Diablo 2 question

The sad thing is that even this increase of sales will "convince" other publishers that Action-RPGs are "the right thing".

Accountants just see the numbers, nothing more.

No reasons behind the mask.

The fact that video game rpgs became more like video games (rather than pnp) isn't such a big surprise now is it? Even so, it didn't do the Titan Quest guys any good even though they made a good hack n slasher.

woges said:

If you like playing with builds the amazon basin has some guides that'll give you some ideas.

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Thanks, woges--haven't seen that one before.

@dte--gogamer's still got the Battlechest in stock-albeit at a rather hefty price($32.95)--seems I've seen it at Target for $20.

titan quest wasnt that good of a hack'n'slash really, neither is any of the other attempts to make a diablo clone. mostly cuz theyre all lacking in the randomized departement. eg titan quest's items really became predictable after a while, it was like static presets that scaled with your level.
fate, and now lately mythos is the only ones that comes even close imo.

Regardless, the point was simply making hack n slashers doesn't mean success. It certainly does some things differently from Diablo like a fixed world to explore but some people thought that was a superior method. It also had an interesting character system though I haven't played TQ enough to explore the many ways it has of character building. The expansion was very good I thought even though it did have a few technical flaws it's still a nice game.

Of all the diablo clone attempts I've played, Titan Quest was the most faithful to the formula, I think, and it worked well. But loot balancing is a big weakness in hack-n-slashes, and I don't think anyone's found the perfect incarnation of it, though D2 is arguably the most diverse.

I don't think TQ 'failed' because it was a bad diablo clone--it was an excellent one, and had some good innovations as well (the caravan, for instance.) I think it failed to meet its sales quotas because, as woges said, action rpgs are just not the mainstream product they once were. The market is split between MMO's, console, FPS/action games and casual games these days, and the rpg niche, including the so-called 'action rpgs' seems to get smaller, more specialized and restricted all the time.

magerette said:

... the rpg niche, including the so-called 'action rpgs' seems to get smaller, more specialized and restricted all the time.

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That doesn't apply to action rpg produced by Blizzard.

Nope because Blizzard have a fan base that they have built over the years just copying the product isn't going to switch them to yours. There maybe some cross-over but I think a lot of players are happy to stick with Blizzard.

Well, I went and bought the Battle Chest. Now the question is how long I stick with NWN2 before installing D2. NWN2 just isn't grabbing me as well as NWN1 did, although I couldn't really say why.

Enjoy, dte. If you play. remember not to squander your skill points too fast cuz you can't get them back and later many early-level skills are worthless wastes of points that you'll desperately wish you could have back but can't. Ever. (cue evil laughter...) Do your spreadsheet thing early and often.

All these talks of Diablo make me itchy to install and play Diablo 2 again. Maybe i install it on my office laptop so when on travel/outstation duty i could still have something to game. Nothing compare to playing on my desktop with high-end speaker and other gears though.

fatBastard() said:

A word of caution though: It might be less than optimal to play as a Paladin in a single player game. The game itself is identical in singleplayer and multiplayer but quite a few of the Paladin's skills are party buff skills that are most successfully applied in multiplayer game sessions.

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Same thing could be said of Barbarians, with their warcries. A hammerdin however is one of the more viable solo-hell builds available (I'm still on nightmare, but my hammerdin is having a much easier time than my whirlwind barbarian).

I took a barbarian thru the first quest. For my second start, I'm trying (and so far, enjoying) an amazon. I'll probably try a necromancer at some point.

Hammerdin is damn effective--my son's favorite build. I took a concentrate barb through Hell and he was an awesome killing machine--in fact the only char I've beaten Hell difficulty with. I still have my build sheets taken from Halciet's Concentrate Barb guide at diabloii.net strategy compendium and he went something like this:
Str: 156 base
Dex:for a shield build with Stormsheild in mind, 222; for a shieldless build bare minimum for weapon of choice(probably a maul)
Vitality:Everything else
Energy:None

Skills(Focus is on the synergies):
Four Primary Skills
Concentrate 20 points
Battle Orders: 20 points
Shout: 20 points
Weapon Mastery: 20 points
Secondary Skills:
Bash: 15 points
One Point Wonders:
Battle Command
Howl
Taunt
Berserk
Battle Cry
Leap Attack
Find Potion
And he liked Grim Ward, but I seldom used it--it's only one point though.
Increased Speed/Stamina/Iron Skin/Natural Resistance(very helpful passive bonii--and plus-skills items makes them effective with only one point.)

I've used a lot of guides from the compendium over the years, including the Tesladin (fun but dead in Nightmare), and a few weird druid builds, but most are very gear dependent. This barb one requires good items(especially for Hell) but isn't totally dominated by the need for one particular set or unique that makes a lot of builds impractical.

For us noobs, what's all this "muling" and such? I'm guessing it's a wait to exploit multiplayer so that a solo gamer doesn't have to town portal home every 20 seconds to empty out the incredibly small backpack. I'd be satisfied with a hotkey that would pick up available loot, ala DS2. With the way critters run for their lives, it's pretty easy to lose track of the spot where 14 corpses cover a tiny little ring or some such.

Hit the alt key for highlighting loot--if you haven't already figured that one out. AFA the loot--there's never enough room. I basically just pick up selectively--rings, ammies, blues or better, and gold. Later you'll get something called the Horadric Cube which gives you some more slots(as well as lets you craft). I don't know of any way to avoid carting back your loot, but you *can* find applications that will allow you to hoard everything you want to keep by creating storage mules. I use ATMA. In fact I'm downloading it as soon as I get through here, because I broke down and installed the damn thing on my new computer (it's been diablo-free for two years) This is all your fault--again.

BTW the new patch with the CD-free play is pretty cool. I'd forgotten how easy it is to update the game(-just log on to battle.net, and you get all the patches in like thirty seconds.) Auto-updaters are pretty standard fare now, but back in the day that was a pretty innovative feature.

wish i could still enjoy D2, i just cant tho. It's like a cd that Ive left in my car stereo too long - just played out. Pretty much did all classes except for the Barbarian, just never got into them. Favorite is the Amazon!

Ready for part 3!

Yeah, there's such a thing as burn-out on a game you play for untold hours,days months and years. I thought i had a pretty good case of it: )

@dte--btw I just remembered another thing--by opening the command line(hit enter) and typing /players8 you'll get much much better item drops, as the game thinks there's eight people playing and adjust the monster difficulty and level accordingly, which means better stuff. If the settings too hard just retype a figure you can deal with.

magerette said:

Yeah, there's such a thing as burn-out on a game you play for untold hours,days months and years.

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Same goes for lisenint music too much etc. ... That's why I'm listening to my Enya records only every now and then - to keep the "thrill" she alwyys produces in me when I listen to her music.

It's like good wine - the rarer you listen to it, the better it gets.

Imho.

dteowner said:

For us noobs, what's all this "muling" and such?

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A mule is simply a character used only for storage of items you wish to keep, but have no immediate use for, such as runes, gems, unique items and set items. If you're playing SP and want to mule, you either need two Diablo 2 installs on different computers with different CD-keys, or you can use ATMA that magerette linked to.

magerette said:

@dte--btw I just remembered another thing--by opening the command line(hit enter) and typing /players8 you'll get much much better item drops, as the game thinks there's eight people playing and adjust the monster difficulty and level accordingly, which means better stuff. If the settings too hard just retype a figure you can deal with.

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"/players [1-8]" also multiplies the experience you gain.