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

[Lord Obsidious]

Hammerdin or some form of Warrior.

By this, I'm presume you're referring to either a Barbarian or Paladin.

EDIT: I'm assuming the ladder after having some time to think.

[Kulaman]

Kulamaan or Kulaman1 for my current ladder chars, i also have some older NL chars on Kulaman. i may end up making another new account for the new reset.

If i get in on this ladder rush, i'm calling Shifter Druid. i've made 3 so far, each better than the previous. maybe #4 will be win?

[Blue Note]

I would like to partake in this if I could and I'll call Fishymancer build.

[Dunnowhathuh]

Nooo, I'm not ready for a ladder reset, so many ladder only things I still want.

[Equinox]

I might join you guys. They banned four of my accounts this season for supposed hack usage, yet I haven't logged on to my accounts in like a six month period. Bullshit.

Anyway. I have tons of fg on d2jsp to get whatever I want. This could give me a reason to play again. Also, let's not remove the teleport on nigma.

[Bleck]

EDIT: I'm assuming the ladder after having some time to think.

latter* my god

[Tensei]

I've been thinking we should do some practice runs before the reset (i.e. run through the game with 8 people without getting help from high level chars) so we can get a feel for the fastest leveling spots.

I know it's generally something like this:

1-14 Tristram Runs

14-20 Tombruns

20-24 Cow level (which we won't be able to do after the ladder reset so this is still kind of a problem area, maybe Chaos Sanctuary or Traviruns could work)

24-25 Ancients

25-45 Baalruns

and so on, but it wouldn't hurt to run through it a few times.

The elemental immunities on hell difficulty shouldn't pose that much of a problem since we'll mostly be playing with multiple people at the same time.

[anosou]

I've been thinking we should do some practice runs before the reset (i.e. run through the game with 8 people without getting help from high level chars) so we can get a feel for the fastest leveling spots.

I know it's generally something like this:

1-14 Tristram Runs

14-20 Tombruns

20-24 Cow level (which we won't be able to do after the ladder reset so this is still kind of a problem area, maybe Chaos Sanctuary or Traviruns could work)

24-25 Ancients

25-45 Baalruns

and so on, but it wouldn't hurt to run through it a few times.

The elemental immunities on hell difficulty shouldn't pose that much of a problem since we'll mostly be playing with multiple people at the same time.

Those are the generally accepted leveling spots. Cow level could be swapped for, you know doing quests and shit. I'm not going to rush through the game on a ladder reset, the whole concept of Baalruns won't even work then I vote we do the quests and if we feel low-level we can use these spots.

Also, I call Necromancer Poison/Summon hybrid.. or perhaps an Assassin Kicker/Trapper hybrid.

[Halt]

Those are the generally accepted leveling spots. Cow level could be swapped for, you know doing quests and shit. I'm not going to rush through the game on a ladder reset, the whole concept of Baalruns won't even work then I vote we do the quests and if we feel low-level we can use these spots.

Also, I call Necromancer Poison/Summon hybrid.. or perhaps an Assassin Kicker/Trapper hybrid.

I'm Being a

necro Something. So yeah. I'm new to the game

[Bleck]

I will be a life-stealing druid because that is all I play ever

[TehDonut]

Full support Barb/ele druid here =D

[BardicKnowledge]

I'm going to play an elemental damage paladin -- still deciding on whether holy freeze or holy shock is better. Freeze makes me live longer, but shock = more damage. Any opinion from anyone?

[Gario]

For those of you who haven't ever heard of Diablo 2...

... go shoot yourself in the face, and if you survive, get the damn game now.

I'm going to play an elemental damage paladin -- still deciding on whether holy freeze or holy shock is better. Freeze makes me live longer, but shock = more damage. Any opinion from anyone?

Go shock - you can always get the holy freeze aura from the NM Act 2 minion.

Hey, let me know when you all get on - I frankly can't wait for that patch and a fresh ladder, and it'd be good to actually be able to play with people. I'll probably either make a Curse/Bone synergy Necro or Wind Druid, and I'll certainly be on the hardcore ladder, so if your doing HC, let me know, damnit!

I vote we do the quests and if we feel low-level we can use these spots.

The common Diablo law (for me, at least) - if your too low of a level then you need to push foward - almost always better to level at the highest place you can handle (unless your under 55 and you beat NM Baal - then you won't be able to beat the game... happened to me once, lol).

[Lord Obsidious]

I think since many people are taking spellcasters, my Tank Barbarian would be most appropriate.

I'm going to play an elemental damage paladin -- still deciding on whether holy freeze or holy shock is better. Freeze makes me live longer, but shock = more damage. Any opinion from anyone?

While you probably will have more control over the level of Holey unlike your merc, Shock is pretty powerful. Also, I remember coming across an elemental Paladin who momentarily swapped to Conviction to lower the elemental resistances before swapping back to an elemental aura. The guy essentially took advantage of how the Conviction aura's effects would last for a short moment after the aura's have been swapped. It seemed to work quite well; assuming you can micromanage between those two skills, which doesn't seem hard.

I've been thinking we should do some practice runs before the reset (i.e. run through the game with 8 people without getting help from high level chars) so we can get a feel for the fastest leveling spots.

I know it's generally something like this:

1-14 Tristram Runs

14-20 Tombruns

20-24 Cow level (which we won't be able to do after the ladder reset so this is still kind of a problem area, maybe Chaos Sanctuary or Traviruns could work)

24-25 Ancients

25-45 Baalruns

and so on, but it wouldn't hurt to run through it a few times.

The elemental immunities on hell difficulty shouldn't pose that much of a problem since we'll mostly be playing with multiple people at the same time.

I'm assuming we'll create new characters before the new version arrives and practice with them. Will these be ladder since they'll only be temporary

I do like to agree with AnSo that it might be best to do the quest and use the afformentioned areas as leveling spots. On the other hand, I need to get used to rushing more (I've been doing too many solo runs on B.Net, up until I need help), so rushing may give me an idea in what stats I should focus on. Generally, I don't try to fight the ancients until I'm above lvl 30.

One other thing to take into account is everyone's schedual, since we all have real-life stuff to take care of (I.E. School and work). Probably once we figure out who everyone's going to be, we can come up with a schedual that'll hopefully be far for everyone. No doubt this will be one of the tougher parts to organize.

[Native Jovian]

So, I've never actually played Diablo, but I'd totally be down with dropping some money on a copy if I had a group of people to play with. Question is, how hard is it to get into? Is a total newb going to be useless in a party of veterans, or is it possible to contribute even if you have no idea what you're doing? The sum total of my knowledge of Diablo is my RA freshman year of college playing on nothing but the hardest difficulty and using nothing but the most basic necromancer spell that threw teeth at you or something. For the whole damn game. Apparently this is hilarious.

Also, there's an expansion pack for Diablo 2, right? Would this be playing with or without it?

Also, someone explain this ladder nonsense to me. I play Starcraft on b.net with my friends all the time, but I've never messed with the ladder games or anything.

Also, is there any point in getting the game and starting a character before the patch comes out, or will they all get erased or something? The way people are talking in this thread it sounds like the patch kills everything.

[relyanCe]

So, I've never actually played Diablo, but I'd totally be down with dropping some money on a copy if I had a group of people to play with. Question is, how hard is it to get into? Is a total newb going to be useless in a party of veterans, or is it possible to contribute even if you have no idea what you're doing? The sum total of my knowledge of Diablo is my RA freshman year of college playing on nothing but the hardest difficulty and using nothing but the most basic necromancer spell that threw teeth at you or something. For the whole damn game. Apparently this is hilarious.

Also, there's an expansion pack for Diablo 2, right? Would this be playing with or without it?

Also, someone explain this ladder nonsense to me. I play Starcraft on b.net with my friends all the time, but I've never messed with the ladder games or anything.

you probably won't have any difficulty getting into the game and learning how to play. D2's user interface is, in my opinion, one of the most intuitive out there (you can play the whole thing with just your mouse, honestly).

We will be playing with the expansion pack.

Ladder is based on who levels the fastest. Whoever gets to the max xp amount first in his/her class is at the top. But no one really plays ladder for that. In Ladder on D2, there are extra special items and formulas that you can find/make that make for a much more fun game.

When the ladder resets, all ladder characters become non-ladder characters, which means everyone starts over from level 1 with new characters.

[TehDonut]

And ladder chars can only play with other ladder chars. So basically make a ladder char.

[Tensei]

Alright, so, let's talk practice run.

I was thinking of having a practice run tomorrow to get a feel for leveling with a team of 8 people and all that stuff. The exact time is kind of hard to decide on since I'm in Europe. I really don't want to be playing any later than 2 AM my time, which is 8 PM EST. As a rough estimate I'm thinking it'll take us two to three hours to get through normal difficulty, so as far as I'm concerned 5 PM EST is the latest possible start time. 3 or 4 PM EST might be a better choice seeing as most people will probably have dinner around 6-7 PM.

Give your thoughts on the starting time please, and tell me if you want to participate (Also what kind of character you'll be using). There's unfortunately only room for 8 people, so get there as soon as possible if you want to be sure of a spot in the party.

Participants so far:

Tensei-San (Lightning Sorceress)

Nekofrog (Ice Sorceress)

Gario (Skeleton Necromancer/ Wind Druid)

relyanCe (Javazon)

BardicKnowledge (Holy Shock Auradin?)

TehDonut (MF/Shout Barb)

Specifics:

We'll meet up in the OCR chat channel on battle.net (US EAST LADDER) at the appointed time, with +/- 5 minutes leeway (You can join the channel by entering the chat and typing "/join ocr"). Be sure you make the same character you're actually planning to use after the ladder reset. After that we'll create a private game and play through all of Normal difficulty (all 5 acts) in one sitting, without getting boosted by higher level characters. Provided there are no special delays, I estimate this will take 3 hours at most, so make sure you have the time.

If you're new or haven't played for the last few years, I suggest you google around a bit for resources on how to build your character. Even though you won't probably be using this 'practice' character for much longer, it never hurts getting stuff right the first time and it'd take a lot of valuable time for the veteran players to explain you how to repair your equipment and all that.

Try to build your character up in the same fashion as you would a 'real' character.

If there's anything you need to know, hit me up on IRC (#ocremix on irc.enterthegame.com), ingame (accountname *PrincessTensei), or through a forums PM.

Hope to see you ingame!

[Monobrow]

Too bad you dudes don't play useast classic ladder, my ex boyfriend is a big troll around there, he troll ya good.

[relyanCe]

i leave for a meeting at about 6:30pm EST tomorrow, but anything before that, I can probably be around for.

If I show, I'm rolling a javazon.

[Lord Obsidious]

Unfortunately, my current school schedule doesn't allow me to get home until about 7 for Tuesdays and Wednesdays. For any other day, I'm completely free for 3 or 4 PM EST; assuming I'm not boggled by homework. So yeah, as much as I would like to join, I probably might have to sit this practice out this time.

On that note, I'll be playing a Tank (Mace using) Barbarian if I ever do get the chance to meet up with you guys.

[Gario]

Ha! Ironically due to the time shift (Mountain time, which means 4 PM is 2 PM for me ) I can join in with you for a little while. I'll probably use a Wind Druid if your patient with me (they're not very viable until lv 24...), otherwise I'll use a Fishymancer (Skeleton Necro). Let me know which.

Sign me up - I'll see you tomorrow!

[Tensei]

I'll set the tentative time at 3 PM EST then, so relyanCe has plenty of time before leaving, unless anyone has problems with that. That's 9 PM for most Europeans and noon for Pacific time.

[BardicKnowledge]

Tensei, I'll play around then. Are you guys doing any practice runs tomorrow / Wednesday?

[Tensei]

Tensei, I'll play around then. Are you guys doing any practice runs tomorrow / Wednesday?

Well the one I've been talking about takes place tomorrow at 3 PM, if it goes well we might do it a few more times this week. Of course there's always the possibility of the patch hitting early, so it depends on that whether we'll be able to do more than one practice run.