Fotds: July 2000

The information presented in these archived FotDs is now outdated, but that's often the most interesting thing about them, seeing how much the game has changed from then to now.

The original FotDs are indented and italicized. Explanatory comments below them were written by Flux at the time the FotDs were archived, usually a couple/few months after the original FotDs had been presented.

• FotD archives main page.

July 2, 2000

Chilling Armor is a Clvl 24 skill from the Sorceress' Cold Spells Skill Tab. This defensive skill creates a protective swirl of icy particles around her, that provides the Sorceress with a bonus to her Defense, and also launches an Ice Bolt attack against any attackers melee or ranged attackers. It is not known if this works against magical, or just physical attacks.

Of course the skill does work against magical projectiles. This FotD was posted long before the funny display of Sorceress pong was discovered.

July 3, 2000

Life Tap (formerly known as Reverse Vampire) is a Clvl 18 skill from the Necromancer's Curses Skill Tab. One of the few healing skills in the game, this one allows the Necromancer to gain life as the cursed monster takes damage. It is not yet known exactly how this skill works when used in conjunction with minions, or in parties with multiple players.

We knew what all the skills did, but they hadn't all been tested extensively yet. The game came out in late June, so at this point no one had played more than 4 or 5 days, and many people didn't even have a copy yet, especially outside of the US.

July 7, 2000

The Secret Cow Level is not just a joke in Diablo II. You can get there in a SP or MP game, and it's quite easy. Stick Wirt's Leg and a Town Portal book into the Horadric Cube, stand in the Rogue Encampment after you've finished the game, Transmute them, and *poof* a red portal appears. Our page with all sorts of info and images from TSCL can be seen here.

The revelation that there really was a Secret Cow Level made quite a sensation at the time. No one could quite believe it, and early screenshots of it were thought to be a joke or hoax, after there were endless hoaxes and jokes about secret levels in Diablo, none of which actually existed. The Cow Level was mostly a novelty in Diablo, something fun to do once in a while, but never a place to level.

That's very changed in D2X, and now you generally see more big public Cow games than Bloody Runs, as of late December, 2001. Cows are worth a bit less experience than the monsters on Bloody Runs, but there are more cows in a smaller area, and any sort of mass attack kills them very fast, for they have no real resistances and no immunities. Javazons are the clear rulers of the Cow Level, and there are more high level Javazons than any other character now, because of this.

July 15, 2000

Battlecry is a Clvl 18 Skill from the Barbarian's Warcries Skill Tab. This one casts with a rather small radius, but has a potent effect, as it lowers the Defense and damage dealt by all afflicted monsters for a short duration. At Slvl 1 the Duration is 12 seconds, Defense is lowered by 50%, and Damage dealt by 25%. More points in this skill add only slightly to the benefits.

July 22, 2000

Raise Skeletal Mage is a Clvl 12 skill from the Necromancer's Summoning Skill Tab. This skill summons forth skeletal mages from monster corpses, in four flavors; Cold, Fire, Ice, and Poison. Which type you get is random. The Mages have 61 hit points, and you can have one for the cost of 8 mana at Slvl 1. Full stats can be seen here, and see mages in action here.

We were so happy to have actual stats to post, rather than just "they are sorta weak" type analysis.

July 25, 2000

Flavie, the NPC Rogue you encounter in Act One where the Blood Moor meets the Cold Plains, is a helpful character. She doesn't move a step, but she will fire her bow at any monsters within her range. The one problem with this is that anything that dies on the screen with her will drop nothing, even bosses and champions, and even if you do all the damage to them.

This bug/feature with no monsters dropping anything or giving any experience if Flavie had shot them or was in sight when they died has since been fixed/changed.

July 30, 2000

Charge is a Clvl 12 skill from the Paladin's Combat Skills Tree. A very fun skill when used properly, with Charge the Paladin can do a quick dashing attack towards any enemy, hitting them with his weapon and doing a knock back, with a substantial damage and AR bonus. It is possible to use Charge repeatedly on one monster, pushing them back as long as they have hit points and don't run into a wall to stop the knock back. Very useful on Nightmare or in MP games.

Few players had characters in Hell yet, at least not doing very well there, so most discussion of the game was what to do on Normal, or when your character got into the 30's or 40's in Nightmare.