Diablo 2?
Diablo 2.
DIABLO 2!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH
GAMING
First up, we have more Lethal Company. Every week we get in a few games and every week I have a blast. Which is good, things have been rough for me lately. I will be fine, just annoying.
Second, we did a bit of grinding in FF14. My wife and I, I mean. We were trying to finish my last 3 YoKai Watch weapons but kept running head first into Blue Mages, which absolutely ruin the grinding of Fates. Seriously, they drive me nuts. So, we instead jumped over to some Mogtome farming. Its event season in the leadup to Dawntrail (Which we both preordered, we want that Early Access). I am most likely switching to Pictomancer come Dawntrail because I am not happy with the summoner stuff. I dont want another Bahamut game. I would like something a bit more unique please and thank you.
The big game of the week has continued to be Diablo 2 Resurrected. I don’t think I have ever really spoken about why Diablo 2 as a game is special to me. Sit down, let me tell you a bit of Nerdy history!
It was the year 2001 or 2002, give or take. I had my first apartment, I had dial up internet, and I was alone. I played a lot of Counter Strike back then, but I needed something new. I was in a store (I think a Target, might have been Walmart) and I saw on the shelf a copy of the Diablo 2 Battle Chest for about $40. I had never played a Diablo game or an action RPG before that, had no idea what the game was, but I did recognize Blizzard (I was a StarCraft and Warcraft guy at the time) so on a whim I bought it, got home, installed it off the CDs and started playing.
I was hooked. I made a Barbarian (figured at the time it would be the big beefy boi) and named em Todd_Russel, after the character Buck Tuddrussel from Time Squad. I would frequently yell GET SOME when using Leap Attack. I was an odd young adult back then (less than I am now, if you can believe that). Eventually I got sick due to mold in that apartment and had to move back in with my mom. I made a friend at a job then, who also played D2, so we teamed up via TCP IP connection games, me playing a Frenzy Druid and them playing a Sorc. Fun fact, in all this play time, I never left Normal difficulty. Seriously. I played for hundreds of hours between these two characters, got both to like level 70 in Normal (Which takes a WHILE cause of XP scaling), and never felt the urge to go into Nightmare. My time in Diablo 2 OG fostered a love though of the ARPG genre and since my time playing it, I have played pretty much every ARPG that is out there, that I can find. Torchlight series? OG Diablo? Dins Curse? FATE? Last Epoch? Path of Exile? Grim Dawn? Wolcen? Played every single one of those. And more that I cannot recall. Diablo 2 was the start of it ALL!
Another fun thing is that I would often play with my own soundtrack, playing CDs I had while doing Mephisto and Baal runs. Thanks to this, there are two bands that, if I hear them, cause me to instantly think of this game and my time with it. First is Tantric, and second is The Barenaked Ladies. Seriously, certain songs for these two will instantly make my brain bring up the Werewolf Walk from D2. Its wild.
In fact, it was Tantric that made me start craving Diablo 2 again. I had been playing their songs in my car when driving and it just kept throwing those memories into my brain. So, when my buddy Virus asked me what I wanted for my Birthday gift (as I have mentioned, May is my BDay month) I said Diablo 2 Resurrected. Specifically, because I had tried over the years to go back to original D2 and found that I absolutely hated the OG Keyboard and Mouse control scheme. The visuals had aged but that was not a deal breaker, not really. But having been spoiled with controller schemes for games like Grim Dawn and POE. So, the real main reason I wanted D2R was to see how the game felt on controller.
Boy howdy. Its fucking GOOD. It makes playing so much easier for me. I get actual hot keys for fucks sake.
I have since leveled a Trapsin, Paladin (not sure what it’s going to be), and now a Summoner Necro into Nightmare. All of them beat Nightmare Andariel. My Necro has proven to be my preferred style in D2R. Just have the army go, curse dudes, and chill while my bone bois kill everything. I do not like the Trapsin playstyle at all, but I will get them thru Hell because they are strong as hell. For the Paladin I have no clue what I want to do with them though. I have tried Cold Aura, Pure Smite, Hammerdin, and now they are Fist of Heavens. Apparently, I can do a Hybrid FoH and Smite setup, but I need more skill points. I will say FoH is powerful, but my god does this dude chug mana points even worse than the Trapsin does.
I also have a smol Druid made who was a caster, and I might continue trying to be a Fire Druid. Fissure is bonkers strong, but it sucks to aim. Like it deleted Normal Andariel in seconds with 1 cast of it, but it can also just totally whiff against single targets with even multiple casts. I don’t have Volcano yet for the Druid though. And if all else fails I will just spec them into Werewolf and go either Rabies or Fury. I know I like that feel.
Oh and the Summoner Necro? Other than Normal Diablo being a sort of Roadblock (Had to hit level 29 to take him down safely) not a single thing has threatened it. In fact, Nightmare Duriel couldnt even take out a SINGLE Skeleton. They just stood there, bonking him till death. Decrypify is bonkers yo against bosses.
FINAL WORD OF THE WEEK
I am feeling every inch of my age as of late. But that is just the effect of getting older. My body is slowing down and creaking, but my mind is the same as ever. I still love gaming, reading, and being me. I just…feel tired a lot more. Then again, that seems to be the rallying cry of people in my general (Xennial / Millenial) so ya know, it’s not uncommon.
Stay Nerdy, treat each other kindly, and I will catch y’all next week as usual. Take care.
Ko Fi Donation Goal for my Move
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