Diablo 2 1.13 Patch possibly as soon as next week! Join us!

[Tensei]

We’re preparing for a Diablo II ladder reset to coincide with the release of the 1.13 patch that’s currently in development. We don’t have a final release date for the patch yet, but we’re providing early warning as a reset could occur as early as the end of April. We’ll be providing updates with more certain dates once the patch is closer to release.

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=16474108703&postId=164725061005&sid=3000

As of late, me and a few other OCR regulars have been playing the legendary action RPG Diablo 2 again. Even though it's almost 10 years old, it's aged really well, and I still have a ton of fun playing it.

What's this 1.13 patch?

I (re)created this thread because of the impending 1.13 patch, which may or may not change a large portion of the game mechanics again, and because I've heard from a lot of people that they might pick up the game again when the ladder resets.

Even though there's no information on the patch content itself, I think that it'll mostly be aimed at balancing the classes out a bit more, mostly by nerfing the overpowered cookie cutter builds (Javazon and Hammerdin come to mind). I hope we can expect some nice new runewords as well and let's hope they finally remove the +1 to teleport from Enigma.

What's this Diablo 2 thing you're talking about?

For those of you who haven't ever heard of Diablo 2 (which won't be a lot), I can only heartily recommend it: It's an incredibly deep and engaging RPG with literally almost no form of grinding at all. One important feature is that about 95% of the locations are randomly generated, which understandably adds a shitload of replay value.

You can buy CD keys at around 4-10$ (and just download the ISOs from blizzard's site), with no further monthly fees, so overall there's little reason not to get it now.

Further Reading:

http://www.blizzard.com/us/diablo2/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_II

http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/

Disclaimer: The graphics are...tolerable at best. The max resolution is 16-bit 800x600 so you're best off playing it windowed.

OCR on Diablo 2

We mostly play on the US East Ladder realm (I have no problem with lag at all and I'm connecting from Europe), but our high level characters will soon get moved to non-ladder anyway once the reset hits, so everybody will probably start out with new characters at that time.

List of people playing by accountname (Just ask in the thread or ingame to be included):

PrincessTensei (That'd be me)

Nekofrog

Hemophiliac

Xslicer

TehDonut

Bvenator (relyanCe)

Bardic (BardicKnowledge)

Global-Trance (USwest)

CEMP (Lord Obsidious)

Haltsounds (Halt)

Sindra

Hope to see you ingame some time!

Bonus pic!:

[anosou]

SUP GUYS!?

I'm in when it goes down. See you there!

[BardicKnowledge]

I'll be there, account name is Bardic. Looking forward to the new patch!

[Halt]

I'll join when I get my paycheck thursday or I can get someone I know to paypal me some money. xD I'll be joining you in the next couple weeks

[M W]

I first played this game when I was 11 on my uncle's account, where his friends grew strangely curious as to why he was doing Kirby impressions. Then he died of a drug overdose, and I haven't been on since.

I always loved smashing people with Mort's leg just to annoy them. I also grew very caring about the mercenaries I hired; making sure they had super cool equipment and everything. When I got a copy of the game for myself, I was sad because resurrecting them was only in the Expansion Pack.

Never got it online though. Those were in the dailup days.

[Tensei]

Diablo 2 online is an entirely different game (Not necessarily saying better, just very different). Nevertheless, if you enjoyed the single player, it's definitely worth trying it out online

[Petara]

Oh hell yeah! I've been having an itch to get back on:-P

[relyanCe]

*bvenator on USEAST

if ladder resets with 1.13, will make new account under *relyanCe

Join ussssssssss

[Global-Trance]

Global-Trance on US West

[Nekofrog]

We all play on East.

Now, keep in mind with the ladder reset, we're all going to lose all of our cool gear (for the ladder side of things).

If we have enough people, we'll probably be able to rush through things and, if enough time is dedicated, do decently well on the ladder.

But we'll probably be disorganized and get nothing done because people are all up in different timezones :\

[Bleck]

can I play if I totally don't care about being on the ladder

[Nekofrog]

It's not that we care about being on the ladder, it's that there are ladder-exclusive elements of the game that non-ladder characters can't access.

Kind of gay, I know.

[relyanCe]

It's not that we care about being on the ladder, it's that there are ladder-exclusive elements of the game that non-ladder characters can't access.

Kind of gay, I know.

Also, ladder resets allow the economy to stabilize, which is the best part imo.

[Bleck]

why is there a diablo economy

I just want to kill dudes

[Tensei]

A somewhat organized ladder rush could be fun, but yeah, timezones are an issue. Still, I'd like to try it

[SoulinEther]

What's this Diablo 2 thing you're talking about?

For those of you who haven't ever heard of Diablo 2 (which won't be a lot), I can only heartily recommend it: It's an incredibly deep and engaging RPG with literally almost no form of grinding at all. One important feature is that about 95% of the locations are randomly generated, which understandably adds a shitload of replay value.

What? The 90s are hell in xpac, the late 80s on are nearly impossible in classic.

I quit playing (for the fifth time) like a week before they announced the new patch... and I really don't want to come back. Therefore, if you ever see a *soulinether in a game, hostile, kill and hurl obscenities at me.

[Petara]

Petara on West

Woo.

[Lord Obsidious]

Whoot! Count me in, if you guys don't mind a minor commentator! My account on U.S. East, as CEMP.

But we'll probably be disorganized and get nothing done because people are all up in different timezones :\

Well, assuming we have more than 8 people (Or at least a substantial amount to form a fun party), we can always split up the play sessions with groups of people who have closely related time zones. Of course, that could really depend if we can split the group evenly (Or fairly); at which point, I have the funny feeling we might have to do this disorganized.

On that note, will we be using any chats (I.E. XFire, Skype) to communicate with one another?

[Tensei]

What? The 90s are hell in xpac, the late 80s on are nearly impossible in classic.

I never play beyond 90 because I don't really see a reason to do so. The difference between, say, level 90 and 95 isn't significant enough to put any amount of time in it IMO, and level 1-85 is doable in a few days at most.

Edit: Of course if we're going through with the ladder rush, then yeah, grindfest

but honestly, I don't think most 'casual' players care about getting past 90 either, so that's why I said there's no grinding at all. Maybe I should rephrase: "You can enjoy the game to it's maximum while barely having to grind"

Whoot! Count me in, if you guys don't mind a minor commentator! My account on U.S. East, as CEMP.

Well, assuming we have more than 8 people (Or at least a substantial amount to form a fun party), we can always split up the play sessions with groups of people who have closely related time zones. Of course, that could really depend if we can split the group evenly (Or fairly); at which point, I have the funny feeling we might have to do this disorganized.

On that note, will we be using any chats (I.E. XFire, Skype) to communicate with one another?

I think Skype would be the way to go since we have quite some people using it already for other purposes (myself included). On a related note, shouldn't we somewhat organize who will play what class? I dunno if it's a good idea to have twenty blizzard sorcs at the same time.

In any case, I'm totally calling Light sorc.

[Lord Obsidious]

Hmmmmm, I feeling like I'll play another variation of my poison Necromancer, this time using the Lower Resist Curse alongside a fire golem. I'll have to look into balancing it.

My alternative is my tank or pole arm barbarian.

[Dyne]

Tensei, let me know when, I'll reinstall if I haven't already installed it, and I join the fun. I haven't played since zircon had set up weekly gatherings of D2X two years ago. Though I am looking forward to D3, I'll use D2 to keep me occupied (along with everything else).

[relyanCe]

I think Skype would be the way to go since we have quite some people using it already for other purposes (myself included). On a related note, shouldn't we somewhat organize who will play what class? I dunno if it's a good idea to have twenty blizzard sorcs at the same time.

In any case, I'm totally calling Light sorc.

I call Javazon.

Bleck: So do we, but to do that effectively, one needs equipment, and the usual method of acquiring said tools of ass the kicking is to trade for it. Hence the economy and worth systems set in place by player supply/demand.

Honestly, a professor or two have used ladder economy as an example in college economics courses.

[Lord Obsidious]

I'm beginning to have second thoughts; I might have more fun playing my tank Barbarian set up (Who uses mace class weaponry). I'd be useful in holding off the baddies while the spellcasters support; plus there's my defensive warcries, which is great in teams. Also, I'm rarin' to use the Berserk ability again.

It might depend on what everyone else is playing, so as to balance out the groups.

[Nekofrog]

I'll be going ice sorc.

[Dyne]

Hammerdin or some form of Warrior.