666

[Myhrginoc]

Patch 1.10 was supposed to change the game greatly. But is it balanced? Is it challenging? KroniK begs to differ...

666

First off, I want to make clear this will not be a total conversion mod like so many out there, I'd prefer to keep the original atmosphere of Diablo II. The object of my mod is to make the game a lot more realistic, and a lot more difficult. Here is some info about my mod:

Title: 666 (Can't believe I'm the first to think of that name)
Coordinator: Me, Myself and I (just KroniK)
Version: 1.10 Expansion
Features:
- All sets will be altered. (some items shifted around, a lot of stat changes)
- Most uniques will also be altered. (new stats)
- Uniques will no longer have random stats, every stat will be fixed, so there will not be identical items who aren't identical (e.g. Arkaine's Valor, Vampiregaze, ...)
- Increased weapon damage and armour defence
- Improved gems. (you won't make uber items with them, but they will make items powerful enough until you find uniques/sets)
- Implementing gemwords.
- Improved runes. (individual rune bonuses will be improved, though runeword bonuses will remain the same, therefore only slightly increasing runeword power)
- More reasonable synergies. (e.g. Barbarian synergies)
- All skills will require level 1, but they will also be equally powerful. (e.g. skills that do area of effect damage will do a lot less damage that skills that target one enemy at a time, but will cover a larger area) It's going to be a choice of tactics, people.
- Removal of all monster immunities, however, in Hell, every monster will have 75% resist all and 95% resist to the element(s) they used to be immune to.

This is all good news, but I’m afraid I have some bad news too.
- Nerfed cube recipes. (no more uber rune upgrades, or exceptional and elite upgrades)
- Increased monster stats, lower experience. (it’s gonna take a long time before you get to level 100)
- NO MORE MF, there will be not a single item with MF, this to get rid of the big gap between the rich and the poor players. I will increase the monster’s TC by just a little bit, so you will actually find the good stuff.
- Increased rarity of gems and runes. Gem upgrading will require 5 gems of the lower quality, rune upgrading will require 3 runes of the lower quality, but that number will increase with the more powerful runes. Upgrading gems and runes will not be so easy anymore.
- A lot more unique monsters, especially Aura Enchanted ones, and they will bring their friends, a lot of them.
- A lot more monsters will do elemental damage.
- Completely overthrown the Cow Level. Certain items will only be able to drop from monsters that you will only find in the Moo Moo Farm. Beware, you will find a lot more that just some stampeding cows here. How about a gang of Oblivion Generals, a nastier version of the Oblivion Knight, able to summon their lesser brethren? Before you know it, the Bone Spirits and Iron Maidens will be buzzing from more directions that you can handle.
- A lot more of these changes will be done, in general, you can compare this mod by having a level 10 Bash-Barb thrown right into a Hell Cow level. Well, it won't be that hard, of course, but it won't be a cakewalk either. Imagine how hard Hell is with a well equipped character, well, that's the way it's gonna be right from the start of Normal.

There is only one way to become a true champion: The elite class specific sets, but they only drop in the new Cow Level, and you need to be a champion already to survive in there, let alone kill something.
Or … maybe you could use an ancient artefact to summon the power of the equipment of your ancestors. Or … maybe not.

[KroniK]

Yahoo, at long last, my very own mod project.
And to start off with, here's a little progress report:
- Runes & gems: 100%
- Sets: 10%
- Uniques: 40%
- Monsters: 10%
- Cube: 50%
- Skills: 20%

That's about it for now.
Greetz,
KroniK

[Mathiu Silverburg]

Looks nice, looking forward to it

- Mathiu Silverburg

[KroniK]

Thanks a lot.
Here's a little progress report to keep you busy:

Progress report 25-11-2003:
- The work on the gems and runes is complete. Gems are extremely powerful now and to compensate for that, you will only find chippies, and it will take 5 gems to upgrade to a better quality. On the other hand, it will finally make sense to jam a perfect amethyst into your precious Grandfather. Imagine that!
- I nerfed some of the runewords. 400% enhanced damage is a little over the top, especially since I increased the base damage of all weapons.
- Work on the uniques is coming along quite nicely. Most of them are completely redone. Why not make new uniques you ask me? Well, it's quite simple, I'm too friggin' lazy to do any tbl editing. And besides, Blizzard has come up with very nice names for the uniques, it would be a shame not to use them.
- Skill synergies have received a lot of updates, too. Amazon skills are completely done, the Necromancer's next. I added a small casting delay to all the curses, and a major casting delay to the golems. But, on the other hand, golems are a lot tougher and won't need as much recasting as before.

That's it.
Greetz,
KroniK

[vivi_mate]

It looks like a very interesting mod.. keep up the good work

Are you changing the affixes of magical/rare items? I have some suggestions for them.

[aceman_999]

Keep up the good work. The mod will definately be one that I play (all the time). Im still new to the modding world considering i started beginning of summer 2003 and all i can do is txt edit. The mod looks really good so far. It looks like the mod will be really challenging.Suggestion: (since this little thing that annoys me keeps me from lvling) so for a suggestion if you are gonna make the mod this hard you might want to get rid of the experience penalty.

[KroniK]

vivi_mate: This mod is not really about adding a lot of new stuff. Maybe in a later stage, I might do that, but for now, I mod the existing features of the game in order to balance out the game.
aceman_999: There's only one solution for this: don't die, then you won't lose experience Nah, seriously, I'll think about it.
Thanks to both for the interest in my mod, I'm in the middle of my examns right now, but in two weeks, you should get a big update on the mod.

Greetz,
KroniK

[KroniK]

Hey Hey,
KroniK here, with a major update.
I've been doing some serious brainstorming and modding, and here's what's new and updated:
- Sets are halfway now, expect some screenshots soon
- I threw away all the uniques, and came up with a new system: 90% of all uniques will be normal items, only a few (very powerful) items will be exceptional and even fewer will be elite. However, I will add a recipe to make the uniques exceptional and elite (like in vanilla LoD 1.10), so that your equipment grows with you.
- After some thinking about vivi_mate's suggestion, I must say that a cleaned up affix pool sounds very interesting and that I might do it, dependant of the difficulty.

That's it for now,
Keep checking this thread for updates and screenshots

[KroniK]

Today, I bring a little update, concerning uniques.
I figured out how uniques will be handled in my mod.
Like I said, 90% of all uniques will spawn as normal items, you have to upgrade them in order to make them exceptional and elite. But, the cool part is, not only the base item will be upgraded, but also the magical properties.
Here's a little example that I made up, for explanation purposes.

- Iron Man - Ancient Armor
100% enhanced defense
10 to all resistances
magic damage reduced by 10
1 socket

- Iron Man - Ornate Plate
200% enhanced defense
15 to all resistances
magic damage reduced by 15
2 sockets

- Iron Man - Sacred Armor
300% enhanced defense
20 to all resistances
magic damage reduced by 20
3 sockets

This example is quite simple, but I think you get the picture. The idea of this system is to make that the uniques are powerful enough to get you through Hell, but that they aren't too powerful early on, so with each upgrade, the mods upgrade too.

That's all for now.
Greetz,
KroniK

P.S. I'm still working on my screenshots. Maybe I'll build a nice website around them.

[GuyAskingQuestion]

Looks like your having fun with your Mod

Don't fill up on side orders (uniques) before the main course (skills,etc.)

Keep the progress steady your going well!

[KroniK]

Well, the main course is almost ready, so it's just a matter of keeping everyone in suspense with the smaller updates, and then after a whil, will come the bigger ones, and finally, the release.
I am indeed having a lot of fun making and testing the mod, and I hope that, once my mod is finished, you will have as much fun playing it.

[KroniK]

Time to move on.
This mod was coming along nicely, but due to certain circumstances, I will no longer continue to work on this mod.
First and foremost: I'm giving all of my attention to Blackened now, in order to create varied and interesting items, magics, rares, sets and uniques.
Second, 666 was going to be a nice mod, but not super. 666 would in no way be able to compete with the graphic marvel that some mods offer. Because 666 would be no match for the rest, I decided to scratch the mod project and move on to Blackened with already a lot of ideas that spawned during the making of 666.

That's all folks, another one bites the dust.

Greetz,
KroniK

[Alkalund]

I wish you all the best with helping on Blackened then

*click*