Let's revisit some forum history

[DeeBye]

By far, the most hilarious threads here were shortly after Lord of Destruction was released. Those threads were never intended to be hilarious, but they always made me laugh for the sheer drama and absurdity of them. Back then, this forum exploded in population in a relatively short amount of time. It was one of the top sources of LoD information, and links to articles here were posted directly from the main Battle.net website. "Shlonglor" (you might also know him as GFrasier) posted here regularly.

I think the Lounge was hosted by a big gaming network site back then (netgames.com or something like that? It's gone now).

I really admire the job Bolty did keeping things relatively under control during that time. Moderating the huge amount of crap must have been a 48 hour per day job. As good a job as the moderators were doing, they couldn't keep up with everything. Every now and then, threads went from sublime to ridiculous in a short order of time.

Here are a few threads I fondly recall. I can't find any links to them (just how far back do the archives go?).

Superstar internet gamer of immense e-fame disses Diablo

I don't remember what the guy's name was, but shortly after LoD went retail he posted a really insane rant about how D2LoD was so incredibly easy it was only a game for light-weight gameplayers. TRUE gamers would never go near it. He went on and on about how he was able to create a 100% PERFECT IN EVERY WAY character in like a week (pretty sure it was a Barbarian) that could easily solo 8-players Act 5.

He also made it a point to say how he was a very famous e-gamer, known by every internet citizen worth his/her salt. He might actually have been of some e-fame, I don't know. If he was, I suspect it through whatever FPS flavour-of-the-day was making the rounds. His posts in that thread were really long and detailed, but ranked really high on the "I am above you and your pissant little game" meter.



Forum "regular" gets busted for Maphack

Again, I don't really remember who it was. I do recall that it was someone who had been around the forums for awhile.

This person made a thread titled something like "Is Blizzard making a secret server-side joke?", and proceeded to post a screenshot. I'm a bit hazy on the exact details of the screenshot, but I do believe it was just a shot of a chatlog in which he queried the server with /time and the autoresponse was from something called "mouse.net" instead of "battle.net". Anyways, the details don't matter much. What really mattered was that it was a 100% positive indication of Maphack usage.

The first reply in the thread busted him on the Maphack, which was funny enough. The thread got really out-of-control with drama after the original poster blew a gasket defending his use of Maphack. I guess there was no point in denying it then. He went on and on about how Maphack wasn't really cheating and everyone does it and he doesn't really look at the mini-map after all and OH MAN THIS FORUM REALLY SUCKS YOU ALL SUCK!



Larzuk's secret porn stash

This was the funniest screenshot thread I have ever seen here. Period.



Spiderdrake's rant about things that make no sense in D2LoD

"Can you smell what the Ormus is cooking?"



The one thread that was absolutely fabulous didn't occur during this time period, but it bears mention in every "Hey, remember this funny Lurker Lounge thread?" thread.

The PETE conspiracy

Pure genius.

[Doc]

I remember a thread where it seemed bloody everybody was attacking poor Sirian for being some horrible racist because of his Thrower the Barbarian story.

Shame on all of you that were a part of that. SHAME.

[DeeBye]

I remember a thread where it seemed bloody everybody was attacking poor Sirian for being some horrible racist because of his Thrower the Barbarian story.

Shame on all of you that were a part of that. SHAME.
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Yeah, that one was pretty stupid. It was a simple two-word term of description that had nothing whatsoever to do with race in the context of the story. But no-one actually READ the story of course :rolleyes:


Also, another great Sirian thread was the one about the game code being the final arbiter of the measurement of cheating.

[Nystul]

Hmmm... I vaguely remember those days, but it seems like I was deliberately avoiding the LurkerLounge at the time. You are right though about Bolty doing a good job of keeping things under control, under the circumstances. The best of times, and the worst of times, in LL history?

[[wcip]Angel]

The first real memory I have of the Lounge (other than the April Fool's joke where The Lounge and Yegg's Tavern (www.diablo.com) swapped addresses) is the "The absurdity of the phrase 'get a life'." (Or something to that effect.)

During our years has gamers, we must have encountered this phrase at least once. "Why are you bothering with all those meph-runs? Oh get a life", etc. The thread here on The Lounge was a discussion on the moronic idea behind the insult/suggestion of telling other people how to lead their lives. I don't believe I remember the actual arguments from both sides, but I felt - strangely enough - vindicated after having read the thread :)

[Guest]

"Jungle Monkeys" - I still dont feel bad for ripping him on that. It wasnt bad that used the word not knowing its meaning - it was bad that he defended his usage.

[DeeBye]

The best of times, and the worst of times, in LL history?
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That's my take on it as well. Every time I visited the LL, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It always seemed like it was balancing precariously on a razor's edge. One side led to pure Diablo bliss, and the other side led to outright insanity.

I'm sure Bolty hated that time, but for me it was always worth spending a few moments (or hours) reading the LL.

[Sir_Die_alot]

Hmmm... I vaguely remember those days, but it seems like I was deliberately avoiding the LurkerLounge at the time.
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Same here. Once the duped items, especially rings, started being as much part of peoples' standard builds as their skill tree I didn't read much of the lounge. Some of what Deebye describes sounds familiar though. I definantly remember the guy who thought he was hot-shot pro-gamer type. He gets 1 :rolleyes: 2 :rolleyes: 3 :rolleyes: eyerolls from me.

[whyBish]

Superstar internet gamer of immense e-fame disses Diablo

He actually wasn't wrong. When LoD was released the cap on -phys reduction% was 75 or 90, and -DR was taken off after, not before like it currently is. This meant that if you found something like a vampgaze, and stormshield or string etc, and had a bit of -DR you were essentially immune, even from the toughest packs.

I did a writeup once they did their first fixes about how you could still be made immune (PvM) with just -DR, from just a few safety crafts (The Safety crafts were later nerfed in their DR/MDR amounts)

25 DR means you wouldn't take damage in normal, 50 in NM, and ~100 in Hell A5.
With 25 from a circlet easy enough to get (and double socketed for 39), and a greater safety craft giving up to -15(?)dr (available for *every* slot) you were able to get well into the high 100s easily, which made you immune to some of the nastier bosspacks (cursed moonlord were about the only danger, particularly combined with EF/ES/Fan./Might) The only other problem would have been durability wearing out on all your items and waiting for the enemy to slowly pound you to death (amu,rings etc. have no dur so you would still have a ton of -DR)

Obviously a game where you can become immune permanently is of little challenge (and HC was affected by this even more...)

[Kylearan]

Hi,

Superstar internet gamer of immense e-fame disses Diablo

I don't remember what the guy's name was, but shortly after LoD went retail he posted a really insane rant about how D2LoD was so incredibly easy it was only a game for light-weight gameplayers. [...]

He also made it a point to say how he was a very famous e-gamer, known by every internet citizen worth his/her salt.  He might actually have been of some e-fame, I don't know.

Maybe I'm mixing this up with another thread from the old times, but wasn't the guy in question not a famous e-gamer, but a well-known (world champion?) Magic:The Gathering player?

-Kylearan

[ShadowHM]

"Jungle Monkeys" - I still dont feel bad for ripping him on that. It wasnt bad that used the word not knowing its meaning - it was bad that he defended his usage.
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And I still don't feel bad about defending him. :) No harm was meant; it was an accurate description of the monsters in question. The pursuit of political correctness has a limit. <_<

[Jester]

Wasn't it Brian Weissman, creator of The Deck ™?

I remember the guy you're talking about, and that's what I got when I tried looking him up. Didn't know what "The Deck" was at the time, but I do remember him being an ass.

Jester

[Occhidiangela]

"Jungle Monkeys" - I still dont feel bad for ripping him on that. It wasnt bad that used the word not knowing its meaning - it was bad that he defended his usage.
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The term was Jungle Bunny. Where I grew up, that was a perjorative epithet for persons of African descent. And yes, indeed, that certainly incited a zero value added rock throwing session.

Occhi

[Occhidiangela]

Wasn't it Brian Weissman, creator of The Deck ™?

I remember the guy you're talking about, and that's what I got when I tried looking him up. Didn't know what "The Deck" was at the time, but I do remember him being an ass.

Jester
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Yes, it was Mr Weissman, and IIRC< he showed himself a pompous arse on this forum with very little encouragement by much of anyone.

Not sure if that was the good old days, unless like me you get a naughty thrill from flaming jagovs. :wacko:

Occhi

[Occhidiangela]

I think the Lounge was hosted by a big gaming network site back then (netgames.com or something like that? It's gone now).
The PETE conspiracy

Pure genius.
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Network 54, perhaps?

Occhi

[Griselda]

Network 54, perhaps?

Occhi
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I tried to look the PETE conspiracy up a while back, and was able to find it. It's one of my favorites. Of course, I didn't save the link. :( I think it was originally written by LiquidDamage or by Count Duckula (as Pirengle, but I may have the spelling wrong). So, using those two names should speed up a search of the old forums (or fora, as the Petes are fond of saying).

[Occhidiangela]

I tried to look the PETE conspiracy up a while back, and was able to find it.&nbsp; It's one of my favorites.&nbsp; Of course, I didn't save the link. :(&nbsp; I think it was originally written by LiquidDamage or by Count Duckula (as Pirengle, but I may have the spelling wrong).&nbsp; So, using those two names should speed up a search of the old forums (or fora, as the Petes are fond of saying).
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"The Code Is The Final Arbiter" is on about page 68 or the old forum. I read back that far a couple of months ago, while looking for something else, and had a great little giggle over it.

Occhi

[Ashock]

The THE THREAD is still king.




-A


Edit: I bought a new computer and lost the link. If someone has it, I'd appreciate it, although I suppose I could dig it up somehow.

[Occhidiangela]

The THE THREAD is still king.
-A
Edit: I bought a new computer and lost the link. If someone has it, I'd appreciate it, although I suppose I could dig it up somehow.
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Try this link: Da Thread

[DSTheHermit]

I actually had that Spiderdrake rant saved on my old hard drive. However, it was on one of my backups that got corrupted. I dearly miss it, I used to read it every month or two. Same with Jonathon Spectre's stories, especially his experience with PKers.

EDIT: Oh, and as someone still fairly seriously involved in the Magic community, I'd like you to know that yes, Brian Weissman is still an insufferable arse. ^_^