help me help me

[thebob]

Ok, I've been playing this game for about a month (currently have a lvl 74 frozen orb sorc and lvl 48 hammerdin in HC, though that doesn't really have anything to do with this post).

What kind of bugs me is, I always have to rely so much on my friends on where to put skill points, which equipment to use, where to use stat points (to a lesser extent), etc. It would be great if I could do this stuff through trial and error, but when a single trial and error, for example, involves building my sorc up to lvl 74 with pure cold only to find out that half the monsters in Hell A1 are cold immune, it's not very appealing.

Another thing, with the equipment...How am I supposed to know when to socket which items, and what to socket them with? :S I know it probably depends on my goal with that character (MF most likely), but that still doesn't help me much. Even if I knew which items I should be looking for to socket, I wouldn't know where to begin looking for them. Even just choosing which equipment to use is a pain. How do I know whether "+x amount to life" or "+x amount to x resist" will be more useful to my character at any given time?

*head spins*

confused, frustrated, and addicted~

[Dodgydave]

Well your question seems to be rather general and essentially bolis down to how do I build a character. (I think) Your best bet would be to check out the stickied build guides at the top of each forum. They are usually all very good and offer a comprehensive list of skill and stat point distributions and equipment and socketing recommendations.

As a note no matter what character you are making you will not be able to rely solely on one form of damage if you want them to kill in hell. You will come across too many immunes of each type. (with the exception of magical immunes which are less common)

[Mcsaladshaker]

Friends can help you with gear. Builds, i dunno really. Friends can tell you how to do things, but you will always want to not listen to them and try something else. This is the only way to really learn IMO, if you don't try it, you will always wonder why it wont work.

The bad thing about this game is that it takes WAY too much time.

[distancepieman]

First of all, welcome to the forums.

It seems to me that you're just overwhelmed by the enourmous compilation of D2 knowledge that is this forum. None of the people here learned everything about the game in the first few months they played. Some of us (myself included) have played since the conception of Diablo 1 and are still learning useful things and still screwing up the occational skill point, etc. For the first year I played this game, I played single player with no forums, and found out for myself what worked and what didn't. Take your time, learn the game, and don't be worried about screwing stuff up. That's what the delete button is there for. This game is like everything in the world. It takes time to get the hang of things. Don't be distraught, play the way you think best, and learn from your own mistakes. The advantage you have over me starting out is the wealth of knowledge and helpful people here to field your questions and provide correct answers. Party on.

~Bails

[Dogboy]

I agree that single player at first is the best way to go-or at least playing on b-net in a private game. I did that the first month or so, just to keep my stupididity to myself. If you have friends helping you,that's cool, but if you're not having a lot of fun playing, play it how you want. Cookiecutter build or something that just sounds fun to try, it's all good. Remember, those are'nt wasted chars, they're hi-lvl mules. I have 5 accounts and 10 chars in hell-I like trying impossible things. :cheesy:

[thebob]

I agree that single player at first is the best way to go-or at least playing on b-net in a private game. I did that the first month or so, just to keep my stupididity to myself. If you have friends helping you,that's cool, but if you're not having a lot of fun playing, play it how you want. Cookiecutter build or something that just sounds fun to try, it's all good. Remember, those are'nt wasted chars, they're hi-lvl mules. I have 5 accounts and 10 chars in hell-I like trying impossible things. :cheesy:

Well, maybe my post was misleading...I am still having fun despite what I said. It's just that sometimes I feel guilty having them hold me hand for everything I do.

Thanks for the replies though

[mhl12]

since ur sorc is an mf sorc, u probably want to socket ur helm or armor wit ptopaz for more mf. than, u probably also want a "ryhme" runeword shield for more mf as well. Also u could socket ur weapon wit an ist rune but thats are expensive.

[cmacord]

For my two cents, I built and deleted 3 sorcs trying to find one that could survive in Hell. None of these 3 could make it to the Den of Evil in Act 1, much less clear it - they usually died to the first quill rat that hit em right outside the camp. At that point, I stopped and spent hours in the forums reading guides and FAQs, etc. I finally came up with a build that works for me - she is Blizzard/Chain Lightning, and has now finished Hell w/o any real problem. She soloed all the way, with the exception of Hell Ancients, which after getting smoked 3 times solo she got with a group to get past them. Soloing Baal and his minions was absolutely no problem. However, another issue was gear...what I did here was, after the 3 failed Sorcs, I built a Skellimancer, took him all the way thru Hell (solo all the way, and he smoked the Ancients without breaking a sweat), and then used him to MF some decent gear for the Sorc. I used the complete Angelic set until the end of NM - despite people that turn up their noses at low-level set, Angelic is really very nice. By the time she entered Hell, my Necro had found or traded for some nice equipment for her, mainly a full Tal's set. Along with a nice set of Frosties, some WarTravs, and a Lidless, she had no real problem with Hell, and now does all my MF'ing.

[Gorny]

It's all trial and error at first.
A good/great player is not made overnight, so don't get frustrated if you do not make great characters off the bat.

You can find information on different character guides and builds in the character specific forums.

You can acess the character strategy forums from here (http://www.rpgforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=9)

The Paladin Forum, found here (http://www.rpgforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=19) has a thread stickied at the top of the forum with several useful guides, including one for a Hammerdin.