10 year Diablo anniversary

Has it been that long?

I was reminded last week that it had been 10 years since I first started playing Diablo with my son. He was 12 at the time and now is 22 years old. My son has grown up and is a single dad raising a three year old daughter. He still plays games but has not played Diablo in a long time. He grew up and moved onto other games, game platforms, and continues to seek out the next generation of gaming technology. His free time now is spent playing WoW and developing a guild and forums similar to The Amazon Basin as a college project.


For me, I have a few games that I occasionally play to give me a short break from my Diablo excursions, most notably Homeworld, StarCraft, and a few online poker rooms. They are there for me to see something different and remind me of what keeps me playing Diablo over so many years,


When I first started playing the original Diablo the last week of December 1996 I was quickly hooked. Like most everyone I spent every waking hour while not at work running through the single player game until the end. Next was playing with my son in LAN games we set up between our two computers. Many hours were spent battling these monsters and sharing one of the few things that father and son at that age could do without their being a conflict. That was our ‘bonding’ time besides a round of golf together when both of us could work it into our schedules.


My wife, bless her heart, felt totally neglected in those early days as both her husband and son were nowhere to be found unless you wandered into my office or my son’s room where we would gather for our daily battles. For a time things were really bad with our ‘family time’ as we found our way to BattleNet and made friends over cyberspace. Family time was a quick meal together if possible while we discussed our next battle and tactics.


It took awhile but over time we slowly developed a routine that was acceptable to everyone on our playing time. There were family things going on and activities outside my son and my gaming world. My wife discovered HGTV and continues to find remodeling projects for me to occupy my time when I am not playing. Balance is sometimes hard to find and I am sure others find those same dynamics at work in their own households.
Diablo® was a fun new game in 1996 and changed and reshaped the gaming landscape during its time. RPG (role playing game) was born in a real time environment that had not been done before. A vast single player game was there for everyone but the addition of Battle.net and the online experience was what shot this game to the moon as far as players were concerned. It set the standard for future games and set the bar high for the next generation in the saga with Diablo II and the expansion set which would come later. It could have had many things added for more enjoyment in those early days and luckily many were added when Diablo II came out.


Everyone became immersed in the Kingdom of Khandaras and found their way into the town of Tristram to talk with the townspeople and set out on a journey of quests that would eventually lead us to Daiblo’s lair. Using the voice of Sean Connery for Cain was genius and gave us a familiar and trusting source to seek information. Even the limited map in those early days to a rock pile, a cemetery, and a short walk across the river was enough to keep everyone feverously questing to that final battle.


The attention to detail in this gothic world by Blizzard was astounding and continues to improve and revolutionized the gaming world with releases like the World of Warcraft. The three character classes found and the associated skill trees gave us a varied gaming experience while we found our way to a mad king, Leoric, a missing son, Prince Albrecht, and a corrupt archbishop, Lazarus on our battles with various creatures in the Cathedral’s catacombs beneath Tristram. Defeating the three Prime evils, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal set everyone into the fray that is still popular today.
Finding the Soulstone shard and its twisted ending gave everyone the longing for “something more”.


In 1997 there was the “add-on” of the “Hellfire” release by Sierra which gave us some new scenery and graphics but lacked the cohesiveness of the Blizzard series. It gave us a few more hours of playing time but quickly it became a thing of the past and everyone went back to Diablo until Diablo II was released and later Lord of Destruction expansion disc.


Diablo II was released on June 29, 2000 and gave us a much needed boost to our gaming experience. It added new towns to explore, new quests to strive for, and added and updated graphics that again were the forefront of the gaming industry. New development and research began for other Blizzard games and continued to put out other projects that captured everyone’s imagination. Starcraft was released for a ‘space’ background and eventually Warcraft I & II gave way to World of Warcraft and the vast experiences found within its world. Technology changed, graphics changed but the desire to continue playing the legacy game Diablo has continued for many of us.


Diablo II introduced everyone to a ‘stash’ to store more things, we could ‘run’ throughout the game maps, and with the expansion brought us weapon swapping, more hot keys, and crafted items. Our hirelings could equip weapons and armor and there were socketed features added with the ability to put gems or runes in them to make for balanced gameplay. With each new patch or ladder reset the experience continues to change making an old game almost new again with the additional features.


Hardcore players have the ability to ‘loot’ dead characters to preserve gear and crafting new runewords or items gave everyone better equipment or weapons to play with.


The ‘movie’ trailers that have been added to all of the games gave our gaming worlds a beauty almost beyond our imagination as we progress between acts or mile points within the game. From those the technology for WoW or other games has continued to improve.


I, like many played Softcore in my early time with the game and devoted many hours to various styles of play. I enjoyed ‘collecting’ items for a time and finally was able to find all of the original ‘set items’ after D2 came out and stored them on accounts for a long time. I refreshed them diligently for a time but due to a move to Alaska all but one of my Softcore account were lost not being refreshed. My only account that survived was my flagship account Tok_Rx which was filled with level 99 characters. Most were various Barbarian and Amazon builds. The torture of countless ‘cow’ runs was maddening between my magic finding and set item searches throughout the game. Sadly a few months ago my flagship was lost to my neglect and inability to keep them refreshed even though I had not played them in years. The early work of D-Dave with his encyclopedia of data collected and compiled for everyone’s use was a great project to be involved with back in the days of Beta-testing. There were many of us who tested the pre release of LOD in the various versions. I remember the discoveries of version 0.9.6 that I could not wait to see in the final release of LOD.


In early 2002 it was time for a change and I made my way to start playing Hardcore. I had grown so tired of the game and how Battle.net had changed during that time. I had found the original Lurker Lounge that Bolty had started and enjoyed the time in the forums but with time it faded as Bolty had other things occupying his time. Luckily after a break from the Lounge Bolty brought it back online and it continues to thrive today. Thanks Bolty.


About the time the Lurker Lounge went dark I found a new home that I spent a year lurking in the shadows called The Amazon Basin. It was filled with great information about the game and various people submitted different build guides for everyone to try. The technical information about the game almost seemed like Blizzard employees or designers were there giving us all great information. I realize now it was just a great group of people who understood the game mechanics or knew how to locate and decipher the game code and wrote up useful information to share with everyone.


The Amazon Basin became my source of information but I initially did not get involved with posting or playing with the people there. My mistake as I spent a year in solo games or with a few trusted friends who kept me playing as I became tired of the activities on Battle.net.


I finally joined and started posting a few things on the forums and was able to start a new group of friends to play with in Hardcore. It totally changed my outlook on the game and renewed my interest in playing again. I found another group of forum people who did not flame or abuse their fellow posters and freely gave of themselves and of their knowledge about the game without asking for anything in return but “be nice and show some class” to their fellow gamers.


What came next was almost unexpected. This group of people who played in The Amazon Basin games was ‘not’ item hungry rude souls picking up everything before anyone could get a look at the item. When they did pick up things off the ground they brought them to town and littered the area with their spoils. Everyone could pick it up, look at it, and then decide who would get the items. After that unexpected event the remaining items were sold and the gold divided into equal piles on the ground. What was this? I had never seen anything like it.


People shared with each other and did not talk down to anyone. If someone got out of line someone usually pointed them in the right direction especially if there was something written up about how the Basin played or interacted with each other. It was different than what I had experienced the last two years and a welcome change. I was ready to quit but was reenergized with new friends and a new twist into how I played the game.


Hardcore for me was a rebirth. I learned that my actions and those around me had a direct cause and effect. Death of a character that time and effort was put into made the game dynamics quite different than my softcore playing time. I started to actually learn some things about the game and how it played that was lost to me in its other form.


As I started to play hardcore and did not have all of the great things I had acquired in softcore it seemed that items took on a whole different logic and meaning to me. Things that I would pass up or walk by before somehow seemed more valuable to me now. A simple pair of boots or gloves with little if any value or modifications were picked up and used until something better could be found. A socketed bow or sword became ‘godly’ with a few chip emeralds or rubies.


What I really discovered after playing over five years is that it was the people that mattered and the friends made along the way while battling the various monsters and playing through the various quests. The items didn’t really matter anymore and after every game some great things were left on the ground to vanish or be left when the game ended. I won’t say it was disturbing but it was a different mindset that the people of the Basin had. There was FUN brought back into the games and the people all shared in a concept and beliefs that made it Fun again for me.


“Play nice and show some class” was a mantra repeated and those that did not change their ways were quickly removed so everyone’s fun was not ruined by the few misbehavers. It remains that way today.


The Amazon Basin has grown over the last 6 years and many who started out playing Diablo have moved on to other games and into other guilds within The Basin Nation. There are the active guilds; the World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Star Wars: Galaxies and Diablo along with the forum presence of Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, Neverwinter Nights, and City of Heroes with active members playing those games. We (The Basin Nation) have the new Hellgate: London guild ready for that much anticipated release. I will probably split my online time between Diablo and Hellgate once it is out for everyone to play.


Looking back now at all of the hours and many disc’s I’ve owned (4 to 6) of each it has brought me thousands of hours of gaming pleasure. I have made many, many online friends and met in real life about a hundred people that I have either personally gamed with or interacted on the forums who have far enriched the simple notion of a computer ‘mate’ across the miles.


I think I first paid thirty nine dollars (US) for my first Diablo disc and if I tried to put a price on all that has been given me by my fellow gamers it would be priceless.


We have experienced not only the game and the fellowship playing together but there have been school age kids who have graduated from both high school and college. There have been others who have found a wife or husband, a boyfriend or girlfriend in my time playing. We have shared the joys of birth of our children and grandchildren, the sadness of death of our members or their loved ones over the years. There have been times of sickness and health for many and the times that real life made our friends come and go.


Oddly, a family united around the world by the common simplicity of a computer game. The Amazon Basin now has over 11,000 members and the other guilds into the thousands too now. Truly a place where the world’s problems and troubled times are forgotten for a little while. We still have active debates in some of our forums but that is what true friends do. There is debate and sharing of ideas that give each of us a better understanding of the world around each of us.


Young and old play together bridging the generational gaps that sometimes exist within our on real world families and we laugh together putting everyone on equal ground. What a novel idea.


I want to close by thanking those that I have gamed with and met in person for the many hours of fun and friendship. It has been a pleasure to share battles with you in these games over the years.


Thanks to Blizzard for the ground breaking gaming experience that has been provided to us in the various games you have published and continues to entertain us.


Thanks to TPJ for The Amazon Basin, my active home for many years now. It continues to amaze me your vision.


To the Basin’s many leaders and moderators who have selflessly given your time and efforts to keep things going. We all thank you from all of The Basin Nation.


To our technical staff and especially Allweasel for all of the work in keeping our games safe and providing your expertise to make it all happen, Thanks guys it does not go unnoticed even when we sometimes forget to mention it.


To Russtovich and the rest of my late night crew on West over the years, it is your company and fun times that keep me playing. You are the Besto!


Ten years, what a game!


Ten years . . . great friends . . . fun times . . . and a wonderful experience.



Ice