State of the Forums

Moderator: Stomper

Last week's SoTF prompted a lot of discussions on one of our sister sites -- PlanetDungeonSiege. You may read their discussions of my review: Diablo 2 comparison on PlanetDiablo. You can also follow that same discussion here, on our own boards: Diablo II vs. Dungeon Siege .... clarification. Weigh in and give us your thoughts!

This week you will note that Madanark has put forth his own quick 11 tips on Dungeon Siege. Be sure to check out his contribution in this SoTF!

This week we were graced by the presence of "The Cow King", who dropped us a letter to set the books straight. Check out that letter: Letter From The King. Apparently, our misconception on the Mad Cow Disease that goes on behind the Red Portal is unfounded. He, The Cow King, has taken exception to his experience with us. Read on and enjoy!

Additionally, there have been discussions on who has the best Avatar on PlanetDiablo's forums. Is it yours? Is it mine? Is it someone else's? Lend your voice to the discussion: Best Icon?

If you've been wondering why people have been using hyphenated names (i.e. Boof [aka] "Stomper"), check out this thread: If there were a real life PD party... It seems that Tombstone has been passing out monikers to various people and they have taken to wearing them. Although I came to the party late, I dropped in and added my two cents to the thread.

Stompers Tip of the Week:

Using the "Players #" feature. If you are playing a single-player game and want to increase the percentage of drops from the creatures you vanquish and increase the experience you gain from killing them, use this widely known trick. Open up the Chat window, type in Players # where # is a number between 1 and 8. Note that doing this will actually only increase the game settings by 0.5 per "person". Therefore, the difficulty increase associated with "Players 5" is equivalent to 2.5 people. (5 x 0.5 = 2.5)

There have been countless topics on this in our forums, but it is a low advertised practice. However, be warned! When you switch over characters, this feature is still turned on! So, if you are playing a normal character and using the "Players #" command, and then exit and enter a game with your Hardcore character, be warned that the "Players #" command is still turned on.

Go ahead and visit the forums for more information on this. For one of the latest threads, check here: How does work "player X" trick??

Moderator: Os

Maestro, a little classic Queen, please:

Another one bites the dust...another one bites the dust...and another one gone and another one gone...another one bites the dust...Hey! Blizz is gonna get you too, another one bites the dust.

I'm thinking the boys over at Blizzard must have been singing this song as they went along, happily banning those using Chest Hack. Sing away boys, sing away.

One of our members, Bassist, went undercover for a little Cloak and Dagger work, to see what the hell the hack known as Grab-It was all about. He did a thorough investigation of the technical info and it is quite easy to see from his conclusions that there is little point in using it. Don't get the wrong idea: Bassist never had any intentions of continuing to use the program, he simply did the research to prove that it, well, sucks. We'd like to give a big thanks to him for shedding some light on one of the more notorious hacks out there.

Major_Bloodloss brought up an interesting question this week: Why use sets when there are so many other great items out there? Join the discussion and toss in your point of view.

And, of course, one of my favorite subjects: The NHL playoffs! Check out our discussion and place your bets as to who walks away with Lord Stanley's fabled Cup.

Moderator: Snikda Master

After a long and painful break from the PlanetDiablo Forums, I must say it is great to be back. I was happy to see the activity around the forums to be as lively as ever with many faces old and new.

This past week PlanetDiablo's very own Os started a discussing that was quite intriguing asking: What if there was a real life PlanetDiablo Party? You can check it out and add your replies, if you like.

As mentioned here over the past couple of weeks, one of the hottest topics is Dungeon Siege. The reviews are in and for the most part, the media and reviewers love the game. I would say most people that have played the game for a while are quite pleased as well. It is commonly compared with the Diablo series, and I am still not sure if I agree with this.

Snikda's Review in 50 Words or Less!

• This game is furiously fast.
• This game is addictive.
• This game is a hack 'n' slasher's dream come true!
• The folks over at PlanetBaldursGate can no longer say that Diablo is the easiest RPG to play and complete.

I will conclude my addition to this week's address with a Dungeon Siege tip. Although it can be a pain getting seven other blood thirsty individuals to play multi-player Dungeon Siege, it is well worth the time you lose putting it together. There is a built-in increase to monster statistics and experience. This means that while it takes longer to kill the monsters, you will gain more skill (part of getting experience) as a result. In a race to "uber-level" to level 60, I would say that a full party of eight could accomplish this feat three times before an individual could do it once!

Next: Madanark's 11 Tips for Dungeon Siege