Diablo II

[Papewaio]

cool... ready to roll

[Crandaeolon]

Game is up.

[Papewaio]

No game mtw/org... then game is full????

[Ser Clegane]

If a game will be running after 6 pm CET I would be interested to join in (preferrably as Paladin but other characters would be fine two)

Otherwise I might start a game on the Europe server this evening and will then post the details here.

[The_Emperor]

I normally play around 7pm (BST) on the Europe realm (with expansion). My account name is IIRC The_Emperor_101

Though I am still uncertain as to what character type to build as yet... Any ideas?

[Papewaio]

HC... playing around with the auras... holy fire doesn't help the rest of the guys so not much use...

Had fun, but at 11th level my Paladin just died... thankfully it was an experimental version... would love to play with a larger group of Paladins... the auras would really compound then.

[Crandaeolon]

Oh well, Sir Goldhaft met an untimely demise at the hands of a skeleton archer miniboss. (Read from bottom to top)



This time, however, his deeds of valor will be remembered by Sir Percivilis, who also avenged his comrade by destroying the vile skeleton in a mighty battle.

Percy will continue his journeys, destined to become a well-built Hammerdin/Charger hybrid should higher powers allow it.

It would indeed be nice to start from scratch with a larger group, but I don't think we'll ever get more than a few people online at the same time. IMO we should get together when we can and play perhaps several characters so that we have a char close to the current group's level.

For example, Percy is now around level 10. Should a group decide to play tonight, I won't be able to join due to RL issues. The group may get a couple of hours of playing time, perhaps even completing Act 1 and advancing to around lvl 14-15. I could then join the group tomorrow with Percy, so that everyone doesn't need to start from scratch. Percy would be a few levels behind, but that doesn't matter all that much; the group could help him thru the catacombs to get Percy into Act 2, where he could just play normally and the levels would eventually even out.

I'd like to suggest a few conventions to make things more steamlined (very much open to debate, of course):

- we decide a common Realm (Europe?)

- we'd play the Expansion: 1.10 is quite well balanced and interesting; also allows the Druid, who is an excellent party class due to Oak Sage and minions. For those who don't have the expansion, it should be dirt-cheap (~5 euros) by now.

- we'd play Hardcore: HC forces methodical play in PvM and we probably won't want to duel between ourselves; Player Killers will not be a problem if we play in passworded games; and, because we start from scratch, character death doesn't matter much. And, we could (and should) loot each other if we happen to croak and have some nice equipment.

- we'd play Ladder: this is simply because everyone else plays ladder. Doesn't matter much, though, since we'd start from scratch and the economy would be closed anyway.

- we'd create new characters for this, with clean equipment (only found in-game or traded from other members of the group.) It'd really ruin a low-level game to wear a Sigon's set...

- we should tag each other with the /f command to see if others are online at the moment. Makes it easy to get in touch. This would also lessen the need to visit this thread to see if others are playing at the moment.

[Ser Clegane]

- we should tag each other with the /f command to see if others are online at the moment. Makes it easy to get in touch. This would also lessen the need to visit this thread to see if others are playing at the moment.

Sounds all very good Crandaeolon!

How do you to this tagging (and what is the effect?)

[The_Emperor]

Well I'd rather not do hardcore... My characters tend to die at the wrong times, such as bad bosses and I don't like to lose them.

Anyway I am going to start up a MA Assassin. I hear they rock.

[Crandaeolon]

Now some thoughts on the different classes. Please add your own as well!

The Paladin is always a strong choice. He has a plenty of useful auras for parties, for example Might and Defiance combined are fine for low-level play, later on Concentration, Fanaticism and Conviction are great offensive auras. Vigor, Meditation and Salvation are always useful. The pala could even spread skill points rather wide and still stay viable for casual play. Paladins are only mediocre combat characters, though, especially early on.

The Druid has Oak Sage, which boosts the hitpoints of nearby characters, and a variety of minions to provide tanking support. A strong emphasis on an elemental skill or two could provide good artillery power later on. A druid focusing on shapeshifting is a great tank. In general, the Druid is a relatively safe class to play with.

The Necro is a great party character because of his curses and minions. Amplify damage is a fine all-purpose curse, available right from the beginning to boot. Dim Vision and Attract are good at crowd control and Decrepify is indispensable against strong monsters like bosses. However, too many minions can result in performance problems on slow computers, so the necro shouldn't go overboard with them. The summoning Necro is probably the safest character to play HC with.

The Barbarian is another strong contender for co-op play with his Warcries. Although his ultimate party skill, Battle Orders, is available only at lvl 24, Shout (lvl 6) could be used early on. Of course, the Barb is an extremely strong tank, which is useful to the party in itself. A throw barb, focusing in Double Throw, is a pretty safe class to play, but accidents do sometimes happen to melee barbs.

The Assassin makes a surprisingly good party member with her stealth skills and traps. Cloak of Shadows (lvl 12) blinds surrounding monsters and lowers their defense, and the various traps can provide good artillery support. Later on, Mind Blast is great for crowd control. Her primary minion (Shadow Master) is probably the best summonable in the game, but available late at lvl 30. A Trapper assassin is a safe class to play, but a Martial Artist can be quite fragile and requires a fast ping and nimble fingers.

The Sorceress does not have many skills that directly benefit party members, Enchant (lvl 18) being the only one that comes to mind. Later on the Sorc has so formidable attack spells that the party benefits from her sheer killing power, but the sorc is not a good class for low-level cooperative play. Sorcs are also rather fragile.

The Amazon is arguably the weakest class for party play. She does have a strong minion, the Valkyrie, but it's available only at lvl 30. Inner Sight is available at 1st level and is slightly useful by lowering enemy defense, but if there is a Necro in the party, the enemies probably have a curse on them that Inner Sight would negate. Like Sorceresses, Amazons can be fragile; they are also very weapon-dependant.

[Crandaeolon]

>> How do you to this tagging (and what is the effect?)

It's a friend list thingie. You type /f add (accountname) to put someone into your friend list. For example, /f add Crandaeolon would put me to the list.

You're then notified whenever I log onto Battlenet and whenever I create/join/leave any games.

You can also type /f list to see a status report on all your friends.

Once you see that someone is online, typing /w *(accountname) would send that someone a private message (it works whether the person is in chat or in game)

/reply allows you to reply to a private message without writing the whole username.

/f msg will send a message to everyone on your list.

All these commands can be found under the in-game help button, though ya might need to join a chat channel first.

Creating a private channel is simple: just click the "Channel" button and type anything in the box.