I'm New Here

[EnkerZan]

OK, something really bad happened today. After I got done farming mats for crafting with my Barbarian, I exited the game and shut my PC off for a while. When I came back and loaded the game back up on my Barb, my screen was spammed with "illegal items detected", and all of the gear on my Barb and both stashes were completely wiped. So i'm like "WTF just happened?!", so I go and load up my Warrior, same thing, everything is wiped. Logged into my Rogue, same thing, everything wiped.

Has anyone had this happen before?! Now I gotta start from scratch and reacquire my gear again.

[DacianDraco]

The game prevents cheating by deleting duplicate items and the key word in your story is "backup". And i believe today you had items both on shared stash and the backup character, or maybe items in stash and the same items had been disenchanted (and you have materials) with your characters and that's why they were deleted. Either way if you have your backup from before "illegal items detected" you can now copy it again over today's files (that you already got "illegal items detected" and items deleted) and have 1 copy of items.

[EnkerZan]

Actually no, I did no such thing. I have not tampered with my save files in any way shape or form. And even if I did, it wouldn't go and wipe all of the item codes throughout my entire save folder. It deleted everything, even my gold and potions in my belt, I had literally zero items when I turned the game back on.

Side question, how long does it take to get from 1-60 in level in this MOD? Let's say you are a pro player starting from scratch, how long would it take?

[EnkerZan]

Some bugs I found while I was playing before that incident:

1. After your first hero reads the special Golem and Elemental spellbooks in Horazon's Sanctum, other heroes can no longer learn the spell doing the same thing.

2. Mindcry staff's Elemental spell cannot be selected via hotkey.

3. Garbhad The Weak can be glitched out if you click on him too much.

4. Clicking on objects, or using Teleport at a distance farther than the default resolution can allow you to see will not comply.

5. The Butcher and Andariel is unfazed by firewall and can be cheesed if you run the game at the maximum zoom out scale.

More to come after I re-farm my gear thanks to some bizarre glitch in my save file.

[DacianDraco]

1. Not quite true, if you kill the Summoner first then "Horazon's Sanctum" quest ends, so reading the Tome of Knowledge does nothing, you have to read it first then kill the Summoner. I have written about this in the docs.

2. Goes for all Spells that you have not learned at least 1 level of, you can't hotkey them.

3. What do you mean by glitched?

4. For spells, it is clear they don't work outside of their range, cast a Fire Bolt for ex and you'll find out the max range, and some spells have a lesser range, Teleport is avout half that. As for objects i don't know, i feel the best resolution at which the game should be played is 1280x1024, and even so the horizontal range is a few squares over.

5. It is known, unless you step in the room he doesn't engage.

[EnkerZan]

1. Not quite true, if you kill the Summoner first then "Horazon's Sanctum" quest ends, so reading the Tome of Knowledge does nothing, you have to read it first then kill the Summoner. I have written about this in the docs.

I'm talking about the books on the first floor, not the final floor. My Barb gained the Golem spell by reading that book. The same goes for the creature of flame, after I killed it I gained the Elemental spell. Everyone else I did the same thing with, I did not learn the spell, and I did not have it before reading the books.

2. Goes for all Spells that you have not learned at least 1 level of, you can't hotkey them.

I didn't have Stone Curse, and it let me hotkey that.

3. What do you mean by glitched?

He will either freeze and become unclickable, or when he will display the "not yet" text speech and eventually start attacking before he even says it's too good for you if you keep clicking him.

Side question, how long does it take to get from 1-60 in level in this MOD? Let's say you are a pro player starting from scratch, how long would it take?

[DacianDraco]

1. I think it's best if you just read the quest in the docs, maybe i've explained it better there. BTW you never learn Elemental Spell by killing the Creature of Flame, i've tested each order of doing things to figure the quest out and only Golem can be learned if you follow the correct order.

2. Well, it can show as hotkeyed but it doesn't work on switching. Maybe you hotkeyed a Stone Curse scroll, that works, but unlearned spells never work with hotkeys even if it shows an F key bound to them.

3. Never happened to me before, i've even tested it now on normal 3 times and i couldn't reproduce a glitch.

As for leveling i don't really know, more than 1 month with at least 4h of playtime per day, but don't take my word for it, it's just a guestimate.

[EnkerZan]

I finally beat Diablo on Normal mode, that was a pain in the ass. I spent all day yesterday farming to get my gear back when that glitch happened, and I managed to get some better stuff than what I was wearing before.

So, my opinion on starting a fresh character from scratch:

It was pretty good, but there was some balance issues regarding elite mob affixes plus archer mobs, and the gear you can craft on normal mode is pure garbage. I tried my hand in crafting equipment, and I was getting items that gave only like +1-5 in a stat and some other low numbers for affixes. The crap I was getting at level 30 was stuff I would loot in the Catacombs, the values badly need to be revised for normal mode.

Archers are totally OP, even on normal. I couldn't believe how much damage I was taking considering how much defense I was packing. Goat archers were the WORST, constantly running and shooting for tons of damage. Currently I am running through nightmare mode, and these guys obliterate me in groups. They shouldn't be ripping someone apart with almost 300 armor, max resists, and 700 HP on Nightmare. So unless I am missing something here, they need to have their damage toned down.

Some of the elites I have been fighting are really cheap. I encountered a squad of Steel Lords that were immune to all elements, those guys would have murdered me if I played a spell caster... And the mobs that spew charged bolts when they take damage from any source, those guys are just stupid. I have a bunch of damage modifiers like fire hit etc, and it was spewing a charged bolt for each modifier, that is totally OP. You can't exactly kill something like that as a Barb at lower levels without drinking 25 potions and praying it dies before you run out. The nuclear mobs were also stupid powerful, I'm not sure how to even defend against this. Plus the enemy does not have a clear indication that they are nuclear for me to attempt and formulate a plan to get by them before it's too late. They need some sort of heat effect coming off of them or something to indicate they are daisy cutters.

[Ugily]

Yes, they are tough. That is the point. Sometimes, even a melee fighter will have to fall back and fight with a bow and spells. A golem will hold the enemy at bay while you weaken him with arrows and fight a running fight.

Work towards getting all of your resistances at 75% or better.

[EnkerZan]

Yes, they are tough. That is the point. Sometimes, even a melee fighter will have to fall back and fight with a bow and spells. A golem will hold the enemy at bay while you weaken him with arrows and fight a running fight.

Work towards getting all of your resistances at 75% or better.

I can't see how a Barb using a bow or spells would be feasible considering you barely do any noticeable damage. I have tried this approach before with a good damage bow, and the stupid monster was regenerating faster than I can hurt it. Not to mention, a level 6 Golem in Nightmare mode is a joke, it gets killed in a few hits and deals almost no damage.

And yes, my resistances are maxed out, and that doesn't save me from the OP affixes on top of all the other toughness I have.

[DacianDraco]

I've said it before. BUFFS! InnerFire/Rage/Sacrifice/Insanity (not necessarily all at once but in this order of choosing how much of a buff you need) + about 10% life leech and there's no problem, and yes even with those Lightning/Arcane/Poison Enchanted monsters. With Frenzy on LMB up to max hits, then Cleave RMB and with some occasional Frenzy to keep the timer up, and a few Potions to counter Insanity/Sacrifice downside mostly. The Barbarian is the easiest melee class to play, has great dmg, fast attack, big life pool, no costs, innate elemental resistance gain, overall he's great as is. Sure all melee classes are more gear dependent than ranged/casters but this is because you are in the middle of the storm and can't make use as much of dodging and kiting tactics as the others, i personally felt that Sorcerer/Necromancer/Rogue have a much easier time than they should, and this is coming from an average player (me), i'm sure some asian teen has beaten this mod while half asleep.

And i don't feel mobs are OP, you just need to have some strategy and react fast, and make use of the given skills/spells. I know games are now dumbed down so you can AFK whenever, they have to appeal to the masses and any 12 year old can beat the game on hardest difficulty, challenge is not a priority in game design anymore, and basically that's why i like this mod, it is intensive, my adrenaline goes up and i genuinely feel rewarded when i succeed. You always have to move and attack, you can't just click while watching TV, and your Golem is not a tank he is more of a distraction for mobs, he takes hits so you don't have to, 1-2-3 it doesn't matter, make use of this advantage, you can resummon one in a few seconds anyway. So learn as you face difficulties and better your skillswhitching skills, it will become muscle memory and you won't even remember when you had a hard time.

[EnkerZan]

Tried all of that, didn't work against those mobs I talked about above.

On the subject of life leech, do you have any idea how rare this affix is to find on gear? I have only seen it once on a rare ring, and once on a rare breastplate.

I am assuming you have a geared Barb in Hell mode or higher, can I see what your gear looks like? I want to compare it to mine.

[DacianDraco]

Well first off, life leech doesn't spawn on armor, just weapons and jewelry. And my Barbarian is in Torment Caves, he had no problem progressing, and he has only 1 lvl of each spell learn so i know the buffs work, InnerFire alone is enough most of the times against those Lightning Enchanted (that emit Charged Bolt when Struck) elites you mention, and i've used just Rares and Crafts up till Hell's end, admittedly on occasion the Frost Raven uniq ring for it's Cannot Be Frozen. Now i am cLVL 45 and have almost all Crafts and i don't think it helps to show my current gear, but i'll show some for the level you are at:










As per the problems you are having with archers, i think strategy solves them, if you can't do them in melee (which you really should), know that Skeleton Archers don't move while under FireWall/LightningWall and Goatmen Archers move up till wall and along it if you cast one of the two, by the dungeon wall i mean so they will kill themselves by walking over it if you guide them (they flee when you get close). The safest way is to lure them back in between two rooms, so the 1st one will stop and attack while in the doorway, and you can dodge his attacks my alternating movement 1 square left and right and cast FireWall/LightningWall behind him because they are kind of stupid and the others will fidget behind him while taking fire/lightning damage. If immune just Stone Curse them, it's an instant Spell (can't be interrupted) and melee them.

And if you have trouble surviving ranged mobs and elite monsters get some "- Damage From Enemies" and "+Life" armor pieces, i'll post some gear with it so you know what to look for:










And if monster is not Magic Immune just use Bone Spirit (best spell in game for melee builds and not only) to wither them down, works best on ones that have Behemoth/Mastery and are physical resistant and have high physical damge and you will find tough to defeat.

[EnkerZan]

Well no wonder yer able to cast spells, you were stacking AA. The gear you posted hasn't been dropping with that many affixes, let alone AA.

Now that I have an idea what to look for, I still think the gear drops are too harsh in the lower settings. Just by looking at that stuff, I can tell that all of my problems are from the lack of gear yet again.

I don't know how you were able to use craftables when they roll so utterly bad, is there some sort of method to get the stats higher on them? Or are there better recipes?

[DacianDraco]

There are 4 levels for class specific recipes, so it gets better, and some other recipes for spellcasters/melee, i've made a list in the docs, but it's incomplete. And +All Attributes is not that rare, max in 20 but you should see 10+ often, you can try increasing Monster Power to get better drops but sounds you are having a hard time already so might not help.

And yes, melee classes are more gear dependent than ranged/casters, but i've leveled each character without spending any attribute points and learning only 1 spell level so that the gear i used balances this handicap, and still i was able to beat Normal and Nightmare (except with Assassin which i am leveling now and only passed into Nightmare). Here is a screenshot of my handicapped Barbarian in Hell, naked: