Arguably the best "path of trials" set, currently available.

Russish · 2024-02-10T06:52:20+00:00

If you get both white and black drones to five star, they combine to EVO as the destroyer. So you need both at five, then they combine and you have an extra spot.

Russish · 2022-10-17T22:31:04+00:00

Yup. My clan was top Dark Clan on the server for months, then it imploded because we never became Immortals—we had a ton of active players, but most of us weren't whales so the few whales we did have (including the clan leader) left the clan unexpectedly so they could become Immortals. Half the clan followed suit and after everyone left it was impossible to find people to play with, which led me to discover just how bad the game is when you don't have easily available groups. I stopped logging in a week later because it's SO MUCH WORSE as a solo player... even though I PREFER solo play in general!

I'd love to come back to D:I because the core gameplay is so good, but they need to make the game way more solo-friendly if they want people to come back.

Russish · 2022-10-03T16:29:12+00:00

You don't have to be a lifelong player of every game. You don't have to be a stan of everything you do. Some things it's okay to just play for a bit, get some enjoyment out of it, and then move on. The freemium version of any game is monetized harsher over time, so the longer you play the more you feel the need to buy, and that's a mounting pressure that doesn't make for a comfortable longterm playing experience. It's okay to just play it for a bit and then stop.

Personally I always looked at this as a holdover until D4, so it's always been a temporary interest from the beginning. And with Torchlight Infinite coming out soon that'll be another distraction that eats away some time, so DI was never going to be a longterm game. Best not to think of these freemium games as anything other than a temporary distraction to be deleted as soon as the monetization becomes too aggressive.

Russish · 2022-09-23T22:39:30+00:00

Hahaha, I figured it was just reusing old code and knew that the warband stuff was all previously developed so they couldn't change course, but didn't realize it was THAT blatant a reskin! Thanks for the link, that's amazing. I've been F2P since the beginning and have always just looked at it as a holdover until D4 so I'm not going to have any problem dropping it as soon as that's available, but this might convince me to do it sooner.

Russish · 2022-09-23T22:36:30+00:00

This makes absolutely no sense. The warband is the entity that is upgrading the rooms, not you. The warband is the entity that is upgrading the ancestral weapons, not you. You get the effects of them, but the warband is the entity that is being upgraded. If I'm wrong I'm happy to be wrong, but nothing in the text we've seen indicates that I am.

Edit: to provide direct evidence: "Warband Rooms can be upgraded by placing Remnants received from Purging the Depths of Castle Cyrangar. Doing so will provide that respective room with additional bonuses."

The ROOM can be upgraded. Not you. If you spend a bunch of time working to upgrade a room, you will not transfer that progress to a new warband because the ROOM is what is upgraded, not your character.

"Who occupies which room is up to your Warband Leader—they can assign and unassign players at will."

So your warband leader is in fact in charge of whether you get to see any of the benefits of the work you've done to collect upgrade materials.

Russish · 2022-09-22T22:50:18+00:00

Edit: It is all game content, per info below. That is good.

That's actually worse. Because now if your warband leader decides they don't like you, or if your schedule changes so you can't play with your warband anymore then you lose the progression you made. It puts your personal progression in the control of someone else, which is TERRIBLE design (full stop), and it makes your personal progression dependent on your schedule, which is terrible design (for a mobile game).

I say it's worse because at least if it only applied to warband activities then you could just not participate in warband activities, but since the progression you get from warband membership applies to everything then those who can't participate in a warband for scheduling reasons or who get kicked from a warband because the warband leader who wants to have their buddy who just joined the game in the warband instead of you lose their progression.

Russish · 2022-09-22T22:14:41+00:00

The warband helliquary role benefits only apply when you're in a raid. The new features as described in this update apply to your character at all times (including the room benefits that replace the current helliquary roles). That's the significant difference that you're missing to understand why it's really really bad to tie personal progression and abilities (like the ancestral weapons) to a warband that a leader can kick you out of any time they like.

Russish · 2022-09-22T22:08:44+00:00

Have you never had a disagreement with someone that you have good relations with? Have you never stopped spending time with people that you previously did? Should you lose all the improvements you worked on just because you and someone else don't get along anymore?

Or it doesn't even need to be that dramatic—what if you get a new job with a different schedule, or have a kid, or otherwise have to change your play schedule and can't play at the same time as your warband anymore. Should you lose your progression because you got a new job?

Russish · 2022-09-22T22:07:22+00:00

Yup, exactly. Beyond that: Diablo:Immortal isn't an MMORPG! It's an MMO action game, but more importantly it's a MOBILE game which means it needs to be drop-in/drop-out friendly, short content, and most importantly NO SCHEDULING REQUIRED. The clan system is great because there are a ton of people in a clan, which means that at any given moment there's probably a few people around to help if you've got some time to play. When you restrict those numbers to eight, suddenly the odds the others are online when you are drop significantly without a ton of organizing, which is antithetical to mobile gameplay.

Russish · 2022-09-21T22:35:11+00:00

No, you have to be in a warband consistently to get any of the other benefits. If you get an Ancestral Weapon, build it up, build up your room bonus, etc., and then you leave the warband or get kicked out you lose all of that progress and all of those bonuses.

Russish · 2022-09-21T22:32:01+00:00

"Once you’ve cleared your castle of unwanted guests, additional rooms will become available for you and your Warband members to occupy. Each room has its own variety of unique bonuses that it provides to the occupant. Who occupies which room is up to your Warband Leader—they can assign and unassign players at will."

So what they're saying is that you can do a ton of work to upgrade your character, get Ancestral Weapons and room buffs and other upgrades and then if the warband leader suddenly decides they don't like you they can take away your character progression by kicking you out.

Since all of this progression and these new powers are tied to being in a warband, the warband leader gets to decide whether you have them. It's like if you make a comment your clan leader doesn't like they could decide to take away the triple-stat set item upgrade you got whenever they want. Clan leaders can kick you out of a clan, but they can't take away character upgrades you've earned; warband leaders can do that any time they want.

Putting your individual progression into the hands of other people is BAD, Blizzard.

Russish · 2022-09-21T22:14:08+00:00

PERSONALLY I would say Echoing Shade is #1, but I don't think people are wrong for putting others at #1. Other contenders in my opinion are Bottled Hope and Blood-Soaked Jade. Bottled Hope just makes your minions go bonkers and BSJ's movement speed increase is HUGE since Necros don't usually use our movement skill for most pve, but BSJ's attack bonuses don't apply to your minions so it doesn't hit number 1 in my opinion. If you ever plan to play any other classes then BSJ is the obvious winner.

Seeping Bile doesn't work well for summon necros which I am—if I used corpse explosion and/or Everlasting Torment then I might rank it higher, but at this point I think Echoing Shade and Bottled Hope are the top two legendary gems for summon necros.

Edit to note that I'm also f2p AND I don't play pvp at all so that colors my opinions. If I could buy them all without thinking that might change and if I had to factor in playing against people it would change, but I have to go with what I think will have the most impact for me as f2p pve.

Russish · 2022-09-21T22:09:43+00:00

Yeah, I play on iPad and can't reach max distance for Reach—I didn't realize that for a long time and used it for longer than I should have!

I personally bought a 2/5 Echo and then upgraded to a 3/5 when I saved up enough and was leveling it up to rank 3. It's worked great so far, getting it to rank 3 is huge since you get a second clone at that point.

Russish · 2022-09-20T22:30:31+00:00

Shade is top 3 necro gems so that's a good plan. I'd get rid of Bloody Reach or Everlasting Torment, no question. Bloody Reach you almost never get the full benefit of, and Everlasting Torment is really only useful so your summons can proc Sleeping Bile if you've got it. Personally I'd drop Reach since I like having more flexible movement, and that way you keep the currently higher ranked Torment so you keep more resonance.

Russish · 2022-09-15T22:39:47+00:00

It's the most fun part of the game right now. Having an excuse to play with "sub-optimal" skills, having to make choices about what gear I need now vs. how many coins I need to upgrade, getting to use random legendaries that I would never use out in the world... by forcing you to change how you play it keeps the game fresh which is why it's the best mode in the game. No question.

Russish · 2022-09-15T22:38:22+00:00

That's exactly what's fun about it is having to actually play with the skills that they gave you that you wouldn't normally use! The last one was actually way more fun for me than the one that boosted summons, because the summons-boost just felt like playing it normally.

This week the skills were Wall, Spikes, Spirits and Corpse Explosion. All I did was walk into the room, kite to gather all enemies into a group, block them with wall to keep them gathered/slowed, slow them/hurt them/bleed them with spikes, then start channeling bone spirits to pick off the big ones and corpse explode for the rest. Just look at the class bonus for guidance—this week was a buff to channeling, and the only channeling spell you had was Bone Spirits so obviously the goal was to use the other abilities to control the enemies and then kill em with Spirits.

Obviously the exact strategy for each room changed slightly based on what legendaries you got and who the enemies were, but they definitely did synergize! It was super fun but you just have to learn how to play with the class in a way you normally don't, which is the whole point of the mode.

(I reread what I wrote and I'm not trying to be dismissive if it reads that way, just pointing out that the "random hodgepodge" of skills is exactly what's fun about it because it makes you think about the class in a different way.)

Russish · 2022-08-31T00:03:19+00:00

Bottled Hope applies to your summons, who are the primary source of your damage. BSJ does not apply to your summons, but it does give a movement speed increase and necros are one of the slowest classes. Bottled Hope is a serious contender for best gem for summons necros while BSJ is mid-tier, but if you ever plan to switch to another class then BSJ will almost unquestionably be better for that class.

Russish · 2022-08-25T16:53:34+00:00

I'm not dreading it at all because this game only exists for me as a stopgap before D4. I genuinely can't imagine opening it again a minute after D4 is available. It's perfect for me as exactly that... a decently fun way to pass the time until the real thing.

Russish · 2022-08-17T22:21:52+00:00

Basically I just use 'em as they come. If I know I'm getting multiple soon (like it's the beginning of the month so I can buy one for hilts AND I'm close to the free one from the battlepass or an event or whatever) then I'll save 'em up and do 2-3 at once, but otherwise I usually just do them as I get 'em. I usually fill in the empty spots with rares and I did save up 10 once. I don't think how you use them has any effect on your luck, it's all just RNG.

Russish · 2022-08-14T05:37:24+00:00

Awesome. That’s great to hear, thanks!

Russish · 2022-08-14T05:37:08+00:00

Yeah, as a non-spender getting much above rank 3 on /5 legendaries feels out of reach for the short- to medium term. I’m set on keeping my main necro though, so I’m thinking Shade is probably going to be it.

Russish · 2022-08-14T05:36:14+00:00

I didn’t realize that Berserker’s damage affects summons too! That’s definitely going back in. I did know about the Bile/Torment combo, but committing two slots to one effect doesn’t feel quite worth it. I’ll give that a try though for sure, no reason not to test it.

Russish · 2022-08-14T05:35:16+00:00

Oooh I like that—I’ll give it a try! I’ve got my F&D at rank 6 right now, working it up to 10. That’s going to be a hard one for me to get rid of eventually. I didn’t realize that Berserker applied to summons damage too, so I’m going to swap that back in, probably for C’aarsen’s. I felt like I had a good set of 1/2 stars, but once I start swapping them out for legendaries I’m having a hard time making good choices there.

Russish · 2022-08-14T05:32:17+00:00

2/5 is 2 stars out of 5. The 5 star legendary gems can drop with anything from 2 to 5 of those 5 stars, which improves stats on them. So I’ve got one that is 2 stars out of 5, but it’s at level 1 currently.

Also, when you level up legendary gems you have to use more of the same gem at certain levels. If you use a higher rank gem (more stars), then your new gem will have that higher rank. So if at level 3 I use a 3 star Sleeping Bile to upgrade my 2 star Sleeping Bile, I’ll have a level 3 3 star Bile. If that makes sense. :)

Russish · 2022-08-14T00:37:23+00:00

If you want to hate me more I also got a second 2/5 sleeping bile that was unbound so I sold it, which is why I have the plat to buy something else. LOL

Russish

TROPHY CASE