12-25-2005, 11:15 PM
Hi, diablo1ks,
I suspect some of us here still miss the DSF, though the LL & the DSF Community have filled in ably.
Just a few comments about miscellaneous issues.
In case you haven't heard this history:
Diablo was actually created by a small development company called Condor. Blizzard saw a pre-release version of Diablo, and was impressed enough with the game to buy Condor and the rights to the game. Condor was renamed 'Blizzard North' and proceeded to finish the game, but with some additions that Blizzard insisted on. Originally, Condor envisioned Diablo to be solely a SP experience, at a sole difficulty, but Blizzard insisted that MP capability be added.
Thus, the reason playing SP at higher diff. levels is a pain is because that is not really a "feature" - it is more in the nature of an oversight or laziness. The programmers either forgot to, or just decided not to, put in code to prevent end-users from using this little undocumented 'trick.'
Most players, when they feel that SP has gotten boring, move to MP, or solo-MP. Solo-MP, in case you hadn't heard of this, is playing in the MP game by yourself - and you don't even have to be hooked up to the internet to do it. Ummm, I'll be lazy and quote from my glossary, rather than rewrite the info:
"This refers to playing MP by yourself; this can even be done without being hooked up to the Internet by choosing among either the IPX, Modem, or Direct Cable Connection choices. However, note that using the Modem setting can interfere with incoming voice calls!! [I found out the hard way; my 80+ year-old mother was baffled (and not amused!) by that screeching sound she kept getting when she called me :) ]
So, if you want to use the modem setting, it's best to unplug the phone line from your modem first. Also, I believe for the IPX setting to work, you have to have some basic Windows networking modules loaded, even if you aren't hooked up to a LAN. Thus, the Direct Cable Connection seems to be the best choice, but many people use one of the other two."
Solo-MP offers several advantages over SP. For one, the monster density is higher, so each diff. level is inherently harder, and, IIRC, leveling is thus slightly faster. Two, the entrances to the different parts of the dungeon are always open, as long as you are a certain minimum clvl. Hmmm, it's been so long since I wrote about this, the other advantages won't come to mind at the moment... :blush: Well, I suspect others will be glad to remind me. :D
On the other hand, drawbacks include fewer quests and no 'full' save (i.e., the entire state of the dungeon is not saved, like in SP; only the state of your character is saved under certain conditions - or when you exit the game).
Now, personally, I've always rather liked SP, I feel the quests add a lot to the texture of the game (though I certainly spent a lot of time playing solo-MP after my initial play-through, after I found the DSF). The last couple of playing periods I had with Diablo, I focused on the Immortal Hero variant, which is more appropriate for SP than MP. Heroes only have one life, as well as spell and equipment restrictions (yet the rule list is much shorter than for most other variants). So, if you get bored with regular SP, and aren't ready to move on to the MP environment, or after you are bored with that too, consider coming back to SP and trying an Immortal Hero (basic rules are on my website, in a DSF post by Pete).
Oh, and in regards to age of posters here, you might want to check out the DSF Breakdown, in the "Oldies but Goldies" section of the Archive of Chaos on my website. I think that version was done a few months to a year before the DSF was canceled, so it's what, 3-4 years old now? Hmmm, does anyone remember just when the DSF WAS canceled? My memory of the date of it's demise is getting hazy... Mirajj made a couple of attempts to update it in regards to those who continued to post on the LL (and add new posters), but, AFAIK, no compiled documents ever got posted after the threads about updating.
I hope this info is helpful or interesting.
Regards,
Dako-ta
Newbies are invited to check out my website, which includes a Glossary of slang, jargon, and acronyms used here, plus other useful stuff like SoulToucher's handy-dandy Experience Point Table, several guides, etc.
http://home.att.net/~diablo.miscellanea/
diablo1ks,May 16 2003, 08:29 PM Wrote:... I feel that I really missed out when the old blizzard diablo forum was about and want to catch up on as much as i can now !
I'm not sure how old you guys are but i'm only 14 giving me a lot of time to take part in diablo at home and at school when my I.T teacher isn't looking (lol) and i hope to be well known on the future of this forum.
So glad diablo1 lives on and I'm proud of the community that keep it this way.
[right][snapback]10813[/snapback][/right]
I suspect some of us here still miss the DSF, though the LL & the DSF Community have filled in ably.
Just a few comments about miscellaneous issues.
In case you haven't heard this history:
Diablo was actually created by a small development company called Condor. Blizzard saw a pre-release version of Diablo, and was impressed enough with the game to buy Condor and the rights to the game. Condor was renamed 'Blizzard North' and proceeded to finish the game, but with some additions that Blizzard insisted on. Originally, Condor envisioned Diablo to be solely a SP experience, at a sole difficulty, but Blizzard insisted that MP capability be added.
Thus, the reason playing SP at higher diff. levels is a pain is because that is not really a "feature" - it is more in the nature of an oversight or laziness. The programmers either forgot to, or just decided not to, put in code to prevent end-users from using this little undocumented 'trick.'
Most players, when they feel that SP has gotten boring, move to MP, or solo-MP. Solo-MP, in case you hadn't heard of this, is playing in the MP game by yourself - and you don't even have to be hooked up to the internet to do it. Ummm, I'll be lazy and quote from my glossary, rather than rewrite the info:
"This refers to playing MP by yourself; this can even be done without being hooked up to the Internet by choosing among either the IPX, Modem, or Direct Cable Connection choices. However, note that using the Modem setting can interfere with incoming voice calls!! [I found out the hard way; my 80+ year-old mother was baffled (and not amused!) by that screeching sound she kept getting when she called me :) ]
So, if you want to use the modem setting, it's best to unplug the phone line from your modem first. Also, I believe for the IPX setting to work, you have to have some basic Windows networking modules loaded, even if you aren't hooked up to a LAN. Thus, the Direct Cable Connection seems to be the best choice, but many people use one of the other two."
Solo-MP offers several advantages over SP. For one, the monster density is higher, so each diff. level is inherently harder, and, IIRC, leveling is thus slightly faster. Two, the entrances to the different parts of the dungeon are always open, as long as you are a certain minimum clvl. Hmmm, it's been so long since I wrote about this, the other advantages won't come to mind at the moment... :blush: Well, I suspect others will be glad to remind me. :D
On the other hand, drawbacks include fewer quests and no 'full' save (i.e., the entire state of the dungeon is not saved, like in SP; only the state of your character is saved under certain conditions - or when you exit the game).
Now, personally, I've always rather liked SP, I feel the quests add a lot to the texture of the game (though I certainly spent a lot of time playing solo-MP after my initial play-through, after I found the DSF). The last couple of playing periods I had with Diablo, I focused on the Immortal Hero variant, which is more appropriate for SP than MP. Heroes only have one life, as well as spell and equipment restrictions (yet the rule list is much shorter than for most other variants). So, if you get bored with regular SP, and aren't ready to move on to the MP environment, or after you are bored with that too, consider coming back to SP and trying an Immortal Hero (basic rules are on my website, in a DSF post by Pete).
Oh, and in regards to age of posters here, you might want to check out the DSF Breakdown, in the "Oldies but Goldies" section of the Archive of Chaos on my website. I think that version was done a few months to a year before the DSF was canceled, so it's what, 3-4 years old now? Hmmm, does anyone remember just when the DSF WAS canceled? My memory of the date of it's demise is getting hazy... Mirajj made a couple of attempts to update it in regards to those who continued to post on the LL (and add new posters), but, AFAIK, no compiled documents ever got posted after the threads about updating.
I hope this info is helpful or interesting.
Regards,
Dako-ta
Newbies are invited to check out my website, which includes a Glossary of slang, jargon, and acronyms used here, plus other useful stuff like SoulToucher's handy-dandy Experience Point Table, several guides, etc.
http://home.att.net/~diablo.miscellanea/