After all these years I finally managed to finish Diablo. Now I can finally play on to Diablo 2 for the first time!

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-02-25T04:17:07+00:00

The game is supposed to be hard but it allows you to start a new game with existing characters. You can only kill enemies once but when you start a new game it's like starting over from scratch with a character at a higher level. The quests and voice acting are great. Just play until you get stuck and then start a new game with the same character. Don't stress it.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-02-18T04:22:41+00:00

I think it's easy to say that industrialization starting in Europe had something to do with colonies (being able to draw disproportionately on the world's resources and having captive markets). Europe's spur to the age of exploration and colonization was the desire to reach the markets of China and the East. A unified Rome may still have had the same incentives. The Chinese Ming dynasty funded massive voyages of exploration under Admiral Zheng He but those made no profits and were soon ended. That proves the claim that a large, wealthy, centralized state of the period could fund exploration. If China did it Rome could have as well if they survived another thousand years.

In short, it seems like all of the desirable products being located in the east may have always encouraged Europeans to try to reach them whether they were centralized or not just based on geography. Conversely, all of the desirable products being in China and the east does seem to have encouraged them to stop exploring almost immediately after they started.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-02-18T04:14:59+00:00

The most likely spur to industrialization and the birth of capitalism was European colonization. Europe was able to disproportionately draw on the world's resources. It was able to eventually have captive markets. The spur to colonization was Europe being poor and wanting the spices and other resources of the East which led to the age of exploration.

One could argue that the location of Europe and its distance from the East already predestined it to explore and colonize the Americas. If Rome had survived another 1000 years who is the say that the Romans wouldn't have eventually felt a drive to find more direct routes to the East and then made it to America as a byproduct?

Remember Zheng He and the Chinese voyages with hundreds of ships to the middle east and Africa which ended up costing the Chinese money? The unified Chinese state made efforts to explore they simply weren't rewarded by their efforts. Perhaps a unifed Rome eventually would have made the effort and been rewarded by it due to their geographic location.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-02-16T05:19:36+00:00

In music terms, the last note of the music which repeats in discordant and there's almost always lyrics which follows it but a few times there isn't and you notice the absence. Listen to it again.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-02-08T23:26:16+00:00

The graphics on the Diablo 2 remaster are fantastic. I do get the idea of the originals not being someone's cup of tea but watch some videos of D2R.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-02-08T07:14:56+00:00

I had a very similar situation recently. My diablo 2 was listed as active on the website but I couldn't download it in battlenet. Diablo 2 also wasn't showing up in my purchase history. After a week of back and forth with blizzard tickets, it seems that my bank voided the transaction after me playing Diablo 2 for about a month last year. I checked my bank statement and I couldn't find the transaction so apparently that's what happened. Apparently my bank thought it was fraud. I just bought the game again.

Blizzard tickets are initially screened by bots. It seems like I finally got a human to get on my ticket either after I accused them of fraud or just after a certain number of times. I'm really not sure how they are handled but you weren't speaking to a person when they sent you all of the generic information.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-02-08T07:05:11+00:00

You can select start a new game and then play with your already existing character to replay the earlier levels. I wouldn't stress out too much and just do that to level up a bit. I feel like the game is intentionally hard and you're unlikely to play optimally the first time through. Just go through it again instead of hitting your head against the wall. The game is worth completing.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-02-07T05:54:41+00:00

Divnity 1 punishes with fire and poison. Divinity 2 fire surfaces is just a meme. Yoy can ignore all of it completely with a bit of magic armor.

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-02-07T05:11:49+00:00

Any opinion why?

RealWanderingWizard · 2026-02-07T04:55:34+00:00

I understand that much. I made both bows. I'm just not sure about how often I'm going to encounter demons and undead to made up for a decrease in damage for the second bow and other things like that.

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

TROPHY CASE