I’m very excited. I signed up for it a couple weeks ago, and today when I got home from school, there it was, shining at me with all it’s glory.
I would post more details, but I’ll do that later after I’ve rotted my brain playing it for a few hours.
Monster, let me be the first to say, I hate you. I really, really hate you.
How is it?
Preparing for a charge at Monster…now I just need someone to flail a whip in my general direction.
So, have you tried one of the new classes, or did you go straight to the new Act with one of your old ones?
Well, so far it kicks major ass. They added a lot of new material…new weapons, new item enhancements…
So far the Assassin is kicking major ass. Some of her skills are awesome, and she has a nice mix of them as well. Also, mercenaries are lot more effective. You can now equip them with armor, helms, better weapons, and you can heal them with health potions.
More to come soon!
I’ve been looking forward to playing an assassin ever since I got word that they’d be in the expansion.
(So I like being a dirty trickster…so what? That’s why I love “Thief”.)
Now it’s MY turn… time to go see what the Druid is like! Expect my report back in, say, two hours. 
bump
Not that I’m really expecting them to report this weekend, but it’s worth a shot. 
Guys? Guys? How is it? C’mon, enquiring minds want to know.
I just got the Beta yesterday, and I must say, it kicks large amounts of ass. The assassin kicks so much ass with her combos and whatnot, and all the new weapons and armor kick ass too. She seems better balanced in all of her stats, better than the other classes. The running speed is irking me, though. Is anyone else having trouble with that? I haven’t had a chance to play it heavily, partially because my internet connection sucks mightily.
There’re way too many features to post, so I’ll come back periodically and post what I’ve found. Sounds good?
This makes playing DII worthwhile once again!
Wastrel
Well, Monster is playing the assassin, and my younger brother is playing the Druid, so I transferred my Sorceress over to the Expansion and now I’m almost into Act IV.
Damn, this game is nice… all the new things are interesting. Guess what? Now it’s actually worth it to save gems and use socketed items! Jewels and Runes bring a whole new dimension to that aspect of the game… I’m waiting 'til I get about a half-dozen runes and then I’m going to experiment.
There are a bunch of nifty new enchantments, too… but I highly suspect that the greatest parts of the game come in Nightmare and Hell modes, where you’ll start finding Unique and Set Exceptional items (and even higher-upgraded items for Hell mode).
Anyway, I’m off to kill Mephisto… wish me luck! (Not that I need it… Mephisto’s a wuss…)
hey, I have a question for you as yet-
do you have an idea of what skills have been nerfed and spiked with the expansion? any major boosts to skills that might actually make them useful, such as giving Lighting storm multiple bolts at a time or giving Enchant an AR bonus? i am asking because a sorcie is the only character you mentioned converting as yet.
i also just have to ask;
‘just how do those neato combos really work, anyhow?’
Well, I’m still not very far with my Sorceress, but I do know that they nerfed Blizzard. They added a delay of about two seconds between castings… which means that you can’t just pump out spell after spell after spell.
I suspect this may apply to abilities like Meteor and Frozen Orb, but that’s only speculation on my part.
I haven’t noticed any other major changes RE: the Sorceress, though, aside from the general additions to the game (new staves, new enchanted items, etc.)
WooHoo! I just got the Dig Dug Expansion pack 2.6 Gamma collectors platnum edition!!
Whooo Hoo! The little Dragon guys are dragonier! The little bouncy guys are bouncier! The, uh, turnips are turnip-ier!!
Umm,…Whooo!
[sub]cough[/sub]
[sub]Slink, slink, slink…[/sub]
You really got the Dig Dug Expansion?!? I’ll trade you my Diablo 2 Expansion for it!
Now, on another note…
My assassin is level 19. I have to kill Duriel to get to Act 3, and it shouldn’t be a problem.
At first I thought this character was lacking in powerful skills, but through using each different one I have so far, I have noticed some that are very powerful for early levels.
My two favorites are Fire Trap and Shadow Warrior.
Fire Trap summons this thing that shoots a V-shaped flame wave at enemies within range. It shoots 5 times, and does 5-10 damage on level 1. Very nice for clearing out large groups of enemies.
Shadow Warrior summons a shadow of yourself at that moment, an exact copy (except the amount of life, which is determined by the level of the skill). It assumes the weapons, armor, and ability selected at the moment you summon it.
There’s a level 30 skill called Shadow Master. I don’t know what it does, but I can’t wait to find out!
GAMBLING!!!
Before, you talked to the gambler in the town and they had a set of wares to choose from (to gamble for), and to reset the list you had to leave town and go back.
Now, the list changes when you just exist the Purchase screen and talk to the gambler again. Which means that you don’t have to leave town and go back to reset everything.
One possible drawback, however, is that you may see something you REALLY want to gamble for, but not quite have enough money… before, you’d be able to go to your stash and start selling old junk, but now, you wouldn’t be able to do that.
Speaking of your stash… IT’S BIGGER!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!! Now you can actually save stuff!!!
Blizzard’s tentative list of skill mods is posted here.
Not to talk about cheats or anything, but have they found a way around simply copying your saved games, gambling for (and/or trading items) and then, if you feel like it, restoring your save? I’ve never used it, but I’m annoyed at how tempting it feels sometimes.
If you’re talking only about the open character playing, then yeah, it’s really easy to save games. All you need to save is the character files in the … racks brain shoot, I can’t remember the name of the directory. Just copy them to another directory. But if you’re talkin Battle.net, I dunno.
Me want Druid. Me like sorceress, but me want something new.
Yeah, I meant plain old open games. Normally I abhor cheating, but I’m so sorely tempted to do that to get some perfect skulls that it’s not even funny…
Say, how big is the cache now anyway?
The stash is twice the size it was before.
The beta is Battle.net stress test only. It is the full game without the cinematics and single-player mode.
My assassin is now on level 24, and I just got the Horadric Malice in Act IV. I just have to kill Diablo now.
Then I get to see what Act V is like!
Hey, Monster, after you do that, let me know if you still have the chick (forget who) that says something along the lines of “Congratulations, hero, you have defeated the three,” okay? Thanks.