1.00 News, Info and Gossip

[BKC]

So i loaded up 1.0 (was kind of a hassle to get it to work on windows 10 but its running) started with 2 chars in game (i did not try anymore) a sorc which is level 6 and a barbarian which is the same level.

Right of the bat: I like it! i miss gomule (however i didnt try to use it yet, so i am not even sure if it works) i found 2 great items already Arctic furs (set quilted) and Feloak (unique club) i racked the fel oak in the mausoleum and the arctic furs are from a minion around cold crow.

I have been plunging through the different forum threads (big thanks to @Treeharl and @helvete for the great write ups). However i am still uncertain about a few things:

WW is the build to go for a barb prefeb with a polearm/pike like weapon since pikes can get crazy
but what build is great for a sorc? Firewall? Orb? do i need to combine skills? i know static can sliver enemies (found that out from reading) but i guess i need a good finisher next to it? Hydra + TS?

Now how about items i know if i keep certain items in stash i have a bigger chance to drop a rare+ item from that item sort (so if i keep a ring in my stash i have a bigger chance to roll another ring) or did i missread that?

(i am going back to the time travelling guide now i need to make sure i got this right!)

 

[Grape1]

@BKC I have also just started!

I'll let the more experienced answer, but I'll say something I know or remember from the guide without checking (so you better re-read it yourself also ).

-GoMule doesn't work. (And won't work 1.07-1.10, not sure when it will start working.. but Atma is good for early LoD patches)
- Only mule characters then, now
- Pike with WW is the go-to character, but it seems to be advisable to have at least one other Barb available if you find that one perfect polearm or something else. Remember to check and learn the types that do/do not work.
- Keeping uniques/set of certain item type is advisable when gambling, cause it will slightly up the odds for the rare. Read: have Biggin's Bonnet, Hotspurs etc. TC3 uniques in stash when gambling for those low cost armors in hope of great rares. By the time you'll progress more, you probably won't have enough space for all, so mule char definitely will come handy I believe. When gambling SoJs, you'll first have to gamble (or find) the lower ring in order: Nagel--> Manald --> SoJ. Then always when having gambled another SoJ, mule that away and keep the other two so that the next one will be a SoJ again.

I'd also like to know what would you 1.00 pros advice for the final skill and stat distribution for a sorc. Static, warmth and little Glacial Spike is going to be useful early on I think, and Frozen Orb is going to be maxed but what else, and how it should look when the build is little higher of level? What final stats to shoot for? (depends on exact build I guess, but about vita/enery levels at least. Same for Barb, do I need more STR/DEX than Pike needs or just Vita from there on (if I can take care of the energy needs of WW with let's say Frosties and enough leech?)

One more question from me also: I started with 4 characters (2 sorc, 2 barb), but left the other three after Tristram/Black Marsh because it was quite slow. I guess this was because I was stubborn and was going with the spear barb only all the time. Well now that my spear barb went for himself he has been really ok, and is approaching Canyon of the Magi next. I plan to bring the other three there also by rushing them. The others are level 7, and "leading" Barbarian is 18. Will the lower ones also get levels there when the Barb kills, despite that they are so much lower of level than the monsters and the main killer.

 

[BKC]

Hi @Grape,

Thanks for your information nice to see you also started! WW barb it is i already found a 3os pike which i gladly filled with 2x ruby 1x topaz. I use 2 chars for now (which i most likely will regret but it is okay)

I am still looking for a 1.0 sorc build that could be viable

I will report my progress along the way.

 

[Grape1]

I think (and hope) it won't be a problem to rush many characters later if build x goes miserably wrong.

I expect to farm hell maggots etc. for exp and gold ad infinitum, and I believe one could level new characters there as well while the main killer does the work.

Pluto the to-be WW Barb just spent a while in the Canyon by himself and is now a whopping level 21. Next I'll test to bring other 1-3 characters to see how the experience behaves, and how can I cope with more chars in the game

Yea, nice to have another starter here as well! I may soon switch back to 1.13 to finish a char or two there before spending a whole lot more time here. But no hurries, I guess.

 

[BKC]

Lol i recognize some things from my own behavioural patterns yes i am also still in a journey to 99 and go with whatever i feel like to play. so far the 2 s/u i found in roughly an hour of play where super nice

Wearing an item instead of having it in stash also counts for the X unique in game counter i guess (i litterally answer my own question there i believe)

 

[Grape1]

Haha, it's good to have many little projects going on. Eventually some of them will be finished, maybe

It was definitely exciting to get the first uniques. I happened to gamble Hotspurs and Biggin's Bonnet yesterday without sinking much gold.

Yep, you got that right.

 

[Qwazi]

I had to leave for work when my barb is level 29 and a half and just set foot in chaos sanctuary. So exciting times to come. I found a 131 max damage, 10 mana leech, increased speed rare pike off a normal monster in trav, which was such a ridiculous improvement on my magical spetum.

Playing players7 with only the barb killing and only he getting exp. The start of act 3 was very slow. I was also very slow in general as I was picking up everything mildly sellable and doing a lot of buying/selling/gambling in early acts. I didn't respect the guide enough when it said to get to act 4 ASAP for increased gold and exp. It's a very big difference having all the grim wands drop.

 

[helvete1]

When leeching exp, the level penalty of the char doing the killing will apply to the leechers, except for hatching eggs. Which means a lvl 88+ character for infinite maggot game in hell is just about pointless. However, before you get to 88, the odds are good that your next char can take over, as you only need to be in your high 40s to be an effective killer, at least with WW.

As for sorc builds, they're a bit different from the +skills bonanza we're used to. There are no immune monsters, so static will take care of most anything, and should be maxed real fast. Warmth too, as it's the only really reliable way to get mana. Lightning mastery should be pushed to where static and teleport gets reasonably cheap. I personally prefer Frozen Orb as a finisher, but Blizzard, Fire Wall, Blaze (yes, Blaze...) and Thunder Storm have all been used successfully AFAIK. ES and base vita build isn't a bad idea either, unless you've been brave enough for HC.

The reason I recommended going with two chars, is that Duriel and Diablo tend to be problematic for sorcs when it comes to survival. Static a few times, sure, but finishing them is hard. Barbs don't really have that problem, but they usually do too little damage and therefore leech to little to keep up with the damage they take. Combining the two makes for an easy solution, and you'll want both a barb and a sorc eventually anyway.

About the uniques, they can only spawn once per game, be it as a drop or as a random item on the gamble screen. However, pre-existing items brought into the game, either by the char that started it, or by a mule, MUST be on character, inventory, stash or cube. Leaving with the mule(s), or dropping the pre-existing item on the ground will still allow that unique to spawn. To repeat that, even if you are wearing a SoJ with your goldfinder, you can drop it to the ground, gamble away all your gold, and get another one in that same game. This also applies to monsters such as the Cow King, however that would be a bit more hassle.

Welcome to the jurassic period of D2! I'm glad to see more people exploring it =)

 

[Grape1]

Thanks a lot @helvete !

Would you recommend any points to str/dex after Barb meets the Pike's requirements? Maybe if good enough armor drops, but that's probably far away, and high defense armors aren't that much sought for in this patch it seems.

How should the levels be in normal with regards to penalty? I killed maggots in Canyon with my then lvl 24-25 Barb (now 26..), and leechers were 7. They barely got any exp, and barb only little when they were in the Canyon.

I did the first proper gambling session which netted my Barb the Hand of Broc (will probably be handy for when he can whirl) and many upgrades with some OK rares. I can almost smell the first upgrade to my 1.13 GF sorc:
View attachment 5176
Technically I already found her upgrades to belt and boots, but I'll hold to something better ofc or I'll find myself muling all the time

@VThief very nice going! It was enough of challenge to me to quest with Barb alone. I only brought my other three to the final quest. Duriel was a one angry worm, but I managed it just fine. Tomorrow or Sunday Travi & Meph and hopefully soon WW. Crazy luck with that Pike! I'm now waving three socket empty one, hope to find something similar

 

[helvete1]

Don't worry about a few extra stat points in str or dex unless you're HC or going up against Hephasto on a regular basis for some reason. As soon as you get to around 2k life, just about nothing can hurt you anymore, and not that much leech is required either.

I actually put extra in str to gain a little more damage when I got past lvl 70

About levels in normal, I don't really know. I just got through to hell river of flame and leveled mules there. Should be possible to "egg level" in the maggot lair, and it should get good around level 10-12 I think. Been a while, though.

 

[Qwazi]

Do the mules gain exp at level 1 leeching in hell RoF?

 

[helvete1]

Yes. In much the same fashion as CS are used on bnet to level from lvl 1 to lvl 80ish with no gear just following high level chars around. However, small maggot supply is theoretically unlimited, thus there is no need to create new games if a good map is found. This way, I leveled 7 mules from 1 to 60 and filled them all with normal size gems in one (long) MP game.

Small maggots can't drop gold directly, unfortunately. You still have to make a bunch of town trips to repair/sell.

 

[Grape1]

Okay, thanks again @helvete , and big thumbs up in general for your work with the time-traveling guide(s)! That along with @Treeharl 's posts made me do the step now. Of course I knew about the pre-lod goodies (and that I'd like to get them someday), but having a sources like these are wonderful thing to have to actually start to play it oneself.

Good to know that about Hell and leveling. I'll most likely do that to my three other chars right now. I'm about to hit 28 with Barb, and just got City of Damned's WP so I think I'll be fine. I'm willing to play the sorc in the future though. I'm thinking to use my Imbue quest(s) to Grim Wands, as Rare Pikes seem to be nicely obtained by normal Cow King which I'm not that far away now (until CS proves to be a total Hell hole )

Judging by the Treeharl's 1.00 item guide some items are better not be gambled with high level chars in order to eliminate some not wanted affixes. Are you helvete, and others who may see this, having mules to do the gambling or is that extra hassle not worth the time and money?

 

[Qwazi]

My game crashed when fighting De Seis with my barb in a multiplayer game. I was only using bash on him. Since that happened I am experiencing an issue that I has been mentioned here -- if my barb hosts a multiplayer game any other window of diablo 2 joining the game will stop responding once I do anything with that character. It works OK if my barb joins another characters game. It probably won't be too much of an issue to me with that in mind.

But Seis sure causes some problems. Makes the fight vs him properly scary -- feels like I'm playing hardcore in some challenge mode. I have to avoid getting hit at all or something. I ended up doing a whole bunch of maggoty river runs to level up my sorc and after barb cleared entire CS except for Seis she took him on and got through it with only 10 deaths or so. But I've made hell difficulty and NM cows!

 

[Grape1]

That sucks, especially if it starts to happen with other chars as well.

Nice going otherwise! Was NM an easy one after WW became available? I'm hitting soon 30 and may head to norm CS later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[helvete1]

Yeah, I stopped leveling a paladin in his mid-30s to eliminate some affixes, mainly replenish life with its stupid high rlvl, and the "swapped" str and dex ones which have higher rlvl but lesser effect.

Also, it kinda makes sense to have a low level mule for gambling the unique rings (you'll miss out on some great affixes for rares though) just because so many more rings show up in a low level gamble window. For this reason, gambling rare jewelry is a pain. They simply aren't for sale in most gamble screens.

Yes, Lord De Seis is a pain. I haven't had any bugs or crashes with him, but then again I've only gone up against him maybe a dozen times total.

As far as imbues go, grim/grave wands and demonhide sashes all the way. I don't think any other base item is worth it, either because easy gamble or because easy cow king. You could argue that demonhide sashes are a waste too, since you're likely to not need extra potion rows, and then normal sashes will do, or you are a barb and can do with plated belts from cowruns.

For a cowrunning barb, I've discovered that you're better off wearing the unique items he can drop over rares, just because stash space is so limited. Frostburns for the mana is a no-brainer, manald for manaleech, bladebuckle, crown or bone helm for life leech, ancient armor for mana leech and its skill bonus, and if doing NM or normal runs, even the unique pike for durability. Damage only becomes a real issue in hell. Greaves are decent too, actually. Then you put the other helm, the other two armors, one or both the other unique rings in your stash, and just keep one or two of the unique weapons he drops in stash if it is a good pattern, and you get failed uniques so fast its sickening.

 

[ILikeRocks]

Quick question, I haven't started playing 1.00 yet but I am seriously considering it. When bringing characters and items forward, do you just update the client or move the character files over to the other version? The second way seems like it could corrupt the file, but I am curious.

 

[helvete1]

You move the char file, then open it in whatever version you want the items and the character to update to. If going from pre-1.07 to 1.08 or later, you have to move via 1.07 (enter a 1.07 game with the character) to preserve item stats. Names of rares are still subject to change, however, nothing to do about that.

 

[ILikeRocks]

Thank you! After reading your insight @helvete and @Treeharl threads, I think I am going to try some 1.00 shenanigans.

 

[Grape1]

So I'll continue my blogging here, I hope you don't mind We might learn something in the process! And maybe get some new people to jump to the 1.00 train.

Dames Juno & Venus and Sirs Pluto and Mars made it to NM. Thanks for the heads-up, I was extra cautious with De Seis, who was luckily not a problem. And CS was not the Hell hole I was afraid.
View attachment 5178
Heavenly Garb should be a nice for a Sorc am I right? Needs little str though, but some, if not most, of that can be get from items I think.

I already tried couple Cow King maps, got Culven's Point (is that used? I kept it) and Rakescar (which I left to the ground) for my troubles. I had cubed my rings and amus through normal but strangely enough I didn't keep any of the plain ML ones, as that wasn't really needed before WW as I had gambled The Hand of Broc already. I turned out that it wasn't enough alone, but couple skulls in socketed Pike solved the problem.

More to come. Though I have some unfinished business in 1.13 which will sooner or later put this to a hold.