My first ladder in what… 20 years haha. I’ve never played a Hammedin so followed the Maxroll.gg guide to new Paladins step buy step and respecced at 20. Now he’s a potion drinking nightmare haha.
I love the Summon necro but wanted a good MF character to start with obviously…
I’ve just now restarted a Javazon and I’m just gonna play her as I want to, I feel I follow guides so I can be “gud” at the game but in the end they just make me more annoyed. Of course my goal is to make her a Lightning Fury Amazon end game but does anyone else find following these guides step by step n respeccing when they suggest a real sucky time? haha.
I guess they are “Guides”… not written law.
Considering the game has “metas” for about 20 years -as much as “purists” would love to deny it- everyone at some point in time used a guide (or followed through what someone else told them in-game).
This is because the game is really simple as much as elitist (read: “purists”) try to claim it isn’t. In the end your choices barely matter when 95% of builds are the same. Very simple casual game.
If you mean mana potions by the way, make an Insight and give it to your merc.
Yeah I know the whole make a Insight n such… I have a lvl 90 Sorc on Non ladder that went through it all.
It’s just following the guide it spat me out at level 20 just after a respec facing Act 3 with 2 points in Blessed Hammer and like 50 Mana haha. I should have just stuck with the Zeal / Holy Fire thing. Obviously I goofed up n respecced too early haha.
It will be quicker starting over than grinding a bad build. Maybe that is viable for multiplayer, when others carry you and you are just there for auras (eg. Vigor).
Use guides as an indication of what the end game build should look like and what the key skills are and how they complement the build. You should play holy fire (maxed with resist fire for syn, grabbing an item with zeal) until level 40-45 before respec. Try to at least have some FCR/+mana by then. (Eg spirit/rings)
Only started looking at guides when D2r was released, which is also when I started playing online.
I’ve only ever seriously played zealot pally, and, the guides I’ve seen, seem focused on damage (typically a single type), with little thought given to survive-ability.
I also don’t like that they typically expect you to use your repec’s.
I suppose their advice is based on the quickest way to level… but this game isn’t a race for me, so…
I think the guides get a character close… but then having used the respec’s, it gives the player real struggle to fine tune the character to their individual play-style… so then you are farming essences to make tokens.
Trouble with that is, a single damage based character with little survive-ability is going to really struggle at farming all locations.
Example;
I just browsed a bunch of zealot builds… very few of them have a means of dealing with physically immune monsters… and the ones that do, in my opinion, have a poor means of doing so… and, even fewer focus on salvation… I can’t tell you how many people I’ve helped through WSK filled with those lightening-ghosts, simply by running my salvation.
So, if all guides make survive-ability sacrifices like the zealot pally ones I’ve seen… then ya… I guess maybe they work for the way some people play… if skipping content, running from certain monsters doesn’t bother you then it’s probably not too bad.
No, just need to reference charts and tables once in a while though.
Only if the guide has some effort put in it.
E.g. showing in practical tests what gear gives faster clear speeds. Or just being creative.
For example I was convinced by one of the bowzon guides to try Atma’s Scarab on multi shot, based on the tests provided. It’s counter intuitive since only 2 arrows proc CtC spells, but it made a significant difference.
Also, cooley made a nice cheap uber kicksin guide (video called “i beat ubers with an um rune”) that i am very interested in implementing. He makes a case with easy to obtain not sought-after items, and uncovers an interesting unused mechanic.
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When a giude says don’t put points into energy, I always put points into energy, because, in a through you’ll going to be very mana dependant.
Yeah I think that’s what I’m gonna do… thanks for that 
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Drinking potions is normal… zon is the thirstiest of them all
I saw a Barbarian Ryker Guide - it was so lame it made me laugh. He reccomended throwing posion/explosive bottles and trying to save the Act Three flail to fight with. After he said that I stopped watching it. No idea how the guy can be wise on a lot of games and then make a absurd lozer Barbarian guidde.
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