SP Newb: What's different from realm games?

[Panfist]

Hey, my friend and I decided to try and get back into d2 to pass the time. Neither of us have played since 1.09...what are the big changes, and what content can we not access off-realm?

Thanks.

[Cattleya]

Welcome to the SPF!

Well, for the changes you should go to the FAQ sticky and read throught hte 1.10 FAQ, and then the 1.11 Changes. The fundamental changes are between 1.09 and 1.10, 1.11 just fixes a few bugs (and adds a few more. :) )

The 1.11 Changes post linked to in the FAQ sticky also contains a complete list of SP vs. B.net content.

[OCAU_MIKLE]

The major changes that you will notice will be. Synegies!!!, Mana Pots are available from NPC's, Difficulty (Omg, 1.09 was SOOO easy compaired to 1.10/1.11), SYNERGIES!!!!! Check out the patch ChangeLog aswell!

- ocau_mikle

[Wraithan]

Well the main differences are a chunk of the new runewords are not available (but if you haven't played since 1.09 you will know know them to miss them)

What you gain though, is AMTA (a program to store items/transfer items between SP characters)

/players commands which allows you to simulate up to 8 players in the game (ups mob health, exp gain, and loot drop) (used by hitting enter and typing "/players x" without quotes and numbers 1-8 for x, works also in TCP/IP)

Synergies as the above posters have said, which allow you to up skills by puting points into complemetary skills (wamth for enchant, resist cold for holy freeze aura, ect..)

We also have tournements here in the SPF, which spice up the game for some people.

Check out the builds section if you want to read up on builds that people have written guides for, in order to really learn what the synergy system has done.

Welcome to the SPF and enjoy your stay (hands Panfist some shin guards, as I tell all the new member don't question, just wear them and be weary of the squid and durf, both are evil, durf is ACTUALLY the person who took the apple in the garden of evil, he was also the snake that convinced him to do it, that is just how evil he is)

[San]

What you gain though, is AMTA (a program to store items/transfer items between SP characters)
Omg j00 n00b! It's ATMA!

Yeah, sorry bout that, couldn't resist it.

Any other changes...? Watch out for Fire Enhanced bosses. When they die, they go BOOM like the monsters you use Corpse Explosion on with your Necro. And belive me, you don't wanna get hit by that in Hell. Uhh.. but I belive this was fixed now in 1.11. (I play 1.10)

[jiansonz]

Other notable changes from 1.09 -> 1.10 that hasn´t been mentioned yet.

* Many new (and some changed) Horadric Cube recipes that make it possible to cube runes beyond 3 Ort -> 1 Thul, to socket items, to reroll magical weapons and give 1-2 socket in them, to upgrade the base item type of rares and uniques (e.g. you can make a Nightsmoke Mesh Belt, Goldstrike Arch Hydra Bow, gamble a nice rare weapon and upgrade it to exceptional, etc.)

* MSLE (Multiple Shots + Lightning Enchanted) bosses no longer release massive bursts of 'homing' stacked bolts when they take damage. But the patch introduced another nasty boss bug, associated with Fire Enchanted. This 'FE bug' was remedied in 1.11 (or with a little mod).
In NM/Hell, Gloam type monsters and Tomb Vipers (the latter can only occur on Nihlathak´s floor) are very deadly indeed.

* Many skills have been changed a lot (other than the synergy feature):
- All 3 Assassin kicks transfer just about any effect from a held weapon other than the physical damage. They also transfer elemental and magic damage (but the Lying Character Screen doesn´t show it). The damage of kicks depends a lot on the base type of boots the assassin wears.
- Dragon Talon gives another (incredibly fast!) kick at levels 6,12,18,24...)
- Inner Sight reduces a LOT more defense than it used to. Very useful at high levels (and remember that rogue mercs use it!).
- Some amazonian elemental skills that were quite weak before will now convert physical damage to elemental. Lightning Bolt converts all physical damage to lightning damage, Fire/Cold Arrow converts a percentage that increases with level in the skill. Magic Arrow converts a percentage to magic damage.
- The Paladin´s Resist Fire/Cold/Lightning auras will add one point to the maximum resistance for every second point in the skill, even when it isn´t in use. Twice as much when it´s in use.
- Blessed Aim adds a passive 5% Attack Rating bonus for every point in it.
- Sorceress´ Enchant is massively improved. It now includes a much-needed AR boost.
- Valkyrie and Shadow Master now gets magical/rare equipment. It´s useful to know at which levels they get what. Valkyrie gets benefits from Dodge, Avoid, Evade, Critical Strike, Penetrate and gets boosted life for extra points in Decoy. A high-level Decoy in itself can be quite sturdy if the amazon has a lot of life.
- Necromancers can have fewer skeletal minions (they get a new one at skill levels 1,2,3,6,9,12,15, etc.), but they are much studier and especially the warriors do a lot more damage than in 1.09.

* The global 50% physical resistance in Hell is removed, but monsters generally have had their individual physical resistances raised instead.

* Boss packs are much more numerous in NM and Hell than they used to be, and many areas that were boss free in 1.09 no longer are. I can only think of a couple that are still boss free: Harem lvl 2 and the bottom floor of the Flayer Jungle dungeons (well, FD lvl 3 is boss free except for the Witch Doctor himself...). BTW, flayer shaman champs and bosses will release a melee flayer boss/champ when you kill one (so you effectively get two boss drops from them!).

* The minions in boss packs have been made stronger, and they inherit (weaker versions of) many properties from their boss. Unless you have Cannot Be Frozen, beware of Cold Enchanted packs with ranged attacks! The minions also give a lot more experience points than in 1.09

* Act 5 NM and Hell have gone from extremely predictable (and boring) to having a massive randomization of monsters. Many types have bonus elemental attacks, and ranged attackers are a lot more common.

* The total experience gains have been raised. If you clear out the entire game without any 'levelling up' and without simulating any extra players, you will still reach as high as character level 84 (compared to 73 in 1.09). If you play with /players 8 in Normal, you can count on having access to level 24 skills against Duriel and level 30 skills against Mephisto and Diablo.

* Flayer shamen, greater mummy and Oblivion Knight boss packs now only consist of one 'master' creature, with its assiciated minion type critters as Minions. Exception: greater mummies as 'guest monsters' in act 5.

* Suicide bomber explosions and Nihlathak´s Corpse Explosion have had their damage reduced considerably.

[LitmusDragon]

I'll add a few more that havn't been mentioned:

Many new uniques were added in 1.10, most of them Elite type items. Many of the new uniques are quite powerful. See the Arreat Summit on the battle-net website if you want the exact stats.

Note that anything that says "Ladder only" on the Arreat Summit applies to single player / LAN as well, with two exceptions:

The "Ladder only" runewords listed under "1.10 runewords" are not available to us (unless you want to install a mod).

The "1.10 runewords" listed on the summit that do not say "Ladder Only" are available in SP (and there are some great ones).

It is not possible to summon Diablo-clone or the "Ubers" in single player / LAN. there is a mod that allows this but I've heard that it is not accurate (it is not the same as summoning them on battle-net).

The elite set items were improved. If equipping an entire Elite set (Natalya's set, Tal Rasha's set, for example), it displays a special graphical effect. Natalya's causes the Assassin to become transparent. Tal Rasha's (and most other) sets produce an aura around the player. Tang-Oul's set turns the player graphic into that of a Vampire-type monster.

The graphic for Wirlwind was changed between 1.09 and 1.10.

Rares can now spawn with up to %450 ED and can be upgraded. So it's possbile for example to find a rare Long Sword with %450 ED on it, %7 life leech, %40 IAS, and then upgrade it to a Cryptic Sword (the elite version).

The Hell Hellforge quest drops better runes now (up to Gul).