SPEAKER_03 0:08

Stay a while, and Llama, this is Break Yo Bales coming to you from my sanctuary on the D2R Discord. On this episode, we're joined by Mr. Llama SC, one of the most recognizable and influential voices in the Diablo 2 community. If you've ever looked up a guide, tried to understand a mechanic, optimized a build, or pushed yourself to become a better player, there's a good chance he's been part of that journey. We're going to dive into his story, how Diablo 2 first entered his life, what hooked him, how he got started in creating content, and how he became one of the most defining figures in the Diablo 2 space. We'll also be talking about the current state of D2R, Reign of the Warlock, the future of the game, community questions, and plenty more along the way. So whether you've been following him for years, or you're just now discovering his content, we're excited to bring you this conversation. Enjoy. Today we're here with Mr. Lama SC, a longtime Diablo 2 creator known for his deep game knowledge, in-depth guides, speed runs, and years of dedication to helping players better understand and experience the world of Sanctuary. We're diving into his story, his passion for the game, and how he's helped keep Diablo 2 alive for a whole new generation. Welcome. Hello. Thanks for having me. Of course. We're very excited to have you. Thanks for joining us. And of course, we are also joined by Crude and Tyriel as well. Howdy, folks. Hello. Let's get into it. So, if I may call you Llama, what was your first experience with Diablo 2?

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Oh man, uh, you know, way back when when I was probably 10 or 11, I went over to my best friend's house, and him and his uh brothers and dad used to have like a gaming room and they would play all sorts of games in there. One day they were playing Diablo 2 and they were like, You wanna play? And sat down and absolutely just fell in love with it. And uh yeah, so it was probably probably like 2001. I don't I don't think I got in immediately when it launched, um, but around like 2001 when maybe LOD had come out, maybe slightly before, somewhere around that time.

SPEAKER_03 2:41

Were you were you hooked right away?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Oh yeah, yeah, I was hooked right away. It was it was a problem after that, you know, where like I would just wait, you know, wake up at 3 a.m. to go get on the computer and play it. And uh my mom would put a password on the computer, and then I would like figure out the password, and it was we just played this this cat and mouse game, basically. So many, so many times they'd come up in the middle of the night and I'd be on the computer in the in the game room or whatever, and they'd you know get all mad at me. I just couldn't stop. I just loved the game so much. I was like, yeah I want to do this for the rest of my life. And and you did.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

And we did. Yeah, that's that's pretty awesome. Um, I like me personally, I can remember my dad used to steal the power cable from the computer, like yeah, to prevent me from actually using it.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Because I I would just like go get another power cable from someone else. Yeah, we we went through everything. Yes, yeah, it was a problem.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

Yeah, I I did eventually do that once once we had a second computer. I saved the one from the old one, and that that didn't work anymore because I had a backup. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

And see, there is a benefit to starting playing Diablo 2 when you're 32, is that it's very unlikely anyone is gonna steal a power cable from you. No one's gonna yell at you or steal a power cable, or yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:07

You can play until the birds are chirping, and no one's gonna bother you.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

This is a true story. I worked at a job that I was paid on salary, thankfully, and there were more days than I can count that I sat there at work just constantly going over Diablo 2 stuff on the web. I couldn't play the game at work, and the sites were limited, but I was able to get to Diablo2.net, and I just I would spend hours. I I used to be have like 10, 12 hour days, and people would be like, Man, you work hard, and I'm like, Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

So hard. They're like, hey, it's time to go home. You're st you're up late, you're like, oh yeah, sorry. Work.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

So what hooked you? What was the what was the moment for you that you were like, okay, I I can never let this go? What what was that one if there is like a thing or even a small group where you just were like, okay, I'm hooked and I cannot stop?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

I don't think there was. I think it was just the game in its entirety. It was just captivating, you know. Um you just are like, when you're playing Diablo 2, you're just you're in it. You're in the game, you're in the the atmosphere, the music, the items, the the story, the you know, the like how the characters are interacting. You just you just get lost within the world of Diablo 2. Um, it's actually something I miss in a lot of newer games, mostly or a lot of times because they have like monetization things added in and things like that, and it like breaks you out of your immersion, right? You're like sitting there and then it's like, hey, buy this stash tab. Hey, check this thing out. Ooh, look at this new skin you could be wearing. Like it throws stuff at you and it just like snaps you out of that like immersive experience you were having. Um but but Diablo 2 like doesn't it doesn't and didn't have that and and shouldn't. So should shouldn't. Yeah. So I think we should make that point. So we get to we get to hop in and you're just in the game. And it's just like you, and if you're playing online, you're friends and you're just in the world, and uh and so yeah, I just remember like always wanting to to play. I just loved playing so much in so many different ways, and trading and dueling and making hacked characters and everything, you know, just all the different ways you can play it.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

So why do you think D2 has stuck with you over time? Because it's just like it's such a good game.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Uh that you know, that's like the easiest way to put it. I think if like games, other games that were newer gave me that experience, I would tend to like shift, or I would have, you know, been like more open to shifting into them. I don't think I was like, I'm only gonna play D2 for the rest of my life. You know, an example is like Breath of the Wild. Uh that game hooked me in, and and it was a very similar experience where I just like was immersed in that world and just loved every second of playing it, and there was just, you know, like the same thing, and that was like a lot newer, you know, in terms of like RPGs, the other ones didn't really, or you know, ARPGs, the other ones didn't really like hook me in as much. I didn't feel like, you know, I kind of like got hooked a little with PoE back in college, so it was it was like in its beta, but then the game just like evolved and evolved and became like so much. Uh and you know, the and then some other ones, I don't know, Diablo 3, Diablo 4, they just didn't like do it for me in the same way. Um, you know, I think they're missing some of the magic that some of the older games exist or or or that exist have because I have gone back and and you know played some of the older ones and even played some newer ones. Um, you know, I played like Dungeon Siege, and that was that that was a a brilliant game. I loved that playthrough. And not an ARPG, but I played Celeste recently, and that game kind of hooked me, and I thought, wow, this is like fantastic as well. So there are there are some games, but I think there's just like there's a magic in gaming, and I think a lot of the bigger studios nowadays are just kind of missing on it. They don't really have that magic in there as much, and it's just super easy to like play it and be like, yeah, this is alright, but it doesn't have that extra thing, and that's something that Diablo 2 has, that StarCraft has, that Breath of the Wild has, like, you know, some of these games just yeah, they have that extra passion and and stuff in them.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

I can feel that. Uh I think the in the last maybe five, ten years, the only other game that's given me that magic feeling um is actually new as Pragmata, and everything else is just kind of fallen short, it just doesn't have that magic.

SPEAKER_03 9:12

Yeah, potentially hot take. I completely disagree with the Master Sword losing energy and not being able to be used. You know, I remember playing like Link to the Past and and all the older Zelda games, and like it's all driven to oh man, like you got the master sword, like it's a huge accomplishment. And then with with Breath of the Wild, beautiful game, amazing, immersive, groundbreaking, you know, you can throw all the superlatives at it you want. But the one thing that bothers me is that that the master the master sword should not run out of energy, it's the master sword, and I get what they were trying to do. They were trying to encourage you to be creative and and whatnot. But to me, even if they had made it a little less powerful, it shouldn't break or run out of power like everything else. Anyway, I'll get down off myself. Soapbox.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

How do you feel about the durability overall?

SPEAKER_03 10:14

Hate it. Yeah, I honestly I don't like it, but it's fine as long as there would have it would have been fine, I guess I would say, if if they had made the master sword last.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

I I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna be on the opposite side. I I started in your court when I first started playing. That was like the one thing taking me out of the game. I was like, oh my god, this is driving me insane that my weapons keep breaking, and I just like keep cycling through, keep cycling through. Because you like can't ever get attached to anything because it's just gone. By the end of playing, I was like, this is absolute mastery, um, and and is one of the most beautiful systems in the game. I I get it, because it yeah, it drives you to play, forces you to play in a new new way constantly. You can't just do your same weapon, same attack, same everything to against every monster. You're picking up a spear and hitting with that, and then you're getting this sword, and then that's breaking, and now you pick up this frost wand, and you're using this, and then you're using this guy's this bone arm, and like you're just like cycling through weapons non-stop, and you're constantly changing how you're fighting, and it it it brought me so much more into the world. And if the master sword didn't have an energy cooldown, I would stop changing any weapons whatsoever. So you have to let the master sword go on go on break and come back. I know, but I get it, it would destroy it completely if you if you didn't, and uh, so I I disagree. I I I I just think wow, but I get it, like I understand it's the annoyance of it, but it's kind of like to me, it's like people who are like immunities ruin Diablo 2, they should just remove immunities completely. And it's like if you remove the immunities completely, it's a different sunders kind of do that, but that at least comes like late now, right? Um, yeah, it's a different game. And and so the only thing I think is they could have like doubled the durability of every item. That's the only thing I do think because there'd be times you fight a guy and you have to go through like four weapons for a right, yeah. That's that's the one thing that's a little much.

SPEAKER_03 12:41

Yeah, that's the one thing that really bothered me. Like you you get into some of those fights with the lynels and stuff, and it's just like your weapons keep breaking. Yeah, and then you run out of stuff and then you have to run away.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Yeah, I do think it would have been a little better if you could like last through one or two fights with a weapon before it broke.

SPEAKER_03 13:00

Exactly. Yeah, I think that's uh probably a good middle ground, but heck, let's let's continue down the Diablo 2 path here, shall we? Yeah, sorry, side. It is a good game though. Uh I could talk about that for a while. Let's move on to your content creation journey. How did you get started in streaming? Like what was your thought process? And did you have any intentions when you went into it? Uh were you or were you kind of just like, hey, let's see what happens? Uh, what was that uh like? What was that for you?

SPEAKER_01 13:40

So back in college, my friend Axeltas, he was like, I'm I'm gonna go and start streaming and like broad, like broadcasting kind of um StarCraft and and doing like commentating games. And he wanted to get into that, and he was like, Oh, you should do it too, kind of right. We like talked about it, whatever, and I was like, Yeah, that'd be fun, but I like never really like it, you know. There's a lot of times you're like, that'd be great, and you just don't do anything, but he did it, and he like went and found some success with it, and then he was like commentating MLG and doing all these things, and it was really cool and great for him. And I thought, man, that's so cool! Like, he just had a goal and set his mind to it and like put in the work and then did it. I was playing a lot of StarCraft II and loved it, so I was like, Well, I'm gonna try it. So I made Mr. Llama SC for StarCraft and and thought I'm gonna like try and get into the same sort of thing. I'll just start like broadcasting Starcraft II games and doing all this. And so I played a lot of StarCraft II, I had a Starcraft II team. Um, I was commentating and and you know, on like some small tournaments, and I was uh doing a lot of like replays and all these things, you know. After about a year and a half, it just like didn't work. I just like didn't I wasn't successful with it, you know. I I had maybe like maybe a thousand subs or something on YouTube, and you know, they get a few hundred views, it was fine, but like it wasn't like going anywhere, right? I wasn't like growing with it and stuff. So I put it down for a few years, and then maybe like three or four years later, I was watching some people speedrun. They were speedrunning Mario and Zelda and these different games, and I thought, like, huh, that'd be fun to do, but I wouldn't want to like play those games. I I wonder if people, you know, speedrun or play through Diablo 2 at all. And so I went and looked at Diablo 2, and sure enough, there was like a couple guys speedrunning back then. Wasn't very big, you know, wasn't much of a scene, but there were a couple guys that were doing some stuff, and I thought, hey, I'll I'll give that a shot. But to speedrun, you have to like record it. And so I thought, you know, like I might as well stream it if I'm gonna be recording it. Like, I already have everything set up so I can just start. It's easy because I have that. Instantly, that already like did better, right? It was like the first stream. I had like 10, 11 people come in um and hang out and we're chatting and stuff, and that was you know, back in like 2015, and I was like, oh wow, this is really fun. Like, I like the you know live stream piece of it. That's something I didn't really do with StarCraft very much. Um, with you know, like I was doing a lot of like replay and things like that, but with Diablo 2 and like with live streaming, you're interacting with the chat, you're talking, and I think that's where I found my like skill set actually was. I was like, yeah, like being a voice over a replay, analyzing a game is fine, but where I you know do better is when I can sit there and actually like talk to people, and so I kind of found like how I could, you know, become a streamer and like how I could like start doing stuff, and so I just built up from there. I just kept kept growing and kept you know trying new content, different things. Some things worked, some things failed, you know. Overall, like my goal was not to not anywhere where I got, it was way smaller. I lived in like a tiny apartment with a friend in a small town, so my rent was like $500 a month, and I was like, if I could ever get to $500 a month, that would be amazing. I could like pay my rent playing Diablo 2, that'd be like the greatest thing ever. Um, and you know, then it's just like gone from there, and obviously it's grown into something that is is so far beyond what I could have ever thought of. Yeah, that was kind of my like journey to start and my uh my goals.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

So in your early days when you first started out streaming Diablo 2, what were some of your let's say uh quirky moments or things that gave you a spark of inspiration where you're like, okay, uh I can take what I'm doing in this direction, or things like that. Was there was there let's say, like, were there moments in your streaming or you know, something that had to do with the game that gave you the the impetus to say, hey, I'm gonna go and go in this direction, that kind of thing. It's very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Like that's a great question. Uh I don't know if there's any like particular point I can think back on that I like shifted super hard um or or took a different direction, really. I think the you know, the the idea was was it was just a a slow and steady growth with everything, and it was just like slowly watching it grow and slowly watching it become more, and then Blizzard reaching out and inviting me to go to Gamescom. Um and I went to SGDQ and AGDQ. So like those were kind of moments where it's like I went and did my speed runs there and like had those moments with, you know, in front of a larger audience or with Blizzard themselves. And I thought like, oh, I can I can like do more with this. I I can I can you know prove I can I can become a streamer. I could actually, you know, I was still working at this time, uh, you know, full-time like job outside of it as well. And so, you know, it was it was kind of just like moments there, and then like, oh, and now I can maybe like look at going part-time at my job and then full-time streaming. Now I can look at just full-time streaming completely. So, you know, I don't I don't know if there's any like specific things, you know, maybe like resurrected, um, you know, being being talked to about that and and that coming out, but it's actually funny. The day after I left my job to become a full-time streamer is the day that Blizzard reached out to me and told me that resurrected was gonna be a thing.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

That that is extreme serendipity. Yeah, that is extreme serendipity. Yeah, uh that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

That's cool, you know. Like, like that that You made the right choice. Yeah, I was like, all right, this was the right choice. Like this is this is perfect.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

In that same space, um, when did you go to your first BlizzCon? Do you recall?

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Uh the first BlizzCon I went to was Diablo Immortal, um, which was pretty funny. Uh so we have a phone, we don't have to get into that. I mean, the the the you know, we didn't have to dive too much into it, but but you know, I I like went out there, they invited me out, and I was like, cool, great. And you know, showed up, and we all kind of like I think many of us thought Diablo 4 was getting announced, and you know, they just didn't read the room very well with it to just drop that news completely. But I was front row, like there's literally when you see the announcement video, I could point out like my little head in the front row. I I could have reached out and you know given a high five to Wyatt or whatever. Um did you dress?

SPEAKER_03 21:09

Were you did you wear chainmail or anything?

SPEAKER_01 21:11

No, I was just dressed normally, yeah. Uh and yeah, and it was uh it was a weird experience being there and like them announcing a game and it just being like dead silent. Oh man. You could hear like people coughing and stuffing the trailer ends.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Oh, I mean the video was bad enough. I can't even imagine being in the room for that.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Oh yeah, it was crazy. You just were like, oof, and then the interviews and all the yeah, all the stuff. Um so that was the first one I went to.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

Well, hopefully this upcoming one's going to be much better. I believe it will be.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

I hope so. They they're I hope they first have learned the lesson from that BlizzCon, then know, like, you know, okay, we Have this one upcoming, and they said, like, you know, they're teasing a lot that there's gonna be like big news for Diablo at this upcoming BlizzCon. I don't know. Everybody thinks I know because you know, I lied about not knowing about Resurrected, and then maybe I fibbed a little bit about not knowing about the warlock and a couple things else. Yeah, well, I mean, people have to be realistic though.

SPEAKER_03 22:26

You are very closely tied to the game. I mean, Blizzard has to be able to lean on people to understand if what they're cooking is good. Even even if people disagree with uh what eventually comes out, like it's better that they do that than to not get any feedback at all and just release something. So I I think people need to uh be a little bit more realistic. And and the fact that they did a PTR. That was great, yeah. Yeah, and I uh a while back I even I'm not saying that they like read my post on the Blizzard forums or anything, but but like I made a very thoughtful post on there about how I believe they should should handle uh you know stuff moving forward. Um and and they did it. And I was you know, I I guess I'm just I'm thankful, you know, whether they're listening or not to that degree, um, I think they've done everything right. Um they've done right by the player base. Some people might disagree with that, um, based on what the eventual final outcome is, but I sincerely don't think they're done. You know, they've said so themselves, whether that is related to D2R uh or not is yet to be seen. But I I really truly believe that it's not it.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

I think I think we will get I mean they've they've they already said we're getting like mosaic changes coming and stuff. Like there's they they've already said that there's more to come. So even if I know stuff or don't, yeah, I'm telling you like that at the very least publicly, we all know that there is more stuff coming. But yeah, I also think there's even more that I don't even know of. You know, I I think I think obviously you're gonna get people that say, you know, say stuff with with the with the last comment stuff because there's just gonna be there's always that. Um, and I I do think they've done a good job with with reaching out and and figuring stuff out and talking, like reviewing all the feedback, my feedback, but also the community's feedback, PTR feedback, um, reading Reddit posts and comments and all sorts of stuff. They really like try and take everything in. And you know, the thing that I think people need to remember is that like one, they're going to try and you know create the vision, how they have it, but like they're trying to stay true to the vision of what they think Diablo 2 is. Sometimes they miss the mark on it and then they adjust, and that's fine. Um, but two, and this is true with everything and everywhere and whatever in the world, you you can't make everybody happy. And never and this is ever. And this is the thing that like you learn as a streamer, and and the people that really like I would say a lot of the people that fail out with streaming, not not a lot, I mean a lot fail out for other reasons, but a lot of the people that that like struggle and get really stressed with streaming are the ones that are constantly trying to make everyone happy, and you just have to realize like it's not gonna happen, like no matter what, if you you could make the most perfect video and you're gonna have someone come in and just like say a bunch of slurs and call you like a horrible person and say that you are ruining everything, like it it it's and at the same time, the next person will come in and say, You've done everything right, and it's the best thing ever. Um, and you know, in regards to like the warlock, half the people, it was it was like funny, a little comical, it's a little annoying sometimes, but but it was comical. You'd see um, you know, a video or or something, and the comments would be like, I hate Mr. Llama because he wants to nerf the warlock, and then the comments below it, and then there'd be a bunch of like likes and agree and everything, and all the people doing that. And then the comment would below it would be like, I hate Mr. Llama because the warlock is over is overpowered and he doesn't want it getting nerfed. And then there'd be a bunch of comments down below, and they'd all be like, Yeah, he just created this ultimate crazy character, and and blah blah blah, you know, and it's like 50-50, like there's you can't win, there's nothing you can ever do. And first off, I didn't create the warlock. I like it. I'm just gonna say, why did you why did you create the warlock? Yeah, like I didn't create it, I tested and a bunch of stuff. Um, and yeah, Echoing Strike like had some things that Echoing Strike is is a difficult one because it went through like four different iterations of how it actually functioned. And so, you know, like you it functions one way, you test it, they change how it functions, you test it, they change how it fun, you know, like every time they change how it functions, something new happens. Then there was a bunch of bugs with like its damage numbers and stuff, and so you know, things like like it slipped through how good it was. It is a really cool skill, though. I it's a cool skill.

SPEAKER_03 27:23

I like how like based on where you click, you get you get uh a wider or wider smaller path. Yeah, it's great.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

I love how it ended up just numbers-wise. Yeah, it was a little messy. Yeah, but yeah, I didn't create the character, you know. I just gave like oh come on, you're the CEO of Blizzard. Yeah, you know. Well, but even if I even if I was, and even if I did, it's just funny to look at it, and and I would hope that people would take a step back from their anger for a second and like look at all the other comments and look at the rest of the community and realize that half the people think one and one way, and half the people think the other way. And so if you're hating right now from for it being one way, then like they're gonna hate it being the other way, you know. Like, nobody's again, you just can't you can't have everyone to be happy. They're just you know, the devs are just gonna literally try and create the character to the best of their abilities to try and make it fit the game as best as it can, and they'll balance it and adjust it. And any testing that I've done, you know, was just to try and make it fit the best there as well, uh, and then you just go from there.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

It's all you can really ask for.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

That's all you can really ask for. But yeah, it's it's it's just kind of funny. I always like got a laugh when I'd when I'd look down and there'd be like comments right next to each other, or like threads right next to each other that were completely opposite, and and they were all you know blaming in the same way. And it was like, yeah, you just can't win.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

It's like when Brake made a Reddit post of puppies eating ice cream and he got 400 downvotes.

SPEAKER_03 29:03

I mean, it that didn't really happen, but that's because that's that's kind of been the theme. And anytime I post anything, like looking for feedback from the community, you know, or or like anything trying to get people's opinions on stuff, like it gets downvoted into oblivion. I don't understand why. But meanwhile, there will be like 200, 300 comments, yeah, but but everyone downvotes it. It's just like uh, you know, it's the internet man.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

It's the internet, you just kind of it's the world you live in. You just let it let them say their thing and move on.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

You know, it's funny when you were saying that about people being upset because you either had you know an influence one way or the other, or you know, and that you used it in a way that made them unhappy. You know, I think any mature-minded adult would understand that you know being in a position, you know, to to help promote the game can only be a good thing. And you know, it it's only the the immature or the you know, you could put a different uh you know, negative connotation to it, where someone, you know, just you know, sees only the negative of it because they're not seeing the the you know the good parts of what's coming, what's gonna come out of it. And it it that reaction, that you know, that that that's the person who's talking the loudest. The the I hate everything, everything's bad, you know. That's the the the voice that shouts out everything else, and it's it gets lost.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

I I will say emotional intelligence is an important life skill that a lot of people need to learn. I'll just leave it there.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

Um also just like just like sorry if I step in earlier. Yeah, no, I was just gonna say, like hate and rage and rage bait and all of these things are um the they're like the most engaging. So platforms amplify these um a lot of times because they get the most engagement. You know, a lot of times it it seems and and feels like it's more of the negative is in our faces because platforms want us to stay engaged more and people engage more with negative stuff.

SPEAKER_03 31:20

So the con the controversy, the drama, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:23

So so you know, a lot of times you have to remember that, but you know, when when I talk to people overall uh and stuff, I'm like, you know, look at all the good that we have as well, you know, with this. Like everybody can look at you know something and find something wrong, but look, you know, when I look at like what the devs put out, I'm like, man, you guys crushed it with so many things. Like the shared tab is absolutely amazing. The yep, I love the like rolled stone shards. Um, I love you know, like they they really did a lot of great innovative things too that I think still fit within the world of Diablo 2.

SPEAKER_03 32:06

Yeah, and that to me that's the most important thing. Like no matter what they do, it it needs to fit the like the spirit and the the intent of the game. Yeah, um, and we've talked about that a lot on the pod like even pre expansion, when we were like speculating on what what's gonna happen or what there's gonna be, when we had all those different signs that were going on, and they weren't even you know communicating anything. Yeah, uh you know, that that was one of the big themes that I always harped on is like no matter what they do, please just make sure that it remains in the spirit of of Diablo 2. I guess I just want to wrap up this this section here real quick, but I I do want to say uh really looking forward to BlizzCon. Crude and I will be there. Uh we're we're very excited. This will be my first, I think, or uh crude's second. I do want to touch on your community that you've built, the mediums that that you use, like the evolution of your content. And maybe you kind of touched on it already, but like where what platform did you start on? How how did that grow? Um, did you make any intentional changes along the way? You know, I guess what did that look like for you?

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Yeah, so I started on Twitch and YouTube and I ended on Twitch and YouTube still, you know. Uh it's I haven't really like done major shifts in that way. I'd say I started on Twitch and I I live streamed on Twitch for a few years, and then after like two or three years, someone was like, Hey, you should just upload all of your streams to YouTube so I can watch them later. Like, I just I watch on YouTube and I just want it could be like a good history, right? To just like store all of your VODs. And so I was like, Yeah, sure, I'll just do that. It was very lazy because it was just like cut and paste and and put over there for just like an archive. Um and that was one of the best decisions I ever made because my YouTube channel grew from you know nothing to whatever it is now, 250, 60, 70, I don't know, whatever it is. I think you're like 276 or something like that. 270, 276,000, sure. And so it like it grew and and it became a real community and it became a real thing, and and a place where you know, then I started like making videos here and there, and you know, I it's it's still not the greatest video like place ever. I I won't pretend that it is. Um, I'm not the greatest video editor. I put stuff up, you know, you get long form videos lots of times, sometimes short edit edited ones.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

So you do all your video editing?

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Uh 99%. I have I have like every now and then I have a guy who will do like some video edits for me, and he does a great job. I have one that I have to get him like a voiceover thing for at some point. Maybe I'll do it later tonight. But for the most part, I would do stuff, but I don't edit a lot, right? That's the thing. I'm mostly just like highlighting and doing like one take and just pasting it over. That's grown and that's become a great community, and and that was fantastic. And that was also really helpful in like leaving my job to become full-time because that helps add an income income source. So, like adding that in. Um, and then I started writing for Icy Veins when Diablo 2 Resurrected came out, and so all the guides over there um I write, and so that's been helpful, um, and been another cool place to like put out content and and and create more stuff for people, and then I have my like Mr. Lama VOD channel, and so just you know, like as a streamer, you're just kind of slowly adding in different things. I started, you know, multi-streaming on Twitch and YouTube. Um, I don't know if that's actually good or not for the YouTube. I feel like it actually ends up being slightly detrimental to YouTube, uh, like analytics as a whole, just some weird way. But I I do it because there's I like the live community there as well. That we've got, you know, some people over there and it's fun.

SPEAKER_03 36:25

Yeah, and it's kind of streamlined now though, too, because like people can chat on YouTube and it ends up in your Twitch, right? So yeah, so and you're capturing a different audience, but that maybe wouldn't use Twitch, right?

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Exactly. There's there's just an audience that says, I'm not gonna watch on Twitch. I I don't like Twitch. And there's an audience that says I don't like YouTube. And so now you get to capture both. And you know, for this, some people go stream on TikTok as well, or Instagram Live, or or Kick or whatever other site, right? They you can stream on all these different places, and maybe it'd be good to do more. You can always do more as a content creator, but at some point you have to like just say, like, this is what I'm going to do, because I can like I'm not gonna stretch myself too thin and right. It's easy to burn out if I do too much.

SPEAKER_03 37:15

Yeah, I think I think it's easy to get caught up in always wanting to do more. Yeah. Um and and like overextend yourself into uh you know mediums that you don't really need to do. The other thing I guess I wanted to mention is like for for us, um, we recently uh got an editor because I was doing all the editing myself and I was just like, this is just this is too much. Like I I have a full-time job. Um and and so you know, just trying to find a way to reduce the amount of time that I have to spend and like the the biggest piece I would say you know, there's there's you know reaching out to folks and doing the pre-planning and the pre-production meetings and and and all that stuff that goes along with it preparing to have these comment these conversations. Um but but yeah, like the editing is like sometimes you know, you have a two-hour episode, it takes you four hours to edit. It's just like uh uh um so it was kind of a a big thing for us that we just recently uh got into. It's going well so far, so shout out to our editor.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

So before I answer my next question, I've been dying to ask you this question. Has anyone played the Dolly and Dot song for you? No. This community. Okay, so in World of Warcraft, there's a there's a horde race called Volpera, and part of their starting journey has you riding in a wagon train that's led by llamas, and the driver sings a song about the llamas, their dolly and dot. And I thought that a sharp-eyed uh you know viewer who's you know mixed their you know, their games would have caught on and kind of introduced you to that. So I'm a little disappointed in the community, but uh there is time to pick up the slack there. So what uh what resonates most with your audience, do you think? Like, like the you know, what about your streaming do you think hits home the most? And in your opinion, whatever that might be, or it might be multiple things, is that what you want to resonate? Like, like is it is it do you feel like at the end of a stream or in a s or end of a few sessions, you feel like the message you wanted to share got there, or you're surprised and you might go, hmm, that wasn't the reaction I was thinking of, but still cool either way.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Yeah, overall, I think uh the message gets through. Overall, I try to just be I try and be myself. That's the first thing I try and do. Um, and it's not to say that you can't succeed not being yourself and you shouldn't ever or whatever. You know, I'm not trying to like put down people that put on an act for it because there are plenty of people that like put on a character when they get on stream and put on an act, and it's not who they are at all, but it's entertaining, right? And like it succeeds and does well, and they found that that does well for them. For me, um, I'm I'm like, I'm too tired and lazy to do all of that. I'm just gonna be myself. Um, and what I try and bring from myself to it is I try and bring just like positivity and and some joy and just some like relaxation a little and and just kind of like put out those sorts of vibes. Like, hey, we're all here on this earth, and we're trying to just like play some games and have some fun, and let's not like be hateful towards people, let's not, you know, like be bad mannered and like curse people out and like these sorts of things. Like, I try and be a decent enough role model where I hope that it encourages other people to like be a little kinder in in life because I just think a lot of people aren't kind enough. And honestly, I think there's a lot of streams that aren't you know don't really promote kindness, they they you know, they they promote hate and and and just like attacking people and and all of this stuff. And I don't love I don't love that, right? I'm like, we don't need more of that in the world, and if you know you're be you're becoming like people's role models and then you're acting like that, and what's that gonna do, right? So that's kind of like my ultimate overall goal, is just like hey, I want I want us to all be just like a little bit nicer to each other, and and also I would say people need to not take stuff so seriously, right?

SPEAKER_03 41:49

To some yeah, yeah, to some degree, yeah. It's like you know, we're playing games, but like it should be fun, and there's there's no reason to be uh that way about it.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

Right. How do you approach uh balancing uh teaching the community versus entertaining them?

SPEAKER_01 42:13

Do you mean teaching them like about Diablo 2 or teaching them about like about life?

SPEAKER_03 42:18

No, I mean yeah, I I think I think what is your approach to teaching versus entertaining uh while you're you know doing your streaming?

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Uh I mean I would say a lot of it, it's all it's a lot of it's just combined. Education should be entertaining, uh in in many ways, right? Yeah, agreed. And so, you know, like make it exciting when you're teaching someone, you know, when when you know, I'll I'll bring up an example of like shrines in Diablo 2. You could be very boring teaching about shrines in Diablo 2, and it's not the most exciting subject, but when you actually dive into all the logic behind it and the shrines that like exist in the game files but don't actually exist, and then now you're looking at ways that you can get like, oh wow, I can find gem shrines more often in these specific zones, and you know, like really when you dive into it, there's a lot of very interesting things about shrines, and so it's how you approach that and how you show that, and you can say, you can't find, you know, uh a cold shrine in the blood moor, and then you walk out into the blood moor and you show the cold shrine, and you're like, except in this rare case, and then you go through the logic of how you find it there, and you know, like you can do it in an engaging and exciting way where people can learn and be entertained. At the same time, I don't think everything has to be educational. There's plenty of times where you're just streaming and we're just playing, we're just grinding and killing stuff and doing whatever, and a lot of the education there is just like you can watch how I kill stuff, or you can ask questions and I'll talk to you about you. know, like, hey, here's how I would do that build that you're asking about, or here's what I changes I would make, what items I would look for. So, you know, a lot of it just comes from interaction as well, which I think is uh a valuable education tool that that is entertaining as well. Yeah, making yourself available to answer questions while you're doing it.

SPEAKER_03 44:19

Yeah, I've noticed I've noticed that. Like I've I've popped into your streams here and there over the years and uh more so recently. And and but one of the things I've noticed also is that you kind of you while you're streaming you build in the like the YouTube clips. Like I've noticed that's part of your process so that like you'll you'll be streaming and then you're like okay I'm gonna record a video on this and you just kind of like say I'm gonna start recording now and then you do the thing and then you keep streaming and you like build it all together so it's so you're like being time efficient. I I really I when you when I saw that when I saw you doing that I was like huh that's that's very smart.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

I mean I've got a three year old and a one year old I don't have time to you know back in the day maybe I I could have had more of that time but now I I do not so I mean you do do what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_03 45:18

When I saw that I was like uh oh very smart is the three year old farming cows because you gotta start them young she she has done uh the most basic of things within video games in Diablo 2 she's like made the character move a couple times and stuff so you know we're getting there nice she'll have her daily chores of uh farming ex you know nilothac runs it'll it'll get to a point yeah it'll get to a point where like you can just like have her go farm stuff for you while my own little bot one or whatever that's that's the ultimate dream nice all right so we're gonna take a quick break and when we come back we will get to overall thoughts on the current state of D2R and more so we'll be right back this episode is brought to you by our D2R Discord and subreddit come join our community of over a hundred thousand combined members ask questions interact with other players get real-time updates on Diablo clone and terror zones join voice channels and kill hordes together enter our giveaways or just hang out and chat if you love D2R as much as we do be sure to check it out links in the description all right and we are back for this section we're going to dig into our thoughts on the current state of D2R with that what do you think where how do you think things are now patch just came out today serendipitously uh the day that we decided to schedule the podcast um so like what what do you think I think it need I I think right now we it needs to just like have have a moment to settle um I'm reminded of Starcraft uh when and starcraft two specifically because that's where I started and I'm reminded of this when they would do a balanced patch back then.

SPEAKER_01 47:48

So for instance there was there was one point where the 111 build was this build that Terran players would do and they they put the patch in and it was like broken good. It was so good nobody could stop it and it was winning constantly for like a week and a half two weeks and everybody was just complaining like this needs to be nerfed this needs to be nerfed this is horrible everything like that and you know what after a couple of weeks people figured out how to deal with it and it was fine and they didn't have to like make big adjustments and there's been plenty of times over the years with all of these things in every single game whenever there's a patch you just have to give it time let it settle and then people find like oh yeah this actually isn't as broken as I once thought it was or this is actually you know what whatever or you find something oh wow this actually is crazy and it needs to be fixed for instance Echoing Strike when it first came out it was like wow this is really strong and then we played it and we're like yep even after like playing it for a while it's still really strong and now they've made adjustments to it um and so people are gonna like see that and they're gonna be like wow my damage is 20% of what it was before but you also were doing like 80k damage before so you know the numbers were crazy. But they'll play and they'll be like yeah it's still kind of it works like it goes and kills things. And one of the things that I think will be really good about it and I like about it is I think they've done a good job listening to feedback. I think they've made a lot of really good changes here to balance it and bring it to a to a spot the PTR they went a little far I think they've walked that back some and it's in like a good looking spot right now. And so I think it's gonna be fine. I I I think like we'll we'll play through and people have that initial shock that it's not the crazy crazy damage. But then they'll be like this feels more Diablo 2 esque because that was one of the issues I think when it the warlock first came out there is it was like yeah this is maybe too strong. This doesn't feel quite like he fits in Diablo 2. He kind of just crushes everything does everything has this damage that's way beyond anything it was beyond it. And now when you go and you play him you're like hey I'm running into issues oh I have to worry about dying here oh you know um I don't just have a demon that tanks the Ubers right like you actually have a character that's starting to fit more into the mold. So I think that's good.

SPEAKER_03 50:27

And so I'm excited to to see how it changes here and just how it plays out after a few weeks a couple months yeah and and like I understand people want to just decimate everything and and that's fun for sure there are certainly builds that do that but but it it wasn't just S tier like on par with all of the other S tier builds it was way way way beyond that and there were no trade-offs and like it it has for all intents and purposes it has a teleport right like in its original form it had all the strengths of any other S tier uh build and none of the weaknesses and there were there was nothing inconvenient there were no trade-offs it was just straight up obliterate everything like easy peasy and and so that that just doesn't fit what D2 originally was now you could make the argument that D2R isn't D2 and to some degree I think that's true. We the whole idea of having D2R uh and I I've mentioned this in another pod is like we're kind of getting the Diablo 3 that to some degree that that we kind of wish we had got a little bit yeah um that that that might that might be a hot take uh I don't know but but like I really see what they're trying to do um and and you know the whole state of D2R from its inception from from 2021 to where it is now looking back at it it makes sense to me and and I think they've done a very good job so far. Um and I think there's as we've alluded to before I think there's still more to come. I don't think that the $25 that Blizzard asked people to uh spend on the expansion I don't think it ends there.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

I I I feel like uh hopefully that that will include some additional stuff um I I I think before they before they ask us before they ask us to to spend more yeah I I think that is like you got all the base pieces with it right there but I think we're gonna get more stuff in addition more quality of life features maybe more con I would love to see more content I have no clue but maybe that would be at BlizzCon that'd be interesting. But you know just like even fixes to mosaic and other adjustments maybe they'll tweak some of the other skills on other classes I think a lot of things like that. But I think I think what you said with you know it being kind of the D3 that we'd hope for a little bit is somewhat uh of it because we now have classic and you go back and you've got you know you look at like early D2 you know your 104 107 108 patches kind of in there and then like 110 comes out and that's like kind of big with LOD 110 then resurrected and now we have terror zones and you know and now we've got the shared tabs and these Worldstone shards and all of this stuff. So we they've definitely like been slowly advancing and making these changes and we still can play on the older versions but there are also you know some of these like nice new things to kind of modernize it a little bit without going too far and sticking true to what it was.

SPEAKER_02 54:12

Yeah I think like over the years Diablo 2 has really changed a lot when you think about it but it still does capture the essence of of the game for the most part one of the things I look at is what are the core tenets the the tent poles of the game and when we add those changes does it affect those things like for me personally the thing that I that I keeps D2R enduring for me is its difficulty because it's a challenge and the rarity of items which always gives me something to hunt for and I don't know how everyone does it everyone else does it I approach each new character with this like sense of I'm building something. You know we talked earlier about immersion and that to me is something that's huge. You know when when I take a character and I've played I don't know maybe 10 000 hours in my life I don't know exactly I stopped counting a long time ago I counted you know what I mean but it's been a lot I mean I've been playing since you know like you said since 2001. So you know but when when I start a new character that that that character's a j on a journey for me I I have things to accomplish and and I feel good when I hit even when like when I beat normal Diablo normal bail it's still cool all right I did it and not a lot of games can say that not a lot of games can give you that much uh reward for doing something at an early level and I think as long as those things stay that that tenet of I'm approaching hell and I have to design my build and I need my resistances and I can't step out into the bloodmore at 64 with with less than gear because I'll get one shot by a by a quill rat. And when you have those things in place the extra stuff the the new classes the you know there's a little bit of this and a little bit of that I think those things just enhance it because we're still getting those things. I think if if we ever got away from that if the game got easier or the loot got easier it would make it a terrible experience it would not be the same thing. And I'm not trying to say that D3 and D4 are terrible because of those the they're different they're different games and they're great on their own legs just not for D2.

SPEAKER_01 56:22

That is a lot of the original vision of the game and that's a lot of what I try and take into when they ask for feedback when I'm you know whenever I'm just making my own feedback even if they don't ask for it I give feedback anyways I make videos um and a lot of times it's those those poles those those you know core pieces of Diablo 2 the difficulty the itemization the the challenge to find things um and you know while it it would it sounds fun and nice if bur runes dropped as often as potions did but then the game ends very quickly and it becomes very pointless and it's not fun anymore right like the journey is the fun. This is always what I say about anything in life the journey is the fun the final goal is like a great moment but then you're like oh wait I'm here I'm done now um but it's like the journey is what the struggle and journey is really like where you find a lot of joy in life. And so whenever I'm playing single player a lot of people come in and they're like why don't you just hero edit all the gear you're looking for oh no and I'm like well because then I would have it all and then I would be done and then I'm not in having like the fun is finding the gear and building the the character not having it right like right yes and realistically what would you stream I mean yeah also if I'm a streamer so I'd have another stream then I'd just be done with it. But but even if I wasn't like I I would I wouldn't hear about it if I was playing alone not streaming because again the the whole point the fun is like when that jaw rune drops oh it just feels magical and when you've been building your character towards it and you just need that one piece and then you get it it's just such a great feeling yeah so that's why you have to be careful with making things too easy giving making loot too easy if all the monsters just started dying in one shot you didn't have to care about them anymore stuff like that would like really hurt what Diablo 2 is and remove some of these core pillars that have kept the game alive for 26 years.

SPEAKER_03 58:36

One one of the things that I think really stands out to me is that and I I think I just saw this recently like some someone posted it maybe it was on on our subreddit that like that they are trying to make D4 appeal to everyone and that's fine it's a different game but like the game itself is meant to be able to excel no matter what your character build is or whatever it's much more flat I guess I would the way I would describe it. So I I like the fact that that that they have taken proper stewardship of Diablo 2 and they've been very careful about and thoughtful about how and what they change. And I think that that uh really does speak to the level of care that they have for the for their legacy classic IP that that for some reason and I think all of us could probably talk to it for you know multiple episodes what really makes it special and and why we love it.

SPEAKER_01 59:59

So uh I I think I think the stewardship that they've uh expressed uh for the game is really special yeah I mean I think they've done a really nice job there and some something that I was thinking of um is like the Durial fight act two normal Durial is a big exit ramp for Diablo 2 yeah there's a lot of people that start Diablo 2 get to Durial in normal quit Diablo 2 and never play again and you could make it easier and you could go through and this is what they look at for a lot of the newer games Diablo 4 and stuff they say where are people leaving the game okay this is where they're leaving let's change it and let's make it easier reducing friction right reduce the friction so they don't leave and in some cases that's a good thing to do if there's like a lot of friction around you know maybe how your stash is implemented how some UI exists whatever but you do have to be careful that you don't remove all the friction in the game which is what many of the newer games do because they just want people to play as much as possible because they make more money. And so you know durial being one of those exit ramps I I think is one of the places where it's like if they if they were to remove that it's it's like the slippery slope a little bit or the whatever you know it's like okay now we're just removing all the friction and making the game super easy and what else are we shifting and removing until eventually yeah you don't have challenge and anybody can play through it but then the game isn't like it doesn't have that soul anymore.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:36

There's no risk reward it's just right mindlessly clicking right and and I think that is one of the things that sets it apart. So yeah I I guess point there for new players if if you're just playing for the first time you know the advice I would have for that is make sure you're high enough level and use your potions.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:02

Gear a little use your potions like spend a little time farming before it again if he crushes you you know it's just one of those like and this is true for for the game and and I think it's fine to have both but I think it's important to just note that like not every game is going to be one way or the other right some games are hard games and they're just gonna be hard Elden Ring's a great example or any of the Souls games right they're hard games they're meant to be hard and not everybody's gonna be able to play through them and beat them and that's okay if you don't want to like put that time in dedicate the effort to learning all the fights and gearing extra and farming extra and stuff and it's just like that game's not for you. There's other games out there for you. You know don't be discouraged as well if if you run into some friction. Like look at it as a fun challenge that you can overcome.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:50

And when you do you're rewarded with a great feeling of accomplishment which is why sorry in five town town portals.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:58

Yes five town portals yes look I get upset when Doriel doesn't drop a town portal I'm like dude I thought we had an agreement here right where's my town portals exactly so I do have another question for you but I I you bringing up the whole people saying that you should just hero edit things and I'm just imagining how drab and dull your stream would be because it'd literally be like day 2500 of me just absolutely destroying everything with perfect gear.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:27

Here we go like let's have fun today guys I mean there look there's some fun with blasting around with like a high level endgame character but honestly a lot of the fun comes from when you geared them up yourself. You feel like oh I spent like a year building this character and now they're godly and it like it just feels so much cooler than like I gave myself all the gear this morning and so now I just do it you know that's one of the reasons why the the addition of the Grail uh officially to the game is so because that that is such a big piece of gameplay it it really I was my jaw was on the floor when they when they dropped the uh announcement everything everything just hit the nail on the head there.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:20

What would you like to see going forward?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:22

I've always said a charm bag uh that's always my number one I would love a charm bag I think it has to be tastefully implemented. I don't think you can just throw a bag in at the start or double the size of inventory or anything like that. Because I do think having proper inventory size is important for when you're playing through the game. If it's too big it's too much space there's there's like a really good balance of like how much you need to go to town how much stuff you can carry right now with the current inventory. And the trade-off of charms versus no charms as you play through the game is actually really good. The problem is just when you get to the end game charms always win out over free space and so you never have any free space so your cube is just your inventory and that sucks. So I'd love an end game charm bag or something like that. Yeah I was just gonna ask like at what point do you end of the game I think is when you get it you know that's I I don't know when but just after hell you you kill hell bale and he drops a charm bag or you or you know I mean I'm not gonna put that in any feedback it'd be have to be more creative than that but around that time right it it it comes around that point once like once charms again start just taking over your all of your inventory so the devs could like look more into exactly when they feel like that's happening.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:45

I actually have a brilliant plan here. I'm gonna marry your idea and break's from several of our episodes break has mentioned multiple times that he wants standard of hero to do something. Yeah Charcy, you know, have it be a storyline where Charcy takes the cloth from the standard of hero to make your charm bag.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:09

I like it. The only issue is it locks it behind Ubers, which one, not every build can do, and I do feel like a quality of life feature like that should be more available. And two, you already get torch from Ubers, and so getting torch and this bag maybe is too much. Okay. But that was also my initial thought when I first thought of charm bag. I thought, let's make it standard of heroes. So, like, I'm I'm, you know, I do think it's like right along. It's it's around the same time though, of when I think you would get it.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:44

Maybe, maybe a new questline in Act Six where you I like it. Gather, or you get some item and you have to take it back to Charse or someone to craft it.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:56

This would be this would be copying something from D4, so of course Rake's gonna hate it. But what about having the the charm bags be unique drops that cater to specific classes that let's not get too deep in the woods on having X amount of charms in there that do things, but just basically, you know, when you get it, you know, you might get one that has a shot at say adding plus two to combat skills for barbarians, or one might have extra magic find or stuff like that. You know, you could have you could have magic rare, you know, you get a magic rare unique. Um just a little just to add a little flavor to it.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:34

So you want the bag as well to have affixes.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:37

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, especially, especially if we're gonna tie it to like an end game type thing. Now, the only the only challenge here is putting it like in an act six thing, you'd have to have it be available for normal. So it might be a reward for beating Bale and normal, beating Nightmare, beating Hell, and maybe you know, the those are drops. I even thought about incorporating them into the useless uh Anya Anya quest because nobody really uses the the uh personalization. So just make it, you know, here's what she drops. She gives you this item, you know, it's just uh and that might that might help keep it from getting too powerful as well. But just just like I said, a little flavor to it where it's like, okay, it opens up more trading too, because then you can have, oh, you know, I I I I need the Amazon one, you have the barbarian one, there we go.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:22

I think there's always you always have to be careful whenever there's more power being added, but I I think like there could be potential of just having some small affixes uh you know on them. Maybe not like plus skills exactly, though you could have that, but even some basic like a little bit of strength, some life, some mana, you know, um whatever small pieces. I I think there's I think there's a lot of potential ways it could go about. I think there's many solutions that all could work. I would just love to have them because again, I'd love in the end game to actually be able to like pick up items into my inventory. I just think that'd be nice. So that's one. Two, I'd love for them to tweak some of like like skeleton necromages and you know, some of the skills that just like completely suck. I don't think everything needs to be this like PD2 level of power, not to say that it's like everything is crazy broken or anything, but you know, like a lot of skills are viable in PD2, but I think things many skills get like pushed too far and too good, and like everything has splash and all this. I don't think we want to get to that level. Uh but I do think there are some skills in Diablo 2 that just like don't do anything whatsoever. And then same with like some uniques and some set items and stuff that just completely suck. There's never a use case whatsoever. Yes. And they could they could get some love just to be brought up to like C tier, low B tier, you know, just just get them into the the kind of viable realm. I I think would be would be nice. So I'm in favor of some small stuff. For sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:00

And I think I think we could probably all agree that some of the rarest uniques in the game should be at least comparable or close to comparable rune words. Um not that that they should strive to put them on the same level because uh high runes can be some of the high runes can be rarer than some of the uniques. But I think there there is some room for finding some balance there. Yeah. One of the other things that I think people are really talking about, and and I'm kind of afraid to even bring it up, but the idea of being able to set player count on online.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:49

I'd I don't know if we're gonna I've I've mentioned it. I'm for it. I don't know if it's gonna happen. I think the there's one, there could be technical limitations, two, the devs. I I just don't feel like it's something that they want to do. One it empowers bots even more because now they can just go crushing players eight farming, like you know, over and over for even more stuff. Uh additionally, I think there is potentially some issues with like it keeps people separated even more. You no longer have this, like, hey, I'm gonna go join a game and play with people because you can just simulate all the people, and that's one of the things that like online has going for it is like, hey, it's about going and communicating and meeting other people and playing with other people. Now, I think they need to make improvements in the channels and communication and the chat and all of this stuff to make that better. I think they should add like guilds or clans to help improve that. Like, if they want it to be a party game, I think they should lean more into making it more party stuff and the party features as opposed to not. But if you're if you're not gonna do that, then I'm like, let's just bring the player count into the offline or into the online, let people set it and go from there. I think I think it'd be totally fine. I I just I don't know. It it doesn't seem like something the devs are is they haven't talked about it really as something that they're like looking at, but maybe they'll surprise us.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:30

The only other option I could see is if they actually like decouple the player count bonuses from or like the player count from the bonuses in some way, but I feel like that just gets messy, and there's probably a lot of risk involved with doing that. Um because it like from a develop purely from a development standpoint, like you could I mean it's technically feasible, just difficult, but I think you'd really have to change the game, yeah, a core function of the game. I could understand why they would would not want to risk that.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:08

Yeah, I think I think it may be one of those changes that could you know they think could be too much.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:14

But like as far as the survey, uh you know, continuing to talk about uh potential changes in the future, um, you know, and we've touched on some of the stuff already, but like I was really surprised that they sent out that survey so soon after the launch, which I guess is probably the right time to do it because everyone's paying attention. I got a lot of feedback and eyes and everything. I was really surprised by some of the stuff that was in there. And and I guess the the other thing that really stood out to me was the potential of an asynchronous uh um trade or auction house or like just general updates to how trading works. I think that there is something about how trade works and has always worked that is kind of cutesy, uh and and like it would be uh changing like a core uh uh mechanic of the game to some degree. But I also think that uh having uh the ability to more freely trade without like doing drop trades and things like that, um, which are easy to get scammed, but uh and you know you see it even now see it quite a bit. Um people getting ripped off. And like some people might argue the the game's kind of a wild west kind of thing. And to some degree, I do agree. Like but that doesn't mean that we can't make it a little bit better. I I personally I I think if they would be willing to to do that in some way that doesn't feel to World of Warcraft E, that doesn't feel uh uh like the real money auction house from D3, uh let's not go down that path. But but uh maybe in some way uh improving trade function and like you said, improving the communication, um the lobbies. Like there there was a lot of stuff that that was lost communication-wise from D2. Something as simple as, and I'm not asking, I'm not advocating that they bring it back, but like you used to be able to put like exclamation point and say something, and it would pop up above your head, right? Right. Uh there used to be you could you could have your own channels and you would moderate and have trivia bots and right, yeah. There was a lot of stuff and and like chat was broken for a while, and and then it was broken again. And I kind of feel like like maybe there are some things that they've developed maybe that didn't get pushed, they worked on it and it didn't make it with the first iteration of of the expansion that that they're sitting on. So I think there's a reason getting into a little bit of speculation here. I think there's a reason why they asked some of the questions that they did. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of that stuff isn't already partially done or totally done, and they just weren't comfortable with putting it out there yet. They wanted to to like get the warlock out there and and get um you know that all settled before they uh moved on to other stuff. Um, so I yeah, I I really think the survey kind of signaled obviously that there's more to come, but but I think it it it was very uh intentional. It wasn't just hey, here are some of our ideas. I think I think it's more like hey, these are real things that we may or may not have already developed that we're gonna bring later.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:18

Yeah, I think there's like what do you what do you think? I think there's definitely like a lot of potential pieces that they've been thinking about, maybe been working on, whatever. Focus, you know, was just getting the warlock out, getting it set, getting the core features of the shared tab and the new ancients fight. You know, they're just focusing on like what they did and getting it right. Um, and then I think you know, once it once we kind of get into that moment where like things settle in and it feels good, then they'll bring in like, hey, now we're also looking at doing XYZ. Um, maybe a new set of things, maybe some changes to skills, maybe some item changes, whatever, right? Like we could see all sorts of additional stuff, you know, that they want to kind of like get it right first with what they have out there now. So I think they're doing a good job. I'm I'm yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:06

A very measured approach, and I appreciate it. It's like good stewardship of the game, like I mentioned.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:12

I always there there's plenty of other things, but you know, I I could I could go for hours on that. So I feel like those are the main ones that I, you know, that I want to see.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:23

I'll say one minor change that I would absolutely love to see, um, without changing the trading system as is today, would be to enable clicking into the trade window instead of having to drag and drop it. That would be uh kiss and it'd be such a small change. And I'd love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:45

Yeah, in addition, control shift, because they do that for the cube now too. If you control shift, it'll uh use it'll replace three so you can do more like yeah, uh I guess mass move mass moving stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:02

Yeah, that'd be like my small thing I'd want to see.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:06

Regardless of the mechanics of it, and then you know, we could go back and forth on what might be the best way to install it into the game. I do think an in-game trading uh platform would be very beneficial to all of the online players, and I think it wouldn't remove all of the negative aspects of trading that we don't have to get into, but I think for a lot of people it would open up more of the game for them, people who maybe don't want to do it or don't know how to do it. I just don't know the best way to implement it, but I do think it would help. And I do need to throw in my obligatory thing for the future. Barbarians need a screen clearer, thank you. And you know, without without drawing too many comparisons, I have to tell you, when you play a barbarian in Diablo 4, like a uh, you know, what the the difference in how that class approaches combat, uh, or the D3 Barbarian, for example, is so different. The D4 and D3 barbarians are just giant forces of nature just destroying everything in their path. And for the most part, barbarians are they're not as strong as you want them to be, where you think they need to be. You know, there are niche cases, obviously, you know, they're very good at trav with the horking, but they're not good at trav because they're mechanically sound melee fighters in Trav. They're they're good in Trav because the Horking provides, you know, uh, you know, a good uh loot loop. You you know, it's it's more a byproduct of the fact that they can hork and not because of any innate great skill combination that they have as as as a class for for combat. That that alone would just be a great thing, like seismic slam or hammer of the ancients, bring that into the game. I I've shared my peeves about the fact that they gave cleave to another class before the barbarian. Yeah, it just has to happen. And you know, they can they can do it for me and just say to everybody else, this is our gift accrued for 25 years of faithful service.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:13

I guess on the auction house thing, I I don't know what the right implementation of it would be. But certainly, uh I think the fact that you have to go outside of the game currently to other platforms to efficiently trade. Like let's let's think of a way to prevent that. Like you should be able to easily trade. Let's move on to a section that wasn't on our original agenda here, but I I had posted on the Blizzard forum and on Azure and excuse me, and on our subreddit about folks, like what is their hot take for D2R. And uh, I think we've we've got a few lined up here, so let's uh let's talk through that.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:09

Sure. Do you mind if I just like rapid fire through them kind of? No, let's do it. I picked I I picked out a couple. I tried to get some ones that I felt were hotter takes, um, weren't just you know bland takes or weren't uh just lame comments. So the first one is from Flappy Sack. He says, Blizzard hates melee, having no defense when running is stupid. Uh, I I think no defense when running is stupid. I do agree that they should probably bring that in to make defense actually like a stat people care about. As for Blizzard hating melee, I think it's really important to go back to the core based version of the game. When you look at like Diablo 2 1.0, like Whirlwind Barbarian was god tier. And sorcerer, you know, like you couldn't buy mana potions until like patch 108 or something, even there weren't synergies, all these like bow skills, the Amazon was terrible. Melee was king. Uh, so it's actually really funny when you look at now where melee does have a lot of difficulty. You know, way back when so many things, and and this is this will be true in many of the hot takes, but just overall, uh, the game has shifted so much over the course of its life from 1.0 to where it is today that you see a lot of like difference in time. And this is also something that a lot of people like about earlier patches of Diablo 2, is that there was more balance put in there. Spell casters again could not buy mana potions, so they were way worse because of that. And now once you added that in, it just like they just like took over, right? Now you just spam potions and you cast all your spells and your and your god tier. Yeah, I I think nowadays, most games melee just gets trashed on because so much of the friction gets removed for mages and and you know range characters and stuff. Uh number two, historical cable 542 says teleport should be removed given a massive cooldown or put on a non-gear slot item like Hellfire, Torch, or Annie. Um, I think those are all three massive different suggestions, which is kind of funny. Like having it be removed, having it have a cooldown, or having it be on a charm. It's like you're either making it super OP now or you're completely taking it out of the game. Yeah. They're kind of all over there. I feel like you gotta pick one one of the roads and go down it.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:45

Basically, basically, they're saying they hate Enigma.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:48

They're like, I want anything but Enigma. And and that's understandable. I think rune words, one you know, 110 runwords coming in were a big shift. That's where you do get a lot of people that are like, I prefer the pre-Enigma and pre-stuff days. One thing that people from that time also forget is that sorceresses were just like gods at that time because they had teleport. And so if you did any like sorceresses were 90% of the latter, basically 80 to 90 percent, um, every season and stuff, because they just were that was it. They teleported and nobody else teleported, and so they were just so much better than everybody else. So I I think there's plenty of good ideas. I've always been a fan of having Enigma have you know charges. I think PD2 does it, um, but having like three charges of teleport that regenerate one every you know three or four seconds, so you get like some of the movement, but you're not just spamming through. I don't think it's something the devs will touch. I think that's like such a you know, oh man, you want to enrage half the player base, go after something like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:02

Yeah, I mean, so it is truly a hot take, regardless of of like the fact that it was all over the board. But like the fact is that it's such a huge mobility improvement, and I at this point I feel like it's just such part of the game. Yeah, I don't see them being willing to change it.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:25

It would be a very bold thing, and I think the best answer may just be leave it as is, and if you don't want it, play classic. Or just don't make it enigma, but it's a little, you know, it's a little hard sometimes when something like that does exist.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:39

Yeah, but but like truly, if if you don't like it, you don't have to use it.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:45

Number three, Carrero says, Can you discuss with Mr. La Messi that Blizzard should listen to Mr. La Messi less? Making loot worse is it to satisfy full-time gamers really sucks. Yeah, for sure. No, that I I always say they should listen to me less. I think this goes to the idea, and again, a little a little bit of it, it goes back to if you think about the evolution of the game of Diablo 2, it's gotten easier and easier, really, as they've added stuff. I actually think kind of now with like Terra Zones and Heralds and Uber Ancients, we've actually added a little bit of difficulty back in, which is great. But you know, I I assume Rero is referencing uh and Dario, Terrazone and Dario. Um, to which I say if you go back to the first 23 years or whatever of Diablo 2, there was no Terrazone and Dario. And loot was actually harder to find and harder to find and harder to find before. And I do think that Terrazone and Dario went too far uh and and in giving the loot and starting to break down the essence of D2's challenge by having it, you know, so many godly drops be so easily. Given. She's still very good, by the way. She's still like really solid. I also wish they didn't nerf non-terrazone and Dario. They kind of did like a nerf on both sides, and I'm like, ah, non-Terrazone and Dario was fine. It really was just like Terrazone and Dario being able to drop just all sorts of godly gear. But you know, that's just my opinions, and the devs formed their own opinions. And when they, you know, made that change, they didn't like make that change because I was like, hey, Dario needs to be changed. I was like, hey, I think that I think Terrazone and Dario is too good. And a lot of other people also said, Wow, and Terrazone and Dario gives a lot of good stuff, like way too much good loot. They went and made their own, you know, they formed their own opinion and decided to put that change in. But they listen to me sometimes, but they don't listen to me a lot. And that's fine. I you know, we all give our opinions. Sirkayo says, No item or rune word or similar should give skills to classes that don't have them on their skill tree already, which I think is is I think that's a hot take. You're I mean, you're removing a wall of things, you're removing Enigma, you're removing call to arms, you're removing uh I mean so many things. Any, you know, werebear transforming sorceresses, you're removing auras, potentially, uh, you know, if if you're infinity, what definitely going way back towards, you know, like old school D2 and more class identity potentially and stuff. So I think there is some interesting notes to that. But I also do think, again, one of the issues, and this is always again like Enigma is such a great example, or such a good one to use for it, is like before Enigma, everybody just played Sorceress, after Enigma, everybody had teleport. Both kind of suck in a way, right? Is there a different, better answer, maybe? But I think that's an interesting hot take. And Sercayo also said, uh, making other people seed maps for turbo leveling on the start of ladder is cheating. That's his that's his other hot take. And and I think I assume but what he means by like seeding maps for turbo leveling, I assume he just means like them making a game and maybe like teleporting to the chaos or something, prepping things potentially. That's my guess. What he means by seeding maps uh and and other things. And sure, I I I think one of the important things, like I'm gonna kind of disagree on it. I think one of the important things to note about the latter race is that it's not a solo race, it's always been a community or a group event, going all the way back to literally the first when Diablo 2 first came out, and you had Rust Barb versus Gerbarb, and it was just large communities, 50, 100, 200 people, whatever, just tons and tons of people working together to gear up these two barbarians to compete against each other to get first 99. You will not find anybody getting first 99 solo. I think if they added a solo cell phone like ladder, that would be cool. I think that'd be fun to compete in. Otherwise, like you just you're not gonna find it. And it's just a community thing when you have teams of people are gonna help get each other gear, they're gonna help go prep games, they're gonna, you know, teleport ahead, and hey, we'll we'll get the you know, bail wave started, and then you join in with us. And that's like a lot of the fun of Diablo 2 and racing and stuff, but I think it's an interesting hot take still. Those were some of the hot takes that I uh read that I thought were interesting.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:51

Yeah, for sure. Those those definitely are hot takes. Okay, so switching gears, uh, I'd I'd like to get into the human side of things. How do you stay motivated long term? Like what what what do you use to make sure that you're able to keep things fresh but talk about other things in the game? Now I I guess uh it's probably easier right now because there is so much changing, but as far as the content and and you know the the expansion and all of that, but how do you stay motivated long term?

SPEAKER_01 1:32:28

It's kind of funny you you bring it up because right now I'm like you know playing StarCraft on my stream for the past couple weeks. Um I saw it. Yeah, and and so I'm like doing a little something else. You know, I think the overall motivation is just like I I enjoy Diablo 2 a lot. I have a lot of fun with the game, um, and being able to do a lot of different things in the game, I think is ultimately what uh helps me succeed. I can go speed run, I can go play holy holy grail and just like hunting and just building up characters, I can, you know, practice some PvP and have some fun with that. I can do challenge runs, I can hop online and play in Race for First 99. Like there's a lot of different ways to play the game, and playing in those all those different ways is is is a new way to kind of like freshen it up, right? When I get bored of one, I jump to the next. There are some times, and and like right now, you know, for the past like couple months, I've been a little bit, I wouldn't say bored exactly, but with the game being a little unstable because the warlock is kind of finding his place and they're like doing balance changes and all this stuff. I you know, that's been something that I have been like, I'm gonna wait a second, I'm gonna let it settle in for a second, and then I'll come back in and like jam on it more. And sometimes you just need to do that. Like sometimes, you know, I've been streaming for like 11 years now, and I've played a lot of Diablo 2 in 11 years, and sometimes it's like, hey, I'm gonna take like a couple weeks or I'm gonna take a month. And I've done this before, I did this at like five or six years, where I played StarCraft for like a month or something, and maybe another game or two, and then I jump back in and I started jam a lot of Diablo 2 again. So, you know, you just have to like take little breaks. And one thing that I always tell people, because people come into my chat and they ask that same question, they're like, Oh man, like how do I play more Diablo 2? You know, I like fire it up and I'll play for a couple hours, and then I'm just bored and I don't want to play it anymore. And I'm like, then don't play it, like just take a break and play a different game in that time, and then come back and and play it again when you're ready. Um, you know, like it's it's one of those things where or try a different way to play it, but you know, like don't you can't always just force force it if you're if you're being if you're miserable or you're not enjoying it. Like sometimes I've you know I've really found with Diablo 2, especially just taking some time and coming back to it does wonders, and then I like enjoy it again a lot because I've had a little time off and now I'm excited to play again.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:19

And whether it's streaming or playing the game, is that your strategy for avoiding you know getting burned out, or do you have other things that you kind of focus on that that help you avoid that sense of oh, I just can't do this anymore?

SPEAKER_01 1:35:32

Yeah, I think that's that's the main thing for avoiding burnout. Um, and that's why I do it. You know, I I want it to be fun because I want to have fun and put on engaging streams. And if I'm not having fun, then I'm not really gonna be like entertaining people. And so yeah, like that's just like bounce around to different content within it, and sometimes take a break.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:56

You can't force fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:58

Yeah, can't force fun. No, I I demand that you have fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:02

Many people's right as a streamer or creator, what is your day-to-day life look like?

SPEAKER_01 1:36:09

Let's see. I wake up, I go get my kids up, um, change the diaper, help them, you know, downstairs, get them fed. Generally, then once everybody's like kind of set and uh Moo Girl, my partner, is like good, you know, she's up, she's dressed, she's ready, get the kids to the playroom, start stream, stream until five, hop off, take the kids out to eat, get the kids home, bath, bed, you know, all the routine of all that stuff, spend a little time with them, and then bedtime, and then night times are whatever, play hockey, do a podcast, work on a game, you know, my game, um do some other work, guide writing, updates, whatever stuff, or just sit in bed and and uh decompress for a couple hours, you know. I'd say that's a majority of my days.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:15

Let's discuss uh your advice. One for new Diablo players, and then uh secondly, uh for aspiring creators.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:29

Sure. For new Diablo players, um have fun. Like, at first, I'd say through any build can beat normal, and you you just kind of sometimes have to like take a little time and just like kill some mobs and do whatever, but you can make the builds beat normal. Nightmare starts to like you you'll generally good builds will start to start to feel more powerful, bad builds will start to feel worse for sure. Um, and then hell, a lot of times having some guidance can be very useful because it's it's very difficult.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:04

Quick plug for for your guides and YouTube videos like you've covered all of that stuff, add nozzles.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:14

Let's plays everything. Yeah, like the big thing I would say is generally in Diablo 2, you want to focus on one build. You can respec later on, but you want to at least like focus on a build when you're doing it. So, oh, I'm gonna be a zealot. Oh, I'm going to be a fire boazon, oh, I'm gonna be a cold sorceress, right? You're generally not gonna be a cold and light and fire sorceress um and have much success. Focus on your resistances once you get, especially to like nightmare and beyond, but fire resistance as well in normal once you get to act three and beyond. Um, and then in hell, like if you have bad resistances, it's gonna be a bad time. Remember that you don't have to kill everything in the game. So don't tell that's the biggest thing when immunities exist. A lot of times people are like, Yeah, I deal cold damage. There's a cold monster, a cold immune monster in front of me. What do I do? In Diablo 2, you just go past it, just ignore it, move past it. Now, when you're fighting like Hell Ancients and Corlick's cold immune and something, you can't. You gotta find something else. You need your mercenary, or you have to have some other spec that you went into to help, or whatever, right? You gotta find an alternate solution. So there are difficult points in the game with it. But for your general, just like zombie in the blood moor or something, yeah, a lot of times you just don't you don't fight it.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:43

Everything must die.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:45

And if you're an everything must die person, then you kind of have to play a different build that's more of like uh a kill everything build, you know, have uh magic damage or something, or have you know, one of my like favorite playthroughs that I did was the Vengeance Paladin because he was slow, of course, but he killed everything because he dealt all the different damage, and so you know, he had physical fire, cold, light. Uh he did all these damage types and it was really fun. And then you had conviction as well with it, and like man, I when I was playing through, I was just surprised and shocked at how much I enjoyed the playthrough and how well he did. So, you know, if you're really gonna be like in that spot where you're like, ah, I need to kill everything, there are some builds that can kind of kill everything, you just gotta give them a little time. They're generally not the fastest builds overall. Oh, and then for people that want to get into streaming, my biggest advice for someone who wants to get into streaming is start, just do it. The main reason being there's so many people that sit there and plan forever, and they're like, I need to get a this webcam, and I need to get this perfect microphone, and I need to get three monitors and all of these things, and they either never never get past that point or they get all that stuff and they start streaming, and then like a week later, they realize they don't like streaming. You just gotta start and start with the the garbage that you have. Get get a you know, cheap little webcam if you really want or something, but you don't even need that, and just start and see if you even enjoy it, see if you like getting on and just talking to yourself for three hours straight and doing that, you know, every night for for a week or something. Because you might many people will find that's not fun actually. They realize they like playing video games, but they don't like actually like engaging while they're playing video games and talking about it. It it's a lot more of a performance, and you have to be more entertaining, you have to write, and you're like, Oh no, I don't want to do this. Um, I just want to play games. So I've I can't tell you the number of people I've met who want to start streaming. They start that, and then you know, a week later they're sitting in the room playing video games, and I'm like, oh, I thought you were gonna stream that. And they're like, Yeah, I just want a game. I don't want to stream tonight because it's a different thing, and I totally get it. That's always my biggest advice. Just start and see if you even like it. And then if you do, slowly build and add to it as you go.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:22

That's I think that that's really good advice. Not that I know anything about streaming, but but like I think that applies to everything, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:30

Yeah, if you if you want to be an artist, like go paint. Just you don't need the best supplies, just start painting and see if you actually enjoy painting, or if after a week you're like, I'm bored, I want to do something else.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:42

Right. It's the advice that the sports writer Peter King gave to aspiring writers. They would always ask him, How do I do it? How do I do it? And he would say, just write. Don't worry if it's good, don't worry if it's bad, just write every day. Write, write, write. Just do exactly what you said, just do it. And that's the start of the process.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:01

Don't let perfection get in the way of progress. Yes. We also got some questions from the community, and so I tried to pull some from a couple different sources. The first two here are actually from community supporters from our Discord that uh contribute to the for the podcast and and the subreddit and for the Discord, all of our efforts that they uh are subscribers to our podcast. Um first question from apropos What is your favorite or least favorite uh change from Reign of the Warlock?

SPEAKER_01 1:43:43

Uh favorite change is the the stash tab. Just the the new stackables. Oh my god, it just feels so good. I actually collect flawless gems now, and then store them all, cube them to perfect gems, and then craft grand charms. And I've hit like a 42 life charm and like a 44 life fire skiller or something as well. Right. I've hit like many really good charms because of it, and it just feels so nice, and I feel like I actually am getting value from that.

SPEAKER_03 1:44:20

The the fact that you can like do it with two clicks, right? Like you can put three into into the cube. Yeah, they just they crushed it and then and then click it out, right? Like that is it's so simple, but just such a major quality of life.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:35

Um that's my favorite. My least favorite change. I don't like I mean, we're we're gonna see it now. I really didn't like how Sunders went from I didn't like Sunders before because they dropped non-stop. I literally would find four of them an hour. I know that I find things more than other people do because I like farm faster and I just farm more, but it was like two ridiculous levels. I don't like that they like, or I didn't like that they shifted it all the way to the other side where like you just never found them at all and they were so hidden.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:15

And now it's kind of going there.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:17

Yeah, we'll see where it falls now. Uh I don't love that they fall outside of terror zones now, though. I think that is I think that is something I'm still like I don't think sunders are in the right spot yet. But I don't think like finding a sunder charm when you're playing through the game, if I'm if I'm in like act one hell and then I kill a unique, you know, boss and a cold sunder drops, like that just it doesn't feel right to me. That feels like an It's not in the right. It feels like it's an it's an endgame piece. I liked it in Terror Zones. I think maybe any of the Terror Zone bosses dropping it, but just at a reduced rate from what they initially did, something like that. So I think sunders are still kind of my like, eh, I don't think they've hit Sunders right. I also liked the idea of them like being more something you built over time. Uh, you know, so it would sunder, you know, resistances by X amount and then more and more. So it's something different, right? Uh, but yeah, currently that's probably my my least favorite.

SPEAKER_03 1:46:23

Next up uh is from our very own Mr. Shacklford, and he asks, what do you think about updating the Necro and Druid before the addition of new classes?

SPEAKER_01 1:46:36

I mean that's funny because I talked about that already at the start, um, or somewhere in the middle there. Yeah, I I think I would love some boost to to those classes. They need a little bit of love. There's some skills that just need some love, and I think the necro has many of them. I think the druid has a lot of decent skills, but overall still falls a little bit flat and could use a little bit more loving. So agreed. You know, I think there's like some small changes that they could make, and again, it's not ever bringing everything to S tier or A tier, but it's bumping the F tiers up to D or C tier, the D tiers to C tier, the C tier to B tier, right? Just like some small improvements to make them a little bit more attractive.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:24

I I mean I don't like the fact that the Necro, and correct me if I'm wrong here, but it really feels like the only viable endgame build is Nova or Poison Nova Corpse Explosion. But then on top of that, like it is it is fun, like when you have a lot of uh monsters, right? But single target, it's so incredibly painful. Yeah, and and it's just it just feels incomplete. Like that there should be something a little more there. Um I think summoners are pretty strong though.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:58

Summoners are decent. I I I feel like the the physical summoner is like one of the best, like physical summoner and poison necro like fit, but they all the other stuff struggles except bone necro and like pvp is good. There's just like a lot, there's only like three builds really for the necro, whereas every other class has like six or seven builds, and it just shows how many like skills that you never use on that character exist.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:24

And I guess we've kind of talked about it already, but uh, I'd throw Barb in there as well to some degree.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:29

Like it does it does a couple things very well, but in general, I think melee melee overall gets a little bit I I mean, I think they uh they need to just improve base weapon damage. Um and that would help a lot of melee and maybe adjust the like attack rating formula slightly to make it a little bit better.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:52

Next up, these are questions from Reddit. So disastrous visit 9319S. Any other quality of life features you'd like to see? Now I know we kind of touched on that already.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:06

Yeah. Uh I mean, I I I think we touched on most of it. I think I want to see the charm bag for sure. I'd love to see stackables increase to 999. I'd love to see Ooh, that's kind of a hot take. I think uh, you know, they could do a little more with that. I'd love to see there's a couple like basic hotkeys, like you said, hotkey to get it into the you know, trade window would be would be nice to move stuff back and forth from there. The biggest, the biggest stuff, and we already talked on it still, is chat. They need to like overhaul chat, fix chat, improve the lobbies, improve that, bring in just like make that experience better. Um, it's just the online experience really suffers because the chat experience is painful. So that's that's where I think they should really focus any attention to that sort of stuff. Quality of life.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:00

Next up, I don't know how to pronounce this. I'll say Zork Zendino asks Lama RPG when.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:09

Yeah, so uh I I've been working on a game, it's probably like two to three years now. Um the warlock kind of got in the way of that because then I started dedicating time to like testing and and doing stuff with that, and so I kind of put it down for a little bit. Um, but I mean it's still being developed. Uh but yeah, I'm making a turn-based game, Lomar PG, and you know, I'm really hopeful. It's one of the things that there's so many things I want in the game. I may just have to eventually set a release point, like end of this year, and we just get out what we can get out, and then I just add in more features as it goes. Yeah, you can iterate, just like iterate and be like, now we're gonna add in, you know, professions. Now we're gonna add in the Coliseum, now we're gonna add in, right? Like, and that can just be added in the future. So Yeah, you you get out the the minimum viable product, and then I just want to make sure that what I put out initially is still a good, like it has enough that it's solid and fun and all that.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:13

Yeah, you don't want to turn people off immediately.

SPEAKER_01 1:51:16

And it's also the first first game I've ever developed and been working on, and when I started I didn't have any kids either, I think. So, you know, there's just been a lot of learning and and adjusting and all that.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:31

Will there be a secret llama level?

SPEAKER_01 1:51:33

Oh, I can't give away the secrets. There is no llama level. It sounds like there is.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:39

I don't know. Who knows what there is?

SPEAKER_04 1:51:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:42

We'll we'll find out. Next up, Coma 90 asks, do you ever get tired of getting asked the same questions over and over again?

SPEAKER_01 1:51:52

You know, you when you start, you do, and uh maybe still a little bit. That's a question I get often. It's alright, you know, that's just how it is. And this is something also in a non-joking way, I'll say to someone who wants to start streaming you're gonna get the same question over and over and over and over and over again. Um, because someone who was watching five minutes ago wasn't there 10 minutes ago when you answered that question, or 20 minutes ago when you answered that question, and people have the same questions. You have to really learn and just accept that you're gonna answer the same question a thousand times, and that's okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:52:35

So, along those same lines, Robert asks, why is your YouTube voice different from your Twitch voice? Oh my god, it's the same voice. Yeah, seriously, I I can't tell you how many times I've I've popped into one of your streams or watched one of your videos, and people say that I love saying it. And then uh lastly, Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray 5 asks, why do you hate the community? Oh, jeez.

SPEAKER_01 1:53:04

I love the community. No, you know, I think I think sometimes the community gets a little wrapped up in uh their hot takes or immediate outrage, and uh it can be annoying. You know, overall, like I have a job because of the community, so like that's really cool, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:53:28

And and honestly, though, like when when I watch your videos, even like over the years, even recently, or I s or I pop into one of your streams, and this isn't glazing, I I honestly you know, you can feel that you love it and and that you really care about it. And you wouldn't take the time to come on this podcast and talk about it for two and a half, three hours, uh, if if you uh didn't love the game and care about the community. So I just wanted I wanted to include that question because I just thought it was so funny. So I also want to make a call back to a recent video that uh that you did. I I don't remember exactly, I think it was within the last couple months. Um, but I was dying laughing uh while you were laughing about the uh Amazon hopping.

SPEAKER_01 1:54:26

Yeah. Hor Horston.

SPEAKER_03 1:54:29

Yeah, yeah. So what was that? That was something that someone had sent to you, and you were like, I gotta check this out.

SPEAKER_01 1:54:36

No, it wasn't even sent to me. I was looking at the bug report forums, and I should honestly just do this more often. I should have like bug report Tuesdays or something. Um, I I I was sitting there browsing for some reason, and I I was like, hey, let's go on the official Blizzard forums and look at some of the bug reports to see what people are reporting, because I was I don't even remember what I was trying to like see. And there were a couple bugs that like people were reporting that were like, Yeah, I was experiencing that bug as well, or they were experiencing this with the echoing strike or whatever. And then one person said, My Amazon hops like a horse, and that was their bug report. And I was like, What? What do you mean your Amazon hops like a horse? Like, what even is this? And so I opened it up, and it was this person that had a whole write up in bug report about how the Amazon hops like a horse, and sure enough, as soon as the video came up, it was just absolutely hysterical, and the Amazon was hopping around like a horse, and you can make your character do it. Yeah, it was just super funny. I just absolutely loved that somebody found it and then took the time to go like write an entire bug report up about it.

SPEAKER_03 1:55:50

So, yeah, and like honestly, when you were laughing though, like I couldn't help but laugh because you dude, you were like dying, you almost fell out of your chair laughing.

SPEAKER_01 1:56:00

The most hysterical thing to just stumble upon randomly, you know. Like, I've made it even better.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:06

Well, let's see if I can't add some funny to this because I read this on our thing and it said Amazon hopping video, and I wondered what the hell Amazon.com had anything to do with this. Yeah. It makes so much more sense now.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:23

I'm gonna give you two things to look for the next time you go on and play. Uh go and kick some jar, go and go and click on some jars with the barbarian and watch how he kicks the jars. It's like he's doing the hokey pokey. Okay, uh Yeah, and the warlock when he uh when he's holding a dagger, because you know how like the it's like separated from his hand. So when he when he goes into like uh like into melee combat, he fights like he's got something gross on his hand and he's trying to get rid of it, and it just looks like he's shaking his hand back and forth.

SPEAKER_03 1:56:57

Piece of paper stuck to his fingers.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:59

Yeah, exactly. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:57:01

Let's close this out with um some quick hitters. Favorite class or build?

SPEAKER_01 1:57:07

You know, cold sorceress. Just classic. I love cold source.

SPEAKER_03 1:57:11

Favorite unique item.

SPEAKER_01 1:57:13

There's so many good ones. There's so many fun names, like Dirk Diggler, you know, stuff that are just like goofy. Uh use-wise and stuff. I love the classic TC87s, just like your grandfather and Wind Force. Those are just so iconic for me going all the way back. You know, I remember way back in the day when you would just trade your entire account for a Wind Force or something, and it was just the coolest thing ever.

SPEAKER_03 1:57:41

Yeah, I I do I do love the fact that when Wind Force is actually still viable, unlike many of the other uh you know, high-end uniques, I guess. Um there are a few other that are still viable, but that like Windforce was the very last item I had to find for my grail. Um and and I I I wouldn't say because of that it's my favorite, but uh but it the fact that it's still viable, I love Boweson. Uh, which by the way, quick plug, little buff on Boweson, please. Um I I just I feel like it it really should be able to to move to the S tier, but that's another story.

SPEAKER_02 1:58:31

Uh unique Sash, who is my son. Uh he wanted us to share that his favorite unique item in the game is the Oculus.

SPEAKER_01 1:58:39

The solid one. He loves it. It was on my list. Top ten for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:58:45

My favorite is Ariot's face.

SPEAKER_03 1:58:47

Won't even venture a guess as to why recruit. Well, you know, could it have anything to do with the the brothers of of Ariot?

SPEAKER_02 1:58:57

It's well, yes, it's the Sons of Ariette, yes. Uh uh Okay, sorry. And we are recruiting on Diablo 4, but it's it's a unique, it has everything. It has it it's it has everything. I mean, the only thing it's missing is an is an automatic socket, but it has everything else. And you know, and it and it's clearly an item that you get mid-game and will absolutely serve you all the way to the end. So you know that's why. Yeah, it's a great one.

SPEAKER_03 1:59:24

It yeah, I do find it interesting that it is, and correct me if I'm wrong here, but it is only the the only unique helm in the game that is so perfect for its build or for for its class.

SPEAKER_01 1:59:39

I mean, Jalal's is decent, and then also uh the uh the fire, what's it called? Ravenlore. Yeah, it is Ravenlore. Okay. Yeah. What's the summon Raven one? Maybe that is also Ravenlore. So so Ravenlore, but now like flickering flame, you know, kind of can like win out with it. But yeah, but it's a rune word, it's a rune word, but of the uniques, yeah. Like Ravenlore is a very good one for a fire druid. But otherwise, yeah, you know, it's like yeah, maybe night wings on a cold source, kind of, but not really like a class specific.

SPEAKER_03 2:00:19

Yeah, but it's also like still kind of it doesn't have the amazing still. No, Ariot's is is the best of the like helms, the unique helms that just fits well. I kind of uh got on a soapbox on a previous episode uh about how they should make something similar to Ariot's to Bozon, but uh that's neither here nor there. Your most memorable moment um from like your streaming career so far.

SPEAKER_01 2:00:52

I mean there's so many, but I feel like Mang Songs to finish the first grail was just because that Mang Songs took like a year and a half or something to find. I was so unlucky. I found so many rare and like failed set Archon stabs, and you know, it just it was such a n fun moment to finally finish that grail. So that's probably my most memorable.

SPEAKER_03 2:01:22

Um excuse me if if I have this wrong here, but is that the one where you ripped your shirt off? It's one of many, yeah. Yeah, okay. I I remember seeing that years ago.

SPEAKER_02 2:01:33

Okay, sure. When Llama rips his shirt off, it's an internet sensation and he gets more followers. But when I rip my shirt off, all of a sudden I'm not allowed at the bank anymore.

SPEAKER_03 2:01:46

Oh man. If you had a magic wand, one change you'd make immediately to the game.

SPEAKER_01 2:01:55

We talked about it before, but I really like the charm bag.

SPEAKER_03 2:02:00

I will uh speak for all of us here. Um I just want to say thank you for joining us today. Um this has been very special. When we first started this podcast, I don't think we ever uh imagined that uh we would have you on the pod, and it it's it's pretty surreal. Um but but really thank you for uh doing this with us. Thanks for having me and discussing the game, yeah, discussing the game that we all love. Uh it's pretty special. So with that, where can people find you if they don't already know about you? And any final thoughts that you might have?

SPEAKER_01 2:02:42

It's been a great pleasure. I appreciate you guys having me. Thanks for putting a lot of great effort in, lots of good questions. Um everybody can find me at Mr. Llama SC, Twitch, Twitter, YouTube. All the stuff is just at Mr. Llama SC. Uh and final comments. I'm excited to see where we go next with Reign of the Warlock. I don't think it's over. I think, I mean, I know it's not over because I know they've already said we have more stuff coming, but I'm hopeful that there's even more beyond that, and then I'm excited to see what happens at BlizzCon because again, they're teasing it pretty heavily, and it would be real disappointing if they teased it again into like Immortal 2 or something, you know. I hope I hope they've learned the lesson. Don't say that. I hope that I didn't end up into existence here.

SPEAKER_02 2:03:35

So this this just in Llama confirms new class at BlissCon. Oh god.

SPEAKER_03 2:03:42

Oh no. I I'll I'll like I mentioned, crude and I will be there, so uh hopefully Blizzard has uh a lot in store. Uh I I think I hope and I and I believe that uh we will be uh pleasantly surprised. I agree. Alright, honestly, it's been a pleasure. Before we close this one out, I would like to give a shout out to our community supporters. These are folks that are supporting our efforts across the podcast, subreddit, and Discord with a small monthly subscription via our new stay awhile and listen plus option. Community supporters enjoy some special perks, including early access to podcast episodes, occasional access to small pre-show hangouts with the hosts and podcast guests, supporter-only input opportunities, access to VIP only areas of our Discord, and credited in the podcast post role as a community supporter. If that sounds like something that interests you, the link is in the description below. So, with that, the following folks are community supporters. In no particular order. Damage Corp, Africa, Row, Bones, Junks, Planetary, Trucker Ducky X95, Vifron, Crassle, Unique Sash, and Mr. Shackleford. Thank you so much for supporting the show. It really makes all the difference to us. We really appreciate it. And as always, farewell until next time.