What to do after completing story mode

Diablo II (2000) General Discussion
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Hello All.

I just completed story mode, or at least that’s what I think it’s called. I didn’t play much D2:LoD in the past. I just killed Baal and saw the name change, which frankly I wasn’t too thrilled with, but that’s life. No big deal.

Now what do I do? Make another character and start over? Or can I run the story mode at Normal level now with my existing character that finished the story mode?

I do not play on the bnet servers. 100% solo self found. Still trying to figure out stuff like cube recipes. I did do a duckduckgo search for what to do after completing story mode in D2. Saw mostly stuff about Baal runs.

When I start a game with the character that I used to complete story mode I end up in the Act V town Harrogath. But the story mode seems to be gone now. A box pops up and gives the option of Normal NIghtmare Hell difficulties.

Thanks for any help. D2:LoD is like a new game for me and it’s pretty fun.

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the game is split up into 3 difficulties
normal
nightmare
hell

the difference is basiccally monster life, monster damage and monster resistances (even becoming outright immune to certain types of damage etc)

the game items come in 3 qualities
normal
exceptional
elite

to obtain certain items, you need to play the game in higher difficulties
to have certain skills or stats spawn on an item, you need to play on higher difficulties

(baal normal can drop a few exceptional items, but not many, as example, that way you can prepare for playing nightmare with stuff found at baal normal)

the endgame of diablo2, such as is,
is basiccally
playing certain bosses or areas in hell mode ad infinitum (depending on what you are looking for)
and finding those items that make your char better or that enable you to play another character

it is basiccally the: find better items, deal more damage, be able to survive better
spiral

if you play solo and offline, I suggest you look up things like d2se or plugy, which are programs that allow you to share a stash between different characters and that allow you to build the ladder only runewords in singleplayer mode
quite handy tools.

a trick for single player that is worth noting, is that your map does not change, as long as you stay in the same difficulty mode.
which can be quite advantageous if you want to look for decent maps with short ways from waypoints to certain bosses, like say mephisto, baal
or things like the old tunnels, pit etc.
if you switch difficulty levels, you reset your map (but keep the waypoints) and can thus go fishing for a map, where you, for example only need to run for 10 seconds from durance of hate lvl 2 waypoint to durance of hate level 3

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Thanks for the info Fedaykin, it’s much appreciated. I do have Plugy now, thanks for the tip. All that stash space really makes a major difference. I just hope it isnt’ against the terms of service, but Plugy says it’s not, so I’ll believe them.

I don’t want the software police kicking in my door cuz I broke some rule somewhere. Thanks again for the help.

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plugy is SP only and you cannot log into the closed battle net with plugy active

and blizzard does not care what you do to the files on your computer or the open bnet,
they do mind stuff on closed, but you can’t log on with plugy active anyway

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You play the story mode again in Nightmare. Then in Hell. It works somewhat similar to new game + mechanics on other games like Dark Souls, where you keep your character as it is and the game adjusts it’s difficulty to the fact that you’re now higher level and more powerful. On Nightmare and Hell you get access to new gear and runes that weren’t available for you on Normal.

In the end, the goal is to keep progressing your character as far as you want. Some people call it quits after they’re done with hell baal, some hunt for the more exotic gear to make their build more powerful, some only stop when they’re level 99. It’s all up to you.

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Thanks for the info OShogun and Fedaykin.

I guess I am too accustomed to D3 where you can adjust the game level before you start. That’s probably why I am confused about this game level/mode thing.

I only play off line and 100% solo self found. I really like the PlugY mod, it works great and I’m glad it’s not illegal. I could not get PD2 to work on my pc though.

As an aside I can’t understand people that bot. My bnet account means more to me than progressing thru a game like botters do.

I can’t imagine what level 99 must be like, I have a very very difficult time with Diablo, Baal, Durial, and most bosses and my character is in the 30’s somewhere. My current goal is to find some mana leech gear so I don’t have to fill the backpack with blue potions. The Amazon I play needs a lot of mana for the freezing skill and Valkyrie skill.

Another goal is to get a Sorceress ( mana hungry again ) as far as I can, like with the Amazon I’m currently playing.

Anyway, thanks again for the help, I really appreciate it.

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D2 doesn’t adjust the monsters to your character’s level like D3 does. A lvl 99 character usually can steamroll any content in the game (if built correctly, which it probably is since getting to level 99 is one hell of a farm, very few people actually go all the way there).

In nightmare difficulty, you’ll start seeing a lot more of champion packs, everything is a little more dangerous than in normal, and you also get a debuff to all your resistances (check your character sheet when you enter Nightmare).

In hell, you get another big debuff on your resistances, and almost every monster starts having immunities, many having two of them, some even more, so you need to adjust your character build to deal with them (your mercenary is a real hero in Hell and helps a lot). Hell is a big difficulty spike compared to normal and nightmare, especially if you’re not ready for it. However, if you know what you’re doing and are prepared for it, it’s not really ghouls n’ ghosts level hard. You just need to pay attention.

In my opinion, Normal and Nightmare are basically the warmup and preparation stage. The real Diablo 2 starts in Hell.

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get a 4 sockets grey polearm (can drop from a5 normals area 2 onwards (basiccally from the 1st waypoint)
and built Ral Tir Tal Sol as runeword in it and give that to an Act 2 merc of your choice (normal combat is likely the best for your purposes, then later it will be nightmare offensive)

you could also try to hope for the unique boots “silkweaves”
or socket some tir runes (for Mana after each kill)
and unless you have the unique belt “razortail” the unique belt “nightsmoke” might be something you want to look into
or certain craft recipes (magic craft) could be ways to approach your problems.

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Ok Fedaykin, I’ll make a note of the rune word, thanks.

I am using an Act II merc and give it the best gear I can. So far it’s been some help, but not against Diablo, he doesn’t last long. I think it’s the defensive merc.

Things happen so fast in the fight against Diablo that I can barely keep the merc alive with potions, usually the merc dies pretty quickly. I am just not that fast with the potions.

I have not seen any piece of gear yet with more than 3 sockets. But my characters are pretty new.

I’ll have to look into the crafting thing, the only thing I’ve crafted are gems, like taking 3 chipped diamonds to make the next higher diamond (whatever that’s called).

I do have some Tir runes so I’ll look into that and see where I can use them. I do not have any Sol runes yet.

I would like to make a perfect amythyst but haven’t been able to so far. IIRC I don’t have the gems to make one yet and I think it’s required for some kind of crafting recipe that’s almost within my grasp. I"m going off memory on this so it may not be totally correct, it’s been days since I’ve checked it out.

This game is so completely different than Diablo 3 RoS, it’s amazing really the differences. D3 seems so easy compared to D2, at least in the early stages. One can level up so quickly in D3, it’s ridiculous. But then D2 is still like a brand new game for me, so that probably has a lot to do with it also.

Thanks again Fedaykin.

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shift+ number 1-4 gives your merc a pot from the belt slot of that number (left to right)

diablo normal is often a bit of a struggle, because you do not have all the skills et cetera yetr