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Quote from Kickin_It

Put a point in Battle Command - you'll only want to put 1 point there ever - and then when you're buffing, use that first to give a skill bonus to BO/Shout. Otherwise, you're looking good, but make sure to pick up a point in Berserk by the time you hit Hell, since you'll start seeing some Physical immunes then.

Agreed.

Also once you decide whether you want to use axes or swords put at least 1 (or more) points into the appropriate weapon mastery.

On a side note, I use berserk or double swing on left click and frenzy on right. If you right click on empty space with frenzy and hold down the button you can just move the mouse around to direct him and he attacks automatically. Less clicking that way. But whatever works best for you, there isn't one right way to do it.

Quote from Norreck

lol, I think I'd rather invest into revives > mages now. After doing runs, those damn mages keep blocking up the pathway for all my other minions to break through and smash up the stationary mobs firing at my troops and I =(.

Agreed, the mages tend to block the small pathways. Revives can be pretty nice to have even if they don't last very long. I usually put a few points in them and not the mages.

I also agree that it's not worth it to go for max block. The necro block speed is pretty slow and you can always recast a golem right next to you to take any hits, unless you are using an Iron golem you don't want to lose. I use my clay golem as a personal body guard 'no pictures please'

So what happened to 'chance to hit' Is this purely level/weapon based now??

Quote from Vaqxine

@Asyn Sorry, I'm really new to the game. What's a runeword o.o Is it a bunch of Runes stringed together to make armor/weapons? Or do you add them to armor/weapons o.o I'll start saving my rubies (If i am lucky enough for them to drop...) and spare junk jewels. Also for the gloves and boots, are the names Magic Gloves/Magic Belt or is that the kind of description you get underneath the name of the belt. Sorry just trying to understand :x. Is any merc from Act2 Offensive? I'm using a Cold merc from Normal act 3 just for the frozen attack he does

Also what is Plugy. Sorry for so many questions, but I appreciate the help guys

Yeah that's basically what a runeword is, a set of runes placed into an armor or weapon in a specific order. Check out the Wiki for some examples.

As for the crafting, the names won't say "magic gloves" or "magic belt" it will be the names of the items in blue like: Vampirebone Gloves or Mithril Coil before you identify it. It doesn't matter what the prefix or suffix is, just put the item, p-ruby, jewel and the appropriate rune in the cube and go.

Act 2 Mercenaries come in 3 flavors, Defensive, Offensive and Combat which is stated in the description. The Hell and Normal versions provide the same auras while the nightmare one is different. Full description here: http://www.diablowiki.com/Hirelings_(Diablo_II)

Happy to help.

*edit - just realized hans already answered...

Gear
As far as gear goes, the most popular rune words for a frenzy barb will be impossible to make (EBOTD, Death) on single player. I would recommend going with as much life leach gear as possible. You can easily craft some of it using the blood recipes: Blood recipes

So save any rubies you find and cube them up to a perfect ruby and save all the junk jewels you can find. If you are lucky you may even make an ammy with +barb skills. Also look for a Magic Heavy Gloves/Sharkskin Gloves/Vampirebone Gloves to craft some gloves with life leach and crushing blow. Do the same for a belt with a Magic Belt/Mesh Belt/Mithril Coil and you will be much better off. Of course it is possible to find uniques with LL that are better than anything you can craft but it's not very likely on SP.

Stats
If you decide to put a lot of points into battle orders you can get away with putting less points into your health and more into your strength or dex. In the end you will probably want to have ~2500 life (after BO) depending on your gear and how high you get your life leach. Put at least one in battle command and use it before battle orders.

Other
Pick up a Act2 offensive merc from Nightmare. This will give you the might aura which increases your damage pretty significantly. Alternatively if you are dieing a lot get a defensive merc from normal or hell for the defiance aura. Put any unused LL gear on him to keep him alive.

I would be in favor of it if it is done right. "Skeleton archers have a 10% increased chance of dropping a bow". Maybe even tie it in to the achievements somehow.
This way if you are looking for a bow or another class of item you have some idea of where to look. Elite and rare items should still all be random.

Quote from Sixen

Basically, we have a brand new, shinier, awesomer BlizzTracker coming Soon(TM).

Just noticed that the Blizz tracker no longer has multiple posts.

Thanks to whoever fixed it.

Congratzz!

I've only done it once but it was before synergies and immunes so that hardly counts.

Any idea of how long it took you?

I read or check it all day long from wherever I am.

If I'm posting, I'm usually at work where I can get paid to do it.

I just started on the new ladder. Feel free to add me 'Billtar'.
I'm usually on at least a few times a week.

Quote from ScyberDragon

Zelda on Wii was pretty fun swing the wii-mote around. Sometimes I would even get lucky and kill some guys will itching my nose :P.

I will definitely prefer playing it on the comp though. I know the technology has changed but I played D1 on both PC and Playstation and the game just feels better on a PC.

Yeah, Zelda is a fun game. D2 would have to be changed from a point-click movement style to a joystick movement for it to be doable on the wii. It would be great if they incorporated the wii motion sensing for attacks, but I can see how that would get tiring after your 50,000 kill of the day. If there is a way to make it work, I'm sure Blizzard will find it.

Quote from isobar

Here's my idea for set items.

Why not have set items be completely random with the exception of what the set bonuses are?

This would make every set item you find worthwhile, and make it worth having the full set as well. So basically they would be like random magic/rare items stat wise, but with set item bonuses. Also maybe make them have 1 or 2 stats that always stay the same. Also to go along with your idea of making different tier items if found on harder difficulties.

A few examples

"Merlin's Ring"
+100-150 mana
+10-20 Intelligence
+random stat (If found on normal)
+random stat (If found on nightmare)
+random stat (IF found on hell)

...

I like this idea. This way you don't have to find new ones for the complete set bonus, but if you do then it's all the better.

I had another idea that might help with set drop rates. If you are wearing one set item your chances of finding another item from that set increases (either the same upgraded piece or another one) by some marginal value, maybe 15%. This will help with completing a lower full set earlier while it is still useful.

Quote from carambolage de charogne

i dont mind the bots that do baal runs and chaos runs. but if you do you could always make a bot-hunter character, usually a windie or something good vs. hdins.

the bots that annoy me are the spammers, and since they never set foot out of town they cant be pk'd

That's exactly what I was thinking. The Baal run and Chaos bots are actually kind of useful for the boring grinds. It's the spammers that need to die.

Could there be a way to force others to time out earlier or automatically squelch them?

Quote from Jackzor

I know that, but I'm just saying that the icons look how the actual armor looks on the character. Like I know he'd have plate armor, but I thought it would be more like with the wizard where its mostly robe but then plate legs and arms. But that icon looks like just a kinda beefy plate chest, which doesn't go with the orange robe look we've seen up until now.

Yeah, I thought he would be light on the armor, but I guess it makes sense that it would look like that. We can't have only 1 heavily armored hero. I thought maybe the wizard would be the other one to have the heavy gear, but now that you pointed that out, I'm thinking maybe it's the monk.

BARBAR!

I was thinking I might make a barbar meat shield first before this. Now I definitely want to. I particularly like his metal loin cloth shield. I wonder if it has a block rate.

The WD is a little more colorful than I expected it to be, but I think it's good to have some variety, something for everyone.