i use to play classic hardcore, i lived there through 1.09
rares are what you go for, items will look VERY weak to you when you go, because expansion beefed up items like mad to overcome the rare dupes of classic such as SS [Soul scratch, Executioner sword]
when you play, its going to suck, dont look for much fun with people other than you and your friend, becasue classic is pretty dead [i go in once in a while to perm mules ive kept some godlies on]
i suggest MFing your ass off for a while, making a mf sorc for meph:
3soc crown w/ 3 Ptopaz's
Milabregas Shield
Tancreds armor and amulet
Chancies gloves or magefist
Goldwrap
2x nagels
Spectral Shard or Gull dagger [depends if u can handle being so slow w/o shard]
rare boots w/ 24+ mf
major differences in classic:
-no runes at all
-no charms at all
-missing items, Executioner sword is the highest damage sword in game, Gothic bow is highest bow, etc etc. there are no Elite items.
-Rares are the godly items to have, not uniques/runewords
also note that things are fairly cheap now, most items in the game cost 1-2 soj's [which is still a pain in the ass to get, since SOJ's are so ****ing rare to drop]
your best bet is to MF until you get some nice looking gear, try to trade it off or use it.
what to look for in stats:
Shields: 10/30/20's [faster block/ increased chance of block / something else [sorry, its been a while, youll see the 10/15/10's, 10/20/20's, etc, youll knwo the mods when you see them] are what you want, but whats REALLY godly, would be +2 pally 15/30/20 Prismatic [meaning all resistance] and possible damage taken goes to mana, if you can ever find a shield with ALL of these mods, then kno that it is worth a TON, most shields you find that will be worth anything will be 10/30/20 prismatic, or 30/20 prismatics, etc etc, without at LEAST the 30/20 mod, your shield is basically worthless unless it compensates HARDCORE.
helms: FHR, life, good res, and +str/mana/dex, if you can get these, youll have a nice helm.
amulets: +2 [insert class here], life, prismatic, mana, str, dex, any mods that would make you proud in Expansion basically.
rings: +X Min damage [9 being most], +X max damage [not a must but a plus], +str/dex/life/mana, AR, Prismatic, if its a sorc ring it should have 10FCR as well, basically anything that youd be proud of in expan is good here.
Belts: 24FHR, 40+ life, str, mana, good res
boots: FHR/FRW +Str +Dex and good res, life is a plus
Weapons: IAS, Enhanced damage, and +skills are a must, +2 skill weapons that say Very fast attack speed and have leech along with good damage [good damage is 220 or close, i believe SS [best sword in classic east] is 220 2 hand damage]
warnings:
dupes: theres TONS of dupes otu there, most are permed, some arnt. its nearly IMPOSSIBLE to be the best unless you ahev dupes, in which case you look like everyone else, lately from what ive seen, people sacrifice quality for originality, but its not always the case...youll see a LOT of the -exact- same builds gear wise. if you want to be the best, id suggest using your MF findings to gather SOJ's or trade strait up for the dupes, remember, Legit items >>> Dupes in value in classic. if it snot a dupe, its worth 2x as much at least.
Legits: Legit items, as i said before, are worth MUCH more than duped items, at least doubel what a dupe would be worth. if you can find something GODLY, and it happens to be a nice color [green, blue, red, purple, normally blue and red are the favorites] then you just tagged on a couple extra soj's or so to the price, luck you. for example, on one of my mules i have a Scotum shield, its 30/20, 19 or so all resistance, but has 50 cold resistance, along with Damage taken goes to mana, this, due to its HIGH cold resistance [and not socketed mind you] gives my shield a VERY nice pricetag for me, i can get 5-10 soj's for it easy, but heres where it gets better: its purple, normally items that are purple are prismatic, but not always, sometimes prismatic items wont have color, etc, this purple color along with such high cold res [perfect for beefup gear for dueling a cold sorc] makes it worth a good 15 soj's.
Duels: Duels ****ing SUCK now. since 1.10 came out, people literally build characters just to do Trav runs in order to get Full Rejuvination potions, in duels, you will see 2 people fight, and one guy will run to town, the winner will actually brag "i win, only used 4 juves" [when i saw this while perming a mule and observing the classic games, i wanted to puke, that was just sad] so if you decide to duel, be prepared to fight a potter, because they WILL pot. also, keep in mind that since 1.10 came out, zons became VERY unpopular, theres rarely a zon in duels now, and FYI: due to this and the lack of skill [proud to pot] in classic duels now, no one has skill, if you make a bowzon [i did this using a junk mule that has HORRIBLE stats and skills and leftover gear] you can and most likely WILL pwn everyone if you know how to use her, no one knows how to fight a zon anymore, they get pwnd fast, i beat the shit out of a barb [took 10 mins due to my damage and his def, but i pwnd him] even though he juv'ed like a madman, and i didnt even have a pot on me.
Dueling gear: be careful, everyones cheap in classic, even the legit duels are cheap. people are known to use a "Flash hack" if you wind up dueling a pro dueler, its a private hack as far as i know [no,i wont give it to you] and it is annoying if its used on you, if im not mistaken there is a flash protection though, basically it causes your screen to go dark and light over and over, becoming annoying and distracting during duels. also: people DO use uniques, but only in PVP mostly, you will see people using Swordgaurd or something [the unique spiked shield] and rattle cage for the crushing blow and the open wounds, its cheap, and sadly effective.
leveling: learn that your character most likely wont get past lvl 85, and thats if your lucky, leveling a character has got to be the hardest thing in classic now, becasue therse so few games, theres even fewer questing games.
community: everyone is a cheap bastard. items that you will be told are worth 2 soj's, when you find someone that will trade it, that person will want at least 6 soj's for it, learn to negotiate or else dont trade. EVERYONE is like that. trading is very difficult in classic.
uhm, thats about all i can come up with, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me, ill be happy to give my knowledge out [even though its very dated]
