Completely Sad..

[Kharohz]

Being bored out of my mind, due to playing Diablo2 1.09 ><. (I wish that patch would come out!!)

I went and did something pointless. I created a new account, then made a holy fire pally. From there I collected 40 chipped gems. This took me an hour or so. The pally reached level 13 when I was done.

So next I went to the Gem trade channels to see what horrific (I refuse to trade these days, ask anyone I play with) item exchanges are these days. So I sit here with a lvl 13 pally, untweaked, with an hour of use and 40 chipped gems.

My first offer is an Ith hydra bow. ITH, someone had to insult me enough to offer ITH! To a lurker! (He only wanted 30 chipped gems)

So I accept the offer, I take the bow and kindly socket it with .. chipped gems! Suitable I would think. Next my quest is to personalize it with some insulting name of some sort. Then sell it to Nihlathak, find the traitor and quickly kill him, thus totally destroying the bow!

Anyways, I sure hope to hell that blizzard does a good job at killing off these bastard hackers/cheaters ><

[Kasreyn]

I'm completely ignorant of post-LOD complications in D2. I know an Ith is one of the runes, and I suppose a Hydra Bow is an exceptional or elite item. But what's with the chipped gems? Has some cube recipe come up that suddenly makes them valuable again?

(On that topic, one thing I *do* like about D2 is the Horadric Cube system. Particularly the way it allows Blizzard a cool way to alter the relative values of items - by releasing new cube recipies.)

I'm kind of torn, actually. One part of me sticks with my old determined stance - refusal to update my D2 version as a personal stance against game designers constantly changing the rules on me. The other part of me wants to get LOD (and thus the built-in 1.09 upgrade) because it looks so cool. Damn Blizzard! Damn them I say! ^_^;

-Kasreyn

[Brista]

"Ith" is a cheat bow. They're called Iths because that is one of the runes that was put in it then stripped out

It was made by a loophole which is now fixed

Basically you made Silence in the bow and stripped the runes out leaving a Silence elite bow with 6 empty sockets

Glad to see one destroyed :)

[DralaFi]

It most likely was a dupe as well. 30 chipped gems for an ITH Hydra bow is ... well how can I put this ... like buying a brand new Diablo (the car not the game or satanic figure) for a penny.

But its a good thing thats it gone now.

I am so disgusted whenever i go to the popular channels. All you see is ads from people, maybe and most likely bots, saying things like "www.somed2website.com Buy 2 ITH's, get one Free, OMFG!" or "Never stopping, never tiring, never late, www.somesite.com, 24 hour delivery or its free", or "www.somesite.com, Buy yourself decent items, Be Godly, price break at $35, $60".

Then there's the Hex, the white and all the other f**ked up stuff out there right now.

What has happened to playing games like they were entended to be played? Where cheating doesn't exist ...

[DeeBye]

But what's with the chipped gems? Has some cube recipe come up that suddenly makes them valuable again?

3 chipped gems + magical sword = magical sword of the same base type with random affixes plus 3 sockets.

It's a powerful cube recipe, to be sure.

With it, you can buy any crappy magical Colossus Blade and cube away with 3 chipped gems. If you get lucky, you might get a Cruel Colossus Blade with huge damage and 3 empty sockets (and maybe even a decent suffix). All you need is a lot of chipped gems.

"Cruel" can only spawn with a few sword base types (Colossus Blade, Colossus Sword, Champion Sword, and I forget the rest) with this recipe. I'm sure someone will fill in the blanks shortly.


-DeeBye

[FenrisWulf]

Mythical, Cryptic, and Conquest Swords are the other three swords that can spawn the Cruel prefix through the chipped gem recipe.

[Kharohz]

Oh I haven't gotten rid of the bow yet.. I haven't personalized it or found 3 other chipped gems, (Trying to get a gem of each color, but not skull)

When I am done I shall post a screenshot of the horrid bow (personalized of course)..

Then I will quickly destroy it! It is a quest I hope when I finish 1.10 will be out! Yay..

[Mikedok]

I think that the prices for iths have gone way down. A few months ago someone offered me a clean ith Colossus Blade for an um rune. This was several months ago, so I'm not surprised that you can get one for chips now. I haven't really traded anything since I was offered that sword, so I can't give any more current info.

I didn't think of accepting the offer and destroying the sword. I would have if it had occured to me.

Good idea. :)

Edit: This was in hardcore. I'm not sure if iths are more or less expensive in hardcore then in softcore.

[Striker]

"Ith" is a cheat bow. They're called Iths because that is one of the runes that was put in it then stripped out

They're called "Iths" because that is what's displayed when you highlight the item. Apparently the code defaults "de-Runeworded" items to "Ith". It doesn't have anything to do with the runes that are placed in the item. Silence is usually the "standard" one to use, and it doesn't use Ith for its recipe.

[Striker]

But what's with the chipped gems?&nbsp; Has some cube recipe come up that suddenly makes them valuable again?

Well, I believe that Isolde mentioned somewhere in one of the 1.10 threads that the chip recipe can be used with any magic item. So I guess chips will be even more valuable when the patch comes out.

[Kharohz]

Heres the screenshot :)

http://home.triad.rr.com/kharohz/desecratedith.jpg

That was fun to do...

Now *hits delete on char*

[Ruvanal]

Well, I believe that Isolde mentioned somewhere in one of the 1.10 threads that the chip recipe can be used with any magic item.&nbsp; So I guess chips will be even more valuable when the patch comes out.

It was mentioned that the formula would work with any weapon now and that the formula was "changed". What does this actually mean? Hard to say, but here is what the formula looked like in previous versions.

v1.00 to v1.06
6 gems/skull (any type and quality) + 1 sword (any type) => socketed long sword
this was a normal Long Sword with 3 sockets

v1.07 & v1.08
3 chipped gems + 1 sword -> magic, socketable long sword (3 sockets)
note that the output was only a Long Sword and not any other type

v1.09
3 chipped gems + 1 sword -> magic, socketable sword (max of 3 sockets depending on what is allowed on the sword)
This formula was the first to start returning a sword using the same item code as input sword.

For what they are changing? Maybe higher quality gems? Probably at least another item like a 1-space jewel or a rune to make it not quite so easy to use the formula? If the do increase the the items needed to do the formula, hopefully they kept it so that you could put a 2x4 item in along with all the other ingrediants.

[Striker]

It was mentioned that the formula would work with any weapon now and that the formula was "changed".

So are you saying then that the "original" code for 1.10 had it so that 3 chips and any magic weapon would work (like it currently does for swords), and that the "current" 1.10 code is slightly altered (maybe to match what you suggested)?

[Brista]

No he's referring to a comment from a Blizzard programmer in an interview with Diabloii.net

The programmer said he had changed the ingredients for the new version and extended it to cover other weapons

[whereagles]

Yeah.. expanding the recipe to other weapons is ok.

BUT... allowing the `Cruel' prefix to appear in the top items is a VERY, VERY BAD IDEA. They should change the default ilev to 20 instead of 30. `Ferocious' should be the top, and even then I have my doubts :)

[Ruvanal]

Yeah.. expanding the recipe to other weapons is ok.

BUT... allowing the `Cruel' prefix to appear in the top items is a VERY, VERY BAD IDEA. They should change the default ilev to 20 instead of 30. `Ferocious' should be the top, and even then I have my doubts :)

I am afraid that you are not understanding the ay the level of affixes is set for magic items. Even if the ilvl=1 in the current formula, the same six swords would still be able to get the Cruel prefix. In the code if the qlvl is greater than the ilvl then the qlvl value will instead be used for a part of the calculations. This in effects will set a minimum alvl for any item based on its qlvl. Try looking over this spreadsheet chart.

http://d2mods.xfernet.com/filecenter/pafil...ion=file&id=242

[whereagles]

ehehe.. actually I do know how it works. I was around when Jarulf first posted the affix level thing, with the qlev and ilev stuff. I just didn't bother to check whether lowering the ilev wasn't enought to prevent cruel from spawning :)

Anyway, the point is 3-socket weapons should not be allowed to get cruel ;)

[Feryar]

Heres the screenshot.....

So stuff like that exist on the realms? :blink:
I heard it was bad, but I did not know it was that bad.

How hard can it be for Blizzard to purge the database or whatever they use
to store characters of all items named "Ith"?

</rant>

[TaiDaishar]

I have an odd feeling the one who traded you that ith was more or less legit, trying to get rid of it as fast as possible.

If not then why the hell he would trade an ith bow for 30 chipped (not even 40!) when he get some other uber-godly sword for that bow...

[Occhidiangela]

Anyway, the point is 3-socket weapons should not be allowed to get cruel&nbsp;

The best thing about this game is the ability to 'make your own stuff.' It takes hundreds, or two, attempts to make Cruel on one of the six swords eligible. With the 50% Physical Immunity, the best you can end up with in 149% real damage done with a sword (299/2), absent use of Berserk or a necro accompanying with Amp Damage.

GIven the insane damage done by spell and bow area of effects, what the heck is the problem with melee characters having a option for a powerful weapon?

What's the problem with socketing that? Customize it, so to speak.

In short, your 'should not be allowed' is a complete crock.