I never use the big ass map for me it's mini-map all the way!

thnks for the advice guys. i'll keep it mind.

The mini-map is fine and dandy for Normal, but from Nightmare onward it just doesn't cut it. The maps get bigger in the higher difficulties and it's pretty easy to lose your bearings, especially on Kurast Forest on Hell. I'm just so used to the big map that I rarely notice it, only when things get pretty hectic.

The minimap is totally sufficient in all scenarios I've ever experience in D2 (and D3 so far) and you should pretty much always have it up, always.

All this D2 talk makes me want to figure up my characters but they're probably wiped from the reals as I only played hardcore realm characters for the last 5 years or so I played D2.

My mf sorc was pretty sexy if I remember correctly. 4x um socketed....uh...the elite version of kite shield. Um socketed shako, lots of 7/6mf +5 res all charms. Not sure what else she had.

Granted that character is now 100% completely useless in D3 as skills are weapon based (w00t!) so there will soon actually be MF characters of all classes instead of really just the sorc (and pally somewhat).

MF sorcs are really the best in that department, mostly because of Tal Rasha's equipment, but my Necro's MF equipment is none too shabby at 425% MF (515% if my merc gets the final hit).

I see you went with the 4x Um path with the socketed Monarch. I usually use those to create the Spirit Runeword, since it's basically the best shield you can create for a caster in D2.

Artisans - Blacksmith

Like in Diablo II, the Blacksmith is in charge of weapons and armor but this time around his job has expended quite a bit.

Instead of merely selling off your unwanted pieces of magical equipment, you can now choose to salvage them in return for materials. The quality of the resulting materials is dependent on the original item salvaged so if you want rare materials, you'll gonna have to part with a rare item. Once you've amassed enough materials, you can use them to craft brand new weapons or armor pieces according to the available recipes.

To go along with the crafting and salvaging dynamic, you can now spend your hard earned gold pieces to help your good friend the Blacksmith upgrade his shop and skills giving you access to better crafting recipes and thus better equipment.

I always go with wizard/mage, cant wait for this game!

Is there going to be a meet up for if and when we want to do multiplayer?

I think I'm gonna build a Demon Hunter first quickly followed by a Wizard.

You mean if you want to play with people from VGC?