Where the heck is everyone? I haven't run into a single D1 player in the last two weeks. I can't remember the last time I played a coop game I'm even willing to play Ironman. *looks pathetic and begs for a game*

Funny story:

I actually did some "Laz runs" yesterday. For the first time. Ever. For two hours straight. And it was cheesily good. I fired up my highest level mage (a massive L40) and got meself a RC, TC, Gotter, SS, WF, DSC, 3 TFoS's, high end Awesome FP and Tower Shield, Emerald Gothic Shield of Ages, several prefixed swords of haste/speed, handful of good bows, various Obsidian armors and hats, and some decent but inadequate jewelry.

It was an enjoyable waste of two hours of my life, seeing what splendid items would come pouring forth on each new run, but I don't feel a bit of gratification in the booty that I acquired. The plunder was senseless and absurd, like the item pinata called D2 (had to steal that wording from another forum since I loved it so much). Hmmm, so I guess the story wasn't so funny after all, but perhaps it reveals how truely bored I am at this moment

I'd be up for a round of Hellfire: Fixed, if you can stomach Kali.

And we can even visit a certain bovine-infested dlvl. Moo.

[o: *LEMMING* :o]

Since no one is on CD anymore, might as well play some HFF. Now to see if I still have my Kali kodes... or my Kali karacters for that matter.

Hi,

I'd be up for some hellfire fixed, I still have another 4 weeks until school starts. I've tried bringing up a monk and bard to the 30s but I just can't stomach playing anymore solo diablo. The fire has run out in me, but coop is always exciting.

I started the bard just so I could see if I could find the ever elusive uber item, the jester's dagger of peril(any base would do but dagger would be best). I'm not exactly sure if its possible to be created at griswold, but I'm pretty sure it is. If you combine that with a CC, you could do 12x your normal damage!! Everything would die, even in H/H, in 1 or 2 whacks. I had shopped with my bard in her early years for a while but had never been able to spot many jester's items, let alone a jesters's peril.

Lemming, does the "bovine infested expansion" you sent to me a few months ago work with the new HF fixed 1.21? I see in the description of the wirstopheles expansion at the LL, you say it only has the caves open so I assume the bovine lairs on 14-16 aren't included in the public expansion.

You can still go to dvls 13-16 from dlvl 12, but the only initial entrance is to caves.

I rev up the occasional HFF game on Kali, but rarely if ever get joined. I use that "old" password we used to use when playing the Dark. Like you, my days of just playing solo all the time are nearly gone, unless I am playing an immortal hero variant. I could even do those coop in HFF, since xp is now shared.

now that experience is shared:) As to Diablo, I am already in three IM games a week and am starting to twitch from that (particularly in those games where I am warrior and have to perch on a set endlessly). Regular Diablo I am always up for, but I, too, rarely see anyone on bnet these days.

The solution to endless "perching" is aggressive IMing. I think WV and Sabra have mucked you down with their obsessive compulsive "Avoid damage at any cost!" style. If IM ain't fun, kick it up a notch!

AGGRESSIVE IM PHILOSOPHY

1) ANTI-CHEESE. Forget that "I need a freeze" business. Some of those "freezes" are so cheesy they... er, well, I don't have a cheese analogy to end that. Suffice it to say that's not a piece of cheese I'd eat if I found it in the snack bin.

2) ANTI-SNOOZE. "Scout/Lure" only when necessary. Dlvls with mobile ranged attackers are good candidates, but why scout stationary types? Especially in early dlvls.

3) IT'S ALL SKILL, RIGHT? How much do you trust your partners' skill? Some low level tactics (like step'n'swing) actually work *better* without some backup tank trying to "help" or "tag." The group needs to pull together later, but early on, why not split up if each of you is confident in your abilities? (Even better w/shared exp.) Speed up those "early years" and get Church finished in a few good hours instead of two 4-hour sessions.

So sayeth Lem Tzu in the World's Most Reckless Ironman Treatise, "The Art of Bore."

[o: *LEMMING* :o]

but I wonder what the Cheese Druid would say about your diatribe vs cheese:) The thought of perching for three hours a night for the next several weeks does rather make me want to retch:)

that it doesnt take much skill to plug a door or swing from a perch. The problem occurs when you hit that level (generally in the caves) where no good sets are immediately available, you are under attack and you havent played enough true coop to cooridinate an attack.

"Sets" bore me to death. It's like the Rogue is just "using" her co-op partners to handle the things she can't (or won't) snipe. You're right -- it doesn't take any skill on the part of the bucketheads. It may be the "safest" route, but only the Rogue gets to shine.

Whenever a bad melee broke out in our IM game (I'm thinking of dlvl 3 vs Horrors) and we didn't have a set, I remember our faithful Bard getting dropped to ~10 hps. The missing co-op skill: If the tank backs away, the "axe" scrambles for safety.

Like you said, co-oping skill must be developed. You can't do that by "using" your co-op partners. Mechanical sets act; co-opers react.

[o: *LEMMING* :o]