.. When you just can't manage to stay away :)

[[wcip]Angel]

Having played enough stealth/first person shooters lately, I decided to try my luck with an RPG so I installed NWN. I got it going but quickly lost interest so I thought I'd give D2 another go. I do have some questions I was hoping you would be able to answer

1. What files do I need to copy from D2-CD onto my D2-folder in order to get the game to run the files from the hard drive instead of the CD-ROM?

2. Are elemental druids still horribly nerfed in hell difficulty?

More questions will follow when I think of them.

- [wcip]Angel

[Guest]

seas says: i haven't played that abomination for months, but ice druids are the most fun ever. arctic blasters that is.

1) just copy all mpq's and answer "no" when it asks to overwrite

WARNING: I might be talking out of my ass. Do NOT take me seriously.

i should add that as signature.

[NiteFox]

With a full install (D2: Full install, XP: Install, upgrade install - Multiplayer to Full) the only two MPQs you need to port over are D2Xmusic.mpq and setup.mpq. I gather that your game may or may not be improved by copying setup.mpq to your hard drive, but shifting D2Xmusic will.

However, a sweeter solution would be Daemon Tools and making an ISO dump of your disk. No more spin-up deaths for you, young man!

And I've never played an elemental Druid. Never, never, never. Start tearing limbs with grace and style by using a shapeshifter instead :)

[[wcip]Angel]

1. I've played a shapeshifter before. I want to try something new.

2. I'm more of a "stand back and throw nasty things on people"-kind of guy than a "get in their face and smash it real good"-person.

--

Those of you who've played an elemental druid, which elemental skills should I stick with? Do I need summonables?

[ShadowHM]

Angel,May 6 2004, 02:53 PM] 1. I've played a shapeshifter before. I want to try something new.

2. I'm more of a "stand back and throw nasty things on people"-kind of guy than a "get in their face and smash it real good"-person.

--

Those of you who've played an elemental druid, which elemental skills should I stick with? Do I need summonables?

Hi

I have played both 'types' of elemental druid in v1.10.

And even within those two types - the Fire Druid and the Wind Druid, there are differing ways one can go.

Fire Druid:

If you prefer the 'stand back and throw nasty things on monsters', then I would eschew Armageddon, as you do have to approach the monsters to make it land on them.

But you can still spend points on Fissure and Volcano as your main spells, with synergy points in Firestorm and Molten Boulder. I like Fissure a lot. :)

Wind Druid:

Hurricane also requires you to approach the monsters, but they are slowed considerably by the effects of the spell. Tornado hits the Cold Immunes hard and synergizes your Hurricane to boot.

This build requires less points because Cyclone Armour is a synergy for Hurricane. This allows you to fully synergize your Wind spells more easily.

Both builds are augmented nicely by Oak Sage. I have a point in Grizzly with both of them, although there are frustrating moments when the Grizzly knocks a monster off the Volcano and I cannot re-cast it right away due to the spell timer.

For the Fire Druid, you don't need a lot of points in Dexterity because you stand back from the action, so you can spend more in Vitality. For the Wind Druid, I would advocate spending points in Dexterity for blocking.

YMMV, but I have had a lot of fun with both builds.

[[wcip]Angel]

Thank you Shadow. I will take your advice into consideration.

How are you holding up in hell difficulty? Is it hard?

[NiteFox]

Angel,May 6 2004, 07:53 PM] 1. I've played a shapeshifter before. I want to try something new.

Hmm, I know that feeling. My best character was a shapeshifter wolf, and I ached to try something different.

I tried a Martial Assassin, Paladin (Probably would be a Zealot), and a polebarb but... Well, after freaking years of melee I wound up with a Necromancer. Now I sip martinis from the back lines watching my minions do the slaughtering for me, helping out with the occassional Amp Damage and CE. It's great :)

[[wcip]Angel]

I've always preferred ranged combat to melee. There are just too many irritating fiends in Diablo2. The jumping four-legged creatures from act 2 (and 4) as well as the small rainforest-people in act 3 are horrendously annoying to kill. It ruins the fun of the game having to chase them through half the map.

I managed to get to act 2 yesterday at lvl 15. I can't wait till I hit 18 so I can start throwing twisters around. Molten boulder was quite powerful at level 1, but I don't think I'll be using it at higher lvl. It was too slow. I suppose I'll end up a wind-druid.

[Baajikiil]

How are you holding up in hell difficulty? Is it hard?

One of my first HCL chars was a wind druid. In hell he was suprisingly effective. With well synergised tornado/hurricane, you can easily handle all but cold/phys immunes. Aiming tornado takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it(and a little fast cast), it can be a very powerful attack indeed. Also of note, unless you have alot of +skills, hurricane's damage become near useless in later hell acts. Also the chilling is reduced so much that monsters will only be chilled for under a second. You'll find yourself using tornado as the main damage dealer. In act1-3 1 player games, hurricane just shines though.

I upped my skills in this order:

Oak-20
Carrion vine-1
Cyclone Armor-~5-10
Hurricane-20
Tornado-20
Twister-20

Any points after this went into Cyclone armor to finish it off.
When playing in 1-2 player games, my tornado was doing enough damage to put monsters(even most leaders) into hit recovery for each cast, and tornado can hit more than once with a single cast. Basically I was an offense machine, and rarely got struck by monsters; I killed them before they had a chance. My gear was very sub par, with only +1 to skills, but the synergies make up for it. I used a barb merc to take the heat off myself when fighting tough leaders.

Mana burn archers types and the very tough physical types(lister, minotaurs) were the main stumbling blocks. Act bosses go slow, but are easily defeated. Use a minion to distract them, and spam a few tornados. Repeat as necessary(hell diablo took forever, but I was in no danger).

Heh, I died at lvl 83 though when helping a friend Save cain in hell. A little desync +ES/EF/curse/might Treehead Woodfist = dead HC char.

EDIT: Oh yes I meant to mention: I didn't go for a bear because I wanted to max my synergies as quickly as possible. A bear with max oak though would probably have been a good additional tanker. Heck, it might have saved me vs Treehead. If I ever make a rebuild I'll most likely go for it.

[ShadowHM]

Angel,May 6 2004, 03:20 PM]
How are you holding up in hell difficulty? Is it hard?

Hell is hard. B)

The Fire Druid had major trouble with the combination PI/FI bosses until he was able to give his mercenary a Reaper's Toll. And, as is normal, some areas were a piece of cake and others were bloody dreadful (those Imps in Act V were well....a nightmare ;) ) On the other hand, bowling for monsters in the Arcane Sanctuary was huge fun.

The Wind Druid is a bit of a different story. He has just arrived in Hell, and he is a deliberate cripple, as he is played only in a weekly team game where we have major restrictions on how we build our characters. :ph34r: He dies a lot. :rolleyes: But so do we all. :) Prevailing anyway is a wonderful feeling.

My observations about the strength of a Wind Druid were more based on playing beside a friend who has one. He does incredibly well. The pure Wind Druid (well, with Oak Sage and a Grizzly, but no Fire Skills) is, based on my observations, stronger than a pure Fire Druid.

Edit: Ravens ! I forgot to mention Ravens. A single point in Ravens with skill adders can be a fine thing. The hit blinds target is a nice thing to have going for you when there are ranged attackers out there that you cannot get to dealing with right away.

[Assur]

Hi

I'm trying out both a Winddruid and an ElementalHybrid :ph34r: , I was thinking that 1 point in Carrionvine would be a sensible investment (I'm playing HC), even though the vine looks like something from a deranged hentai.

What is your experience with vines?

good karma

[[wcip]Angel]

I have 1 point in raven. It's the prerequisite for dire wolves and carebear, which I need as cannon fodder.

I have an act2 merc, but will most likely upgrade to an act5 barbarian when I get so far. I'm at level 20-21 I think, and I'm at the end of act 2. I am - as always - dreading act 3. At least now I don't have to run around killing everything.

What's a good helmet for a wind-druid. Obviously I need a class-specific thing with + skills and 2-3 slots so I can make a runeword, but which runeword should I use?

How about trading? Are unidentified charms and jewels worth anything if I got lots of them?

[Baajikiil]

I'm trying out both a Winddruid and an ElementalHybrid  , I was thinking that 1 point in Carrionvine would be a sensible investment (I'm playing HC), even though the vine looks like something from a deranged hentai.

Most elemtalists use a carrion vine with a single point. The % life returned has severe dimishing returns, and even at lvl 20 the vine can't stand up to more than a couple of monster hits in hell. The vine provides life replenishment and corpse disposal, as well as occasionally distracting the monsters. Usually in a big fight it will die, but recasting after the monsters die is simple, and will fill your life between battles.

It's mainly a convenience thing. Less potions drank = less trips to town. Less corpses on the ground = less time to kill revivers.

[[wcip]Angel]

Hmm... I never go to town for potions, but rather to sell items I've found.

[Baajikiil]

What's a good helmet for a wind-druid. Obviously I need a class-specific thing with + skills and 2-3 slots so I can make a runeword, but which runeword should I use?

Well, the buget good runeword for casters is Lore. Ort + Sol will net you a +1 all skills, -7 damage, and 30% lightning resist. It's great if you can find a good pelt to put it in. It's also possible to find a good 3 socket pelt and put in Delerium. Ists and Lems don't grow on trees though. The best possible is a rare pelt with +2 druid skills as well as +3 to hurricane/tornado/oak.

My wind druid used a rare circlet with good resists and +1 druid skills for most of hell. As I was playing HC, life/resists were more important to me than skills. And useful druid pelts seem to fall very rarely.

For the lower lvls, I used pelts socketed with saphires for extra mana, and in the mid lvls I used a Lore circlet.

As for trading, it's not supposed to be discussed here, but I can tell you that such charms/jewels are nearly worthless. Someone might want them for crafting purposes, but they are unlikely to trade anything good for them. If you try looking for a very long time perhaps you can get something useful.

EDIT: Actually I should ammend my "best helm". It's not a rare with +2 druid skills, it would be a magic one with +3 elemental skills, a good suffix, 2 sockets(from the socket quest) as well as the +3/+3/+3 automods.
Kinda rare though.

[Baajikiil]

Hmm... I never go to town for potions, but rather to sell items I've found.

When you play in Hell with a character who has no way to replenish life, who also has to get close to enemies for maximum effectiveness, who will invariably take a few hits here and there, you may need to make a few trips to town for potions. Mainly in high player games, where you'll be getting hit a larger amount of time compared to how many monsters you will kill.

Not a problem for melee chars with leach, but the elementalist has no such advantage(unles he takes carrion vine). Normal and Nightmare are a breeze compared to hell...

[[wcip]Angel]

Ahh..

Well I always play alone. I haven't played with another guy since 1.06, and that was a guy named [wcip]Caird.

We used to play *a lot*. We never got the best items, Windforce, Grandpappy and the like, but we did hundreds of meph runs. We timed them. Our record, I think, was 28 seconds.

Thanks for the advice on which helm to wear.
I guess I'll go ID all my charms and jewels now then seeing as they are worthless when unidentified.

[Fragbait]

Hi [wcip]Angel,

Have you ever played Diablo I?

It ruins the fun of the game having to chase them through half the map.

I remember my warrior chasing succubi a LOT. Was great fun, though B)
Might have had something to do with the nature of succubi to follow you around corners even if they have less enough life to be snuffed out with one hit.
I actually miss these succubi, I mean there are others, but they are not nearly as much fun as these bosomy witches in Diablo. Oh well...


Greetings, Fragbait

[[wcip]Angel]

My skin's crawling just thinking about the D1-succubi. They had some pair of legs on them, and I'm not just talking about their running ;)

Another question:

Do we have a LL-channel on b.net where we can talk, trade, set up games, help mule etc?

I just beat diablo at lvl 27 and I'm fully stocked with chipped gems, some low-lvl runes and some items. I would like to get these things over onto some mules before I can continue into the final act.

[NiteFox]

Ah... Blood Stars coming from all directions: You're surrounded by succubi an' there ain't a goddamned thing you can do about it.

Ah, mammaries. Uh, I meant memories. Yeah, memories, that's the word :blink: