Umm does ss druid not use the unique Ribcracker or whatever its called upgraded…stalgmite or something like that
No reason to make make weaker builds more powerful. The better option is to make stronger builds weaker. Games already braindead easy.
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Very good point. This way META build wont delete whole maps and game will be more demandin. i.e. Dragonding on P1 just stands there, thats it. This game is to easy. Especially if one understands the mechanics.
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I think a lot of people don’t understand what makes d2 a great game and that is the fact that you are essentially gambling your time and skills to see if you hit the jackpot. Without the ability to win something that makes all the hard work and risk worth it, no one will play that game…but hey there’s always d4.
The rune words are there for advanced players to tweak the system, the only reason I think people even have these thoughts about things being too meta is itself because all anyone can think of is how to be meta. If you don’t like how meta players are playing, play with some others who just want to experiment with new builds. Play the game as a game to have fun in a different world.
There is always going to be a bis for every item type no matter how you change the game, and the path to those bis is a whole pile of useful crap that you don’t need once you complete your grail. Then you can give away that stuff to less fortunate or new players to help there journey.
That’s why hardcore, in my opinion, is the best way to play d2. The risk reward factor is high, and it feels more akin to an old school arcade game like Mario, Sonic or even Tetris. One wrong move takes you back to the start.
I’m also a glutton for punishment.
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Ive always felt MF was an obsulte stat anyway. There is nothing worth finding with MF that wouldnt be easier to get by trading socket quests.
I guess on a grandeous scale of getting fools mod weapons andother gm dueling items it matters, but not to build a core functioning character
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I’ve not been into the trading scene for a while - that said, trusting a stranger with an item that may be worth several times the quest is disconcerting - at least IMO.
IIRC a socket quest is worth ~ Pul to Ist… but good boots/gloves/rings can be worth Jah or, several… (leaving crafting out of the conversation)
It may be more efficient to level characters to sell a socket quest for a Pul/Ist via rush’s, but for me, you can run a “developed” character to gather/roll-up/sell crafting packs for Vex-Sur… at least “in my experience” (IME).
I “liked” your post because IME running minimal MF and dropping decent/good socket-able bases pays-more/is-quicker to sell (no MF not required) than landing mediocre uniques, that are essentially worthless… let alone dropping a GG unique… which is much more rare/less likely than simply collecting socket-able bases, and/or, in my experience, collecting crafting materials… which again does not require MF.
Is essence, I agree… just wanted to add my “idiosyncrasies/experience”… AHD… whatever 
On this, I 100% agree.
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I mean ultimately the long haul grind is going to see every unique you’d ever want just farming runes/bases anyway. An Enigma + gheeds + some of the random MF you get on rares is going to be more than enough to see every useful unique several times before you get done farming runes regardless.
Frankly MF above ~130 or so is just kind of a waste unless you are trying to drop specifically a shako/soj off andy super early on or at getting the extra from just rares or you don’t need the small charms for AR/FHR/all res. Hell I’d drop the gheeds too unless you are mostly running trav for a skiller. Just sort of better off killing as fast as you can on P1 or P3 most of the time.
Most of the time I even feel like running something like Shaco/Gheeds/Tal chest/Chancies/Travs is too much on an early sorc. Rather just face tank and kill faster with just the shaco/tal chest.
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Unique items follow the item type hierarchy. For every type of item (Ettern Axe, Berserker Axe, War Spike, etc) there is a corresponding Unique item. To add more Unique items they’d have to either add more item types (even with new tiers of item above Elite) and/or have multiple unique items for each item type. That could get messy and confusing, if it’s even possible to program on the existing D2 engine.
Really the best way for Blizz to add totally new stuff to the game is release a whole new expansion like Lord of Destruction. New items, any kind of new item system, new difficulty, etc. Whether or not modern Blizzard is willing to or even capable of that…
There are actually a few item types without a corresponding unique. Many of the class restricted items do not have one, such as Grand Matron Bow which has a Set Item (Mav Bow) but no unique. Other Zon bows like Stag Bow do not have one either. Troll Belt is also an item type that has no unique, but does have a set. So there are opportunities to add more uniques with the current system. There is also flexibility to add more sets as well. So you don’t need new item tiers to update itemization.
I mean to be fair it’s not like you can’t make more than one unqiue for one item type. Look at Tyrael’s Might and Templar’s Might.
That said this is the Blizzard that made sunders and mosaic… i honestly don’t want them touching items.
They’ll just do something dumn like making a +3 skills chest piece with -40 enemy light rez and teleport, or 45% FCR gloves, or add in a javelin with auto sunder and +3/+3/40 with a conviction aura on it, or some other nonsense.
That hasn’t been the case from the very beginning. There has never been a unique Crystal Sword, for example.
EDIT: Incorrect. Azurewrath used to be a Crystal Sword.
Jhaerik already pointed out the Sacred Armours. This one’s The Arreat Summit - Items: Elite Unique Maces a beauty.
It’s been like that for decades. Well documented, no problems, no mess.
I bet it’s not!
Considering their current deep understanding demonstrated with Mosaic it’s a HARD PASS for me thankyouverymuch.
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disagree, runewords detract what uniques and sets have to offer, or what they should have to offer. But what do I know I’ve only been playing since d2 was released.