The Phrozen Keep

[Phrozen Heart]

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DEATHSCYTHE	Please give us some info about yourself.
ENQ	Me=Dan Roberts, I'm 23 and living in New Zealand, that place that made that movie The Lord of the Rings, we also won the America's Cup :P I like to cycle when I can (road and touring) especially round lake Taupo (http://www.cyclechallenge.org.nz/) in the central North Island of NZ. I also enjoy going to the beach, bush or anywhere outdoors - I like adventure. Favourite foods: barbequed food (the cooking and the eating :), lasagne and pretty much any berries, nuts and fruit (especially grapefruit juice). I am trained in Web Design, and I studied Landscape Architecture for three years. I also like smiley faces ;)
DEATHSCYTHE	When did you start showing in the modding scene?
ENQ	I started back when v1.06 came out and made a Javelins Only mod where every character used javelins and I changed some skills to try to balance things. No one really knew about this mod and it was just for a laugh. Then I stopped, and I started again in March of this year.
DEATHSCYTHE	What's the reason that made you want to make this mod?
ENQ	Exploring the background workings of the game and creating something that I can enjoy playing. Frustration is another reason. I find editing the game can be more fun than playing it - especially at this time with the realms being dominated by people with no interest in actually playing the game (by that I am referring to the leechers and the exploitation of a few areas).
DEATHSCYTHE	Havw you worked on any mod making projects for other games before you started making mods for Diablo 2?
ENQ	I am working on a new game with some friends (from scratch), other than that I have tinkered with Quake, Quake2 and Unreal Tournament (not the code just maps, skins and textures).
DEATHSCYTHE	Where did you get your name?
ENQ	The alias enqinum (pronounced as it is spelt: en-qin-um) I created from the reversed last half of the word communiqué and swapped the 'u' for 'n' - I can't remember why though. I probably just turned it upside down and it stuck ;) I also use enq, as it's easier to say/type/spell (yes I do sometimes typo my own name LOL ;)
DEATHSCYTHE	What inspired you to make this mod?
ENQ	Basically for this mod (Seasons After) it was frustration with Blizzard making Act 5 and the Cow level so cheesy and lame :(, that and cookie cutter characters. Also twinking (some people call it power acting [ick] or rushing). I wrote a Javazon Guide that focused on how to play all the areas/situations in the game but no one really read it - that other Diablo 2 site ignored my emails, though I did get some good feedback from the forums. After that I decided to try to fix these problems in a mod and add some new stuff just to keep things interesting. I also planned this mod as a stepping-stone to other mods - it started out being called enquilibrium (you can guess how many times I put a typo in that name ;) and that was just skill balancing.
DEATHSCYTHE	Can you give us some info about your new mod?
ENQ	Seasons After is a balance and variation mod - see below. When I am happy with this mod I plan to take some stuff from it and begin a new mod - the skills changed via .dll work etc. I thought of shifting the levels about and making a Hobbit mod that follows the journey of Bilbo Baggins - which I think could be possible in the future. Smaug the dragon could be Diablo and Act3 Mirkwood. Act1 and some work to the map objects as the Shire. Change the Act2 outdoor areas to the Act5 areas then change the tombs to caves below the Misty Mountains (fill Tal Rasha's tomb with water and he can play Gollum ;). It would take a lot of work though and as you can see it's still just a very rough idea (I also wouldn't want to step on the toes of the Middle Earth mod so it would need some researching). I am not even sure that this is possible just yet, though Teknokyo has done some cool stuff with map layouts and Paul Siramy is doing some amazing stuff with his .ds1 editor.
DEATHSCYTHE	How long did it take you to make your first mod?
ENQ	A weekend (for Javelins Only) - I like to work fast and not stop until something is done :)
DEATHSCYTHE	In making mods there's always post release bugs, what's the biggest problem your mod has encountered?
ENQ	My 56k modem from New Zealand to Gamespy's http upload page ;) Other than that the first release where I had a typo causing mlevel19 Quill Bear style monsters in the Blood Moor - a good friend thought I was playing a cruel joke on him LOL ;)
DEATHSCYTHE	It seems that your mod theme is about balancing the game. What changes did you make to make the game more balanced?
ENQ	For characters: nerfing some skills and making others more viable. I like varied characters with lots of skills to suit different areas/situations rather than just sticking to a few skills. In later patches I plan to fine-tune skills so that you will find it easier to play with a more varied skill distribution. For the monsters/levels: some more density and more hit points along with a bit of variation and additional monsters in areas. Some of these monsters are a higher level than characters would normally be in that area so they are hard to hit and hit you hard offering a bit more challenge amongst the weaker monsters. For items: improving rares and crafted items while nerfing uniques so that they have some negative effects or will almost never gain their full mod values making them less powerful. I always thought crafted items would be the greatest thing in the game (create your own specific rare as such) so I have made recipes to suit this and they can now be uber items but you still need to work for them :) I also added the class specific bows to deal with bosses and some types of monsters that can be quite hard in melee (like 'Holy Shock' or 'Extra Strong and Cursed').
DEATHSCYTHE	In your next Beta what changes shall we expect from Seasons After?
ENQ	I generally don't like to post info/changes unless it has been changed/fixed/I change my mind etc, also some people like surprises :) So this is the stuff I HAVE changed: Druid bug is fixed. Act 5 is harder. New uniques/runewords. Crafting help in game - this is quite cool :) Support for German, Spanish, French and Italian languages (thanks AltaVista ;) Because it's a given: the Druid's elemental skills will be nerfed a bit. And because I said I would: a Mac version with no .dll's :) (This may be released in v1.05 though). The mod is basically complete when it comes to most things apart from some fine-tuning, supporting other languages and the new unqiues/sets/runewords (I have this huge list of item names to work through :) There is one huge idea I have but it would take months to do - so we'll see ;)
DEATHSCYTHE	And lastly, can you give some advice to those who are just starting out making mods or considering making a mod for D2?
ENQ	Experiment - nothing bad can come of it. Take notes - you will need them. House music makes you work faster (www.georgefm.co.nz ;) Try not to use the mod plugins as plain plugins. Learn from them so that you can do better (the Baldurs Gate mod's use of the inventory changes is a prime example) or just to see how things work - that's where I learnt lots from. Use the search button on the forums, and the help from friendly people on Phrozenkeep :) - where I am yet to see an elitist post or person. This is why I think the mod community is so great to be a part of. Everyone seems willing to help everyone else so why would you not want to mod? ;D

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Anyone wishing to check out the Seasons After mod can do so by visiting the official website at http://sa.d2mods.com.

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[url=https://www.d2mods.info/forum/kb/viewarticle?a=80&sid=fe02c11fc6fb8520439fb720188c58f6]Knowledge Base - Interview - (2002-05-28) Enqinum[/url]