Alpha Centauri 2

Other Games => Other Games => Topic started by: Unorthodox on December 01, 2020, 01:53:43 PM

Title: Project Diablo II
Post by: Unorthodox on December 01, 2020, 01:53:43 PM

If you've known me long enough, you know I was a diablo II person long before I was a civilization person. 

I don't know why THIS mod is getting the press when there are others of comparable size/ambition out there. 

So, I returned after 2-3 years to diablo II again. 

The best thing about this mod is the attention and decent player base size. 

For those unfamiliar, I'm strictly a hardcore player (death is permanent) 

Quick thoughts on the changes after playing most: 

Necromancer summons are STUPIDLY overpowered now.  My skellies tanked diablo.  Just ate his lightning and asked for thirds.  The new skill that creates corpses is a godsend to skelly builds as well to get you rolling out the gate. Multi-golems are equally powerful, but a fun mechanic.  I'm not a fan of the changes to curses. 

Amazon:  Mostly seems to be nerfed.  Javelins got nerfed, but still work ok.  Oddly, the poison changes actually HURT poison more than help.  Nothing stands out on the bow side any longer, perhaps just needs perfect equipment.  Oh, look, Valks are viable (summons again...) 

Barbarian:  Of all the melee classes, he's been the most fun.  Changes are all pretty behind the scenes, but given a way to deal with physical immunities and overall changes to how melee work go well with him.  Still underpowered compared to ranged characters due to other changes the mod makes, but fun. 

Paladin:  Caveat, I've never been a fan.  Oddly holy bolt seems to take the cake here for me.  given pierce and capable of decent damage, he can be a right caster.  Melee side, I don't agree with the offensive aura changes, and just feels a little fragile. 

Sorc:  Lightning got hit hard with complete nerfs to teleport and static field.  Fire saw huge changes to the whole tree, with new Hydras, meteor mechanics, and 'combustion', a new fireball-nova skill.  Definitely feels overpowered when you don't run into immunes (of which there are plenty)  I haven't tried Ice yet. 

Druid:  Summons are completely overpowered, and it's even viable to just stay completely in the summon tree.  haven't tried the caster or shapeshift trees. 

Assassin: just starting, will leave notice, but some of the changes in traps looked good on paper, aren't really panning out as well as hoped in practice. 

Title: Re: Project Diablo II
Post by: Unorthodox on December 03, 2020, 04:12:03 PM

Assassin update: 

To be honest, my points are all over the place and I haven't really gotten into a 'build' per se, just trying out various things that had changed. 

And Blade Fury is ludicrously overpowered at low levels.  It now has a 100% pierce all the time, from it's first point.  This means you can easily outclass an amazon starting at level 18.  As with all changed they've done, they were eyeing lvl 60-100 content, not 1-60, so it'll even out later, but this is clearly a leveling tool now that you can reclass out of later if desired.  (reclassing your stats skills as an additional reward to den of evil has been a mod staple so long I honestly don't remember if it's in the latest vanilla patches)

Doesn't look like any of it's buggyness has been corrected, so it still only looks at the right hand claw, and still procs almost everything, but acts weird with claw mastery and is based on attack speed despite being a spell.  As such, with crushflange in tow, my assassin is absolutely destroying bosses with this ninja star machine gun of a skill now.   

Since there's no penalty to 2 handed weapons on it anymore, I think it's entirely plausible a big ass maul using build with enough burst of speed and blade fury is entirely viable end game.  Maybe toss on a goblin toe and some chance to freeze items somewhere...

Title: Re: Project Diablo II
Post by: Unorthodox on December 07, 2020, 07:19:20 PM

Assassin update 2:

I ended up respecing into blade fury for giggles.  Running with a sword/shield as claw mastery isn't calculating the AR boost into blade fury like it should. 

Presently MFing/leveling around nightmare, and I find it just as survivable as a druid/necro summon build but ever more entertaining as you actually need to do more than walk into the area. 

Burst of speed for most, fade when I need a resist boost. 

Title: Re: Project Diablo II
Post by: Unorthodox on December 09, 2020, 01:17:55 AM

Blade comparison at 60. 

Blade Fury is able to hold it's own up against an Amazon pretty well in nightmare.

VS Javazon, it is NOTABLY squishier, and struggles with kill speed in some areas, but has an easier time in others (notably bosses).  With resistance and speed baked into the build via skill points, it also has an easier time fitting MF gear on. 

Vs Bowazon, it is rather more hardy, but suffers some kill speed for easier magic find. 

Vs standard fire trapasin, it is notably slower killing, but also not as tied to specific areas where you know you won't run into fire immunes. 

Title: Re: Project Diablo II
Post by: Unorthodox on December 11, 2020, 09:29:51 PM

After playing all classes up to 60 (some beyond, again hardcore, and if you care about it, Iron man style (no shops or twinking, just what I find) for each)

Recommended builds for fresh characters:

Amazon:  Bows and more bows.  With the changes to fire and cold arrow, just pick one of those or multi shot to dump points into, get a decent bow and roll.  Stay back, stay safe, grab an act 2 or 5 merc to tank for you.  After lvl 30 you can respec to javazon if you want, but it SUCKS to level as one before that. 

Assassin:  Fire trapper.  Ignore the changes to fire bomb, and don't go crazy with death sentry, it doesn't scale that great, just the two fire staples and enough lightning to deal with immunes.  Very little gear dependency, look for some mana per kill.  Act 2 or 5 merc to tank. 

Barbarian:  Frenzy/double swing/double throw your way to 60.  Perhaps the most gear dependent class on this list, but that's the class in general.  I like the act 1 cold merc changes as she gets meditation at 24 so you no longer need to look for mana leech items.  craft yourself some blood ones instead.  (yes, I know singing barb is a thing,  but it really requires some pretty specific gear) 

Druid:  Summoner all the way.  Whether you want to stick to ravens for extra damage or pick an elemental skill of your choice is up to you, the important part is the wolves/bears.  Act 2 thorns merc can be nice, but the act 3 ice merc gets prayer in this mod as well, so can be an option adding some good freezing to your team.  As a merc that can use a shield, opens some avenues to exploit equipment as well.  Act 1 cold merc gets meditation if you go for some elemental spamming on the side.  respec to other builds when you get equipment if you want. 

Necromancer:  Skeleton warrior all the way, just mixing in others as you desire.  Forget skeleton mastery till way later.  After normal, you can respec into golems for a bit of a different feel.  Other builds need specialized equipment.  Thorns merc seems the most logical. 

Paladin:  Holy bolt is a wonderful leveling skill now and really only needs +skills equipment.  You can respec into a melee class later.  Merc of your choice, you might need a tank if you go pure caster, or pick act 1 cold for meditation if you choose to add some tankiness yourself. 

Sorceress:  BURN IT.  Lesser Hydra at lvl 12 is just too good to pass up for easy peasy leveling.  You'll need to deal with a few fire immunes though.  If you find some good gear, melee sorceress is surprisingly viable and a fun change of pace with both fire and ice enchants, add a little static field and bonk some heads. 

Title: Re: Project Diablo II
Post by: Blake00 on December 20, 2020, 06:20:27 AM

Loved Diablo 2 back in the day.

Can you post some links, pics, trailers for this project?