🚀 go-pugleaf

On 25 Feb 1997 01:19:57 GMT, kir...@u.washington.edu (K. Laisathit)
wrote:

>Out of curiosity, what's it like to be a level 40? I'm
>currently running a level 24 rogue. Not that the normal
>Diablo game is no longer a challenge, but it's getting
>close to that. No, I don't have any cheated items.
>(haven't got a single unique item or any godly or king's
>items either, just some items of stars, sorcery, and vigor)
>
>The reason I ask is that I can waltz through most of the
>dungeon in normal diff, without fear of dying. Which is,
>in fact, somewhat disappointing. I find the intense feeling
>of an impending doom quite exhilarating. Unfortunely, only
>low level hell still bring about those strong feelings.
>
>Perhaps, it's time to go to nightmare mode, you suggest.
>But then, I imagine that at level 30 or more, I'd be in
>the same boat as I'm on now. So, go to hell mode, you say.
>I can similarly imagine that my level 40 with much improved
>equipments shouldn't have too much problem there either.
>
>I have to wonder, what're the level 40+ people doing hanging
>out in battle.net. So a few of them are hacked, but what
>about the legitimate ones? What's left to explore? What's
>the challenge. What do you think?
>
>Later...


As one of those Diablo addicts who is still hanging around battle.net
after level 40, I can answer a few of your questions from what I and
some friends have done.

Believe me, when you first enter nightmare caves and hell in your mid
20s you will definitely relearn the feeling of impending doom :).  The
same goes for hell difficulty once you reach level 30.  Unless you
have incredibly good equipment, a rogue is very difficult to play in
hell difficulty.  Without a shield, it is easy to be surrounded and
killed in a matter of seconds.  Having 200ac is nearly meaningless,
and I think you need to have 300 ac to stop being hit automatically by
many of the StormLord/Vipers/etc.  Just giving you something to look
forward to in the 30's :).  In Hell/Hell, it is still easy to die with
a high level character, though with careful play you can survive.

As far as what you do at 40+, often you start another character.  My
first character, Zylvan, is now 41st lvl (mage).  When he was around
38th level, I started a Rogue character and gave all of my mage's
backup equipment to her.  With this gear, she quickly rose to level 32
and 3 dots (about a week).  Somewhat bored again, I started a Warrior,
and once again, because of good equipment, he made it to level 32 in a
week or so, though he has yet to be able to solo hell/hell (his AC is
in the low 200s and he still get pummeled a lot even in caves).

Looking for new challenges I happened upon a hunting partner who was
in the same boat I was, looking for something new.  We decided we were
going to start over with NO HELP from our main characters.  We found
two others who thought it was great idea and the four of us started in
normal church with no outside help from any of our mega-characters.
We wrangled for a bit on the character mix, and decided to let
everyone choose what they wanted to be, regardless of the outcome
(would have been funny if all 4 of us were mages :).  We ended up with
2 mages an 2 rogues, no warriors!  This unusual character mix gave us
an even greater challenge, and we died often in the early levels as we
learned to work as a group.  You may have seen our group members
online.  They are those with the _GoF suffix (Gang of Four).

The enjoyment that our group has gotten from this experiment has been
fantastic.  Without all the godly/zodiac/ksoh/royal circlet iems, we
were forced to test our skills to the max, and we've all become better
players for it.  It is MUCH more satisfying to overcome tremendous
obstacles with a weaker character then to run over everything with a
tank.

Tonight, our group achieved our third dot, barely over a week since
its first conception.  Yes, we died many times in hell/hell reaching
Diablo, but we overcame the challenges even when we thought all might
be lost (dieing at bottom of stairs to a group of storm lords was just
one of the many things we had to overcome).  In the words of the
ending monologue, we all have 'become fortified by our quest'.  It was
a very satisfying feeling to say the least, as much or more than i
felt the first time I killed Diablo on hell difficulty.

Tomorrow we are getting together to seek out new challenges.  I'm not
sure yet what we will do.

Some other things that come to mind at 40+ is helping people get their
2nd and 3rd dots for the first time.  There are a lot of people that
want to earn their dots, but want the comfort of having someone along
who has 'been there'.  The first time you enter hell/hell can be
terrifying! (I know it was for me).  You are not inviting a
'babysitter' when you ask a 40+ to join you, you're inviting (usually)
an older wiser player who can pass on knowledge/tactics/strategies
even as you play.  There will be a time when you'll pass along this
knowledge to new players in turn, it's an ongoing process.

You will see many of the higher level players simply sitting in the
Black Lodge chatting amongst themselves and with people who stop by.
It is very enjoyable to relax a bit, and not always have to be in the
dungeons slaving away.  Often they will chat for hours, then, on the
spur of a moment they will form an impromptu group and head off to
hell/hell for some royal demon bashing!

Other high level players like to organize regular hell/hell 'treasure
hunts'.  While the experience points come slow, the magic items flow
like water in hell/hell (often very crappy ones, but I still get
excited every time i hear the 'clink' of plate mail or the 'ping' or
an amulet dropping!).  And what may seem like a mediocre item to you
is often a nice gift for a player in 10-15 range who could use that
precision amulet or ring of titans.

There are also those determined players who think that 40 is not
enough!  You will seldom find them in chat, but trudging through
dungeon after dungeon waiting for the satisfaction of the level up
button when it finally comes after hours of work.

What it comes down to, is Diablo is what you make of it, at ANY level.
It is up to you to decide what you want to do.  Make a goal and go for
it!  Or make no goals and just go enjoy yourself.  If you are having
fun at what you're doing, then it doesn't matter.  Because in the long
run, that's why we play this game!

Zylvan, long of wind, short of sleep