All trolling-accusations aside, Diablo 3 does not need a knight or anything resembling a knight, as the Barbarian will be able to take on a shield-using, defensive-minded role using the Juggernaut tier of skills. The Barbarian sufficiently covers the melee/shield-using/death machine categories in spades, so no "Knight" class is needed. I'm hoping for some sort of shape-shifting, ranged-capable Hunter/Druid combination class. My desires have sufficiently changed.
I don't know if any of you ever Low Level Dueled, but it's essentially using Jewels and Charms to make your low level character mega good. To me, it got ruined when Runewords like 'Spirit' were made so a million level 30s suddenly popped up. Prior to that there was nothing funner for me and my brothers in the world. I haven't done it much in years, but countless unique low level builds have popped up, in some cases utilizing inexplicably rare or overlooked mods on items to their advantage. It was a relatively short-lived period for us, and we were on-and-off at best, but man did we ever have a blast making low level duelers. I hope it's viable to do so in Diablo 3.
PvP was never the intention for Diablo 2, but I don't think the creators even envisioned that people would create low level duelers like they did. I hope in Diablo 3 they take it into account and make it competitive and possible.
THE FOLLOWING IS A RANDOM STORY ABOUT ME AND MY BROTHERS' SOMEWHAT LIMITED EXPERIENCE IN THE LOW LEVEL DUELING WORLD OF DIABLO 2. IN OTHER WORDS, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WASTE YOUR TIME READING IT.
Shortly after me and my brothers bought the expansion in 2001 (or whenever it was released) we obsessed over it while we were on a long vacation with our grandparents. The anticipation built up and we couldn't wait until we got home to play as the Assassin and Druid! In hindsight, it probably ruined our last vacation we took with our grandparents. Bad call on our part, should have enjoyed the scenery...I digress.
I'm not sure how long into playing the expansion it was that we discovered Low Level Dueling. I don't know who invented it, but the expansion brought Jewels and Charms, and with those made it possible to beef up your characters to an unhealthy degree at very low levels. My oldest brother was the first of us to discover it firsthand, claiming a level 9 Assassin was completely owning his level 24 Barbarian. Impossible, we thought. No way a level 9 could beat a level 24 unless of course they were HACKING! Little did we know we were about to enter a world in which we could flip the table and be accused of hacking countless times ourselves.
First thing on our minds was revenge. We needed to make an awesome character to beat these stupid "hacking" assassins. There was more than one and apparently they were constantly in the dueling scene. Well, at some point we realized they weren't hacking and realized what they were doing, but something got lost in translation as our first attempt at a Low Level Dueler was, I believe, a level 18 Barbarian who wielded two 6-socket Crystal Swords pumped full of nothing but Perfect Emeralds. You know, for poison damage! No way those little twerp assassins could handle us now! Revenge was imminent!
They continued to completely slaughter us. Perplexed, we didn't know what to do. Oh, max damage jewels? Not gems? Oh, you need CHARMS? That makes sense. The first Low Level Dueler I remember was, the love of my life and long since gone from it: a_ball. That was her name, a_ball. She was my brainchild and I just thought it would be HILARIOUS if it said people were slain by a_ball (I was like 12 at the time, shuddap). She was a level 9 Tiger Strike Assassin, a very common level 9 build especially at the time when LLD was hardly popular. She had 3x 9 max damage jewels in superior 15% enhanced damage 3-socketed Blade Talons. The same in a superior 15% enhanced defense breast plate. And the same 3 jewels in a superior 3-socketed mask. Little did I know it was possible to get 8-minimum damage jewels, which are insanely rare and I've never even owned one. But they are far superior to 9-maxers.
Anyways, the fun we had with her was incredible. Getting constantly accused of hacking was something that never stopped being fun. Charging up Tiger Strike and one-hit killing level 25 to 30 sorceresses. Eventually we cheaped out and made a_ball level 13 for Cow King's boots and the Angelic Rings and Amulet. She was only the first of numerous LLD's we had. Probably our best was my brother's creation, Banana_Berry. A level 18 jabazon. We could never find her ethereal repairing War Javelins, but we had some good rare javelins, Twitchthroe, and really good charms. Prior to whatever patch it was that made life leech no longer work in duels, before that was the prime time for low level dueling. Banana_Berry could hold her own against some really, really good level 24 Concentrate barbarians. They all used the Blood Crescent scimitar since it had crazy life leech. There were also tons of level 27 zealots who used 'Honor' Divine Scepters. They were, in a word, godly. Yet our level 18 could hold her own against them.
Now that I think about it...Mine and my brothers' true favorite was actually one of my own creations. This was still prior to the installment of STUPID DUMB runewords like 'Spirit' that came around and mucked everything up. You were able to find good rare items that could set you apart from the field. Case in point, my brother found a sorceress orb that was, I believe, and it is an absolute TRAVESTY that we allowed this to disappear due to disinterest, but it had +3 Fireball, +1 Sorceress Skills, +1 Fire skills, 20% FCR, around 50-60 mana and some other useful things. So in one orb alone we had +5 to fireball! It had a level 23 requirement so I thought, man, let's just make a level 23 sorceress and use that baby!
I called her P_NutFB or something. No idea why, I think I liked my cat Peanut. My brothers thought it was a stupid idea. They told me she would stink, etc., etc. So we got her rushed and stuff, got her max block, put the rest into Vitality, pumped up fireball and I think we got it doing around 600-700 damage. Now, there are numerous ways even at a low level to nullify fire damage. Nokozan Relic, Hot Spur boots, etc. But we never met a level 18 zealot (very popular at the time) that could beat our little sorc. We could also put down some newb levels 40s no problem. She didn't fit into any of the "guidelines" specified by LLD101.com, what many people went by, but there were few LLD's that even considered a level 23 sorc to be anything but a newb. That's what was so satisfying about her. We had an orb that no one in the entire realm was likely to have, and we made a character that therefore no one else likely could have. Then, at some point, the stupid patch came with all those runewords and we quit playing for whatever reason, lost the LLD's and just moved on I guess. There were countless others, and nothing was much funner than low level dueling. Which is why I hope it's still viable in D3.
1
3
PvP was never the intention for Diablo 2, but I don't think the creators even envisioned that people would create low level duelers like they did. I hope in Diablo 3 they take it into account and make it competitive and possible.
THE FOLLOWING IS A RANDOM STORY ABOUT ME AND MY BROTHERS' SOMEWHAT LIMITED EXPERIENCE IN THE LOW LEVEL DUELING WORLD OF DIABLO 2. IN OTHER WORDS, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WASTE YOUR TIME READING IT.
Shortly after me and my brothers bought the expansion in 2001 (or whenever it was released) we obsessed over it while we were on a long vacation with our grandparents. The anticipation built up and we couldn't wait until we got home to play as the Assassin and Druid! In hindsight, it probably ruined our last vacation we took with our grandparents. Bad call on our part, should have enjoyed the scenery...I digress.
I'm not sure how long into playing the expansion it was that we discovered Low Level Dueling. I don't know who invented it, but the expansion brought Jewels and Charms, and with those made it possible to beef up your characters to an unhealthy degree at very low levels. My oldest brother was the first of us to discover it firsthand, claiming a level 9 Assassin was completely owning his level 24 Barbarian. Impossible, we thought. No way a level 9 could beat a level 24 unless of course they were HACKING! Little did we know we were about to enter a world in which we could flip the table and be accused of hacking countless times ourselves.
First thing on our minds was revenge. We needed to make an awesome character to beat these stupid "hacking" assassins. There was more than one and apparently they were constantly in the dueling scene. Well, at some point we realized they weren't hacking and realized what they were doing, but something got lost in translation as our first attempt at a Low Level Dueler was, I believe, a level 18 Barbarian who wielded two 6-socket Crystal Swords pumped full of nothing but Perfect Emeralds. You know, for poison damage! No way those little twerp assassins could handle us now! Revenge was imminent!
They continued to completely slaughter us. Perplexed, we didn't know what to do. Oh, max damage jewels? Not gems? Oh, you need CHARMS? That makes sense. The first Low Level Dueler I remember was, the love of my life and long since gone from it: a_ball. That was her name, a_ball. She was my brainchild and I just thought it would be HILARIOUS if it said people were slain by a_ball (I was like 12 at the time, shuddap). She was a level 9 Tiger Strike Assassin, a very common level 9 build especially at the time when LLD was hardly popular. She had 3x 9 max damage jewels in superior 15% enhanced damage 3-socketed Blade Talons. The same in a superior 15% enhanced defense breast plate. And the same 3 jewels in a superior 3-socketed mask. Little did I know it was possible to get 8-minimum damage jewels, which are insanely rare and I've never even owned one. But they are far superior to 9-maxers.
Anyways, the fun we had with her was incredible. Getting constantly accused of hacking was something that never stopped being fun. Charging up Tiger Strike and one-hit killing level 25 to 30 sorceresses. Eventually we cheaped out and made a_ball level 13 for Cow King's boots and the Angelic Rings and Amulet. She was only the first of numerous LLD's we had. Probably our best was my brother's creation, Banana_Berry. A level 18 jabazon. We could never find her ethereal repairing War Javelins, but we had some good rare javelins, Twitchthroe, and really good charms. Prior to whatever patch it was that made life leech no longer work in duels, before that was the prime time for low level dueling. Banana_Berry could hold her own against some really, really good level 24 Concentrate barbarians. They all used the Blood Crescent scimitar since it had crazy life leech. There were also tons of level 27 zealots who used 'Honor' Divine Scepters. They were, in a word, godly. Yet our level 18 could hold her own against them.
Now that I think about it...Mine and my brothers' true favorite was actually one of my own creations. This was still prior to the installment of STUPID DUMB runewords like 'Spirit' that came around and mucked everything up. You were able to find good rare items that could set you apart from the field. Case in point, my brother found a sorceress orb that was, I believe, and it is an absolute TRAVESTY that we allowed this to disappear due to disinterest, but it had +3 Fireball, +1 Sorceress Skills, +1 Fire skills, 20% FCR, around 50-60 mana and some other useful things. So in one orb alone we had +5 to fireball! It had a level 23 requirement so I thought, man, let's just make a level 23 sorceress and use that baby!
I called her P_NutFB or something. No idea why, I think I liked my cat Peanut. My brothers thought it was a stupid idea. They told me she would stink, etc., etc. So we got her rushed and stuff, got her max block, put the rest into Vitality, pumped up fireball and I think we got it doing around 600-700 damage. Now, there are numerous ways even at a low level to nullify fire damage. Nokozan Relic, Hot Spur boots, etc. But we never met a level 18 zealot (very popular at the time) that could beat our little sorc. We could also put down some newb levels 40s no problem. She didn't fit into any of the "guidelines" specified by LLD101.com, what many people went by, but there were few LLD's that even considered a level 23 sorc to be anything but a newb. That's what was so satisfying about her. We had an orb that no one in the entire realm was likely to have, and we made a character that therefore no one else likely could have. Then, at some point, the stupid patch came with all those runewords and we quit playing for whatever reason, lost the LLD's and just moved on I guess. There were countless others, and nothing was much funner than low level dueling. Which is why I hope it's still viable in D3.