Suggestions for a better experience.

I played D2lod since 1.09. And I played D2 before LOD appeared. Lovely game. And finding a good realm which stood close to the retail stats was even better. But I have some suggestions that will improve the game experience without unbalancing or dealing serious changes to the pvp/pvm status.

A. Mercenary changes. Due to the fact that everyone on this game has Act2 mercenaries. Any class, any build, any time, anywhere... Is a sign the act1 and act5 mercenaries need a boost. I suggest modding the mercs like this, by adding a specific skill to each, in order to create some variety in the gameplay.

Act2 Merc (from all difficulties) Stay the same. (because at the moment they are the best pick)

Act1 Merc (from all difficulties) Fire arrow merc gets Multiple Shots skill (level 10). Cold arrow merc gets strafe.(level 10) (and +5-10 base str.)

Act5 Merc (from all difficulties) Add Berserk Skill (level 10-15) and Whirlwind( 15-20 ). It will not make them OP, but it will make them more enjoyable.

B. Item editing (in the database, not editing anyone's char specifically - that would be cheating)

1. Remove chances of Firestorm casting from Torch and Phoenix Runeword (vex vex Lo Jah). The casting of the Firestorm cause frame freezes to lower spec pcs (not mine, but I know friends who got lower-spec pc's and they'd rather not use the items due to this stuff). Also in a stiff battle like against multiple mobs (Cow level, Chaos Sanctuary, Baal's throne, Ubers and many more), that chance might kill you. It stops you from attacking or casting your skills and thats the perfect moment for all mobs to throw you into a stun-lock. That's lame, especially hardcore.
I can assure you nobody will say that they preffer the Firestorm chance to cast, because it isn't effective at all pvm. And pvp doesnt even count.
2. Same from Thundergod's Vigor - the chance of casting Fist of the Heavens when struck. You stop from attacking and the mass mobs prey on that.

C. Adding several custom uniques. (no exagerated stats, just helping and bringing some variety into specific builds, for a better experience)

1. Righteous Symbol - Akaran Rondache (exceptional paladin shield) (yes, that can be upgradeable with cube recipe)
+200-230% enhanced defense.
+25% Faster Block rate
+25% Increased Chance of Blocking
+1.5 defense per level(1.5-149.5)
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+2 to Sanctuary
+2 to Holy Shield
+2 to Holy Bolt
+150 damage
+250% damage to demons
+250% damage to undead
+35 All resistances
+Slain monsters rest in peace.

2. The Tinker - War Fist (Elite assassin claw)
+100% enhanced damage
+125 damage
+2 to Traps
+2 to Lightning Sentry
+2 to Death Sentry
+2 to Blade Shield
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+15 to all resistances
+20% chance to cast level 20 Teleport when struck.
-25% faster run/walk (here we have negative value. Decreases the FRW by 25%)

3. The Fanatic - Ring
+5% increased attack speed
+20 life
+25% Fire resist
+5 to minimum damage
+5% to cast level 20 Zeal on striking (this will prevent the amazons from using 2x rings and unbalancing the pvp section(more than they usually do)

4. Gifted Hands - Crusader Gauntlets
+75 - 100 defense
+20% increased attack speed
+2 to martial arts (assassin)
+2 to Javelin and spear skills (amazon)
+15-20 to Dexterity
+ -50% requirements (requirements for equip decreased by 50%)

5. Marduk's Footwork - Mirrored Boots ( this competes severely with any boots for kick-assassin and gives the class a chance to be played)
+35% -50% enhanced defense
+2 to martial arts
+2 to shadow disciplines
+25-35 kick damage
+30% faster hit recovery
+10-15 to dexterity

6. Mahaa's Touch - Runic Talons
+200-250% enhanced damage
+15% increased attack speed
+3 to martial arts(assassin)
+3 to weapon block (assassin)
+3 to claw mastery (assassin)
+Ignore Target's defense
+12 Strength
+12 Dexterity
+ Cannot be Frozen

This was posted 05.10.2013. I will re-edit the post or respond after your posts for more ideas. Waiting for questions as well.

 

I like the idea of buffind the mercs,
even if its just by adding some usefull auras to them since thats the reason people use act 2 mercs.

Make Act 5 mercs be able to dual wield, so be able to equip last wish+beast (for example)

Make act 1 mercs get auras like;
Fire Arrow - Meditation/Vigor/Cleansing
Cold Arrow - Meditation/Vigor/Cleansing


Make act 3 mercs get auras like;
LightMerc - Resist Light
FireMerc - Resist Fire
ColdMerc - Resist Cold

Nothing too OP meanwhile being usefull for some specific builds

 

Coldet Responds

Rare, Magic and even Set items have totally been sidelined By LoD. Everyone will equip Drac's on their merc, Fortitude, Enigma, Arachnids, Maras, Shako, etc etc etc.

I believe if you really want to improve the game then the Chances to roll really great mods on Rare and Magic items needs a lot of buffing. Some gear also needs to be able to roll mods like Life Tap, add skills etc.

The scope here is really infinite and would make the game FAR more interesting.

 

+1 for merc auras
I've been playing in 1 private where act1 mercs gives low level fanaticism, act 3 mercs low level conviction and act5 have a chance to cast low level BO..


About items..
Amazon on Bear
WWsin
Barb with teleport (ENIGMA at all)
etc.. items which gives abilities from other classes makes diablo an unique game..(that's why i will always prefer Diablo 2 than 3) you can make some more items with different type of spells this could help making new builds, but we will run too far from the original classic game BUT i support this.. if it's balanced (hard work here) :thumbup1:

 

I use Steelrend instead of Dracs on my merc, is that a bad thing? :smile:


As far as I can tell, and anyone involved in the hosting/configuration of this server is free to correct me at any time, this patch is not intended to go any further, at least not now, from two perspectives:

1. If you do serious modifications to the settings/items a reset is in place, so any discussion on this matter is for a later ladder reset (which on private realms means a total wipe since your chars don't convert to non-ladder);
2. You should first ask if anyone can modify this patch any further. To do so is not that easy, and if no one works for this server on that part, modifying things like mercs behavior is tricky and can cause serious issues, as I mentioned on other topics.

It's one thing to extract the sheet for a certain set of items and modify a certain stat (which is pretty elementary when editing a D2 patch), than to go and modify skills and things on characters.

Yes, there is room for improvement, there will always be. But isn't doing more stuffs to the patch making it a completely new mod, one that will eventually become too different from the core aspect of this one? of being a blizzlike mod with a few rates stats modified?!

If I were at the helm of things I would ignore every opinion on how the patch should be, not because the modifications are not relevant (there are tons of mods out there that implemented them) but because I either can't modify them or I feel it pushes the game/server in a direction I didn't initially intended, which in essence can cause a domino effect in terms of player base or experience satisfaction of those playing it.


If the issues is "do we open a new realm with new settings" than the discussion is totally different, and I'm all for it, but as it is, you either do slight modifications of the drop/exp rate, or you don't mess with it. It's part of its identity, and changing it completely will mean butchering a solid patch that caught roots.

 

Agree with Reign_again. The server is well as it is. Some slight adjustments could be done, but adding big stuff would imply even bigger changes.