Another beta treat on this Cinco de Mayo is
's next review of the Barbarian class, the character that will be in the Stress Test. It's a scathing review of the Barbarian's skill trees, and opinions on the strengths (or lack thereof) of the much-maligned class. What does Spirit think about the Barbarian being in the Stress Test?
That's too bad, because if anything, Blizzard is going to disillusion a lot of players with this game by showcasing the weakest class. I can see a lot of people getting frustrated and bored easily. And that's a shame because all the other classes are loads of fun to play.
Read his in-depth review of the Barbarian.
Max Schaefer on PKing in Diablo II
Diablo II News
Written by Bolty
Thursday, 04 May 2000
Something you might want to read is Blizzard North VP Max Schaefer's final word on PKing in Diablo II. It's quite an extensive post on the Beta Buzz forum in response to the raging (and never-ending) PK debates there.
lurkerlounge.net-games.com
Lurker Lounge News
Written by Bolty
Thursday, 04 May 2000
That's right, folks. Time to update your bookmarks. Welcome to lurkerlounge.net-games.com! Nothing's changed but the name (and a whole slew of really minor aesthetic changes). My new email address is
Please bear with me if there's any weird link problems during the "transition" (actually, nothing's moved, the name is just an overlay).
The Amazon: Skilled Warrior or Babe with a Bow?
Diablo II News
Written by Bolty
Tuesday, 02 May 2000
That's the question
asks as he presents, for your approval, a full review of the Amazon class in Diablo II. What does he think of her warrior abilities? How useful is Jab? How effective is the Amazon in a fight compared to the other characters? Explore Spirit's review and decide for yourself. An excerpt:
Add to Jab, the enhanced damage of my magical "Gale Gutter" spear; add to that my critical hit percentage...I think you see where I'm going with this. With Jab, Critical Hit and my particular rare weapon, I'm doing 42-300 points of damage for the cost of only 3 mana. You can wreck bosses PDQ let me tell you! Just try doing THAT with a bow!
Stress Test Signup
Diablo II News
Written by Bolty
Monday, 01 May 2000
Don't forget to sign up! You have all week, so feel free to wait until after the servers stop getting hammered by the initial rush - very good advice from GFrazier.
Diablo II Beta 1.10 Patch Released
Diablo II News
Written by Bolty
Saturday, 29 April 2000
For those of you interested in all the nitty gritty details of what's new, the massive collection of changes can be seen here.
Diablo II Stress Test Signup Announced!
Diablo II News
Written by Bolty
Friday, 28 April 2000
That's right, Blizzard has all the details in their press release:
Blizzard today announced plans for Diablo™ II's Battle.netŪ stress test -- the final phase of Diablo II beta testing and the company's largest public beta test to date. Starting Monday morning, hardcore gamers around the world will have the opportunity to register for their chance to be one of up to 100,000 players to be chosen to help stress test Battle.net servers prior to the launch of Diablo II. The beta signup is scheduled for a seven-day period exclusively on ZDNet's (NYSE:ZDZ) GameSpot (www.gamespot.com) beginning on Monday, May 1 at 10:00 a.m. PT and ending Sunday, May 7 at 9:00 p.m PT. Applications from around the world will be accepted. Following the registration period, Blizzard will randomly select up to 100,000 testers. Only one submission per person will be accepted, and selected testers will be notified via email within a few days of the sign-up period ending.
Thanks to, well, a whole lot of people who alerted me to this. I've been busy lately, next week is my finals week. I'll try to keep up. :)
DSF Posts
Diablo News
Written by Bolty
Wednesday, 26 April 2000
Two posts of interest on the Diablo Strategy Forum lately (yes, I've been neglecting it somewhat, I hope you can forgive me :) ). First off is SoulEdge's A Study on Berserk. It's a good read for the Hellfire fans out there. And secondly is a simple question by Orion-KV: Who's Stayin, Who's Leavin?
Patching the Patch
Diablo News
Written by Bolty
Tuesday, 25 April 2000
There's a quick fix out for the Middle Earth mod today correcting a few minor bugs in the last release. Grab it from Diablomods.
Diablo II Declarations
Diablo II News
Written by Bolty
Sunday, 23 April 2000
There's lots to read up on Diablo II today with an update to Ian Yuen's Beta Stats and Skills, with updates to formulas and skill effects. Next up is my Beta Report #7, with "Beta loves and hates," game balance issues, multiplayer action, and yet more random tidbits. Finally, an article any Sorceress fan shouldn't miss is Diablo 1 rogue aficionado
's beta strategy article, Starting Your Sorceress. He runs down the skills, stat allocation, equipment choices, and more.
New Middle Earth
Diablo News
Written by Bolty
Saturday, 22 April 2000
Varaya and Khan have released an update to their popular Middle Earth mod. Included in the new version are new item graphics and a bunch of gameplay balances. Be sure to note their instructions for installing the new patch, and go grab it from Diablomods.
Open Beta Not Public?
Diablo II News
Written by Bolty
Friday, 21 April 2000
Horribly stolen from Diabloii.Net comes word that the Open Beta might not be "open." It's been alluded to by GFrazier that it's now called the "Stress Test" and there will be a signup for it. Ouch!
UPDATE: Lots more information about the Stress Test is up at Blizzard's Beta Site. A quote from the updated FAQ:
Blizzard will accept on the order of 100,000 beta testers world-wide to participate in the program. We need a very large group of testers to ensure that we have enough load to test our servers. While we are accepting large numbers of testers, we will be staging our Stress Test out in groups so we can test and correct any problems in a controlled and manageable way. This means that we will have a smaller group download the Stress Test and play, make sure everything is working properly, and then allow the next group to download and play, and so on.
How to Find Uniques, Jarulf Style
Diablo News
Written by Bolty
Thursday, 20 April 2000
Das Regard has an interview with Jarulf on the DSF today regarding the probability of finding uniques in Diablo. He tries to shed more light on his calculations for the probabilities, a subject of much number-crunching. If you're wondering why you can't find a Constricting Ring from Lazarus, or why other items only appear on certain difficulties, this might help your understanding of the complex item generation system of Diablo.
Beta Stats and Skills Update
Diablo II News
Written by Bolty
Thursday, 20 April 2000
Ian Yuen has compiled a new version of his Beta Stats and Skills, with 10 skills being added/modified.
Hellfire - The Dark Version 3.4
Diablo News
Written by Bolty
Monday, 17 April 2000
Version 3.4 of the popular Hellfire mod is out with some bugfixes.
's new work is available as always from their modpage.
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