farm rune contest

I do something like this a lot. I do lots of keyruns (to trade for HRs - but we don't need to get into that nasty business here), and always pick up the runes from the countess, as well as any others I find. Except, I have opted out of taking the els and elds. Maybe I'll start picking them as well...
 
i have heard of SP people doing this alot, but i thought it would be fun for us b.net players too. seems like im almost the only one here who believe so:/

btw not many more runes, and imo they are to few to mention. when i get some chiped to cube up what i have along with some more runes im going to post what i have.
 
i have heard of SP people doing this alot, but i thought it would be fun for us b.net players too. seems like im almost the only one here who believe so:/

btw not many more runes, and imo they are to few to mention. when i get some chiped to cube up what i have along with some more runes im going to post what i have.

The others are spoiled from all the dupes. :wink3:

I don't think they will feel any satisfaction if they find a high-rune instead of duping or trading it. If I find a high-rune today, I would make 15. June a personal holiday. :grin:



 
I tend to collect all runes and cube them up, generally doing countess runs every game along with anything else I'm doing. The one thing it's convinced me of is that it's all but impossible to get those high runes naturally. Kinda depressing really to realize I'm never going to have that equipment :).
 
This sounds pretty fun to me as i already keep every rune i find also, including the little els and elds. My goal is an Infinity and i do the usual runs in Hell. I'll list what runes i already have when i get off of work. I do know that i already got an Ist from a hf but the two bers and mal i will have to work for. More to come later!
 
There's actually a part of me that kinda wonders if the fastest way for me to get higher runes would be working a fishymancer through the NM hellforge (hell hellforge takes way too long for me). It'd be unassisted, since I don't have the ability to rush a second char up. Still takes a fair amount of time, but I'm not convinced it doesn't end up with higher runes fast than sorceress runs.
 
This is an interesting idea, but I won't take a part in it. The goal was to get people to understand how rare the high runes really are, and the problem is that I know that all too well. I've got better things to do with my time than wasting it in a lost cause.

So that people would at least get the right idea of what this means: it does not take thousands of El runes to make Zod. Not millions either. It takes 14.3 billion. To actually do it alone is impossible. Only way to do it would be for hundreds of players to cooperate on it.

This does not mean I wouldn't be trying to get a complete rune collection, but I have nothing against using traded runes. I have cubed an Um rune, and it included everything starting from El, both self found and traded. Mostly traded though, as I don't trust traded runes. I try to keep separate the ones I've found myself. My greatest treasure is my Lo rune, self found, which I doubt I'm ever going to actually use or trade. That is the one thing in this game I have enshrined.

Edit: Forgot to mention, I once made a classic sorceress for the sole purpose of farming Hellforge runes. As it turned out, I couldn't rush mules into Hell difficulty though, as Hell act 2 was too much for her. I have only tested her a couple times, as I no longer have friends to use her with.
 
If you really want that legit LO, I have found the fastest way is to cube guls. Guls are rarely duped since there is very little use for them. They are also the highest Hellforge drop, again which has no use so people let them go cheap. Usually guls = .5 duped hr. = dkey. I have collected about 32 of them now trading on bnet dkey for gul. Now, since there is still chance they are duped I put them all on one character and enter and leave games, NM and Hell. I lost 2 to poofage but I don't want those anyway and I chalk that up to the price of the project.

Now all this takes time. However I feel it takes way less time than cubing from self found runes with way higher odds of dropping. Dkeys drop at roughly 1:11 chance and you can gather them with some patience and in 6 months have a big mass of GULs. One problem, you can never be sure they are 100% legit but if you never perm the char and you lose a few after a couple of months you can be pretty sure the rest of them are good. Even if this takes 6 months it will be faster than your method and you can do it on and off not completely focusing on it 100% of the time. If you spent 100% of your D2 time on it, it could much faster.

Just some thoughts. It only takes 8 guls to make a LO and 32 to make a ber.
Think about it.
spiffy
 
Well, along comes a ladder reset and changes everything. According to Arreat Summit, cubing runes doesn't work for nonladder, and I certainly won't abandon my ladder characters after spending so much time on them.

I guess I'll have to move to nonladder then. Only thing I really hate to lose is those rune upgrade formulas... will they make them available to all, I wonder? They already can be done in single player, open and ladder, so why leave nonladder out? By robbing us of the only reasonable way to make legit highrunes in nonladder is practically an open invitation to dupes and hacks.
 
hey guys. I'm back. after a holiday (with a break from D2), i have started on ladder again. with the ladder i also started collecting runes, and cubing them to get those hr's i need. thats when i remembered this. anyone who wants to join in this is welcome. i have changed my goal a little, since last time i did this, but the procedure is the same.

goal: cube runes for an exile shield.
runs: countess, andariel, summoner, mephisto and maybe cows.

i still pick up every rune i find, and i dont trade for runes. same rules as earlier apply.

my best runes as of now is 2 pul (one from baal game and other from hf). the reason i run all those other bosses is 1) to prevent a temp ban for creating games to fast 2) too hopefully get some nice items for my characters.

i hope to see more people trying this. you don't need to actively collect runes, just make it a habit to pick up the runes you want and if you trade for runes, keep them separate. i have decided that posting all the runes i have is a bit cumbersome, so from now on i will only post from thul and up.

P.S. i hope the mods will forgive me for reviving this thread :)
 
i had to choose exile (at least for now), so i can do ubers again. if i can get a good guide for a kicksin that can take on ubers, i might change the goal in favour of that. im not sure though, because im not expirienced with assasins, so maybe i will just rebuild my paladin from last ladder, then go for a kicksin. it's so difficult to decide >.<
 
last wish would be too much for me. doesnt lw need 3 jah or something. anyway can i use exile and the other typical smiter equip, and use angelic ring/amu combo with raven for some more dex/ar and CBF mod and be succesful in ube trist?

edit: i just got free from work. i will try to decide what to make later, but as it is now, i greatly need the exile. i will be on later.
 
it does not take thousands of El runes to make Zod. Not millions either. It takes 14.3 billion.
That's 14.3 trillion to most people. (14.3 * 10^12, not 14.3 * 10^9). I know that an old-fashioned billion is 10^12, but the common billion is only 10^9.

To put it in perspective, if you found an El every second, then it'd take nearly half a million years to get enough Els. I don't even want to think about the time taken to cube...



 
Are you still after that self cubed Lo? If so, I can tell you a way to get it done within two weeks, if you play for arround 12 hours a day.

Lo = 2x Ohm
2x Ohm = 4x Vex
4x Vex = 8x Gul

Guls drop on Hellforges with a chance of 1:11 so with arround 88 hell forges your Lo becomes reality. Since you also find Ists, Mals, Ums and Puls in the process it is actually even less. Rushes can be done in 2 hours ( even in 1 if you have a really good char ) so in less than 170 hours game time your very legit Lo is yours.

Last ladder some guys on HC cubed their very own Infinity that way. 64 Guls were used for that.
 
hehe. thanks for sharing the method. i have thought about hf rushes, but i don't have a char strong enough to do it efficiently. until i get one, i will be cubing whatever runes i find. maybe when i have a good enough char i can start hf rushing myself. i got my second copy of d2 today, so now i can mule, lvl and rush myself:D
 
Ditto Spiffy and McCain's idea of hell rushing. You'll pick up nice items from drops, 3 socket quests (if you go through the trouble of killing Diablo on the last one), and nice runes from the forge. I've started doing this with 3 sets of keys (so one rusher, two mules) and it works pretty well. Takes me about 3 hours to get to hell forge, but I'm no speed demon.

I've found that you'll need a good teleporter that can also kill fairly well (absolutely not expensive to build, either). I'd look at Socialism's guide to a mf orber in the sorc forums. Or you can modify that and use a light sorc (as I do). Get a good blocking shield like an upped Viscerataunt (don't be tempted by no block spirit or getting to the places you need to be in Hell can be dicey). You can also build a summonancer, hammerdin, and/or zealot to help you past tough sections of Hell. E.g. I teleport to Hell Andariel, clear the chamber, throw up a tp, get my mules there to also tp, then swap out my light sorc for my zealot and spank her down fast. Rinse and repeat. It's a legit and reasonably fast way to high runes AND a nice way to build wealth. Good luck!
 
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