Median XL 2012 v002 [Diablo II LoD Mod]

Description

Median XL 2012 is a significant update for Median XL. New monsters, new balance, new skills, new items!

Version 002 brings a small bugfix patch for Median XL 2012.


Upgrade notice
Median XL 2012 is a major update and not all items from previous versions of Median XL may be legit in the latest patch. Additionally, due to the rescaling of monster levels in Terror difficulty, existing characters in late Terror may have to go back to an earlier area to match monster levels.

>>> Median XL
for Diablo II Lord of Destruction 1.10/1.11/1.12/1.13
Mods by Brother Laz
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You can find the latest Diablo II LoD patches here.

The main attraction of Median XL is the brand new skill trees, 30 skills per class, providing a whole new experience. The mod also offers a new base item setup with 7 quality tiers, 480 uniques, 310 runewords, a new affix pool and gem/jewel stats, honorific items and many new and powerful crafting recipes.

All this would be for nothing without the monster AI modifications and new abilities, elite and heroic monsters with even more powerful skills, and for advanced players there are 30 new uberquests based on Diablo lore and the challenges, which reward you for killing bosses at a low level or two of them at once.

A bullet list of all changes would take up most allowed space in this description, so please consult the official site.
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List of features

Skills

The 210 new skills (25+5 per class) give rise to very different build strategies. Ever wanted to build a throw barb, poison sorceress or bloodwitch amazon?

Amazon - archer, spearmaiden, huntress or bloodwitch, choose your devotion!
Assassin - adept at physical and elemental melee and can throw knives and place time bombs.
Barbarian - powerful warrior, but can also throw axes and summon ancient spirits.
Druid - elementalist, bow hunter, and shapeshifter in a giant tree or angry giant quill rat.
Necromancer - minions, corpse totems, melee and crossbow attacks. Join the army!
Paladin - choose between the holy path of Auriel or the shadow dogmas of Imperius.
Sorceress - pagan elementalist or poison witch. It's witch hunt payback time.

Monsters

What would new skills be without new monsters to pulverise? The focus here is on AI and skill changes. From hammer-throwing clerics and quill rats with homing spikes to corpse exploding goatman priests and frogs that turn into a prince when killed, the new monsters are more than a match for the new skill set. There are a few brand new monsters here and there too - fear the mushroom people.

Elite monsters
Much more powerful than regular monsters and with new and improved skills, these rare encounters send you running for the hills.
Heroic monsters
Even more powerful than elites, these are thankfully restricted to their own special dungeons... mostly.
Veteran monsters
Rare and very powerful, you gain a reward for killing all of them...

Uberquests

These are special dungeons, levels or player-summoned bosses that should only be attempted by the skilled and powerful. Median XL offers 17+1 uberbosses, 8 uberlevels and 4 separate bosses, most based on Diablo lore. The uberquests range from the invasion of Toraja by the edyrem to the cursed city of Ureh (from the Diablo novel 'Kingdom of Shadow') and an uberquest that recreates the capture of Baal by Tal Rasha and the Horadrim... with you as Baal.

Challenges

Completing difficult tasks and encounters at a low level or performing tricks like dodging witches or shattering stained glass windows may earn you big rewards... from powerful charms to additional new skills.

Items

While some people play the game to defeat the denizens of Hell (haha), for most others TEH L00T and the bragging rights that come with it are more important. Median XL does away with normal, exceptional and elite items, instead providing six 'tiers' of item quality. Baal may drop a cap, but it will be a cap with 600 defense on it. Median XL also features many new class-specific items to augment the new skills, from necromantic crossbows to the assassin naginata with a built-in multitarget sweep attack. A huge collection of new uniques, sets and runewords is a given, of course, as well as some much more powerful crafting recipes.

Multiplayer

Median XL supports single player, tcp/ip and open battle.net. Closed battle.net ('realms') obviously won't work, but certain third parties have provided alternatives... Check out the D2 Maniacs mod server.

Official Site


Median XL 2012 Features:

Eve of Destruction
Is the grind getting to you? Median XL 2012 rescales the game so you reach level 120 at the end of Terror difficulty instead of Destruction. All Destruction difficulty monsters have the highest monster level and drop sacred uniques and sets, similar to Inferno difficulty in Diablo III.

Little Mr. Sunshine
The morninglord, the holy caster paladin paradigm, has been revamped with a new mechanic (Resonance) that rewards players for creatively combining skills.

New monsters
From trolls that blink invulnerable to venomous snakes in the grass, Median XL 2012 adds a large selection of new regular and elite monsters to fight.

Rolling out the cheese wheel
Fighting monsters that are slowed to a standstill is not a challenge, therefore slow target has been drastically cut down. Freeze spells on the other hand are much more effective this time round.

Changelog