View Full Version : HWF: Team 2 Thread
Game up. My IP: 68.41.77.52
--Greebo
EDIT: I volunteer to collect:
keys, scrolls, pots, gold (TK)
EDIT2: Yes, we're scheduled to start in 55 mins, I thought I would just put the game up so that people can test their connection or something...
EDIT3: Ardo, Milb, Xdeathfire, DarkMatter are all here
EDIT4: At the moment: Greebo, Milb, Zef, Ardo, DarkMatter, Dseed all waiting for Xdeathfire (who disappeared).
Xdeathfire
13-07-2008, 18:46
Okay, I'm joining right now
Edit: We're officially going to start in like 5 minutes
Were we supposed to start it this hour or the next one? Anyway, I will be checking this thread every... 5 minutes, so tell me if almost all are there..
-edit- Joined. 5 of us in.
Too late for edit 5.
Xdeathfire dropped out and we can't reach him. Perhaps he can play in Team 1 to catch up with us and then join us.
We're waiting for Zef to finish eating and are about to start.
We = Greebo, Milb, Zef, Ardo, DarkMatter, Dseed
Err, wasn't I in this team?
Game down. Thanks to everyone for coming. I'll post a summary of the game as well as some thoughts and questions and suggestions later. Gotta go now.
--Greebo
Spoiler: Noone died! Yay!
Thanks guys, good game. Looking forward to next one.
Well that was the most fun I had in a while in D2:thumbup:
Thanks for the game guys, looking forward to next weekend!
Cheers
Cwicseolfor
13-07-2008, 22:07
Well that was the most fun I had in a while in D2:thumbup:
That's definitely the idea! :yes:
It was quite fun. I hope nobody minded me joining. I'll be playing my Enchantress instead from now on during Team 1 (a slight bout of insomnia there). I think that the pace of 4 players will probably also be more bearable for me. ;)
It was great to see teamwork w.r.t. items and such. :)
that was fun.
looking forward to next weekend and maggot lair!
That was great. Really fun and I wish we could play more than one or two times a week. Rawr holy bolt! Not sure if I'll get FoH though. I'm thinking max prayer/holy bolt/foh/blessed hammer.
Well, I saw that the NPC sells scepters with +1 to resist fire/lightning/cold, so I'm going to buy all those so I'll be able to use those when we need resists without having to waste points in them until I can get salvation unless one of the other pallys was getting that.
I'm dirt poor and haven't really been able to pick up anything so we'll see what happens. :D
Dark Matter
13-07-2008, 22:33
That was frantic. About 5 times faster than I normally play.
I have buggered the Singer up - but nothing unrepairable. I have 6 in shout and I should have been pumping taunt and howl :(
It was fun, but I do hope we slow down a bit if at all possible. I am sure there were tons of items I missed and could have used: I am still wearing damaged boot 3 def!
DM
I am sure there were tons of items I missed and could have used: I am still wearing damaged boot 3 def!
DM
Doing better than me! I managed to do the whole act without equipping a pair!
--- Session 01, Part 1 ---
OK, this will probably take me ages to write, but it should be worth it. Yes, no one died. Yay, indeed. That's all great.
I will start with a summary of things, if you weren't there and would like to know what happened. I think I will make the summary "in character", why not. (OOC = out of character)
SUMMARY
Seven heroes arrived in the Rogue Camp, our first stop on a long and exciting adventure. On such great occasion, we decided to stand around for about an hour, doing nothing, as is expected of heroes. One of us then mysteriously disappeared. (OOC: Xdeathfire, let us know what's going on). We hope it wasn't some evil monster who's taken him to his/hers/its torture chambers.
After we stood around for a bit, and then a bit more, we decided we shan't wait any longer and bravely strode to the blood moor, which soon was covered in substance it was named after. We cleaned the hole in the ground that we stomped upon, and proceeded further, following the paths through the wilderness. We've managed to gain the trust of the sisters in the camp, and some of them joined us on our adventures, bravely shooting arrows made of air, using bows made of air, and wearing mostly air and air for armors and helms. Great thing, air.
Somewhere along the way two other heroes joined us. One of them was complaining of insomnia, and sure, we understand. If we lived upside down, we would be insomniac too (OOC: no offense, and I do know that's a poor joke ;)).
Finally the path led us to another hole in the ground and we decided to see where that leads. We found couple of trees on the other side, but who would call that Dark Wood? I wouldn't even call it Wood. We decided that maybe the trees can't grow because of all the monsters running around, so we've managed to kill most of them. Save the planet, I say! Or something. Anyway, while exploring the area, we found a tower, and a treasure at the bottom of it (a mystic rune, with symbol drown on it which apparently is supposed to be read as 'El'). There were a couple more holes in the ground, strangely full of monsters. Now they are empty.
Around that time the young sorceress accompanying us started complaining that she doesn't know how to teleport yet (poor child), and all this running around in high heels made her legs tired, and also, by the way, does anyone have any nice jewelery for her? We decided we all want to look at all the toys that we gathered in out backpacks, by throwing them all on the ground by the fireplace. Around ten minutes later some of us got annoyed with all the standing around (I mean, didn't we train that before the adventure? Really, there was a purpose to all that...).
So we decided to sell some of our loot, wear some of it and proceed. We found a Horadric Malus and Charsi was very grateful. Some of us misunderstood her intentions and were very eager to get some (items), so they ended up with some interesting, shiny and most likely somewhat useless things. Men...
The trip through jail was somewhat uneventful for the most part. We started to run around impatient and waiting for something big to happen. We soon found catacombs. Whilst there, one of our druids, who discovered his inner wolf, run into some trouble with some extra strong monsters and he looked quite worse for wear afterwards. Nothing the right potion can't cure, as this strange guy we've met later says.
In the end we discovered the source of all the problems: a big scary redhead. Combing our powers of electricity and repeated hitting her over the head with blunt objects, she didn't last long. We then took a caravan, but the time it took us to travel across the desert seemed strangely short. We decided to take a break then and continue our adventure later.
The End (for now)
Alright, I hope this was mildly entertaining.
NOTE TO SELF: Take some da*n screen-shots.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
I hope everyone's ping was OK. I have a decent connection (it better be for $70/month) which is currently shared by only two people. My router is configured the way that should be supportive of MP games. I don't know what that means, precisely, but my roommate who did the configuring is getting his PhD in Electrical Engineering, and MPs a lot, so I trust what he says. Summons should not cause much problem on my side of things.
------
This is all I have for now. I will write much more later, once I figure out what I want to say exactly, how to phrase it and once I get some sleep. Seeing as I MPed till 7:30am and got up at 12:30pm to set this thing up, I'm a little tired ;). The issues which were somewhat mildly touched upon above need to be addressed, and I feel like I'm the most responsible for them, because firs of all I was the host, so it's up to me to sort out such things, and second of all I wanted to finish Act 1 before I had to leave. Stupid, mea culpa. I promise I will learn from that lesson.
--Greebo
PS. We need a name for the team, don't you think?
Good deal. I really can't wait to have some more holy bolt action! It really can start to rape undead, haha. Healing is nothing to laugh at either once you get it up there. I've read that holy bolt can do some damage in river of flame. :D
And I shall probably take your advice on skills for the most part. I call dibs on a2 prayer merc using insight. :D
Xdeathfire
14-07-2008, 15:40
I am really pissed right now...
Basically, the house I live in has some physical cable issues down in the basement where my modem/router is connected to atm. I had some troubles yesterday morning, but it was fine, but then around when I dropped out, I just lost connection with my modem.
I took a look around and basically, the cable that is connected to the modem outlet thingy is messed up and I have to try to find a way to fix it myself. I'm posting this at work right now. I'm gonna probably drop by Home Depot this afternoon and hopefully fix it tonight. It shouldn't be that hard
You guys got to Act 2 right? Maybe I can just try to get through Act 1 by myself and get to Act 2 by the next session and then continue with you guys from there. Around what level are you guys b/c I don't want to end up being overleveled. An alternative would be for me to play with Team 1 for their first session, but I doubt that I can work out a time with them
If I'm not mistaken we're all lv 18 or at least close to 18...
Maybe if I get some spare time in the week I can help you level up a bit...
And yeah, team name would be appropriate:thumbup:
Cheers
"Better than Team 1" is the first thing that comes up on my mind... :whistling:
Dark Matter
14-07-2008, 18:06
Xdeathfire:
I am happy to help you level up, Jaqen needs to do the den of evil too IIRC.
To be honest, I put the wrong points in the wrong part of the tree and would prefer if possible to redo my Singer :D
I am London based (GMT+1 atm) and get home from work at about 18.00 GMT - where are you based?
I can host.
DM
Cwicseolfor
14-07-2008, 19:03
"Better than Team 1" is the first thing that comes up on my mind... :whistling:
I think "Zerg Rush" would be more appropriate. :p
Xdeathfire
14-07-2008, 19:36
@Dark Matter
I live near Washington DC in the US. I can play some at night after GMT 200-400, but that wouldn't be good for you. I can also do mornings from GMT 900-1200, but again you would probably be at work
Dark Matter
14-07-2008, 19:51
There's a 5 hour time difference. 2-4 am for you is 7-9 am for me, just when I am getting up for work - I have to be there for 9.30 and it's an hour commute.
9-12 is 2-5pm for me and I will be at work.
Pity.
Best time for me would be 5-9pm your time (10pm-2am my time), but I'd have to psych myself up for a late session on a work night :D
DM
Xdeathfire
14-07-2008, 20:18
There's a 5 hour time difference. 2-4 am for you is 7-9 am for me, just when I am getting up for work - I have to be there for 9.30 and it's an hour commute.
9-12 is 2-5pm for me and I will be at work.
Pity.
Best time for me would be 5-9pm your time (10pm-2am my time), but I'd have to psych myself up for a late session on a work night :D
DM
I get home from work at around 6:30, but then theres dinner and then I have to practice asax/go to gym which eats up most of the time there. I occasionally do get some game time into there sometimes, but I just can't really predict when that may open up
I get home from work at around 6:30, but then theres dinner and then I have to practice asax/go to gym which eats up most of the time there. I occasionally do get some game time into there sometimes, but I just can't really predict when that may open up
I'd be happy to start a new HC Barb for myslef, tourney independent. You could level with me through Act1. Jaquen could do Den of Evil with is, perhaps? Let me know if that'd be alright with you.
--Greebo
Xdeathfire
14-07-2008, 22:57
I'll probably play tonight at GMT 1400-1600. I'll post my IP then and will play with anyone who comes or else I'm just gonna play by myself
I'll probably play tonight at GMT 1400-1600. I'll post my IP then and will play with anyone who comes or else I'm just gonna play by myself
Err... it's GMT 2112 right now. I'm gonna assume you mean GMT 2400-0200 and you did the math in the wrong direction... --Greebo
--- Session 01, Part 2 ---
ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES
While the session was a lot of fun and no one died, there were a couple of issues I'd like to address. BTW: sorry if my writings from yesterday seem... inadequate and confusing to my teammates. I was a bit sleep deprived and tired after a soccer game.
I remember a moment when Ardo, who had 570 Life or something, went in a room and his life bar turned yellow, which meant he sustained more damage then any others in our party had life.
Now, I don't feel I have authority to give advice to anyone here. I have like ~50 posts and I'm a bit of a noob. Especially to HC. But I am The Elder of the team (as apparently 25 years of experience on this planet is enough to achieve this), and a mathematician.
So let me put it this way: if four people in the team, occasionally wonder into a room where they have a 0.5% chance (that's not much) of dying, say every 10 minutes, then according to my calculator, assuming we do Act/session (which we won't), the probability of all of them making it till the end is 0.6%.
What I'm trying to say here is: this is Hardcore; perhaps we could be occasionally a bit more cautious?
About the pace of the game: DarkMatter and Cwicseolfor both voiced mild complaints about the speed with which we were moving through areas. Milb said he didn't have time to put his shoes on, which means he was quite in a rush, too ;). If I were to rate the speed of this game on the scale from 1 to 10, 1 being killing every single Quill Rat hiding in the corner, walking not running, and 10 being 200FCR sorc with Insight Merc teleporting through, I'd say we were 5-6. I feel like we should aim more towards 3. I've never died in Act 1 Normal, but Act 2 Normal is a different story.
This is a hardcore team project. The emphasis is on teamwork. Most of us chose builds which aren't even viable without the team running around. This is about enjoying cooperation and having fun moving through the game at a somewhat leisurely pace. The 71AR ring I gave someone was lying on the ground by the fireplace. I found it when everyone but me left to run through catacombs, and I decided to sell blue stuff before it poofs and see if we missed something. If you don't know all the prefixes/suffixes by heart, pick things up, look at them.
We're untwinked and there is lots of us. We will need plenty of items and for some slots you will settle for items you wouldn't even bother to sell otherwise.
I play a sorceress, who choose to max Glacial Spike, so that your enemies can't move (trust me, the damage is negligible), static field so that all your enemies have 75%/50% less life and firewall so that their frozen feet get burned and you have to hit them less before they shatter. And I can stunlock those ugly uniques with TK. But contrary to what Nightfish says (http://forums.diii.net/showpost.php?p=4413710&postcount=1), even maxed static won't hit Duriel from the Den of Evil. If our tanks run ahead two screens away from me in time it takes me to pick up two blue pots, so that I can do something instead of standing around, the whole thing kind of losses the allure. I wanted to take part in this for the teamwork aspect of the thing. That was the main point for me.
I propose the following:
(1) We choose a team leader; he/she is the authority. We do what he/she says. The leader sets the pace, if you run forward ahead of the leader and run into trouble, big chances are no rescue is coming. I'm certainly not going to teleport into the middle of such battle. The leader should be an experienced player, preferably playing melee. I think DarkMatter and his singer barb are perfect choice here.
(2) We go slower. Simple as that. Half an act in a 2.5-3 hour session, perhaps? That way we can try to reequip in between sessions.
ITEMS
Ideas:
I think I should keep nothing and keep hosting. That way if we find something very valuable for later (say, a Sol rune), the person keeping runes can S&E, put it in ATMA and come back. That way we avoid losing the rune in case person carrying it dies.
I think we should divide items into categories and everybody gets one, like: runes/gems/jewels, jewelery, armor, weapons, gold/potions, charms, circlets/crafting/socketables. After each session we could post readouts of our stashes. Then people could argue about who gets to use what on the forum, and 5-10 mins before we start, the item-keepers would bring in the relevant items and drop them around a fireplace, or wherever. Stuff not wanted by anyone and reasonably useless would get sold.
Let me know what everybody thinks of that idea.
BUILDS:
It would be helpful to me if we could keep an up to date table with basic char info. I put one in below with info about my character.
(life w/out spirits/BO, but with transformations)
Forum Name Class Char Name Build Lvl Life Relevant Skills
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greebo Sorc Lily_Weatherwax SF-FW-GS 17 182 SF: 12
About druids and spirits: I think you should both go with life spirit. There will be two of them running around and in case one of them gets killed, we won't suddenly lose 1/3 of life. Not to mention, if due to unfortunate circumstances one of you ceases to be, we'll still have the other one. Just a thought, but that might be a stupid suggestion, someone smarter than me should comment here.
DarkMatter: I might consider remaking my sorc too. I'm kind of annoyed that I burned 5 stat points in energy. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and yes I know it gets annoying. We can MP together.
Alright, that's about it.
--Greebo
I remember a moment when Ardo, who had 570 Life or something, went in a room and his life bar turned yellow, which meant he sustained more damage then any others in our party had life.
Pfffts. That's a bit extrawsomething :). I had like 3/4 before that and came out with 1/2.
Now, the Atma thing. We should decide, wether we should take stuff from atma of somebodys who is dead already. I'm a little against it, because it just seems... weird. But I am happy with both.
About druids and spirits: I think you should both go with life spirit. There will be two of them running around and in case one of them gets killed, we won't suddenly lose 1/3 of life. Not to mention, if due to unfortunate circumstances one of you ceases to be, we'll still have the other one. Just a thought, but that might be a stupid suggestion, someone smarter than me should comment here.
Whatever team thinks is best.
(life w/out spirits/BO, but with transformations)
Forum Name Class Char Name Build Lvl Life Relevant Skills
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greebo Sorc Lily_Weatherwax SF-FW-GS 17 182 SF: 12
Ardo Druid Ardo Shockbear Summoner 18 520 *
* - 13 lycan, enough to tank stuff. Now going to max one of the spirits...
I strongly agree with the rest of it though. Pace was a little bit too fast and we do need a leader.
Xdeathfire
15-07-2008, 02:33
Okay...my math was wrong, but anyways, the game is going up right now and I'm going to start in about 15 minutes.
IP: 69.255.74.213
It's looking like I won't be here Saturday... driving down to Atlanta probably. I really don't want to miss out! Were we planning to do it Saturday and Sunday or just Sunday? I hope just the latter... (until next week :))
And to be honest I really don't care whether I get any items/good items or not... I'll take last pick on everything. :p
As for the pace, yeah, I was constantly the lone straggler left way behind and running to catch up, haha. I have a bad habit of looking at a lot of stuff on the ground and typing a lot. I vote we get voice chat also. It's not hard to setup. Teamspeak or ventrilo will do. That would definitely help with the pace some.
(while playing through certain areas on softcore, I keep wondering to myself how the heck we'll all survive in certain situations! some stuff out there is brutal... the first thing that comes to mind are the stygian dolls in durance!)
Xdeathfire
15-07-2008, 05:16
Okay...Just got to the Catacomb Level 2 Waypoint and I am going to call it a night. I am at 17.5 so I should be at 18 when I reach Act 2.
I would like to thank Greebo very very very much for joining. His sorc really helped the killing speed alot and I found a dramatic decrease in killing speed after he left.
Some thoughts: Maul seems very powerful so far and cyclone armor is pretty nice. Only problem that I see with this build is against large packs, but I guess that should take care of itself once I get shockwave.
One very stupid NDE, actually. Through basically Stony Field on, I was using a very nice 30% ed Ethereal Large Axe which allowed me to kill reasonably quickly. In Jail Level 1, though, there were 2 champion skele archers, 1 ghostly skele archer, and a devilkin pack with conviction aura. I tanked the devilkins, but the skele archers were doing a ton of damage. By the time I killed the devilkins, I used up all my health pots and only had like 3 rejuv pots left. I charged the skele archer thinking they would be easy. Unfortunately, all of the skele archers somehow managed to hit me in their next 8 volleys or so. While I was working on the first one, I ran out of durability and thus was like punching for 10 damage. I didn't realize it for a while, until all of my rejuvs were used up and then barely escaped with a tp and my life.
Tomorrow morning I'm probably gonna take care of Andy
Xdeathfire
15-07-2008, 10:49
Okay, finished Andy today and went back to the Countess to kill her. Found an el along the way and she dropped a Tir. Drops from Andy were pretty mediocre except for hasarus's belt which is now on me giving me a nice boost of life.
I actually am right now just into level 19. Overall, pretty pleased with the survivability of the build atm as well as the damage output
Dark Matter
16-07-2008, 14:57
Grats Xdeathfire: Sorry you had to solo it.
Greebo: If you still want to re-make Lily we could arrange a session later this week maybe? tbh I can live with Tyranny as he is, but if there is an opportunity to redo the skills I'll be there. Maybe Friday evening/night? Let me know.
I agree with the points made in your second report - slower play + leader = good idea :D
We were going so fast I am sure I missed comments posted in chat. I'm not used to have chat at the top of the screen and didn't look up a lot tbh.
I do have vent - but no mike. I am happy to listen in and type my replies. It worked for MC and BWL, I'd sure it will work for D2 :D
DM
Xdeathfire
16-07-2008, 15:29
@Greebo
Regarding your idea regarding items. I think it would work fine with Runes/Pgems/Jewels, but it would be way too much of a hassle to do so with everything else.
How bout this, people only pick up whatever they need for their char. For example, I am going to be using 2 handed str req only weapons so I'll just take all the mauls/2h axes...ect... You, the sorc, pick up all of the sorc staves and such. For rings/ammy/misc stuff, anyone can pick them, but then keep them and give them to whoever back at town. I'm just afraid that is will take too long to distribute items every session if we end up posting ATMA readouts and such
@Xdeathire
Yeah. I was going to suggest that also. But then again, the one who is supposed to pick it up, might not always see it. So then the item will be lost...
And still. If somebody dies will we loot his/her atma?
I personally think that it would be best if anyone picked up any item and just say the stats if it might be useful for anyone. For instance, if a barb helm drops, and someone collects it and it turns out to be crap they can give the stats and just sell it if noone wants it. It is in everyone's best interest to share out the items we find, to maximise everyone's chance of survival.
If each person picks up one particular type of item, we will be messing around muling for 10 minutes between each quest, and will also lead to more items being left behind.
@Ardo: The way I personally play, if I move an item to a stash in ATMA and the character who found it dies I allow myself to use the items. So I feel it ok to email the stash on to a current player for the team to continue using.
Any ideas for times this weekend? I am available from around 1700GMT Saturday and Sunday, not Friday unfortunately.
Pfffts. That's a bit extrawsomething :). I had like 3/4 before that and came out with 1/2.
That does indeed make me feel better about my own survivability.
Now, the Atma thing. We should decide, wether we should take stuff from atma of somebodys who is dead already. I'm a little against it, because it just seems... weird. But I am happy with both.
From what I tested it seems to me that by looting one can obtain items on the body, but not the items in the backpack or in the stash. That's an argument against sending ATMA stashes to survivors, because I think of ATMA stash as an extension of the one by the fireplace.
It is however the only argument I can imagine against forwarding of all ATMA items of a dead person. I can make couple points which support such action:
- If we don't do it, then we should split valuable items between us, so that they are not lost at once. It's an organizational nightmare.
- The way I look at it, we are a team of heroes departing on the journey. When some of us die, the others take their possessions and use them to the best of their ability, to revenge our deaths. Just like in all the fantasy novels and whatever not. Dead heroes live in the songs of bards. Their swords are used by their companions.
- In the spirit of the point above, this is actually a way of fixing something which is incorrectly designed in the game. I think survivors who were allowed to loot a body should be entitled to backpack and stash contents. It would be just a pain to program, which is why I think it wasn't done. ATMA allows to circumvent that.
BTW: Keep all your gold on you. It will drop to the ground when you die, the gold you keep in the chest in town will disappear.
It's looking like I won't be here Saturday... (...) Were we planning to do it Saturday and Sunday or just Sunday? I hope just the latter...
Alright, I don't really care at this point. I would like to play my char, but on the other hand I'm going to register for MFO, so I will appreciate the extra time too. If others could decide - that'd be great.
I vote we get voice chat also. (...) Teamspeak or ventrilo will do. That would definitely help with the pace some.
Right. I'm a bit undecided on that one. Couple of points:
- Eight people talking at once - crazy.
- Not sure how much data does that take. Speech should be pretty decent. But there is eight of us and we do have a summon necro in our team. Now, my connection may be 10Mbit down, but it's only 64k up. So I'm definitely not getting a mike.
- I can see us trying to do it with limited amount of speaking on everyone's behalf, except for the leader, who would literally command the troops. I would just listen, since I'm the server. I don't know which of the solutions is the most friendly towards such arrangement.
Greebo: If you still want to re-make Lily we could arrange a session later this week maybe? tbh I can live with Tyranny as he is, but if there is an opportunity to redo the skills I'll be there. Maybe Friday evening/night? Let me know. I think I'm OK, unless you have desire to redo. I think both of us want to redo our chars only if the other one has a strong need for that, which we both don't. So let's just skip that.
I do have vent - but no mike. I am happy to listen in and type my replies. It worked for MC and BWL, I'd sure it will work for D2 :D If you're the leader, which I think you should be, it would be good if you did have a mike. They are cheap. ;)
Regarding your idea regarding items. I think it would work fine with Runes/Pgems/Jewels, but it would be way too much of a hassle to do so with everything else.
That's a valid point. So... I think Runes, Pgems, Jewels, Ammys and Rings should all be kept and all be sent to a volunteer who shall collect them. I added ams&rings, since 3ammys=1ring, 3rings=1ammy later on (Cube). Could be useful. Can someone please volunteer? Not me, per argument in my previous post about leaving and reentering the game. I would also consider adding charms and perhaps potentially merc gear to that list.
How bout this, people only pick up whatever they need for their char. For example, (...) For rings/ammy/misc stuff, anyone can pick them, but then keep them and give them to whoever back in town. Ammys/Rings - see above. In general I agree, but once we go to town, we ALL go to town. No one leaves until there is no item left on the ground. Everything is either taken or sold.
(...) But then again, the one who is supposed to pick it up, might not always see it. So then the item will be lost...
That's a good point too, so I'd like to propose the following:
Not all of us are experienced players; some of us are fairly new to the game. I have a fair knowledge of Sorcs, Amazons, Necros. Decent on Paladins. Some on Barbarians and Assassins. Almost none on Druids. I have no idea what some of you might find useful. Now, I can keep asking for every single item, but that seems silly, doesn't it? Besides, from my personal experience 1/3 of deaths in MP happen due to conversation. Let's each post a short summary of what our builds are about and what we expect from gear. I think it will help with both item finding and teamwork. I will post one soon after this post.
EDIT: About the spirits, I vote for both of them being the ones with extra life. Democracy and/or consensus should decide the outcome.
----------------------------
Things to do for everyone:
(1) post their availability this weekend
(2) post the intro to their build and gear expectations; also, merc info should go there
(3) perhaps consider filling in info in the table me and Ardo already filled in?
---
DarkMatter:
- let me know about the seemingly unlikely redo
- state whether you agree to be the leader (others comment as they see fit)
Thanks for reading.
--Greebo
Lily_Weatherwax; Greebo's Sorc
Skills: Glacial Spike, Static Field, Fire Wall
Explanation: The idea is to reduce life and freeze the monsters that the tanks are fighting. Glacial Spike should also freeze (most) archers and gloams. Fire Wall as the only offensive skill, we will see how it works out, but I think it should do well with a line of melee chars fighting frozen monsters. We'll see.
Gear Hopes:
(1) Some +skills could be useful. Mainly it would increase static's radius. Increase in GS freeze duration would be negligible, and I don't expect to do tons of damage, so SF is the only argument for +Skills. +2-3 should be enough. Extra +Static would be definitely welcome.
(2) I'm going to try get some blocking, since sorcs get really sucky deal on Vit investment. I'm thinking ~50% with some decent shield. My dream would be Rhyme or Sigon's, but I think other party members could find better uses for those. Something with low req's, too. Whilst we're here, I don't know how much to invest in strength. Advice would be appreciated.
(3) FCR: Spam spells faster. If I get enough FCR, with some skill I should be able, in principle, to keep two separate groups of enemies frozen at the same time in Hell. By enough I think I mean 37. 2 rings, ammy and a crafted belt? Or something on the Orb.
(4) Defensively: Life, resistances, FHR, FBR; enough to let me teleport out of trouble. In principle I should be able to dodge stuff, but my mana will be low; too low. And my teleport will be expensive.
(5) Last but not least: Mana. I really need that. I have 100 mana now. And that includes like 3 sapphires. That request includes pots: if you have 3-4 mana pots, leave the ones on the ground for me. otherwise you're gonna fight a monster with 2-3 times as much life as it could have potentially had. Also, if you're not very mana hungry, take the smaller pots, the ones you can buy. Leave the big ones for me. The small ones will fill my mana bulb in about 1/2-2/3 at best.
Mercenary: Act 2, for sure. I can either take Defiance or Prayer. That should be decided, based on whether my merc should carry insight, or someone else's. I'm not sure what's the best option here. I'm open to arguments for one way or the other.
--Greebo
Ardo; Ardo's Druid
Skills: Lycan:20, Shockwave:15(Max stun), One of the oaks:20, Grizzly:20, Werebear:1+, Dire wolves:1+.
Explanation: The idea of the character is to be a tank mostly. I will be the one moving in first, trying to stun creeps so that others could follow safely. All my damage comes from grizzly though.
Gear Hopes:
Resistances: I've got a lot of life, but it's useless with -100% resistances.
Life: +life stuff is great, because that gets doubled by the lycantrophy and gives even more life. +vit doesn't do that though :(.
+Skills: They aren't that important, but grizzly will get a great bonus and more lycan means more life to tank with.
FCR: Let's me stun stuff more quickly. The breakpoints are 7, 15, 26, 40 and 63.
FHR: Werebear has slow base hit recovery, so some of this stuff would be useful too. Breakpoints are again: 5, 10, 16, 24, 37, 54.
Other stuff: Defence, Faster Run/Walk, Elemental Absorption, Increased Max Resistance, Vitality, Strength, Mana will all be good, but not as important as life/resistances.
Merc: One of the act 2 guys. I really don't care which one though, since we are all together anyways.
Dark Matter
17-07-2008, 11:52
Greebo:
Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I'll pass on the leadership thanks.
I am OK about remaking Tyranny - he has 5 unused skills points I was saving for lvl 18 that I can put into Taunt and Howl.
I am thinking of renting a TS/Vent server. They are only about 20p/slot/month - so £4.00 per month for a 20 slot server would be more than adequate and it would be available for all MP games + general chat. I am going to start a poll (if I can).
I'll post more later - am at work and a bit busy.
DM
PS. My name has a space Dark Matter (not DarkMatter). Not a big issue, but...
Xdeathfire
17-07-2008, 13:09
Syllabear, Druid
(Its a reference to Dota btw. Fuzzy Wuzzy/Ursa Warrior would actually work perfectly with the Mauk/Shockwave idea, but I really didn't like the name)
Skills:20 Maul, 20 Wearbear, 10 Lycanthropy, 1 Hunger, 1 Shockwave, 20 Cyclone Armor, 20 Hurricane, Prereqs
Idea: Tanker who can damage. Hunger can provide a quick leech back to full health in tough situations. Cyclone Armor, partially synergized, offer a very good buffer against elemental damage. Hurricane will act as an early Holy Freeze like and open up a merc spot for us.
Gear Hopes:
Really need a good Large/Military/Feral Axe or Maul. I am going 2 handed str req only weapons since the bear has a 12 frame block which is just horrendously bad. To put it into perspective, a paladin with HS starts with a 2 frame block. Would be awesome if we find a windhammer since Cyclone Armor and Hurricane would synergize its twister.
Another really important thing: a good pelt with +cyclone armor/ hurricane. I am probably not going to have much +skills so I really need the pelt to boost the damage of hurricane.
Resists: Going two hand so no shield which means that resists will be very very tough for me
Merc: Act 2 Blessed Aim. I'm doing no dex which means AR issues. I think someone on the other team is making an Enchantress which would help me alot once we mege and if I make it that far, but definately BA merc.
Etna, Fire Druid
Skills: 20 Firestorm, 20 Boulder, 20 Fissure, 20 Volcano, a spirit, I like Greebo's idea of two Oaks in case one dies.
Gear:
+Skills, res, maybe a little fcr. Going max vita route so just need a shield which gives res, and maybe some other goodies. I'll be hiding behind the tanks so I don't really need FHR, DR etc gear.
Merc:
Don't mind.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I'll pass on the leadership thanks. Fair enough. Ardo, as an experienced player, making a character with huge tanking abilities, would you take the honors of being our leader?
--Greebo
EDIT: @Ardo: I am a SORCERESS. Not to mention, a n00b.
PASS! No, really. You can be the leader yourself :).
Xdeathfire
17-07-2008, 19:50
So...are we getting togeather this weekend or are we taking a break?
Edit: If no one minds, I can be the team leader since I'm the other tank. The only prob is that I don't have too much HC exp so I suspect that I may die off early for being too stingy with pot spamming
Davydov, Poison/Summoner
Skills: 20 RS, 1 SM, Poison fully pumped, 1 in all curses and in bot CG and GM
Gear: first thing that comes to mind is ofcourse +skills. FCR won't be that much needed because poison is more fire and forget, so the sorc certainly has priorty on the FCR items. So just the necessary resist and +skills will in general be the number one goal.
Merc: Guess a might merc
Edit: If no one minds, I can be the team leader since I'm the other tank. The only prob is that I don't have too much HC exp so I suspect that I may die off early for being too stingy with pot spammingI was just about to suggest you before reading this ;). Fine by me.
Scheduling: Seems to me Sun 1700-2000 GMT is fine for everyone. Please PM me with confirmation that you can come (this thread is enough of a mess as is).
--Greebo
Scheduling: Seems to me Sun 1700-2000 GMT is fine for everyone. Please PM me with confirmation that you can come (this thread is enough of a mess as is).
So far I only got confirmation from Dark Matter (see the space? ;)) and Xdeathfire. I will assume everybody else can make it unless informed otherwise.
--Greebo
EDIT: @Milb: we didn't start early. I put server up early so that we can sort out any technical issues, if they did come up :p
I should be able to make it. I finish work at 5pm (1600 GMT?) so I'll be there as long as you don't start an hour early again!
I got 6 confirmations (Dseed, I don't believe I've heard from you, but I think that as long as you're awake, you'll be there ;)). So Sun July 20th, 1700 GMT.
I will post here when the game is up.
--Greebo
EDIT: @Thy, yes. Thanks. I initially typed 19 after looking at the calendar, then realized: wait, we're not playing today. So I changed it 20. Unsuccessfully, apparently.
Erm. It''s the 19th today.
sry, yes i will be there. havent checked this thread in a while
Cwicseolfor
20-07-2008, 13:34
Have you guys had a game yet this weekend?
EDIT: NM, I get it. Are you guys only playing once per week, then?
Dark Matter
20-07-2008, 18:38
Is the game up yet ?
edit
Starts the clock
Have you guys had a game yet this weekend?
EDIT: NM, I get it. Are you guys only playing once per week, then?
Twice a week is the plan, but someone couldn't make it this Saturday. --G.
EDIT: Game will be up in 10 minutes.
Ready and waiting for the game!
Game is up. IP: 68.41.77.52
--Greebo
Dark Matter
20-07-2008, 19:40
Sorry to bail out of the HC weekends, but that last session just reminded me why I don't MP with a big group.
I play D2 for fun. Last week - Act 1 - was not fun and neither was this week.
I can't check where you call are, run to catch up, use my skills, look for stuff to pick up, check to see what else has been typed and reply, check where you all are, rinse and repeat.
That pace of play is way too fast for me.
Sorry.
I wish you all the best of luck and I'll send my HC stash to Greebo - not that there's much in it.
DM
@Dark Matter *nods in agreement*
My group is slower. And will be slower this week. :)
Xdeathfire
20-07-2008, 20:25
Sorry to bail out of the HC weekends, but that last session just reminded me why I don't MP with a big group.
I play D2 for fun. Last week - Act 1 - was not fun and neither was this week.
I can't check where you call are, run to catch up, use my skills, look for stuff to pick up, check to see what else has been typed and reply, check where you all are, rinse and repeat.
That pace of play is way too fast for me.
Sorry.
I wish you all the best of luck and I'll send my HC stash to Greebo - not that there's much in it.
DM
Thats okay.
On another note, regarding availabilities,
I am good on the weekdays from GMT 800-1200 ish and maybe at night, it'll depend on the day. The morning will probably be a bit early for everyone, but I don't sleep much so thats actually when I get most of my D2 playing done. On weekends, this time we have now is good for me.
I think everyone should cube any gems they have and then send it all over to one designated person, another for runes.
@ Dark Matter & Thy: I'm fine with any pace of the game, this time I was simply following the leadership. The rest of us seemed OK with pace of the game. It seems it might cause problems in the future, should we ever merge. But I think it can be resolved by simple 'pick a speed comfortable to everyone' arrangement.
@ Thy: Funny, seeing as you're ahead of us... We've just gotten to the viper temple. You're done with act 2. ;)
@ Dark Matter: I'm sorry you didn't have fun. That's the point of playing. Good you left, instead of getting frustrated.
Game down.
--Greebo
@ Thy: Funny, seeing as you're ahead of us... We've just gotten to the viper temple. You're done with act 2. ;)
Where did you get that idea? We are no where near done with Act 2. We haven't done the Magot Lair.
Where did you get that idea? We are no where near done with Act 2. We haven't done the Magot Lair.
My bad. I interpreted the statement below incorrectly:
As always, I'm looking forward to act 3. I would probably go mad if I lived in the Middle East.
--Greebo
I ended up missing it, sorry. Ended up with so much to do today! Perhaps next week but if you guys are way ahead now I'll probably just drop out.
Cwicseolfor
21-07-2008, 09:40
@Dark Matter *nods in agreement*
My group is slower. And will be slower this week. :)
Any team is generally going to be fast for the entirety of act 1. I think things slow in acts 2 and 3. They also slow down again significantly once the team enters Nightmare, and then again for Hell. This is especially true if people remember it's HC mode, they are untwinked, and they probably aren't playing a cookie cutter.
If you can put up with the fact that the game might be frenetic at the start, but slow down soon enough, you'll be OK. I'm a fan of 3 to 4 player parties, generally.
I ended up missing it, sorry. Ended up with so much to do today! Perhaps next week but if you guys are way ahead now I'll probably just drop out.
Considering we decided not to play on Saturday, just so that you could join us on Sunday... Enough said.
We've done half of Act 2. We're around lvl 22-23, so you shouldn't have problems joining us next week, or during the week if we get to play.
EDIT: I'm available 24/7.
--Greebo
Xdeathfire
21-07-2008, 20:54
Hmmm.I recalled that Ardo is not going to play this coming weekend. So, are we planning to play a game or are we gonna not for the weekend. I, personally, won't mind if we don't have a session since there is the MFO
Indeed. I will be gone at 24-31. If you want to play, I hope I could catch up somehow, so it's not a biggie.
Xdeathfire
24-07-2008, 23:15
Okay...so are we gonna get togeather and play this coming weekend or is it just gonna be a break??
A break would be good for me, I'm moving house on Sunday so I may be a little busy!
I'm fine playing both Saturday and Sunday. --Greebo
If we can play on Saturday that would be good for me. Would that be suitable for everyone else?
Saturaday is good, i wont be drunk on friday nights :)
Xdeathfire
25-07-2008, 12:59
So....normal time ie GMT 1700-1900ish would be fine on Saturday?
Dark Matter
25-07-2008, 13:09
EEK!
I need to send the character file to Greebo. Will do it tomorrow. Off to get drunk tonight...
DM
Alright, Sat July 26th, 1700 GMT. Let's kick The Summoner's... shins ;) --Greebo
I think I probably won't make it tonight, so if you could please excuse me for that...:)
All the best tonight!
Cheers
Hi Team,
I'm sorry, but I have a personal emergency and I won't be able to play today. Hopefully Xdeathfire can host, and I will catch up with you later. As far as I remember, others have the staff, so that shouldn't be a problem.
I'm really sorry about this situation, things outside of my control interfered. Also, I will probably stay offline at least until tomorrow evening.
Good luck and sorry again,
--Greebo
Xdeathfire
26-07-2008, 16:36
Well, actually I am going to be pretty busy today and I would prefer to not play. Since there are already alot of people not playing today, why don't we call it a break for this weekend?
Well, sorry about the weekend, but on the other hand I'm happy I won't have to catch up with you. Hopefully in a week we can get back to the game, seeing as there will be no MFO and hopefully no RL interference.
--Greebo
Xdeathfire
01-08-2008, 11:40
I'm guessing this upcoming weekend, probably Sunday or something
Was to Italy for two weeks and felt guilty that I forgot to warn you guys, but seems like there hasn't been played?
Dying out?:(
Cheers
Xdeathfire
18-08-2008, 19:38
Yeah....I think this effort might be a bust here. I'm gonna be really busy this coming fall and I might have to severely reduce my D2 playing time until January
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