new play-style or who-cares?

[druliusCleaver]

new play-style or who-cares?

I recently found out, from this forum, that it is possible to get 2 chars from the same account into the same game on Bnet. Until then I had only been using my second computer and cd key for muling items back and forth between accounts.

Since neither my lvl 80 Holy Bolt Paly (merc act2nm thorns lvl80) nor my lvl 79 Hydra /ChainLit sorc (merc act3nm cold lvl77) were going anywhere in act 1 hell on their own, once I found out they could get into the same game at the same time, I decided to try playing them together. Mostly because I new the party support strength my HB Paly could provide. They have made much better progress running together than they ever did working alone. They are well into act 2 now. I think they make a really good team for one person to play. Do any other players out there enjoy taking 2 chars (w/mercs [or not]) at the same time out into the field and fighting monsters in Hell with them? If so, what are some ideas for other good combinations of chars to play? Is this a recognized variant of play? It's fun to me because it's more challenging to keep track of everything on two screens than it is on just one screen, and also because it's more rewarding since the chars are dying less often by "working together."

One big drawback is the much slower leap-frog based movement pattern that must be adopted, but it seems to me like a small price to pay for not dying nearly as often. A corollary drawback is that synchronised, hasty retreats are impossible. However, normally, by the time you are retreating, one of the chars is dead already. But, since casting Hydras ahead for recon is a slow tactic to begin with, both the Paly and the sorc can move up during the Hydra's casting delay.

One thing that really helps make playing two at a time possible is that I have trackball cursor-controllers not mice, which helps the right-hand play ergonomics, my elbow can stay put and just pivot while my hand switches between trackballs.

 

[LorveN]

Afaik, many people play this way.
Some rush their own chars, while others actually play the game.

As you said, its hard to control both chars in a good way, so the easiest, and probably most effective way would be to have one char standing passively while the other one does the work.
And now for the trick. Lets assume the passive char is a paladin! If the active char is a melee char, the passive could well be a fana-playing pally standing a bit back, just granting the aura. If the active one is a caster, a conviction pally does great. Combined with a nice merc (HolyFreeze, might, defiance, whatever), he becomes a passive support unit that grants auras useful!

 

[Gorny]

I use one of those methods, and winXP to self mule.

Since I only have one comp, it is not possible to rush myself...

 

[Nexexplo]

I use one of those methods, and winXP to self mule.

Since I only have one comp, it is not possible to rush myself...

I have the same setup as you and it is possible to rush yourself, but there are some places thats harder than others. Like summoner act2 and travincial act 3 where you have to be "on site" with the rushee to get Q.

Cheers,
Nex

 

[Oscuro]

Edit: Blast! Nex beat me to it...

and winXP to self mule.

I'll take this to mean that you use user switching to run two instances at once. If not, please disregard the rest...

Since I only have one comp, it is not possible to rush myself...

Why not? I've done this many times. Sure, sometimes the rushee may die because you can't get them out of harm's way quickly enough, but that shouldn't matter (in softcore). In terms of completing quests, a dead character in the correct area will still receive the quest (e.g. a dead rushee near the high council when the rusher kills them).

 

[Nexexplo]

Edit: Blast! Nex beat me to it...

I'll take this to mean that you use user switching to run two instances at once. If not, please disregard the rest...

Why not? I've done this many times. Sure, sometimes the rushee may die because you can't get them out of harm's way quickly enough, but that shouldn't matter (in softcore). In terms of completing quests, a dead character in the correct area will still receive the quest (e.g. a dead rushee near the high council when the rusher kills them).

I only play Hardcore....

 

[Gorny]

Edit: Blast! Nex beat me to it...

I'll take this to mean that you use user switching to run two instances at once. If not, please disregard the rest...

that's exactly it.

 

[druliusCleaver]

Afaik, many people play this way.
Some rush their own chars, while others actually play the game.

As you said, its hard to control both chars in a good way, so the easiest, and probably most effective way would be to have one char standing passively while the other one does the work.
And now for the trick. Lets assume the passive char is a paladin! If the active char is a melee char, the passive could well be a fana-playing pally standing a bit back, just granting the aura. If the active one is a caster, a conviction pally does great. Combined with a nice merc (HolyFreeze, might, defiance, whatever), he becomes a passive support unit that grants auras useful!

That's exactly what this team can do. The Paly has Holy Bolt maxed and its syngergies, doing over 5k damage to undead and healing party members 206-402 per bolt. His normally-on aura is Meditation but he also uses Cleansing and Salvation. His merc has the Thorns aura which also benefits the whole party. This Paly is exceptionally weak soloing against anything except undead in Hell mode. His only tactic is leading the merc into a crowd to tank, then circling back and pumping the merc with Holy Bolts, letting Thorns work its mojo. Paly and merc can't hardly touch any immune-to-physical monsters that are not undead (only fallback = 20 pts in Blessed Hammer or Fist of the Heavens). The Sorc has Hydra and Chain Lightning maxed and is working on maxing Fire and Lightning Masteries. Her merc is from act3nm, he throws snowballs. As a caster on the team, she really benefits from the Meditation aura, especially when a pack spawns with Mana burn. However soloing in Hell act 1, Sorc and merc couldn't kill fast enough to keep each other alive. Merc can't protect himself against Cold immunes and, Sorc can't protect herself against dual FI/LI bosses and is pretty slow to kill the many FI devilkins in act1 using Chain Lightning.

Working together, the Paly mostly stays back and provides the Meditation aura while the Sorc casts Hydras around the vision perimeter. If the Hydras don't start shooting at anything, the team moves up and recasts the Hydra Sentinels. When the Hydras start shooting at monsters, if they aren't FI they take lots of damage, if they are FI the Sorc can usually lead the monsters back to the waiting mercs while switching to Chain Lightning. Sometimes, the mercs actually spot monsters on their own and go after them. The Paly is good at healing the mercs when they get surrounded out on their own, and sometimes when there are Undead creatures around, the Paly can get aggressive and take the lead to quickly drop Undead bosses and minions alike.

This seems like a very strong team for one player to manage well. I think maybe the Sorc's merc could be chosen to benefit the team more, but otherwise the team skill strengths seem to work in conjunction with the ergonomic considerations of 1player-2chars gameplay like the slower leap-frog (squad-based) movement, not against them. Does anyone else have strong teams they like to play and how do you manage them?

 

[Ortzg]

I have three pcs and cdkeys, and i find isbetter in the more slow pc use a NECRO SUMMONER with mav belt and trang armor for quick move.

I never tried to use the three at the same time, except muling =)

 

[Darnoc]

How is it exactly that you can run two characters on the same account with one cdkey on one computer? I didn't even think two computers could access the same bnet account with two cd keys.

Please explain to me how this works; is there a certain way to open a duplicate running of the program with a character already in a game?

 

[kernelpops]

How is it exactly that you can run two characters on the same account with one cdkey on one computer? I didn't even think two computers could access the same bnet account with two cd keys.

Please explain to me how this works; is there a certain way to open a duplicate running of the program with a character already in a game?

Question 1= you still need 2 cd keys to run two characters on the same cpu,

#2 you can have 2 computers access the same account with 2 cd keys. My son and I play characters from the same account all the time. The first character needs to be in a game before the 2 enters b.net. Meaning you only have troubles when both characters are trying to be in the lobby.

 

[Killax]

Question 1= you still need 2 cd keys to run two characters on the same cpu,

#2 you can have 2 computers access the same account with 2 cd keys. My son and I play characters from the same account all the time. The first character needs to be in a game before the 2 enters b.net. Meaning you only have troubles when both characters are trying to be in the lobby.

ya. if they're both in the lobby you get lost connection or something like that, just brings you back to the character select screen

 

[BlahBlahAsia]

Is there a post to explain this better?
Do you need two screens? Or can you alt-tab between the two?
Do you have to install d2 twice with the two different keys, then open each program? I'd love to have two of my chars on at the same time!

 

[kernelpops]

Is there a post to explain this better?
Do you need two screens? Or can you alt-tab between the two?
Do you have to install d2 twice with the two different keys, then open each program? I'd love to have two of my chars on at the same time!

from my understanding you have to have windows xp, and you need 2 cd keys, and you can install the different keys in different files. So you can switch users in XP, and have 2 instances running. But you can not playboth at the same time without 2 cpu's

 

[druliusCleaver]

Is there a post to explain this better?
Do you need two screens? Or can you alt-tab between the two?
Do you have to install d2 twice with the two different keys, then open each program? I'd love to have two of my chars on at the same time!

...and you can install the different keys in different files. So you can switch users in XP, and have 2 instances running. But you can not playboth at the same time without 2 cpu's

I don't know how to do one install and two cd keys in separate folders. But, if you have the hard drive space just treat the second xp user like a second machine and fully install the second copy of d2 to the second user. After the second install, just launch your first instance normally and take a character into a game. I think the key combination to use is Alt-Tab, whatever let's you switch users in xp while leaving your first game running. Although the key to use might be the dreaded Windows key. Then, as the second xp user, launch your second instance of d2 and join bnet normally, logging in to even the same account. The only restrictions seem to be that you can't run two instances of the same character at once, and that two chars from the same account can't be in the lobby at the same time.

To play both chars out in the field by switching users in xp sounds to me like it's only good for rushing disposable chars one at a time for their hell forges or whatever. It seems like it would take 3 to 5 seconds to make every switch between controlling one char and the other. However, when you have two separate machines, you can almost keep up with a party while playing two chars at a time in the field, especially in Hell mode where the going can get much more cautious among average players anyway. Or you can, like I've been doing, make up your own two player party with mutually supporting chars and mercs.

Recently my little party was hunting the Viper amulet in Hell act 2, the undead Hollow Ones and Unravellers spawned both FI and PI. It would have really been a battle for the fire/light sorc and snowball merc, even the paly's thorns merc couldn't have speeded the kill. But a healing paly's HB goes through undead like a baseball into cool whip.

It transpired like this, sorc and 2 mercs engaged the swarm of skells (the red ones spawned FI like their bosses). After 3 hydras, a meteor, a couple chain lightnings, and another hydra, for a moment there was only the FI skells still standing. Switched to the other trackball and started controlling the paly, moving forward, he broke through the thinned crowd to an open area near where the Hollow Ones were busy resurrecting their skells. HB with all synergies does over 5k damage to undead, the bosses didn't have a chance. It only took about ten shots to drop three of them. After the bosses were gone, paly turned HB toward the remaining FI skells, but the minion ranks really started dropping fast because the two mercs were still alive and delivering punishment.