Rogue Revival Team Launch

[Sirian]

The Rogue Revival Team is ready to launch. We have seven committed players and everyone has proffered their information. Surprisingly, everybody rated Mondays as "Good", so that will be our anchor night. Wednesdays are out if we want AlanSHB to join us, leaving Tuesday or Thursday, which are each a mixed bag for some players. Although nobody listed either night as out, I have some rather compelling reasons for avoiding Tuesday, and Thursdays are best for me, so Thursdays will be the second night, even though a few players will arrive late.


SCHEDULE

Mondays 8-11 PM Eastern
Thursdays 8-11 PM Eastern

Team play will open on Monday, October 4, 2004, 8 PM Eastern time.


LOCATION

Realm: USWest
Ladder: No. (The season will end before we finish, so we'd end up being booted off it anyway).
Channel: Sirian
Game/PW: TBA



ROSTER

Sirian
ME0003
Jaffa Tamarin
Cyrene
Hawkmoon
Sulla
AlanSHB
Dathon

Souledge - doubtful, not available after 9PM Eastern (not enough time overlap with rest of the team)
Occhi - doubtful, out initially and uncertain for later
Zed-F - out, not available on weeknights
T-hawk - out Mondays, alternate for Thursdays

All slots are filled, but I still welcome interested players to post. With eight players, the odds that real life and commitment to the event will hold up for everybody all the way to four dots... There may be opportunities later for alternates to step in.



CHARACTER BUILDS

Sirian - Red, Icebolt, Frozen Orb
ME0003 - Red, Icebolt, Chain Lightning
Jaffa - Blue, Fireball, Hydra
Cyrene - Blue, and too busy taking The Twins to Taladega to give us this info.
Hawkmoon - Red, Charged Bolt, Chain Lightning (or maybe Nova?)
Sulla - Red, Frost Nova, Glacial Spike
AlanSHB - Blue, Fireball, Hydra.
Dathon - Red, Inferno, Meteor. (Possible alternate: Blue, Ice Blast, Blizzard)



TEAMSPEAK PLAYERS

Everybody! Though one or two may be listening-only.


CONFIRMATION

Players please post confirmation of your acceptance of these terms. Those of you with build info to be decided should make up your minds before play begins. Let us know your decisions if possible. Also, let us know whether or not you are going to give Teamspeak a try. TS is not mandatory but could be helpful.



- Sirian

[Sirian]

Rogue Revival - Team Variant - Rules v1.0 - by Sirian

This variant is intended for play on Diablo II Expansion, under patch 1.10 or later.


TEAM MEMBERS: Please Click Here to download a Wordpad copy of these rules. Please store them on your desktop or other handy location in case you need to review them at any point, including during play.



CONCEPT

The Sorceress class embodies most of the magic skills from the original Diablo. Key among these is teleport. The D2 Amazon is rooted to the spot and relies on her pet to tank for her. This combined with all the bow related skills means she doesn't play like the D1 Rogue at all. Tactically, some things carry over, but strategically and in terms of gameplay... no. It's not a match. The D1 Rogue had sorcerous powers at a lower level than a true sorcerer, had teleport mobility, and had only normal attack type. Thus the sorcie is the closest match. She can teleport, support herself with "limited" magic, and must use normal attack.


DEXTERITY

Approximately half of your attribute points should be assigned to Dexterity. You should be able to block at the rate shown on a shield, or better. (Some leeway is allowed, temporarily. If you need more strength, for example, to use a key piece of equipment, you can slack off on dex for a level or two, but you need to catch it back up afterward.)


BOWS

Your bow is your primary weapon. Crossbows are allowed, but keep in mind that Enchant damage will be independent of bow damage or dexterity, and will be more effective with higher attack rates.


MELEE WEAPONS

Rogues may keep two bows in their weapon slots, or may carry any weapon type they please in the second slot. This includes throwing potions, throwing weapons, and melee weapons, as well as a second bow. Shields are also allowed. A rogue can swap and "go melee" any time she pleases. With all that dexterity, blocking may even be useful. In a team situation, some rogues tanking with shields while others shoot from behind is perfectly acceptable, but no rogue should forsake her bow entirely, so "melee-only" rogues are not acceptable. Since all Rogues will know how to teleport, none should ever "need" a tank to protect her.


ENCHANT

All D2 Rogues are to max Enchant as soon as possible. This because the AR boost is needed, and the fire damage doesn't hurt either.


TELEPORT

All D2 Rogues must obtain the Teleport skill. How much to use it is player's discretion.


PETS

No pets. Sorry. No mercs!


PRIMARY MAGIC SKILL

Each Rogue may obtain a primary magic skill. This will be her special spell, used to supplement her fighting prowess, take down physical immunes, and give her a means of corpse recovery "in extremis" other than quitting and rejoining the game.

ONLY ONE primary skill per character is allowed. Primary skills are unlimited in skill level.

A Rogue may pick one primary skill from the following list of options:
* Firebolt
* Icebolt
* Charged Bolt
* Inferno
* Frost Nova
* Ice Blast
* Fireball
* Lightning


SECONDARY MAGIC SKILL

A Rogue may also select one Secondary skill, under the following restrictions:
1) Each secondary skill endures a maximum skill level restriction.
2) Secondary skills MAY NOT exceed 50% of the current skill level of the character's primary skill.

The following skills are available as secondary skills, with the applicable level caps:

* Nova, up to slvl 10.
* Firewall, up to slvl 8.
* Chain Lightning, up to slvl 10.
* Glacial Spike, up to slvl 10.
* Meteor, up to slvl 5.
* Thunderstorm, up to slvl 5.
* Blizzard, up to slvl 5.
* Hydra, up to slvl 8.
* Frozen Orb, up to slvl 5.

NOTE: during the final Hell run for fourth dot, some skills (like Thunderstorm) may be unusable in the "friendly fire" environment!


MASTERIES

Cold or Lightning Mastery may not exceed slvl 10. No restriction on Fire Mastery.


+SKILL ITEMS

Not allowed. Repeat: NOT ALLOWED. (Exception: initial staff as a weapon ONLY, until it is replaced.)


STATIC FIELD and BLAZE

Not allowed except as prereq. Do not use these skills!


ITEMS WITH CHARGES

Knock yourself out. However, if you need a recharge, you have to pay your own way.



RED ROGUES

* MAY NOT add to Energy!
* Must run with more life than mana. (Not counting Act One grace period in normal difficulty.)
* Must max out a cold armor of their choice before entering Hell Difficulty.
* May not learn nor use Energy Shield.


BLUE ROGUES

* MAY NOT add to Vitality!
* Must run with more mana than life (Exception: grace period until reaching clvl 24).
* Cold armor is allowed but optional. How much and when is player's discretion.
* Must learn Energy Shield.
* Must use Energy Shield at ALL times (after reaching clvl 24, of course).
* Must get Telekinesis to slvl 7 before entering Nightmare difficulty, and slvl 14 before entering Hell.
* Must get Energy Shield to slvl 3 before Nightmare and slvl 7 before Hell.
* Blue Rogues allowed to use Telekinesis as an attack skill, if they wish (in addition to primary/secondary).

NOTE: Blue Rogue rules edited to reflect need for Telekinesis synergy to make Energy Shield effective!


ROGUE REVIVAL TEAM VARIANT

* Weapons, not magic, are a sister's primary tools. Any Rogue who kills more foes with her magic than with her weaponry is a disgrace to the sisterhood. Do not disgrace yourself in the eyes of your sisters!
* Primary and secondary skills allowed to be used at any time, as long as you do not disgrace yourself. However, ONLY these two skills are allowed. No temporary use of prereqs! If you don't have either magic skill available early in Normal, then you are weapons-only until your skills come online.
* Rogues are a tight sisterhood. They may not play with any characters except sister Rogues. (This means they play only with fellow team members, in private team games. No "passersby" or "guests", no joining RBD games or AB games, etc.)
* Only Rogues are allowed in the sisterhood! No Amazons, no Paladins, no regular Sorcies, etc.
* If a Rogue "leaves" the sisterhood, she may play with other characters but never return to the team.
* No twinking. Use what you can find, buy, or make for yourself. This is a pure team concept.
* No "variant within the variant". You can run a rogue solo any way you like, but no macho stuff when playing as part of a team. Follow the rules and play within them to your full potential.
* Each Rogue should be viable solo, allowing players who miss a night (and any quests) to catch up on their own.
* Any number of players may play, up to the maxium 8 of course. Since Rogues are all the same -- except for Red or Blue, items, and magic skill choices -- team members may be added or subtracted at any time without disrupting the effectiveness of fellow team members.
* Any late-starting players who are trying to "catch up" and "join the team" must build their chars solo, in isolation. There are no exceptions to the purity concept. If you are to prove yourself to your sisters and join the order, you must show discipline and commitment!
* Although this team variant is highly flexible, it is not meant to be played in "pickup" fashion. Any true team variant requires regular gaming nights and scheduled activity.


4-DOTTING THE TEAM

Completing Normal earns the first dot, Nightmare the second, Hell the third. If the team 3-dots as a group and players want to continue, then restart Hell in unpartied fashion and go hostile with all fellow Rogues. Complete Hell in "Friendly Fire", played D1 style, to earn that "fourth dot". Since all chars will have completed the quests already, REMAIN HOSTILE AT ALL TIMES. None of that "party up for quests" stuff.

Be careful not to shoot your sisters in the back! And don't overdo those secondary magic skills, either. This isn't meant to be a "beyond naked" type of experience.


- Sirian

[Jaffa]

Can I change my mind and go Blue instead of Red?

[Sirian]

Sure.

[dathon]

If nobody else has claimed it, I would like to sign up for the remaining spot on the roster. I've played quite a bit of Diablo 2, including Expansion and 1.10, but almost exclusively in Single Player. So while I'm experienced in fighting in the world, fighting in a team will be somewhat new to me. I have a cable connection, and would like to try the TeamSpeak option. Both nights and times are fine with me.

Since I'm joining up a bit late, I thought I would present my 2 ideas for a character, and listen to opinion in which might fit best with the team.

Red Rogue: Shiver Armor, Inferno, Meteor. Weapon slot 2: Weapon/Shield. Basically, I am envisioning that this character will be primarily a ranged fire attacker (of course), but could suffice as a light tank when called for. I would probably shoot for a good shield/armor/strength/life to be able to post MODERATELY. I think with all of the arrows and ranged attacks, a delay or decoy, even for a couple seconds, could be a lifesaver in some situations. I'm NOT envisioning some mightly Paladin or Barbarian, but something a little sturdier to take a couple hits whilst the team blasts away. Of course, primarily she will be a Fire Ranger; this is just her secondary function I am talking about.

Blue Rogue: Ice Blast, Blizzard. Weapon Slot 2: Cold Bow. A Freezer. Slow/stun the enemies before they can harm us.

Of these two builds, I prefer the idea of the Red. The Blue will not be able to use her secondary skill much on the 4-dot mission, and completely freezing enemies might make the game a little too easy??? Thoughts and comments?

Dathon

[Sirian]

Welcome aboard! First D2 team variant? For ME0003 and Sulla also. Good mix of vets and fresh eager faces.

When I'm present (which will be nearly all the time, but everybody misses a night or two now and then) I'll have strong chill available to spam. Even in Hell, the chill from Icebolt will last a while. Of course, that's not freezing, but I don't think the freezing would be too much. You could only freeze non-bosses anyway, and freeze time will be limited to slvl 20 with no +skills involved. Can you really freeze more than one monster that way? I don't know, never did an all out ice blast sorcie after the skill got upgraded.

Either of your builds sounds splendid. So go with the one you prefer. We currently have three Blue and two Red, with two still to decide/declare. Three Blue is enough Blue, three Red would be enough Red, too. Although 4/4 would be the aesthetically pleasing balance, I've done several of these 8-way teams, and real life or loss of interest has always claimed at least two players before the end. Perhaps with this team, it will go differently, but I also realize the balance we start with may not be the balance we finish with. At least we have the advantage of the variant design's modularity. The team won't become lopsided if anyone withdraws.

Go with the build you think you will enjoy most. I'll add you to the roster.


- Sirian

[Hawkmoon]

Okay, I'm in. I will certainly be late for Thursday games, but oh well.

I will try Teamspeak - I usually play on a Mac, but we have a PC as well, so I can switch over for these team games. Or maybe run D2 on the Mac and Teamspeak on the PC, and tie up both computers!! How techno-intensive!

Now all I need to do is find a microphone... :D

Cheers,
Hawkmoon

[T-hawk]

Hi,

I'm interested in being an alternate, but Mondays are out for me. Perhaps I'll play a Rogue solo on USWest and join in as possible on Thursdays when space is available; would that be okay?

Proposed build is Blue Rogue, Ice Blast primary, Firewall secondary. Ice Blast is the closest thing to Stone Curse in D2, and that and Firewall were always my most-used spells with D1 rogues. A second late-game secondary skill would be Hydra (Guardian).

I can probably get Teamspeak up and running as well. I don't have a headphone/microphone set at the moment, but have been meaning to get one for some time.

[Sullla]

OK, thanks much for putting me on the game list. :D

3 red, 3 blue at this point, so I guess I can pick whatever I want. Since I'm still in the dark on just how energy shield works, I'll go with my initial impression of a red rogue. As far as skills, no one expressed interest in the ones I had been thinking about, so I'm going to choose Frost Nova as a primary skill and Glacial Spike as the secondary. As far as Teamspeak goes, I would be interested in giving it a try, but at least in the immediate future I won't be using it. I will have to try and find a microphone for my computer sometime soon.

Just so there's no confusion, are we using any naming conventions for these characters? I'd hate to look foolish if we are and I showed up with some cutely-named character.

[Jaffa]

On Teamspeak: I'll look into it. I remember there was a microphone that came with my PC (some five years ago), which should be still around somewhere. I'm reluctant to use headphones -- I don't currently have headphones that are comfortable to wear for that long, and in any case most of the ambient sound would be coming from my stereo or TV speakers.

Presumably I could install TS so as to be able to hear what other people are saying, and still use typed communication myself, without the need for using headphones (or a microphone, even).