This is my personal little HC Ladderslasher "selffound" challenge.

To clarify, my goal is not buffcore, by goal is to play this game like someone completely new, starting with 0 fg, 0 gear, playing with stuff I find, selling what I can and only using the fg I make like this to buy upgrades to climb higher.

Since I obviously have more fg I have kept track of everything here.

Below is the full statistic of my first climb. It took 4 days of playing (I only play on the phone) whenever I had some time.

I played on a fighter with 90 Vit and 30 Int.

Total FG made: 213.75
Total FG spend: 47.00
Available FG: 166.75

There are still quite a few items on the MP, so the total might rise.

Current Character: Adore

Noteable items found:
#1 Tier III leather 54ee

#2 Skill rank 30 fishing rod 49 durability

I played with selffound Stuff until I hit 20 and bought that axe, mainly with a plain Tier IV Axe.
The levels before 20 were a bit of a grind.
The lvl 20 axe I bought brought me to lvl 40, again the levels before I hit 40 were also a bit slow but not a problem.
The lvl 25 armor I bought lasted until 55 without much issue, the lvl 40 axe and 55 scale brought me to the MQ. Last few levels were again a bit slow, but overall it was easy and enjoyable.

Items bought:
#1 (4fg) Mystical embossed leather armor
Level Req: 25
Physical Defense: 19 to 59
Magical Defense: 13 to 53

+60% Enhanced Effect
+17 Vitality
+3% Heal Mastery

#2 (1fg) Rare fine alloy axe
Level Req: 20
Damage: 68 to 81

+29% Enhanced Effect
+1 to 1 Mana per Kill

#3 (15fg) Rare diamond axe
Level Req: 40
Damage: 89 to 107

+72% Enhanced Effect
+1% Physical Damage Reductio

#4 (7fg) Legendary heal VII
Level Req: 20
Heals: 19 to 53
Mana Cost: 53

+27 Dexterity
+6 Life Regen
+1 Critical Strike
+2% Mana Syphon
+1% Glancing Blow
+5 Jubilance
+2% Ice Mastery

#5 (20fg) Magical dragon skull scale armor
Level Req: 55
Physical Defense: 22 to 88
Magical Defense: 22 to 66

+66% Enhanced Effect


Personal milestones:
(day/month/year)
12.12.2024 - First MQ failed.
12.12.2024 - Axe proficiency rank 3
11.12.2024 - Reached 100 fg earned
10.12.2024 - Reached 50 fg earned
10.12.2024 - Transmuting proficiency rank 2
09.12.2024 - Axe proficiency rank 2
09.12.2024 - Reached 10 fg earned
09.12.2024 - Axe proficiency rank 1
09.12.2024 - Transmuting proficiency rank 1
08.12.2024 - first item sold for 1 fg
08.12.2024 - Started the adventure.

Items sold:
Tier 3 fishing rod 22 durability - 5 fg
Tier VIII white Items for 4 fg: 3
107 Tier I Magical essences - 10 fg
Tier XII Angelic - 3 fg
Tier X comfrey 1952 life - 1 fg
Tier IV comfrey 1242 life - 1 fg
Tier XIII Magical for 3 fg: 2
Tier XIII Rare for 4 fg: 1
Tier XII Arcane for 5 fg: 1
Tier VIII white Items for 3 fg: 2
Tier XIII white leather for 35 fg
Tier XIII white fire for 40 fg
Tier XI white wild heal for 15 fg

Items sold for 2 fg:
Tier VII Mythical: 1
Tier VII Arcane: 1
Tier VIII Mythical: 1
Tier X Angelic: 1
Tier XI Rare: 3
Tier XI Mystical: 1

Items sold for 1 fg:
Tier III Arcane: 2
Tier III Legendary: 5
Tier V Mythical: 1
Tier V Arcane: 2
Tier VI Mystic: 7
Tier VI Angelic: 3
Tier VI Mythical: 2
Tier VI Arcane: 2
Tier VII Mystic: 5
Tier VII Angelic: 2
Tier VIII Rare: 9
Tier VIII Mystical: 1
Tier IX Magical: 12
Tier IX Rare: 3
Tier X Magical: 5
Tier X Rare: 1
Tier XI Magical: 1
Tier XII Magical: 3


So my final judgement is, playing ls while starting with nothing and only gaining fg and better items with that is entirely possible and actually fun.

It all hinges on people buying skillables of course, I played HC because I already play SC and HC was therefore a fresh start.
I had no idea about any prices and mainly just put on MP whatever I figured would sell and adjusted prices or deleted from MP what did not work.

I will continue this here and in my profile with more climbs, depending on how much I keep playing and finding upgrades on the MP.
Just want to find out how far I can get and how much I can upgrade my sets. Everything was done solo of course and also without the trade forums, but if I ever get a gear set good enough to be accepted into groups I might do group climbs.
Also, if I ever get enough fg to make it worth the time for the trade forums I might give that a shot at well, mainly the first climb was important to do solo and without any forum involvement.

Thanks for your interest (or lack of it), I am grateful for any input, tips or the likes.

This post was edited by Schnitzel-hunter on Dec 12 2024 04:06am

Awesome.

Hope you have fun and have the RNG Gods smile upon you for drops. As a note, sometimes if you don't have the equipment to get to Master Quest, just re-roll and level up for upgrades and so forth... it is fun, and you can explore maps and sell off the profits to buy even better items.

Yeah, rerolling would be an option, bit if you don't pointlessly try to make it hard for yourself by excluding the market, it is absolutely not necessary.
I had a bit of luck with the lvl 40 ee axe on the MP, but I guess I could also just have bought plain weapons of every tier without any EE from the MP and get to the MQ like that.

And after the climb I already have 160 spare fg that I have not yet used, I will wait for my MP to clear to get a final income and then invest it for my second climb.

And the only difficulty of climbing like that are actually not EPs.
The regular mobs that multiplied were actually a chore and sometimes forced me to roll a new map.

sounds cool gl dude

Rare wind XII, Spell Damage: 32 to 145, +34 Dexterity, +1% Parry vs 10 fg on MP

I started just like you 2 years ago, and I am still well hooked

good luck!

Nice.

I was going to suggest a "White" Climb (White items only) Competition, just base stats... no EE or Stats or other mods on any items worn.

Now that would be a good comp on a new toon without ANY prof ranking.

Soo when I played buffcore.
I found so many whites that I used the MP for storage.
I put all my whites at 19.98 to avoid paying any fee hoping no one would buy them.

Items were like lvl 5-35

Almost every item sold besides the lowest levels during a well event...
I made like 100fg.. which was cool if I were actually playing with the resources self found.
But buffcore you don't buy gear for.. so 🤷‍♂️

But I agree, it made me realize how easily you could focus fire and farm to make FG.
If I were a new player starting with 0. It is totally possible to constantly upgrade.


For example..
https://ladderslasher.d2jsp.org/itemHistory.php?i=16478259&c=1

That was on the MP, so I figured I'd just take the fg from my whites and flip it since I couldn't utilize it for buffcore.
(I still have it cuz im too lazy to sell lmao off)


But in all reality. I acquired that sword from absolutely nothing.
So its truly possible for you to just grind if you stay dedicated.
And consistently upgrade

This post was edited by Outraged on Dec 12 2024 07:07am

Wait for my 500 to 1,000 fg starter packs to come out (note, excluding MQ items)

This brings back memories. I started with 0 and made most of my fg through LS.

Back then I sold my mq for 25-50 fg per point and played the market like a stock market. (Buy low on weekends and sell high on weekdays).

I'm doing something quite similar to you, but I'm playing softcore and not buying anything from the market.
It's fun, I like this play style as you get an upgrade almost every day.
Good luck to you!