Question about shopping

[wenraff]

Hello, appreciate all your suggestions :-) I'm 'new' and have found a fountain of information on Diablo here, so thank you.

Currently I'm a rogue, level 19, with a brutal bow of swiftness. I'm really happy/lucky to have this bow, however after reading much discussion throughout the Diablo forums, would like a massive bow of swiftness (curiousity I suppose).

I don't exactly understand how to 'shop' for it. Right now, I have saved the game at clvl 19 just before 20, and then I go into the dungeon and fight a monster to gain level 20, then I go back to town and shop at Griswald. Unfortunately, the premium items don't change. I'm consistantly getting the first 4 slots the same, which I expect, however the last 2 (which I understand should rotate as you gain a level) slots remain the same with a Platinum bow and a Armor of the stars.

So I suppose my question is: is there really a difference with the bows? Should I just be happy with brutal and move on?
Am I not shopping correctly? I'm scared to restart the game for fear of losing everything, or is there a safe way to do this?

Thank you all for your suggestions :-)
Wendy

[--Pete]

Hi,

Right now, I have saved the game at clvl 19 just before 20, and then I go into the dungeon and fight a monster to gain level 20, then I go back to town and shop at Griswald.

That right there is your problem. You are playing single player. Every time you load a saved game, it loads the *same* saved game. To get a different game, you have to choose new game instead of load game. If you do, you will start a complete new game which would be pretty boring with your level 19 character.

Single player is easier than multi-player and it has the quests. It's a good introduction to Diablo, and even fun as a change of pace after you really know the game. But for the full experience you have to play multi. You do not need to play with others or online. You can play solo on your computer. Most of the strategy, tactics, and information you'll find on line is for the multi-player game. It may or may not apply to the single player game. For instance, shopping. What you are doing is right, but not for single player.

Have fun.

--Pete

[Nystul]

Shop scumming is mostly something that multiplayer characters do to prepare for the higher difficulty levels. In multiplayer you don't save games, but rather your character and his/her inventory is saved when you leave the game and you can start new games by entering directly into the deeper dungeon entrances. Starting a new game gives Griswold a completely different inventory. It's not really worth it at level 19, except for the ironic twist that some great items can only be shopped for around that level.

What is the base item of your bow? That is a huge factor in the amount of damage you would be able to do, especially as a low to mid level character. A brutal short war bow of swiftness would do more damage than a massive hunter's bow of swiftness, for example.

[wenraff]

Thanks Pete, I had no idea I could play multi player by myself! he he Now I'm curious and eager to start a game...or maybe finish this one :-)

Nystul, thank you as well.

My brutal bow is a Long Battle Bow with +88 damage. I got this from the dead townsman in level 9.

In my previous attempts to beat this game (single player), I keep getting stomped when I get to the last 4 dungeons, so this time I tried to read as much as I could about weapons/armor and such to give me an advantage! hehe

Would appreciate any tips :-)

Wendy

[Galbraith]

hello,

I suppose you are playing single player now. It matters.
You said that you saved your game and you are trying to get different offer from Griswold now.

I would quite Jarulf's Guide:

Griswold will add a new item to his inventory as soon as you buy one of them. He will not change his inventory when you come back up from the dungeons but will change some of them when you gain a level.

It is true for multiplayer and I suppose for single player too.
However when you "save" your GAME in single player you save offer of Griswold. And when you "save" CHARACTER in multiplayer then you don’t save game with this character, thus game have to be recreated with a new offer next time.

There is even more. Shop offers in multiplayer do not base on game creation date and time, but on time when you shop (as following with Jarulf Guide - probably remembered time of first shopping before conditions as level up changes.) or game join date and time maybe. Such different mechanism is assuring avoidance of duplicate item offers for both or more players in the same game.

The rest - condition of shopping character level - you are at correct level.

As for bow comparison. It depends on base item and percentage. A difference between brutal and massive is percentage of added damage to base bow damage.
Brutal is from 81% to 95%
Massive is from 96% to 110%

so lets take considered best damage bow Long War Bow. It has 1-12 base damage.


1st case LWB
When you have brutal 81% (weakest)
You shall calculate it as follows:

min damage: 1+1*81% = 1,81 (diablo round down to 1)
max damage: 12+12*81% = 21,72 (diablo round down to 21)

2nd case LWB
When you have massive 110%
You shall calculate it as follows:

min damage: 1+1*110% = 2,1 (diablo round down to 2)
max damage: 12+12*110% = 25,2 (diablo round down to 25)

BUT you can also find MboS but with weaker base bow. And then damage would be lower than LWB brutal!

3rd case short bow (damage 1-4) with massive:
When you have massive 110%
You shall calculate it as follows:

min damage: 1+1*110% = 2,1 (diablo round down to 2)
max damage: 4+4*110% = 8,4 (diablo round down to 8)

So mind not only a prefix but also the base item.
Also have in mind that it is very rare to have Massive 110% on LWB with swiftness.
I would consider you are lucky having brutal on first single play. (I assumed it is single, isnt it?)

Take also into consideration that I was talking about Gris' Premium items. Other shops and Gris basics can depends on which dlvl you had visited.

[Jim]

Hi,

Finish SP the quests are worth the time spent since you don't get some of them in MP

Also shopping DLV 5 is a good thing for Books & Shrines, first spell I like to get is "Telekinesis" this way I can get what's in the room from the outside without having to kill ALL the Mobs

MP is even more fun AFTER you complete it [Kill Diablo] on easy, then do a MOD or a Varient character..

You'll need to google Diablo1 Mod till the Main page of Lurker Lounge is up & running.

[Nystul]

My brutal bow is a Long Battle Bow with +88 damage. I got this from the dead townsman in level 9.

In my previous attempts to beat this game (single player), I keep getting stomped when I get to the last 4 dungeons, so this time I tried to read as much as I could about weapons/armor and such to give me an advantage!

You have a pretty good bow there. I would say that for a single player or young multiplayer character, the swiftness is less important than raw damage per shot, because it will be a big help if you can do enough damage to stun your enemies. For the same reason, dexterity is a pretty important stat (and strength will also help damage, but with less other benefits). Another big thing as you get into the deeper parts of this game is to advance slowly so you are only facing a small number of enemies at a given time. People often find the first half of the game rather easy, but the last 8 levels require some patience and cleverness.

[Jim]

Hi again,

Here is a link to a Diablo information web site by our own Lurker, Lochnar[ITB]

Freshman Diablo

[LennyLen]

If you do start playing multiplayer, this might be helpful to you for calculating when to shop for a specific item.

[FireIceTalon]

hello,

I suppose you are playing single player now. It matters.
You said that you saved your game and you are trying to get different offer from Griswold now.

I would quite Jarulf's Guide:

Griswold will add a new item to his inventory as soon as you buy one of them. He will not change his inventory when you come back up from the dungeons but will change some of them when you gain a level.

It is true for multiplayer and I suppose for single player too.
However when you "save" your GAME in single player you save offer of Griswold. And when you "save" CHARACTER in multiplayer then you don’t save game with this character, thus game have to be recreated with a new offer next time.

There is even more. Shop offers in multiplayer do not base on game creation date and time, but on time when you shop (as following with Jarulf Guide - probably remembered time of first shopping before conditions as level up changes.) or game join date and time maybe. Such different mechanism is assuring avoidance of duplicate item offers for both or more players in the same game.

The rest - condition of shopping character level - you are at correct level.

As for bow comparison. It depends on base item and percentage. A difference between brutal and massive is percentage of added damage to base bow damage.
Brutal is from 81% to 95%
Massive is from 96% to 110%

so lets take considered best damage bow Long War Bow. It has 1-12 base damage.


1st case LWB
When you have brutal 81% (weakest)
You shall calculate it as follows:

min damage: 1+1*81% = 1,81 (diablo round down to 1)
max damage: 12+12*81% = 21,72 (diablo round down to 21)

2nd case LWB
When you have massive 110%
You shall calculate it as follows:

min damage: 1+1*110% = 2,1 (diablo round down to 2)
max damage: 12+12*110% = 25,2 (diablo round down to 25)

BUT you can also find MboS but with weaker base bow. And then damage would be lower than LWB brutal!

3rd case short bow (damage 1-4) with massive:
When you have massive 110%
You shall calculate it as follows:

min damage: 1+1*110% = 2,1 (diablo round down to 2)
max damage: 4+4*110% = 8,4 (diablo round down to 8)

So mind not only a prefix but also the base item.
Also have in mind that it is very rare to have Massive 110% on LWB with swiftness.
I would consider you are lucky having brutal on first single play. (I assumed it is single, isnt it?)

Take also into consideration that I was talking about Gris' Premium items. Other shops and Gris basics can depends on which dlvl you had visited.

LWB is 1-14, not 1-12. Anyway Wenraff, best level to shop for a MBOS is using a clvl 21 toon. But the bow you have is quite good and if u just keep that, it will save you alot of shopping and time I myself would shop for a Massive but thats cause im a d1 nerd and like my chars to be as close to perfect as possible but otherwise, your bow is perfectly fine.