How You "UP" or "UPGRADE" gear?

[J***@gmail.com]

Hi to all! New gamer here form USEast. This is a 2-part question, I
can certainly appreciate your thoughts after you finished laughing ;o)

I read a lot about this game and have been playing for not more than 6
months. One thing that I want to know is: How do you "upgrade or up"
boots or such things?

I have given up trying to get the all mighty Enigma, HOZ, HOTO, Shako,
SOJ, and whatever other stuff I think I may never see.

I have a 74lvl Hammerdin and have no, zero, zilch, nada, "uber-gear" to
wear or to use as weapons. My stats for dmg are about 3900 and def is
about 2800 or close enough to that. I wear Griswold's armor, a cheap
helm with 3 PTopaz, dwarf star and nagel rings, Crescent Moon, Moser's
shield 2F/L diamond, Lava Gout gloves, Tearhaunch boots, String of Ears
belt, and the Butcher's Pupil axe.

I just found (last night) a Steel Shade helmet but have not worn to see
the stats yet. In my stash, I have Ali-Baba, 3pTopaz armor, 3pTopaz
helm, 31mf ammy, 29 and 25 mf rings, goldwrap belt, chance guards, and
31 mf boots, my merc has a 2pTopaz armor. Is this any good for MF? I
have yet to find anything worth a darn.

V/R

StrongFok

[Patrick Vervoorn]

Post by J***@gmail.com
Hi to all! New gamer here form USEast. This is a 2-part question, I
can certainly appreciate your thoughts after you finished laughing ;o)
I read a lot about this game and have been playing for not more than 6
months. One thing that I want to know is: How do you "upgrade or up"
boots or such things?

[Rest snipped, quick reply from me]

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/cube.shtml

Regards,

Patrick.

[J***@gmail.com]

Thanks, I guess I missed this info.

[J***@gmail.com]

One more thing though, all the stats remain the same? I may have
understood the writing there, but correct me if I am wrong. So, if the
stats are the same, why bother with the "upgrade" at all?

[Mark (newsgroups)]

Post by J***@gmail.com
One more thing though, all the stats remain the same? I may have
understood the writing there, but correct me if I am wrong. So, if the
stats are the same, why bother with the "upgrade" at all?

Below each unique item, lies a normal/exception/elite item. When you
"up" your item, you are upgrading to the next better class normal ->
exception -> elite.

The magic and other stats that belong only to the unique item stay the
same, but the underlying stats that would be found on a non unique
version of the item are upgraded. That sounds complicated so here's an
example.

Take Herald of Zakarum unique paladin shield.

It starts off having the base item as an exceptional paladin shield.
Specifically the Gilded shield. Check it here:
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/exceptional/paladinshields.shtml

You can see the underlying defence is 144 - 168. Since HoZ has
%Enhanced Defence, the actuall defence you see on the item will be
more. When you upgrade the item, you will get upgrade the underlying
shield to the Elite version. Which is the Zakarum shield:
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/paladinshields.shtml

This can have a base defence of 169 - 193. Now, this defence is
rerolled when you upgrade to give a new value between 169 - 193, then
you factor in the %ED of the unique item (which stays the same), and
you get your total defence. Other properties upgrade too, such as
smite damage, requirements, anything that is a property of the
underlying shield. So if you're a Smiter, always upgrade your HoZ. If
you're not and you don't care too much about defence, don't bother.

Make sense?

[J***@gmail.com]

Where can I get the D2 for Dummies? Just kidding. It makes sense the
way you took the time to explain, thank you for that.

I thought the HoZ was a unique item, I did not see it listed under the
uniques in tha Arreat Summit. What is the equivalent of the lesser
shield of the Hoz? I have Moser's, Lance Guard, and Gerke's Sanctuary
shields. Can I "upgrade" on of those to the Hoz? By now you must
think I am not the coldest beer in the fridge... Thanks for the
patience.

[Mark (newsgroups)]

Post by J***@gmail.com
Where can I get the D2 for Dummies? Just kidding. It makes sense the
way you took the time to explain, thank you for that.
I thought the HoZ was a unique item, I did not see it listed under the
uniques in tha Arreat Summit.

The HoZ is unique, you will find it under Unique Items -> Paladin
specific items. Or just go here:
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/normal/upaladin.shtml

Post by J***@gmail.com
What is the equivalent of the lesser
shield of the Hoz? I have Moser's, Lance Guard, and Gerke's Sanctuary
shields. Can I "upgrade" on of those to the Hoz?

Nope, you can't upgrade any unique item to get a different unique item.
A Moser's will remain a Moser's, a Hoz remain a HoZ, etc. The
properties that make that item unique don't change.

Post by J***@gmail.com
By now you must think I am not the coldest beer in the fridge... Thanks for the
patience.

Heheh, no problem, I'm still "young" to D2 myself, only having played
since October last year. I also didn't understand this upgrading
process for some time when I first heard about it. Even reading up on
the AS was confusing, but maybe we're both just a bit slow? :-)

I'm not sure how to explain this simply.

Best is if you go to AS and look at the HoZ again for example. As you
can see, underneath the name is the text "Gilded Shield". This is the
"base item". This is the part that will be upgraded. In this case it
will change to "Zakarum Shield" (the Elite version of a Gilded shield).


Again, it will remain a HoZ, with all unique properties staying the
same, but if you again go the the Exceptional paladin shield page, and
the Elite paladin shield page, you can compare the differences in a
Gilded and Zakarum shield. Those are the properties of the shield which
are upgraded.

You can check this with any unique item. Just find the base type and
see what it would be upgraded to.

Hmmm, that pretty much repeated what I first said. Maybe someone else
could explain it better?

[J***@gmail.com]

DING!!! The lights just went on! I got it, thanks a million. Hmmmm,
only took a couple of tries, not bad. LOL

[Virtual Den]

Post by Mark (newsgroups)

Post by J***@gmail.com
One more thing though, all the stats remain the same? I may have
understood the writing there, but correct me if I am wrong. So, if the
stats are the same, why bother with the "upgrade" at all?

Below each unique item, lies a normal/exception/elite item. When you
"up" your item, you are upgrading to the next better class normal ->
exception -> elite.
The magic and other stats that belong only to the unique item stay the
same, but the underlying stats that would be found on a non unique
version of the item are upgraded. That sounds complicated so here's an
example.
Take Herald of Zakarum unique paladin shield.
It starts off having the base item as an exceptional paladin shield.
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/exceptional/paladinshields.shtml
You can see the underlying defence is 144 - 168. Since HoZ has
%Enhanced Defence, the actuall defence you see on the item will be
more. When you upgrade the item, you will get upgrade the underlying
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/paladinshields.shtml
This can have a base defence of 169 - 193. Now, this defence is
rerolled when you upgrade to give a new value between 169 - 193, then
you factor in the %ED of the unique item (which stays the same), and
you get your total defence. Other properties upgrade too, such as
smite damage, requirements, anything that is a property of the
underlying shield. So if you're a Smiter, always upgrade your HoZ. If
you're not and you don't care too much about defence, don't bother.

In the case of HOZ I am not sure if the defense stay the same after the
upgrade but if it is not, the increase is so little that it is not worth it.
The smite damage will increase to the elite version of the shield and I
think it need ssomething like about 140 strenght to wear it.

VD

[Mickey]

Post by J***@gmail.com
One more thing though, all the stats remain the same? I may have
understood the writing there, but correct me if I am wrong. So, if the
stats are the same, why bother with the "upgrade" at all?

DEF on armors and damage on weapons DOES go up, that's why :)

Mickey

[J***@gmail.com]

Thanks once again. I cant wait to fire-up the game tonight.

[Brian Kastel]

Post by J***@gmail.com
Hi to all! New gamer here form USEast. This is a 2-part question, I
can certainly appreciate your thoughts after you finished laughing ;o)
I read a lot about this game and have been playing for not more than 6
months. One thing that I want to know is: How do you "upgrade or up"
boots or such things?
I have given up trying to get the all mighty Enigma, HOZ, HOTO, Shako,
SOJ, and whatever other stuff I think I may never see.
I have a 74lvl Hammerdin and have no, zero, zilch, nada, "uber-gear" to
wear or to use as weapons. My stats for dmg are about 3900 and def is
about 2800 or close enough to that. I wear Griswold's armor, a cheap
helm with 3 PTopaz, dwarf star and nagel rings, Crescent Moon, Moser's
shield 2F/L diamond, Lava Gout gloves, Tearhaunch boots, String of Ears
belt, and the Butcher's Pupil axe.
I just found (last night) a Steel Shade helmet but have not worn to see
the stats yet. In my stash, I have Ali-Baba, 3pTopaz armor, 3pTopaz
helm, 31mf ammy, 29 and 25 mf rings, goldwrap belt, chance guards, and
31 mf boots, my merc has a 2pTopaz armor. Is this any good for MF? I
have yet to find anything worth a darn.
V/R
StrongFok

You may also find this link useful:

http://www.pdfgameguides.com/subpages/diablo2/pdfs/D2LOD_HoradricCube_11009.pdf