define your approach

[randy]

define your approach

i'm interested as to the approach people take to the actually process of playing the game.

do you consider your approach to playing diablo as a discpline, or more of an art or maybe you see it as straight forward gamesmanship?

personally, (as pretentious as it is) whilst i acknowledge the importance of all three fields i like to see the game as an artform in the same vein as building a match-stick model of the tower of babel or somesuch. it is the beauty of designing and then building though experience a character made unique by your playing of them and the paths they chose and the equipment they find along the way that really appeals to me. it's the reason i don't twink or trade, not because i like the obscene difficulty but because somehow an item not discovered or crafted by that character just doesn't belong to it.

 

[Ravenforce3]

I like to actually approach it like I approach religion. I read what other people say from their character guides and tweak them together to make a build uniquely my own (or damn close to). In so doing, they become my characters and not some cookie cutter build that could be built by a trained monkey. The problem that I run into is the lack of items to make said builds work correcly 99% of the time. Good armors and runes drop far less frequently than weaponry for me.

 

[MeBrutox]

I just treat it as a game. Play it when I need to unwind from a hard day of work, or just for the kicks.

 

[Shade]

It's a game, only a game... </Marovingian>

 

[Snake]

I would just be going to far, when I would claim that D2 is art or science. It was made to be a game and that's what it is, nothing more nothing less.

 

[SnakeEye85]

for me it´s a game!

The day i se DII as anything more than a game i will stop play it....

 

[Spook_Cell]

MFing is a science but just playing through is well just playing :xmad:

 

[LowLander]

I need the button "chaos" in there.

Well, that's where I wind up if I don't use someone's guide. I am absolutely hopeless at planning a char, so I mostly use guides, and otherwise just.... blunder, I guess. And kill my char a lot....

Edit, that would catagorize me under the "game" people, I guess....

 

[Yngwie]

Diablo II is a game, but Magic Finding is gambling.

 

[Thrugg]

MFing is a science if you do it right

 

[Dacar92]

D2 is a game.
But it is highly addictive, just like this forum. So, maybe we should start D2 Anonymous. It would be a thread here each week where people would write about their expoits, or how they are trying to quit the game. Or maybe their wife/husband or girl/boyfriend is trying to make them quit the game.

It could be a highly entertaining thread to read!

 

[Zertuals_Ovrlrd]

I think some people who have replied have missunderstood the meaning of this post... of course D2 is a game :xmad:

Here is what I think he meant:

Do you play the game like:

a) A science - trying to give your chars the maximum amount of damage, life, resist etc.

b) An art - not necessarily playing the most powerful character, but rather playing different, meaningful builds, with maybe a story behind them.

c) A game - hmmm this one's harder to define. I'd probably put hardcore MF'ers in this catagory.

For me it's a game. I'm on the hunt, and my game are items!

Z_O

 

[tragor]

I was torn on this. I'm somewhere between game and science but in the end I definitely lean toward game.

I try to learn from my mistakes and work to build a better character. I always try to take it further than last time. I am learning strategy. All that is the scientific approach.

But I'm playing HC more now and that takes it back to being a game. Why? Because I refuse to get wildly strung out when I (inevitably) die.

In the end, this is how I spend my little free time. If it's not enjoyable I'll go do something else. So I keep it fun and relaxed and I can keep on keepin on.

 

[Butzull]

I said a science, I mean let's face it, we disect the game, work out scientifically what areas are best for what particular item (e.g Boneash for most TC3's, Pit and other 85's for the top of the chart) and concentrate on those areas.

I think if it was a game people would kill all baddies even after completing the quests, but because we concentrate on particular places based on the maths and statistics, I think a science is justified.

Just look how many questions people such as Shade, RTB, Thrugg, Randall and a few others such as that need to answer (oh, and thanks again guys!)

Butz. :teeth:

 

[Nightfish]

My approach is probably part science, part game and part art.

The science part is getting a good plan before actually starting to put points anywhere. I know what's waiting for me in hell, where I need resis and where I don't. What enemies to meet head on and what enemies to be careful about.

The game part is picking skills that are fun for me, rather than picking only what's most efficient. Sometimes these two things may coincide, but more often than not, they don't.

The art part is trying to make my characters look pretty while beating the game. Be that in the gear they wear, like not using caps because they are ugly. Or in the skill they chose, like using strafe rather than multishot because strafe looks more elegant.

 

[Zarhrezz]

I play D2 as a game (which I'm addicted to, no question there). I get home from work/uni/whatever and if my gf isn't with me, I'll generally play some D2...to vent, to quit work-related chains of thoughts, whatnot.

I play D2 as a science. I plan each character ahead. I plan stats to match intended equipment. I plan equipment based on skills to be used. I look at cast/attack breakpoints. I decided what amoun of diminishing returns in skill allocation is acceptable. I figure out how to deal with pretty much every major aspect of the game. It's all designed, calculated and implemented.

I play D2 as an artform. There's artscenes that rely on scientific principles you know =) The characters I play are a work of art when you take the view of 'art is way of crafting something in a way that is not the most efficient way, but in a way that empasizes a deeper thought or motivation' (a painting is generally a work of art...you could have taken the same image and photographed it with a digital camera for a much truer to nature image). I've never made a character based entirely on a guide. I've never picked only the skills that everyone uses. I build my characters to accomplish things that similar (cookie-cutter) builds accomplish, but in another, personal and alternative (and in my opinion, more elegant) way.

PS I voted science, just for numbers' sake =)

 

[Ragnarod]

I voted science, and I'd explain why if Butz hadn't done so already

 

[Dolph]

Well, mf is pretty much all statistics like Butz said.
Also, we have PvP, there you need all kinds of breakpoints, and need to know how to reach them without loosing to much life/damage/other useful things.

Same goes for PvM just not as important.

Science for sure.

 

[Takis]

Just a mindless game. KILL, KILL, KILL, Collect Items, KILL, KILL, KILL, Collect Items! Start all over again.

Actually it started out as a "Game", then progressed into a "Science", then into an "Art Form".

Now is just a mindless collection of STUFF!

I think I'm addicted, please help!




Takis (El_Greco)

 

[AlterEgo]

No science for me - I couldn't quote a single breakpoint and since I play untwinked, all of the info on maxing this or minimizing that is fairly useless to me. The exception here is in the obvious and gratefully simple areas of resists, life, mana, blocking, etc. As I haven't MFed in over six months, I don't even have any interest in that "science" right now.

Me, an artist? Maybe, since I play HC untwinked. I guess that is close to an art, but maybe more like an obsession & certainly a death wish :teeth:

It's a game for me. There are clear rules of engagement, good guys and bad guys, predictable rewards & punishments, with broad variety to make it replayable, enjoyable & definitely addictive!