08-20-2003, 07:13 PM
Welcome Sir K. It's not often we get someone who is truly at the begining of the Diablo experience, as well -evidenced by those who have spoken before me. Mind you, the Lurker Lounge is filled with old hands at this version of the game, and I mean old hands who have crunched the numbers until it is ingrained in their dreams.
A Sword of the Heavens has a pretty good suffix. The "of Heavens" may be sought for those who want a nice overall boost that covers a lot of fields-- without truly excelling in any one aspect. For a Muscle Mage, the "of Heavens" is pretty decent. Gives you a boost to both Strength and Dexterity, stuff you'd need as a mage relying on melee combat.
But take heed that the best melee weapons, and the best magical items overall, are what I call "double blue": they contain both a prefix and a suffix that add attributes. A King's Sword is nice, as is a Sword of the Heavens. But a King's Sword of the Heavens is what rocks.
Base item attributes for weapons aren't the most important thing in the world-- the boosters from the magical prefix/suffix will more or less make or break a "good" weapon. For example, a King's Sword of Vampires (KSoV) that I have on my Warrior has a weaker average damage than a King's Club of Carnage (KCoC) that this same Warrior carries around. The KSoV is a Broad Sword, damage base of 4-12. The KCoC is a Spiked Club, damage base of 3-6. But the attributes on the club are stronger than that on the sword, so the "weaker" club in fact delivers a minimum damage that is far larger than the sword, which factors into the average damage rating.
The base values of Armor items, on the other hand, must be looked at closely. For example, the Breast Plate has much less Armor Class rating than a Splint Mail, even though the Breast Plate is considered "better protection". I have seen side-by-side comparisons of Awesome Plate and Saintly Plate armors where the "superior" attributes of the Awesome Plate only added an extra 3 or 4 points of AC in comparision to the "weaker" armor granted by the Saintly Plate. Why? The Saintly Plate's base AC was much higher than the Awesome Plate's base AC.
These are but a few of the subtle nuances one must understand about the game. I hope you'll be able to pick up much more in the future.
A Sword of the Heavens has a pretty good suffix. The "of Heavens" may be sought for those who want a nice overall boost that covers a lot of fields-- without truly excelling in any one aspect. For a Muscle Mage, the "of Heavens" is pretty decent. Gives you a boost to both Strength and Dexterity, stuff you'd need as a mage relying on melee combat.
But take heed that the best melee weapons, and the best magical items overall, are what I call "double blue": they contain both a prefix and a suffix that add attributes. A King's Sword is nice, as is a Sword of the Heavens. But a King's Sword of the Heavens is what rocks.
Base item attributes for weapons aren't the most important thing in the world-- the boosters from the magical prefix/suffix will more or less make or break a "good" weapon. For example, a King's Sword of Vampires (KSoV) that I have on my Warrior has a weaker average damage than a King's Club of Carnage (KCoC) that this same Warrior carries around. The KSoV is a Broad Sword, damage base of 4-12. The KCoC is a Spiked Club, damage base of 3-6. But the attributes on the club are stronger than that on the sword, so the "weaker" club in fact delivers a minimum damage that is far larger than the sword, which factors into the average damage rating.
The base values of Armor items, on the other hand, must be looked at closely. For example, the Breast Plate has much less Armor Class rating than a Splint Mail, even though the Breast Plate is considered "better protection". I have seen side-by-side comparisons of Awesome Plate and Saintly Plate armors where the "superior" attributes of the Awesome Plate only added an extra 3 or 4 points of AC in comparision to the "weaker" armor granted by the Saintly Plate. Why? The Saintly Plate's base AC was much higher than the Awesome Plate's base AC.
These are but a few of the subtle nuances one must understand about the game. I hope you'll be able to pick up much more in the future.
Political Correctness is the idea that you can foster tolerance in a diverse world through the intolerance of anything that strays from a clinical standard.