Let’s hope so…
Anybody know if there will be a size increase in the personal stash? I like to collect stuff…
I heard a rumor a while back that they would have some kind of mega stash that you could share between characters on an account, but it is unsubstantiated AFAIK. Would be nice though…
Hey Snake,
What’s your account name or character names?
well, I have a 'zon named “ArrowsAndStuff” and a Bear druid that I think I’m going to more or less abandon when I get my WW Druid up to speed to take his EQ. I have an Assassin named SMU_Baldes as well as a couple of other characters. you?
US East - I just started my first character there - Paladin “Yeticus Rex”, Lvl 12
US West:
Had a Lvl 67 Paladin by the same name that I accidentally erased when I fell asleep at the computer…
Lvl 77 Javazon “Yetica Rexia” except I busted my etheral Titan’s Revenge…now I’m schleping with a cruel throwing spear…oh the humility!
Lvl 15 Barbarian “Yeti Prime”
Lvl 16 Paladin “Yeticus Rex” re-incarnate…
I have Bartuc’s so I might start out an assassin…maybe “Yetica Dementia”?
and I have this whoop-ass totemic mask (Jalal’s Mane) so I gonna have to start a druid too…maybe “Yetiqui Chang”?
So I played with one of you guys (I didn’t ask who…) and he used a “Bowler” druid.
Sounds like fun, what are the specifics? Goals, skills and such would be interesting to know 
–==Mike==–
I’d guess he’s running an Elemental Druid - probably the only one, too, as at least until the patch comes out EDs suck even more than Necros. Principal skill Molten Boulder.
I brushed off the dust from D2 after seeing this thread and started an online character for the first time. I always played solo offline before. Now I am soloing online to see if I can get better eq than the home version. My character is a necromancer. First time playing one of those, but so far it is going ok. I am at level 19 in Act 2. I have not gotten any amazing eq, though. Am I just too low a level to expect anything good? Or am I doing this all wrong?:wally
Thanks for helping a functional newbie.
My Darn Snake Legs: hehe, you caught me and my “bowler” druid…I thought you knew me by my big barb that first entered the game.
Well my bowler druid is only really a “fun” character build to play. Not really meant to hit Hell Difficulty by any means. His main skill is Moulten Boulder, and Volcano as a secondary. I chose Volcano because of the little synergy tidbit they gave us. I was hoping that the boulder might get more damage in 1.10 so i can continue to play the fun bowler later.
On top of the moulten boulders, my druid uses massive amounts of poison damage to weaken the monsters. Since I heard somewhere that projectile/missle weapons have some kind of poison damage bug, where the poison damage stacks and the duration isnt reset, I chose to use a fast shooting bow. At first he used a Witherstring and then he “graduated” to a Rouge’s Bow. Speed is the key for the bow, I might use a Riphook later on, or Skystrike for the Meteors to fall down and have Volcanoes spewing from beneath, but that’s too much graphics to cause lag hehe. What I would really like would be Pus Spitter for the Lower Resists chance to cast, but its attack speed is too slow and the chance to cast Lower Resists isn’t that high, but it would help me with the Elemental Skills.
Elemental Druids can be somewhat feasible in Hell Difficulty. I have one that’s CLvl 80. He can solo Hell Cows and Hell in general, but with more people in the game, the more he becomes pathetic in damage and fun. He is a cross between a melee(in normal druid form) and elementalist. Since I do have the resources to play around with these builds, I gave him a Schaefer’s Hammer to use for melee (gotta love the static cast on hits) bring the baddies health down with melee, then switch up on a Earthshaker for Elementing (Slvl 39 Hurricane and Slvl 40 Armageddon, more if i add 2 more Elemental Skills charms but no room to pick up items in inventory).
He uses these items:
Headgear: Jalal’s Mane +2druid skills, str, resists and more (nice druid helm)
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi+1all skills, resists (good mage armor)
Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope+2all skills, resists and stats.
Rings: Stone of Jordan *2, +2 skills, mana boost.
Gloves: Magefist +1fire skills, mana regen.
Boots: Natalya’s Boots 40% run/walk and resists.
Shields: Lidless Wall +1all skills. 1.08 Gerke’s Sanctuary life bonus.
Weapons: Earthshaker +3elemental skills. Schaefer’s Hammer
Belt: Stone FringeRare plated belt (from pre1.07 or from classic days) +38life, ColdRes 24, LightRes48 and other minor mods.
and charms: a crap load of Elemental Skills grand charms.
I could get more skills using some of the bugged items out there but I’ll stick with the items I have now. The druid is semi-retired, I really dont play him anymore. They are quite powerful in Norm and Nightmare Difficulties. Armageddon is powerful, and pair up with a Holy Freeze merc, to slow down monsters to get a better effect with Armageddon. Hurricane is used when you meet Fire Immune monsters. Mana isnt really a problem with Elemental Druids. You have quite a big casting delay for Armageddon and Hurricane. If you have enough mana regen items on, you will regenerate enough mana to cast either spell and not have to worry about mana depletion. You’ll regen the mana in between casts.
I find that playing any char class and using bows is quite fun. Rangers (bowpallies with fanaticism), Elemental Druid bow users, and Bow Assassins with traps. I have yet to try a bowbarb, bow sorc or bownecro. I think the bow necro would do the best out of the 3 i didn’t attempt.
Oh well I’m rambling. Try some fun chars, it can rekindle some fun back into DiabloII.
awaiting that damned 1.10patch for God knows how long,
Madawc
Serenitynow!!! Hoochie Mama!!!
well, are you playing DiabloII Classic? or DiabloII: Lord of Destruction Expansion pack?
There is a HUGE difference between the two. I think i can help either way, but my knowledge of Classic DII is weak, since I havent played it since the release of the Expansion.
Equipment is hard to come by in either game. You need a ton of luck, spend hours up on hours playing hoping to get lucky and a little bit of Magic Find items (it’s a modifier that supposedly helps your chances of finding the better quality items). Finding good equipment is all about luck. However, at lower levels like your Necro, don’t expect to find some awesome gear. Rare items or yellow named items are handy, since they have more than 2 modifiers like in the blue items or magical items. Use your imbue quest in act1 quest5 (charsi Imbues a white item) on a item type that you lack a good piece of equipment. If you have cruddy boots, let Charsi imbue you something, you might get lucky and she might make a good Rare item for you.
I’ll give more help when you answer what game you’re playing tho. D2Classic or D2:LoD?
If you’re playing Classic, might I suggest you go and buy the expansion? It is actually a lot easier in LoD cuz the item selection is much larger than Classic’s selection. If you don’t want to buy it and you’re playing Classic, I have to warn you, my Classic D2 gaming knowledge is from patches of yore and legend. I might not be of great help…
Madawc,
I am playing classic. I have the expansion, but I moved, and when I finally dug it out of one of the many boxes, the case was empty. ARRRRRRGGHHHHH! I hate when that happens. It is floating around somewhere, just in the wrong case. Now if I could just find my GameFind +30% shoes that I left around somewhere…
I may have to break down and buy another LoD, because I really enjoyed playing the druid. I played the werebear all the way through and that was awesome. I had started a werewolf, but then got busy selling the house, building a new one, etc. so it has been a while. I take it that when you are not online, you don’t get all the cool equip you get when you play online. I am currently playing in an eight player game, but I put a password on the game and play alone.
I have gotten a few yellow items, but they have been pretty lame. I think the most one sold for was a about 1500. I found a good wand that I am using (+1 to raise skeleton, +2 to golem mastery, +2 to skeleton mage), but other than that, it has been pretty plain. I am currently wearing two rings to boost magic find and a helm and boots that boost magic find. I don’t know what the total is, it is not extremely high. Maybe 40 or 50% percent all together. If it is just a matter of playing and playing until I get good stuff, that is fine. I just wanted to make sure that I was not doing things in a way the reduced my chances of getting the good stuff. i.e. I don’t gamble. (well, once. Got screwed)
Any advice you have for classic or expansion would be appreciated. If I don’t find the expansion, I will end up buying it before too long.
Thanks a lot.
Gambling is a great option to get yellow items. The odds arent stacked for you thus the term “gambling”. Sell items in the highest act you can get in Normal Difficulty.
Since
Act1Norm is 5K selling cap,
Act2Norm is 10K selling cap,
act3Norm is 15K
act4Norm is 20K
Nightmare is 25K or 30K
Hell is 35K.
Best items to sell are high defense armors (like Ancient Armors, Gothic plates) they can net you quick gold. Wands, Staves, Scepters with + to skills net good gold too. When you get full on gold, gamble it away. Rings and Amulets are great options to gamble on but they have hefty gambling costs. 50K per ring and 63K per amulet. When you hit Act3 you can hope that you get a good rare ring from the Gidbinn Quest (i think act3 quest2). Use a merc too, I think in Classic the Act3 Cold Spell IronWolf is the best merc in classic. It’s a shame that you can’t ressurect them like you can in LoD. In classic, Once you see ur merc’s health down to 1/4 town portal home and talk to the healing NPC to restore the merc’s health. It could be a pain in the ass but at least you don’t have to search for another Cold casting IronWolf.
As well you can find socketed items and chuck gems in them to help your situation. If you didnt know this cube recipe, then use it well.
3 chipped gems = 1 flawed gem
3 flawed gems = 1 normal gem
3 normal gems = 1 flawless gem
3 flawless gems = 1 perfect gem
only works on the same type of gem tho. So 3 chipped rubies transmute to a flawed ruby. and skulls and all gems work this way.
If you really want to up your MagicFind %, gemmed a socketed armor and helm (wait classic may only have socketable helms) with 3 topazes. topaz gem bonus on helms (and armors in LoD not sure of Classic) net you Magic Find. Never underestimate the use of gems. They are readily available and can really help. Since you are playing classic, you have a godawfully small stash. Gem hoarding isnt such a hot idea.
A little tip is “muling”. This can only be done on an online game that is played on a Closed Realm such as USEast, USWest, Europe, etc… Play in a private game for at least five minutes. Remember the name and password of the game. After this five minute minimum is reached, the game will remain even if no one is in it. Exit and re-enter the game. If you are able to re-enter, then you can “mule” or transfer items by dropping an item or items in the game, bring in another character to hold these dropped items. and now you have a “mule” to hold the junk that was amassing in your playing character.
I hope these seemingly “basic” tips come in handy, and i hope you find the misplaced LoD cd. I don’t think I’d ever go back to playing classic. Those classic stashes are way too small. And to think I used to play with that tiny stash in the heyday of DII.
Personally, Madawc, I’d think it’s more useful early on to gamble for boots and gloves, hoping for IAS, good resists, faster r/w, and so on. You get rare rings from quests, and it’s not really worth gambling for ammys until you are high enough level to gamble at least a +1 char skills ammy or some decent leech. Rares are actually very good in Classic, though they totally blow in D2X.
I played Classic for about a week before I got the exp pack, and the stash size was the first obvious difference, I can’t believe I played without the bigger stash for even that week!
Oh and pretty much anything with +skills stuff on it to any skill for any character is usually gonna net 35K sale price in Hell. And you can also learn the difference between normal items and their exceptional versions, as the exceptional versions sell for much more. (Hand Axe is normal, Hatchet is the exceptional version, for instance.)
Last night, I played on US East and US West and both realms went down! It seems that this is happening more often, especially last week! Good thing I didn’t lose anything significant…
My amazon has hit a brick wall in hell (specifically, Act 5, Arreat summit). Since losing my Titan’s revenge (etheral), I’ve been getting killed more often and not leveling at all. I guess I’m gonna have to MF in Nightmare for a little while to get better items than the crap I’ve been toting.
Q: Where’s the best Acts (or quests) in NM or in the first 2 acts of hell? Seems like I do ok at times at Acient’s Way in NM for finding an occasional unique, anything better than that?
Also, does anyone go to the SDMB channel at all or do you forget to change channels once you’re logged on? Or maybe I’m doing it wrong? I click on “Channel” and enter “SDMB”. That’s it, right? I know there is also a “friend list” although I really don’t know how to use it. Anyone here use it, or can tell me how to use it?
Thanks guys…
I go to the SDMB channel sometimes, but I don’t usually stay in the chat area very long at all. I’d rather be killing stuff
As for Act2 MFing, the easiest is to just kill Pindleskin in act V. He is right next to the entrance and easy to kill. Usually has some good drops.
Baal’s minions are good too, as there are several super uniques there, but it is more of a challenge.
—EDIT—
Dang, I was rereading as it was submitting and I couldn’t kill it fast enough!
By act 2 I of course mean Nightmare. Cause those two sound the same…<shrug>
But I thought if all of us went to SDMB channel, we could still find out who’s online and whisper to them to find out which game/difficulty they are on and make it easier to hook up. Does it work that way?
well, you wouldn’t show up in the chat channel if you are in a game. You may be able to do that if you have a friends list going on, but I haven’t really used that feature.
Yeticus
this is how you use the friends list thingy on b.net. It can also be done in the chatting section and in game.
type the following:
/f l
that’ll bring up a list of your friends
/f a <account name of friend>
adds an account name of a friend and don’t put the < >'s or a * in front of the acct name.
/f r <account name of bad friend>
remove an ex-friend.
then i think there is these
/f promote
/f demote
you can move your friends on the list of friends from #1 to #25, that is if you have 25 friends online, and 25 i think is the maximum number of accts you can have on ur friends list.
For that SDMB channel thing, i just do this to join it
/join SDMB
but your way is fine
You can see all these functions by hitting the HELP button that’s near the game creation button.
You can only see people that play on the same REALM in that channel. So you won’t be seeing USEasters hanging out when you’re logged on as a USWest char.
I don’t bother going to channel SDMB, i have non-doper d2 friends that are coming out of the woodworks and we manage.
Like MDSL said, if you’re in game, you wont be in the channel. And people don’t like waiting for others in a channel that’s empty, they’d rather play a game or two.
For finding items, just stock up on MF gear such as 3 Perfect Topaz helms, 4 Perfect Topaz armor (if ur dirt poor) and kill Nightmare Mephisto over and over and over again. I’m talking about 1000+ meph kills. You’ll find another titan’s, and decent gear from Meph in NM. Or you can do Hell Meph runs, and find the Elite Uniques (but not Grandfather, Windforce and other higher end ELite uniques)
Thanks Madawc; I guess I should have clicked on HELP before I drag it on here. I’m gonna have to make some mules as well - good idea.
Fourteen more days… <keeping fingers crossed>