Ladder or Normal? Whats your Style?

[Dyntheos]

Originally I was all for playing ladder and having a clean slate with gear. Yet I have played my first character a nerco, currently at level 75, up to Hell Act 5, and reconsidering my decision.

This is based on a few things.

1. I had originally thought that playing public games with people all on an even keel would be fun. I failed to consider that your average bnet player does not change, and attitudes are still poor, be it on the ladder or normal. People are still rude and there is still a culture of "lets kill andy" in the first five minutes, when you have just made a game called "act1 starting". This has made me play solo most of the time.

2. My next consideration was to move away from all the hacking culture, and distance myself from everyone using windforces. This however will probably change quite quickly as it seems the drops have increased considerably with this patch so I expect to see uber gear on the ladder become common over the next few weeks. Yet as I play solo alot, is there a point?

3. What made me think of ditching ladder is to be quite honest all the hard work I had placed into getting my 1.09 characters to where they are, but more importantly all the gear I had accumulated over the years of playing the game, and this seems to be the incentive for alot of people not to play on the ladder.

4. I have no idea how long this season wil last. If it's only 6 months, well maybe the effort isn't worth it, as my current ladder characters will be just pooled with the rest of the normals.


So I ask you. Do you play on the new Ladder? If you do, what drew you to it? What advantages does it give to you, personally, and how does that make things more enjoyable? If you don't play on the ladder, is it because of any of the reasons I have stated, or do you have a group of friends who all play normal, and therefore you do aswell?

Currently I am undecided, yet I would like to devote my time to one or the other, and I'd like to read some insights from the readers here on what features drew you either to the ladder, or made you stay away from it. Or if you are playing either normal or ladder at the moment and like me are now having second thoughts.

[Selby]

I just play single player on my computer. No need to worry about b.net's stability (or lack of =P ) or any hackers or cheaters. I just play to have fun. Playing on the ladder with friends might be fun, but first you need friends ;-)

Selby

[BotMolesti]

I for my part can't understand why people are still playing with old chars. How long has 1.09 been out? 2 years? You've been there, done that. Time for a new challenge. Part of the fun of the game - for me - is to find a cracked sash and be happy, because you didn't have any belt at all until then :)
So the obvious choice is: Ladder. Besides: Blizz said it is more difficult.

If the ladder season ends, the char will be retired and I'll start a new one.

[Guest]

Sounds like you arent even sure why you like playing on realms.

1 You dont like the people - fair enough.

2 You say you dont like the "hacking culture", fair enough, but as you explain it sounds like you actually dont like power players and the GOOD GEAR they have.

3 You dont like the fresh ladder because you wont have your old GOOD GEAR.

4 The ladder wont last long enough.



You want it both ways in every aspect.

You like plaing with your old good gear and dont like the ladder because other people will have good gear.

You complain that people will have good gear to soon on the ladder then lament that the ladder is to short.


You know what the issue really is? You feel like you cant compete with the the more serious players on the ladder(I dont mean competition simply as who lvls fastest.).

[Dyntheos]

I was actually asking for an analysis of your own reasons, not an analysis of mine. :P

[kandrathe]

Ladder Softcore.

Why Ladder? I'll never be on it as I play once a week for 4-5 hours, but if I do find something nice I can trade it to someone who will know that it is most likely legit, and I know that any gear that someones trades to me will most likely be legit. At least for the near future. I suspect that at some point Blizzard will only really care about the cleanliness of the ladder realm. I would never be able to compete on the ladder until it was based on playing skill, rather than available free time and a bonus would be it they had a special category for middle aged fathers of small children who are currently running a huge IT development project.

Why Softcore? Because I only play 4-5 hours a week, so for me, a level 50-60 character is a 3 month investment of time. I'm not willing to flush that due to my proximity to some overpowered death blast from a super unique cold enchanted boss, or some sleep depraved, socially inept, morally bankrupt player killer getting his jollies dancing over my hardcore corpse.

I currently have a level 28 bone skills Necro just starting Act 4 normal. As for leet gear, well nothing spectacular. Found cleglaws gloves and sword, a leadcrow, a goreshovel, and gambled for Sigons belt. I have found some decent rares for normal. I'm teaming up with a cold sorceress, so together we are doing pretty good. We are counting on the synergy of my physical bone skills, some investment in curses like amp dmg, and lower resistance, and her abilities to slow things down, and break cold immunity with cold mastery. I must say though that 1.10 is much more fun and dangerous than any LOD version. It is reminding me more of v1.4 for playability and balance. And even with only 1 point in Skeleton, 1 pt in Skeletal Mage, and 1 pt in each of the Golems, I am still able to get enough points in + skills items to keep 2-3 pets alive + prayer merc.

[Decius]

I want a clean start, and not restart in an setting where everyone owns godly items and I am one of the few with nothing (since my old high-level-characters are gone). If the season last 6 months I may have 3-4 characters, and will retire them (and who knows when WoW will come, so it may only be one or two ladder seasons I am playing again...) and start new ones with the new season. And like kandrathe I have not that much time left for gaming, so it is SC for me.

[Lord_Olf]

Hail Dyntheos,

for me, it's Ladder Hardcore. As for the reason... it's a combination of things, I guess.

I play solo most of the time, teaming up with a friend of mine one or two times a week. I don't play public games too much, so I don't have to be afraid of the PK you stumble about once in a while. So, that makes hardcore a viable choice, and knowing you character will be GONE if you don't pay attention to that MSLEB is just so much more thrilling to me. It's just more of a challenge; I have played a little Softcore shortly before 1.10, seen people dying like flies in Cow and other games, and just had to think: "What's the use? They aren't even trying..."

Now, no disrespect meant to the SC players, but I just like HC for the extra challenge. Even if I lost my first HC ladder pala to a bad connection at lvl 27... bad luck!

Granted, I could have the same style of playing via open, but it's nice to be able to trade, and since there are as yet (at least that's what I hope) no dupes and hacks on the ladder, this is fine with me. I'm not interested in 6 socket WF, but it was nice to get hold of that PSapphire and Amn Rune yesterday so that I could cube my weapon up from normal to exceptional.

Also, as far as I have seen it, when I play public once in a while, the team spirit is better than it used to be. People do not really know yet what to expect from certain monsters (how much damage they do, how they react etc.), so everyone is playing more careful and trying to support the other players. I had a great time playing with some Bone Wall necros and Meteor sorcs... I contribute this to 1.10 in general, but also to the (maybe just supposedly) added difficulty of Ladder play.

But I guess these are all more or less arguments HC contra SC...

Well, I guess maybe it's just the fact that there IS a ladder there that made me start a ladder character... but then again, what do I have to lose (aside from a few hours of sleep).

Aside from that, considering the arguments you mentioned: I can understand about the items, but I wanted to have a fresh start. Again, to each his own. And in six months, I guess one could up with two, maybe three or even more high-level characters and have good fun in the meantime. I have and had no intention of having an acc full of lvl 99 chars, in 1.09, all of mine got retired around 85.

As for the usual b.net player, you'll have that problem in every game, be it ladder, non-ladder, HC or SC, so it wouldn't be something that would make me chose on of those above the others. But as I said, I think the party play on HC ladder is better than anything I've seen before, so I have to respectfully disagree with you there.

For items, well, if all those players start running Meph, Baal, or whomever, what can you do? Again, it'll happen in ladder and in non-ladder.

So, I've got to come to and end here, I need to get some shopping done ;)

As I see it, there are not too many reasons for either style of play, the only two objective things that I see in favor of playing ladder are that

- party play seems to be better on HC Ladder
- Ladder seems to be more difficult

Aside from that, I guess it's just a matter of what you personally prefer, with not too many good arguments for either style.

Greeting,
Lord_Olf

[CorwinBrute]

I'm playing standard SC for the moment, trying, like Bolty said, to make some sense out of the madness. I've 30 or so SC characters, most level 70+, and I fully intend to check if those chars are viable or not in the new environment (it has been a mixed bag so far, with a few pleasant surprises).

On the other hand, I intend to start a handful of new chars on the Ladder once I get a good feeling of skills and gear.

[mr.faB]

Dyntheoes, I agree with all you said, except for #3.

I deleted my old mules and jumped on the ladder to start in the so-called 'fresh' economy. I would have gladly entered a new economy without the ladder difficulty, though.

I was looking for a new start, because that's what's fun, to find items and increase in power and build your character. That's why I dont agree with your pt #3. Like BotMolesti says, been there, done that.

Another reason I dont agree with your pt #3, is that I'd rather quit Diablo II than continue playing with the punk kids level 95+ Cow herders who keep coming in my games to show off their l33t gear and leave 5 min later.

Otherwise I 100% agree with you. The mentality indeed does not change, it will take time fo people to realize rushing for exp does not work even half as good as in v1.09, and all the public games I make or join people are still rushing for Andy/Duriel/Meph, or ask for the last WPs.

[Baat]

Hi Dyntheos,

I have a rather limited perspective of Ladder vs Normal for I have never played Ladder. But, I can say that the reason why I never have is because of the limitaions that you and kandrathe speak of.

My time online is limited due to the relentless RL, so when I do get to be online again I like to try to pick up where I left off. But, once in a while I do get tired of the same ol' stuff and create a new character. It can be a lot of fun to start fresh once in a while, but once again I like to build on my character so that it develops, well, character. Maybe I have missed out on some element of the game that others have found, but for me two of the best aspects of the game are:
1. The comradery of a band of fellow warriors banning together for the greater good.
2. The sometimes intense moments of anticipation when you see those unidentified items laying on the ground right after the monster you've been pounding away at has finally died. (Of course, this is only a secondary reaction to the elation of defeating a formidable enemy but what the hell, it still feels good.)

Another reason I've never tried HC is because, for me, it seems that it would be just to darn frustrating and depressing to develop a character only to loose him/her to an untimely timeout, (which seems to be even worse since the patch) or a poorly anticipated frost nova. Or maybe it's just because I don't think I'm a good enough player to cut the mustard for HC. I mean, for me, the game is challenging enough just in normal gameplay. I sure hope one of the requirments for posting on this forum isn't being an extraordinarily good player. :unsure:

You do raise an interesting point though. It does seem to me that the cooperative manner of gameplay would be much better on the ladder than in Public B.net. Unfortunatly, the band of players I used to play the old D1 with have mostly given up their weapons and spells and have tried to find their fortunes in RL, and for the most part Public B.net is a complete waste of a serious player's time, so nowadays I mostly play solo on the realms. Who knows, maybe I should give the Ladder a try.

p.s.
Anyone looking for a playing companion, feel free to look me up ;) .

[SwissMercenary]

Ladder Hardcore - My way to play. ^^

I can't help but laugh at the amount of "Ith haxors" getting killed by things like Black Souls...

[guachi]

Ladder Softcore

I want to actually make it through the game before I switch to hardcore - if at all.

1.10 is fantastic. Reading "XXX killed by Quill Rat" always brings a smile to my face :)


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Even if that person is me :) A multi-shot cursed Quill Rat boss in Hell is a rude shock the first time you encounter it.

Jason

[trait0r]

reinstalled d2 after >1 year and have to admit that ladder hc with friends can be kinda fun :D

[Animation]

Dyn,

I'm playing Ladder Normal. I used to play on East but since few of my old buddies play anymore, I decided to switch to West where so many of the a.g.d. posters I chat with play regularly. Since I'm starting new on West, and since so many are playing the ladder, I picked Ladder. And why not? I dont have any old characters on West anyway, and only 1 old one on East.

Lewis

[Dyntheos]

Well Iam fully dedicated to ladder now on west. I kept one 99 sorc from normal days. Rest of my account is ladder.