This week I offered up a little advice to the community on how to create and use polls. You can find my guidelines in Guide to Creating Polls - What not to do. I encourage everyone to read this, and if you have concerns, questions or counter-points, please weigh in and give us your thoughts.
I have decided to start what I will term "Stomper's Tip of the Week". Herein I will offer up little tidbits that may or may not be known to the Diablo II public.
Stomper's Tip of the Week:
Did you know that The Countess in Act One, who resides on the fifth level of the Tower, always drops a Rune? Yes, she does! In Normal difficulty, she will always drop a El or Eld rune. In Nightmare, she will drop any rune from El to Io. In Hell, she will drop any rune from El to Vex. This tip was made possible with information from Hammerman and Scipio23.
Even though it's been awhile since I've done any major trading, I figured I'd divulge some of my strategies to those who are just starting to trade online.
First, get an idea of what items you are looking for. It is best to know exactly what you will need, but a rough estimate can do the trick. An example might be looking for Que-Hegan's Wisdom as opposed to mid-range armor.
Next is to research items, although you might want to do this first if you are just starting to get into Battle.net and trading. If you know exactly what the items people are talking about do, it only helps. It's all about preparation.
After deciding what it is that you want and reading about what other people want, the next stage is to sit in the trading channels and just watch. Watch for a few days; get a lot of different price estimates on what you're looking for. Watch to see what is being traded the most, and maybe catch a glimpse of your intended armor to get an idea of how much it's worth; in short, just watch.
There are two key things to keep an eye out for, and that is what is being asked for and what is being shopped around. Basic item value can be decided this way. If a lot of people have an item and you're seeing it everywhere on Battle.net, it usually means the value isn't all that high. If, however, a lot of people want an item but no one (or very few) is/are trading it, the value starts to go up. This is when people make the big "bucks". If you were the only person on who had a Stormshield and five people are looking for it, you have an awful lot of bargaining room. Competition can be a great thing for the seller, and a horrible thing for the buyer.
So, now you've got an idea of the price range (there is always a range), and you're actively shopping for your item. It is still a good idea to watch the trading channels. Why? When there are 40+ people in one room and the text is flying by, not too many will pay much heed to a message asking for an item. Don't get me wrong: This is still a viable way to try, but I suggest it be done in a smaller chat room.
At the next point, you've found someone trading away your item and you have contacted him or her. Some people will ask for what you intend to give them, and if the deal sounds good they will start a game and further organize the trade. In most cases the trade goes ahead as planned, but occasionally they will ask for more. Be prepared for this.
Another possibility when contacting someone on Battle.net is that they jump straight into a game, without asking what you will give them. This means one of two things; either they aren't fussy about trading and just want to get it done or there is something wrong with it and they are pawning it off as quickly as they can. I haven't run into the second case yet, but it is certainly a viable possibility. I would say that if someone jump starts into a game like this paragraph mentions, there is a 60/40 chance you will get the trade done there, based on their impatience; but, there are always exceptions.
That's about all there is to my basic trading strategies: Preparation, research, and a little luck. Keep in mind that I haven't been nearly as active during the duping scandal, so there may be some pieces missing, but this is simply a base point to get the most bang for your buck. In dealing with dupes (and not getting them), it's a lot of luck -- and your own common sense.
The following is a compilation of things I have forgotten from my original perusal of The Arreat Summit.
There are four types of damage, not three. These are Physical, Magic and Elemental, but the latter does not include poison! Thus, Vengeance, a Paladin Combat Skill, does not lower a given enemy's resistance to poison, which is not elemental. Beserk, a Barbarian skill, deals Magic damage. Either can be used against physical immunes. Note, also, that some places in the Summit say poison is elemental, but apparently there is inconsistency.
Prevent Monster Heal is best visualized in Hell difficulty, where stopping to see how quickly monsters regenerate themselves is discussed in basic monster information here, under "Monster Health Regeneration".
"Magic Resistant monsters" actually have elemental resistances, if this is correct. Scan down to unique monster bonuses.
The Ancients have no resistance to magic, even in Hell difficulty. See Talic's, Madawc's, and Korlic's resistances and levels. Plan your next attempt to dispatch them more efficiently.
Something I have not forgotten but will benefit others to refresh them is the following, an excerpt:
Warning on recovering your corpse
If you needed +Strength or +Dexterity items to equip other weapons or pieces of armor, you may have to re-equip these items manually. When you click on your corpse, the game attempts to re-equip your items to where they were before your death, but this depends largely on the order in which your items are picked up. For example, armor that requires more than your base Strength will not be equipped if the game attempts to place it before placing the
item that increased your Strength enough to wear the armor. In this case, the armor will return to your inventory; if you do not have enough room, it will remain on the corpse. Check your inventory and make sure that all of your items have been re-equipped correctly.
Warning: If you die while your corpse is still on the ground, you may drop important items that you had just recovered from your corpse. Remember, if you die while there is an old corpse in the game, you will simply drop everything you had equipped. Make sure that you create room in your inventory for your weapons and items before attempting to loot your body (when you don't have a belt, those potions can fill up your inventory pretty quickly). This is especially important in player-vs-player games: another player could steal your favorite items if you die while re-equipping items from a re-existing corpse.
Hit Blinds Target is not listed above, but is similar to the Necromancer's Dim Vision Curse.
Congratulations, Maryland Terrapins. For the first time in school history, Maryland has won the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Maryland defeated Indiana 62-54 on Monday April 1, 2002. And that's no April Fool's Day joke. See here.
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