I might as well post my question to Kantor here too:

Correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that the two active ability disappointment you mentioned is only temporary because as you progress through the game you'll have more slots for active abilities and you'll then be able to create a character with 5-6 main skills that you play around with without having to wait for the cooldown.

I am right here or am I doing some wishful thinking?

Even proper summon necros didn't have the need for more than 6 useful skills. My build basically revolves around Summon Skeleton, Clay Golem, Amplify Damage (going to be exchanged for Decrepify once I get it) and the Skeleton and Golem Masteries which are passive. Anything else is overkill, especially since Curses don't stack with one another.

So you're going pure skeletons? No Skeleton mages?

lestatdark said: Meh Monks, that's probably the least interesting class to play as IMO. Just wait until you put Witch Doctor up for votes, you'll see all the love they'll get . If the WD is 50% as fun as the Necros are to play in DII, it's going to be amazingly fun. My 4 skeleton army is wrecking havok on DII even at 4 players difficulty XD (man I had forgotten just how much fun the summoner necro was).

I bought LOD yesterday, can't find my old disc anywhere...

I'm having a fairly good time playing on 8 players difficulty with a Paladin, going for a Zeal specialist. Companion also helps a lot, did these get an upgrade in 1.13 or 1.12? Seems like they die only a fraction as much as before. Anyway, the XP gains on 8 players diffuculty is astounding, I'm near the end of Act II (going into Tal Rasha's Tomb is next) and I'm already level 27 and I even have decent gear for my level (mobs drop shitloads on higher difficulty settings). Now I just need to get to Kurast and recruit a Frost Mage and wait for Fanaticism to be unlocked!

Forgot about Corpse Explosion (I'm using the heck out of it, even at level 1). I rarely use Revive or Skellie mages though, I usually consider them to be weaker than the normal skellies, plus they don't get to benefit from the bonuses of the Act II Might aura mercenary and the Beast runeword Level 9 Fanaticism aura my build usually revolves around. 

Bone armour is useless for me, mostly because I tend to stay the hell away from the thick of things (that's why I usually go for an Enigma too).

@mummelman - Zealadins are amazing to play in players 8 difficulty, Mine's at level 82 on Hell and it was all with that difficulty and it got insane gear thanks to that . Though higher difficulties don't automatically mean better drops, you only get more drops per enemy. I usually do a good Magic Find build whenever I go hunt for gear (Countess runs are the best). 

I've already managed to snag some decent life steal gear as well, works wonder!

The very first enemies of Kurast yield 1500-3000 XP per mob on players 8 and 7000-8000 for bosses and minions, its insane!

ROFL, that's a lot XD. Most I got was from the Dark Elder superunique on the Lost City, about 5K.

How are you in terms of Magic Find? Mine's at 60% now and I'm getting a ton of Rares and some Uniques.

I've found only one Unique, a decent two-handed sword but tones of Rare. Duriel dropped four Rare and the one Unique on the first go! Regular mobs also drop quite a bit, I think I've found somewhere around 50 Rare items and four set items (one which I'm wearing) and I just finished Act II. Only shit rings and amulets though and the level of the items themselves isn't very high, my socketed weapon(s) still outweigh them overall. The drop rate of gems is astounding though, I can't seem to remember having seen this many gems before, I already have over a dozen flawless gems built from scratch and runes are starting to drop a lot as well.

I have no MF modifiers, however, but I suspect I could have hoarded a great deal of cash and decent items by now if I did.

What character are you making again?

Even with no MF modifies you've got more set items than me . Only got two so far, hsari's belt and cathan's mesh. 

Got a bit luckier on Uniques, i'm using two; Nokozan Relic (Item level 10, +20 FHR, 50% Fire Resist, +10% max fire resist, 3-6 Fire Damage and +3 Light Radius) and Snakecord Light Belt (Item Level 20, 15 Defense, 30% enhanced defense, +10 Defense, Replenish Life +5, 25% poison resist, +12 poison damage over 6 seconds).