The Untwinked Level 99 Progress Thread, Revenge of the 99ers

[Albatross]

A couple of runners, including myself, faced the issue of lengthy save & exit times with Nihla runs. For me, it was adding something like 7-8 seconds onto each run, which is a big deal when the runs are so short. If you don't have this issue, then I can see 120 hours being very possible.

Did you try to delete those character's .map files? I might misremember @frozzzen mentioning it fixed his slow load/save issues on one character and I feel like doing so sped up my AT runs. It did not help one bit for andariel runs, which leads me to believe that it has to do with acts/areas from which you are exiting. This is something I plan on investigating further.

 

[Nano]

I've tried deleting the map files, it didn't help. It's the same with Andariel, when I run her for essences, and also in the TC3 MF tournament. From what I've observed, these long exit times happen when I exit the game shortly after traveling through large portions of maps quickly (via teleport). No issues with loading times though, it's always fast.

 

[Albatross]

Might be the distance, maybe the amount of game objects loaded during the run? The number of areas to reach the target, or run duration don't seem to correlate with longer S&E.

Andariel: act I -> waypoint -> catacombs 2 -> catacombs 3 -> catacombs 4 -> S&E (slow)

Nihlathak: act V -> waypoint -> halls of pain -> halls of vaught -> S&E (haven't run personally, but apparently really slow)

AT runs: act II -> act I -> waypoint -> lost city -> ancient tunnels -> S&E (almost instant for me, entrance is 2 teleports from WP)

Pindle: act V -> red portal -> S&E (don't actually remember, but I think these are 1-2s most)

New game: act I -> S&E (instant, duration test)

 

[Yng]

I have ridiculous load times running any area as far as I can remember.
It’s like 12 seconds to enter Lost City from save and exit best case scenario..

 

[Albatross]

Really shouldn't be that slow.. do you play with the (physical) CD? Tried to remove those .map files?

 

[LiquidClear]

Have you tried taking the cartridge out and blowing into it?

Spoiler

I'll go back to my hole and stop trolling now.

 

[Yng]

Really shouldn't be that slow.. do you play with the (physical) CD? Tried to remove those .map files?

No physical cd, just the download from my Battle.net account. I have not tried removing any files, which map files in particular? I always just assumed it was my terrible laptop or some sort of compatibility issue.

 

[Albatross]

Oh, well, if you are playing on an old laptop, that's probably it then

As far as I know, this hasn't been confirmed or thoroughly tested.. so it might do nothing but erase your minimaps. Your character's save file consists of several .ma* files, along with .d2s and .key. Only the .d2s files is crucial, I believe the .key stores your control bindings, but I've never tested that. .ma(p) files store all discovered maps and they grow over time as you explore the world. Deleting them will not in any way affect the levels, area, dungeoes.

Btw, backup your character before deleting anything.

 

[Dezrok]

Salome has worked her way to level 93.

A mixture of Pindle runs, LK and AT. I've slowly been upping the players setting to see what she can handle. About halfway through I used her first respec to boost her strength to 156 so she could equip a Spirit shield, I also took the chance to take points out of Warmth, Teleport and Static Charge, which had been used for leveling. With +skills, one hard point in Tele is enough now and I've gone with 3 hard pts in Static. With Insight on the merc I can't see much use for Warmth, so no more points there. Other than 1pt in the first cold armor, everything else in Blizzard, Blizzard synergies and Cold Mastery.

As part of the respec we completely re-geared. I ditched the MF and went for maximum damage/survivability. We still have 140% MF but now have +11 cold skills (+12 with Battle Cry), +35% cold skill damage, reach the 105fcr breakpoint, 60fhr, and fire and lightning resist are maxed. Cold res is 50 and poison 35. Life 1575, mana 710 (with BO).

Death's Fathom (+25% cold dam) + Spirit (32%fcr) - will roll for a 35%fcr Spirit once I get another 4os Monarch
Switch: CtA (+2 BO) + Lidless - will replace the Lidless with a Spirit
Shako socketed PTopaz
Ormus Robes (10% cold dam) - thinking about CoH here for the resists and +skills
Arach Mesh
Rare Ammy (+2 cold skills/10%fcr)
Rare Ring (10%fcr/resists)
Rainbow Ring of the Apprentice
Rare Gloves (resists/MF) - still no sign of any FCR gloves
Rare Boots (FRW/resists/MF) - War Travs might be nice
Charms: 1x cold skiller, 23% MF, 5% FHR, resists

The result of all this is that Blizzard now does 6496-6813 damage and Salome is very comfortable running p8 AT. For the last half of level 92 we were running a combined p8 LK + AT loop. We have a 2 camp LK map which isn't great but can loop back to the waypoint, and then the entrance for AT is 2 ports from the waypoint and the map can be done in one big loop, however, it is huge and the bosses are pretty evenly distributed, so it isn't efficient. Neither map is worth keeping on its own but together they form an enjoyable 5 minute run.

There has been a very noticeable decrease in S/U drops however. Half a level of runs netted only IK Stonecrusher, Widowmaker, Moonfall and a Pul. Plenty of grailers in the first half of the level though.

Next up I'm going to give CS a try. AT still has plenty of run left in it if CS doesn't work out, but I'm interested to see how I can go in CS. Salome's gear seems pretty good, but obviously there are a few improvements still to be made and the merc needs a complete makeover at some stage soon. All of which keeps things interesting.

I've also been reading through the thread, and it really is an epic! Up to about page 20, so only one quarter of the way along the journey. Learning lots though!

Progress Update

Name          (C)            SC/HC    Class  Level/exp   Extended Stash  #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths  # of Hours
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
zticazzy      Perkele         SC      Barb      99             No            -          -            -           -
Pb_pal        Eleanor         SC      Sorc      99             No         3068        437            5           -
NanoMist      Izuna           SC      Sin       99             No         5109        470            4         360
PhineasB      Mercy           SC      Sin       99             Yes           -        475           11           -
Neksja        Aura            SC      Paladin   98.50          Yes        8606        464            -           -
T72on1        Neverland       SC      Sorc      98.25          Yes        2190+?      477           13         270?
PhineasB      Hiatus          SC      Sorc      98.25          Yes           -        457           21           -
hasuprotoss   Reina           SC      Sorc      97             Yes        1751        384            -           -
Tarantella    Tarasha         HC      Sorc      96             Yes           -          -            -           -
Grim          Furious_Blonde  SC      Ama       96             Yes           -          -            -           -
ffs           HelpYourself    SC      Sorc      96             Yes           -          -          many          ?
XyleneCyanol  Fishie          HC      Sorc      95             No            -          -            -           -
ThomasJohnsen xInTheBuffx     HC      Sorc      95             Yes           -          -            -           -
darkstarhub   Neptune         SC      Sorc      95             Yes           -          -            -           -
PhineasB      Phaedrus        SC      Pala      94             Yes           -        274           12           -
Reyz          Qty             SC      Sorc      93             No            -          -            -           -
Dezrok        Salome          SC      Sorc      93             Yes         521        274            -           -
Chaostar      Prairie         SC      Sorc      91             Yes         659        261           12         126
OldSoldier    Battleforge     HC      Pala      91             Yes           -        236            -           -
tokerdin      tokeress        SC      Sorc      91             yes           -          -            -           -
Zenigma       Ayura           SC      Barb      91             No            -          -            -           -
Gynli         Amazon          SC      Amazon    91             Yes           -          -         many           -
Southpaw      Njord           SC      Druid     90             Yes           -          -            -           -
Qwernt        CanbeOnlyBlizz  SC      Sorc      90             Yes           ?          -        Dont want to know
MercMan       Este            SC      Ama       90             Yes        1212        278            2  Classified
Me2Nik        Fugu            HC      Ama       90             Yes          80
Yng           Kyrie           HC      Druid     90             Yes           -          -            -           -
Lynchgrinch   Tattersail      SC      Sorc      89             Yes           ?        321         too many    lots
Yng           Sophie          SC      Sorc      89             Yes           -          -            6           -
LiquidClear   Sally           SC      Assn      **             Yes         225          -            1           -
liquid_mage   zDadColdSorc    SC      Sorc      **             Yes           -        160            -           -
Neksja        Turirao         SC      Druid     87             Yes         191        124            5           -
Gladstone     Socrates        HC      Druid     86             ?             -          -            -           -
Zenigma       Gnosis          SC      Druid     86             No            -          -            -           -
Lord Molyb    Cruise_Control  SC      Necro     86             No          115         94           19         idk
Naturallog    Athos           HC      Barb      84             No          159        105            0           -
Lord Molyb    Verisimilitude  SC      Ama       83             No           28         25            0         idk
Qwernt        AmaAgainstAll   SC      Sorc      81             Yes           -          -            -           -
Gambit        Mallenroh       SC      Sorc      81             Yes           0          0            0           0
Lord Molyb    But_Why         SC      Sin       81             Never        55         51           53
Jean Avila    SpeedAdict      SC      Ama       77             No            -          -            -          50
logo          Digimon         HC      Nec       76             Yes          85         65            0           -
TwentyMule    Rayne           SC      Sorc      76             Yes         195        140            ?           ?
Gripphon      Ryu             SC      Sorc      76             Yes           -          -         over 9k       13
Darke Rahl    Bells           HC      Ama       74             No           19          -            0
Vildecor      Celia           SC      Ama       59             Yes          52         43            0           -
ioupainmax    Durnik          SC      Paladin   52             Yes          50         42            -           -
TrU           Henryk          SC      Barb      41             Yes           -          -           22          12
Gambit        Colossus        SC      Pal       39             Yes           0          0            0           0
Smancer       Smancer         SC      Necro     26             Yes           1          -            -           -
Ergroilnin    Erilinda        HC      Sorc      20             No            -          -            -           -
Kitteh        Kaylin          SC      Ama       19             Yes           -          -            0           -
hackedagainanda Hugo          HC      Barb      16             Yes           -          -            -           -

The Fallen

Name (F)    Name (C)       SC/HC   Class   Level/exp   Extended Stash   #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths   # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
coju        NintyNine_orRiP HC      Sorc      81             Yes           -          0            0         a few
TwentyMule  Valus           HC      Barb      76             Yes           -          -            1           -
Pb_pal      Stevesy         HC      Paladin   76             Yes           -          -            0           -
Tenecabo    OldShatterhand  HC      Druid     49             Yes           -          0            1           -
coju        fB              HC      Sorc      29             Yes           1          1            0           2
Kitteh      Verallus        HC      Druid     26             No          N/A        N/A            0          N/A
logo        Rolex           HC      Barb      21             Yes           0          0            0           1

 

[Nibiru-]

That is primarily why summoners don't get much love as 99ers, its the base character. There are a few 99er summoners outside of the tournament though

It's normal for most people to play summoners first right?

 

[Kitteh1]

Generally speaking people go summoner or sorceress first yes, generally the former in HC.

 

[ceegee]

So my zealot, ceegee has gotten to Hell LK, and I pretty much spent the whole day running it. I found a 2 campfire map fairly close to each other and the WP. Do you guys always run players 8 for LK? I found a thread that said a Ber was just as equally to drop on players 3, and there was more patterns for Um on p3 (i also need an um). I'd rather run p3 because it's easier to see the drops and the monsters don't shred me. So if it's the same for runes I'd rather run p3.

I don't know how you guys do this, but i'm exhausted. I found a gul/fal/fal so far on the first day. (close to 6 hours of running LK lol) I also did find a new weapon for him tho, which is pretty snazzy:
View attachment 6881

I'm looking for a ber/um for a CoH. I have the 4 os scarab husk waiting...

 

[ffs]

@Trapin' Very simple: You run LK on P7/8, no excpetions. As to how boring it is, it depends on the player I guess and also getting used to it. I personally find it to be kind of relaxing and don't mind doing a lot of LK runs. For example, I put in quite a few extra hours in LK with my 99er Sorc, since I had to make five CtAs before I got a good roll. :/ For 6 hours, a Gul may not be above average, but is not bad either. I've had stretches of 8 hours LK with my Sorc when nothing above Pul dropped, and in the next 8 hours I got Ber and Sur and a couple of other good runes. It's all RNG, but check the rune finding guide for more information on expected runs for certain runes. Ultimately, one thing is for sure: Those Surs will drop, and that means Bers are in reach, always. Oh and that weapon is not too shabby to use until some Oath or Grief is possible!

For a Zealot, I'd really consider either Fortitude or Enigma over CoH tbh though. But while Lo drops slightly more often on P5 statistically, it's really not worth missing out on those Sur patterns on P7/8.

 

[ceegee]

@Trapin' Very simple: You run LK on P7/8, no excpetions. As to how boring it is, it depends on the player I guess and also getting used to it. I personally find it to be kind of relaxing and don't mind doing a lot of LK runs. For example, I put in quite a few extra hours in LK with my 99er Sorc, since I had to make five CtAs before I got a good roll. :/ For 6 hours, a Gul may not be above average, but is not bad either. I've had stretches of 8 hours LK with my Sorc when nothing above Pul dropped, and in the next 8 hours I got Ber and Sur and a couple of other good runes. It's all RNG, but check the rune finding guide for more information on expected runs for certain runes. Ultimately, one thing is for sure: Those Surs will drop, and that means Bers are in reach, always. Oh and that weapon is not too shabby to use until some Oath or Grief is possible!

For a Zealot, I'd really consider either Fortitude or Enigma over CoH tbh though. But while Lo drops slightly more often on P5 statistically, it's really not worth missing out on those Sur patterns on P7/8.

I'm not using a RWM so no fortitude/oath/grief for me I can make kingslayer, but not sure it would be much better than the rare I found

 

[Lemstar]

Even if Ber has the same number of patterns on p3 as on p7 (which it doesn't seem to; there are two vs three recorded ones), Surs are so much more common that you'll get one Ber from p7 runs in 70% fewer on average. There's no reason to run on p3.

Chains of Honor is a good stopgap, but I don't think you're realistically going to want to tackle the 99 grind without an Enigma. Whether or not you want to spend 1/3 of an Enigma on CoH is a personal call, I guess.

 

[Dezrok]

Salome has grabbed another level, moving on to 94. Still pretty easy leveling. I thought I could get there in a day, but it took two. Mostly because I'm not very efficient in my running.

The merc got an overhaul first. Treachery in an eth Wyrmhide replaced Duriel's, Vamp Gaze replaced Guillame's and an Insight Thresher replaced the Insight CV, terrible rolls on the Insight though.

So level 93-94 needed 188 million XP.
We tried out CS first, without great success.
A successful p8 Gripp run gave 1.2 million XP in 3:10, however, after a promising first few runs, we ended up aborting many of the next batch of runs due to merc deaths and so weren't reaching this potential.
Our LK + AT p8 circuit gave us just over 1 million XP per run at 3:50 per run.
Just running AT was 1 million XP in 3:20.
p8 Pindle and minions was 162,513 XP in 28 secs (or 1/8th the XP of our AT run in about 1/7th of the time).
So, it was looking like 188 AT runs were going to be the most efficient way to go.

At first I was running with very little MF, but this was pretty boring. I do very much like seeing new drops and this is a big part of my motivation for playing a toon beyond Matriarch/Guardian.

A white Monarch got 4os and we now had a 35%fcr Spirit, which allowed me to free up a ring slot from fcr duties.

About a quarter of the way through the level I felt a bit aimless, so went and did some Andy runs to see if I could get any unique jewellery (so far the only unique amulets I have are two Cat's Eyes). It didn't take long for me to decide that was a waste of time, only getting about 3000 XP per run. However, Andy sure does drop a lot of stuff. No jewellery but a pair of Trang's gloves dropped, finally giving us a pair of FCR gloves and freeing up more gear options.

Still feeling aimless I visited Trav and Meph before returning to AT runs. This time I was carrying just under 300% MF and life was much more interesting.

With only 46 million XP to go I lost my map (again). I took the opportunity to replace my Might merc with a Holy Freezer. I also socketed the Fathom and put my Cold Facet in it.

Turns out losing the AT map was a good move, my new map still gave 1 million XP per run, however only took 2:22 to do. It still isn't a very good map though and I should think about trying for a really good one ... maybe.

Twenty-two more grailers for Salome this level! That is pretty awesome! The best is Nightwing's Veil! Plus another Ormus' Robes, this one with Firewall and 1% more cold skill damage. This gives me a possible +54% to Cold Skill Damage! Although I'm not sure I want to give up my Shako, the +life and +mana seem rather important. Besides I have already socketed the Shako, so using something else would make a waste of the reward. Still, will be fun to play around with it.

Other nice drops included: Reapers, Skull Collector, Razor's Edge, Aldur's Deception, Stoneraven, Soul Drainer and a +3 Eschuta's. Best rune was a Lum.

For 94-95 Salome needs 206 million XP, so I'll have another try at CS and then see how the XP/time is looking for different areas before deciding on a place to run.

Some pics:

Great AT sparkly chest drop!
View attachment 6883

and another (sort of)
View attachment 6884


Progress Update

Name          (C)            SC/HC    Class  Level/exp   Extended Stash  #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths  # of Hours
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
zticazzy      Perkele         SC      Barb      99             No            -          -            -           -
Pb_pal        Eleanor         SC      Sorc      99             No         3068        437            5           -
NanoMist      Izuna           SC      Sin       99             No         5109        470            4         360
PhineasB      Mercy           SC      Sin       99             Yes           -        475           11           -
Neksja        Aura            SC      Paladin   98.50          Yes        8606        464            -           -
T72on1        Neverland       SC      Sorc      98.25          Yes        2190+?      477           13         270?
PhineasB      Hiatus          SC      Sorc      98.25          Yes           -        457           21           -
hasuprotoss   Reina           SC      Sorc      97             Yes        1751        384            -           -
Tarantella    Tarasha         HC      Sorc      96             Yes           -          -            -           -
Grim          Furious_Blonde  SC      Ama       96             Yes           -          -            -           -
ffs           HelpYourself    SC      Sorc      96             Yes           -          -          many          ?
XyleneCyanol  Fishie          HC      Sorc      95             No            -          -            -           -
ThomasJohnsen xInTheBuffx     HC      Sorc      95             Yes           -          -            -           -
darkstarhub   Neptune         SC      Sorc      95             Yes           -          -            -           -
PhineasB      Phaedrus        SC      Pala      94             Yes           -        274           12           -
Dezrok        Salome          SC      Sorc      94             Yes         645        296            -           -
Reyz          Qty             SC      Sorc      93             No            -          -            -           -
Chaostar      Prairie         SC      Sorc      91             Yes         659        261           12         126
OldSoldier    Battleforge     HC      Pala      91             Yes           -        236            -           -
tokerdin      tokeress        SC      Sorc      91             yes           -          -            -           -
Zenigma       Ayura           SC      Barb      91             No            -          -            -           -
Gynli         Amazon          SC      Amazon    91             Yes           -          -         many           -
Southpaw      Njord           SC      Druid     90             Yes           -          -            -           -
Qwernt        CanbeOnlyBlizz  SC      Sorc      90             Yes           ?          -        Dont want to know
MercMan       Este            SC      Ama       90             Yes        1212        278            2  Classified
Me2Nik        Fugu            HC      Ama       90             Yes          80
Yng           Kyrie           HC      Druid     90             Yes           -          -            -           -
Lynchgrinch   Tattersail      SC      Sorc      89             Yes           ?        321         too many    lots
Yng           Sophie          SC      Sorc      89             Yes           -          -            6           -
LiquidClear   Sally           SC      Assn      **             Yes         225          -            1           -
liquid_mage   zDadColdSorc    SC      Sorc      **             Yes           -        160            -           -
Neksja        Turirao         SC      Druid     87             Yes         191        124            5           -
Gladstone     Socrates        HC      Druid     86             ?             -          -            -           -
Zenigma       Gnosis          SC      Druid     86             No            -          -            -           -
Lord Molyb    Cruise_Control  SC      Necro     86             No          115         94           19         idk
Naturallog    Athos           HC      Barb      84             No          159        105            0           -
Lord Molyb    Verisimilitude  SC      Ama       83             No           28         25            0         idk
Qwernt        AmaAgainstAll   SC      Sorc      81             Yes           -          -            -           -
Gambit        Mallenroh       SC      Sorc      81             Yes           0          0            0           0
Lord Molyb    But_Why         SC      Sin       81             Never        55         51           53
Jean Avila    SpeedAdict      SC      Ama       77             No            -          -            -          50
logo          Digimon         HC      Nec       76             Yes          85         65            0           -
TwentyMule    Rayne           SC      Sorc      76             Yes         195        140            ?           ?
Gripphon      Ryu             SC      Sorc      76             Yes           -          -         over 9k       13
Darke Rahl    Bells           HC      Ama       74             No           19          -            0
Vildecor      Celia           SC      Ama       59             Yes          52         43            0           -
ioupainmax    Durnik          SC      Paladin   52             Yes          50         42            -           -
TrU           Henryk          SC      Barb      41             Yes           -          -           22          12
Gambit        Colossus        SC      Pal       39             Yes           0          0            0           0
Smancer       Smancer         SC      Necro     26             Yes           1          -            -           -
Ergroilnin    Erilinda        HC      Sorc      20             No            -          -            -           -
Kitteh        Kaylin          SC      Ama       19             Yes           -          -            0           -
hackedagainanda Hugo          HC      Barb      16             Yes           -          -            -           -

The Fallen

Name (F)    Name (C)       SC/HC   Class   Level/exp   Extended Stash   #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths   # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
coju        NintyNine_orRiP HC      Sorc      81             Yes           -          0            0         a few
TwentyMule  Valus           HC      Barb      76             Yes           -          -            1           -
Pb_pal      Stevesy         HC      Paladin   76             Yes           -          -            0           -
Tenecabo    OldShatterhand  HC      Druid     49             Yes           -          0            1           -
coju        fB              HC      Sorc      29             Yes           1          1            0           2
Kitteh      Verallus        HC      Druid     26             No          N/A        N/A            0          N/A
logo        Rolex           HC      Barb      21             Yes           0          0            0           1

 

[ceegee]

Even if Ber has the same number of patterns on p3 as on p7 (which it doesn't seem to; there are two vs three recorded ones), Surs are so much more common that you'll get one Ber from p7 runs in 70% fewer on average. There's no reason to run on p3.

Chains of Honor is a good stopgap, but I don't think you're realistically going to want to tackle the 99 grind without an Enigma. Whether or not you want to spend 1/3 of an Enigma on CoH is a personal call, I guess.

I'm not a huge fan of teleport on a melee char, but maybe I'll try it out! Need to find a 3 os too

 

[NamelessPenguin]

@Trapin' If you find (grind) the relevant runes without teleport, then you've won my heart

Rune hunting, like everything else, depends a lot on luck and determination. I did 3500 runs with my BlizzSorc and found one Sur, 2xLo, 2xOhm, 2xVex and change. I probably did about the same amount with my barbarian and found 4xSurs, Ber, Lo, 2xOhm, 2xVex and more change.

Best of luck on your journey And that's a sweet axe! Should speed things up from your previous weapon.

 

[darkstarhub]

@Trapin' That is an awesome rare Ettin Axe man! IAS, dual leach, and some cold dmg to boot, not to mention a very nice ED roll. That one is worth punching a hold in for sure. I still pick up more rares than I should, which slows down runs, but its part of the fun for me so I dont care.

@Dezrok Thats some really solid progress. You are definitely faster at leveling than me. I would be much closer to 96 had it not been for several instances of falling asleep at the wheel.

As for me, after the MFO I settled back into the groove with my FO/FB Sorc. It felt like getting under that old comfortable broken in blanket. I also found an all time grailer last night. Its weird that such a low level item would evade me for so long. They will definitely be put to use for twinking.
View attachment 6885

 

[Kitteh1]

I had that with Lenymo, total pain! Then I got an ethereal and non-ethereal version in quick succession