One more try. I could hit 75 breakpoint if I roll a 35...

Alas. Suckage.


Was a stupid move because then this dropped in sewers:


And I wasn't ready:

Well, I didn't find thul down there, but I did find a staff.

The claw viper template was next, and I didn't screenshot. I guess the battle was too intense. Sorry guys. I have no such excuse for the summoner though. Seems like I just got lazy.

Here is duriel though:


Twitchthrow went on merc. I upped it too.

With A2 in the books I thought it prudent to go find a thul before A3. I ran countess once, but found my thul at the foot of a little dead blue carver. Hooray!



The spirit roll wasn't anything special and I forgot to screenshot But with two 10 fcr rings, and two middling spirits, at least I had the 75 breakpoint w/o sacrificing resists on glove slot.


Starting A3 NM - Merc is really feeling lack of life steal. I don't drink mana anymore, but I do feed him red pots, and that is much worse. I thought I'd craft some blood armor & blood helm for him.



Better luck next time I guess.

I gained a level and foud an Eye before saving another perf ruby. Here was the result.



At the time merc was using coif of glory, and the blinds target was sometimes useful, noticeable anyway. So This wasn't much of an upgrade, but it went on him anyway. There was nothing to do but carry on feeding red pots to him.

Ormus was less generous this time around.


My barb found a pComb on his walk. So it is only fair that the pally should give him this in return, provided of course he lives that long...

Not long thereafter, on my way through the vastness of A3, did this drop. I think it even dropped from a normal monster. There is a god, it loves my merc, and it doesn't want me to ever stop playing, for drops like that compel one to continue. For good drops beget good drops. Woot!



I skipped flayer dungeon and the sewers to test my mettle, and hopefully level, against the council. Let it be known that the council is dangerous. I avoided going toe to toe, instead letting them run around in hammer fields. I'd also save and exit if needed. After I gained a few more levels it was a little safer, but still dangerous. Here is a nice drop collage. Witness the purple pots. I farmed a1 when I ran out of purps.

I ran travincal A LOT. These screenshots capture only those drops that were worthwhile or had a chance of being worthwhile.


A random safety craft because I love crafting, who needs perfect emeralds anyway, and my merc needed an upgrade. twitch is no kind of defense. It turned out ok.

My armor in the screenshot is a 3 pTopaz mesh armor. Stealth wasn't too helpful once I had 30 frw boots, and > 75 fcr from spirits & jewelry.

The council gave me an amulet upgrade too.



And, can someone tell me if this pelt is any good? I've not yet played a druid. It has a level 30 req too, so what say you thesniper? It was worth 30k to me.



Having sufficiently leveled and upgraded my gear, I felt good going back to Andy.

I split time between running andy and travincal. Two last screenshots from this time in nightmare:


The Sazabi's was a sign - time to move on.

I went back to flayer dungeon and the sewers. I was either lucky with the monster spawns, or had leveled so much that it wasn't scary anymore. I fear hell might be a different story... Anyway I forgot to screenshot the action there, because the next screenshot I have is this, from somewhere in the durance:


At first I saw fire skills and thought ormus-food, but then I looked closer. It beat out that magic amulet I just MFed in every way. Nice!

Mephisto was easy, here are the quest drops.


I ran him a few times too. Here is another drop collage, this time one screenie for every run, as was my habit w/ barb:


In all I spent more than 3 days between Travincal and starting A4 (just checked timestamps).

That is all the posting for tonight.

WOW buddy!

i realy like it, it feels like there was a new reset

TRACKED ofc!

ISO more and btw u have realy luck with ur stuff

3njoy!

reg SnoW

Yep! Single Player FTW!

A4 Nightmare started off like this. Check exactly how far away from the pandemonium fortress I am here...


I love the anticipation. So much fun. ID'n rare jewels... unique jewelry... What is it this time??



After three days MFin travincal, this drops on outer stepps. WTF! Good things come to those who play I guess. Made me smile, real big like.

Only thing is, playing HC, I felt safer w/ the resists on my rings. So into stash this went, for now.

Next up, beating down Izual. I don't think any souls spawned here this time, but can't remember rightly. (This was Jan 6).

And on to the hellforge... I was hoping for a perf amythyst, or lem, or ko, at best. My hellforge luck, especially here in NM is usually rotten.



Pul! All right!

I also ID'd a rare amulet that some baddie dropped right around the forge too. I don't end up using it as I appreciate more the resist all and +life of my current. But it was cute enough to share, and hold on to.


Lord de Seis dropped me this, but it is not > than tal's. 20 dex is VERY nice (max block!). Stashed for a day when I'm strong enough to sacrifice 20 stat points!

Diablo drops. Nightmare is starting to play more like I am used to, which is probably dangerous. Can't get complacent. In normal I think I had to run around a little more. Here.... Dead right in the middle of his star



From there I did some more andy, meph, and chaos runs. Not too many though.

Got my first shako in the arreat plateau. It was magic, not unique. (I have a feeling this will be a theme of this here walkthrough....)


I was still looking to improve upon my merc's armor when a cuirass dropped. Perf emerald from forge, and a lowly eth rune yielded this. Better than the last craft I think.



I looks like from the screen shot that I didn't need the resists or fcr from vMagi yet. I think the defense and MF from the tri-pTopaz mesh armor was greater here in NM.

This post was edited by DManZ on Jan 26 2012 10:09pm