Ironman to hell?

[Tim]

I haven't played Diablo in a while, hell, I cleared out my memory card of my level 42 warrior because I figured I'd never play it again and I needed save files. But I got the urge to play again so I dusted off my CD and decided to start playing. I played a bit on the computer but the same old same still seemed kind of dull.

I decided I'd play on the playstation and I figured, what the hell, I'll do ironman. The thing is, I beat hell at level 30 (I think I turned 31 during the last level though despite trying to kill as little as possible so we could do a 3 at 30) with my friend using warriors playing were would only use stuff we found in dungeon. I was thinking of doing ironman for some added challenge, but I was wondering if it's even possible to get through hell/hell alone with iron man gear. You think you could get down there and actually be able to hit a damn thing? Maybe once I get to hell/hell I start buying potions and letting Cain identify?

I am saving, it's not like I only have one life and I do get the benifits of quest items, though none of them are really usefull, except the 12.5% leech on the helm I could use to gain life. If I die I figure I can retry. But I remember the last guy I made on the computer I tried doing a solo run of hell/hell with him at level 33 and getting my ass handed to me by certain types of monsters (I couldn't hit blood knights at all).

I'm in the caves right now, haven't died yet but I back up my saves. Mostly pretty crappy stuff, though I got a cursed ring that will be extreamly helpfull later on.

So think it's possible, I guess I'll find out. So far it's been pretty tough. I've gotten tons of potions so far but the playstation monsters move way faster then the computer ones.

Also, think it's worth upping magic to learn healing in iron man?

[--Pete]

Hi,

I'm not exactly sure what you are playing. You're not playing ironman if "I am saving, it's not like I only have one life". That's probably the hardest thing about ironman, that you only have as many lives as scrolls of resurrect that you find. And that's always been a fundamental rule of ironman.

Now, part of what you are saying sounds like Living Off the Land variant. You don't use town services, but you can restart in town. However, since you are playing the PlayStation, I think that means you don't restart in town, but rather have saved games like in single player.

Whatever you are doing, if you find it fun, go for it. I don't know about monster speed on the PlayStation, but if it uses the single player stats, then the monsters are wimps compared to multi. So, yes it should be doable.

As to the magic for healing, that's a game by game call. I've had Ironman games where I never got a Book of Healing. Not much sense putting points into magic with a warrior if that happens. OTOH, if you luck out and get a couple of books or more, it makes life a lot easier. In Ironman groups, the mage gets first dibs on the blues, and when he's dead, the rogue gets them. So in those cases, I prefer not to put any points in magic for the warrior.

Whatever it is that you're playing, have fun :)

--Pete

[Tim]

Oh yeah, I forgot about how much weaker they are in single player.

Yeah, it should be fine, so far I've managed to do it like normal ironman without dieing. The playstation version is almost exactly the same (few new mods, monsters, shrines are safe) but the monsters on the screen move about as fast as you do when "running" in hellfire, so you can get swarmed really quick if you don't watch out

[Darcia]

In Ironman groups, the mage gets first dibs on the blues, and when he's dead, the rogue gets them.  So in those cases, I prefer not to put any points in magic for the warrior.

That can always get frustrating. At level 2, I don't want to leave before killing the butcher. If I am a warrior doing a Solo Ironman, it can be hard if I haven't found a decent sword. Spell of healing is so common in the church but also so rare to find it when you need it.

How far have you made it with an Ironman character Pete? Meaning, you played long enough that you had to leave the game and start a new one. Either because you beat Normal, you had to go b/c of time restraints, etc...

[Tim]

Well, since the playstation only lets you play the single player game with one player I'm fighting single player monsters and getting quest rewards (not that they really help, can't even use the ones that require going up to town)

My guy died in the second level of hell on normal anyhow so I started over. My new guy is going ok, just got to the cats and have only used potions while fighting Leoric. I lost 4 life to black deaths though because they look like normal zombies on playstation. All in all it's good, I maxed out dex and got the 17 magic for the healing book I found and got a sword of the bat so every few kills I can cast it.

Undead crown helps a bit too.

[--Pete]

Hi,

How far have you made it with an Ironman character Pete?

I've made it through normal with a rogue. Ironman isn't really my game, immortal is. There, I've gotten all three classes to hell/hell but haven't been able to finish 3 dots with any of them. I do have one of each class ready to enter nightmare caves (where it starts getting hard). They've been there since September and October of 2002 :) Someday I might go back to playing them -- and given how out of practice I am, I'll probably kill them each in less than one level.

Meaning, you played long enough that you had to leave the game and start a new one. Either because you beat Normal, you had to go b/c of time restraints, etc...

All of those cases are covered in the Ironman rules. You can break between levels, go on to nightmare, etc. Ironman is a test of your playing ability, not your buttocks. ;)

--Pete