Median XL Forums

[Taem]

I've seen you posting over at MXL forums. Wanted to ask, what do you think of Ultimative and the development of Sigma?

So far it looks very promising. I've quit D2 so many times and restarted, that I know I'll play again when Sigma is released. But:

I don't have my hopes up too much. Hard to follow up from Laz's work. MarcoNecro is really adjusting a lot of the gameplay.

This. He will have a lot of balance issues to deal with. It took Laz... years to get MXL 2012 to the point it is at now. The way Marco is changing things are super exciting to be sure, but remind me a lot of when MXL was being created and all the growing pains it had. There will be overpowered items, monsters, skills, etc the first few patches of Sigma... of this you can be absolutely sure! How do you balance the 128-extra uber levels Marco is wanting to add? I think the experience needs to be ramped back down to 1.A-1.Z levels, because as of now, I hit clvl 120 by Act 1 Destruction (I don't use maphack or anything like it, so it takes me awhile to find my way around); on that note, I almost couldn't complete my clvl 90 challenge, and not from lack of trying, but from gaining too much experience just casually playing the game. That's absurd! Part of the joy of D2 is in the grind, not just for farming gear, but getting to the next level of excellence, and while Laz may have balanced 2012 perfectly, Ultimative has way more content to explore and consequently, the experience gained per content is way too high! This, IMO detracts greatly from the game; it's a mistake Laz implemented that I hope Marco corrects. But enough about my experience rant; more to the point:

I think all the new features will be exciting to play, but to be perfectly honest here, I'm not sure I can stomach another round with D2 unless Marco drastically alters the game, and for me that means Multires must work. Without some better graphics, I honestly don't think I'll even give Sigma a try sadly. But there's a lot of talk going around, and if multires works for Sigma, for me that would be the biggest factor in me picking it up since I've yet to get multires working correctly with d2se and PlugY (which are basically requirements for playing D2 now, IMO ). Ultimately though, talk is talk and Laz had a lot of great ideas too, so until I see some fruit from this idea tree, I'll still have doubts. I love what Marco is doing with the mercs - what a fantastic idea! I'm not sure how I feel about removing the max resists aspect Laz built up, but we'll see how that goes, however if Marco is putting them on new charms in new uber levels, then it makes more sense. Reducing run speed is a good idea. Hell, I like all his ideas! But to reiterate, my prediction is first few patches will be a bumpy ride.

Note: I'm sitting next to my daughter begging me to play Moto Storm in 3D at full blast so I'm have a tremendously difficult time concentrating on this post so I hope I don't sound retarded while posting it - fingers crossed !