Low Level Dueling: Come one, come all!

Narrative Introduction

jdkerr: Have you ever been interested in PvP, but thought it wasn't for you because you don't have Gawdly Hax Gearz (tm)?

omg: Why... no, not really. After all, I do have such equipment.

Nagisa: I kil u with pwn runez lolllol!11!!!

Everyone else, in chorus: YES! PLEASE TELL US MORE!

(All due apologies to two of my favorite forum members, with whom I have had many hours of good PvP fun.)



What is Low Level Dueling (LLD)?

It is many things. On these forums, we have at various time done "ALLD" (Accessible Low Level Dueling), which takes place between characters that are no higher than level eighteen. In the context of this post, however, we are using the plain designation "LLD" to refer to dueling that takes place between characters that are no higher than level thirty. Your lvl30 character and my lvl30 character jump into the Moor, square off, and pummel each other into the dirt.

...or rather, I pummel yours into the dirt.



What are the advantages?

For one, character investment time is low. Instead of spending hours leveling a character into the mid-90s, all you need do is hit lvl30. Also, wealth requirements are low. The kind of gear that characters can wear at lvl30 is the sort of stuff that trades for a handful of pgems at most. The only real exception is the Stone of Jordan ring, which is more expensive and may be desired for certain builds, but is not necessary. LLD is an easy and fun way to get your feet wet in the PvP scene. For those who are used to high level dueling, LLD can be an enjoyable alternative, requiring you to formulate an entirely different set of build possibilities and strategies.

Compared to lvl18 dueling, lvl30 dueling allows much greater build flexibility with equipment, stat points, and skill selection. It is also more friendly to caster characters, if that is your style.



What are the rules?

Well, characters obviously cannot be higher than lvl30. We also prohibit glitch-rushing your character through the game, so characters cannot have completed any quests past "Normal" difficulty. For practical purposes, there is no reason to complete any quests past the first one in Act 4 Normal.

Beyond that, I think we use the standard SPF PvP ruleset:

-- No potions (except mana potions), mercs, wells, or shrines.

-- No recasting Cyclone and Bone Armour.

-- No minions that cannot be summoned in town with the exception of Decoy.

-- No Holy Freeze, Decrepify, Slow Missiles, or Bone Prison.

-- No mass slow (>10%), no mass poison from items (>200), no mass replenish (>25).

-- No curse charges (this includes Slow Missiles). Chance to cast is acceptable.

-- No over absorb. Limit 2 items per element with the standard ban on Rising Sun and Black Oak.

-- Mana potions are allowed for all characters except ES based sorcs

(I am not sure if the absorb rules are relevant, actually, since most of the absorb gear cannot be equipped at lvl30. There is a problem with fire sorb, though. Do we just ban any resists over 75%? I did not find anything in the last thread. Any ideas?)

(Also, if there are any errors here, let me know. This is just what I remember, and I could be mistaken.)



Conclusion

Before my "restart," I had just begun doing some LLD and thought it was great fun. In fact, I was more excited about it than any other aspect of D2 at the time. I would love to get back into it, and I plan on putting together a character or two very soon. Anyone interested?

EDIT: Link to the last thread.|||Do you think a blade fury assassin could be viable?

I have three character ideas: charger (which you've seen before), fire sorc (with the circlet you gave me), and BFsin (with a secret weapon I made ).|||Quote:








For practical purposes, there is no reason to complete any quests past the first one in Act 4 Normal.




I would expect more elemental builds this time around, so the +resists scroll from act 5 could be a very big thing to allow or not.

Fire Sorc

Fire Druid

MA assassin (Fire claw)

All of these would be hurt to some extent by the free 10 resists.|||Keep in mind that those extra resists are bugged, so they only work until your first death. I don't see any point in allowing them.|||I'm in! This sounds awesome!|||@Snicker: I was thinking about a BF sin myself. Others probably have a more informed opinion (omg, perhaps? he uses BF sometimes). And I am not looking forward to the deaths that I will receive at the hand of that circlet. We'll see how you do against my own gg circlet...

@Ashmer: The resists are bugged. It is better not to get the scroll of resistance so that your LCS displays the accurate resists; factoring in the bug all the time is a [minor] pain. If we allowed glitch-rushing, I would still deliberately not get any of the scrolls.|||@All: I have two characters ready to go, so just let me know when you're up for some games. I can host.

@LeWoVoc: You have any build ideas in mind?|||I really want to do this. LLD is teh bomb #1!

I just have to make a contender.

EDIT:

question.

Is it ok to use peace on a ww barb seeing as slow missile is bm?|||i've been hoping to (some day) do some LLDing in SP. dont think i could join you as of yet, but maybe some time soon.|||@Obdob: CtC effects should be fine. Let me know when your character is ready!

@crawlingdeadman: Why wait? Make one now and see how it goes!