"Stay a while and listen" - Deckard Cain

I'm more excited about this than any video game that's come out in the past 10 years.

I was a big enough nerd and sank enough time into the original to be ranked on the USEast Ladder a few times back in the day.

Heh, played that for hours through headphones with a sleeping baby on my lap.

I've lost track of how many times we've played through DIII on various platforms.

Between grad school and getting a "real job" I spent A LOT of time playing this game.  I'd bet literal weeks of my life have been spent key farming for Uber runs.

Despite godly gear and an inordinate amount of time spent playing, the highest rune I ever found was a Ber.  SWMBO was really not as impressed as I thought she should be.

I used to have a bunch of screen shots and videos on Photobucket, but well Photobucket...  I still have a few videos on YouTube, if you want to see some 15 year old videos of me playing a 20+ year old game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8eSSMTT8D0&list=PLDmFewJzOTNQQGSYRBR1wqSqClyxzXngT

The fun thing was that my wife and I recently introduced our 11 & 8 year old to DII, and they've thoroughly enjoyed it, we just got Diablo for the first time on Friday, and now the hunt for Baal begins!

It's still fun, even with the outdated graphics.  

I used to spend hours playing the original, offline because poor in 1997. Never did beat it. I haven't played since. Though in a huge coincidence I am right next to that original disk I played all those years ago. 

 

Wife's new puter is a pretty decent gaming setup. I may have to see about trying 2 or 3. There's no optic drive so I can't just run this disk. 

In reply to barefootskater (Shaun) :

A friend in high school introduced me to Diablo, my aunt was the high school home economics teacher, I had downloaded the freeware version on her computer at school and played there.  I didn't have internet at home, but eventually I bought the original Diablo used in a gaming store in the mall circa '98-ish, anyone remember used PC games, before the proliferation of CD-burners?

I later acquired a pirated copy of the Hellfire expansion from the same friend that introduced me to the original Diablo.

Diablo II came out the summer after I graduated high school, no internet, working on a farm, I didn't know it existed until I moved off to college and my roommates and I were hooked.  I bought the Lord of Destruction expansion week of release, maybe day of, and have bought a couple Battle Chests over the years as I've worn out CDs. 

In reply to barefootskater (Shaun) :

Let me know if you need a copy of DII that doesn't need an optical drive :)

In reply to WonkoTheSane (FS) :

I ran a D2 LOD .iso from a virtual drive on Windows 7 for a few years, with a legit CD Key.  If you've got the CD Key, all you need is the disk image, and Battle.net doesn't care that you don't have a physical disc.

Hrmm, might have to check this out. Spent an entire Summer in middle school on the first Diablo. Never played the second one

Here's a better idea of what to expect.

• The 3D looks great, the new graphics look great, the added environmental effects look/sound great.
• I like that you don't have to perm a character.
• I like that characters won't auto delete after 90 days of no log-in.
• I've never played on a console, but I can see the advantage of cross platform play.
• I like the shared stash amongst all of your characters, very much like D3. I used to keep a perpetual private game running on the desktop in the basement just to have a safe place to swap items between characters.
• Auto gold pick-up is great, I'm glad it's optional for those who don't want it for nostalgia though.
• I'm torn about the addition of detailed stats, sure it's easier, but that kills some of the, super nerdy charm of having to actually calculate stats like Magic Find, and Smite damage, now every pleb will know.
• I'm also torn about it being on the global servers, I get it, but USEast server was home. 

All in all, I'm quite excited, and yes I've pre-ordered already.

In reply to WonkoTheSane (FS) :

I'll send a pm.