Newbie takes on D2 for the first time

[KingOfPain]

my real real scíry problem with weapon swaps was that I used things like frozen lrb and teleport on right click. One swap, and instead of shooting at the boss pack I teleported into their group. two deaths were scored that way before I unbound the hotkey.

Sucks when that happens. And I probably die more from forgetting to disable the Windows key.

- Do percent faster casting bonus items stack?

- Similarly, do percent faster hit recovery items stack?

...I wonder how big a step up in difficulty it will be?

Yep. Same with faster attack...

Lightning bugs and poison throwers are real fun when you are low on resists, and they are everywhere. The Tombs can be a real challenge for some builds in later diffs. The room can be packed full of a combination of all sorts of immunz. And the most fun one of all is the end boss...

[T-hawk]

Catching up...

Yeah, twinking (giving items found by high-level characters to new starting characters) is a separate topic from exploits, and was really controversial back in the day.  The expansion mostly addressed that by putting level requirements on most items and affixes.  It's really just different environments and styles, on whether to play a character purist with only self-found items, or with pooling items with other characters of either your own or a multiplayer group, or just accept anything from anyone in public games (possibly/likely hacked or duplicated.)

What Boro is talking about with the weapon switch: The program remembers the currently selected skill separately for each weapon tab, so switching weapons can also switch you to a different skill, like teleport instead of attack.

Higher end sets are hard to collect not because the drop rate for set items is low (it's like 1/30 or so from bosses, which results in a few per act), but because the high-level base items are very scarce and in a few cases can only drop from particular boss packs or the very last boss of hell difficulty.

Act 2 should still be pretty easy for everything besides the act boss if you're playing smartly.  Once you get Teleport skill, use it to stay far away from everything all the time.  The most important thing to find on gear is elemental resistances.  An easy way to do that is find a 3-socket shield (I think you can find one to buy by visiting the act 2 shops repeatedly) and put three diamonds in it of whatever grades you come by (and then start saving up better diamonds for the next one.)  A sorceress wants to use a 1-hand orb rather than a 2-hand staff to make room for that shield.

[haphazard1]

Thanks, KoP and T-hawk. I am playing my sorceress with only what she can find, buy from merchants, or gamble. I am worried about not having much resistance yet, and also about more lightning enchanted enemies. Lots of things to worry about....

I have seen only a couple orbs just in the last level or two of the catacombs, and am not high enough clvl to actually use one yet. Once I am I plan to switch from my staff and add a socketed shield; I am keeping an eye out for one and have been saving diamonds for it.

Once I can get Teleport that will be a big change in tactics, but I am not there quite yet.

A question about gambling: how does the item generation work? Does it depend on your clvl, or is it based on the merchant? I have only gambled once so far, for some boots -- I had found nothing useful at all. Got some with faster hit recovery and some poison resist, so was pleased with the result. But I am not sure if I should gamble more now, or wait to be a higher clvl. I could really use better rings, but that is an expensive gamble.

[T-hawk]

I forgot if sorceress orbs get sold at the vendors (would be Drognan in act 2), peek there.

Gambling depends entirely on character level; every merchant and act behaves the same.  One specific trick: gambling is the first way that a Plated Belt base item can come available, the first type of belt with 4 rows of slots.  The best item to gamble, once they start showing up, is circlets (head gear), which can have almost every good affix possible including +skills, resistances, mana, life.  Rings and amulets are weird (this mechanic is another casualty of early bugs) in that the price is fixed rather than going up with character level, so they're way overpriced for now, but become the best gamble target much later (past level 60 or so.)  Other than those concerns, you can use gambling to try to fill in gaps for whatever you think needs upgrading, gloves and boots are common.  And pay attention to the base item types, lower (like leather) is better (than heavier like plate), they're cheaper and lower strength requirement, and the differences in armor value are infinitesimal. The vast majority of magical (blue text) items you gamble will be junk; you're in it for the rares, which is something like a 7/100 chance for gambling.

[haphazard1]

My sorceress does not have the strength for a lot of the more advanced armor items yet, so gambling for them does not make sense for now. Thanks for explaining the ring/amulet pricing issue -- it made no sense why they were so much more expensive than everything else. Of course, I need better rings.

[KingOfPain]

With all this talk, I started D2 again a few days ago. The first one out of the gate is McTyraelGirl lvl 52 now somewhere in NM Act 3, and a Double Thrower lvl 20 in act 4. It seems I always start with a sorceress first, I guess because I can lvl her fast and and kill bosses fast to find neat items that other characters can use. And yes, there is already a small army of mules collecting stuff.

My sorceress does not have the strength for a lot of the more advanced armor items yet, so gambling for them does not make sense for now.

Then pump strength. You don't have to follow traditional "wisdom" I took this screenshot of MctyraelGirl just now. Believe me, she iwill be capable of MFing Hell Meph and Baal in speed. We are talking about from start of game to finding, to killing Hell Meph in under one minute.



Anyways. The mules (so far) are under the accounts:
KingOfPainX, KingOfPainX1, KingOfPainX2,
Password = rbd

These are public mules anyone is welcome to look and take what you need. Just don't put any junk on them, that's my job ;p

ps: there is already one complete set

[haphazard1]

Thanks for the example, KoP. I am a bit confused, though this is probably not surprising. 122 stat points not assigned? Is this some variant form I have not yet heard of?

The staff's appearance in the left hand/right hand slots -- is that because of the socketed runes?

[T-hawk]

The old crew of Realms Beyond Diablo had a long tradition of being lazy and neglecting to assign stat points. There was a variant called Slacker which involved that, and then people got used to and stayed in that habit.

The runes show up there because he's mouseovering on the right side, it would do that on either side. For the screenshot he used the right side so the hover text wouldn't cover the character sheet on the left.

[KingOfPain]

That's is what a Rune Word looks like. Got lucky with her to see a 2 sockets staff with more inherited fire skills, and actually had enough gold to buy it at a young age. Not the best stats but decent enough.

In general, if you ask for advice elsewhere you will get a shopping list of best items and how to build to make the game the easiest it can be. Here, we tell you how to use the minimal you need and how to skin the cat differently.
Personally
Base Vit, because I believe if you pump vit, if you build to get hit you play to get hit. (generalization of course)
All other stats are only as needed. Strength and Dex to equip stuff, and Energy enough to not constantly be drinking blues.  
So basically I stopped adding to stats 25 clvl ago. Why make the game easier than it is.

[T-hawk]

Play Hardcore as I always do and you might change that tune about minimum vitality.