Fall 2019 Mini-RFL Sign-up and Running Thread [by art_vandelay]

[Pb_pal]

This tournament has already ended. It was originally posted by @art_vandelay on Sept 18, 2019.
(link to original thread on diabloii.net)​

Welcome to the first Mini-RFL!

This thread is for signing up and discussion related to the Mini-RFL.


What is Mini-RFL?

RFL is short for 'Rune Finding League' and is a tournament that is hosted every year in the SPF spanning three months and sporting three categories, one for each month. In each category the participants run a certain target for runes and are then scored on the rarity of the runes they found.

This Mini-RFL will span three weeks and offers a different selection of targets than the regular RFL. The categories are:

Category 1: Arcane Sanctuary and Chaos Sanctuary
Category 2: Travincal
Category 3: 99er Targets: Two or more Sealbosses, Diablo, Nihlathak, specific Wavebosses and Baal

In all categories players hunt runes but in the second there will be a twist this time: unique and set jewelry pieces are scored as well to reflect the fact that people run the council not just for runes but also for other goodies.


When is Mini-RFL?

The event starts on 26.09.2019 at 23:59 and concludes on 17.10.2019 at 23:59. All times are local, i.e. you do not have to do any timezone math

You are free to sign up until the end of the tournament.


What are the rules?

These are the rules that apply to every category, the specific rules for the categories are listed below.

1. You can enter in as many categories as you wish.
2. In each category you can do as many 'batches' of runs as you want. A batch consists of 20 hours or less of running the target for that category.
3. You may not start a new batch within a category until you have played 20 hours in your current batch for that category. You do NOT have to finish a batch in order to compete. (e.g. if you only run for 17 hours total in a category you can report your score anyway) The time spent on a batch is irrelevant for scoring purposes, i.e. if you do a 20 hour batch followed by a 12 hour batch and the second batch has a higher score then that will be your best batch.
4. Only time spent running the target of a category counts towards a batch in said category. In particular you can use as much time as you wish to mule items, whether it be in-game or via GoMule/ATMA. Generally people regard the time between you clicking 'save & exit' at the end of a run and the start of a new run as part of 'running time'. Of course if you take a break from running you can stop the timer.
5. Every batch is scored individually and the score of your best batch within a category will be your score for that category. Scoring is found below.
6. Qualifiers for each category are all runes Pul and above. Additionally in the Travincal category all set/unique rings, amulets, charms and jewels are qualifiers.
7. Do not post on the SPF about items found in a category for which they are qualifiers. There will be a results thread following this event in which you are free to disclose everything (and brag about it ). Everything that's not considered a qualifier is fair game and can be posted anywhere on the SPF.
8. Versions allowed are 1.13b to 1.14d. All FAM practices are allowed.

Category specific rules:

• Category 1: Only runes found NORTH* of the 'River of Flame' Waypoint count towards your score. Any rune found in the Arcane Sanctuary counts towards your score.
• Category 2: Only runes and set/unique pieces of jewelry (=rings, amulets, charms and jewels) dropped by any of the eleven council members in the 'Travincal' level count towards your scores. (this excludes the council members in the 'Durance of Hate lvl 3' as well as the third wave in Baal's Throneroom)
• Category 3: Runes found in the Halls of Pain/Vaught, NORTH of the RoF Waypoint, the WSK lvl 2-3, the Throneroom and the Worldstone Chamber count towards your score. HOWEVER your intent must be to kill at least two of the Seal bosses OR Diablo OR Nihlathak OR Ventar OR Lister OR Baal. If you have to abort that because of an immunity or other reasons it will still count as long as you intented to kill one of those targets (or two in the case of sealbosses). The idea behind this rule is to allow only runs that people do in order to gain experience quickly. If you want to run Storm Casters for runes you should enter Category 1 instead.

Some of these rules are not air-tight and in particular rule number four is ripe for abuse. If you are unsure about the interpretation of a rule your best course of action is to ask about it in this thread.


* the game considers the upper-right corner of the screen to be north.


Scoring

The scoring is based on the rarity of the runes and jewelry. In the case of jewelry I assumed a magic find of 250 to calculate the rarity. (The lower the MF assumed the higher the score of the jewelry pieces. For example at 168 MF a Mahim-Oak Curio gives 7 points, nearly as much as a Gul Rune; that just feels wrong )

To calculate the score for each batch you need to add up the scores of the five top items you found in that batch. Only your best batch counts for the final results.

To facilitate this process I shamelessly copied the MFO score spreadsheet by Nulio/Luhkoh and adapted it for this tournament:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qjK09EchlfsbSaswmjFOsBxaPzsOTxiqEVYknUhXaYw/edit?usp=sharing

The second page of this sheets contains the scores for each individual item but I will post them here for everyone who's not into spreadsheets:

Spoiler: Runes

View attachment 15231

and for the Travincal Category:

Spoiler: Jewelry alphabetical

View attachment 15229

Spoiler: Jewelry by score

View attachment 15230

Sending Results

As soon as you finish running, report the top five items from your best 20 hour batch to me via PM. Please also inform me if you signed up but didn't run. All this is to ensure that I can post the results thread as soon as possible.

The PM needs no special formatting and you don't need to report the scores or calculate a total. I will do myself that once I have received all results. So your PM might look something like this if you ran Travincal:

Metalgrid
Cham
Ist
Nagelring
Pul

Once I have the results from all the runners I will post a results thread where you can show off your finds. Screenshots of your top 5 are not mandatory but appreciated. In the case of jewelry a screenshot of an unidentified set/unique on the ground proves nothing anyway


Prizes and Claiming of Items

There will be none. You get to keep everything you find!


Participants

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AS+CS
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Travincal
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art_vandelay

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99er Targets
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Please post if you have comments or suggestions.

You are welcome to discuss anything tournament related in this thread, be it non-qualifier finds, running strategies or character builds!

Good luck and have fun!

 

[art_vandelay]

Sign-Up

You may sign up for multiple categories.

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AS+CS
-------------------


-------------------
Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay

-------------------
99er Targets
-------------------

I’m not sure about the jewellery inclusion as it seems to prioritise MF over rune finding. That’s just my feeling, I haven’t made a spreadsheet

But I may just run Trav anyway and not be competitive.

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AS+CS
-------------------


-------------------
Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay

-------------------
99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh


Hey! Nice stuff. I'll use this as motivation to get in more chaos runs with my 99er (what I'm doing now anyways). Can't promise I'll get all 20 hours, but should at least get close. Plus rune drops have been garbage for me lately, so maybe joining the tourney will help somehow .

Oh yes there will be a choice to make... will i run a 99er? I may well do so... i have to get a last Ber/couple of Sur for my Trapsin Infinity, i restarted LK running lately, if it's not successful she will probably give a shot during this tournament

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AS+CS
-------------------


-------------------
Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay

-------------------
99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Babyhell

Going to throw my name into the fray though I don't know that I will put in much time. My playtime has fallen off a cliff as I try to get several things finished up before winter hits. Just going to hit AS with my Nova Sorc most likely

-------------------
AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones

-------------------
Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay

-------------------
99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Babyhell

I already found a Jah and Ber with my javazon during the MFO, so chances are I will not be so lucky this time around!

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AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones

-------------------
Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay

-------------------
99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor

Go go @CaseyJones !

I'll sit this one out. Got into a side project which is eating up nearly all of my free time.

Good luck to everyone!

I think I'll take Kataegis over to the AS

-------------------
AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones
Kitteh

-------------------
Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay

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99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor

Yet another forum event to participate w/ the 99er bowa.

I do have a question though. For MFO and such, when participating in lvl85areas, the drops from Seal bosses and Diablo do not count. Will it be the same for this as well?

Either way, one full 20hr batch should be a realistic goal for this 3week period.

-------------------
AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones
Kitteh

-------------------
Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay

-------------------
99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor
Gynli

Well, I'm already glad I made that 99er category

Nice to see so many people participating!

I’m not sure about the jewellery inclusion as it seems to prioritise MF over rune finding. That’s just my feeling, I haven’t made a spreadsheet

But I may just run Trav anyway and not be competitive.

If you have more MF than I assumed for the scoring you will get more points than you 'deserve' whereas you will get too few points per qualifier if your MF is lower than the one I assumed. So from that perspective it would be the fairest to set MF to a value that nobody can reach while staying competitive (e.g. 1000 MF). At the same time the rune scores are constant no matter what MF I use, so I wanted to make jewelry valuable compared to runes by not assuming MF that is too high.

I will look at the amount of MF people run this category with and how many pieces of jewelry they actually find. Depending on the results I might change the scores for future tournaments to tone down the importance of jewelry. At this point it's mostly an experiment and nothing is set in stone

I do have a question though. For MFO and such, when participating in lvl85areas, the drops from Seal bosses and Diablo do not count. Will it be the same for this as well?

Every rune north of the RoF waypoint counts.

The last category is intented to be for everyone who runs at least two sealbosses, a waveboss or one of the big bosses for experience (so most people in the UT99er thread)

I know some people run p8 lvl85 areas (with squishy monsters) for experience but their droprates for runes are closer to the droprates in category 1 so I felt it wouldn't be fair to lump those in with the 99er targets.

Either way, one full 20hr batch should be a realistic goal for this 3week period.

Typical american I am, I messed up reading the dates of the tourney, and thought it was only 2 weeks . Should definitely get a full 20 hours in.

I'll run diablo with my trapsin. Based on running CS during last year's RFL, I'll find many pul runes.

-------------------
AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones
Kitteh

-------------------
Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay

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99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast

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AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones
Kitteh

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Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay
Gripphon

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99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon

nice! what are you running in the 99ers @Gripphon? I would still love to see a video of chaos exp necro if it's not really annoying to get going for you.

@Luhkoh
I posted about necro in 99 thread somewhere. It was only two seal running stuff with max block. I would have to dust off items so recording is not really in plan, but I'm sure someone who levels necro can do it with similar effect.

My goal is to level up pitzerker to 97. His Baal map is not ideal, but it's not bad either so I want to use extra level for easier hit breakpoints and more damage output. 20 hours or so of work left which is ideal for this.

@Gripphon gotcha no worries then. I am familiar with your post, but the reason I asked is just because it doesn't seem like any of the untwinked 99er necros have been able to get chaos runs going smooth enough to outpace pit runs. Good luck with the barb!

Won't be competitive with this scoring system, but since I'm (supposed to be) running my 99er Pally anyway...


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AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones
Kitteh

-------------------
Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay
Gripphon

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99er Targets
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Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs

@Babyhell Only one category? I figured you'd do at least 2, most likely 3 .

Thinking about joining myself. Probably not, as I'm way too deep into Grim Dawn. But in the end I might.

 

[art_vandelay]

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AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones
Kitteh

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Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek

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99er Targets
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Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs

@T72on1 I play a bit less lastly, but I will for sure complete a batch.

If I can, i'll put a foot at Travincal for a second one, but i'll register at that time (if I'm not mistaking we can register until the end of the tournament...the later the less time available for completing a batch).

But hey... who needs to register before the last day, 24 hours is really so much to complete a batch isn't it!

@Gripphon gotcha no worries then. I am familiar with your post, but the reason I asked is just because it doesn't seem like any of the untwinked 99er necros have been able to get chaos runs going smooth enough to outpace pit runs. Good luck with the barb!

Perhaps untwinked necro can't do it. My necro was very well geared and CS is much harder area than Pit, and also less beneficial on a long run.

I don’t know if I’ll have time to finish a full set due to busy work, gone one weekend and then leaving for three-week vacation a couple days before this ends. But I’ll for sure get some time in with the Untwinked 99ers, hoping to get close to 98.5 with the zon before leaving for vacation. So I’ll throw my hat in the ring

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AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones
Kitteh

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Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek

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99er Targets
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Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs
PhineasB

I may switch too 99er areas since I want some levels on Kataegis anyway.

Today was the best day but where is my helm???


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AS+CS
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CaseyJones
Kitteh
art_vandelay

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Travincal
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art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek

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99er Targets
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Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs
PhineasB

I'll play a few hours clearing the WSK with my Necromancer.

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AS+CS
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CaseyJones
Kitteh
art_vandelay

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Travincal
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art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek

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99er Targets
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Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs
PhineasB
Peytron

Yeah I may run some CS too for some xp, the bar really doesn't move much in AS anymore.

I'll be running NIhlathak anyways with Klaus, so I may as well enter! I won't win, or even come close likely, but as stated in the UT99er thread I am hoping to ping 99 during this stint so that should be reward enough

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AS+CS
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CaseyJones
Kitteh
art_vandelay

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Travincal
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art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek

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99er Targets
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Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs
PhineasB
Peytron
Pb_pal

Oh what the heck. Count me in !! I'll run CS seals with my Hammerdin. The game will love the fact that I'm back for this one, so I'll win with 2x Zod and 3x Cham. Thanks for not being envious .

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AS+CS
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CaseyJones
Kitteh
art_vandelay

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Travincal
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art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek

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99er Targets
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Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs
PhineasB
Peytron
Pb_pal
T72on1

I'm not running for experience or interested in Travincal, so that leaves one category..

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AS+CS
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CaseyJones
Kitteh
art_vandelay
NanoMist

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Travincal
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art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek

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99er Targets
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Luhkoh
Babyhell
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs
PhineasB
Peytron
Pb_pal
T72on1

Sorry guys but I guess I fcked up a reinstall at some point, @Fruit thinks my installation is corrupted after some LK disclosure...I set me out of this event at least until a review by @maxicek, but I read the rules so it would imply all my characters being out. Restarting everything right now would be too huge, if confirmed I would simply stop here, that's a very good but still just a game. Anyway, my kid is taking much more time now that here started walking, so it wouldn't be a loss for everyone

See you in the coming days, depending on how things are stated!

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AS+CS
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CaseyJones
Kitteh
art_vandelay
NanoMist

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Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek

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99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs
PhineasB
Peytron
Pb_pal
T72on1

@Babyhell surely you can still participate in this non-trading tournament just in case it turns out nothing is wrong? But I can understand it may be too annoying to get 20 hours of progress only to find it was a waste. But if you think you wouldn't do a restart anyways then nothing would be lost right?

Will absolutely be signing up for tournaments in the future but I’m so in the LK zone it would just be more efficient to get that over with before moving onto XP/item oriented targets.

Late entry...

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AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones
Kitteh
art_vandelay
NanoMist
ESDv2

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Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek

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99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs
PhineasB
Peytron
Pb_pal

I was looking at other categories but I really want to be running 99 targets, and LK, so 99 targets it is. Mostly Baaling with my trapper.

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AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones
Kitteh
art_vandelay
NanoMist
ESDv2

-------------------
Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek

-------------------
99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs
PhineasB
Peytron
Pb_pal
jjscud

Did 45 minutes of warming up. No good runes at all, but 2x facet, a HoZ and 2 skillers (Barb Masteries with +18 life and MA with fhr). Perfect start I'd say .

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AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones
Kitteh
art_vandelay
NanoMist
ESDv2

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Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek
Saluki

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99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs
PhineasB
Peytron
Pb_pal
jjscud

Changed to Baal.

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AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones
art_vandelay
NanoMist
ESDv2

-------------------
Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek
Saluki

-------------------
99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Vildecor
Gynli
Shuffleblast
Gripphon
ffs
PhineasB
Peytron
Pb_pal
jjscud
Kitteh

Where is the hype? @Gripphon scared everyone off?

 

[art_vandelay]

I didn't even know when this thing started. Such dedication. For now I'm looking for excuses to not start running. But I'm confident, it takes only 1 run to find a Zod.

After 1.5 hours of running from me, it's clear: I'll take this one home easily.

One vid to capture the moment of very interesting and inspiring running. Farming like crazy no less.

Where is the hype? @Gripphon scared everyone off?

Too busy picking up high runes to post any hype!

So sick, max posts this and Gripphon immediately senses he was summoned

***

Like Gripphon I did not actually do a single run yet, instead trying to optimize my Java because that's what really counts

In this thread, among other things, ffs advocates for a Defiance merc on a Java and says it gives him about 25% less CtH which is quite immense. So I thought, why not try that for AS and I started calculating CtHs for different setups, i.e. what I would gain from using Equip with higher def. What I did:

• I changed Merc from Might with Fort/CoT to Defiance (normal) with Coh/Andi for that sick +4 Skills and a total of +280% enhanced Def from Defiance. He doesn't do anything than provide an aura anyway. I guess ideal would be something to trigger his aura even more often because AS runs are so short. I will look into that as well. (Arkaine's +2/+15% IAS should be even better) Right now I only have Infinity CA, Thresher is significantly faster.
• I upgraded three Silkweaves and two Razortails and got a Silkweave with 190 (out of 194 max) defense and a Razortail with 166 (out of 172 max) def. My perfect Razortail and 2% from perfect Silkweave got lowest def roll btw

I also though about enhancing the other pieces of gear:

• The Spirit can't really be enhanced because a Monarch has such a tight def range and Spirit gives no ED%. My current one has 140 def
• The gloves are a nightmare. My current 3/20s have 8 def. Shopping for 3/20 battle gauntlets takes 5 times as long as for normal gloves. The difference in def is also rather small. The only reasonable (and completely unrealistic) upgrade here would be crafted 3/20 elite gloves from 1.07 with a high % ED. Should be easy
• Enigma right now is in a Ringmail with a total of 809 def. I use upped Titan's which require a total of 109 Str and give 20 Str in return. The Enigma has to carry the Titan's and I want to reach 156 Str exactly. That last requirement can't be filled with any elite armor (77+74+20 is bigger than 156) A mage plate needs 55 Str and an investment of 42 to 50 Str to reach 156 Str (for lvl 99 and 89 respectively) So a perfect 3os Mage Plate could give 1011 to 1036 def depending on +def roll.
• I could find a perfect Griffon's to get the optimal def on my helm
• I have 3 good charms with Def and fhr. Currently I reach the 55% FHR BP, maybe it could be worth it to go for the 86% BP while also stocking up on Def via the inventory. (20Def/20Life SC; 30Def/5FHR SC; 19Def/18Life SC; 20Def/5FHR; 100Def/12FHR perfect!!!)

I calculated CtH for various setups, first my old one without the upped Silkweave and Razortail, then the one with the upgraded versions, then the 86% FHR variant with +150 Def from charms and then in the last variant I added the lowest roll Eni in a perf Mageplate.

Spoiler: Java CtH

I included defiance lvl 0, 18, 20 and 22 respectively, no idea whether there's a setup with +3 which is good. Since this is mostly about being able to act while stuck in a large group of monsters I included only Regulars and Minions. All of this is null and void if a unique spawns with Extra Strong, Conv, Fana or BA.

As you can see the gains are quite high even for small increases in def. The enigma change makes the biggest difference by far and costs only Jah + Ber. Luckily there's a rune finding event underway

***

About AS maps: The tiles have very little variation. There is a middle tile, the one with the portal+WP and there are 8 end pieces, two for each direction split into a Summoner tile and a Chest tile. Other than that there are T- and I-shaped tiles as well as corners.

The following is about the straight layout:

In the map files every tile has number of Lightning Spires placed on it, not all of which actually appear when the map is generated. For example the chest dead ends have two spires placed on them in the map file but you can get less on any given map. That leads me to believe that any number of spires between 0 and the amount placed in the file is possible on each possible tile. The spires do NOT vary each game, they are fixed for a map. (The same is true for floor traps)

Only the Summoner dead ends, the WP tile and the middle bridges within an arm have no spires on them. All corners have at most 1 spire. All T-shaped and I-Shaped tiles except the middle bridge have at most 2. So, excluding the dead end, one straight wing of the AS should have anywhere between 0 and 22 spires. I rolled a map with 8 spires. Can 0 spires be achieved?

(If it's a 50% chance for each spire to spawn then a 0 spire map would be a 1 in 2^22 roll, but 94,75% of all maps would have 7 to 15 spires and 7,62% would have 8 Spires)

That's a lot of defense optimization for an area where java shouldn't really be hit at all
Only aura that does make sense for AS is Defiance, but then again even that should not have any importance for fast running. I think main point of optimization is comparing Infinity merc vs Faith merc. I did faster running with Faith, but Infinity might make it more comfortable since javelins are less switched.

@Gripphon I still die there from time to time and it is always when I teleport into some clump of monsters. You are probably more focused than me during each run and it happens less to you (or not at all from what your post indicates).

No matter how this turns out I can still recycle the improved defense gear for Cows, CS or Baal.

IMO Defiance is great for Java if you're either not relying on leech and/or run in areas with significant damage spikes (nasty Pit archers, teleporting into 100 cows...). I normally use Might nowadays because my current setup includes two leech rings and upped eth Titan's, which overall makes Might worthwhile over Defiance in most scenarios. As for AS, probably you can make the case for Defiance, mostly because you can't leech from ghosts as your main target. Personally though I also targeted big groups of non-ghost monsters, and felt the extra leech does help – and as Grip said Java shouldn't really get in trouble there.

Instead of Infinity or Faith Merc, a fantastic option for AS is to just go Insight Merc and screw any Mana upkeep issues. I tried it briefly during RFL and it works really well.

Oh, GL and HF everyone! I didn't start running yet, but hope to find the time during the week (and that I don't get too tempted by MK11 ).

@ffs is already winning, guys!

I tested two setups for Baal running with barb - Grief + Grief with Guillaume's, and Grief + Beast with both Guill and Arreat's. Turns out if you have eth Beast, you are good to go with Arreat instead of Guill having crushing blow from Beast and Gore Riders. I expected Guillaume's is irreplaceable, but turns out that crushing blow isn't THAT important if you already have good amount and fast attack. Arreat's + Beast also offer more attack rating and work better against waves, so I guess that is enough for both setups to come even. Arreat does offer more safety too.

Grief + Grief is equally good as Grief + Beast, but with Beast it is more reliable to deal with Baal and curse is also more reliably out there while without fanaticism merc might struggle to keep curse up.

Dedication of running in this thread is admirable. No time to talk. I expect to see at least 3 Zods

@Gripphon I'm half-way done with my AS batch but my mouse started to alternate beween 0,1 and 2 registered clicks per actual click so I have to wait for a new one before I can run again. No worries though, I'll get to Travincal

@ffs My goal is to use a 1.07 MPK ring in the future and revert back to regular Titan's. Do you not have to wait before you can proceed after your two eth upped Titan's are full again? Over hundreds of runs that could get tedious.

The defiance feels very nice but maybe it could also be the 86% FHR BP that makes things smoother. I also suspect that the smoothness could be connected to ghosts not connecting as often and hence less manaburn issues

I suspect that I won't submit an entry.

I need to quit running after @art_vandelay, he's been cleaning AS out. I haven't run a total of 4 hours yet and that's both AS and some CS. Mostly AS though, the runs are just that mich more smooth.

4 hours in here. The plan is to get my Hammerdin to 96 at the very least, which would mean some 10 more hours or so. I'll have to see how far I'll get though. You know, Grim Dawn and stuff ...

Oh I'm running. Zods I doubt, but experience I'm sure of.

Ahh I have to drop out. I thought I'd be able to gear up by now, but I had no luck in LK... I should be ready by spring for the 1st round of cows!

-------------------
AS+CS
-------------------
CaseyJones
art_vandelay
NanoMist
ESDv2

-------------------
Travincal
-------------------
art_vandelay
Gripphon
maxicek
Saluki

-------------------
99er Targets
-------------------
Luhkoh
Vildecor
Gynli
Gripphon
ffs
PhineasB
Peytron
Pb_pal
jjscud
Kitteh

Found a fairly fun nonqualifier

Spoiler

But yeah definitely feeling a bit tired of the runs. I'm at like lvl 97.04, so only like 3500 more chaos runs to go to 98

I have started but not much running done yet.

I found an Ohm, took a screenshot but now it isn’t in my stash. Very confused by this as I’m sure I looked at it in my inventory too. Oh well, not like it is going to help me anyway.

Maybe I’m going mad and it was an Ort

@maxicek Did you screenshot the Ort?

I don’t know. It was late last night when I did the mauling and didn’t check the screenshots yet. Even if I do have a screenshot I won’t count it if it isn’t in the stash.

It was all very perplexing

 

[art_vandelay]

sounds like the aliens got to it

The screenshot shows the Ohm. Guess I didn’t pick it up

In 7 hours now, not much to report...found several exceptional uniques. Maybe even a couple I didn't already have for my grail.
I certainly enjoy running AS over CS with this nova sorc...just smoother gameplay but the drops just aren't up to snuff

My Zon hit the 10 hour mark, with just over 26M XP gained. The good news is that I finally rolled a map that I like, with 1 shrine right by the stairs and limited mobs around Nihl's platform. We were netting 2.5M/hr for the first 5 hours, as she spent about an hour on each likely map before rerolling. So I think that means she's netting around 2.7M/hr on the current map, which is solid given her untwinked status and compared to my prior untwinked 99ers at Nihl.

I paused the timer when she was rolling maps, so I was sure a Zod or Cham would drop It didn't happen, but I did get in another 1M with her before the start of mini RFL, picking up a Sur (non-qualifer obviously):

Aside from that, no non-qualifiers meriting screenshots. Notable finds were three TC3s (Felloak, Greyform, Biggins), and a few decent skillers with minor useful modifiers (but not Hapoonist, so still only two of those for her). She had two close calls (one under 200 HP), but things have been smooth on the current map. The biggest risk remains teleporting to Nihl's platform.

I had two deadlines at work pushed from October to January, so I should be able to finish up the set. At present pace, that should see her just shy of 98.45 for this set, and that's probably where she'll stay until we get back from our trip in November.

Good luck to everyone who's running! I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

Great progress phineas! You're a machine. I'm up to about 15 hours or so into my set, and somehow the runs are becoming less boring. Feeling more and more motivated to grind toward 98. Found arkana's first snowclash yesterday and replaced string of ears with it. Definitely notice the decrease in DR and MDR, but my blizzard dmg going from 6k to 6.5k feels significantly faster, so I'm running with it for now

Hmm was thinking tomorrow was the end of this tourney, and now i see NEXT thursday is last day. Guess I'd better go for another half-set

Results sent.

302+- p8 CS runs
MF: 369
298 runes (19 Rals; 34 Tals)
Qualifiers: 9 (all but three resulted from strategy not to be named)
182 perfect gems
125 jewels (10 rare)

Facets: 3 (-3/+5 Fire; -3/+4 Fire; -4/+4 Light)
TC3s: 3 (Death Sash, Infernal Cranium, Hsarus Buckler)
Set Amulets: 12 (Tancred or less)
Unique Amulets: 3 (Cats Eye)
Unique Rings: 6 (Natures Peace)
Gheeds: 0
Skillers: 9 but only one with life (Druid Summoning w/ 31 life)
Lvl 94 Grand Charms: 3

Uniques of Note (3 10 pt+):

Spoiler: Uniques

Boneflame
Succubus Skull
Defense: 343
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 12 of 20
Required Level: 72
Required Strength: 95
Fingerprint: 0x3eb3148c
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
15% Chance to cast level 3 Terror when struck
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+134% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +25

Boneshade
Lich Wand
One Hand Damage: 10 - 31
Durability: 10 of 17
Required Level: 79
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x8864e540
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
+25% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Bone Spirit (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Wall (Necromancer Only)
+5 to Bone Armor (Necromancer Only)
+4 to Teeth (Necromancer Only)

Boneshade
Lich Wand
One Hand Damage: 10 - 31
Durability: 13 of 17
Required Level: 79
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x9cb51a7
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
+25% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Bone Spirit (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Bone Wall (Necromancer Only)
+5 to Bone Armor (Necromancer Only)
+5 to Teeth (Necromancer Only)

Dragonscale
Zakarum Shield
Defense: 523
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 56 of 65
Required Level: 80
Required Strength: 142
Fingerprint: 0xd2e3a86
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Unidentified
Adds 211 - 371 Fire Damage
+15% to Fire Skill Damage
+10 to Hydra
+170% Enhanced Defense
+19 to Strength
+5% to Maximum Fire Resist
Fire Absorb 20%

Spirit Keeper
Earth Spirit
Defense: 443
Durability: 10 of 20
Required Level: 67
Required Strength: 104
Fingerprint: 0x9d0e4c56
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Druid Skill Levels
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+190% Enhanced Defense
+10% to Maximum Poison Resist
Fire Resist +34%
+13 Lightning Absorb
Cold Absorb 21%

Rares of Note:

Spoiler: Rares

Bone Loop
Ring
Required Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x8bc81f54
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+67 to Attack Rating
7% Life stolen per hit
+20 to Strength
+13 to Energy
+5 to Mana
Lightning Resist +15%

Dread Loop
Ring
Required Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0x7e0d2162
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
4% Mana stolen per hit
5% Life stolen per hit
+22 to Life
All Resistances +10

Raven Finger
Ring
Required Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0xd8b514c3
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+58 to Attack Rating
3% Mana stolen per hit
5% Life stolen per hit
+1 to Life
Poison Resist +7%

Dire Visage
Circlet
Defense: 57
Durability: 30 of 35
Required Level: 30
Fingerprint: 0xf233c23f
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+20% Faster Cast Rate
+83 to Attack Rating
+85% Enhanced Defense

Raven Fist
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 55
Durability: 13 of 16
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x893318df
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Bow and Crossbow Skills (Amazon Only)
+20% Increased Attack Speed
3% Life stolen per hit
+24% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +19%
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Doom Whorl
Smoked Sphere
One Hand Damage: 4 - 10
Durability: 18 of 35
Required Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0x6eee69b7
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)
Adds 66 - 116 Fire Damage
+2 to Teleport (Sorceress Only)
+3 to Fire Wall (Sorceress Only)
+3 to Nova (Sorceress Only)
+18 to Energy
+57 to Mana
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
+3 to Mana after each Kill

Raven Weaver
Bone Wand
One Hand Damage: 3 - 7
Durability: 11 of 15
Required Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0x44abf2e3
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
+10% Faster Cast Rate
Adds 7 - 26 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)
+3 to Bone Prison (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Attract (Necromancer Only)
Knockback
Replenish Life +4
+2 to Mana after each Kill

Stone Wand
Grim Wand
One Hand Damage: 5 - 11
Durability: 13 of 15
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xad0f7958
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
Adds 1 - 170 Lightning Damage
6% Life stolen per hit
+1 to Decrepify (Necromancer Only)
+1 to Attract (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+11 to Energy
Cold Resist +24%

@EatSleepDiablov2 You know the tourney doesn't end for another 6 days right? Just checking because I thought yesterday was the last day for a minute. Seems like you got a real nice amount of skillers and facets!

I finished my first set. Had some wrist pain this week that slowed me down a bit but i'll keep doing the runs till next thursday, just probably won't make even a half a set. Here are some nice non-qualifiers I got since I posted that eth skulders:

Spoiler

@Luhkoh. My 20 hours are done and no plans for second set.

No entry from me.

Set complete and results sent.

As I got more comfortable with the map, the second ten hours led to much faster run times, with one hour (split into two 30-minute sessions) coming up one run short of 3M. So I'm happy with this map and able to use more aggressive positioning, actually aiming to land on the platform most of the time.

Just shy of 29M for the second ten hours, averaging close to 2.9M/hr, which is quite nice So the mini RFL set saw Quinta past 3.358, and I just finished up the 1M+ to hit a round 3.36.

The downside was nearly 15 hours there at the end without a qualifier. Brutal, but that's Nihl for you sometimes. The dry spell was broken up by a TC87 Unique, which was a nice surprise:

Oh, and teleporting to Nihl's platform remains the most dangerous part of these runs for her:

Spoiler: HC Player Trigger Warning

Quick finger on Esc remains important. She's actually had only one NDE from Nihl himself, from stubbornness around broken LI cursed Nihl, with might and archers

Given the faster XP gain, I may push for 98.5 before we leave for vacation on Wednesday night. But we're also leaving for an overnight trip later this morning, plus wrapping up at work, so we'll see. Good luck to everyone still running and thanks to @art_vandelay for hosting!

Pfft, you still had 587 life, nothing to worry about

Life > Mana. Just like @Kitteh says, no worries.

No score from me. Runes are too rare to get them from waves and Baal only.

Results Sent.
471 total runs. Most in Arcane with a couple trips to Chaos Sanctuary
At around run 400 I respecced from Nova/ES to Vita/Lightning because I kept either aborting due to mana burn or dying. Not good to erase any xp gained running. Haven't died since the respect but took a bit to change up play styles.

One decent rune from a chest drop:

Other Notable Non Qualifiers:

Eschuta's Temper
Eldritch Orb
One Hand Damage: 18 - 50
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Level: 72
Fingerprint: 0x6e27e5ca
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+40% Faster Cast Rate
+10% to Lightning Skill Damage
+17% to Fire Skill Damage
+22 to Energy

Thank you to our gracious host!

Sorry no results from me either, barely played at all these last couple of weeks.. :/ looking forward to the results though!

I can't even be mad at anyone, I haven't done any runs for this in over a week and played Throwbarb instead, oops

@CaseyJones Congrats on the Windforce! I didn't expect that one after four AS screenshots

I posted them in the order they dropped based on the screenshot number

I also forgot to mention the 3 skiller charms:
PnB
Bow and Crossbow with +7 FRW
Barb Masteries with +37 life

A couple 20 life SCs

Some 5 unique rings, manald heal or nagels though.

Decent drops anyway, even a tc 3 Grailer in Tancreds Hobnails.

I will be running until Thursday I think. After about 15 hours my first Barb hit 93, so I changed character. I finally rolled a decent map last night, now time to get on with the last 5h

Sending in my results now. I only managed to get some 8 hours in, bringing my Hammerdin to level 96.

 

[art_vandelay]

I'll wait to submit results till Thursday. Will only get 6-7 hours in on a second set, but guess I might as well wait and make sure a couple of zods don't drop in the next couple of days .

Meh. I didn't get in near as much running as I would have liked and as others have said Baal and minions are terrible for runes.

I don't have anything to submit.

+1 to the no score team. Didn't have much time/motivation to run.

Hmm, I may actually stand a chance with all these dropouts

Speaking of dropouts I'm going the route of the college dropout and wait until 23:59 my time on friday to publish results so I can be sure that the running time is actually over without having to think about time zones


Glad everyone participated, that goes even if you didn't find anything. I'm sure most of the 99ers at least got a decent chunk of experience out of the deal

8 hours until time runs out, 13 hours left on the timer . Maybe I will get an hour in tonight before the buzzer goes.

Results sent..

Only finished 15 hours of the 20 hours; i'll finish the last 5 hrs over the weekend just to complete the set.

Results sent. I also didn’t finish 20h, still had a couple to spare. Triple Cham drop was going to happen then, I know it.

Thanks for sending the results everyone! I'm only missing results from @Vildecor at this time. I'm going to post the results later today regardless and will then add the missing scores once they come in. There shouldn't be too many upsets in the 99er category anyway, especially from Baal.

No upsets meaning nobody scored?

No upsets meaning nobody scored?

More like somebody found 5 Zods and it isn't likely to be beaten

Lol are @Gynli and I the only ones who ran chaos in category 3? My completely medium score is looking more and more promising...

Lol are @Gynli and I the only ones who ran chaos in category 3? My completely medium score is looking more and more promising...

It was interesting that was available in two categories, do people usually run it and not kill seal bosses?

I made a results spreadsheet already and also added who ran what in the 99er category. I sometimes had to consult the UT 99er thread to find out the targets. There's three people for CS, three for Nihla and five for Baal and five people found nothing/did not run.

It's worth noting that three of the five Baal runners publicly conceded in this thread

@peytron You can focus on Grand Vizier only and kill Stormcasters along the way to maximize your chances at runes. The category for 99ers forced you to (intend to) kill at least two seal bosses for it to count.

I think EatSleepDiablo did all three seals in the AS+CS category which is an option but in general shouldn't be as efficient as just killing as many Stormcasters as possible.

It was interesting that was available in two categories, do people usually run it and not kill seal bosses?

For efficient RFL round 3 chaos runs, you run p7, and you hit packs of regular or minion stormcasters and vizier's pack is the only seal boss you hit.

Whereas in exp running you do p8, hit only minions/bosses (of any monster type), and do both infector's and vizier's pack (at least).

So that was why art made the "intend to kill at least 2 bosses" distinction. I think this was a great way to divide it up, but ofc in category 3 I have a big advantage running chaos over someone running nihla or baal, even though I'm doing nothing optimal from an RF perspective.

EDIT: too late, art answered all this Also @art_vandelay with the mentioned technique that ESDV2 used, the RF efficiency should increase a whole lot as compared to regular 3 seals + diablo runs. That being said, @ffs did some testing and he came to the conclusion the RF efficiency should be less than that of hitting stormcasters only like you mentioned, but I just wanted to add that I'm sure the RF efficiency using that technique is closer to optimal than it is to casual p7 diablo runs.