I think that, as people run Normal runs more and more, eventually they might try some Hell runs after they have been playing so long or pass a certain goal or get bored etc etc. I know I used to think Hell runs were pretty damn ridiculous but after sitting in on some of Ryu's streams I've been wanting to at least try it sometime. but it is still a big time investment

As for making a Nightmare category, maybe? I'm not sure how many would want to run it though, but you could always just start doing it anyways and see if any others want to try and beat your score and - wait, isn't this how speedruns started anyways??

I'd say go for it! Whether or not others will join you will be up to those individuals, and whether or not its added to the list of categories on this site is up to how successful those runs are in popularity and up to the admins

I think that you don't officially move on to the next act until you actually make the move to the next act (you have to talk to a specific NPC to make it happen)

One of the things I was thinking about, is after you kill a boss, there's a certain sense of relief that can make you kinda slow down after you kill a boss, when really there's still a bit to do before moving on to the next act (picking up items from the boss, extra shopping, moving to the NPC that moves you to the next act, etc). This can depend on the runner though, but for me personally I think I relax too much after bosses, I'm looking for a better incentive to speed up my between-act-activities

Overall it won't really make a difference in your time no matter how you do your splits, it's just more of a personal preference I'm considering changing up, I jsut wanted to see what others think!

Is there a reason that most splits are done from boss fights and not the end of an act? (the end of an act being the time you move from one act to another, eg talking to Warriv and moving to act 2, split on that loading screen, with the exception of killing Baal of course)

I know you can basically set up your splits however you want, I'm just curious as to why splitting at each boss is the norm - I'm considering switching to splitting on acts, as the amount of time you spend in town before moving on to an act can vary (whether you got Mallus and wanted to imbue some boots, amount of potion managing before moving on to act 5 if you're low on money, etc etc)

(I run normal SC runs btw, I'm sure splitting a Hell run can vary greatly)

Ryuquezecotl made a video series on navigating the maps in D2, though it is quite lengthy - but worth the time investment if you want to get serious about speedrunning this game. it is here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2dGlY1s3gk0hIvD0bOvGYmIATAtsXo9A

But in general , like Alan has described, most tiles in maps face a certain direction (the direction you exit that tile out of) - that's the direction that is referred to as STRAIGHT and can change from map to map. The first couple episodes of that video series focus on the Den of Evil and the Underground passage, and you can clearly see that certain tiles will always face certain ways and you can navigate through the randomized maps using this knowledge, to an extent

Twitch clips kinda allows people to do this themselves! I'm sure if someone wanted to really show off their luck or close calls they can, but it shouldn't be a requirement. Remember, rewatching your own run to find clips/timestamps is twice the time investment from just doing a run and hilighting it

I think that might be getting into Too Many Categories territory, and if you're intending on doing Nightmare, why not keep going to Hell? or just do Normal?

I think it kind of already is? when you run a class for wr its usually comparing against the best in that class, not just the overall best

Hey all,

I've been speedrunning Normal any% sc Druid for the past 2 weeks and getting really into it, so I decided to start branching out into new characters, trying out the Sorc.

Doing a practice run after reading the resources available, I picked up an Eagle Orb that gives: +3 to Frost Nova +2 to warmth +20% light res +10% FCR Pretty nice find right? Too bad it wasn't a serious run since I am not used to Sorc at all!

Now my question to you all is, and this can apply to any other character or run: If you find an item that affects your skill levels, can you use that to your advantage to possibly speed up your run?

In the above example, I found that orb during a Tower run, and by the time I respec after killing Andariel I was level 14. Following the current guide, since I already have +3 to frost nova, I did not spend a skill point in it and therefor I have 2 skill points leftover (one to put in Teleport and one not spent on Frost Nova) And I was wondering the possibilities of that extra skill point would be (since we don't have any other weapon to get, and I figured spending an extra point on Frost Nova would be pointless). I can't put it in Nova since I'm always maxed out. I could possibly put it in Warmth (mana regen, might not be worth it, plus my item already gives +2), another Static Field (slightly more range, might not be worth it...), Frost Armor (less time spent casting it in the long run), or save it for another Teleport later on (saving some mana/time spent getting mana pots in the long run). I think the extra Teleport level might be the best option, but perhaps there are other ways to go about it

This is just food for thought, nothing to really rely on, but if you do come across these items it can really make you pause and think before you vendortrash it. At least for me anyways since this is all new to me. I think it can be beneficial if you already have an idea what to do when you find these items that can affect your skill route. Orbs/wands, druid/barb helms, paladin shields, etc

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Hey There! I just started speedrunning and decided Diablo 2 should be my first game! Trying to dig around in the community and see where all the most updated and relevant forums and such are. I'm currently just doing Normal Any% RTA and I'm down to about 3 hours on Druid, no recordings yet just getting my feet wet. I wouldn't mind finding others to chat with about it and I'm not sure where I would get started on that! feel free to hmu. Especially wouldn't mind other new runners to run/race with. Cheers!