New Diablo II Patch Finally Revealed 161
colaco writes "After more than a year waiting for the 1.10 patch, Diablo II gamers now have an inside scoop at changes that it will implement. Most of the info on new items and gameplay rules (eg: ladder characters) have been available on Arreat Summit for the past few hours, and are now displayed on DiabloII.net. Blizzard has also offered some clarification. Sources inside Blizzard indicate that more info will be given at E3."
Wow, this is neat! (Score:5, Funny)
Ack! (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, I'm happy to hear about all this though. I'm hopefull that it will at least dampen the number of rushes and cow levels for a few days. While blizzard has been known to throw a few curveballs with thier patches to Diablo, I'm extremely excited about the chance to jump on there and give them a shot and go hunting after some of the new uniques. Ok. I've wasted too much time talking to all of you already. Off to battle.net.
Re:Ack! (Score:1)
Nope, it wasn't addictive to me at all. It was a decent game, but it got dull very quickly for me. I only played it for about a week.
I'm glad the people still playing it finally have this patch though, it sounds like some good things have been added.
Re:Ack! (Score:2, Funny)
More addicting than Nethack? DIE HERETIC DIE! And may the RNG spit upon your grave.
Re:Ack! (Score:4, Interesting)
Then finally I was in Hell, in Hell mode (single player) and something happened to my character (barbarian), and I lost my entire inventory.
Another time I was using an assassin, and put way too many points into some of the simple skills, which left me unable to kill that big maggoty thing at the end of Level II in Hell mode.
Then another time I had a sorceress, and I couldn't get through one of the spider lairs in Level III (hell mode)
The list goes on and on....I've played every character through the game twice, and but could not get through hell mode. I think the barbarian could have done it.
I eventually had to un-install it, and GIVE THE GAME AWAY just to get over my addiction. But I am frequently heard saying "I can't wait until Diable III comes out...Diablo III is gonna be awesome".
Re:Ack! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Ack! (Score:1, Flamebait)
Revealed yes... (Score:1)
D2! (Score:1)
Re:D2! (Score:2)
Worth it to eliminate corpse popping (Score:2)
It's not like the penalty for dying in Diablo II softcore is very great anyway. Might as well make dying slightly inconvenient.
Re:Unequipped corpse retrieval (Score:2)
I'd like to point out... (Score:5, Insightful)
What have you been doing in the meantime, living?
Re:I'd like to point out... (Score:2)
Re:I'd like to point out... (Score:2)
Re:I'd like to point out... (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, and I've been playing Angband. [thangorodrim.net] Almost as addictive, but it doesn't require as much adrenaline. I've do play other games; it's not like Diablo is the only game in town...
Re:I'd like to point out... (Score:1)
Re:I'd like to point out... (Score:2)
Re:I'd like to point out... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I'd like to point out... (Score:2)
All of this on a game that is over five years old. Pretty impressive considering that Blizzard's chances of making any additional re
I'm not sure I like... (Score:4, Insightful)
Please notice! (Score:5, Informative)
So... Before you complain about the items and runewords being too powerful (there have been some complaints like this) and that the Necro/Druid didn't get their necessary skill changes, remember that much (most?) of the "revealed" data on the diabloii.net site is simply incorrect or missing.
For correct information, check Arreat Summit [battle.net] (official Diablo II information site) and the information that will be released during/after E3 (i.e. May 13 - 16 or shortly after).
Re:Please notice! (Score:1)
Come now, you know that the AS is not exactly guarenteed correct information: even what is on it now - and how long after 1.09 came out? - a good deal of the information on the page is still wrong. That almost every item of Set and Unique armour is still listed incorrectly shows where the attention to detail has been...lacking.
Really, there is a lot of misinformation floating about on 1.10. I say we wait and see what happens: I know I already know the details of quite a few changes, and the
Re:Please notice! (Score:2)
Re:Please notice! (Score:1)
As I said, it's the armour: look at it closely. If you know how DR is calculated, you'll notice a very big mistake on the DR of most items of armour
Re:Please notice! (Score:2)
Fervor in patch information (Score:5, Interesting)
The information went up by mistake Thursday night in the midst of a Blizzard webserver upgrade, and it ended up getting a virtual Slashdotting as thousands upon thousands of information-hungry gamers descended upon the server.
The problem was corrected Friday morning, but so much of the information has disseminated itself around the Internet that Blizzard posted a partial update Friday afternoon to appease the masses. A Blizzard programmer who had been working on the patch commented independenty on a couple of other message boards that the information that had been uploaded was somewhat inaccurate (is he implying that the items as they are now are BETTER?).
Any time a patch comes out for a game nowadays, thousands upon thousands of hungry gamers flood the Internet to get it. In the case of Blizzard patches, it seems, getting even a *preview* of that information is enough to clog the hell out of a webserver. Just wait until the patch actually gets released... *g*
Hacking ruined Diablo II (Score:5, Insightful)
Credit to Blizzard, the game's another masterpiece that's playable way past the point where most games just become boring (yes, I know DII can be repetitive, but it's repetitive in a fun way) and it's done all it could to patch hacks, exploits, etc when they've surfaced, but all the duping, hacking of uber items, etc really spoilt a great game for many players.
I know that I, several friends and many others all stopped playing DII for that very reason.
I suppose, in a way, Blizzard should be flattered that so many people out there were so obsessed at having the best of everything that they were prepared to hack the game to death. Nobody writes hacks for awful games that are barely played. But that's scant consellation for those of us who's experiences have been soured by a small, mindless minority.
Re:Hacking ruined Diablo II (Score:4, Insightful)
Blizzard are continuing to ban hackers and recently banned 130k accounts (!) but it doesn't happen that often, and it's actually cool they do it at all since I don't think they earn much money from the game anymore, especially when you take the bandwidth costs for their free servers into account.
Diablo II is a game I think should really benefit from the MMORPG game model.
Re:Hacking ruined Diablo II (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Hacking ruined Diablo II (Score:2)
If it's still worth it to stock Diablo II on shelves in Office Depot, then it's probably still selling.
I know! It's all those item-dupers and griefers buying another reg key after they get banned again
Re:Hacking ruined Diablo II (Score:1, Offtopic)
you know what, stuart? i like you! you're not like the other people, here at the trailer park.
Re:Hacking ruined Diablo II (Score:2)
Its too tied to object hunting, which means the hacks completely erase any enjoyment when you see some guy selling 100 'legit' Stone of Jordan's...
I quit it about 2 months and eventually sold the stupid thing after a year of dust collecting. Saddened me.
The worst part of all is Blizzard
Re:Hacking ruined Diablo II (Score:2)
I'm almost over the addiction now. When I read the headline my hands only quivered for a few minutes and my heartbeat slowed back to norma
Re:Hacking ruined Diablo II (Score:2, Informative)
To answer another question altog
Kudos to Blizzard (Score:5, Insightful)
By most accounts, the 1.10 patch introduces some pretty amazing gameplay changes. It's almost like another expansion.
Way to go, Blizzard.
-DeeBye
Re:Kudos to Blizzard (Score:1)
Re:Kudos to Blizzard (Score:2)
That is one of the best FPS I've played, mood, decent balance if you enforce it, it actually requires team play
You have driver issues with ATI ?!?! I finally got my 9700pro to work correctly and I love it but I do sympathize, it took nearly 6 months and a bazillion driver combos...Turned out to be old Via Hyperion 4in1 drivers
Re:Kudos to Blizzard (Score:1)
Re:Kudos to Blizzard (Score:1)
But you say you work at a video game store? Is there something wrong with this picture?
Re:Kudos to Blizzard (Score:4, Interesting)
Amazing gameplay changes?! From now on, players above lvl 70 will require more gameplay time, killing even harder units, to gain more worthless levels (since really, levels get increasingly useless, since the items you can use are much more powerful than the additional levels' effects). Add to that that they've added more items, most of which are Elite uniques, and more Runewords, probably all wildly powerful, and Diablo II just becomes even more item based.
And let's face it, starting a new game every 30 seconds to make another Meph run is just SOO much fun! Go! Kill Meph! Kill him again! and again! ad nauseam!
Re:Kudos to Blizzard (Score:4, Insightful)
I'll admit that "amazing gameplay changes" is hyperbole but what the heck is wrong with someone still enjoying a game and being excited about it? If you enjoy making these kinds of comments, might I suggest visiting the message boards of GameFAQs [gamefaqs.com]? You certainly wouldn't be out of place there.
Whatever changes end up coming in the patch, Blizzard is indeed to be commended for their seemingly endless support of an old game for which they charge no extra money to play online.
Re:Kudos to Blizzard (Score:5, Insightful)
More items IS a good development. The problem is that these items are so rare, it destroys the game. Instead of simply having to level up to gain power - and lets face, going around killing thousands of monster certainly is enjoyable - you have to selectively kill the "big drop" monsters in the game repeatedly to be able to survive the harder difficulty levels. By repeatedly, I don't mean a dozen times, or even a hundred. I mean THOUSANDS of times.
By adding even more emphsasis to the necessity of having the best items, you make it pretty much impossible to do anything in the game without making that three thousand Meph run.
I don't know. Maybe people actually enjoy killing the same enemy over and over again, every damn 30 seconds. I personally think it encourages people to use bots to get them the items so they can actually play. Ain't enhanced gameplay to me. (and no, I don't use bots. I usually just stop playing for a few months once I can't get any further without spending days chasing after the game's most elusive items)
Re:Kudos to Blizzard (Score:2)
Well, at least you aren't out strangling hookers or sacrificing babies. I suppose it could be worse.
Max
Still Boycotting... (Score:5, Insightful)
Keep your repetitive games that haven't changed since 94 (or whenever Warcraft 2 was released), you fucks. You'll get no money from me until you jump off the bandwagon of sue-happy corporate morons with no concern for civil rights whatsoever.
Re:Still Boycotting... (Score:1)
Biting off you nose... (Score:4, Insightful)
But right now, I would elect Blizzard as God, or Cheif Designer of the Universe. They are the only game company who has come out with QUALITY games, the FIRST time. Every Blizzard patch is like a mini-expansion, rather than a bug fix caused by rushing development.
What company cold EVER hope to match Blizzards line-up of games? Blackthorne kicked much ass, RnR Racing also kicked ass, Diablo I wasted my whole highschool existance (well, that and MUDs), Warcraft was the first genre making RTS, Warcraft 2 was the best RTS until... STARCRAFT! Any game that causes Koreans to starve, must be a damn good game. Then we have Diablo II, the most anticpated game of 2000, and the only game to live up to it's hype. Then LoD, which also lived up to it's hype. Then of course Warcraft 3, which is a new genre making RTS, on that caused those silly command and conquer people to copy it's formula (to a point), and the upcoming Worlds of Warcraft look like it may just be the ONLY MMORPG that I will consider playing, which is saying alot since I HATE that genre. And from the Frozen Throne previews, it looks also like quality stuff.
My only complaint is Ghost. What a steaming pile of crap, not releasing it on PC. I don't WANT to buy an Xbox, or a PS2, or even a GC, my compy works fine for gaming, and I just spent $300 to be DoomIII compliant, and Unreal 2 capable. And now I'm supposed to fork over however much for a damn peice of propritary console crap, just to play a game... bah.
I'm rambleing, just woke up, got sake hangover... I'll shut up.
Re:Biting off you nose... (Score:2, Insightful)
But hey, I usually don't play games -- DII is just the heroin of video games... one tr
Re:Biting off you nose... (Score:1)
Re:Biting off you nose... (Score:1)
People who say Warcraft 3 was a "new genre making RTS" must be blind.
War3 takes many ideas from its predecessors and quite a few ideas (namely, heroes that level up and replay feature) from the Myth series. One could argue that 3D terrain sort of followed so it isn't taken directly.
And in my opinion, Myths work better because there's no micromanagement w
Re:Biting off you nose... (Score:1)
Second; there is nothing wrong with my PSX, Dreamcast, and NES. They aren't broken, the DC is showing signs though
Also, I am a PC person. I had a C64 before I could walk, I grew up on an 808x. I like my compy, I
Why I bought a GC.... (Score:1)
I had the same concerns as you did, but in the end I finally broke down and bought a Gamecube.
The reason (at least what I keep telling to myself): even though my computer is a P3 w/ a GF2MX Graphics card, I don't really want to upgrade it yet again only to play games. The other things I use my home computer for are web, email, transfer music to my minidisc and some light Java development for moonlightning jobs, and it does all those functions pretty well. Even the games I've been playing lately (RTCWolfen
Re:Biting off you nose... (Score:2)
If you're like me and care more about gameplay than graphics, get the PS2.
If you want a LARGE library of titles and a built in DVD player, get the PS2.
If you want your games CHEAP, get the PS2.
That's why I went with sony on this one, plus one more major reason - controllers. The XBox controller is huge and badly designed. Gamecube's might be alright, but I still tend to like 'em small.
Triv
Re:Still Boycotting... (Score:2, Troll)
Suggestions for Diablo 3/new patches (Score:2, Informative)
>since 94 (or whenever Warcraft 2 was released),
>you fucks. You'll get no money from me until you
This is true. I'm not boycotting Blizzard, but to a large extent *gameplay wise* Diablo 2 as it currently stands is mainstream RPG lite. The LOD game expansion only really made the game worth looking at..."Classic" Diablo 2 was almost completely unplayable to my mind, due to very rapid onset of boredom. The game is phenomenally well packaged, with outs
Stopping Piracy? (Score:3, Insightful)
Ahoy Me Matey!
ok, maybe it wasn't funny, but why is sueing(sp?) Bnetd.org stopping rampant piracy? If they where really worried about it, they would make their servers the best so that no one would want to use the bnetd servers. (gasp!) No instead of putting out a superior product they claim DMCA violations and copyright infringement.
Of course, that just makes us 'self-rightous' whiners.
Vertical
Re:Stopping Piracy? (Score:1)
So your solution is no solution at all!
BnetD new feature: Piracy Promotion (Score:2, Interesting)
No, No, and NO!
I can make a copy of the 3 disks and send them to a friend, he can then install D2, start an open TCP/IP game and
Re:Still Boycotting... (Score:3, Insightful)
bnetd might have helped pirates get online, but it's still nothing else than a fucking server. reverse engineering a protocol is legal. writing software that utilizes that protocol is legal. what should be illegal, is bullying people with the legal system.
people on slashdot should be people who understand stuff like this.. oh, but this is the games section after all.
Re:Still Boycotting... (Score:1)
Being a Mac user... (Score:1)
Not again! (Score:1)
Mucho geek jollies (Score:1)
Is it just me, or does this send an odd tingly down the spine?
Seriously, I have been waiting for a year for this patch. At times I've seriously doubted that it would EVER happen.
Back before Diablo II, and Lords of Destruction, my and my freinds used to joke about Blizzards inability to EVER come out with something on time, they suffered massive Vaporware Syndrome. (not as bad as 3drealms, of course). But Diablo II came out ON TIME, then LoD ca
I for one have been waiting for this... (Score:2)
New weapons = ......... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:New weapons = ......... (Score:1)
The Diablo II Experience (Score:1)
Blizzard not the only great company out there (Score:4, Informative)
I hate to be a pessemist... (Score:1)
You can twist around the no extra revenue argument and say that companies have no reason to update "old" games, but you need only look to Half-Life to see how much supporting your fanbase can get you. For Team17 however, I'll be holding off on Worms 3. Not an outright boycott, but I want to at least wait a month or two. Team17 haven't been do
Dungeon Siege (Score:1)
Re:Dungeon Siege (Score:2)
Naah...
Dungeon Siege is to D2 what a retard is to Einstein.
Even Diablo II: The Point & Click Adventure look amazingly complex when compared to the DS Auto-Play System. It's a great sleep pill though and half-way to Progress Quest [progressquest.com].
Seriosly, I find DS to lack character and atmosphere. You just kill and get the combat and magic skills distributed for you depending on how you kill the guys, with even the killing more automated than in D2, and wit
Re:Dungeon Siege (Score:1)
Re:Dungeon Siege (Score:2)
Except that I could play Diablo II just fine through a firewall performing NAT, but the MS Direct Play crap didn't work at all unless I opened inbound ports and did manual static mappings. Screw that. I threw the game away after getting bored with the single player game and just went b
Another Diablo II site (Score:2)
People just don't understand... (Score:3, Insightful)
You can't please everyone all the time, but for anyone who's ever programmed, they know what it's like to come across some really obscure little bug, and have to retest the whole thing. Blizzard wants nothing more than to put out as tight code as possible, and I for one applaud them for that.
-TKK
Hrmm (Score:1, Insightful)
that sucks (Score:2)
Re:that sucks (Score:1)
Could be worse.
On my system Direct3D 8 blew up and didn't work for over an year. Luckily D3D7 and earlier and OpenGL games worked just fine, and as long as I got Neverwinter Nights and Myth series and Mechwarriors and Warcraft 3 things were just fine. (And Nethack, of course, ran. =)
When I finally was able to fix that, well, I didn't have
Re:that sucks (Score:2)
Diablo 2 is *still* a top selling PC game, weekly (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/deltaforcebla
Best-selling PC games for the week of April 13-19, 2003:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Average Price
1 / Delta Force: Black Hawk Down / NovaLogic / $39
2/ Command & Conquer: Generals / EA / $46
3/ The Sims Deluxe / EA / $44
4 / The Sims: Unleashed / EA / $29
5 / Battlefield 1942 / EA / $47
6 / Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets / EA / $18
7 / Zoo Tycoon / Microsoft / $28
8 / CSI: Crime Scene Investigation / Ubi Soft / $30
9 / Diablo II / Vivendi Universal / $21
10 / Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos / Vivendi Universal / $39
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/commandconq
Best-selling PC games for the week of April 20-26, 2003:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Average Price
1/ Command & Conquer: Generals / EA / $46
2/ The Sims Deluxe / EA / $42
3 / Delta Force: Black Hawk Down / NovaLogic / $39
4 / The Sims: Unleashed / EA / $29
5 / Battlefield 1942 / EA / $47
6 / Diablo II / Vivendi Universal / $21
7 / Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos / Vivendi Universal / $36
8 / Zoo Tycoon / Microsoft / $27
9 / CSI: Crime Scene Investigation / Ubi Soft / $30
10 / Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome / EA / $19
-----------
That's right. #6 and #9 for the most recent weeks of PC sales data.
Pretty amazing for a 3 year old game.
Who cares about Diablo II... (Score:1)
Anime-based MMORPG with players from all over the globe, free (for now at least). Grab Beta 2 while it's hot.
Somebody tell me when the beta closes again. (Score:1)
Sadly, I'm not exaggerating any there.
Re:Somebody tell me when the beta closes again. (Score:1)
"How do I get to Izlude?"
"u go down sum ten turn kthxnbai"
This ... on Slashdot? (Score:2, Interesting)
Perhaps you will rate me as flame
Re:This ... on Slashdot? (Score:3, Insightful)
Is that a fscking M$ Joystick for an Icon??? (Score:2)
Natural Keyboards aside, the other hardware M$ has to offer - albeit somewhat better than their software - is usually overpriced and not very good.
Whatever, please use a CH Joystick or a Razer Boomslang for an Icon. I'm serious.
Will they fix the OS X version? (Score:2)
Re:Why bother? (Score:3, Interesting)
D1 was also the same. Could it be the game genre you don't like? All Action RPG's I know is click-die. When they start having more RPG elements, the "Action" part of the genre is usually dropped.
What made it worse is that saving the game doesn't work. You can save anywhere, but you start back in "town," and all the baddies that you've tediously ki
Re:Why bother? (Score:1)
Re:wow (Score:5, Informative)
IMHO, a patch unlike any scope I've seen before. Thankfully, the patch won't change its its game genre (Action RPG, i.e. "killing everything that moves"), so those of us who bought Diablo II for what it offered back then won't be screwed.
Re:wow (Score:1)
> you'll be able to create new viable character
> builds with the use of new skill synergy bonuses
If that's the same as my barbarian can kick even more ass, then I'm in!
Re:wow (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:wow (Score:1)
just a thought...
More than likely. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Linux??? Linux ??? (Score:5, Informative)
Does it? Does it run on Linux???
Yeah. Under Wine.
Check this out:
http://www.latte.ca/D2LOD/
Re:Linux??? Linux ??? (Score:1)
Re:heh (Score:1)
Now I just gotta keep my fingers crossed for a week straight...
Re:Too little too late (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Too little too late (Score:1)
Not to say that a lot of people don't like