From: Rufo
Subject: Could you pass this onto Hellspawn?

I was reading your latest column, and I noticed that someone was having problems with Mac Diablo 2. The one thing you didn't bring up was that in order to cast spells with a one button mouse (standard on macs), you have to hold down the command key and click the mouse. If you could pass that on to Hellspawn from your latest Ask Gheed, I'm sure that that person would appreciate it.

Rufo

From: Dely Apple
Subject: A Couple Questions

Howdy Seller-of-all-too-expensive-wares, a couple q's to toss your way.

1. Just how do I view the levels of the monsters I'm fighting? I mean, you're supposed to be fighting the monsters equal in level to you for maximum experience, right?
2. As an Bowazon, I find it's almost impossible to work in Nightmare difficulty as Fallens and Zombies can devastate with a couple hits, and my 8-80 damage bow seems to be worthless all of a sudden. What's a good strategy to stay alive in Nightmare mode?
3. Why don't you and Charsi sell exceptional weapons like Executioner Swords and Martels instead of plain old 2-defense sashes in Nightmare/Hell? Overstocked with cheap stuff? :)

-Dely Apple

Dely,

All-too-expensive or all-too-cheap? My wares are all extremely useful, crafted by hand from my personal selection of blacksmiths (all with annoying scottish accents). Well, if you've had enough fun bashing my shelves of incredible merchandise, I'll continue on to answering your questions. Poor, poor Gheed.

The closer your character level is to the monster level of the monsters you battle, the more experience you achieve for slaying them. You cannot "view" the level of the monsters inside Diablo II, but you can check out PlanetDiablo's hosted site that features a useful Experience calculator tool to look up which monsters would provide the most experience for your current level.

If you're having so much trouble in Nightmare difficulty, I recommend that you go back to normal difficulty and proceed to repeatedly go through the River of Flame and Chaos Sanctuary (not forgetting to kill Diablo as well) to gain experience and level up at least a few times before you go back to Nightmare mode.

Charsi and I are both stocked up with the finest weaponry and armors! We do not sell Exceptional Items because Blizzard Entertainment just decided to design the game that way; it is a balancing factor.

From: N_Ferno
Subject: A simple question

Dear Gheed,

I am not only a faithful reader but I am sure that I have also contributed to more than one Gold plated Royles in your driveway. As such, I feel that I deserve to be answered one simple question:

Why Korea?

-N_Ferno (Fire Wall sorc extraordinaire)

N_Ferno,

Despite the behavior and opinions of too many american players, Koreans are people too. They have as much of a privilege to play on any of the Realms or Open Battle.Net as you do. Notice the word "privilege"? Blizzard provides Battle.Net as a free service. You aren't paying for it, and even if players did have to, nobody has the right or power (well, with the exception of Blizzard) to judge who can use the service.

From: Sebbl
Subject: Some Questions for Gheed

Hi Gheed, mightiest of all merchants. I need your wisdom to answer me the following questions. First some questions about Unique Items:

1. What does the atribute crushing blow mean? Bonesnap for example has the ability of 40% chanze of crushing blow. Does this atribute add more damage. If so, how much?
2. What is a deadly strike? does it mean that my enemy need only one strike to kill it? The unique cristal sword Azurewrath has this ability. When I have this unique item equiped do I have a 30% chanze to kill an enemy with one strike? Does this affect champions or unique monsters or even diablo and other (more or less) human players?
3. How does the atrribute hit blindes target (Coif of Glory, Deathspade, Umbral Disk) take effect? Are the monsters walking around senslessly trying to find me? How long does it take until this affect wears off? Does it bling "humann" enemies in a 1on1 match, too?
4. How about the items that add % chanze of finding magic items. If I combined several of those items (Gull 25%, Chance Guards 24%, Goldwrap 30%, 2x Nagelring 15%, Tarnhelm 49%) would it add up to a total chance of 158% better chance to find a magic item?
5. Same thing with the following items: Frostburn and SoJ. If I euiped the Frostburn gauntlets and two SoJs would it increase my maximum Mana by 90%? That would be incredible.

I would be thankfull if you could answer me these questions.

Now to some personal questions:

6. How is it like to be the only male in a camp full of beautifull and young rogues (ah well except Arkara, she isn't young and beautifull afterall;))? I want to know what's going on when I'm out slaying some evil minions.... are there orgies just like in the antique Rome? Or may it be...oh...I don't want to think about that....that all the rogues are.....l..l.ll..lesbians (especially Charsy awakes thins impression)?
7. Where do you get all your nice stuff from? Are you a tomb raider?
8. What about the (arch)angel Hadriel down in the river of flame? Hasn't he got anything better to do? He just stands...flyes...hangs arround and tells over and over again his very important and interesting sentence "proceed into terrors lair hero" (or something like that).
9. What is Natalia good for (in Act 3). I see no sense in this NPC. she just stands there.....is not involved in quests or anything else. Suddenly vanishing after one killed Mephisto. Which purpose does she serve?
10.Why do you still live in a small shack like that? Whith all the gold of all those heros that stop by to gamble a round you could buy a whole palace.

Wel that's it. I hope I don't bother you too much with my questions and my bad english.

Good bye.

Sebbl

Sebbl,

Why thank you. I'm always in need of a little ego-booster, but, of course, you're just restating the facts. :) Your English is just fine-- very good, in fact!

1-3. The "Crushing Blow" effect provides you with a chance to reduce a monster's total hit points by fifty percent (50%) of their current total amount of hit points (not maximum amount of hit points, current total amount). Deadly Strike is a similar effect, except this one gives you the chance to deal double the amount of damage normal with the weapon that this effect is on. This works on all monsters and player characters as well, whereas Crushing Blow only works on monsters. The "Hit Blinds Target" item effect only works on monsters, and provides the same effect as the Necromancer's "Dim Vision" skill.

4 and 5. The chance to find magic items system is more complicated than that. Each monster class and type has a certain, set chance to reward you with a magic item when you slay them. The effects you get from items boosting your chance to get magic items then add to that chance. For instance, if you have a monster that has a one percent (1%) chance to dropping a magic item, and you have an item equipped that has a "+100% Better Chance of Getting Magic Item" effect, then your actual chance to get a magic item from that monster is two percent (2%). Frostburn and two Stones of Jordan would, in fact, increase your maximum mana by 90 percent.

6. Well, you're certainly not hesitant about getting to the personal issues. I'm actually not the only man in the Rogue Encampment, there is Warriv and Cain-- although they are no men compared to Gheed. I love being around all these women, they pamper me all the time! Still, I have to admit, it gets a bit frustrating being around these beatiful Rogues all the time. Ah well, all I have to do is invite them for a nice weekend trip to Lut Gholein's wonderful Harem. Charsi a lesbian? Trust me, she's not. ;)

7-9. As stated earlier, I purchase my wares from a very select group of the best trained Blacksmiths (from Child Labor, Inc.). I'm no Tomb Raider, but speaking of Lara Croft-- mmm, mmm! As for Hadriel, we can never completely understand the mysteries of the Angels of Light. What he would be doing in Hell is a confusing thought, too, since he is not a corrupted Angel, and there are minions of Diablo all around. Now, Natalya's quite a fox, but she's also very short-tempered and anti-social. She disappears after Mephisto because Blizzard Entertainment, for some reason, included a speech file that is played when you talk to her after killing Mephisto that basically revealed their plans for an Expansion Set. She's also a preview of the Assassin character class.

10. Well, the little encampment I have around the Rogues' area is simply a small shop-- I don't actually live there full time. Haven't you heard of my mansions and gold-plated cars?

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