ABSTRACT
This chapter examines what Max Schaefer variation is, how it is implemented, and what effect this has on the player's experience of Diablo II. The shortest explanation of Schaefer variation is that it is a way of recreating the fundamental design structure of mainstream action games in a procedural RPG. Diablo II also has idiosyncratic spikes in difficulty. The important thing to remember about the game is that Schafer variation depends on procedural means. Rusthandle dropped for our hypothetical Paladin as a random drop. Schafer variation is volatile in a way that Nishikado motion usually isn't, but the general structure is the same. There's also another attribute that Schaefer variation and Nishikado motion have in common. Over time, both traditional action games and Diablo II gradually become more difficult. In Diablo II there are also what we might call "diegetic" or "denoted" sets—gear which the game explicitly marks as sets. The hallmark of Diablo II is its acceleration-based gameplay.
