RFO and Zodthon: Planning Stage

[Burgomaster3]

My gut instinct says make an Infinity. It will benefit both your Sorc and Zon. Javazon can be effective cowrunner even without Enigma if you roll a good map, and Infinity adds a lot to your firepower. Although, without Enigma you're probably better off running Cows mercless, since you cannot position him. But of course, without Infinity the merc is useless at Cows. If you're still leveling your Zon, Infinity will make things a lot faster.

Dunno. Cow-running Javazon might be where the Enigma makes the least difference, but Enigma is still Enigma. There really isn't easy answer when deciding between Enigma and Infinity, since both are so useful. Good thing is, you really cannot go wrong, so do what you feel is right

Actually, my answer is: Go run LK until you find another Ber's worth of runes and make both

Of course, it would be a lot cooler if you'd use the BlizzSorc on all three parts, just to show the OPness of Blizzard (as if we need the reminder).

On the matter of can we use runes we find on the tournament: Personally I'm not probably gonna do that, but I'd still allow it, since it's a long tourney (I'm all for one week downtime btw) and, like it has been pointed out, people might have their characters significantly developed during it. You most likely take screenies anyway. Downside is, you cannot do badass haul pic without the runes

 

[Grape1]

@T72on1 I wouldn't mind someone using their runes found during the tournament. You'd miss the haul pic opportunity, but that's it. Take screenies etc.

Few things I'm pondering about:

- Do you think we should include all areas where Zod can drop for the (probably) first round, "alvl85" one? Apart from Cow lvl, that is. In the spirit of the last Zodthon. That would mean the whole Act 5 can be run, and imo that would make sense, since there might be some who would like to run Nihlathak for example.

- Do you want to include that "post your top five items and then vote for the best" as a side competition? For one round, for all three? I think it was OK. It could be voluntary, maybe. Little more hassle but it's nice to see some great drops besides the runes.

- How to score each round, individually and then for the whole tournament? We have the points per runes already posted by Gripphon, but we should decide are the rounds scored RFO style, aka. final score is all your points from Um-Cham(Zod) runes total, or the top five only, aka. Zodthon style. And then for the ultimate winner, does one collect points from your rune score or do we give certain amount of "tournament points" for the winner, second etc. each round?

It's possible to keep it the RFO way for the Travincal round and then the top five systems for the other two rounds, for example. Might make sense, don't know.

Then, it seems that the one week of rest between the rounds is the most favored option at the moment. Maybe starting to consider the possible timetable already is in order.

I'll go straight ahead and make a proposal, so we can have some thoughts about it:

• 1st round, "alvl85" : 3.2. - 16.2.2017
• 2nd round, "Travincal": 24.2 - 9.3.
• 3rd round: "Moo Moo farm": 17.3 - 30.3.

So every round would start on friday, end on thursday. Two weeks each, one week rest in between.

And last thing for now: @Gripphon do you want to keep heritage and host the possible middle round, that would most likely be almost like RFO? We can have individual hosts for the rounds, or I can keep organizing the whole thing. Everything is fine by me!

 

[Kitteh1]

Honestly. haul pics are always nice, so I wouldn't ruin it

 

[D2DC]

Is this going to be 20hr gameplay increments? Or unlimited for two weeks?

 

[tokerdin]

This sounds awesome just the thing to get me doing my runs again, and finishing my trav barb.
i might even consider making another char for cows. I'll probably just use meteor though... lol

 

[T72on1]

Problem solved, as I already created the Infinity . Good to know I can use any Ber I find during the tournament for Enigma, altough you guys are right about the haul pic of course.

Time schedule is fine by me. I probably won't be able to do much more than 20 hours in 2 weeks, so a 20 hour limit would be ok for me. But I'll go with whatever is decided. It's not like I'll be even close to victory unless I get really really lucky, so ...

I think it would make sense to allow all areas where Zod can drop.

I liked the 'top 5' thingy last time. But it's not big deal, just a little side fun.

I'll think some more about the scoring system.

 

[Gripphon1]

- all areas where zod can drop - good
- top 5 items - don't know
- score system - it is possibly better to score top 5 to shift stuff more toward luck as this way with lucky drop anyone can hope for a good placement, otherwise some amount of garbage runes from more efficient players will simply eat that one lucky drop if it is not supported by quantity as well. Let Ber feel like Ber and not be eaten by 4 Um runes from someone else that easily
- time limit - 20 hours per set to even the playing field a bit

@Grape
Nah, just host the whole thing.

 

[Neksja]

- Do you think we should include all areas where Zod can drop for the (probably) first round, "alvl85" one? Apart from Cow lvl, that is. In the spirit of the last Zodthon. That would mean the whole Act 5 can be run, and imo that would make sense, since there might be some who would like to run Nihlathak for example.

Yes, definitely allow all areas. Very good idea, hopefully we'll see some variation of areas where people run.

- Do you want to include that "post your top five items and then vote for the best" as a side competition? For one round, for all three? I think it was OK. It could be voluntary, maybe. Little more hassle but it's nice to see some great drops besides the runes.

Absolutely, but are we doing it as a "Winner picks an item from other runners" -style of side competition or more for bragging rights? I prefer not to let anyone the chance to take any of my items, or if I could protect let's say 1 item, I'd still probably be in.

- How to score each round, individually and then for the whole tournament? We have the points per runes already posted by Gripphon, but we should decide are the rounds scored RFO style, aka. final score is all your points from Um-Cham(Zod) runes total, or the top five only, aka. Zodthon style. And then for the ultimate winner, does one collect points from your rune score or do we give certain amount of "tournament points" for the winner, second etc. each round?

Hmm. While I'd love to see scores from all the qualified runes you find, I do agree with @Gripphon that with top5 method, Ber feels more like a Ber rather than someone getting the same score with a handful of Mal runes for example. So I'd prefer top5 method.

Ultimate winner, I'd go with "tournament points", winner gets 5 points, second 3, third 1 etc kinda thing, obviously adjusting to how many people actually sign up. For example, if we have 12 participants, I could totally see 12 points for winner, 10 for second, 8 for third, 7 for fourth, 6 for fifth etc. to work quite nicely as winning or being a runner-up in a round would give you a bit more points. But then we come to the issue of multiple entries. Let's say Gripphon does two sets at Travincal and ends up with 3 Chams on the first set of 20 hours and 4 Chams on the second, landing Gripphon in spots 1 and 2. Does Gripphon get points for both or do we count just the best set? I'd vote for just ranking the best set.

While I am all in for the tournament points, I still would like to see a ranking based on scores from all runes found, maybe like a side competition again? In the end, every should have the details of how many qualified runes they've found, so it's just a matter of calculating the scores for each runner and rank them. Anyhow, I'm hoping people will keep track of plenty of little details like number of runs etc, so I can then look at the numbers and possible make some tables, mostly for my own fun.

I'll go straight ahead and make a proposal, so we can have some thoughts about it:

• 1st round, "alvl85" : 3.2. - 16.2.2017
• 2nd round, "Travincal": 24.2 - 9.3.
• 3rd round: "Moo Moo farm": 17.3 - 30.3.

So every round would start on friday, end on thursday. Two weeks each, one week rest in between.

That looks pretty good for me, no objections on that time scale.

 

[Grape1]

@Gripphon okies, I'll do it!

@Neksja thanks for the comments! I'm not planning to include any item stealing from other players. I'd like to keep it as open and easily accessible as possible. I.e. no trade accounts needed etc. I may come up with some symbolic price or something if I get some funny idea..

I'm leaning also more and more towards top5 runes for each round.

Any more comments about the scoring system for the whole tournament?

 

[Kitteh1]

Off topic, but... @Grape The addition of the flower is seriously creepy

 

[tokerdin]

Im not to sure about the "anywhere zod can drop" when it comes to running super uniques like Nihlathak. Doesnt that kindof defeat the purpose of doing the alvl85?

 

[Gripphon1]

Let's say Gripphon does two sets at Travincal and ends up with 3 Chams on the first set of 20 hours and 4 Chams on the second, landing Gripphon in spots 1 and 2. Does Gripphon get points for both or do we count just the best set? I'd vote for just ranking the best set.

All those zod-god runes, imagine! (ranking only the best set makes sense).

@tokerdin

It is misleading name actually. Most precise name would be "areas" without that "alvl85", though doesn't really matter as long as everyone knows what that means. Unless you meant on something else.

@Kitteh

True! But his avatar just reminds us that it doesn't really matter how evil someone looks like, he can still have a heart of a sweetheart. Flower for us from el-diablo da flowerman, sir!

 

[Grape1]

I was thinking to give this el-diablo da floweman some kind of a christmas twist but then I forgot about it!

Maybe attaching a Zod-badge to his chest would be appropriate way to celebrate the upcoming tournament?

 

[tokerdin]

@tokerdin

It is misleading name actually. Most precise name would be "areas" without that "alvl85", though doesn't really matter as long as everyone knows what that means. Unless you meant on something else.

so pretty much just free for all except trav,cows and act bosses?
sounds like a good way to keep it fresh i like it

 

[thefranklin]

Call it rlvl17 areas or rclass 17 or similar. Make it nerdy somehow.

And do we have a list of them? I researched and see mlvl 81 or higher.
This includes all monsters in the following areas (alvl 81+):
All alvl 85 areas plus:
Hole level 2
Halls of Dead levels 2+3
Maggot Lair levels 1+2
Claw Viper Temple
Swampy Pit 2+3
Flayer Dungeon
Kurast Bazaar & Upper Kurast and all dungeons within
Kurast Causeway
Trav
Durance of Hate 1+2
Outer Steppes
Plains of Despair
City of the Damned
All of Act V minus Bloody Foothills

Uniques and their minions in alvl 78 areas and above, champions in alvl 79 areas and above. Area level 78 starts at about the Harem in Act II and I don't wish to list all of the places that have alvl 78 and 79.



@Griphhon What gear does your cow necro merc use?

 

[Grape1]

Hmm, I think we can allow all alvl81+ for the first round. I believe most people will run alvl85 places anyway.

I'm thinking about opening the sign-up and running thread either over the weekend or sometime next week. If no complaints, it's going to start according to the timetable I suggested before.

I'm still thinking about the overall pointing though. Which one would you prefer; every player gets as much points towards the whole tournament as their best batch (this is probably going to be the usual 20h) from each round is, or that we give points according to positions? 1st gets 5pts, 2nd 4pts etc.

 

[Brak]

Think it makes sense for the 'overall' winner to be weighted on placement. Otherwise rune heavy events will be worth a lot more than rune light areas

 

[Pb_pal1]

Yeah I think the second option (based on placement) works the best.

 

[Neksja]

Second option, points per position per event. And after the RFO is officially done, we can figure out the overall winner as an optional, yet minor, bragging rights -event

 

[Gripphon1]

@Griphhon What gear does your cow necro merc use?

Infinity, Fortitude and either Andariel's Visage or lifeleach circlet.

Scoring system: points for placement per category.