Starting (now finished) 500 AT runs for Blizzsorc...

dokhogg

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Dec 7, 2021
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So I came back to D2R after a dozen or so years and thanks to a generous giveaway from Babyhell I made a blizzsorc and got her Mat'd. Been just continuously MFing since, a few Meph Runs, Countess runs, 100 LK runs....nothing too crazy though. Found quite a few decent items, a few elite uniques, but really wanted runes. (highest found so far is Mal) Hated cows...just to boring and after 100 or so runs and no decent runes I quit that. Read that AT can drop everything in the game and has no cold immunes so figured its perfect. Can't see myself ever seriously trying for a grail, but its nice to find new things anyways.

I started the first few at P3, then P5.

30 runs in, several set items...not sure of rarity for most...I think the rarest I have found is Taebek's Glory (Is that rare?)

15 uniques, with 8 being elite! ( I have no idea how rare they all are other than Arachnid Mesh
3 Razors Edge
9 Demonhorn's Edge (eth)
16 Gargoyles Bite
18 Arachnid Mesh!
19 Steel Shade
20 Bloodmoon
21 Demon's Arch
23 Shadow Killer

I would say for only 30 runs so far that pretty good. On consecutive runs I got The Battlebranch unfortunately.

The biggest hope for me has been runes so I can start trying to make some higher end runewords. The best I have found so far is Io.

I think so far my luck has been pretty good....thoughts?
 
Welcome to the forum @dokhogg and I'm looking forward to seeing the result of these runs.

If running p1 (or even p3), rune drops won't be as strong as a character running an A85 area at p7 or p8. It's just the drop odds from mobs for runes, relative to limited chance of drops from other than boss packs for MF purposes, where lower p-setting is faster (but characters that are quick at p7 can get solid S/U drops, as some of the 99ers have shown when leveling).

Over 500 AT runs, it's reasonable to expect at least a few higher end drops, I think. So hopefully you have outlier luck and get even more!
 
Well I am not the fastest at getting this done, only at 125 right now but I will tease that I had some good rune drops....will elaborate when I finally get to 500. I did switch to P7 and it definitely takes longer, merc dies every so often and adds to the time, luckily I never figured on doing it all quickly.
 
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So i obviously do not get to play that often or for a ton of hours straight when i do. As i am going through the tunnel is it worth my time break open all the jars and urns?

I know it adds time to each run but the reason i do it is way back in 1.09 or 1.10 i hit a barrel and got a perfect Mara’s so i cant resist hitting any popable.
 
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but here's how I understand it after reading stuff I found while browsing the community links sticky post.

  • The best chances for interesting item drops come from boss packs: champions (berserker, fanatic, ghostly, possessed) and uniques. Odds are about as good for uniques' minions, and not quite as good from regular monsters.
  • I find that wearing MF "better chance of getting magic item" equipment improves drop odds for all defeated monsters, and for just one poppable in Ancient Tunnels (the special chest), but doesn't affect MF chances for regular poppables such as jars and urns.
  • /players3 puts more boss packs into the AT and makes the special chest drop more stuff, but also gives all the monsters more hit points, and the hero more experience when they're slain. Even more boss packs and hit points at /players5, and still more at /players7. (The even-numbered /p settings only increase monsters' hit points and XP, but I don't think they bump up boss counts.)
My blizzard sorceress is loaded up wih MF gear instead of +skills stuff. I usually make her run AT at /p1, so she can kill a few bosses quickly and then hurry to another run.

In the RFL third round, happening right now (come join us, dokhogg!), rune drops from chests and other "poppables" are disqualified. The reason for the rule is to encourage players to focus their limited time on monsters, which are more likely to yield high-scoring runes. This makes the competition more fruitful and exciting for us, particularly when the jaw-dropping finds of the winners are revealed.
 
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Are you sure that increased playersetting also increases boss pack number? Never heard that before?
 
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but here's how I understand it after reading stuff I found while browsing the community links sticky post.

  • The best chances for interesting item drops come from boss packs: champions (berserker, fanatic, ghostly, possessed) and uniques. Odds are about as good for uniques' minions, and not quite as good from regular monsters.
  • I find that wearing MF "better chance of getting magic item" equipment improves drop odds for all defeated monsters, and for just one poppable in Ancient Tunnels (the special chest), but doesn't affect MF chances for regular poppables such as jars and urns.
  • /players3 puts more boss packs into the AT and makes the special chest drop more stuff, but also gives all the monsters more hit points, and the hero more experience when they're slain. Even more boss packs and hit points at /players5, and still more at /players7. (The even-numbered /p settings only increase monsters' hit points and XP, but I don't think they bump up boss counts.)
My blizzard sorceress is loaded up wih MF gear instead of +skills stuff. I usually make her run AT at /p1, so she can kill a few bosses quickly and then hurry to another run.

In the RFL third round, happening right now (come join us, dokhogg!), rune drops from chests and other "poppables" are disqualified. The reason for the rule is to encourage players to focus their limited time on monsters, which are more likely to yield high-scoring runes. This makes the competition more fruitful and exciting for us, particularly when the jaw-dropping finds of the winners are revealed.
A little late to join the RFL, maybe next time! I have a lot going on with RL right now and I am only passed run 200 this weekend....I therefore only average 10 runs a day...hopefully things will slow down and I will get more gaming time in soon and be able to finish my little project before the end of May!
 
The best chances for interesting item drops come from boss packs: champions (berserker, fanatic, ghostly, possessed) and uniques. Odds are about as good for uniques' minions, and not quite as good from regular monsters.
The best chances of drops come only from the Boss of the pack, not its minions. The minions have the same chance of items as regular monsters.
I find that wearing MF "better chance of getting magic item" equipment improves drop odds for all defeated monsters, and for just one poppable in Ancient Tunnels (the special chest), but doesn't affect MF chances for regular poppables such as jars and urns.
Magic Find works with everything. Chests, Corpses, Barrels and so on. It doesn't affect Gabling though.
players3 puts more boss packs into the AT and makes the special chest drop more stuff, but also gives all the monsters more hit points, and the hero more experience when they're slain. Even more boss packs and hit points at /players5, and still more at /players7. (The even-numbered /p settings only increase monsters' hit points and XP, but I don't think they bump up boss counts
Player settings do not add any more monsters in the game but they reduce the "no drop chance" regular monsters have, leading to more items from those. However, higher player settings do not have any effect on unique monsters because they always drop the same amount of items. Therefore, farming them at players 1 is actually more efficient than higher player setting since anything above P1 will probably reduce your kill speed. Increase your player settings only if it doesn't delay your kill speed.

My blizzard sorceress is loaded up wih MF gear instead of +skills stuff. I usually make her run AT at /p1, so she can kill a few bosses quickly and then hurry to another run.
If you are aiming for items, this is indeed the most efficient way to do it. Target a unique monster and proceed to the next one. Higher player settings will increase the chances of getting a unique item from regular monsters too but the chances are abysmal.
 
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These make sense, @Excalibur - I probably saw the effects of decreased chance of no-drop at higher player settings and falsely interpreted the ground littered with items as evidence of more monsters.

After the RFL, I'll have to practice popping lots of poppables with various levels of MF. I haven't yet perceived a difference for those.
 
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If it helps, I did 5,000 AT runs back when my knees didn't crack when I stood up;
 
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If it helps, I did 5,000 AT runs back when my knees didn't crack when I stood up;
why cant i view the results in this thread? i have to log in on a different site and then it says i dont have admin rights to log in
 
why cant i view the results in this thread? i have to log in on a different site and then it says i dont have admin rights to log in



[highlight]Runs Completed:[/highlight] 5000
[highlight]TC87s:[/highlight] 38
[highlight]TC3s:[/highlight] 10
[highlight]High Runes:[/highlight] 9


Results

426mf.


Helmet:

Armour

Belt:

Boots:

Gloves:

Amulet:

Ring 1:

Ring 2:

Weapon:

Shield:

Switch Weapon:

Switch Shield:



Merc Weapon:

Merc Helmet:

Merc Armour:



I opted not to go for my usual 3 piece Tal simply because I'm bored of it, so I used a different set up this time, including the CoH which I almost never use on a non questing character.

At the end, I'll create haul pics, because they look good :loving:

I'll post non tc87/3/high rune drops as I go, just the nicer ones.


I hope you will keep up with my progress, this is timed quite well actually because I can use the MTO thread for inspiration, via the haul pics :)


Re: 5000 Ancient Tunnel Runs: A bid to finish the grail by Christmas!

[highlight]Finished![/highlight]

[highlight]Runs Completed:[/highlight] 5000
[highlight]TC87s:[/highlight] 38
[highlight]TC3s:[/highlight] 10
[highlight]High Runes:[/highlight] 9


Not a single TC87 in my final 250 runs, which was really sad :(

Still, as you can see I didn't exactly have 'poor' results;









This leaves me requiring 9 grailers;
Lenymo
Stormlash
Astreon's
Death's Web
Atma's Scarab
Metalgrid
Spirit Keeper
Sander's Paragon
Griswold's Honour
 
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Well I finally got around to completing my 500 runs! I am rather slow when I do it and don't get a chance to play a whole lot every day. My gear changed a bit throughout as I found better stuff but in the end I had Oculus, Spirit Shield, 4 socket Balrog Skin with 4 P Topaz, Mara's, 2 Nagelring, Arachnid Mesh, and War Travelers, Gheed's and several MF small charms and ended up with 350 MF.

I started out the first 10 runs at players 3, then players 5, as I got confident I moved up to players 7 at run 25. I switched maps several times to change things up a bit. I got bored with the first one and decided to find another and I really regret that. The first one was very straightforward, basically walking in a big circle with no backtracking at all, so I could do it faster. I died several times from not fully paying attention and having quick enough reaction time to TP away from danger. My merc also died several times.

I didn't keep track of any sets items although I wish I would have. I also only tracked Elite Uniques based in a list of them I printed off, whether they are actually still considered really good or not, any MF 7% MF small charms, skiller charms, and runes Pul and higher. I did Ancient Tunnels as its a new level 85 area and has no cold immunes. I needed to find some better gear and runes to start making decent runewords. Looking at the list below, I think Ancient Tunnels is a pretty awesome new level 85 area and my luck was pretty awesome.

3. Razor's Edge
9. Demonhorn's Edge
16. Gargoyles Bite
18. Arachnid Mesh
19. Steelshade
20. Bloodmoon
21. Demon's Arch
23. Shadow Killer
37. Lo
38. Cham
46. Ber
57. Mal
85. Necro curses skiller
90. Mal
121. Nord's Tenderizer
123. Bloodmoon
130. Kira's Guardian
131. 7% MF Small Charm
149. Um
182. Amazon Skiller, Jav and Spear with 1-31 lightning damage
211. Um
218. Stormshield
251. The Grandfather
272. Ethereal Nord's Tenderizer
323. Arioc's Needle
326. Vex, Druid Elemental Skiller
363. Arkaine's Valor
367. Fleshripper
375. Djinn Slayer
383. Arioc's Needle
384. Rune Master
397. Ethereal Ormus' Robes
399. Shako
444. Blood Raven's Charge
467. Elemental Druid skiller, Viperfork
469. Perfect Mara's!
493. Ohm, Bonehew.

9 high runes (I guess what I consider high runes), total of 173 Uniques with 26 of them being Elite Uniques. Again, I didn't count Set Items but should have. I also found more MF small charms that were not 7% and didn't include those or other various good charms.

The only runes I have used so far is the Lo, which I used with other runes I already had to make Grief for my Barb.

Please let me know what you think!

dokhogg
 
Nice results! Higher runes (Cham, Ber) than I would have expected to be honest! I haven't kept count of runs when I did those in the past, so I don't have such a good bearing on what would be expected, but it certainly inspires me to give it a go this time around!
 
Actually, now thinking about doing this with my sorc, and I'm curious: what kind of merc did you run on these?
 
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