02-25-2003, 10:00 PM
Hi,
It is the trade off in the equipment that makes most of the difference. For instance, an Arty mage would have a Thinking Cap (reinforced by a couple of Hidden Shrines), NAJ's light (paper) plate, and an Arch-angels staff of something (wizardry is a typical choice). That brings the spell levels of everything to 20. It also means that you have effectively no armor in hell. You'll stop as many attacks naked as with this get up.
A tank mage, OTOH, needs good armor. But good armor has a strength requirement. So, you typically give up all five bonus to your spell levels to get the AC, the resists, etc.
In reality, it doesn't much matter except for speed. A naked mage or even a beyond naked mage can do a 3@30, so any additional support from equipment is inessential -- just icing on the cake.
Basically, the same is true of the other playing styles, except that rogues and warriors need equipment more than do mages. But, in every case, it is a trade of one thing for another. So that a warrior can try for sufficient AC to get good protection in hell/hell or he can try for enough dex to get good blocking. And so forth.
The details take many pages to get into, and some of the trades are matters of opinion and still debated amongst the various proponents of various styles. A good place for more info is the strategy section of the Lounge http://www.lurkerlounge.com/diablo/strategy/ Bolty's High-Level Warrior Strategy Guide and Low-AC Warrior and Equipment Guide cover the two main warrior styles.
Claudio's pages have a fair bit on Rogue styles. The controversy about who "discovered" them does not negate their usefulness. Claudio's pages are at http://www.claudiospage.com/ Just follow the D1 link and look at the guides.
There are many other sites that have info. Some are now dead. But the links from the lounge are a good place to start. And hopefully some of the other Lurkers still have good sites bookmarked and will share.
--Pete
It is the trade off in the equipment that makes most of the difference. For instance, an Arty mage would have a Thinking Cap (reinforced by a couple of Hidden Shrines), NAJ's light (paper) plate, and an Arch-angels staff of something (wizardry is a typical choice). That brings the spell levels of everything to 20. It also means that you have effectively no armor in hell. You'll stop as many attacks naked as with this get up.
A tank mage, OTOH, needs good armor. But good armor has a strength requirement. So, you typically give up all five bonus to your spell levels to get the AC, the resists, etc.
In reality, it doesn't much matter except for speed. A naked mage or even a beyond naked mage can do a 3@30, so any additional support from equipment is inessential -- just icing on the cake.
Basically, the same is true of the other playing styles, except that rogues and warriors need equipment more than do mages. But, in every case, it is a trade of one thing for another. So that a warrior can try for sufficient AC to get good protection in hell/hell or he can try for enough dex to get good blocking. And so forth.
The details take many pages to get into, and some of the trades are matters of opinion and still debated amongst the various proponents of various styles. A good place for more info is the strategy section of the Lounge http://www.lurkerlounge.com/diablo/strategy/ Bolty's High-Level Warrior Strategy Guide and Low-AC Warrior and Equipment Guide cover the two main warrior styles.
Claudio's pages have a fair bit on Rogue styles. The controversy about who "discovered" them does not negate their usefulness. Claudio's pages are at http://www.claudiospage.com/ Just follow the D1 link and look at the guides.
There are many other sites that have info. Some are now dead. But the links from the lounge are a good place to start. And hopefully some of the other Lurkers still have good sites bookmarked and will share.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?