The title is in jest, however the sentiment is real. There are a lot of things that new (Newbs) and incompetent (Noobs) players do and it's best to acknowledge them before there are regrets and shame.

Don't join a clan... just... don't.

Look, I'm not trying to discourage genuine attempts at cooperative play, but clans just don't ever turn into a healthy way to do it. That isn't necessarily a failure on the part of the founders of a clan (Although sometimes it is), but usually the kind of players that they tend to recruit unwittingly. A lot of players have poor or juvenile motivations for joining a clan and it always ends the same way for you... a tag on your characters name that you become ashamed of; and since character names are unchangeable, that's a pretty big deal.

I've been in several clans, regrettably. I even founded a couple. The "best" clan that I was ever a part of was "Overdosed" or OD. I say best only in the sense that as far as cooperative play goes, they were a pretty strong community of people who really helped each other out. It is also a VERY large clan. There was minimal toxicity, but there was one glaring issue... their presence in PvP communities was embarrassing. In one hand, there were some bad players who would talk trash, play BM, while still getting wrekt, which makes the clan look bad. In the other hand, even the players who handled PvP with some tact weren't very good, which didn't help the clans reputation.

Maybe it just has to do with clans not aligning to my values and expectations as a player, but I'd want to be in a clan that is respected in PvP circles, not shamed. I don't take well to being labeled a bad player merely because my clan tag creates such an association. If I were to join a clan today (I still wouldn't for plenty of other reasons), I wouldn't agree to putting a tag on my characters and I wouldn't represent them in PvP circles. I'd be in a clan for the sake of helping other players out and having people to play with.

Just do yourself a favor and avoid clans. If you "befriend" a clan and they end up being helpful, that's great, but creating characters with clan tags is a surefire recipe for regret.

This isn't Diablo III; set items aren't very good

A full set of Tal Rasha's being the sole exception, a full set is never even remotely close to optimal in Diablo II. In fact, 95% of partial sets are downright awful too. Even the examples of partial sets that aren't awful aren't great either. Some partial sets can be really great in single-player, where a complete lack of high rune drops really lowers the standard for a build, but that's about it. Of course, singular set items have very limited usefulness. Trang Gloves come to mind, for one.

In non-expansion (Classic), this is a bit less true, but still mostly true. Most notably, Angelic Wings (Amulet) is very often paired with Angelic Halo (Ring) for massive attack rating and a decent life boost.

Diablo II sets (Pun intended) itself apart from other RPG's by not making set items the status quo. That's something that some players will need to adjust to.