I'll just say that a mini-remake of Diablo 1 within Diablo 2 is also on the D2EE wishlist. Tristram, remade with D2 assets but based on the original D1 designs, would become an optional dungeon crawl parallel to the storyline, like the Watcher's Keep of BG2:EE. Of course, it's a colossal undertaking and hence very low priority on my list.
I'll just say that a mini-remake of Diablo 1 within Diablo 2 is also on the D2EE wishlist. Tristram, remade with D2 assets but based on the original D1 designs, would become an optional dungeon crawl parallel to the storyline, like the Watcher's Keep of BG2:EE. Of course, it's a colossal undertaking and hence very low priority on my list.
I would play the shit out of that mod!
A small correction is in order: you WILL play the shit out of that mod.
@O_Bruce I haven't experienced such a problem. According to the program description, it runs from an exe without any installation. But I have noticed that sometimes after I reboot my PC Snapper continues to run, and sometimes I have to load it again - in those cases when Snapper continues to run, the program doesn't actually work, so I close it and run again. Maybe you should close the application and run it again, resetting it. I'm on Windows XP, though, maybe this program doesn't work as good on modern platforms.
@JuliusBorisov Thank you for your reply. Ultimately, I decided to use Fraps to take screenshots.
Zaraki's Hellish Paradise Part VI Every single person in Blizzard who had a hand in designing Bone Fetishes in Diablo 2 should work their arses on galley for all eternity
Sszark the Burning and his minions gave Zaraki and his merc some harsh time, but eventually, Khalim's eye was ours.
Soon, Zaraki has found Khalim's brain.
Fighting Stormtree was kind of fun.
After which, Zaraki has reached Lower Kurast, then Kurast Baazar and entered the Forgotten Temple to snatch Lan Esen's tome for Alkor. Battlemaid Sarina and her minions weren't pushovers. Zaraki was forced to use Concentrate instead of Berserk, since Sarina's minons couldn't be scared by Howl.
After that, there were despicable sewers under the Kurast. What was lucky is that level 2 of those was not so far from the entrance. And what was bad? Bone Fetishes. These little f*cks are fast, deal high damage, attack in large groups and explode on kill like mini-nukes for 10% of their maximum life, with chance of doubling this value. It may sound like nothing, but these f*cks have about 6000 life points in Hell difficulty. 600 points of damage on kill! 1200 if you aren't lucky! That's half of Zaraki's life. And Uniques/champions of those are even worse. Reasonable monster design, right? And no, before anyone points that out. No, Merc is useless against them. These bastards prioritize attacking the player character before anything else.
So what I did? Run through the level, instead of fighting them. Or rather, fighting only unique/champion packs of these, since I couldn't outrun them or scare them off with a howl. I was naturally close to death. But after uttering multiple curses I was able to find my way to Khalim's heart....
Contrary to those little bastards, the Zakarum Council was a reasonable challenge. I had to use caution, use full rejuvenation potions, use nearby well to fight them efficiently. But ultimately, Zaraki has won and was able to reach Durance of Hate.
Soon after, Zaraki was welcomed by champion packs of Maulers. Well, not a big deal. But soon after my blood pressure exploded, since next unique pack was, of course, Undead Stygian Dolls. For my tactics, I ordred Zaraki to lure each of those little f*cks and kill them separately and it worked. Not, for the final boss. Everything was fine until Zaraki was ready to deliver the finishing blow.
What happened there? Blizzard flipping me off and laughing in my face, that's what. As Zaraki was delivering last hit, so did this little f*ck, triggering Amplify Damage curse on me. Zaraki had like 90% of his total life when killing the creature, meaning it literally one-shotted me with it's explosion on dying. Let's see. Normal bone fetish can do to 1200 damage if you are unlucky. Champion or Unique would be 2400. With Amplify Damage curse, to 4800. Fair challenge, huh? In fact tactics, emphasizing HP when developing your characters doesn't f*cking matter with such cheap and unfair enemy design. Really, I felt cheated, all my time spend of making this character formidable (as much as single player is allowing me) was just utterly wasted. It's pathetic, it's unfair, it's not amusing.
I sincerely wish that person who designed those enemies in that way would spend the rest of his/her lifetime on galley burdened with bricks, working as drive by himself/herself, laughed at and leashed by undead stygian dolls, as he/she is making circles with galley around the Australia. That would be sufficent punishment.
Regardless, Zaraki's adventures end here and in pathetic way. Thank you for everyone reading this until now. I don't know when I'll start doing another playthrough again.
No matter how frustrated and fury you now must be, you have done an amazing work with Zaraki! His experience will surve a great warning to everyone who will try to go through Act III Hell.
Thank you for your story, it was such a fascinating reading, till the very last word. I give you my sympathy, and feel obliged to at least repeat your progress. Well done! Nearly Mephisto on Hell is a new record.
I sincerely wish that person who designed those enemies in that way would spend the rest of his/her lifetime on galley burdened with bricks, working as drive by himself/herself, laughed at and leashed by undead stygian dolls, as he/she is making circles with galley around the Australia. That would be sufficent punishment.
Thank you for filing your request. It has been forwarded for processing and will be executed at our earliest convenience by an underpaid Indian deity. With a flute. Kool, isn't it. Unfortunately, we are currently out of galleys. A hovercraft will have to do. And we'll dump the guy in one of Masuria's least popular lakes, since Australian coastline gets so much traffic someone might accidentally rescue him from the requested lifelong damnation programme Also, feel free to vent any and all of your Diablo 2 rage & critique in my D2EE thread, anytime. As you know, next week's totally secret initial pre-alpha release will mainly tackle the painfully low resolution issue but the project's long-term goal is to provide an enhanced single-player experience of Diablo while staying fanatically true to the game's core mechanics, lore and aesthetics. Though, admittedly, I'm somewhat tempted to liberalize the skill system a bit as it never really made sense to me that a druid can't learn to cast fireballs, while a warrior in Diablo 1 could.
Though, admittedly, I'm somewhat tempted to liberalize the skill system a bit as it never really made sense to me that a druid can't learn to cast fireballs, while a warrior in Diablo 1 could.
To be honest, I wouldn't look at Diablo 1 as a base for eventual mechanics. The fact that Warrior there could learn fireball wasn't a good. As I said, the only thing Diablo 1 can really offer is a mood and atmosphere...
Edited PS: Also, hovercrafts won't do. Either Galleys or nothing.
To be honest, I wouldn't look at Diablo 1 as a base for eventual mechanics. The fact that Warrior there could learn fireball wasn't a good. As I said, the only thing Diablo 1 can really offer is a mood and atmosphere...
I agree with that, for the most part Diablo 2 excels its prequel in all but atmosphere. Rest assured that D2EE will be staying true to the game's gameplay feel and core mechanics. D1, D3 as well as Heroes of the Storm (or rather the Diablo Universe characters featured in HotS) serve as valuable sources to draw upon when looking to enhance the overall experience of Diablo 2. But I have no intention of converting Diablo 2 into any of these games, obviously.
One thing which really gets me thinking about expanding the available skill selection is that, at 1024x768, I have so much space I could fit as much as about 70 skills in a single skill page, a possible maximum total of up to about 200 skills per character, compared to the vanilla 30. For now, D2EE has a number of more important priorities, so this is just a thought and I'm not saying I will explore that route. However, I'm somewhat curious to investigate how many more fun character builds would be possible with a larger pool of skills to choose from. Of course, getting all of this reasonably balanced would be a nightmare but it's not like Diablo 2 is a very balanced game in its current state anyway... Seriously, that whirly hammer thingy spell, it's just insane
One thing which really gets me thinking about expanding the available skill selection is that, at 1024x768, I have so much space I could fit as much as about 70 skills in a single skill page, a possible maximum total of up to about 200 skills per character, compared to the vanilla 30. For now, D2EE has a number of more important priorities, so this is just a thought and I'm not saying I will explore that route. However, I'm somewhat curious to investigate how many more fun character builds would be possible with a larger pool of skills to choose from. Of course, getting all of this reasonably balanced would be a nightmare but it's not like Diablo 2 is a very balanced game in its current state anyway... Seriously, that whirly hammer thingy spell, it's just insane
You should ofc do exactly as you want to do it, but just as a FYI; for me Diablo 2 died when classes got access to other classes' skills. Diablo 2 was actually quite balanced (sorta.. ) before Bliz went completely bananas with the rune words and gave everyone access to teleport and BO.
A barb should not be able to teleport, cause a barb has the hitpoints and def to stand still and take the hits. A paladin has low HP but crazy high block rate. A sorc has minimal HP, but instead tele out of harms way. There's a sort of balance in that which became very skewed with the implementation of skill rune words. This is just "IMHO" though.
Or, better, gifts from "Auntie Andy". This game is all about having good items. Good items and patient levelling up in the process (yes, killing an act boss multiple times leads to getting new levels). Yes, it required time and put the overall in-game progress on pause, but it was needed greatly for future adventure.
Auntie Andy is known for her jewelry love, so Hexxat tried to search for amulets and rings.
The fist gift was Kelpie Snare Fuscina for Kasim (slows target by 75%):
The second gift was a Shael rune.
The third gift was an amulet which improved all attributes at +10 and gave 10% to all resistances.
In the process, Hexxat experienced a bug when Kasim died inside the Rogue camp (!) as a consequence of poison Auntie Andy had given him.
Good that it was Kasim, not Hexxat, who was low on HPs at the time of using Town Portal.
The fourth gift was in the form of demonhide gloves. More chances of Crushing blow and better life leech? Yes, please.
The fifth gift was Manald Heal ring. How long Hexxat had been waiting for this ring.
Another Manald Heal ring and the Stone of Jordan ring were next. Now Hexxat hugely improved her life and mana regeneration.
The seventh, and the last, gift involved footwear. Not Goblin Toe, but still decent.
Here're Hexxat stats and inventory before starting Act II Nightmare. I'm not planning to get any major changes till meeting "uncle Mephisto".
At the start of the Act II, Hexxat found an amulet boosting all assassin skills at +1. She still kept using her Mahim-Oak Curio.
Thanks to high regeneration rate, Hexxat breezed through the whole Act II not even needing potions (to tell the truth, not even once during this act Hexxat did not try any potion). It's a way of a true vampire - regeneration is everything.
Radament...
Coldworm the Burrower...
Fangskin (didn't even have time to make a screenshot while she was alive)...
The Summonner...
All those screenshots can't illustrate the speed with which Hexxat finished these superuniques and their minions. But at least they show that both life and mana of Hexxat nearly always were near maximum.
Here's the fight against Duriel - this bug was dead in less than 30 seconds, not even injuring seriously Kasim and the Shadow Master.
@JuliusBorisov Awesome, man. So many good drops from the auntie, I respect your patience with this. Looking forward to another update!
By the way, in case you encounter... you know what... on Hell difficulty, I have an idea. I think it would be a good idea to invest some skill points for 1 point in Blade Fury and its pre-required skills just to deal with... you know what... while keeping your distance... Cloak of Shadows will help you with keeping.... you know what... at bay.
I must say normally I would be inspired to play again after reading that progress but i'm still pissed at... you know what.
The charming Nilhtalatak (i refuse to look for his proper name) provide B' with a shiny circlet:
and a rare ring:
I should really install Plug Y on my next run, otherwise set items like this:
end up lost in the local store. They really lack any use, but would look good in an extended stash. One could store them and show to their friends. Like this two Cleglaw's Pincers:
I must say, that i like the expansion, the scenery is a large improvement after Kurast's Jungle and Hell's agonizing souls. Sometimes i almost feel myself in Icewind Dale:
The unique boots got a competitor in a rare one with slower movement boost, but with magic find. I wonder why i have this obsession with magic find? I guess this is Uncle Ben's influence on me...
So i used Larzuk's socketing gift to make my circlet even more shiny:
Those plagued javelin carried B' through the monster hordes so far:
And here we are, at the top of the frozen waterfall:
It was an interesting fight with the ancients, but i was busy to make a screenshot... OK it was just poisoning them, and then running around, till the poison do it's work.
Level 36:
And a gory fight with N, (N goes for necromancer):
Now, the fight by the Throne of Baal:
...I think, that was close. After that B' was more cautious with Baal's minions:
The fight against Baal was manageable and without nasty surprises:
The unique boots got a competitor in a rare one with slower movement boost, but with magic find. I wonder why i have this obsession with magic find? I guess this is Uncle Ben's influence on me...
I'll tell you a secret: Uncle Ben approves the Amazing B' and wishes her luck in Nightmare.
Meahwhile...
The adventure of Hexxat (Nightmare)
Hexxat found a way to deal with... you know what. Yes, it's still Nightmare, not Hell difficulty, but I think this will work on Hell as well.
Thanks to Cloak of Shadows you know what becomes blind, and then focuses on either Kasim or the Shadow Master. Hexxat tried it numerous times in Flayer Dungeon, Kurast Sewers and Durance of Hate - it worked.
Hexxat STR finally reached 125, and she used the Horadric cube to improve her Rattlecage. Its defence improved from 328 to 482 (nearly in 1,5 times).
The Travincal council provided a good weapon for a druid, while in the halls of Hate Hexxat found a "defensive" two-handed sword and an Io rune.
The fight against Mephisto, just as the one against Duriel, took half a minute. The Act III continued the Act II for Hexxat, who didn't use any single potion during both acts.
I had a kickassin back in the day, but IIRC she was unstoppable up until a bit into Hell, where the damage started to stop increasing on par with enemy resistances. Maybe crushing blow is the way to make it viable all the way. Looking forward to reading Hexxat's continued story!
After defeating Baal, B' visited the neat secret level.
The bovine hordes proved to be especially tender for B's javelin.
And guess what Buttercheese became after defeating Bhaal? The Slayer!
A quick look at B's character sheet at the beginning of Nightmare mode:
And another quick look:
At her death in the Flayer Jungle:
The main reason for this was me playing at inadequate time, and my impatience about not finding the fitting socketed shield for the perfect diamonds. (Which would provide B' with the neccesary resistances, needed in cases like the one above.)
I share some pictures from B's road in Nightmare difficulty for those who intrested:
@lolien To end... like this? Although it's sad to see, I would still say that you did alright, reaching the Act III NM is a good progress as your previous attempts ended on Normal. How did a Javazon feel in-game?
Why discount? Because Uncle Mephisto, mostly, provided goods not useful for the assassin.
But Hexxat kept trying. In the process, she found a lot of runes, so that she could spend 3 or 4 Shael runes on items.
It's quite funny that Sigon's Sabot (the set greavers B' got freely) escaped Hexxat, so she moved on from the Sigon's set and took off her tower shield which granted +1 to all skills. She created Rhyme runeword, which improved her MF at 25%, upped all her resistances at 25, made her immune to freeze. She couldn't find a shield with 2 sockets better than the round shield, so her overall blocking chance went down from 75% to 63%. In the same time, she got all those bonuses and the new shield was of the "light" type, which meant her speed improved at 10%. And with newer levels and new attribute points, her Dexterity, and thus the blocking chance, will go up.
With improved MF chance, Hexxat finally found something that was useful - a good armor for Kasim (502 defence with his aura put his overall defence at 3500, increased weapon speed is especially important for such slow weapons as spears and polearms).
Hexxat also found her first charms improving the MF chance. She still wasn't sure if getting Dwarf star unique ring was useful, though, as her rings provided regeneration.
Seeing no trace of Sigon's Sabot or Goblin Toe, I re-evaluated what I needed from Hexxat's boots. And it turned out I actually liked +10 resistances and +20% faster run/walk on Hexxat's unique greavers. Then I decided to upgrade them to war boots. The only source of damage for a "Talon" assassin is kick damage from boots. Greavers are the best normal boots, so upgrading them in this case meant getting the best available NM damage. The base damage went from 10-20 to 39-80. It started to feel immediately. For this moment of the game it meant most common enemies were down in 2 or maximum 3 clicks (before the upgrade they had required 4-6 clicks). In order not to lose efficiency, as @Skatan noted, I have to pay attention to Hexxat's boots.
Hexxat reached the 61st level and now is ready for the next Act, I think.
Poison Javazon provided me with an amazing play experience. That poison cloud attack fitted perfectly with my playstyle, it can kill enemies from afar, it has aura effect, and i didn't have to bother with much clicking and aiming. It's damage output scaled very well with the difficulty. I reached Nightmare in my old days only once, i think maybe used a paladin, and i remember how though the little devilkins seemed. Not so with amazing B', she still eliminated most enemies in seconds on Nightmare. I fear that it will be hard to find another such versatile character like she.
For some reason i have patch 1.12, and in this hardcore mode became active, when Buttercheese beat Baal. So i made a Hardcore character this time! His name is Florian and he is a paladin. And he died without screenshots by Corpsfire, and his goons in the Den. OK.
Next hero is a paladin too. With the name Tyrion (I won't say you are wrong, when suspecting here a scheme). Tyrion is a paladin using auras and a crossbow. Sadly he was slayed too in Tal Rasha's tomb by mummies and skeletons.
I just would like to share the blood gloves he crafted:
That would be great. If not the level 31 level requirement.
With Tyrion i learned new things: -how to use shift for continued attacking -how to find the location of shrines on the automap (i have to say, that Tyrion had fast legs, he raced through the plains of Act I with Vigor aura and Stealth armor, searching for shrines in some five minutes. Finding average one gem shrine per race).
I also lost one sorceress in act I after Tyrion. Well, it seems, that i became impatient. I decided to update to patch 1.13 and install Plug Y now.
Good luck with your new characters, @lolien! I've given a thought to enabling ladder-only runewords in the Single player, and have decided against it. The description of the Ladder reads that monsters are buffed, so I've thought it would be a bit unfair to use ladder-only runewords while monsters are easier. But everyone has to decide it themselves, of course.
The adventure of Hexxat (Nightmare)
Hexxat breezed through the Act IV NM quite quickly.
Izual:
Hephasto:
Another Io rune as a reward:
A Lum rune in the Chaos Sanctuary:
The fight against Diablo was... easier than I could had thought.
With series of 4 kicks, Hexxat almost always makes monsters flee (thank to a 40% chance provided by Rattlecage). I've got used to it and have started to like it as much as I like the Crushing blow. It was especially handful against frenzytaurs in the Act V. Now, Kasim also had a 50% chance to make monsters flee. +10 to all resistances is also good for the Hell difficulty.
This way Hexxat will henceforth be known as Conqueror Hexxat:
Below are Hexxat's stats, skills and items. At the start of the Hell difficulty she's of the 67th level, has a 89% chance to hit an enemy, a 72% chance to block. Monsters hit her with a 44% chance. She has 760 HPs (not much, but she has a lot of leech items). Her resistances are 43-49-44-57 (an amazing start for the Hell, I think). She has 20 points put into Talon, 19 points put into Venom, 19 points put into Shadow Master, 7 points put into Fade. As an alternative weapon, Hexxat has a Level 2 Life Tap wand.
Her mercenary has 75% resistance to Fire, slows target by 75%, has 1287 HPs and his overall defence is better than the Hexxat's defence.
Oh, and she doesn't have any free space in her inventory, constantly managing runes and gems. Yes, the PlugY could help here, but I've come to a thought the constant need to decide on items is a part of the game.
Well, this is indeed what Zaraki could call a good challenge. The game has begun to feel completely different now. Almost any unique and champion monster offers a moderate fight. Unique undead are a big problem, as they're often immune to physical, and it takes time to finish them. I'm liking it so much. I would say that all the previous game was only a preparation for this difficulty, and the real game has started only now. Losing now will be a shame because actually Diablo 2 on Hell feels like a different game.
Blood Raven:
Griswold:
The Countess:
Hexxat reached Tamoe Highland, where she entered the Pit. Here (because it's one of the highest TC areas in the game) she found Stormshield, an elite unique shield well known among Diablo players. One of the highest defence, blocking chance and blocking speed in the game. On top of that, it reduces damage by 35% (!). It would be sad to lose immunity to freeze granted by her runeword shield, but Stormshield is worth it, I think.
Hexxat needs 2 levels to use it. Also, the game has started to feel challenging so the best option would be to continue farm the Pit. Maybe this way Hexxat will find more good items, suitable for Hell difficulty.
In order to face physically immune enemies, Hexxat started to invest into traps, and finally got Death Sentry. Now she'll put points into it. It will also help against you know what. And Hexxat's blocking rate has come back to 75% (and this is with her Round shield - as soon as she will equip Stormshield, she'll have many levels where she won't need to invest into Dexterity).
I too wish Hexxat best of luck in hell difficulty. She already has, finding the Stormshield
But, that's not the original point of my post. I started a new run with new character! I have to note that this time I am playing on my Polish version of the game, for nostalgia factor I suppose. When showing screenshots with items etc. I will describe the attributes and so.
This time, I decided to make....
Paladin, despite my rather hostile attitude to the class! NAH, just kidding... Sorceress it is!
Her name is Sora. She is of course hardcore and I plan her to use all three elemental damage types avaliable to her calss. I am aware that it means generally lower DPS and I usually use two different elements at most, but I am willing to give this concept a try.
Sora the Elementalist Sorceress part 1 "Come here, my dear, for I am about to tell a tale. A tale of the Sorceress from Zann Esu clan, and her vandetta towards the Prime Evils...
What sorceress? And what's her reason for vandetta? Well, she was known as Sora and she was part of Zan Essu clan. Zann Essu considered elemental mastery to be the purest for of magic - that is videly know. Yet, mastering all three elements - fire, lightning and cold - at once was a difficult task. Majority of Zann Esu women usually attempted to master two of them at most. But not our heroine. She decided to spend her time to master all three elements and throught it, experience and prove purity of elemental magicks.
Her vandetta? As every member of Zann Esu clan, Sora was tasked with scouting and recruitment of gifted children. And she did. She found a exceptionally gifted and teachable girl. The little one was really eager to start learning magics, so was her parents. Sora started teaching the child even before her official recruitment... In time, the sorceress grew more and more fond of the little girl. The future seemed great for the little one. But that was not the case. One day, Sora learned that the village, in which the girl lived, was raided by demons. There was no survivors, only blood. The sorceress was devastated by this, not only she was fond of the girl, but the little one also had an immense potential to be greatest elementalist that ever lived. Possible future Zan Essu leader, mastering element in their purest form. The demons will pay for this...
Sora soon learned that the monastery of Sightless Eye was now claimed by Andariel - the Maiden of Anguish, and that the order of Sightless Eye is in desperate position and needs to be helped. Sora didn't have to ask her superivsor to send her to investigate the manner. Sora swore that she'll prove the purity of elemental magicks by defeating the Evils, or will die in her attempt.
... ... ...
The Sorceress was met with initial distrust among the rouges in their encampment, with only Akara and Charsi welcoming her with open arms. Sora learned of the den, in which evil creatures gathered to attack the encampment in near future. Apparently, stopping the incoming attack would grant Sora trust of the rouges. She decided to cleanse the place. No Fallen, no zombie and no beast were left roaming the cave after Sora was done with it
Just Corpsefire with Spectral Hit. Nothing notable.
With this act, Sora gained everyone's trust buy Kashiya. The commander demanded further proof of alleignance. The Sorceress was told about the Blood Raven, formerly known as Moreina, who was corrupted by Andariel, and now was granted power of necromancy, raising the dead in the monastery's Burial Grounds. Such sacrilege will not be ignored. And it wasn't. Moreina's army of undead was wast, but lightning magics laid a waste to hungry dead and skeletons. The combination of Ice Blasts and Inferno was more than enough to take down the poor, corrupted Soul
Kashia's trust was finally gained, and one brave rouge archer named Kyoko decided to accompany Sora free of charge. Together, they went to rescue Deckard Cain, the last of the Hoardrim, from destroyed town of Tristram, where Diablo was awakened not so long ago. To reach the town in short time, the Sorceress had to find a specific stone circle and touch the stones in exact order, activating the portal to Tristram. She did just that and found herself in the razed town. Most of the folks were dead, some of them, like Griswold the smith, being undead. Luckily, Cain was alive, albeit caged and being tormented and humiliated by foul minions. The elder was freed and after resting for a while, he promised to help the Sorceress in her quest and shared his knowledge with her. Akara also gave Sora a ring, as a reward.
"Thank you so much for coming to my aid!" 10% chance to cast level 3 Charged Bolt on being hit, +18 attack rating, +4 life, lightning resist +10%, +7% magic find
On her way to the Monastery, Sora found the ruins of the long frogotten tower. There were legends that claimed there was a treasure burried beneath it and the Sorceress decided to investigate the place. There was a chance of finding some powerful magic items that way. Sora found the treassure, alongside with crazed, blood-thisrsty woman with her minions. If legends are to be believed, it was the famous Countess. Was, because she died in magic fire.
Sora reached the corrupted Monastery, killing every minion of evil in her path without pretense of mercy. She remembered Charsi the blacksmith mentioned Horadric Mallus, an enhanced hammer used to craft the finest of weapons and armors. Sora agreed to retrieve it, as Mallus' enchantments would help in fight against the demons. The hammer was guarded by the large overlord Demon. It looked strong, but it couldn't handle mixture of exteme cold and extreme hot very well. Mallus was returned to Charsi, who enhanced Sora's equipment with it.
With that, Sora went futher into the Monastery with intend to hunt down and destroy Andariel, opening the way to east, where Diablo, the Lord of Terror is rumored to be. Nothing could stop the Sorceress in her way. Not skeletons, not skeletal mages, not devil ones and not vampires. It was only the matter of time that Sora reached the lowest level of Catacombs.
Bone Ash - Undead, Magic Resistant, Extra Strong, Cold Enchanted, Cold Immune Entering the Catacombs - Level 4
Sora and Kyoko faced the Maiden of Anguish together. Sora chilled the Demon Queen with cold, then attacked with fire. Surprisingly, Andariel might have came from the depths of Hell, but she was not very fond of fire and the Sorceress took advantage of this. The demoness eventually fell, but before that, she managed to poison Kyoko. The poison was deadly, and the rouge couldn't fight it very long. Kyoko soon died after her victory.
The Monastery of Sightless Eye was freed from demonic corruption and Andariel's reign. Soon, the gates to the East were open, and Sora could resume her pursuit after Evils. She didn't want to celebrate, knowing full well that she will not be able to. Not until Evils are still alive.
I appreciate JuliusBorisov's commitment to playing the game as is, in regards to making choices, but let me make an argument for PlugY anyway.
First, you can turn off the instant respec and stat relocation option, which I do. Second, since the real-life servers are a bot hell-hole, it simulates the World Events, and allows access to Ladder Runewords. And last, stash space. I look at your inventory and think there is a fine line between making a player make choices and what Diablo 2 does in regards to stash space. Forget the personal inventory screen, that's the same in PlugY, and when you get to a certain point all you have is charms and you have no room to pick anything up anyway. But between runes and JUST potions the stash gets filled. It's not that you have to make choices, you literally can't keep ANYTHING after a certain point. And it used to be HALF that size. The D2 stash is so small it might as well not even exist. The only thing PlugY really does is allow you to bypass the incredibly mind-numbing process of muling. Even hardcore D2-clones like Path of Exile and Grim Dawn had no interest in replicating D2's stash space nightmare.
PlugY is fine and well, but it won't work with newest versions of Diablo 2. Especially if Blizzard is planning to still work on this game, and there is rumour about remaster going on. If plugY is not up to date today, it's sure it won't be in the future.
PlugY is fine and well, but it won't work with newest versions of Diablo 2. Especially if Blizzard is planning to still work on this game, and there is rumour about remaster going on. If plugY is not up to date today, it's sure it won't be in the future.
No, this is true, you have to have an older version (probably on disc) to patch to 1.13c, which is the last version it worked with. 1.14 and beyond did nothing to the game besides technical updates for modern systems, and those issues had easy workarounds to begin with. I personally have the installers for 1.12d and the patch for 1.13c saved on a external hard drive so I always have the option. Then again, I also still have my Battlechest discs. If you download from the Blizzard website you can't use PlugY, as there is no way to revert to previous patches that I know of.
Comments
I never played D3, but the creepy atmosphere is really gone.
@JuliusBorisov Since you use snapper as well, do you have any advices about it? Workaround? Any other program to use in it's place?
Zaraki's Hellish Paradise Part VI
Every single person in Blizzard who had a hand in designing Bone Fetishes in Diablo 2 should work their arses on galley for all eternity
Sszark the Burning and his minions gave Zaraki and his merc some harsh time, but eventually, Khalim's eye was ours.
Soon, Zaraki has found Khalim's brain.
Fighting Stormtree was kind of fun.
After which, Zaraki has reached Lower Kurast, then Kurast Baazar and entered the Forgotten Temple to snatch Lan Esen's tome for Alkor. Battlemaid Sarina and her minions weren't pushovers. Zaraki was forced to use Concentrate instead of Berserk, since Sarina's minons couldn't be scared by Howl.
After that, there were despicable sewers under the Kurast. What was lucky is that level 2 of those was not so far from the entrance. And what was bad? Bone Fetishes. These little f*cks are fast, deal high damage, attack in large groups and explode on kill like mini-nukes for 10% of their maximum life, with chance of doubling this value. It may sound like nothing, but these f*cks have about 6000 life points in Hell difficulty. 600 points of damage on kill! 1200 if you aren't lucky! That's half of Zaraki's life. And Uniques/champions of those are even worse. Reasonable monster design, right? And no, before anyone points that out. No, Merc is useless against them. These bastards prioritize attacking the player character before anything else.
So what I did? Run through the level, instead of fighting them. Or rather, fighting only unique/champion packs of these, since I couldn't outrun them or scare them off with a howl. I was naturally close to death. But after uttering multiple curses I was able to find my way to Khalim's heart....
Contrary to those little bastards, the Zakarum Council was a reasonable challenge. I had to use caution, use full rejuvenation potions, use nearby well to fight them efficiently. But ultimately, Zaraki has won and was able to reach Durance of Hate.
Soon after, Zaraki was welcomed by champion packs of Maulers. Well, not a big deal. But soon after my blood pressure exploded, since next unique pack was, of course, Undead Stygian Dolls. For my tactics, I ordred Zaraki to lure each of those little f*cks and kill them separately and it worked. Not, for the final boss. Everything was fine until Zaraki was ready to deliver the finishing blow.
What happened there? Blizzard flipping me off and laughing in my face, that's what. As Zaraki was delivering last hit, so did this little f*ck, triggering Amplify Damage curse on me. Zaraki had like 90% of his total life when killing the creature, meaning it literally one-shotted me with it's explosion on dying. Let's see. Normal bone fetish can do to 1200 damage if you are unlucky. Champion or Unique would be 2400. With Amplify Damage curse, to 4800. Fair challenge, huh? In fact tactics, emphasizing HP when developing your characters doesn't f*cking matter with such cheap and unfair enemy design. Really, I felt cheated, all my time spend of making this character formidable (as much as single player is allowing me) was just utterly wasted. It's pathetic, it's unfair, it's not amusing.
I sincerely wish that person who designed those enemies in that way would spend the rest of his/her lifetime on galley burdened with bricks, working as drive by himself/herself, laughed at and leashed by undead stygian dolls, as he/she is making circles with galley around the Australia. That would be sufficent punishment.
Regardless, Zaraki's adventures end here and in pathetic way. Thank you for everyone reading this until now. I don't know when I'll start doing another playthrough again.
Thank you for your story, it was such a fascinating reading, till the very last word. I give you my sympathy, and feel obliged to at least repeat your progress. Well done! Nearly Mephisto on Hell is a new record.
Unfortunately, we are currently out of galleys. A hovercraft will have to do. And we'll dump the guy in one of Masuria's least popular lakes, since Australian coastline gets so much traffic someone might accidentally rescue him from the requested lifelong damnation programme
Also, feel free to vent any and all of your Diablo 2 rage & critique in my D2EE thread, anytime. As you know, next week's totally secret initial pre-alpha release will mainly tackle the painfully low resolution issue but the project's long-term goal is to provide an enhanced single-player experience of Diablo while staying fanatically true to the game's core mechanics, lore and aesthetics. Though, admittedly, I'm somewhat tempted to liberalize the skill system a bit as it never really made sense to me that a druid can't learn to cast fireballs, while a warrior in Diablo 1 could.
Edited PS:
Also, hovercrafts won't do. Either Galleys or nothing.
One thing which really gets me thinking about expanding the available skill selection is that, at 1024x768, I have so much space I could fit as much as about 70 skills in a single skill page, a possible maximum total of up to about 200 skills per character, compared to the vanilla 30. For now, D2EE has a number of more important priorities, so this is just a thought and I'm not saying I will explore that route. However, I'm somewhat curious to investigate how many more fun character builds would be possible with a larger pool of skills to choose from. Of course, getting all of this reasonably balanced would be a nightmare but it's not like Diablo 2 is a very balanced game in its current state anyway... Seriously, that whirly hammer thingy spell, it's just insane
A barb should not be able to teleport, cause a barb has the hitpoints and def to stand still and take the hits. A paladin has low HP but crazy high block rate. A sorc has minimal HP, but instead tele out of harms way. There's a sort of balance in that which became very skewed with the implementation of skill rune words. This is just "IMHO" though.
Or, better, gifts from "Auntie Andy". This game is all about having good items. Good items and patient levelling up in the process (yes, killing an act boss multiple times leads to getting new levels). Yes, it required time and put the overall in-game progress on pause, but it was needed greatly for future adventure.
Auntie Andy is known for her jewelry love, so Hexxat tried to search for amulets and rings.
The fist gift was Kelpie Snare Fuscina for Kasim (slows target by 75%):
The second gift was a Shael rune.
The third gift was an amulet which improved all attributes at +10 and gave 10% to all resistances.
In the process, Hexxat experienced a bug when Kasim died inside the Rogue camp (!) as a consequence of poison Auntie Andy had given him.
Good that it was Kasim, not Hexxat, who was low on HPs at the time of using Town Portal.
The fourth gift was in the form of demonhide gloves. More chances of Crushing blow and better life leech? Yes, please.
The fifth gift was Manald Heal ring. How long Hexxat had been waiting for this ring.
Another Manald Heal ring and the Stone of Jordan ring were next. Now Hexxat hugely improved her life and mana regeneration.
The seventh, and the last, gift involved footwear. Not Goblin Toe, but still decent.
Here're Hexxat stats and inventory before starting Act II Nightmare. I'm not planning to get any major changes till meeting "uncle Mephisto".
At the start of the Act II, Hexxat found an amulet boosting all assassin skills at +1. She still kept using her Mahim-Oak Curio.
Thanks to high regeneration rate, Hexxat breezed through the whole Act II not even needing potions (to tell the truth, not even once during this act Hexxat did not try any potion). It's a way of a true vampire - regeneration is everything.
Radament...
Coldworm the Burrower...
Fangskin (didn't even have time to make a screenshot while she was alive)...
The Summonner...
All those screenshots can't illustrate the speed with which Hexxat finished these superuniques and their minions. But at least they show that both life and mana of Hexxat nearly always were near maximum.
Here's the fight against Duriel - this bug was dead in less than 30 seconds, not even injuring seriously Kasim and the Shadow Master.
Hexxat let Kasim to kill Duriel but he didn't drop anything valuable this time. Hexxat will try again several times before setting off for Kurast.
By the way, in case you encounter... you know what... on Hell difficulty, I have an idea. I think it would be a good idea to invest some skill points for 1 point in Blade Fury and its pre-required skills just to deal with... you know what... while keeping your distance... Cloak of Shadows will help you with keeping.... you know what... at bay.
I must say normally I would be inspired to play again after reading that progress but i'm still pissed at... you know what.
The charming Nilhtalatak (i refuse to look for his proper name) provide B' with a shiny circlet:
and a rare ring:
I should really install Plug Y on my next run, otherwise set items like this:
end up lost in the local store. They really lack any use, but would look good in an extended stash. One could store them and show to their friends. Like this two Cleglaw's Pincers:
I must say, that i like the expansion, the scenery is a large improvement after Kurast's Jungle and Hell's agonizing souls. Sometimes i almost feel myself in Icewind Dale:
The unique boots got a competitor in a rare one with slower movement boost, but with magic find. I wonder why i have this obsession with magic find? I guess this is Uncle Ben's influence on me...
So i used Larzuk's socketing gift to make my circlet even more shiny:
Those plagued javelin carried B' through the monster hordes so far:
And here we are, at the top of the frozen waterfall:
It was an interesting fight with the ancients, but i was busy to make a screenshot... OK it was just poisoning them, and then running around, till the poison do it's work.
Level 36:
And a gory fight with N, (N goes for necromancer):
Now, the fight by the Throne of Baal:
...I think, that was close.
After that B' was more cautious with Baal's minions:
The fight against Baal was manageable and without nasty surprises:
Meahwhile...
The adventure of Hexxat (Nightmare)
Hexxat found a way to deal with... you know what. Yes, it's still Nightmare, not Hell difficulty, but I think this will work on Hell as well.
Thanks to Cloak of Shadows you know what becomes blind, and then focuses on either Kasim or the Shadow Master. Hexxat tried it numerous times in Flayer Dungeon, Kurast Sewers and Durance of Hate - it worked.
Hexxat STR finally reached 125, and she used the Horadric cube to improve her Rattlecage. Its defence improved from 328 to 482 (nearly in 1,5 times).
The Travincal council provided a good weapon for a druid, while in the halls of Hate Hexxat found a "defensive" two-handed sword and an Io rune.
The fight against Mephisto, just as the one against Duriel, took half a minute. The Act III continued the Act II for Hexxat, who didn't use any single potion during both acts.
Maybe Uncle Mephisto can share with Uncle Ben some of his treasure? Hexxat will find out, as she is going to ask him multiple times.
The bovine hordes proved to be especially tender for B's javelin.
And guess what Buttercheese became after defeating B
haal?The Slayer!
A quick look at B's character sheet at the beginning of Nightmare mode:
And another quick look:
The main reason for this was me playing at inadequate time, and my impatience about not finding the fitting socketed shield for the perfect diamonds. (Which would provide B' with the neccesary resistances, needed in cases like the one above.)
I share some pictures from B's road in Nightmare difficulty for those who intrested:
The adventure of Hexxat (Nightmare)
Or, rather, visiting Lucky
Aello'sMephisto's Discount Store.Why discount? Because Uncle Mephisto, mostly, provided goods not useful for the assassin.
But Hexxat kept trying. In the process, she found a lot of runes, so that she could spend 3 or 4 Shael runes on items.
It's quite funny that Sigon's Sabot (the set greavers B' got freely) escaped Hexxat, so she moved on from the Sigon's set and took off her tower shield which granted +1 to all skills. She created Rhyme runeword, which improved her MF at 25%, upped all her resistances at 25, made her immune to freeze. She couldn't find a shield with 2 sockets better than the round shield, so her overall blocking chance went down from 75% to 63%. In the same time, she got all those bonuses and the new shield was of the "light" type, which meant her speed improved at 10%. And with newer levels and new attribute points, her Dexterity, and thus the blocking chance, will go up.
With improved MF chance, Hexxat finally found something that was useful - a good armor for Kasim (502 defence with his aura put his overall defence at 3500, increased weapon speed is especially important for such slow weapons as spears and polearms).
Hexxat also found her first charms improving the MF chance. She still wasn't sure if getting Dwarf star unique ring was useful, though, as her rings provided regeneration.
Seeing no trace of Sigon's Sabot or Goblin Toe, I re-evaluated what I needed from Hexxat's boots. And it turned out I actually liked +10 resistances and +20% faster run/walk on Hexxat's unique greavers. Then I decided to upgrade them to war boots. The only source of damage for a "Talon" assassin is kick damage from boots. Greavers are the best normal boots, so upgrading them in this case meant getting the best available NM damage. The base damage went from 10-20 to 39-80. It started to feel immediately. For this moment of the game it meant most common enemies were down in 2 or maximum 3 clicks (before the upgrade they had required 4-6 clicks). In order not to lose efficiency, as @Skatan noted, I have to pay attention to Hexxat's boots.
Hexxat reached the 61st level and now is ready for the next Act, I think.
For some reason i have patch 1.12, and in this hardcore mode became active, when Buttercheese beat Baal. So i made a Hardcore character this time!
His name is Florian and he is a paladin. And he died without screenshots by Corpsfire, and his goons in the Den. OK.
Next hero is a paladin too. With the name Tyrion (I won't say you are wrong, when suspecting here a scheme). Tyrion is a paladin using auras and a crossbow.
Sadly he was slayed too in Tal Rasha's tomb by mummies and skeletons.
I just would like to share the blood gloves he crafted:
That would be great. If not the level 31 level requirement.
With Tyrion i learned new things:
-how to use shift for continued attacking
-how to find the location of shrines on the automap (i have to say, that Tyrion had fast legs, he raced through the plains of Act I with Vigor aura and Stealth armor, searching for shrines in some five minutes. Finding average one gem shrine per race).
I also lost one sorceress in act I after Tyrion. Well, it seems, that i became impatient. I decided to update to patch 1.13 and install Plug Y now.
The adventure of Hexxat (Nightmare)
Hexxat breezed through the Act IV NM quite quickly.
Izual:
Hephasto:
Another Io rune as a reward:
A Lum rune in the Chaos Sanctuary:
The fight against Diablo was... easier than I could had thought.
This is how the Act IV was completed. Hexxat again didn't use any potions.
Next, Baal and his army.
Shenk:
Frozenstein:
Pindleskin:
Korlic, Madawc and Talic (Talic had Stoneskin and was immune to
normal weaponsPhysical, so it took some time).Baal minions:
I would like to say that Hexxat didn't have any good drops in either the Act IV or the Act V.
But she was rewarded by Baal:
He dropped the Face of Horror Mask:
With series of 4 kicks, Hexxat almost always makes monsters flee (thank to a 40% chance provided by Rattlecage). I've got used to it and have started to like it as much as I like the Crushing blow. It was especially handful against frenzytaurs in the Act V. Now, Kasim also had a 50% chance to make monsters flee. +10 to all resistances is also good for the Hell difficulty.
This way Hexxat will henceforth be known as Conqueror Hexxat:
Below are Hexxat's stats, skills and items. At the start of the Hell difficulty she's of the 67th level, has a 89% chance to hit an enemy, a 72% chance to block. Monsters hit her with a 44% chance. She has 760 HPs (not much, but she has a lot of leech items). Her resistances are 43-49-44-57 (an amazing start for the Hell, I think). She has 20 points put into Talon, 19 points put into Venom, 19 points put into Shadow Master, 7 points put into Fade. As an alternative weapon, Hexxat has a Level 2 Life Tap wand.
Her mercenary has 75% resistance to Fire, slows target by 75%, has 1287 HPs and his overall defence is better than the Hexxat's defence.
Oh, and she doesn't have any free space in her inventory, constantly managing runes and gems. Yes, the PlugY could help here, but I've come to a thought the constant need to decide on items is a part of the game.
Bloody Hell, here Hexxat comes!
Well, this is indeed what Zaraki could call a good challenge. The game has begun to feel completely different now. Almost any unique and champion monster offers a moderate fight. Unique undead are a big problem, as they're often immune to physical, and it takes time to finish them. I'm liking it so much. I would say that all the previous game was only a preparation for this difficulty, and the real game has started only now. Losing now will be a shame because actually Diablo 2 on Hell feels like a different game.
Blood Raven:
Griswold:
The Countess:
Hexxat reached Tamoe Highland, where she entered the Pit. Here (because it's one of the highest TC areas in the game) she found Stormshield, an elite unique shield well known among Diablo players. One of the highest defence, blocking chance and blocking speed in the game. On top of that, it reduces damage by 35% (!). It would be sad to lose immunity to freeze granted by her runeword shield, but Stormshield is worth it, I think.
Hexxat needs 2 levels to use it. Also, the game has started to feel challenging so the best option would be to continue farm the Pit. Maybe this way Hexxat will find more good items, suitable for Hell difficulty.
In order to face physically immune enemies, Hexxat started to invest into traps, and finally got Death Sentry. Now she'll put points into it. It will also help against you know what. And Hexxat's blocking rate has come back to 75% (and this is with her Round shield - as soon as she will equip Stormshield, she'll have many levels where she won't need to invest into Dexterity).
But, that's not the original point of my post. I started a new run with new character! I have to note that this time I am playing on my Polish version of the game, for nostalgia factor I suppose. When showing screenshots with items etc. I will describe the attributes and so.
This time, I decided to make....
NAH, just kidding... Sorceress it is!
Her name is Sora. She is of course hardcore and I plan her to use all three elemental damage types avaliable to her calss. I am aware that it means generally lower DPS and I usually use two different elements at most, but I am willing to give this concept a try.
Sora the Elementalist Sorceress part 1
"Come here, my dear, for I am about to tell a tale. A tale of the Sorceress from Zann Esu clan, and her vandetta towards the Prime Evils...
What sorceress? And what's her reason for vandetta? Well, she was known as Sora and she was part of Zan Essu clan. Zann Essu considered elemental mastery to be the purest for of magic - that is videly know. Yet, mastering all three elements - fire, lightning and cold - at once was a difficult task. Majority of Zann Esu women usually attempted to master two of them at most. But not our heroine. She decided to spend her time to master all three elements and throught it, experience and prove purity of elemental magicks.
Her vandetta? As every member of Zann Esu clan, Sora was tasked with scouting and recruitment of gifted children. And she did. She found a exceptionally gifted and teachable girl. The little one was really eager to start learning magics, so was her parents. Sora started teaching the child even before her official recruitment... In time, the sorceress grew more and more fond of the little girl. The future seemed great for the little one. But that was not the case. One day, Sora learned that the village, in which the girl lived, was raided by demons. There was no survivors, only blood. The sorceress was devastated by this, not only she was fond of the girl, but the little one also had an immense potential to be greatest elementalist that ever lived. Possible future Zan Essu leader, mastering element in their purest form. The demons will pay for this...
Sora soon learned that the monastery of Sightless Eye was now claimed by Andariel - the Maiden of Anguish, and that the order of Sightless Eye is in desperate position and needs to be helped. Sora didn't have to ask her superivsor to send her to investigate the manner. Sora swore that she'll prove the purity of elemental magicks by defeating the Evils, or will die in her attempt.
...
...
...
The Sorceress was met with initial distrust among the rouges in their encampment, with only Akara and Charsi welcoming her with open arms. Sora learned of the den, in which evil creatures gathered to attack the encampment in near future. Apparently, stopping the incoming attack would grant Sora trust of the rouges. She decided to cleanse the place. No Fallen, no zombie and no beast were left roaming the cave after Sora was done with it
Just Corpsefire with Spectral Hit. Nothing notable.
With this act, Sora gained everyone's trust buy Kashiya. The commander demanded further proof of alleignance. The Sorceress was told about the Blood Raven, formerly known as Moreina, who was corrupted by Andariel, and now was granted power of necromancy, raising the dead in the monastery's Burial Grounds. Such sacrilege will not be ignored. And it wasn't. Moreina's army of undead was wast, but lightning magics laid a waste to hungry dead and skeletons. The combination of Ice Blasts and Inferno was more than enough to take down the poor, corrupted Soul
Kashia's trust was finally gained, and one brave rouge archer named Kyoko decided to accompany Sora free of charge. Together, they went to rescue Deckard Cain, the last of the Hoardrim, from destroyed town of Tristram, where Diablo was awakened not so long ago. To reach the town in short time, the Sorceress had to find a specific stone circle and touch the stones in exact order, activating the portal to Tristram. She did just that and found herself in the razed town. Most of the folks were dead, some of them, like Griswold the smith, being undead. Luckily, Cain was alive, albeit caged and being tormented and humiliated by foul minions. The elder was freed and after resting for a while, he promised to help the Sorceress in her quest and shared his knowledge with her. Akara also gave Sora a ring, as a reward.
"Thank you so much for coming to my aid!"
10% chance to cast level 3 Charged Bolt on being hit, +18 attack rating, +4 life, lightning resist +10%, +7% magic find
On her way to the Monastery, Sora found the ruins of the long frogotten tower. There were legends that claimed there was a treasure burried beneath it and the Sorceress decided to investigate the place. There was a chance of finding some powerful magic items that way. Sora found the treassure, alongside with crazed, blood-thisrsty woman with her minions. If legends are to be believed, it was the famous Countess. Was, because she died in magic fire.
Sora reached the corrupted Monastery, killing every minion of evil in her path without pretense of mercy. She remembered Charsi the blacksmith mentioned Horadric Mallus, an enhanced hammer used to craft the finest of weapons and armors. Sora agreed to retrieve it, as Mallus' enchantments would help in fight against the demons. The hammer was guarded by the large overlord Demon. It looked strong, but it couldn't handle mixture of exteme cold and extreme hot very well. Mallus was returned to Charsi, who enhanced Sora's equipment with it.
+10% faster hit recovery, +3 dexterity, +26 stamina, cold resist +19%, poison resist +8%, +16% magic find
With that, Sora went futher into the Monastery with intend to hunt down and destroy Andariel, opening the way to east, where Diablo, the Lord of Terror is rumored to be. Nothing could stop the Sorceress in her way. Not skeletons, not skeletal mages, not devil ones and not vampires. It was only the matter of time that Sora reached the lowest level of Catacombs.
Bone Ash - Undead, Magic Resistant, Extra Strong, Cold Enchanted, Cold Immune
Entering the Catacombs - Level 4
Sora and Kyoko faced the Maiden of Anguish together. Sora chilled the Demon Queen with cold, then attacked with fire. Surprisingly, Andariel might have came from the depths of Hell, but she was not very fond of fire and the Sorceress took advantage of this. The demoness eventually fell, but before that, she managed to poison Kyoko. The poison was deadly, and the rouge couldn't fight it very long. Kyoko soon died after her victory.
The Monastery of Sightless Eye was freed from demonic corruption and Andariel's reign. Soon, the gates to the East were open, and Sora could resume her pursuit after Evils. She didn't want to celebrate, knowing full well that she will not be able to. Not until Evils are still alive.
First, you can turn off the instant respec and stat relocation option, which I do. Second, since the real-life servers are a bot hell-hole, it simulates the World Events, and allows access to Ladder Runewords. And last, stash space. I look at your inventory and think there is a fine line between making a player make choices and what Diablo 2 does in regards to stash space. Forget the personal inventory screen, that's the same in PlugY, and when you get to a certain point all you have is charms and you have no room to pick anything up anyway. But between runes and JUST potions the stash gets filled. It's not that you have to make choices, you literally can't keep ANYTHING after a certain point. And it used to be HALF that size. The D2 stash is so small it might as well not even exist. The only thing PlugY really does is allow you to bypass the incredibly mind-numbing process of muling. Even hardcore D2-clones like Path of Exile and Grim Dawn had no interest in replicating D2's stash space nightmare.