses
A3Q1: The Jade Statue always drops from the first boss you encounter in Act 3, gives +20 life.
A5Q1: Socket 1 item
A5Q3: +10 to all resists (permanently) when reading the Scroll of Resistance
A5Q5: You'll gain 1 level's worth (no more, no less) of experience points.
Item quests
A1Q3: rare ring (magic in normal)
A1Q5: rare item of your base choice
A3Q2: rare ring
A4Q2: 1 pgem, 2 flawless gem, 1 reg gem, 1 rune (depends on difficulty, also random)
A5Q2: Runes Ral, Ort, Tal
A5Q3: rare class specific item
Merc quests (get a free merc if you don't have one, otherwise you get nothing)
A1Q2: Free Act 1 Merc
A3Q2: Free Act 3 Merc
A5Q2: Free Act 5 Merc
Price reducing quests
A1Q3, A2Q1, A3Q2 (not sure), A5Q1
Latest Patch News
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=16474108702&sid=3000
We’re preparing for a Diablo II ladder reset to coincide with the release of the 1.13 patch that’s currently in development. We don’t have a final release date for the patch yet, but we’re providing early warning as a reset could occur as early as the end of April. We’ll be providing updates with more certain dates once the patch is closer to release.
Please be aware that with a ladder reset all ladder characters are moved to non-ladder. This means that your characters will still be accessible but will no longer have access to ladder-only features and games. In order to play in the new ladder season after the reset you will need to make new ladder characters.
This thread will be updated with more information as it becomes available.
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=16474166159&sid=3000&pageNo=1#18
So yeah, we're still working on the patch. It's coming along really well. We're getting there. I can't give an estimate or date, we're expecting there to be a good amount of testing required due to the types of changes being made. We want to take our time and put out a solid patch, and that means we don't have a release date right now.
Some exciting news - and it also may be some comfort - due to the types of changes we're making we will be offering the Diablo II 1.13 patch for testing and feedback on a test realm before its release. We'll have more information about how you'll be able to help test it in the coming weeks.
[ Post edited by Bashiok ]
I think the term beta has too many preconceptions attached to it. Revised to "test realm".
I'm told it will be similar if not exactly the same as similar tests that have happened for Warcraft III recently.
And regarding the evil end-of-April-but-no announcement:
We try to give everyone at least a two week notice before a ladder reset. When it became apparent that the patch could potentially launch in two weeks, we put up an announcement just in case.
Now, even though no promises were given it's going to create some hope that it will be out, but we can only do so much to balance between expectation and information that's necessary for the community to have.
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=16904296443&postId=171109027775&sid=3000#6
It's coming along. We're still in the process of refining and testing the changes going into the patch. Work is progressing, we haven't stopped working on it or anything like that.
As far as information of what's being changed in the patch, almost anything we're working on now could be removed. Testing could deem any change unworkable and we'd have to remove it. By releasing any information on possible changes we'd be raising expectations that the change is guaranteed to make it in, no matter how many disclaimers we place on it. That said, one change we're planning is to increase the stash size to 12x10. As I said it is in no way a guaranteed change. Any number of reasons could mean it will not make it into the final patch. But enjoy the breadcrumb maybe?
tl;dr 1.13 will be a "content" patch, or so Blizzard says. There is, alas, no other information available regarding 1.13 - we don't know whether "content" means "yet another one line code fix" (1.12!), "a few new runewords" (1.11), or "A WHOLE NEW WORLD, A NEW FANTASTIC POINT OF VIEW" (1.10). There will be a "test realm" to get the patch early and play around with it. Don't expect the patch to arrive until they give fair warning, which will be about 2 weeks before the release of the patch. In other words: GAME ON!
Terms and Definitions
If you are brand new to Diablo II, you will need to know the distinctions between the following types of gameplay.
- Single Player/Open vs. Battle.net ("Realms"):
"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...
. - USEast (E) vs USWest (W) vs Europe (EU) vs Asia (A):
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).
. - Hardcore (HC) vs "Softcore" (SC):
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
) this should allow you to keep your most useful items (everything in your stash and inventory will be lost to the ether, however). We have an approximately equal distribution of Hardcore and Softcore players here, but the Hardcore seems more active because we stick together on principle (harder to die when you're with friends, although it DOES happen).
. - Ladder (L) vs Non-Ladder (NL):
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.
We are currently at Ladder Season 5 - a new season may be imminent. New ladder seasons are normally timed to coincide with patches, and 1.13 may hit the road as early as the end of April. 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!
. - Common abbreviations:
* 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.
. - Putting it all together:
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.
. - Many more abbreviations here.
. - If you make requests for items or help, be sure to specify your realm, hardcore/softcore, and ladder/nonladder status. Help us help you!
Most of the time, we'll be in-game - message account names from the list below. (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.
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 may also be pa/wang or pa1/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.
Quests and Rewards
from 0blique (mistakes edited out by me):
Essential quests (need these to advance the story)
A1Q6: Kill Andarial. You can skip to Catacombs 2 to do this, without doing any prior quests.
A2Q2-6: Technically you can skip some of these, but unless someone knows the location of Tal Rasha's True Tomb and has the Staff of Kings, you won't save any time. You need to break the altar at the Claw Viper Temple to go into the Palace and Arcane Sanctuary, and you need to defeat the Summoner inside the Arcane Sanctuary to reach the final waypoint (and get Tal Rasha's True Tomb symbol).
A3Q3,5,6: You only need to defeat the Council at Travincal Waypoint, talk to Deckard Cain, then teleport directly to the Durance of Hate 2 waypoint to Kill Mephisto. If there are no characters with the Durance 2 waypoint, however, you'll need to have the Khalim's Will flail to break the Compelling Orb.
A4Q3: You only need to Kill Diablo to advance to Act 5
A5Q5,6: You need to beat the Ancients to advance to the Worldstone Keep and Baal, and you need to Kill Baal to get to the next difficulty/beat the game.
For all act bosses (last quest in each act), you will get a special bonus drop if you get the killing blow: all items will be magic or better. This is called the quest drop. If you have not finished the quest, and you kill the boss in a game created by someone who already has, you will get the quest drop and still not complete the quests. You can then continue to get more quest drops by joining other such games.
Skill point quests:
A1Q1: Den of Evil, gives 1 skill point when you talk to Akara.
A2Q1: Book of Skill, gives 1 skill point, drops from Radamant. No, you cannot buy/hoard these.
A4Q1: Kill Izual, gives 2 skill points, when you talk to Tyreal.
Stat point quests:
A3Q4: Lam Esen's Tome. You will ALWAYS find this in the Ruined Temple at Kurast Bazaar.
Other quests with useful bonuses
A3Q1: The Jade Statue always drops from the first boss you encounter in Act 3, gives +20 life.
A5Q1: Socket 1 item
A5Q3: +10 to all resists (permanently) when reading the Scroll of Resistance
A5Q5: You'll gain 1 level's worth (no more, no less) of experience points.
Item quests
A1Q3: rare ring (magic in normal)
A1Q5: rare item of your base choice
A3Q2: rare ring
A4Q2: 1 pgem, 2 flawless gem, 1 reg gem, 1 rune (depends on difficulty, also random)
A5Q2: Runes Ral, Ort, Tal
A5Q3: rare class specific item
Merc quests (get a free merc if you don't have one, otherwise you get nothing)
A1Q2: Free Act 1 Merc
A3Q2: Free Act 3 Merc
A5Q2: Free Act 5 Merc
Price reducing quests
A1Q3, A2Q1, A3Q2 (not sure), A5Q1
Hahnsoo1 on
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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. This was fun and felt quite organic, but then you will hit a "wall" somewhere. That wall might be at Duriel, Act 2. Or it might be at the Big D himself. Or it could be the Hell difficulty. When playing with friends, you probably won't run into this wall, but you'll certainly feel it when playing solo.
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
This will be an ongoing list of tips for people who are new to Diablo II, or people who haven't played the game in a while.
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, your armor is reduced to nothing and enemies have a 95% chance to hit you. 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
We tend to roll up new characters to play with new folks who come into the Hardcore PA games, so there's no problem of "passing people up", as it were. NoGreatName tends to log in and drop pressies for everyone, too. Because of player turnaround (i.e. deaths), the Normal game tends to be populated.
* 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.
Hardcore Character Killers
Also good reading for the prospective Hardcore player: a very detailed FAQ. anti-TPPK guide.
Playing in Hardcore Right Away
Also, if you want to jump into Hardcore right away, but you don't have the option, you can either hack a single player character using one of the many character editors out there and beat the game on normal, or you can use RegEdit: You can also use korodullin's Registry Key here (Works for XP, not sure if it works for Vista). It does the same thing as the instructions above:
http://korodullin.googlepages.com/Hardcore.reg
Technical Help/Troubleshooting
I have a kickass computer... why is it running so slowly?
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.
Finally, the post that will be relevant to the interests of the gentle reader.
Unless marked, we will assume that you are playing on the Ladder
USWest Softcore:
*Bartholamue (non-Ladder)
*PaleScholar (non-Ladder)
USEast Softcore:
*wagako (Andy, Mephisto, Baal... Feel free to join usual password)
*letum
*zirikki
*neaky10(active?)
*treznor
*cncaudata
*LehmanCM
*centipeed
*lepenguin
*ndixon399
*padonkeyhorse
*n3ophyt3
*mustachiojones
*clbucknall
*vimonks
*Mastrius9087
*Pnut311
*PA-Rhapsody
*d2_east
*skavenblight
*aenjiro
*mortenya
*tanner_t
*iamtheaznman
*Forar
*Jeice_Seifer
*chloros
*korodiddle
*SleepyGorilla
*Strickland
*KrunkMcGrunk
*Bartholamue
*Arasen
*ScrillaVilla
*lowkeyedup
*goodkingjayiii
*Branta
*aenjiro (non-ladder)
*MosbysRanger
*ronya
*cookiesifwewin
*krizz02
*Narian-
*langfor6
*histronic
*themightypuck
USEast Hardcore Ladder:
*Hahnsoo1/bloogame
*ardielsongsmith
*NoGreatName (retired until the Ladder reset... then it's GAME ON)
*IdolNinja
*delias
*Sinuath
*Henroid
*Suplex86
*darklite
*dracilcegon
*crusix
*letum
*lepenguin
*psyck0 ("with a zero")
*TheLawinator
*icj2004
*n3ophyt3
*Streltsy
*somersetlopez
*Zerokku
*bahamutzero10
*korodiddle
*squirrelrancher
*WellingtonStabz
*Threadbaresock
*pseudopus
*chlorosx
*Tagged
*Lampley
*Jaef
*Jeice
*delicioustoad
*datac0re (that's a zero in the name)
*Grislo-east
*valiance_
*Jarbo
*Tachyon_Light
*Muerte411
*bobcat_x
*Kilogrammage
*lowkeyedup
*haakenson1
*Myrc
Europe Hardcore:
*Absin (Ladder?)
1. lordswing (lepenguin)
2. GoodKingJayIII (conviction/vengeance pally)
3. IdolNinja (ww+conc BO barb)
4. emnmnme
5. TheOne(AndOnly)
6. Dr.Tongue (werebear druid)
7. Arkan (paladin)
8. Tag
If someone also wanted to do a BO barb, I could switch to an Enchantress sorc, also specializing in static field. In fact, I think I'd rather go that route if someone else steps up.
Also, awesome job on the megaposts Hahnsoo1 and ronya. Everything looks great and there's a massive amount of good info there.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
PSN: Lqmpley | Steam: TheOne(AndOnly)
I'm still going to be rolling a Barb. Either WW or Frenzy, but I'll be maxing BO either way.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
IM only returns damage from physical melee attacks. Skills like vengeance and beserk add non-physical damage, so you won't get as much damage returned. That being said, if your weapon does enough base damage, you could still be seriously hurt, so you still need to watch out.
Also note that if you hit someone with a throwing weapon within melee range, it will count as a melee attack for the purposes of IM. Bows and crossbows don't count. I believe that leap attack doesn't count at any range also (will need more checking). Smite does count.
For the megapost, I suggest that it should be mentioned somewhere about the usefulness of mods like "damaged reduced by 1" or "magic damage reduced by 1". For most attacks, these don't do much (even a fallen does a few damage per hit), but they can help a lot against frame based attacks. Such attacks deal damage every calculation frame (25 fps in D2 irrespective of what your drawn framerate is), so something that deals 50 damage per second, actually does 2 damage per frame. Thus, reducing it by 2 per frame will null the damage completely. Since many of the games worst attacks are frame based (Diablo's lightning hose, snake poison clouds, inferno), having a couple of these items can really help.
A lightning Javazon gave me my fill of throwing weapons, thank you very much.
For some reason, I knew about all of those mechanics, but didn't have them quite click in my head properly. I'll have to keep an eye out for damage reduction stuff to see how it goes. If nothing else, it'll help keep my merc alive a bit longer.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
I'm not going to play again until the reset hits. I'm already up there on East Hardcore(haakenson1), but I will also play Softcore with my buddy in case anyone cares.
Hurry up 1.13!
Yes, but can you combine that with a quick switch and rape someone with frenzy?
You don't need a quick switch to rape. Lightning frenzy IS the rape.
Well if Frenzy is going to be used, why not just stick with that and use Double Throw for, say, IM, like I was planning to [tiny]but totally forgot to mention[/tiny]?
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Bashiok says that the ladder reset could happen this month.
I might just scrap that reset team, I doubt any of us need any incentive to play when the reset/patch hits.
Alas, Vengeance doesn't save you from the wrath of Iron Maiden. The magic damage won't be reflected via IM, but since Vengeance adds elemental damage as a percentage of physical damage, any weapon that'll dent that Oblivion Knight will dent you, too. Get a rare bone wand and just zeal the bastard.
Berserk is okay, but beware getting mobbed. Zero defence, no life steal, and a very good chance of getting blocklocked.
Leap attack will kill you if you get IMed. So will Charge. and Smite. and any melee attack with appreciable damage, really.
INTEGER DAMAGE REDUCTION IS AWESOME.
The mod is ridiculous in PVM. Here's another bit that 0blique omitted: PDR and MDR overflow onto each other. If you get attacked with a combined physical/magic attack (and almost all attacks have a bit of both, even Gloam lightning), and you've got 1000 PDR and no MDR, the excess PDR will cancel out the magic damage as well.
Which is really helpful since MDR is really hard to get in quantity, while PDR is... well, Sol runes. In the absence of either, integer absorb is pretty effective at nullifying elemental attacks (Thundergod's Vigor!! ridiculous mods for an Exceptional unique). Stand in a pack of Extra Strong Extra Fast Fanaticism Black Souls and heal.
Note that it applies in this order: %DR/%MDR, DR/MDR, resists, %absorb, absorb. If you want to nullify magic attacks, don't bother with DR/MDR - get high resists, then integer absorb. %MDR would be optimal, but it sadly doesn't exist on any in-game items (although the engine supports it
For your merc: get a four-socket armor (Jeweler's X of Amicae would be ideal) and put four Sol runes into it - bang, 28+ PDR. But really mercs have lots of health - with life steal they shouldn't be dying much.
AFAIK spammers bought hundreds of thousand of game keys from... somewhere... years ago. Then when the Diablo II item market slowly ebbed away the spammers started selling keys instead.
I'd love to find out how thousands of keys got onto the market to begin with, though. I hadn't heard that DII keys were cracked - there certainly aren't any publicly available key generators that work with Battle.net that I know of - my impression was that Blizz had probably sold a pile of them to a reseller in Some Third World Country.
I'd like to try out a poison-spewing necromancer with golems for support.
But the thing about vengeance is that it can add 1200% elemental damage, paired with conviction it'll hit something the mob isn't resistant to. i figured it would work itself out.
PSN: Lqmpley | Steam: TheOne(AndOnly)
Fixed.
Not that you were doing that, mind.
:P
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Awesome, but not helpful, I know. Enigma vastly speeds up the character, but it also makes it a lot easier to die. It's certainly not necessary to comfortably solo Hell mode. For pure survivability (and the sweetest character model transform so far implemented) I liked Trang-Oul's Avatar, while I was using it.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Did you go for block on your necro? I did, but I'm not sure I really need it, and at times wish for just a bit more health. It can be nice when you're teleporting around blindly, though.
In-game menu > Options > Configure Controls > Select Previous Skill. Bind to mouse scroll up. Bind Select Next Skill to mouse scroll down.
Doesn't work for many players on Vista, and it's of dubious usefulness since it makes you prone to a tempban, and you waste a lot of time scrolling through prerequisites or one-point-wonder skills.
Yeah the scrolling is annoying too. I normally just rebind Q through V and keep the belt as 1-4 so I have immediate access to my skills. (Actually I keep W as weapon swap).
Black Desert: Family Name: Foolery. Characters: Tome & Beerserk.
(Retired) GW2 Characters (Fort Aspenwood): Roy Gee Biv
(Retired) Let's Play: Lone Wolf