[2005] Planners Delight: a hardcore tournament [by Gaz]

[Grisu]

DISCLAIMER: Please do NOT post in this thread yet. We still need to migrate all posts from the old thread on diabloii.net to this thread. If you want to help, feel free to do so

To migrate a post, use the "multi-quote" function in the original thread for all posts of one page, insert the quotes, then copy and paste the text into this thread and insert quotes from original posts (i.e. quoted quotes) manually. Take a look at the latest post in this thread to see how migrated posts should look like. Once all posts from this thread have been migrated, the disclaimer will be removed and the thread open to new posts.

This tournament has already ended. It was originally started by Gaz on Jan 19, 2005. The last post was made Aug 31, 2006.
(link to original thread on diabloii.net)
​

Planners Delight : a hardcore tournament

After reading the comments and thinking about what everything said I came up with a slightly different approach. Still the same basic idea.

1. You must have two characters of the same class. You must use 1 melee and 1 ranged character. Restrictions on the characters as follows. The ranged character has no restrictions. Melee characters can have a maximum of five summons, including mercenary.
2. Characters will be allowed a weapon slot to begin. This will allow a singlehande and shield or double handed weapon or dual wield to be equipped.
3. Upon completion of an act 1 slot will be freed. The slots are as follows, Helmet (1), amulet(2), weapon slot 2(3), armour(4), gloves(5), belt(6), boots(7), ring 1(8), ring 2(9), merc helm(10), merc armour(11), merc weapon(12). For a total of 12 (24 for both characters). Slots must be declared before commencing tournament.
4. The order in which slots are freed will be decided on prior to beginning the characters. But the slot does not need to be freed on the character that completes the act. e.g. Your meteorb sorceress completes act 1 normal, you can allow your enchantress to use armour.
5. Characters must remain within 1 act of each other. eg. Character 1 completes duriel but cannot begin act 3 until character 2 is in act 2.
6. Skill and stat points obtained from levelling cannot be stored. Once they are available they must be allocated.
7. Skill and stat points must be declared in batches of 10 levels. You have to declare allocation prior to starting the levels. I.e before beginning you will need to decide your point allocation for levels 1-10. on reching level 10 you will need to allocate points for levels 11-20. Skill points from quests also need to be allocated.
8. Extra skill and stat points do not need to be allocated when received. This is to allow some leeway in character creation.
9. One point will be given for every quest. The winner will be decided based on total points. Should there be a tie, the winner will be decided based on lowest combined experience of the characters.
10 Muling on is allowed, but only items found by characters in this tournament.
11 Trading and MP is not allowed
12 Any Players setting may be used.
13 Areas may be run as many times as you like.


Signups begin now and close on the 28 February 2005. The tournament will stop once all players are dead or have reached Guardian status. If no update is received for six weeks, it will be assumed that all characters are dead and the tournament will end.

 

[Grisu]

Note: These are posts #2-20 from the original thread.

And to get the ball rolling

Introducing Sparky and Poky. LFZon and Jabazon

Act Rewards, 6 poky, 4 poky, 6 sparky, 4 sparky, 2 poky, 1 sparky, 5 poky, 7 poky, 2 sparky, 8 sparky, 9 sparky, 8 poky, 9 poky, 1 poky, 7 sparky, 5 poky, 3 poky, 3 sparky, 12 poky, 12 sparky, 11 poky, 11 sparky, 10 poky, 10 sparky.

[highlight]Stats
Poky[/highlight] levels 2-5 strength, 6-7 dex, 8-10 vit.
[highlight]Sparky[/highlight] levels 2-3 Strength, 4-7 dex, 8-10 vit

[highlight]Skills
Poky[/highlight] Crit Strike, Jab, Inner sight, Jab, Dodge, Jab, Jab, Jab, Jab, Jab
[highlight]Sparky[/highlight] Crit Strike, Jab, Inner Sight, Crit Strike, Dodge, Poison Javelin, Power Strike X3

I will join, although I will not start immediatly. (I am active in three tournaments right now). I will choose Druid. I will choose my rewards and skill points allocation later.

I plan on this being a longish tournament so there is no rush to start. As long as someone is updating it will continue.

The only reason I am starting this is because I have lost my characters in the other tournaments I was involved in. So I have a bit of time.

Excellent idea! I think I will join. This looks like it´s going to be dangerous early on, going melee almost naked!

I have a couple of questions:

1. So I can save anything I find and want to keep in ATMA, and bring it back later?

2. How much of a "meleer" does the melee character have to be? I mean, many of my characters routinely use both melee and ranged. Can the melee character take on an entire boss pack with a ranged method, if I think it´s too dangerous to take them on in melee? If the meleer uses a melee merc and he kills stuff 30x faster than your character at some stage, is that OK? How much does my meleer have to be in the front line along with him in that case, trying to look like he/she is doing anything useful? Many cool builds are on the border of being underpowered fully clothed, so it might take well into Hell before these builds are starting to become good tanks.

3. In your first planned distribution, you will put all 5 stat points into the same stat at each of the level ups. Do we have to do that?

4. Must the exact order of skills and stats be planned? You have done so, but is it OK to simply say like: "For this character, at level 10, my 9 skill points will be placed in.... and my 45 stat points will go to..." and not specify the order within these levels?

I plan on this being a longish tournament so there is no rush to start. As long as someone is updating it will continue.

The only reason I am starting this is because I have lost my characters in the other tournaments I was involved in. So I have a bit of time.

Your Necro is still alive in my tournament, isn't he?

@jiansonz: Basically If your merc is doing most of the killing that's fine. I just didn't want people to be able to take a Meteorb sorc and a blizzieball sorc as their two characters. I think I am going to ban melee characters from using ranged weapons, except against fire enchanted boss packs. (I hate FE bug)

As far as the stat point distribution is concerned, you don't have to allocate all five to one stat. I just do that so that it's easier for me to allocate the points. I would like to have the skill points distributed in order. I think for the skill points that will be alright, but for the stat points I would like them to be specified for each level.

For Atma you can keep everything you find and bring it back later. I had enough micromanaging my inventory in Classic diablo to last me forever. Now that I have ATMA I am not going back.

Hrus: My necro is still alive and struggling through Act 3. I am kind of annoyed with thim at the moment because I want poison nova, but as soon as your tournie is finished I have a pair of marrowwalks I want to give him, but I thought your tournie was finishing at the end of the month. Which would leave me active in 1 and dying a lot in another.

One more question: Are we allowed to step through the portal to the Pandemonium Fortress while we still have the other character in act 2? I know we can complete act 3 but not play in act 4 until the other character is in act 3. It would be unnecissarily inconvenient and dangerous having to take the Durance 2 waypoint and make our way to the portal just to get to act 4 (I mean, after act 3 is completed). This act transformation is different from all the others, where you can stay in town and simply move on to the next act without problems.

If you don't want a character to be able to shop from Larzuk for items to give to a character just starting act 2, that's fine by me. I can have the character move back and stay in act 3 once I've activated the Pandemonium Fortress WP.

Please?




I am planning my characters now. It´s intriguing and terribly complicated!

What about melee characters in the Chaos Sanctuary, are we still restricted to melee weapons with iron maiden and all. Being HC one mistake would be death, or do we all need to equip daggers with elemental back up.

-roninDOG

OMG, this was planner's delight indeed! You have to keep track of all sorts of things. I had to plan all the way to level 30 by the exact number, in order to be able to show the first ten levels!


I give you the Barbarian Sisters: Treena and Laverne

Treena: ranged Enchantress, with Chain Lightning as backup skill
Laverne: melee Enchantress, with Blizzard as backup skill (I will cast Blizzard right on the battlefield. It will probably be a real mess, I might not see a thing...)

Act rewards: T12, L12, L6, L4, T6, L1, L7, T1, L2, T2, L11, L10, T11, T10, L5, L8, T7, T4, T2, L2, L9, T5, T8, T9

Stats
Treena: levels 2-6 Vitality, 7-10 Dexterity
Laverne: levels 2-4 Vitality, 5-7 Strength, 8-10 Vitality

Skills
Treena: Frozen Armor, Fire Bolt, Ice Bolt, Warmth, Static Field, Ice Blast, Telekinesis, Charged Bolt, Static Field
Laverne: Frozen Armor, Ice Bolt, Fire Bolt, Warmth, Frost Nova, Static Field, Ice Blast, Static Field, Static Field

This sounds like fun. I'll probably do a pair of paladins. I'll do all the planning at a later time, though.

This sounds like fun. I'll probably do a pair of paladins. I'll do all the planning at a later time, though.

I've got a pair of paladins laid out...

____PDhct_Ranger_____PDhct_Zealot
2___5 Dex 1 might_____5 Str 1 might
3___5 Vit 1 prayer_____5 Vit 1 smite
4___5 Dex 1 resist fire__5 Dex 1 sacrifice
5___5 Vit 2 resist fire___5 Vit 2 sacrifice
6___5 Dex 1 holy fire___5 Str 1 holy bolt
7___5 Str 2 holy fire____5 Vit 3 sacrifice
8___5 Vit 3 holy fire____5 Dex 4 sacrifice
9___5 Dex 4 holy fire____5 Str 5 sacrifice
10__5 Vit 5 holy fire_____5 Vit 6 sacrifice

And Slots...
I'm going to keep 1 to 1, for each char when they move on... so in order...
Ranger - 5, 6, 4, 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 12, 11, 10, 3
Zealot - 6, 4, 2, 8, 5, 1, 7, 9, 12, 11, 10, 3

7. Skill and stat points must be declared in batches of 10 levels. You have to declare allocation prior to starting the levels. I.e before beginning you will need to decide your point allocation for levels 1-10. on reching level 10 you will need to allocate points for levels 11-20. Skill points from quests also need to be allocated.
8. Extra skill and stat points do not need to be allocated when received. This is to allow some leeway in character creation.

As I see it, the last sentence in §7 contradicts §8. As I understand it, the quest skill points can be saved for later, but they "also need to be allocated". Huh? Does this mean that you want us to tell where the extra skill points are going? When should we mention that? a) When we receive the extra point or b) When the allocation of that point is going to happen in the next batch of 10 levels.

With both of my characters, I plan to use the Den of Evil point at level 18 and the Radament point at level 30. Is this OK?

alright, a melee enchantress named suicide_blonde and a fire sorc named bbq_lou

suicide_blonde:

skills:
armour, fire bolt, charged bolt, warmth x 2, static, telekenesis, warmth x 3

stats:
vit x 2, str x 3, vit x 5

slots:
armour, belt, shield, merc weapon, amulet, shoes, gloves, hats, ring 1, merc amour, merc helmet, ring 2

bbq_lou:

skills:
armour, warmth, fire bolt x 4, static, fire bolt x 3

stats:
vit x 2, str x 4, vit x 4

slots:
belt, merc weapon, amulet, armour, shield, shoes, merc amour, gloves, hats, ring 1, merc amour, merc helmet, ring 2

The day is MINE, Trebek!

I'll have to come up with something for this tourney...after my English and Calculus is finished.

I'm going to keep 1 to 1, for each char when they move on... so in order...
Ranger - 5, 6, 4, 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 12, 11, 10, 3
Zealot - 6, 4, 2, 8, 5, 1, 7, 9, 12, 11, 10, 3

Do you mean that the character only "opens up" slots to himself? Example: Ranger plays act 1 with only weapon/shield, then he opens up the gloves slot for himself, to use in act 2, then adds a belt in act 3.
And Zealot also plays with only weapon/shield in act 1, then adds belt in act 2 and armor in act 3. Did I get this right?



@shermo:

Three minor nitpicks in your description:

1. You have allocated 10 level up´s worth of stat & skill points, but you will only receive 9 level ups until level 10. Does this mean we got a sneak preview at your plans for level 11?

2. For bbq_lou, you have mentioned the merc armor slot twice...

3. You have not mentioned the relative sequence of slots between the characters (Berserk_SAM didn´t spell it out copmletely either, but he hinted at how he was going to do it). What I want to know is: When you complete the first act (with any of your characters; at this stage, we (the readers) will not know with which one, we can only guess!), will suicide_blonde get her armor or will bbq_lou get her belt?



Sorry to be a nag, but I am just trying to picture what might happen and how the participants have planned.

Do you mean that the character only "opens up" slots to himself? Example: Ranger plays act 1 with only weapon/shield, then he opens up the gloves slot for himself, to use in act 2, then adds a belt in act 3.
And Zealot also plays with only weapon/shield in act 1, then adds belt in act 2 and armor in act 3. Did I get this right?



@shermo:

Three minor nitpicks in your description:

1. You have allocated 10 level up´s worth of stat & skill points, but you will only receive 9 level ups until level 10. Does this mean we got a sneak preview at your plans for level 11?

2. For bbq_lou, you have mentioned the merc armor slot twice...

3. You have not mentioned the relative sequence of slots between the characters (Berserk_SAM didn´t spell it out copmletely either, but he hinted at how he was going to do it). What I want to know is: When you complete the first act (with any of your characters; at this stage, we (the readers) will not know with which one, we can only guess!), will suicide_blonde get her armor or will bbq_lou get her belt?



Sorry to be a nag, but I am just trying to picture what might happen and how the participants have planned.

counter nitpicking, i plan to have completed the den of evil quest by the time i reach lvl 10. Or have i missed something?

oops about the merc armour twice, i copy and pasted from the enchantress and didn't edit it right. This should be correct:

bbq_lou slots:
belt, merc weapon, amulet, armour, shield, shoes, merc amour, gloves, hats, ring 1, merc helmet, ring 2

I didnt realise that I had to specify the order the characters got their slots. I'll do so before the competition starts

Do you mean that the character only "opens up" slots to himself? Example: Ranger plays act 1 with only weapon/shield, then he opens up the gloves slot for himself, to use in act 2, then adds a belt in act 3.
And Zealot also plays with only weapon/shield in act 1, then adds belt in act 2 and armor in act 3. Did I get this right?

Indeed you did. That is exactly what I plan to do. Since I'm a relative newbie to the HC scene, we'll see how far all of my planning becomes relevant...

Assy you like it

jiansonz was right on this one, I have been planning for a few hours already on this and think I have a start... you really have to plan long range for this. With that I present... The Twin Killers Anathema and Overkill, the Assasins of Hope.

Anathema - some sort of melee MA/Shadowsin with some trap back up perhaps DS for corpse clean up
Overkill - Lightning Trapsin

Act Rewards: A12, 012, A4, A6, 04, A1, O8, O6, A11, O11, A7, A5, O1, A2 O5, O7, A8, O2, A10, O10, A3, A9, O9, 03

Stats:
Anathema: level 2-4 Strength, 5-7 Dexterity, 8-10 Vitality
Overkill: level 2-6 Vitality, 7-10 Dexterity

Skills:
Anathema: Tiger Strike, Dragon Talon, Claw Mastery, Psychic Hammer, Tiger Strike, Burst of Speed, Tiger Strike, Burst of Speed, Tiger Strike
Overkill: Fire Blast x 5, Shock Web, Claw Mastery, Psychic Hammer, Burst of Speed

@jiansonz, you have item 2 listed twice.

Great idea, Gaz. I'd love to join in on this, but I'm overloaded in tourneys at the moment, and with my slow gameplay, there's no chance of catching up. I'm interested to see how it goes, though.