A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell HF!!

[Vantek]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Yesterday I whacked normal Baal and leveled some more at his place because I needed about lvl42 for the merc to equip Insight due to steep strength requirement (heh, didn't happen to have a 4-os gothic plate nor perfect PAmes to fill it with). At some point during the runs I discovered I hadn't touched the charachter stats button for ages! Had in fact *exactly* 100 unused points :laugh: She was so powerful I didn't even notice she was running with something like 40 vita! After that I'm flying through Nightmare in a breeze =) Cleaned Den of Evil, offed Blood Raven and put Countess to sleep, then parked at Outer Cloister at lvl48. I've maxed Chain Lightning, and with 6 pts in Lightning, 5 in Lightning Mastery (and not to forgot the crucial points in Nova and Thunder Storm... X) and +4 skills, it is cutting down everything I see with ease, often insta-killing at /p3. I'm cautious of the immunes in the future though, so I'm maxing Frozen Orb next - it's not like my lightning needs any more power at this point anyway

As for finds... Found a nice rare Circlet with 11% MF and +1 to all Sorceress skills. Else,
Uniques: Griswold's Edge (Broadsword), Hellplague (Long Sword, with +2 Fire would be even kind of good if I was a fireress ^^) and Centurion (Hard Leather Armour)
Sets: Angelic Ring! :laugh: Arcanna's Wand, Cathan's Visage, and Milabrega's Rod
Runes: 1 Amn, Tal, Ral, plus the quest reward (Tal, Ral, Ort) HF was Eth I think ^^

It's so funny to be poor again

I think I'll race to Meph, and then if I see myself gaining enough XP from running him, Andy and maybe Council and/or Countess and/or Duriel, I'll do that for a while in hope of finding something like FCR rings, Tal's mask and such, else I'll race to Baal and prepare for Hell at his cozy cottage!

Today I slept longish, then had pretty much a full workday, then ate&showered and lazed in front of the computer until now. I think I'll off Andy, but I'll go to sleep after that.

 

[xxnothing]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Well, last night I took Sparkles all the way up through the Anya quest in NM. I hadn't seen any CI monsters until I got down in that area, and suddenly almost everything was CI... so, I went for it and dumped a total of 25 points split between lightning and chain lightning, and one point into LM. The lightning skills do not feel anywhere as powerful as fireball/meteor would at this point, but I'm hopeful with better gear and FCR it'll work out in the long run!
I reran Andy and Meph a few times for EXP and drops. I finally got the good ol' Isenharts Case! I would have expected to find about 20 of them by now...hehehe. Plenty of low set and uniques have dropped. I'm rockin' 92% MF.
Best drops so far were Thundergod's Vigor, Magefists and Whitstan's Guard, all from Meph.
NM Hellforge was an Io.
Today I'll plow on through Baal... but I'm going to need some serious gear upgrades for hell. I made Lore in a 2os Death Mask last night... I'd love to find a Lum somewhere and make a Smoke... I'll need those resists! In NM I'm sitting at 35F/50C/75L/75P. That's not gonna fly when I hit hell and the resist penalty kicks in.

 

[xxnothing]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Update: NM Baal was a chump!

http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii104/xxn0thing/SP%20D2/?action=view&current=Screenshot004.jpg

He dropped a few useless rares, a Heartcarver Rondel and a Patriarch great sword. I think I'll run him a couple extra times in hopes of something useful for hell, like a Vipermagi or something. :thumbsup:

Pertinent skills at this point...

14 Chain Lightning
14 Lightning
19 Blizzard
10 Glacial Spike

+1 Skills on Lore helm
Rare orb has +2 CL, +3 teleport, +1 enchant

 

[Vantek]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Okay I have totally fallen in love with this build! Not only do I feel that it's actually more powerful than Meteorb, I really like the style of using Chain Lightning. And my GOD does it crack them up! IMO it is the best starting build for twinked play. Yesterday I didn't get to end Act 1 after all, so today finished it up and walzed through Act 2 in a breeze. Duriel was easy, only had to resurrect my grunt a few times. Levelled up to 54, Frozen Orb is halfway through, and was already a help against the cold-sensitive Andy. My resists are around 30-50 range, except for cold which is maxed due to +40% on Sigon's boots and +30% on a charm. I'm starting to find majorly nice stuff, among others Skin of the Vipermagi (^_^) and a +20 all resist circlet which should help me in hell. Somewhat wasted Charsi's imbue, on a Sharkskin Belt, it has little but 24 FHR, 15% cold resist and 65% extra gold, but it's alright actually at my poverty Also gathered several useless but pretty S/U-s. I hope I find some sorc skill amulet, so I can discard Angelic Set for hell gear. I think I might have to stay in Nightmare until I get that and resist/FCR rings. Already have a decent +1 sorc skill, +20% FCR and +65 mana orb and that all resist circlet. Then again Sigon's gloves, belt and boots don't really catch you as hell gear either, so I might want to wait better alternative to those as well

 

[xxnothing]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Hehehe.... Been running Andy and Meph in NM hoping for a Skin! I did get this little gem off Meph earlier today... (it was an OMG! moment)

http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii104/xxn0thing/SP%20D2/?action=view&current=Screenshot005.jpg

I was expecting Vidala's or Cathan's or something when I ID'd it.

Got my merc upgraded to a Stealskull (FINALY some leech!) and that crazy looking cuirass from the Heaven's Brethern set.

Made myself Rhyme in a grim shield. Other than that, it's status quo on gear, and I'm hoping for some good stuff once I hit hell.

 

[Vantek]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Tal's Ammy?! That's awesome! =D I somewhyhave a feeling it will take a LOOOONG time before I get my hands on one...

Raced through NM Act 3 with no problems whatsoever. I took my time - on /p3 for experience. I like the occasional bloodbath anyway, might as well make it worth something Rolled a perfect Durance lvl2 map, so I suppose I'll be seeing Mephisto a lot ^_^

Didn't run him more than once though - instead raced through Act 4 on p1. And I got a few niceties there. Hellforge gave me a Lem - I'm pretty happy with it, from my rune finds it is second only that Ist I had to pay for redemption. Then somewhere in Chaos Sanctuary someone dropped me my first ever Kelpie Snare - while its damage isn't as high as the Insight's, you gotta love that slow! It DOES work on bosses, right? I think I might just have some fun with it! 8D And then, someone gave me this beauty:

Storm Heart
Sacred Globe
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 8
Durability: 63 of 90
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 42
Orb Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x749ede96
+18 to Energy
+33 to Life
+88 to Mana
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
Lightning Resist +25%
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels
20% Faster Cast Rate

Considering my poverty, it will be perfect for Hell. I would've never thought I could be happy over a failed unique! :laugh: I also found my first two duplicate Uniques - the Flail and the Bone Shield. Luckily no duplicate Sets.

In the Lost City I encountered my first Lightning Immunes, so I used Frozen Orb first time for the first time (though nearly maxed by this point), and WHAM! It was absolutely LETHAL! I had completely forgotten how ridiculously powerful it was! :shocked: I'm not even sure wether the lightning spells seemed weaker only because of an unusual proportion of lightning resists in the end of Act 4, or simply because they *are* weaker at this point. Act 5 will show. Then again, my lightning skills aren't anywhere near fully synergised, whereas there's little I can do to improve my Frozen Orb.

Diablo was a joke. I brought him down to Static Field's minimum without losing a drip of health. He didn't even manage to kill my grunt - even the pink lightning still left him with 20% health, so I could teleport away and feed him reds. I didn't need to run away a second time. At this rate, with all the catered and weak SuperUniques in the formula, I will start running Diablo as well! =D Oh, and he gave me my first Isenheart's Case >< My stash was full at this point, so I ended the session at the beginning of Act 5, at lvl59, with last spent skill point having maxed my Frozen Orb. I think I will do runs of Andy, Duriel, Meph, Diablo, Pindle, Shenk&Elly, and Baal for a while and enter Hell at a nice round level of 70. With minions of Diablo and Baal (D'n'B ?! :laugh in my runs, it shouldn't take long at all. Hopefully I'll find a leeching helm for my merc, and various gear for meself.

I've thought of another question, this time about tournaments. Namely, in single-pass tournaments, you are meant to avoid killing anyone when you have to pass through an area you have previously cleared. But doesn't this get really dangerous in Hell or even Nightmare, considering the difficulties of tourney restrictions and untwinked play? I mean I sometimes get stunlocked to death even while teleporting, with fully twinked gear and the most efficient cookie-cutter build! As far as I can tell, you'd have to advance cautiosuly, killing enemies pretty much one by one. So is this a problem? I've never seen any mentions of it, but I can't possibly imagine how it could be safe!

 

[Grisu]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

I've thought of another question, this time about tournaments. Namely, in single-pass tournaments, you are meant to avoid killing anyone when you have to pass through an area you have previously cleared. But doesn't this get really dangerous in Hell or even Nightmare, considering the difficulties of tourney restrictions and untwinked play? I mean I sometimes get stunlocked to death even while teleporting, with fully twinked gear and the most efficient cookie-cutter build! As far as I can tell, you'd have to advance cautiosuly, killing enemies pretty much one by one. So is this a problem? I've never seen any mentions of it, but I can't possibly imagine how it could be safe!

If you can't avoid passing through areas you already cleared, people usually stay on p1, kill only monsters in their path (as far as possible of course - if you have to take another route because of a deadly boss pack, that's fine , don't pop chests/logs/etc. and don't pick up items. If Tyrael's Might (ok, even something other useful) drops on you way through that area, general consensus is to pick up the item and mule it off ASAP without using it.

btw, nice going, Vantek and xxnothing! I especially want to hear more about the uncommon (compared to Meteorber and Blizzballer) CL/FO combo!

 

[Vantek]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Decided to play a little more while the buckwheat was boiling Raced at p1 though, didn't stop much to kill anything. Ended siege, rescued warriors and saved Anya in under 15 mins Then checked at Pindle at p8 - he was giving decent experience again, but in NM I suspect he's not much easier than Baal's minions, and I'm sure they'll net much better experience. Then also stepped by at Diablo's. It appears he must have been rather confused before This time he had no problem consistently killing my merc in a few seconds, so after I had Staticed him I had to resort to badly aimed Frozen Orbs while running away from his lightning wave. Then buckwheat was done ^^ Haven't tried Kelpie yet though Just read from the other thread that it's an absolutely wicked boss killer. I might make an Insight into this 4-os staff I've found and put it on switch to substitute Meditation for teleing. Not sure if I have a Sol yet though

 

[xxnothing]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Ooo, a Kelpie is nice to have around for some situations. Nice find!

I was rather shocked that I got a Tal's ammy already, considering it took my bnet sorc a month to gather the full Tal's set (all self found).

So, last night Sparkles went on to hell where we encountered lots of Cold Immunes. . The time had come... I dumped a lot of points into lightning and chain lightning. Still, the lightning attacks felt weak, especially at the abysmal FCR level I was at.... luckily I ran across a 4os crystal sword. Say hello to Spirit!

Spirit
Crystal Sword
'TalThulOrtAmn'
One-Hand Damage: 5 to 15
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 25
Sword Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xb3a37ab
+22 to Vitality
+111 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Adds 1-50 lightning damage
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
55% Faster Hit Recovery
34% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+3 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

34 FCR...darn. Oh well...

Getting a FCR boost from Spirit, as well as the skills boost from that and Tal's Ammy really helped my lightning killing power. I did give up a big chunk of resists by switching to the Spirit and Tal's... I'm -9 fire and -49 cold (ouch). Hopefully I'll start finding charms to help with those (what's with finding lightning resist charms constantly? I've got way mroe than I need!)... Eventually a Lum will drop, or I'll cube up, and then I'll whip up a Smoke armor to give the ol' resists a good boost.

Currently I've quested act 1 up through Countess. Tonight I'll head on down to visit Andy!

Edit: Interesting drops lately... Thundergod's Vigor, Spire of Honor... and I'm one Great Helm away from completing Sigon's set, some of the greatest bits of starting gear ever.

@Grisu: I'm a big fan of the Blizzard/Glacial Spike/Meteor/Fireball combo. It's been interesting to go with the lightning tree instead of fire. GS is great for "safety" as it freezes monsters. Blizz is awesome when dropped on large targets and packs. It's taking me a while to get used to L/CL... CL for the spread out packs, and L for single targets or targets in a line (neat how lightning goes right through!). I'm having fun so far... I'm thinking my next sorc will be a Charged Bolt/Frozen Orb build!

 

[Vantek]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

*shocked* I somewhy didn't know you could make a Spirit in a sword not just a shield! Now I want too! Just haven't got a Thul yet. Nor a 4-os sword Lovely roll, BTW :grin:

Did a few various runs. At first, like I promised, Pindle and Shenk&Elly at p8, Baal at p5-p8, Diablo, Meph, Duriel, Andy. It seemed to me like I was gaining XP faster at Pindle than Baal though (baaling felt pretty tough - my merc died lots and lots, and I had to constantly portal back to town for more potions), so I dropped that place. Diablo has mysteriously become far more powerful than he used to be and the sanctuary sucks, so I dumped him too. Duriel is a stingy *****, so ditched him too. Soon, I think the level difference became too big and I didn't get decent experience at Pindle and ShEldritch, so I started running them at p3 instead, along with only Meph and Andy. Reached lvl 68,5. I've begun spamming orbs a lot, but lightning is keeping close in terms of damage.

Good/interesting finds:
*) Gore Rider
*) Trang's Gloves (and preserved head too, at that)
*) My "first ever" skiller Summoning tree with +7% FRW - pretty good I think, if only my PC could take summons ><
*) Shael + Amn It's amusing to be happy over low runes again =)
*) a +1 sorceress skill ammy with +10 dex +15 strength - resists would be better, but at least I have a skill ammy now (Angelic one gives skill only in set)
*) Snowclash belt - +2 Blizzard, +3 Glacial Spike and +15 max cold resist and 15% cold absorb - would be great on a blizzard sorceress
*) Andariel giving me 4 uniques in one drop, 3 of which were ethereal, plus a minion dropping one unique nearby. All junk. ^^
*) a white Shako and a yellow Death Mask *rolleyes*

I think I'll do a couple of Ball runs and enter Hell at lvl 70 as promised.

If you can't avoid passing through areas you already cleared, people usually stay on p1, kill only monsters in their path (as far as possible of course - if you have to take another route because of a deadly boss pack, that's fine ,

So in short, killling at p1 is allowed and it isn't really all that dangerous?

 

[xxnothing]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Hehehe... I'm a Blizzard using sorc, and I have negative cold resists... a snowclash would be primo! I am hoping to find one eventually, they're not nearly as rare as the Tal's ammy I found.

I also found my first shako last night... white of course.

Shael + Amn It's amusing to be happy over low runes again =)

So true!

Tonight I'm going to rerun Andy a few times and then dive on into act 2.

I'm really enjoying having ATMA instead of 3 accounts full of mules. Last night I made seperate stashes for uniques, sets, runewords and everything else. Very, very cool.

Edit: Yeah, if you can meet the STR req's for a monarch (and find one to begin with), a Spirit shield/sword combo is very nice.

 

[slayer37]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

So in short, killling at p1 is allowed and it isn't really all that dangerous?

In single-pass, usually people go through the entire game in /p8. You would want to maximize both xp and drops in that one time pass since there is no going back. Killing as needed only at /p1 usually nets you negligible xp so you gain virtually no advantage from doing it so that is why it is acceptable in single-pass tourneys provided you don't pick up anything.

Regarding your question about safety, you'll realize how strong your character actually is when you've fought /p8 all the way and then switch to /p1 so it is actually easy and safe.

 

[Vantek]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for clearing it up!

Another question immediately to follow: stair traps? They're pretty unfair, aren't they? Would it be okay, for an example, to enter new area always at p1, and then if there's no trap change the player setting to something else?

Played a lot today. I decided to do do a few stashfuls of flat out MF-ing at NM Meph and Andy exclusively, intending to go to Hell (^^) after that. And I found these two funny uniques:

Moser's Blessed Circle
Round Shield
Defense: 171
Chance to Block: 57%
Durability: 50 of 64
Required Strength: 53
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xa03a6b4c
+207% Enhanced Defense
+25% Increased Chance of Blocking
All Resistances +25
30% Faster Block Rate
Socketed (2: 0 used)

Spectral Shard
Blade
One-Hand Damage: 4 to 15
Durability: 16 of 24
Required Dexterity: 51
Required Strength: 35
Required Level: 25
Dagger Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xcabe3e9e
+50 to Mana
+55 to Attack Rating
All Resistances +10
50% Faster Cast Rate

Don't really catch you as high-end gear, but... The massive resist potential on the shield and FCR on the blade made me very confident in my Hell capabilities. I did a Baal run to get to lvl 70, popped two perfect Diamonds (I had exactly two into that shield (for a whopping total of +63 all resists), made an Edge bow, gambled for boots and actually got a decent pair with the resists I was missing, ditched Sigon's and Angelic and replaced them with Trang's gloves and various rares giving me max resists and +110% FCR (the breakpoints are 63%, 105% and 200% IIRC) even if minor MF (something like 70% perhaps :/). I had never had FCR above 63% before, and with this charachter I had deliberately avoided FCR because I wanted to see what the difference is like, so up until this point I probably had only that +30 from the Skin. And let me tell you, the difference felt massive! I was a machinegun!

You'd think that's good enough for Hell, but I raced through Act 1 and Act 2 Hell and I have to say as far as I remember Hell didn't feel quite as difficult with my Meteorb :/ I have no idea what's the difference, because the spells don't really feel any weaker and I don't seem to have THAT much worse gear (in fact, the only things I DID have more were two Tal's masks and a Tal's belt). I didn't have maxed resists and I certainly didn't have +110 FCR. So I suppose I just remember wrong and it was equally difficult back then too, only I was more willing to tolerate slow run times in the name of the chance of very good items dropping. Did a few Hell countess runs to get that Thul, but other than that I didn't see any potential. For a moment there I thought I'm better off farming NM until I get some better gear (those Tal's masks maybe? ), but then still decided I should suck it up and stick to the place where everything can drop.

My countess map was the worst countesss map possible and Andy's map was pretty bad too, so I think I'll still do a bit of NM p3 Andy and Meph and Pindle/S&E farming - as a reroll of Hell maps, if none else. (I included Act 5 so that I don't have to waste the running time from the ship to the plaza in Kurast Docks - I wonder if those guys at Pindle/S&E can drop 4-sox swords... After I think I'll massacre areas with no LI-s (because I'm used to lightning on left button, and I want to keep teleport on the right ) until I get that 4-sox sword for Spirit - if it's a good roll, then by replacing a ring I should be able to keep the 105% FCR.

Another question at that. I've heard mentions of -seed command. You can use it to get certain maps, right? I have got the vibes that it's generally considered cheating and thus a big no-no. Is this so?

I'm really enjoying having ATMA instead of 3 accounts full of mules.

Tell me about it! And I was hating the small stash even before I got the game! :laugh: I couldn't possibly survive without ATMA!

EDIT: Ah, the hell with it, I'm going straight to Hell! :laugh: Also forgot to mention earlier a few nice finds: M'avina's belt, a unique Ballista with very fun stats (80% IAS :O), my "first ever" Venom Ward >< and another Shael plus my "first ever" Sol :grin:

 

[Vantek]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Whoa, I must have been really tired before! You know you're exhausted when you find it too hard to play in Hell with the most overpowered charachter with 105% FCR and maxed resists :/

Anyway Hell is the way to go. Teleporting with that FCR is RIDICULOUS. Finished Act 3, as well as Act 4 up to Hellforge. Clearing Hellforge was ridiculously hard though, especially ludicrous was when I tried to kill a Cold Immune Hephasto - he was too fast even against Kelpie :/ I had lost a lot of gold with resurrecting my merc and refilling my belt, and now my merc died and I didn't have enough money to resurrect him XD I was still silly enough to try to take Hephasto by myself, and died after like 5 minutes of picking XC This left me totally broke! I had to go to Act 1 to kill some weaklings and scavenge enough gold to resurrect my merc. It was hilarious, I actually sold a Flawless Sapphire for that! =D Then I proceeded to gather enoough gold for a few resurrects, and went to avenge Hephasto. Had to reroll the place a few times - Knights are a bit too much XC Eventually got one without them, and Hephasto wasn't cold immune either. It took a lot of time to kill him and clear HF surroundings, but it was safe. Hellforge? Um! =) I'm very happy with that. I teled through Chaos Sanctuary looking for a safe spot where to start cleaning from, but didn't find any and damn, I really don't think I can take it at this point anyway :/ For some reason I do seem to be weaker here than my Meteorb nevertheless.

With Kelpie though, Meph and Andy are probably even easier - I can keep my merc alive. So I proceeded to run Lower Kurast, Meph, Andy and Countess. The maps are all fine to good. Countess was nice enough to give me a Lum. Someone also gave me this pretty belt:
Thundergod's Vigor
War Belt
Defense: 157
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 110
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x27d8e7ab
+20 to Strength
+20 to Vitality
+198% Enhanced Defense
+10% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Adds 1-50 lightning damage
+3 to Lightning Fury (Amazon Only)
+3 to Lightning Strike (Amazon Only)
+20 Lightning Absorb
5% Chance to cast Level 7 Fist of the Heavens when struck

I'm wearing it! Lightning resist is at 79% yet, but I'm hoping to fill it up with charms. I'm happy with my current magic find/rune find/gem find/charm find route, so I'll stick to it for a while, because Chaos Sanctuary will NOT be easy if I decide to have a shot at it. Also I found a gray, 2-socket Shako Looks like I'm inching closer to the gold :laugh:

 

[xxnothing]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Nice! You're progressing faster than I am. Last night I decided to just run Countess and Andy a few times... And I finally got that Lum! Now all I need is a good 2os armor and I'll make Smoke. Also got another Magefist and a pair of Chancies. I have a perfect Andy map... it's like 6 teleport clicks from the WP to lvl 4 of the catacombs :thumbsup:
I know I should plow on through act 2, but I think I'll do a few more runs of Andy/Countess/Pits, looking for a good 2os armor.

Odd tidbit: The armor and weapon racks down next to the countess keep dropping the same items!!! Out of 10 runs, the weapon rack dropped a saber and the armor rack dropped a Kurast shield 6 times. The were slightly varied each time, like once the shield was 3os, and one time it was white, and once it was 1os... but always the same combo of saber/kurast shield. It was freaking me out.

 

[slayer37]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Another question immediately to follow: stair traps? They're pretty unfair, aren't they? Would it be okay, for an example, to enter new area always at p1, and then if there's no trap change the player setting to something else?

In tourneys, it is usually allowed to switch player settings as you see fit. The problem with doing that is that the temples are relatively small. If you go in with /p1, all monsters for that temple would be /p1 only. Scenario: you enter with /p1 just to see if stair trap is present... then you see no traps so you switch back to /p8 but the monsters have already spawned /p1 so you just /p8 lost xp/drops potential for that temple.

Another question at that. I've heard mentions of -seed command. You can use it to get certain maps, right? I have got the vibes that it's generally considered cheating and thus a big no-no. Is this so?

It is a BIG no-no.

EDIT: Ah, the hell with it, I'm going straight to Hell! :laugh: Also forgot to mention earlier a few nice finds: M'avina's belt, a unique Ballista with very fun stats (80% IAS :O), my "first ever" Venom Ward >< and another Shael plus my "first ever" Sol :grin:

Mavina's Tenet, Buriza and a Shael! You are all set to play a zon now! Go for it. :grin:

 

[xxnothing]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Little update...

I just realized I'm wearing almost all the same gear I've had since act 3/4 in normal. Stealth light plate, Lore healm, rare boots/gloves. My only real upgrades wear Rhyme grim shield in NM, Tal's ammy in NM, Spirit sword in hell. Wow.

Act 2 was going fine until the Claw viper temple. Can't keep my merc alive for anything... he's wearing once-upped Rockfleece, Stealskull and Insight Battle Scythe. Poor guy could use an upgrade too!

Notable finds tonight: Credendum belt, Dwarf Star ring.

I'm pretty tired, so I'm leaving it at that for tonight. Tomorrow I'll do some pits/ancient tunnels runs in hopes of getting a good 2os armor for myself, make use of that Lum!

 

[Vantek]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

I've reached flat out running stage ^^ Did quite a few hell Countess, Andy, Meph and LK/Sewers lvl 2. Then finally decided to off Diablo. It was quite a task, I carefully had to clean out all the Chaos Sanctuary but I managed to not die, although had to resurrect the mercenary A LOT. That super fast Lord pack nearly ruined it all, as I don't think I could've retrieved my body once they'd kill me, but I was lucky and got away with <100 health. The first few quests of Act 5 up to Anya were a breeze. I then proceeded to do a few more runs including Pindle and S&E in the schedule. This is pretty much the most of MF-ing I can do with this charachter and gear (I'll look into Ancient Tunnels soon) so I'm afraid Ancients will have to wait for quite a while ^^

I've found a blue Shako - fits the progression perfectly! :grin: Other noteworthy finds:
*) +5/-4 Poison Facet
*) my "first ever" Hel from Countess
*) Immortal King's gloves
*) ethereal 4-socket Wire Fleece (elite Studded Leather)
*) 4-socket Sacred Armour (the "highest" armour I think?)
*) unique Partizan
*) The Minotaur, the unique Ancient Axe
*) Venomgrip, unique Demonhide Gloves
*) the mace from the Heaven's Brethrens' set - not really any good, but funky!

Question: can Kelpie be improved significantly by putting something into it?

Mavina's Tenet, Buriza and a Shael! You are all set to play a zon now! Go for it.

Hehe, I might just make an Amazon, but then it will be a LF-zon wearing that Thundergod's Vigor =P Sorry, I need to try all the cookie-cutter builds (except the Hammerdin - I've already kind of had enough of him without ever seeing him ) before I turn to originality and cool points ^^

 

[Vantek]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Phlew, lots to tell!

I've been having lots of fun with LK chest popping. It all started yesterday evening, when I just thought I'd try some, and shortly after one another, an Io (I was too excited to remember to take a screenie =P) and a Lum popped. This along with all the Grand Charms and gems, as well as lots of junk that sell for maximum amount made me feel that at least with this charachter, LK is by far the most profitable area, so I spent lots of time over there. And this assumption is looking more and more credible. Today, a Ko popped.

However, you can only have so much of the same thing, so I still had the intention to beef my charachter up somehow, and thus kept my eyes open for options on that Spirit: soon enough, one weapon rack started giving me Broad Swords! Two whites and one bad-number gray I think. AFAIK, the socketing recipe would give 1/2 chance of 4 sockets on this type, so once I filled my stash I promptly muled on two Amns, Perfect Amethysts and Rals to punch holes in them. The first got 2 sockets. With trembling fingers, I hit the transmute on the second one. Four! :laugh: It was quickly turned into a Spirit - 33%FCR! =D

When I started calculating my total FCR however, I was in for quite a surprise - I had miscalculated before, and I would in fact have needed a PERFECT Spirit to EXACTLY hit the 105 mark! :shocked: Well, unless I would want to wear this funky unique Bone Shield (Wall of the Eyeless?) and thus give up +63 all resists :/ I certainly did not want to do that! I decided that the +1 skill and +10 dex 15 str on the ammy, or +20 all resist along with the PTopaz could be sacrificed though, so I promptly gambled all my gold (~2,5M) in hope of a 20% or even just 10% FCR ammy or circlet (I cube all magic rings and ammys so I have probably have had several ammys with 10%, but I've never kept any! D Damn Alkor gave me zilch!

Somewhat devastated, I kept running LK with my previous gear with the Spirit sitting in my stash. However I started to find a certain plan more and more to my liking: dual Spirits! :grin: But I had no idea where to get a Monarch, so I just thought I'd keep running LK, only hitting the armour stands (two) near my path as well with not much hope. And can you believe, within the first few hits of one of those stands, I got a plain Monarch!!! =D This was just RIDICULOUSLY lucky! Also I don't think anyone has ever been as happy over a plain, white Monarch :laugh: Seeing as one of the weapon racks gave me Mancatchers at least 50% of the time, and another one gave me various katars nearly ALL the time, I still kept running that stand for better odds, and WHAM! A gray Monarch drops! But oh no, it's got just one socket! D: So I still keep running. This seemed to have been all Monarch luck for today however. I got lots of Druid helms, three Pavises, and then started getting Barbarian helms nearly all the time.

At first I thought I'd use the cube recipe, but now I think I will spend my last socketing quest on this Monarch, even if the recipe gives decent 1-in-2 odds. Simply this course of action has fit my plans so PERFECTLY that I feel I just cannot put it at risk =P On the contrary - it adds further motivation to quest through the game with new charachters, and that is great. A further +4 skills should make things a bit more interesting... ^_^

I have spent all four of my Amns on those Spirits =D

Nice finds from Lower Kurast:
Io, Lum and Ko, as already mentioned
4-socket Colossus Voulge (my moron is yet too weak to use it )
a unique Rune Bow (I think) from a superchest
a unique Hand Axe from a weapon rack, and Cleglaw's Pincers from an armour stand XD
lots of alright resist or life charms, as well as rerollable grand charms (ilvl80 is good enough for me)
lots of gems
a few millions gold worth of items that sell for the maximum amount

I will now try how dual Spirit feels and let you know

 

[xxnothing]

Re: A belated introduction, confession, and OMG I got an IST from my first ever Hell

Very cool! I can't wait to get out of act 2 and on to act 3 for some LK fun.

Best of luck on getting that next Spirit to roll 35! You can also keep an eye out for Crystal swords and the like, and try to reroll your sword. The runes needed are super easy to come by.

I took a night off from D2 to spend time with my GF. Today or tonight I'll dive back in and hopefully have a worthwhile update for you at some point.