Hi, I'm new + several questions

[angry_soap]

Hi, I've been, er, lurking for several years now and thought I would finally post to what seems to be the best d2x forum around.

I have 3 questions which I haven't seen discussed elsewhere. Which is not to say they have been discussed elsewhere, I just haven't seen them. And I have looked. And searched. (So pls spare me the: 'You godDAMN NOOB, this was discussed in the Buck-Toothed Frenzy-Taur forum on 12 June 1976. Do NOT post this again! ;-) )

Question 1: Am I right in thinking synergy bonuses only accrue from actual skill points added to skills and not item +skill modifiers? (I think this is right. I was testing a barb and the bonus from berzerk to concentration could be measured exactly because it is 1% per point). Kind of limits the synergy factor but also prevents players with godly numbers of skill bonuses from becoming, well, GODLY.

Question 2: What level are merc auras? Do I understand correctly that the level is the same regardless of what level you first hire? And that they level up in their aura as they level up? So that it will always be better to hire a merc at a tender young age?

Question 3: Where does everyone get all this neat stuff? I hear players all the time, saying they have gaze and S/S and WFs and the full IK set and six million SOJs. I know some of it is duping but somebody must be finding this stuff. I've played for some time and only ever got mid-level stuff at best. (And what the hell is a Hex? I know... that's 4 questions).

Answers gratefully received.

*angry_soap

[AtomicKitKat]

Hi, I've been, er, lurking for several years now and thought I would finally post to what seems to be the best d2x forum around.

Welcome to the Lounge! :)

I have 3 questions which I haven't seen discussed elsewhere. Which is not to say they have been discussed elsewhere, I just haven't seen them. And I have looked. And searched. (So pls spare me the: 'You godDAMN NOOB, this was discussed in the Buck-Toothed Frenzy-Taur forum on 12 June 1976. Do NOT post this again! ;-) )

Fire away! As long as it doesn't appear on the first couple pages of any sub forum(Atma's/Maggot Lair/Workshop/etc), most lurkers would be happy to answer your question(I hope)

Question 1: Am I right in thinking synergy bonuses only accrue from actual  skill points added to skills and not item +skill modifiers? (I think this is right. I was testing a barb and the bonus from berzerk to concentration could be measured exactly because it is 1% per point). Kind of limits the synergy factor but also prevents players with godly numbers of skill bonuses from becoming, well, GODLY.

I have no real idea. I wouldn't have minded a LITTLE bonus from items, maybe 1/2 effectiveness for each item skill point? Otherwise, my Leaf staff would feel kind of "useless"

Question 2: What level are merc auras? Do I understand correctly that the level is the same regardless of what level you first hire? And that they level up in their aura as they level up? So that it will always be better to hire a merc at a tender young age?

I think it's always the same, regardless of what level they come at. Most merc skills level along the lines of slvl=clvl/4, so a merc can only ever get an slvl of 25 at most(excluding items)

Question 3: Where does everyone get all this neat stuff? I hear players all the time, saying they have gaze and S/S and WFs and the full IK set and six million SOJs. I know some of it is duping but somebody must be finding this stuff. I've played for some time and only ever got mid-level stuff at best.

Try Magicfinding, and boss killing. There may be a low level MF breakpoint. My level 40-ish Inferno sorc has been finding uniques like MAD these last few days, averaging about 0.6-0.9 uniques per game(a quick waypoint to Eldritch+Shenk, followed by an Ancients to Baal run) And she only has 28% MF(4% from a grand charm she found in Act 3, and another 24% from her caster gloves) My guess is that 28% probably represents a certain breakpoint(kind of like the old 151% MF beating 150% MF by a lot "bug/feature") Believe me when I say Lore(OrtSol Helm)+Leaf(TirRal Staff, better still if you can find one with +3Fire Mastery)+Inferno is probably the most "skill efficient" killer I've had in a while.

(And what the hell is a Hex? I know... that's 4 questions).

Hexfire=a sword. I'm GUESSING, but it might be the higher level "equivalent" of Hellplague(a sword which adds to fire skills, useful for Act 3 fire mercs)

[Kevin]

1. They way they are set up now. Yes that is how it works. It doesn't have to. This is discussed some in the synergy thread started by Roland (in a post by Ruvanul I believe) somewhat buried, but refer to that for more detail.

2. I don't think the aura's have changed from 1.09. Spirea's calc will list those for you http://www.lurkerlounge.com/spirea/Hirelin...ngs/Stats.shtml as you can see the only thing that matters for aura and stats is the difficulty you hire them in. There level is unimportant.

3. Dunno. As far as 1.10 testing goes, many people are using editors to make single player test chars. On the realms you can MF or trade. If you want 1.10 test chars, Dii.net has a nice download with lots of stuff to play with you can get it directly here: http://www.diabloii.net/cgi-bin/download/q...UD2X110_Lib.zip

[kandrathe]

QUOTE 
(And what the hell is a Hex? I know... that's 4 questions).


Hexfire=a sword. I'm GUESSING, but it might be the higher level "equivalent" of Hellplague(a sword which adds to fire skills, useful for Act 3 fire mercs)

Or a cheat. The hacked and duped "hexing charm of vita" (90 to strength, 90 to dexterity, and 90 to vitality).

[kandrathe]

You can start to find some pretty good stuff in Act 5 Nightmare difficulty. That is where I found my first Gaze, String of Ears, and Skin of the Viper Magi. I found that Bloody Foothills, Glacial Trail, and Ancients way are pretty good if there are multiple players in the game. Don't expect to find something every 10th monster killed, it takes many games with many hundreds or thousands of monster kills to find a good drop. Sometimes you can get lucky. I have a magic find dedicated level 90 amazon (as I love treasure hunting), she hunts almost exclusively in act 5 hell. As an example, in three consecutive games I found a Ribcracker, Lycanders Aim, Mara's Amulet, Pierre Tombale Couant, and a Corpsemourn. Then my luck turned, and in the next three games I found nothing of value and was killed and beaten horribly and lost 50 million experience and half my gold.

[AtomicKitKat]

You needed NA5? I killed Diablo a couple(read, 20) or so times in Normal, and he eventually dropped a SoE(granted, if you added all the other characters I'd used who'd killed him before, the number is closer to 50 :D )

It helps to have a high kill rate, I guess. My Sorcie's level 27 Inferno is toasting most things in Act 5 Normal with a single GLANCING shot. :P I think I read somewhere that the more monsters you kill within a certain period, the better your drops. Perhaps it's their way of "rewarding" players who can "handle themselves well"

This also explains why higher level characters are generally better for magic finding(apart from being generally hardier to begin with, they have a MUCH higher kill rate)

[Occhidiangela]

Is roll the chance of an item more often over a period of time. In that regard, a high kill rate is a matter of "random chance on bnet helps those who help themselves."

[AtomicKitKat]

LOL. Okay then. Still doesn't really explain how a lowly level 40+ sorc can get 15 uniques in less than twice as many games with only 28% MF(and less than 1/4 of them from Act bosses...) :)

[Obi2Kenobi]

Question 3: Where does everyone get all this neat stuff? I hear players all the time, saying they have gaze and S/S and WFs and the full IK set and six million SOJs. I know some of it is duping but somebody must be finding this stuff. I've played for some time and only ever got mid-level stuff at best.

There is a cheat program called Pindlebot that runs Pindleskin over and over again while you are playing. That is where a lot of these items are coming from. :angry:

And what the hell is a Hex? I know... that's 4 questions

Hacked charm. :(