Hey, some of you probably saw my two topics I made today about skill changes for Paladin and Barbarian and I will eventualy do a lot more topics like that asking others what they think should be improved in D2R.
Reason for that is I would like to create my own dream version of D2R. Improved Diablo 2 like I would make it or change it to be better game. Some purist probably would not agree but game is far from being perfect.
I used to love Diablo 2 modding years back and never thought that I would start again but here we go. I somehow got into that again after i downloaded mode for bigger stash/cube/inventory and merc equip and I started building changes on top of it. Changes I always wanted and plenty cool ides from people on this forum. Some of them already were busy with ideas in two topics I made today.
Anyway, I already started working on it but its long way to go. If anyone would be interested in my version of patches I will make, I can certainly do it and I will gladly share my work (its currently working as set of txt files you need to use with some file mod structure).
I just finished first version of my patch:
Well to start somewhere I actualy did something nobody talks about but I think it actualy make sense and it is changes to required levels for skills and also their requirements. Why do you need to invest point into Sacrifice to use Fist of Heaven? I dont think it does much sense. Well now you dont have to 
and that go for majority of skills. I did also other changes to combat skills and its not final, its just a start as i am learning back what i forgot about modding so i take it slow.
D2R Mod by Zax version 1.00 (Changes to combat skills v1)
- Sacrifice can be leveled to skill level 30
- Sacrifice self damage at lvl 1 increased to 10% from 8%
- Sacrifice self damage decreasing with every level up to 0 at level 20
- Zeal can be used from Level 1
- Vengeance mana cost is decreased to 1 and increase by 0,25 mana per skill level
- Vengeance can be used from level 1 and doesnt need any skill points in previous skills
- Vengeance can be leveled to skill level 30
- Conversion can be used from level 1 and doesnt need any skill points in previous skills
- Holy Bolt has new synergy from Sanctuary +20% damage per level
- Blessed Hammer doesnt need any skill points in previous skills
- Blessed Hammer basic Mana cost lowered from 5 to 3
- Smite Mana cost is 0,25 and is increased every skill level by +0,25 mana
- Charge can be used from Level 1
- Charge doesnt need any skill points in previous skills
- Charge Mana cost decreased from 9 to 5 and increasing every skill level by +0,25 mana
- Holy Shield can be used from level 12
- Holy Shield Basic mana cost lowered from 35 to 20 and increasing by +1 mana every skill level
- Holy Shield doesnt need any skill points in previous skills
- Holy Shield + Shield damage increased by ± 1/3
- Fist of Heavens can be used from level 24 instead of 30
- Fist of Heavens doesnt need any skill points in previous skills
- Fist of Heavens base mana cost lowered from 25 to 10 and increasing by +0,75 mana every skill level
- Fist of Heavens synergy from Holy shock is replaced by Salvation and increased from 7% to 14%
Current changes are of course not final and most likely will be tweaked based on testing. I have few things to say to reflect some changes but not all of them as I have some other skill choices prepared for future which will make it more reasonable.
I was not able to find out how to add Splash dmg on Vengeance yet and I am 100% sure if I even want it on it, but I allowed to skill it up to 30 instead of just 20 to help with dmg. I would like to add eventualy splash damage to Charge skill upon impact if that would be possible. If you are suprised why to increased smite dmg and you are trying to shout “but smitter is OP!!!”, I actualy plan to remove Grief from the game or completely change it to something else. But since Smitter damage is not that high without that type of added damage, I slightly buffed Holy shield damage and will also buff shield damage on shields eventualy.
I also lowered quite significantly required levels of many skills because I honestly hate wating for skill I want to use and be forced to play something else before I can. Mana cost on many skill was also reduced or tweked to reflect skill leveling vs when you can use it.
And since this is not just suggestions, Here is demonstration of first patch:
EDIT: it seems that mana cost for vengeance is broken, I will fix that for next version ias currently it doesnt reflect the changes I made with mana cost and sorry i forgot to level it up to 30, by increase of damage works in same % as on lower levels.
EDIT2: I will be posting every update here in this topic.
