Drunken HC Randomness

I would opt for the "easier" route of some random chosen skills at the beginning of the tournament and against placing EVERY skill point at random - that does indeed result in tedious gameplay because 5 points in each skill just won't suffice for Hell... And I would recommend the same to you for this challenge, @Vildecor !

I am toying with the idea of "rewarding" characters that make it to hell by allowing them to place skillpoints freely. I think Normal and Nightmare will still be doable with horrible skill point placement. Either way, Hell difficulty is still a LONG way off for these guys and gals!

I'd be down for another Vang-style random tournament whenever. I'd imagine after the RFL is over will be prime time for new tournaments.
 
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Arlana has joined Gavin in Lut Gholein after slaying Andariel!

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Here's how her random skills fell:
Code:
Tiger Strike          3
Dragon Talon          2
Fists of Fire         2
Dragon Claw           2
Claw Mastery          1
Psychic Hammer        3
Fire Blast            2
Shock Web             1
Blade Sentinel        3
Charged Bolt Sentry   1

As expected, a hot mess! Her chipped topaz luck was much better than Gavin's, filling out her helm and armor by the time she reached the Dark Wood, with even more to give to her mercenary. In what I expect is a personal record for me, she found 6 S/U items in Act I: Hsaru's Iron Fist, Berserker's Headgear, Deathspade, The Gnasher, Hotspur, and Infernal Cranium. Berserker's Headgear went to the merc, while the double weapon drop in Jail Level 2 forced her to drop her gemmed Scepter and use Deathspade. Infernal Cranium and Hotspur were nice finds, but the loss of MF is not so great. The Gnasher is also a very nice find with it's CB, which was very helpful in taking down Andariel.

Right now she's relying on the bonus damage from Tiger Strike to take down unique/boss packs and hoping to see no more points go to Psychic Hammer and Blade Sentinel. Arlana hired Durga, a Blessed Aim mercenary, and since she was level 21, it didn't take long for her to gamble him a Pike, finding a Deadly Pike of Maiming on the second try. Fire resist sits at a comfortable 94 (effectively 90), at least until she is burdened with another S/U shield and forced to drop her 3x chipped Diamond Large Shield.

Next up will be the Necromancer!
 
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Playtime has been a bit scarce due to increased overtime at work, but Blaine the necromancer has finished Act I.

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Here's how his random skills fell:
Code:
Skeleton Mastery      4
Raise Skeleton        4
Clay Golem            1
Teeth                 3
Bone Armor            2
Poison Dagger         1
Amplify Damage        2
Dim Vision            1
Iron Maiden           1

The randomizer definitely blessed me with the points for skeletons! The necromancer works quite well early on with random skills, since all of his level 1 skills (save teeth) are a blessing. Teeth would work fine as well on lower player settings. After finding a shrunken head with +2 Skeleton Mastery, I shopped Akara for a +3 SM wand, and the first one I found also gave +2 to Corpse Explosion. I'll definitely enjoy using these until they sadly get replaced by S/U items. Speaking of those, my assassin's luck must have led to Blaine's S/U drought. He didn't see any until he killed Andariel. Crushflange replaced his socketed Scepter and boosted his fire resist to 87!

With the points in skeletons boosted by +5 SM on switch, it goes without saying that Blaine had a very easy time clearing the latter parts of Act I. The summoner playstyle goes with drinking very nicely. Having Bone Armor also kept him quite safe as well. I'm looking forward to my next session with him.

Malia the amazon is next up, and has already finished one session last night.
 
Man, I envy your fortitude! I remember right after D2 came out my parents were out of town an I just graduated high school, my brother brought the booze (wild turkey) and I downed like 10 shots in an hour. Went upstairs to play D2 and fell straight out of my chair after sloshing through part of Act 3 in the beginning. Was not HC by any means.
 
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Other than during the night of my first post, my play sessions are not while binge drinking. It mostly consists of either a 2-beer weeknight or a double/triple shot Jager Bomb + a beer. Occasionally a bit heavier on Saturday nights. 10 shots in an hour!!! I remember those days and the stupid things I did because of it. Drink responsibly everyone! (meaning no HC!)
 
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Malia the amazon has finished Act I.

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Here's how her random skills went:

Code:
Jab               2
Poison Javelin    2
Lightning Bolt    2
Plague Javelin    1
Inner Sight       2
Critical Strike   3
Magic Arrow       2
Fire Arrow        4
Multishot         1

Nothing too exciting that I can remember. Despite early points in Magic/Fire Arrow, Malia stuck with javelins for most of the act. As seen in the image above, Page the fire rogue quickly replaced her gemmed Hunter's Bow with a rare Short Bow with ctc Amp. Once Malia hit level 20 in the catacombs and finally got her Dex up to 50, I gambled Brandistocks for more damage, and the second one rolled quite nicely:

Code:
Soul Picket
Brandistock
Two Hand Damage: 12 - 28
Durability: 28 of 28
Required Level: 5
Required Strength: 40
Required Dexterity: 50
Fingerprint: 0x1fd40809
Item Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
44% Enhanced Damage
Adds 2 - 4 Damage
+53 to Attack Rating
5% Mana stolen per hit

The mana leech is great, enabling a perma-jab playstyle. The loss of resistances isn't too good, but hopefully her newly acquired combat merc will help take most of the damage. Sets/uniques found: 20% Nagelring from Jail Level 3, Arctic Binding from Catacombs Level 2, Bloodfist and Stoutnail from Andariel. Bloodfist is a nice pickup. Stoutnail is now locked on our weapon switch. :(

I have not traded any S/U items between characters, and I thought I'd bring up my ideas behind this. My plan is to keep each character as self-found as possible and only allow equipment trading for really nice class-specific S/U items found. Otherwise I would probably be tempted to dump a lot of crappy weapons/shields onto the caster classes. I also have a concrete plan on how to handle the NM and Hell respecs, but that will remain a secret until we get there (at this pace that will take a while).

Up next, Jamilah the sorceress!
 
The fun continues! Jamilah has taken down the Maiden of Anguish at level 21.

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I think we have an undisputed champion of absolute worst random skill rolls!

Code:
Ice Bolt         1
Frozen Armor     4
Frost Nova       1
Charged Bolt     3
Static Field     1
Fire Bolt        4
Warmth           4
Inferno          2

So....no level 18 skills whatsoever. Also, the single point in Static Field was gained at the last level-up before Andariel. If that had not rolled, I would have placed my Den of Evil point there. Either way, I...uh...forgot to use it while fighting Andariel. So...yeah. One thing I despise about early game, untwinked sorceress play is that they seem SO fragile solely because healing potions give a miniscule amount of health. Jamilah's journey seemed extra difficult though. Not because of intoxication, but because of monster packs greeting me super-early on once entering areas. Allow me to show you:

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"Alright, let's find this stupid tree....OH HAI THERE!"
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Time for the last underground dungeon of Act I...is greeted by boss packs of rogues AND fallen at the door.
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Although this doesn't quite count as a jump scare, since these guys spawned beneath the stairs just below the screenshot, I'm glad I didn't wake them up too early.

So, on to finds. A somewhat early rare axe allowed her chances for extra damage. And also, a chance to say "Oh yeah? Who's cursed now?" She found the team's second Arctic Furs shortly after killing Blood Raven, and promptly tossed it to the mercenary. She also happened upon a pretty sweet shrunken head that just might find it's way into a twinking stash. The set/unique front was looking pretty bleak until the very last stretch. Cleglaw's Claw took up Jamilah's switch shield spot. And unfortunately, finding Umbral Disk meant that she had to give up her rare large axe and gamble for an unremarkable rare flail. The hit blinds target should be fun versus unravellers next act. Andariel herself did not "bless" Jamilah with any additional S/U items, though that ring sported both cold and lightning resist and replaced a ring of greed.

Gaile the Fire Rogue, we barely knew you. You have been replaced by Kasim for his helpful Prayer aura. And for his backside. No, not like that! To hide behind!

Up next, Caddock the barbarian!
 
Already? Another one? Yep! Caddock has just beat Andariel. This guy was a sweet break after playing the sorceress. He was very safe and literally flew through Act 1. I'm talking Cold Plains waypoint to Inner Cloister just last night (and still /p8 full clears), which has never before happened with any of these characters. Also something that has never happened: zero set/unique items found! I must also have been so dialed in that I forgot to take the usual Andariel fight + drop screenshots. :oops:

I only have one screenie with this guy:
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Might aura? With archers? Ehh, whatever, we can kill this guy real quick.

So how about the random skillpoints?

Code:
Howl                1
Find Potion         1
Taunt               1
Shout               1
Find Item           1
Sword Mastery       3
Mace Mastery        1
Polearm Mastery     2
Spear Mastery       2
Bash                4
Leap                1
Double Swing        1

Not bad at all! I got the utility skills of Taunt, Howl, and Find Item, and a smattering of masteries (helpful to have a few skillpoints in these when I get locked into whatever S/U weapons I get later on).

Tonight's session is still only about halfway done, so it's time for my last trip (with these guys/gals) through Act 1 normal with Aethelwulf the Druid.
 
Pretty cool idea!

The last time I played HC on the Bnet servers, I was quite drunk. I was getting going again and had built up a pretty good Sorceress that I was using for Mfing, rushing, accumulating wealth, etc and was in the 80's. A level 55-60 Paladin hostiled me in a game. Of course he is going to be a desynching Hammerdin. I, for whatever reason, think there is no way I'll have an issue even though I played legit and had to have known someone like this dude would have chicken, autoaim, etc. Well we both hit at about the same time and I died of course, like a drunken idiot, and he chickened out with a sliver of life. He came back in talking about how I was the only person that should have killed him..didn't make me feel any better.

Killing me and going on his merry way wasn't enough either. An hour or two of him and his buddies versus me and mine deking it out in the Blood Moor ensued, while the contents of my body were trying to be recovered. We eventually got my items back, but I sobered up and was so pissed at myself that I never started up the HC character again. I just sold off the items I managed to recoup lol. It was one of my last plays on those servers before I got fed up with the cheating nonsense. That moment may have been critical to me discovering the Single Player portion of this(the old one obv) website and forum.

Best of luck though dude! Those restrictions and adding in being drunk, sounds like quite the challenge. Playing HC drunk can catch up to you quick haha.
 
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That's quite the horror story! I barely even touched Bnet myself, as I never really had the desire to play with others and very quickly found this community. Thanks for the well wishes and hope I can provide some entertainment.
 
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Bringing up the rear, Aethelwulf has also taken down Andariel.

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Skillpoints weren't that bad considering early skills unlock shapeshifting and summons, although the elemental skills don't really offer much with low investment when playing at /p8:

Code:
Firestorm            2
Molten Boulder       2
Arctic Blast         2
Werewolf             2
Lycanthropy          2
Raven                3
Poison Creeper       2
Oak Sage             1
Summon Spirit Wolf   2
Carrion Vine         1

Obviously just as easy as the necro, but with more life! Soon after taking down Blood Raven, he found his first S/U in the Caves: Hsaru's Iron Fist. A rare Bardiche with life leech quickly replaced his gemmed Large Axe. That is, until Cleglaw's Claw dropped in the Pits. Burdened with two shields, I gambled him a flail and settled on the first one (an Iron Flail of Maiming) in order to save the rest of the gold for mf upgrades on boots/gloves. Aethelwulf is also now the first character to have a S/U stashed after a second Cleglaw's dropped in the Barracks. So...unless he finds a S/U bow, spear, or polearm before Act III, he'll get to hire an Iron Wolf to carry it. The last S/U of the act was a welcome one: Death's Guard. Maybe he'll be lucky with continued glove gambling and pick up some sweet set bonuses!

As I hinted at above, I didn't make use of any of the elemental skills (and probably won't for normal). I also rarely used the Ravens as they just didn't last long enough before being need to be recast. There were a handful of situations were they sure came in handy though!

DNEYQxh.jpg


After killing off multiple poor wolves, Andariel bit the dust and left nothing of use.

I expect to continue the shapeshifting/summoning route at least through normal difficulty. I'd really like to see some skills fall down the werebear line (particularly Shock Wave) in the future.

The team will pick up again for sure next week while I relax in a beach house on vacation (with some cold beers in the evenings), but there may be no updates for a couple of weeks.
 
Man, I envy your fortitude! I remember right after D2 came out my parents were out of town an I just graduated high school, my brother brought the booze (wild turkey) and I downed like 10 shots in an hour. Went upstairs to play D2 and fell straight out of my chair after sloshing through part of Act 3 in the beginning. Was not HC by any means.

The first time I ever got actually drunk drunk, was also D2 related. I had accumulated some of my mother's vodka over time in a pop bottle and had it saved back on a weekend in I believe 10th grade. I had drank before, but not enough to get sauced or anything, just small and moderate amounts with friends. This was probably close to half of a 20oz pop bottle filled with straight vodka. I drank it straight and chased it all in a minute or two and went out and watched some football with my dad and his college friend who I'd known my whole life and was in town and staying at our place for the weekend. After 15 or 20 minutes, I was starting to feel it pretty hard, my first real time of feeling strong effects of alcohol.

So I instantly went into my room and got on Diablo 2 and began bragging/telling one of my buddies in real life about how I was really drunk. He had been drunk before, but he was all excited that I had finally got drunk lol. So I was likely sounding sloppy drunk and acting a fool on bnet and I remember falling right out of my computer chair, while I was playing and talking with my friends. I was down for a minute and got up and my mother came in and asked what happened. Apparently I was able to play it off as the chair got caught and tipped over, without sounding like a slurring moron. I came back on, my buddy wondering where I went, and I remember telling him I fell out of my chair and my mom heard it and came in and I almost got caught. Weird, but nostalgic memory. Weird that my first real drunk experience was while playing Diablo 2, lmao. I was the nerd, athlete, music, video game, party guy throughout high school, so it isn't odd that I was on D2, but it probably usually comes with other friends and in one of those other groups more often haha. I dipped my toes in a lot of things.

Welp, sorry to hijack the thread. I just thought I needed to share my story of my first intoxication and how it was loosely related to D2. These were the 1.09 days where you would trade in the designated trading channels on the chat channels and would sit and spam the same copy/paste and wait for messages or find something you wanted and messaged them.. prior to when the ad bots took over duty.. such different days. Enjoying the thread!
 
Vacation was fun and allowed plenty of time for drinks/beer in the evenings while watching the ocean playing some HC D2!

Gavin the paladin finished the last 3 tombs last night after the journey home.

ICVdH1x.jpg


Random skill points this Act went to:
Code:
Resist Cold        2
Resist Lightning   1
Holy Fire          2
Thorns             1
Vengeance          1
Conversion         1

This gives him the following skillpoint totals:

Code:
Prayer            3
Resist Fire       1
Resist Cold       2
Resist Lightning  1
Defiance          1
Might             3
Holy Fire         3
Thorns            2
Holy Freeze       1
Sacrifice         3
Holy Bolt         4
Zeal              1
Vengeance         1
Conversion        1

Saved:            2 (DoE/Rad)

It was nice to see both Vengeance and Conversion get rolled, they will definitely be useful to have. Gavin is still going strong using Normal Attack and Holy Freeze with a Blood Crescent. Vengeance managed to get a bit of use to help take down a physical immune ghost in one of the tombs. The tombs also had the toughest fight so far:

LYYUZYy.jpg


It was VERY hard to capture a good screenshot in this room. There were 3 champion unravellers combined with 3 regular unravellers which were assaulted once most of their minions were handled at the doorway. Used all of the full rejuvs and many merc resurrections because they were decently spread out and I could not find a decent spot to attack without a bunch of unholy bolts hitting us. After 2 of the champions went down, the rest was easier.

Duriel was mostly tanked by Gavin, allowing the merc to take some hits while allowing red pots to regen his health. He left some additional gear for the team to wear.

S/U items found this Act: Isenhart's Horns (x2), Stormguild, eth Stoutnail, Angelic Halo, Berserker's Hatchet, The Diggler, Isenhart's Case, Civerb's Ward, and Deathspade.

Unfortunately no S/U spears or polearms were found, so Gavin hired Jabari the Cold Iron Wolf, reluctantly gave him the Blood Crescent, and will start off Act III wielding Deathspade (with The Diggler on switch). Gloves, boots, 1 ring, amulet, and main shield spots are still open and all together Gavin is still sporting 116 MF. I hope he can manage to go quite awhile before seeing a third shield drop, as his socketed targe is giving him 33 resist all at the moment. Saved skill points will probably all be spent in Act V, allowing more S/U items to drop and more random points to fall wherever. I'll need to use them at that point anyway, as the respec will happen after the Cow Level.

Next up will be Arlana the Assassin!
 
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