The name's Manny, and I'm pleased to hopefully meet like-minded Diablo time travelers who share my love of this amazing game!
I was a tender 14 years of age in 2000 when D2 Classic released, and after all these years, I can say without question that no other game has come close for me in terms of pure enjoyment as does Diablo 2, and it's expansion, Lord of Destruction.
After researching the available options of patches available, thanks to Cactus and Singling, I have selected 3 different time periods that I will be playing:
I.) 1.05b -- for that Classic experience! Might roll a Necro? Haven't decided yet.
II.) 1.07 -- for rack running with a Sorceress. My plan is to farm the items that are no longer obtainable in the later patches, such as the vita items, like Arkaine's Valor and Shako, and of course the GODLY set gloves Laying of Hands. Later on, I intend to mule these items to my 1.09 save, which will be my main game.
III.) 1.09b -- for the peak Diablo 2 experience (and by far my favorite patch). I actually started playing backwards from here, and currently have a level 81 bowazon. I knew I would hit a wall in Hell difficulty, and that I have, but I just had to see arrows pierce the way they should! Actually, I made it to Act 5, and she could probably kill Baal, but she's such a glass cannon, that all it takes is one wrong move, and she's toast. I've decided to put her on hold for now. Thankfully, I spent plenty of time farming NM Mephisto, and have some great gear to mule to a Barbarian, which will be my second 1.09 character.
A big 'Thank You' from me to the Caravanner himself, fearedbliss, for these incredible "mods" you've created for us. I put mods in quotes because you've done such a good job of honoring the original intent of the developers, that these don't even feel like mods. Improvements like skipping that intro cinematic, unlocked FPS in single player, and fixed TCP/IP , are truly significant but without changing any of the core gameplay.
Super pleased to have found the forum. Bye for now.