I have been reading up on the base game and have noticed that quite a few people consider the game to be fairly difficult. However, I also remember reading somewhere (I can't for the life of me remember where) that an add-on, or perhaps even the Director's Cut release, did something to tweak the difficulty a little bit to make it more fair.

So my question is, what is the difficulty like in this game? Is it really hard or just a tough challenge? If it is fairly difficult, what can be done in-game (not using cheats or anything like that) to alleviate some of the difficulty?

In the original release of D2:ED, there were a couple of difficulty spikes that some people had trouble with, though really it was generally just a case of needing to try a different area before tackling the one that was causing trouble (when that wasn't possible, one spot in particular, usually just a different strategy was required).

With DKS (and so D2:DC) quest experience was changed to make levelling faster at the start of the game, the level requirements on enchantments were lowered (which the random item generator also uses, resulting in better loot earlier in the game), there were additional set and unique equipment pieces added to the game, some enemy placing and experience were changed (particularly at the start of the fjords), stat requirements were dropped from equipment, the level dependence of combat reduced (so opponents more than a few levels higher were not impossible to hurt, and opponents more than a few levels lower could still be a threat in groups) and various other tweaks made. This helped with the difficulty spikes, and made the game easier overall (so much so that by popular demand a higher difficulty level was added in the second DKS patch).

Playing a strength based warrior on normal difficulty in the original release of D2:ED I had about 39 stat points unused at the end of the game, on level 36, and had rarely had any trouble the last half of the game. Even earlier in the game, most of the time a difficult situation could be resolved with a different approach / strategy, or by returning at a higher level or with better equipment.
With my ranger in DKS playing on nightmare difficulty, I stopped allocating stat points after level 15 to keep the game from becoming too easy, and ended the game at level 47 with 145 unused stat points. Others have played on nightmare with an unarmed warrior, or a summoner build who didn't use a breastplate or helmet, or IIRC distribute stat points after level 12.

Aside from the difficulty level setting, there are lots of effective character builds. Some skill bonuses like summons or Hide in Shadows show up on jewellery, which can help early in the game when you don't have a lot of skill points to experiment with (and after you summon something, you can switch back to your regular jewellery).
If you take your time and explore you should also find things much easier than rushing to complete main plot quests as soon as possible.


Anyone help a newb with Warrior build ... ???

class question! (mage advice and links to related topics)

Stat Point Distribution: What's the best way? (for a mage)

Sweet, that is exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks! Looks like I may have a new game by the end of the week...