Non-conventional ways to enjoy the game!

Hey y’all, everyone gets to this point when they play this game long enough… you stop worrying about defeating

Baal or leveling up and you start to focus on…other things.

The original non-conventional playing is pvp, but lots also do ‘holy grails’ various different kinds - hardcore, rune words, ethereal, etc.
Some people do speed-running, or ‘theme’ running - no tps, no rune words, no skills, etc.


What are your non-conventional play styles?


I was thinking of making one of my characters a ‘fashion model’ where I just try and put on weird looking gear and see how some crazy uniques look…maybe

I've always kind of been a fan of "being better than intended". Not so I can sound like a dick but because I enjoy the challenge. Back in the WoW days for example, that meant soloing all sorts of dungeons/raids. In D2, it had to be something different as "soloing everything" is just too easy by design so that's not a real challenge unless maybe you're still in full starter gear and following some crap streamer build or something.

As a result, for D2, it has kind of just turned into "find a rough playstyle that i genuinely enjoy, even if it shouldn't work all that well and then figure out a way to turn it into an optimized build that actually outperforms the rest (sometimes in general, sometimes for specific purposes)".
Related fun fact: There's a fair few options of under- or simply un-used builds in this game that can legitimately outperform those that random YouTubers keep telling you are "ZOMG ZE BEST S-TIER!". Even more so since sunders and whatnot.

That and just messing around helping random people.

Plus I do still enjoy the occasional farming session. Don't really still need anything..but hey, just for the fun of it. Though I guess that isn't exactly non-conventional.

If I had time, would love to try something like BowNecro or stuff like that,

I only appreciate conventional ways, but just because I hardly play more than 2-3 hours a week in the best times.

You should do that and post your pictures here!

Kind of like Schnorki, I like playing off-meta builds. Melee amazon,

Revive-only summoner, Golemancer, Ranger paladin, Ironbarb, and the

Rabies druid. There are a few walls in terms of gameplay but the challenge keeps it interesting.

Ah, and also planning. Love planning. And how to make Sets viable. I love Sets.

My Nat sin is one, my Disciple Zon with Sazabi merc is the other.

And they are better than anyone else, of course, they have the famous Aura of Uselessness displayed.

no farming HC
once u clear an area/boss, never go back
once u start a new difficulty, never go back [unless u beat the game oc...]

krathkor wrote: 2 years ago

no farming HC
once u clear an area/boss, never go back
once u start a new difficulty, never go back [unless u beat the game oc...]

So..after finishing hell

Baal you just repeat hell from beginning to finish in full runs? Or is that the point where the char is done and you start a new one?

then it's just a normal character.
the challenge is no repeatedly farming countess/andy whatever for gear/runes/xp.

to get xp u have to clear the areas players usually skip, eg swampy pit...

never could do it...

krathkor wrote: 2 years ago

no farming HC
once u clear an area/boss, never go back
once u start a new difficulty, never go back [unless u beat the game oc...]

Hey, I know a couple of people who believe this is the only true way of playing diablo games!
The older guys, the same playstyle for years...

I am officially an old guy then, as I only start new zones when fully done (i.e. no monster left) with previous ones.
However I allow myself to continue playing a finished zone for XP or look.

To be fair, I'm old without doing that

That was my original way of playing when my brother and I first got the original d2 as teenagers, we’d take turns exploring each area fully before going onto the next, no maps (because we didn’t know about that feature), no running even (we started off walking and didn’t know you could switch to running).

Oh if past me could see all my character builds now…

… we’ll he’d probably be like “how long did all that take you!?!”