Newbie questions on items

[Urrdazen]

Newbie questions on items

I just picked up the D2 Battle Chest this weekend and wow, this game is really fun. I am a necro and have so far finished act 1.

I have some general questions on items. First, do the items get progressively better thru the acts? I have all yellow items equiped from act 1, but will blue items from act 2 have better stats then the yellow items from act 1? If so then all the best items come from act 5?

Secondly, how worried about items should I be as I play thru normal? Towards the end of act 1 I was getting tired of id'ing every single blue item because 99% of them were worthless. How carefull should I be with examing items? Is it really only on the harder difficulty levels that the great items drop?

Third, I finally figured out the socketed items are dark grey (i think it's dark). Now, is there any items that are blue, yellow, gold that are socketable? Also, can the best items be built from sockets?

Basically I am completly new to the game (less then 48 hours) and I have nobody irl to talk to about the game. My character is on the us west coast server too because on some other board I was told the best items are multiplayer only and maybe I can convince one of my buds to play the game.
Any advice is much appreciated and if someone could give me an idea of what items to be on the lookout for etc.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Necrolestes]

With a little help from my friends

Wow, that's a lot of questions for one necromancer to answer!

Paragraph 1
Question 1: Yes, the items scale up with your level (less crud, more stud)

Question 2: That really depends on what you need. Some magic (blue items) have better attributes than some rares (yellow items) but keep in mind that rares can have more attributes (magic items can't have more than two...it may look like they have three sometimes but actually one of those attributes goes with another one).

Question 3: Not necessarily so. By act 5, you should be at least level 20 (preferably level 30) so you will have a better chance of getting great items. However, this is not a guarantee.

Paragraph 2
Question 4: As annoying as it is, you should ID every item because you never know what you're going to get. Cain will ID them for free (provided that you freed him!) so save your ID scrolls/tomes for emergencies.

Question 5: As you progress through the levels and you yourself increase in level, better items will be available to you.

Paragraph 3
Question 6: Yes, magic, rare, and unique items are socketable. However, the best items are the grey powerless ones because these can accept runes in such a way so as to create runewords (see www.battle.net/diablo2exp and look under Runes to see the current list of rune words). All other items including the grey ones can accept gems, jewels, and of course runes (but you only get runeword benefits if socketed in grey items).

I hope this is of some help to you. Happy hunting!

 

[Urrdazen]

Necrolestes:

Thanks for answering my questions! Right now I am level 17 and I haven't yet started act 2. I finished the last quest and saved in the rogue camp before moving on (had some yard work to finish up ). So, unless leveling really starts to slow down I would think I'll be in the low to mid 30's by act 5.

Another question I forgot to ask is what is the use for gold? I gambled some of my gold just to try that out (didn't get anything usefull) but other then that I haven't spent any gold at all.

I guess I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the possible items and whatnot that I can acquire. I think I'm going to use my first runthrough of normal just to get the hang of everything.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[skilledlord]

I'm going to be lazy and give you this site name. www.diabloii.net also look at the handbook the game came with.

It will tell you almost everything you need to know. If you have further questions, answer back and I'll answer them

 

[cotton]

I guess I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the possible items and whatnot that I can acquire. I think I'm going to use my first runthrough of normal just to get the hang of everything.

You'll get the hang of it by playing and looking at the forums; it is overwhelming, at first, but part of the fun is discovering new stuff.

As for gold, you can buy things from vendors, repair your equipment, gamble, and resurrect your mercenary. Gold falls more freely at higher levels, but stuff gets more expensive, too.

 

[CSI]

"I guess I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the possible items and whatnot that I can acquire. I think I'm going to use my first runthrough of normal just to get the hang of everything."

Hehe. There are alot of combinations. I have been at it for 3 years and still have not tried all the ideas I have come up with. I love this game. :clap:

 

[Frollo]

If no one minds, I'll break into this thread with a newbie question of my own

Some +skill items are not blue, but white. For instance, you could have a white claw with +1 to Shadow Warrior and +2 to Claw Mastery. The claw does have a modifier or two, but it is considered a normal item and not a magical one.
Now if I socket this claw using the socket quest in Act V, can I use it for runewords?

 

[Herald of Doom]

If no one minds, I'll break into this thread with a newbie question of my own

Some +skill items are not blue, but white. For instance, you could have a white claw with +1 to Shadow Warrior and +2 to Claw Mastery. The claw does have a modifier or two, but it is considered a normal item and not a magical one.
Now if I socket this claw using the socket quest in Act V, can I use it for runewords?

Yes.

@Urrdazen: Most characters use gold to buy potions/scrolls and resurrect their mercenary. I always kept a large amount of gold on my singleplayer and untwinked chars, so that when you visit a vendor and I saw a wand with some really good +skills (those things can costs hundreds of thousands of goldpieces) I was able to buy them. You can also gamble, once you get to higher lvl's you'll get some pretty nice jewelry, I've gambled a +3 cold skill amu for my singelplayer frozen orb sorc in 1.09, and never found anything better

HoD

 

[Urrdazen]

@everyone:

Thanks for all the help you guys. I have been pouring over the handbook and various websites trying to learn as much as I can. This game is pretty amazing with all of the different items that are available. I'm really having fun playing and I'm glad that I picked this up.

 

[Frollo]

Yes.

So I could have some über runeword AND +skills? Cool!

Tnx for replying :thumbsup:

 

[Nos2]

FYI...

Runewords will work in both socketed white items or in socketed blue items. The blue items will usually give better modifiers than the white ones. Do not try putting runwords in socketed yellow or socketed gold items unless you want to lose your runes.

-nos

 

[GIR]

FYI...

Runewords will work in both socketed white items or in socketed blue items. The blue items will usually give better modifiers than the white ones. Do not try putting runwords in socketed yellow or socketed gold items unless you want to lose your runes.

-nos

Um... no, they definetly don't work in socketed Blue [Magical] items. Don't spread misinformation like that.

 

[Urrdazen]

Sorry guys I have another question

I just read this on another site:

(Ladder Only)
This item can only be found by Battle.net Ladder Character as well as Single Player, TCP/IP, and Open Battle.net Characters. It will not be found by Normal Battle.net Realm Characters.

Now, my character is a realm character, however I'm not sure if it is a ladder character or not, I don't remember what I chose and I'm at work so I can't check. The reason I chose to make a realm character is because I was told there are items on there that I can't find in the single player game. However, reading the Ladder Only statement makes me worried that if I chose to be a normal battle.net realm character that I won't be able to get these items. If that is the case then I would just assume play the single player game or the ladder game because according to that statement above, both of those modes have those items.

So, can someone help me to better understand the different modes of play as to what items may or may not be available?

Thanks again!

edit: just wanted to add that if single player has everything that the other modes has I may install d2 on my laptop and just play the single player on that.

 

[Thaumaturgist]

Sorry guys I have another question

I just read this on another site:

(Ladder Only)
This item can only be found by Battle.net Ladder Character as well as Single Player, TCP/IP, and Open Battle.net Characters. It will not be found by Normal Battle.net Realm Characters.

Now, my character is a realm character, however I'm not sure if it is a ladder character or not, I don't remember what I chose and I'm at work so I can't check. The reason I chose to make a realm character is because I was told there are items on there that I can't find in the single player game. However, reading the Ladder Only statement makes me worried that if I chose to be a normal battle.net realm character that I won't be able to get these items. If that is the case then I would just assume play the single player game or the ladder game because according to that statement above, both of those modes have those items.

So, can someone help me to better understand the different modes of play as to what items may or may not be available?

Thanks again!

edit: just wanted to add that if single player has everything that the other modes has I may install d2 on my laptop and just play the single player on that.

There are some rune words that you can only make with Ladder. I played sp for a while, but IMHO Ladder is where it's at. You can make better stuff, its easier to trade items, people to help you if you get stuck, etc.

 

[Urrdazen]

@Thaumaturgist:

Ok, well hopefully I made a ladder character then! I'll check when I go home for lunch. If not then I guess I will start over with a ladder character.

Thanks!

 

[Nos2]

Um... no, they definetly don't work in socketed Blue [Magical] items. Don't spread misinformation like that.

I am pretty sure that I have made runewords in blue items before. I have a necro that is using "rhyme" in a blue socketed head. I am at work right now, but will check on this when I get home. If anyone else can confirm or deny my original statement before I get a chance to repost that would be great.

 

[RTB]

I am pretty sure that I have made runewords in blue items before. I have a necro that is using "rhyme" in a blue socketed head. I am at work right now, but will check on this when I get home. If anyone else can confirm or deny my original statement before I get a chance to repost that would be great.

It's false, as the only runewordable (second time I'm using that word today) item qualities are low-quality (Crude/Cracked/Low Qaility), normal (nothing in front of the item, and Superior. 999,998 rumors left to squash.

 

[Nos2]

I must offer up my apologies and recognize your greater knowlede of the game. I checked the necro shield I had mentioned earlier, which did have addiditional mods on it other than those granted from the runeword, but no indication it was ever a magical item. I was so certian that it had originaly been magical that I tried to make a runeword in a sockted blue helm I had been keeping for just the right occassion. No go.

RTB and GIR... good call, nice catch, great save. You two caught me slipping. I will not make the same error again. Luckily, we have people of your caliber here in the forums to correct people like me. Forgive my ignorance. My intentions were not to add to the giant rumor mill as I have no desire to feed the beast.

 

[mhl12]

@Thaumaturgist:

Ok, well hopefully I made a ladder character then! I'll check when I go home for lunch. If not then I guess I will start over with a ladder character.

Thanks!

it will tell u whether or not ur char is ladder or nonladder when u login to ur bnet account on the character selection window. if my memory serves me correctly, i believe that ladder is automatically selected when u create a new character.

 

[Urrdazen]

it will tell u whether or not ur char is ladder or nonladder when u login to ur bnet account on the character selection window. if my memory serves me correctly, i believe that ladder is automatically selected when u create a new character.

Yep it show's right on bnet screen and thankfully it does default to ladder character so I'm ok.