01-08-2004, 09:26 AM
Well, as a parenthetical remark, in D1 weapon da was essentially irrelevant for higher lvl characters (a short bow was just as good as a long war bow in the hands of a rogue with the stats to reach stun da). Perhaps this was too much, but D2 seemed to swing to the opposite extreme, almost as a reaction.
D2 has always been too item dependent IMO, and I think D1 was closer to the way things should be than D2 ever was -- all the more so in 1.10 which tried to redress the balance of the items that were ridiculously overpowered in 1.09. The temptation of adding item candy, and then trying to balance the game so that it wasn't absurdly easy for characters with the sweetest items, has made average, everyday items almost useless for attacks that don't depend on skill lvls for their da. And the ability to deal da is the king (or queen) of 1.10.
Now, I do agree that 1.10 has made it easier to find the items you need, e.g. with much increased drop rates of elite items and nice pockets of high lvl monsters, but in my experience, anyway, it's still not that easy to get them (let alone find some of the higher lvl runes, not even the really rare ones, you need for upgrading etc.) until you have a viable mf character who can supply themselves or others with the necessary candy.
Of course, my perspective may be skewed by the fact that I don't trade (an old D1 habit I guess ;) ) and I tend to play relatively untwinked (though I'm no 'purist' in that regard). But, personally, I don't think items should dictate the game play as much as they do now.
D2 has always been too item dependent IMO, and I think D1 was closer to the way things should be than D2 ever was -- all the more so in 1.10 which tried to redress the balance of the items that were ridiculously overpowered in 1.09. The temptation of adding item candy, and then trying to balance the game so that it wasn't absurdly easy for characters with the sweetest items, has made average, everyday items almost useless for attacks that don't depend on skill lvls for their da. And the ability to deal da is the king (or queen) of 1.10.
Now, I do agree that 1.10 has made it easier to find the items you need, e.g. with much increased drop rates of elite items and nice pockets of high lvl monsters, but in my experience, anyway, it's still not that easy to get them (let alone find some of the higher lvl runes, not even the really rare ones, you need for upgrading etc.) until you have a viable mf character who can supply themselves or others with the necessary candy.
Of course, my perspective may be skewed by the fact that I don't trade (an old D1 habit I guess ;) ) and I tend to play relatively untwinked (though I'm no 'purist' in that regard). But, personally, I don't think items should dictate the game play as much as they do now.