The D2 - LoD BoM group. Guardians or bust.

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OK, so those of us that play LoD are scattered and tired of waiting for Christmas (Ladder reset).

Well, here is potentially the cure for the blues:

A BoM group game to beat all group games.

Well, it would certainly beat having to deal with the pubbies anyway

Proposed format:

1) Hard Core. There is no substitute for this in terms of promoting team play. Keeping everyone alive is the goal, and anyone not prepared for it need not apply.

2) No twink. I don't care how many goodies we all have stashed away. This is not a game to show off your High runes and ladder dupes, this will be a game of class and we will make do with what we can find and make on the way. Bring good humour, class and skill only.

3) Time and realm is completely open since it's a fresh group.

4) D2 addicts, stick your names and proposed builds underneath please to see if we can get a group of at least 4-6 up and running.

Any suggestions also welcome of course.

I will edit the second post to show rules and team composition as we discuss it

 

Count me in. Summoner for me, with 20 SM, 20 RS, 10-15 RSM and rest in corpse explosion and curses.

Its been 4 odd months since I've logged into battlenet, so all my characters are definately gone.

And the ladder resets at christmas? Where did you get that info?

 

You forgot mention is it EU or US. Different servers and all.

 

I still say that if this is to be hard core, you absolutely NEED a conc barb. 20 battle orders, 20 concentrate, 20 shout. About 10 one-point wonders (like taunt and natural resistance) and prerequisites (like bash). This build is "finished" around level 60. After that you pick your weapon mastery, and since this is no-twink, it wouldn't make sense to pick it before then anyway.

Besides, BO is necessary in any group play. Who doesn't like an automatic doubling of life and mana?

 

My current group has done fine without BO and/or Oak Sage. More casualties, yes, but those have been the result of carelessness. More HP = More careless players. Plus, many monsters still kill you in a few swipes (or those dolls: in one).

Check out KTA-15 HERE. We might be starting anew in 3 weeks, once finishing our current run.

 

Will this be on the European server?

 

A conviction pally and 2 pure sorcs with lightning and cold mastery will round out the party nicely. Mercs and Skellies with BO for tanking, sorcs for killing. With act 2 merc, so many auras can be stacked on skellies they should be able to tank even in a 8 player game.

 

Guys - Please re-read the post:

1) All new chars and new account(S) server will not matter since we start together

2) No twink at all - we play with what WE find.

3) Team is everything, so we play HC. Dying a lot is NOT an option.

4) We get to know eachother and we have fun.

5) See 4


As far as team goes, I'm all for a varied team.

The summoner build I'd have in mind would have no mages though (1pt maybe). It's hardcore. We would really, really like DV x 20 This is THE best curse in the world for not dying which is a numero uno priority.

For all the ideas of sorc's kick butt, well yes, but they are well fragile. I like the BO plan

Conviction pally is a very good play.

However, it's about having fun, not about having an easy time.

I'll happily play any sorc, nec, pally or otherwise. Druid would be new to me, and my barb does have a suicidal streak

this is not any sort of competition. Let's just make a good balanced party and kick Baal's butt

SO let's see who want's to play then we'll sort out the where, when and whatevers.

 

Are we going all the way? And how many times, just once?

 

OK, I'm leaning towards playing, but I do have one more condition that if it isn't met, I'm out.

That's fine, but the character that needs the item the most is the one who gets it. If there's one thing I hate about BNet, it's the grab-happy people you play with. Nothing pisses me off more than when a rare, class-specific item drops, and someone grabs it who isn't even of that class.

In addition to class specific items (which should obviously all go to someone of that class), other logical items should also adhere to this rule. The barbarians, paladins, and druids, who will spend more time tanking on the front lines should also be given first dibs on the weapons, armor, and shields. Same goes for runes. If someone wants to make a rune-word, but doesn't have the right runes and someone else does, said runes should be given up for the person who needs him.

Are we agreed?

 

Yes for me. And I have no problems putting all my points in DV. I just like the added insurance of more skellies inbetween me and certain death in HC. A druid with max oak sage will be useful as well.

 

Ideal party for HC:

1 conc barb with maxed battle orders and shout
1 defiance paladin with maxed defiance
1 druid with maxed oak sage (and with that, you may as well take the were-bear skill for uber life points)

Others are optional. For example, if you had a cold sorceress with maxed out FO and maxed out cold mastery, along with a paladin with the maxed out aura that lowers enemies elemental resistances (I can't think of the name of it), you can probably waltz through the whole game with ease. One character cannot break cold immunes, but the combined abilities of maxed cold mastery and maxed pally aura even make cold immunes vulnerable to cold. Throw in another paladin with the holy freeze aura for kicks.

Obviously a summoner necromancer is always good to have around as well. Assassins and amazons are probably the most optional. They are both very versatile characters that fit with just about any group, but are not likely to carry to bulk of the work load in many groups.

 

With enough Act 2 mercs, you dont even need that many pallys. Defiance, might, thorns and holy freeze can all be covered by mercs IIRC. Thats why i always liked necros in multiplayer games. The power of auras are multiplied by the number of skellies you have. Anyway, have we enough ppl to start yet? Earliest I can start is next thursday though.

 

Now we're getting somewhere

@Aldeth - as for sharing the loot: The ONLY goal of the group is to get everyone to Guardian and have fun on the way. All items belong to the group and should be used as they best benefit the group. Maturity and team play will be the order of the day.

We need to device a balanced party which is relatively item independent for success.

I would suggest something along these lines:

1) Conc barb - Max BO and shout -> Claimed by Aldeth
2) Conviction Medic Palladin. Conviction because of enemy resist and defence reduction. Removes any AR issues. Medic because we want to stay alive.
3) Cold sorc. Sick damage.
4) Ranged enchantress. Optional. Nice add for the skelly army, Could also max in FW since FM would be maxed.
5) Furyzon. Great damage with basic spear.
6) Cursing summoner. Max DV for safety and other curses to taste. 3pt clay golem will slow the bosses down to a crawl. CE unless we get a DS trapper involved.
7) Druid -> Max Oak sage. Extra life is extra life I guess. No idea how to build a druid, so someone else will have to advice.

I'll happily play anything, including the druid which I've never tried, so chime in with proposed builds to take part with and we'll make a post showing the proposed team make-up.

 

Then I'm in. I don't care if your sorceress needs a better shield or armor. Frontliners get priority when it comes to protection. Especially considering...

My specialty, although some alterations from the normal strategy will be required. I usually save up all my ability points save for prerequisites until I hit level 18, at which point I start pumping Concentrate, and then start spending two points per level at level 24, pumping Battle Orders and Concentrate simultaneously. However, given that surviving is a top priority, I should start pumping Shout at level 6, and continue pumping it until I hit Battle Orders at level 24. That means I'll be a brick to stop incoming attackers, but my damage output will be quite low until we're well into nightmare difficulty.

Actually, this is all you really need. A conviction paladin with a cold sorceress pretty much pwns everything. With level 20 Conviction, and level 20 Cold Mastery, you can break even cold immunes. The paladins mercenaries of choice here would be Defiance for max defense on your paladin, and of course holy freeze for added cold damage.

Well, max Oak Sage isn't a Druid build. I'll readily admit that the life is useful, but Oak Sage isn't something you build a druid around. For starters you have to decide if you are playing a summoner, a werewolf/bear, or the infrequently-seen elemental druid. Given that we may have plenty of summons, and that elemental druids largely suck, you're probably looking at the were-tree. It will come as a surprise to no one that I prefer the werebear over the werewolf. I will always chose brute force over speed.

EDIT: Actually, I don't know if this is gonig to work for me. Aren't most of you guys in Europe? I'm on the East Coast of the U.S. meaning I'm at least 5 hours behind you guys. I don't even get home from work until around 6:00, which would put me close to midnight your time if you're in Europe. How about some input from people to determine where they live to see if this is going to be remotely practical?

 

You should try to hang at the KTA -thread if you want to get into a big group, since we will, quite likely begin a new run next week. Simply post in the topic if you are interested.

Congrat a new plaguezon/strafer guardian. Baal sure had a helluva lot of HP.

 

I'll play, could I be sorc? Would you want blizz or orb? I'd imagine timing would be an issue with the different time zones though.

 

Hmm, timing is clearly an issue.

It's HC, so FRIDAY nights is bad....... I tend to have some beers.

Weekend lunchtimes anyone? Just a thought. Would help us unless Aldeth is a late sleeper.....

I could play late one night/week Wed or Thu would be the realistic ones. Practical, no, doable, yes for me, as long as we aim for 11pm-1Am once a week. Twice my wife would kill me, and work would be a nightmare.

Saturday early? Anyone? To include our North American Bretheren of course: No earlier than about 1pm UK time / 2pm CET.

@Duffin - Fully synergised Blizz if we're going with a pure cold sorc I should think. Orb is great, but lightweight comparatively. For a straight cold sorc, blizz is king.

 

I'm in Singapore. Any idea what that timezone is? I'll be free to play anytime though, so its not really a concern. Dibs on the necro for me. Max DV, RS and 1 point wonder clay golem. A very item independent build, so I'll be happy with just necro specific items

 

OK, two points here:

1. Is playing a cold build sorceress (causing enemies to freeze, and then shatter) a good idea if we're also going to have a summoner necro? It seems like one or the other is the way to go. My barb is going to use FI, but that's only on uniques, so I won't be destroying too many corpses.

2. We need to figure out our time zones here and time differential. When you next respond to the thread please include what time it is where you live, so that by comparing it to SP time, we can figure out where we all are. It's 9:11 AM where I am now, so I'm 6 hours behind SP time.

EDIT:

Are you in the UK? If I don't know where you are, it's sort of hard for me to figure this out. Mongerman is going to be a big problem. Singapore is about an 18 hour time differential (ahead of me - it's already Wednesday there) from where I live. That being said, if you're 5 hours ahead of me, 11pm to 1am would be 6pm to 8pm my time, which I could do. If we knew exactly when we would be starting, I could leave work a bit early and we could even go an hour earlier. Early afternoon UK time is about the earliest I can go on weekends. Can I be online by 8-9am? Yes. Am I willing to get up at 5 or 6 on the weekends to play? Hell no.

[ November 14, 2006, 15:24: Message edited by: Aldeth the Foppish Idiot ]