Potion drop organization in cLoD

[mmpx222]

The following post contains observations I made by examining TreasureClassEx.txt from cLoD 1.13c. Anyone can make the same observations; I share mine here just so that it has a place, and someone might save time by looking at it.

In vanilla Diablo 2, potion drop treasureclasses are organized in a surprisingly elaborate manner. To explain them, I will introduce two concepts:

The depth of a treasureclass is the number of "jumps" or "redirects" a monster or object must take to reach the TC. All treasureclasses directly linked to MonStats.txt are of depth 0, since they are the starting point ("root") of the item drop process.

Treasuregroups are groups of TCs that belong to a certain theme. For example, the treasureclasses in group=7 have names like "Act 1 H2H A", "Act 3 (N) H2H B", and so on. Such TCs will be referred to as the H2H treasuregroup. Note that treasuregroups are arbitrary concepts and may not share the same group ID, although they usually do.

Healing Potions

There are two treasuregroups that drop healing potions:

• Hpotion 1 through Hpotion 6 drop healing, mana, and rejuvenation potions.
• Potion 1 through Potion 6 also drop healing, mana, and rejuvenation potions. They can also drop stamina/antidote/thawing potions. In fact, these are the only TCs that drop them.

Hpotion X TCs are not dropped directly by any monster, but are referenced exclusively by the Cpot treasuregroup (ex: Act 1 (H) Cpot A). Cpot is referenced by the Champ treasuregroups (ex: Act 5 Champ A), which are used directly by champion monsters in MonStats.txt. I assume "Cpot" stands for "Champion potion"? Anyway, the drop process looks like this:

Code: Select all

Champ
|--- Cpot
|   |--- Hpotion X
|   \--- (other drops...)
 \--- (other drops...)

This makes Champ depth 0, Cpot depth 1, and Hpotion X depth 2.

Hpotion 1 through 5 are used in Normal difficulty. Some are mixed: for example, Act 4 Cpot A can drop both Hpotion 3 and Hpotion 4. Hpotion 6 becomes available in Nightmare and Hell; Hpotion 1-3 are no longer used at Act 4 Normal and beyond, but Hpotion 4 and 5 are still available. Cpot also attempts to directly drop rejuvenation potions in Nightmare, and full rejuvs in Hell.

Summary: Hpotion X are used by champions. Hpotion 1-3 are used only in Normal, while Hpotion 4-6 are used throughout Nightmare and Hell.

Potion X TCs are used by the following treasuregroups:

• Junk (ex: Act 2 (N) Junk): These depth 1 treasureclasses are used by various depth 0 chest and monster TCs. Junk TCs also drop scrolls, keys, throwing potions, and ammo (quivers).
  • Junk uses Potion 1-5 in Normal, one for each act. In Nightmare and Hell, Junk always use Potion 6.
• Swarm (ex: Swarm 1 (H)): These depth 0 treasureclasses are used exclusively by the swarm, vulture, and mosquito monster types.
  • These use Potion 2/3 on Normal, and Potion 6 in Nightmare and Hell.

Summary: Potion X are used by most monsters and chests. Potion 1-5 are used only in Normal difficulty, while Potion 6 is used only in Nightmare and Hell.

Mana Potions

In addition to Hpotion X and Potion X, mana potions can also drop from the Magic treasuregroup (ex: Act 2 (H) Magic B). This treasuregroup is depth 1, and also drops teleport/identify scrolls. They are used by:

• Cast (ex: Act 1 (N) Cast A): These depth 0 treasureclasses are used by several caster-type monsters
• Wraith (ex: Act 2 (H) Wraith A): These depth 0 treasureclasses are used by wraiths, willowisps, and fingermages.
• Swarm: See above
• Council member TC
• The Summoner's TC

This information might help you balance potion drops more carefully. Of course, you can throw everything out the window instead