Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

[Hp_Sauce]

Grats on the Shako, but dont forget.. you can toss a Ptopaz in there to add 24% more MF!!

Erm... right, I guess I never actually mentioned that. It already has a Ptopaz in it. That's what's taking it from 50% to 74%

As I mentioned briefly above, the only way I can see of besting this is with an Ist instead of a Ptopaz for a whopping 1% more MF. Of course you could use a 3os helm with 3 Ists and come up with the same 75% mf. Originally I thought Ists gave 30% mf, but I see now that that is only in weapons.

-hps

 

[Rius]

Good luck in hell mode. I'm not really trying to enter the contest since it's already pretty late but I'm just gonna guess that you will make it as far as a5 but not guardian (sorry) and guess that you will find around 175 uniques.

HC is the only way to go!!!

 

[Butzull]

Sorry mate, I really hope you make it, but I said no (don't want a reward either)

[B][U]#    FORUM NAME         GUESS      GUARDIAN?[/U][/B]
1)   Belcarl               7          No
2)   crazymatt1           12          No
3)   roninDOG             25          Yes
4)   RevenantsKnight      29          Yes
5)   poops                31          No
6)   Thyiad               37          Yes 
7)   OldSoldier           40          No
8)   xDuckster            45          Yes
9)   LprMan               50          Yes
10)  inSTAALed            57          No
11)  adzicents            60          Yes
12)  Darkoooo             64          Yes
13)  LozHinge             70          No (Gloams, NM)
14)  Tupsi                72          No
15)  Joosh                77          Yes
16)  marzin               80          Yes
17)  Mundane              82          Yes
18)  asdfgah		  87	      Yes
19)  Socialism            88          Yes, for shoozle.
20)  Butzull              92          No (Act3, Hierophants and low CR)
21)  Heskla               95          No         
22)  Skinhead             97          Yes        
23)  CRG                 100          Yes        
24)  TouchOfInsanity     101          Yes        
25)  Cygnus              111          No         
26)  Friiser             112          Yes        
27)  Xdeathfire          131          Yes        
28)  Arfurala            150          No (Gloams)
29)  TheBhoy             160          Yes        
30)  Martinkings         179          No         
31)  Scottasin           242          Yes

Butz. :dunce:

 

[jiansonz]

[B][U]#    FORUM NAME         GUESS      GUARDIAN?[/U][/B]
1)   Belcarl               7          No
2)   crazymatt1           12          No
3)   roninDOG             25          Yes
4)   RevenantsKnight      29          Yes
5)   poops                31          No
6)   Thyiad               37          Yes 
7)   OldSoldier           40          No
8)   xDuckster            45          Yes
9)   LprMan               50          Yes
10)  inSTAALed            57          No
11)  adzicents            60          Yes
12)  Darkoooo             64          Yes
13)  LozHinge             70          No (Gloams, NM)
14)  Tupsi                72          No
15)  Joosh                77          Yes
16)  marzin               80          Yes
17)  Mundane              82          Yes
18)  asdfgah		  87	      Yes
19)  Socialism            88          Yes, for shoozle.
20)  jiansonz		  90          No (swarmed to death by snakes, bats and archers in Ruined Fane)
21)  Butzull              92          No (Act3, Hierophants and low CR)
22)  Heskla               95          No         
23)  Skinhead             97          Yes        
24)  CRG                 100          Yes        
25)  TouchOfInsanity     101          Yes  
26)  Cygnus              111          No         
27)  Friiser             112          Yes        
28)  Xdeathfire          131          Yes        
29)  Arfurala            150          No (Gloams)
30)  TheBhoy             160          Yes        
31)  Martinkings         179          No         
32)  Scottasin           242          Yes

I actually have some statistics to go by. My characters have been untwinked so the 400+ and higher MF numbers have not been reached until a bit into NM, plus I have eased up on the MF to survive Hell. I have tried to extrapolate from the number of unqiues my characters (that survived at least well into Hell) have found.

 

[GCobbz]

just made a total idiot of my self doing a table... so in words!

i reckon 85 and you'll lose it to hell bishibosh? :x

 

[Jason Maher]

[B][U]#    FORUM NAME         GUESS      GUARDIAN?[/U][/B]
1)   Belcarl               7          No
2)   crazymatt1           12          No
3)   roninDOG             25          Yes
4)   RevenantsKnight      29          Yes
5)   poops                31          No
6)   Thyiad               37          Yes 
7)   OldSoldier           40          No
8)   xDuckster            45          Yes
9)   LprMan               50          Yes
10)  inSTAALed            57          No
11)  adzicents            60          Yes
12)  Darkoooo             64          Yes
13)  LozHinge             70          No (Gloams, NM)
14)  Tupsi                72          No
15)  Joosh                77          Yes
16)  marzin               80          Yes
17)  Mundane              82          Yes
18)  GCobz                85          No (Hell Bishbosh)
19)  asdfgah              87          Yes
20)  Socialism            88          Yes, for shoozle.
21)  jiansonz             90          No (swarmed to death by snakes, bats and archers in Ruined Fane)
22)  Butzull              92          No (Act3, Hierophants and low CR)
23)  Heskla               95          No         
24)  Skinhead             97          Yes        
25)  CRG                 100          Yes        
26)  TouchOfInsanity     101          Yes  
27)  Cygnus              111          No         
28)  Friiser             112          Yes        
29)  Xdeathfire          131          Yes        
30)  Arfurala            150          No (Gloams)
31)  TheBhoy             160          Yes        
32)  Martinkings         179          No    
33)  Jason Maher         211          No (Hell Baal Tentacle)
34)  Scottasin           242          Yes

I wish you lots of luck (you'll need it to get near my guess), but I predict a humiliating fall at the final hurdle to one of Baals most annoying tentacles.

*edit* added GCobz's guess to the table as well

Jason

 

[Hp_Sauce]

Re: Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

Well it appears that it has been over a year since I have updated this thread, and clearly I am a slacker but... you will have to deal with it I guess.

IFindStuff is now level 78, and is currently in Act 2 Hell (just found the Dry Hills and Halls of the Dead wp's).

/p is now set at 1, and he is still killing at a reasonable speed. MF has not changed since my last post, but it's nearly time for a merc weapon upgrade, so I'm going to have to scheme something up.

Here is a fairly ominous shot of IFindStuff rockin' an Armour Shrine in the Sewers.
Here is the aftermath of a fierce battle that took place between IFindStuff, two Unique packs, and one normal pack of monsters.
And then I walked up about 1 screen and encountered another Unique pack here. You can see that my merc did not survive the battle, but IFindStuff did, and that's all that matters.
This one is a shot of the GUL I found moments ago... this is my third ever GUL, and my first not Hell Forged.

I am becoming more and more convinced as I continue that there is no way IFindStuff will survive his battle with hells minions. As I think ahead to his first encounter with Hell Gloams, Diablo, or the Ancients, I have no idea how he could possibly survive with -40 FR and -35 LR.

Wish me luck!
-hps

 

[Thrandir]

Re: Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

Sacrifice some precious mf charm space for LR charms while clearing out WSK?
Seems a shame to lose all that hard work...anyways, gl!

 

[Hp_Sauce]

Re: Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

Sacrifice some precious mf charm space for LR charms while clearing out WSK?
Seems a shame to lose all that hard work...anyways, gl!

But that would defeat the whole point of the project. MF > all else.
No, it will be MF or death with this one.

-hps

 

[Belcarl]

Re: Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

Heh old thread. Glad to see your character is still alive, although I said he was going to die with only 7 items.

Good luck, looks like you actually will make a guardian with him.
(or did I just jinx your luck?) :smile:

 

[Hp_Sauce]

Re: Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

This evening, IFindStuff reached the Flayer Jungle WP in Act 3 Hell at level 81.

Act 2 wasn't too rough. The Maggot Layer was slow going, but the Arcane Sanctuary was far worse. It's restrictions were similar, but the addition of PI monsters made it slow. The Lightning Spires sections was awkward as I sometimes had little choice but to stand and wait for monsters to die while I got blasted, or retreat and try to get them to follow (while getting blasted).

The Canyon of the Magi was like some kind of sick joke after that. Wide open space, with lots of hurty revives, and plenty of bodies to explode. The false tombs didn't have much to note either, but a PC crash while in the "O" tomb did make things a bit frightening briefly. Duriel wasn't much to write home about either. Slowed by a cold mage, Golum, and Decrip, he didn't have much to say during the battle, though he was kind enough to run up against a wall at first, so not all my minions could surround and engage him... All in all, my 3.5 minutes worth of cold potions outlasted him.

No serious troubles in Act 3 so far, until the Great Marsh. I thought I'd rolled a stroke of luck when I entered. I encountered zombies and those little things, and thought perhaps there would be no Gloams. I cleared two sides of the river and was happy, surely there were no Gloams!... I found the first one as I was crossing a log bridge (totaly un-prepared). I took two solid shots to the face and was reduced to about no life (Maybe 50?). Luckily I have a fairly solid level 11 DV for this sort of problem, and used it extensively from that point on. Later on I was crossing another log bridge when I saw another Gloam slide out from behind a tree. It was too late for DV as the bolt was already on its way, but I thought perhaps I could dodge it to the side, holy crap, run!... I thought wrong.

My best guess (and I know you will think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not) is that I had about 25 HP left. It was a unique Gloam pack. They died to a fierce CE onslaught.

He's now sporting a new Gheeds charm, which I pinched off my MF sorc.... No, I'm not sure why I didn't do it sooner. I assume it's because I was playing my MF sorc. That makes him look something like this.

- 584% MF
- 167 % MF on Merc
- 751% if Merc gets kill

Wish me luck
-hps

 

[Oneofakind]

Re: Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

[B][U]#    FORUM NAME         GUESS      GUARDIAN?[/U][/B]
1)   Belcarl               7          No
2)   crazymatt1           12          No
3)   roninDOG             25          Yes
4)   RevenantsKnight      29          Yes
5)   poops                31          No
6)   Thyiad               37          Yes 
7)   OldSoldier           40          No
8)   xDuckster            45          Yes
9)   LprMan               50          Yes
10)  inSTAALed            57          No
11)  adzicents            60          Yes
12)  Darkoooo             64          Yes
13)  LozHinge             70          No (Gloams, NM)
14)  Tupsi                72          No
15)  Joosh                77          Yes
16)  marzin               80          Yes
17)  Mundane              82          Yes
18)  GCobz                85          No (Hell Bishbosh)
19)  asdfgah              87          Yes
20)  Socialism            88          Yes, for shoozle.
21)  jiansonz             90          No (swarmed to death by snakes, bats and archers in Ruined Fane)
22)  Butzull              92          No (Act3, Hierophants and low CR)
23)  Heskla               95          No         
24)  Skinhead             97          Yes        
25)  CRG                 100          Yes        
26)  TouchOfInsanity     101          Yes  
27)  Oneofakind          105          Yes
28)  Cygnus              111          No         
29)  Friiser             112          Yes        
30)  Xdeathfire          131          Yes        
31)  Arfurala            150          No (Gloams)
32)  TheBhoy             160          Yes        
33)  Martinkings         179          No    
34)  Jason Maher         211          No (Hell Baal Tentacle)
35)  Scottasin           242          Yes

Good luck. Glad to see there are people crazier than me...

 

[Hp_Sauce]

Re: Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

I'm not sure if anyone actually reads these updates, but I like posting them, so you're stuck with them.

Earlier this week, IFindStuff defeated Hell Mephisto and is now in Act 4 Hell (though hasn't ventured from town yet).

Edit: The image is of Mephisto's crappy drop, it doesn't seem to be working though.

Some parts of Act 3 were extremely difficult compared to what I've dealt with so far.

Temples

The 6 temples (potentially disastrous) were actually fairly uneventful. The only stair trap consisted of 2 normal snakes and my army engaged them quickly, so I didn't have to find out of I could tank a charge or not.

This is where I started to notice a qwerk with Meteor though. I've always assumed that the initial 'hit' damage only applied to the radius of the graphic, but I found myself taking damage even when I was not standing where the fire graphics appeared. It wasn't a major problem, as the damage was never enough to endanger IFindStuff greatly. It was more of a nuisance simply because I often had to step back so far that I'd end up drawing some of my army away from the real battle.

Lower, Upper, and the Bazaar

I encountered a few unique packs of those tree monsters that were able to turn skeletons to dust, but with a few timely Juvs my merc was always able to produce a body to CE before I was the only one left standing.

The Hierophant's were certainly a bother. Their Blizzards weren't enough to decimate my army, but if I was too slow in removing IFindStuff from the area it was generally a mistake worth about 50% of his health.

The worst actually came at one point after the Hierophant in question was dead, but his blizzard was still active. I was impatient, decided the spell was nearly gone and charged up though the narrow path. I found out quickly that the spell had not run out by the time I arrived and was doubled tapped, juved, and was actually hit again after that. If not for the quick Juv, this would have surely been a Deeds post. I credit his survival to luck mostly, but also partially to experience (I always have at least one finger on a Juv key).

Travincal

Holy crap, what a blood mess... This place was hard, hard, hard!

I wonder if the folks who designed the layout of this area actually intended it to be so good at dividing up ones army, or separating them from their opponent but still allowing them to take damage, or of the designers just got lucky. Every time I turned around there was a building, wall, or bottleneck buggering everything up!

The Hierophant were fierce! They were a) Unique and could not be DVed, b) Champions, or c) standing too far back to be DVed (unless I charged through their blizzard spells... which I had already learned not to do). There was never just one, or two... always three, or four. I would struggle forward and DV one only to find two more blasting me from an undisclosed area. Many retreats were made, many skeletons were lost and much cursing took place.

I had finally cleared out the area, found the WP, made my usual lap around the outside ledge to clear out any stragglers that might come back to bite me. I had killed those bloody poison snakes that come from the water, engaged the council, and after a long drawn out battle killed most of them. I believe there were two council members left, and a Hierophant inside the councils temple when I made a tragic error... MSN...

I often chat on MSN while playing SP because it has that handy pause feature. I had retreated to regroup, but had a message from a friend. I hit escape to pause the game, messaged my friend, and returned to the D2 screen. I pressed escape again to return the game to 'live', but actually pressed F1 rather then escape... Now I'm not sure if F1 counted as an acknowledging keystroke, or if my right hand simply didn't wait for my left hand to finish it's job and clicked (intending to move my character) but actually acknowledging the S&E feature... Either way, I ended up back at the main menu.

Soooo... I got to clear the Travincal again! And it was just as hard the second time around. Boy, I was not impressed with myself at all.

Other

1) I'm seriously considering upgrading my Goldwrap, as the extra row of Juves may mean the difference between success and deeds.

2) I'm currently running with 3x4 inventory slots open (the rest or mostly MF charms), but I'm considering going down to 2x4 in exchange for some LR charms vs the upcoming Gloams. The downside will of course be, more trips to town (as I'm IDing all Rares that drop). Charms are not against the rules, and I think with the four extra spots, I could bring IFindStuff's LR up to about zero.

3) I have no idea how I'm going to survive the upcoming onslaught of Gloams. It will be white knuckle all the way.

4) Long ago I put a point into Life Tap. I'm certain that (if I survive long enough) I will be thankful for this as my merc has no life leech.

Wish me luck.
-hps

 

[Darkoooo]

@Hp_Sauce

Good work, two more to go!

I feel for the 'Esc button mistake', happened to me a few times as well, but never in an excruciating battle like you had. You really should up the Goldwrap, it isn't costly and as for gloams... How about wearing a Wisp Projector? It adds both mf and lightning absorb...

 

[Damnatorius]

Re: Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

I find that the game automatically pauses whenever I alt-tab out of it. Without pressing Esc. Or maybe this is only so in window mode, anyway, good luck with the gloams, just pray they don't come with conviction and you should do fine

 

[Hp_Sauce]

Re: Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

@Hp_Sauce

Good work, two more to go!

I feel for the 'Esc button mistake', happened to me a few times as well, but never in an excruciating battle like you had. You really should up the Goldwrap, it isn't costly and as for gloams... How about wearing a Wisp Projector? It adds both mf and lightning absorb...

A Wisp Projector is actually a solid idea, which I hadn't thought of... but.... I don't have one in SP yet, so sadly it's moot. It would also, technically, be against my rules, since it would be a drop in MF (2%-12% depending on the roll). He is currently wearing a 24% Nagel, and a 22% Nagel (my best two Nagels).

You are correct of course, about upping the Goldwrap. I guess I just had delusions of style points by going it with just the 3 rows. But during my adventures in the Travincal I (twice) found IFindStuff with an empty column, which is not ideal imo.

I find that the game automatically pauses whenever I alt-tab out of it. Without pressing Esc. Or maybe this is only so in window mode, anyway, good luck with the gloams, just pray they don't come with conviction and you should do fine

You are also correct about the game 'pausing' when it's minimized (I only ever play in windowed mode too). But I like to have that extra level of safety by pressing escape to pause it for sure... you never know what might happen! This is the only time it has ever caused me grief though, so I think I will continue to do it.

I have encountered a few convictions monsters so far, they've all been pretty tame (not like Gloams will be). The result has always been -100 resists... I can't imagine doing battle with Gloams in this state. Well, Ok, I can imagine it *AAAAHHHHhhhhhh... Your Deeds of Valor will be remembered.* But I don't like what I imagine. :whistling:

-hps

 

[Darkoooo]

A Wisp Projector is actually a solid idea, which I hadn't thought of... but.... I don't have one in SP yet, so sadly it's moot. It would also, technically, be against my rules, since it would be a drop in MF (2%-12% depending on the roll). He is currently wearing a 24% Nagel, and a 22% Nagel (my best two Nagels).

If you don't play self found I have this Wisp I'd be willing to part with (it's the one with best MF, sadly it also has lowest light absorb):

Wisp Projector
Ring
Required Level: 76
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x27c2307e
20% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
10% Lightning Absorb
10% Chance to cast Level 16 Lightning on striking
Level 5 Heart of Wolverine (13/13 Charges)
Level 7 Spirit of Barbs (11/11 Charges)
Level 2 Oak Sage (15/15 Charges)

Btw. it's 1.12 HC Vanilla

Hope this doesn't look like I'm trying to influence the result of betting. Cause it should look like it.

 

[Hp_Sauce]

Re: Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

If you don't play self found I have this Wisp I'd be willing to part with (it's the one with best MF, sadly it also has lowest light absorb):

Wisp Projector
Ring
Required Level: 76
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x27c2307e
20% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
10% Lightning Absorb
10% Chance to cast Level 16 Lightning on striking
Level 5 Heart of Wolverine (13/13 Charges)
Level 7 Spirit of Barbs (11/11 Charges)
Level 2 Oak Sage (15/15 Charges)

Btw. it's 1.12 HC Vanilla

Hope this doesn't look like I'm trying to influence the result of betting. Cause it should look like it.

Thanks for the offer man, but I've been self found this far, so I'm going to pass.

-hps

 

[Hp_Sauce]

Re: Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

Just a quick update, as we made fairly promising progress today.

IFindStuff survived the first two areas of Act 4 Hell. The first area was easy, the second was Gloamafied and harder (though not as hard as the Travincal).

- The Goldwrap has been upped for an extra row of potions.
- I also traded in 4 empty inventory slots for a +29 LR GC and a +8 LR SC. This put IFindStuff's LR at +5 (though they will most likely be swapped out in non-Gloam areas).

The Gloams were a lot easier to DV then the Hierophant's of Act 3, as they didn't have an army separating them from me (and causing them to be standing too far back). This was a good thing. However, they still hurt a bunch. One hit was good for about 50% of IFindStuff's health. There were two incidents where I wasn't quick enough, or dodged in the wrong direction and got double tapped... both left IFindStuff's health orb all but empty. I think the addition of the 2x LR charms was a good idea.

There were also a lot of successful dodges, which left IFindStuff with full health and a grin on his face. This had a lot to do with the wide open spaces in Act 4, there was plenty of room to maneuver. I wonder what will happen in the WSK if I get caught in a 'tunnel' and there is no where left to run... of course, I have to survive the quest to Anya before that anyway.

The first thing I discovered when entering the City of the Damned was the WP and the stairs, so I took the opportunity to take a break and let my heart rate go down. I'm going to tackle the City of the Damned and the RoF tonight I think, I'm a bit drunk, but I think I can handle it. I expect the journey from the RoF WP to Act 5 to be a long and frustrating one and I'm certainly not going to try it tonight.

I'm confident that Hephasto will drop a Ber rune while I'm clearning my hell forge! :jig:

Thanks for reading.
-hps

Edit: Made it to the RoF WP. The City of the Damned monsters all melted to CE (clearly they lack the appropriate resists). Hephasto didn't drop a Ber (thought he did drop some of my skeletons). HF dropped a Lum. I'm going to lock up and get drunk now.

Cheers.

 

[Hp_Sauce]

Re: Project Profit – An experiment by Hp_Sauce

Survived Act 4. The quest from the River of Flame WP to Diablo was easier then I expected. I just got lucky and didn't have too many IM's cast on me and my crew. I only had to revive the merc 3 times I think.

Diablo himself was a joke. I had him Decripted and Golumed of course, but he spent the whole battle concentrating on one of my revives. The revive survived the whole battle, so it was apparently shorter then 3 minutes, and Diablo only hosed 3 times, all of which were directed up and away from where I was standing. I had anticipated a much more challenging fight, but I'm not complaining.

Act 5 GO!

I was fearful that I would encounter those Spear Cats with the piecing attach in the Bloody Foothills (pierce attacks are the necromancers enemy!), but it rolled without them (only quill rats). The poison from the catapults and the quill rats was a bit of a bother, but nothing an antidote potion or a trip to town couldn't fix.

IFindStuff is now at the Fridged Highlands WP.

I do not enjoy the trip from here to the Crystaline Passage that much. So it may be a while before I work up the energy to quest it, or it may be that I sit down tomorrow and force myself through it. I'm hoping for a Spear Catless roll also!

-hps