Patch 1.13b drops on March 23rd! The ladder will reset the same day. There’s a previous thread on this subject, but it’s been quiet for a while. Full patch notes can be found here and a tiny addendum here. Some highlights below!
Not to be that guy, but that patch is lame for the 2 (more ?) years people were waiting.
Weren’t there supposed to be more changes, like increased Zod drops, new runewords, and Pallies getting another boost?
Either way, finally! I stopped playing Strayveange because the looming ladder reset made playing him pointless.
Yeah, those are just the changes in 1.13b. The earlier stuff (linked earlier in the post) was the ability to respec, increased drop rates on runes, no iron maiden, some buffs to skills no one ever uses, and a huge nerf to hammerdins.
The big thing for everyone is the ladder reset, but that didn’t need to wait until this patch. It should’ve been done a year ago.
When we start up again, we should double-check whether Insight mercs still work the same way they did. I’ve got a hunch that means that the Prayer synergy will no longer be applied. In which case, way to go, Blizzard! You’ve punished the folks on a budget, while not affecting in the slightest those who get all their gear from dupers and Chinese item farmers.
And you know, I was just saying to myself last night that I ought to sell off my good gear for forum gold before it was too late. Prices have probably plummeted, now. Ah, well: The really good stuff was personalized, anyway.
I haven’t played in five years. Did they really just NOW get around to fixing the TPPK issue?
Oh sure, they reset the ladder when school gets back into session instead of now, during spring break when I could play!
I’ll be there on opening day… Will eveyone be on East or West?
I think I’m the only Westerner left, so I presume East.
Do we want to try for classic-rushers this season, or is it easy enough to find quest-getters for forge rushes? If we want to have classic characters at all, it’s probably more efficient to do them first.
I’m thinking our first generation of communal characters could be a necro, an enchantress, and a barbarian, since those are most useful for getting the second generation started, and the second generation could be smiter, hammerdin, and MF sorc. I’m also thinking of starting a multizon on my own account, since I prefer to have one all my own, too, but enchantress is more useful communal.
Not really that much of a “content” patch. The only real new content is the respec item. The rest is nerfs/buffs, a couple nice but minor changes (like removing IM off Oblivion Knights) and bug fixes.
If you want to play Diablo 2 I’d suggest the Median mod as being > the original. Bring a friend or two.
Good news on TPPK I might actually go back to playing Hardcore. Assuming they’ve fixed it correctly. It wouldn’t be the first time they completely missed the point while apparently trying to fix TPPK.
A pity there aren’t more balance changes though. Still so many unused abilities that would be so easy to just give a synergy or two to.
And the nerf to Hammerdins is barely going to do anything. I went looking through the monster data when the last patch notes came out and very few monsters even have Magic Resistance let alone Immunity.
I’m pretty sure they mean glitches with using two Dream/Dragon items at the same time.
If you have two Dreams on and you enter a trade window with someone that okays out of it but create the “no room” error the auras’ level would increase. You could do this over and over until it had max range(a little over the size of the screen) and kill anything not immune to it in one or two pulses.
Another error, probably related to the last one, is if you equipped two Dreams rather than simply gaining 2 lvl15 Holy Shock Auras you would gain 1 higher(I’m not sure in what way it stacked exactly) level Holy Shock aura. As evidenced by increased range that shouldn’t happen.
I thought they’d fixed the Dream stacking long ago. I remember it was all the rage for a while, then just went away after a minor patch.
They fixed part of it. It used to be possible to stack Dream and or Dragon on a Merc by simply equipping both items and constantly equipping/unequipping one of them. Allowing you to stack them on your Merc in just a few seconds. They fixed that but it is still possible to do it on your character using the trade screen method.
The best MF build I ever made abused the old Dream stacking bug. 800+ MF teleporting paladin, you’d just teleport around and everything on the screen dies. I found so much good loot with that dude. 
Anyway, I’m in for ladder reset next week, I’ll be playing a cold sorc.
God of War III or Diablo II new patch? Which to play? Decisions, decisions…
I’m having a hard time seeing how you could get 800 MF with that setup, considering that you’d have a maximum of 149 from your helmet, shield, and armor all combined. Not that it’d matter, anyway: More MF hardly matters after 300-400 or so.
And everyone probably already knows this anyway, but we usually play in private games with game name “sdmb” (or “sdmb2”, “sdmb3”, etc) and password “cecil”.
40x 7MF small charms - 280
6 ist crystal sword - 180
4 ist shield - 100
shako - 74
enigma - 80+
goldwrap - 30
chancies - 40
travs - 50
Fortuitous Ring of Fortune (I only had one) - 40
…is 874, add in another ring and an amulet and you’re over 900.
I agree the returns are diminishing, but I was clearing the pit/chaos in 4 or 5 minutes so that is a lot of chances at rares.
I am so almost tempted to join in with you folks.
Oh, I see, you meant with the dual Dream on your merc, not yourself (freeing up space for the Harlequin Crest and Ist shield). Which also actually gives you room for another 100+ on your merc’s armor, since kills made by your merc count its MF too, in addition to your own.
I’m surprised that you didn’t have a Gheed’s Fortune or another MF ring, given all those high runes you already had on the character.
Anyone know when on Tuesday the ladder will be reset? I’ll be at school till 4:30pm at the latest.