Single Skill Tree Tourney

(Once again, use your best boxing presenter voice)

And we have had a smashing night of action here at the true tomb of Tal Rasha, where Belladonna, fresh from her victory over Andariel, has defeted Duriel by a technical knockout, because techincally, dead is knocked out. We now cross to the post match press conference.

BellaDonna: Yes, up the back there.

Press: Alim Geer, Lut Golein Times. Belladonna, were you happy with your performance this afternoon?

BD: Yeah, I did pretty well. I kept circling him, to allow Neeraj, my mercenary, to keep hitting him, whilst distracting him with shadows, and putting the hits in when Neeraj's ctc Amp activated.

Press: Keri Trefoil, Kurast Tribune. Were you worried about the number of health potions you had to use.

BD: No, I only used the 6 healing, and I didn't have to touch the greaters. I'm satisfied with that.

Press: Abu Krenish, Tainted Sun. Were you happy with the prize purse?

BD: Just a little dissapointed. The Stormguild was nice, and the rare ring was Ok, but there was nothing for Neeraj, and the axe was pretty useless.

Press: Kurt Schnider, Westmarch Age. What's next, Belladonna? Another trip to the Western Kingdoms.

BD: No, I'm looking east. Word is Mephisto is ready to defend the all-Kurast championship, And I intend to take it off him.

Facinating stuff, sportsfans. We'll keep you updated on Belladonna's progress as she heads towards the Zakarum temple.

Update:
Forum Name: Spludge
Character Name: Belladonna
Characer Class: Shadow 'sin
Character Level: 28
Farthest Quest: Duriel
Fathest waypoint: Kurast Docks.
1.11, no RWM, Hardcore

@Jiansonz: You were muttering something about standard levels?
 
I succesfully completed Normal difficulty with a bang. Baal was nice enough to drop the Vipermagi armor AND a very nice weap for my barb merc... :thumbsup: Also made a Strength Runeword for my other claw.

Had an excellent map for running Baal, so I hit him up 20 times and got a couple more uniques for the stash as well as a few more greens.

Forum Name: Semarin
Character Name: Savix
Characer Class: ShadowSin
Character Level: 48
Farthest Quest: Baal
Fathest waypoint: Rogue Encampent NM
1.11, no RWM, Hardcore
 
Well a bit more boring than Spludge but my assassin also defeated Duriel, and also found her very first set/unique in the Far Oasis in an urn or chest. Cathan's Amulet.
Duriel was quite easy. Shadow Warrior kept him distracted.

and the drop


Forum name: Delcor
Character name: Fax
Character class: Assassin
Level: 27
Last Quest: Duriel
Furthest waypoint: Kurast Docks
 
Gabrielle has made progress! It's been very slow going on /p8, but I'm stubborn and won't lower the setting. :) She has made it up to the Lost City, and has the cube and staff. After she got the cube, she did some countess runs to outfit her merc with Stealth and Zephyr. She also used the chippy recipe which got her a 2-socketed static short staff. Things are dying a lot faster now. :) She's been gambling lots of circlets, but hasn't really come up with any winners (and no rare ones yet.)

Forum Name: Cattleya
Character Name: Gabrielle
Character Class: Passive Amazon
Character Level: 24
Farthest Quest: Radament
Farthest WP: Lost City
Game Version: 1.11 HC, no mods
 
Forumname: SharnMes
Character Name: IllBeDeadSoon
Character class: Druid
Character Level: 37
Farthest Quest: NM Countess
Farthest WP: Black marsh
1.11 HC

Forumname: Shadefallen
Character Name: LiveAndLetDie
Character class: Zon
Character Level: 37
Farthest Quest: NM Countess
Farthest WP: Black marsh
1.11 HC

Finally we made it down to the Countess.. and did she drop ANY runes?? nope.. not even an EL rune :(

We had Hand of Zakarum drop on us.. cool find! Hwanins justige was not a bad drop either.. the merc who got it sure didn't oppose..

Besides that we had the usual crappy drops.. Isenharts case, Sigons helm and tangreds crowbill..

Had Amn, Sol, Shael and Thul drops too..
 
Update:
Forum Name: Spludge
Character Name: Belladonna
Characer Class: Shadow 'sin
Character Level: 30
Farthest Quest: Golden Bird
Fathest waypoint: Flayer Jungle.
1.11, no RWM, Hardcore

I don't know how much I'll be able to play tonight. RL does that to you.

Found another set+unique today. Arctic mitts + that double axe thingy.
 
Shadefallen said:
Forumname: SharnMes
Character Name: IllBeDeadSoon
Character class: Druid
Character Level: 37
Farthest Quest: NM Countess
Farthest WP: Black marsh
1.11 HC

Forumname: Shadefallen
Character Name: LiveAndLetDie
Character class: Zon
Character Level: 37
Farthest Quest: NM Countess
Farthest WP: Black marsh
1.11 HC

Finally we made it down to the Countess.. and did she drop ANY runes?? nope.. not even an EL rune :(

We had Hand of Zakarum drop on us.. cool find! Hwanins justige was not a bad drop either.. the merc who got it sure didn't oppose..

Besides that we had the usual crappy drops.. Isenharts case, Sigons helm and tangreds crowbill..

Had Amn, Sol, Shael and Thul drops too..
Click to expand...

For something like this, I'm not quite sure Sigon's and Tancred's are crappy drops. Well, as long as you can get another one or two........

My Assassin started her career yesterday, using the P8 that seems to be all the rage reaching level 6, just to the Cold Plains waypoint. Hopefully, much more to come today, as I recover from this midnight shift I'm currently on.
 
Update:
Forum Name: Spludge
Character Name: Belladonna
Characer Class: Shadow 'sin
Character Level: 31
Farthest Quest: Black Book
Fathest waypoint: Kurast Bazaar.
1.11, no RWM, Hardcore

Add an Angelic mantle to the prize stash.
 
Quick update:

My assassin has been doing quite well, as I see that this is the character I should have started with, and I just might be up there with the leaders. Problem was, even though I've played tons of D2, the assassin was a character that I never truly explored. Wanted to jump in, without a learning curve. So, this is the time, at last. I like!

I'm sold, again, on the players x theory. Granted it takes longer to kill, but as someone said, it's almost too easy in Normal if you don't use it. I fear that using players 5 might have helped a lot in the demise of my Paladin to Sszark, but we'll go with players 7, for now, and reduce, when necessary. Only problem is, it's lead to not much in the way of finds. No sets or uniques. So far.....

By the way, I believe that if you are playing solo, players 8 is a waste. You gain nothing, yet make the monsters tougher. If I'm not mistaken, if solo, do odd #s. Well, if odd numbers of players, do odd. And, vice versa. At least this was a technical issue that my guild covered, long ago, in the days of 1.09.

Hope I'm not being the master of the obvious :)

More to come! We'll see how long I can go, after working all night. Not sure that's the best way to play HC, but we shall see.



Update:
Forum Name: Billybgame
Character Name: TheShadowKnows
Characer Class: Assassin
Character Level: 15
Farthest Quest: The Forgotten Tower
Fathest waypoint: Outer Cloister
1.11, RWM, Hardcore
 
Billybgame said:
By the way, I believe that if you are playing solo, players 8 is a waste. You gain nothing, yet make the monsters tougher. If I'm not mistaken, if solo, do odd #s. Well, if odd numbers of players, do odd. And, vice versa. At least this was a technical issue that my guild covered, long ago, in the days of 1.09.
Click to expand...

I play solo and always run players8. Obviously the mobs are tougher, but you get more exp for each kill. I am only now starting Nightmare and am level 48. Obviously I would be nowhere near 48 if I had played on a lower setting. To each his own though, but thats why I do it.
 
Latest update of our progress...

Forumname: SharnMes
Character Name: IllBeDeadSoon
Character class: Druid
Character Level: 47
Farthest Quest: NM Duriel
Farthest WP: Kurast Docks
1.11 HC

Forumname: Shadefallen
Character Name: LiveAndLetDie
Character class: Zon
Character Level: 47
Farthest Quest: NM Duriel
Farthest WP: Kurast Docks
1.11 HC

Since last time we have found Viscerataunt shield.. Undead crown.. Whitstans guard.. Arcanna's helm.. Irathas coil.. and many more..
 
Billybgame said:
By the way, I believe that if you are playing solo, players 8 is a waste. You gain nothing, yet make the monsters tougher. If I'm not mistaken, if solo, do odd #s. Well, if odd numbers of players, do odd. And, vice versa. At least this was a technical issue that my guild covered, long ago, in the days of 1.09.
Click to expand...

You gain 50% more of the starting XP (for /p1) for players 8 compaired to /p7. /players 8 gets 450% HP and XP, players 7 gets 400% HP and XP IIRC.
 
Since there are quite a few I've been wanting to try, I have no choice but to join this tourney, my progress will probably be quite slow with some characters, where others will start much earlier. Basically I want to join with one character for each class. This might slow the tourney down, but on the other hand, my hardcore experience isn't that broad. Anyway, the first character I'll start will be the necromancer, now that I can't use curses anymore in Rizzo's tourney, I can catch up here.

A question to start though, is use of the runeword mod allowed? I assume not the runewords, but using the mod without using the runewords is allowed.

Forumname: Sir Lister Of Smeg
Character Name: Lord_Hong
Character class: necromancer
Character Level: 1
Farthest Quest:
Farthest WP: Rogue Encampment
1.11 HC

Forumname: Sir Lister Of Smeg
Character Name: Hrun
Character class: barbarian
Character Level: 1
Farthest Quest:
Farthest WP: Rogue Encampment
1.11 HC

Forumname: Sir Lister Of Smeg
Character Name: Eskarina
Character class: sorceress
Character Level: 1
Farthest Quest:
Farthest WP: Rogue Encampment
1.11 HC

Forumname: Sir Lister Of Smeg
Character Name: Belafon
Character class: druid
Character Level: 1
Farthest Quest:
Farthest WP: Rogue Encampment
1.11 HC

Forumname: Sir Lister Of Smeg
Character Name: Carrot
Character class: paladin
Character Level: 1
Farthest Quest:
Farthest WP: Rogue Encampment
1.11 HC

Forumname: Sir Lister Of Smeg
Character Name: Angua
Character class: amazon
Character Level: 1
Farthest Quest:
Farthest WP: Rogue Encampment
1.11 HC

Forumname: Sir Lister Of Smeg
Character Name: Conina
Character class: assassin
Character Level: 1
Farthest Quest:
Farthest WP: Rogue Encampment
1.11 HC
 
The guests were out all day and the weather was not too good (have issues with sun shining on screen in the afternoon), so I got to play quite a bit. :)

Forumname: Moar
Character Name: Grans
Character class: Druid
Character Level: 45
Farthest Quest: Normal Baal
Farthest WP: NM Rogue Encampment
1.11 HC
 
Some good progress today:

Einbaum
Offensive Auras Pally
level 30
Last quest completed: Kill Mephisto
Last WP gained: Chaos Sanctuary

Items found: berserker's helmet, cathan's mesh, cathan's ring.
 
I always played Players x for the increased drops, way more than experience. You can always get that. The key was drops don't increase, from 7 to 8, with only one player in the game.

Well, got my assassin past Duriel. And, boy, it was not too easy. I'd be eager to hear the stories of you other assassins and your Duriel battles. I struggled to keep my merc alive, because without him, Duriel ate my Shadow Warrior for lunch, and I could not stand toe to toe with him, so it was the ole' ring a round the rosie. Had a NDE, where I was trying to hit a TP as I ran, and if I took another hit, I might have bought it. Shew. Close one. After two TPs for resurrection, buying and healing, we did it, though. Just realized as I wrote this, I forgot to take off players 7. Gee, there's an age old mistake. No wonder it was so hard.

Proceeds:

Axe of Fechmar, which I'll never use(what's a two handed weapon? ;) ), a nice rare military pick, with LS for a young axe Concentrate Barb, and best of all, at this point, and in this game, this rare, socketed armor:

Bitter Carapace
Splint Mail
Defense: 95
Durability: 51 of 90
Required Strength: 51
Required Level: 9
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 22
Fingerprint: 0xb687b02f
Damage Reduced by 1
Fire Resist +16%
Cold Resist +19%
Socketed (2: 0 used)

Not bad. Tempted to use topazes, but it is HC. Hmmmm.............

Update:
Forum Name: Billybgame
Character Name: TheShadowKnows
Character Class: Assassin
Character Level: 26
Farthest Quest: The Seven Tombs
Fathest waypoint: Kurast
1.11 RWM, Hardcore
 
I too just finished killing Duriel on P7 with an assassin. It was not quite as desperate as Billybgame's experience. I did have to TP back to town twice. My Shadiow Warrior couldn't last three seconds against Duriel but my Defense A2 merc did much better. What worked best was for me to tank Duriel (with Weapon Block at 39%) and swallow red potions until I got low, then to run and get behind my merc and pump red potions into the merc as I continued swinging away. Then I would tank again. The Big Blue Slug finally went down, and dropped nothing memorable.

I'm in A3 now swatting flayers and gloams.

Forum Name: Quickdeath
Character Name: Lotus
Character Class: Assassin
Character Level: 27
Farthest Quest: The Golden Bird
Fathest waypoint: Great Marsh
1.11 Vanilla, SC
 
Update:
Forum Name: Spludge
Character Name: Belladonna
Characer Class: Shadow 'sin
Character Level: 32
Farthest Quest: Blakcened Temple
Fathest waypoint: Durance 2
1.11, no RWM, Hardcore

<boxing ad voice> (you know the one)
Ladies and Gentlemen! Presenting the firght to end all fights, the Rumble 'neath the Jungle! Will Belladonna, the Annialator of Andariel, the Destroyer of Duriel beat the embodiment of hatred, the defending champion Mephisto in the All Kurast championship? Will the evil spread, or be halted in the Shadows? All that will be revealed in tongihts bout, Belladonna v Mephisto! (only available play per view (if you're not playing, you don't get to view))
</boxing ad voice>

Coming up with the names and newspapers for the next press conference will be hard......
 
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