Items disappearing question

[huskerpride]

I had two players in a game, and I was trying to organize my mules. I had a lot of stuff on the ground while sorting through things. Anyway, when I sorted everything out, I was missing at least a couple of items (two socketables that I can think of). All of the uniques and set items I actually cared about (or remembered) were still there. I was under the impression that items on the ground lasted a couple of hours, and the sorting definitely took me quite a bit less than that. Is the time different for different item types? Does anybody know if you can only drop so many items in one area at a time?

[IamMartin]

unquie and set stays the longest
some can stay on ground for up to 30 minutes

gray/white stuff normal poof after 10-15 minutes

i am not sure on the exact time but things that poof from shortest to longest should be in this order

white grey blue yellow green gold

[Ax2Grind]

These were relatively close, give or take, but the actual answers are out there somewhere - I avoid everything by applying a paranoid policy of periodic item flipping, which really slows the game (especially single-player since this code was implemented to release resources for Battle.net):

Empty games: 5
Potions, scrolls, tomes, gold, and keys: 10
Inferior, plain, superior, runewords: 15
Commons, gems, runes: 20
Set: 25
Uniques, rares: 30
Characters: 129,600
Quest: never.

=]

[helvete]

However, I have sometimes had to run off from my computer (eg. in a tombrun) and when I then returned HOURS later, there were still gold and white items on the ground around my character. I have no idea why that didn't disappear, since it clearly should have.

[Summerfun]

However, I have sometimes had to run off from my computer (eg. in a tombrun) and when I then returned HOURS later, there were still gold and white items on the ground around my character. I have no idea why that didn't disappear, since it clearly should have.

I were thinking the exact same thing.

[krischan]

AFAIK items won't get deleted out of town when they are on-screen, at least it takes far longer before that happens. I'm quite sure that I left a character e.g. next to Diablo's drops and when I came back to my computer later, everything was still there. When leaving an area and coming back, the dropped items are gone. Items in town even disappear while being on-screen, I've seen it with my own eyes.

[huskerpride]

Thanks for the info guys. I guess I can consider this a lesson learned and be thankful that I didn't lose too much. When running two copies of D2 on the same comp, I will just have to be quicker or go to the hassle of using the trade screen (yuck, but better than losing items).

[Ax2Grind]

The non-disappearing oddity is much like the game idle oddity. These days, you can leave characters in a game doing aboslutely nothing for hours at a time, by going to bed and waking up in the middle of the night, and the game will still be there to allow you to privately perm another mule. I just think Battle.net isn't nearly as stable or consistent as some people believe.