Good topic. @Gripphon 's estimates are almost spot on what my runtimes usually look like, give or take 5 seconds here and there. I consider myself a pretty average player overall. I've never been too much into games where fast-paced gaming is must (I'm more of a turn-based kinda guy, D2 being an obvious exception), so my motor skills aren't the best. I like to go by my own pace, hence the Single Player. However, since I want to maximize the precious gaming time I have, I want to be as fast as it's possible to me, while still enjoying the game. I have no wish to be the "fastest", I'm always just competing against myself, setting goals I think it's possible for me to reach. So far I've gotten better with surprisingly steady pace, and there's still room for improvement.
Sometimes I entertain an idea, that D2 has a lot in common with a driving game, with your char being a vehicle that you tune and tweak as you get more walthy so you can get better laptimes etc.
This is pretty much what I've learned as well. I tend to play pretty casually, listening podcasts/audiobooks/streams while I run, so I'm not always very focused. By sometimes going on full-focused time trial mode I've been able to improve my casual play quite a bit, since some thing become almost automatic after a little practice. Here are some things that I feel have helped me in different areas:
AT/Pits p1: I think the most important thing is to just keep moving. Pick a route, stay on the route, kill all the bosses on the route, and as soon as you see the bosses death animation check the loot and keep moving. In AT, I sometimes drop the blizzard at some spawn points before I see if there's a even a bosspack there, just in case. I used to spend too much time checking loot, second guess, making sure I didn't miss drop/bosspack etc. Nowadays I can see if item is interesting or not almost before the boss hits the ground. Being at grail -5 certainly helps, since there are quite a limited number of items I'm actually interested in. It depends how I'm feeling: sometimes I pick all potentially useful rares and even magic rings and amulets. Sometimes it's just strictly uniques.
LK p7: Learning to use Telekinesis effectively has made a big difference. 1.07 has been very useful in this regard, because in that patch you use TK to pick up everything and learn to control it very well. Every chest and poppable, i open with Telekinesis. I also almost never walk. 200FCR ftw. Learning to trust the orange flash, not spending time sorting through drops just-in-case... If I don't see anything useful in second or two, I keep moving. I've done thousands of LK runs, and I can't remember one situation, where going extensively through loot that didn't have the orange flash would've netted me a HR. Also, empty inventory (except keys ofc) is a must.
Overall, getting past the neurotic OCD "what-if"-mentality has sped things up a lot on my end.
Trav p3: Here, I don't have much to add that haven't been said already. I feel that average of sub 20 seconds is currently a brickwall for me that I'm not sure if I ever can break. I'd need practically perfect map. Still, I'm fine with sub 24s, not that it's easy, but that I know I can do. I'm kinda dreading the forthcoming map-rolling extragavanza, since I have pretty high hopes and standards, and rolling good Trav map ain't easy.
Regarding Cows: I have never really tested the enough to know where I'm at. I know I can run close to 4 mnutes with Javazon and Fire Sorc, but I've not counted enough runs to get trustworthy average. I've never tried any Necro at Cows. I'd like to hear more info about the Summoner build. I have idle Bonemancer I could respec and try out. It's very likely I'll be running with multiple chars anyway during the 3rd round of RFL, juts to keep things interesting. Might try the Trapper too, I like playing my Trapper very much but lately it's been hard to come up things to do with her. Possibly Lightning Sorc as well.
About Baal: I think Zealot is pretty much on par with WW Barb. Probably slower at waves, but possibly faster Baal killer (with Smite). I remember having a pretty good time when Baaling with my Zealot, before I levelled my PitBarb as WWer. Baal runs generally bore me to death, so I haven't got much data, but Gripph's estimates look pretty accurate.
Sometimes I entertain an idea, that D2 has a lot in common with a driving game, with your char being a vehicle that you tune and tweak as you get more walthy so you can get better laptimes etc.
This is pretty much what I've learned as well. I tend to play pretty casually, listening podcasts/audiobooks/streams while I run, so I'm not always very focused. By sometimes going on full-focused time trial mode I've been able to improve my casual play quite a bit, since some thing become almost automatic after a little practice. Here are some things that I feel have helped me in different areas:
AT/Pits p1: I think the most important thing is to just keep moving. Pick a route, stay on the route, kill all the bosses on the route, and as soon as you see the bosses death animation check the loot and keep moving. In AT, I sometimes drop the blizzard at some spawn points before I see if there's a even a bosspack there, just in case. I used to spend too much time checking loot, second guess, making sure I didn't miss drop/bosspack etc. Nowadays I can see if item is interesting or not almost before the boss hits the ground. Being at grail -5 certainly helps, since there are quite a limited number of items I'm actually interested in. It depends how I'm feeling: sometimes I pick all potentially useful rares and even magic rings and amulets. Sometimes it's just strictly uniques.
LK p7: Learning to use Telekinesis effectively has made a big difference. 1.07 has been very useful in this regard, because in that patch you use TK to pick up everything and learn to control it very well. Every chest and poppable, i open with Telekinesis. I also almost never walk. 200FCR ftw. Learning to trust the orange flash, not spending time sorting through drops just-in-case... If I don't see anything useful in second or two, I keep moving. I've done thousands of LK runs, and I can't remember one situation, where going extensively through loot that didn't have the orange flash would've netted me a HR. Also, empty inventory (except keys ofc) is a must.
Overall, getting past the neurotic OCD "what-if"-mentality has sped things up a lot on my end.
Trav p3: Here, I don't have much to add that haven't been said already. I feel that average of sub 20 seconds is currently a brickwall for me that I'm not sure if I ever can break. I'd need practically perfect map. Still, I'm fine with sub 24s, not that it's easy, but that I know I can do. I'm kinda dreading the forthcoming map-rolling extragavanza, since I have pretty high hopes and standards, and rolling good Trav map ain't easy.
Regarding Cows: I have never really tested the enough to know where I'm at. I know I can run close to 4 mnutes with Javazon and Fire Sorc, but I've not counted enough runs to get trustworthy average. I've never tried any Necro at Cows. I'd like to hear more info about the Summoner build. I have idle Bonemancer I could respec and try out. It's very likely I'll be running with multiple chars anyway during the 3rd round of RFL, juts to keep things interesting. Might try the Trapper too, I like playing my Trapper very much but lately it's been hard to come up things to do with her. Possibly Lightning Sorc as well.
About Baal: I think Zealot is pretty much on par with WW Barb. Probably slower at waves, but possibly faster Baal killer (with Smite). I remember having a pretty good time when Baaling with my Zealot, before I levelled my PitBarb as WWer. Baal runs generally bore me to death, so I haven't got much data, but Gripph's estimates look pretty accurate.
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