I also know that post-patch 1.13, it is actually possible to get yourself High Runes, whether by finding the actual rune or cubing them. I believe it was increased by about 10x. Before finding High Runes was akin to winning the lottery.
Here's a comprehensive guide to rune hunting by Urlik. The TLDR is: don't bother looking for runes if you have a life
It's a hell of a guide (I can't imagine putting that kind of time into something and not getting paid) but it's also applied to Patch 1.10. I actually just looked at an old thread around the time 1.13b game out and it mentioned Zod's were 20x more frequent in 1.13a compared to 1.12, and 1.13b buffed them even further. The point is, rune-hunting is actually very possible if you play solo now, whereas in most earlier patches you could play for half a decade and never see a Zod.
I talked the master into killing himself. I wont't do this to you though
As I stated above, farming high level runes is not really worthwhile. In all my time my highest ever rune was GUL (and I played my fair share of Diablo2)
Nonnahswriter headed to the Halls of the Dead as soon as she reached Luth Golein. On the second level she met with a funny mummy:
And the mummy treasured a golden belt:
After finding the Horadric cube 'Nah' visited the sewers and claimed the intelligence tome Book of Skills from Radament:
(Yes, Nonnahswriter has a new mercenary friend named: Neera 'j. But what is the 'j for?)
It was time to go back to Charsi and claim the reward for returning her the little hammer. Charsi made a decent orb, which add about an 50% increase to 'Nah's mana source. Nice!
Now, that 'Nah was in Act I agin she decided to visit aunty Andy for some time. The results of the visits are some more or less interesting items
And the Nagelring! :
Nice! 'Nah returened thereafter to Luth Golein, and went to the Far Oasis exploring some suspicious looking tunnels:
Well, as you can see, i uninstalled Plug Y. The thing is: i don't have anything really worth to keep at low levels and don't intend to make any of the ladder runewords.
True reason: I just can't bear the frown of @JuliusBorisov 's eyebrow looking at my playthrough.
Meanwhile i explored the true save function of D2, and it's hard to keep myself from constantly reloading to get a decent reward at the imbuing quest, or with crafting.
Otherwise i think i reached my time limit with no-reloads. I try one last time
That's a lie, my semi last try ended by Corpsfire, the Shank of Diablo 2.
with a necromancer this time. If he fails too, then i move on to a chees-reload run with a sorceress i think. (And maybe i try @God 's new mod in the process!)
Nevertheless, here's the brave no-reloader necromancer:
Everyone are free to play in the way they want. Actually, it's seeing that red text which brings me sadness, not mods players use. I don't think Plug Y adds too much in terms of changing balance in this game, and it's my personal opinion not to use this mod.
I know some of you are wondering how is Hexxat. So, here's an update.
The adventure of Hexxat (Hell)
The journey through the Act V Hell is not a fast one. There're hordes of enemies there, most of them require time to kill. But thanks to having both magical and physical damage because of her Star Wars sword, Hexxat is managing to progress.
Shenk the Overseer
Sharptooth Slayer
Frozenstein
Pindleskin
Unique and set items are dropping every now and then, but the ones that have dropped are better suited for Normal or NM difficulty, not Hell:
A reward from Anya for saving her:
@lolien - I think a Summancer with Curses will do wonders for you. Looking at the NM and Hell difficulty, I think a character with a pack of summons, Dim Vision, Amplify Damage, Life Tap and Lower Resist will just rip everything apart and quickly.
Korlic - Fire Enchanted, Teleportation, Immune to Fire, Immune to Cold Madawc - Extra Fast, Mana Burn, Immune to Lightning Talic - Lightning Enchanted, Stone Skin, Immune to Fire, Immune to Lightning
Basically, these videos show how a Talon assassin feels in the game, what skills does she use and whether it feels safe or not in-game (I think it feels quite safe). Hexxat is of the 82nd level, far from maximum of her abilities. Her life can be better, but I put points into STR so that her boots and armor could be upgraded to the elite versions, requiring 208 STR. Her items can be better as well (she could make runs for items till reaching the 90th level at least). She even didn't max out her skills.
But I won't wait any longer. In fact, Hexxat is going to Baal right away! C'mon c'mon, let's go whack something evil.
Yes, this is IT! Hexxat will henceforth be known as Guardian Hexxat.
Emotions are strong in me right now. It's been an amazing experience, thank you everyone for your attention and support. I wish your charactes to beat the game as well, so that we could celebrate together.
Unique and set items are dropping every now and then, but the ones that have dropped are better suited for Normal or NM difficulty, not Hell
While I, too, agree that using self-found items and managing them on a tight inventory space is a part of the singleplayer experience, having recently done a few (testing) playthroughs with an increased inventory space and limitless stash, I must say that collecting the many uniques and sets like pokémon is very satisfying in itself as well. But, even more importantly, having those uniques and sets stored away, I can actually get to use and experience them with a new character if I want. For example, it's borderline impossible to loot the full Milabrega set (the armor especially) before it becomes completely obsolete, but an early-game paladin can make really good use of it and strategize around it, which brings a nice variation. Some might say that this makes the game less challenging but, well, since I play almost exclusively with players 8 enabled, I don't really see it as much of a difference, not to mention that many sets and uniques are actually suboptimal to a nicely rolled rare or crafted item. Also, one thing I really missed in Diablo II and had to include in the Enhanced Edition, is the ability to fully equip your mercenary, making the many underused, low-end sets, like the Arctic or Isenhart's, somewhat more useful as companion equipment.
So... who has what it takes to become Beamdog's Next Top Guardian?
So... who has what it takes to become Beamdog's Next Top Guardian?
Probably not I. I have less and less time for playing and even if I manage to spend a lot time to my character, he/she would die in either stupid or cheap way. Probably clearing hell difficulty hardcore is beyond my reach.
Oh no. I'll be blunt about it. My current Paladin run will end on normal. I am not masochist enough to invest much time into playing character class I really dislike ;p
Congratulations @JuliusBorisov, the run of Hexxat was impressive! I could say, that she had been fortunate in her item finds, but honestly a good part from that came from your patient and precise gameplay.
@O_Bruce I wonder why do you dislike so much a paladin in this game? Is it because of the concept of this class? Or because of the in-game implementation (if so, what particularly you don't like)? Or because back in the day they were so popular among players?
@JuliusBorisov Mainly because of in-game implementation of the class and - in my eyes - favouritism towards the class. Story-wise, Paladins are little generic, but not that bad. Crusaders are much more interesting lore-vise.
What I dislike about Paladins in Diablo II is mainly related to gameplay, and that they often have skills that are like mix of other character's skills, but stronger. Let's say, you have meele Amazon and she can use Jab and Fend. Jab is a series of short thrusts in single target, while Fend affects multiple targets in zeal-like manner, but inferior. Why? Because Paladin's Zeal can attack one target multiple times, many targets (up to 5, but that often works in Paladin's favour in several factors). Zeal not only costs less mana than Jab (which mana costs actually increases) and Fend, it also recieves big damage bonus as synegiries from Sacrifice skill. Neither of 3 amazon physical meele skills have any synegry, when there is room for them. In addition, Amazons are also in disadvantage because of bug with their evasive skills. They are often locked in useless attack/dodge animations, instead doing actual work in battle (although that happens if they are surrounded). Again, Paladins don't have this problem.
Other example of such skills. Vengence. It deals additional damage from 3 elements all at once (+ physical). That's neat. What's more neat, the elemental damage are based on your base damage. The stronger your weapon is, the stronger the damage from elements is. It means that it doesn't have to be leveled up a lot to be useful. Also, it's only downside as attack is that mana costs increase after leveling (but then again, since Paladin is still dealing physical damage, he can drain mana), and that it is single-targeted attack. Now, what Barbarians and Amazon have to do to deal with physical immune monsters? Barbarian has Berserk. It is powerful but it leaves you vourneable and you cannot drain life or mana when you use it. Unless your Barbarian is specifically rised to use Berserk (like Zaraki was), it's going to be a bad time. Meele Amazons have lightning based skills. Lightning immune foes are much more common than physical immune, so hell difficulty can be frustrating. If Amazon uses javeilns, instead of engaging in meele with Spears, she can use also poison damage... and poison, with little expeptions, is nearly useless in hell difficulty. Bowazon has better choices: fire, cold or partially magic damage from magic arrow. And only each of Amazon's skills I mentioned require points investment for it's damage to be... not terrible in Hell. Paladins don't have that problem. Shapeshifting druids have it arguably worse. Either Rabbies (only for Werewolf) or Fire Claws (the only option for Werebear)...
And don't start with Hammerdins.... How many years it took Blizzard to realize that these hammers shouldn't ignore immunities?
Blessed Shield. Who needs dexterity to obtain max block ratio?
Smite. Who said Ubers are supposed to be hard? Oh, and while we are at it, there is a runeword for smitters (working only in Paladin's shields) to make it much more easy. F*ck other classes.
Comments
The TLDR is: don't bother looking for runes if you have a life
Countess runs are good, for low-mid to high-mid runes. But only for that.
Countess at least has a guaranteed drop
I wouldnt recommand farming high level runes anyway. Either it happens or you might be down for a very long time.
Go for countess runs, then. It's your own time you're going to waste, after all.
As I stated above, farming high level runes is not really worthwhile. In all my time my highest ever rune was GUL (and I played my fair share of Diablo2)
'Nah the sorceress, Act II (Normal)
Nonnahswriter headed to the Halls of the Dead as soon as she reached Luth Golein. On the second level she met with a funny mummy:And the mummy treasured a golden belt:
After finding the Horadric cube 'Nah' visited the sewers and claimed the
intelligence tomeBook of Skills from Radament:(Yes, Nonnahswriter has a new mercenary friend named: Neera 'j. But what is the 'j for?)
It was time to go back to Charsi and claim the reward for returning her the little hammer. Charsi made a decent orb, which add about an 50% increase to 'Nah's mana source. Nice!
Now, that 'Nah was in Act I agin she decided to visit aunty Andy for some time. The results of the visits are some more or less interesting items
And the Nagelring! :
'Nah returened thereafter to Luth Golein, and went to the Far Oasis exploring some suspicious looking tunnels:
Not nice.
Meanwhile i explored the true save function of D2, and it's hard to keep myself from constantly reloading to get a decent reward at the imbuing quest, or with crafting.
Otherwise i think i reached my time limit with no-reloads. I try one last time
Nevertheless, here's the brave no-reloader necromancer:
Wilbur Wonka! Guess what build he will be?
The adventure of Hexxat (Hell)
The journey through the Act V Hell is not a fast one. There're hordes of enemies there, most of them require time to kill. But thanks to having both magical and physical damage because of her Star Wars sword, Hexxat is managing to progress.
Shenk the Overseer
Sharptooth Slayer
Frozenstein
Pindleskin
Unique and set items are dropping every now and then, but the ones that have dropped are better suited for Normal or NM difficulty, not Hell:
A reward from Anya for saving her:
@lolien - I think a Summancer with Curses will do wonders for you. Looking at the NM and Hell difficulty, I think a character with a pack of summons, Dim Vision, Amplify Damage, Life Tap and Lower Resist will just rip everything apart and quickly.
The fight against the Ancients:
Korlic - Fire Enchanted, Teleportation, Immune to Fire, Immune to Cold
Madawc - Extra Fast, Mana Burn, Immune to Lightning
Talic - Lightning Enchanted, Stone Skin, Immune to Fire, Immune to Lightning
P.S. I have never beaten his game with a hardcore character. I'm getting itchy, let's GO!
Basically, these videos show how a Talon assassin feels in the game, what skills does she use and whether it feels safe or not in-game (I think it feels quite safe). Hexxat is of the 82nd level, far from maximum of her abilities. Her life can be better, but I put points into STR so that her boots and armor could be upgraded to the elite versions, requiring 208 STR. Her items can be better as well (she could make runs for items till reaching the 90th level at least). She even didn't max out her skills.
But I won't wait any longer. In fact, Hexxat is going to Baal right away! C'mon c'mon, let's go whack something evil.
....
....
SarevokBaal has fallen, the battle is won!Yes, this is IT! Hexxat will henceforth be known as Guardian Hexxat.
Emotions are strong in me right now. It's been an amazing experience, thank you everyone for your attention and support. I wish your charactes to beat the game as well, so that we could celebrate together.
Wow, I'm really impressed by this. What you did was something I couldn't do in my entire time playing Diablo 2. Much respect to you!
Much wow, we finally have our first member of the Guardian club! Yay!
While I, too, agree that using self-found items and managing them on a tight inventory space is a part of the singleplayer experience, having recently done a few (testing) playthroughs with an increased inventory space and limitless stash, I must say that collecting the many uniques and sets like pokémon is very satisfying in itself as well. But, even more importantly, having those uniques and sets stored away, I can actually get to use and experience them with a new character if I want. For example, it's borderline impossible to loot the full Milabrega set (the armor especially) before it becomes completely obsolete, but an early-game paladin can make really good use of it and strategize around it, which brings a nice variation. Some might say that this makes the game less challenging but, well, since I play almost exclusively with players 8 enabled, I don't really see it as much of a difference, not to mention that many sets and uniques are actually suboptimal to a nicely rolled rare or crafted item.Also, one thing I really missed in Diablo II and had to include in the Enhanced Edition, is the ability to fully equip your mercenary, making the many underused, low-end sets, like the Arctic or Isenhart's, somewhat more useful as companion equipment.
So... who has what it takes to become Beamdog's Next Top Guardian?
With a Paladin, you stand a fair chance
Mainly because of in-game implementation of the class and - in my eyes - favouritism towards the class. Story-wise, Paladins are little generic, but not that bad. Crusaders are much more interesting lore-vise.
Other example of such skills. Vengence. It deals additional damage from 3 elements all at once (+ physical). That's neat. What's more neat, the elemental damage are based on your base damage. The stronger your weapon is, the stronger the damage from elements is. It means that it doesn't have to be leveled up a lot to be useful. Also, it's only downside as attack is that mana costs increase after leveling (but then again, since Paladin is still dealing physical damage, he can drain mana), and that it is single-targeted attack. Now, what Barbarians and Amazon have to do to deal with physical immune monsters? Barbarian has Berserk. It is powerful but it leaves you vourneable and you cannot drain life or mana when you use it. Unless your Barbarian is specifically rised to use Berserk (like Zaraki was), it's going to be a bad time. Meele Amazons have lightning based skills. Lightning immune foes are much more common than physical immune, so hell difficulty can be frustrating. If Amazon uses javeilns, instead of engaging in meele with Spears, she can use also poison damage... and poison, with little expeptions, is nearly useless in hell difficulty. Bowazon has better choices: fire, cold or partially magic damage from magic arrow. And only each of Amazon's skills I mentioned require points investment for it's damage to be... not terrible in Hell. Paladins don't have that problem. Shapeshifting druids have it arguably worse. Either Rabbies (only for Werewolf) or Fire Claws (the only option for Werebear)...
And don't start with Hammerdins.... How many years it took Blizzard to realize that these hammers shouldn't ignore immunities?
Blessed Shield. Who needs dexterity to obtain max block ratio?
Smite. Who said Ubers are supposed to be hard? Oh, and while we are at it, there is a runeword for smitters (working only in Paladin's shields) to make it much more easy. F*ck other classes.
I have no strength to keep writing.