1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Well Ringer my nova sorc has gotten to Hell mephy at lvl 60 and did mephy runs on p8 untill level 70. Only thing that dropped was a arm of king leoric. Which makes 2 of those for me. It seems that i never got that to drop before and i also never got a maras to drop. Now i got 2 of each and can not get the dang viper or wizzy to drop for the life of me.

Funny how things work out in the d2 world. I tried running countess a bunch, the 4 "drop anything" monsters in act 5, mephy on nm and hell. Nada...

Soon ill get 1 to drop and i guarantee they will start falling all the time after the first one comes.

Must be confusing running 2 simular characters in different patches. What seems to be your favorite so far?
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Anya rescued: check. Ancients defeated: check. Baal's Minions: ouch, that hurt, but that's a check. Baal: That was easy... (especially in comparison to those stun KB attacks from the lister pack)

So Lister and his pack were a pain in my tail. After two or three res's I made it through and took Baal down with a lot more ease. I gave up on using only hammers and added the bloodrise star that I had found earlier to make this whole process a little easier. I feel like a scam going back on my hammer plan but it made things so much easier. It's still a mace at least... I even made it through the den and took out blood raven before having to call it a day.

No noteworthy drops on the old Baal. Act 1 NM has been a breeze so far and a lot easier in comparison to how act 5 was going on norm. That wasn't really all that hard but the frenzytaurs packed a punch after those witches cursed my defense way down. I decided against exp running in A5 norm for the time being because nm is going so well so far. We'll see if that changes any time soon. Hopefully I can get a couple of good runes/drops from the countess here soon and make some low lvl runewords. I found a couple of good socketed war axes that I'd really like to make something nice in, get some CB and start mowing down the baddies.

@Robby: I know you were able to make the 99 with your frenzy barb and you had a really varied skill spread. What might you suggest for a more focused skill spread? I'm planning on maxing frenzy, BO, and find item (for horking Pindle later on). Once I find two good weapons do you think the mastery is worth maxing or a 10/10 spread if two different types are found? I'm thinking a transition to swords in hopes of ali baba's and cruel swords or w/e uniques. Would shout be a better investment in your opinion? Or some points in iron skin/nat res and bumping zerk(read it's a great killer at ~7-10 points in a .09 mf barb guide)
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Don't have time to play lately with school and work. Love reading this thread though guys!
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

@Enochdarg: There's not a huge difference so far between them except the weapons - nothing really hurts Blitzkrieg but it takes her a while to whittle down bosses like the Smith, whereas ShocknAwe is pretty much a bulldozer with that RC. I have access to all my twinkage for Blitzkrieg whereas I only have access to what I converted for ShocknAwe.

Speaking of twinkage, my 1.10a Andy runner got some Ceremonial Javs with rqlvl 26 with replentish, +2 J/S skills, -20% reqs, etc., so that nice Ceremonial I was going to convert can go with Blitzkrieg now.

Good luck with the Shako/Wizzy/Skin search - once they start, it will probably be a downpour.

@cheerupemokid10: Well, you are the only one putting the hammer limitation on your Barb - I think a general mace limitation is very reasonable and really opens up possibilities.

On you frenzy barb plans, I'd maybe not max hork due to the diminishing returns - I can certainly say a dual mastery barb is viable in 1.09. A point or 2 in Nat Res, Find Item, Iron Skin is fine if you have some +skills (Skullder's, ammy, BC, etc.), and whild Zerk is fine as a 1-point wonder, the returns are so good that it's really hard not to keep putting points in it (I got it to a level that made it viable to use it with my dual weapons instead of a big 2H sword on switch for PI Lister).

@Pegleg: Looking forward to having you back in the mix soon.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

@Robby: Nice find with the jav's. I've been looking for low twinking gear while I quest for both a zon and sorc and have not found anything quite as nice as that. Some arctic/vidala gear has dropped so that's better than nothing for the zon side at least. If the envy gear works that well I'll have to try searching out for some of those before I start any zon.

Sounds like I'll aim for Frenzy, BO, a mid berserk, and a mastery or two once I find something decent to use later on. Haven't invested in the mace yet so the 1 point isn't too much wasted. The crit strike bug makes a big difference so 1 pt is def worth it.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Clearing another cow level and i look on the ground and "da da da da!!!" gold shako sitting there. I pick it up with my beef stained fingers and can still see my hand through the hat....

Yep my 2nd ethereal shako...


So i think my odds are better in finding a zod rune to put in there then finding a real shako...

On my frenzy barb i decided to put the extra points in iron skin instead of the defence war cry. Seems that the defence cry lasted such a short time and always timed out, while the iron skin is always there.

BO lasts far longer so no problem in maxing that one.

I maxed out the Sword mastery after everything else was done and honestly did not notice much of a difference in kill speeds. I would think 10 and 10 in 2 masteries would be quite fine.

I did get enough gems to roll another light skiller so the nova sorc is getting quiped nicely.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I plan to take somewhat of hiatus from 1.07 since I've gotten some of the items from there so now I definitely wanted try out 1.09!

I'm kind of in the dark about it and I know there is probably a lot of info on it but I was curious what would be a good starting out class for 1.09?
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Hey all, couple of questions here.

*Disclaimer- These questions may well have been asked and answered already, but my forum searches did not turn up any useful information, so please be patient with me*

First of all, the Blizzard FTP site that is listed in the Forum FAQ had 3 different 1.09 patches- 1.09, 1.09b, and 1.09d. Which one do you guys run with? What advantages/disadvantages adhere to each?

Second, that same site lists only one download for 1.10, which I assume is the final version- useless for those of us who want serious cheese. The other link for 1.08-1.13 patches is broken. Where can I find the 1.10 patches? Google has not been particularly helpful in this regard.

Thanks,
scottee

Edit: I just now recalled (seconds after I posted, natch) about the Keep- 1.10s and 1.10 beta (which I assume is 1.10a) are both there. Well, that's one question down!
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

1.09b has working Chance to Cast and allows up to players 64. 1.09d has broken CtC and only allows up to players 8. I am unaware of any other differences. I don't know about 1.09 (a?).

I run with 1.09d because I was not aware of this when I started playing, and now I'm fully invested. I imagine most people run with 1.09b, but one nice thing about 09d is that the Occy won't teleport you.

There are links to hosted patches in the stickied FAQ of this forum.

@AzureTorrent: The Sorc is a classic, but a Barb has the benefit of the bugged masteries (as does the Sin) and is a great Mephy runner (JUMP THE MOAT!). A BowaZon is very powerful with a good bow, but kind of tough untwinked (though I can tell you Multi-shot carries things like Envy bow poison with every arrow, and strafe doesn't start you off with a 25% damage penalty). I think you can do fine with anything able to deal with immunities. Even for something not suited to immunities (Shapshifting druid), you can hire a Fire Arrow Rogue merc and set her up with +3 skills for the lightning hose for dual bugged attacks.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

More people joining in the fray, awesome! My barb is now running with strength war axe and the bloodrise for some decent attack speed, ll, and cb. Took out countess a bit to find the runes for that and found a rack that dropped a horned barb helm every time with a throwing spear after that. No awesome rolls from either but the barb helms sell for a decent price every time at least. The wp is far from the tower but the tower map is decent so I'll stick with it.

Just checked out other low level runewords and going to start looking for Amn+Ral+Thul for a king's grace to go in a sword. 100% ed with extra +% ed to both demons and undead and ll to boot. Should work out pretty nicely alongside the crushing blow from that strength.

That leads to a question: Does on-weapon CB carry over to the other weapon? Only char it really affects is the barb and I don't recall the effectiveness of it.

Otherwise, the monsters are hitting harder and my merc is definitely not tanking like he used to. He has incurred several death's so far. Seems like it's time to upgrade his mf gear or just plain decent armor on him. The defiance does help out quite a bit to keep me from getting hit so much. Will run countess a little more and pray for something good to come before moving on to Andy.

@scottee: The other thing to consider is using the trenshadow version switcher (link can be found in the spf guide in time travelling section) and that has all possible patches to convert to without having to make a dedicated install for each one. It makes a patched folder in your D2 folder and you can run the different patches using less space that way too.
 
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Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

This thread is beginning to look like a phenomenom!

AzureTorrent: I was just sharing my ideas about a fast and cheesy way to start up 1.09 on page 24 of this thread. It involves a sorceress with high static field that can static Mephisto over the moat. In 1.09 static is bugged on high player settings, so you can static p8 mephisto down to a sliver. Basically I would advise getting a sorceress with high static field (20 is convenient enough with skills, though I would max it) to Hell Mephisto and leveling on p8 harmless Mephisto - and getting the loot at the same time. It's cheesy as hell, though, but a fast way to start and get wealth, no doubt. There's something about this procedure (and everything else you need to know) in RobbyD's 1.09 guide.

I haven't been able to play so much, but I've made a couple nice finds. After finding my 35@ Skin couple weeks ago, I was sure I would soon find shako and / or Wizardspike. But no, lots of blue and rare shakos and bone knives later, I actually managed to find another Skin of the Vipermagi (this time 25@, though). It made me think how great a find the 35@ Skin really was and how it kind of makes up to the fact that otherwise the drops have been sucky. After finding this sense of gratitude, the game rewarded me with Duriel's Shell. I felt touched and quit for the day - didn't want to ruin the feeling with another rare shako...

EDIT: After replying here I heard Mephisto sing "hit me baby one more time", so I ran him for like 20 times. It was a success: 186% Buriza and a couple of grailers. Also found a rather interesting horking helm, but I'm not so sure if I'd ever want to use it over Arreat's. Still, a cool find, except for the name:

Viper Brow
Fury Visor
Defense: 116
Durability: 32 of 35
(Barbarian Only)
Required Strength: 129
Required Level: 60
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x12f2a18b
+3 to Energy
+31 to Life
Fire Resist +8%
Lightning Resist +28%
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
10% Faster Hit Recovery
+1 to Battle Orders (Barbarian Only)
+3 to Find Item (Barbarian Only)
 
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Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

A couple notes:

On starting character choices, some classes that would be more of a challenge would be the Sin (very buggy) and Necro (curses don't touch immunities, skellies are very weak). I'd put Barb and Sorc at the top, Pally and Zon next, then Druid as starting character choices.

@cheerupemokid10: Dual King's Grace Tusk Swords carried my barb to Hell Act 1 - it's a very nice RW, though Honor beats it. I don't the CB from one weapon applies to both attacks - that would only be from an armor piece with CB like G-Face, Gore Rider, Goblins. As with most of the 1.09 melee RWs, IAS is missing, so make these in something fast like a Zweihander or Rune Sword. An Honor Partizan is an excellent choice for a Merc, but Blackleach Blade and Meat Scraper are also good. Hone Sundan and Kelpie speak for themselves... Hone Sundan (AmnAmnShael) is my favorite 1.09 merc weapon.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Thanks mouseman and RobbyD for the great information. I will definitely look through that 1.09 guide. Sorceress seems like a top choice right now so I will work on creating her soon. I look forward to the 1.09 experience!
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

@RobbyD: That's what I thought was the case for CB but just wanted to be sure. Now it's a question of dual strength for now for the cb, do a strength/king's combo, or dual king's for the higher damage output. Since the critical strike is bugged to always trigger, does that affect the chances for CB triggering? So many questions, so little time. I thought I knew so much about this game playing it so much and for so long but no matter how much I've played and read I still don't know the half of it probably.

New plans are to figure out if I can change the rack drops for a decent sword on my way to countess and start searching for some more runes to use. Might even go back and do some levelling in A5 norm to get my clvl and merc's clvl more on par with the alvl and mlvl's of the NM monsters. The exp has really slowed down in comparison to A5. Took around 20 countess runs and killing the boss packs on the way to get just one level.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Here's my advice - King's Grace Rune Sword and Strength Cutlass - the fast bases make up for the lack of IAS and it's a good combination for straight and indirect damage, plus both have life leach. I don't think CS impacts CB, but you should be hitting fast enough that it triggers plenty.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Well I have not had any good luck with the countess. After around 40-50 total runs I've gotten a Hel (which is pretty good at least) and a tancred war spike thing from a crypt popper. Level 37 is also going by a little too slowly. So it definitely feels like it's time to move on. I never got the Thul I was looking for for the king's grace, but at the same time I haven't found a rune sword or otherwise for 3os exceptional swords to throw it in.

Never got the racks to start dropping anything better either. I was hoping throwing a TP might change the more stable one to something worthy but lochaber axes and flails are not what I'm in search of atm. Time to quest more and see if I can make it to A2 for a switch to a might merc for the extra damage. If that doesn't work out then I'll check for exp in a baal run and shoot for a better countess map.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

So when i am running countess or mephy the racks are just dropping what seems to be random items. Not even in the same armor class. One on the way to countess dropped battle boots, then battle gauntlets, then some random armor.

From what im reading you guys are getting certain racks to drop the same item each run and waiting for it to spawn with sockets or as a rare or unique?

Seems like i am missing something here.

Javazon just got to lvl 94, my highest so far. Also the beef gave up a 29life pally combat GC. Would be worth some loot on bnet with the hammerdin epidemic. In SP though it will probly just sit in atma.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Yes, it is very much my experience that Countess tower racks are pretty stable - by that I mean 6 out of 10 times it will be the favored item type. The ones on the floors are more stable than the ones on level 5, in my experience. My Pally successfully ran a Gilded Shield rack for an HoZ, and my barb mined at least 3 Black Hades' from a Chaos Armor rack that was very stable. It makes a difference which rack of a pair you pop first, BTW.

40-50 Countess runs is just a warm up, but level 37 is a bit low for NM - I'd suggest some Normal WSK/Baal runs to keep your character competitive with monster levels. Then those Countess runs will be a little easier. NM Countess is level 44 iirc.
 
Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Yeah, it is only a warm up but my limited play time has gotten me to push further forward (on p1 mind you). Andy went down easily and I found a pair of sander's gloves as soon as I started questing through the outer cloister. That IAS has helped out in pair with a +40 mana ring taking care of some mana issues. A 100 pd gc dropped and that has even helped some as well.

Act 2 has even been going very well so far. The only real issue has been the lightning from those beetles and such. Got the staff and ammy and am ready to continue through the palace. Sander's has been the only noteworthy drop lately but I'll gladly take them with the +life and ias. Makes a nice difference after BO. My might merc has beefed up both of our damage quite nicely and the hit to the defense hasn't been as bad as expected. I just make sure to rebuff before hitting a pack or after a big pack and I've been pretty fine. That mana ring has made a huge difference in keeping my attacks going without constantly potting.

The tower racks on my lvl 2 were very stable with the horned helm and a throwing spear as long as I ran straight through and hit them in the same order. When I switched order it became a lochaber axe and IIRC sharkskin boots or a demonhide sash. Either of which could maybe drop a nice unique if the alvl matches the ilvl/tc. Throwing the tp up resulted in some other combination, maybe that was the sash, and another weapon I was not hopeful for. The racks on lvl 5 have been very unstable for me as well. So I have been hitting them just for the chance since I seem to have pretty good luck finding sets from poppers thus far.

Went back and ran WSK and Baal a few times for some added experience. Jumped up to lvl 42 real quick. Just can't forget to reset the players to 1 before the lister pack comes in. Using battle cry on the packs is a huge help not only for hitting but for when I get hit too. But getting stun locked by lister's crew kinda makes that impossible.
 
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