Diablo II 1.10 Beta Test begins

[Vash]

Another thing I noticed is that Whirlwind is now quite nerfed. There is now a slight pause between each time you use Whirlwind (perhaps a sort of casting delay)? The new animation for WW looks cool though.

[Kevin]

I think the prayer not being changed was because of mercs. Blizzard said they weren't changing the mercs. I find prayer mercs to be fairly useful now, with better healing they would be too good.

The pally also has some other weird synergies. Skills getting damage bonuses from fanaticism. Not just the fanat bonus, but a synergy bonus from fanat.

[Dagni]

Cool! The Assassin "Blade" skills - the traps, not Blades of Ice - now get boosted damage from your weapon. Each skill still has a set amount of damage it does, depending on slvl, but a % of weapon damage now gets added to that. This is just from glancing at everything with a clvl 1 'sin, so I don't know if it changes with more points, but at slvl 1:

Blade Sentinel: +3/8 weapon damage

Blade Fury: +3/4 weapon damage

Blade Shield: +1/4 weapon damage

- Dagni

[WarBlade]

The pally also has some other weird synergies. Skills getting damage bonuses from fanaticism.  Not just the fanat bonus, but a synergy bonus from fanat.

I know what you mean. The Paladin Synergies are a complete and utter mess! :(

Blessed Hammer gains Magic Damage from Vigor and Blessed Aim??? So not do we see synergies scatter (badly) over three trees, they also follow logic such as "it has the word blessed in it, so that's our synergy!".

Resist Lightning is as useless as it ever was. Now it becomes low grade Mastery. <_<

[Bolty]

I can't believe this patch is in making for over a year and they haven't seen this....

Okay, first let's declare a moratorium on all "wow, my skills and stats are so high, this is broken" comments until you try them against the upgraded monsters.

1.10 improves skills and stats. Nothing gets nerfed. However, the monsters (especially act 5) are beefed up significantly. Not just in terms of stats, but their AI in NM and Hell is improved...

-Bolty

[TheDragoon]

Spoilers Abound Below!

When I went poking around with my test Druid (TehUbar), I found the combination of Hurricane, Twister and Tornado to be a seemingly effective combo. Now, I only tested with a one player game against fallen, but I also only used slvl 20 skills (given that it's possible to get a great deal more than that, I felt it a decent trade-off). Basically, Hurricane + Twister was ANNIHILATING everything. In addition, these skills all give each other bonuses and provide two different forms of damage (physical and cold).

However, I was NOT impressed with the way the fire tree was laid out. Sure the damage looks impressive on my test character, but you won't likely be able to max out 6 or so skills that you would need to in order to reach the level of my test character. In addition, the only added stuff I saw to Fire Claws was the synergy with all of the fire skills (and given that a Wereform is not so likely to invest THAT highly in the fire tree, this won't add TOO much damage). Oh well, only time will tell.

I have a feeling that if someone wants to make an Elementalist, the best shot (that I see right now) is going to be a Druid that pumps up Hurricane, Tornado, Oak Sage and Twister (with extra points going to a vine or Cyclone Armor). With +skill items, the duration of Hurricane should be decent and the Hurricane, Tornado, Twister combo will result in good damage for all three of those skills.

For Wereforms, attack speeds appear to work just as before though I haven't checked to see if they've fixed the bugs in Hunger (which would make it slower for Werebears) or not. As for items, I saw that the Immortal King's Stone Crusher STILL lists those insane elemental partial bonuses but only allows 2 sockets. Thus you can hit a 7 frame Maul with 40% OIAS and a 6 frame Fury (5% away from a 5 frame Fury). It definitely looks like a good pick for a Weapon of Choice in 1.10. Other picks include the upgraded Ribcracker, Windhammer (possible 80% WIAS Ogre Maul), and Rune Master (up to 5 sockets in this One-Handed Axe... it also comes with Cannot Be Frozen).

As for cube recipes, the following are interesting:

*From Pul on up, cubing 2 of a rune + a certain type of gem upgrades it to the next highest. Before that, it takes 3 of the rune to upgrade.

Tal Rune + Thul Rune + 1 perfect topaz + normal torso -> socketed torso
Ral Rune + Amn Rune + 1 perfect amethyst + normal weapon -> socketed weapon
Ral Rune + Thul Rune + 1 perfect sapphire + normal helm -> socketed helm
Tal Rune + Amn Rune + 1 perfect ruby + normal shield -> socketed shield
Eld Rune + 1 chipped gem + low weapon -> normal weapon
El Rune + 1 chipped gem + low armor -> normal armor
Ral Rune + Sol Rune + perfect emerald + basic unique weapon -> exceptional unique weapon
Tal Rune + Shael Rune + perfect diamond + basic unique armor -> exceptional unique armor
Lum Rune + Pul Rune + perfect emerald + exceptional unique weapon -> elite unique weapon
Ko Rune + Lem Rune + perfect diamond + exceptional unique armor -> elite unique armor
Ort Rune + Amn Rune + perfect sapphire + basic rare weapon -> exceptional rare weapon
Ral Rune + Thul Rune + perfect amethyst + basic rare armor -> exceptional rare armor
Fal Rune + Um Rune + perfect sapphire + exceptional rare weapon -> elite rare weapon
Ko Rune + Pul Rune + perfect amethyst + exceptional rare armor -> elite rare armor
Ort Rune + weapon -> repair
Ral Rune + armor -> repair
Hel Rune + tsc + any socketed item -> unsocket (destroy gems)

As for runewords added....

Bound by Duty tors DolUmBerIst
Bramble tors RalOhmSurEth
Breath of the Dying weap VexHelElEldZodEth
Call to Arms weap AmnRalMalIst
Crescent Moon axe swor pole ShaelUmTir
Delirium helm LemIstIo
Doomsayer axe pole hamm HelOhmUmLoCham
Enigma tors JahIthBer
Stone tors ShaelUmPulLum
Eternity mele AmnBerIstSolSur
Exile's Path pala VexOhmIstDol
Famine axe hamm FalOhmOrtJah
Hand of Justice weap SurChamAmnLo
Heart of the Oak staf mace KoVexPulThul
Kingslayer swor axe MalUmGulFal
Passion weap DolOrtEldLem
Gloom tors FalUmPul
Sanctuary shld KoKoMal
Chaos h2h FalOhmUm

A few powerful Wereform weapons (these do not include stats from the individual runes... I might edit that in tomorrow morning once I've gotten some sleep :) ):

Breath of the Dying
Vel Hel El Eld Zod Eth
Weapon
+350-400% Enhanced Damage
60% WIAS
+125% Damage to the Undead
12-15% Life Steal
Prevents Monster Heal
Casts slvl 20 Poison Nova on Kill 50% of the time
+30 to All Stats

Doomsayer
Hel Ohm Um Lo Cham
Axe, Polearm, Hammer
+2 to All Skill Levels
280-320% Enhanced Damage
Holy Freeze Aura (slvl 12)
45% WIAS
Prevents Monster Heal
40-60 Cold Piercing
Casts Level 5-18 Volcano on Striking (I think)

Hand of Justice
Sur Cham Amn Lo
Weapon
+280-330% Enhanced Damage
33% WIAS
Holy Fire Aura (slvl 16)
Casts slvl 36 Blaze on Level-Up
Casts slvl 48 Meteor on Death
Ignores Target's Defense
20 Fire Piercing

Kingslayer
Mal Um Gul Fal
Sword, Axe
+230-270% Enhanced Damage
30% WIAS
Reduces Target's AC by 25%
33% Crushing Blow
25 Open Wounds
Vengeance (slvl 1)
40% Better Gold Find

Elementalists might like the following:

Heart of the Oak
Ko Vex Pul Thul
Staff, Mace
+3 to All Skill Levels
40% Faster Cast Rate
25 Charges of slvl 4 Oak Sage
Increases Maximum Mana by 15%
+20 Regeneration
+30-40% Resist All
60 Charges of slvl 14 Raven

Just some random info that people might want to look over.

[Albion Child]

True the pallys synergies are scattered, but considering most pally builds don't suffer from not having enough skill points, so I think it will work. Will let you know when I get my good old Fanatic Zealot out of the garage! He has points in the majority of available skills as well as several free poinnts to test out snergies. I can't wait!!!

(Well actually I'll wait until tomorrow. I'm too darn tired)

[aurikan]

I've been poking through the MPQ. Things that I've seen:

- Manaleech back on rings, life leech back on amulets -- available on rares too!

Rune upgrade crafts:
1-9: 3 of rune
10-15: 3 rune + 1 chipped gem of specific type
16-21: 3 rune + 1 flawed
22-27: *2* rune + 1 normal
28-32: *2* rune + 1 flawless

The pattern of specific gem goes:
topaz, amethyst, sapphire, ruby, emerald .. eg, 3 thul+chip topaz = amn, 3 amn+chip amethyst = sol

Socketing recipes Dragoon has posted. The items get 1-6 random sockets it looks like

r09 + weapon repairs it
r08 + armor repairs it

r15 + town portal scroll + item is the unsocket recipe.
r08 + jewel + superior armor, superior weapon, magic ring, or magic amulet returns a tempered item. How those work I am not sure.

r01 + chipped amethyst + tempered weapon adds 30-50 ar to it, it looks like

Upgrade recipes (these take the item to the tier above -- eg exceptional to elite):
r08 + r12 + perfect emerald + basic unique weapon
r17 + r21 + perfect emerald + exceptional unique weapon
r09 + r11 + perfect sapphire + basic rare weapon
r19 + r22 + perfect sapphire + exceptional rare weapon
r07 + r13 + perfect diamond + basic unique armor
r18 + r20 + perfect diamond + exceptional unique armor
r08 + r10 + perfect amethyst + basic rare armor
r18 + r21 + perfect amethyst + exceptional rare armor

r02 + chip gem + low quality weapon -> normal quality weapon
r01 + chip gem + low quality armor -> normal quality armor



PS. Perhaps we should create a "1.10 spoilers!" thread for this info? Some people might want the surprise of learning it on their own...

[WarBlade]

I checked this with a Holy Shock guy and it looks like my earlier speculation is correct. Under Clensing and Meditation synergies is the clue that Aura Pulses are at 2 seconds each. Shock testing supports that with Shock too.

Many Pulse Aura effects are now 1.5 times what they were before factoring in changes to the actual numbers.

Or at least that's the way it looks to me ATM. Can anyone confirm or deny?

[Arutha]

Doesn't seem to work...


On a side note, unless I have missed it, there's no readme.txt detailing the changes.
How are we supposed to know if something is a bug or a "feature" ?

[Archon_Wing]

Bosses in general seem to be buffer. Corpsefire hits hard and Blood Raven hit my skeleton which had a terror effect! The skeleton started running away from her. That should bring a new factor into minion users. :)

I've also been hearing that the amount of minions have been capped now and further points give stat bonuses. Which may make it less laggy for the less forunate that play with me.

[Hammerskjold]

Supposedly Players X and the FPS command has to be typed with the slash before it.

[Arutha]

That's how it works now, indeed.

(see what I mean by documenting changes? lol )

[Arutha]

Only tested with a low lvl assy, but I've seen the critical hit "spark" only once, and damage seems consistent with no 100% increase.

[aurikan]

- It looks like the hellforge quests can drop from r01 to r25 now. I don't know what the specific ranges are for each difficulty.

- A monster "Diablo Clone" has drop group of "ROP", which points to in Nightmare and mysterious object "Annihilus" -- dropping 1 out of 5 times. In Hell, "Annihilus" drops every time.

- Countess now drops out of Runes 4 in normal, Runes 8 in nightmare, Runes 12 in Hell, 3 of 4 times. Runes 4 is up to r08. Runes 8 is up to rune r16. Runes 12 is up to r24. This isn't new is it?

- Rune drop rate looks approximately halved.

[Arutha]

- A monster "Diablo Clone" has drop group of "ROP", which points to in Nightmare and mysterious object "Annihilus" -- dropping 1 out of 5 times. In Hell, "Annihilus" drops every time.

Annihilus is the unique small charm whose stats were leaked.
The "Diablo Clone" might be linked to the "world event" that was hinted at.

- Rune drop rate looks approximately halved.

What do you mean? That runes will drop even less than now ??

[Arutha]

Things that haven't changed:

- +skills items are still way overpriced

- throwing knives are still bugged: you still sell them at a fixed 480 gp.

[aurikan]

Scratch that, I was just making an assumption I shouldn't have.

Rune drops are the same. Distribution of runes have changed.
Zod drop rate is halved. Um through rune before Zod are boosted slightly. Lower runes are a little bit less frequent, not much though.

[Brista]

Life & mana leech

Normal difficulty * 1
Nightmare difficulty * 1/2
Hell difficulty * 1/3

[WarBlade]

I've just been for a blast through Glacial Trail on Nightmare and Hell. In Hell level I was mildly intrigued at the unexpected colour surrounding a regular monster's life bar and a closer look revealed Poison Immune, Physical Immune (a specter). So dual Immunities are possible on non-unques now? Yikes.

In Nightmare the Skeleton Magi welcoming committee exhibited Poison Immune, but that's when I noticed something really interesting. Lower Resist got rid of it! :D I'm going to have to have a play with Conviction now. :D

EDIT (Update) : This seems to be either a feature or a bug of Lower Resist - Conviction does nothing to Immunities

So a strike for the Sorceress (maybe) and a hidden advantage for the Necro . . . ;)

Other junk
1.) New pallette shifts look interesting, although still haven't transferred over to the character selection screen. A Paladin in Goldskin became a dull orange colour, a bright pink bone shield in the shield slot became the same bright pink on the map, a Druid wearing Sigon's Gothic Plate lost the little gold bits to his look and got silver instead etc etc. Plus the Barb merc has a new icon.

2.) "Players 8" might be no more. It works and the new confirmation message is nice ( "Players set to 8" ) but with monster life ramped up I had a Defiant standing there in hell effectively trying to level a mountain with a tea spoon. "Players 1" is more like what "Players 8" was. :blink:

3.) Golems die. The Fire Golem looked great in theory, with all the fire extra damage, but watching him rush forward to commit seppuku on the knives of his enemies was a little disheartening. I noticed the same with Dire Wolves and mercs too. Lifespan of an ant sunning itself on the head of a nail placed between forefinger and thumb.

4.) Remember Foul Crows? Their AI makes them do these annoying hit and run attacks now. They used to hang around long enough to get two or three hits in and now I just switch to Zeal and hope I might score a hit as they come barreling in. :unsure: