1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

[ioupain]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

There was bug in 1.09, although I believe it has since been fixed. It involved, I believe the correct term would be super unique, class enemies. Basically, if you spawned a super unique, but then you retreated for a bit, and then you went back to kill the monster you just spawned, their item drop will mimic that of Coldcrow from the caves in Act I.

Coldcrow always drops 4 potions and 2 items, and b/c of the game's monsterstats.txt or whatever file she will [highlight]always[/highlight] drop from Treasure Class 3 (tc3). However, her mlvl is so low that she can only drop ilvl 7 items, meaning there are only so many sets and uniques that she can drop. But the 3 nub nub's in the Durance of Hate - Bremmington Spankfist, Wyand Voidthenoid, and Maffer Itstimetoslaythedragonhand - they will drop ilvl 28 itams. Since [highlight]ALL[/highlight] TC3 set and uniques will have a qlvl less than or equal to 27 (Sanders Paragon), this means that the 3 super uniques in the Durance level 3 have the ability to drop ANY tc3 set or unique in the game.

Of course, the 'rare' tc3's, i.e. Sanders Paragon, Knell Striker, Torch of Iro, etc. are still going to be rare, but if you consistently activate the bug the 'common' tc3's are going to start dropping on a very regular basis.

I believe that the bug will only work in Normal difficulty, but I've been able to activate it on a very regular basis. I recorded a video of a Durance run long time ago, but IIRC it was in half screen so the quality isn't so good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX8Mp6UOGA8

Apparently YouTube doesn't play nice with this video, so you may have to let it finish loading (and then hit replay) in order to watch it. IIRC, I got 2x Death's Guard on that one run alone. :badteeth:

Thanks that is really helpful - so if I go and teleport and spawn/alert the lot of them, then go back down to Durance 2 and back up to Durance 3 will that be sufficient or should I stay on the same level of durance and just move back a bit??

 

[NakedAssassin]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I shopped two 3os Long Bows for me and my A1 merc and put chips in them. We own even in players 8 setting. BUT it got me to thinking, what if I run some gem shrines and make a twinking bow with flawed/normal gems? It would own even more. Right after that I noticed three shrines right next to black marsh WP. I "ran it" a couple of times and got one gem shrine. I don't know the odds though. What are the odds of a shrine being a gem shrine? Has anyone tried gem shrine running seriously (for perfect gems, for example)?

I just thought of doing this last night, and it works. I had a bunch of flawless that I wanted to up, but didn't want to burn them by cubing 3. Instead, I remembered that my particular map had 5 shrines in the first square right outside of Act1.

So, I would run those 5, over and over, for about 20 games. One of the shrines, I would call location #4, was always a health well so I stopped checking it. So if you take the other 4 locations x 20 games = 80, I found about 6 Gem Shrines = 7.5% in my small sample.

I would run the shrines, and if it was mana regen shrine (I figure exp shrine is worthless with p8 setting available), then I would take the mana regen and run River of Flame for exp while it lasted. Then, I would end the game and start all over again. I packed on levels from 28-31 this way, and got 6 perfect gems from my 6 flawless (instead of just 2 from cube). I went 4 ptopaz, a pSkull, and a pEmerald.

It is slow, but it works if you have the right map and something else you are working on at the same time. It seemed faster than running Act 4 normally and cubing gem drops.

 

[TheNix]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

is there a place where u can find stats on 1.09 uniques?

If you can lay your hands on Diablo II Encyclopedia by Raymond Kleefstra that'd me a good resource, I still use it for certain things. It use to be hosted here, but since all the dicking around with that stupid Wiki it seems to have been lost.

 

[NakedAssassin]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

to the contrary, it's worth is increased by higher player settings

I should have clarified. For my character, the mana is much more important. If you wanted to measure something like exp/min, mana shrine > exp shrine for me entirely due to the lack of gear.

I can use playersX to up the exp, there is no manaregenX setting. Once I get the items w/ per hit, then the exp shrine wins.

I use Arreat Summit still for gear lookup. Not sure how accurate everything is, but it is easy to navigate. I assume things that don't have any label like 'only found in 1.10 or higher' to mean 1.09.

 

[Steven Q Urkel]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

@Steven Q Urkel: Wow - I knew about the drop reset bug, but I never thought to use that to farm TC3s from the Council. That, my friend, is some good thinking.

I wouldn't say I'd call it 'thinking' per se. I actually made the discovery by accident . After I had created a topic about it here at the forum, I learned that it was a known bug in v1.09.

However, if I recall right, the drop that the SU reverts to is actually Bishibosh (at the same difficulty you are playing, so in Hell, they get Hell Bish's drop), not Coldcrow.

Yeah, that sounds about right. I think that Bishibosh has the exact same drop as Coldcrow though - 4 pots and 2 'items.' So officially, the game is mimicing Bishibosh's drop due to the bug, but essentially it is mimicing Coldcrow as well. :badteeth:

But getting a high mlvl to drop a TC3 is an absolutely brilliant way to get those Hobnails and that Paragon. I might give that a try with my Nova Sorc. Thanks for sharing that idea!

Pro Tip: I hope you've built up a significant tolerance for Infernal Craniums. So far I've only gotten 1x Sanders Paragon from Durance Runs. But Tancreds Hobnails, you should have no problem finding any of those, unless D2 absolutely hates you. At last count I think I had 14x 1.09 Tancreds Boots, and only [highlight]one[/highlight] of them had an ilvl that wasn't 28. This leads me to believe that 92% of them were the direct result of Durance running.

Thanks that is really helpful - so if I go and teleport and spawn/alert the lot of them, then go back down to Durance 2 and back up to Durance 3 will that be sufficient or should I stay on the same level of durance and just move back a bit??

To be honest, I've never tried backtracking down to Durance 2 and then coming back up. Here is the method that I use:

1. Take the waypoint to Durance 2, then teleport/run to Durance 3 intrance.
2. Once inside, run through the center 'doorway', and turn left.
3. Run all the way to the wall. Be sure not to go too far up towards Maffer Dragonhand. We don't want him to chase us.
4. After you hit the wall, turn back right, run back towards the center 'doorway,' and go back through.
5. Run down to the bottom left until you hit the wall again.
6. Now run back up to the 'doorway,' run through and go left again, this time towards Maffer's room.
7. I use a sorc, so I always just teleport in and attack. Kill Maffer Dragonhand.
8. In my experience, I don't believe that killing Mephisto will affect the drops of the remaining two council members. And since 1.09 Meph can drop 1.09 Raven Claws, I go ahead and kill him, LoL.
9. As you make you way across the room, try to stay to the North of the 'columns' near the moat. I think this may have an affect on Wyand, but I haven't tested it enough to confirm or deny.
10. When you reach Wyand's 'room,' try [highlight]not[/highlight] to enter. You wan't him to 'attack' you, so you can kill him outside of his 'room.' Occasionally, he won't attack, and you'll have to enter the 'room.' Whenever this happens I enter the room, and slowly run away so that he will follow me. It seems like if you kill him outside of the 'room' then most of the time the bug will still be applied.
11. Nothing special needed for Bremm Sparkfist. Just walk through Wyand's room and kill him.

When you are searching for a good Durance map, try to get one with 1) a waypoint close to Durance 3 entrance, and 2) you want Bremm to spawn off to the right side of the moat across from the 'doorway'. I've found that if he spawns next to the doorway, sometimes the bug won't activate for him. But Maffer, the method I use is nearly 100% success rate for him. Wyand is hit or miss sometimes, but still greater than 75% I'd say. And Bremm is like Maffer, if you get his original spawn in the right place you'll have a nearly 100% success rate with him too.

I know this may seem confusing, so I'll try to put up some visual aids later today to help you 'see' what I was trying to say.

[highlight]EDIT:[/highlight]

Here's a .jpg diagram: PICS. NAO.

Apologies for the poor quality on that picture, it looked just fine in Paint but Imageshack must have uber compressed it. >_<

And here is a YouTube video that shows the path I took: Durance run

Just a few runs before I recorded that one, Looky what I found: Hobbed Nails are Hobbed

One last thing, since this is only Normal difficulty, go ahead and hire an Act II merc, and give him a 3 Perfect Topaz helm (or Perfect Topaz Shako if you have it) and a 4 Perfect Topaz Armour (Full Plate Mail and Gothic Plate can both get 4 sockets if the ilvl is high enough).

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I just thought of doing this last night, and it works. I had a bunch of flawless that I wanted to up, but didn't want to burn them by cubing 3. Instead, I remembered that my particular map had 5 shrines in the first square right outside of Act1.

So, I would run those 5, over and over, for about 20 games. One of the shrines, I would call location #4, was always a health well so I stopped checking it. So if you take the other 4 locations x 20 games = 80, I found about 6 Gem Shrines = 7.5% in my small sample.

....

It is slow, but it works if you have the right map and something else you are working on at the same time. It seemed faster than running Act 4 normally and cubing gem drops.

I tried this, too. It took me about 10-12 runs (three shrines each run) to get a gem shrine on average. That was about three minutes without FRW equipment or teleport with a WP right next to three shrines. I read somewhere that there is 19 different shrines in the game so that would mean ~5,2% chance of getting a gem shrine each shrine IF each shrine spawns equally as much. Which I doubt. I think some shrines are more rare (monster, portal, gem etc) than others.

It's not a bad strategy, given the right map, and I got a nice bow with 3 normal gems in it (lvl req 12) which I wouldn't have gotten any other way. The bow really helped me in late Act 1 and I figure I will use it for some time in Act 2, until my A1 merc will use it. I'm going p8, if you were wondering.

EDIT: I've got some problems with RRM in 1.09. I posted more about it in this thread.

 

[NakedAssassin]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Well, for me, the magic number for normal Diablo was 33. The only difference between 33 and 28 were the 3 points put into Valk (which didn't help in the fight, she gets 1-hit) and the bow. I went from 3soc Short Battle Bow with PE PE Nef to 3soc Reflex Bow with PE PE PE and +1 bow skills. It took me about 5 minutes to kill him with "your chance to hit Diablo 73%" and the poison sticking less often than that. Just ran around the star with GA and used potions.

New goals are:
1) quest in 5 and level along the way
2) ancients
3) baal
4) nm andy
5) nm act 2 might merc
6) farm nm countess
7) normal cows

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

A little bit of progress report. Things are a bit though with players 8, or slow more so. I'm now level 20 and going for the horadric cube. I've got some mana issues (can't buy mana pots) and I'm quite fragile with my sorceress without any nice gear. I can't find a way around it. The only spell that does something significant is firewall and I can't tank so it doesn't work so well. I pretty much just static and use my bow (I'm still grateful for my 3x normal gem bow). I've got 5 points in warmth, do you think I need more for untwinked?

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Well, for me, the magic number for normal Diablo was 33. The only difference between 33 and 28 were the 3 points put into Valk (which didn't help in the fight, she gets 1-hit) and the bow. I went from 3soc Short Battle Bow with PE PE Nef to 3soc Reflex Bow with PE PE PE and +1 bow skills. It took me about 5 minutes to kill him with "your chance to hit Diablo 73%" and the poison sticking less often than that. Just ran around the star with GA and used potions.

New goals are:
1) quest in 5 and level along the way
2) ancients
3) baal
4) nm andy
5) nm act 2 might merc
6) farm nm countess
7) normal cows

Congrats on taking down Big D! You can look forward to some power leveling in Act 5 - Bloody Foothill runs are legendary for XP. Plus, as you progress in Act 5, the XP gets significantly higher. I like your goals - getting to and farming NM Countess is an effective way to get into some good gear. I'm not absolutely positive you can get a 5os Battle Scythe for Honor (I DO know NM Countess will provide the runes), but at the very least she can drop a Meat Scraper or something that will skyrocket the merc's effectiveness.

A little bit of progress report. Things are a bit though with players 8, or slow more so. I'm now level 20 and going for the horadric cube. I've got some mana issues (can't buy mana pots) and I'm quite fragile with my sorceress without any nice gear. I can't find a way around it. The only spell that does something significant is firewall and I can't tank so it doesn't work so well. I pretty much just static and use my bow (I'm still grateful for my 3x normal gem bow). I've got 5 points in warmth, do you think I need more for untwinked?

Sounds like you are doing well on your leveling. Might I suggest the Savage Polearm recipe for a starting weapon for your merc? I found that, apart from a Necro, a Sorc is more dependent on a merc than other characters, so paying attention to his longevity will ease your progress. I forget what your planned skills are, but if you are planning on FO, I'd suggest trying out some of the cold prereqs (and picking up all Orbs to see if any provide some useful staffmods) to let your merc have some room to work. At level 24, Meteor becomes available, which works very well with a tank-capable merc - let him engage a group, and start dropping meteors.

I would not pump Warmth too much more - even untwinked, you should be able to find some things that give you a nice bump to mana (Orbs, Ammys, Rings, Charms), so focusing on getting your merc durable will provide better dividends.

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Sounds like you are doing well on your leveling. Might I suggest the Savage Polearm recipe for a starting weapon for your merc? I found that, apart from a Necro, a Sorc is more dependent on a merc than other characters, so paying attention to his longevity will ease your progress. I forget what your planned skills are, but if you are planning on FO, I'd suggest trying out some of the cold prereqs (and picking up all Orbs to see if any provide some useful staffmods) to let your merc have some room to work. At level 24, Meteor becomes available, which works very well with a tank-capable merc - let him engage a group, and start dropping meteors.

I would not pump Warmth too much more - even untwinked, you should be able to find some things that give you a nice bump to mana (Orbs, Ammys, Rings, Charms), so focusing on getting your merc durable will provide better dividends.

Thanks for some tips.

I'm going FW/FO and using static to speed things up (no meteor for me). I already have FW and I can freeze things with glacial spike. I usually freeze things and drop a Fire Wall where they stand. It just requires a lot of mana. With lower player setting I could tank monsters myself and so could my merc. I just find it to be a tall order for my untwinked merc to tank monsters with p8. Especially when I have to level him first. But I'll try to run gem shrines for that diamond and try that savage recipe - can that spawn with a life leech mod, too? What A2 merc do you recommend?

I don't want to cave and use lower player settings, though. I'm just dreaming about Frozen Orb..

 

[NakedAssassin]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

New goals are:
1) quest in 5 and level along the way
2) ancients
3) baal
4) nm andy
5) nm act 2 might merc
6) farm nm countess
7) normal cows

Finished all quests and got all WPs in Act5. Anya gave a spear, was really hoping for a bow. Killed Ancients at 39 and got 1 level from it. Did Baal runs to 45 killing from WP on WK2 through waves, leaving Lister and Baal.
Finally killed Lister and then Baal. Lister was harder I think. I had to TP out of throne room once during Baal fight.

I don't want to turn this into the 'worst weapon you ever killed Baal with thread', but my bow has to be up there as one of the worst to be used by someone who relied on its damage. I'll try to screenshot it later.

Only significant usable drop since my last post - Chance Guards(35). I was pleased with that roll.

I'm tooling around in NM now, through Black Marsh. Quested NM Countess was Sol. 4 subsequent trips yielded nothing special. Going for Andy tonight, so I can have NM Act 2 Merc. My MF is 207%.

Norm cows proved worthless for Exp, although it is a good place to stop through for potions and gems. I can't kill fast enough on p8 to make it worth it, and p3 isn't enough exp. I still lack a source of Knockback, and that is killing the merc too often. I am thinking of crafted gloves, going to look up the recipe now. I seem to remember Orts and pSaphs, so I have not been cubing my Orts. I think I have 8 now. I also have the creeping feeling that I should have been stashing away crap jewels too.

Still sad about the gear dependency. I know its early for me to be in NM etc, but with one change in gear (Buriza) I could kill anything I wanted. Still hoping for Manald, but I'd also take Cathan's ring. Going to research gambling too because I never got into that.

RobbyD - Still reading your Vex thread, good luck. Ist is a nice consolation prize though.

Mouseman - update on the Sorc?

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

@mouseman: Yes, I think it can spawn with life leech too. For your merc selection, you can probably go with Blessed Aim (Off) first to help hit with that bow, and then once you get to 30 for Orb, go back and get a Prayer (Com) merc - yeah, you'll have to level him again, but it will likely be worth it for the mana regen he will provide.

@NakedAssassin: Grats on your Slayer! I never tried a Bowazon untwinked, so I didn't encounter the kinds of challenges you are running into. I will concur that a Burrito makes an unbelievable difference, but even a GSA or LA will help your gal out tremendously.

I look forward to seeing your epic Slayer Bow. You should have Anya personalize that!

Now that you're able to run NM Countess, check those racks and see what items and socket rolls you are getting - NM Countess is level 44, so the levels are likely 38-41 - that may be just a little low for the maximum sockets, but maybe the TC bug impacts the item selection from racks. If you find a Yari, Bill or Lochaber Axe rack, run that for Hone, Hwnanin's, or MS for your merc. Racks don't drop bows in my experience, but you can definitely find some sweet merc gear. Running Countess with 207 MF should end up with a nice upgrade for your bow as well. Countess is the best source outside of Act Bosses for S/U drops as far as frequency goes. If my understanding of the TC bug is right, I bet she can drop you a Matriarchal Bow - I know Hell Countess drops those with regularity.

Thanks for your interest in my Vex thread. Luckily, after racking that HoZ, I can retire my Pally from Countess duties (he's faster than the other runners, but now that I've gotten used to teleporting with my Sorc, there is just no comparison), which has sped up my runtime. I'm seriously thinking of rerolling her map for something faster, but I've also got that Nova sorc in Normal Cold Plains running Coldcrow. She's level 17 - I'm thinking of running CC to 18, at which point the Sorc can give the Envy LB to the merc and pick up the 6xpE Long Battle Bow for some serious bugged poison pwnage.

 

[inthayne]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

But I'll try to run gem shrines for that diamond and try that savage recipe

IIRC that is (any) diamond...

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Some more detail on progress and plans for GIEB_VEX, my twinked-to-high-heaven Nova Sorc. She is, after all, my current 1.09 char in devt. As mentioned before, she is level 17, but I have not mentioned that she has exactly 1 WP - the Cold Plains. She's been exclusively running Coldcrow for Hand of Broc and Torch of Iro - she got 2x HoB, no ToI. Some other TC3s I already had as well (I have more Felloaks than you can shake a stick at... heh heh - get it - shake a stick at the sticks?). My MeteOrb found a Sparking GC of Sust (35), so that's Sparker #6 and the sweetest one waiting for this character to take advatage of.

Gear has been: Arctic belt + gloves (chosen over Death's for the MF bonus), Angelic Armor + ammy + 2 rings, Cow King's Hooves, perfect Tarnhelm, and that Envy Long Bow. I've noticed that the DR 3 of the Angelic Armor basically removes all physical damage from monsters at this level, even Fana boss packs (I never realized you see Fana from the start of the game before). Sparks and CE death novas do move the bulb a little though.

Merc is currently wearing eth Greyform, eth Tarnhelm (with the 1 skill bug of all fire arrows now), and the Envy Short Bow.

So here's the deal - at level 18, GIEB_VEX wil be able to wield a weapon I made for the Sin I patted recently - the 6 pEmerald Long Battle Bow - it has some relatively stiff reqs, but I think (with the CK boots) she won't have trouble meeting the reqs. That means she can give the Envy Long Bow to the Merc and carry on through Act 1, so I'll probably run ColdCrow for 1 more level, and then move on to development (ToI or no ToI). Death's will replace Arctic for belt + glove.

The Pally achieved all his racking goals (35@Skin from Serpentskin rack, HoZ from Gilded Shield rack), so he will rest a little bit. After tasting Sorc 'porting for runs, I don't think I'll run Countess with any other character now.

I stumbled into a neat trick with my MeteOrb - she's always had a throwaway weapon switch, so I started experimenting with leveraging her +skills with spells to cast on weapon switch. I tried ES from a Warpspear, but was unimpressed with it. Then I started picking up random staves and orbs - well, I found one with +3 Chilling Armor. Now that is a skill I LIKE for Countess running. Archers in 1.09 are not the danger they are in 1.10+, but they are still an irritant, especially when they spawn with Goatment in the Countess' chamber. Well, in addition to the defense bump, this skill retaliates to ranged attacks with ice bolts... and in 1.09, with pumped CM, that actually can take out the Archers! For a free experiment for a quick pre-run cast, I like it a lot. If for no other reason, because it's fun to see.

 

[Kestegs]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Very cool, I love the fact that you are level 17 at the cold plains. That is a fun staff, I would still love to find a +3 ES and +3 cold armor staff with 4os, but that is a real shot in the dark, as ES is hard enough to find on it's own.

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Very cool, I love the fact that you are level 17 at the cold plains. That is a fun staff, I would still love to find a +3 ES and +3 cold armor staff with 4os, but that is a real shot in the dark, as ES is hard enough to find on it's own.

I can't tell you how glad I am that you posted that - I just did a quick review of my socket staves and found this:

Gothic Staff
Two-Hand Damage: 14 to 34
Durability: 36 of 40
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 25
Staff Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 74
Fingerprint: 0xc2aaf7d6
+1 to Blizzard (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Chilling Armor (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Energy Shield (Sorceress Only)
150% Damage to Undead
Socketed (4: 0 used)

Not ULTIMATE, but certainly deserving of a Lum (since I've lost count of how many I have).

Looks like she'll be making Memory tonight.

 

[NakedAssassin]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

@NakedAssassin: Grats on your Slayer! I never tried a Bowazon untwinked, so I didn't encounter the kinds of challenges you are running into. I will concur that a Burrito makes an unbelievable difference, but even a GSA or LA will help your gal out tremendously.

I look forward to seeing your epic Slayer Bow. You should have Anya personalize that!

Now that you're able to run NM Countess, check those racks and see what items and socket rolls you are getting - NM Countess is level 44, so the levels are likely 38-41 - that may be just a little low for the maximum sockets, but maybe the TC bug impacts the item selection from racks. If you find a Yari, Bill or Lochaber Axe rack, run that for Hone, Hwnanin's, or MS for your merc. Racks don't drop bows in my experience, but you can definitely find some sweet merc gear. Running Countess with 207 MF should end up with a nice upgrade for your bow as well. Countess is the best source outside of Act Bosses for S/U drops as far as frequency goes. If my understanding of the TC bug is right, I bet she can drop you a Matriarchal Bow - I know Hell Countess drops those with regularity.

I have researched what I could (alot of the links on this site and others link to other websites that have gone 404 in the last five years), but still find the need to ask these related questions:

1) Rack running = hitting the same rack over and over with roughly the same path in the dungeon taken and killing the same mobs along the way each time? Rack should always drop from the same item type of varying quality?

If the above is true, that is what I am doing. There are 3 racks I hit every time on the way to Countess. One is throwing axe, can't remember the other 2, I think one is leather armor. If this is the case does that mean that I should expect the rack to eventually drop Vidala's or Blinkbat? Not that I want either, just looking for the concept. If one of the items is Voulge, it will eventually drop with max sockets for that level?

2) ilvl, mlvl, and TC. I can't remember back far enough when I knew all of the formulas. I don't need all of this spelled out, but I would like to know if there is a source for this info you prefer. What I am looking for specifically is that 'mobs that have a mlvl = y can drop an item with ilvl = z that is in TC = x'. (all things being equal and that you aren't level 60 when you kill a level 85 mob, etc).

3) version 1.09b vs. 1.09d. I downloaded what was labeled everywhere as a 1.09d file. How can I be sure? Release date on the executable or something?

4) NM Countess bugged TC66 drops. Having trouble finding detail. I am going to start logging everything that she drops until I find something that is definitely higher than her intended NM TC. For example, lets say her unbugged NM TC should be TC=44, I'm just going to document until I can be positive that she is dropping things for me higher than TC44. Last thing I want to do is run her 100 times with the unbugged TC.

5) exact syntax for players8. I have been using exactly that, 'players8', without the single quotes. no slash, no spaces. I know this syntax varies based on version but everything I could read said that 1.09 = 'players8', and that 1.09 is one of the only places that 'players64' works. It seems to. Confirm please?

Thank you!

FYI - I started in the 1.07 v 1.09 thread, moved on to the 1.09 guide and then the rest of the interwebs. I guess I'm just looking for the fact that alot of the stuff written back in 1997 is still true.

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I have researched what I could (alot of the links on this site and others link to other websites that have gone 404 in the last five years), but still find the need to ask these related questions:

1) Rack running = hitting the same rack over and over with roughly the same path in the dungeon taken and killing the same mobs along the way each time? Rack should always drop from the same item type of varying quality?

If the above is true, that is what I am doing. There are 3 racks I hit every time on the way to Countess. One is throwing axe, can't remember the other 2, I think one is leather armor. If this is the case does that mean that I should expect the rack to eventually drop Vidala's or Blinkbat? Not that I want either, just looking for the concept. If one of the items is Voulge, it will eventually drop with max sockets for that level?

Yes, your understanding is correct. I'll give you an example - my Barb (my original Countess runner) has a Bill/Chaos Armor combo in his Tower 2 map. That has produced a number of Hwanin's Justice Bills, the unique Bill (I forget the name), Black Hades and Trang Oul's armors. Also all available sockets, and many ethereal selections. But you have to be patient - socketed versions actually pop very often, but the S/U selections are very low probability.

Ways to alter the selections are to reverse the order, and also try a detour on the way if you have one. I didn't notice the Highland Blade/Gilded Shield combo on my Pally's map until I took a detour into a side room before hitting them one time. Now I'm a HoZ richer.

2) ilvl, mlvl, and TC. I can't remember back far enough when I knew all of the formulas. I don't need all of this spelled out, but I would like to know if there is a source for this info you prefer. What I am looking for specifically is that 'mobs that have a mlvl = y can drop an item with ilvl = z that is in TC = x'. (all things being equal and that you aren't level 60 when you kill a level 85 mob, etc).

I find the wiki associeted with this site to be quite good - shows all the socket/level stats for various items and the qlvl of all the S/Us.

3) version 1.09b vs. 1.09d. I downloaded what was labeled everywhere as a 1.09d file. How can I be sure? Release date on the executable or something?

I wasn't sure for the longest time since I didn't know any of this when I first got the patch, but probably the easiest (which addresses your question #5) would be to set the player setting to 32 or so and see if you notice a difference. If the monsters all become impossible to kill, you have 1.09b. If there is no difference, it's 1.09d. Check it against Players8 to verify that you can see the difference.

4) NM Countess bugged TC66 drops. Having trouble finding detail. I am going to start logging everything that she drops until I find something that is definitely higher than her intended NM TC. For example, lets say her unbugged NM TC should be TC=44, I'm just going to document until I can be positive that she is dropping things for me higher than TC44. Last thing I want to do is run her 100 times with the unbugged TC.

Basically, you can expect things like Sacred Targes, Legend Swords, etc. to be able to fall from NM Countess - the ultimate example is LoH - low qlvl on a high TC item. Don't expect a "Shako (Harly)", but you can get shakos. You won't get Uniques she's not supposed to drop (due to qlvl), but you can get blue/yellow versions of elite items from her. The whole area might be bugged as well - I think the Smith and Griswold are similarly bugged.

5) exact syntax for players8. I have been using exactly that, 'players8', without the single quotes. no slash, no spaces. I know this syntax varies based on version but everything I could read said that 1.09 = 'players8', and that 1.09 is one of the only places that 'players64' works. It seems to. Confirm please?

I use "Players8", but I think "Players 8" also works.

 

[TheNix]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

3) version 1.09b vs. 1.09d. I downloaded what was labeled everywhere as a 1.09d file. How can I be sure? Release date on the executable or something?

If you open your patch.txt it'll say whether you have 1.09b or 1.09d. As RobbyD said, 1.09b can go up to players64, type it in and see how long it takes to kill something. :crazyeyes:

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Mouseman - update on the Sorc?

Going slow, but mostly because I haven't been playing a lot. I'm now lvl 22-23 and in arcane sanctuary.

I got a prayer mercenary and shopped some good equipment for him. I got him a leech stick, superior 2os splint mail (I dropped a couple of El runes for added defense) and a FHR helm. He stays alive even in p8 and is leveling quite nicely right now. When you combine that with firewall, which I have put a couple of points in, my life has become a lot easier. I think the hardest part was lvls 14 - 19, when you either didn't have firewall or it was weak.

I rolled the savage recipe three times and got three exception polearms. I don't want to whine, but I'm not able to use them yet Is it true that chipped diamond would've worked, too? :O

The best of them was this:

Spoiler

Savage Partizan of Craftmanship
Two-Hand Damage: 61 to 134
Durability: 54 of 65
Required Dexterity: 67
Required Strength: 113
Required Level: 23
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0xe87c182c
+75% Enhanced Damage
+1 to Maximum Damage

I also rolled a nice ring with the excessive use of the 3 amu > ring and 3 ring > amu recipe.

Spoiler

Gold Ring of the Leech
Required Level: 12
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 17
Fingerprint: 0x635a39c5
+88 to Attack Rating
4% Life stolen per hit

I found a tir rune and I'm wishing so hard for a ral rune. Leaf runeword would be awesome right now. Also I haven't found either tal or eth runes for stealth runeword, which is kind of disappointing. It is times like these that I'd love to trade some jewels and stuff to have those basic runes in bnet

RobbyD, is it true that prayer aura also gives me mana? I thought it was just life?

Oh, and I also use the +cold armor weapon switch. It's really a nice way to get your defense up in act 1. If you get your ring mail and stuff at lvl ~6 and have that kind of orb/staff in weapon switch, those act 1 monsters won't stand a chance I usually use it all the way, and you can find some really nice +ES and +cold armor orbs or staves (because there are three of those cold armors, it's not that rare to get one of them). So it's nice to have something on switch before memory or CtA.