Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

That's the weird part, as they are indeed all in act 2. They all get the quest (it says: 'find tal rasha's tomb' on all of them just before I kill duriel), but once I actually kill duriel all it says is 'this quest cannot be completed in this game' for every rushed character, despite the seven rushed characters being partied to each other and the rusher (so 8 partied characters). I know the rushed characters can be anywhere in act 2 when duriel is killed to still get credit for the quest (they don't have to be in his chamber), so that can't be it.

This is my routine:

  • 7 rushed characters are in act2
  • rusher takes wp to far oasis, teleports to maggot lair lv 3, kills the maggot queen and opens tp
  • hosting char (rushed) enters tp and picks up staff piece, goes back
  • rusher enters tp, takes wp to lost city, teleports to valley of snakes, enters tomb thingy and seeks out level 2, opens tp
  • hosting char (rushed) takes tp, smashes altar and takes amulet piece, goes back
  • rusher enters tp, takes wp to arcane sanctuary, kills summoner, look around for missing symbol and takes red portal to the final area, enters true tomb, opens tp, drops horadric cube
  • hosting char (rushed) enters tp, picks up cube, cubes horadric staff, puts staff in standard thingy >> duriels tomb opens
  • >>At this point, the quest is still active
  • rusher kills duriel, quest 'cannot be completed in this game' for rushed characters

After having killed duriel, the last three quests (arcane sanctuary, summoner, and seven tombs) all give this message. I have a hunch it might be caused by not talking to a certain npc on the hosting char, though I didn't talk to any npc's with the hosting char either during my first rush (which was succesfully concluded).

Kind regards,

St. Anger
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

did the host character (not the rusher, but the rushee) speak to tyreal in the chamber? That should solve it.
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

Thank you very much, Jaedhann, that did the trick! :flowers:

I tried it again, and got the same message ('cannot complete this quest in this game' again. However, this time I did take a rushee through the portal and talk to tyrael, which appears to have solved it since the quest screen went from 'cannot complete this quest in this game' to 'talk to jerhyn') for all characters.

Still, I'm not sure as to why it doesn't work in the first place since I don't recall having talked to tyrael during my first rush, but at least now I can continue my adventures :smiley:.

Kind regards,

St. Anger
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

I'm not sure I have a problem but I wanted to make sure that what I encountered is normal.

I used one of my rushees to mule a Classic 1.09 Raven Claw to 1.11 LoD.. I also thought I'd check to see in which Act in Hell my rushee would end up in. I assumed that having completed 11 Acts in Classic 1.09 (my rushees ended up in Act 4 Hell) I would end up in Act 2 Hell in 1.11 LoD since that's 11 Acts completed in LoD. My rushee ended up in Act 4 Hell however. That would definitely save some time but I'm not sure about this. It feels like I'm skipping 2 entire Acts. Is this normal or should my rushees end up in Act 2 like I originally thought they would?

Thanks,
Zaliqai
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

Ah, I see you posted the same question here as well :tongue:. I've already replied to your pm, but it can't hurt to reteirate it here as well for posterity, I suppose. I'm glad to hear you didn't run into any problems - from your pm I was thinking you didn't wind up in act 4 hell after converting to 1.11, which meant you'd have to either to act 3 hell on all your rushees in 1.09 or act 5 nm in 1.11.

Yes, it's normal to have your rushees in act 4 hell in 1.11. In fact, as far as I know, it's the only option, since if you don't complete act 3 hell in 1.09 your characters don't get the 'champion' title in 1.11, which means you'd have to do act 5 nm (kinda defeating the purpose of rushing in 1.09 classic).

I'm sure the Ragnarod rushing guide details this as well, let me see if I can come up with a quote :wink3:.

Edit:

Ragnarod said:
Remember that you need to be at least in Act 3 Hell for the classic characters you convert to 1.10/1.11 expansion to be awarded the Champion title, or you’ll have to complete Act 5 Nightmare (and thus the ancients, needing a level 40 character, which defeats the purpose of rushing them). This won’t be the case if you rush them in 1.09 expansion, but you’ll need to complete the Baal quest both in Nightmare and Hell, which will slow you down.
Click to expand...

The quote was obtained from Ragnarod's guide to 1.09 hellforge rushing, the first post, under 'time saving tips and advice' (near the end of the post), in the paragraph 'if your sorc isn't strong enough to make the rushes yourself'. Wow, that was a mouthful :tongue:.

Kind regards,

St. Anger
 
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Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

Thanks for the clarification Saint Anger :thumbsup:.

When you failed to reply to my pm promptly (an obvious dereliction of duty :wink3:) and I noticed your last activity on the forums was several days ago I decided to ask my question here. I've spent countless hours rushing and didn't want to continue unless I was sure I hadn't screwed up somewhere.

My assumption was that if you complete 9 acts in classic and you end up in act 5 nm in LoD, then if you do 1 more act in classic you progress 1 act further in LoD as well. Having completed 11 acts in classic I assumed I would have 11 acts completed in LoD as well. Apparently the game only checks how many acts you've completed to see if your character will be allowed to go into Hell or not and if so allows you to continue where you left off in classic (which wasn't detailed in that quote btw). I can live with that :tongue:.

Anyway, thanks for confirming that it wasn't anything on my end.
Zaliqai
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

Yup, I've been quite busy over the last few days/weeks with my master's thesis and social obligations, so I've had very little time for diablo 2, unfortunately :sad2:. I do check the forum every day (albeit often in as little as five minutes), but I don't always bother to log in because I'm not always using my own computer. So, the 'last activity' thing can be misleading :grin:.

I'm not entirely sure how the mechanic works myself, but your assumption seems correct. It's alluded to implicitly in Ragnarod's guide, since it presumes that by, say; only doing 9 areas (act 1 hell in classic) you won't be granted the champion title in 1.11 (as the game thinks you've only completed up to nm act 4) and will, therefore, be forced to do act 5 nm.

It seems hellforge rushing is becoming rather popular of late, I've seen quite alot more people mention doing it the past few weeks then I did before I started rushing myself (though that can be because I wasn't really paying attention to it back then). I'm glad I started to do it, it's a wonderful way of obtaining those mid-high runes (vex, ohm, lo) - and by extention higher runes, if you have the stamina for it.

Kind regards,

St. Anger
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

Hi there, just started out in 1.09d, just wondering how your sorc got through the early lvls, just rescued cain, lvl9, and any mob is a real pain at anything other than players1, and a random LI spearwomanboss and rakinushi (cairn stones) REALLY hurt, as did bishibosh's minion shaman

ATM I am using 1 pt frozen armour, 1 point frost nova, and poking with a big spear, not decided on build yet, what should I be doing?

Also is the version switcher the only way to have different versions on the same system, I'm sure I read somewhere that you can install two versions, and just install LoD on one of them?
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

I'm sure you can use two different installs with different patches and be fine. I opted for the version switcher because it's much more convenient: it takes up much less disk space, and with a single 30gig HD with medieval 2, its expansion and mods installed (~15gig) I need all the space I can get. Furthermore I didn't have my classic cd's nearby at the time so I couldn't install a second version on a whim, and using the version switcher also enables you to play 1.07 and 1.10 should you desire so, and with relative impunity at that.

In 1.09, Frozen Orb, Nova and Firewall are very viable skills. For a HF-rusher, I'd opt frozen orb and either nova (very mana-intensive) or firewall (can be hard to aim at times).

I melee'd up to act three normal using a fast rare weapon (an axe), after that my weapon became too weak and I didn't want to invest more points into str/dex to equip better weapons. What worked for me past that point was to spam nova and tp to town to replenish my mana as soon as my bulb emptied (which was after like three nova's. Thankfully most monsters died in ~two, but it sure was annoying in act 4). Since you can't buy mana potions, the lack of mana is very tedious, but once you've entered nightmare much more mana pots should drop and you should do ok.

Bear in mind that, in order to be able to hf-rush succesfully, you will also require a modified d2gfx.dll file for both 1.09 (to rush the chars) and 1.11 (to collect the forges). This is known to cause problems at times, for example: when I'm rushing characters in 1.09 using multiple windows I can't play 1.11 right after because of an "exceptional handling error" and have to revert to a backup of 1.11b (basically, the entire d2 folder except the saves) to collect the forges. So, should you install multiple versions and use different d2gfx.dll files, be sure to back up your entire d2folder on beforehand. That way, should you encounter a problem, you can just backup both your 1.09 and 1.11 saves (copy & paste to different place, such as your desktop), delete the entire d2 folder and revert to the backup by pasting the new save folders over the old ones.

Kind regards,

St. Anger
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

@St. Anger: thanks, just need to find a nice weapon I guess, could you give me a hint as to what damage your axe did. Looking at trenshadows's switcher, it says it works only for 1.09b, so I'm not sure if it works for 1.09d, although apparently they are very similar, only differences being no p64 in d, and C2C doesn't work, so basically the oculus is safe.

I need to read up on 1.09 classic in general, no merc equipment, no rehiring, no weapon switch, shaman as minions, LE superhurty (thought that was 1.07)
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

1.09 (classic) oddball stuff:
-mercs don't cross over acts, but don't underestimate them at earlier levels! They can be a lifesaver in normal
-can't buy mana potions
-all of de seis minions are now oblivion knights, which are cold immune in hell (!) (in 1.11 only de seis is an ok, his minions are not)
-no weapon switch (lod only), also no unique/set items other than 'normal' (so no class-specific ones either, no oculus for example :undecided:).
-no runes, charms, jewels. In 1.11 LoD I never noticed how much I took those for granted, but 1.09 classic really has been an eye-opener in that aspect (I did baron a char in 1.00 classic d2 years ago, but that was a sturdy barbarian who rarely had mana problems or life-threatening encounters).
-resistance penalties for nightmare and hell are less severe as for LoD

The thing was that I started at the same time as Zaliqai, so I had to play totally untwinked. Iirc the axe I used was worse than a rakescar, damage was somewhere from low 10s to high 20s with a few other mods, and "fast" attack speed. It wasn't that nice or remarkable, though.

Right now I don't have it anymore, but once you're past mid-act three normal it's basically useless as the damage is too low to effectively melee your way through the game (and, since you're mostly untwinked, low dex means you'll miss about half the time).

I haven't encountered any specific problems with LE monsters, though now you mention it I did die to a LE "rakanish" (sp? the blue fallen unique near the cairn stones) once in a bright flash of light. Other than that, however, I haven't run into anything that couldn't be solved with a bang or circumnavigated by running swiftly in the opposite direction.

If you play untwinked, you'll be wearing self-found gear most of the time, and once you're past nm you should do ok (but you won't tear through the game as if you'd equipped tons of good gear, of course).

I finished the game with reasonably crappy gear, the only things worth mentioning are a gravenspine unique wand (+42 mana), a 3os helm with 3 flawless sapphs (+93 mana), a nightsmoke belt (+10 resist, +20 mana), dual manalds (+40 life, 40% mana regen total) and a wall of the eyeless (+5mana after each kill, fcr); all found in normal cows. So, it's perfectly doable, just tedious at the earlier levels because of the lack of mana pots. I blitzed through nm in three hours time, hell took slightly longer, but no longer than a day at most. Since there are only four acts you'll also be a lower level when finishing difficulty levels than in LoD, so it's always a good idea to level up in cows with some mf gear without losing too much killing speed (I bought 25% mf boots and gloves from act 4, found a +29%mf ammy, and finally a 2os skull with 2 flawless topazes (40% mf) stuffed into it. If you want to mf, you'll want to aim for +100 mf as that's the best investment of those "mf points").

As for your endgame gear, you'll be mainly looking for fcr, resist, and preferably max block. If you play classic, the items you'll be looking for the most are frostburns (if you find you have a lack of mana) or magefist (fcr) and spectral shard (fcr, resist, +50 mana). As for armor, I use twitchtroe together with steelclash shield for max block, tearhaunch boots for +resist and frw, and duskdeep/3os helm with sapphs.

As far as skills are concerned, my sorc has the following:

cold tree
5 prereqs
20 frozen orb
1 cold mastery (no more than 1 is needed, imo)

fire tree
1 warmth

lightning tree
1 prereq (telekinesis)
1 static field
15 nova
20 teleport
1 lightning mastery

With this setup, I can rush just fine. FO kills everything non-coldimmune reasonably fast, nova was for questing but might do good with 20 nova and 20 lm in hell cows (for levelling, which I'm not doing anymore). I've come to find that 20 teleport is indeed a must for a rusher, since the mana cost of constantly teleporting around is great indeed.

Firewall should cost much less mana than nova, but I find fw difficult to aim at times whereas nova is very easy. Also, don't underestimate the static field, since in p8 hell (when rushing) it'll be your main "attack" do get boss hp down to manageable levels, where you can tear them apart with frozen orb or nova (duriel, he's cold immune in nightmare and hell).

Hope that helps, have fun questing! Also, I apologise for the long post as it did turn out slightly longer than I had anticipated. I just got carried on, as I remembered more and more stuff that be handy. :smiley:

Kind regards,

St. Anger
 
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Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

Thanks for the info, it seems those items I've traded from Asmo are 1.09d LoD, but they were only for Pgems, no great loss

I am having major issues, installing dual versions, wondering if anyone could help; I did the following:

1. Completely reinstall D2, patch it using BNet, install LoD, BNet patch that, then renamed it to "Diablo II 1.11"
2. Installed D2 again from disc, then patched it using 1.09d patch from blizzard's ftp site- this converted my 1.11 LoD to 1.11 classic
3. Tried installing LoD again to counter it, I now have two versions of 1.07 LoD, and the patch refuses to update them, saying it is for a different version.

What could I do to sort this out; I am thinking of using Trenshadow's version switcher and using 1.09b instead, but any technical advice would be helpful. Could having different WinXP users sort this out for example?

My apologies to all those non-tech people out there who just read this; go to the EMB and have a drink, from wherever you please:lipsrsealed:

EDIT: My plan was 20Frozen orb or Blizzard with 20 Meteor or FB for CI, with a high lvl teleport and a mid range static

Thanks for taking the time to explain in such detail
 
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Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

Hi lionheartthebrave,

I had some problems installing dual versions as well. What I ended up doing was the following:

1. I reinstalled D2, then installed LoD and then BNET patched it.
2. I renamed the D2 folder.
3. I made a new XP user account and installed D2 again (classic only, not LoD) on that user account and then patched that with 1.09b (you should be able to do the same with 1.09d)

I use my regular XP account for everyday things including playing 1.11b LoD and use the other XP account for my Classic 1.09 HF rushing. Installing the different versions this way may also avoid Saint Anger's problem of having to revert to a backup of 1.11b because of the "exceptional handling error" he's experiencing, though I can't be sure of this. What I can say is that I did not encounter this error when using different accounts for the different D2 versions.

@Saint Anger: Good luck with your HF rushing and especially with your master's thesis! :thumbsup:
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

@Zaliqai: thanks, but that doesn't work either, due to the fact that both my users have access to the same files apparently, so the second install of D2 on the second user removes LoD from the first installation.

@all: How do you make files exclusive to one user, I'm sure it's possible but I can't find it
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

No need, I've taken a break from 1.11 to do 1.09d. Just defeated andariel at lvl 9, with 108 health, and her attack does ~30, so ow, death, but only once. Tactics were:
hire merc
run through tp, where andy was waiting
cast static until merc dead
repeat til she's on low life
then lvl 2 firebolt to finish her

I think my level is too low, but I ran through everything from tamoe highlands onwards, as everything, esp elemental attacks hurt (25-30 on a 100 health bar is worrying), should I go back and lvl, or soldier on?
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

Are you sure you're renaming your D2 folder in between installs and then pointing your 1.11 LoD and Classic 1.09 shortcuts to their respective installation folders?

I used Tristram runs to level up until at least lvl 12 to get Nova and I may have kept running for another lvl or 2. Tristram is pretty effective for gaining a couple of levels relatively easy and quickly.

Here's my build:

Lvl 76 (started rushing at lvl 70)

3 Warmth

1 Telekinesis
20 Teleport
5 Static Field
20 Nova
10 LM

5 prereqs
20 Frozen Orb
3 CM

3 Warmth was probably a waste and in retrospect I would have only put in 1 point.

I pumped Static early to help me out while questing and I don't regret doing it though it isn't necesarry. I had decided early on to spend some time leveling up before I would start the actual rushing so I thought I could afford to put some points there. If you want to start rushing asap then 1 should be enough.

I love having 20 in Teleport. Teleporting aound barely puts a dent in my mana bulb.

I'm not sure if there will be much difference between Blizzard and Frozen Orb. I chose Frozen Orb and it works though I doubt you'd go wrong with Blizzard. My last 2 points went into CM because I didn't really know what to do with them. Nova was powerful enough and I thought maybe another couple points in CM would help FO. I probably could have put them anywhere and it wouldn't have made much of a difference at that point.

I didn't like having Nova in Hell at first. It's mana hungry and at p8 doesn't do much damage even with 10 in LM. I had made the mistake of not having enough mana though so I wasn't able to spam it. Once I changed my gear around to get 500 mana I could static things down to a manageable level and then spam Nova for the kill. While rushing however I only use it for NM and Hell Duriel and occasionally to take care of any CI monsters that have spawned in the room where you open up Tal Rasha's Tomb. I also found Nova to be a great Normal Cows killer. Herd them around a bit and then make them go down in a wave from a single Nova.

If you go with a Fire skill it probably doesn't matter much which one you use in the end. While rushing 1 in Static and 20 Blizz or FO will take care of everything except NM and Hell Duriel and in theory you can Static him down to 1 hit point and then smack him on the head for the kill.

Another thing I've noticed is that when NM Lord de Seis spawns with dual immunities it's been CI/FI every time for me. It's only happened 4-5 times iirc in 83 rushes and it may be just a coincidence that he always spawned CI/FI for me but you may want to start looking around for an orb/staff with +skills to a lightning skill.
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

I searched around and I can't seem to find the modified d2gfx.dll for 1.09b (found it for 1.11) Anyone know where I can get it?
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

Hello me again:wave:

Installed Trenshadow's version switcher and am happily playing 1.09b with Pandora (started again, the others got accidently deleted)

Quick question about levels:
I've just killed Duriel, and just hit level 20, should I go do some "Tomb runs" and get a few levels or run straight into act 3 and the jungle? ATM I have a lvl9 Nova and a lvl4 static, with the rest in the essentials and blizzard prereqs.

Thanks in advance
 
Re: Classic 1.09 HF rushing questions

Hi lhtb,

All I remember is that I did some Tristram runs in Normal and then used Cows to gain levels. I didn't run any other areas for leveling, just played through the game wanting to get to NM Meph as quickly as possible so I could run him for items.

The biggest problem for me was the lack of blue pots and that's a problem you'll have as well no matter what your level is. So I suggest you just go to Act 3, you can always go back for more levels if you feel you need them. I'm not all that good a DII player so if I can make it I'm pretty sure you can too. :smiley:

Good luck! :thumbsup:
 
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