Set item drop in Hell question

[lfd]

I think the effect is taken as you enter a new area
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Not quite. There's an active zone around the player, stretching a few screenwidths in the major compass directions around you. It's when this zone first reaches a monster that it is spawned with the additional life etc. that /players X causes.

Most named game areas are big enough that your active zone won't cover them; for instance, if you enter the durance of hate level 3 at /players 8, mephisto is too far away to be affected by it, and if you do /players 1 at the stairs, he'll be at 1-player stats when you get to him.