Teleport and Dragon Flight now cost Stamina to cast.
Defense Potions
Stamina Potions are now only obtainable from the Cow King and Duriel (low drop rates).
Antidote Potions are now only craftable (1 Strangling Gas Potion + 1 Healing Potion = 1 Antidote Potion)
Thawing Potions are now only craftable (1 Fulminating Potion + 1 Healing Potion = 1 Thawing Potion)
Note: Strangling Gas and Fulminating Potions can be obtained from Poison and Exploding shrines.
Mana and Rejuvenation
Mana Potions are now only craftable (1 Healing Potion + 1 Jewel)
Rejuvenation Potions are now only craftable (3 Mana, 3 Health Potions, 1 Chipped Gem).
Dol rune + number of Small Potions = number of Upgraded Potions (Super Mana and Full Rejuvenation Potions).
Note: Dol runes currently have no use and their normal effect is thematically fitting (Replenish Life +7 in Armor and Shields). Dol is cubed from Shael, which also has limited use.
Potion Drops
All potions (except Stamina and Rejuvenation) can drop from Champions but not normal monsters (reduces clutter).
Small Rejuvenation Potions can drop from The Countess (fits her lore).
Full Rejuvenation Potions can drop from Act bosses.
Vendors only keep Healing Potions. Find Potion Barbs, your time has come.
Spellcasters were balanced around mana as a resource. Now mana doesnāt functionally exist as a game mechanic because spirit and insight exist and they are overpowered. Before such bad runewords were made, players had to rely on harder to find uniques like lidless and also had to use Tir runes for Mana after each kill. They also had to, GASP, put points into energy! (Vomits uncontrollably).
Fkn gd, imagine having to play around a resource pool and invest in the energy stat. It would almost be like playing an actual rpg.
But did any of that actually happen? Iām not sure about the release time and my gameplay when compared to the runewords, but didnāt we just slam mana pots? I donāt remember doing anything other than that. So really the only thing that was different was I spammed 2/3/4 more often and traded gold for insight level amount of mana pots.
Wearing Frostburn, putting points into warmth etc. pp was not unusual. People might have used a Wizardspike also. With the broken runewords also came the synergy system. Before that their would be no synergy system, which would allow for much more hybrid style builds and also putting points into warmth was not a problem.
Also lightning mastery did not give extra dmg but reduce Mana costs of spells.
With no respecs in the game you often had single appliances charsā¦like the Cow-Nova-Sorc or the FO/Hydra Hybrid etc. pp depending on how much mana you needed, you would build differently.
Also, with the introduction of the synergy system the difficulty in the game was raisedā¦mobs were much easier to kill in 1.09.
It would make leveling even better than it already is. You just need to learn how to play the game.
Eld Rune
Eld
Rune number 2 of 33
Level Requirement: 11
Weapons: +75% Damage to Undead, +50 Attack Rating Against Undead Armor: 15% Slower Stamina Drain Helms: 15% Slower Stamina Drain
Shields: 7% Increased Chance of Blocking
Magic Boots
Tireless Boots of Pacing
Defense: 3
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 10
10% Faster Run/Walk Heal Stamina Plus 50%
Prefixes
+Max Stamina
Available on Rugged +5-20 to Max Stamina Amulets(1)5-10[11-20], Belts(1)5-10[11-20], Boots(1)5-10[11-20], Circlets(1)5-10[11-20], Gloves(1)[5-10], Rings(1)5-10[11-20] Vigorous +21-30 to Max Stamina Belts(16), Boots(16)
+Stamina Regeneration
Available on Tireless Heal Stamina +10-50% Boots(1)10%25%[50%]
The change to mana pots was made in 1.10. Did you play in 1.09? It made spell casters more balanced. Lidless was one of the best items in the game before spirit. Yes that all happened and still happens if you go and play a 1.09 version of d2.
The irony now at least, is that the changes to next hit delay have made spell casters so incredibly overpowered that stacking energy until hell is meta because classes like fire druids can just wipe everything off the map on players 8 until hell.
You must be unfamiliar with greatness and mistake it for deviance from normality in the other direction.
May The Light lead you on the right path to enlightenment, Hammerdin.
Iām un-dumbing it down 