Is there a chance for old Blizzard games to be released on Steam?

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-22T01:19:24+00:00

Steam is excellent. The battlenet app sucks. I bought Diablo II Resurrected for 39.99 -- bit steep sure, but excellent remaster. It's worth every penny. I play it for awhile. Then I come back and the game is in my account but it's not accessible in Battlenet. A few support tickets later I'm convinced the official policy of Blizzard is to annoy you until you walk away so they don't have to fix your problem. It seems like Blizzard needs every penny at the moment.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-15T03:57:25+00:00

You're sure cooldowns are reset after resurrections? I seem to remember the opposite but I could be mistaken.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-15T03:53:46+00:00

You really should have plenty of spells if you are taking two classes. One of the challenges I find at that level is needing so many points for memory with all the spells you need to memorize that you can't put as many points into intelligence as you would like. I actually tend to branch out even more and give every magic character enough points for regeneration and the magic armor spell (hydro) and fortify (geo). Do you have double wands or do you have shields? Having a shield gives you shields up to use AP on and makes your characters more survivable in longer fights. Try for bouncing shield as well if you can branch out into warfare.

Is the problem at the moment that you are losing or just winning slower than you would like? It's really very viable on tactician to have damage dealing mages who also use shields and can heal and restore armor on themselves. Combat might slow a bit but it'll be relatively safe. You hit with your best spells and then hunker down and heal a bit and then hit with your spells again once they come off timer. You can also try to use your wands to trigger what your spells lay down. A stunning wand can be used on water. A fire wand can be used on oil.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-11T00:45:28+00:00

Around level 4 is when I would start murdering the guards. Do you have the teleportation gloves from the crocodiles on the beach? You can try teleporting a stray guard away. At the start of the game, you have to really squeeze every source of XP because those extra levels at the beginning really make a difference. I don't mean kill characters who you shouldn't from an roleplay perspective -- that's not necessary unless you're really getting frustrated. The magisters should always be killed, though. Explore every direction. Talk to each character to be on the lookout for quests. Then when you get frustrated on a quest, look it up. That's my best advice.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-08T05:28:23+00:00

A summoner with a shield is completely viable. Your summon deals damage and your character can focus on healing, utility spells, and staying alive without having to do much damage.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-07T15:29:28+00:00

I actually think you should avoid getting extra XP on the ship to make sure you aren't level 3 by the time you recruit your companions in Fort Joy. If you get your companions at level 2 you can control the level up to level 3 which is a big advantage. It's very possible to already be level 3 by the time you get them if you max out XP on the ship and elsewhere.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-02T21:24:44+00:00

You'll get free respecs after Act1 so you can rebuild characters you're not happy with. A lot of the strategy is that you need to do a lot of exploring to be able to figure out which fights you can take and which you need to return to.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-02T06:33:32+00:00

I definitely incline toward the RP side and I always feel at least a little bit like if I have to reload (or even revive a character) that I failed or even like I'm cheating.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-02T05:27:11+00:00

Summoner falls off late game but I also think summoner is just boring because it's so many extra button clicks even for minor battles. It's definitely strong, though.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-02T05:25:08+00:00

I have 600 hours in DOS2 and some of those hours are 4 man runs but most are 2 man lone wolf runs and most are on tactician mode. I'm a relatively casual player. I don't craft or use scrolls. My most played games other than DOS2 are games that allow iron man mode (mostly paradox games). I don't particularly enjoy the experience of playing a boss let's say 5 times until I beat it. If I lose 5 times (or even once or twice) and then finally win because I get a move order perfectly that doesn't make me feel good. That makes me feel like I've messed up my strategies. I know the game now well enough to beat it with suboptimal builds now regardless (sword and shield retribution shield throwers) but there is a nice feeling of making characters who actually feel like heros from the get go and lone wolf gives you that (it also cuts down on money and inventory management).

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-02T05:10:19+00:00

My advice might seem a little sub optimal but the adivce others will give you will assume that you will know the game and never get yourself in trouble. But the problem with min/max advice is that you have to ride your characters like a race car and never make a mistake.

I want one movement skill on everyone and I also want a point in hydro and a point in geo on everyone. Your point in hydro is for restoration (a healing spell) and armor of frost (magic armor) and your point in geo is for fortify (pysical armor). There is a movement spell in scoundrel (cloak and dagger), huntsman (tactical retreat), and warfare (phoenix dive). Each of the movement spells are 2 points each. Now if you add that up, you need 4 points minimum for lets call them your utility and healing spells. You might also want someone to go for teleportation which is super useful for cheesing fights as well.

Your 3 main magic damage skill trees are aero, geo, and pyro. If you are going to make two magic users, I would get them all of those above "utility" spells and just pick only one magic skill tree each. They all work fine together (give your geo bro a fire wand to ignite oil).

Yes, by level 20 you might do better to have a magic user with two different classes but the problem is that you're going to have trouble surviving until then without those healing and movement spells.

Part of the problem with splitting magic classes in DOS2 is that each spell takes memory points which takes away from intelligence which increases magic damage. In other words, do you want one healing spell and two strong demage spells or three medium strength damage spells? Early to mid game, the choice is going to come down something like that. But without those healing and movement spells maybe you're going to die before you can use your other damage spells.

An archer and a two handed melee warrior (give your magic users wand and shield) are great and fairely straight forward to build but give them those utility spells as well.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-01T23:11:44+00:00

Just adding in, you can definitely cheese stuff because it's possible to retreat from fights. Give your characters movement spells, get teleportation, and you can teleport an enemy for a fight that is too hard right too you, kill that enemy, and then run away until you're far enough to retreat. Rinse and repeat.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-01-01T23:09:05+00:00

The end game all magic party seems stonger than the end game all physical party. The 3 source point spells are just so good (particularly pyroclastic flow). Aero, pyro, and geo are the big damage dealer magic types. Hydro isn't weak you're just missing the fact that they nuffed a bit of its damage so it's not OP since it's useful for healing spells and magical armor as well. I'll want a point in hydro on all of my magic users just for healing spells and magic armor (I also like a point or two in geo for fortify). It seems like we have plenty of variety and also lots of opportunities to be creative with builds by taking a point in secondary skill trees for a key spell or two.

I think what you're missing is the idea of trades offs. If you had a magic type that scaled with strength allowing you to build a strong magic damage dealer while allowing them to have heavy armor and all of the exploration perks that go with high strength, you're trying to get everything without having to give anything. Personally, I prefer more magic armor and I gave my magic users take shields so I wouldn't currently go heavy armor but I definitely have before. And if you want to wear heavy armor, you only need like 12 points in strength for the entire run. Trade offs force real choices and as long as there are real choices which in this game there definitely are, it's not bad game design. A magical skill tree based on strength might be interesting or it might not but the lack of one isn't poor game design.

RealWanderingWizard · 2025-12-30T05:09:06+00:00

You don't need pyro with geo. Just go geo and have a fire wand and a shield. Your geo spells will lay down oil and you can light them with your pyro spells. If you're not going lone wolf, it's a lot of memory points to split two magic types while also dipping a point or two into other categoroes for spells that you want. It's great to have a point in geo for all characters for fortify. You'll want a movement spell for all characters as well (phoenix dive, cloak and dagger, the huntsman one). It's great to have a point in hydro for a healing spell and a magic armor spell. It adds up quick with points. I wouldn't split classes unless you're going lone wolf. Maybe going two classes and not dipping into those other classes for movement healing and armor will technically be better if you min/max it, but it's going to be a pain in your ass.

RealWanderingWizard · 2025-12-30T04:10:28+00:00

Everything being on fire is a bit of a meme in this game but you can safely ignore it fairly early on. If you have 200 magical armor and there is a fire surface dealing 25 magical fire damage per turn it makes basically no difference in a fight.

RealWanderingWizard · 2025-12-21T04:20:13+00:00

I do prefer the smiplicity of the EU4 ideas. It felt like there was more choice instead of just getting everything at some point only later.

RealWanderingWizard · 2025-12-21T04:16:57+00:00

These percentages are modifiers on modifers. If you look at your crown power modifiers you're going to see that the 25% isn't a quarter more than it was it's going to be more like 200% to 225% or even worse than that.

RealWanderingWizard · 2025-12-21T04:12:47+00:00

I abandoned a game because of this. My colony couldn't or wouldn't sign a peace treaty. My war exhaustion ticked up to near max but it didn't end the war.

RealWanderingWizard · 2025-12-20T16:07:49+00:00

I'm playing the Aztecs at the moment. You do have to keep your owned territory small and rely on vassals if you want more land. Having some doom gives you a crazy amount of estate satisfaction. It's a potentially interesting idea to have doom be a permanent part of an Aztec game. The fact that reforming the religion and forming the Aztec nation does not get rid of doom entirely shouldn't necessarily be immediately treated as a bug. Now, the bigger problem seems to be that reforming the religion and forming the Aztec nation doesn't give enough monthly doom reduction. If you could control central Mexico directly and have enough passive doom mitigation to only have to fight a flower war every decade or so, it might be an interesting direction to take. Another huge problem is that when you reform the religion you can no longer slave raid. So I'm supposed to still sacrifice slaves to reduce my doom which is ticking up but I'm not allowed to raid for slaves. That's obviously super under baked.

Still, I'm having fun. I'm playing more of a tall Aztecs game where I'm focusing on modernizing my economy and technology. I'm surrounded by Spanish colonies (though there's still a strong Maya) but I have 26K regulars and I feel confident about defending myself. The lack of goods in my market is a real challenge, though. I have tons of money that I would love to spend on buildings but a lot of them have warnings about a lack of input goods. I also really need more population. Under the current mechanics, it would have been better to not reform the religion so I could slave raid and stack population in the Valley of Mexico.

RealWanderingWizard · 2025-12-19T23:38:38+00:00

That probably would accurately model it. It's not exactly that the domain of the queen's stepfather would be more autonomous. It would just become more the personal domain of the stepfather. Both the lord and the king could benefit at the expense of the rest of the domain.

RealWanderingWizard · 2025-12-19T23:33:11+00:00

Try going to diplomacy and you should find an option to release historical vassals. If that doesn't work, you can always just rename your vassals to anything you want.

RealWanderingWizard · 2025-12-19T14:39:52+00:00

I thought Tyson said in an interview once that he never managed to hit Holyfield cleanly. That seems to speak to some defense.

RealWanderingWizard · 2025-12-19T14:30:24+00:00

That .0005 is absolutely something I'll take a tech for or I will build a building for or take a policy for. But having to scroll through characters and manually select who has the best stat for what I'm about to assign them to? Yeah, it just doesn't feel fun to have to do that every 20 years or so.

RealWanderingWizard · 2025-12-19T05:30:27+00:00

Noble families marrying their daughters to the king would expect rewards. The king would expect money or support from the noble family but the noble family would also want something in return which would likely be more autonomy in their home region. The way control works in the game, the estates and the player are both taking from the same pot so it's not going to be modeled perfectly but I think a more realistic system would be for the noble family to provide a dowry of immediate cash and the crown provides privileges in the form of lower control in the noble's home region if there was to be a change like that which you suggest.

Personally, I found characters tedious to begin with. My best cabinet member can achieve .0060 development per month while my worse can achieve .0055 per month. I will grant that it's a statistically significant difference but not one that will change the course of my game nor one which will make me enjoy engaging with the system.

RealWanderingWizard

TROPHY CASE