Didn't people skip the D2 campaign as much as possible?

I haven't played D2 endgame in many years, though I make solo playthroughs every other year or two. I seem to remember people getting rushed and sitting in cow levels semi afk for exp. During the podcast with ziz, mathil, and chris they talked about this briefly saying that with D2 "The campaign was the whole game." I don't think that's really correct.

yea, the campaign was skipped after you played it a few times

you made your character and got to level 4, then did tristram runs to 12.
then you skipped to act2 and got to 18.
then you went back to act1 for cow level to ~30.
then you went to nightmare and did cows to ~50
then you went to hell and did cows to ~70
then you went to mf baal runs for the rest of the 'game'.



Sure, the campaign was the whole game, because there wasnt any game afterward. You even had to make new instances EVERY TIME. 4 minute baal run, then newgame. that's basically what mapping is now.

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Omnicide24 wrote:

I haven't played D2 endgame in many years, though I make solo playthroughs every other year or two. I seem to remember people getting rushed and sitting in cow levels semi afk for exp. During the podcast with ziz, mathil, and chris they talked about this briefly saying that with D2 "The campaign was the whole game." I don't think that's really correct.

Well in a way it's correct. There was no game after the campaign and campaign bosses.

It would be equivalent to in POE not having maps of any kind and just farming acts 8-10 end bosses, the quarry, blood aqueducts etc. with maybe an occasional uber kitava spawn somewhere or something.

I think they were discussing it as it pertains to alternate leveling methods or skipping the campaign in PoE though.

For the record I didn't like getting rushed in D2 but I would love endless delve to level in PoE.

They said you would get bored of endless delve faster but for me it's the opposite, delve is almost arcadey in a way that lends itself well to repetitive gameplay imo. Not saying I wouldn't expect to run the campaign at least the first character every league, and delve could even have a more difficult starting floor that expects you to come in with the added power of leveling uniques.

Oh well, would be nice if it happened.

D2 was a different game, and people played it in different ways. I played it HC-Self-found, cycling through the different characters. It took about a year to get each of them through the game. Then I took a break and played something else for a while, but would come back to D2 and once again try to get each character through the game. Only once did I make it through deathless in each character.

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Omnicide24 wrote:

I think they were discussing it as it pertains to alternate leveling methods or skipping the campaign in PoE though.

For the record I didn't like getting rushed in D2 but I would love endless delve to level in PoE.

They said you would get bored of endless delve faster but for me it's the opposite, delve is almost arcadey in a way that lends itself well to repetitive gameplay imo. Not saying I wouldn't expect to run the campaign at least the first character every league, and delve could even have a more difficult starting floor that expects you to come in with the added power of leveling uniques.

They think I would get bored of "Endless Delve" faster than doing the campaign for the umpteenth time? Lolno. If I didn't have to go get Voltaxic Sulphate, I'd Delve way more than I map. Would I eventually get tired of Delving? Sure. I like variety in my gameplay. But would spend a LOT more time delving if I didn't have to gather Sulphate.

Also, I didn't really like getting rushed in Diablo 2 either. Even after I'd played through it several times.

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Shagsbeard wrote:

D2 was a different game, and people played it in different ways.

It was a product of a different time, too. D2R is probably going to sell extremely well because of nostalgia. Then in a year the player base will have evaporated because the gameplay is exceptionally simple compared to more-modern games (true for most 20-year-old games). There's nothing wrong with simplicity, but it tends to bore people accustomed to higher complexity.

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PhotriusPyrelus wrote:

It was a product of a different time, too. D2R is probably going to sell extremely well because of nostalgia. Then in a year the player base will have evaporated because the gameplay is exceptionally simple compared to more-modern games (true for most 20-year-old games). There's nothing wrong with simplicity, but it tends to bore people accustomed to higher complexity.

Yea it'll probably also surprise a lot of people at how outdated it is. Diablo 2 is a timeless masterpiece that will likely never be achieved again, much like Super Mario 64. But if you handed the controller to a person who didn't play those games at launch, and asked them which they liked better - Mario Odyssey or Path of Exile? They'd probably pick the newer games

I think another weird way of looking at it is this: If you lived on an island and could choose Diablo 2 or Path of Exile to play for the rest of your life, and only that game, which would you pick? The old ones are masterpieces, but the new ones are modern.

372 Stone of Jordan’s were sold to vendors.

Im kinda pretty sure, PoE will have alternative lvling for sure, just devs in denial still, they will pass this stage eventually, after some more harsh lessons about further player retention issues, just give them right to do more mistakes. Why not. They are good at learning so far :)

Yea they seem to think bogging down the experience and annoying the player with pointless tedium and extra clicks is still the way to keep people playing longer. Maybe that's true for the whales actually, they've spent too much to walk away.

It could really be a lot worse though considering being annoying and inconvenient is a well worn tool in the GGG kit. They use it for trade and crafting and whatever else they think is tricky to balance. Despite that it's still the best ARPG available, just wish I could get bored of it before I get too annoyed to play every league.

That sounded saltier than I meant it, but it's true I don't think I've ever quit PoE cuz I was bored, it's always performance issues or some other annoying things getting the better of me. I keep coming back though, the good parts are really good but the annoying stuff piles up after a few weeks.