Ladder question

General Discussion
1

Is it even possible to get to lvl 99 without bots in a ladder season that is 3-4 months?

Was there ever a ladder without bots, as I guess there is about to be?

I don’t think I will play ladder, I’m still so far away from having all my builds done.

All I was able to put together so far is my MF Hammerdin, and my Smiter is… meh lol needs a lot of work. And they have to share an Enigma!!! So embarrassing…

And then I need to build an Auradin, Windy Druid, etc.
With people duping and botting, I could always do that in a ladder season, but idk how I would manage now, so I won’t bother.

All good, I think there maybe more people playing non ladder than there used to be, which would be good.

It’s been longer than a ladder season since this game came out, and if this is as far as I got in 6 months, I would just basically have built my MFer by the time the ladder ends if its 3-4 months like i have heard.

And I literally found Jah and Ber… That’s how useless I am. Ber from some random in the Canyon of Magi, on my first run through, and Jah in act 3, flayer jungle, little dude with a big knife. The game GAVE me Enigma, it may as well have dropped a built one… I can’t depend on that happening again.

I just can only play at night, weekends as I work.

Maybe the ladder is beyond me now, just for people that can play full time.

2

Yes and no.

Yes, if you no-life it all the way, 20 hours a day.
No, because in reality it takes literally 2+ years for a casual player, playing 4 hours a day, 5 days a week to hit 99, without dying even once.

2 Likes
3

Imagine dying while late level 98. That would be rage quit worthy.

4

Ty, that’s what I was wondering.

Bets on what level will be the top b4 the reset? 97? I think it’s pretty easy till 94-95ish?

Brave new world Blizz… Hope you know what you are doing lol.

5

Been there, but it was a Fanacow… That god damn xp bar dropped like a rock

1 Like
6

Oh, because of the exp loss, right. I thought you meant HC lol, ya I wonder what the over under is on highest HC lvl ladder

7

I’ve played this game on and off for ~10 years. I have never had a character above level 94.

2 Likes
8

If you check twitchtv you can see players leveling from level 1 through 99 in about 2 weeks with 16 hours game sessions.

The problem with D2r’s ladder was that it did not start on time. Also with the (in my opinion, for the most part) lackluster new rune words and most the updates being available to both non ladder and single player, there is not much benefit to most casual players to participate. Ladder reset is for players to reach to hell mode, get ranked and build wealth on 3rd party sites.

I think blizzard needs to carry over progress above and beyond ladder exclusive runewords, much like what D3 does with its paragon system, but make it unique to D2. I don’t want my XP gained to go to waste. Also, If you are not using third party sites, in my honest opinion, you are loosing insane value as soon as the ladder is over as all your items get dumped into a saturated market “non ladder”. This is the second issue D2r has, it does not have a universal currency that is independent of ladder reset. I am not sure how Blizzard can carry over progress and allow us to salvage our wealth gained after a season is over. I personally don’t think I will ever level a character to level 99. The game is not designed to make this process fun or enjoyable for. There is no challenge, it’s monotonous .The thought of hearing Baal’s laughter thousands of times makes me cringe.

1 Like
9

Sure it is possible. In 2018 I got my necro to 96 within 4 days after ladder reset, running with the #1 ladder running group. More by accident, because I was providing lower resist in an early public baal, so I got invited into their private runs. At least for 4 days I was #1 on the necro ladder.

On average the baalruns took 2 minutes. Baal party for the highest levels. The pala was doing CS solo. Barb, java and tele sorc were set. Other members fluctuated.

I had to stop after 96 because I couldn’t keep up with their schedule, but it was a fun experience. The pala made it to 99 a week or so later. I met him again when he was randomly joining a game where I was seeking help for ancients hell with my second character.

10

I see, then it sounds like that’s what will happen. Well that’s ok, that’s a good thing then.
That’s prolly how the ladder was meant to be, you have to have a team etc.

I have never seen that. I don’t know if there was ever a ladder without mass bots?

Looking forward to checking the leaderboard.

11

Right! Watching the streamers play together and disburse the loot and trades between what the group needs is pretty cool. I’ve never done anything like that but I also don’t think I’d be dedicated to not only play that many hours of Diablo in a short period of time, but also schedule it with 7 other people.

I guess if you literally play all day the first week you don’t have to schedule much beyond that though :relieved:

Maybe some more small groups who are trustworthy to split loot during leveling would be cool to see though. Maybe I’ll try and find some friends out here to do stuff like that this season

12

100% will be bots on ladder.

And yes you could technically reach 99 without botters making 600000000 baal runs but it hasn’t happened in a very very long time. This season you will see way way less 95+ characters because botting isn’t free.

13

This is why the majority want changes or boosted drops because most of us play casually. Gamers are dads now. The general age group isn’t 12 year old kids with nothing to do all summer.

1 Like
14

This is why that secondary scalar needs to go. Games that try to force you to have no life to enjoy them to their fullest are failures IMO. They aren’t games when they remove other aspects of your life to progress further.

15

Well, on that same token though, games all too often nowadays are too easy to finish. In Diablo 2’s defense, it came from a generation of games that required time and effort to complete. That ideology is lost on gamers of today, unfortunately.

Take EVE Online for instance… Was once the most hardcore game in existence. Sprung forth from 2004 and it wasn’t until 2011 or so that modern gaming ideology took hold and now the game is but a shell of its former glory. EVE used to require real time to train skills, from as short as 30 seconds to as long as 3 months - now you can just buy your skill points and be done with it.

There’s a certain romance to having to sit down, think about what you’re doing, how you want to do it, for how long you want to commit to it when it comes to games you really enjoy.

Now, I will say in an against for Diablo 2… Leveling beyond 94 is very very tedious and has little to no benefit for the player. Often times pointless, so it can be said that something more can be done for Diablo 2.

16

Tedium or excessive time requirement is not difficulty. I really wish people would stop spouting this nonsense. The difficulty comes from the various systems in place in the game, but artificially prolonging the length of time required to level is not difficulty, it’s just tedium for no benefit to the player.

17

Never said it was intended to be difficult. Just time consuming and requires that you put aside the time to complete your tasks.

18

Unfortunately the time required isn’t even remotely within the realm of reasonable playtime expectactions. PoE went the same route and it’s one of the bigger sore points for players there as well.

1 Like
19

And I entirely agree there - that said, I wouldn’t really ask that they change it because then you have to look to the side of the issue presented;

Does leveling to 99 give you any real benefit?
Surely not. Most get to 95 and call it good because 94-95 is where most builds are pretty much done, if you can call it that. The amount of power you receive at 99 over 94 or 95 is so very very minimal that one could argue that the effort isn’t even worth it, so realistically changing the game to allow you to level faster isn’t going to benefit much any one.

If they added some sort of new feature to the game that better utilizes the level system, maybe then it could be considered but as it is right now, making leveling to 99 from 94 easier to obtain is a moot subject because it does nothing for anyone other than give bragging rights.

20

Never was a kids game. Most of the dudes who played when we were those 12 year olds are now in their 40’s and 50’s and quite commonly even older. I knew three people as a kid who’s dad bought the game for themselves and their kid (my friends) just played.