'normal' diablo is WAY too difficult in 2.0

Discuss Median XL!
User avatar
OnlyForFun
Cog
204 | 18
Bearded_DooD wrote:Im not veteran 2.0 is probably like my 4th of 5th season, and i choose the WW Barb, but before i actually started it i made whole Normal in less than 2-3 hours as a summoner... running NAKED with just my skills and some crap gear i found on the way. No min maxing, this is not a HARD MOD


see, to start your build you was forced to play summoner, instead of devs make that every build can have +- similar experience till act 4, where every build can farm mephisto for crystals and overgear to make build work at least.

idk which build they did play, but yes, totem necro should not have problems with leveling, melee/xbow/caster suck ass starting ) but good later (not sure about xbow :D)
User avatar
iwansquall
Gore Crawler
1523 | 71
Common Posting Badge
Posted over 1.000 messages
Legendary Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 250.000 views
Common Love Badge
Earned over 20 cookies
Common Supporter Badge
Donated 1 time
using other character as starter have been tradition for median for years though
it just some classes have easier time without much gears

that said though, im not sure if player needing to play other build with same class first, then use free respec before level 50 is good design. I know i have done that multiple time before, mostly because I used plugy (then belladonna elixir) not to get boring, but usually near end game. I hope the survey i have done will find a build that i will try from scratch to see if it horrible compared to tl;dr barb which have bulldozing with ease.

hence why i think median is mostly KNOWLEDGE CHECK first, then GEAR / BUILD CHECK, lastly PLAYER SKILL CHECK.
just need some starter guide for them to get started & enjoy discovering the game.
User avatar
OnlyForFun
Cog
204 | 18
yes, like i said its been years, so its now "tradition" :D
at least now people have unlimited respecs till 50 lvl, but still devs should balance better early game after all changes they did in last patches
Boban
Sasquatch
64 | 4
I don't know guys, I really like the 2.0 difficulty changes (apart from the 'no-rune-downgrading thing' ofc :P). Finally you can't storm naked through everything that is not an uber (well, some builds probably still can), you have to actually play the game. And that is a good thing. Actually, in my opinion acts 2-5 need more tinkering, those feel way easier than A1. That's because in A1 you don't yet have merc, resists, core skills, actual weapon... and the game don't take that into account.

@OP, I don't know your in-game experience, but maybe those few tips will be helpful:
- hire a mercenary, that's a MASSIVE help early on. If you are ranged, take fighter mage (A2), if you are melee take necrolyte (A3). Those have GREAT crowd control abilities and will tank VERY well, even without gear. At higher difficulties you should give them at least some resists and defence though, also easy to find/craft items with CC procs, like Toorc's Gift, Sea Summoner or Bogspitter.
- stack resists. As you noticed, there is abundance of elemental dmg in the game. Pick up every bloodstone, onyx, amber and turquoise you find and upgrade them to perfect versions until you have like 6 of each. Socket them in your gear. You can also use mystic orbs with resists on jewelry, preferably rings. You probably rarely change them anyways, and big improvement on those is even rarer, so it's a safe slot for some patch-up.
- although there are way more ranged and elemental threats in 2.0, many of them are telegraphed and can be completely avoided. Yes, simple stat checks are less frequent. Don't believe me? Just compare Arcane Sanctuary from 1.8 and 2.0. Try to squeeze every movement speed you can, you want it more than ever. Dodge what you can, hide behind merc, corners, and obstacles. Use sprint button, use blinks (easily accesible from Pax Mystica runeword). And remember as a rule of hand, the slower the attack, the more it will hurt.
- try to reach decent attack/cast speed and hit recovery. The faster your animations, the faster you can perform other things, like moving. Or just kiling things even faster ;)
- as for Diablo fight, you need to kite him all the time. Try to make him focus on yur merc, or since you have party of two you can play fool with him. Don't stand still in flamestrike or lightning. You can potion-tank fire nova or, even better, blink over it. Make your portals away from the fight, maybe near the seals, so you won't die by entering them. Don't be greedy for a quick kill, better to make it longer and not die. Max your fire and lightning resist. If you want to be extra safe, make a shield with Stone runeword. "Cannot be frozen" is a wonderful affix and it will save you on many occasions, not just this fight.
User avatar
Taem
Groupie
2608 | 192
Great Posting Badge
Posted over 2.500 messages
Legendary Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 250.000 views
Great Love Badge
Earned over 100 cookies
Common Supporter Badge
Donated 1 time
I suspect the issue may be with some skill builds, not the difficulty of the game. Last night I made a poison sorc and fucking wrecked the game absolutely no issues at all. Completely different experience than with my cold sorc at same level skilled identical. Some skills are no bueno at low level... Period. I do not think those skills were properly balanced for low level play making for a really grueling experience. Maybe we can help the devs and post which skills are broken at low level so they can make slight adjustments?
User avatar
Imperius
Gravedigger
182 | 5
Common Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 10.000 views
I defeated Diablo easily with my unholy pala but got crushed with my bow Druid, so i think that some builds are weaker than the others.
imngocson
Bone Archer
79 | 9
Why did you remove the cure poison ability of health potion, meanwhile remake the game with full of poison damage, especially in Library of Fate?
The patch note said "Lightwells will no longer ignore your poison resistance" but my squishy nerfed health orb dropped super fast, although I have max poison resist. And with >100% PLR, the time I have to teleport, run and hide to wait for it wear off still sooo long.
For an "easy" quest, the number of deaths is way too damn high ,90% because of these annoying Lightwells - which had been remade and placed everywhere.
I don't understand. If you want to keep it, please add the antidote potion, just like the vanilla.
Istaryu
Harpylisk
1466 | 67
Common Posting Badge
Posted over 1.000 messages
Great Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 50.000 views
Common Love Badge
Earned over 20 cookies
Common Guide Badge
Created a complete character guide
imngocson wrote:Why did you remove the cure poison ability of health potion, meanwhile remake the game with full of poison damage, especially in Library of Fate?
The patch note said "Lightwells will no longer ignore your poison resistance" but my squishy nerfed health orb dropped super fast, although I have max poison resist. And with >100% PLR, the time I have to teleport, run and hide to wait for it wear off still sooo long.
For an "easy" quest, the number of deaths is way too damn high ,90% because of these annoying Lightwells - which had been remade and placed everywhere.
I don't understand. If you want to keep it, please add the antidote potion, just like the vanilla.


Poison was irrelevant so far because you just used a health pot and took care of it. Also, in library of fate, lightwells are the only dangerous thing, just dodge the punisher orbs they shoot, they move very slowly.
Redemption
Cog
209 | 1
Common Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 10.000 views
Legendary Supporter Badge
Donated 25 times
I’ve been playing as a WW barb and honestly it just ripped through all normal. The ONLY reason when I die is when I ww in a pack of enemies and suddenly lag for 5 to 8 seconds. All the stuff I have is just what I picked up, beat normal last night with very minimal playtime (newborn baby and other kids/work) and I gotta say, as for Diablo I put one shower of rocks on him and boom dude was gone. If you don’t mind remaking toons WW barb is super fun, straightforward and I hear Lightning sorc are really great endgame. Good luck man.
pliney
Stone Warrior
30 | 0
Do you have a Pax Mystica staff on switch? Every character should have this on switch by Act2 for the teleport. That would solve the bone cage issues.

What kind of gear do you have and what builds are you playing, what are your resists? By diablo you should probably have 1 or 2 TUs with RWs in most of the rest of your slots. Maybe go back to Meph and farm some runes and ACs for uniques. One of you could respec to totem, it's pretty strong.