Zy-El From Version 1.00 to The Present[]
(Author - Al-T)
PAGE UNDERGOING CONSTRUCTION[]
ZyEl 1.0[]
Zy-El version 1.00 was first announced on the Phrozen Keep Forums way back on Thursday 19 September 2002 by the now retired Phrozen Keep Administrator "Alkalund" and immediately gained a dedicated following of players. This first version had a minor problem with the "Duriels Lair" plugin which Kato had used but was fixed by the time version 1.01 was released on 24 September 2002. It was version 1.01 that I started with and for some reason I found it by a search for D2 Mods which took me directly to Kato's official Zy-El website rather than via the Keep. I never checked any of the links from there to the Phrozen Keep until a couple of years ago which explains why I have played so long but only been a member at the Keep for the past 2 years. I still crank up version 1.01 occasionally for nostalgic reasons.
What was immediately enticing about Zy-El was 1800+ cube recipes, Elixers, Demon Keys, almost infinite item crafting abilities, Demon Items, Zy-El artifacts, changes to the Graveyard and Duriels Lair maps but, most of all a maximum character level of 4500. The visually stunning and comprehensive documentation also added greatly to the appeal. This was destined to be one of the best mods ever. Version 1.01 had much less in terms of items and crafting abilities than later versions...there were no cube scrolls, no CHoMs, no Tokens, maximum skill level on any crafted item was limited to only +7 and you couldn't even make crafted jewels in 1.01 but it was still possible to make powerful characters. Still one of my favourite characters is my 1.01 sorceress:
I used Myhrginocs modified D2Launch.dll to display her true level (version 1.01 D2Launch.dll displays her as level 70) and blanked out part of her name in case anyone took offense. Check out the Historical Gallery for screenshots from various versions and if you want to try out version 1.01 then download it from here:
It doesn't come with PlugY but will work with PlugY 5.06 which you can get from here. PlugY was not packaged with the Mod until version 4.0. As you can see from the zip file size, Kato has done a massive amount of work adding to and trying to perfect the Mod over the years. A word of warning if you try out this verson. Although the maximum character level is 4500 you are extremely unlikely to achieve this in single-player or even Multiplayer TCP/IP as you can see from my sorceress above. The only characters in the early versions prior to the addition of the insanity levels in Zy-El that made it to the maximum level, played on private realms which are no longer allowed for legal reasons. Don't let that put you off however, as a level 100+ character in version 1.01 can still be pretty damn good.
As far as items were concerned "back in the day", two items were an absolute must have: Zy-El's Requiem Diadem and a Crafted Belt with "life on level". The Diadem hasn't really changed since 1.01 and remains the single best item in the game as far as I know. I haven't found anything better but we all know Kato may have hidden something somewhere which is yet to be discovered! (Curse you Kato). The crafted belt didn't have the same range of +skills as it has now. It was limited to +7 due to the limitations of a thing called ItemStatCost.txt which was to be overcome by Kato later. This wasn't really a problem as there were no "Insanity Levels" and therefore nothing that could kill you in 1 hit and most character builds could defeat Baal in Hell with enough time and thought. From a gameplay point of view, the one thing that has not changed since 1.01 is the difficulty in killing a quill rat at level 1 and the sheer stupidity of attempting Ghouls or Skeletons at this level unless you are twinked with good items. The most godly items you could get in 1.01 were the Demon Items (Zy-El artifacts aside) which came in only two variations; minor and major. These were rare and crafted items respectively and though weak compared to some of the items you see in the current version, they were majestic in 1.01. The Zy-El artifacts themselves were fewer and have been greatly modified since 1.01 but they were still handy to have, especially the Diadem and Mirrored Boots for Teleport. In conclusion, version 1.01 is still a mod that someone playing for the first time could spend a year or two making various character builds and still not feel they had mastered it and I guess that is why I still go back and play it occasionally. The real beauty of Zy-El....re-playability!!!
The next version to be released was 1.02 which had some major changes from a playing perspective. To see a full list of changes, visit the Phrozen Keep and take a look at this thread. In 1.01 you could gain a lot of levels by defeating the ancients but in 1.02 the XP gained from them was returned to the "vanilla" game state. To balance this, XP from Cows was doubled and the Cow level became less of an "item drops area" and more of a "grab the gold area". The extra gold was definitely needed for all the stacked crafted jewels recipes and for buying runes for use in those recipes. Kato has always maintained, "you can never have too much gold" and I have to agree. The three most significant changes were the addition of 300+ runewords (1.01 only had the original 1.09 LOD ones) and crafted jewels and reduction of stats and skills on levelling to 3 and 1 respectively. Initially, 1.02 was perceived as being too tough by players so 1.02A was released very shortly afterwards on October 28 2002 with a few balance changes. Yes Kato, you were definitely a pitbull in those days. If you want to give this version a try out then here it is:
Once again, this version (and all the others I have played) will work with PlugY but you will have to download PlugY 5.06 and install and configure it for yourselves.
ZyEl 2.0[]
ZyEl version 2.0 was released on Thursday, December 19th, 2002 and was given a new thread at the Phrozen Keep. If you want to try it out then I think this link still works . The main differences between 2.0 and 1.02A were a change to character stats and skills on level up from 3 and 1 to 7 and 2 respectively. This was a reflection of the increased difficulty and tougher monsters. The maximum character level was increased to 5,000. Characters from 1.x versions were not compatible with version 2.0 so as a result, everyone had to start their characters from scratch again. "Quad" and "Tall" charms were added and Cube scrolls were added in the form of "Common", "Uncommon" and "Scarce".
By the time I managed to get enough free time to play again, the mod had been updated to version 2.6B and the Cube Scrolls now came in the 4 flavours we all know and love today, "Common", "Uncommon", "Secret" and "Arcane". Another addition in 2.6B were the Demon Boxes but the most significant change was the addition of The Insanity Levels. Yes, we now had "Suicide Sanctum", "Wayside of Woe" and "Orifice to Oblivion". This meant that it really was possible now to get a character to the maximum level of 5K in single-player.
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