Diablo 2

Diablo 2 is not a classic MMORPG, but you are able to play a game with up to 8 players. The game was released in 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment (Blizzard for short). In 2001 the expansion Lord of Destruction (short: LoD) came out. Since then, Blizzard has only released patches and no more expansions.

From today’s point of view, Diablo 2 has absolutely lousy graphics and resolution. You can play the game with a maximum of 800×600 pixels. On a 17″ or 19″ monitor, of course, it looks correspondingly bad. It’s a pity that Blizzard doesn’t provide larger resolutions afterwards.

The game consists of three different game modes. You start with one of the 7 characters in normal mode. Once you have played through all 5 acts, you can switch to the next level of difficulty, Nightmare mode. If you have also successfully completed this, then you can go into the hell mode.

In the game Diablo 2 there were the characters Amazon, Barbarian, Paladin, Necromancer and Sorceress. with the expansion set LoD then came the Assassin and the Druid. Over the years, Blizzard has tinkered with the characters and their skills very often. In the meantime, many skills have been given synergies. I.e. the strength or duration of the spell can be additionally improved with other skills. However, only the skill points that were actually awarded count as synergies. All skill points that come through the items only have a direct effect on the spell.

Because of this permanent change by Blizzard there were always different over-characters. With patch 1.11, the Hammerdins (a paladin with the blessed hammer) is the uber-character par excellence, as there are virtually no monsters that are immune to his hammers.

To make the game more appealing, Blizzard kept coming up with new nasties. For example, experience points were cut from level 70. In the high levels from 90, the yield of experience points has dropped to 5% and less of the original. Also a monster was implemented. For example, the unloved souls can now also be found in Act 5 in Hell mode. Most of the monsters that have been implemented are not liked by players, as they deal out enormous damage.

In addition to the 3 difficulty levels, there are also softcore and hardcore modes. The special thing about the hardcore mode is that the character can only die once. If he dies, then you can delete the character and have to start over. But that’s what makes it so thrilling. But you have to make sure that there are no lags in Battlenet, otherwise it can end badly.

Interesting rune words

Rune words can be used to upgrade socketed weapons and armor items. Auras on the items work even if they are applied to the mercenary. This way you can upgrade your character enormously.

My Characters

Over time, the following characters have accumulated:

Softcore

Hardcore

29.12.06

For more than four weeks now, playing on Battlenet has become a matter of pure luck. Some of the games suffer from massive lags. Also, it is not necessarily easy to join a game or even create one. However, these problems do not occur around the clock. So there are also times when you can play reasonably.

At first I thought it was because of my internet provider, because it often makes problems. But then the problem also occurred from another internet line. Therefore I could clearly exclude the local problem. Then I read in forums that others also have this problem and of course they curse loudly.

Now I naturally come to the question, why has Blizzard done nothing in the approximately four weeks to eliminate the problem? The possibilities I have found are:

Blizzard does not see itself in a position to fix that problem.
BLizzard wants to let Diablo 2 die in favor of World of Warcraft, since WoW brings in money after all.
Blizzard wants to let Diablo 2 die in favor of Diablo 3. (If you believe it, you’ll be blessed ;-))

Personally, I think the second point is still the most true, because we clearly live in a capitalist world and “Money masks the world go round”. I will therefore put Diablo 2 ad Acta.