Topic: Is Disco Aura bugged?

[Tiberian]

Just plain monsters have this thing, and it's on you before the monster is onscreen. By the time I find it I'm half dead and you have to ignore everything to charge straight at the monster, so you get destroyed by the mob you had to pull to get the other guy. I hope it's bugged, it seems like something that just need to be on uniques, not plain old whites roaming all over the place.

Also, it seems to be on way too many monsters. I ran the Bloody Foothills and it there was only a 10 seconds at the most till I found a monster with another aura.

[Olfmo]

no it's supposed to be on every monster with a 10% chance

but i agree with you the radius is too high, at least it shouldn't go through walls

[Tiberian]

That seems a little high, doesn't it? 1 in 10 monsters has this thing? It's crippling. For my sorc, if my mana is low and I come across this aura, once my mana hits zero I can't even tele away, and I can't even wait 3 secs so I regen enough to kill it. Once it's on and I hit 0 mana I have to run or pot. When I use a pot it's still draining the little bit I get back from that so I don't get many attacks. This aura is about the meanest thing I'd expect to see on a unique and random guys gets it. That just seems crazy.

[img width=640 height=480]http://i4.cashmoneyuploads.com/img/Screenshot002830.jpg[/img]

That's insane. There's 4 monsters on the same screen with it. I didn't get to see if it stacks, but I had to hit a full rejuv then exit the game just to avoid death. I'm lv42 in normal difficulty.

[nosferatu]

I have a level 94 necro with almost 3k mana but when i run into disco aura it burns away in a flash using potions is hopeless i  had to back off to regenerate ,that was in frigid highlands so it wasn't too hard to back off but i imagine it won't be so easy in dungeons

[Tiberian]

Sorcs got screwed hard because tele is already disabled in half the areas so running 2 screens away isn't that easy. This aura is crazy, but it'd at least be managable if the distance was reduced. This change just deviates way too much for me. Before it was still Diablo 2, now it's just like a million other mods where someone had a crazy idea and ran with it. I like the basic game, adding in wacky stuff just detracts too much from the core game play.

[Sorky]

This is my experience with the new Disco Aura.

I have a lvl 78 Bowazon that has completed all but Baal in the 'Lets Rock" level.  I have good life and mana leech, full Bartucs, with the new boots(95% resists all) and a Faith bow.

Since the 7.61 patch, I cannot go from the Frigid Highlands wp to the Arreat Plateau wp without bailing out of the game.
As a Bowazon, you can only leech life and mana from mobs that you can hit.  If the mob is not in your line of sight(as behind a wall) you can't hit it, thus you can't leech from him.  But he can leech your life and mana from behind any object, like a tree, or from  behind said wall, where he is safe from your attack.

I was repeatedly leeched dry from these hidden mobs while others ran up to me to hit me. You just cant drink fast enough in a situation like this.  I tried to get to the hidden mobs to kill them, only to be drained by a new one and chased back by adds. After about 1/2 an hour I gave up to check out other locations.
 I found the same thing every where I went. Where there was an object that could block my line of sight to my attack, I was eventually overwhelmed and I had to leave. I was even chased out of the normal Cow level. 

Here is another situation that caused me to have to bail out of the game.
I met a Disco mob who was Immune to all my attacks(or to my most damaging ones). This is a most fearsome encounter as they most always bring along some friends. Normal tactics do not apply here.  They will Drain you while attacking you, while you try to kill his friends. One or more of his friends may also be Immune to you and one or more may also have Disco.  This was how I was chased out of the Cow level and the Outer Steps,,, embarrassing.   

While it is not unusual to have to drink while fighting,  having a high leech Zon, who is a fragil character to start with, who now has to drink a full Rejuve every 2 to 3 seconds,  is most unusual and ultimately a deadly combination. 

As of this time I don't have a character who is able to play in this mod.  I never have liked D2 melee characters and I don't plan on ever playing one.  If Disco was put in to make more people play melee characters, as it seems to say in the Readme.txt,  you have lost one devotee here.
I love a challange.  I hate the Impossible.

This is the only game I presently play and I do not find it Fun anymore.

I will retire my characters for now, just to keep them alive and see what happens.

[Tiberian]

That's disheartening, because a bowazon is the other char I would make. The readme says caster beware, but every class uses mana. Even a so called melee char will get their mana drained, and then what? No whirlwind, no zeal, no nothing. You can't even regular fight something because your life is going down too. I was looking forward to playing D2 again, and I really hope this thing goes away or gets toned down.


Sorry to keep griping about this, but did anyone try this aura out with a new char? How am I supposed to make any new char and live when I have no gear and have to single attack everything? I don't have the mana to support any attacks, and the ones I want are lv24 and 30 anyway. It's death to charge into any large mob at low levels with terrible equip, pleas please please do something to tone this aura down.

[ChaosEmpire]

How many status points did you invested into energy?
I expect a minimum of 1/lvl

[Tiberian]

Are you asking about my sorc? I have 120 base energy, 168 with mods. I'm lv42. Total mana a little over a 1000. I don't see how it would matter if I had 5000 mana though. I might live just a bit longer before being forced back to town.

[Ruid]

I tried my elemental Druid and he is totally non playable.  I get drained completely and I cant see who is doing it.  If I dont kill the drainer if the first few seconds, my mana is gone and I suck another juve.  I cant drink fast enough to keep hurricane and arma gedden going.  I have no ranged attack and by the time I reach the mobs, my mana is gone.
I emptied my belt in the cows and finally had to leave.  There were so many with disco, i couldnt kill them fast enough and I have alot of mana regen, but it is usless now.

I to will set aside and wait and see, I dont want to loose my character to areas that should be very easy for me. I tried to level and made 1/3 level before I ran out of juves, and came way to close to dying twice.

This is not a fun situation.

[webwalker]

It's death to charge into any large mob at low levels with terrible equip...

Ummm... Errr... charging into a large mob is called suicide in most places.  Regardless of the gear.  We've played Steam-rollerTheMonsters, I think we need to distract/breakup the mobs and engage them piecemeal.

Use movement and skills to break up large packs.

OK, I tried two new characters last night:
1: IchBinTot, a Throw-Cry barb.  I horked EVERY corpse for purples, drank MANY potions red and purple, and considered life steal a manadatory item attribute. I levelled OK, and progressed OK... through Q1 & Q2 in Act 1 Normal... in other words I don't have enough data to say.
2: ClownDerTot, a skelliemancer. Correction: Chickenmancer. I run up close enough to get my skellies to engage, then run out of aura range, drink, and return to keep my skellies engaged.  Rescued Cain.  Haven't tried Corpse Explosion (putting ALL points into raise skel/skel mastery)  Spent time to gamble a +3 RS head and +2 RS wand. So far, so good, the skelliemancer may again be a tank build.

I don't think we've got enough data to conclude anything except: our assumptions need re-study.

[Tiberian]

Ummm... Errr... charging into a large mob is called suicide in most places.  Regardless of the gear.  We've played Steam-rollerTheMonsters, I think we need to distract/breakup the mobs and engage them piecemeal.

Use movement and skills to break up large packs.

Right. Getting close enough to activate the mobs so you can break them up means getting into aura range. That means I can't use skills to break them up because my mana is gone and I'm half dead. For that to work you also have to have a safe place to pull them to, and when you first get to a floor sometimes that's not an option.

Get to the barracks and you'll have enough data. Once you get anywhere with walls it's impossible. You can't kill them fast enough becasue it's too narrow to get to him and kill him then run back, and half the time you can't see where it's coming from anyway. This aura changes the game way too much, right now it's kill the aura monsters then regroup and kill everyone else. That's lame.

[webwalker]

Getting close enough to activate the mobs so you can break them up means getting into aura range. That means I can't use skills to break them up because my mana is gone and I'm half dead.

Are you putting any points into energy, or considering +mana items of great value?  This aura changes things pretty greatly, and I'm hoping there's an adjustment of scale (range of aura, rate of drain of aura going down), otherwise we're looking at totally re-thinking "what makes good gear".
I'm in Hard Core, Ladder, exclusively, so I'm always pumping vitality, always using base mana and +mana equipment.  I may need to re-think this.

For that to work you also have to have a safe place to pull them to, and when you first get to a floor sometimes that's not an option.

Agreed.  This aura makes stair traps more deadly than before. Doing the Countess with IchBinTot and ClownDerTot will be an important test.

Get to the barracks and you'll have enough data. Once you get anywhere with walls it's impossible. You can't kill them fast enough becasue it's too narrow to get to him and kill him then run back, and half the time you can't see where it's coming from anyway.

I agree that walls should stop this aura, or that resists should reduce it, or both.

This aura changes the game way too much, right now it's kill the aura monsters then regroup and kill everyone else.

That sounds like a great plan!  It's a playing style change.

That's lame.

Only if we are. This is a community-driven Mod.  Chaos has bears the full cost of this Empire (except for the meger help of those few who donate) and has final say.  We, on the other hand, get to experiment, consider, and contribute to the pool of thought that is the Mod.

New Thought: Change effect of gems Ruby and Sapphire to give regen as well as boost total.  We use up sockets, the aura hits us less.  (OK, maybe not new, but it just came to me now).

[Sorky]

If you were asking about my Bowazon, I am not sure how many points I put into energy early on.  It must have been around 30-40 points.  I have 6k health and 1k mana from mods.  I agree with Tiberian that having 5k mana would not solve the problem.  The drain is so drastic and firing and missing just aggravates the problem.  There are so many drainers that you cannot directly attack to get a leech back. It now is a contest on how fast you can suck a juve and kill the Disco guy, all the while watching your health which now drains as fast as the mana, there is just more of life to last longer..but a hit at this time would probably mean death....btw, I play only HC.

ps.

Charging into a large group is never a good idea in D2.  Put out a feeler and see what lies ahead, then pick off the fringes untill all are dead, good D2 tactics. Just one hell of alot harder now.

RE: Webwalkers post.
I have not tried a new character with Disco, as of now.  I have not addressed really low level characeters.
 Lots of new characters use melee to get started, so this may not be as detrimental to hitters as it is to casters in the early levels. But a low level caster, like a nova sorc, or Psy sin, will have geat diffulculty in getting through act one.

 I am mainly concerned atm, with characters in the mid 50's to 90's.  Areas where you have good equipment and have developed some good skills in staying alive.  It is here that I find the threat of dying to be disproportionately ballanced to doing just that, play and you will die.

This change really saddens me.  I understand making a game difficult so that really skilled players can show there stuff.  But to make a game so difficult that it becomes tedious to stay alive, no matter what your skill level, well that seems to have gone to far.

  As I have said before, I play CCC for the challange, the great community, and for the Fun of this great Mod.
I just feel that alot of the Fun has left the game.

Please put some of the Fun back in.

[Tiberian]

Are you putting any points into energy, or considering +mana items of great value? This aura changes things pretty greatly, and I'm hoping there's an adjustment of scale (range of aura, rate of drain of aura going down), otherwise we're looking at totally re-thinking "what makes good gear".
I'm in Hard Core, Ladder, exclusively, so I'm always pumping vitality, always using base mana and +mana equipment. I may need to re-think this.

I posted my stats earlier, my sorc is lv42 with 120 base energy, 168 energy with equip (mostly from Dreamflange). I also have frostburn. This is my first char on this mod so it's not like I have access to awesome stuff to twink my char with. This aura seems like it was made to affect late game hell char that already have good equip, so newbie like me really get hit hard by it.

[webwalker]

As I've suggested elsewhere, we should all start new characters to test this significant change.
IchBinTot and ClownDerTot are new, untwinked characters.  This is the same as starting out fresh after a ladder re-start.
Let's compare notes about what works and what doesn't, and what changes in our playing styles and habits are worth consideration.

Overall, this aura is like Lava Maws... and if I re-started the poll "which monster do you MOST HATE" I'm certain that "Anything Disco" would be the top vote-getter.  This isn't indicative of the disco aura being bugged, it's indicative of the aura being adjusted to us (by changes on Chaos' side) and us adjusting ourselves to the aura by changes in how we play and what gear we look for.

I started both characters by selling the gear they'd have to be level 7 or 14 to wear, and with that money bought normal equipment (javelins or a wand), and horked corpses and gathered throwing potions to sell, and gambled gear.  This is what made the Barb IchBinTot as viable is he is (how viable that is will be learned in The Tower, The Barracks, and The Catecombs).  Same with the skelliemancer CownDerTot.  Perhaps this aura isn't hitting me as hard as others because I've *always* been a chicken/range fighter.  Actually hitting anything with something held in my hand is the LAST option before bailing from the game.

This aura is like poison that takes mana as well as life.  Nasty poison, like a few monsters have in hell.  I'd suggest that a "poison resist" of some kind have effect against it.

[Tiberian]

This aura would be fine if there was some way to resist it or fight back. The way it works right now though is game breaking and not fun at all.



I started a new Hammerdin and got him to lv15 before the patch. The last wp he has is the outer cloister. I have no attack skills besides one point in charge, but that still forces me to fight monsters one at a time. Right now it's impossible to level. I can't melee the aura monster becasue he's in a group and I die rushing in to kill him. I can try to charge him, but with my current mana pool I can only charge twice before I'm out. Unless the monster is in my field of view and has no obstacles in front of him, the aura will drain my mana before I get a chance to charge. I can't break them up without using a lot of pots in the process. That takes too much time and sucks all the fun out of the game, and when I run out of pots I can't do anything anyway. Right now I just can't kill fast enough to overcome the aura, and that can't be changed. This char is currently lost, and I"ll be returning to him if and when the aura gets changed.

[Sorky]

Sorry Webwalker I disagree with you on this one.

Why should we build a new character to test out this change.  We all now have characters that were built to do the best we could in getting to a level as high as our skill would allow us to go.
If I built a new character I would not spend a single point different than I did when I built my characters.  IMHO it would not change a thing in dealing with the Disco Aura.

Playstyle certainly has changed.  Atm there is none, other than trying to stay ahead of the mana drain while trying to kill all the drainers first, which is mostly impossible before you have to run and hide.  So nothing to learn here, its fight, drink, drink, run. You learn that the first time out.

I don't think a comparison to the lava maws is fair.  They can be fought with a couple of tactics, one is hit and run and avoiding the acid vomit.  They are deadly and hard to kill and give lousy xp, but they could be with dealt with, hard work, scary, but not always impossible.   
I will admit to having to ask for help on a few spawns, but that depended on the character I was playing and where the spawn was.

You mention gear.  To my knowledge(I could be wrong), there is no gear change to combat the Disco Aura.  Mana regen rings, ammy, and armor would only slow down the mana drain, but not enough to make much of a difference, and that would not replace your health lost.
Plus having all that mana gear would take away alot of + skill points given to you by the jewlery and armor.

You mention a resist to the Aura.  I hope this doesn't happen, I don't have enough space in my inventory for any new charms for a new Aura.  I can barely pick up an egg now and I haven't got my resists into the positive for hell mode yet.  A poition to drink?  I hope not.  We only have 4 slot belts, and I use all rejuves in mine because of HC.  I carry poison resists and stamina in my inventory, and I may put one row of poison resists in my belt for those hell places if I know one is comming up.  I just don't have room for a new potion in my belt. 

I do agree with you on playing a melee character as a last resort.  I have always like ranged attackers in all the games I have played. I just don't like melee characters for me.

Nothing personal, I just think this could be the change that broke my favorite game mod.

[urmel]

To stick to the title... I think there is a bug - but I hope that I don't post it twice...

Just a moment ago, I searched Kaa with a friend and walked right into a Tomb... After searching for Kaa we haven't found him there... But some crazy Disco Folks(I hate those guys... Especially the Foxtrot ones) and they drained my life and my mana... So what... Went outside the Tomb to get into my old Town Portal... But right as I stepped outside the Tomb, my life and mana was replenished to 100% ... As I wanted to fight some monster right at that TP I was killed by a single hit of those Spear Throwers... I thought this would be good to mention for you, just not to believe the Life and Mana Display... If you got into a fight with those Disco Gaylords, you should refresh your Life at a NPC, whatever the display tells you... Could get a problem for our good old HC friends, I guess... xD

So, it would be fine, if the Life Value after getting drained would stay there, where it is, and don't just display 100% Life, if you only have 1 HP... ~~

[arcadians]

well   i looked at the hc ladder   so many deaths i will asume this is due to the disco auro there is about 6-10 chars clumped together all dead.       im currently trying out countdraculas  nova build  ( nice build so far )  im lvl 21 in act 2 and dont even want to try it as i have bout 150 health and 500 mana  .  now at lvl 24 i will have mana shield  and the mana will disapear and leave me exposed to death.          my opion is its simply...rubbish       how about changing it from  mana reducing to a reduced faster cast rate and attack speed?

[back2toxic]

How many status points did you invested into energy?
I expect a minimum of 1/lvl

i think this aint a questioun of mana but of manaregeneration... since the aura got -xx% manaregeneration its the same with 100 or 1000 mana....

[ChaosEmpire]

use 7.62...

[Tiberian]

Thank you.

[bdpf]

IN ver 6.1

Used lvl 60 bow / javilan zon in act 1 NM with heavy life and mana lech 1 7%+ and 2 9%+. With a lvl 60 rougue and vikalry.

Had  to dump full purple too much.

Its bad to be stuck in one spot with straff and  muility shoot does not do a 360 degree arck.

Lighting skills of javalin needs mana.

If it was not for hits on other monsters the belt would soon be empty.

The arua needs to be toned down.

            PLEASE PLEASE DONT LET THE ARURA BE ACTIVE ON AN EMUNE MONSTER.     

To have this type of arua, the life and mana leching needs to be addressed for all charactors and m,ercs.

bdpf   Just ran catcombs NM IN 6.20 ver  much better.

thank you for the changes  CE

bdpf

[godemperor]

I think the radius is a bit to high on the disco aura, but I definitly dont see it as impossible.  I have a lvl 94 sorc and am enjoying the new challenge. 

Although I would like to mention that the cow level in the COME GET SOME level is ridiculous.  It seems like every cow has the aura. Needless to say thats the only place I seemed to be having any problems.

[ChaosEmpire]

the radius has been halfed in 762

[webwalker]

Further testing notes:

Ran a poison nova necro through act 1 NM last night from Bloodmore to Radament inclusive. Rarely had to take a potion of any kind. BASE ENERGY (all points in Vitality except to use equip).

1: My rogue has a "Prayer" breastplate and an "Insight" polearm (she thinks its a bow... I hired for looks not brains).

2: I ran around casting Poison Nova every second or so (poison damage takes place over 2 seconds so this kept them dying) circling in on the Shaman/Tainted/Rogue with the aura until the revives and the Nova killed everything.  I revived everything as needed to keep my full troupe... it didn't matter what I revived (even poison orbs!) their job was to distract enemy fire from my rogue and from me.

3: I have a full bartuc set on this character (+7 skills).  I noticed it is now impossible to gamble anything from bartuc set (14 Hsarus boots, 2 Lady Daan, 4 chain boots with EXCELLENT resists, uncounted trash, not one bartuc). (4 Fernandez breastplates, 4 Isenharts, 3 with EXCELLENT resists, uncounted trash, not one Bartuc) /edit: SSSF (Sneaky Server Side Fix) has corrected whatever was wrong. @anybody with Bartuc set: get new pieces, they now have different "Full Set" bonuses.

@sorky @bdpf @Tiberian: try with the Prayer/Insight on a merc for a test... see if it makes a difference, a big difference, or basically renders this a non-problem.

[Wormbo]

In 7.62 the aura's drain is only half as strong as before. I think you can entirely compensate the aura's effect now if you somehow manage to get about +1000% (or a bit more) mana regeneration.

[Tiberian]

3: I have a full bartuc set on this character (+7 skills).  I noticed it is now impossible to gamble anything from bartuc set (14 Hsarus boots, 2 Lady Daan, 4 chain boots with EXCELLENT resists, uncounted trash, not one bartuc). (4 Fernandez breastplates, 4 Isenharts, 3 with EXCELLENT resists, uncounted trash, not one Bartuc)

I spent about 3 hours gambling for bartucs and got nothing. I thinbk you may be right, I didn't want to say impossible, but I should have got something in that timeframe.

[DrowElf]

Please come back to topic.

[godemperor]

the radius has been halfed in 762

Excellent. Thank you.  Cows are playable once again and the Dungeon is still tough enough for a challenge.

[satye]

ALRIGHT !!! Enough whinning !! I have ran my Lvl 75 Pally  with COH armor and Broken Promise scepter and other decent equipment and a Lvl 92 Zon with COH armor and pieces of Blood Raven set and Broken Promise bow and had NO trouble with the Disco dance. I ran dungeon in Let's Rock with both and ran Act 5 Let's rock with both and never died once. I used a FEW full bottles of Rev's but that it.!!
 I also ran ran my little lvl 40 something zon and had NO problems, so I can't see the problem. Use YOUR skill, not only the character's skill you are playing in the game. 


 I think the New aura and changes are great! A good shock is always a Plus in the game

                                                          Come On Players,,..  Show The Game What You Made Of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[realmwanderer]

Sa-tye, did you mean Broken Promise runeword enhanced scepter for you pally?  I thought that runeword can only be used on clvl 82?

[satye]

Well Realmwanderer I would guess that it depends on the scepter a person starts with. I started with a Item lvl 91 Divine Scepter and built it. It can still be upgraded later.

[Tiberian]

ALRIGHT !!! Enough whinning !! I have ran my Lvl 75 Pally with COH armor and Broken Promise scepter and other decent equipment and a Lvl 92 Zon with COH armor and pieces of Blood Raven set and Broken Promise bow and had NO trouble with the Disco dance. I ran dungeon in Let's Rock with both and ran Act 5 Let's rock with both and never died once. I used a FEW full bottles of Rev's but that it.!!
 I also ran ran my little lvl 40 something zon and had NO problems, so I can't see the problem. Use YOUR skill, not only the character's skill you are playing in the game.


 I think the New aura and changes are great! A good shock is always a Plus in the game

 Come On Players,,.. Show The Game What You Made Of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're replying a few days after the changes were made and the thread was dead. We were done whinning. If you install 7.61 and try to run the dungeon or cows, you'll see what the big deal was.

[bdpf]

I think the radius is a bit to high on the disco aura, but I definitly dont see it as impossible. I have a lvl 94 sorc and am enjoying the new challenge.

Although I would like to mention that the cow level in the COME GET SOME level is ridiculous. It seems like every cow has the aura. Needless to say thats the only place I seemed to be having any problems.

Just there with 93 lvl zon in SP Not too bad ,,,,
just don't run out of arrows or javalins...

Of coarse she is equipted with SG armor and arrows and has a very high lech factor 

bdfp