d2:elements - features

This mod features a bunch of new things wich I thought might be cool or which I thought are neccessary to balance things out.

Namely, they are: 
a new skillsystem 
new class specific items: each class gets a second class specific itemtype 
elemental weapons 
reworked magic affixes 
reworked unique items: added a lot of elite unique items, changed the stats of most of the existing uniques 
new sets: removed all existing sets and made new ones 
new cube recipes (sometime...) 
new runewords (the existing ones will be removed) 
altered drops 
altered monster stats 
added a new system of random immunities on monsters 
a system of skill enhancement via high spellpower (=energy) values rather than synergies 
maybe some more stuff I do not remember right now 

Search the side to find out more about the single points.
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____d2:elements - items

I have added new Items in two categories: The first are the new items based on existing ones, like new uniques, sets, and new runewords.
The second category are the new base item classes. Also, a lot of changes have been made to existing base item types.

Drops have been altered so that it is now easier to find highlevel items. Even if you are not someone who plays Diablo2 for several hours a day, you will be able to find elite unique items now.

Some words about items in general. I dont think that unique items should be the best items you can ever get, like it is in the unmodded game (think about Buriza Do-Kyanon, Windforce, Harlequin Crest and more).
I personally think that very good rare items should be the best items you can ever get. With this, you will never reach the maximum equipment, and you can always hunt for even better rare items (unless you get a once-in-a-lifetime top rare item drop).
Crafted items might even be better as rare items, as they are less common and the chances for a really good crafted item are really low.

The new base items add to the existing armory and weapon arsenal. They also got new inventory graphics.

The magical affixes have changed, too. You might be interested how.

Use the links on the left to access the various item subcategories.
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__d2:elements - game mechanics
The new skillsystem

There is a new skillsystem in my mod, which was made because i think the one blizzard has in Diablo2: Lord of Destruction has some extreme flaws in it: 
most skills are either at level 1 or at level 20 (anything in between doesn't make sense) 
some builds are impossible because you lack enough skillpoints for them, and having all skills at lvl 15 only does not work on hell difficulty 
if your build is complete and you have still skillpoints to distribute, you cannot do anything reasonable with them 
there are lot of stereotype builds (zeal/fanaticism for example) 
lowlevel skills can be maxed at characterlevel 20 
lowlevel skills are crappy so noone uses them 

To fight this, my new skillsystem features: 
no maximum skill level at all 
no level requirements for skills 
more powerful lowlevel skills 
skills where it makes sense to have them at levels between 1 and 20 

Now you might say: "Hey cool, i start pushing a lowlevel skill early (as they are strong now) and reach lvl 100 when my character is highlevel (as there is no maximum skill level)". Or you even start pushing a highlevel skill immediately (as there are no level requirements any more). This will not work.

You can use your first skill point to push, for example, Might.
If you get your second skill point because your paladin reaches level three, you will, however, NOT be able to push might to level two. Reaching the second skillevel costs two skill points instead of, like in the unmodded game, one.
To reach level three, you will even need to spend three skill points!

This might sound a bit strange, and it might be. But i think it is a good solution to get things work like i want them to work.
The skill upgrade cost increase more and more with each following level. They follow a scheme, which is not as easy as skillupgradecost = skillevel. Additionaly, passive skills follow another scheme because their aim is totally different.

The schemes i currently plan to implement (might change with the beta test):


Skillevel Cost for active skills Cost for passive skills 
1 see below see below 
2 2 15 
3 3 15 
4 4 15 
5 5 15 
6 6 15 
7 7 15 
8 8 15 
9 9 15 
10 10 15 
11 12 16 
12 14 17 
13 16 18 
14 18 19 
15 20 20 


The first level of a skill costs always as much as the level requirement for the skill was in the unmodded game. For example, the first level of Might costs one skill point, while the first level of Concentration costs 18 skillpoints and the first of Fanaticism costs 30.

This table is not complete of course, you can see a complete table here.

Of course, players need more skill points in this system. Because of this, the number of skillpoints players gain per level-up has been altered.
Players receive one skillpoint for levels one to three, two skillpoints for levels four to six and so on. Basically divide the character level by three and you get the skillpoints that you receive for reaching that level.
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d2:elements - game mechanics
The new monster immunity system

The reason for this new system is the following: Lots of characters run around with only two or three skills trained properly. The immunities on monsters don't really make it any better. As most players just hunt for experience and items, they only venture where the monsters are not immune against their skills (lightning fury!) to gain experience, and bosses are not immune anyways.
I cannot make this any better with just adding immunities to monster classes, because players would always find an area where monsters are not immune to the element of damage they deal.
Because of this, i have thought of a new system of monster immunities. Every time a monster is spawned, the game checks if one (or even two) random immunities are assigned.
The chances for this relate just to the monster level. This means that even bosses might get immune, and if you are unlucky, Baal will be physical immune when you face him with your barbarian.

The chances are calculated like this:
Chance for random immunity 1: 0.5% * monsterlevel
Chance for random immunity 2: 0.5% * monsterlevel

This makes 40% chance for immunity 1 as well as for immunity 2 for a lvl 80 monster. This means it has a 64% chance to get at least one immunity and a chance of 16% to get two immunities.
Random immunities are chosen with equal chances from all six immunities (physical, poison, fire, lightning, cold, magic) avilable.

This diagram shows the chances for a monster having at least one, one, or two immunities dependant on the monsterlevel.
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d2:elements - game mechanics
The new spellpower system

After looking at the 1.10 beta for some time, I realized that I didnt like the synergy system at all for a simple reason: Characters cannot have more than one skill at high effectivity anymore.
So I have removed all synergies from all skills and replaced them with a synergy effect from spellpower (former energy). The higher your spellpower is, the more damage the skill will deal, or the more attack rating it will have, or maybe the longer will it last. Some skills dont get those synergies at all, for example all the passive skills and most of the auras.

The spellpower influence formulas work percentage-based. For most skills (especially for the offensive skills), the damage is increased by a percentage calculated by this formula:

Primarily Fighter Characters (Barbarian, Druid, Paladin, Amazon, Asassin): 
160 * spellpower / (spellpower + 300)

Primarily Caster Characters (Sorceress, Necromancer): 
200 * spellpower / (spellpower + 500)

This leads to the following results (the truncation errors because of integer calculations are taken care of):
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d2:elements - game mechanics

Some of the game mechanics have been altered. Most noticably, this is the new skill system. I didn't really like the old skill system, so it has been replaced. At this point lots of thanks to Kingpin, who has coded the new skill system for me.
You might need some time to understand and cope with the new system, though.

Sadly, the skillsystem doesnt currently work. I had it working in 1.09d, but, you know, code has changed... 
The new skillsystem can be seen here.


The second thing you will find in d2:elements is a new system of random immunities monsters get assigned. If you are running through the wilderness, you will see some monsters that have immunities that do not really "belong" to them. Not all monsters of one species have the same immunities any longer. You might even see some quill rats that are immune to physical.

Don't be afraid though, the system and its purpose is explained here.


Then we have the spellpower thing, which is explained here 



