I'm now on multiplayer. I've started posting multiplayer questions. I prefix all of the characters I make with "nb_" just so you know that it's probably me you are running into. =)

But in the past six hours, I've only gotten about 3-4 people joining my game who is either quite above my level or slightly below my level. I didn't expect it to be so... "empty".

You guys are luring me into multiplayer, and now it seems I want to break out of it. I mean, sure, having some people to play with is fine, but 75% of the time I'm just alone in a non-password server with a meaningful game name. (Unless I'm bored. Then I'm spitting out random titles by Autechre.)

Hope to see you guys somewhere in there. Wish me luck, I haven't gone multiplayer in quite a while until now.

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Go and terminate with extreme prejudice
Most people just take steps. I take dubsteps.

While posting this message, there are 61 players on the realm. Out of those, 11 are HC. Out of the 50 SC, 37 are playing in Norm, and out of those 37 I'm sure several of them are just mules camping in private games.

In general, I think it's reasonable to say that there's about 30 people in Norm, maybe 6 in each difficulty. Out of the 6 in your difficulty, it's likely that 1 doesn't play with others, 1 doesn't want to go back a quest to help you reach his point (I've actually seen a guy dropping out of a group of 5 at Summoner so that he could make a "Dury Only" game. About 2 hours later, we were in A3 and he was still waiting for a high-level to rush him), and the remaining 4 might feel like playing a public game.

If you're in NM, then there's about 6 people to play with. From the game names, they all appear to be in A3, but in different games (4 in a "Kill Mephy" game, while 1 is private and 1 is "A3").

Moral of the story:
1) You've been coming across about the right number of people so far, so you're not being avoided
2) If you find a group to play with, I suppose you should try to stick with that group, even if it means they're just going to rush a boss with a lvl 101 char. Sorry if you had your sights set on playing the game, but there are some people (probably a decent %) that view D2 as just stamp-collecting, so they're only playing to rush to A5 Hell and do Tundra runs. I've had people tell me that about the only thing they want is to get the ideal gear for their char at level 101 and then make a new one.
3) People invited you to play Multiplayer partly because they want to play with you. As you can see, it can be hard to find people to play with at times.
4) One of the advantages of playing multiplayer is that some people will want to help you. One of the reasons some people like to "collect stamps" is to share them.

<edit>Added point 4 </edit>

yeh the number of teams dies down and goes up alot. It just depends on who is on at the time you are playing. There are people who want to party up but sometimes they can be hard to find. UsKeep making public games and you will have a party soon im sure.e the time to mf and get setup.

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Okay. Sorry about that bit before. I guess I'm not on at that "moment" just to say, but even I have busy times too.

btw, I try to mf, but it's hard doing so at times.

_________________
Go and terminate with extreme prejudice
Most people just take steps. I take dubsteps.

I deno, I was told to stay away from the nb_ guy due to lack of skill.

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iz a secret

The person was probably messing with you then, NewBastige has only been online since last night, and I think his chars are still in A1/A2. That's not a lot to go on to estimate skill.

Considering he's new to multiplayer, he's likely have to learn quickly which things from SPlayer will no longer work. If he learns them quickly (better if he can anticipate them), then I'm sure there's no reason to stay away.

I'm just trolling ;|

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iz a secret

I'm working on the math there, Brevan. Indeed, I have seen a LOT of differences between Single and MP just from the characters I am building and the places I am going. I definitely need to rethink my strategies, and I am doing so -- They say patience is a virtue but it's something most of us lack -- at the expense of retweaking the starting setup, i.e. adding points in a different manner to extend survivability.

Take my lightning sorc, nb_Chiastics, on example of this: I thought I was doing well until I had issues with Lightning-Enchanted monsters. Especially Rakanishu. Gonna have to slap on a 3os shield and use some topazes for countering, along with gear that spawns with lightning resist (rings/amulet, boots, gloves are the ones I'm looking at). Absorb may work here, which is why I will use topazes. That, and my mercenary needs some more damage output - just as long as that bastard doesn't go after her first!

In result: You need to party up with other people to ensure survivability and usefulness if you're planning out your characters. This isn't solo edition anymore.

(p.s. Some of the newer ones who come across this should take notes)

_________________
Go and terminate with extreme prejudice
Most people just take steps. I take dubsteps.

When it comes to survivability in Norm, about 20 dr/mdr makes you immune to trash up to about A3. Only champs do more than that, or ExtraStrong named groups.

For those without twinking-gear:
3 os hat and armor from Charsi with 6 chipped diamonds = 12 dr/mdr
2 nagles = from 4 to 8 dr/mdr (or 2 cathans for 12 dr)

Immunity to damage in A1 is really easy, and for A2 just needs upgrading to regular diamonds.

I suppose as a loose rule for trash-immunity in norm, just get about 10 times the act number as dr/mdr and add 10. So 20 dr/mdr for A1, 40 dr/mdr for A3, 60 dr/mdr for A5. This will also make you exceedingly resiliant for things like Diablo's fire, or the small numberous attacks from things like Hydra.

DR/MDR does help quite a bit at reducing the damage but I always felt like the fool discarding that idea.. but I find out that it will help in the long run.

Remember when my fire sorceress got stopped by Duriel until I got more DR/MDR? That and being told to stay at the wall?

(users seeing this post should take notes!)

_________________
Go and terminate with extreme prejudice
Most people just take steps. I take dubsteps.

/success



♥

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"I am who I am. Your approval isn't needed"

You gotta learn multiplayer game mechanics somehow... this is one way

_________________
Go and terminate with extreme prejudice
Most people just take steps. I take dubsteps.

The rush through acts is a really annoying part of this community. This season, I decided to not fight it and just go along with it - which hasn't been so bad. I do try to encourage folks to put in some effort to playing through the game without high lvl help and the reduction in difficulty has REALLY helped.

I do agree with Brevan though - sometimes you just have to tag along with a rush group for a bit in order to not be bored out of your mind in a solo game.

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People who live in cinder block houses can throw whatever they want.

Yeah I have the most fun in the game when I start from scratch. This time I decided to go SC so I could solo bosses and certain area's without having to worry about lag. It's been a great decision I've had more fun with this game than I have in awhile.

Used all my own stuff until NM then got some help with some nice guys on the boards for equipment.

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iz a secret

Same here.. I prefer hanging around some characters my own level and at least where I am at.

_________________
Go and terminate with extreme prejudice
Most people just take steps. I take dubsteps.