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

[Merick1]

Wathombe:

Still need available times and desired builds from those not yet in the JoTH.

Merick (Astrofish)

I can be on 6:30-10:00 central time, a bit earlier if nessesary.
I was going to make a lightning spearzon, but I just saw that the west JoTH has one, and I'd kinda like to do something different.

Here's some builds I've been considering, but am not limited to:
Elemental MA assassin
Blade Fury assassin
Fire claws druid

 

[Corporeal Ghost]

One in each group so far, so as for the build conflicting with mine... I'm pretty defensive in nature, assuming I get the final skills laid out properly to combine medic and cleric into the ultimate build. Tesladin is defnitely offensive so that's just a bit too far to go.

Was referring to the Lem/Ko runes in both Lawbringer and Voice of Reason.

 

[wathombe]

Morning, all.

Was fun to just wander around with the three of us last night, doing some levelling and item-finding. I'm definitely ready to get questing again tonight. tlaloc wrote me back, and had gotten distracted, first by GTA, then by the new Metal Gear. I understand so well... I haven't heard from AO4. Hopefully two of Spart, Sokar, and raskol will be back on tonight. (EDIT: Sorry, was unclear here; tlaloc will try to get on tonight and catch up, although I think he only missed one full session.)

Echo: Understood, I knew it would be difficult. What I will try to do is enchant all mercs/minions in town, then quickly enchant characters at wp/tp before you shout. Then I'll watch for the BC to wear off, and refresh chants before you refresh BC. It will be much easier, I think, for you just to give me five seconds to chant everybody before you shout than to avoid hitting me with BC. The key will be getting the whole party to hold up by wp/tp before charging ahead. I guess if they want chants and shouts, they'll have no choice. With communication, I think we'll be fine.

Got some catching up to do at work today, so I don't know if I'll be forum-crawling and item-researching like I was yesterday, but I should be online tonight. See ya then.

 

[dnmorton]

Merick : We have a lightning Javazon on west, not a spearazon. If you want to go spear it will be an original build.

Wathombe : I can do that plan. Forgive me, but watching for BC to wear off: Isn't that as much work or more than making sure you have a BC on when you chant? ......Whatever, if you want to do it your way, I'm fine with that.

 

[wathombe]

Forgive me, but watching for BC to wear off: Isn't that as much work or more than making sure you have a BC on when you chant?

That would certainly result in better damage (100 pts or so) for everyone's chants, but it makes it difficult to refresh chants on the fly.

A fully synergized BC wears off in about 6 minutes, whereas at current lvl + items, my chants are about 12 minutes. Generally, when any part of the party is running from area to area, I'll try to hit as many players/mercs/minions with refresh chants as I can, just so they don't wear off in the middle of a fight. If we've started clearing an area, my BC has worn off but my initial round of chants hasn't, I can't refresh anybody. This means almost every party member's damage will drop by about 1000 pts per swing at almost the exact same moment, possibly in the middle of a big fight (happened to me last night in the middle of a pack of champ/unique Unravelers).

Now, if you're constantly refreshing my BC, then it won't be a problem. We can try it that way, and I can just try to keep up with you, but you generally kill/loot/run much, much faster than I do.

Mainly we should be aware of the idiosyncrasy and try not to let it hamstring the party at any critical juncture. If we're prepping to go into a nasty area (Council, Chaos, Ancients, Throne Room, et cetera), we generally huddle up and refresh all cries and chants anyway, so maybe it'll be okay.

 

[Merick1]

Merick : We have a lightning Javazon on west, not a spearazon. If you want to go spear it will be an original build.

Oh, that's delightful then

 

[Ax2Grind]

On this subject...

That would certainly result in better damage (100 pts or so) for everyone's chants, but it makes it difficult to refresh chants on the fly.

A fully synergized BC wears off in about 6 minutes, whereas at current lvl + items, my chants are about 12 minutes. Generally, when any part of the party is running from area to area, I'll try to hit as many players/mercs/minions with refresh chants as I can, just so they don't wear off in the middle of a fight. If we've started clearing an area, my BC has worn off but my initial round of chants hasn't, I can't refresh anybody. This means almost every party member's damage will drop by about 1000 pts per swing at almost the exact same moment, possibly in the middle of a big fight (happened to me last night in the middle of a pack of champ/unique Unravelers).

Now, if you're constantly refreshing my BC, then it won't be a problem. We can try it that way, and I can just try to keep up with you, but you generally kill/loot/run much, much faster than I do.

Mainly we should be aware of the idiosyncrasy and try not to let it hamstring the party at any critical juncture. If we're prepping to go into a nasty area (Council, Chaos, Ancients, Throne Room, et cetera), we generally huddle up and refresh all cries and chants anyway, so maybe it'll be okay.

I've read, in the druid forum, that prebuffing doesn't have as good of an effect as one would think after the bonus to skills wears off, at least for summons. Though it's better than not having the bonuses, most appear to in tune that 'better safe than sorry' is the way to go, as more testing needs to be done. So the question is who gets the skill shrine when we come across one?

BTW, Ravens are proported not to, and never did, add resistances to any summons. They will likely be the last maxed then, as I want to see the full effect of Thorns, Iron Maiden and Spirit of Barbs.

PS: Freeze target is divided by three for ranged attacks. That's how I calculated, roughly, the 22% for Valcina's rogue. It's on the same page I got the MLvl information from, http://www.purediablo.com/guides/news.php?id=551 which you said was accurate. I'll say no more, other than I'm not Thrugg.

PPS: I really want to hit hellforge tonight. I'm only looking for SOL (which will probably drop normally), LUM, KO, PUL, and UM. Anything else goes to the group.

 

[Be-Were]

sry all, prolly wont be on tonite (and sorry to go awol) working these 2 weeks b4 i head back to school, so i will only be on fri/sat night maybe thursday but we will see, after these 2 weeks (i would have assumed we would have been done but guess not) i will be back at school and should be able to play 24/7 if need be.....

speaking of which, when the ladder resets, who wants to play 24/7 with me lol i wanna be lvl 99 by 2 weeks in although that will never happen with the freetime i have up at school i can easily be the first to 99 (if only i had maphack though for baal runs [note i will never get it]...)

 

[Corporeal Ghost]

sry all, prolly wont be on tonite (and sorry to go awol) working these 2 weeks b4 i head back to school, so i will only be on fri/sat night maybe thursday but we will see, after these 2 weeks (i would have assumed we would have been done but guess not) i will be back at school and should be able to play 24/7 if need be.....

speaking of which, when the ladder resets, who wants to play 24/7 with me lol i wanna be lvl 99 by 2 weeks in although that will never happen with the freetime i have up at school i can easily be the first to 99 (if only i had maphack though for baal runs [note i will never get it]...)

I'm game to try, but I may not be able to. Depends on when the reset is. I would, however, like to stay on East wusscore. I do not dare try hardcore on dial-up. It never ends prettily.

On this note, all of us who wish to try should form a third, power JTH group for practice. We will no longer be playing at a leisurely pace, but racing all of Battle.net. We should probably also have at least one magic finder (sorceress) in the power group as well if we plan to contend. I'm guessing something with a lot of paladins, or a conviction paladin, a lower resist necromancer, a tank barbarian, and a lot of elemental teleporting damage.

Thoughts?

 

[dnmorton]

Sorry about the quick exit, my connection does this sometimes. I can barely load this page to type this. I can fix it, but not right now (router in a room with a sleeping roommate) so thats it for me. Wath, I was lvl57.

 

[tlaloc24]

tlaloc wrote me back, and had gotten distracted, first by GTA, then by the new Metal Gear. I understand so well... I haven't heard from AO4. Hopefully two of Spart, Sokar, and raskol will be back on tonight. (EDIT: Sorry, was unclear here; tlaloc will try to get on tonight and catch up, although I think he only missed one full session.)

My apologies for my sudden disappearance, I havent been able to log on or post since my brilliant employers decided to block gaming sites, if anyone can help me bypass that i would greatly appreciate it. Couldnt get on tonight so the plan is to do so tomorrow. I am off on FRI as well as MON so hopefully I can catch up. If you guys are too far ahead however, I may consider dropping for the moment (that bridge we will cross when we get to it)

Talk to you guys soon.

 

[wathombe]

Good session tonight, although it was slow going and some people suffered drop issues.

Site updated: Ex-RuST USWest SCL "JotH" Page

tlaloc, you can check there for full info, but in short top level is 57 and we have completed the Golden Bird quest in A3NM.

Night, all.

 

[wathombe]

Corporeal: I'd be interested in a "power" RuST group for practice, but 1) not until we finish the West JotH; and 2) as an occasional contributor.

I'd be happy to build my bow enchantress again, whom I'm enjoying quite a bit. I'm also interesting in trying a pure Cleric build (Holy Bolt/FoH/all def auras/no off auras). My very first D2 character about a year ago was a conc barb who worked quite well, so I'd be happy to do a tank barbarian, too (he can't kill fast, but he can stand there FOREVER without dying). Whatever the group as a whole thinks would be useful to have around sometimes, but not crucial to have around all the time. I don't think I have the time/knowledge to be an effective dedicated MF sorc for the group, so I think that's out.

This, of course, is assuming those who have now played with my on West think I have the skillz to hang with you guys. Despite my intense analytical and organizational skills during our massive runeword search, I'm really not as good/knowledgable a player as most of you are.

 

[Corporeal Ghost]

Corporeal: I'd be interested in a "power" RuST group for practice, but 1) not until we finish the West JotH; and 2) as an occasional contributor.

I'd be happy to build my bow enchantress again, whom I'm enjoying quite a bit. I'm also interesting in trying a pure Cleric build (Holy Bolt/FoH/all def auras/no off auras). My very first D2 character about a year ago was a conc barb who worked quite well, so I'd be happy to do a tank barbarian, too (he can't kill fast, but he can stand there FOREVER without dying). Whatever the group as a whole thinks would be useful to have around sometimes, but not crucial to have around all the time. I don't think I have the time/knowledge to be an effective dedicated MF sorc for the group, so I think that's out.

This, of course, is assuming those who have now played with my on West think I have the skillz to hang with you guys. Despite my intense analytical and organizational skills during our massive runeword search, I'm really not as good/knowledgable a player as most of you are.

You'd be welcome, as a body if nothing else (though I'm sure there would be plenty of else). I don't know if I made it clear, but these are still to be un-twinked. Multiple MF characters may be even better than one, but I find that this is easier with a dual-elemental sorceress rather than a mono-elemental sorceress, which has more raw killing power. The closer to eight people it is (at least for the ladder run), the better.

I'm not sure the Enchantress is a good idea if we're going with the caster/lower resist party, but if we do the melee paladin stuff (or if someone else comes up with something viable), you're welcome to it.

 

[wathombe]

Ghost: Untwinked so as to simulate the beginning of a new ladder season, I assume? Of course, if the goal is to create a group to assail the ladder rankings all season long, each player would presumably use multiple characters and accounts in the long run, and more than eight players could contribute.

Obviously, some group discussion would be necessary to settle on the makeup of a party. I offer the enchantress b/c she seems to be handy and working well (I think) in the West JotH group. Also, she's a bonus if present during any given session, but not crippling if absent. Alternatively, I'm happy to play any sort of paladin (used a nice Tesladin during the runeword search), the tank barbarian as mentioned with the caster/lower resist set-up (although that might pose a problem if I were absent for sessions), or (stretching my wings a bit) a mono-elemental sorceress of some sort.

I know Ax is fairly committed to building some sort of RuST group for ladder season three, so it'll be good to hear what he thinks, too.

More later, I'm sure.

EDIT: If we build a party consisting primarily of one class (e.g., paladins or sorcs), will we have trouble deciding who gets what gear? How many HoZ's can we reasonably find?

 

[AlphaOmega4]

ok, not much time but have several things to say quick

Merick: just from glancing thru the posts i noticed something about you wanting to be a javazon on west, TAKE MINE, she will not be used by me in probably forever, she is beginning act2 nm, so only one act to catch up on {/end}

it was really rude of me to just drop out when i had been holding on to all the runes, even though it was only enough to upgrade a normal unique, but thats beside the point

i have been back to school, and am practicing again, so it is unfeasable for me to go to bed at 3:10 and wake up at 6:30

USEast JtH i dont believe i have time to play with you guys even though it is in a good time range for me, i think i need to relax a bit right now
and not keep to a strict schedule of getting on and off at the same time everynight

i think i forgot alot of things that i wanted to say i will keep trying to find somebody that is on to give my password to for merick (or anyone for that matter)

sry again for bailing out, it was fun

Edit: i also wanted to say something about LS3, i do plan to take part in it for glory, i also may decide to play on west, since that is now where everyone i know plays (all my friends dropped d2 several months ago now) even though the difference in times will not allow me to play with most of you until the last week of may. Pray that it starts the instant i am home for summer, the extra time i would get would allow me to keep up with all the 13yearolds that play constantly

 

[Corporeal Ghost]

Ghost: EDIT: If we build a party consisting primarily of one class (e.g., paladins or sorcs), will we have trouble deciding who gets what gear? How many HoZ's can we reasonably find?

Well the point of the paladins/sorceresses was to create a team that works while low on equipment. Granted, Herald of Zakarum is ideal for most builds, we could easily run on say, one HoZ and four or five Rhymes with 40 or 50 resist all.

Sorceresses excel at running on little-to-no equipment. Aside from Blessed Hammer paladins, I think they are the best for starting, especially with lower resist and conviction running around. We could, if someone is willing, even have one dedicated trader. There will obviously be several pieces of equipment we don't need, and prices are bound to be massively skewed back to a barter system rather than currency in the first week or so. Granted, we won't be able to get any, say, Occuli, or Heralds of Zakarum, but we could probably reasonably get some Guardian Angels, or Skin(s?) of the Vipermagi. Even if this does not work out, with conviction and lower resist, we've still got 5-digit area of effect damage, provided these guys can make the sessions.

Anyone interested in this, please get back to me, especially you guys in the East JotH. It looks as though it may never happen for the fun build, but it's quite possible people woulld be willing to cross realms to make the ladder run happen.

 

[Merick1]

Merick: just from glancing thru the posts i noticed something about you wanting to be a javazon on west, TAKE MINE, she will not be used by me in probably forever, she is beginning act2 nm, so only one act to catch up on {/end}

I said I was wanting to make a lightning spearzon for the east group but wasn't sure since I misread Ax's post, thinking that there was a lightning spearzon on west.

 

[wathombe]

Quick post, as I'm headed to the climbing gym for a bit with my wife in a few minutes.

West JotH: (*sigh*) So ao4 is quite definitely gone, and unless someone takes on his account, we are down to 7 max. Be-Were has limited availability for the next 2 weeks, but presumably on weekends he can play solo or in small groups with others of us to keep pace until then. Ax, Sokar, dnmorton, and myself seem to make most of the sessions, so for the next two weeks we will need one of either tlaloc or raskol if we are to quest.

Ladder-runners: Duly noted, Ghost. I'd certainly cross realms for a ladder-running group, but as Ax knows, my times suck for the east coast. I'd only be able to contribute in the wee hours of your morning. In a caster group, I certainly shouldn't play the conviction pally or the lower resist necro, maybe not even the tank barb, but I could play one of the sorcs, or maybe an elemental druid or hybrid elemental zon. In the paladin scenario, I could play either an enchantress or a cleric, neither of whom would be missed if not present at all sessions. Or you guys could just tell me that I'll have to find other night owls, or play on Asia, or something.

 

[Corporeal Ghost]

Quick post, as I'm headed to the climbing gym for a bit with my wife in a few minutes.

West JotH: (*sigh*) So ao4 is quite definitely gone, and unless someone takes on his account, we are down to 7 max. Be-Were has limited availability for the next 2 weeks, but presumably on weekends he can play solo or in small groups with others of us to keep pace until then. Ax, Sokar, dnmorton, and myself seem to make most of the sessions, so for the next two weeks we will need one of either tlaloc or raskol if we are to quest.

Ladder-runners: Duly noted, Ghost. I'd certainly cross realms for a ladder-running group, but as Ax knows, my times suck for the east coast. I'd only be able to contribute in the wee hours of your morning. In a caster group, I certainly shouldn't play the conviction pally or the lower resist necro, maybe not even the tank barb, but I could play one of the sorcs, or maybe an elemental druid or hybrid elemental zon. In the paladin scenario, I could play either an enchantress or a cleric, neither of whom would be missed if not present at all sessions. Or you guys could just tell me that I'll have to find other night owls, or play on Asia, or something.

Actually, I'm on mountain time. I'm on east because WAAAAAY back in the day, there were no geographical divisions. There were only seperate servers. Then Blizzard split it up, and I went East with friends. Pity most of them are gone. Not to mention in the early days of DII, East was the only server with any stability. All of the others had random deletions and such. Anyway, what time are you guys journeyizing? I may well be able to take the amazon, except perhaps tonight, since my parents will actually be awake, as on all Thursdays.

I suppose I could make the run on west, but I may do more non-ladder to ladder trades after the initial run, and I may even be able to grab a few other people to help when some of us are absent, although it doesn't seem too likely, since I haven't been in contact with most for months. Anyway, unless Blizzard does something about the bots, we're gonna have a helluva time getting up to the levels where we can find items and stay on top of the economy fast enough, which would probably help immensely. Not to mention there's a new bot that seems to Baal all by itself, albeit not without the help of Enigma, so we may be clear there for awhile.

Anyway, if you west guys really want to stay on west, I'm good there, too, but I'll probably bail after the Ladder run.

Edit: Oh, one more thing. I knew of one large group of people who made their own (I believe Blizzard sanctioned) private server. If we could get enough (maybe 50 people?), perhaps we could do that, though I don't know how that works with ladder only/realm only items if it was indeed Blizzard sanctioned. Most of then are long gone from B.net. There might still be a few on East, and the only one I know on West that was in the clique, but didn't hit the private server was "Micronaut". If anyone wants to find out more, either ask me, or talk to him (Merlinios sent you).