1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Hey guys, thanks for your answers.

Cheerupemokid10: Grading papers? Do I sense a fellow teacher here? :) What subjects do you teach? (history and civics here)

I actually managed to level my merc to level 51 quite fast. I ran normal baal runs, staticing and letting him kill everybody. It was fast going (1-2 levels per run) until high 40s. Then I ran a couple of times in the cold caves and drifter cavern especially and the XP was good there, too. I then switched to NM and bloody foothills seemed like the right place to a merc around this level. On p8 it was faster XP just killing the monsters myself, because the static caps at 1/3 monster health. I think it's faster just killing eldritch and shenk mobs. I think I can run him up to lvl ~65 this way, at least.

It's just too bad that I'm already bored out of my mind of the bloody foothills.. Strange, it's about 10 years since I last run it for XP, with the same build funnily enough, but still I can sense the boredom like it was only yesterday..

About enchant: I find it cool when I cast it on myself and the wizardspike turns red. That way it reminds me, too, when my mercs enchant wears out. I'm probably just going to dump the rest of the skill points I'll get to enchant, I've got no other use with them anyway. That way I can maybe self-enchant any new character I plan to make and it'll last longer. :)
 
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Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Well my progress has been minimal on both my sorc and barb. However, I did manage to get the sorc past Andy last night and I'm waiting to hit that lvl 18 mark for tele. I've been rushing through without focusing on killing everything. That and I haven't been playing p8 the whole way. Just hoping to get to A5 as soon as possible to do some exp running there.

I'm now done with grading, yes a fellow teacher. Elementary art teacher this past year but was RIF'd. Not all that bad since I was commuting 90 miles each way every day. Hoping to get the high school spot where I student taught a measly 10 miles away. That'd be much better.

I'd MP but my internet is very limited at home and the time thing is an issue as well. However, I will still keep up with my progress on here. GL and good drops to all in the 1.09 past. Hope you find some nic3 things;)
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

cheerupemokid10: Hope you get the job! I'm actually in between jobs, kind of, myself! I've got lots of work, but no stability, so I hope that changes!

I've finally managed to get my merc to my level (I'm 87 and he is 86). It actually didn't take too much time, something like 3-4 hours altogether, but I've been so busy it took me a long time to get that ~4 hours merc leveling done :)

The thing that worked out best was just to stick with act5 bloody foothills on p8. The XP is great there and if you level well you can jump one difficulty up and the XP will continue to be good. There are slower times around the time you switch difficulty, but not it's not that bad. So I'd level in normal bloody foothills to around lvl 45, then in NM up to 70, even, and rest in Hell. I went from 82 onward to p3 cows just for change, but the XP didn't slow down in bloody foothills.

I used static tactic to allow my merc some kills. Actually it was funny the static everything in normal (with something like lvl 24 static field) and let the merc kill everything. I did some of that in NM, too, but mainly killed the big mobs and let my merc kill single monsters at the same time.

My merc is still overwhelmed in moo moo farm, even though holy freeze helps. I have a 191% non-eth hone sundan with AmnShaelShael, Duriel's Shell and Rockstopper. I have max resists in Hell, but that don't mean anything against cows. I'd need to find myself a Shaftstop and/or Vampire Gaze, because the 10% damage reduction just don't cut it.

And I really don't want to go back to mephing.... Maybe it would help if the cows would drop me an ethereal elite base for honor? :)
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I have a lvl 88 defence merc wearing a shaftshop, gaze, and amn amn sheal hone sundin. He still has problems staying awake in the moo farm. Thats 48% damage reduction and p8 still take it to him. I have not yet socketed the helm or armor though. So perhaps a few P rubies to help him stay alive longer? I just can not figure out these mercs. It is super nice to have him with the nova sorc there, and as long as i keep the blue ball full, the cows die faster then the merc. As soon as the bulb empties out though its another trip to town and another huged hunk of cash to the rogues....
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

My mercs generally go with Glad Bane, AmnAmnShael, and Gaze in the late MFing stage, and I haven't had horrible survival problems with them. For my MeteOrb in the Moo Moo Farm, if he got overwhelmed (usually only against boss packs), a quick 'port gets him out of trouble and a quick purple pot gets him ready to go back in. But the tactic of Meteor/static/static/static/all dead usually keeps the merc in good shape. I haven't tried cows with my Nova Sorc, and he'd have to go with Shaftstop or Smoke for a couple more levels until I could get a Bane on him. For the Barb, cowing is slow going, but the merc tends to be pretty durable too, since the Barb takes the tanking pressure off of him.

But most of my experience has been in 1.09 - maybe you guys are just spoiled by 1.10+ mercs - they sure did make them a lot tougher in the later patches.

In other news, I took a break from D2 in my frustration with getting it to run with Windows7, but I'm back to try a couple more tricks to get it running - hopefully I'll be able to get back in and finish my Zons.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I'm BACK IN BUSINESS!!! Got 1.09 and 1.13 running, and got my Zons to NM Act 5, second WP. I actually prefer the guest monsters of 1.13 to the incredibly annoying 'porting Imps in the Frozen Tundra type areas. BTW - is it just me, or does Lightning Fury NOT bounce off of walls in 1.13?

I've been comparing Jab to Fend for a melee Jav option, and I really think I like Jab better, even though it's considerable weaker. It just hits so fast. It's SUCH a travesty that Lightning Strike is bugged - it would be a awesome melee skill if it worked right.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Well I feel pitiful. I have made no progress on either of my chars for weeks now. I've gotten busy and well... not so busy now that summer has hit. Trying to find new jobs and hanging out with my son has sapped my time as well as home projects. I finally rebooted my personal laptop since I had to give back my work one. This old beast of about 5 years now is getting really beat up. I've taped the power cord back together for the last time. If this one doesn't hold up then it's definitely time for a new one.

I've got D2 put back on now after the reboot but just haven't played but for an hour or so one day with my sorc. Made it to the cube and then nothing from then. Hopefully I'll get the ante to pick it up and play in the next couple of days though.

@RobbyD: Glad to hear you got things working again. Can't wait to see how those zons come out in the end.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

RobbyD: Nice to hear things are working again!

cheerupemokid10: I wouldn't feel pitiful. Busy life is a good life, although we all need an hour or two of Diablo 2 just for ourselves :)

I have been herding cows in the moo moo farm and I've gotten better doing it. With holy freeze merc, the cows are constantly in the slow motion mode and it gives me time to static them, teleport around them and use my firewalls more intelligently. I'm going now on p8 and if I do it properly, my merc doesn't die (although a shaftstop or gladiator's bane would really help). Now that I learned how to use it properly, firewall is actually a really nice spell for moo moo farm coupled with maxed static and teleport.

Greatest find so far was from Rakanishu on the way to Wirt. Rakanishu dropped me Death's Belt, can you believe that? Now I have the entire set!
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

It's been a while since anybody's updated this thread. Am I, the one who "officially" moved on from 1.09, the only one still playing the patch (even if it's a side-by-side with 1.13)? I guess I'm having trouble letting it completely go... I'm also planning a side-by-side project for a pair of WW barbs (Grief PBs for 1.13, crafted 1.07 Blood Swords for 1.09, thanks to WoRG).

THEN I'll be done with 1.09... until another project comes to mind ;)
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Well RobbyD, you're not the only one still playing. I haven't been playing much until the last couple of days. I've been doing more runs with my frenzy barb to look for a buriza and have not been successful yet. also took out big d and am working through a5 now. cant wait for some hell mephy.

I'm trying to gear up for a 1.09 medusa zon. I read that monster slowed by %x was a little bugged in 1.09 and was fixed to work correctly in 1.10+ so I don't know how it works back then but I'm going to give it a shot. Cleglaws and face of horror are already done. looking into using the coif of glory for the blind until the face of horror. I'll be using iceblink for the freezing attack until I can find the buriza. Holy freeze merc once I can get to him. Basically just slow everything waaayyyy down like those funny super-slo-mo videos of getting slapped in the face.

Got through Nightmare and took out Baal on P3. No super drops from him or big D. On to Hell A1 catacombs 2 and ready to take on Andy tonight. I'm storming through until I hit Mephy and will park my butt there until I get some of those good drops I've been waiting for.
 
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Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Medusa Zon huh? I went kind of Medusa on my original BuriZon for the Ancients - Clegaws, Blackhorn's Face, and Nosferatu's Coil - along with the cold from Buriza, it got her past that challenge. I never found a bug that I could perceive with it - it may have caused lag on MP/BNet settings, but for SP, it appears to work fine.

Running Hell Mephy with a Frenzy Barb, huh? I happen to have some experience with that, so if you have any questions, I'll be glad to help out. I figured out how to get the Merc to join my Barb after he jumped the moat most of the time - once you leap across the Moat, you leap again as far as your cursor will go - 75% of the time, the Merc will appear to join the fight. Really helps if you are doing it on a higher player setting.

My 1.09/1.13 Hybrid Zon project is nearing completion, and I have initial plans penciled for a 1.09/1.13 WW Barb project, and my endgame weapons procured (well, I haven't cubed the Lo for the second Grief PB, but I'll get to that soon - but I do have those awesome 1.07 Blood Crafts from WoRG for my 1.09 Barb in my stash now).
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I've been banking points with my barb and have considered putting them into WW and looking for one big heavy hitter to start taking on the packs of monsters. I've been going through hell on p1 with very few problems. Any difficulty comes from my new lack of resists. The raven something(?) armor helps quite a bit but my lightning res really takes a hit from those LE and MSLE's that seem to be everywhere now in Hell.

On a good side note, while I didn't get any noteworthy quest drops from any act bosses I did get an Um to drop on my NM forge. That was a very sweet moment.

I plan to take him to Pindle after some decent drops from Mephy roll in. that's the other reason I was considering WW. If I don't take WW I'll throw some points into a mastery and maybe beef up Shout or put a few into Hork. After reading a few pindle threads with barbs it seems like a decent hork may be well worth it. Maybe the dual echoing swords I've shopped will be enough to bring the hork% up to make it viable enough on Pindle's crew.

I ran solo against Meph in NM but will probably be needed that extra bit of help from him in Hell. He's got a eth Vamp gaze that's near perfect, 17 DR, and 7/7 or 7/8(?) for the leech. His meat scraper and the leech on the gaze help him to last pretty darn well.

I've followed some of your Zon project and can understand where the 09 zon falls behind. I remember that she was a killer with that LF in cows, especially if you herded them. But elsewhere it was all about the MS and GA. As far as WW barbs go I've never been the most fond of that skill. Maybe my implementation with him the first time I ran through with one, in my early days of playing, was less than efficient. Still yet, it was the cookie cutter build everyone went with in .09.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Problems with resists in Hell, huh? I have one word for you: "Smoke". The Lum needed can be fairly readily gotten from Countess (and actually drops fairly regularly with questing through Hell) and can be made in a Wire Fleece or something for and endgame armor. You can check the racks when running countess for one dropping a nice light elite armor - Scarab Husk, Wyrmhide, Wire Fleece, etc. Thundergod's Vigor makes MSLE sparks act like life leech if you get your LR high enough (around 50 or so?). You still need to be careful for Conviction MSLEs though.

That Meat Scraper is nice, no doubt, but keep your eyes open for a gold Yari - that's THE merc stick in 1.09. 2 Amns and a Shael if you find one is my suggestion (the first Shael hits 2 breakpoints, the second only 1). The Gaze is incredible for Mephy running, but I'd put a Blackhorn's on him (if you have one) for questing, so he will survive MSLE. A Smoke in an eth base isn't a bad idea either since 1.09 mercs have lower resists than 1.10+ mercs.

I'm pretty sure I actually horked an HoZ from Pindle with my Barb. I would suggest against investing in WW since you're already invested in Frenzy. My experimentation with that when I was trying to take out the Hell Ancients was an absolut FAIL. I would definitely make sure Mastery, Frenzy, and BO are maxed, with some points in Iron Skin, Nat Resists, Shout, and one that I consider a must, Battle Cry. Once those each have a point or 2, I'd definitely pump Zerk, because that has such amazing returns for ED - if you get that pumped pretty well, you can just Zerk with your lead 1H weapon for the PI bosses.

I've avoided WW because I didn't think I would like that skill and Frenzy seemed such a better fit to my vision of the character, but I'm doing these projects to investigate builds I haven't tried yet, and WW is STILL quite the cookie-cutter build, so I really think I need to give that a real chance instead of always avoiding builds that don't seem fun to start with (I originally avoided Zons because I didn't think I would like them - now they are my favorite character).

I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT for Hell Cows for my 1.09 Zon to really see her shine. Though she does pretty good in the cold caves of Act 5.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Yeah, I've been waiting for the Yari to drop to make the merc even better but the scraper is taking care of business for now. I hadn't thought about the blackhorn's on him yet. I just switched him over to the new gear and haven't ran into too much trouble since the switch with gear. He went from his 55ish level and caught up to my now 70 rather quickly.

I had pretty much plateaued at 63 on Meph runs and made it to 69 going through A5. Did another baal run to see how the exp return was and did not seem like I would gain much very quickly. So now I'm at the Arcane and deciding which fork in the road to take first. Sitting at level 70 I feel pretty comfortable. I think that I'll be able to make it to Meph if I play tonight.

I don't believe I have a Lum and have not done any countess runs yet. But I may have to start that so I can make a nice Honor or other sword if the chance arises as well as that Smoke for me. The duriels shell (finally remembered the name) helps quite a bit with the resists and the high def helps boost me over 3k with my shout. I think I'll sink the points into a sword mastery since I have better chances of finding/making a sword versus a good mace, especially with the chippie recipe. I've got 1 point in battle cry and definitely agree it is a must. The returns for investment for more in that don't seem quite as worth it so other than the mastery maybe I'll sink those extra points into berserk.

Like you, I've avoided a lot of cookie cutters or fun builds just because I don't want to conform or whatever the strange reason may be. Always wanted to try the different thing. But like you, I actually liked some of the cookie cutters I tried. When I had my stint on Bnet a few months ago before coming back to time travel I finally tried a cheesydin and thought that it was still fun and a challenge learning to throw those hammers, especially without an enigma. While I don't want to commit to making a comparison 1.09/1.13 contest of my own like you have done, I would probably choose the hammerdin to compare just to see how it ran in 1.09.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

If you are doing them on P8, I find NM Baal runs to be very fruitful through about level 75. Might be worth doing to help with the XP/level disadvantage issues through Hell. One thing my 1.09/1.13 project made very clear to me is that 1.09 is horrible for keeping your character at level equity with the monsters through Hell. So, I'd recommend getting to level 75 on NM Baal runs if you can stand it. Remember - Mephy is level 90 in 1.09. That's going to make tanking him a challenge unless you have an Eth rune in something. Shops in Hell Act 1 and 2 are bugged to not product Exceptional or Elite items, but once you get to Act 3, you can shop Champion Swords and (I think) Mythical Swords - those are viable chippie swords, so you might want to start shopping and rolling some. I rolled 2 more cruel Champion Swords for my Barb project (actually some pretty sweet rolls to 283 and 289, I think) and I was surprised how quick I rolled them, so I think that would be a viable way to get your Barb ready to take on some Mephy runs (pop and eth and some Shaels/Fervors in them - Amn if you really need the leech). I'd maybe start a new character and mine Normal Act 1 for the chipped gems - I made a practice of running ColdCrow with new characters and picking up all the chippies in the process.

Keep in mind for Honor - if you are going swords, Honor bases are limited to Dimensional Blades, Zweihanders, and Executioner Swords (and their elite counterparts, of course) - for the life of me, I could not find a white or 5os Zwiehander (by far the best option for an Honor Sword - range and speed), so I ended up making it in a Knout... but if you already have one, you should be good to go. Of course I saw them all over the place after I commited to the Knout and started dumping points into Mace Mastery.

I wouldn't say I avoided cookie-cutter builds - I just never thought I would enjoy WW (and, to be honest, I was put off by the initial -ED). I'd say my Zon, Pally, Nova Sorc and Sin are very much cookie-cutter for 1.09. My MeteOrb Sorc diverged because I built her for 1.10 but developed her in 1.09, my Bear Druid was a bit of a variation to the standard Wolf (I just thought the Bear was cooler), and my Necro was by definition non cookie-cutter because, from what I could find, a cookie-cutter 1.09 Necro build does not exist.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Well for the runs I was doing I was getting no experience from Meph at 63. Maybe I hit a slump and might get some better experience if I were to go back now at level 70. I know it's not just an issue in how I'm putting in the players x because of the massive difference ancients at p8 was versus p1. The reduced health made them drop like flies in comparison.

I had noticed the gap in levels as soon as I hit NM because my chance to hit started dropping big. When I first started running NM Meph my to hit was pretty low as well but that's really came up a lot. I'm waiting to find the angelic ammy to go with my angelic ring for an extra AR boost.

I will start working on rolling swords as soon as I get to and can shop one from A3. Until then, maybe it will be some countess runs for decent runes or some more mephy in hopes of those upper exceptionals I've been looking for. That way I can throw in an Eth and maybe not worry so much about AR. I've been collecting chippies with this barb and the sorc that I've been slowly building up. I can take her back to A1 and get some more chippies pretty quickly if I need to.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I didn't realize you were talking about NM Meph runs - I do believe you when you say that XP from NM Meph dried up. I was talking about WSK/Baal runs - HUGE experience for NM and not nearly as dangerous as 1.13.

I will say I found running Hell Countess quite rewarding - she has MUCH better drop rates than any other SU, but she can't drop the mid-high elite stuff (but a great source for Shakos and Wizzys), and obviously THE target for your rune needs. Plus there are a lot of racks on the way down - a good place to look for a good 2os Wyrmhide. Just don't fight the ghosts - you should have no trouble running past them.

Good luck on the swords - BTW, Champion Swords can get Cruel but not Grandmasters or the top elemental affixes like Condensing/Shocking - Mythical Swords can get those other affixes (but, really, I prefer Champion Swords because Cruel is the affix I'm after).
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Well I made it past those pesky PI ghosts in Arcane finally, just had to slow down and zerk them a little bit. Duriel was a breeze and A3, other than the vastness of that jungle, went quickly. Ran the whole way and got all the relics, took out the council, and vanquished the evil beast.

For now, P1 without the merc is easy. I leech my bubble full from the cries and am good to go most of the time, unless the blood lords trickle down. No super drops yet after 30ish runs. A Peasant crown finally dropped for me though, that's the first of those at least. Oh, and another bartucs. Had a failed arreats drop as an IK helm which I was really sad about. I thought I finally had that class specific drop.

P3 is a little tougher, if I heal up after my cries to fill my health I'm usually good. But the drop in run time doesn't not seem as worth it for the slight increased drop rate. I've made it to 71, almost to 72. I have a ton of banked up stat points and about 16 skills points. I've been waiting to add to the mastery until I found a good sword drop. I haven't been shopping for any of the elite swords too much to start trying to roll a cruel. Also haven't worked on any racking and runes from the Countess either. I'll keep working on Mephy since I've got a decent map there and might check my countess map tonight to try a little bit for that.

Shopped a Colossus Blade from A4, it was the first elite to show up out of Colossus sword/blade and Champ swords. Went through about 2 in game stash worths of chippies to end up with this freakin awesome CCBoQ!!!

Cruel Colossus Blade of Quickness
One-Hand Damage: 98 to 250
Two-Hand Damage: 224 to 440
Durability: 37 of 50
Required Dexterity: 110
Required Strength: 189
Required Level: 63
Sword Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 30
Fingerprint: 0x66b04ec9
+280% Enhanced Damage
40% Increased Attack Speed
Socketed (3: 0 used)

Not quite a perfect roll on the ED but the "of Quickness" with that decent of a roll is perfectly fine with me! If I only had some sweet jewels to go in it now... I sunk those extra skill points into sword mastery and the damage difference is insane! Now to get more chippies to work on rolling a CCB of Evisceration for that extra +max dmg

A4 was going down like a breeze with this new sword. I think I just may work on getting through A4 so I can get some bloody runs in and soak up the A5 experience.
 
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Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I guess that sword cruised you through the rest of the game! Sure didn't seem to take you long to get to your Pat intro! It's an unbelievable sword!

On my update, I need a TGod's for my WW Barb project, and I got one from Mephy last night! Ethereal! The second freakin' eth TGod's in a row. Aaarrhg! I did get a couple nice Vamp's Gazes, though, and I popped one on my JavaZon's merc (20%DR, 15MDR, 6%LL - darn that LL roll!) to replace the Blackhorn's, and he's now much more sturdy (plus he's leveled from 82 to 85, so I'm assuming that helps too).
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Yeah, you can get a lot done when you're unemployed... It's been nice having the summer off as a teacher but I just hope I can find another job teaching soon!

After I rolled that sword I took out the CS pretty easily. I did die twice rushing through a little too much. That IM took me out before I even knew I was cursed. A5 was about the same story. I ran through most of the foothills since half the monsters were PI. Then the cold caves went pretty well. I just got really hung up on those ancients yesterday. Took about 5 or 6 tries before I finally pulled in a bunch of stashed full rejuvs and sucked them down faster than I normally drink them. Baal was nothing compared to taking out those three.
 
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