CAUTION! This mod is much more difficult than vanilla Lord of Destruction . Actually, you can forget everything you knew about LoD playing balance and start your exploration over.

Overall gameplay changes:

Don’t bring LoD playing stereotypes in this mod. Most things differ from original LoD so you will have to use your imagination. Most of new players complaints go from trying to use common game stamps that just do not work here.
If you feel particular places too difficult – just rethink of what you do. Many issues may be resolved by just tune your character a little.
You should relay much more on your mercenary – he might be really helpful in some places.
Try and use all new things brought to mod – they may be essential or even necessary for successful gaming.
Read NPC dialogues and info books in every act carefully –they contain special tips and receipts.
Pay attention to low-level runewords and set items/their combinations – this may help greatly in the early game and sometime even on the last stages.
You can use almost everything in the Cube, so don’t hurry to drop/sell items you consider unnecessary – you may need them later in the game.

Storyline:

Talk with various NPCs, especially with Deckard Cain and Tyrael to learn about the new story.
Key positions:
Act 1: Cain’s monologue after you rescue him.
Act 1: Warriv’s Introduction.
Act 1: Akara, before accepting Den of Evil quest.
Act 1: Kashia, before accepting Blood Raven quest.
Act 1: Charsi, before accepting Horadric Malus quest and after completing.
Act 4: Tyrael’s monologue after you kill Diablo.
Act 5: Cain’s Introduction.
Also, you can talk with Cain in each act (“Gossip” section) to learn new cube recipes.

Characters:

Resistance penalties have been increased: 0 for Normal, -200 for Nightmare and –500 for Hell.
Some quest rewards have been changed.
There are two new character statistics: Luck and Endurance. They greatly affect many different aspects of the game so try to keep them as high as possible.
The run/walk speed of characters is increased as well as the speed of arrows/bolts, spells etc.
10 stat points per level, 2 skill points per level (with PlugY).
No experience is lost on death.
Characters lose 1 point of Endurance for each death!
Characters start with Horadric Cube in inventory.
Some internal character properties (such as mana per level, hp per level, elemental resistance cap, etc.) were rebalanced – be careful with your favorite builds, they may be less effective.
Mercenaries are improved. Actually, in some places they may be more viable than your character. You should take them serious. Also please pay special attention to mercenaries from Act 3 – they are really useful and powerful now.
Some caps and rollovers for various statistics and properties:
- Maximum base (non modified by items’ properties) values of Strength, Dexterity, Vitality and Energy are 2047. You can to overcome this limit during a game session but these values will return when you start a new game session.
- Base (non modified by items’ properties) Luck and Endurance values can vary from –256 to 255.
- Cap for elemental absorption is 40%.
- Cap for Faster Cast Rate property is 175%.
- Cap for Reduce Physical Damage is 60%.
- Cap for Reduce Poison Length property is 75%.
- Maximum base (non modified by items’ properties) values of Life, mana, and stamina are 8 191.
- Cap for Attack Rating and Defense is 21 000 000.
- Maximum number of unallocated statpoints is 1023.
- Maximum number of unallocated skillpoints is 255.
- Maximum quantity of Gold is 33 554 431.

Skills:

Some overlays have been added.
Max level of skills is 40.
Some of skills have Friendly Fire ability.
All skills were rebalanced. Do not relay on your knowledge of LoD “suxx&rulezz” about skills – re-estimate them from the blank point.

Monsters:

Overall monsters difficulty was increased greatly – approve with great caution!
Run/walk speed of monsters is increased.
Strength of monsters is increased in various ways. Pay attention to their ability to cast spells onstruck/ondeath – it may be lethal for unprepared players.
New monster types have been added.
New unique monsters have been added (examples: Sister of Countess and Cow Queen).

Areas:

New areas have been added.
Some objects appear in new places. I like evil urns; so evil urns are everywhere now!
The duration of shrine effects is increased, and shrines refresh more quickly.

Items:

Unique items have been rebalanced so most of your common knowledge does not work any more.
Potions that temporarily boost character abilities (vitality, defense, etc.) can be purchased at the store. These can greatly improve your chances of survival, so take advantage of them!
Size of stack for keys is increased (200) as well as size of stack for identify / town portal tomes (100).
The colors of item names have been changed to make them more visible on the ground.
Gfx of some armor and weapons has been changed, plus new Gfx for some rings, amulets.
All wearable items are socketable now, including rings and amulets but excluding charms. The quantity of sockets in items is increased. Maximum number of sockets in item is <Item’s Height X Item’s Weight >, but no more than 6.
Gambling has been boosted. That means boosted! You can take advantage of gambling starting even on Normal difficulty and even more on Nightmare and especially on Hell. Rare, Set and Unique items gamble chance was increased greatly. But think carefully what you should gamble for…
The properties and appearance of runes has been reworked.
New runes have been added, including class-oriented runes.
The probabilities of rune drops have been boosted.
Properties of gems have been boosted. A new gem type has been added (Elemental Gem).
New items have been added (see Cube Recipes.doc/pdf).
New magic properties have been added.
Arrows and bolts can be spawn as magic, rare, and unique.
New auto properties have been added on items.
New qualities have been added for non-magical items.
New unique items have been added, including unique rings and amulets.
The bonuses on set items and sets have been boosted.
Runewords have been reworked (see Runewords.doc/pdf).
PlugY 11.02 (great thanks to Yohann mailto:ynicolas@worldon line.fr for his wonderful plug-in!).
D2Mod 1.03 (great thanks to SVR mailto:[email protected] for his amazing plug-in!)

I am sure that I have left out many features, so play the game
to discover other changes.CAUTION! This mod is much more difficult than vanilla Lord of Destruction . Actually, you can forget everything you knew about LoD playing balance and start your exploration over.

Overall gameplay changes:

Don’t bring LoD playing stereotypes in this mod. Most things differ from original LoD so you will have to use your imagination. Most of new players complaints go from trying to use common game stamps that just do not work here.
If you feel particular places too difficult – just rethink of what you do. Many issues may be resolved by just tune your character a little.
You should relay much more on your mercenary – he might be really helpful in some places.
Try and use all new things brought to mod – they may be essential or even necessary for successful gaming.
Read NPC dialogues and info books in every act carefully –they contain special tips and receipts.
Pay attention to low-level runewords and set items/their combinations – this may help greatly in the early game and sometime even on the last stages.
You can use almost everything in the Cube, so don’t hurry to drop/sell items you consider unnecessary – you may need them later in the game.

Storyline:

Talk with various NPCs, especially with Deckard Cain and Tyrael to learn about the new story.
Key positions:
Act 1: Cain’s monologue after you rescue him.
Act 1: Warriv’s Introduction.
Act 1: Akara, before accepting Den of Evil quest.
Act 1: Kashia, before accepting Blood Raven quest.
Act 1: Charsi, before accepting Horadric Malus quest and after completing.
Act 4: Tyrael’s monologue after you kill Diablo.
Act 5: Cain’s Introduction.
Also, you can talk with Cain in each act (“Gossip” section) to learn new cube recipes.

Characters:

Resistance penalties have been increased: 0 for Normal, -200 for Nightmare and –500 for Hell.
Some quest rewards have been changed.
There are two new character statistics: Luck and Endurance. They greatly affect many different aspects of the game so try to keep them as high as possible.
The run/walk speed of characters is increased as well as the speed of arrows/bolts, spells etc.
10 stat points per level, 2 skill points per level (with PlugY).
No experience is lost on death.
Characters lose 1 point of Endurance for each death!
Characters start with Horadric Cube in inventory.
Some internal character properties (such as mana per level, hp per level, elemental resistance cap, etc.) were rebalanced – be careful with your favorite builds, they may be less effective.
Mercenaries are improved. Actually, in some places they may be more viable than your character. You should take them serious. Also please pay special attention to mercenaries from Act 3 – they are really useful and powerful now.
Some caps and rollovers for various statistics and properties:
- Maximum base (non modified by items’ properties) values of Strength, Dexterity, Vitality and Energy are 2047. You can to overcome this limit during a game session but these values will return when you start a new game session.
- Base (non modified by items’ properties) Luck and Endurance values can vary from –256 to 255.
- Cap for elemental absorption is 40%.
- Cap for Faster Cast Rate property is 175%.
- Cap for Reduce Physical Damage is 60%.
- Cap for Reduce Poison Length property is 75%.
- Maximum base (non modified by items’ properties) values of Life, mana, and stamina are 8 191.
- Cap for Attack Rating and Defense is 21 000 000.
- Maximum number of unallocated statpoints is 1023.
- Maximum number of unallocated skillpoints is 255.
- Maximum quantity of Gold is 33 554 431.

Skills:

Some overlays have been added.
Max level of skills is 40.
Some of skills have Friendly Fire ability.
All skills were rebalanced. Do not relay on your knowledge of LoD “suxx&rulezz” about skills – re-estimate them from the blank point.

Monsters:

Overall monsters difficulty was increased greatly – approve with great caution!
Run/walk speed of monsters is increased.
Strength of monsters is increased in various ways. Pay attention to their ability to cast spells onstruck/ondeath – it may be lethal for unprepared players.
New monster types have been added.
New unique monsters have been added (examples: Sister of Countess and Cow Queen).

Areas:

New areas have been added.
Some objects appear in new places. I like evil urns; so evil urns are everywhere now!
The duration of shrine effects is increased, and shrines refresh more quickly.

Items:

Unique items have been rebalanced so most of your common knowledge does not work any more.
Potions that temporarily boost character abilities (vitality, defense, etc.) can be purchased at the store. These can greatly improve your chances of survival, so take advantage of them!
Size of stack for keys is increased (200) as well as size of stack for identify / town portal tomes (100).
The colors of item names have been changed to make them more visible on the ground.
Gfx of some armor and weapons has been changed, plus new Gfx for some rings, amulets.
All wearable items are socketable now, including rings and amulets but excluding charms. The quantity of sockets in items is increased. Maximum number of sockets in item is <Item’s Height X Item’s Weight >, but no more than 6.
Gambling has been boosted. That means boosted! You can take advantage of gambling starting even on Normal difficulty and even more on Nightmare and especially on Hell. Rare, Set and Unique items gamble chance was increased greatly. But think carefully what you should gamble for…
The properties and appearance of runes has been reworked.
New runes have been added, including class-oriented runes.
The probabilities of rune drops have been boosted.
Properties of gems have been boosted. A new gem type has been added (Elemental Gem).
New items have been added (see Cube Recipes.doc/pdf).
New magic properties have been added.
Arrows and bolts can be spawn as magic, rare, and unique.
New auto properties have been added on items.
New qualities have been added for non-magical items.
New unique items have been added, including unique rings and amulets.
The bonuses on set items and sets have been boosted.
Runewords have been reworked (see Runewords.doc/pdf).
PlugY 11.02 (great thanks to Yohann mailto:ynicolas@worldon line.fr for his wonderful plug-in!).
D2Mod 1.03 (great thanks to SVR mailto:[email protected] for his amazing plug-in!)

I am sure that I have left out many features, so play the game
to discover other changes.