So can someone please tell me what the big deal is with 1.10? A few months back, I started playing a D II mod-Eastern Sun, to be exact, as a way to keep things interesting until the 1.10 patch came out. When it finally did, I figured I’d try it with a Javazon, a character class that I’d come to like playing ES. I played almost all the way through Act one.
Ho.
Hum.
yawn
Perhaps it’s simply because I had been playing the mod so much, if I’d gone from 1.09 to 1.10 I might be wowed, but I am majorly disapointed. The only differences I noticed were yes, there were a lot more rare drops. Whoop de do. There was still a stack size max of 60 for javalins, meaning that you have to tp back to town after every 4-5 kills to replenish. They still had those stupid, tiny stash sizes. There were no new monsters to be seen. ( Their may be more later on, but none so far ) In short, it seemed like more of the same, and after playing ES, which is a vast improvement on the basic game, I didn’t see the point.
Look, I’m not saying ES is the end all be all of DII, for all I know there are dozens of other mods that put it to shame, but it’s what I am familiar with and I think that there are a lot of things in the mod that Blizzard would have done well to adopt, for example:
Stash size: The cube, chest and on character stashes are at least 3-5 times the size of normal DII. You can finally store stuff without creating a legion of mules!
Stack size: 360 for javalins and 500 for arrows/bolts, plus the later regenerate. Do constant trips to town to regenerate these things really add to the game at all?
Monster freedom: Monsters types can be found just about anywhere. It’s kinda fun to run into catapults in act III, for example.
Monster types: The designers of the mod went and pulled some of the better monsters from DI, notably Hidden and Death Knights, with their ultra cool “Arrrrgh” whirlwind death.
Experience points accumulate faster that in 1.09, this is offset by a skill tree that maxes at L 40, not 30.
Set/unique items: Let’s face it, many of us love to accumulate these items. Now, with one exception, which will be noted in a minute, these items don’t drop too often, although more often than in 1.09, but Charsi will make uniques for you and you can gamble for unique and set items. This last is great! If you have all the components of a set except one, and you know what that one is, you can gamble until you get it! ( given that you’ll have to go on item runs perioticly to replenish your cash, again, large stashes facilitate this ) Also, there is a basic, non character class specific set ( Autolycus’ Magic Tools ), which is weighted to drop a lot. This means that somewhere in act 1, some boss or SuperUnique monster is going to drop most of the set at once, and you’ll likely get the last piece soon. This is great, as it gives you an early feeling of accomplishment and gives your character a nice jump in stats. ( It does get kinda old after a while, say, when you kill Meph and he drops 3/4 of a set that you’ve already seen twice, but that’s really a small price to pay )
There is a couple of other completely new things that are added as well: Cube recipies as a drop item ( although they are disabled in the current beta ), an entire class of body parts that can drop ( eyes, hearts, souls, spleens etc…These can be used in cube recipes or turned into things like rings, potions and jewels by right clicking on them ) Class specific jewelery, the ability to craft charms and [Dragon Stones. These are neat. You right click them to turn into one of seven items ( 1 for each class, you go through your choices one at a time ). They can be used in cube recipies, primarily with one item. A “Forge hammer” with any armor, for example, increases the armor class of that item by 30%-and imposes a +15% penalaty to the strength requirements to wear it. A “Spider Silk” adds 15% MF, etc, etc…
Look, I know there are a lot of problems with ES. The Druid Skill “Molten Boulder” crashes the game, as does killing Griz, The Smith or The Countess on Hell Difficulty. They need to be fixed. Many of the cube options are not currently enabled. These are things that Bliz could fix in a few days ( As opposed to 2 guys making a mod in their spare time ).
Anyhow, I’ve rambled, but basically I saw nothing to attract me to 1.10 that hasn’t been done much better by third party hackers long ago. What took them so long? What exactly have they improved?