"17" -- non-IM classic Diablo Co-op gaming

[Attika]

(Apologies to Kiefer Sutherland...)

Here’s an idea for Diablo multiplayer co-op gameplay. It’s a variation of Dot @ Level and it's not viable for Single player gaming, since the Hell entrance from town is sealed until you locate it inside the dungeon. It is suggested that, like tournament IM, a three-player team be composed of one character of each class. Two-player teams would allow any combo.

The jist is that along with playing Dot@Level (in which the characters MUST achieve their first dot by/at clevel 17) the party also only gets 17 (or less) sessions into the dungeon to achieve this goal. Thus the game has a real finite beginning and end.

Within the limit of 17 game sessions, you get:

all the town interactions you wish (including item ID and shopping at Gris, Adria, and Wirt),

as many shrines as you can (safely) hit within the 17 sessions,

as many bosses as you can kill, chests you can open, bookcases you can reach, etc, etc, etc.

as much book-shopping at Adria as you wish, including diving back into the dungeon to get her to change her inventory,

HOWEVER, if a character leaves the game -- due to lag-drop or other -- and then rejoins later, that character would NOT be allowed to shop at Griswold or Wirt for that session. The items they offered would have changed, and thus would be beyond the allowed 17 maximum if further sessions are played.

Although you'd be possibly doing a LOT of book-shopping, MONEY may prove a major obstacle for the team (them books 'o higher learnin' be esspensive!).

Of course the toughest aspect of the game would be finding a decent pathway to 16 without anyone on the team leveling up beyond clevel 17, within the 17 gaming sessions.

Some strat ideas:

One character would need to stay fairly low in character level (say, clevel 8 to allow for a Cats start the next session?) in order to do multiple Butcher/Leo runs without leveling up to clevel 18.
Suggested character: the Rogue.

On the first session you’d want to have at least one character level up to clevel 13. Why? So that on the second session the character could start either in Caves or Cats or Church and look for bosses and books.
Suggested character: the Warrior.

On the first session probably at least one character should lup to clevel 17 in order to start looking for a somewhat clear path down to Dlevel 16, as this will probably be the game stopper -- not party weakness, but rather characters leveling up beyond 17 before Diablo is destroyed. In that initial and all further sessions that person’s job is to first and foremost scout a path to 16. If such a path is found, then the other two players fight in the dungeon until they reach clevel 17, and then join (via TP) the scouting character. If no pathway shows, then the scout will spend the time TKing chests and armor racks where possible, or assisting with specific boss kills, or book-shopping.
Suggested character: the Mage, and buy him a book of Phasing ASAP to jump walls into rooms that have stairs down.

So, potentially, the first session might look like this:
Warr-Rog-Mage enter dungeon and clear Church, buying book HB from Adria if necessary. (Remember to check Griswold every time a character levels up for items.) All should reach about clevel 8 -- if anyone should fall behind in clevel, it should be the Rogue. Warr-Mage continue through Cats while Rogue tags along (can enter Cats via TP) and mules and shops for books.

Warr-Mage continue until Warr hit clevel 13 (about Cats 6 or 7), and then Mage solos (being fueled with mana and books from town) until he hits clevel 17 (should happen in Cats 8 or early Caves). Warrior can tag along to act as shield.

End of first session.

Further sessions:

Everyone always visit Gris to shop. Always visit Adria for books.

Rogue [clevel 8] starts by entering Cats and looking for books/bosses. Then she tries to kill Butcher and Leo for their drops, evaluating them both for use and for sale.

Warr (clevel 13) starts on Caves 9 and looks for bosses and chests and such. (Maybe an “of thieves” item would be a good idea). If foes too tough/numerous, leave and go to Cats to work the level. Can also book-shop. If possible, on Caves 9 try to find stairs to Cats 8, where books of CL and FBall can be found. Bookshop when all other possibilities exhausted.

Mage (clevel 17) tries to find a path to dlevel 16. Is always TKing chests for books and items, along with armor/weapons racks that appear. If no safe path is found, Mage comes back and works Caves/Cats/Church for books. Can bookshop otherwise.

(Alternatively: you could also have the warrior be the character that lups to clevel 17, then have him act merely as a shield -- killing nothing -- as you search for stairs to deeper levels. A high dex for blocking would be necessary to use this strategy! A Rogue with a fast-block shield could do it also.)

Some thoughts on books and book-shopping:

High priority: Telekinesis, HB, Phasing, Heal.
Mid-level priority: Fireball, CL, Stone Curse, Town Portal, Firewall.
At clevel 17 max, Adria will not offer any book beyond ilevel ten -- thus, no Teleport and no Golem and no Blood Star.

Some thoughts on shopping:

It would be good if everyone could read TK so that everyone could TK items and bookcases. That being the case, glasses (+magic items) are a high priority.

The Mage and the Warrior could be on the lookout for a Swifty bow for the Rogue. Also desirable, a +resist all or + resist fire bow for the advos on 16. (Some consideration for a fire elemental bow, like Flamedart.)
The Mage and the Warrior could be on the lookout for fast attack weapons for the warrior. mage should be able to purchase of speed, while warrior can look for of swiftness. Even the Rogue at clevel 8 will be offered of swiftness in one Griswold slot.

Look for “of Thieves” items for the mage and warrior.
Look for “+Dex” items for when the Warrior faces Diablo.
Look for a “fast block” shield for the Rogue.
Perhaps an “of thorns” item for the Mage.
Perhaps a staff or Golem (or at least a scroll of Golem) for facing Diablo.

Some thoughts on unique items of less than ilevel 14 (droppable in early/mid Cats or via Leo):

High Priority: Civerb’s Cudgel, Holy Defender, Constricting Ring, Scavenger’s Carapace.

Mid-level priority: Ring of Engagement, Overlord’s Helm, Shadowhawk, Wizardspike, Gnarled Root.

Low-level priority: -light radius items, Flamedart.

Special mention: Naj’s Puzzler -- very important to keep it if it shows!

Finally, and this would be TOUGH, if a character dies in the dungeon, his/her only means of being ressed should be by teammates! This means everyone should probably toss up a Town Portal as the first order of business when entering a level. And everyone should probably learn the TP-Res skill, just in case. And, if by rare coincidence all three characters, adventuring separately and on different level, if all three die -- then the game is over!

Now this WOULD be awfully tough; very hard to win. IMO the stopper would be to find a relatively clear way down to Hell in seventeen or fewer sessions. It might never show! Them's just the breaks! Then again, plyaing in this fashion wouldn't be that much longer than a typical Ironman game, and it’s not a mindless treasure hunt, and it would encourage both multiplayer co-op gameplay and development of some strategies if not tactics.

There would be some small area of abuse -- the level 17 character could always clear Church 1 and Church 2 without lupping due to the low mlevel of the foes there, meaning two free levels every session, technically. But hey, how many great items drop on Church 1 and 2 in just 17 sessions?

So, this is just a thought on a different way to engage in some co-op multiplayer Diablo. I'm sure there are some odd things I haven't considered in this writeup-- just point em out.

[Nystul]

Since getting from 13 to 16 at level 17 with a very limited number of rolled up dungeons is a great part of this quest's difficulty, items of the dark could be tremendously advantageous. With two of them, your first character to 17 can scout out the staircases solo without activating hordes of monsters (I think you do need to activate Laz in order to kill him, which would be a complication to using total stealth). Meanwhile, when scouting church and catacombs for extra resources, infravision scrolls will surely be found to create an even greater advantage in stealth mode. Only one item of the dark wouldn't be nearly as significant, but still seems to me a greater advantage than something like Civerb's Cudgel, since you are more interested in avoiding demons than slaying them.

Of course, specific cursed items are never easy to come by in such a limited stretch of time. But since they are fairly low level, you at least have the chance of either finding them early, or searching for them in the late games without getting much experience from the kills.

Diablo himself should not pose much of a challenge, if you can get to 16 and successfully clear a path between the 2-lever room and his chamber. Just get the old line of 3 with your backs to the wall, have the sorcerer lure and kill with holy bolt, and your warrior (probably, although you could use the rogue) host focuses on staying alive and keeping Diablo's attention. The third character can carefully lay down firewalls or go for maximum melee damage.

Without stealth, trying to scout a route to level 16 will be much trickier (and probably a lot more fun). Care has to be taken not to die and lose any valuable items in such a way that the party can't get them back without all dying or killing too many monsters. You don't want to train a hundred azure drakes up to Laz's chamber and then die trying to kill Laz. I do think sorcerer would be most likely to succeed. Priority spells would be phasing, mana shield (if not the book, at least 4 scrolls or charges), telekinesis, firewall, and holy bolt. Then stonecurse. Any hit recovery item might help him to avoid getting trapped, and fire/magic resistance could also be useful for the same reason.