Completely new to this style of game

[familyguy]

Alright, simple questions here, where can I find a good in depth explanation of how this game works? I've seen character guides, guides on building wealth, guides on leveling up, etc. However, i'm looking for a guide that explains the actual goals, the character screen displaying strength, mana, etc. And finally, i'm wondering (since i'm playing single player) what character is recommended for beginners as the most all around character. I understand that the characters are very diverse and have unique abilities, i'm just looking for one that isn't so difficult.

[Jackson]

For a safe and fun build, check out the Summonng Necro guides in the Necro Forum.

They can solo hell without much difficulty, even if you don't have 100% of the nice items. Plus, your army can take quite a beating.

[Kijya]

Playing diablo 1 would help out in the understandal of the background too the game, as in what has happened and why must you stop this dark wanderer guy. And mind you diablo 1 still is a great game, preferably with the expansion if possible (hellfire is it's name).
you can allways press "h" for the general display, everything else is much trial and error. good link too read up on some things too: http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/basics/

Also reccomend necro summoner as first char,

[jakotaco]

Although summoner is a good choise for a solid build that can beat the game they have a relatively passive play style. If you want to get more action you can always try a sorceress, or maybe a melee build such as a barbarian or paladin.

Plan your skill points ahead so that you don't end up with 7 points in a skill you end up never using, and if you wants to attempt the later difficulties after beating normal, remember to have more than one form of elemental damage to counter immunities.

[familyguy]

Before posting this thread I had already started playing with a necromancer, i'm at level 10, should I continue with this?

[jakotaco]

By all means, if you enjoy playing him it's good to go, the good thing with this game is that you can create and test as many characters as you like.

So, what kind of necromancer are you doing?

[Jackson]

The thing with summoners is that you can have different playing styles. You can be really passive (standing far behind the enemies, shooting out curses), or get up close with the enemy. Some of the Necro Forum's guides allow this sort of active gameplay. You can put on items with "Crushing Blow", "Ignore Target's Defense", and become a part of your own army. ;)

[Merick]

Don't you have an instruction booklet?

[familyguy]

Don't you have an instruction booklet?

No...no I don't. Here's the deal, I work at Circuit City in the computers department. Every other employee (I mean EVERY) either plays WoW or BattleField. I however use my computer for productivity (certification studies, programming, etc.) and my consoles for gaming. The fact that I had never played Diablo II or Diablo for that matter completely blew them away seeing as i'm a total geek (on the inside). To remedy this situation, I grabbed a copy from one of them and decided i'd give the 'best game EVAR' a go. My gaming style is more FPS and adventure then this rpg style game.

I'm a big Halo 2 player, fast paced frantic shootem up action is where I come from. This whole strategy, points, skills, development system is quite foreign to me, and now i'm here. I appreciate the help and patience, i'm sure you get this quite often, however, this is the 'newbies' section.

[Flip10thMtn]

Well

Pick a character - use a guide here - and clear every area and do every quest to finish the game. That's what I did on SP to "learn" the game. Now I play on B-Net and normally Key run or MF, plus jump in and help others get to where they want to go.

It's become a duration game to try and get or trade for decent items to get a decent character - all fun along the way :laugh:

[psych]

Goals of the game:

lvls -> exp gives you lvls -> killing monsters gives you exp

items (aka itamz) -> killing monsters gives you items -> trading also gives you items (by trading smart ofc)

winning in pvp -> play versus other players and beat their characters -> better items, better strategy and better builds all help here

storyline (only for beginning players like you) -> play at your own pace, talk to NPC's and read your quest log to figure out the storyline (basically find Diablo and beat him, with extensions)

sumonner necro is a good build to start with because he will be playable and usefull in the later stages of the game (hell difficulty)
if you are interested in figuring out the game you only need to beat normal difficulty and you can choose another character if you don't like the necro playstyle

Hope this helps :)