My Unofficial Hellfire 1.02 Mod

[Belix]

In HF vanilla, iirc Accuracy and Sharpness oils effects were not permanent, they would reset when you leave the session and start a new game. Does this mod make it permanent? If it does, I think that's actually a good thing.

You know, I thought they were permanent now in an earlier post, but I realize this must of been because I stashed the item I had used the oils on; the stash will preserve oil effects between games, however, having them in your inventory will not. Changing the items to retain oil effects might be possible with some advanced code alterations (perhaps using extra bytes that are always 00's in the item's trans or check codes, and having the code read those as oil applications might work), but that's quite a ways over my head at this time.

So for now permanent oil effects are just an unintended side-effect of the Stash feature each of us has to decide if we want to use or ignore. My concern with permanent oil effects is that it allows some characters that already do insane amounts of damage (remember, Barbarians, Bards and Monks can triple hit) to get even more, but also might break the spirit of some items that rely on low damage output. Imagine a Gnat Sting that does 1-31 damage (if I remember oil maximums correctly).

I agree the Warrior is one of the most gear dependant character classes, and Diablo's reliance on random items makes getting some of the top end stuff you need for Hell difficulty a bit tedious. Thankfully Griswold selling more than 6 items now expediates the shopping process a bit.

Gnat Sting aiming and use is a bit tricky, but it's a pretty devastating weapon... It's basically a shotgun of doom.

It's true the Gnat Sting becomes a fearsome short-range weapon when you add in the Rogue's character damage to all 3 arrows, and if Fast Attack did actually make it shoot faster I share the concern that it might become a bit too powerful. It would need some testing.

That said, let me explain why I said Gnat Sting isn't an amazing weapon. While it is arguably one of the best unique bows, it isn't outstanding anywhere but up close when you compare it against some of the best magical bows in the game. A Merciless Bow of Burning or Thunder can sometimes put out better damage than Gnat Sting up close, and almost always more at a distance.

Here's some stats to back that up in the form of approximate damage output of a Rogue using various bows; these assume a Level 50 Rogue with max base STR and DEX but with no bonuses from items, and a perfect Merciless Long War Bow with +175% damage. Note that the values displayed for elemental damage in the game are wildly incorrect; using information from Jarulf's wonderful guide, I can calculate the real numbers since elemental arrows can hit multiple times (9 and 7, respectively) and are further multiplied by damage bonuses (e.g. Merciless makes it even stronger).

Approx damage output of Level 50 Rogue with max base STR and DEX:
Gnat Sting:
Damage Range: 78-237 physical (78-79 per arrow)
Damage Average, 1 Hit: 78
Damage Average, 2 Hits: 155
Damage Average, 3 Hits: 235

Merciless Long War Bow of Burning:
Damage Range: 79-116 physical, 0-396 fire
Damage Average, vs Immune: 97
Damage Average, vs Resistant: 147
Damage Average, vs No Resist: 295

Merciless Long War Bow of Thunder:
Damage Range: 79-116 physical, 0-385 lightning
Damage Average, vs Immune: 97
Damage Average, vs Resistant: 145
Damage Average, vs No Resist: 290


As you can see, the Gnat Sting does pack a decent bite for high level Rogues at short range, but vs non-resists an elemental bow still does more damage than Gnat's triple hit and is easier to aim. From afar where multiple hits are increasingly unlikely, elemental bows can still put out consistently better damage vs immunes, and easily double Gnat Sting's damage if the monsters are only resistant.

And if the Rogue's damage output with any of these bows seems unreasonably high, remember that she'll still take several shots to down a single enemy, whereas a Sorcerer can clear a whole room full of threats with a couple spell casts.

Overall however, some very interesting ideas. It's great to see people having interest and putting work in HF.

Haha, thanks. I'm sure someone out there would think I'm crazy to have spent hours on this stuff, and I certainly wouldn't blame them. Diablo came out in 1996, over 17 years ago. But it remains one of my favorite games after all this time and is still fun to play. I have a very tall stack of other PC games that I haven't installed in years, so the handful of games like Diablo that live on are special indeed. Since I figure I'll still be playing them on and off years from now, they're well worth a little care and polish to me.