Hi all. I installed Median XL because I love the UI and graphical features and it seems to be a great improvement over stock D2. However, looking at how the Horadric cube works, it seems that 95% of the functionality is for players at the highest difficulties. Much of its functionality hinges on recycling uniques.
I reinstalled D2 and Median XL mostly because I wanted to enjoy the core gameplay at higher resolution and with the improved UI. But there’s virtually no HC functionality for first and second playthroughs.
Can I get some perspective on Median XL please? Is it designed for enjoying the game or for high level grinding for uniques? I can say, in playing the game as a first playthrough, I feel very handicapped not being able to use any of the original HC recipes like making a new ring from three rings, not being able to modify weapons, rejuvination potions, etc.
Median XL seems to be only for the highest difficulties - could use some perspective
You need to play Median XL by following Median XL's rules. Rings are one of the things where there's not much you can do in terms of crafting early on, most of your gear progress will come in armor and weapon slots, like crafting unique weapons and armors. Leveling up until level 105-110 or so is entirely considered a learning phase and not the actual core game.
So yes, you are somewhat correct that the main part of the game takes place in the later stages. Normal and Nightmare difficulties mostly provide a way to learn the character/build that you chose and to learn how Median XL as a whole works. The cube has plenty of things at you can do early on though. it's just a matter of finding something that can be of use. I suggest that you read through the documentation for the Cube if you didn't already. You can find it here:
https://docs.median-xl.com/doc/items/cube
Disenchanting and item quality recipes are basically always useful, very much mandatory in fact.
Edit: You can modify weapons a lot, I feel like the reason you're saying that is the you either don't know/understand how the different cube recipes works or you just don't have the materials to do so. Either way, the game will open up a lot once you close in on level 100.
So yes, you are somewhat correct that the main part of the game takes place in the later stages. Normal and Nightmare difficulties mostly provide a way to learn the character/build that you chose and to learn how Median XL as a whole works. The cube has plenty of things at you can do early on though. it's just a matter of finding something that can be of use. I suggest that you read through the documentation for the Cube if you didn't already. You can find it here:
https://docs.median-xl.com/doc/items/cube
Disenchanting and item quality recipes are basically always useful, very much mandatory in fact.
Edit: You can modify weapons a lot, I feel like the reason you're saying that is the you either don't know/understand how the different cube recipes works or you just don't have the materials to do so. Either way, the game will open up a lot once you close in on level 100.
Edited by Cheno 4 years.
Mystic orbs used to cost 1000 gold in older median versions. Idk where it was, i think it was still Laz version. Now they're at 15k which is too expensive to waste on items that you will uptier or replace within like 1 hour of playtime. You only do that to tier 4 uniques because of this cost.
But in Sigma repair bills are pretty much nonexistet because of the incredibly low sell value of all items in the game. There isn't much stuff that you can spend your gold on, majority of this will go into mystic orbs and later on for oils when crafting jewels and rolling blank items for RWs.
But in Sigma repair bills are pretty much nonexistet because of the incredibly low sell value of all items in the game. There isn't much stuff that you can spend your gold on, majority of this will go into mystic orbs and later on for oils when crafting jewels and rolling blank items for RWs.
Cheno wrote:The cube has plenty of things at you can do early on though. it's just a matter of finding something that can be of use. I suggest that you read through the documentation for the Cube if you didn't already. You can find it here:
https://docs.median-xl.com/doc/items/cube
Either way, the game will open up a lot once you close in on level 100.
I have read through the HC recipes, but the only one I can find that can be done in normal is the combining 2 gems / runes to get the next better one. Am I missing something? Could you share the recipes that are accesible during normal playthrough please?
Here's the most useful ones for Normal+Nightmare:
Needed for Unique crafting+up-tier.
Most people use 1-2 Honorific items to fill resistances or other specific stats that they want but don't get enough of from normal items.
Also rerolling an item to unique is very useful for general gearing purposes.
Needed for up-tiering uniques and runeword bases.
Needed for creating runeword bases.
Pretty obvious, but you might find use in getting a specific rune that you need or maybe to help get a rune that is currently not capable of dropping in your current area.
Some examples. Some are more useful than others but to say that these can't be used at low levels, is just incorrect.
Edit: It didn't occur to me that this needed mentioning, but none of these will come into play much the first 20-30 levels. I don't know what level you're at but all characters below level 40 are basically to low level to do any serious item progression for, other than random drops. You simply don't have the gold and materials to do anything, assuming that you're starting fresh. If this is what you mean by "normal playthrough", then yea, you're out of luck for now.
Needed for Unique crafting+up-tier.
Most people use 1-2 Honorific items to fill resistances or other specific stats that they want but don't get enough of from normal items.
Also rerolling an item to unique is very useful for general gearing purposes.
Needed for up-tiering uniques and runeword bases.
Needed for creating runeword bases.
Pretty obvious, but you might find use in getting a specific rune that you need or maybe to help get a rune that is currently not capable of dropping in your current area.
Some examples. Some are more useful than others but to say that these can't be used at low levels, is just incorrect.
Edit: It didn't occur to me that this needed mentioning, but none of these will come into play much the first 20-30 levels. I don't know what level you're at but all characters below level 40 are basically to low level to do any serious item progression for, other than random drops. You simply don't have the gold and materials to do anything, assuming that you're starting fresh. If this is what you mean by "normal playthrough", then yea, you're out of luck for now.
Tanelorn wrote:cut
The game's "Difficulty" system is antiquated, from a time when games were scarce and this was the way to extend playability, and it's important to note that this mod keeps the "regular" gameplay progression, difficulty, quests, etc but in reality it truly shines in the mid to late game with ubers and various puzzles it will throw at you, trying to provide a true endgame experience. The way you chose to play it's up to you, i don't think you have anything to lose if you take your time and clear all the map, do all the quests, etc for all 3 difficulties but for some (well most that kept playing) that have done this since forever it's not ideal to do this everytime, so most ppl do the relevant stuff and skip to Hell difficulty and tackle the "real" (opposed to "regular") challenges, some new and at the certain times unknown challenges too, cause the mod keeps expanding and that's why it's seen as great. It's only focus is not endgame, but that is the best part imo.
Anyway, as harsh as it sound up to lvl 100+ all you do doesn't really matter, cause as long as you can read what things do and know the basic of stuff as resistances are good, leech effects don't work with spells, i should equip new and better armor, all the other things i am forgetting, etc you will progress with little to no stops. And from trying things out you will inevitably figure out how to shape your build up until then (early on you have more skill points than you can spend, there is also free respec at Adria on each difficulty and if you are lucky Belladona Elixirs will drop to reset you char). Now if you said what archetype you prefer maybe i or others could recommend a guide, but for now this is the guide section viewforum.php?f=40 and anything that has in front 1.3 (current patch) is up to date, others maybe not be as up to date but should work for the most part and you can always post there, also if not specific just ask anything in short question thread viewtopic.php?f=4&t=124
And well as more of a general rule as you level in Normal/Nightmare difficulty you always want to pick up gems like Bloodstone/Onyx/Amber/Turquoise gems and cube them up to get to Perfect quality and socket them in armor pieces (cause having up to +5 max res, well 80%+ makes a significant difference). Then maybe you want to farm Normal/Nightmare Mephisto for some Arcane Shards/Crystals and create some uniques (too many options to exemplify, here is a list https://docs.median-xl.com/doc/items/tiereduniques and hit F3 and type "spell damage" for casters, "maximum damage" for WDM build, generally "skill" etc, you will get a sense of what you need as you get to know your character, read your skills and really the more you use it). Also pick up or upgrade select runes and realize that all the runewords are are only 1 rune required, like if for ex you have 3 sockets in an gray item (needs to be) then you need to put 2 jewels (not gems), and lastly in the 3rd socket the specific rune to create all the stuff like Rainbow in belt or Lumen Arcana or Rebel in body armor pieces, even Shark in various weapons or Pax Mystica (well this is what everyone wants to use on switch cause of Blink, a teleport skill) and whatever else you may find useful.
Lastly don't forget about the..for lack of a better word "progression" challenges so to say https://docs.median-xl.com/doc/quests/challenges cause you need the Sunstone for Malah scroll upgrade (was bugged and null upon death in vanilla D2) and the class charm give a significant boost and needed for upgrade. Then as you get to Hell difficulty come back and feel free to ask when you feel like it, as long as you are polite ppl will share their or even the best method to overcome what it is still new to you. Cause for most players this is where the game starts to feel significant and really becomes a challenge, the 8-16h spent to level up was just a milestone, but now if you are up to it you should make your character overcome the ubers one by one, even if it takes up to 1h each, even a weekend's worth of playtime, each one you do will reward you with a charm and help you further. This is the "mantra" for each player and not just that but new season as well, cause it keeps increasing it further with new stuff (also as a side note if you can't beat "ultimate" boss it's fine, i've been playing on and off since 2006 and still have not seen everything).