The Official Ex-RuST SCL "Journey to Hell" Group Thread

[Be-Were]

multiple responses, for the most part we are killing all that is in our way, ill admit that palace wasnt a good place, but in whosever defense that ran it, if you run from corner to corner you will only encounter like 5-7 monsters a lvl total, so thats not a huge deal, we are doing MUCH more killing since then, and although some ppl are higher lvls, i suggest we just do like 3-4 baal runs, the lower lvls will get a full lvl or so on the run, whereas us that are higher (44-45) will only get like 1/4 to 1/2 lvl quickly closing the gap between us...
Secondly, the exp penalty/gain, nightmare monsters clvls are lower than what my lvl is, so i get an exp penalty killing it dont i? so i only get something like 75% of it, wheras wathombe being 4-5 lvls lower is still below that monsters lvl so he gets 100% (90% cause im 5 lvls higher right?) so hes still getting 15% more exp than me, and since hes lower lvl, he will close the gap wont he? correct me if im wrong, but in long games if someone is behind i NEVER have seen them stay far behind just because of the exponential growth of the lvl up exp, i believe this will start kicking in big time around lvl 55-60 which we should be at b4 baal in NM...
Lastly, a mention on gear, weve started throwing away low lvls sets (very good that we can do this already) just keep an eye out for some useful parts of low lvl sets and or useful low lvl uniques because its a huge help sometimnes (i.e. watch out for deaths gloves, for tlaloc, or other items that provide huge bonuses with other set parts...)

 

[Ax2Grind]

I'm the one that ran the palace in normal. It's a pain in single-player (solo) and an even bigger pain being a summoner. One wolf/skeleton fighting at a door way takes far too long. Given their monster levels we didn't lose much and, as was said, only a few monsters anyway.

As for the [L=http://www.purediablo.com/guides/news.php?id=551#Experience]level penalty[/L], in nightmare the [L=http://www.purediablo.com/guides/news.php?id=551#Area Levels]monster levels[/L] are within reason, and playing alone just a few hours ago I leveled twice. True, it took a while because I'm a summoner and those damn shamans raise everything my pups just gnawed to death (dire wolves needed there), but I can only imagine what I would've gotten in multiplayer. With that said...

It's not scouting in the actual definition of the word, but those two or three more powerful builds running ahead killing everything while I lag behind picking up gold because no one else does. We talked about power builds and which would be best to pick for a party purpose like this, so I chose a druid summoner and it's turning out to be a pain. Until I can get a thorn merc, the spirit returning high damage and enough life into the wolves to survive elemental attacks it's pretty weak. Running the countess a few times the merc (prayer) died quite a lot and my resistances and defense - which stink - proved a severe detriment. I'm aware of the danger as much as, or more than, anyone else, so I'm the classic support character right now. Only time will tell if a pure druid summoner can be successful on his own.

 

[wathombe]

Just a quick post, as we're scrambling to get the house ready for our guests, who arrive in less than two hours.

Christmas break: I would strongly prefer that we take a two-day break from questing and levelling. Not only do we all have family obligations (like them or not), but this will also give some of us a chance to catch up in levels, gear, merc levels, or whatever. Much easier to sneak thirty minutes here or an hour there than to have a scheduled start time that takes you away from holiday activities. I propose we NOT quest/level on the nights of Friday and Saturday (that's Saturday and Sunday afternoon for you, Sokar). I may or may not be able to get on tonight (Thursday), as I'm not sure how late we'll visit with our guests.

Scouting/level gap: I'll have to address this more later, but as we get higher in level, the levelling will slow down, and those of us who are behind will catch up.

Gotta go.

 

[Merick1]

Until I can get a thorn merc, the spirit returning high damage and enough life into the wolves to survive elemental attacks it's pretty weak.

A might merc and a HoW will result in much more damage than thorns and barbs for a druid summoner. You probably have a might merc already in yoir party, but spirit of barbs won't negate anything's life replenish in hell.

 

[dnmorton]

A might merc and a HoW will result in much more damage than thorns and barbs for a druid summoner. You probably have a might merc already in yoir party, but spirit of barbs won't negate anything's life replenish in hell.

We are not actually in A2NM yet, but I agree with the gist of your post. I was quite surprised to see SoB..... HoW or Oak seems much more usefull, especially in a party.

I thought I was the one to run to Arcane. I just never do those levels even when I'm not rushing, they are a pain, short, and the arcane gives all the exp you need at those levels. I'm quite a bit more upset that we hit the summoner on the first try, now there is some lost XP.

PS : I have 2 4os swords just waiting for some lovin....

PPS : Enchant is the king!!

 

[Sokar Rostau]

I hadn't thought of that Wathombe, those of us that are a bit behind will catch up in act 1 NM, but it may be a little slow for some. It would still be good if we tried to stay close because when you are the 'right' level for an area you level up just as fast in Hell Den of Evil as you do in Normal (3-4 levels in full party for Den alone). One of the reasons, it seems, people don't like actually playing the game is that once out of Normal, in order to survive, people miss out on the gratification of constant rewards. We will start to level fast again soon and we should try and clear as much of act 3 as possible. It is the largest act with the most damn flayers (and I think that's where +skill charms start to drop)

Ax2Grind it's up to you but I wouldn't waste any points into the SoB. The other two Spirits are much more useful for you and us. When I last made a Summoner Druid I used a pike and stabbed things from behind the pups (they make fantastic meatshields), I used Oak Sage for obvious reasons but found myself travelling a lot faster with Wolverine. We really have no need for Thorns in any form because Wathombe's Rogue is using Edge which has lvl 15 Thorns Aura, this leaves open a position for mercenary for someone else. Unless someone has a better idea, I would suggest a Barbarian Merc, so that he can grant us with Sanctuary (well it's only really helping those of us in melee, but it helps in the long run), courtesy of Lawbringer Amn Lem Ko. For you're Spirit it's up to you but we won't be able to afford Pride (Concentration) or Faith (Fanaticism), so Wolverine will be very useful in making us all kill just that little bit faster (especially my skellies ). Oak Sage will just help everyone stay alive, plain and simple. Another thing is that as a Hunter you can provide us an additional aura we wouldn't otherwise have, Harmony - Tir Ith Sol Ko (lol we got the Tirith part right, wrong item and wrong order but the word showed up lol) - has level 10 Vigour and to make it even more attractive for you, it has the added benefit of being one of the 2 new r/w that provides an oSkill in the form of a lvl 2 - 6 Valkyrie :thumbsup: . Actually both Wathombe and I could use this but Wathombe needs explosive bolts and I need the +skills from using a shrunken head or my skellies are just plain useless and I am primarily a Summoner.

On a sidenote, something I found very useful for a Summoner Druid is having 3 different minions for different situations. It's great because you can attack with low damage and high diversion, medium damage with medium diversion, or high damage, no diversion. Spirit Wolves are great for clearing doorways, especially in places like act 2, where you can have 2 meatshields in front of you, 2 attacking from behind the enemy pack and one harrassing the summoner/caster. They are just good anywhere it's crowded. Dire Wolves are are very balanced and best to use most of the time, and their (just don't eat all my damn skeletons), and bears are really good against bosses. Come to think of it when maxed all three attacks probably do roughly the same damage when added up (5 dire wolves doing say 10 damage each, or a bear doing 50 damage).

Just to get my head in order can everyone help me fill this out? I know someone (Be-Were?) is making Insight to put on a merc, just dunno who or which.

Rogue, Edge (Thorns aura) - Wathombe
Mighty Merc, (no extras) - Sokar
Holy Freeze - ?
Blessed Aim - ?
Prayer - ?
Defience - ? (currently me, but changing at 1st opportunity)
Cold Iron Wolf - ?
Barbarian, Lawbringer (Sanctuary, lvl 15 Decrepify) - ?
Other

I think the highest runes we can count on are Lem and Fal so there's no point planning on runewords higher than about Edge, Lawbringer, Harmony, Insight. Things like Crescent Moon and Duress are not out of the question though.

Wathombe what did you make Edge in and will you remake it later? This is a great merc weapon that your Rogue could keep forever (assuming pure pvm).

Assuming I find nothing better I may end up making Honour for my merc, unless someone has any cheap runeword i hadn't thought of in mind.

Whoever gets a Barbarian Lawbringer will be a real relp to us because his 20% ctc Decrepify will be much more powerful than mine. It should have a large enough radius that I can cast individual curses on some things.

I may be a bit late tonight too because it's Christamas eve so not sure when I'll be on.

 

[wathombe]

Quick post (guests are here):

I made Edge in a Cedar Bow, and I'm using it myself atm, as my merc is not yet clvl 25. When I eventually get a bow/xbow with explosive arrows/bolts, I'll shift the Edge to my merc. I could remake it eventually in something faster, like a Blade Bow or Great Bow, but not until my merc gains some levels.

I may or may not be on tonight, depending on when everybody nods off (and how quiet I can be). (Great, I'll be further behind. :uhhuh: )

 

[Be-Were]

multiple things....
I would prefer to get myself a might merc, unless i got a ethereal elite weapon for oath, or even something like (more likely to obtain) obediance, i really dont do too much dmg with a max synergied venge...
I would suggest maxing your bear and wolves they are monsters later and actually get heart of the wolverine high lvl too cause that is a huge help for both your summons and the rest of the party...
anything else ill see ya all tonite hopefully...

 

[AlphaOmega4]

my merc barb is lvl 38, and i really wouldnt care to change now

 

[Ax2Grind]

This is why I chose this build

A might merc and a HoW will result in much more damage than thorns and barbs for a druid summoner. You probably have a might merc already in yoir party, but spirit of barbs won't negate anything's life replenish in hell.

We are not actually in A2NM yet, but I agree with the gist of your post. I was quite surprised to see SoB..... HoW or Oak seems much more usefull, especially in a party.

Ax2Grind it's up to you but I wouldn't waste any points into the SoB. The other two Spirits are much more useful for you and us. When I last made a Summoner Druid I used a pike and stabbed things from behind the pups (they make fantastic meatshields), I used Oak Sage for obvious reasons but found myself travelling a lot faster with Wolverine. We really have no need for Thorns in any form because Wathombe's Rogue is using Edge which has lvl 15 Thorns Aura, this leaves open a position for mercenary for someone else. Unless someone has a better idea, I would suggest a Barbarian Merc, so that he can grant us with Sanctuary (well it's only really helping those of us in melee, but it helps in the long run), courtesy of Lawbringer Amn Lem Ko. For you're Spirit it's up to you but we won't be able to afford Pride (Concentration) or Faith (Fanaticism), so Wolverine will be very useful in making us all kill just that little bit faster (especially my skellies ). Oak Sage will just help everyone stay alive, plain and simple. Another thing is that as a Hunter you can provide us an additional aura we wouldn't otherwise have, Harmony - Tir Ith Sol Ko (lol we got the Tirith part right, wrong item and wrong order but the word showed up lol) - has level 10 Vigour and to make it even more attractive for you, it has the added benefit of being one of the 2 new r/w that provides an oSkill in the form of a lvl 2 - 6 Valkyrie :thumbsup: . Actually both Wathombe and I could use this but Wathombe needs explosive bolts and I need the +skills from using a shrunken head or my skellies are just plain useless and I am primarily a Summoner.

On a sidenote, something I found very useful for a Summoner Druid is having 3 different minions for different situations. It's great because you can attack with low damage and high diversion, medium damage with medium diversion, or high damage, no diversion. Spirit Wolves are great for clearing doorways, especially in places like act 2, where you can have 2 meatshields in front of you, 2 attacking from behind the enemy pack and one harrassing the summoner/caster. They are just good anywhere it's crowded. Dire Wolves are are very balanced and best to use most of the time, and their (just don't eat all my damn skeletons), and bears are really good against bosses. Come to think of it when maxed all three attacks probably do roughly the same damage when added up (5 dire wolves doing say 10 damage each, or a bear doing 50 damage).

I would suggest maxing your bear and wolves they are monsters later and actually get heart of the wolverine high lvl too cause that is a huge help for both your summons and the rest of the party...

Druid pure builds (maximized skills):
Hunter: Raven/Spirit Wolves/Dire Wolves/Grizzly/Spirit of Barbs
Shocktrooper: Lycanthropy/Werebear/Maul/Shockwave/Solar Creeper
Beast: Lycanthropy/Werebear/Hunger/Oak Sage/Carrion Vine
Rampager: Lycanthropy/Werewolf/Feral Rage/Fury/Heart of Wolverine
Infector: Lycanthropy/Werewolf/Rabies/Fire Claws/Poison Creeper
Stormtrooper: Arctic Blast/Cyclone Armor/Twister/Tornado/Hurricane
Hellbringer: Firestorm/Molten Boulder/Fissure/Volcano/Armageddon

As you can see, with the exception of Lycanthropy/Werebear/Werewolf for obvious reasons, there isn't a single duplicated skill, as is the intention with pure builds - four shapeshifters and three plain clothesmen sounds about right. You can apply the non-duplicative principle to all pure build setups for each class.

Starting with elementalists, there's practically no point to using some of these skills without maxing much of their synergies, that's what makes a build capable of dealing enough damage in 1.10 now. You'd do the same with a Charged Bolt or Lightning sorceress as well (Charged Bolt/Lightning/Chain Lightning/Nova/Lightning Mastery). The shifters max their own abilities, with feral-fury going for multiple high-damage hits, werementalist with hit-and-run poison (using Fire Claws against ItP monsters), a beast with more life than even Baal and a shocktrooper to silence the most stubborn of enemies - hence he needs Solar Creeper more than any other caster due to his faster mana use and inability to leech when using Shockwave.

The summoner is the only one capable of fulfilling the wolf/bear synergy, and should probably go for Ravens due to ranged attacks being the biggest pain. This means your pets will be able to get right up in their face (Dim Vision curse that Ravens cast) making return damage possible even against archers - as long as the target is standing next to the shooter thorns/barbs/maiden all work. Only elemental attacks, especially those that are ranged, serve as a problem as those three abilities work in combination to return over 2000% damage. If it's alright for a sorc to max those lightning skills then it's alright for a summoner to max damage returned with Thorns merc, Spirit of Barbs and Iron Maiden curse. Let's be honest - if this doesn't put a dent into monsters then these auras are at most anti-melee PvP and hideously pointless against monsters and PvP casters/range.

A point I made playing a medic was, even fully synergized, Sanctuary was useless for damage and only desirable for its knockback radius against undead. With the Meditation polearm on a Prayer merc a medic could run Cleansing full time using the Sanctuary weapon (or switch to the maxed aura and FCR when need be). With a druid summoner all I need is mana to recast a pup, not a corpse. A monster hits a pup for 200 damage, it takes 4000 back. If the pup survives it'll return more damage, if not I simply recast - that's the technique, or at least it was. With a Harmony blade bow there are more targets for enemies, in Revive and Valkyrie (latter not needing a corpse), as well as Vigor to get up and personal to ranged attackers much quicker.

I've already designed the build for this in mind - heart doesn't benefit casters and sage, while nice, is overused and unnecessary since it isn't a player that's taking the damage but recastable summons - and I'd have to restart the build yet again so as to not waste skill points. No one uses Spirit because it's a theme skill, one needing other sources of damage return. Few builds can accomplish this and the two most effective are a necromancer and druid (a paladin can, but it's harder getting both barb and maiden charges). A pure necro summoner uses a Might merc, Amplify Damage and anything else at his disposal to max damage, so I'm likely to be redundant using the same aura merc that Sokar will on his slight variation (pure summonmancers max Skeleton Mastery/Raise Skeleton/Skeleton Mage/Revive/Summon Resist and utilize +skills to help whatever golem they choose as well as amp/maiden/armor/etc. - Lower Resist isn't possible with four pre-requisites in the summoning page, so technically he's using a variant since he won't use Revive).

{RANT=Saved4Last}I talked briefly about this earlier and no one had a problem. Seems everyone is worried about me maxing their damage when they're already running ahead killing everything while the summoners are left behind to pick up the gold and scraps of experience. This is why I have to level privately after every session, if I didn't I'd still be CLvl30. Even my merc is picking up exp now and I'm almost ready to dump him, so you can see the effort I went through just to make a Prayer merc as useful to the party as possible. I'm not exactly pleased with the accusations of me being party-unfriendly. None of these spirits prevent you from being hit, this one only punishes the monster doing the hitting and possibly causes hit recovery animation to allow the target to retreat to the safety of the pack. A medic can't survive playing by himself, neither can a lightning amazon (not many ItLs out there but those that are are enough to kill her) and the same might be said for an alpha hunter. With the opportunity to play with a group at all times this was the ideal way to prove it one way or the other while still providing an important service to the party. Seems others don't see it that way.{/RANT}

 

[wathombe]

Morning, all. Merry Christmas to you, Sokar.

Firstly, I'd like to think everybody was trying to be helpful by pointing out to Ax what they perceived as a disadvantageous spirit. Ax is, of course, right, in that one of the great things about playing in a dedicated group like this is that you can try out builds you wouldn't normally use. raskol's medic, my bow/static field enchantress, and Ax's hunter would not work solo or even in a smaller group, perhaps. In that light, I think we should all be encouraged to try out skills we wouldn't otherwise be able to use or max.

Personally, I didn't know Barbs and Thorns stacked until I asked Ax about it on our way into Blood Raven Wednesday night. (You'll notice after you told me I shut up.) By the time we hit the end of nm/early hell, I'll have max enchant and max static field, so we'll only be dealing with half hit points in any given area, if I can get there before all the monsters are killed.

That, by the way, is the real problem with scouting. The slower characters, support characters, or characters who are actually sifting through drops don't get any experience b/c everything's dead by the time those characters catch up. Let's try to slow it down so we can all contribute and reap the rewards.

***IMPORTANT*** I didn't make it on last night (Thursday). Could someone please post whether or not there was any group play and questing last night, and if so what was the highest quest, wp, and level achieved? As there has been no dissent so far, I will assume that we are all in agreement to take a break from questing on Friday and Saturday nights. Personally, I will try to log on and catch up my level and my merc's level. Those who are already at max level may want to mf (although Countess or Baal runs might cause you to level, so be careful with those). Even with five-plus people on, however, we should not quest or advance in level, as some people will not be able to get on at all due to family obligations, et cetera.

See everyone soon.

 

[Sokar Rostau]

I went on about 3:30 with the intention of staying for about 1/2hr - 45min. I stayed until about 6pm but there weren't enough people for a game on. I think the most online at once was 4 of us for maybe 15 min all in mf or catchup games. I got up to level 40 and Stony Field (?) wp.

AO4 I didn't know we already had a barb merc, sweet, I'll keep an eye out for rare helms and swords for him. Had I known I wouldn't have sold the rare +2 Bash Horned Helm I found last night.

First off, about the Thorns merc, the reason I said get something else is that we have the Thorns provided by Wathombe's Edge bow, so if someone has a Thorns merc the Thorns will pulse between the two levels. In the long run the merc will have higher Thorns but that won't be until we are almost finished with Hell, so the highest level Thorns we can expect for the majority of the time is from the Edge. If you want the Thorns merc just remember that at low levels his Thorns is useless and only serves to interrupt the lvl 15 Edge aura and then at higher levels the Edge will interfere with your merc's much higher level aura. It's not a matter of me saying don't get a Thorn's merc because Thorns is useless, it isn't, but don't get a Thorn's merc because we already have one.

Come to think of it I just thought of the solution. Ax should get a Rogue merc and use Wathombe's Edge when he is done with it. When solo Wathombe's only use for that bow is for gambling (there must be a Gambler's Anonymous out there for Sorc's somewhere, they can't all gamble that much and not be considered addicts...), because Thorns is detrimental and pessimistic for a Sorc of any build to use (well, there might actually be one exception to that, hmmm). I am unsure if Wathombe is using ES, but, if so then a merc weilding Insight will suit him better for mad ES regeneration. If he wants to keep his Rogue (I know there is a good reason Be-Were wants to keep the Insight for himself but there's no reason for us not to have two Insight mercs either, because even if we had one perfect and one perfectly imperfect there would be no noticeable difference in mana regeneration) you may be better to use a Harmony Bow for Valkyrie and Revives, because a Sorc has more use for these than a Summoning Druid, and give your Rogue the Kuko. Actually you both (Ax and Wathombe) could both use Harmony, both Aura's will be the same level. Now Wathombe has the Vigour aura and Ax2Grind gets the Thorns so there is no need for us to get a Thorns merc. Auras are yet another very good reason for us all to stick together.

Ax2Grind if you want to use SoB fine use it, it's your character but there are very sound reasons to use HoW instead. Druid Summoners have a huge advantage over Necro's in that they do not need corpses to summon and can therefore do so tactically. With all your Summonables maxed you have an arsenal to deal with all situations, as I mentioned in a previous post, and you can use your Spirits in the same way (HoW for Spirit Wolves and SoB for Grizzly maybe). My SP summoner's (who is, mostly, untwinked because I don't have access to ATMA on a Mac. I did get a few items, like Jalal's, from a friend over Open once though) build is max Raven's, Spirit Wolves, Dire Wolves, Grizzly with remaining points in Spirits (I put 1pt each then equal points in Sage and HoW). Raven's are not a matter of will I or won't I, they have an unlisted synergy which solves a problem you were talking about. Every point in Ravens gives your Wolves and Grizzly +2 All Resist. Besides, by Act5 Hell you will appreciate their speed and ability to Blind and still kill things (like those teleporting imps). Spirit Wolves are the weakest of your pets and this is why I said use HoW over SoB. It will give your weakest pets a boost in killing power when you use them and also makes the most damaging summonable in the game , your Grizzly, even more potent. You will also find Oak Sage to be of use in those times when your Spirit Wolves are dealing with so many enemies that they die before you can re-summon them. Also don't forget that I use Decrepify against fast enemies, and even Weaken for very large groups sometimes, so this will make your SoB less effective. If you have equally levelled Spirits you can cast according to your needs, My lvl 96 Palazons use a lvl 4 HoW, when they have the gold to recharge, and they survive decently in Hell but for a Druid the re-summoning is free and infrequent enough to not be a mana drain. You also seem to be basing your damage calculations from SoB on my use of Iron Maiden, don't. I don't use Iron Maiden at all. I am already constantly casting different curses and don't have the hotkeys left for any more.

The Palace. Of course if you run from corner to corner you will only encounter a few nasties. If you actually clear the floors you will find some rooms that are totally packed with experience giving skeletons and Raiders. I always do the Palace and almost always level once per difficulty down there.

There was more I wanted to say (like about people moving on while us summoners are trying to pick up gold and stuff to buy the potions we miss out on because everybody else got there first), but I forget and I'm a little drunk already (Still?? Happy Ho Ho Ho Holidays) which is why this post probably makes less sense than I would like....

 

[wathombe]

Merry Christmas again, Sokar. Glad you're tipping a few. We're about to crack out our egg nog and brandy here.

Good to know that there was some mf and such last night but no questing. I should be able to catch up to 44-45 by the time we start again on Sunday night (Monday afternoon in Australia).

As for mercs/bows: I cannot use a Harmony as my endgame weapon. I must have one of the four exploding arrow/bolt uniques (if I am to remain a bow enchantress instead of melee). I would like to keep my rogue; her with a faster Edge and me with 2000 dmg exploding arrows/bolts, both of us able to teleport and fire from anywhere (b/c she teleports with me), is a nice artillery section. (Also, you mention a Kuko. Is that the projected Kuko that we will eventually find, or has someone found one and is holding out on me? )

Everybody enjoy their holidays. We're going to a Christmas Eve service at 11, but if I can get on for a bit late once all the creatures have stopped stirring, I will do so for some Meph/Baal runs for my merc and myself, respectively. Later...

 

[Ax2Grind]

I misinterpreted the days we weren't playing. Here, the 1-3AM was Christmas Eve, so being a bit tired I was glad we weren't playing. Maybe being tired caused my thinking to be a bit cloudy, sorry. Going to be a pain not leveling for three straight days, but I have items/gems/etc. for people, so if they let me know ahead of time that they'll be on I can find them and dump to clear some space for more hunting.

As for the duplicate aura, I honestly don't think, even if Wathombe keeps the Rogue, that she'll still be using that same bow in hell. It just doesn't do the damage necessary and we're likely to find something else for her. Even if we don't we need to find a happy medium between the scouters and the summoners. If Wathombe still has the aura then we can group into fours by splitting the melee characters, ranged characters and support characters into two groups about a full screen apart or slightly more. We'd still gain all of our experience from the other group but we'd cover a larger area clearing it quicker and at the same time discourage the melee characters from running ahead, seeing as they won't have the support of the other melee character to egg them even further. The more powerful the auras get the wider their radii will be, so practicing this technique will have great benefits.

Let me kow what you think.

 

[wathombe]

I was able to get on late last night for about an hour (I was quite alone). Got my merc up two levels to 24 and my sorc up two levels to 40. Enchant is now maxed, and Warmth is three levels away from max.

Found a few items:
Isenhart's shield
Sander's boots
Hwanin's belt
Rusthandle (unique grand scepter, + to vengeance, + to pal skills, +3 thorns)

I assume the scepter will be of interest to Sparticus. Let me know if anyone is working on any of those sets.

I also found a Duskdeep and a Sparking Mail, both of which were improvements over my gear, so I am using them.

Did my Countess: Eth Ral (and one of the uniques above, forget which). I cubed the Ral b/c I needed room. Hope no one needed it...

Hope to see everyone tonight. My guests have to nod off by ten for me to get online, but hopefully I'll be lucky. :xsmile:

 

[dnmorton]

Hey all, EchoingRuin here:

1) I will not be able to make it tonight. I'm home for the holidays, and home has serious lag issues I will be back to my place on tuesday though, se you all then.

2) Spart actually has a rusthandle already

 

[wathombe]

Morning, all.

Spart, Sokar, and I were the only ones on last night, so we did a Countess run and a few Baal runs for items (and experience for me). I stayed on a bit to level my merc (31 now!), but mostly it was an early night. We'll see who makes it on tonight (Monday), then Tuesday Echo will be back (I think someone has a belt for you incidentally).

I'm at level 42 now, I believe Sokar is 43 and Spart is 47/48 (he picked up a level helping the two of us with Baal runs...sorry). If I can sneak on at all this afternoon (guests still in town), I should be able to get my merc close to 40, and if so she'll level with us in nightmare, at least for a while.

See everyone tonight...

 

[Ax2Grind]

USWest: Turned out to be four nights without playing, looks like. I'll be available tonight assuming everyone else is. Haven't been playing at all because I needed to empty my character of gems, runes and other items. No one has messaged me telling me they're going to be on so I have to wait to go from Black Marsh to Radament just for my merc.

TBPH, I thought I'd be in hell by now, this way when the USEast JoTH starts I'd be able to play with them after completing USWest. Looks like I'll be playing both simultaneously - not good. On the plus side I have a possible additional member for the east JoTH.

All: The regular I play with, which I've mentioned, seems to be getting somewhat irritated by to exorbitant number of player-killers out there interrupting the Baal runs. He's tried ignoring them and Alt+Tabbing to play cribbage as well as other, more verbal, methods, all with varying degrees of success depending on the individual, but he wants gauranteed victory - hence he wants an player-killer--killer. He still remembers the .10 bonemancer that nailed him quick in non-ladder (busted item-finder paladin doesn't stand much of a chance) and he figures it's the pure one to go with. Since I have a pure hammerdin (Rotissierge) it's probably ideal for a one-two punch if we get another team PK in the game again. If someone has a difference of opinion on this or a problem with him joining the east JoTH let me know.

He'd been following the RuST off and on through the two jobs he was holding and been moderately helpful in tossing runes/socketed items my way. Since he won't have to worry about the beginning gear he can target his final gear when we finish the game. Ideal since he's never played the build before and won't be too overpowering in the group. He's also a consummate player, refuses to cheat and is always involved with body recovery when someone gets whacked during a Baal run (yet another reason he's still L95 with his summonmancer). If we allow the first technically-non--RuST player into the group I'd suggest him. I'll toss the idea his way but I'm going to need confirmation on the build concept as a PKK (or anti-playerkiller), then whether it fits the group and then to allow him in. I'm only going to offer the possibility if it's up for grabs, not suggest it to him then hope you agree. That's a bit wrong, some of you will understand.

List all the player currently in each JoTH and other people who desire to enter (*Vahdriss being one of them). Corporeal Ghost (*LiquidFury/*PlutoniYum) knows who I'm talking of so he can vouch. This way we'll be more prepared for either one or two groups.

USEast: The mules accounts are being reordered. SocketedMules is now the socketing items account, with a character devoted to each grade of gem (twelve of each variety, but not all yet full), one with junk jewels, another to runes and another for overflow. This way when you're looking to upgrade runes, socket a low-level mule weapon, craft a bunch of blood gloves or finish that runeword you can grab what you need from this account instantly (or ask someone who knows the password to get it) and worry about refilling it later instead of waiting for the gem/rune/jewel to drop or trading a Harlequin Crest for it.

SocketedCrap, which sounds more appropriate, will be for socketable/socketed/superior items. For instance, that 5OS phase blade is now on there. I'm trying to get something for it but if one of you has the runes for Grief or knows someone willing to trade for it just say so. Also, if you plan on several runeword attempts until you get the variables that satisfy you and have nowhere to stick the extras, here's the spot. Just let everyone know, like someone should've when they grabbed that Spirit sword I made. =P

RuSTMules will become the set/unique/godly rare/jewelry/basically everything else account. I'm going to eventually play some of the characters to wear low-level sets and uniques so as to make space for more, but feel free to do that yourself if need be. Remlin, I believe, was looking for a Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest but it wasn't on there for the quick check I made. If someone knows where it's at or has an extra one laying around and Remlin still needs it, speak up.

Also, we need to think about hellforge rushing again, seeing as we'll be wanting more high runes for the final gear when we're done with the JoTH. These mules are perfect and can be brought into a hell game to grab extra items instead of making a normal transfer game. One-in-eleven chance for a GUL and enough of them cubed can get us some high runes. Where do you think all the JAHs and BERs are coming from? People with eight CD keys and altered .dlls are spending two hours a day rushing themselves and cubing all week long for an Enigma. Don't think they're all dupes - they're not.

Mods: I'm wondering if a clan forum, similar to the one I see in Strategy, is best - or even required - to house threads such as this one or another I have in mind to keep track of the inventory of these group accounts. It might be a great idea, seeing as RuST was technically born on these forums, despite the rather sour way the main thread had to end (damn Blizzard). After all, this thread keeps track of a group in a JoTH endeavor and might not necessarily be appropriate in Statistics. That's no slam on you, Wathombe; this branch is where RuST was born so it's the first choice to continue close ties. I'm just poking some hot tongs into the sides of our hosts {poke, poke}. =]

 

[Remlin]

Yes, I am still looking for Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest. I have the rest of the set(have never had it before). I have probably given half-a-dozen of them away over time and when I now want one it isn't dropping.

I have still been gathering runes to (maybe) someday make an Enigma. People who get find/cube the runes legitimately must put in a LOT of time and do forge rushes. After 50 Hell Countess runs and uncountable NM countess runs and I have cubed up to 1-mal. At this rate I hope they keep this season up until 2007 so that I have a chance.

 

[AlphaOmega4]

i am like 2 days behind and have no idea where you guys last stopped