Well, Diablo went down easy, it was just a matter of patience, stacking Blizzards on top of him, dodging his weak but constant spells. As he goes down, you can see his soulstone glowing, but you can't pick it up. Back to Tyrael, and he doesn't even mention it. He made a big fuss of smashing Mephisto's soulstone so he could not re-enter the mortal realm. And now we're just going to leave Diablo's soulstone just sitting there?Such is life in a linear game; time to step through the obligatory red portal. Oh yeah, that's right. The videos explain it - the soulstone is explored in the tacked on story of Marius, the Gollum/Frodo to Tal Rasha/Baal's soulstone. Whatever, on to the barbarian highlands; this town is boring (except for the glowing-rune finger-painter merchant).
The winter city of Harrogath is beautiful; I'm taking the time to slowly wander around and enjoy the scenery, even with the 10+ year old graphics. I wonder, would that other Blizzard world, World of Warcraft, be as much fun to wander around? The few screenshots I've looked at usually bland, and the ones that aren't are perhaps exceptions. It's tempting, sometimes, but I remember all that time I lost on muds, and I think its probably not worth the risk.
Finally, I can learn Frozen Orb. The gap between levels is really getting noticeable now, and it seems like a long long time to get to level 30. Getting to Act 5 really helped pick up the pace; the expansion is noticeably better in balancing action and pacing.
As usual, I'm playing a bit too conservative with my spendable points. I'm walking around with 30-40 stat points and 6-10 skill points most times, waiting for something to justify the spend. But when you clear a bottleneck, like being able to buy a skill or getting a high requirement item, sitting on all those points seems worth it.
Finally, I can put a point into Frozen Orb - this is the pinnacle of cold magic. I buy prerequisites in the lightning skills to get Lightning Mastery (the only mastery worth maxing). And now I'm at another small plateau, in that I can't put another point in either until level 33. Which is probably OK, at this rate it shouldn't take much time, and it also helps me decide what to put points in. Maybe I'll waste a few more points on Warmth, since I still don't have decent mana regeneration.
I can now reset my speed keys for what may be the last time. The primary cluster of keys (F5-F8) where you keep your hands most of the time, I set to Frozen Orb, Lightning, Chain Lightning, and Teleport. I can move among these with no thought at all. The Blizzard attack might actually still be useful (for reaching around corners), so I'll keep it in the almost instant position of F4 (just reach out that pinky finger a little bit). Potions and utility functions still require a bit of thinking and finger fumbling, but I should playing safely enough so as not to need them.
