Did I do something wrong? (Not rhetorical)

Hi Everyone,
I don't post much but I want to share a weird story. I play online, but mostly play solo. I chose to play online because I love the trading aspect of the game. The wheeling and dealing is my jam. I digress. Earlier today I was working on leveling my barb. He is level 37 so yes, I have a ways to go. When leveling I try to join Free Roam games (xbox) and just sort of do my own thing. So I joined a normal game that has two level 1 characters in it - score its now Players 3 with me in it!
I enter Act5 and go to WSK2, the other two people are in Act1. I start my clearing. During this time a few other players join, but I dont really pay attention. I'm getting crazy good exp! I'm in the throne room about to start wave 3 and BAM this necro pops out of nowhere and murders me with

Bone Spear. Back in

Harrogath I check his level...94...and I'm now 38. He TPs back to town, so I go back in through my TP, to get my body and gold. He comes back into the Throne Room and murder's me again. I waited in the game for 10 more minutes. No one else went to WSK, no one even came to act 5. He never left town again, he just stook by his TP. By that time everyone else had left. I messaged him on xbox-live asking what is up, I got no response.
Did I do something wrong? I don't think I was messing up anyone's rush since it was two level 1 characters. Did I break some public game decorum? Or was I just subject to play Ground bullying?
I haven't been playing for very long, and as I said I generally keep to myself.
Thanks for any feedback.

It doesn't seem like you did anything wrong.

It seems like you just encountered a pker that likes to kill low level chars and feels op about themselves. D2 is a dark themed game and stuff like this happens. Don't overthink about it.

Knappogue wrote: 6 months ago

Hi Everyone,
I don't post much but I want to share a weird story. I play online, but mostly play solo. I chose to play online because I love the trading aspect of the game. The wheeling and dealing is my jam. I digress. Earlier today I was working on leveling my barb. He is level 37 so yes, I have a ways to go. When leveling I try to join Free Roam games (xbox) and just sort of do my own thing. So I joined a normal game that has two level 1 characters in it - score its now Players 3 with me in it!
I enter Act5 and go to WSK2, the other two people are in Act1. I start my clearing. During this time a few other players join, but I dont really pay attention. I'm getting crazy good exp! I'm in the throne room about to start wave 3 and BAM this necro pops out of nowhere and murders me with

Bone Spear. Back in

Harrogath I check his level...94...and I'm now 38. He TPs back to town, so I go back in through my TP, to get my body and gold. He comes back into the Throne Room and murder's me again. I waited in the game for 10 more minutes. No one else went to WSK, no one even came to act 5. He never left town again, he just stook by his TP. By that time everyone else had left. I messaged him on xbox-live asking what is up, I got no response.
Did I do something wrong? I don't think I was messing up anyone's rush since it was two level 1 characters. Did I break some public game decorum? Or was I just subject to play Ground bullying?
I haven't been playing for very long, and as I said I generally keep to myself.
Thanks for any feedback.

No you didn't to anything wrong. There are some people (Pkers) who get their jollies by jumping into games and killing less advanced builds. Before they can kill you they must first go hostile and you will get a hostile warning notice which during a battle can easily be missed. I was in a game once with my StrafeZon and someone went hostile on me. I was too busy to notice until they were upon me, but I was in battle at the time and I ended up accidentally killing them instead. They naturally left the game. When someone enters a game and kills you, you have two choices, engage or get out of the game. I think Blizzard should've provided an opt out choice for people who're not interested in being forced to play someone else's game, but they didn't.

Ok, so I did hear a weird noise but I was too focused on Annihilating Colenzo to devote any brain cells to it. That was probably him going hostile.
I'm relieved it was just someone being a tool rather than me ruining someone's game.
20 years ago I would have lost sleep over this. Today, just relief I didn't commit a faux-pas.
Cheers guys

Knappogue wrote: 6 months ago

I messaged him on xbox-live asking what is up, I got no response.

Maybe he just wanted the 'Macabre Mark' achievement?

flamebellow wrote: 6 months ago

Knappogue wrote: 6 months ago

I messaged him on xbox-live asking what is up, I got no response.

Maybe he just wanted the 'Macabre Mark' achievement?

"That's a thing?!...Wait, of course that's a thing."
-My Thought Process

Bisu wrote: 6 months ago

It doesn't seem like you did anything wrong.

It seems like you just encountered a pker that likes to kill low level chars and feels op about themselves. D2 is a dark themed game and stuff like this happens. Don't overthink about it.

PKers target equally strong or stronger characters

that guy was simply a bitch


I have seen a guide for people that made a sport out of this (20years ago). Bonebreak and a few Sigon's Set Pieces as Base, lvl 28 max and go for lvl 80+ characters.

Knappogue wrote: 6 months ago

I'm relieved it was just someone being a tool rather than me ruining someone's game.

To be fair, there is a very real chance that necro wasn't some random PKer but one of the other guys' alt / a friend of theirs.

Plenty of people make games online to actually play through with others. I.e. start in A1 (or wherever you are at the time) and continue through, ideally past A5. Random other people joining for their own farming purposes and killing meph before they get there (or in your case soon killing

Baal) effectively breaks their game as they can't progress beyond the "farmer's target" point. Cussing you out for doing that and/or getting on a different char / calling a friend to stop you from doing it isn't that unusual.

Additionally, plenty of people (especially on low lvl playthroughs) don't want to deal with mobs that are a multiple stronger than they should be while at the same time not getting any help as the folks making them harder are off in random other acts doing their own thing. Same result as above.

Given, when one makes a public game, that's just something you sadly expect and have to learn to live with. But it doesn't make you getting hunted down over it any less surprising.

Turn the sound up! When someone hostiles you you can't miss it, it's quite a distinctive sound. When you play HC you will learn to pay much more attention to it too

Anyway it's a public game so most things are acceptable. You did nothing wrong. Good luck with the Barb!

Takro wrote: 6 months ago

When someone hostiles you you can't miss it, it's quite a distinctive sound.

Yes, "ear memory" (like muscle memory) won't mislead you!
I've played a mod which "hijacked" this sound for a buff (PvP was disabled there). It felt so weird and annoying...

Schnorki wrote: 6 months ago

Knappogue wrote: 6 months ago

I'm relieved it was just someone being a tool rather than me ruining someone's game.

To be fair, there is a very real chance that necro wasn't some random PKer but one of the other guys' alt / a friend of theirs.

Plenty of people make games online to actually play through with others. I.e. start in A1 (or wherever you are at the time) and continue through, ideally past A5. Random other people joining for their own farming purposes and killing meph before they get there (or in your case soon killing

Baal) effectively breaks their game as they can't progress beyond the "farmer's target" point. Cussing you out for doing that and/or getting on a different char / calling a friend to stop you from doing it isn't that unusual.

Additionally, plenty of people (especially on low lvl playthroughs) don't want to deal with mobs that are a multiple stronger than they should be while at the same time not getting any help as the folks making them harder are off in random other acts doing their own thing. Same result as above.

Given, when one makes a public game, that's just something you sadly expect and have to learn to live with. But it doesn't make you getting hunted down over it any less surprising.

Noooo!!!! Schnorki you aren't helping my anxiety! J/k. See, this is what I was wondering my faux-pas might have been. What I find a bit questionable is even when the two level 1s left (leaving just me and the necro) the necro was still camping by the TP. He didn't leave with everyone one else and didn't respond when I asked what was up.
But I do see how if the roles were reversed I would have been really annoyed. The game name was just random letters (YYH) or something. It wasn't "Normal walk-through" or something like that. I would have stayed out of that game.

Did they level past level 1? If not, they were probably just mules. Think about how fast they would reach level 2. Like 20 kills. I think it was some lonely PKer being a jerk rather than someone coming in to get rid of you for interrupting a game. After all, why would they make their game public if they wanted a private experience? Either way, I wouldn't give a 2nd thought about if you did something wrong if i were you.

Takro wrote: 6 months ago

When you play HC you will learn to pay much more attention to it too

In HC, you will hear the sound of declaring hostility and your dead at the same time
In the picture below, Jurjina is a PKer. He was waiting people to join his dirty TP

mockingbirdreal wrote: 6 months ago

Takro wrote: 6 months ago

When you play HC you will learn to pay much more attention to it too

In HC, you will hear the sound of declaring hostility and your dead at the same time
In the picture below, Jurjina is a PKer. He was waiting people to join his dirty TP

image.png

Ohhhhh that is dirty!

Landros wrote: 6 months ago

Did they level past level 1? If not, they were probably just mules. Think about how fast they would reach level 2. Like 20 kills. I think it was some lonely PKer being a jerk rather than someone coming in to get rid of you for interrupting a game. After all, why would they make their game public if they wanted a private experience? Either way, I wouldn't give a 2nd thought about if you did something wrong if i were you.

When I first joined the game, they were both in

Rogue Encampment. When the Necro killed me the first time, they were still level 1.

Knappogue wrote: 6 months ago

Schnorki wrote: 6 months ago

Knappogue wrote: 6 months ago

I'm relieved it was just someone being a tool rather than me ruining someone's game.

To be fair, there is a very real chance that necro wasn't some random PKer but one of the other guys' alt / a friend of theirs.

Plenty of people make games online to actually play through with others. I.e. start in A1 (or wherever you are at the time) and continue through, ideally past A5. Random other people joining for their own farming purposes and killing meph before they get there (or in your case soon killing

Baal) effectively breaks their game as they can't progress beyond the "farmer's target" point. Cussing you out for doing that and/or getting on a different char / calling a friend to stop you from doing it isn't that unusual.

Additionally, plenty of people (especially on low lvl playthroughs) don't want to deal with mobs that are a multiple stronger than they should be while at the same time not getting any help as the folks making them harder are off in random other acts doing their own thing. Same result as above.

Given, when one makes a public game, that's just something you sadly expect and have to learn to live with. But it doesn't make you getting hunted down over it any less surprising.

Noooo!!!! Schnorki you aren't helping my anxiety! J/k. See, this is what I was wondering my faux-pas might have been. What I find a bit questionable is even when the two level 1s left (leaving just me and the necro) the necro was still camping by the TP. He didn't leave with everyone one else and didn't respond when I asked what was up.
But I do see how if the roles were reversed I would have been really annoyed. The game name was just random letters (YYH) or something. It wasn't "Normal walk-through" or something like that. I would have stayed out of that game.

Well, if the game name is just random letters (and not just a different language ) then yeah, no blame to be put on you. "Unnamed" pug games are basically a free for all and you shouldn't expect anything else if you host one of those.

I was thinking more of the good ol' "a1 new" or "a1 to 5" or whatever that clearly indicate that someone is trying to actively progress/play through but would prefer not to do so by their lonesome. Sadly, those tend to fall apart come A3 at the latest because someone always jumps in to farm meph.

Knappogue wrote: 6 months ago

...
Did I do something wrong?
...

From the described I can't possibly see what might be considered as "wrong" in this scenario. On the other hand, I'm having hard time understanding how it could be possible not to notice when someone goes rogue on you in a game, and I am talking about from a 60+ y.o. person perspective. You might have had the default setting for automatic coop invite "on", which allows prompt identification of your character location, besides other things like shared town portals. Turn it off in your game settings for all characters you play from the lobby, and accept each invite separately, if any. Still, you'd have to pay attention, as some nasty players like the one you described may change their intent in the game.