Starting out on SP from anew, need a few questions answered

[krischan]

I'm playing with the thought of playing SP until D3 offers new challenges for me again. My plan is to install LoD games at patch levels 1.07, 1.09 and the latest, to hoard uniques and set items. I'm probably not going to start any trading, but I may change my opinion later, so I want to stay in line with the rules in these forums. Here are my questions:

Is it frowned on to use several patch levels at the same time?

I'm doing 1.07 in order to find a few awesome items of that patch level, like maxdmg GCs. Is that legit here? If yes, how to find them? What else to look for in 1.07 and what's the best strategy? Which character build to use? I'm not going to to do anything which is more boring than Pindle (like chest opening marathons), so if you think it's not worth doing, please tell me.

1.08 isn't worth installing for MF, correct? I'm not going to look for 1.08 uniques, except they are better than what can be found at the latest patch level.

1.09 may be worth installing, but I guess it's only for Pindle and cows. Are there other resons?

Which mods are available for which patch level, where can I find them? Are there any which emulate the dclone or ÃœT or whatever may bring you an anni or torch? Of course, only tnose mods are acceptable which are in line with the rules here.

I heard the /players command can be set as high as 64 for older patch levels. Which ones?

What's better to be used for muling at different patch levels at the same time, ATMA or GoMule? A already installed ATMA, but it's not set up to work with the latest patch. I assume the sticky in this forum will answer that question.

I probably know enough about 1.09 and beyond, but feel free to point out a few things which an ex-bnet player may not know.

My questions have probably been asked before, but I'm too lazy to search for them :smug:. If a link provide the answers, please post them. Thanks! In the meantime, I will start a sorc at the latest patch level.

 

[Fabian]

Frowned upon, nope.

Finding maxdmg charms is definitely legit. Good ways to have lots of GCs drop would be Hell LK or Hell Travincal, or basically just playing normally. Character to use, Frozen Orb/Static Field sorc for 1.07.

1.08 isn't really worth it, no (short answer anyway).

1.09 isn't really worth it if your goal is to find cool stuff to use for 1.13 characters. The only special thing about 1.09 items is that SCs spawn with 5FRW instead of 3, which is kinda insignificant unless you're hellbent on optimizing a pvp zon or something.

There aren't any mods used for pre 1.13 patches, with the exception of modified d2gfx.dll files which allow you to run multiple instances (which is good as you can self MP in 1.07 for instance, where the /players command doesn't exist). It's in mattinm's trenshadow folders (link).

1.09b has players64. It's pretty much not worth using.

There is no uber tristram type mod allowed on this forum.

GoMule only works for 1.13 unfortunately. ATMA V works for all 1.07+ patches except for 1.10a, which ATMA IV works for. I'd recommend using GoMule for 1.13 and ATMA for anything else.

 

[pharphis]

woohoo!

Okay, in 1.07 it's almost entirely rack-running for the crazy good items. Racks are more stable in 1.07, however, and most of the items you would want can be found in LK racks. Runes drop less (I mean even the lower runes) as well as jewels (though maybe just the rares).
Somethings can be found by bosses, via mf breakpoints, however. . .
Check out Repusz's guide for a start on 1.07 information.

I don't know much about 1.08, except that it's similar to 1.07.

No acceptable mods here that emulate the ubers and Dclone.

ATMA is best for time travelled things, as gomule doesn't work with older(est?) patches.

I BELIEVE /p64 is in 1.09b specifically. There are soem key differences between that and 1.09d, and RobbyD outlines some of them in the time traveler's guide. That's in the stickies somewhere.

In 1.07, cold sorc is a common start char, as cold mastery ignores immunities for you, and you can max static, frozen orb, and whatever else you want (energy shield maybe?) since there are no synergies. No /p command in 1.07

Edit: There are 1.10(a?) beta runewords which you may not know about. They are some serious OP things.

 

[Pyrotechnician1]

The European trade moderator is going to the dark side? Surprising! As everyone always says, check the stickies for rules and guides, all kinds of good things there.

You can play as many different patches at you want and run them as much as you want. Thing to note though is that items can only be brought forward, they cannot be brought backward. So items found in 1.07 etc. can be brought to 1.13 but items from 1.13 can not be brought back to 1.07. Once they are moved forward they cannot be brought back again.

The most popular build for item hoarding/finding in 1.07 is a Frozen Orb/Static Sorc. Cold mastery can break cold immunities in 1.07 and static is not limited in nm/hell mode so you can bring any enemy down to a sliver with it. Its also the only class with teleport so that is convienent. Finding the good uniques in 1.07 is difficult unless you are going to do rack running, so if your not into chest running this may not be for you, but the findable charms are still massively overpowered. There are multiple guides around here regarding the patch in general and crafting so just have to do a search for them.

MF is broken in 1.08, there are a few specific things that are better here but they are few and far between in comparison to 1.07, if I remember correctly some crafting recipes in 1.08 are better and rare jewels can be amazing.

1.09 is all about the cows as its the last patch before the massive cow nerf and the introduction of today's runewords. I believe pindle is popular due him being one of the few people that can drop the high level elites (i.e. windforce) in that patch.

There is a mod that will enable the ubers, but it is not permitted on this forum, obviously you can do whatever you want with your own computer but you wont be allowed to trade or mp with the others here if you have it installed. There are no mods that enable dclone as far as I'm aware. Therefore there are no annis/torches on singleplayer.

Players 64 was possible in 1.09. You can do it but at a certain point the return in drops/exp in comparison to monster health/damage isn't really worth it in most cases.

If your going to be using time travel in older patches you will be forced into using atma. Go mule does not work for older patches even though I feel it works better for 1.13. Just something to note though that if you use runewords in 1.07 they will most likely crash Atma and corrupt your character.

 

[Cyrax1]

Lot's of stuff already answered. Some things that haven't been mentioned yet:

1.09 is used mostly for lvling and/or runefinding (can't remember if it's one, the other or both) to create the 1.10a/s (?) runewords.

People that timetravel often like forwarding a ravenclaw (from 1.07 and i think from 1.09 works too) because of a bug that gives it lvl 30 exploding arrows. Makes for gg early lvling in later patches.

If you prefer using ATMA (like me) don't forget to patch it up so it works with essences. If you don't implement that fix, ATMA will crash upon opening a character with an essence on it.

Also you may want to check out the RWM in the stickies. It gives lots of battlenet only RW's that normally can't be gotten in single player (this is a forum accepted mod).

 

[krischan]

Thanks for the quick answers! So it's just the latest patch plus RWM, I'm not going to open chests endlessly in 1.07 for those GCs and it's not worth doing anything but chests for them, correct?

I'm used to ATMA, but I guess I will try GoMule. It has a drop chance calculator as well, right?

I'm not using a hacked d2gfx.dll, that's unnecessary IMO since we are beyond Win98. Starting my second license via Sandboxie and perhaps my third via VirtualPC (like I did when playing on bnet) is just as comfortable. I won't need it anyway because I woukd need it for muling only and I can use GoMule for that.

 

[Pyrotechnician1]

You don't have to run chests to get charms in 1.07 as far as I'm aware, but it of course would be faster.

Go mule does have a built in drop calculator.

The modified d2gfx is normally used as an easy way to simulate multiple players in a game since there is no playersX command in the older patches and its just more convienet. Sandbox works just as well of course, but since your not on the realms you don't need more than one license. The only other use is for easy self mping to bring in a buffer (Warcries from barb, chant from sorc) or to self rush.

 

[krischan]

Well, technically it's violating the EULA to use a single license more than once at a time and also to use a modified dll. I'm not going to to lecture anybody about that, that would be hypocritic, but I have 3 licenses anyway, so I have no reason to do that .

 

[FredOfErik]

Welcome to the cool part

What are your plans? HC or SC?

Just throwing this in here:
WoRG's 1.07 crafting guide
WoRG's 99er - nice example of how one should use those juicy crafts

 

[krischan]

I'm too reckless for HC

 

[pharphis]

I'm too reckless for SC

FTFY.

Well, you gotta try some tournaments or something sometime
HC will become less scary.

 

[nulio]

Just to correct some minor stuff. ATMA V works for every 1.07+ version except both 1.10a and 1.10s.

For 1.10a there is no mulling utility, for 1.10s ATMA IV is used. If you play 1.10a and want to move stuff to 1.10s you need to use ATMA ATS to convert items between these two versions or you will lose everything.

(I'll probably be ninja'd after I end this post lol)


I'll share what I did in my time travelling and my current goals, maybe it can help you deciding.

1.06b:
So seriously fun! I'm back at this patch. Had a hdin but got sick of it fast but now I'm leveling a sorc. Why is it so fun? No time delay in any skill!!! Yes we won't mana after some seconds but it's just so awesome, I have to post some videos of my ~30sec hydras casted "dozen at a time". FO/Blizzard/Meteor spamming are also awesome (I'll still have to try it but I saw scrcrw doing it). What to look on this patch? Gambling. Nice odds for SoJ (great to use in 1.07+) and the mirage of getting some sexy sexy rare boots, just imagine 30frw 20fhr 49lr 49fr 49pr 19str boots? Well that's my impossible goal. More info on 1.06: http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?745320-A-Guide-to-Classic-(1-06b) The bad: no mulling utility and crappy gear overall.

1.07:
I was lucky and was rushed/semi-rushed and was gifted some gear, so in a short time I was able to be somewhat efficient. My main character was a FO/SF sorc (max FO, max CM, then maxed static and warmth, max teleport in the end - BUT if I knew I'd get so many levels with her and such great gear I would go with something like, max FO, max CM, 1 warmth, 1 teleport, max 2nd skill (either a good cold "one target" spell or a second element skill) max 2nd mastery (if applied), 1+ SF), she rushed many many characters for HF collecting in 1.10a, some other chars for me and helped other players get rushed, she levelled mostly in cows where I also leveled other characters. Now she looks for some specific racks and grinds LK just for that once in a while.

Then I got sick of cows and FO and just starting using one barb I had leeched XP in cows and started WW traving with him, with was slow at first but then I got addicted (the amazing drops helped a lot) and he his now 97 and gave me so many nice stuff - runes and charms (and some sexy hat for fabian ), I can't stress enough how awesome travincal is, from my experience they drop more charms/minute than cows (even if this isn't right, I'm not able to do much more cowing and I like traving anyway) and since 1.07 has less affixes, chances for skillers are better than 1.13 (and since some council members are mlvl 93, we can hope for some nice high vita suffix - and I was very lucky in this field), and the awesome max dmg, min dmg, resists charms really rock (up to 20@ or 36 single res or 11min dmg or 20max dmg prefixes and 20max dmg or 40/45 life GCs - SCs are somewhat equivalent). The runes are not that abundant but they can be used in 1.10s runewords. Then I started traving with a pally (I want to level him without (ab)using high players 1.07/9 cows - because some PvPers would be mad if I got a 99er with just a very small fraction of what most had to do to get high level duelers, and I understand. Drops with him aren't as good as with the barb but it's 2 in 1 for me.

Resuming, if you manage to get nice gear 1.07 can net you a nice rate of goodies per time imo. If you don't want to invest much in 1.07 you can also hope nice stuff anyway. High MPK+FCR rings, lucky charms drop, "quick" 1.07 uniques/sets/eth bases racking and a very fun experience.

1.08:
Most uniques look like 1.07 with some exceptions. I ran Andy until I got a 1.08 HLW (30frw instead of 20ias) it was boring and considering what I gain from that amulet maybe I should have used that time for mooooar 1.07.
Racking uniques is faster (1/800 odds instead of 1/1000 in 1.07), it has some nice crafting formulas (if you start crafting a lot in 1.07 you should also try some 1.08 crafts), 5frw small charms (like 1.09) and sick rare jools -> http://www.purediablo.com/forums/sh...-Jewels-of-Power-from-the-Ancient-Past-(1-08)

1.09:
Didn't played it much, personally since my goal is getting great gear for PvP, 1.07 offers much more.

1.10a:
Getting beta BKWB, nothing more. I'll probably will never try farming it since I got two rings in a trade. I doubt I can ran Andy after what happened in 1.08. If you try it, no mulling utility will suck but those rings are great if you like to perfect your gear. I use it to HF collect since my collector could one day be used to farm the rings (but I doubt it).

1.10s
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Making beta runewords.

1.13d
Meeeeeh

 

[zaphodbrx]

Small correction:

1.13d: Teh awesome!

everything else: whocares

 

[Twibz]

Agree with Zaph

And welcome Krischan! Never thought i would see the day you are on the SPF, finally we may rejoice!

 

[Pyrotechnician1]

Well, technically it's violating the EULA to use a single license more than once at a time and also to use a modified dll. I'm not going to to lecture anybody about that, that would be hypocritic, but I have 3 licenses anyway, so I have no reason to do that .

Says the man asking about mods

 

[Kestegs]

Woot! Green power!

 

[pharaoh1]

1.09 isn't really worth it if your goal is to find cool stuff to use for 1.13 characters. The only special thing about 1.09 items is that SCs spawn with 5FRW instead of 3, which is kinda insignificant unless you're hellbent on optimizing a pvp zon or something.

There is also Ravenclaw (level 30 Exploding Arrows) and Witherstring (level 35 Magic Arrows). Ravenclaw is obviously a nice twinking weapon, but Witherstring is a nice item too. The flat +damage from Magic Arrow applies in the same manner as +min/+max damage, though it doesn't show up on the character screen. This means that when using normal attack, you get +36 min (+1 from mod on bow, +35 from MA) and +38 max (+3/+35), which then gets multiplied by any off-weapon %ED (dex, gear, auras, etc)- all without needing arrows. It's an excellent bow, and worth looking for.

GoMule only works for 1.13 unfortunately. ATMA V works for all 1.07+ patches except for 1.10a, which ATMA IV works for. I'd recommend using GoMule for 1.13 and ATMA for anything else.

Doesn't GoMule work for any version from 1.10final and up, since the character save formats are identical?

For 1.10a there is no mulling utility, for 1.10s ATMA IV is used. If you play 1.10a and want to move stuff to 1.10s you need to use ATMA ATS to convert items between these two versions or you will lose everything.

Can't you also patch your game up to v1.10s, and then open the character in it? D2 should automagically update the items then.

 

[nulio]

Can't you also patch your game up to v1.10s, and then open the character in it? D2 should automagically update the items then.

Nope, it doesn't work. I lost a whole character and some runes that way. (if patching the game produces the same result - I would say that it does - as moving a 1.10a character from from 1.10a save folder to 1.10s save folder and open it with 1.10s)

 

[Fabian]

pharaoh,

Ravenclaw is not 1.09 specific, it's something to look for when you play 1.07 (the patch with the most worthwhile time travelling things; 1.09 might be the patch with the fewest worthwhile things probably). I've never heard of that other bow, can't comment on it.

I'm sure it's true GoMule works for any 1.10final+ version, but there's no reason to be playing anything later than 1.10s except for 1.13d so it's kinda moot.

 

[krischan]

Well, don't expect any in-game social interaction from me, I'm too self-absorbed and autistic for playing in a party .

Besides, I decided to use ATMA. It tried GoMule, but muling is too awkward with it IMO while ATMA allows drag and drop. I cannot find Gomule's drop calculator as well, but I admit that I haven't read the docs thoroughly.

I reinstalled ATMA for 1.3, but when checking the drop calculator, it doesn't mention torches and keys in the item list. Is that normal? I haven't checked the drops of the key droppers so far, however.

Says the man asking about mods

Using a game copies twice at the same time is a different thing than adding a few files to an installation, but as said, I'm not going to lecture others about these issues. When I was 20, my attitude towards using illegal software copies wasn't entirely flawless as well :whistling:. That was 25 years ago BTW, so it has become time-barred long ago :badteeth:.