The Outpost

So, what do you do?

Do you thank him, take the items, and go kill some monsters?

Do you steal all the items, exit the game, make a private game, and 
go kill some monsters?

Do you sit there on your butt and not say a word, shocked at the 
sheer power these items would provide?
 

No!  You take one glance at them, say "This is the worst crap I 
ever saw in my life!  Why don't you go get some better stuff to give 
people?"
or, conversely,
"This isn't legit"

and leave.
 

This, my friend, is what all the experienced players are doing 
nowadays, and there's a reason for it.  Those items I listed off are 
all common "dupes", or duplicated items.  Lame people like to 
exploit a bug in the game where you can, with the proper procedure, 
make 2 things from one!  This is called "duping" and almost 
every respectable player (people called "Legits", who don't 
cheat or dupe) despises people who do it.  You should be 
able to imagine why, as you can of course keep selling the second 
item and get as much gold as you want, or you could dupe items before 
you trade them, essentially getting something for nothing.  And of 
course there's the REAL reason we despise dupers, giving duped 
high-quality stuff to newbies like you.  It totally ruins the game 
for you.  Here's why:

Imagine yourself in a medieval war.  There are people in plate all 
around you, hacking and slashing at eachother like madmen.  You, 
however, are in Power Armor.  Psionic Blades protrude from your 
forearms that can cut solid Titanium alloys like a hot knife through 
butter.  Some guy in a dark cloak just gave it to you.  You have 
absolutely no training.  You kill everyone.  However, you still have 
no experience, because you don't notice when someone's hacking you 
from behind, or trying to trip you.  And you don't know that waving 
your fist at the guy in front of you normally isn't a very effective 
attack, even though you think it is, because it worked in your case. 
So the guy asks for his Protoss Zealot Battle Armor back.  You don't 
give it to him, confident in your ability to massacre this fool, and 
try to attack him.  He just presses a button on this thing around his 
wrist, and the suit freezes, the Psi Blades retract.  He challenges 
you to a duel, to see who keeps the Armor.  You get out of the suit, 
he gives you a sword, he says "en guarde".
You die miserably.

See what giving super-powerful stuff to a beginner does?  If you ever 
find out that the stuff someone gave you isn't legal, once you get 
some real stuff you won't have the skills to survive in the lower 
levels.  All those cheaters are corrupting players such as 
yourselves, and keep saying that they are actually HELPING you.

Or of course you can take it from Pete (modified somewhat)

<start quote>
Hi,

<start modification>

It is possible to tell most of the hacked items. But if an item can 
occur normally in the game, there is no way to prove, without a 
doubt, that it's duped.

<end modification>

But, none of that matters. You see, if someone gives you pure as snow 
gear that is too advanced for your character, then the net effect is 
the same: the game is ruined for you. The problem with duped/hacked 
stuff isn't that it's immoral, unethical, or fattening. The problem 
is that using it ruins the game. A couple of Obsidian/Zodiacs, a
gold/Zodiac, an Awesome Plate of some mammal, Royal Circlet, Storm
Shield, King's Sword of Haste will turn a level 1 character into 
something that will just cut through everything in sight. No 
strategy, no player skill required. Just left click on everything in 
sight and in a couple of hours you'll have your solo dot and a huge 
case of boredom.

What's the point of playing like that? You'll never have the thrill 
of finding good gear -- you've already got the best. You can't take 
any pride or satisfaction in beating a tough boss or a bunch of mobs 
-- it's not your skill, it's the gear someone gave you that's doing 
the playing. And, since you don't have anything invested in your 
character, there's nothing to keep you playing past level 35 or so. 
Since getting to Diablo and killing him is no big thing by itself, 
then you've just wasted whatever time and money you put into the game.

So, it does not matter if the gear that's being offered is legit or 
not, duped or not. If it's much above the level of the stuff you can 
find/buy yourself, then you are better off not using it. You'll have 
a lot more fun and become a much better player.

--Pete
<end quote>

I'll avoid ranting about how these people suck and tell you how to 
avoid 
most dupers and cheaters… and how to stay "legit" (Legit 
means not duping, cheating, or using dupes or hacked items)
 

Rule #1
People with hp over these values are cheaters: Warrior 798  Rogue 683 
Mage 620.
Simply move your mouse over someone to see their level and hp.

note: "trust" means accept items from them (gifts or trades), 
go down their portals, allow them to help you gain levels (by 
protecting you in an advanced dungeon level)

Rule #2
Never trust a level <10 char with Plate Mail on.

Rule #3
Never trust someone with a threatening name.

Rule #4
Never play with someone who starts dropping lots of ears in town, 
after getting in for the first time.  (Ears are dropped when a player 
kills another player, it's proof that he killed that person.  You 
don't drop any equipment when you get killed by a player.  Only some 
gold and an ear)
People who do this are either egotistical, a pk (player-killer), 
stupid to lose good ears, or wants to scare you.  All these people 
are people who are either unpleasant to play with or just plain 
disruptive of your playing experience (IE: killing you).

Rule #5
Be wary of people who ask for a Town Portal immediately after 
joining, especially if you haven't even seen a Book of Town Portal 
yet, and people who ask where you are less than 5-10 seconds after 
joining, especially if they don't say hello first.  Also, don't go 
rushing
off to help someone immediately after joining who doesn't describe 
the trouble (s)he is in.  In other words, "I need help!  Come 
here!" isn't enough… and is really suspicious if repeated many 
many times… However, if you have been playing with them for a while, 
it might be real.
Reason for this is that PKs are usually in a hurry to get as many 
kills as possible in a short amount of time, as they are addicted to 
the adrenaline rush and the feel of power and control they get from 
killing a representative of someone.

Rule #6
Be wary of people who offer a gift to you before entering the Dungeon 
for the first time in the game, for these people could be trying to 
lull you into a false sense of security... so they can get you killed 
by monsters and steal your stuff (also known as MKing, Monster 
Killing).
(by the way, this happened to me twice.  It's a professional tactic)

Rule #7
If you die from a player's attack while there are monsters around,
don't let him resurrect you.  He could be a MK.  Press Escape to get 
to the menu, then press down once, when the "restart in town" 
gets lit, press down again and Enter.  You may want to keep a finger 
over a potion button holding a Full Rejuvenation potion or a Full 
Health, so if he resses you, you can survive. This circumstance 
happens more than you would think it would. The only exception is if 
you have played with him before.

Rule #8
Players above level 50 are cheaters.  Plain and simple.  And never 
play with level 50s, until you're a high level, mostly because some 
cheaters like to hack themselves to be only level 50, even though 
they could be 99, just because they want to disguise themselves as 
legit people.

Rule #9
Don't create games that say "legit no pks".  That attracts 
more pks and cheaters than normal.  Create a regular game called 
something like "For Players with Honor", this would imply a 
legit, no pk game, without being blatant about it.  Other examples 
would be "World for the good guys"… you know, create a game 
for good people.

Rule #10
Hotkey your spells.  Open up your spells by clicking on the spell 
icon in the lower right hand corner of your screen.  Move your mouse 
over a spell, and press one of these keys: F5  F6  F7  F8   After 
assigning a spell, you can select it again by pressing the proper 
function key.

Rule #11
Have an escape spell hotkeyed, so if you get attacked you can escape 
easily.  Town Portal and Teleport are escape spells.  Phasing doesn't 
work well against players… unless he's a Warrior.

Rule #12
You MAY want to experiment with cheats once the 1.05 trainers come 
out, but DO NOT use the cheated character on Battle.net.  Simply 
start a Null-Modem game (Direct Connect) and cheat to your heart's 
content… you will learn lots of useful information on cheaters.
 

Battle.net Survival:

Rule #1
Don't spam.  Spamming is repeatedly broadcasting messages rapidly, or 
just repetitively one message.

Rule #2
Please don't curse very much.  This makes you look like a rude 
person…  Unless you have a damn good reason for it… like you're 
pissed off, and such.

Rule #3
Don't go into channel Legit, most of the people in there actually 
aren't legit.  Go to channel Honor instead.  Lots of Star Craft 
people hang there too, but don't worry, they're all nice guys. 
Exceptions: anyone referred to as "L3", Algoodnamesrgon, 
Kasimir, and Bloody_Jack.  These people are not supposed to be there, 
yet they appear frequently when there is no Op.

Strategy Forum Survival:

Rule #1
When you are posting something without any Diablo strategy in it, put 
<ns> in the subject.  This says that the post has <No 
Strategy>.  If the post does not include text from you, put 
<nt>.  Very little text: <vlt>.  Some text: 
<text>.  Long post: <long>.  Very long post (like 
this one): <very long>.

Rule #2
Never reply to a post (not a reply) that seems to be the epitome of 
cheating, or pking, or being really stupid.  Most of the time it's a 
"Troll", our name for someone who posts just to get an angry 
response out of someone.

Rule #3
Don't post no-strategy posts without having <ns> in the 
subject.  It gets people pissed off, for some reason.  They think 
it's cluttering up the Forum. (I tend to think it doesn't matter)

Rule #4
DO NOT ask for cheats!

Rule #5
Don't post a strategy without being humble about it… especially if 
you don't know if it's new or not.

Rule #6
Ignore Landru.  He's a program created by someone else to reply to 
certain posts, and tell cheaters to stop cheating, idiots to quit 
posting, and guilds to go advertise somewhere else.

Rule #7
Don't bring up these topics: "what is the best bow?" 
"Which class is the best?" "Rogues should use swords!"
However, if you don't know the answers, you can ask for a quick 
summary of the argument.

Rule #8
Refer to the Rogue class as "Rogue", not "Rouge" 
Rouge is French for red.
 

Chat Commands:

/whois <user>
/whereis <user>
/where <user>
These commands search for a person.  If he's online, it will tell you 
where he is.  Also, once you use this on someone you can always find 
that person, even if he's using a different character.  Simply write 
down the account number it shows you and place that where his name 
would be.  Make sure to use a "#" at the start of the number.
/away <reason>
Puts you in Away mode.  People whispering to you or using /whois will 
see the reason you're away.  To disable it, leave the 
<reason> blank.
/time
Tells you what time it is, in your time zone and in Battle.net's time 
zone.  Handy for figuring out what time the Blizzard Tech Forum is 
open.
/ignore <user>
/squelch <user>
These mute out any messages that person sends to you.
/unsquelch <user>
This disables the mute.
/whisper <user> <message>
/msg <user> <message>
/w <user> <message>
Simply a command to whisper to someone.  No-one else can listen in on 
your conversation.
/rejoin
/resign
You rejoin the channel.  Handy if you want to be at the bottom of the 
list.
/me <action>
Allows you to talk in yellow, in this format:
<Name Action>
This is what would happen if your name was "Name" and you 
typed "/me Action"
People who don't have the 1.05 patch can't see this or use it.  If 
you want to talk behind the 1.04 users' backs… this is the way.

In-Game Commands:
/whois <user>
/whereis <user>
/where <user>
VERY handy.  You can tell if someone is available to help you or join 
in your game, with this.
/whisper <user> <message>
/msg <user> <message>
You can talk to people in chat with this!  Call for help, offer 
someone a game, just chat while killing stuff, the possibilities are 
endless.
/ignore
/squelch
These don't mute out what he says in the game, but when he goes into 
the chat, you won't be able to hear him.  This is actually useful, as 
if someone is whispering Spam to you, you can get rid of it.
/unsquelch
Same effect, if you want to let someone whisper to you again.
/time
Yep, this works in-Game too.
 

Op commands:

Ops are Channel Operators.  This exists in Private channels only… 
They are the law and order in those private channels.  You can tell 
someone's an Op when his picture turns into a Gavel (hammer) and he 
talks in white.

/ban <user>
Bans a person from the channel, and sends him to The Void (a 
channel).  They can only come back in when the op changes.
/unban <user>
Removes a ban from a user.
/kick <user>
Kicks a user out of the channel, and sends him to The Void.  He can 
come back if he wants to.
/designate <user>
Assigns someone as your heir.  If you leave for any reason, that 
person gets op.
 

Abbreviations:

KSO: King's Sword of --
     H: Haste, Heavens, B: Blood, V: Vampires, C: Carnage
SSO: Strange Sword of --
     H: Haste, Heavens, B: Blood, V: Vampires, C: Carnage
MBO: Merciless Bow of -- T: Thunder, B: Burning, H: Heavens
GPO: Godly Plate of -- W: Whale, O: Osmosis, A: Ages
APO: Awesome Plate of -- S: Sorcery, T: Tiger, L: Lion, St: Stars
SPO: Saintly Plate of -- S: Sorcery, T: Tiger, L: Lion, St: Stars
GSO: Godly Shield of -- A: Ages, T: Tiger
ASO: Awesome Shield of -- T: Tiger
SSO: Saintly Shield of -- T: Tiger, Th: Thieves
ESO: Emerald Shield of -- T: Tiger
TC: Thinking Cap
TP: Town Portal
RC: Royal Circlet
CC: Civerb's Cudgel
WF: Windforce
EH: Eaglehorn
OZ: Obsidian Ring/Amulet of the Zodiac
ObsZod: Obsidian Ring/Amulet of the Zodiac
PK: Player Killer
PKK: Player Killer Killer (one who kills PKs)
MK: Monster Killer
NT: No Text
VLT: Very Little Text
NS: No Strategy
 

Things You Should Know:

Townkill can only affect people that use Townkill.  (Townkill allows 
spells in town)
Ghost Mode players can't affect your game.  (Ghost Mode makes you 
invisible to players)
Ok, when you press Enter to start typing something to say (in Game), 
there will be a list of people in your game below the box you're 
typing in.  There will be buttons marked "Voice" next to 
them.  If you push one, it says "Mute".  While someone is 
"Muted" they can't hear you.  Unfortunately you can hear 
them.  So the only use of this is having a private conversation with 
someone.
 
 

Guidelines for Playing Without Getting Killed:

Rule #1
Try to stay near the wall.  Don't go straight into the middle of a 
large room if you can help it, that just attracts more monsters to 
you.

Rule #2
Don't let more than 4 monsters attack you at once.  Walk a few steps 
backward and let them walk towards you again.  This thins it out to 3 
most of the time.  You can just walk 1 step backwards if you are in a 
tight space.

Rule #3
Buy regular potions at first, but when you start accumulating more 
than 10000 gold, buy Full potions.

Rule #4
For added safety, you can put an emergency item in the 8th slot in 
your belt.  (emergency items are things such as Full Rejuvenation 
Potions, Scrolls of Flame Wave, Nova, and Apocalypse, there are 
probably others.)

Rule #5 (for Warriors and Rogues)
Don't sell the items that add to Magic!  These can be used 
temporarily to read books, because afterwards you can wear normal 
stuff.

Rule #6 (for Mages and Rogues)
Check the Witch often.  Her items change each time you enter the town 
 (from the chat room or the dungeon).

Rule #7
Once you are a moderate level, start checking Wirt.  His stuff gets 
more useful once you get better levels, and it's real bad to miss 
something awesome that you could've bought.  His item changes each 
time you gain a level.

Rule #8
Thinking Caps.  DO NOT sell these.  I know the Durability is 1, and 
one hit is all it needs to break, but you can increase its Dur with 
Hidden Shrines.  You can find these in the Church or the Catacombs. 
11 Dur is functional, 21 Dur is much better.  Once you get it to 11 
or 21 you can trade it with your friends.

Rule #9
Don't use up all your potions before refilling your belt.  Once you 
get down to half, refill it when the fighting's stopped.
 
 

Some info about various enchantments and items:
Civerb's Cudgel's +200% damage to Demons applies to the TOTAL 
damage, not just the weapon's 1-8.  Bloodslayer (an axe) works in the 
same way.  This allows your Strength (and if you're a Rogue, 
Dexterity) bonus to be tripled as well.  HOWEVER!  It does seem that 
The Deadly Hunter, a bow, does not work in the same way, BUT DON'T 
SELL IT!!!!!  Give it to someone here.  The Deadly Hunter is the 
RAREST item in the game.  Of course, only try and give it to us if 
it's legit.
The Helm of Sprits is a handy item that, if you don't like it, can be 
given to someone here for a good item in return.  That life draining 
ability (from monsters) works well with a Sword of Haste.
-of Thieves halves all trap damage, monster spell damage, and monster 
arrow damage.  Very useful.  Look for it on a Shield, that is 
probably the best place for it.  It also appears on Jewelry, Armor, 
and Helms.
Unidentified items don't give anything but their armor class, so the 
Gotterdammurung can be worn unidentified for the 60 ac, but without 
the null resistances.
The Constricting Ring's life draining doesn't hurt that much when 
you're at a higher level.
 

Single-player only items:
Veil of Steel, Undead Crown, Empyrean Band, Ring of Truth, Optic 
Amulet, Butcher's Cleaver, Arkaine's Valor, Griswold's Edge, Brain, 
Tavern Sign, Spectral Elixir, Staff of Lazarus, Black Mushroom, Anvil 
of Fury, Golden Elixir, Map of Stars, Magic Rock, Blood Stone, Fungal 
Tome.
All items after Griswold's Edge are useless items that are just 
interesting to look at (in multiplayer, that is).
 

Commonly Duped Items:

King's Sword of Haste/Blood/Vampires/Carnage
Godly Plate of the Whale (any of em, no-one would give it away)
Godly Plate of the Ages (see above)
Godly Plate of Osmosis (see above)
Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac
Royal Circlet
Gnarled Root (not in Club form)
Butcher's Cleaver (in any form)
Lightforge (in any form)
Demonspike Coat (not in plate form)
Thinking Cap (any form that's Indestructible)
Dreamflange (not in Mace form)
Any item with a picture of Arkaine's Valor
Any item with a picture of The Butcher's Cleaver

More detailed descriptions:
Godly Helm of the Whale      -    15AC +199% +96HP 
Godly Helm of the Mammoth    -    10AC +200% +76HP 
Godly Plate of the Lion      -    60AC +197% +60HP 
Godly Plate of the Ages      -    75AC +198% INDESTRUCTIBLE 
Godly Plate of the Mammoth   -    70AC +187% +69HP 
Godly Plate of the Whale     -    63AC +187% +99HP 
                                      74AC +197% +100HP 
                                      75AC +192% +86HP 
                                      75AC +178% +100HP 
Godly Shield of the Ages     -    20AC +197% INDESTRUCTIBLE 
Obsidian Amulet of Zodiac    -    +35% resist +17 to all 
                                      +40% resist +20 to all 
                                      +38% resist +20 to all 
Obsidian Ring of Zodiac      -    +34% resist +19 to all 
                                      +37% resist +20 to all 
King's sword of the heavens  -    +85%, +160%, +14, 4-12 
King's sword of blood        -    +89%, +153%, 6-15 Damage 
King's sword of haste        -    +82%, +169%, 4-12 Damage 
                                      +100%, +174%,6-15 
Damage 
Merciless Bow of Thunder     -    1-14 damage +160% 
                                      Lightning Damage 1-20 
Merciless Bow of the Heavens -    1-14 Damage +163% 
                                      +15 to all stats

Some web pages you might want to look at:

The Diablo Asylum:
http://www.win.net/homefield/diablo/

Van Damned's Plain Guide to Diablo:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Chamber/1992/diablo.html

Diablo Multiplayer Guide for Rogues:
http://home.stny.lrun.com/drhager/diablo.htm

The Unofficial Diablo Home Page:
http://diablo.scorched.com/

Aderrasi's Diablo Strategy FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
http://www1.stuttgart.netsurf.de/~jbaumann/faq.html
I snatched some stuff from here, but there's some neat strategy in 
here as well… that I didn't snatch.

Well, I don't recommend this guide until you're very used to the 
game, but it is VERY handy once you are.  Print it out for easy 
reference.
Jarulf's Guide to Diablo and Hellfire
http://pf.chemeng.lth.se/diablo/index.htm

And if you EVER want to join a guild, I recommend mine.  We are
against pkillers, allow cheating (but disapprove of it), and have a 
legit circle (which I lead!)
https://www.angelfire.com/tx/BLACKMANE/enter.html
 

If you need any help in Diablo, look for me, my account number is 
#1716309.  Remember, you don't have to leave your game to look for 
someone, or whisper to them!  Even if I'm in another game, I will 
hear your pleas, and heed them.

I probably left some things out, go to those web pages for the rest, 
or keep an eye on this thread and read the responses.
 

Argus McFrugal

P.S. All those experts out there, tell me what's wrong with this 
Guide To Newbies.  Nitpick at it!  I assure you, as long as you don't 
tell me that I'm a piece of crap, I'll take you seriously and without 
insult.  And tell me what I have to add on to it, too.