D2 veteran tries his hand at D1

[monkeycid]

I recently re-installed my Diablo II after having it sit on a shelf for 4-6 years or so, but now after playing Diablo II alot I wanted to play the game that spawned it a bit more seriously (and hopefully also in nightmare or hell; I wasn't aware of the multiplayer diff trick for singleplayer until recently).

By the way, I'm playing a Sorcerer online with *monkeycid on Europe. If you happen to be on Europe someday, drop me a message :)

Some things that's been puzzling me:

I found a King's War Staff of Speed in normal/hell (can't remember the dlvl). Very nice weapon for my sorcerer - with stonecurse I could kill advocate-types with just two hits, saving alot of mana (Mana is cheap, but town trips are boring :) ). I was very happy with this weapon and blessed my luck (I thought I'd have to wait til nm/hell or so to find King weapons). It disappeared later though - I had put it on the ground next to my TP (I needed the handspace to carry an item I intended to sell). When I'd done my stuff in town, I started to walk back to the TP. I clicked on the TP when I was 4 squares away from it. One square away from the TP i realized "doh, I forgot my staff" and clicked on it. I saw it spin in the air due to no room, then I entered the TP due to the earlier click. When I returned to town, the staff was gone :( argh, anyone know why?

Atleast the game had some decency and compensated me; when I killed laz'n gang, I got a Naj's Puzzler and an Eaglehorn. yay! :)

Since I found a King weapon in normal/hell, does that mean that drops doesn't improve in the later difficulties? I've understood that King is the best damage prefix, so...

Some questions about mageness:

I beat diablo in Normal yesterday (with my level 26 mage, heh. I've understood that's a very high number for D in normal? I've just played the game through with a replay of Dlvl 14 and 15...), and now I'm starting Nightmare. I'm mainly using Fireball, Chain Lightning, Stone Curse, Guardian and Fire Wall. (gee, that sounds unique eh? ). First I went to the church, but there it was far too easy. I popped down to hell, and I'm holding my own with a little difficulty (though it's slow killing, with ~7 shots per monster). What are the "recommended" spell levels (roughly) for hopping around in nm/hell? Maybe I should play in nm/caves or nm/cats instead of going straight to hell?

Also, what spell levels (again, roughly) is recommended for hell/hell?

More noobish questions to come later; answers greatly appreciated! :)

Yes, I've read the guide, and I've read many different guides. I just couldn't find answers for this specific context

Cheers!

Monkeycid

[LennyLen]

One square away from the TP i realized "doh, I forgot my staff" and clicked on it. I saw it spin in the air due to no room, then I entered the TP due to the earlier click. When I returned to town, the staff was gone  argh, anyone know why?

This is a reasonably well known bug. It's very annoying and the only way to sop is to be careful when picking up items near your TP.

Since I found a King weapon in normal/hell, does that mean that drops doesn't improve in the later difficulties? I've understood that King is the best damage prefix, so...

You are correct, the drops will not improve with later difficulties. At least not in the lower levels of the dungeon. There are a couple of items that can only drop on the very early levels of NM and Hell difficulty however.

The highest +damage prefix is actually Merciless, which can reach up to +175% damage, compared to the maximum +100% damage of King's. Generally, King's is preferred however as it also greatly increases to-hit as well.

What are the "recommended" spell levels (roughly) for hopping around in nm/hell?

Also, what spell levels (again, roughly) is recommended for hell/hell?

Sorry, I can't help you here... I just always go with whatever slvls I have by then, and it usually seems to work out. :)

[monkeycid]

This is a reasonably well known bug.  It's very annoying and the only way to sop is to be careful when picking up items near your TP.

Aw, I read the buglist carefully but didn't see any bug like that :/ Unless this one includes the one I described. Items come and go I guess. Now, had it been a Bastard Sword, I'd be screaming for blood :P

Sorry, I can't help you here... I just always go with whatever slvls I have by then, and it usually seems to work out. :)

That's what I'll do :)

[LennyLen]

Aw, I read the buglist carefully but didn't see any bug like that :/ Unless this one includes the one I described.

I've had the same thing occur to me on Single Player, so it must be a seperate bug, as the one you referred to is caused by lag. Actually, I have this happen to me a fair bit, as I'm rather clumsy with my rodent.

[Draconis]

The highest +damage prefix is actually Merciless, which can reach up to +175% damage, compared to the maximum +100% damage of King's. Generally, King's is preferred however as it also greatly increases to-hit as well.

Hmm. Merciless is indeed +175% damage...and yet Kings has a maximum of +100% to hit and a maximum damage of 175% yet again.

[--Pete]

Hi,

I saw it spin in the air due to no room, then I entered the TP due to the earlier click. When I returned to town, the staff was gone argh, anyone know why?

I think what happens in situations like this is that the staff goes into the air where you enter the portal and drops on the level where you exit the portal. However, its location on the destination level is determined by the coordinates on the departure level.

So, if you were to do this on the way to town, the item would end somewhere on the town "level", but could be in a building or in some region of rocks that is inaccessible. I've had this happen, and the item shows up when you pass your cursor over it, but since you can't cast spells in town the item can't be retrieved, even with a TK spell.

Since it sounds as if you did this in town, the staff should have ended up on the level the portal was going to. Had you spent some time looking for the staff, odds are you would have found it. Better luck next time.

--Pete