New Diablo 2 Patch - 1.14a

[Deleted]

Well, Blizzard still update 16 year old games apparently! New Diablo 2 patch announced to be released sometime soon. Nice to see Blizzard actually caring about some of the community playing old school games. The new patch seems to be making the game run on some of the later OSX and tackling some of the current bot issues!

Also am I reading into this statement too much or do you think there will be more to come?
"This journey starts by making Diablo II run on modern platforms, but it does not end there."

Source:
http://us.battle.net/en/forum/topic/20742864181

[Coldkil]

I've read about it, i'm reinstalling the game since why not.

I'm curious if they will finally open up more screen resolutions - and the bolded part.

My USB Diablo soulstone is thriving...

[Deleted]

I'm curious if they will finally open up more screen resolutions - and the bolded part.

My USB Diablo soulstone is thriving...

This would go a long way. I'm no graphics whore, but really can't stand playing Diablo II - or Starcraft I - on a 29 inch screen in a fracion of the resolution my mobile offers.

[Coldkil]

This would go a long way. I'm no graphics whore, but really can't stand playing Diablo II - or Starcraft I - on a 29 inch screen in a fracion of the resolution my mobile offers.

There have been 3rd party stuff around for a long time that lets you play higher resolutions. The issue is that the UI isn't really suited for that (it scales correctly but some buttons are just too little and things are spread apart) and that the game is meant to be played at max at 800x600 - you can see clearly how monsters outside a certain area ignore you completely and you're not supposed to see them.

Actually, in D3 things work exactly the same (higher resolutions won't make you see more field).

[Deleted]

I got excited for a second, but seeing how it's been working fine on Win7 for me anyway... I won't install it. Too bad, I was hoping they'd at least introduce b.net content to single player.

this patch is only the first party
there's much more on it's way

they also announced a new patch for Warcraft 3.

They have said that they're working on "remastering" all their old games HD quality, better options etc. and get them out for the battle.net launcher


prob won't be until blizzcon tho

[NatePsy]

So I just started playing again, wanted to go the skellymancer route but when I got to Adria I got my ass handed to me and my skeletons just fell apart. What should I do?

[Stormcall]

So I just started playing again, wanted to go the skellymancer route but when I got to Adria I got my ass handed to me and my skeletons just fell apart. What should I do?

Adria=Andariel I assume? Are you pumping Raise Skeleton or Skeleton Mastery first?

[NatePsy]

Adria=Andariel I assume? Are you pumping Raise Skeleton or Skeleton Mastery first?

Yeah, Andariel sorry. And I'm splitting points between the two evenly.

[Stormcall]

Yeah, Andariel sorry. And I'm splitting points between the two evenly.

You have a clay golem? It's slow cuts down on boss damage output quite a bit. Also, 1 in Amp Damage? Rogue merc who can do cold damage?

Aside from that, make sure you bring antidote potions along with your usual health and mana.

[Slaughty8]

Protip for Diablo 2 players:
- you can stack Stamina Potions, so you can use 50 of them and have infinite run speed for 25 minutes
- the same applies to Antidote and every other ressistance potion helps alot vs some bosses like Andariel or Nithalak (cold res potion).

Have fun

I am very happy about the patch, gonna play D2 now, especially because I got tired and bored of the PoE's new patch& league already.

[Rollo]

Am i still sol with an actual full game download on my mac? I only see a D2 download for Windows on the battle.net account page. Am I missing something?

edit: scratch that. Clicking on the change button brought up the rest.

[Kokolums]

Protips for starting out in Diablo 2:

Starter weapon:

1. get strength to 25 first
2. save up 350 gold
3. Shop Akara in Act 1 town for a plain scepter with no +skills or modifiers on it. Costs 350 gold needs 25 str. Basically its the best starter weapon. 6-11 dmg. If you have time, keep shopping until one pops with two open sockets. Toss a chipt sapphire and chipt topaz / chipt emerald into it for more damage.

Barb open:

2 points in double swing, lots of points in mace mastery. You'll wreck normal difficulty.

Zon open:

1 jab
4 poison javelin
9 power strike

You might open with the scepter but switch to a javelin and use power strike a lot. Also, round up a group of mobs, toss a poison javelin in an empty space, and then follow the vapor trail immediately so everything gets poisoned when it chases you. Great massive damage in normal difficulty.

(Charged strike become much more powerful later in the game and is your boss killer.)

In nightmare respec into freezing arrow. Its like 1k cold AoE dmg and freezes monsters. In hell difficulty switch to strafe.

Necro open:

necro is CRAZY in normal. You kill all the bosses using Iron Maiden. Cast IM on Andy or Duriel or Meph and let them melee your clay golem. They will committ suicide while you watch. Easiest class ever for normal. Also, best chance to roll a +3 raise skeleton +3 skeleton mastery wand is actually at Akara in Act 1 and ONLY from levels 1-7. Once you hit level 8, she can start selling wands with higher skills and the odds of your super wand just gets lower to impossible.

Druid open:

If you're bored and just want to stand around doing nothing, go raven build. Just dump your first 15 points in raven. They will kill everything. Ravens cannot be attacked by anything and will die after they attack x times. Just resummon. Den of evil point in oak sage. 1 point spirit wolf. Starting at 18, dump everything in dire wolf. You will wreck andy, duriel, meph. You can stand behind a wall and your lvl 15 ravens will kill normal Diablo straight up no joke. Ravens don't scale well after normal difficulty tho, but a great way to get off the ground if you have no gear.

The other big druid build is fissure. Fissure does BIG fire AoE (even in hell difficulty) and stacks up to 3 times. Just get fissure and the synergies, done. Get a grizzly as a pet too. Use volcano because it has physical damage. Big fire AoE + some physical damage.

[Bullerick]

Installed the game again, very excited to try it again

[Nerraw]

Protip for Diablo 2 players:
- you can stack Stamina Potions, so you can use 50 of them and have infinite run speed for 25 minutes
- the same applies to Antidote and every other ressistance potion helps alot vs some bosses like Andariel or Nithalak (cold res potion).

Have fun

I am very happy about the patch, gonna play D2 now, especially because I got tired and bored of the PoE's new patch& league already.

Holy shit, I never knew this. O.o

[Stormcall]

The other big druid build is fissure. Fissure does BIG fire AoE (even in hell difficulty) and stacks up to 3 times. Just get fissure and the synergies, done. Get a grizzly as a pet too. Use volcano because it has physical damage. Big fire AoE + some physical damage.

I have a wind druid and a fire druid, both with high end gear. Wind druid is far, far better.

[Kokolums]

I have a wind druid and a fire druid, both with high end gear. Wind druid is far, far better.

I'm not sure what you mean by "high end gear" but I LOATHE trading in D2. I'm self found all the way. I remember being really upset that an auction house was going into D3 because it would just turn it into a stupid trading game like too many used D2 for. Sure enough, D3 became known as a game where you didn't actually play but scanned the auction house all day. They thankfully ripped that out.

If D2 were to be released today, it would be called a joke because too many would trade for gear instead of playing the game. So it makes me nervous to hear you brag about having high end gear.

You don't trade, do you? You're legit, right?

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That SO pissed me off when D3 was under development. For years I would be posting on forums telling them the auction house was a disaster because, while trading SEEMS popular and fun, it just RUINS the entire game. I told them to soulbind everything. But, they stuck to their guns and put that damn auction house in. And it was ruined. D3 is a better game now with no trading. They just listened to the wrong people. I HATE traders in Diablo. Just ruins everything....

[Shisui-kun]

I'm not sure what you mean by "high end gear" but I LOATHE trading in D2. I'm self found all the way. I remember being really upset that an auction house was going into D3 because it would just turn it into a stupid trading game like too many used D2 for. Sure enough, D3 became known as a game where you didn't actually play but scanned the auction house all day. They thankfully ripped that out.

If D2 were to be released today, it would be called a joke because too many would trade for gear instead of playing the game. So it makes me nervous to hear you brag about having high end gear.

You don't trade, do you? You're legit, right?

- - - Updated - - -

That SO pissed me off when D3 was under development. For years I would be posting on forums telling them the auction house was a disaster because, while trading SEEMS popular and fun, it just RUINS the entire game. I told them to soulbind everything. But, they stuck to their guns and put that damn auction house in. And it was ruined. D3 is a better game now with no trading. They just listened to the wrong people. I HATE traders in Diablo. Just ruins everything....

That's your personal opinion. Please don't present it as a fact, since trading is a good motivation for a lot of us.

[Kokolums]

That's your personal opinion. Please don't present it as a fact, since trading is a good motivation for a lot of us.

If there is anything we learned about Diablo with the release of Diablo 3, its that trading for items is absolutely a garbage game system. D3 was literally a joke. You play the game by opening up the auction house. That's completely unacceptable. People who trade in D2 aren't even playing the game. They run bots that play the game for them, then collect the loots and trade them. Then they build chars with them, play them for a couple days and then quit. That's not even a game system really.

The only way to actually PLAY Diablo 2 is to PLAY it. That means legit. Play the character yourself, no bots, no trading for items that were botted up. That system nearly killed D3 and they HAD to rip it out.

It would be like playing WoW if none of the raid epics were soulbound. People wouldn't raid. They wouldn't even play the game. They would just trade for epics and quit. Its an embarrassing way to play and makes me very angry just remembering they actually put it in D3.

[NatePsy]

So what's the best usage of the Horadic Malus in Act I? Just any old white item from the vendor?

[Stormcall]

So what's the best usage of the Horadic Malus in Act I? Just any old white item from the vendor?

No no no. Save it until you get to late Nightmare or Hell difficulty, then use it on Circlet/Diadem/Tiaras. Using it on those at least CAN get you some truly stellar helms, anything else is gonna turn out to be crap. If you play barb or druid you can also use it on Barb/Druid class specific helms, but generally speaking, go with the circlet type helms.

- - - Updated - - -

The only way to actually PLAY Diablo 2 is to PLAY it. That means legit. Play the character yourself, no bots, no trading for items that were botted up. That system nearly killed D3 and they HAD to rip it out.

I've been PLAYING Diablo 2 for 15 fucking years now. I don't bot, don't use hacks(or items that aren't meant to exist in game, like Wizspike gloves or Ith items back in the .09 days), but I certainly have traded for items many times. And you know what? The game is fucking BETTER for it. Play your "self found only" game all you want, but me, I prefer to actually have FUN and "PLAY" whatever builds I want, rather than relying on whatever RNG gets me, and so that involves trading.

As it stands, I currently have FIFTY ONE active toons, all 85 or up. 2 of them are just under 95, one is 99. All gotten there via me playing, no botting.