Quote (Variety @ Sat, Feb 2 2008, 06:29am)
Is there any reason to do all the (major) pit areas such as The Pits, The Mausoleum, Ancient Tunnels, WSK etc rather than just doing one such as The Pits over and over again? (assuming you're not using a character such as a blizzard sorc, who would obviously just want to do ancient tunnels over and over) Also what is your opinion on /players 1-8 ? If your character could handle it would it be more beneficial to spend the time mowing through /players 8 rather than 1? or would the increased time it would take counteract the benefit gained (if there is one). Thanks.
Edit: I just remembered that somewhere along the line I once read that all character's start off with 100% base mf, but several times you state drop %'s from ATMA with the character having 0% mf so I can assume the source that I obtained this from was bogus or is no-longer true?
There would be no beneift from doing different alvl85 areas. No one area drops better than another and they all provide the same exp. The pits is always suggested as there are more critters there, thus more chances at items. Mauseleum and Ancient Tunnels are suggested only because everyone there is LI, and there are no ranged attackers. These 2 things make it perfect for a cold sorc.
By jumping from /p1 to /p7 you would gain tons of extra exp. The "nodrop" would be virtually nothing so items would be dropping all over the place. More items = more chances at what you are looking for. If your character can handle efficent runs at /p7 ( dont do /p8 as there is no benefit to item drop, just more monster hp and damage ) then continue to do /p7 runs. If /p7 is too slow, try /p5. Just remember the old MF addage, SPEED > MF%.
The built in 100%MF rumor is as old as the hills. Somewhere out there some one had 0%MF on and found something really nice. Not beliving that you can find things will 0% MF, they made up a rumor and it sprouted legs.
Quote (Kacavida @ Fri, Feb 8 2008, 07:32pm)
i feel like i should say something
first off, about mf. mf is a very tricky thingy. because it has to do with luck. let me tell you about my good friend, and his sojs. he found one with lvl 37 sorc in act 2 nm. with 0% mf. then we found one together in nm throne room, playing hc with my tank pala and his sorc. 0% mf. then he found one in izuals place with his smiter, on hell of course, also with 0% mf. he also found one with his sorc who had like 200 mf while killing nihlathak. so these are 4 sojs. what the hell does that prove? i guess nothing. what it takes to find an item is sometimes just pure luck.
now let me mention my mf sorc from last ladder. she had around 500mf and was able to kill everywhere very fast. lets nevermind the build, it was a pretty expensive one. i played her for last 4 months of ladder, more or less all the time. i made games in which i every time killed andy, meph, diablo, nihlathak and baal. now im sure i played at least 900 games that way. now guess what i found. 1 windforce bow. 1 deaths web wand. and nothing else. (of course there was a big big load of crap such as atmas wall or dark clan crusher) Maybe im a complete idiot, so i made a totally wrong build, put too much mf, bla bla. or i was just unlucky. you decide.
All MFers know that you count the number of greens and golds that drop, not the quality of the items. The game believes that a manald ring is just as good as a nagels. The game also believes that a venom ward is just as good as tyreal's might. The game does not distinguish between the 2 items, both are unique. The true measure of MF is the number of items that are dropping and not the quality.
Quote (Kacavida @ Fri, Feb 8 2008, 07:32pm)
now about ama. if a person will start from scratch, and play alone, the story might unfold in a somewhat different way then described here. why? well... lets just say that one might end up with some serious problems before even getting to heavenly lvl 85 areas. everyone who actually tried to play the game in single player with essentially "combat" character knows what im talking about. you are simply stuck.
so let me offer some advices on this from my personal experience. first off, stay on normal baal for ages. you will get lvl 50+ there, and most likely one of those excellent unique exceptional bows. lets not be picky. they will all do. save up your gold, wear chances all the time if you manage to get them. gamble like crazy. bows bows bows. gamble. when you hit 120ed rare, up it from normal to exceptional. it will get you going again from a stall. make yourself a peace armor. its cheap and you will find the runes for it on normal. you will get lvl 15 walk with it, and some other awesome bonuses. dont think that peace is shit. lvl 15 valk is most likely much tougher than you would have from your skills alone at the time, and that means an indestructible tank, thats invaluable.
so you managed to get yourself to act 5 nm. okay. do baalruns. a lot. give up when it is too hard. (it will be sometimes... no need in denying that) gamble some more constantly. gambling will most likely get you a decent weapon before drops will. its time for some heavy reisit armors. dont throw away that peace though, use it to trigger valk, and change. hope for an amu like crescent moon. raven is godly. look for heavy mana leech on rings as well. you will need some for hell. if you get buriza, you can start celebrating.
now to hell. be happy if your resistances are close to 20+. better is kind of almost impossible. some serious shit now. physical immunes. hopefully you put some into charged strike, and rest of javelin skills. other ways are kind of theoretical. of course you might wait for wws in the crypt or where ever but that might be about never, as well as it might be from first kill.
now its up to the character. are you patient enough to wait for a good drop in the crypt. ? or will you just try to complete the game?
i played 3 characters totally clean, and my goal was only to finish the game in all difficulties. i played ama, sorc and barb. ama was the last one, sorc was back in 1.09 patch i think, followed by barb. it can be done, alone. it takes insane time, i played single player for whole 8 months doing this. (not 10 hours per day of course, maybe 3/day) now who do you think had the easiest time? i guess thats kinda stupid to ask isnt it? lets just say that my barb died or reset about 500 times doing hell ancients.
That shows your skill in playing the game. Maybe you should practice a little more so that you can solo the game from act1 normal to act5 hell in less than 8 months. It typically takes me 3 weeks or so to go from act1 normal to act5 hell. Less if I find something nice or playing a caster character.
Quote (Kacavida @ Fri, Feb 8 2008, 07:32pm)
so to conclude. for a start in fresh ladder season, i personally believe that nothing beats a sorc. simply because she can stack on some mf in nightmare and start getting things like oculus fairly early and easy. and those are worth some in the begginig.
if you want to complete the game, you can do it with all 7 classes. if you are patient enough. i kinda think that blizzard made sure that was possible before releasing the game.
i dont like your attitude morpheus, but its just me
this is a nice guide, thank you for writing it.
bye and gl.
your opinion has been heard, and taken into consideration. The guide was writen towards a brand new player and most new players want to be mele and have no skills when it comes to aiming sorcs. Strafe takes little to no skill to play. All that is required is to know how to deal with "strafe lock". This was also written for ease of use. Since, it appears, all newbs are spending real money on fake money, acquiring the items mentioned is not a problem for anyone really. Even if you are single player most newbs are going to download an item pack, get hacked, and play the game with all of the items available to them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Now for something new:
Just thought I would add this to the guide.
While alvl85 areas are the best place to find TC87s, you can theoretically find them anywhere. While doing a few countess runs, some little fallen decided to drop me this:
While the area level is only 79, Act 1 7 42 79 Tower Cellar Level 5, even if it did come from a boss pack minion, that would make it mlvl82. Very far from the required qlvl of 85. But just imagine if you will that this boss pack minion decided to drop me a unique hydra bow, would it have been made into a WF? Sure would have:
14) Hydra Bow (qlvl 85)
[U] Windforce (qlvl 80)
So while you are hunting for items, be sure to look everywhere. You never know when these kinds of wierd things will happen.
This post was edited by The_Morpheus on Feb 24 2008 09:19am