Quote:The variants I played the most often were ones with rules that were intuitive and easily memorized.
Same here.
And its worth to mention, that in most cases aplies: "the less rules, the better variant (and more fun)".
Thats why I absolutelly love naked mage. "Do not wear any items". And thats it.
Some people wear +magic items for reading books in town, or +life items to "guarantee" stunlock.
Thats really strange for me. The only rule and they are not able to honour it ....
When I was looking for something nice and cool to play, I was quite dissapointed. Lot of rules.... Lot of strange rules. And what a number of stupid rules. Nothink for nice, smooth (solo and multi) gameplay and possibility high lvl characters (40+) and fun.
Then I started thinking about some restriction. At first I tried Low AC. Its cool, because it has everything what I want.
1) smooth and fast gameplay
2) possibility to reach high clvl
3) lot of fun
4) no problem with rules
5) No problem playing solo
6) I learnt a lot during clearing dungeon. It definatelly brought some style into my play.
..................................
(I could surelly find more +, but why.)
When I "finished" my Low AC warrior, I wanted try something else, but with the same fun.
When youre playing with Low AC char it means 1 (major) mistake = 1 death.
But not every time. In some cases you can survive by ..... drinking like mad.
So for new characters (my and my friends) I add these "distrustful" rule:
"You cannot drink potions, heal yourself or other player from scrolls, staves nor ask Pepin for healing"
Thats it. Your char just do not trust any form of gaining heal/mana than leeching it by using right weapons and skills.
For best "performance" you should be (at least) Pure Legit character.
(PL group is OK, as long you trust each other). I think its obvious why. Its hardly funny, when you equip your clvl1 char with Obsi/Dragons Zodiac rings, Kings Bastard swords of Haste/Vampires, Awe/Stars plates ... etc. OTOH, since you can gain life/mana only by leeching from monsters, with Ultra Pure chars should be quite hard to find solid leeching weapons. And that would be annoying.
I play PL-distrustful chars with my friends and its fun. BUT its fun solo too. There is not problem to clear whatever location you want, so you can look for items wherever you want and whenever you have free time. Game can be fast but its challenging all the time. You can restart in town and grab your items back, but .... well, you dont have lot of HP after resurrect, right? And no mana for healing, telekinesis, SC or whatever. Believe or not, this "sober" style brings another dimension in playing style.
So far, I have found just 2 problems:
1) Its not good for mages. I dont say its not playable, but its really not fast and smooth game then
2) Jumping into Diablo's room is not a good option. Youll kill nothing and die. And leeching your life and mana will cost you so much time that its not worthy.
BTW:
Maybe is that "distrustful" rule mentioned above known for ages and I just do not know about it.
So now I look like stupid - explaining something well known. In fact it doesnt matter. Just if you will look for some fun with Diablo, give it a chance. Those who like powerfull but still challenging chars and fast gameplay would like it.
Hariel:
Im sorry I post it here, but I meant it like an option for players, who wants play solo as well.
I wish you and your group mates lot of fun with [PaiN] characters. It doesnt matter, that some players do not think Its funny and good variant. Important is, that you KNOW it is ;-)