12-03-2004, 12:22 PM
Hi w0qj,
first of all, the new rune color in the latest Mod update has nothing to do with their rarity ;) An AMN rune, which is now the first rune that gets the golden "unique" color, still drops fairly often (depending on the game difficulty you're playing in). It's just that all runes up to THUL can not be considered as very "valuable", and therefore AMN (featuring 7% life leech) is the first rune that now drops with golden letters.
You're right that the rune drops have been lowered, but high runes still drop frequently. This fine-tuning had to be done because the game would otherwise be too easy. Consider that the Mod - with removed Immunities for normal mobs in Hell difficulty - is generally much better to play in single-player than the original 1.10 game, regardless of the equipment quality, and that the quality of all other item drops (rare, set, unique) and gambling chances have been improved significantly as well. Gambling rare items is actually still a bit too good, because the affix quality has been generally improved, but I'll leave it as it is to avoid a negative effect on the rare item drops from monsters. Act bosses always have their "master drop" now, the Travincal Council or the five Baal Minion packs in the Throne Room, for example, drop very well again, and ten additional superunique boss monsters have been added too, so that your overall chances are very good. If you are especially after higher runes up to LO, then try Countess runs (in Act 1). In Normal difficulty, the Countess has a very good chance to drop up to IO, in Nightmare up to UM, and in Hell up to LO. The Hellforge Quest, whose rune drops are unfortunately hardcoded in the game, pales in comparison ;) Countess runs are very easy in single-player, because the automap through the 5 Tower levels always remains the same until you switch the game difficulty. Also, good runes drop in all acts of the game, so you should try other acts if you think your drops in one act start to decrease. I've just recently played a Meteorb HC Sorceress from scratch in the latest version of my Mod, and she now uses a "Heart of the Oak" Flail after a bunch of Hell Countess runs. Uber-items that use a CHAM or ZOD rune still require a high time investment, but believe me, that investment is much, much lower than in the original game ;)
first of all, the new rune color in the latest Mod update has nothing to do with their rarity ;) An AMN rune, which is now the first rune that gets the golden "unique" color, still drops fairly often (depending on the game difficulty you're playing in). It's just that all runes up to THUL can not be considered as very "valuable", and therefore AMN (featuring 7% life leech) is the first rune that now drops with golden letters.
You're right that the rune drops have been lowered, but high runes still drop frequently. This fine-tuning had to be done because the game would otherwise be too easy. Consider that the Mod - with removed Immunities for normal mobs in Hell difficulty - is generally much better to play in single-player than the original 1.10 game, regardless of the equipment quality, and that the quality of all other item drops (rare, set, unique) and gambling chances have been improved significantly as well. Gambling rare items is actually still a bit too good, because the affix quality has been generally improved, but I'll leave it as it is to avoid a negative effect on the rare item drops from monsters. Act bosses always have their "master drop" now, the Travincal Council or the five Baal Minion packs in the Throne Room, for example, drop very well again, and ten additional superunique boss monsters have been added too, so that your overall chances are very good. If you are especially after higher runes up to LO, then try Countess runs (in Act 1). In Normal difficulty, the Countess has a very good chance to drop up to IO, in Nightmare up to UM, and in Hell up to LO. The Hellforge Quest, whose rune drops are unfortunately hardcoded in the game, pales in comparison ;) Countess runs are very easy in single-player, because the automap through the 5 Tower levels always remains the same until you switch the game difficulty. Also, good runes drop in all acts of the game, so you should try other acts if you think your drops in one act start to decrease. I've just recently played a Meteorb HC Sorceress from scratch in the latest version of my Mod, and she now uses a "Heart of the Oak" Flail after a bunch of Hell Countess runs. Uber-items that use a CHAM or ZOD rune still require a high time investment, but believe me, that investment is much, much lower than in the original game ;)
"Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays." -- Friedrich von Schiller