Character Builds - Most of them a joke?

[jamex]

Character Builds - Most of them a joke?

I haven't played D2 that often and am relatively new at multi-player action. But, after looking at most of the character builds I have to ask myself - how do people acquire the uber items/runewords that are needed? Are there legit players who actually come across 2 Jah's and 2 Pul's to create the 'Dreamadin?'

It seems like all of these builds have hackers and dupers in mind; is this the 'unsaid' rule with Diablo these days? One site said this:

It would take a legit player 2.2 years of non-stop playing before he/she found a Zod rune to complete Breath of the Dying. Last Wish would take a paltry 1.32 years. Infinity clocks in at 0.75 years.

:scratchhead:

 

[Outwitted]

Re: Character Builds - Most of them a joke?

You can also cube runes =D

 

[Aien]

Re: Character Builds - Most of them a joke?

There are legit players, and you'll find a number of legit players in the single player community here who have put alot of time into making legit runewords. To answer your question, though, in most cases the items you mention are made with runes that have been duped. Because they're desireable, these runes have become currency on the realms, so nondupers get their hands on them by trading the items they find for them.

I wouldn't let all that necessarily discourage you... that's just kind of the way it is. Casual players can still get the items those builds require, it just requires amassing wealth in other ways and trading for those runes you'll never find. It just kind of... is how it is. Been that way since Diablo 1.

 

[jamex]

Re: Character Builds - Most of them a joke?

I'll check out the Beginner's Guide to Build Selection in this forum. If anyone else has a build that was fun to play and not requiring a ton of HR and such, let me know.

 

[Noodle]

Re: Character Builds - Most of them a joke?

I have to ask myself - how do people acquire the uber items/runewords that are needed?

They're not needed. Perfectly viable characters can be built without using overpowered items, like the very high runewords. Equipment should not be substituted for skill in playing. Check out a few of Insane Wayne's builds - he beat Hell Baal in hardcore with both a completely naked Hardcore Amazon, and a similar Druid. I think he's currently working on a naked, mercenary-less hardcore sorceress. If he can do this, gear you can easily get with a bit of patience from Mephisto is definitely enough to be effective.

Here's a link to one of Insane Wayne's characters:
http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=548935&highlight=Cosmo

 

[ThomasJohnsen]

Re: Character Builds - Most of them a joke?

I'll check out the Beginner's Guide to Build Selection in this forum. If anyone else has a build that was fun to play and not requiring a ton of HR and such, let me know.

I know this is suggested in the Beginner's Guide, but the fishymancer is one of the most gear independant characters there are. He can pretty easily beat the game untwinked (ie. using only gear he finds).

And many of the guides have equipment sections with low-entry gear, that can be gotten for gems in most cases. For example a hammerdin: he dosen't need HotO, Zaka, CtA etc. to be effective. Just slap him a Spirit Sword and any Paladin Spirit Shield and a freeze merc with Insight and you'll feel like a god (at least in 1 or 2 player games).

 

[Brutass]

Re: Character Builds - Most of them a joke?

Most items can be obtained legitimately or can be substituted with equally effective items. These guides are merely that "guides", a suggested strategy for you to follow, not the only way to go.
I've recently stopped playing on Bnet because i hate my provider and there is no other viable alternative where i live, so i have gone back to single player. Now that's where you really learn to play the game since you can't rely on or take a free ride from others.

 

[Aien]

Re: Character Builds - Most of them a joke?

Well truthfully, unless I misunderstood, I think jamex was asking about builds like auradins which do actually need certain items to work. In fact, builds like those are built around items, and not vice versa.

Keep in mind, jamex, quirk type builds like those were probably made up largely on whims by bored, rich players. There are many viable builds, and probably better builds honestly, that don't depend on high-dollar items to work, like everyone above has said. You're not going to find a ton of auradins around because it's just a quirk build -- those types of builds are indeed sort of jokes, as you said.

 

[jamex]

Re: Character Builds - Most of them a joke?

Thanks for all the input. My current character (fishy) is doing alright in Hell with what I've found (I'm on Act 2).

Ha, and those Insane Wayne builds are hilarious. Wow.

:thumbup:

 

[Elyxthaxzus]

Re: Character Builds - Most of them a joke?

Good to hear your running smoothly with your fishy Jamex . Here's a few more basic build ideas that work well. Fishymancer, meteorb sorc, windy druid, trapper assassin, Bowazon, ...all these build rely on mostly skills, and synergies that buff these skills. Some other builds that work decently (but require some basic gear, easily found or traded for on forums), zealot paladin, holy freeze paladin, MA assassin, WW/Conc barb. the reason for minor gear requirements on these builds is the necessity for decent melee damage.

Usually this is easily offset with merc gear (i.e. as an example, having a reapers toll on your merc drastically increases your output), or having a few different weapons to switch with - I used to love Baranar's star on my zealot, as an example, but it required an adjustment of my life leech (need more due to teh reduced physical damage on the weapon). But much of this revolves around a bit of trading, easily done if you spend the time to save your pgems and decent drops. this is why most folks start with the fishy, or something of the like (trapper usually for me). By the time you hit Hell, you should have amassed enough pgems to trade for a few items for upgrades, or just got lucky in a few decent rares.

While it's easy to see the guides and think they all require huge amounts of gear, most builds that focus on utilizing the strengths of individual trees are pretty survivable. It's the crazy offshoots based on high end gear that tend to give the impression that 'builds' aren't doable. As an example, the hammerdin isn't really 'uber' until you get insanely high levels of gear..I've always done far better with my windy druid, or meteorb. they both have far more survivability then a hammerdin, unless the hammerdin has the enigma/zakarum/hoto/shako/uber gear setup. My son's best friend has a pretty amazing hammerdin, of course 3/4 of his gears from my softcore accounts (only really play HC now), and i think i rushed him up thorugh Hell hence he didn't really play the setup, he just leeched off of my gear built through my windy and sorc.

 

[SeCKSEgai]

Re: Character Builds - Most of them a joke?

There are legit players, and you'll find a number of legit players in the single player community here who have put alot of time into making legit runewords. To answer your question, though, in most cases the items you mention are made with runes that have been duped. Because they're desireable, these runes have become currency on the realms, so nondupers get their hands on them by trading the items they find for them.

I wouldn't let all that necessarily discourage you... that's just kind of the way it is. Casual players can still get the items those builds require, it just requires amassing wealth in other ways and trading for those runes you'll never find. It just kind of... is how it is. Been that way since Diablo 1.

That basically sums it up. When trading for high runes, they're likely to be duplicated so its best to keep them safe on a mule or use them in runeword as you never know when one (or a few) may disappear. It's terrible that the primary currency for d2 (aside from a particular forum) are runes that are likely to have been duplicated anywhere in its lifespan.

When I used to play way back, I only dreamed of having one just one of the many items/runewords I have since coming back. I never duplicated anything, I simply traded my way up. I put quite the time and effort to acquire my gear and thus streamlined my performance for finding items for trade.

If you find the equipment in guides to be out of reach, it's because they can be for a lot of people. Just getting my full tals set was quite a bit of work. Where my full tal's sorc had to fight every step of the way to get to hell baal, my trapper in her runewords find's in a routine walk in the park. But if not for my sorc, I would probably never have been able to build up to acquring what I used to trade for the runes I needed.

You really don't need the best gear to complete the game, since really you repeat an aspect (or several) of the game in order to find equipment to make it easier for you to do over again. While some character builds are heavily gear dependent, some can be viable with nothing special at all.