After more than four months 
I finally completed Diablo 2 with all seven classes on all three difficulty levels, using patch 1.09. I think it's worth more than a quick posting in the "What game are you wasting time on" thread.
I have some vague memory of completing Diablo 2 Classic (that's the base game without the expansion) on Hell difficulty with the Barbarian (Whirlwind build), and that I lost steam when trying the same with an Amazon (bows) when the expansion came out. I remember the ice caves, but I don't remember ever fighting Baal and his waves of minions, nor using any Runewords.
Speaking of Runewords, how they are implemented is very lame indeed. With one exception there's abosulutely no way of deducing any of them in-game, so instead you have to rely on online sources which are not always reliable (I wasted the highest Rune I ever found, an Um of item level 47, trying to make a Duress Armour). Wouldn't it have been much more fun if you first needed to find a recipe and have it in your possession before make a Runeword, at least in the SP game?
And speaking of Runes, even with seven characters I never once found any of the high level (49-69) ones! That's crazy. Reminds of the chance of observing Proton decay...
Of the seven classes I'd say the Necromancer (Amplify Damage + Corpse Explosion for crowd control, and Lower Resist + Bone Spirits on bosses) was overall the most powerful, but also the least fun (as in too much micro management) to play. He was the only one who dared go up against Hell Nilathak (he's more scary than The Ancients). He was the one having the least problems with the Hell Ancients, thanks to them thankfully ganging up on the Golem while Abracadavra cast Lower Resist and spammed Bone Spirit.
The Amazon was more unlucky in that they ignored her Valkyrie, so she died thrice (twice due to getting stuck on the "furniture). With the exception of the Paladin the rest of my characters beat the Hell Ancients on first try.
The Paladin (Zeal + Fanatacism) was easily the weakest of the seven characters for soloing the game, with neither any meat shield to summon or good ways of crowd control. He was the only character I had to "cheat" with, in order to get past The Ancients. He had to borrow some gear from other characters to get a damage reduction of 31% and I cast TP at once if any of The Ancients had Curse or a nasty aura like Freeze or Conviction.
The Assassin was very powerful thanks to Phoenix Strike which works like Frozen Orbs and is wonderful for crowd control agains all monsters that are not Cold Immune. And she can summon a meat shield. She ripped through those stupid cows like they were made of paper, while the Werewolf Druid really struggled.
For those interested here's screen shots of my winning characters and their gear.
I'd like to see others' characters, but only more or less "untwinked" ones, with no bought items.
I did no "farming" myself, except running twice over a couple of Hell bosses near Wat Points, and my Necro doing about 20-30 Pindleskin runs just to try it. It left me feeling dirty afterwards, and with no new useful items to show for the effort.
Amazon
Assassin
Barbarian
Druid
Necromancer
I finally completed Diablo 2 with all seven classes on all three difficulty levels, using patch 1.09. I think it's worth more than a quick posting in the "What game are you wasting time on" thread.I have some vague memory of completing Diablo 2 Classic (that's the base game without the expansion) on Hell difficulty with the Barbarian (Whirlwind build), and that I lost steam when trying the same with an Amazon (bows) when the expansion came out. I remember the ice caves, but I don't remember ever fighting Baal and his waves of minions, nor using any Runewords.
Speaking of Runewords, how they are implemented is very lame indeed. With one exception there's abosulutely no way of deducing any of them in-game, so instead you have to rely on online sources which are not always reliable (I wasted the highest Rune I ever found, an Um of item level 47, trying to make a Duress Armour). Wouldn't it have been much more fun if you first needed to find a recipe and have it in your possession before make a Runeword, at least in the SP game?
And speaking of Runes, even with seven characters I never once found any of the high level (49-69) ones! That's crazy. Reminds of the chance of observing Proton decay...
Of the seven classes I'd say the Necromancer (Amplify Damage + Corpse Explosion for crowd control, and Lower Resist + Bone Spirits on bosses) was overall the most powerful, but also the least fun (as in too much micro management) to play. He was the only one who dared go up against Hell Nilathak (he's more scary than The Ancients). He was the one having the least problems with the Hell Ancients, thanks to them thankfully ganging up on the Golem while Abracadavra cast Lower Resist and spammed Bone Spirit.
The Amazon was more unlucky in that they ignored her Valkyrie, so she died thrice (twice due to getting stuck on the "furniture). With the exception of the Paladin the rest of my characters beat the Hell Ancients on first try.
The Paladin (Zeal + Fanatacism) was easily the weakest of the seven characters for soloing the game, with neither any meat shield to summon or good ways of crowd control. He was the only character I had to "cheat" with, in order to get past The Ancients. He had to borrow some gear from other characters to get a damage reduction of 31% and I cast TP at once if any of The Ancients had Curse or a nasty aura like Freeze or Conviction.
The Assassin was very powerful thanks to Phoenix Strike which works like Frozen Orbs and is wonderful for crowd control agains all monsters that are not Cold Immune. And she can summon a meat shield. She ripped through those stupid cows like they were made of paper, while the Werewolf Druid really struggled.
For those interested here's screen shots of my winning characters and their gear.
I'd like to see others' characters, but only more or less "untwinked" ones, with no bought items.
I did no "farming" myself, except running twice over a couple of Hell bosses near Wat Points, and my Necro doing about 20-30 Pindleskin runs just to try it. It left me feeling dirty afterwards, and with no new useful items to show for the effort.
Amazon
Assassin
Barbarian
Druid
Necromancer
