[2012] Whacky Wand Tournament [by Merlin The Wizzard]

Jan 3, 2007
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DISCLAIMER: Migration finished :)


This tournament has already ended. It was originally started by Merlin The Wizzard on Jan 24, 2012. The last post was made Jul 31, 2012.
(link to original thread on diabloii.net)

Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

"Come hither and see! Come hither and see!"

The new merchant in Cammes city soon had every man, and most of the women too, turning their heads.
There were plenty of merchants in the city of course, so that in itself wasn't that special. And even though this particular merchant had an impressive set of lungs, once again, that was nothing new to the inhabitants of Cammes, whose most famous citizen, Screeching Annie, herself a merchant, was reputedly able to wake captain of the Guard Morwalk, who had a nice mansion at the north wall of the city, all the way from the southern gate.

A fact that Morwalk did not appreciate, by the way.

No, the thing that made this particular merchant unique, was the accompanying fireworks. And the fact that fireworks drew the undivided attention of the city dwellers, probably had more to do with the fact that most of the houses held thatched roofs, rather than that said fireworks were so pretty. It was therefore more in the nature of a warning, that Lucia, daughter of the blacksmith, expertly tossed a hammer out of her window that smashed into the merchants fireworks tubes, knocking them over. A less subtle warning was the equally expertly thrown bucket of stale water, that was equally accurate, and managed to drench both the merchant, and his fireworks, completely.

"Well, now, really!" The merchant muttered to himself, as the villagers began to laugh. He quickly grabbed into his merchandise, and came up with a little stick of wood. With one flick of his hand, the water shed from his clothes.

"That's better," he commented benignly, acutely aware that this little feat had drawn the complete attention of the crowd. It was a crowd of about fifteen people for now, the rest had not bothered to stay. But it was a start. The merchant knew well that the news of his arrival would flash like wildfire throughout the city, and that he would soon draw most of the citizens towards his chosen residence. Including the rich patricians, the only ones capable of buying his merchandise in the first place. But first things first. A bit of magic was all good and well, but he would need more to keep their attention and excite them. So, he started his performance, by now well tuned after many rehearsals in six other cities.

He tossed the little stick back into his collection, and he drew out the first wand he wanted to show them. It wasn't really much to look at, really. Just a plain, unadorned yew wand, in fact. But it was his favourite, as evidenced by the well worn leather strips that had been glued to the hold. It was worn down in the precise pattern of his grip, after years and years of use.

"So I got your attention now, did I? Hah, I knew you couldn't resist my wares... For I sell the finest wands in the land! And that's nothing to shake your stick at!" He wagged the wand a bit, drawing their attention to the object that was the centre of his rather lame joke. It worked as always though. City folks may think they were quite refined, but in the end, their so called sophistication was just a thin veneer coated over what was essentially a peasant in disguise. Well, all the better. The merchant had yet to meet the yokel who wasn't drawn in by his first story.

"Yes, yes. I bring you wands. All sorts, all kinds. Big ones, little ones. Some that are just for show, and some that are quite useful, like this little wand that repulses the water. No more wet clothes, after dredging about in the rain! But I know you lot. It is not the plain wand you wish to hear about, is it? You are not interested in the wands that help with your everyday chores. You are all the same... You just want a weapon to slay the evil with, the evil that nowadays lurks outside the city walls every night. And you think that a wand couldn't help, do you? You think that a sword would be much more useful... But I will tell you, you are wrong! Wands are easy to carry, light, and easy to handle. And they can do huge amounts of damage, if you so desire..." He walked to the nearest house, and lightly tapped the wand against the surface. Soon, poisonous fumes starting to waft out mortar and bricks, and a minute later, the entire wall collapsed. It was a tad dramatic, but it always got his message across. Today was no exception.

"Ah, it was but ten years ago, when the world was truly groaning under the despair of horrendous evil, that I, in my previous life as a druid, decided to step forth and do battle. And it was this wand here, that finally helped me defeat the mightiest demons out there, demons whose very name would make you shudder to the very depths of your soul! Listen closely, and I will regale you of a journey that took me, and my wand, from the rainy grasslands, through the scorching deserts and the fetid jungle, yeah, even into the pits of hell themselves! And how I finally braved the cold, cold mountainpeaks of Harrogath to bring the peace back to this world. And I did so, by using... wands." And so the former Druid Ulfgar launched once more into his well rehearsed tale. It would undoubtedly be a succes here as well, giving him a roof over his head and a full purse at his side in the weeks to come...


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The tournament revolves around using wands for melee. That's basically the whole gist of it. Meleeing with wands.
If you are interested in dealing the big damage with the little stick, feel free to read on. If you prefer more massive melee weapons, this tourney probably isn't for you.

--------------------------------------------------

What version to play?
- I prefer to stick to the latest patches, which, if I am not mistaken, is either 1.13c or 1.13d.
- RRM/RWM allowed.
- Single Pass,
- Hardcore preferably, but Softcore will do as well, first death disqualifies.
- Respeccing allowed, if you feel inclined to.
- No twinking allowed
- ATMA/GoMule is allowed as an extended stash.

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Tournament Rules

- Act III Mercenary only. You are allowed to use a Rogue up to Act III, but then you have to change to an Iron Wolf. Changing between Iron Wolves is allowed, if so desired.
- No summoning skills allowed.
- In fact, the only skills allowed to be used are those that deal weapon based melee damage. If they trigger an elemental attack upon connecting, that is fine. It had to do with actually hitting your foes with the wand. The list of restricted skills will be posted a bit further down.

Weapon restrictions

Wands. Orbs are also allowed. It is allowed to use a different weapon in the second weapon slot, for prebuff only. Naturally, the prebuffed skill needs to be an allowed one :)

Wands and orbs can have +skills. If these skills are on the Forbidden list (likely), those skills can't be used by the necromancer and sorceress, respectively.

The mercenary is allowed any weapon.


Armor restrictions

Not really.

For Both Weapons & Armor

Charged Items: You are allowed to use any charged item skill that is allowed in the skill list.
If the skill in question is listed as an utility skill, you may only use it if the lvl of the charged skill
is 1. See below for explanation of utility skills.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Skills

The list below determines what skills can and cant be used. A utility skill is a skill
that can be used, but can never have more than 1 point in it.
Forbidden skills can still be pumped for synergies.
If you decide to pump a utility skill, in order to use it as a synergy, you forego using it.
Should some skill synergize with a utility skill, you can't pump it for more then 1 point.

The List

Amazon : Passive and Magic Skills : No Valkyrie. All other skills are allowed, including the bow/spear trees, but they will be completely useless..

Assassin : Traps tree : Only Blade Fury.
Shadow Disciplines: No shadow master or warrior. Mindblast or Psychic Hammer only as utility skill.
Martial Arts: No kicks. Phoenix Strike is allowed.

Necromancer : Summon Tree : No skills from here are allowed
Poison and Bone : Only Bone Armor, Bone Wall, Bone Prison are allowed.
Curses : No Iron Maiden. Attract and Confuse can only be used as utility skills.

Barbarian : Warcries : Warcry only as a utility skill. All other skills allowed.
Combat Masteries : None of the weapon masteries, apart from Mace Mastery. It's about Wands, boys and girls. Not other weapons :)
Combat Skills: All are allowed (Double throw won't be much help though)

Paladin : Defensive Auras : All skills allowed
Offensive auras : No Thorns or Sanctuary. Elemental aura's are allowed, provided they aren't only used to deal ranged aura pulse damage. Stick to the spirit, melee with the wand :)
Combat Skills : No Holy Bolt, Blessed Hammer, Fist of Heavens. Smite only as an utility skill

Sorceress : Fire tree : Warmth, Enchant, Fire Mastery allowed.
Cold tree : Frozen, Shiver and Chilling Armor, Cold Mastery allowed
Lightning Tree : Teleport, Telekinesis, Energy Shield, Lightning Mastery allowed.

Druid : Elemental Skills : Cyclone Armor only.
Summoning Tree : Oak Sage, Heart of Wolverine, Carrion Vine, Solar Creeper all allowed.
Shapeshifting Tree : Shockwave only as an utility skill. All other skills allowed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quests/Scoring etc.

I haven't really thought about scoring. But I suppose a standard scoring system will do.
+ 1 per waypoint.
+ 2 per quest (if a quest gives a reward, you need not collect it in order for the quest to count(example: Charsi's Imbue))
An additional +1 for each personalized wand you have :)
+ 2 for Cow level.
+ 10 for completing Normal
+ 25 for completing Nightmare
+ 50 for completing Hell.
-1 per level.

Feel free to collect quest rewards whenever you feel like it.
 
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Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

And a table I suppose. And then, it's off to bed for me :)

The merrily whacking ones
Code:
Forum Name     Character      Class       Act            Level       Points      
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The dewanded ones(ie, Dead!)
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Forum Name     Character      Class       Act            Level       Points      
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Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

Interesting....

Question: With Druids, are you saying Shockwave is the only skilled allowed to be used in the Shapeshifting tree? Or that of all the shapeshifting skills, shockwave can only be used as a utility skill? Bit confused.

If anyone gets a Guardian in this tourney, i will bow down to them. Infact, if anyone who gets a Guardian as a Necro or Zon, will be crowned king of the SPF in my books.
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

Morathi said:
Interesting....

Question: With Druids, are you saying Shockwave is the only skilled allowed to be used? Or that Shockwave is the only skill in that skill tree that can only be a utility skill? Bit confused.

If anyone gets a Guardian in this tourney, i will bow down to them. Infact, if anyone who gets a Guardian as a Necro or Zon, will be crowned king of the SPF in my books.

Now you have severely tempted me to make a necro!

I will be entering but am having a lot of difficulty deciding on a build. Did someone confirm that mace mastery does work with wands?

The problem in deciding is that......They all look like crap on paper!
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

Very interesting tourney. I give Sorceress, Assassin, Druid and Paladin a decent chance of reaching Guardianhood. Maybe Barbarian too, but it will be very slow and tough for them. Amazon and Necromancer - ouch...


Edit: WHAT? No Conversion for the Pally!? Then it´s much harder for him. He will be able to deal damage, but not tank (seriously, Smite not even as utility skill?).

Edit 2: Ah, forbidden skills can be pumped for synergies. That´s good news for Druids.
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

@Morathi - Thanks for pointing that out... I edited it.

@Kestegs - Being delibitatingly crap is half of the tournament fun, m8 :)

@Jiansonz - Hmm. Paladin is the class I know least about, probably. I always though that Smite worked
with the abilities on a shield, and not on the wand. As such, I don't see any reason to admit it as an utility skill.
However, Conversion deserves reconsideration. It is a weapon based skill, after all, and I allowed Phoenix Strike as well... I'll remove Conversion from the list of forbidden skills.
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

i´ll probably enter this one, sounds weird enough to be fun
i guess the answer is pretty obvious, but is this untwinked? the rules don´t say that in particular

build needs some thinking, but i have to work a lot and that gives enough time
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

Krupa said:
I'll probably enter this one, sounds weird enough to be fun
i guess the answer is pretty obvious, but is this untwinked? the rules don´t say that in particular

build needs some thinking, but i have to work a lot and that gives enough time

Id say with 100% confidence its untwinked as most tourney's are these days, and knowing Merlin's tourney history, this will be untwinked also.

@jiansonz. I agree with you 100%. Conversion still requires physical damage to be dealt, so its still in the spirit of the tournament. In regards to Smite, i say it should allowed as a utility skill, so i agree with you also.

PS. I am still contemplating joining this tourney. As i have completed my 1 year work placement, i have A LOT of time now before i head back to uni to study. Not to mention A LOT of time to kill before D3...... :p.
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

This is no twinking right? No using the 200 dmg orb I just found?

I think paladin would be easiest. Just dual tree holy shock/holy freeze with zeal.
Druids would be next I suppose ( rabies/fireclaw )
Sorcs can get amazing stuff on their orbs, but that depends on twinking.

I don't have much hope for the other classes. Assassin can use phoenix strike so thats probably the way to go. I can't think of any ability for the other three classes at all.
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

@Krupa, zaphodbrx: Yep, untwinked only. I will edit it in the post, thanks for pointing it out.

@morathi - Feel free to make a case for Smite, I'm more then willing to cater to a convincing argument. I have previously acknowledged my shameful lack of experience with the Paladin.

@Drewgie - Whack away unthinkingly, if so desired... It's all in the spirit of good natured fun, right?

@OldSoldier - So you are still around as well? Nice to see you again! How is married life these days?
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

I'm entering this tournament yeaah! Phoenix striker assassin.

Smite damage depends on more than just a shield. Typicaly grief smiters dmg is 70% grief 20% fortitude 10% shield.
Smite can be used as a utility skill to bash a target back. I don't see a reason to disallow it really. As a utility skill that is, like Assassin mindblast, not for damaging.
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

The merrily whacking ones

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Forum Name     Character      Class       Act            Level       Points      
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Drewgie        LittleStick    Sorc        I               5
The dewanded ones(ie, Dead!)
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Forum Name     Character      Class       Act            Level       Points      
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Mama and baby are sleeping, so I snuck in a clearing of the blood moor with this gal.

She ditched her staff in the rogue encampment and went about punching zombies, fallen, and quill rats. Fun.

She found her first orb, a 2os with a useless mod that I've forgotten already. Plinked a chipped emerald in just to move things right along.

I look forward to her as she is my first ever enchantress, but relying on the merc and a pimpin wand/orb for fire immunes is going to be tedious!

The big question is what to do with my skill points beyond warmth, enchant, and fire mastery. Eshield or one of the cold armors probably, and I'm leaning towards one of the cold armors. Thoughts?
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

I would allow Smite since you also allow Shockwave and Mind Blast, which are essentially weapon-independent spells.

Just one question, are we allowed to use '+X to All Skills' or '+X to Utility Skill Y' items, since that would raise the effective slvl to > 1? Or do you mean not more than 1 hard point in utility skills?

I will enter with a Sorceress or Wolf Druid (never played this one before). Does anyone know if the Strength runeword can be made in an Orb/Wand?
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

Merlin The Wizzard said:
@morathi - Feel free to make a case for Smite, I'm more then willing to cater to a convincing argument. I have previously acknowledged my shameful lack of experience with the Paladin.

@OldSoldier - So you are still around as well? Nice to see you again! How is married life these days?

As far as Smite, perhaps it should only be allowed if Holy Shield or Smite are at 1 pt? It starts to deal larger non-weapon damage with points there. I feel it defeats the purpose of anything but crowd control with a bevy of points. I must admit that if Smite is allowed I will probably use it if I decide to build a paladin.

As far as being around, not so much because I have a 20-month old, a 7-month old and run a business that takes a lot of time. But I can usually scrape up some time in the evenings; probably enough to get to the next WP anyway. Married life is great, I think the key is to find a good match and my wife is the bomb!
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

Drewgie said:
The big question is what to do with my skill points beyond warmth, enchant, and fire mastery. Eshield or one of the cold armors probably, and I'm leaning towards one of the cold armors. Thoughts?

Since you are allowed to use respec, I would consider the other masteries depending on the mods of the weapons you find. With a bit of luck, you can get like 1-500 lightning damage on an orb, which would go well with Lightning Mastery :)
 
Re: Tournament: Whacky Wand Tournament

felixbavaria said:
Since you are allowed to use respec, I would consider the other masteries depending on the mods of the weapons you find. With a bit of luck, you can get like 1-500 lightning damage on an orb, which would go well with Lightning Mastery :)

I hadn't thought of this. Hmmm. Although a hefty eshield (which fits so nicely with warmth anyway) or shiver armor would provide atleast a measure of safety. The lightning/cold mastery option would make me more of a glass cannon than I already will be. Are you sure the mastery damage is applied to weapon mods? I thought only spells.
 
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