Conference 501clb::games

    re: .0
    Turns out that the "Halls of the Blind" is simply level 7 of the
    dungeon. I went back to that level from level 14 (which I'm now at),
    and found a small room with two monsters that I hadn't gone into
    before. Once I killed them, my "quest" went away. Unfortunately, I got
    nothing of value, not even any acknowledgement, of finally completing
    that quest.
    
    Don
    

     Gee, Not much talkin about this great game. Course nowadays everyone
    uses the newsgroups I guess.
     I picked this game up last weekend, it's great.
     I'm a Warrior Class level 5, and have been trying to spread my
    expierience points evenly (not shure if this is a good Idea or not).
     Anyhow, I was kinda stuck on the 2nd level of the dungeon because
    I couldn't kill a red zombie. Everytime I went down the stairs, he was
    waiting for me! Finally I led him into a room and shut the door on him.
     (Boy they are rather stupid)
     Anyway's I thought that was kinda funny.
    
     Ed
    

    
         Hi Ed,
    
         Mmmm, not much time recently to post notes. Sad, though, this
            was such a great forum to find new games. I think perchance
            that people are surfing the WEB more?
    
         Anyway, I have had Diablo since it came out and I love it...
            Sure, I wouldn't say it's a "true" RPG, lot of click'n twitch
            action.
    
         Monster AI is reasonable. Yes, zombies are dumb and slow, most
            things on the first few levels won't open doors, but wait as
            you get further down in the dungeon.
    
         As to the character stats, each class has maximums in each of
            the four stats. In the beginning I'd say spread them evenly, if
            your play a single player game you actually won't earn enough XP
            to max all your stats before you get to the end of the game.
            But, if you play a multi-player game you can continue your game
            till you max out all your stats, you can even play a single
            multi-player game by setting a modem game up or direct connect,
            you don't need another computer. I've been doing this till I
            get a phone drop that is even remotely near my computer,
            I've built up a 32 level Warrior. Have you tried B.Net yet?
    
         Anyway, it's a great game, I've certainly wasted plenty of time on
            it. I love the random dungeons and items. There are a ton of
            monsters and the mini-quests are pretty good.
    
         If you'd like more information check out the following Web
            Site...
    
         http://diablo.scorched.com/
    
                                                          Sword high,
                                                           Mike.

     Found out what you mean about them getting smarter, I'm in level 6 or
    7 of the dungeon and shure enough tried closing a door on some baddies 
    and they opened it back up!
     I gave battlenet a quick run, lot's of fun.
     Looks like I'll have to buy another copy for my son because...
     A) He's always buggin me for the CD to play on his PC.
     B) To get the IPX version to run with more than the spawned
        shareware version. Too bad they didn't give 2 cd's like 
        Topgun and Cyberforce to play against atleast one other
        person.
    
    Ohh by the way, I get these yellow gouls that keep respawning after
    I kill em. Any idea how to put these guys down for good? 
    
     Thanks
        Ed
     

    
    Just finished the shareware version, which only allows you to complete
    the first two levels of the dungeon, even though the Demo file is
    50mgs!!
    
    Anyway, I'm off to get the game at lunch time from Virgin. Does anyone
    know if in order to keep the saved game I used in the shareware to use
    with the registered version, what file I need to transfer ? Is it the
    file called spawn_0.sv ?
    
    Any help would be appreciated.
    
    Thanks,
    
    Giles. 

    
    re: -.1
    
         I'm not sure you can transfer the file. The game is very different
            from the shareware version.
    
    
    re: -.2
    
         Ah, those "yellow" guys... You hit them once and they run off
            and disappear and reappear. Just keep hacking at them,
            eventually you'll lop their heads off. The reason they run away
            is to heal.
    
                                                             Bye,
                                                              Mike.

    Well, I finally finished the game a week or two ago, after having to
    wait a few weeks for a software patch from Blizzard. On level 15, if
    you entered Lazarus' red portal, then created a portal of your own to
    get back to town, then went back to level 15, the red portal wasn't
    there anymore, and you were stuck there forever. The patch, which is
    available over the internet from Blizzard's site, keeps the red portal
    there so you can reenter it.
    
    I found the first 8 levels rather easy, and the last 8 levels fairly
    challenging. I was especially frustrated by the steel knights on the
    last few levels, since fire and magic didn't seem to work on them, and
    I had to keep hacking on them to kill them. It especially became
    tedious when I had to dispatch a group of 5 or so.
    
    Oh, in case you're interested, in my opinion by far the best
    weapon/spell/effect is the firewall. I've found most of the other
    combat spells have little value. My feeling is that Blizzard didn't
    tune them well enough in the higher levels to be effective. On the
    other hand, their visual and audio effects are excellent!
    
    Don
    

    
    I just got it from my friend yesterday and was toying with it last
    night! I LOVE the background tunes! I wonder who did them, because that
    could be some cool doom style metal!
    
    Anyways, how much wandering do I need to do upside before heading into
    the church/dungeon? I've been down two levels in there so far and its
    pretty cool (especially the sounds/music!) and saw talk about quests so
    I am assuming I am supposed to go around and chat with people? I did
    talk to the dying guy outside the church, on starting a second time
    with my character he wasn't there....I died when I went down below the
    first time since I didn't pay attention to all the details on how to
    drink the potions! ;-)
    
    Overall pretty good, but need to spend some more time on it up above to
    see if I missed much/anything before heading below.
    
    

    
    Some of the people are worth talking to, in order to purchase
    weapons/armour/potions off of. Theres a little kid at the top of town
    in the woods with a magical cape or something but it's quite expensive.
    
    Just replayed level two now I have the full game and there's a
    room on the upper left side full of dead bodies and blood with a
    Daemon in it who I must have hit 10 times and used up all my health
    bottles but he still killed me. Good job I saved the game before I
    opened the door.
    
    Guess I need more experience/strength and a better weapon...
    
    Still I'll try a firebolt next time..
    
    

    
    
    		Don't spend much time in town except to buy/sell goods.
    	Go down and lay waste to the freeks.  If you talkied to the 
    	bloodied fellow near the church your first quest should be 
    	the BUTCHER on level 3 I believe.  
    		Keep plenty of heal potions handy.  One good strategy I 
    	found is while playing and picking up weapons/armor, don't be
    	quick to sell it right away.  Griswold is a fine blacksmith 
    	but he's out there loking to make a quick buck.  Instead just
    	leave the items scattered about the town.  Later when you'll need
    	a particular attribute enhancing item it'll be handy!
    		Also no 2 games are alike, you'll not get the same set of
    	quests as your buddy or if you start a new game yourself on the way
    	to DIABLO.  I finished the game with the Warrior a couple of weeks 
    	back.  Great game IMO.
    
    
    							Shark
    
    
    

    
    I talked to him, and died when I went to level 2 I think...I restarted
    and selected my characters name, went past church, he wasn't there....!
    
    I have made it down to level 3 and got wasted with a bunch of them
    thingies coming after me. Also, how the hell do I kill them damn skels
    with bow/arrows! I was getting the snot shot outta me when I went in
    one direction! And I couldn't close the door after (not that they were
    following me. I like this so far, especially the background music with
    the bells and whatnot! I dig it!  Then again, I listen to darker metal
    for the most part (at least on way to/from work!) ;-)
    
    I might start over as a different character as I am playing warrior and
    am unable to use either of the two spellbooks I have and am at level 4
    I think character-wise.
    
    My quest in the book is for the king (level 3, same as butcher)? Have
    to set some time to play this more, and start a second one too!
    
    

    
    Ok having had another two hour bash at this last night, the red daemon
    on level two in the room filled with gore is the Butcher. I killed him
    with a fire bolt and many blows of a morning star.
    
    Seems I now have a new quest to kill the evil spirit of the late King
    who went insane, who is now on level 3 somewhere. I've cleared about
    half of this level but not encountered him yet.
    
    The Blacksmith seems to stock better and better armour each time I
    resurface to sell some weapons. 
    
    There's a witch at the bottom of town over a bridge who you can
    buy/sell potions and spell books from.
    
    The skeletons who shoot arrows are easy to kill, you just have to take
    a few hits getting to them (which you can reduce by changing angles to 
    your approach to them, so they keep having to do the same), then bash
    the s**t out of them. 
    
    G.

>    
>    I talked to him, and died when I went to level 2 I think...I restarted
>    and selected my characters name, went past church, he wasn't there....!
>    
>    I have made it down to level 3 and got wasted with a bunch of them
>    thingies coming after me. Also, how the hell do I kill them damn skels
>    with bow/arrows! I was getting the snot shot outta me when I went in
>    one direction! And I couldn't close the door after (not that they were
>    following me. I like this so far, especially the background music with
>    the bells and whatnot! I dig it!  Then again, I listen to darker metal
>    for the most part (at least on way to/from work!) ;-)

About killing the shooting skeletons:

If you are a Warrior head straight for them.  Use blunt weapons (club, 
spiked club, mace etc.) instead of sharp ones.

If you play Rogue try to guess where they are and stay in a point when you
have only few shooting at you.  Shoot right back (hold Shift and left-click
in the desired direction).  This technique takes quite a bit of exercising
but finally you should be able to master it. 

With a Sorcerer it's a bit tricky: if these skeletons are Burning Dead (red
color) use your Lightning (there are resistant to Fire).  Deeper into 
labyrinth you will meet black skeletons (Horror) - switch to fire spells
(preferably Fire Wall) since they are resistant to Lightning.  Try not to
be hit by too many of them at once - you might not be able to cast a single
spell if you get hit too often.

>    
>    I might start over as a different character as I am playing warrior and
>    am unable to use either of the two spellbooks I have and am at level 4
>    I think character-wise.
>    
>    My quest in the book is for the king (level 3, same as butcher)? Have
>    to set some time to play this more, and start a second one too!

Spoiler alert (if you don't want to read the spoiler don't press Return now):

No, it's an altogether different (and tougher) quest.  On level 3 you will 
find a crack in a wall which will be marked as "To King Leoric's tomb".  
This is Skeleton King's lair.  You will find ONLY skeletons there so again
use blunt weapons as a Warrior or Holy Bolt as a Sorcerer.  In single 
player the King raises skeletons so deal with him quickly (or, if you are 
able to kill them faster than he animates them, just let it go this way for
one or two additional experience levels).  Don't let him hit you too many
times - he both hits very hard and restores his hit points whenever he hits
(you will find out why when you pick up the artifact he drops and identify
it).

By the way, level 4 is a little too low for going toe-to-toe with Skeleton
King.  Try clearing floor 3 (and maybe floor 4) before you go after 
him.  Also, finding some good armor wouldn't hurt (leather armor should be
pretty common by floor 3 and 4, try finding or buying something better that
AC 10).

    
    re: .21
    
    I didn't get that quest for level 2, only the king. Who told you about
    that one? Was it the dying guy? I didn't get a quest from him.
    
    I've been all over level 2, but I am not too fond of their mapping, but
    that's my opinion.  Currently I am using a large axe and am carrying
    around a claymore (I may leave that near an entrance/exit to one of the
    levels so as to lighten my load a bit and have more room for other
    stuff.....I went through many health potions on level 3!  
    
    Are there more than one entry to each level? I think so. Anyways, on
    level 3 there is what looks to be a crypt entrance partly open, that is
    where I believe you find the king, I left in a hurry since was only a
    level 4 player. I think I am up to level 6 or 7 now. I'll post my stats
    later on. I do have leather armor now, and figured out how to repair
    and heal finally! Read the manual some more! ;-)
    
    re: .22
    
    an Axe works fairly well too on the red ones. Those little critters
    gang up now and then along with those flying things and can make for a
    rather tense situation, I know! I died a few times last night not too
    far into level 3! I started playing the hit&run tactic and it worked a
    bit better, hit, run, hit, run, stand ground and clean up. I have
    cleared a fair amount of level three (upper left side, middle right
    side, need to go upper right/lower left some more tonight. I was
    starting to get low on healing potions, then figured out the spell
    stuff once I was high enough level-wise/mana-wise to use them. I've
    also been repairing some of the stuff I have gotten and on person.
    Works kinda neat, but find it odd I have to invoke then use the spell,
    makes it a bit harder when in a jam! I have some staff of healing in
    possession also which I am not giving up yet. Shuffle stuff around in
    inventory, move potions to belt, etc...
    
    I spent about an hour or so last night on it, went up at least 3
    levels. I have 30+ for hit points, 20+ mana, 30 or so vitality, and
    similar for the other stat. I'll post them later to see if I am going
    along ok so far. I started upping mana to be able to use the books when
    I made the appropriate level. I absolutely LOVE the background music on
    this game though! Awesome for the mood, my girlfriend likes it also and
    wants to learn how to play it! Now I know who'll be on it more than me
    once she gets going! ;-)
    
    
    
    
    

    
    
     Just copied the demo over and this looks good !!!
    
     I think money may be exchanging hands for this one,
    
     Mark. 

    re .23
    
    Yeah the quest for the Butcher was from the dying chap just outside the
    Church, then the quest for the King was from the bar owner. I realise
    now that I have been passed the entrance to the tomb where he is, as
    it was an open archway in the wall, going down there presented me 
    with lots of skeletons, so I ran away as I didn't have many health 
    potions left. How do you heal yourself then, I guess i'd better learn.
    
    The map is useless IMO.
    
    I'm at warrior level 7, about 1000 from level 8 and have a long sword that I
    can't use yet. Next time I play i'll pick up the lightning staff that 
    I didn't have room for last night and had to leave it on level 3.
    
    The lost ones are a pain in the arse to kill with maces or hammers
    (which are effective against skeletons). Swords and daggers are best
    for them.
    
    G. 

    
         Hi all,
    
         Well, I'd like to share what I'd consider common knowledge, so
            no spoilers...
    
         On quests... The game has a number of quests that it picks from
                      randomly when you start a single player game. If you
                      start over with an already established character the
                      quests could be different, so don't expect to see the
                      same quests over and over again.
    
         On items...  Griswold will sell randomly selected normal items
                      whenever you return to town, as well as Adria the
                      witch. If you are a sorceror it is a good idea
                      to drop by Adria's every time you return to town
                      to see if she is selling any spell books.
    
                      Magic items offered by Wirt and Griswold change when
                      the player gains a level. So if your interested in
                      buying something but don't see anything you like
                      go back in a level.
    
                      Also, always have items identified before you sell
                      them to Griswold. You will get more money for them.
    
     On skeletons...  By far the easiest way of dealing with skeletons,
                      any kind, is through the use of Holy Bolt. Even
                      low level warriors will start the game with that
                      spell.
    
     On scrolls...    Always try to carry at least one Town Portal scroll
                      on you, as this is the easiest way of returning
                      to town and it will work for the trip back.
    
     On stats...      Each class has a maximum on their stats. Strength
                      effects your damage potential, Magic effects your
                      spell learning ability and mana level, Dexterity effects
                      your armor class and hit% and Vitality effects your
                      hit points. You put 'em where you see fit.
    
     On weapons...    The most useful combination of weapons is sword and
                      board (shield). Blunt weapons tend to be slower than
                      edged, and two handed slower than single, so you can
                      see where a staff would put you. Also, can you really
                      afford to lose the magic properties a really good
                      magic shield could give you?
    
     On fun...        Again, though, the game is setup for customization
                      of the character your playing. It's all up to you!
    
     These are the things that I have noticed thus far playing the game
        since it came out. Have fun and maybe we can hook up for a multi
        game on Battle.net...
    
                                                         Bye,
                                                          Mike.
                                                           Lvl33 Warrior.

Good general analysis, few remarks:

Nobody starts the game with Holy Bolt spell - you will have to find/buy the 
book.  Besides, Warriors will need to boost Magic somehow in order to be 
able to read even the simplest books.

About scrolls: Town Portal can be a life-saver in tight situation.  If you 
are badly outnumbered never run to the stairs - you will lead the whole 
party there and won't be able to ever enter this floor again.  If you throw 
Town Portal far enough from stairs you will have two ways back - one is 
bound to work.  Other useful scrolls in the beginning of the game:
    Healing - only in the beginning of the game while you don't have 
Healing spell yourself.  Works slower than potions but can help to save 
them if you have already dealt with everything surrounding you and prepare 
yourself for going further.
    Flash - again if you don't have a spell.  It doesn't work on skeletons,
but for those winged demons which fly very fast and quickly surround you 
it's perfect.
    Infravision - you can have this only in a scroll form.  It can help if 
you are going to enter some closed room.  I use it mostly in Catacombs
(level 5-8) and occasionally in Hell.

Weapons:
    True, blunt weapons are slower than swords and axes are the slowest of
melee weapons.  However, blunt weapons are especially effective against 
skeletons (I once saw Sorcerer(!) killing skeleton captain in one swing of
a club).  As manual states, axes combine the effects of blunt and cutting 
weapons.  However, you can't carry shields with them and shields are 
essential - they block half or more of all blows coming at you (even magic
attacks).  Staves are essentially useless for any character except for 
those spells which you cannot learn yourself - Nova and Apocalypse.  
Carrying a staff of Town Portal in your backpack may prove useful if the 
recharge is cheaper than buying scrolls (or if you read a book before you
need to recharge - then just sell it for the same price as when it was
fully charged).

About potions: you buy healing potions from Pepin the Healer and Mana 
potions from Adria the Witch (with her prices I'm not sure about the first 
letter in "witch" :-).  Don't buy rejuvenation potions - they are too 
expensive.  A full rejuvenation potion combines the effect of full mana
and full health but costs 600 while each of two others mentioned costs only 
150 - that's 300 together.  Finding rejuvenation potions is cool, however.

To some of the previous posts: dont fix items with your Warrior in the 
field unless you are going to sell them afterwards.  When you "fix" them
their maximum durability decreases - this will leave you with too fragile 
an item in the long run.  On the other hand, staff recharging ability of 
Sorcerors is useful - all staves (except for two mentioned above) are going 
to be sold anyway but right now you can preserve mana and money by 
repeatedly using your recharge skill until the staff becomes useless.  Your
starting staff of charged bolt is the first candidate to be recharged.  My 
wife has tested it and recharged in the field staff is worth the same at
witch's so you don't lose anything.


Anyway, the best document about Diablo is Desslock's Information Guide.  
You may receive it from the author directly if you contact him at
desslock@interlog.com - he sends a reply with two files attached in MIME 
fashion - the document in Word 6.0 format and two true-type fonts for best 
viewing of this document.  If you don't care reading
"not-the-most-recent-version" you can find it on my account in
ALEXWS::ATT$USERS:[ARKADY.DIABLO] - there are DIABFAQ.DOC and DIABFONT.ZIP.
The document is a draft of version 2.0.  Someone on the net mentioned that 
there is already version 2.1 of it.

    
    
    Well, I finally beat The Butcher on level 2 and have been down to
    Leorics tomb. LOTS of skeletongs, and the ones with the black shields
    are a pain to kill with sharp weapons. I will have to keep a club handy
    for this, and keep my hot-keys set for the spells, and keep healing and
    mana potions loaded into the 1-8 slots! I will try using the keys
    instead of mouse to heal up so I can still beat on em! I might play
    some more tonight, have phys. therapy this evening (and snow coming
    again!) so I don't know how much time I'll have this evening! I am up
    to a level 9 warrior and hope that is enough to deal with King Leoric.
    I died a couple times down there already.....LOTS of them pesky
    skeletons! ;-) 
    
    I still LOVE the background music!
    

     I've been using the key's so I can keep on swinging.
     It definately helps!
     I was curious, I was going to try WINGATE so that my son could use the
     modem on my system to get on the internet on his.
     Would it be possible for the both of us to play battlenet at the same
    time? Sounds like it could be fun.
    
                                                         Ed
      

    Don't know if I'll buy the actual game, but the demo did a great job of
    whetting my appetite.  Not realizing it cut me off at the third level,
    I was raring to go when it said no way.  Did they change that?  I know
    that when I downloaded, the instructions were touting the new smaller
    size, etc.  
    
    I think I would have gotten it out of my system if they let me go down
    a couple more levels, or maybe finish the first quest.  I doubt if I'll
    be intrigued enough to get the final product (till someone sells it
    cheap!), but overall the balance was nice.  I don't go for those
    things, but it sucked me in a bit.
    
    jeb
    

    
    Anyone have any lockups with this game? I just started getting this
    happening last yesterday/last night and was none too happy about it. It
    is happening with my Warrior character @Lvl13 down in the catacombs,
    and did it at least once on a new sorcerer down on level 1 or 2. I
    installed a newer Hawkeye from #9 (#9 GXE64 Pro PCI video card) the
    other night and noticed this yesterday. I re-installed from the floppy
    which is V2.03 of Hawkeye utility (V2.38 driver I think?) and it still
    did it. 
    
    Questions:
    
    1) Should I de-install it totally from control panel, then re-install
    from cdrom (W95 install cd) and then update from floppy (not to newest
    as I think that is where the problem is)?
    
    
    I am at level 7 I think Sorcerer now (already) and kind of like playing
    it than Warrior for some things (healing staff for one!), but would
    really like to continue with my warrior character that I've finished
    the first 4 quests with (Meteor, Sign, Butcher, King Leoric). Took me a
    bit to find the Meteor and the deal with the sign was something I
    should have figured would happen....and I hate having doors get blocked
    due to all the dead around/in them! ;-)
    
    And I hate those flying electrical thingies....can toast someone REAL
    quickly if they get surrounded! I know! Had it happen a couple times! I
    like how the Goat dudes drop when you kill them! ;-)
    
    

>    Anyone have any lockups with this game? I just started getting this
>    happening last yesterday/last night and was none too happy about it. It
>    is happening with my Warrior character @Lvl13 down in the catacombs,
>    and did it at least once on a new sorcerer down on level 1 or 2. I
>    installed a newer Hawkeye from #9 (#9 GXE64 Pro PCI video card) the
>    other night and noticed this yesterday. I re-installed from the floppy
>    which is V2.03 of Hawkeye utility (V2.38 driver I think?) and it still
>    did it. 

I've heard that DirectX can hang if the driver for your sound or video card
has problems.  Make sure you use the latest drivers from audio and 
video card producers.  

>    I am at level 7 I think Sorcerer now (already) and kind of like playing
>    it than Warrior for some things (healing staff for one!), but would
>    really like to continue with my warrior character that I've finished
>    the first 4 quests with (Meteor, Sign, Butcher, King Leoric). Took me a
>    bit to find the Meteor and the deal with the sign was something I
>    should have figured would happen....and I hate having doors get blocked
>    due to all the dead around/in them! ;-)
>    

If you enjoy Sorcerer try playing Rogue as well.  She is almost as good as
Sorcerer at dispatching enemies from the safe distance and is the most 
well-balanced balanced character and most fun to play (in my opinion).  She
uses bow by default (and she is the best at it) but can be as deadly with
spells and swords.  Well, I never use swords/clubs with her but spells help
when she gets surrounded.  She is a little more fragile than Warrior but 
still rather tough and her dexterity adds quite a bit to her armor class.  
Her main disadvantage is not carrying shield (deeper into the game your 
Sorcerer will abandon staff in favor of additional protection from shield).
On the other hand, she can easily deal with any shooting enemies (try 
chasing them with Warrior and you will see what I mean); besides, nothing is 
immune to arrows (as opposed to some kinds of spells) and you will find 
many fire/lightning resistant/immune monsters on lover levels of the 
dungeon.

    
    Well, since I FINALLY got my system back and running again late last
    week I have been able to play again. I was running a Sorcerer on a
    second game recently. I had to install DirectX from the CD since I
    changed my SCSI controller out with a different one after I thought it
    lunched my disk this was on and I noticed that in my add/remove
    software there IS a DirectX listing now! I never saw that before! I
    re-installed the game to the directory it was in before, went to run
    it, it complained of no DirectX installed, told it to re-install it
    from its listing window and on a reboot I noticed that there is now a
    DirectX entry to be removed! That's good news for once!
    
    I started new since I was getting low on cash in the game with level 13
    sorcerer and am at level 15 now I think with a decent cash flow.
    
    How many staffs should you carry around?? I mean, once you have learned
    a spell for which you had a staff do you need to keep it on your person
    or can you drop it someplace (like outside the building from
    catacombs) and get it if needed later? I like the Golem spell! I had a
    goat head who was kicking my butt every time he came after me, I let
    fly with Golem scroll and watched it kick butt around the area! Nice
    touch! Those mudmen are kinda tough to kill quickly (at least at this
    time).  So I am cruising through levels 1-4 to get gold, sell stuff,
    gain points/levels a bit and complete quests (killed Butcher and Leoric
    yesterday, working on Ghakan or whatever wimp goathead is called) and
    the like. I should take the Warrior back in again and start new to
    build him up a bit more too! Then take the Rogue in and see how she
    flies with arrows. I was just surprised noone has posted in the past
    week!  ;-)
    
    

    
    Onto level 9 now and have cleared about a third of it. I can hear
    something screaming in the distance somewhere, sounds excellent
    through the soundblaster, I wonder what I am to face on this level.
    
    Still looking for the Anvil (my latest quest).
    
    Warrior at level 12 with some good ring mail armour (34) and a bastard
    sword. The Ring mail looks like a samuri's outfit.
    
    The area between Pepin's house, the fountain and the blacksmiths house
    is absolutely strewn with gold, mana potions and various staffs and
    weapons and scrolls for use later on. Just as well there arn't any
    thiefs running around up there. 8)
    
    For Diablo II if it ever comes out, they could have you exploring above
    ground, like multi level buildings, castles or just countryside etc..
    
    Giles.
    

    
    re: -1
    
    Pepins house, blacksmith and fountain are above ground. Something
    changed/changes? I am level 13 warrior and noticed something yesterday
    when I loaded, then selected new game. I was killing left and right
    down the first two levels and my experience did not increase, that is
    until I *saved* and continued on. Then experience started gaining
    again. Anyone else notice this? I wanted to get more money and also get
    some better armor, I picked something up and have an AC of 34. I am
    working on Warrior and Sorcerer games.
    
    
    I noticed when I went back with my warrior I started getting a LOT of
    scrolls being found on dead critters now and then to where I had 2-3 of
    some of them. Some I used (healing) and some I sold (phasing since I
    had 3, same for one other scroll).
    
    Question(s):
                                      
    1) Is it worth carrying around 1-3 staffs if I already have the spells
    that the staffs are for? My Sorcerer has 3 and I've sold two of them
    since I can't pick up a lot of stuff if I have that many on me.
    
    2) How often do you use the Golem spell/scroll? I used it down in the
    catacombs due to a goathead (white colored) was rather quick and was
    pounding the snot outta me and my spells didn't appear to do much
    damage to him and I died twice till I said "what the hell" and used
    Golem on him! I like that one! Nice to see him go and pound the snot
    outta some critters, but he only lasted till 3 mud men had him on 3
    sides and he eventually broke up (nice touch!).
    
    3) What are your hit points/level for your sorcerers? I will try to
    bring in stats on my two players. I need to let the girlfriend play
    this as she likes the game (then I will only be able to play a couple
    days a week when she's not down at my place! ;-( ).
    
    

    re -1
    
    What I mean't was that I have used this area to dump all my unwanted
    stuff that I haven't decided to sell yet, and any other items that I 
    haven't used yet to keep my inventory clear. I don't recall saying it
    was underground. ;-)
    
    Anyone know what the area of mushrooms are for on level 9. I just get
    the usual "I can't use this, yet" stuff.
    
    Giles. 

    
    re -2
    
    1)  Staffs are useless, they take too much space.  Better to sell them
        and buy better stuff.
    
    2)  Golems are good against wizard who blink in and out a lot.
    
    
    re -1
    
    Go talk to the witch and she will give you a quest.

    
    re: -1
    
    Jackson, that you?! ;-)
    
    Staffs are useless? To a warrior, or a Sorcerer? I've been leaving mine
    outside of the catacombs entrance once I was able to exit that way and
    reenter there to go below. I have to check on the armor I am wearing on
    the warrior to give me an AC of 34. I don't know how much higher some
    of you folks are! It is amazing how much time passes when playing this
    game, I had someone call me yesterday, and call me back when they said
    they would and I said "wow, that time already!".
    
    Anyhow, by restarting "new" it's allowing me to get more gold to
    eventually equip myself with better equipment, lately it's been mana
    potions to allow me to go below and kick some butt, get more gold, come
    up and heal and get more mana potions and do it all over again. I think
    I need to change my strategy a bit, equip with better equipment tonight
    (before heading out to dinner with girlfriend :-) ) and range around a
    bit.
    
    re: -1
    
    Ah, point noted, see above where I leave mine for the time being. I was
    debating whether to do it down below near a staircase to have when I
    came back up and use Town Portal to head out with what I wanted to
    sell, but above ground sounds better, closer to town, can look items
    over and compare to what you recently acquired, then sell, etc....
    
    What I have noticed is that some quests don't pop up right away, like
    to the Magic Rock. Now I have to of them and sold one to the Smithy!
    
    

    re .37
    
    Time to talk to that lady in black then.....
    
    Giles.

    
    
    That's the Black Mushroom quest done, now I'm on level 10 looking
    for the Anvil, but lots of badies to deal with first. My warrior is
    actually at level 17, needs another 100,000 to get to 18 though.
    
    Level 9 seemed quite small, I know I've definitely checked for other
    obscure passages that may lead off somewhere but gave up in the end and
    headed for level 10. 
    
    Giles.

    
    I just smoked back through the sign, leoric, butcher, magic rock quests
    over the past couple days with my warrior. Now I am down in the
    catacombs and came upon a BUNCH of acid beasts/fire throwing monsters
    and I noticed that their spitting only goes so far so I was able to
    take several out before running out of mana (warrior with several
    spells). I think I am going to use some of my scrolls when I get to
    that point and see what happens then. When do I find the next quest? I
    would assume somewhere down in the catacombs when I clear some more of
    those areas. I am down on level 2 of the catacombs right now and will
    probably play again tonight :-)
    
    

>    I just smoked back through the sign, leoric, butcher, magic rock quests
>    over the past couple days with my warrior. Now I am down in the
>    catacombs and came upon a BUNCH of acid beasts/fire throwing monsters
>    and I noticed that their spitting only goes so far so I was able to
>    take several out before running out of mana (warrior with several
>    spells). I think I am going to use some of my scrolls when I get to

Since warrior is very weak at spells your best bet when dealing with ranged
attacks is to show up then hide behind the corner.  The beasts then come up 
to you and you just dispatch them with your sword - much faster than with
any spells.  Be sure to hold Shift when swinging your sword - when you kill
spitting monsters they leave their poison or acid instead of body and you
don't want to step there right away (before it dries out).

>    that point and see what happens then. When do I find the next quest? I

The quests are chosen randomly for any single player game.  For a list of
all possible quests refer to Desslock's Diablo Information Guide.  Contact
him at desslock@interlog.com or pull two fonts and the document from my 
account at

ALEXWS::ATT$USERS:[ARKADY.DIABLO]

You will need two files - DFAQ22.DOC (the latest version) and DIABFONT.ZIP.
Unzip DIABFONT.ZIP, install those two fonts which you find inside then open 
the document with Word 6.0 or later.  This document is a must for any 
decent Diablo player.

>    would assume somewhere down in the catacombs when I clear some more of
>    those areas. I am down on level 2 of the catacombs right now and will
>    probably play again tonight :-)
>    
>    
>

    
    I went down into the game last night for an hour or so and gained
    another level on my warrior (level 16 or 17 now) and ran into those
    acid beasts and hung back while I shot fireballs at them till I was out
    of mana, then moved in on the remaining 3-4 and killed them without
    dying (close!). Yeah, I found out about the acid they leave behind on a
    few instances! I watched it shimmer for a few seconds or so then I
    moved on the last time I encounted them. Lately I have been running
    into a bunch of the Fire Clan goatheads! Man! Those flaming arrows
    stink! I had a ton of them coming and at one point I used Firewall and
    heard some of them die! I went to Adria for a couple/three more of them
    thinking that I was going to be needing them and she was out! ;-(
    
    I cleared the Bone area and went up and then down to level 8 (I think)
    of the catacombs (might be 7) and that's where I saw the acid beasts
    and fire clan groups! Boy, there were a bunch of them suckers, and
    those yellow hidden types started surrounding me a few times so I tried
    to get away and ended up not making it ;-( (was low on healing
    potions).
    
    I will most likely play it AGAIN tonight and change my strategy to
    start hanging around the corners more (been doing that when I run into
    a bunch of baddies, or lure them into the doorway area where I can
    pummel them for awhile and not take too much damage (providing I am
    close enough to the doorway that they can't get around and surround me
    like they did last night!). I have 3 caches of 5000 gold sitting up top
    just outside of town and been getting more healing and some mana
    potions for long distance dispatching which seems to work on occasion.
    
    Maybe I'll let the girlfriend play Rogue tonight.
    
    

    Bummer, finaly got wingate operating and battlenet won't recognize
    either computer running diablo. Tells me to reinstall.
     I was looking forward to teaming up with him online.
     Ah well, at least my son can access the internet from his own pc now.
    
    
    

    
    Been down to level 12 or 13 with those lightning(sp) shooting lizard
    beasts with the tails! I was using Mana Shield down there since they
    were en force in some areas....Did the Valor quest after I read the
    FAQ about the room, I saw something change but didn't notice it was
    right in front of me with the way they opaque walls when moving near
    them. Did the mushroom quest also, still have elixir, and have Bone
    Staff now. Is it worth keeping? It doesn't kill according to FAQ, just
    weakens them.
    
    I am also playing a female rogue now (gina, my girlfriends name) and my
    SO was giving me a hard time doing this! ;-) And I must say she can
    fire arrows off quite fast, but aiming still has some work to be done
    in this game. I can't get dead on with the monsters, always a bit high,
    plus she doesn't hit barrels from a distance which I figured she should
    be able to so as to keep from taking damage from exploding barrels.
    
    Finished Butcher, Leoric and Snotspil already with her last night. I
    think I'll let the SO play tonight and do some reading, then go at it
    tomorrow and work on the Warrior again (hack-n-slash time again!).
    
    Still a good game.
    
    

    
    
    Down onto level 15 now but slow progress as those damn succubus
    bitchies are a pain. Looking for the golden elixir for the Lachdanan
    quest. My warrior is level 23 now. 
    
    Hope they do a Diablo 2, be a shame if they didn't.
    
    Giles.

    Prefer strategy games to action? Buy this one anyway, run it on a
    486SX at 25MHz and play Rogue or Sorceror. You'll believe you're
    playing the Fantasy version of X-COM.
    
    Just make sure your fire you arrows/spells at the right tragets in the
    right order. :)
    
    (Well, I was getting bored trying to get my warrior to 20th so I could
    run "Nightmare" in the spawned version and meet some new beasties. )
    
    Andy.
                                   

    Andy,
      Does this game really run on a 486.  I was going to get it today, but
    the requirements say that it requires a pentium.  I guess it wants a
    pentium for the speed.
    
    Jim Morton

    Jim, 
    
    Yes, it runs ok on a 486, but you really do need the speed. At 25MHz
    this game is a weird experience. My new P200/MMX just arrived, and it
    runs just fine on that! My guess is that you'd be fine on, say, a
    486DX2 at 100 MHz. The install procedure whinges like crazy if you
    don't have a Pentium, but it lets you go ahead anyway.
    
    Now looking forward to multi-player on the full version of the game. My
    wife and I have got pretty bored with the two level sharware version.
    You need to hit 20th level before it will let you up the difficulty
    from "normal" to "nightmare", and endless trips down the small,
    two-level dungeon get rather monotonous. I've got a friend coming over
    tonight to try it out. However, with only two copies of the game, we
    could see some marital strife here.
    
    Andy.

    I've been running the game on a 468 DX4-100 w/32mb memory.  Its quite
    playable, but you do see it jump occasionally instead of smoothly
    scroll when your character moves.  I've noticed that character movement
    is significantly faster in multi-player mode than in single player
    mode.  I assume there is an intential reduction in the overhead for
    multi-player.
    
    Jerry

    Thanks.  I'll try it.
    
    Jim Morton

    Well,  my hardware came in to upgrade the DX4-100 in .50 to an AMD
    K6-200, 32mb 10ns SDRAM and a Matrox Mystique 4mb graphics adapter. 
    
    It was playable before.  It rocks now...
    
    Jerry

    
    
    		Anyone out there play much multiplayer mode over
    battle.net.  I've only logged in once to check it out.  I'm
    on my third single player campaign and am wondering if I'm 
    missing out.  I've heard of people cheeting over battle.net,
    like getting a sword in the back of the head in Tristram (Town
    should be a safe haven) and losing half your booty.   
    
    
    
    							Shark 
    
    

     Hi all,

     Yes, there are many cheats available for any number of abilities.

     I have been playing on B.Net for about 3 weeks and the only way
        I've found to play is by joining a clan/guild. You can check out
        a whole slew of them at...

     http://www.torilmud.com/diablo/shortlist.html

     Here they give ratings and rankings. The guild I joined is SnakeGod.
        We believe in cooperative play, no cheating, duping or PKilling.
        We do have some role-playing while in the channel, but it is all
        in fun. So far I have found the members of SnakeGod to be very
        cordial, fair and fun to play with. You can drop in on our
        "guild hall" on B.Net at SnakeGod. It is a private channel so you'll
        need to type it in.

     I'm usually on from 7:00 to 9:00 weeknights EST. My alter ego is
        Tristan, lvl35 Warrior, one dot.

                                                       Bye,
                                                        Mike.

    
    How can I kill these last 3 lizards (lightning boys) and the momma
    beastie quickly? I am getting surrounded and getting the snot beat
    outta me with a rogue and mana shield up, using healing potions and
    mana potions like they're mints! ;-)  I gave up trying to get beyond
    them yesterday since I tried several times with different tact, and
    trying not to cheat (don't know how to in this anyways!).
    
    Any idea?  I move towards them till I see them at bottom of screen,
    then go like hell away up and to the right around some rocks, even
    behind fence and still got snot pounded outta me QUICK! Help! ;-)
    
    

    
         Hi Mike,
    
         Two things...
    
         One, get your lighting resist up as high as possible through
            items.
    
         Two, use firewall, fireball and guardian to soften then up.
            They hate fire.
    
                                                       Bye,
                                                        Mike.

    
    re: -1
    
    Hmm, I am using something that increased my lightning resistance,
    and I tried firewall, no go, they walked through it. But I'll see what
    else I can come up with. I wish I had Golem spell! I only got that as
    Sorcerer player....I have about 20k gold up top too! ;-) And other
    weapons that I haven't sold off yet in case I can use them below
    someplace else. Some staffs, some other stuff. Gryphon blade and
    Theives Shield (I switched from bow to these incase that made it easier
    to kill them), and I even used Stone Curse on mama lizard, but couldn't
    kill the other baddies in time to nail her enough to waste her (and
    since siblings weren't dead I had all 3-4 of them surround my butt and
    kick the snot outta me (several times, trying various options!! ;-( ).
    I did better as a Sorcerer on them I think! I might bring him back into
    play too and as I have gotten past that point already (I *think* I have
    anyways!) or take my Warrior back down and hack some more! This is when
    co-operative play comes in best! But if I have guardian spell I'll try
    it, if not, I'll see if I can buy the scroll (or Golem if possible).
    
    

    
    re: -.56
    
    Did I mention they come upon me rather quickly once they see me! And
    getting zapped from 2-3 of them makes my mana go quick, then they are
    hacking me, mana shield goes, try to use scroll/potion, die quickly! I
    can't believe how fast they trash me in that one particular spot! I may
    have to try and range around from a different direction to keep them
    all coming at me at once, that is my downfall with these peckers!
    
    

>    Did I mention they come upon me rather quickly once they see me! And
>    getting zapped from 2-3 of them makes my mana go quick, then they are
>    hacking me, mana shield goes, try to use scroll/potion, die quickly! I
>    can't believe how fast they trash me in that one particular spot! I may
>    have to try and range around from a different direction to keep them
>    all coming at me at once, that is my downfall with these peckers!

One of the lessons of this game is that if you can't handle something - run!
Did you explore the level somehow or are they coming at you just as you
descend downstairs?  The latter is a very rare case although my wife had 
something like this once - she barely managed to kill off the beasts with
fireballs at the cost of 6 or seven full mana potions (she played Rogue 
just as you do).  If you do have some explored areas try to run there - the 
monsters don't follow you at the same speed so you might be able to 
separate and kill them.

If you are desperate, try to stone curse few (or all) of them.  Then put
firewall on them and shoot like a crazy.  Always drink mana potions if you
are lower than 1/3 of your mana.  And always think about fireball when you
are fighting lightning lizards.

Do you use hot keys when you play?  It is the only way to keep up with 
monsters.  You just can't do everything as fast with just a mouse.  1-8 and
F5-F8 are your best friends.

Regards,
    Arkady.

    
    re: -1
    
    They don't come at me right as I get below. I have to head through the
    lava area towards them below-left. Once they see me they come real
    quickly! I've tried Guardian, firewall (go through it usually), etc...
    I am playing my Sorcerer again to build him up.  Eventually I'll make
    it past this point (I think I had already with Sorcerer or Warrior, but
    will slowly work on it. I'm playing Shadow Warrior too as time fits!
    
    

    
    re-1
    
    Try and get them to come at you through a single file gap, and lay a
    firewall infront of you and the next line behind that, so while you
    engage the first guy the others queue up in the flames waiting for the
    first chap to either die or get out of the way,which of course he
    can't.
    
    Usually the fire will eat most of the buggers up in time.
    
    Giles.

    re: .60
    
    I hope no-one minds taking a bit of a tangent here, but I will not
    rest well until someone tells me where to find the silver key in Shadow
    Warrior (shareware).  MSOUCY, you mentioned that you had played it...?
    
    Thanks,
    Harry

    
    re: -1
    
    I am playing it off/on, not too heavily. Get beat up quickly in this
    bugger! I haven't found the silver key yet. I got into the ducts and
    was wondering around for awhile till I couldn't get any further (must
    have missed something...) as I can't get beyond the metal detectors. I
    think I wrote a note in here for this game, let's move to that one.
    
    
    re: -2
    
    I have somewhat attempted this with little/no success. They are nailing
    me with lightning as soon as they start to come after me. I've even
    tried hiding behind a gate and they opened it and continued thrashing
    me soundly! ;-)  I am working my Sorcerer up now, and need to get my
    Warrior going again as I haven't taken him out in so long I don't
    remember where I left off with him! ;-)
    
    

    There is a new (final) version of Desslock's FAQ available at
    
    http://www.pathcom.com/~kenl/ddig.htm
    
    If you don't have Internet access you can pull it from my account at
    
    ALEXWS::ATT$USERS:[ARKADY.DIABLO]
    
    There are two files necessary: DFAQ23.DOC (the FAQ itself) and
    DIABFONT.ZIP - two true-type fonts needed for best viewing this
    document.
    
    There are quite a few changes compared to V2.2 of the same document
    (the final version is 2.3).  The FAQ was reorganized and now is even
    more informative and comprehensive.
    
    Enjoy,
    	Arkady.

    
    re: .62
    
    Go to my new note on Shadow Warrior, I'll post it behind spoilers.
    
    
    Mike
    

    I rented this... what a great game!  It's the ultimate translation of
    the old Rogue/Moria/Hack games!
    
    I have gotten to level 4 of the dungeon, but so far, have not received
    a 2nd quest.  I killed the Butcher, and talked to the townspeople
    after, but nobody's given me a 2nd quest.  I talked to everybody but
    the guy lying on the ground who gave me the 1st quest.  I figured he
    was dead.  He was gone later.  Was I supposed to show him the Butcher's
    Axe?   
    
    I tried selling the Butcher's axe to the blacksmith, but he just took
    my money and said nothing.
    
    Who do I see to get my 2nd quest?
    
    Ken
    

    Okay, is see in .25 that the 2nd quest is from the bar owner...  How
    far do I have to go before he gives me this quest?
    
    Ken
    

    Ken
    
    	Each game you play will select which Quests you are to get. The
    Quests are randomly allocated. In order to get another quest you must 
    simply keep exploring the levels and clearing them out and regularily
    return to town and gossip to all the people like Cain and Pepin and
    the blacksmith. Some quests will always appear, some of the early level
    quests will not. For instance, the game I am currently nearly finished
    on, never gave me the Skeleton King or the Tavern Sign.
    
    Giles.

>    Okay, is see in .25 that the 2nd quest is from the bar owner...  How
>    far do I have to go before he gives me this quest?
>    
>    Ken
The quests are chosen randomly from some fixed set; not all quests are 
present in any game.  You might not receive the quest from the bar owner.
He gives you King Leoric's curse quest and does so after you visited level 2
(level meaning floor).  If he doesn't the quest probably doesn't exist in 
your game.
Did you talk to the healer?  If he didn't give you the quest then the next 
one you will most probably receive "on the spot" on level 4.  There is
a number of non-player characters down there.  See if you can reach a 
staircase down to level 5.  If not, this is your next quest.  On level 4 
you might find another quest - some specific monster whom you can't kill 
right away.  After you've talked to it check your quest journal.

It's a pity you don't have Curse of King Leoric's quest.  It is real fun in
single-player (as well as a good source of nice items, money and experience
especially if you use well one of the Skeleton King's abilities).

Have fun!
	Arkady.

I started another game as a Rogue, and discovered that the "poisoned water
supply" was a quest in itself.  I had gotten that and completed it on my
first try as a Warrior, and didn't even know it was a quest.

So I guess I'll just keep playing it and see what develops. 

I will have to either re-rent it or buy it now since my rental time is up!  :')

Ken

P.S. This game works great under NT 4.0.  No DirectX even needed, as it's
built into NT. (so it said when I tried to install it.)

    
    It certainly does work well under NT4.0. I've been running it on my
    new CELEBRIS GL6180 running NTserver and my warriors little legs are a 
    blur of speed as he races around everywhere.
    
    Giles.

    
    Well almost there now. Having dispatched Lazarus with a stone curse and
    some chopping it's now time to enter the pentagram and visit Diablo
    himself now that Cain has given me the final quest.
    
    Time to kick the big red boys arse....
    
    Nuff said...
    
    Giles.