diablo II queries

[Stycotl]

ok, so i haven't played online in a few months. i log in long enough to keep my current character alive, but that is it--work and school are just swamping me.

when i was in iraq, my old character expired, a high-level sorceress. i got back 7 months ago, already knowing that i would not be able to play her anymore. sure enough, she had that little 'expired' tag on her, but i never erased her. mostly cause i was happy about how high i got her only playing five hours or so a month.

yesterday i logged on to play my current character for a few minutes. my old sorceress no longer had the expired tag. i was curious, so i clicked on her, and i can play her now. she is no longer dead. she doesn't say ladder anymore, but i don't remember if that was just cuz she was a nigthmare character, or what.

is this normal? i know that there are some dII junkies out there. can you tell me what the ladder thing means, and why i am suddenly able to play a deceased character? is this a glitch that is only going to last a few days? maybe i should transfer all of her stuff to a mule while i still can...

[Dallas-Dakota]

7 months ago hmm.

Maybe the ladder competition at that time was over. your ladder character was expired.
So technically should be away since the competition was over.
Unless somebody's telling I don't think it'l go away soon.

[Eita]

The ladder is your ranking in competitive play.. If you don't know what it is, odds are good that you don't care, and as such shouldn't worry.

As for getting a character back like that, I have no idea.

[Krytha]

7 months ago hmm.

Maybe the ladder competition at that time was over. your ladder character was expired.
So technically should be away since the competition was over.
Unless somebody's telling I don't think it'l go away soon.

Blizzard changed the expiration policy. The old "no playing for 90 days = expired" is still there, but it doesn't mean the same thing. When your character expires now, it isn't immediately deleted, but if someone decides they want to make a character with the same name, they will be able to do so - at which point your character will become unavailable permanently. So if you name your characters a long string of random numbers, the possibility of not playing them and then coming back later and having them active becomes real.

In your case, it is possible that the transfer from ladder to non-ladder refreshed the expiration time and no one had usurped your character's title to prevent this from happening.

[Winterwind]

First, let me point you here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68841) for all things Diablo II on this board. :smallcool:

Now that this is out of the way, let me explain the ladder-thing.
When you create a D2-character, you get to select whether the character is meant to be for the Ladder or not. The difference is the following:
- Ladder characters can only interact with other Ladder characters; non-Ladder characters cannot join games created by Ladder characters, and vice versa.
- There are items, runewords and Horadrim Cube recipes that can drop/will work only for Ladder characters.
- The Ladder characters participate in a ranking (based on their level/experience); Blizzard has prizes for the couple of people who occupy the highest ranks at the end of the season.
- At the end of the season, all Ladder-characters are turned into Non-Ladder-Characters.
- The default setting for a new character, until you change something, is Ladder.

Now, I have no idea when the last season ended, but your character would have lost the Ladder-tag when it did.

Why an expired character lost the Expired tag, however, utterly mystifies me. No idea why or how that could happen. From Blizzard's FAQ (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/faq/realms.shtml) it would seem this is impossible. :smallconfused:

EDIT: Seems Krytha has an idea regarding that though. Cool, learnt something new. :smallcool:

[Fleeing Coward]

Winterwind covered pretty much everything. The new ladder season started on 25th of June last year which would explain why your character is now non ladder.
According to Blizzard, their ladder seasons are supposed to be only 6 month in length but they're too busy watching their cash cow WoW to actually do it so often :smallbiggrin:

[Stycotl]

cool. thanks for the info. i'm just glad to have the sorceress back. not that i ever played very often anyway, but every now and then i get the itch.

aaron out.