Diablo 2

[Obrecht]

I'm about to play through Diablo 2 for the first time with 5 friends over LAN. I'm planning to play a Barbarian and I'm trying to plan in advance what skills to take. Around what level can I expect to be when we beat the game (just the original, not expansion) on normal difficultly level. Thanks!

[Scope]

I don't remember exactly, but I would say 30s since its 5-man opposed to 8. Normal shouldn't be too tough though. You might as well make an account for Battle.net rather than LAN, in case you like it and want to play without your friends.

[gohyg2000]

yea, around 30~40ish, but original... meh. play expansion set!

and also i recommand playing on bnet.

[Obrecht]

Ok, thanks guys! Yeah, I will talk to them about playing on Battle.net. Not all of us own the expansion which is why we are just playing the original. Guess if I will only end up in the 30's I won't try for a whirlwind build with the Barbarian.

[sweit]

Might as well just WW or Concentrate, just because if you like it and start on BNET, you can always continue. Really, you can beat normal doing w/e the hell you want.

[teapot]

If you are playing on Lan you can use the same expansion disk for many people can't you?

[Turbo164]

Make sure you have several in Shout/Battle Orders to keep your party healthy. Concentrate, Frenzy, Whirlwind, Beserk, even Double Throw are all viable choices for your 'main' attack depending on how you want to play, and at least one point in Whirlwind or Leap Attack can help you get out of surrounds, and one point in Beserk is needed if you want to hurt Physical Immunes in higher difficulties. For a small group, Concentrate would be a good choice so you can tank. I dunno if it gets the Battle Orders synergy without expansion though.