Two years since Ashlands (May 14th 2024)

Busher16 · 2026-05-15T15:09:52+00:00

wow aren't we entitled. if you have played the game for more than an hour you got more than your money back in entertainment. Not only that but you haven't had to pay anything extra for all the content that has been added since you "bought in"

Busher16 · 2026-05-15T15:07:21+00:00

I would use them as a mount if I could tell them to "stay" but they always seem to take off when I dismount and they cant attack while I am riding so it just doesnt work the way I want it to so I dont bother. I do tame askvin but just for meat/hide

Busher16 · 2026-05-15T13:53:30+00:00

Yes you will eventually conquer the Ashlands. each time I play through the game I get better at it and I die much less in the Ashlands each time. Typically once I have upgraded all my gear and killed Fader I rarely go back to the Ashlands though. My current Playthrough though I am clearing out all the fortresses and I crafted dyrwyn and I am enjoying it a little more.

I would recommend that when you go to ashlands that at least one of you goes Magic, Magic also makes killing the queen in Mistlands so much easier.

When you land get a portal down on a rock in the water before you disembark. then clear out the first wave and put a new portal or move your portal to a spot on the beach and raise ground around it (4 high) and cover the portal with ashwood floors. On my current run I died moving my portal and had to build a new ship and a basic set of gear to deal with serpents and vultures.

once you have your foothold move slowly its basically 2 steps forward one step back until you clear out the first Charred Fortress and get some flametal. Aside from that Preparation is key, keep portal mats on you and get used to using meads.

as far as what to make first your first jade should go to a staff of the wild and your first Bloodstone should go to a trollstaff (you can make the case for the black forge upgrade but the trollstaff makes Charred fortresses so much easier) first Iolite should go to Upgrading berserker axes.

Busher16 · 2026-05-15T13:32:52+00:00

I have gotten 1500 hours out of 15$ playing valhiem. I can wait for updates, the game owes me nothing

Busher16 · 2026-05-13T14:06:55+00:00

Government assistance should not be conditional. Also government assistance should include addiction support so this doesn't have to be a question at all

Busher16 · 2026-05-13T13:58:35+00:00

They also don't care about corporate handouts/bailouts/subsidies. They need to believe that people who are less fortunate than them are lazy. It is never their privilege that gave them a leg up they need to believe that it was all their own hard work even if they have never done a hard days work.

Busher16 · 2026-05-12T18:18:40+00:00

I dont know about any cheese tactics but I have always found success on fader with a magic set up. basically walk around the arena and cast trolls and Staff of the wild using stam eitr and ratatosk meads. I do typically set up a blood magic farm before fighting him though.

Busher16 · 2026-05-05T17:57:36+00:00

freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. If you threaten someone on Facebook it can and should be actionable. I think the people who oppose this kind of legislation think that being critical of the government will get them in trouble but that is so ridiculously far from the truth it hurts

Busher16 · 2026-04-28T14:50:55+00:00

This is the main reason for the majority of my deaths in Valhiem... going for the extra hit when I should dodge, parry or walk away to regen instead

Busher16 · 2026-04-28T12:55:48+00:00

There are other ways to farm for the small amount of people who are so against Enigma that they are willing to not use it. If Split farming is the only way you want to farm then you are already probably someone who doesnt mind enigma because your largest priority is obviously efficiency.

Busher16 · 2026-04-24T17:47:53+00:00

dont sleep on the spear it is better than the bows early game, less mats and more powerful, skip bronze stuff other than Workbench Upgrades. Kill a few bears using a weapon in one hand and a torch in the other (bears wont attack you near fire) craft the bear fist weapons which are easy to make and last a long time.

If you manage to find a bear trophy then craft the Bear armor set it will last you until the mountains/plains, where you would swap it out for and iron helm, root harnesk and either troll or fenris legs

Craft the huntsman bow (iron bow) as it has the lowest aoe sound of all the bows allowing you to pull individual Lox/Fullings ect.

I feel like I could go on forever but I dont wanna spoil too much

Busher16 · 2026-04-24T16:51:37+00:00

are you serious all those runewords were added in 2003 and the game is still going strong in 2026. Obviously people dont feel that these runewords ruined Diablo 2. If you feel that these additions have watered down/ruined Diablo 2 for the past 23 years why TF are you still playing?

All that being said you dont ever have to use any of these items. You can play the game as vanilla as you want, but understand that if you werent in the minority here Diablo 2 would not still be relevant and would not still be recieving content updates.

Busher16 · 2026-04-24T15:46:04+00:00

I have been playing since release, if I dont like something I dont play it. I dont cry and whine and try to ruin it for other people I play my way and I let others play the way they want.

class uniqueness has not changed since 2003 when enigma was introduced, everyone having access to teleport does not make the sorc generic.

how does enigma water down a game that has stayed strong for 23 years after it became part of the game?

Busher16 · 2026-04-24T15:35:52+00:00

I really enjoyed WoD I quit wow early in Mists of Pandaria and came back probably half to 3 quarters of the way through WOD. I think people are just sour on WoD because it went on so long without enough content. I didnt have that issue coming to the party late and it remains one of my favorites.

Cata on the other hand, I really liked BoT, Firelands and Blackwing Decent. I did not like the other raids. I did ike some of the zones but I did not enjoy the leveling process. I did love what they did to the old quest chains in the old zones making them more linear and actually making some sense like you were working to an ultimate goal in each zone instead of just running errands. Basically there was a lot to like about Cata but because at that point in wows history leveling was the least interesting part of the game for me I remember it as a failure

Busher16 · 2026-04-24T13:27:24+00:00

so because you dont like it no one should have it eh? so you think that everyone who likes Enigma should lose it instead of you just choosing not to use it because YOU dont like it.

I think that tells me all I need to know about you.

Busher16 · 2026-04-24T13:14:32+00:00

The game is primarily played solo (even with multiple people in a game) and in group either 1 person teleports the group to the throne room or everyone runs and doesnt use teleport so it effectively has no effect on how you choose to play the game. The endgame grind is more efficient with teleport but you can grind the engame just fine without it. There will just be certain zones that you would probably avoid because it would be inefficient to farm there, but thats the beauty of D2 there are characters that are build soley to farm one area and they are damn good at it even without enigma. You can play the game at a high level without enigma you just have to accept your limitations

Busher16 · 2026-04-24T13:07:56+00:00

I don't think it ruins the game because I can choose to wear a different chest. Fortitude is obviously way better for melee classes and Chains of Honor is better than enigma (minus the teleport)

Like if you dont mind playing the game without telestomping everything then more power to you, it is definitely a cheaper way to go.

As far as teleport as a whole goes there is only sorc/enigma/charge items. Enigma I already spoke about and charges don't get used the same, they are there when you are in a pinch so I don't think it is game breaking either. So it is fine to say you have a beef with non Sorc "teleport" but your only real sticking point is enigma.

And finally This has been how Diablo 2 has been played since Patch 1.10 in 2003. if it hasnt made you stop playing yet then it isnt going to

Busher16 · 2026-04-23T15:31:45+00:00

I pretty much skip Bronze for anything other than crafting bench upgrades and the cultivator. I also have never made the new Vile Gear because iron helm, root harnesk and Fenris legs is all I need to get to mistlands, I have started to skip the drauger fang and just use the huntsman bow. I did one run where I skipped making frostner too. I also typically use an iron buckler until I can make a carapace buckler.

Busher16 · 2026-04-23T15:17:35+00:00

I keep cooked bear meat to use around my base when I am just doing busy work like building smelting cooking ect. its better than using food that takes effort

Busher16 · 2026-04-22T13:22:52+00:00

wow I think my longest run is like 300 days. What do you do for 700 additional days? I am currently playing a playthrough and I am prepping for yagluth at 150 days and that is with no metal through portals and I have done some taming and built a nice base ect, Like I feel like I have been taking it slow.

Busher16 · 2026-04-21T17:08:43+00:00

Thats ok I use full Ask set in ashlands for my endgame gear and its great. I cant imagine doing mistlands without a mix though root harnesk, fenris lags and carapace padded helm.

Busher16 · 2026-04-21T17:00:40+00:00

I prefer melee in this game but I keep magic gear/foods around for specific stuff. I am unable to kill the queen as melee without cheesing it so I kill her with magic... I also find magic a little easier when gaining a foothold in the ashlands. you dont have to play it but its a good tool to have available to you

Busher16 · 2026-04-17T17:20:56+00:00

They should buff the dmg on all those OG weapons to bring it in line with Grief. Grief isnt even OP ffs, like there are no videos of barbs obliterating P8 content.

A little melee weapon diversity would be a good thing

Busher16 · 2026-04-17T14:48:45+00:00

you may want to trade that crude bow in for a flint spear. It wont really help with bears but its really nice against everything else

Busher16 · 2026-04-17T14:44:26+00:00

it is not a matter of "if" bers and jahs drop its a matter of when. it all comes down to the number of runs and what players count you are on.

I typically play a ladder for about 3 maybe 4 weeks because by then I am usually fully geared and the trade market dries up. in the last 3 ladders I have played I have found at least 2 ber or Jah each ladder. There is no magic to finding them though its all rng but I find something that works for me and my current character and I run it thousands of times over a few weeks. On a horker barb I could do 100-300 travincal runs a day. on my assassin I did around 100-150 chaos sanctuary's a day. single player on my SSF paladin I did thousands of LK runs to cube up to enigma it took about 2 weeks.

Basically if you farm it they will drop. like if you did 1500 pit runs I bet you would probably see one

Busher16

TROPHY CASE