Modding 1.10s.

[Roland]

Boredom and utter hatred for the current crop of garbage that is 1.10s, along with the need to practice my modding skills (and test out all the hundreds of new goodies we modders get to play around with in 1.10), has led me to start development on the next version of my mod. So far, I've only done some very minor work, and several of the changes I have made are VERY unbalancing (which is, to say the least, the complete OPPOSITE of the point of the mod, but we'll get to that later), but that will change in the future. And, it's just to set up for future development, and not an indication of the direction of the mod. Just thought I'd clarify on that point.

In any case, these are the changes. If anyone would like a copy of the mod, just send me a PM here at the Lounge, and I'll e-mail it to you (just provide me with an e-mail address, or an AIM / ICQ contact). Just remember that this is only the start of development, the very tip of the iceberg, and that development will probably be slow. And, also, all of this is subject to change by the time the final version (or even the next beta version) of the 1.10 patch is released.

My goal for the mod, as per before (yes, 1.09d versions of the mod are still available), is to balance the game, and make it overall more fun. That is the primary goal, and it is non-negotiable. ;) So, don't expect there to be hordes of item candy, nor hugely powerful spells. Conversely, don't expect there to be legions of impossible monsters. And, lastly, don't expect there to be massive changes to the overall game - i.e. no "Total Conversions", or anything of that nature. This is strictly a mod built to fix the broken and/or imbalanced elements of the game; nothing more, and nothing less.

Having said all that, here's the list of changes thus far. ;)

Edited: Updates.

Balance of Power Mod for Diablo II - Lord of Destruction 1.10s Beta
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Version 2.00 Alpha:
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Bug Fixes -
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General Changes -
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- Amazon now has 30 starting Dexterity.
- Sorceress now has 40 starting Energy.
- Necromancer now has 30 starting Energy.
- Druid now has 25 starting Energy.
- Class-specific character to-hit factors have been removed.
- Character blocking values have been lowered by 15.
- Walk velocity has been lowered to 5.
- Max character level is now 100.
- Characters receive full experience at all character levels.
- Experience loss death penalty in Nightmare and Hell difficulties has been removed.
- Character Stash has been expanded considerably.
- Hireable damage versus Act bosses is now 50% at all difficulty levels.
- Lifesteal / Manasteal are now 100% effective at all difficulty levels.
- Monsters are 25% more abundant in Nightmare difficulty, and 50% more abundant in Hell difficulty.
- Act 1 monsters are more random.
- Act 2 monsters are more random.
- Act 3 monsters are more random.
- Act 4 monsters are more random.
- Act 5 monsters are more random.
- All Quest Flags have been removed.
- An Easter Egg has been added, for all the old-schoolers out there. ;)

Item Changes -
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- Magic Prefix / Suffix attributes have been completely redone.
- Class-specific item automods have been redone.
- Scepters are now a Paladin Class weapon, with a corresponding automod.

Monster Changes -
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- Monster health regeneration has been removed.

Skill Changes -
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- All skill timers have been removed.

[Haviandhae'el]

General Changes -
----------------------
- Amazon now has 30 starting Dexterity.
Alright.
- Sorceress now has 40 starting Magic.
Energy, you mean? Cool!
- Necromancer now has 30 starting Magic.
Fantastic. However, could you consider making Necros and Sorceresses get 2.5 or 3 mana per energy point? Why the F should barbs get 4 hp per vit point and Necros and Sorceresses get 2 out of their main stat? Ridiculous.
- Druid now has 25 starting Magic.
Alright.
- Class-specific character to-hit factors have been removed.
Hmm, okay. I suppose that would greatly benefit all the melee sorceresses out there. I'm sure you'll get a great email from all three of them! :D
- Character blocking values have been lowered by 15.
I see. Okay; however, I think you should perhaps lower it by 10? Pallies really need blocking, as do some Barbs. But do as you see fit.
- Walk velocity has been lowered to 5.
NO! Please, make them run faster! I can't abide by the run/walk speed of a zon wearing a gothic plate. *wracking sobs*
- Max character level is now 100.
Nice. Why do the (n-1) thing with char levels? So ugly, Blizz. Honestly.
- Characters receive full experience at all character levels.
Ah. I like the way they reward you for staying within your means, but I suppose people like to rush ahead with certain places. I personally hate the Great Marsh.
- Experience loss death penalty in Nightmare and Hell difficulties has been removed.
Hmm, isn't it good to give people incentive not to die? Your call.
- Character Stash has been expanded considerably.
I love you.
- Hireable damage versus Act bosses is now 50% at all difficulty levels.
"True dat." I don't understand why my rogue should throw toothpicks at Diablo. Not fair. I didn't blow money on a Cruel Hydra for that.
- Lifesteal / Manasteal are now 100% effective at all difficulty levels.
Good... ridiculous hp in Hell should be a little better with more leech, so you don't go back to town for mana and find the monster fully healed.
- Monsters are 25% more abundant in Nightmare difficulty, and 50% more abundant in Hell difficulty.
Wow. I see them pretty abundantly already. Your call.
- Act 1 monsters are more random.
Fun.
- Act 5 monsters are more random.
More random than in 1.10s? Yikes.
- All Quest Flags have been removed.
? Sorry, could you elaborate? Like, the things that say "Kill Andariel" when you know to already? They're kinda fun, I think.

Item Changes -
------------------

(Make Call to Arms harder to make.) 8)
(Make less unqiue rings/items capitalize on Druid skills. Wtf.)

Monster Changes -
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- Monster health regeneration has been removed.
(Curb the fist-in-wall amount of uniques)

Skill Changes -
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- All skill timers have been removed.
Fun!!! I don't see why I should not be able to cast as many hydras as my mana permits, if I'm not playing on Bnet. (They should increase the damage of timered spells- they still don't do enough in some cases. Armageddon/Hurricane even with synergy are like slaps in the Druid community's face.)

Good luck!

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

Formal Request: Make Hurricane castable in wereform, please... not Armageddon.

Only four prerequisites (as compared to Armageddon's nine) of which three of them are synergistic with Hurricane, itself = no wasted points = balanced ability, IMHO. It would certainly make more SENSE to be available to a primarily melee character?

With a predominant concern for putting skill points into the Shape Shifting (and perhaps Summoning) tree, the points spent on Hurricane and its pre-reqs would give a self-limiting aspect, anyway... a wereform can't really shove 20 points into Tornado for the synergies alone without hobbling himself somewhere else.

The single chance to play a Furricane wolf would be sufficient for me to download your mod, Roland. Take it under consideration, at least? :)

*tips helm*

[WarBlade]

The single chance to play a Furricane wolf would be sufficient for me to download your mod, Roland.  Take it under consideration, at least?  :)

Heh. Back in 1.06 I was hoping for the possibility of making an Artic Blast bear. Setting up that spell to resemble a cold breath weapon might have been interesting to see. ;)

[Roland]

- Character blocking values have been lowered by 15.

I'm of the belief that DR should take precedence over Blocking. This was the case in the older versions of my mod, and it shall continue on in future versions.

- Walk velocity has been lowered to 5.

Don't bother complaining. ;)

- Hireable damage versus Act bosses is now 50% at all difficulty levels.

Subject to change, if/when I get around to rebalancing Hirelings.

- Lifesteal / Manasteal are now 100% effective at all difficulty levels.

This WILL change, most likely. Don't get your hopes up. :P

- Monsters are 25% more abundant in Nightmare difficulty, and 50% more abundant in Hell difficulty.

Subject to change. Keep in mind that monsters, skills, and items will ALL be rebalanced over time.

- Act 1 monsters are more random.
- Act 5 monsters are more random.

ONLY Act 5 monsters appear in Act 5, with a few exceptions (;)). No more beefed up Quill Rats and Skeletons, thank you very much. :P Having said that, except some serious (and dangerous) surprises. I just took a naked lvl 99 Sorcy (from DII.Net) through parts of Act 5 Normal. Talk about needing Happy Feet! I haven't danced like that since playing D1. :D Monster combos, as you get towards Baal, are much more lethal, and ALL monster combos tend to be more varied (greater number of combos). Act 1 shouldn't be more lethal, per se, but it is definitely more varied. :)

- All Quest Flags have been removed.

Let me clarify. You know that annoying little block that disallows you from taking TPs, etc. if you haven't completed certain quests? Yeah, that thing. It's gone. You can start applauding now. ;)

- Monster health regeneration has been removed.

This may or may not be temporary. For now, it will remain until such time that I can balance monsters' life out better. I want to take it back towards the days of D1 - no one-hit kills, on EITHER side.

- All skill timers have been removed.

Absolutely temporary. Expect all the timers in the old versions to make their way back into this version, eventually. Do NOT expect a free ride for long. Just a warning.

Just an FYI and clarification on some points, since a few questions were raised. :)

[nightwing]

Roland, I'm so glad you're making Dark Tower for 1.10, and already your changes are sounding good.

I'd expect the spell timer removal to be temporary, but while you're at it, could you look at fixing the valkyrie casting delay? if this *has* to be on a timer, then could we at least not wait 6 seconds before being able to use something like Immolation?. Drove me nuts in the beta, I'd encounter a cold-immune, recast valk to hold him up, and then not be able to capitalise for a few seconds.

I certainly do applaud your removal of the quest flags. I encountered an unkillable Ismael Vilehand in hell with my sorc, smashed the orb anyway because one of the others had dropped the flail, and in the horror that is Durance2, I could not use my own TP to resurrect my merc....V unpleasant.

As for things getting much harder as you get closer to Baal, I don't have a problem with that, but please do something about the cheesy fart-gas that is gloams :)

As for monster regen, I doubt any of us really mind the regen, it's the *rate* of regen that is totally OTT. In my experience with the beta it's just resulted in frustration, and even boredom. Can't imagine Blizz ever thought it'd be a challenge.

I've pm'd you as I'd love to have a look at what you've done so far.

Cheers

Edit: few typo's

[Roland]

If it wasn't in an old version, there's a 99.9% chance it won't be in any future versions, either. Conversely, if it WAS in an old version, there's an equal chance it will continue to be in future versions. And, most values will be the same, as well. I.e. a 1 second delay in an older version will most likely continue to be a 1 second delay in future versions for that same skill.

Valkyrie, you can be certain, will NOT have a timer. Neither will Decoy, just in case there were any questions. ;) Fire Golem, however, most likely WILL, as that was a change I personally made, and one I was very pleased with.

Will send you an archive of the .txt files. The .mpq is FAR too large for me to e-mail, and currently my web host is completely kapoot (has been for some time). So, until I find a temp host, or get my old domain name back online, I'll have to stick to sending just the .txt's. It's quite easy to use them:

Unzip the folder (including sub-folders, keeping folder names) into your Diablo II directory (or into a "mod" directory therein, if you prefer). Then, copy your Diablo II shortcut, and add the following to the command line found in the "Target" box:

Code:

-direct -txt

Place this OUTSIDE the quotes ("C:\Games\Diablo II\Diablo II.exe" -direct -txt). Then start the game normally. This will override the patch for the files that I have provided, while not touching anything else (in other words, it will only use the changes I've made, and not screw up anything else I haven't touched). If you wish to make your own .mpq file, it's not too difficult (you're already halfway there), but I'll leave that explanation to another time. ;) It requires a few extra tools, which most people won't have (but are easy to get and use).

Right now, I'm going to probably continue on randomizing monsters throughout the rest of the acts (I'm keeping it pretty much the same, at 3 picks per area, but expanding the number of monsters to choose from up to anywhere from 4 - 8; this will ensure much more variety, especially in places where only 2 or 3 kinds of monsters could ever appear {and, thus, those monsters would ALWAYS appear}; expect there to be a bit more or less challenge as a result, just like in Diablo). I have a an idea or two up my sleeve for an Easter Egg of sorts, but I'm not going to talk about that now. ;) You'll have to wait and see, if it develops. After that, who knows what I'll do. :P But, that will be a good start, and from there I'll probably begin work either on further monster editing, or skill editing.