smashing videogame cliche left and right

[spatch]

You know, I've played Diablo 2 off and on since, oh, 2000. Each time I take at least one character through the game in both Normal and Nightmare mode. Sometimes two, if I'm infatuated with the game long enough. If I'm not playing with friends I already know, I play solo. I venture into Hell when I'm good and ready but honestly, after the resist-fest that is nightmare, I don't get very far.

But in all that time, I don't think I've ever seen a single solitary Stone of Jordan drop or show up in a gamble.

So much for "u giev soj", eh.

Comments

[spatch]

I admit my patchwork strategy in the past has been level up what you feel you lacked the most in the previous level. Kept running out of mana? By all means, pump that up now that you've got the chance. Got something with a STR/DEX requirement in your stash? Work for it!

After playing enough Assassin, Barbarian and Druid, I know which skills I want to focus on with them, and which I can just put one point in to get it out of the way and open up the next tier. Oh how I loves me my kicking assassin.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

Wooo. I never had much luck with kicking assassins. Their defense is crappy, and they have to be close to whatever they're fighting. I've heard of some fantastic damage being done with boots, though.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

Oh, and: for stuff like mana, it is so worth it to load up your armor and weapons with skulls, so that it regenerates and/or replenishes when you hit stuff. 'Splodeymancer was starting to forget what the little blue bottles tasted like.

[spatch]

That's part of what makes the kicky assassin so nice. With three buildup orbs of the right type and a kick, you can make up a lot of lost mana. I got very good at getting into a three left-click, one right-click rhythm.

My noobler barb on USEast right now ran into a "+1 to mana after every kill" axe on the way to the Forgotten Tower in Act 1. As Double Strike takes 1 mana and he has the opportunity to hit two targets in one swing, he's replenishing himself with the little one-shot critters as he goes along. Sure, it's Act 1 Normal, but for now, the game is Bery Bery Good to him.