I’ve seen the Runes.txt file, and recently stumbled into some reading of excellent descriptions of the other file formats. Is there any reason to not start writing a simple script that randomizes let’s say all uniques, to begin with?
No new graphics or sounds, but word lists are easily made. I already have one from Wikipedia of Russian towns, but a simple english dictionary or hockey players could work too. Maybe finding a polearm named Wayne Gretzky would be fun.
The change of the attributes, I can’t remember their number right now, maybe eight of them, and their range, obviously would have to be done in a careful manner (or not so careful if the script user wants that), and with a combination of different kind of random distributions.
The rarity of the object would have to be considered too, obviously, a number between 1 and 255 if I remember correctly, and in some way connected to the power. But yet not too strict. Finding a belt with 5-10 points in Static Field (for all classes) shouldn’t be impossible to get dropped from Andariel in normal difficulty.
The point is that all of this should be up to the user and what settings he/she chooses. D2 is maybe one of the most randomizable games, and what could be more fun than running a simple script that generates a new set of unknown uniques, then start a new game? Maybe if Blizzard did it every ladder reset.