zidders: LAN means a direct connection while internet play means you're using Runics online server browser to find games. It also uses your Runic account to connect you to people you either add to your list or if you happen to be playing through Steam it automatically adds them. No idea if it does the same for people playing via Galaxy.
I'm still trying to understand that. From the little I've read, if I'm not completely mistaken, they've gone out of the way to make a game mode that only works on.. I don't know, how do you define direct connection? Same prefix? Or does it actually look at the ARP table? And as I could imagine, a lot of people have had problems with the game being unable to make a connection in LAN mode. Also, disconnections and instability when the game isn't happy with the setup. Also, it seems to be too dumb to be able to properly use anything but the first network adapter, whatever that turns out to be.
It all sounds very nefarious to me. Why again does the game care? It should just let me type the IP address of whatever host I want to connect to and make a direct connection. As direct as the routing permits, whether that host is in the same room behind a switch, behind a router with wifi, or in somewhere in China. TCP/IP works this way, UDP works as long as any NAT & firewall are dealt with. So the game really has to go out of its way to break the functionality.
Tell me I'm wrong and just missing something?
....
So, so far, about the skills. I played with Outlander, and watched my sister play with mage. In both cases, I couldn't find any skills to feel particularly excited about. Where in D2 I always felt excited to try new skills, reading the skill descriptions in T2 just makes me feel meh. It's like there's no great damage dealer, nothing to enable some dramatically new tactics. Feels like the skills are more supportive, with the main weapon still being the more significant factor in how fast you're going to beat them baddies up.
At least so it seems to be until you get a dozen skill points or more in the most damaging skills. So the growth is in very small incremental steps. Plus most of the damage dealers seem to scale with player's level.. so again levelling up could potentially make these skills great, eventually, one small step at a time, together with the small steps from investing skill points. It everything just starts out being meh. Never something new, exciting, powerful. Never feel the power after investing into a new skill.
Oh, the passive skills provide more "meh" little increments one step at a time. Although the outlander's ranged weapon mastery would be a lot less meh if it also increased the range for shotgun & cannon. Did I tell you I like shotguns? Shadowlings are interesting, but I'd rather have a hard hitting damage dealer to have blast fun with, than watch minions slowly peck at the monsters to reduce their health.
And so, me and my sister both pretty much just ended up spamming whatever we started with, and maybe trying to pick up a few of the less meh (but still meh) skills to try out.
Maybe the the last three tiers of skill provide something cool. Maybe. From the description, I don't feel like they do.
Is it just me?
And then if your main weapon is the big factor, finding cool new loot should be interesting? No, like I said before, there's new stuff dropping all the time so it looks like you're just constantly getting minor increments in weapon quality. Nothing like staring in awe at that new rare/unique/set item in D2 and going on to feel a tremendous increase in power...
I *really* hope it gets better than this later on.
It's like they took the basic formula of a D2-like action game but dulled it down by making loot too frequent, rares and uniques not outstanding enough, skills not enabling enough.. you're just constantly getting minor increments.. which you don't really even need on that normal difficulty. Very bland.
