Diablo II "LoD" CLASSIC STYLE MOD for v1.10

[nobbie]

Therefore, OK IM will remain disabled in my game. (I'll add Warped to Durance myself and just skip this update.)

What you can also do - since this latest update includes some other minor tweaks - is to load Levels.txt into your Excel editor and replace the "doomknight3" entries in the line "Act 4 - Diablo 1" by "dkmag3". "dkmag3" in the MonStats.txt of this MOD is a copy of the "doomknight3" (= Oblivion Knights) without the "MonCurseCast" skill (which includes IM).

[lfd]

I've seen enough frustrated zealots, including my own, die from IM that I don't mind it being toned down at all.

Well, yes - if you go zealing, or fury-ing, or fend-ing, or any multiple-uninterruptable-melee attack with a large damage weapon anywhere where you are round oblivion knights, then you get everything you deserve. :)

[Smoketest]

That makes sense, since I'm not too unfamiliar with modding the various game files. I do some of your changes manually because I don't like having to re-implement all my changes every time an update comes around. :) However, I do appreciate your work. We seem to have the same concerns.

[Smoketest]

Oh, so you support punishment for players who do what the game was designed to do then. I'll put you on the same list as Blizzard. :)

Seriously, if Blizzard didn't want us to use those forms of attack, they shouldn't have provided them. The range bug on zeal (and possibly the others) keeps it somewhat under control anyway. What's the point of making a zealot if you've got to use a one-attack-per-click skill around one type of monster in the game? To me that says the monster is the problem, not the skill or build. I like themes, and I don't like having to modify them for one or two instances in a game with ~100 kinds of monsters. <_<

[lfd]

What's the point of making a zealot if you've got to use a one-attack-per-click skill around one type of monster in the game?

Um, that's EXACTLY the point. It's one area in the game (three in 1.10 expansion?), and it's like that to provide variety, to force you to THINK when you're in an area with Oblivion Knights in it, and NOT just go madly clicking around as if you're invincible.

Just because the presence of one particular monster type makes it very dangerous to attack with your primary skill does not mean Blizzard are out to punish you for using that skill. The fact that you can mash through the other 99% of the game with that skill mostly proves that.

[Smoketest]

Sure, I think a lot. I used tactics all the time to deal with IM while playing melee chars. However, I found that sort of variety, ie insta-death if you make a mistake, to be annoying, especially if I forgot to switch attacks or run away. (Sorry, I'm not a perfect gamer.) Thus my vote of favor for disabling IM on monsters.

[CelticHound]

- Deckard Cain can now be found in the same location in Act 5 as on the realms (near your private stash). The reason for his replacement in single-player was that identifying items through Cain was annoying when he was still in his old location near the Harrogath gate. Cain can't walk around in his new place because the D2 Map Editor does not yet support path editing, but he does turn towards your character if you want something from him :)

I made a small mod to TownWest.ds1 have Cain wander back and forth by the WP, sort of like he does on the realms. He start the game over by Qual-Kehk but then heads over toward the stash. I can send you the file if you like.

Perhaps this should be a new thread, but what other differences do we know of between the realms and SP? There are, of course, the four runewords - Duress, Prudence, Splendor and Wind - and the other 23 unknown ones. What else?

BTW, about immunities, Iron Maiden, etc. I like the idea that for any given character/build there should be some monster who is his bane. It goes back to Norse mythology - each god has his bane. One of the nice points in Moorcock's eternal champion cycle was that even Elric, though armed with Stormbringer, met a demon he wouldn't dare attack because it had a "ward pact against swords". I think the occasional boss with a thorns aura against misslies or spells would be great. Heimdall is a fierce warrior, but powerless against the fire giants. I believe that being able to mindlessly play through with any one trick pony devalues the game.

-- CH

[nobbie]

I made a small mod to TownWest.ds1 have Cain wander back and forth by the WP, sort of like he does on the realms. He start the game over by Qual-Kehk but then heads over toward the stash. I can send you the file if you like.

Thanks for the offer, but the still-standing Cain in the MOD, IMO, is actually better than the Cain on the realms because you can reach him even faster for identifying your new-found stuff :) In Battle.net, I sometimes actually had problems to find him quickly when he was on his way behind the wall.

BTW, about immunities, Iron Maiden, etc. I like the idea that for any given character/build there should be some monster who is his bane. It goes back to Norse mythology - each god has his bane. One of the nice points in Moorcock's eternal champion cycle was that even Elric, though armed with Stormbringer, met a demon he wouldn't dare attack because it had a "ward pact against swords". I think the occasional boss with a thorns aura against misslies or spells would be great. Heimdall is a fierce warrior, but powerless against the fire giants. I believe that being able to mindlessly play through with any one trick pony devalues the game.

Spellcasters are already limited by the "Blood Mana" curse (Succubi, Baal), provided their Mana level is higher than their Life level. "Thorns" against missiles (Amazons) would be a tad too powerful, I think. Something like "Slow Missiles" for certain monsters like Oblivion Knights, on the other hand, might be a nice addition to slow down Amazons.

Perhaps this should be a new thread, but what other differences do we know of between the realms and SP? There are, of course, the four runewords - Duress, Prudence, Splendor and Wind - and the other 23 unknown ones. What else?

Item drops (items, runes, gems etc.) on the realms are for sure different and subject to constant changes, especially in the Ladder. By the way, I noticed a significant increase in gem drops on the new Ladder while the drops for rather common runes like AMN or SOL are significantly lower (at least on Europe), which leads me to believe that there is a new guy messing with the drop rate tables (TreasureClassEx.txt). In this case, he obviously just increased the gem drop rate without consideration of the significant effect such a change has on the rune drops. Increasing gem drops and rune drops would be correct if you want to maintain the drop rate for runes ;)

[lfd]

Spellcasters are already limited by the "Blood Mana" curse (Succubi, Baal), provided their Mana level is higher than their Life level.

The blood mana curse is weak and feeble compared to iron maiden. Aside from it not being castable on you if you have more life than mana, it can't kill you (won't reduce your life below 40hp afaik?) and it only removes the mana cost of casting from your life, rather than reflecting the amount of damage you do back with a multiplier. Most sorcs need not even bother consider it, plus if you stand behind your merc there's a fair chance you'll get hit by the defence-reduction curse instead.

That said, I think your idea of the oblivs being able to cast slow missiles instead is a great one, although as always that's a double-edged sword because of the strange things it does with some spells (such as firewall). Those with a lowish nextdelay will also be able to hit more than once much more readily.

[nobbie]

Yes, you can't die from "Blood Mana" but it can nevertheless significantly slow down Sorcs or Necros. "Slow Missiles" for Oblivion knights is just a thought, but if it's buggy, it doesn't make sense anyway to implement it ;)

[Winnetou]

Hi ! I'm new to this forum but i've read this thread and i've played your mod nobbie and besides THANKS and GOOD WORK, I want to ask you something. When I first saw this mod i've said to myself " this is too easy" but i really like the ideea of creating a caracter like the you can only dream of (for us the poor people with dial-up who can't really play on a realm). But being able to have almost all the items you want and to reach level 95+ is very sweet. So I asking you this : since you can have a caracter as good as a realm player can , can you please introduce diablo clone somewhere (like one of the 3 areas where he spaws already) with the identical stats and drops as a realm one ?? (this is so you can really see how good is your caracter, if you want, and to get a +50 life gc) and eventually to apply this to more monsters........to make some areas to have the monsters of their original strenght (including immunities and such). I want this especailly for testing to see if with the x,y,z eqiupment i can stand the real dclone, how fast i can do [bossname] runs and such. I'm not saying to revert all monsters to their original strenght just to add a few areas with that plzlpzlzpl.

Also Bug report: i have a FO/ES sorc and for my amulet a crafted caster amulet would be the perfect one for me. I've created one, BUT when i put it in the cube and hit transmute to reroll it, it ALWAYS give me a blood or hit power crafted amulet (the one who always has life leech and life). This applies when i put the c. diamond to create one with perfect stats : it gives me a blood/hit power (don't know witch one is) crafted amulet not the caster crafted amulet witch i wanted

Also for charms...can you please increase the life that grand charms with fixed stats give? I mean the ones with +1 [skill tab of your choice] / life. Can you increase from 40 to 45 plz ? for 45 it only requires a mlvl of 91 witch isn't that high.....Also if you can introduce a cube formula for a small charm with 17 mana/20 life plz ...i've spend almost 2 hours only to get one with 15 mana 17 life : (

Anyway really thanks for this mod and for your work and feedback. Good luck and keep up the good work

[nobbie]

Thanks, glad you like the MOD :)

since you can have a caracter as good as a realm player can , can you please introduce diablo clone somewhere (like one of the 3 areas where he spaws already) with the identical stats and drops as a realm one ?? (this is so you can really see how good is your caracter, if you want, and to get a +50 life gc).

The Diablo Clone in the MOD has 25% of his original hitpoints to make him killable for any no-twink character in Single-Player. If you want to have him spawn with his full hitpoints, just use the "/players 4" command. I don't intend to change his drops, because the chances that you actually get one of those level 110 "uber"-drops, like a +50 Life Grand Charm with another good affix like +1 Skill Tab or +To Max. Mana, are very, very slim.

and eventually to apply this to more monsters........to make some areas to have the monsters of their original strenght (including immunities and such).

Sorry, no. That would not only water down the MOD, but make its basic philosophy pointless :) If you want to test your strength against the original mobs, why not use your character from the MOD in the original patch then? The MOD is 100% compatible with the original patch. By the way, if you are familiar with the "-direct -txt" execution "test" mode for MOD writers, you can simply extract the files MonStats.txt and Levels.txt from my MOD and fight the Diablo Clone with his original drops. This way you might get one of the level 110 "uber"-drops, after thousands of runs maybe .. ;)

Also for charms...can you please increase the life that grand charms with fixed stats give? I mean the ones with +1 [skill tab of your choice] / life. Can you increase from 40 to 45 plz ? for 45 it only requires a mlvl of 91 witch isn't that high.....Also if you can introduce a cube formula for a small charm with 17 mana/20 life plz ...i've spend almost 2 hours only to get one with 15 mana 17 life

I had some additional very high level recipes in mind when I started writing the MOD, but decided that the current set of (currently over 1000!) recipes is sufficient. +40 Life on top of another good affix is already very strong, so you may simplycube another additional charm if you want even more. I hope you understand that I cannot add each and every recipe just for the purpose of ultimate perfection. If you're striving for perfection, you may want to get familiar with the basics of modding (see the excellent "Phrozen Keep" website at http://phrozenkeep.it-point.com for all infos and tools) and modify either the Cubemain.txt of the CubeMOD, or write your own Cubemain.txt. It's just some affix numbers that have to be changed to get the highest level stuff.

Also Bug report: i have a FO/ES sorc and for my amulet a crafted caster amulet would be the perfect one for me. I've created one, BUT when i put it in the cube and hit transmute to reroll it, it ALWAYS give me a blood or hit power crafted amulet (the one who always has life leech and life). This applies when i put the c. diamond to create one with perfect stats : it gives me a blood/hit power (don't know witch one is) crafted amulet not the caster crafted amulet witch i wanted

This is not a bug, but a natural limitation. First of all, the "rerolling" recipes are an addition of the MOD, not original recipes. When I added the rerolling recipes for crafted Amulets and Rings, I had to decide which craft type to choose, and the very popular "Blood" crafts seems to be the best. The Cube MOD uses the type of the input item - crafted Amulets and Rings in this case - to identify the recipe that shall be used. The MOD can however not see which type of craft the crafted Amulet or Ring in the input has, so I had to choose one type of craft. If you want another craft type for Amulets and Rings, you'll have to use the original recipes using all required ingredients. This, by the way, is also documented in the ReadMe.txt for the CubeMOD, Chapter 11 "Crafting Support" ;) Quote: "Excluded from this rerolling are just amulets and rings because several different crafting recipes exist for these item types. Rerolling of crafted amulets and rings is however enabled for the popular "Blood" craft recipes."

[Winnetou]

wow that was a fast reply

You are right with the testing i can use the original diablo ... dumb me..... so, i can see your point that there's no need for you to make a change. I'll have to learn from Phrozen Keep how to edit the appropiate txt files to have a dclone with the exact stats as on realm. I have a question: couldn't i just copy the stats from the original diablo to your mod ?? If yes all that I need is to know what to copy : ) .

As for crafted amulet i understand sorry for not reading completely the readme. Too bad since my chances to get a dream amulet with at least all the mods i want but not necesarry at max magnitude are very very very slim. I've tried crafted boots and i hadn't not even the luck to get one with +60 mana and 5% max mana after more of 300 tries.. : (

Well thanks for the info and support

[nobbie]

As for crafted amulet i understand sorry for not reading completely the readme. Too bad since my chances to get a dream amulet with at least all the mods i want but not necesarry at max magnitude are very very very slim. I've tried crafted boots and i hadn't not even the luck to get one with +60 mana and 5% max mana after more of 300 tries..

Well, after you've learned the basics of modding, you can simply take the Cubemain.txt of my MOD and insert a "1" in the column for the crafted amulet/ring you want (you must disable the "Blood" crafts for those with a "0" in the "enabled" column then (rows 1141 + 1142)) ;)

[nobbie]

Any feedback about the removed immunities in Hell yet? :)

[KryptMaker]

I'd like to say thanks for all your hard work. You've given me hope that D2X can be fun again.

I'll download the mod tonight once I get home. (I had done so well resisting the temptation!!! :angry: )

[Zingydex]

Any feedback about the removed immunities in Hell yet?&nbsp;&nbsp;

How about this: THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

To be a little more constructive, it's probably the single best change anyone could make. I (and just about every Battlenetter I've talked to) was sick and tired of having a build walk all over Normal and much of Nightmare, only to find myself almost helpless in many areas of Hell. Splitting skill points into multiple trees (often sacrificing a lot of damage to do so) and/or drawing on mercenaries (who like nothing more than getting themselves killed needlessly) is prohibitive to those of us with less-than-uber gear and budgets.

Playing untwinked makes it difficult to get the godly amount of +skills it takes to spread a Sorceress over two or three trees and still kill effectively; or to get the huge elemental damage mods that many melee characters need to get past the assortment of PI's. To say nothing of the defensive equipment that every character needs just to stay alive in Hell anyway.

Mucho appreciado for giving me some much-needed breathing room in my gear selection.

[Grayloch]

Any feedback about the removed immunities in Hell yet? :)

To echo Zingydex, a great big THANK YOU!

And thank you, too, for all the work you have put into this mod.

Removing the immunities was what finally convinced me to give your mod a try. The thought of being able to play fully-synergized one-tree sorcs and have them viable in Hell was just too intriguing to pass up. I downloaded your mod and haven't looked back since.

It seems you and I share many of the same thoughts about Blizzard's 1.10 patch: love a lot of the new features, hate a lot of the new features. In particular, balancing Hell difficulty for multiplayer parties pretty much shafted SP players (again). Your mod makes playing D2X an enjoyable experience again, instead of the exercise in frustration, aggravation, and tedium that Blizzard seems to think is a fun challenge.

Thank you again!

-G.

[Smoketest]

Any feedback about the removed immunities in Hell yet? :)

Heh, oops. I had already made this change in my own mod several months back so hadn't noticed it too much since your mod echoes so many of my own changes. Heck, I don't even use my mod anymore. Mine was a so-called "Anti-Irritation Mod" for D2, which only my brother and I ever used. I'm so old school that I still never consider putting stuff online most of the time. Hehe.

Anyway, thanks for this feature, and many others I hadn't considered adding before. I've left off modding D2 and am instead concentrating on the BG series, where I know more about what I'm doing. ;)

[nobbie]

Thanks all for the feedback :) So, capping the previous immunties at 80% is about right, or is it a bit too low or high?