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There goes your life ... again.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: August 23, 2001
Author: Amazon User

You knew this day would come. You've seen all of the spells of the various character classes in action, your favorite character has achieved level 99, can summon a small army of minions, and whips Diablo in seconds at 'Hell' difficulty. You are skipping the video clips between the acts, and also most of the NPC narratives because you know them by heart now anyway. You have finally noticed the dried up carcass that used to be your pet, as well as the good-bye letter your girlfriend left you on the breakfast table months ago. In other words, the hitherto unimaginable has come to pass: Diablo II has finally started to feel a wee bit stale (There. I said it--and immediately feel like an ingrate).

Fortunately, the good folks at Blizzard have been laboring for this day with great foresight, and the insanity can begin all over. Just pick up a copy of 'Lord of Destruction.' You may think that the price tag is a tad steep for an add-on, and even though the new chapter features stunning new locales, interesting and fresh NPCs, and challenging new monsters, you would be right, if it weren't for the fact that LOD is also an add-in. Once you install it the entire original game is updated with new features (you'll probably want to read about the details elsewhere, like on the Blizzard site, but let me just quickly mention more gems, more unique items, new item classes, some of which are class-specific, jewels and runes you can insert into socketed items for special powers, and on the whole more sockets in a lot of items), all of which are interesting enough to go back and explore the original acts once more with one of your old characters. A particularly nice touch is that you now have the option of running the entire game in 600x800 resolution--provided your machine is reasonably powerful--which not only makes the game look substantially prettier, but allows you to see more of the battlefield at once, which can be a tactical advantage for ranged attacks.

You also get two entirely new characters, the Assassin (a martial arts specialist somewhere between Jet Li and Darth Maul) and the Druid (think Grizzly Adams with unique summoning skills and way cool shape-shifting abilities--he morphs into a werewolf or werebear with special bonuses in each form). Only characters that have already defeated Diablo at least once in the original acts can access Act V (go back to the Pandemonium Fortress and speak to Tyrael once more), so you will have to start from the very beginning with your Druid or Assassin, but their skill sets are a lot of fun and you really want to develop them, so it feels like a whole fresh game.

So, considering all the cool stuff that LOD delivers in addition to just one more act to tack on the original game, it's well worth the price. Just don't get another hamster, job, or love interest before you're done playing this expansion set.

Key Features I Noticed The Most

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: July 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Lord of Destruction (LOD) offers various new features, and after playing through it this weekend (June 30, July 1, 2001), here are the 6 that stood out to me the most.

1) Act V: Of course, the continuation of the story! The graphic artwork is very nice, with snow fall effects. The new creatures are very challenging. Act V is also fairly big. Closer to Act III. The quests are also more interesting than the original quests. For example, rescuing barbarian warriors held captive by Baal's forces.

2) Two New character classes: Assassin & Druid. The assassin uses martial arts, traps, and "shadow skills." Druid uses elemental magic, shapeshifting into bears/wolves, and summoning animals (mainly wolves & bears). I have only played the assassin thus far, and she is very cool, but the druid looks like he would be very interesting as well.

3) 800 x 600 resolution: The increased resolution allows more to show on the screen and makes the graphics appear less pixelized on large monitors. I have a fast computer, so I saw no performance difference. If you are running near minimum requirements, this is not an option for you.

4) Double the Storage: Your cache space has doubled. Plus, when above level 30, the amount of gold you can save goes way up.

5) Weapon swapping: You can equip two sets of weaponory. For example, my barbarian carries a two-handed sword in each hand, plus a two-handed sword and shield as a second option. With the hot-key W I switch between the two configurations on the fly. I used this ALOT, especially towards the finale.

6) Hirelings MUCH more useful: The hirelings can now be resurrected, given armor, helm, and weapons (the weapon must be the same type they first come with). Moreover, you get to see their stats, exp points & level, and you can take them with you across acts. You can only have one, but now that you can keep them with you and they are a little tougher, you can practically keep a rogue from Act I through to Act 5. I found hirelings very useful. My favorite so far are the mages from Act 3, though the Barbarians in Act 5 are pretty tough themselves.

There were numerous other changes. New magical properties, hora dric cube recipes, I can go on and on.

The five above are the ones that really stood out the most to me and in which I noticed an immediate effect on gameplay and stragedy when I played through the first time.

My only gripe is I wanted more on the final cinematic after you kill Baal. It was fine, but I wanted it to show more.

If you liked the Diablo II "classic," you WILL thoroughly enjoy the expansion. It greatly improves upon and adds more of what you'd expect from the original D2.

Great Game; not-so-great for GPA

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: December 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The "Blizzard" mark on the box almost garanteed the value of this game. Improvements such as the 800x600 pixles support and two new character classes make it a must-buy for all original DiabloII owners. The elaborate art work and background music of the additional episode 5 are especially impressive. This expansion set has greatly improved the overall gamming experience of this best-selling title "Diablo".

However, one of the biggest flaw of this game is that the multiplayer conncetion to Battle.net is still rather unstable and laggy when the traffic to the game servers are heavy. Playing this game on Battle.net wagers a considerable amount of risk to see your character stop moving for a while and later find it lay dead on the ground. Or you may see your character getting killed by "invisible" enemies. If you choose to play on Battle.net realm, I strongly suggest a realiable ISP provider(preferably cable connection) and a high-speed computer.

Overal Blizzard did a decent job designing the two character classes: the druid and assasin. The new skills associated with the character are unique and fun for original DiabloII owners. The shape shifting skill is revolutionary and the "Martial arts" of the assasins is a selling-feature for this add-on. However, having to play over the original 4 acts with all 3 difficulty levels to finish the game might make this game a bit repetitive. Nonetheless, the exciting actions of game-play has made many Expansion owners play through all 5 act of the 3 difficulty levels with all 7 characters- You get to kill Baal 21 times by doing so. One pack of this game virtually consits a value of 7. The bad is that some of the gameplay adjustments from Blizzard in this Expansion has made the very-time-consuming original "Diablo" even more time-consuming. For those who has much time to kill this one is excellenct for it. But for those who doesn't, or for students who lacks self-control this game could be a cruel GPA killer.

Overall, Blizzard has done a great job making "DiabloII Expansion: Lord of Destruction", A must-buy for original Diablo owners, great actions and multiplayer desings for all RPG lovers. But be sure to evaluate your computer hardware as well as time management before buying this game.

How long have you been playing?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you're looking to convert high level characters to the expansion, my rating changes to a 4. There's still a lot of great items and xp, but the game is much harder on nightmare and hell, and a lot of your skill points will become much less valuable because they depended on things that have been changed.

However, if you want to start new characters from scratch, and are ready to rethink all your old strategies, the expansion is worth every cent. The items are great, the skills have been balanced (though there's still room for improvement), and no class has a clear advantage over another.

In either case the expansion is highly recommended, but keep in mind that your character you've been working on for months (especially if it's a barbarian) could become much less powerful, and you'll have to step back to easier areas and slower exp.

more than meets the eye

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: June 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

It's simply amazing how character development can go in so many directions with this game. Seven character classes are now offered, and focusing on certain options within any of the 3 different "skill trees" of each class can itself forever change the way in which you relate to the game. Characters can become so specialized that names have been attributed to them by players on the Net (where lexicons can also be found); for example, if you choose to play a character from the new Druid class, he can be differentiated into a Shifter, Summoner, Elementist, Botanist, Windbreaker, Bowling Druid, etc. [lingo used by D2:LoD addicts, these aren't terms that the game itself uses]. It could be said that choosing from these different paths renews the playability of the game, as you are forced to figure out new strategies to survive, especially in the Nightmare and Hell difficulty settings.
I've been playing this expansion since its release, and can hardly believe how much I have yet to learn. The Druid class is a clever addition to original 5, and quite different from the others; the new Assassin class I cannot in good faith critique, as I have only developed one character from that class. Act 5 has a much different flavor, and disposing of Baal can be a highly frustrating task, if you don't have a plan [Hint: get his back against the wall on the runway, slow him down, and hit him without a pause]. The addition of charms and class-specific items vastly improves your chances for survival, and the new set items are geared towards the more advanced players. However, other improvements put forth in the expansion balance it out in favor of the enemy (e.g., you can no longer dominate simply by having a Level 25 Fire Wall). Multiplayer is still free (discounting the cost of your web hookup, of course).
Lately I've discovered several websites devoted to the game, and features of the game that previously made little sense now are revealed as worthwhile to me. If you are getting the impression that this game can create a black hole in your weekly schedule, then I think I have gotten my point across. For example, tonite I am supposed to be reading an article titled "Parenteral Nutrition in Pregnancy," but instead I am researching new strategies to keep my Necromancer alive (can you blame me?)
Finally, there is the adrenaline rush motive. When trying to stay alive during some of the more challenging moments, your heart will be racing and you might even break into a sweat. Warnings written in the other reviews (about how addiction to this game can trash your GPA and cause your girlfriend to seek out someone who has never heard of Diablo or its sequels) should be taken very seriously. As a graduate student I came close to smashing the disc on several occasions with the thought of freeing myself...that would doubtless have been a waste of money, as I would have promptly jogged down to the store to pick up another copy.

Great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: August 13, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Diablo2 is one of the greatest games on the market at this time ,at least in my opinion. This expansion pack took an already great game and made it into something even better. This is a continuation of the original, closing the story after a long series of adventures. An almost must have for any Diablo2 fan. it's a little pricy at 34.99 but it is definitaly worth every penny. I highly suggest anyone with a little extra money that they are willing to spend invest it into this game. You won't regret it

be careful

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 22
Date: June 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

...

For one, the correct class weapons are:
Necromancer-Totems Barbarians-Helms Paladin-Shields Amazon-Bow Spears, Javalins Assassin-Katars Sorceress-Orbs Druid-Helms
Jewels arent like gems,they have magical mods (prefixes and suffixes) instead which just get given to the item they are socketed into.
Only certain things can have 6 sockets, not everything, and uniques and rares can only have 1. And still no boots/gloves/belt/jewelry sockets.
A bunch of the names of runes he gives are wrong.
Most charms are 1x3 or smaller, none are larger.

Glad i could help :) as far as my opinion of the game (or expansion)... well of course it rocks

Diablo 2 Expansion Advantages

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: July 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you've just bought Diablo 2, then I advise your next buy to be the expansion. After playing Diablo 2 for some time and beating the last levels, you will WANT to see the conclusion to the story. Those of us who have long since beat it, get the expansion and start playing Diablo 2 again. The expansion adds new types of characters claases to be, over 1000 new weppons and items, and some very unique stuff, aside from completeing the story. For any kind of RPG fan, or just a Diablo 2 fan, the expansion is worth it buy it as soon as possible.

Diablo II: Lord of destruction

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 12
Date: June 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, is a major improvement on Diablo II. It has increased stash sizes, thousands of new weapons, and a bunch of new quests. Now it is harder for high lvls to ... enemys. Diablo II was a fun game, and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is an even better game.

How to lose your children...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 27
Date: February 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

My son was given this game as a present and though he is only 12 we didn't expect it to have any more effect on him than the usual Nintendo, Playstation, PC games he has played before.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. He lost interest in everything: friends, family, sports, and school. It became obvious to us that he was not mature enough for this game and certainly his mother and I shoulder the blame for misjudging his ability to separate fantasy and reality.

After several months of screaming tantrums, anger and problems at school we allow him to play an hour a day. This is after one episode of uninstalling the game completely to get the point across.

I cannot stress enough that this game is NOT for children under about the age of 15. You will certainly have to judge for yourself. I'm sure there are 30 year olds who shouldn't be playing this game. I now know what computer gaming addiction is all about and I hope you never have to find out the way we did.

Please think twice before you purchase this game.

Oh, and you'll lose a phone line forever!

Beware...

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