OK so I'm playing diablo 2 LOD for about the hundredth time (only ever finished it once) and am using a barbarian.

Am currently at the very start of Act 2, at Lut Golheim.

Question for other gamers: Should I drop my cold missile firing mercenary from act 1 (Who helpfully chills enemies so they smash when i hit them) or go with the mercenary available in act 2?

Also what abilities do the mercs bring (combat, defensive, and another one) aren't they paladin skills? (At work and D2 sites are barred. :( )

according to this:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/370600/16180

you either want frost from Act 1 or the 'Might' merc from Act 2, which will buff you.

there's an Act 3 freezing guy, too. But it gets weaker on higher difficulty because it is a spell.

I go with the Act 2 Mercs all the time. Their abilities are different on higher difficulties too. Nightmare Defensive is great (Holy Freeze aura!).

I have to study tonight. :(
*Shakes fist at damned advanced life support course tomorrow*

But will send the old merc packing and buy the act 2 merc tomorrow.

Currently running defensive as am now Level 18 and have started tanking with iron skin.

If I can keep this fool merc through to hell he will be uber great at holy freeze.

Thanks for the link takobake.

The boss at the end of nd act- how the hell do you kill him.

I've faced him a few times and he hammers me so I end up dying several times, if I leave to get more potions he regenerates his health.

Anyone got any tips (should be facing him next week if current gaming schedule holds up)

Duriel is an absolute bastard to kill. Fat HP, freeze aura, charge, uber attacks. There are a few things to do first of all.

-Defense: as high as it can go. With my lvl 24 Barbarian, he has a 10% chance to hit me.
-Attack rating: Needs to be 80%-95%, or you won't even scratch him.
-Damage: Fast, hard hits. Speed is needed to reduce the effects of his freezing aura. My Barb is made for dual-wielding, and it works great. I can squeeze in at least four hits per second with Double Swing and I have awesome damage from sword mastery and Bash (synergy with doubleswing).
-Cold resistance. As much as you can get without having to use a shield. Charms, amulets, rings, set bonuses and runes all work here.
-Patch your damn game! You can transmute runes now, and there are skill synergies to make your character more effective.

PM me the specifics on your character, and I can show you the way to go.

Thanks for the tips.

I have the patch.

Am currently using a double handed axe as primary weapon and a super magic club/shield combo for my secondary.

However may look at double swing as a necessary ability.

Just got the cube last night. Will have play Sunday now- Have to work 16 hours tomorrow and am about to go to bed for sleep once the football is over.

Hmm... I need to go back to Diablo 2.

I stopped playing partway through Act II with my Assassin. I grind the hell out of that game, usually hitting cLvl5 before I finish the game's first quest.

BYE

I grind it too, every cave hole and tower is investigated.

Assassin was fun once you get the hang of the combos.

If you like assassin combos, you might like the ability combos you have to use
in WAR. For example, in order to use a certain ability, an orc has to have hit with two
of its previous abilities. The fun part is that Mythic called those combo poins "plans," so that
the third stage of combos is called "Da Best Plan."

Fun stuff.

Just killed cleared the viper pit/snake lair and am about to head down into the harem.

I really need a mana leech weapon so I can continuously hammer with dual blow until I can get to whirlwind.

Only 9 levels to go.

Get skulls. Stash and transmute them with the cube and chuck 'em in an awesome 5-socketed weapon.

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:I grind it too, every cave hole and tower is investigated.

Hehehehe... yeah going to each place you can isn't really grinding. Grinding is more going to each place you can, then quitting the game, coming back, doing it again, and then repeating that process about four more times, farming EXP, gold and loot until each badguy is at a level that gains you know EXP.

For example, you gain full EXP in Diablo from creatures that are either 5 levels above or below you. Anything above or below that threshold yields 5% of the exp. So, for instance, there's no point in taking on Andariel in Act 1 until your at least level 7, preferably level 12-17, as she herself is Level 12 (IIRC). The monsters in the very first area, and inside the Den of Evil, are all cLvl1 and 2, which means they're good for EXP all the way to level five.

I usually run through those two areas, killing every single creature (except the last one, so I don't complete the quest), until I've hit cLvl5. I don't spend any skill or attribute points until that point either, so that by the time I enter the next area (which I farm until I'm around Level 8 - and this includes taking on Blood Raven a few times over) I can spent points on Lvl6 abilities, and bulk up the areas I need right away to start using any of the cool loot I've found.


I also sell everything. Everything. I fill my stash up with everything from rusted swords to crossbow bolts to random shields and totems. Everything gets taken back to town. My biggest expense is Town Portal scrolls (never bother with Tomes as I only ever have one Scroll of Town Portal at a time). I usually reach the point where I have more money than I can carry, including my stash, so I have to gamble to get space back.

BYE

True grinding is doing Mephisto runs. Ugh.

Mephisto is a pansy. Hell most of the Council are pansies. It's that Extra Strength guy that's the problem. Both of them...

BYE

But the grinding part is finding game after game for the express purpose of
going to Mephisto and killing him.

Bugger that. Grind Duriel. S/He's no pushover.

BYE

you guys are making me want to play.

selling + gamble is definately the way to go. Especially to get cool jewelery or a good weapon.

Sick at home today so have finished harem and am working through the arcane sanctuary.

Will finish it tonight and when I hit the next way point I'll stop for the night.

Just scored a cool +1 fanged helm that has added 10 to my mana so now am hammering with the level 2 dual wield.

Just cleared canyon of the magi (just the outside part, still have to go through all the tombs).

Just hit Level 23 and taking HBMC's advice went back and killed Andariel again for a couple of rare items and another flawed ruby (2minutes and 30 seconds from Level 2 way point to killing her).

Also gambled up a sweet amulet that amongst the 5 things it does gives 4% mana per hit and 3% life per hit. Since getting it I haven't needed a mana potion and only used 1 light healing potion.

Gonads: Are you playing on the realms? You can level up tremendously by doing Baal runs with many players to about clvl45 before nightmare, and then nightmare Baal runs with many players to about clvl85 before XP gained drops to meaningless levels.

HBMC: I hoard stuff in my stash. :( I can't bring myself to sell cool drops.

I restarted this season on US-East. Highest level character is clvl88 Assassin kitted out for magic find, with a few other WIPs. Working on my Amazon right now - trying to get her to clvl69 to equip the Eaglehorn that dropped last week. Highlight was finding my FIRST ever Stone of Jordan.

No I'm playing the regular non net game.

Never got into the net based game.

If you want to get a high lvl char quickly, glitch rush. I built a pallie from lvl 1 to 80 in a day. It is really easy. But to do it, you need to play online. Personally, I always enjoyed on line more. Great to run with a party. My friends keep dragging me back to Diablo II. Last time I had lvl 94 sorc, 91 Pallie, 89 Barb, 93 Necro, and another lvl 74 Pallie.

I think my biggest thrill was getting my Pallie to Hell and beat Act 5, and he was still lvl 1. That was the guy I made lvl 80 in one day.

Explain this 'glitch'.

BYE

You can change the players:difficulty scale in single-player and network play by typing

/players *

in the console / chat box whatever. For example;

/players 8

will scale the monsters as though eight players were logged into an online server. Monsters get harder to hit, and they're worth more xp.

I don't consider this a cheat, but some do. My friend and I LANned this a lot, and we just had it on 'Players 8' the whole time for experience burn.

I want to hear this 'glitch' thing too.

EDIT: Spelled 'friend' as 'fiend'.

Just done 3 of the tombs, will do the rest tomorrow night and have a go at duriel.

I Got a claymore that also gives health and mana for each hit and mana with each kill.

Mana leech makes life so much easier.

Heh, I'm at exactly the same bit, but I'm playing necromancer.
So I hate the freezing, it robs me of precious, precious corpses!

Glitch rush is pretty simple. Keep your character in town as a higher level clears out each necessary quest to get all the way up to Act 5. For bosses that have to be killed with you in the room (Diablo for example), have the high lvl character open a portal, then you run in and let Diablo kill you. DO NOT HIT ESC to respawn. If you have died, and you don't hit ESC, you'll get the credit for the kill. Once you get to ACT 5 the wall is the Ancients. You have to be lvl 20 in normal, 40 in Nightmare, and 60 in Hell to get past them. At this point, you should only be level 1. The "glitch" is as follows. You must have someone in the game that also needs to beat Baal. Once they (the high level character) are in the Throne of Destruction, they must open a Town Portal. The character that is level 1 must remain in town while Baal is being killed. As long as the portal is open, and there is a person in the Throne of Destruction completing the quest, the level 1 character in town will get the mission completed too. Once you hear the music that Baal is dead, exit the game, and you have Nightmare available to you.

Now, the trick to gaining massive levels is as follows. Do the glitch rush all the way to Hell Act 5. Then, do "Chaos Runs" in Hell. You'll gain your first 20 levels in your first 1 - 3 runs. Depending on how close you are to the critters being killed. Practice your running skills here. From level 20 - 25 there is a MAJOR exp plateau. Don't panic. Just tough it out. Keep doing runs. Once you hit level 25, the exp will start flying. You'll be at level 40 or 50 within the next hour. Once you hit level 60, shift over to Baal runs. You'll hit 80 probably within another hour, or two at the max. That is how you do it.

Necromancer is probably my second favorite class.

Usually run about 5 skeles and 5 skele mages a golem then sit back and hammer opponents.

I do struggle vs duriel and other big guys when there are no bodies to respawn though.

Have never taken a sorceress past level 3-4, what is the best magic tree to follow?

don't make me play .............

Its sucking up a good hour a day ATM.

I play whilst the wife is making tea, giving me the rest of the night to do whatever (sadly not enough modelling ATM)

Its a great game as you can walk away for months/years and if you have saved your characters to a file somewhere and reload it when you reload the game you can just pick it up right away.

FO/CL or MO/FO are the two builds I have worked with for the Sorc. But the spamming Sorc is supposed to be excellent. But she is better for PVP. The other two are better for PVM. The trick about the Sorc is faster cast rate. You want to get it over 125% if I remember correctly. That is the last frame rate breakover that is attanable. I think there is another at 300%, but that is not possible to get. Teleport is your friend, and get ready for a fast ride.

Neco is a ton of fun to play. I completely ignore the golems. I only raise skeletons, and I max them out. Both sorcs and melee skeletons. Build up the summon resist to about 15 if I remember. So, probably only build it to 5, and let + to skills take it the rest of the way. If you want to beat Durial, there is one really easy way to do it. DECREPIFY!!!!! Your skeletons should be able to tear Durial apart once he has been Decrepified. Other than Amplify Damage, Decrepify is a must. You will own Durial with Decrepify. Make sure you take Amp Damage for Hell. You can break "Immune to Physical" which makes you much loved by all your physical damage buddies. Also, I love taking Revive. I usually only put 10 into it, then let + to skills take it the rest of the way. Once you have those three summoning skills, you have an army, and you can sit back and chuckle at all the silly critters trying to kill you. If you get Enigma, the Necro can be really scary. You can teleport on top of an enemy, and ALL of your critters start attacking that one target.

If folks would like, I can post some of my builds out here for everyone to look at. It might help.

I had a 30 something Sorc in Diablo I who lost all his stuff. Surrounded by something like ... 10,000 of those big lightning cave monsters with a couple unique ones. He went down naked into Hell and got a second awesome set of gear before too long. A fine moment in gaming lore. .

I always go for Cold/Ice with Sorcs. Always Ice. Makes things go 'smash' and no corpses to reanimate.

My two fav classes are the Paladin and the Sorceress. My current cha is an Assassin, just because I had never used one. Barbarian was fun, but I raced through the game the first time (I was in hell by cLvl18, and Death Knights could kill me in three hits). Started an Amazon a few times, the Necromancer never interested me, and I've not used the Druid.

BE

Since we're all bonding over our digital crack, what do I like. I like screwing around with Paladins. Necromancers are cool if potentially frustrating (they are probably different 10 patches later) and I have always wanted THE awesome druid. Barbs, Amazons and Sorceress are always fun. Assassins have never interested me much.

what the heck, eh. Installing ...

tide me over until I can get a new PC and play Oblivion/ Fallout 3 the way they were meant to be played.

Freezing is good good. Freeze 'em good, and then Fire Wall them. Fire Wall can be replaced as other area spells become more toasty.

Lightning mages are fun, and ridiculously good in certain circumstances, but don't scale up as well. By Lvl30 you're dragging a bit.

Magic Immune critters hurt....


Freezy lightning mage and dual-wielding Barbies are my favourites to play though, definitely. I've got a friend who swears by lycanthropy... but meh.

HIT 'EM WITH A HAMMER AND EAT THEIR FLESH

The problem with Lightning, and this is the reason I never do Lightning Sorcs, only Freeze or Flame, usually Freeze but sometimes Freeze/Flame (Firebolt is a good spell, as is Meteor), is that Lightning always does 1-X damage.

So if sLvl20 Chain Lightning has a max damage of 400, it's minimum is still 1. Whereas everything else goes up min and max as well. Lightning always keeps its min at 1, making it inconsistent.

You could be fighting a Zombie in the Blood Moor or fighting Baal on Hell difficulty, and your Lightning may fry Baal in one hit, or it may bounce off the Zombie.

It's annoying as anything, so I avoid Lightning spells completely.

BYE

All I have to say is, 'Skaven'.

Lightning mages suck, but they are FUN. My classic frosty-shock witch was backing up a barbarian at the time. His shouts kept my defense up, then I'd step back and chain/spark away. Freeze the big suckers or clumps of rat-men... Really helps in act 3, except for the increasing magic def/immunity.

Like, I'm not going to tell Gonads he really should just start again and go pure dual wield. Every RPGer knows the advantages of stickin' with one proficiency, and where it's worth spreading out a little...

Annoying is when I realise I could have better spent earlier skills, so I start waiting three levels for every skill point I spend. Then... oh wait, I'm GRINDING again. My dentist told me I shouldn't do that. Uh huh.

Druid summoning doesn't seem that great. Might go for the big grizzly later on.

I've just kileld duriel and into the 3rd act.

He was actually really easy to kill, only had to leave once for more health potions and my idiot hireling only died twice.

Also already finished the first quest in act 3, and have the 3rd. Just need to find the pigmy village to activate the 2nd quest.

Arctik_Firangi no way am I going all the way back to the start.

I've dropped 2 into dual wield and its going great ATM, but I'm aiming for whirlwind.

I just dropped a point into increased run/walk and the speed jump is fantastic.

I've set up all the pre-requisites for whirlwind, and have 6 skill points saved to invest in it straight away.

The internet guides tell me whirlwind is where the action is...

I'm waiting till hell and have a super weapon before I pump points into combat masteries.

Also scored 2 of Hsarus defense- first time I've ever gotten 2 of any of the same item.

Going to take a break next couple of days.

Need to do some modeling.

Lightning Sorcs are all about speed. Spam lightning. Chain lightning and Lightning both built up to 20 is great. Throw a Frozen Orb, then spam Chain Lightning. Room is cleared. I was able to rush folks with FO/CL Sorc in Hell. With my + to skills, my CL was well over 30. The damage per cast maxed around 5K. I was casting probably 3 or 4 times per second. Any lightning mage must max faster cast rate if they want to survive. Plus you have to build up your supporting bonuses from other skills. Then do a couple thousand hours of Magic Find, and you'll have a kick a$$ character.

CHOP CHOP CHOP DIE DIE DIE

Remember that saving points to invest isn't always practical. Just in case you thought you were going to reach the minimum level for whirlwind and then put six points on it...

I don't need to tell you that. This is the hundredth time you've played. Nevermind.

This game is getting stupid, that has to be a good sign.

I think I will theoryhammer (theorydiablo?) my druid build.

I did a spiel on mathhammering diablo, then realised that little contextual error...Theoryhammer.... theory diablo... diablomath...

Nothing quite hammers like a hammer, does it?

Saving up allows me to drop into others whilst I build in whirlwind, wherever I need the help.

ATM I don't need to drop any points so am saving them for when I get a better idea where to invest them.

I'll probably up increased speed, iron skin and natural resistance all at once.

Ironskin is great. Increased foot speed is uber online, but it's no biggie single player. Natural resistance is what will get you through the higher difficulties.

re saving; I know, sorry, I was presuming that you wanted to pop six ranks onto whirlwind as soon as you reached the minimum level. Then I remembered everyone knows you can't do that.

I always save points. As I said, I don't spend a point on anything 'til I hit cLvl6 when I start, and I usually leave 3-5 levels between any spending.

BYE

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:Saving up allows me to drop into others whilst I build in whirlwind, wherever I need the help.

ATM I don't need to drop any points so am saving them for when I get a better idea where to invest them.

I'll probably up increased speed, iron skin and natural resistance all at once.

I did that with my own Barbarian once upon a time. They do just fine with just one or two points here and there.

Killed the Act 1 boss. My fire spells were ineffective so I 'went wolf' and spammed my thing, whatever it is. Chompy-Wolf-Attack while scarfing rejuv potions. My team mates did whatever it is that they do.

I am never playing this game again, I lost about 7.5 hours of my life. Also, I hate you all.

(j/k)

Really? I've just aquired the last piece of the Immortal King set (thank you 600% magic find!), and I'm RAPING everything. Had to edit my hero to make him good with hammers.

I felt a twinge.

But I refrain from further play. I now devote myself to more constructive things like painting toy soldiers and enjoying pornography.



also, gratz.

Yeah I've only been playing it for 10 years now. I will probably pick up Diablo 3 now, thanks to this thread.

Cheese Elemental wrote:I've just aquired the last piece of the Immortal King set (thank you 600% magic find!), and I'm RAPING everything.

Loler

I've been haunting Dakka for almost fourteen hours today, but I've just found my Diablo 2 cd-key. Goodbye world...

I guess that's the one good thing about Blizzard - there's something for everyone.

I don't like Starcraft, Warcraft was interesting enough to play through once but nothing more, I have no interest in WoW, yet I can play Diablo for weeks on end and not get bored.

Amazing how they do that.

BYE

It's too bad that everything they make is so derivative of FB/40K.

I never got into Starcraft; all of my friends ground it into dust though. I'll willing to give Starcraft 2 a go if it ever comes out.

Subscription games make me very, very sad.

Too bad? If Games Workshop had been making kickarse games for the past fifteen years there wouldn't have even been a need for Blizzard. Except for Diablo and Warcraft 2. They were just great.

I still think Battle Realms is more fun the Warcraft 3 though.

I liked star craft and did a run through on it earlier in the year.

But star craft 2 doesn't really hold much excitement for me.

Day off yesterday and working all day today, but will knock down a quest tomorrow.

Thinking about whirlwind, now I have 2 4% mana leech per hit items I should replenish most of my mana with each use (and bonus for kill), negating the need for lots of points in mana or heaps of mana potions.

Mid Act 3 is where I would normally lose interest. But am still enjoying it ATM.

Just wait until you reach Travincal. The council are NOT fun.

New Sorc... up to level 8. I've been trying HBMC's "sell everything, carry one scroll" tactic...

You are not wrong. I have a lot of gold. Got up to level 8 between the Den and Cold Plains, and have just rushed Blood Raven.

Corpsefire was dropping one or two yellows every time I killed him, and the first two gems I got were topaz. Socketed helm!

I had a great barbarian going once where the Countess dropped 2-4 runes every time I killed her. It's weird, I sort of wish you could 're-roll' your character's world after a while. I used to play a lot online, but for some reason my LoD key doesn't work any more. My original does, but who wants to play unexpanded Diablo 2 online?

It'll be like five bucks at the nearest game store, I wager.

My brother and I were playing the crap out of Diablo II earlier in the summer, trying to dig up whole sets and rare runes just for the hell of it. It was a lot of fun. I used a Druid with Lycanthropy/Summoning most of the time.

Interesting that so many people are still playing a game that is 'so' old.

Then again I still love to play Panzer Generals every now and then and its from the mid 90s.

Had a hankering to play Doom 3 a couple of months ago but can't find it in the games stores anywhere, and too lazy to order it in.

I'm a classics junkie. I even have a Commodore 64 emulator... it was my first computer, and I can still occasionally get a kick out of Pool Of Radiance. Not sure why.

The Close Combat series and similar are still some of my faves...

BTW, Gonads, I just wanted to thank you for plugging Medieval II earlier last month... Found it for $20. Still love it. Cheers dude!

probably because it is a good game. Pool of Radiance has this bizarre mix of exploration and fun. But I digress.

Did you ever play the C64 version with 9+ disks?

haha no. PC.

Making a seperate thread for classic games so that this doesn't go off-topic.

Thanks Cheese Elemental.

Just got to the spider forest (or whatever its called) way point.

Have Kalims eye.

Then as I was so close to level 25 I went back to kill duriel (a real struggle this time) and andariel (much more profitable) and ran through one of the 4 arms of the arcane sanctuary.

Now level 25.

Tomorrow night I'll plow onto the next way point.

My favourite chracters are the thorns paladin and ice sorceress.

For my favourite paladin I use thorns and grow it to 20pts as soon as possible. I buy no other aura. Everything else is on fighting skills, zeal, vengeance, shield bash and the like.

Oner thing I only play hardcore. In order to play hardcore in LoD from the outset I borrowed a savegame so to unlock hardcore for every first character.

Thorny paladins are funny. Quite, quite effective. Skulled out shields...

Arcane sanctuary is great for experience up to 25ish sort of point... Act 3 is probably the toughest for a single fighter.

I loved my Javazon until I realized that Nightmare would be Hell due to
monster resists.

Not sure if I play tonight now, I have to sit down with the wife and sort out our tax and my roster requests for next year the the hospital.

*Shakes fist at real life*

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:Thanks Cheese Elemental.

Just got to the spider forest (or whatever its called) way point.

Have Kalims eye.

Then as I was so close to level 25 I went back to kill duriel (a real struggle this time) and andariel (much more profitable) and ran through one of the 4 arms of the arcane sanctuary.

Now level 25.

Tomorrow night I'll plow onto the next way point.

feth (G A K) I want to play now.

I like Necro too but I never know how to spec it. I might make some kind of crazy poison Necro.

Yeah! This is right up my alley.

I recently got my Class A CDL and I am currently doing alot of Over The Road stuff. I have my notebook and it is not that great of a machine, but it will run DII. So, I have been playing that like mad!

Currently running a Pally w/ Holy Freeze/Smite and been doing rather well. To go along with the beginning of this thread, I hire the opposite of what I am running. Pally with Axe/Shield combo, so I have a Amazon to shoot from a distance. I found this sick, sick bow that I gave her. It is called Skystrike and it is nasty. It has a +200% Damage, +100 to Attack Rating, Add 1-250 Lighting Damage, 30% Increased Attack Speed and the best thing (to me anyway) is: 2% chance of casting Lv. 6 Meteor on Striking! That bow is sick and the meteor is a nice touch.

I love the Necros. That has to be my favorite class. Bone Spear, Summons Skellies, Golems, Poison Explosion. What is not to like with a Necro?

My second is the Werebear Druid. I was reluctant with this one, but giving it a run and, Wow, I was impressed. Thing is a tank and I had alot of fun with it.

Tried my hand with the Socr., got killed way to often. Not for me.

Have yet to try an Assassin. Might try one later.

Did run a Barb. once, got bored with him. Not my style, I guess.

But, I have to agree, this game is so addictive. For me, I can't wait to see what I'm going to find next. I can't tell you how many times I did a Pendleskin run to see what I could get next. Accually lost count this time around.

Here's to hoping that DIII is on the same level of fun that DII is. If it is, then I need to get a better computer.

I like Summonancers personally. Nothing like swarming bosses with loads of skeletons.

level 6 Frenzy Barb (eventually). I am never playing this game again. THANKS GUYS.

Now I remember why I hate act 3.

The stupid maze like twisting paths are very annoying.

Have gotten to the flayer jungle way point, cleared the flayer hole but not the swamp pit.
Have gotten the gidbinn.

Still level 25.

Also found another set (green) item however its from yet another set.

So do people keep all their set items (if useable by their class).

Ok mate, google for a Diablo II hero editor. A good one will let you save your items, which is handy for retreiving that set you're looking for. You can also use it like a sandbox; testing items and characters and the like.

Finally got through the flayer jungle, and have made it into lower kurast.

I ran around, killing a few monsters but as Heroes opening episode for the new season is about to start on TV I had to just find the way point.

I'll clear it next time I play.

Picked up a great set of gloves with level 3 frost nova at 10% chance per hit.
Along with my merc having a horned helm and plate armour with 5% chance frost nova each we are freezing enemies all the time.
Also got him a super pike.

Now level 26.

My clvl25 druid just made it to ActIV after smashing in Mephisto's face witha 296%ED Bonesnap. That thing is awesome in the early game.

Is bonesnap a unique mace? If so, where did you find it?

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/normal/umaces.shtml

My barb is 3pts in Swords, 1 pt in Axes and a duel-weilder. Finding that would make me cry.

Last time I played I got my sorcerer up to 13 in Act 1; going to go flatten Andariel now.
I've saved my points for Fire Ball (Lv12), only spending on the prerequisites for Frozen Orb and Meteor.

I haven't died once. Sorcerers aren't weak, they just have severe potion dependencies when facing archers.

Just cleared Lower Kurast and Kurast Bazaar, but have to go down into the lower levels there.

Have golden daemon tomorrow... not sure if I'll do any gaming as I may watch a movie too...

Just cleared out the sewers and got Lan Esen's Tome from one of the tunnels.

Still level 26 as very few enemies but lots of chests etc to check out.

Will do upper kurast tomorrow.

What does that tome do again? I haven't played act III for quite a while now.

You give it To Alkor back in Kurast and you get 5 atribute points.

Have cleared upper Kurast and have done 2 of the 'holes' in the causeway.

Am still using the same weapons I've had since act 2.
Nothing else better is coming up.

Level 27 now.

Am so hanging for level 30 to finally get whirlwind.

A baranar's star dropped for me in Hell from a normal monster today. Unfortunately it was ethereal.

Cleared Travincal and down to level 2 of durance of hate way point.

No good charms dropping, have over 300000 in gold as keep cashing in the not as good as I currently have items.

Council was actually really easy to smash.

Will try and go through to end of act 3 in the next couple of days.

you know I am going to have paint something now, right?

I have to do modelling but my free time is currently spent on Diablo 2.
I'm hoping to get through the game first time by the time I go on holidays in 3 weeks so I can paint a bucketload of models.

Between my BAs (if my shoulder pad order ever arrives from GWUK) and my HEs, AND an =I=munda gang (thanks to all the scandinavians on dakka) I'll have lots to do.

maybe I'll get Eldar and Lizards done by then. I am looking forward to assembling (and purchasing!) a wack load of Orks sometime soon. Sometime in time for the new Nobz in January.

The Council are fine, unless you're relying on magic damage. If you've taken them then you're only one sitting away from the end of Act III.

What do Scandinavians have to do with 'munda?

Found a new copy of LoD for $10. Most of the Battle.net servers are closed now, which is disappointing.

All the scandinavians here on dakka are playing necromunda with inquisitors and their retinues as gangs rather than the usuall necromunda gangs.

They have about 3 or 4 threads going in the P&M diary forum.
Beautiful stuff.

Finished Mephiston really, really easily.

Now in act 4, took a quik run through the land outside the base and found a greatblade (socketed) then whilst fiddling around in my stash I managed to stick a flawless amythist into it. I really, really wanted a flawless skull in it.

Damn.

Oh well.

Still level 27...

Now level 28!

Just got down into the river of flame for quest 2.

Izual was a breeze to get past, having more trouble with getting swamped by 10 or so monsters at once.
Am hanging for that whirlwind but don't think I'll get to level 30 before I get to Diablo as I couldn't be bothered to go back and grind xp.

This is why you copy the saved game of your character to a different folder after each time you stop playing, so you don't screw it up.


Also don't rush too far ahead. The top level creatures in Act IV are, at most, Level 30, so you can hang around 'til cLvl35 before they stop being of any use to you.

And you should hang around grinding 'til you hit 35 because Diablo is Level 40 and no use to you from an experience point of view until you're cLvl35. It'll be the difference between getting 1600 EXP and 80 EXP.

BYE

If I buy a Holf Freeze merc in Nightmare, does he swirtch auras when we get to hell level?

Orlanth: No.

Just cleared act III myself in Hell difficulty. My necromancer graduated to clvl80 - lvl31 skeletons made short work of Mephisto. Just need to find him an arm of king leoric and maybe trang's gloves for mid level loot. Magic-find has been unkind to me recently.

Got 4 of the seals open then had to stop to go and watch TV.

The Venom Lords (bat winged gargoyle type monsters who breathe flame) are brutal... especially the special ones. I found best way to take them on is to lure them onto my merc and pump him full of healing potions as he kills them.

Managed to get almost to half xp on way to level 29.

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:Managed to get almost to half xp on way to level 29.

You're still going to fast. There's so much experience to be had in this section of the game. You can go the next 6 levels grinding and get full EXP off everyone. If you're not cLvl35-45 when you take on Diablo, you'll get 5% of his EXP rather than 100% of it. The basic level Fallen - probably the weakest enemy in the game - starts at Lvl36 in Nightmare difficulty.

You need to be higher.

BYE

OK it seems everyone thinks I should be grinding ATM so I'll just keep slashing away in the river of flame each night, I seem to be generating a decent amount of xp ATM so will just keep going through.

Grinding gets boring for me though.

On the up side I'll have whirlwind at level 5-6 by the time I take on diablo....

,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,...Go man go!

Exactly. Never hurts to have a few more skill points invested before you take on Big Red.

BYE

Or Big Green, or black, depending on difficulty.
BTW, H.B.M.C, change your avatar back to the old one. I don't recognise you anymore.

No way man. Commissar Calgar now displays his suppressed rage and desire to execute you for crimes against the Emperor in colour.

And as soon as I can figure out how to do it in 3D, it will be done.

BYE

Ground out to level 29.

Am finding charms and magic items but none are as good as the ones I currently have.

CLeaned out most of Act 4 but only opened 4 seals.

I'll do it a few more times over the next few days to gring up to 35, then I'll take on diablo.

35 is where youj want to be.

Most basic enemy in Act V is Lvl31, and Ba'al himself is Lvl60. So you want to hit at leat cLvl55 by the time you get there.

BYE

It is possible at lower levels; I usually get to nightmare at lvl 45 and do fine.

Possible yes, but why rush? As I said, you have a 10 leve window in which you get full EXP for monsters, so why not make full use of that window?

I'm sure I mentioned it earlier, but the first time I played Diablo II I raced through as a Barbarian and was in Avt V by the time I hit cLvl18. The game was impossible as I was getting hardly any experience, and guys were causing so much damage per hit that I had to run away every 10 seconds to heal.

Every other time I've played it kept it nice and slow, knowing exactly what level I need to be by the main points of each act, gringing to ensure I get there, reaping the beneifts of so many drops. Works much better.

BYE

Took the advice and ground out all act 4 except for diablo and got to level 30.

Whirlwind kicks butt, however I quickly run out of mana (can use it 3-4 times) so have to go back to my regular double swing.

I'll pump some points into mana the next couple of levels.

Will continue to grind the next few days...

I would go with +Energy/ +Mana gear and Mana steal. I kind of want to play the Druid now over the barb. Hmm.

I've got an amulet and a sword giving me +4 mana and +3 health per hit (each) and +1 mana per kill.

Mana items will definitely be a priority.

Level 32 now.

Found angelic halo, but the rings I already have are much better so have stored it in anticipation of more items from the set.

Whirlwind was very hard to use at the start but I'm getting the hang of it now. Hit a group of monsters and WW through them, then back, and a third time, any left get doubleswinged to death (which helps replenish mana)

DOwnside is I'm back to pouring through the potions again (mana primarily).

Tokk less time and effort to up the level this time whilst grinding, can't wait for level 35 so I can take everyone's advice and take on diablo.

Off to watch TV now...

My guy has two pieces of Arctic Furs. Set bonus he gets +40% Magic Find and a scalable +Defence bonus. w00t.

I've said it before and I'll say it a gain finding the parts of the unique sets is very annoying.

Currently I'm wearing 2 items from one set (belt and boots)
Have saved another set of boots and a seperate set of gloves.
My merc is wearing a crown.
Also have the ring.
AND sold off Creglaw's shield a week ago.

I just wish that the liklihood of getting the same set was higher so that A: I didn't have to lug around all this rubbish. B: You don't sell one off only to find the next part a few days later....

Got another computer you can install d2 on? Just LAN up a camel, or use a char editor to save the items.

Don't have another computer, but will look for a character editor online today/tonight.

There must be websites someplace where ladder characters can set up trades with each other. Not that I am going to try and find such a thing.

Level 32 now.

Took a bit more this time, all act 4 (minus diablo) the council and all of the durance of hate.

I think tomorrow I'll just go from the river of flame way point, clear it, restart and repeat 3 times. Should get me done, rather than fiddling around like I have.

tacobake: I'm on US East ladder... what do you need?

Question for you D2 experts, where is the best place to get Chipped Gems? Currently playing though Nightmare and I have a shield w/ 2 sockets that are filled. Trying to use the Cube to clear the sockets now I just have to find a Chipped Emerald. Any suggestions of where to go? Thanks.

brotherskeeper74: When I need chippies, a good place to go hunt is to do repeated countess runs on normal. Eventually one of those boss packs will drop one that you need. (Might as well get some low runes to cube while you are at it...) As well, you can "waste" gem shrines that you come across in the Black Marsh to spawn a random chippy.

keezus: thanks for the advice. I will give a try here in a couple of minutes.

Here's a question for you all: If one were to take a Barb or a Pallie, could one be successful at this game if they didn't spend their skill points? Just concentrait on Str., Dex., Health and equipment?

Just curious.

I've been getting an absolute bucketload of gems throughout act 4- usually 4-5 every time I run it (without checking chests etc)

Found a chipped sapphire last night (finally), let me combine 3 chipped, which gave me the flawed to join 3 to make a sapphire, whicg gave me the 3rd to make a flawless, which gave me the third to make a perfect.

Opened up alot of space.

You need 'chippies' for runes, but from now on I am just going to keep combining my gems so I do not have to screw around with my inventory.

brother's keeper: I made a druid that stockpiled skills until he was clvl 40. He was so incredibly feeble in Act IV onwards, that his merc was a much better killer than he was. (Mostly AR problems, since the druid would still do 200-300 damage per swing of his bonesnap).

When I cashed in his skills, his damage from his "skill" jumped his output well over 1000 dmg per casting of tornado.

keezus wrote:tacobake: I'm on US East ladder... what do you need?

Arctic Horn and Arctic Mitts for my druid.

http://www.battle.net/forums/board.aspx?ForumName=d2-useast-trading

Half way to level 33.

Took an hour to grind to that.
Need to stop as the wife wants facebook. :(

Found an absolutely fantabulous mace though, with about 8 or 9 abilities. I'll look at it again tomorrow night and post it.

However it does have open wounds... anyone know what that does?

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:
However it does have open wounds... anyone know what that does?

It causes monsters hit to bleed. It's a damage over time, like poison. I think it doesn't affect undead.

My personal best character was a level 75-ish elemental druid. He sucked until I got Hurricane at lvl 30. After that, everything was a breeze (pun intended) until I got to Hell. Once there, all it takes is one crowd of physical immune and cold immune monsters to screw me over.

Finding this thread has made me consider re-installing D2, but Fable 2 just came out. I'll be spending my free time kicking chickens and buying houses.

I don't trade much unfortunately... This ladder season has yielded my strongest characters - though my playing has dropped off as of the last few weeks...

clvl88 trap assassin: 2.5kish max lightning sentry with 1k damage firebomb secondary with MF gear. Solo'd through hell, but haven't killed Baal yet. Had some trouble until I improved my merc equipment.

Equipped items of note: Bartuc's cut throat, +2 skill claw socketted with 2 resist all jewels for +16 resists - Jade talon on weapon swap - rest of gear is magicfind. Alt combat gear in stash includes 2 +3 trap claws, nat's armor and boots. Merc is armed with ethereal colossus volgue socked with "insight" runeword, duriel's carapace and vampiregaze

clvl 81 skeleton necromancer

Wow this guy is just nuts. Easily soloing hell - though hasn't faced his first test at Diablo yet. slvl31 skeletons and skeleton mastery. High level (slvl 29)corpse explosion is stupid good. Trouble with skeleton necros is that tight spots take forever to clear. Maggot lair and arcane sanctuary were very painful.

Equipment of note: Haemonculus socketted with p-diamond!!! I was so pumped when this dropped. Trang's armor, +2 necro rare wand, +1 necro circlet with 30% faster run walk... (combined with Nat's boots and Trang's armor, he has 100% increased run walk... which is awesome).

Mercenary: "Insight" cryptic axe, shaftstop and uh... rare helm I guess... I forget.

I just started my elemental druid. He's low clvl, but I can see why people make wind druids. He's a beast.

Haven't found any good runes this season though. Best I managed was Um. Hellforge dropped crap. I think I got Ko one time and my necro got a Pul I think. Other cool finds:

Also managed to find Eaglehorn and the Occulus, though neither are very rare apparently. Need Skulder's Ire for my assassin baddly, and only need Aldur's Deception to complete set... even though Aldur's set is terrible.

Level 33 now.

Fortunately there was an experience shrine next to Izual and 40000xp after killing him I wandered around and smashed most of that level.

Now have 1 million xp to get to next level. :(

Just wait until you reach lvl 89 like me. After killing EVERYTHING in every act one every difficulty it's like
"OMFG my exp bar moved O_o"
It takes FOREVER.

Accidental double post.

This is why I never bother to carry through.

I don't mind searching everywhere but grinding is as boring as hell.

I found another duriel's carpace today. Now my amazon is wearing it. Hooray!

It's an RPG. Grinding is what makes upn the meat of the game.

You want fancy items?

You want to beat the next boss?

You want to stop dying?

To do that you need to be better, and to be better, you have to grind.

BYE

Well I got jack of running through act 4 for ever slower grind, killed diablo without too much difficulty and then onto act 5.

I'll grind out act 5 quest 1 a few times to up me to level 36 before I move onto further quests.

Already did it once in 25 minutes and up a level. Much better than an hour long grind.

1.2 million xp to next level. :(

Just ground out to level 35.

I'm pulling decent charms and items, and lots of gems but nothing really worth keeping.

I'll grind a couple more levels, 1 into whirlwind and 1 into defence then I'll move on.

you need to get your magic find up over 300% thats when you really find cool stuff.

So the act 1 chick won't imbue any of my decent items (there is a sweet mace I'm carrying) does she only imbue 'normal' weapons.
Will the 5th act guy socket them? (I haven't tried)

I'm looking for skulls to get a flawless one to socket in somewhere for life/mana bonus...

I've been chucking my magic find charmes as they have been 10%, 12% etc, I'd rather be adding damage/improving stats than fiddling around with those numbers.

Also no gaming last few days as have been too busy at home.

May get some done Sunday, then none until end of next week as will be busy. :(

Charsi will only imbue normal, white named items IIRC. As for the socketing guy... I don't remember. I'd guess that it doesn't matter for him.

Level 36 now, half way to 37...

Scored a heap of gems, runes and a handful of useable charms on the areat highlands, got to the ice tunnel (forget what its called) and hit the way point then got out.

Need a perfect skull to socket into my super club but gems keep dropping instead. :(

Anyone know where skulls drop frequently?

IIRC... skulls have the same drop formula as gems, only 1/2 as frequent. So... just keep killing stuff. There's no shortcut.

Got to level 38.

In the last hour picked up...

About 3 large charmes which were better than large charms I had (similar effects) so upgraded.
An avenger helm to replace my fanged helm. Although I lost +2 mace mastery and +7 mana it gives me a heap 60 MORE defence and a heap more life.
2 skulls... 1 more and I can make a flawless, add to my other flawless and I'll have that perfect one I need...

Am currently in halls of pain (had to get to waypoint) and there is a heap of xp in the 4th quest to that point so I'll grind it out to level 40 next week.

nice.

I have been looking at playing Morrowind again but I think I will hold out for a new computer and Fallout 3. hot damn.

You won't like fighting Nithalak. He has TONS of minions around him and spams corpse explosion.

Just got to level 39.

Now level 14 iron skin and level 5 shout.

I'm working on defense for a few levels before heading back to whirlwind...

Level 40 last half hour.

Finally found my last skull to allow upgrades to perfect skull.

Socketed my mace and put the perfect skull in.

Now have:
+4% mana, +9% life per hit from mace
+4% mana, +4% life per hit, +2 mana per kill from sword
+4% mana, +3 life per hit from amulet
+4% mana per hit from gauntlets.

I ran whirlwind 23 times through a group of monsters before I finally had to switch to double swing.

The gauntlets were a level 5 trade and also found a 'yellow' fanged helm which gives +1 to all barbarian skills and a heap more advantages.

The game in the last 15 minutes just got a whole lot easier. I even went back to Diablo and co and clocked the level from River of flame way point in 6 minutes, didn't even need any potions for diablo.

By level 5 trade I mean act 5.

Level 41 now.

Killed Nihlathak, no problems at all, simply whirlwinded through his minions 6 or 7 times, killed them all and as he had teleported away I followed and his corpse explosions were useless.
No potions needed to kill him, just annoying as he kept teleporting.

Traded for 369 defence armour for my merc, he has better defence on the armour (mine is 350) but mine gives me +25 life.

I'll grind out to level 45 before I hit the barbarians I think...

All those boss Barbarians are Lvl37, so any higher than 42 makes them worth little EXP.

Just FYI.

BYE

Thanks for that HBMC, I'll run through the next couple of days and kill them before I get to 43.

I got to the start of the frozen tundra but didn't get to its waypoint.

So that will be my goal for today...

Hit the frozen tundra way point and stopped.

Have to have a nap before the wife gets home this afternoon so I can paint my minis tonight...

Got past the barbarian ancients and got a green avanger guard helm with 2 sockets.
Can't use it until level 47 though. :(

Barbarians were so easy... was really surprised but they gave up a heap of xp.

Just got to the Level 2 waypoint for the Worldstone keep, anyone know how far further it is to get to the throne of destruction?

Will probably do it tomorrow.

Can't be that far, but for you, quite far. Ba'al is quite a few levels higher than you are.

Then agian, if you ain't playing through on Nightmare, then you don't care.

BYE

Well got through to Baal.
Went back and killed him again for more items.

Picked up an absolutely fantastic mace 'Aldur's Rhythm) from a set.

Did the cow level.

Leveled up (45 now IIRC) and have started on nightmare.
Alot tougher in the first level but whirlwind just minces my opponents.

Think I will give it a rest for a couple of weeks. I really need to do some painting.


Thanks for the help guys.

Uhh... the Cow Level. I've done that once. Only way I got through it was because my Paladin had Holy Freeze. It'd slow them all down to a crawl, and Zeal could take out who was around me by the time the next bunch got into range.

BYE

Ahh, Moo Moo Farm. Happy times. Their voices made me fall out of my chair the first time I played it. It's the premium place for hardcore Hell training on Battle.net.

At one stage I ran around and gathered 7 or 8 groups of cows (well over 100), then just whirlwinded them to death.
Pretty povo on the xp but they dropped plenty of decent gems...

I am at level 45 now and finished the first 2 quests in Act 1 but am removing the disc from my computer this morning so I won't play it for awhile...

Jeez you must have ground the hell out of D2. I played quite a bit, but I didn't grind at all really and struggled against some bosses.

Frickin Diablo was impossible to beat as a summon necromancer unless you had a fire golem. Once expansion rolled around, I'd get Decrepify, a bunch of the (then new) Not Suck tm Skeletons, a merc, and a fire golem and wear the guy down over a few minutes.