What is your favourite Act?

Well?

Personally in HC it's A1 because of Den. In SC its well, A4. I don't like A5 because now three mid level ladder HC characters died there.

?

Act 4 and Cows for general farming
Act 5 I think is cool to farm too because has the highest monster variation (because of the "guest monsters") and some dense areas.
Act 2 is may favorite in terms of lore/style, but I don't think it has good farming areas (except for TZ

Tal Rasha's Tomb - my favorite farming area )

I love caws, if it would be terrorized all the time I would be happy and it would be the only area where I would play (except of these where I can find

Key ofc)

Hmm, when I am thinking about it - A1 is my favouritest even if there wouldn't be any cows, I do not know why.

And I hate A3, because it remains me hell during rushes - I am usually lost there.

frakira wrote: 5 days ago

I love caws, if it would be terrorized all the time I would be happy and it would be the only area where I would play (except of these where I can find

Key ofc)

Hmm, when I am thinking about it - A1 is my favouritest even if there wouldn't be any cows, I do not know why.

And I hate A3, because it remains me hell during rushes - I am usually lost there.

I concur with A3. I'm surprised how many times I've been rushed in A3 with no problem. I now have notes on my IPod Touch because I tried to rush someone (Norm/NM) and it took forever because I guess I was guessing the dungeon (and you don't have quest updates). So now I know the three spots (checks IPod)

Spider Forest into

Spider Cavern,

Flayer Jungle into Flayer Dungeon, lastly

Kurast Bazaar into Sewers.

Whero wrote: 5 days ago

frakira wrote: 5 days ago

I love caws, if it would be terrorized all the time I would be happy and it would be the only area where I would play (except of these where I can find

Key ofc)

Hmm, when I am thinking about it - A1 is my favouritest even if there wouldn't be any cows, I do not know why.

And I hate A3, because it remains me hell during rushes - I am usually lost there.

I concur with A3. I'm surprised how many times I've been rushed in A3 with no problem. I now have notes on my IPod Touch because I tried to rush someone (Norm/NM) and it took forever because I guess I was guessing the dungeon (and you don't have quest updates). So now I know the three spots (checks IPod)

Spider Forest into

Spider Cavern,

Flayer Jungle into Flayer Dungeon, lastly

Kurast Bazaar into Sewers.

Few tips (maybe you know it, but I am sure not everybody does):
1, Council will throw you a cube if you didn't do cube quest in the A2 - so in the A2 you can skip cube quest while rushing (in the A2 just borrow a cube if you want to save a little time)
2, it is possible to do A3 without organs in this way:
- go directly tpo the

Travincal and leave the game after killing council
- open your game and let rushed people to join.. they are able to go inside durance of hate, because it is already opened, only tp does not work there, so you must walk with them to the durance hate level 2 wp (usually people are waiting till you find right way and then clear it for them)
- let them open their game again, they will be able to move inside through wp, and walk to meph

Sometimes it is a bigger pain than searching for organs (but even if I remember when the organs there, I am ofen standing staring to the map with the idea: wtf? I was EVERYWHERE, there is not cavern/dungeon/.. on this map! (in that cases my husband helps me to find the place I missed, but it is not nice feeling when people are waiting for you).
I found out that it is pretty nice way how to rush through A3 with this "hack" with my auradin - rushed players are walking directly with me when I am searching for right path in the durance level and it is pretty safe for them.

My favoruite act.. hard to say.. i like act1 for tz

Andariel and cows act2 for arcane tz and act3 for trav tz and act4 for diabloruns tz or not and dont farm act5 much, only for keys.

ive done countless rushes now, and act3 is not so bad when you know how to find the dungeons there..

the jungle is shaped in rectangles up and down, and the cave is always on same side(directly above or under in a 'straight' line, well straight up and down in that rectangle shaped jungle, its not straight up/down on the actual monitor ) as the waypoint to that zone, so if the jungle take a big turn the cave is now on the other side of the river.

My ranking is:

Act IV
Act I
Act II
Act V
Act III

This is an aesthetics-based ranking.

Basically, act IV is by far my favorite (funny, since it was rushed last minute), with I and II close behind. V and III could switch spots on any given day, but when leveling characters I usually get stuck at the beginning of at least one of them simply because I don't enjoy playing them as much.

I think my issue with Act III is that it feels somewhat samey because there are long, uninterrupted stretches where you are walking the same areas and fighting the same enemies. The act basically has two halves: jungle and Kurast/

Travincal, with that first half getting a bit tiresome. While other acts are similarly homogenous, there are interruptions along the way. I love

Travincal into Durance of Hate, though.

With act V, I think my issue is that it starts out too loud and explosive, changing the tone radically from the rest of the game. It's like you've been watching a claustrophobic horror film and suddenly you're in an action-packed war film. It gets better once you go into the Ice caverns, but that initial part always puts me off. My favorite part, though, is fighting the ancients.

I should add, I never rush acts. I play them completely on every difficulty with each character.

For me the whole game is about Act 1. Act 2 and 3 feel like filler to get to act 4 which is the original climax but I think is just okay. Act 5 is just DLC. An extra bit of fun thrown in, but not core to the experience.

To my thinking Act 1 thorugh Act 4 make up the essence of Diablo 2. Act 5 works but it feels a bit like an afterthought and a little out of place with the first four acts. I've always felt Diablo 2 is the best game never completed. I've hoped that a game developer will step in and completely rebuild the game from Ground up. Make it a much larger game by increasing the map size, and adding new quests while keeping its game and play style in tact, but that's just me.

Act I has my favorite music

This thread started about gameplay experience and it evolved to lore.

Gameplay: Act 5
Lore: Act 4

Act 1 feels true to the classic Diablo experience, Act 2 has a novel setting compared to what we had gotten accustomed to in D1 and D2:A1, Act 3 feels like a slog until you get to Travincal, Act 4 has a fitting, ominous mood especially if you have the game soundtrack on (which I don't, as I've mentioned years ago), and Act 5 feels like a new world to explore.

As for the downsides, any labyrinth maps detract heavily from gameplay in my book and that's what disqualifies Acts 1-3 from being a personal favorite. Catacombs, Lut Gholein Sewers, Maggot Lair, Act 3 jungles, and Durance of Hate are the worst offenders.

There is quite a bit out there about what Act 4 could have been if not for the original Blizzard North devs being pushed to rush the game out to meet a deadline. However, without the content that got cut, Act 4 feels like it's the most focused and foreboding. It just works. There's no scavenger hunt. You're there to chase down Diablo.

For me nostalgia make me say Act 1 is the best.
Cant forgot the feeling to discover

Tristram burning.
I watched my big brother play to Diablo, was too young and scared to play myself, I was 8, so I drank potion for him. Like that we played together.
Remember him, yelling "Potion, potion" when he was low life. And the Pride to saw the final cut scene of D1.
When D2 come, I was ten and begin to play myself. The Act 1 really me me fall in love with Diablo.

It's a toss-up between act I and act V. Act I is a comfy sweater of gothic music and grim moors...but act V is really memorable with the battlegrounds outside

Harrogath. Fighting alongside the barbarians and destroying battlements and siege catapults is cool in every playthrough.

For me, the order is

Act IV
Act I
Act III (Due to

Travincal and

Mephisto MF runs)
Act V (only worths do

Anya's of optional quest and nilathak for farming keys in future).
Act II

Act V and II you just rush,

frakira wrote: 5 days ago

Whero wrote: 5 days ago

frakira wrote: 5 days ago

I love caws, if it would be terrorized all the time I would be happy and it would be the only area where I would play (except of these where I can find

Key ofc)

Hmm, when I am thinking about it - A1 is my favouritest even if there wouldn't be any cows, I do not know why.

And I hate A3, because it remains me hell during rushes - I am usually lost there.

I concur with A3. I'm surprised how many times I've been rushed in A3 with no problem. I now have notes on my IPod Touch because I tried to rush someone (Norm/NM) and it took forever because I guess I was guessing the dungeon (and you don't have quest updates). So now I know the three spots (checks IPod)

Spider Forest into

Spider Cavern,

Flayer Jungle into Flayer Dungeon, lastly

Kurast Bazaar into Sewers.

Few tips (maybe you know it, but I am sure not everybody does):
1, Council will throw you a cube if you didn't do cube quest in the A2 - so in the A2 you can skip cube quest while rushing (in the A2 just borrow a cube if you want to save a little time)
2, it is possible to do A3 without organs in this way:
- go directly tpo the

Travincal and leave the game after killing council
- open your game and let rushed people to join.. they are able to go inside durance of hate, because it is already opened, only tp does not work there, so you must walk with them to the durance hate level 2 wp (usually people are waiting till you find right way and then clear it for them)
- let them open their game again, they will be able to move inside through wp, and walk to meph

Sometimes it is a bigger pain than searching for organs (but even if I remember when the organs there, I am ofen standing staring to the map with the idea: wtf? I was EVERYWHERE, there is not cavern/dungeon/.. on this map! (in that cases my husband helps me to find the place I missed, but it is not nice feeling when people are waiting for you).
I found out that it is pretty nice way how to rush through A3 with this "hack" with my auradin - rushed players are walking directly with me when I am searching for right path in the durance level and it is pretty safe for them.

Another hint: The mandatory dungeons in act 3 (

Spider Cavern in

Spider Forest and flayer dungeon in

Flayer Jungle are in passages there are not WP present. Before entering in flayer dungeon, put a town portal in the entrance and get

Lower Kurast WP, it will acelerate the run.
Sometimes it is possible to reach

Flayer Jungle direct from

Spider Forest, bypassing

Great Marsh. if you are playing on-line and is not possible to bypass

Great Marsh, exit the game to reset map and try again.

There were some gameplay mechanics in Act 5 that added something new to the game. The way the Ancients battle worked was different. Evil urns were an interesting idea that could have been actually scary if unique mobs could spawn with D2C-era

Teleport extra fast [conviction] aura enchanted MSLEB insanity. The Blood Mana curse was the caster version of

Iron Maiden.

Also, the

Siege on Harrogath quest gave you some extra, largely useless NPCs, but it's a shame the devs couldn't do more with them. It felt like a missed opportunity, but I would have loved it if those barbarians you bailed out along the way would properly join you like a band of mercs inspired by a new leader, so by the time you got up to Shenk, it was his army versus yours.

Of course, you'd end up roflstomping Shenk if your army was more potent than the Necromancer's summons, but there would have been ways to make it balanced.

I never rushed any of my heroes, all of them I played from act 1 normal to Baal in hell. For me, this is way more fun than grinding TC85 areas all the time. And actually, it reminds me of how challenging this game can be.

My favourite is act 3, especially the jungle part. It has a great atmosphere and is the only non-linear part of the game. The main quest spreads over the entire act and feels like a big Indiana Jones adventure. Act 5 has the best soundtrack, I love it. Act 1 still has that "you are at the very beginning of an epic quest and make your first careful steps" vibe. Act 2 is kind of boring. Act 4 is cool, but I wished it would be finished, it feels anti-climatic, and falls short of being the path right into hell, to the first endboss, Diablo himself. Compared to Diablo 1, where the darkest and most cruel place is the last 4 levels, making you shudder in suspense and dread, this just isn't right. In D1 you think "holy shit, now it's getting really serious!". In Diablo 2 you think "oh, another townsfolk, and a forgotten city, hm..." Too bright, too much open space and I miss some good, gloomy music. River of Flame looks amazing, at least.

And I wished there were some quest givers to be found in the wilderness, all quests are centered in towns.

DasNarf wrote: 3 days ago

I never rushed any of my heroes, all of them I played from act 1 normal to

Baal in hell.

Hard to say:

• Act I is nice to play straight-thru, usualy i end up getting all wps there and in normal, all questrewards are very useful. Also, NPCs and Waypoints are all in a narrow area. This is why i always end up clicking
  Warriv in A II before Wping to some Act II place
• Act II has the best music and
  Arcane Sanctuary is always a highlight in terms of atmosphere and farming
• Act III has the best atmosphere overall although playthru is not that funny (looking at Great March being not that great but rather boring and dangerous)
• Act IV has the most dangerous looking monsters but i consider it the weakest because its just too short
• Act V is somewhere between A I and AII, although i always considered the Endfight with
  Baal a little bit disappointing compared to meph and dia

Different people, different listings
- act 2 is my favorite: love egyptian crypts, but also one time goto like harem/palace, Sanctuary, maggot lair, false and true tombs...
- act 1 is really the continuity of d1, melancholy and Rain... always nice
- act 4 last part is really nice, from River. Too bad the first 3 levels are less appealing due to being too redundant.
- act 5 is interesting for its additions, but a bit too long for my taste. Would completely remove Mount Arreat (3rd section) to make it better (and move River of Ice in second cavern instead of first)
- act 3 is cool since you arrive to Kurast (but do we need 3 levels ? 2 could be enough), but the three jungle levels... would fully remove

Great Marsh if you ask me.