When you get into the Cow Level, open up a new portal as soon as you can. The original portal that you created to get into the Cow Level will stay there - you are likely to need an escape hatch.
I played Diablo II waaaay too much. It was like crack for me. I think there are secret visual codes in the screen that cause your brain to respond to the game as if you were taking a drug. It was hard, but I kicked it.
"Stay a while, and listen’ - Doesn’t he sound like Jimmy Stewart?
Scary moment - "I will make weapons from your bones!’
Act 5 is way long. I think it’s actually the longest act in the game. It’s not so much that there are more areas than in the others, but each area is larger. And they tend to be long and narrow, so you have to slog through the whole thing. So it’ll probably take you longer than a weekend. But good luck trying!
Also, you might or might not want to upgrade to 1.09. The items are better, but I think that that’s also where they introduced casting delays. Can you cast rapid-fire Frozen Orbs right now? If so, you might want to keep it that way.
Just to chime in; I thought act 5 was the most fun of them all.
Also, if you had an easy time beating Diablo, you’ll probably kick Baal’s ass. In normal mode, I thought Diablo was harder than Baal. In Nightmare mode, Baal is an absolute, well, nightmare.
Although I’m speaking from the perspective of a Necromancer, so your experience may differ.
Getting to Diablo is a lot easier than getting to Baal, but D is alot harder than B if you’re not a sorceress. Static field by far can bring down the health of bosses to a small amount in short order.
If you havent beaten anything in act 5, then it can be quite difficult. it is quite long and confusing and probably the most lengthy act. Act 5 Quest 5 can be a real hassle because you have to fight 3 overpowered barbarians and note that you cannot town portal back home when doing this quest or you’ll have to start all over. (Look for the axe thrower barb there and you’ll see where my ID comes from).
I’m surprised that you’re lvl 40 and not even in act5. did you use the “players X” command to raise the exp of the monster’s? Just type “players 8” to get the game to act as if there were 8ppl in the game and increase the monsters health, experience per kill and damage. You can type other numbers from 1 to 64 i think. just hit enter then type “players #” without the quotation marks and see the difference the monsters’ health and experience per kill becomes. This can help you level up faster if you didnt know this already.
There are also maphacks out there that can help out but i’m not gonna link you to one, just beware that they are highly infested with backdoor programs and keyloggers. I can lead you to the clean version of one but wouldn’t want to corrupt you’re clean gameplay with such programs if you dont want it.
with all this talk of D2, i think it might be time to ressurect my retired USEast characters.
Bah, I’m a Paladin player and Baal folds up like a cheap lawn chair against Conviction/Fanatacism/Vengeance. My Merc even survived the fight against him in Nightmare.
Act 5 is the most fun, just for all the high hit point monsters and their sweet, sweet treasure drops. Mmmmmm, treasure drops.
Woohoo! I kicked some Baal butt and then I went and kicked some cow butt! Unfortunately, my hireling got a little overzealous and killed the Cow King before I could stop him, but that’s cool. I just wanted to see funny cows.
I must confess, my Sorceress didn’t come by her high level honestly. My husband found a cheat somewhere that lets him create Diablo II characters that start at level 40 with 30 some-odd skill points to dole out. Cheating, yeah, but I really wanted to see the cows.
We have version 1.07, and there are casting delays in it. I hot-keyed my Blizzard and my Frozen Orb and switched back and forth between them. I think I died maybe 3 times through the whole game. I didn’t even get hit by any cows.
My husband beat Baal as a Necromancer. He got killed by cows.
As Weirddave said, if you can find your way onto USEast there’s a bunch of us with some nice high-lvl chars who can help you out a good bit. I used to play several hours a day until I got absorbed by FF7. Now it’s just a matter of time until I beat the game and then I’ll be going back to my MFing runs in D2.
Which brings me to another point. If you find that the killing is getting embarassingly easy, you can do what I do with my high-lvl chars: magicfind. I used to get my barb all geared up (went with dual honor blades and backup was dual babas, and similar magicfind gear as you’d expect on a mf/gf nm char) until I happened upon a buriza doing a NM meph run, and that was the end of that barb for a while. I still use him, but I now have him geared up with +warcry gear (arkaine’s, +3 ammy, dual +3 swords, 3 +1 charms, +2 barb skills helm, plus maxed BO gives him lvl 37 BO). If I cared to I’d put skullder’s on to add about 125% mf, but given the purpose of the barb I don’t see much point.
Marlitharn, do you know what Jamella’s Hero Editor is? that sounds rather like what your husband used. Friends of mnie have used it just to check out gear and such.
Re: d2 v 1.10, people should read the update on the patch. from diabloii.net:
“We have confirmed with a source at Blizzard North that it’s true. The v1.10 patch is complete and will be released as soon as the final round of QA testing checks it out.”
lol, i think some of you guys need to see how my char named Bul-Madawc does in cleaning house… he’s a double throwing axe barbarian i think he’s around lvl80. It’s been a while since i played him. jacked up with some nice gear…
Are you guys (d2 playing dopers) on often on USEast? cuz i think im gonna backslide to my addiction of D2 and prepare for the upcoming 1.10 patch. I have 3 main accounts i play with but i’ll refrain from posting my acct’s, they’re kinda jacked with good chars and gear. Yes, i fear the thieves and the evil ppl on b.net.
oh and that GIVE ITAM AMA thing is something like someone acting like a korean player who doesnt really speak english begging for free gear. Can be annoying (the begging and the stereotyping of players).
Oh if anyone does need help killing things and wants to meet up I will be glad to kill all the bosses and get you to hell cows in less than 1hr with my Tri-sorc. But lag is a major factor for the quickness of the Power Acting or simply PA’ing.
Madawc, soon as I finish FF7 I’ll be back on D2. I have one uswest acct, and I use that for when I simply must get my fix and useast is down.
Dual scalpers, I presume? Or have rares been better to you than to me?
Munch, I’ve been trying to find a good bow for a rushing zon … but as I do not have the GNP of Bolivia, which is required to buy a Windy or an Eagle (either of which would probably be dupes anyway), what is this crafting recipe?
If you happen to be on USEast and see the accounts numbnut, numbnut1, or numbnut2… that’ll be me. I have lvl 80+ characters on each account and can give anyone a hand. If you catch me at the right time, I might have some equipment or armor for you too. Once I get overstocked, I usually start dropping things in games for lower level characters.
But here is a great thread outlining magic finding techniques in 1.07, as well as links to the crafting recipes. I used the blood weapon recipe. The great thing about 1.07 crafts is that they can have the Cruel prefix, as well as the Grandfather prefix (max of 550% ED). Also, crafted items can get 3 sockets.
I used to play frequently on US East. You can find me at *sinistermonk, *monkmules, *monachos, and *desertfather. I haven’t played in a few months due to consistent DOS attacks and hardware malfunctions. I just don’t have the time to sit around refreshing or risk losing items during mule runs.
But if that fraubjous day arrives when 1.10 is released, I’ll probably take a day off work.
I am also really, really tired of insipid boss farming. The odds are good that Blizzard is going to change the entire TC structure of the game, so I am looking forward to good drops along with real challenge. And hell, while I’m wishing, I want Blizzard to nuke all dupers and hackers and restore the economy back to normal. And a pony.
If any of the above actually occur, you can find me on US East sniffing out the good drops with my Hydra/Static Field/Glacial Spike mf sorc or ripping it up with my hellslayer druid.
the axes my barb throws are magical (cruel and grandmasters with IAS on the cruel and lightning dmg on the GM) and a crafted blood flying axe. Scalpers are quite pathetic for damage. The .07 patch idea sounds nice to play in but i dont think i want to go thru the trouble “downgrading” from 1.09d or whatever the letter is now… i think it’s about time we get that damned 1.10 patch. at this rate it’ll be out in ten years. Anyone remember that last starcraft patch everyone was hankering for? how long did that take to be released? like 2 years? but man oh man did they ever upgrade with that patch. Imagine the wonders we might be in store for when 1.10 comes out.
