ARPGs are my favorite genre of game. I played Diablo II for years, and then moved on eventually to Torchlight, Diablo III, and Path of exile but none of them ever captured me like Diablo II did. Like Diablo II still does. I haven't played Diablo II in maybe ten years and decided to revisit it and then discovered the Median mod and what you all are doing here is fantastic. I've rolled a couple classes to try things out and am having a blast. So thanks for all this, I can't wait to spend way too much time playing in one of my favorite video game worlds again.
Being new to the game however, there are a lot of instances of information I just can't find so I have a few noob questions. First I should say I always play my first character in any ARPG to max level and through endgame solo, untwinked, and self-found. I do use guides though because I am not a masochist. Most of the guides I have come across suggest creating honorific gear in act 2. However none of the vendors sell the items (hearts and candles). I have searched high and low and every resource I can find says these are bought at the vendors but the vendors aren't selling them. I am assuming maybe the vendors only sell them in early levels if you've already played through the game to a certain point? If that's the case that's cool. I just wanted to confirm that's what is happening and that I am not missing something.
In a similar vein, level challenge zero. Every guide tells you how to do it, but the videos I watch people seem to spawn with the required statue in their inventory and I do not. Is this something you only spawn with after completing the game once? Nothing explains how to get this statue. It just seems assumed everybody has it.
I figure most guides are written by people who can barely remember their first playthrough so maybe they just don't remember to state these things for people who are running the game for the first time. OR Maybe I am missing something that nobody feels the need to explain.
Everything else is going great! I'm having fun with the tiered gear system and the crafting. I love that I can start gathering much of my early game gear in the normal difficulty and can upgrade it as I go along. That's really cool. I also love that even with the changes that have been made to the game it's still more challenging than any modern ARPGs. I'm having so much fun I'm really tempted to make poor life decisions just to play the game more (you bastards!).