Newbie takes on D2 for the first time

[haphazard1]

Thanks, T-hawk. Useful to know I am not setting myself up for a permanent negative, unlike some of the D1 shrines. And the Refilling shrine does not refill itself? That's intuitive. Not that I have any idea what it does do.

A couple more questions: How do tomes work? Are they just a way to have multiple scrolls of one type while taking up less space in the backpack? Or is there more to them?

Is there a higher-level map of some sort showing the regions? My mini map shows the area I am in, but once I start finding the entrances to more regions, is there a way of keeping track of which ones were where? Not too difficult this early, but as the game progresses there will presumably be a lot more. Or am I expected to activate all the way points and use that to find specific regions as needed?

[superdeath]

Tomes hold upto 20 either Town scrolls, or Identify scrolls. thats their purpose. Sometimes i get alot of BEEF with the town portal book, but i just Moo've on.

Waypoints are your way to know, outside of memory. no "overworld" map showing where you are/where stuff is. Mainly because all the areas have like... 40? different maps.

[haphazard1]

Died for the first (almost certainly of many) time fighting Blood Raven. Seriously underestimated the damage her fire arrows could do. I did recover my body without too much trouble, and then killed Blood Raven (being more cautious of those arrows). The death causes a penalty in XP and gold, correct? Recovering the body reduces (but does not eliminate) the penalty, if I understood the manual properly.

More questions:

- I got assigned a rogue companion as a reward for killing Blood Raven. Is there any way to dismiss her? Very annoying, running around all over the place. I guess the rogue will eventually get killed, but I would prefer to not have the companion.

- In the Burial Grounds area there were two sub-areas (dungeons?), a Mausoleum and a Crypt. I am thinking these are optional side areas, not related to the main storyline (which seems to be heading off to the Dark Wood to find a tree so I can go talk to our old pal Deckard Cain in Tristram). I entered the Mausoleum, had a couple solid fights, and found a locked chest with some very nice loot. Is this typical for these sub areas?

- I found a "jewel" -- seems to be just another socketable item, like a gem. I have found a few of those as well, of what I believe is the lowest level (chipped). I have been collecting them in my stash for future use, since I so not yet have any socketed gear. (I did find one socketed armor, but it requires more strength than I have.) Any advice on what to do with these?

Checking the Crypt is next, and then I guess the Stony Fields to look for a way to the Dark Woods. Something about a passage and a Cairn and tree bark? Hopefully it will make more sense once I am there.

So far I am having fun with the game. The faster movement speed compared to D1 has taken some getting used to, but given the larger areas it makes sense.

[T-hawk]

Right, death is a penalty in XP and gold.  Recovering the body restores half of the lost XP.  I don't remember if the gold pile you recover is the entire value you drop or if there's a penalty that some is missing.

Keep the rogue, you may as well let her shoot whatever she can, and toss whatever random bow and armor you find on her.  Most characters use a town guard mercenary from act 2 for the long haul, they're the sturdiest.

Yes, the Mausoleum and Crypt are optional side areas, there's a lot of those, couple dozen throughout the game.  Most have a sparkly chest for loot but it's really not all that much, it'll all be superseded quickly by the next few mainline areas.  I never bother with side areas.

Jewels are just socketable items with modifiers, yes.  Tossing some sapphires or rubies in the first socketed helm and armor you find is a decent start for a sorceress.  Ignore actual armor value, it's impossible for most classes to get it up to any meaningful amount, modifiers like life/mana/resistances on helms/armor/shields are way more important.

[haphazard1]

Ignore actual armor value, it's impossible for most classes to get it up to any meaningful amount, modifiers like life/mana/resistances on helms/armor/shields are way more important.

So how does armor value and defense rating actually work in D2? On the character screen I can hover on my defense rating and get an estimated percentage chance for something (seems to be the most recent monster I encountered) to hit me. So far this number is fairly low (12-15% mostly), although I expect that champs and uniques like Blood Raven or Bishibosh (met him in the Blood Moor earlier) are going to have a much higher chance to hit.

[T-hawk]

Chance to hit is attack/(attack + defense), so if your defense equals the attack rating, that's 50% to-hit. Problem is that monster attack rating escalates too much, it gets into several hundreds by the end of normal difficulty and several thousand by hell. To keep up with that, you need good equipment AND high strength for it AND a defense multiplying skill, none of which a single-player sorceress is likely to have. Teleport is a sorceress's defense.

[haphazard1]

Thanks, T-hawk. Very useful to know.

Hmmm, so if random current creature is getting about 15% to hit, then its attack rating is approximately 1/5 my defense rating. Given that my defense rating is not all that much, I am looking at enemies with single digit attack ratings right now. Special enemies are presumably a lot more; I wonder what kind of attack rating Blood Raven has on normal?

[superdeath]

Gah, now im thinking of devoting some time to possibly doing a playthough of Diablo 2.

Not to hijack your thread at all, however.. Anyone reading this thread have a class/spec they can suggest? im up for basically anything. ( ill document on a seperate thread once i get going )

[T-hawk]

How about a bonemancer? Sturdy and survivable with the bone walls, not boring like a summon necro, and Corpse Explosion is always a ton of fun.

[KingOfPain]

Gah, now im thinking of devoting some time to possibly doing a playthough of Diablo 2.

Not to hijack your thread at all, however.. Anyone reading this thread have a class/spec they can suggest? im up for basically anything. ( ill document on a seperate thread once i get going )

Look up ^
"How to build a proper Sorcy"

Unless you want something harder....