05-25-2004, 07:12 AM
Well. I don't say I don't understand what you're saying. I just can't see the point.
Diablo2 is a game. It was built so that people have fun with it. Any constraints imposed on them would reduce the fun factor. (Mind you, I DID suggest a few years ago that one should be unable to take a TP from a map location they had not yet visited, since this would give a solution to all the no-rush! cries out there, but it does not mean I agree with myself :P).
Higher level monsters should give you more exp and have better drops. Were this not so, everyone would be killing the easier monsters. It just happens to be, that the Baal runs contain a large number of very high level monsters, so people do it. But I still don't see the problem.
The best change in 1.10, at least for me, is the increased frequency and better quality of drops. And even though I am struggling with the no-enigma problem, I am actually rather glad that runes are so rare. See, what we have here is that runes became the currency (again, talking about ladder here), and you can buy the top-notch items with them. My IST would buy me ANY unique or SET in the game (with the exception of SOJ, TYRAEL or AZURE), and I am rather glad of it. You can "fall back" to using grandfather if you (like me) can't afford BotD, Doom or Beast. And yes, the game is not "unique", but the economy works. Sort of. So again, I don't see the problem.
There is a priblem, however. And it does relate to 'runs'. This problem is the lack of long-lasting games: most games last only 5 minutes these days, and if you want to have fun, you'll have to adapt to this. There are solutions to this issue as well, by the way:
Diablo2 is a game. It was built so that people have fun with it. Any constraints imposed on them would reduce the fun factor. (Mind you, I DID suggest a few years ago that one should be unable to take a TP from a map location they had not yet visited, since this would give a solution to all the no-rush! cries out there, but it does not mean I agree with myself :P).
Quote:Click the "join" button in Hell difficulty today, and the vast majority of games will have some form of the word "cow" in their name.Well, I play Europe. The common word in game titles now is "Baal", the terms "Enigma" "Teleport" and "BO" added to it as appropriate. And while it's not so easy as the cow games used to be, it certainly is tedious. However, how would you solve this?
Higher level monsters should give you more exp and have better drops. Were this not so, everyone would be killing the easier monsters. It just happens to be, that the Baal runs contain a large number of very high level monsters, so people do it. But I still don't see the problem.
Quote:Uniques are not unique.No kidding? Well, at least in 1.10 uniques are not always the most powerful items, however they are the cheap, reliable solutions. The cream are the runewords (I'd sell my soul for an Engima, for example, whereas I failed to buy a Gladiators for 5 PGems yesterday), they are THE best armors and weapons the game has to offer, but they are rather hard to come by (it's Ladder we're talking here). Some high-end rares have a chance of outperforming even runewords (see Electricblue's were guide for examples), but they are so insanely rare that they should not even be considered. And there come the uniqes.
The best change in 1.10, at least for me, is the increased frequency and better quality of drops. And even though I am struggling with the no-enigma problem, I am actually rather glad that runes are so rare. See, what we have here is that runes became the currency (again, talking about ladder here), and you can buy the top-notch items with them. My IST would buy me ANY unique or SET in the game (with the exception of SOJ, TYRAEL or AZURE), and I am rather glad of it. You can "fall back" to using grandfather if you (like me) can't afford BotD, Doom or Beast. And yes, the game is not "unique", but the economy works. Sort of. So again, I don't see the problem.
There is a priblem, however. And it does relate to 'runs'. This problem is the lack of long-lasting games: most games last only 5 minutes these days, and if you want to have fun, you'll have to adapt to this. There are solutions to this issue as well, by the way:
- Join a run, and do your work while the others do their runs. You quit with them, join the next game, and continue where you left off -- or at the last wp.
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- Try the AB games. I myself never did; but they have a good reputation.
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- Play with friends. When we "mf" with my friends, it's always the three of us (usually with 4+ characters) doing private Hell clears of 4 act bosses and Mausoleum, Pit, you name it. It's a lot less tedious, thus more fun, and the grabbing is less intense as well.<>
[st]
Ok, but it would be pretty much pointless to have wasted half an hour replying if all I said was that "your problems are no problems", so here, some solutions to your issues as well.
Lightsabre
While I was attempting to get a Mavina's Diadem yesterday, I met a person who needed perfect gems (charm rerollers own). Since I have a gem mule, we set up a private game, and I traded a characterfull of gems. For that, among other things, I got a Lightsabre, Duriels, Tal's mask/belt, 67% Kira, Jade talon, Barctuc's and some other tasty items. It's easy and convenient, and you can get gems easily:
Avoiding rushes
I also have a Lightning Fury amazon. They were claimed to be less powerful these days, so I was going to give one a try. She is awesome, and is doing cows like there's no tomorrow. While the drops and the exp has been nerfed, it is a great place to find white/gray items and, yes, PGems as well as jewels and charms.
The key is, that you play in Baal games. I can clear the cow level during one baal game if I don't stop to look at the loot. This is essential since I can solo-8 the cow level, and the drops are better. Then after everyone left, I walk around the dead meat, collect the items I need (or want to sell for gold), fetch another leg, and join another Baal game. To ensure one's privacy it is advised to trap the Red, it is certainly a nasty thing to do and no respectable D2 player would resort to this (ahem).
I hope that helped.