I was hoping someone would be able to point out a few key MUST-READ threads so I don't keep overloading myself. So far I've gone through the Newcomer Forum Stickied Threads and a few others.
I plan on installing both Diablo 2 and the Expansion pack.|||First of all, welcome to our forums!
Since you're just starting out, I recommend checking out the Single Player Forum as well. Many players there play untwinked (using only items they've found with that specific character). Also, many players who frequent that forum post threads detailing their Patriarchs / Matriarchs / Guardians, so you can get an idea of gameplay and successful strategies. Personally, I find Single Player gameplay to be more enjoyable than online play. The battle.net realms are lousy with spambots, lag, interrupted connections, and the like. I would also recommend playing through the game quest by quest at least once, instead of being rushed by a higher level player. While rushing is quite efficient, you will NOT learn how to actually play the game.
Any build can finish the game, if played well and patiently. Having said that, my favorite character types for starting out are:
- a Lightning Fury / Plague Javalin Amazon
- a Lightning Sentry / Death Sentry / Fire Blast Assassin
- a Fire Ball / Meteor / Frozen Orb Sorceress
Many others have found success with a summoning Necromancer, relying on a mercenary, golum, and Raise Skeleton to kill a monster or two, then clearing the screen of opponents with a maxed Corpse Explosion.
If you are going to play online, or if you intend on trading while playing Single Player, I recommend collecting gems as a way to build wealth and gather items. You can use the Horadric Cube to upgrade gems from chipped to flawed to normal to flawless to perfect. Many useful items can be obtained with perfect gems, as they are used in crafting recipes.
Many of the guides you will see name very high level equipment as if it is necessary. It is not. Search for a few threads by Superdave or Insane Wayne, who have both completed the game on Hell difficulty with naked characters playing without skill points in offensive skills. In Hardcore mode, where your character remains dead when killed the first time. They are extreme examples, but reinforce my point that gameskill and patience are far more important than elite items.
Please don't hesitate to ask plenty of questions. I remember being intimidated by the game when I first transitioned from the simpler Diablo I, and there is a huge amount of accumulated knowledge in these forums. As long as you are friendly and obey the forum rules, I think you will enjoy your stay here very much.
Above all, I hope you draw as much enjoyment from the game as I have over the years. Best of luck to you!|||I'd say that the best thing to do would be to pick a build and start playing. Until you've played some you won't have enough context for most of what you read to stick.
Noodle's suggestions seem good to me. My first character was a Meteorb sorceress, and I think that's a pretty good choice for a first character for a couple of reasons.
The biggest is that sorceresses are the best class for running Mephisto. He's an Act Boss who can drop a lot of very useful stuff once you get to him in Nightmare (not sure if you have picked this up but the way Diablo works is that you play through essentially the same game three times, but each time everything gets _much_ tougher. The difficulties are called Normal, Nightmare, and Hell.)
A sorceress can run Mephisto very quickly in Single Player (are you planning on playing SP, or on BNet?) because she can teleport straight to him. Mephisto drops a lot of useful stuff in Nightmare, and a lot of _very_ useful stuff in Hell. By far the fastest way to get a good base of items for other characters is to run Mephisto a lot. Also the easiest way to gear up for Hell.
The drawback to playing a sorceress is that they are pretty fragile. But I think it's worth learning how to _not_ take damage early, and playing a sorceress forces you to do that, particularly if you play her untwinked. Getting past Duriel (the 2nd act boss) in Normal will be hard though, at first.
One thing to note is that Diablo II is now patched to version 1.13. You might want to get the patch and install it, if you are installing from old CDs. 1.13 introduces something called respeccing. This allows you to change how you have allocated skill and stat points in your build once per difficulty (and more if you get certain items.) This can make the early game a lot easier.
When I started playing there were no respecs, so you had to be careful about how you allocated points, in order to wind up with the right build for Hell. Most guides were written before respecs were around, so they don't take advantage of that.
I think one good sorceress progression might be to start off as a fire sorceress (using Fireball.) I would make sure to get to at least level 24, and preferably a bit higher before fighting Diablo, and respec to a Blizzard sorceress at that point. Normal Diablo is easy to kill as a Blizzard sorceress, if you are patient
. Also, Blizzard works well in Nightmare. Before moving on to Hell I would respec to Meteorb- Blizzard sorceresses can take on Hell but it is a bit tricky because some things there will be immune to cold and you have to know how to handle that. You'll find guides for these types of Sorceress in the Sorceress forum's stickied posts, but remember that you don't have to save points if you are planning on respeccing.Mainly though, you should just start playing. A lot of what you read here just won't make sense until you have played a bit.|||i started my dia experiences with assa.and i have to say it wasnt bad.its quite hard, expecially for martial arts assa on single player and untwink. but now i can play all chars and builds. i met a lot of people which started with barbarian and for them is problem to play other chars withou cryes. someone started with soso and cant play withou tele. in general mele chars are more item depedent so it could be harder without making ready some dropped items.i think that most amazing is to disclose the mystery of dia playing.when i started to play i didnt want to read anything to fix my own experiences.later i started to read forums,strategies and others and became an experienced in theory too. practice and theory should be in balance and i also recommend u start with playing at first...|||Wow, thanks guys for all the useful information. I decided that I to start out with a few different characters just to get a good feeling for how each plays. So far I've fooled around with the Sorc, Druid, and Paladin. Think I'll stick to Singleplayer until I get the hang of it.|||Quote:
Wow, thanks guys for all the useful information. I decided that I to start out with a few different characters just to get a good feeling for how each plays. So far I've fooled around with the Sorc, Druid, and Paladin. Think I'll stick to Singleplayer until I get the hang of it.
Right way, i think. good luck!
|||Yeah, that seems like a good way to approach things. One thing to be aware of is that many builds don't really come into their own until they've levelled a bit. I'd say the defining thing about sorcs, for instance, is teleport, but you don't really get a feel for that until you have enough mana/regen (the insight runeword helps a _lot_ here and is cheap to build- you need a mod to be able to build it though) to infinicast it.Since you're trying out different classes I'd also suggest giving the Assasin a try. I think Sins are my favorite class- they are really versatile, and a lot of fun to play. Lightning trappers (one of Noodle's suggestions) are a great build when you don't have much wealth. Kicker/trappers are one of the most powerful builds in the game, but they do need some equipment to really come into their own. But a kicker/trapper can do pretty well until Hell with nothing more than some boots with decent damage. Dragon Talon is nice because you start off with what will eventually be an endgame skill, which makes the early game a lot of fun. On top of all that Cloak of Shadows has to be one of the best few skills in D2, IMHO. So don't overlook the 'Sin
.|||Quote:One thing to be aware of is that many builds don't really come into their own until they've levelled a bit.
This is a great point. Had a friend of mine tell me he'd played DII "quite a bit". After some more talk about the play I realized he didn't quite get the game. Finally found out he "Played characters into the mid 20's then got bored and switched to some other character".
Most characters/builds don't even begin to use thier primary skills to decent effect until well past 30 - most around 65+. It's worth running at least one of your builds to hell because that's where most the play is and where you start finding decent gear. It also wll test your playing skill. You can always drop back and play NM to gain more exp both for you and your character.
I persoanly have ran characters into the 20's and 30's without expending any points to skills - but that's another story!
|||Quote:Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.
H. L. Mencken
its an interesting opinion too. i think i will become early to this point to spit on my hands...... :)|||Thanks fudoshin? :)
You need to check out some of Mencken's quotes - he has some doozies! Not sure how well he will translate but he wasn't one to mince words.
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