Returning player

[SoapyNL]

*puts on shin-guards*

Hello every one!

Dont know where to start, but the title say's it all. After almost 8 years, I installed Diablo 2 LOD again and started playing.
Why you ask? Good question, since the graphics still suck!:smug: BUT... the gameplay ( and the hunt for the items )
is still unmatched in my eyes. Plus, Diablo 3 actully made me cry. Was level 60, paragon lvl2 i think within a week. The story is really sad, and the gameplay is either to easy or to hard while playing solo.

So i lauched D2 again hehe...

Started out a skellymancer for some MF-runs later on. Just enterd act5 normal on lvl28 . Nothing really happend so far ( only found 1 unique, Chance Guards ( 35%MF ) and diablo just dropped IK Helm....) but still it was ALOT of fun.

Now as for my question, wich i cant seem to find as easy as i thought i would ( becuase my browser keeps translating every page in dutch, damn google! ). Playing 1.13, no mods HARDCORE ONLY unk:


1. This respec ATMA gives, can it be done every time or just once a difficult?
2. What mods are still the best for playing solo? Already got ATMA Mule program..
3. What places are the best to run when i am in Hell? Is it still The Pitt's?
4. Any tips on Gear later on?
5. Any great build AFTER my necro has done some MF runs?

Remember, i stared out fresh so no twink gear. I have to look later, is BEAST still the better runeword ( with the wand from leoric on switch i believe )? Or did the patch just ruined it all : Scratchchin:

Anyway, i hope i dont die before i reach hell... but i have good hope!
Thanks in advance for awnsering the question's! I'll go lurk arround the forums for a bit, maybe have some more questions later

cya

 

[deepfriedpizza]

1) Once per difficulty, after that you'll need a token of absolution for additional resets (made from cubing essences dropped by Hell act bosses)
2) ATMA/GoMule are a must (for most people), and most people also use RWM for ladder-only runewords. See this thread for details -- http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?849306-Game-Changes-Help-Thread-(inc-ATMA-GoMule)
3) The Pits and Ancient Tunnels are both popular for MF (lvl 85 areas can drop any item in the game), Baal runs if you're going for lvl 99, Pindle and Meph are both good because they are quick and easy but there are some items they can't drop. As a summoner you should probably stick to lvl 85 areas or Baal because raising an army before every Pindle/Meph kill is time consuming.
4) Skellymancers are pretty easy to gear up, just get as many +skills as possible and then load up on MF. On a budget you can make a Lore runeword helm and Spirit runeword sword and shield for easy +skills.
5) Poison necros are also pretty popular but you have to have nice gear to make them really strong.

 

[SoapyNL]

Ah yes the RWN mod! Thanks! Ancient tunnels was in Act2 i belive, right? Thanks for the reply

 

[pharphis]

Ah yes the RWN mod! Thanks! Ancient tunnels was in Act2 i belive, right? Thanks for the reply

in the lost city

 

[mir]

I think ATMA has some problems with tokens and essences, so keep a back-up for stashes once you reach hell.

 

[deepfriedpizza]

I think ATMA has some problems with tokens and essences, so keep a back-up for stashes once you reach hell.

Yeah, you can move essences/tokens between characters with no problems in ATMA but if you try to save one in a stash it will corrupt the stash. I have a mule.d2s file in my ATMA folder that I use specifically for holding essences/tokens and it works fine.

 

[Tiger_Spirit]

Hi and welcome back!

I'm a returning player too (but in SC ). My advice is to use GoMule instead of ATMA ; gomule got more functionality I think and I remember when I used it, I never looked back at ATMA.

To gear yourself, finish first hell with your necromancer, then start maybe a sorc that will run nightmare meph for some items first, then hell meph.

Anyway, have fun!

 

[Espr]

I recently returned as well, but Welcome back to Sanctuary!

I remember preferring ATMA back in the day by a big margin over GoMule, but it seems like the balance has changed for me at some point of the past few years, as the newest versions of both I find GoMule superior now for anything but older patch versions.

As for mods, definitely consider checking out Singling, as it's all the most common mods from back when, but all in one mpq/dll pair. Namely, the multilpe-instances of D2 running dll, RWM, and coloured runes. The same person made a newer version switcher as well, if that's something you think you might get into.

As to builds, personally, I'm a big fan of sorceresses. There's lots of options there, but I'm a big fan of Frozen Orb, and pairing it with anything really. Fireball spam, or Meteor (+ minor fireball), or Nova, and so on.

 

[Cyrax]

Wow, what's with all the noobs here?

With a skelliemancer i'd stay away from AT's. There are too many zombie types there. They have high physical resists. Especially a lot of PI bosses. They can be broken with amp, but will still take a good while to kill. So i'd favour pits or WSK with that char.

 

[japanzaman]

Seeing as it's been a while since you played, you'll probably notice some other differences in the game play. Mainly that certain enemies have been nerfed (gloams come to mind), and that rune drops are much better. Don't be shocked if you see a Vex+ on your run-through. Somebody on this board recently was able make an Enigma on just a single play-through!

 

[coju]

*Takes hat*

Wokommen! For the build after you mf with your necro, I would recommend starting a new toon, getting to level 14, then starting another, get to level 23, start a new one, level it to level 12, and so on. Hardcore, of course. The reason for this, is that if one deeds, you have another close-ish to that level that way you do not lose too much progress, or get sad because you only have one level 84 and only other characters level 12 and such. But, never level past 54, as that's when the game gets good, and you will want to make a new toon because you found so and so item and want to try so and so build. You make this character, even though the level 54 is going great, and you have 3 already in the 45's, and then stop playing it around level 12 because it's not fast enough. Then you forget what you were even doing with the level 54 because you've make 3 more toons and now you have 15 characters, all ranging from levels 3-54.

Then a MP group starts. These are the only ones you'll get to Guardianship, because for some reason you keep making new characters and cannot seem to progress past the 'low of nm' into the 'high of hell'.
(replace "you" with "I" and "me" and you will see how I play the game.)

Oh man. This is why I play Dota 2 often, because each game I can make a new character, and stop before I get bored with it.
Is there any help? Anyone of y'all been through this type of gameplay and managed to climb your way out of it? The typical "just play one character" doesn't work, as you can tell from above.

I will add, I do have fun doing this, but I would like to progress through games and 'finish' something or another.
Sorry for dethreading the thread.

Go Mets!

 

[SoapyNL]

Made to NM last night. Dont play so much. He's lvl45 now. Got a few good runes from normal, no reruns.( 2x Ahm, 2x Sol 1x Thul and LOTS of runes below those. Items are still a bit sad haha