:huh:
Apparently we all had radically different experiences in D2Classic â what you refer to as âthe golden age,â I remember as âhell filled with exploiting bastards.â I ran a softcore necromancer on USWest (Ashrael) who was constantly in the top 20 ladder spots, simply because I adored the character and played him all the time. Once he hit level 84, experiencing mining became an utter nightmare. The only place I could go, if I wanted experience, was the Chaos Sanctuary, in 8-player games. With ~28 maxed (and well-chosen and carefully-shepherded) Revives, CE, and maxed curses, I could do it in about 10 minutes.
My âgoldenâ experience went like this: I created my own games, to get a head start. If my game did not happen to generate Urdar on the River of Flame, people would pop in for 10 seconds then leave, leaving me no chance to generate experience. If the Urdar were there, the game filled and stayed filled. Whenever anyone entered the game, I offered alliance. (Usually greeted with hostility, which meant I knew I had Act 4 rivals; sometimes low-level chars partied up, but they were almost never in Act 4.) I cleared the top of the River of Flame for ~10 minions, then crawled up the labyrinth to the Sanctuary.
The rivals who had hostiled me would then muscle in on my âterritoryâ (ignoring queries to party). They were usually Iceblink Whirlwind Barbarians with mauls or dual swords. This was long before lances, and before people knew that dual-wielding and Whirlwind wasnât really the best thing to do. Theyâd attack me, Iâd kill them with Iron Maiden, Bone Walls, etc. Iâd cover their corpse with Walls, and go on with my game. Theyâd leave, re-enter, and shadow me, using my Revives to cower from the dreaded âKnight Maidenâ while picking up items and looking for a weakness. Once they went hostile, now wise, Iâd lead them into a huge monster pack and TP, almost always resulting in their death. Then Iâd go back.
Many more rivals, who were waiting in the Pandemonium Fortress for a sign, would rush to the River or Sanctuary, looking for an easy kill. It got to the point where I refused to go back through my own TP without a pack of Revives, and the first spell I spammed, before my screen even loaded, was Maiden. End result? One or more dead rivals about 50% of the time.
End result: Game length about 15 minutes, average kills of players around 3. Desired game length â I enjoyed clearing the River and Sanctuary and sometimes the City with a party, 30-45 minutes, and I never wanted to kill anyone unless they hostiled me first. Out of thousands of games, this was the scenario in at least 75% of them. It got worse once Lances came into play, at which point I shelved D2 until LoD. Things improved wonderfully once the expansion came out, despite all the balance problems, because people were playing together, and that is when D2 is the most fun.
There were exceptions, of course. Rarely, people would party to kill Diablo. This resulted in tentative alliance throughout the Sanctuary, until Diablo was down in health; then everyone would leave the party, become extremely hostile, and wait for the drop. Wheeeâ¦
Do I miss it? God no. If it came back, I would keep playing, and build PvP-specific clearing characters, and not be too happy.
The solutions to leechers are as follows:
[1] Level restrictions of 30 to enter Nightmare, and 60 to enter Hell, applicable to closed Battle.net only. Precedents: Diablo, and level restrictions on Ancients.
[2] Until then â play only in games that you create, and set the level restriction to whatever company you choose to tolerate. If you donât want the party âbonusâ and can kill faster yourself, and prefer that, then donât ally.
[3] If you want to play alone in a multi-player game and not be followed, then be deceptive about the game title â call it âAct V Ancients,â and play in the Flayer Jungle.
[4] Hostile anyone who tags behind you picking up items. (Iâm assuming you donât have a problem with hostility since you liked the âgolden age.â)
[5] Donât enter games you donât create yourself, as youâre bound to see leeching characters everywhere, unless [1] is enacted.
[6] Joke: I suppose if you want to re-create the nastiness of the past, you could name the game âKill Baal,â go to the Worldstone, and then hostile anyone who dares to believe you. It creates the same effect, minus only the intent of the other players. But if itâs all about the King of the Hill, then their opinions donât matter, right?
:lol:
Apparently we all had radically different experiences in D2Classic â what you refer to as âthe golden age,â I remember as âhell filled with exploiting bastards.â I ran a softcore necromancer on USWest (Ashrael) who was constantly in the top 20 ladder spots, simply because I adored the character and played him all the time. Once he hit level 84, experiencing mining became an utter nightmare. The only place I could go, if I wanted experience, was the Chaos Sanctuary, in 8-player games. With ~28 maxed (and well-chosen and carefully-shepherded) Revives, CE, and maxed curses, I could do it in about 10 minutes.
My âgoldenâ experience went like this: I created my own games, to get a head start. If my game did not happen to generate Urdar on the River of Flame, people would pop in for 10 seconds then leave, leaving me no chance to generate experience. If the Urdar were there, the game filled and stayed filled. Whenever anyone entered the game, I offered alliance. (Usually greeted with hostility, which meant I knew I had Act 4 rivals; sometimes low-level chars partied up, but they were almost never in Act 4.) I cleared the top of the River of Flame for ~10 minions, then crawled up the labyrinth to the Sanctuary.
The rivals who had hostiled me would then muscle in on my âterritoryâ (ignoring queries to party). They were usually Iceblink Whirlwind Barbarians with mauls or dual swords. This was long before lances, and before people knew that dual-wielding and Whirlwind wasnât really the best thing to do. Theyâd attack me, Iâd kill them with Iron Maiden, Bone Walls, etc. Iâd cover their corpse with Walls, and go on with my game. Theyâd leave, re-enter, and shadow me, using my Revives to cower from the dreaded âKnight Maidenâ while picking up items and looking for a weakness. Once they went hostile, now wise, Iâd lead them into a huge monster pack and TP, almost always resulting in their death. Then Iâd go back.
Many more rivals, who were waiting in the Pandemonium Fortress for a sign, would rush to the River or Sanctuary, looking for an easy kill. It got to the point where I refused to go back through my own TP without a pack of Revives, and the first spell I spammed, before my screen even loaded, was Maiden. End result? One or more dead rivals about 50% of the time.
End result: Game length about 15 minutes, average kills of players around 3. Desired game length â I enjoyed clearing the River and Sanctuary and sometimes the City with a party, 30-45 minutes, and I never wanted to kill anyone unless they hostiled me first. Out of thousands of games, this was the scenario in at least 75% of them. It got worse once Lances came into play, at which point I shelved D2 until LoD. Things improved wonderfully once the expansion came out, despite all the balance problems, because people were playing together, and that is when D2 is the most fun.
There were exceptions, of course. Rarely, people would party to kill Diablo. This resulted in tentative alliance throughout the Sanctuary, until Diablo was down in health; then everyone would leave the party, become extremely hostile, and wait for the drop. Wheeeâ¦
Do I miss it? God no. If it came back, I would keep playing, and build PvP-specific clearing characters, and not be too happy.
The solutions to leechers are as follows:
[1] Level restrictions of 30 to enter Nightmare, and 60 to enter Hell, applicable to closed Battle.net only. Precedents: Diablo, and level restrictions on Ancients.
[2] Until then â play only in games that you create, and set the level restriction to whatever company you choose to tolerate. If you donât want the party âbonusâ and can kill faster yourself, and prefer that, then donât ally.
[3] If you want to play alone in a multi-player game and not be followed, then be deceptive about the game title â call it âAct V Ancients,â and play in the Flayer Jungle.
[4] Hostile anyone who tags behind you picking up items. (Iâm assuming you donât have a problem with hostility since you liked the âgolden age.â)
[5] Donât enter games you donât create yourself, as youâre bound to see leeching characters everywhere, unless [1] is enacted.
[6] Joke: I suppose if you want to re-create the nastiness of the past, you could name the game âKill Baal,â go to the Worldstone, and then hostile anyone who dares to believe you. It creates the same effect, minus only the intent of the other players. But if itâs all about the King of the Hill, then their opinions donât matter, right?
:lol: