[2007] Tournament -The Road Not Taken [by Wolron]

[Grisu]

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This tournament has already ended. It was originally started by @Wolron on Jul 20, 2007. The last post was made Jan 14, 2008.
(link to original thread on diabloii.net) ​

Tournament -The Road Not Taken

The “Road Not Taken” tournament

Those of us who have played Diablo II over and over again have probably trod every inch of the landscape and delved into every corner of every dungeon. But, after a while, most of us have come to know the common ground of success. Some of it has been laid down for us by Blizzard as they constructed the game story line and provided quests to tempt the daring adventurer. Other areas are known for treasure and lure us there in hopes of a miraculous find. But have you traveled the Ancient Tunnels recently? Are you even sure where they are? What about the Swampy Pit? Many areas are ignored because there is no need for the experienced Diablo player to invest time in them. But are we missing something?

It was this sort of thinking that brought to mind the poem of Robert Frost:


The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

In this tournament, you will take the “Road Not Taken”. You will go where the experienced Diablo player does not care to go. Why would you do this? Because only those seldom seen areas are free for you to pillage and loot. Here are the rules.

Here is the road not taken (your road!)


These are the areas that you will probably want to visit. Why? First, because you will receive one score point for each of these areas that you clear. Second, because these are the only areas where you are allowed to pick up items or gold, open chests, kick pots, etc. You are allowed to travel over the rest of the Diablo world, and, you are allowed to kill anything that you like, but you can only pick up things if you are in one of the following areas:

YOUR ROAD TO SUCCESS

ACT 1 - The Rogue Encampment
The Cave Level 1
The Cave Level 2
The Mausoleum
The Crypt
The Underground Passage Level 2
The Hole Level 1
The Hole Level 2
The Pit Level 1
The Pit Level 2
The Tamoe Highlands (Yes, the whole thing!)

ACT 2 - Lut Gholein
The Stoney Tomb Level 1
The Stoney Tomb Level 2
Halls of the Dead Level 3
The Ancient Tunnels
The six false Tombs of Tal Rasha

ACT 3 – Kurast Docks

Arachnid Lair
Great Marsh (yes, the whole thing!)
The Swampy Pit Level 1
The Swampy Pit Level 2
The Swampy Pit Level 3
The Disused Fane
The Forgotten Reliquary
The Forgotten Temple
The Ruined Fane
The Disused Reliquary

ACT 4 – The Pandemonium Fortress

The Entire Act (counts for ten points in scoring!)

ACT 5 – Harrogath

Abaddon
Acheron
Halls of Anguish
Halls of Pain
Halls of Vaught
The Drifter Cavern
The Infernal Pit
The Icy Cellar
The Frozen Tundra (Yes, the whole thing!)
The Secret Cow Level


Skills and Attributes

Blizzard provided three skill trees and ten skills per tree for each character type. However, the best builds typically use a very small number of these skills. To travel “the road not taken”, you must also use the “skills not wielded”. Therefore, each character has four to six skills that he/she is not allowed to use. You may put a point in the skill if it is needed as a prerequisite for another usable skill, but you cannot put a second point in it and you cannot ever use that skill. If you find equipment with mods that support that skill or CTC for that skill, that equipment must never be equipped. An item with skill charges for a banned skill may be equipped, but those charges cannot be used.

Blizzard provided four attributes, STR, DEX, VIT and ERG. Some character types can ignore one or two of these. Other character types should maximize one of these. But, that would not be the way of this tournament. Each character type has a restriction on attribute assignment. {NOTE: the Alkor points are subject to the same rules.}

Here are the Unusable Skills and the Attribute restrictions for each character type:

Amazon: {2 of each 5 points gained must be assigned to ERG}
Lightning Fury and Charged Strike
Pierce and Valkyrie
Freezing Arrow and Strafe

Assassin: {2 of each 5 points gained must be assigned to STR}
Phoenix Strike and Dragon Talon
Shadow Master and Cloak of Shadows
Death Sentry and Lightning Sentry

Barbarian: {2 of each 5 points gained must be assigned to DEX}
Battle Orders
Natural Resistance
Whirlwind and Berserk

Druid: {2 of each 5 points gained must be assigned to DEX}
Tornado
Fury
Summon Grizzly and Oak Sage

Necromancer: {2 of each 5 points gained must be assigned to DEX}
Raise Skeleton and Clay Golem
Corpse Explosion and Bone Spear
Decrepify and Amplify Damage

Paladin: {2 of each 5 points gained must be assigned to ERG}
Salvation and Redeption
Fanatic and Conviction
Holy Shield and Blessed Hammer

Sorceress: {2 of each 5 points gained must be assigned to STR}
Blizzard and Frozen Orb
Static Field and Teleport
Fireball

NOTE: The attribute rules are precise. For instance, for every level and for the Alkor reward, the Amazon must assign 2 points to energy. The other three points can be used in any way she likes.



EQUIPMENT/POTIONS/GOLD/ETC.

Ways to acquire “Stuff”:

(1) Starting Equipment
(2) Items found in The Blood Moor in Normal Difficulty only, and no reruns of this area! (Just to get started; per Nazdakka request)
(3) Buy it at stores
(4) Gamble for it
(5) Find it in one of the areas listed under “YOUR ROAD TO SUCCESS”
(6) Quest items {Yes, you can use Wirt’s Leg if you like!}
(7) The Anya reward (Only if you decide to do the quest and take the penalty!)


MERCENARIES

Any mercenary may be used. The mercenary equipment is subject to the same restrictions as your character. In other words, it must be bought, gambled for, or found in one of the allowed areas.

SCORING

Scoring in this tournament is quite different. Read the directions for scoring carefully. They may dictate your strategy during the tournament.

(1) You receive one point for each of the special areas that you complete. “Complete” means that you have exposed all areas in the map and have killed all monsters in the area. {ten points are available in each act.}

(2) You receive one point for each way point you find and activate.

(3) You must subtract one point for each level.

(4) You must subtract one point for each quest you complete except those that are required to exit each act. You may wish to sacrifice the point to get the reward in some cases! The following quests are required and do not cost you a point.

Act 1 - Sisters to the slaughter
Act 2 – Horadric Staff, Tainted Sun, Arcane Sanctuary, Seven Tombs,
Act 3 – Khalim’s Will, The Blackened Temple, The Guardian
Act 4 - Terror’s End
Act 5 – Rite of Passage, The Eve of Destruction


GENERAL RULES
1. HC only.
2. Version 1.10, 1.11 and 1.11b are permitted. The Rune Word Module may be used. The Red Rune Module may be used.
3. No Multi-Player permitted. No trading permitted.
4. You may play on any players setting you wish, and change that setting as you see fit. Please do NOT engage in cheesy “kill monsters on players 1, open chests on players 8” tactics.
5. You may not use the escape key to bail out of a rough battle. If you cannot run away or portal out, RIP.
6. ATMA is permitted to extend your stash, but no items may be used except items that you find in the designated areas of this tournament, buy at stores or gamble in this tournament.
7. You do not have to solve all quests or activate all WPs. NOTE: Some quests penalize you in the scoring, but you may still do them if that reward is important to you.
8. Rerunning areas is allowed as long as the area is not a required area. In other words, you can rerun any area where you are not allowed to pick anything up. Rerun the countess if you like, but you cannot pick up her runes!!!!
9. You are not allowed to go back to previous acts or previous difficulty levels for any reason. After killing Baal, you may play the Cow Level. (You do not have to do the Cow Level!) The Cow Level is considered part of Act 5 and you may go back to Harrogath after killing the cows to use your socket quest or Anya personalization quest.

REPLAYS

Replays are allowed, but you must select a new character type each time. That means that you are limited to 7 attempts .

POSTS

To enter the tournament, just add your character to the table that is provided. Here is one way to do this:

Begin by replying to the last post with the table in it. Erase everything before the table’s {code}command and everything after the {/code} command. NOTE: I used “{“ and “}” here because the square brackets would have been interpreted as commands. Do not erase anything inside the table!!! Update the table with your new character. Then, although it is not required, give us an idea of the type of skills that you intend to pursue for this character in front of the table. It might look like this:

Death_Goddess will be concentrating on Chain Lightning. She will put points in Charged Bolt, Nova and Lightning as synergies, and she will maximize Lightning Mastery. Warmth will probably get a few points early on. Enchant is also a thought, but she probably won’t live long enough to get to that.

[b][U][I]ALIVE[/I][/U][/b]
Character        Class         Forum Name  Level  Act  Last WP         Score
Death_Goddess    Sorceress     Wolron        1     1   Rogue Camp        1

[B][I][U]DEAD/RETIRED[/U][/I][/B]
Character        Class         Forum Name  Level  Act  Death Site      Score

For providing updates, just do the same sort of thing, but modify your character’s score line and move it up if you passed any of the other characters.