Diablo II--What patch was it where they cranked the difficulty level?

Games
1

I was about to reinstall Diablo II+LOD tonight–but I remember the last time I played getting frustrated trying to play through Hell singleplayer. Which patch was it that cranked the difficulty level up–I’m going to patch the game to the patch before that.

2

I think it was the last one: 1.10 or something. Haven’t played in a few years but I remember the fireworks celebrations when the patch went live.

3

Which patch?

4

Yea, 1.10 is the patch that added synergies to skill point trees, and bumped up hell difficulty quite a bit to compensate. The most recent patch (1.11) had relatively minor changes. 1.09 is the last of the old system.

5

I like the new system though…of course, I don’t think I’ve gotten a character to Hell levels after that. I do know that with the synergies, the game is a lot easier for the first time through.

6

Yeah, patch 1.10 was basically the last hurrah for diablo. 1.11 did add some neat content for super power characters with godly stuff, but 1.10 made hell pretty hard. and by pretty hard i mean its gonna make you cry and give you a serious beatdown hard. My only beef with the game is that its pretty hard to get the right gear to make it through hell. i understand its part of the game, but you’re not going to get a stormshield just by playing the game normally.

Huong

7

So who here made Guardian in 1.10?

I did!

8

For some reason after the 1.10 patch I’d grind my chars up to lv. 50ish or so and then tire of the grind, or have it take too long because of crap equipment that was good at lv. 30 or so, but didn’t stand up as well 20 levels later. Anyways, my characters would expire and then I’d start all over again.

I’m realizing now that I’ve never done an assassin or druid build. My favorite build has always been the Skelemancer, but followed up by a nice frenzy barb. Not terribly exciting builds, but they suited my solo style for a while.

9

As a note, anyone wanting a somewhat equipment independant build should go a skelemancer, as 1.10 is also the patch where they became viable. Much easier to get through hell, and all you need to look out for is +skills gear.