Given that I'm already playing HC and have a rule that none of my characters will ever wear an Enigma, I feel like Terror Zones would be a fair tradeoff, and that I'd still be trying to get to 99 the "hard way". Does my rationale make sense?
As for the discussion re: a separate table, given how OP Enigma is (well, in my opinion, anyway), should that get a separate table as well? Because in theory, the real "hard way" of getting to 99 would be to not use any of the OP rune words at all, wouldn't it?
I think getting to level 99 in single player, no matter which way you get there, is an impressive achievement. Can't see an issue with somebody playing Terror Zones to make the grind to 99 more enjoyable.
re: 'Enigma': I feel like the addition of Terror Zones could make 'Enigma' less of an important item because, as far as I can tell, it is beneficial to do full clears of TZs rather than just teleporting around to only certain target monsters. I'm not a fan of 'Enigma' (and couldn't afford the runes to make one anyways so don't have one!) but I haven't felt a need or desire to teleport with any of my characters in Terror Zones. Even with my Sorcs, Teleport has mostly been reserved for escaping from dangerous spots. I'm having a blast running TZs and fully clearing them out.
A final thought (just for funsies--I really have no strong opinions about this!)... Perhaps the real "hard way" of reaching level 99 would not be to say "No 'Enigma'" or "No OP rune words", but rather "No Lower Kurast" To get to to 99 using only the items you find/make/craft along the way via killing monsters, without hundreds (or thousands?) of LK runs just popping chests hoping for high runes, is a legit challenge. But, like, just put everybody in one big table, it's all good It's a big challenge whichever way somebody gets to level 99.
An opinion from someone who is NOT going to take a character to 99 untwinked. My one and only untwinked Pat was my first. I was in awe of Duck and his single pass untwinked Druid as I simply do not have the patience to do that.
For a long time my Barbs could not use swords. While I twink my characters if I am going to make a certain build then I do that build from the beginning or at least any points I put into a skill to make it easier in the beginning get left through the game. The only time I respec is if I made a dumb mistake or once a character is done to experiment with other builds. The reality is that we can impose on ourselves all sorts of conditions that others think just plain wierd and many times those conditions make the journey more difficult.
Now that I am actually trying to take a character to 99, I have a much better understanding of the effort and dedication of those that have gone before me. Given that I believe that many of you have self imposed conditions that don't show up on the list, I think that the untwinked 99 list should remain as a single list. Dates will give an indication if TZ were used, but I think it would be nice to reward the traditionalist with some sort of Asterisk to indicate that they didn't use TZs. Beside it will help the rest of us to know who the really wierd one are
Regarding Terror Zones...I am really torn on that. On the one hand, I would really like to try them out for variety, use Sunder Charms etc. On the other hand, I suppose it wouldn't feel the same for me to reach level 99 that way. After weighing the options the last few days, I think I will go for Terror Zones with my UT99er though...I already have so much else to do in real life and almost no time for games, that I would basically have to choose between going "pure" 99 without Terror Zones and never have the time to try Terror Zones ot simply accept Terror Zones as part of the game and the way to 99.
I am all in for additional columns in the table, like we use an asterisk in the tournaments to signal single pass play, we could add a "TZ" or something for those using terror zones/sunder charms. I don't think a separate table is necessary - but that is just my opinion.
EDIT: So, after 2.5 hours of Terror Zone runs (conveniently the first 3 sunder charms all were cold charms), 1 hour of which was Terrorized Pindleskin, I made 3,269 XP/sec as compared to previously 1,290 XP/sec in 2 seal runs in the CS. This might go down again, because - come on, Terrorized Pindleskin? That is awesome. Gave me around 135k XP/run which, considering my run times (around 30 seconds) is more than the 1.5 hours before Pindleskin (I made around 2,500 XP/sec before Pindelskin).
So overall it is a big improve over CS runs for me, but going from 97 to 98 will still take 22-30 hours for my setup (compared to 57 hours without terror zones/sunder charm).
Hurricane-Syd has a update. Half way through level 97. 97.5 feels good. I will have to walk back my comment about not using Terror Zones to complete the grind to 99. I will place a TZ next to my "forumite" name to signify this. I tried for 2 days to avoid them but every time that message popped up, it was harder and harder to ignore. At 97.1 I gave in to temptation and began running Terror Zones. Seeing that experience bar constantly moving throughout the hour after hour of running Terror Zones is nice. I ran dozens of P8 Chaos/Nihl/Baal waves/P3 Baal and barely seeing a single tick was tiring. After a week of Terror Zones, Syd gained 40% of the level running about 2-3 hours of Terror Zones a night or every other night. I actually had 2 very close calls while running WSK Terrorized and Frozen River Terrorized. I had not had a close call in a very long time while running Chaos/Baal/Nihl. So I do think with this specific character of a Wind Druid, the Fanat/Might/Extra Strong/Conviction/Lightning boss packs can hit very hard and make you pay more attention than mindlessly running Chaos/Nihl/Baal for thousands of runs and hundreds of hours.
Throughout this 1/2 of level 97 have had its fair share of drops in random areas that would have never been considered if not for the Terror Zone. Found 11 Sunder Charms, only kept 10 because 1 was a -90 Cold Resist which has no use for any character. Pictures of drops attached to the post.
Current plan is to run Hurricane-Syd to 98 with Terror Zones, then pick up Sydney the Poison Javazon running LK for Inifinty...She is currently at Level 88 and has 1 Sur rune towards Infinity after using the first Sur for Bramble. I'll make a post about her once Hurricane-Syd reaches 98. The other long term plans are finishing a FoH/Smite pally and then creating an Assassin to make the new Mosaic Runeword build which looks crazy.
Well, that was a nice present from my 1st terrorized AT run...
and immediately after that Tal's Armor, too
and after that came Terrorized Eldritch, and now terrorized Pindle again...this looks really good for my plan to reach level 98 this year although I have to pass on Pindleskin, because I have to go to bed...
So what is everyone's experience with Terror Zones and XP? Those who are using TZs: Do you do full clears? Only boss packs? In case of Nihlatak's temple only Pindleskin?
So what is everyone's experience with Terror Zones and XP? Those who are using TZs: Do you do full clears? Only boss packs? In case of Nihlatak's temple only Pindleskin?
I do mostly full clears, but in the case of Nihlathak's temple it depends on what character I feel like playing on that day and what kinds of monsters emerge inside the temple. Some monster spawns just aren't worth the trouble for certain builds!
It feels like a good time to provide an update. I'm still running LK, though not as zealously as others. I found a sur this morning but forgot to take a SS of the drop. That puts us at 2/3 for Enigma. This made the morning even better:
That's the last rune I needed for Call to Arms, though I don't have a base for it yet. CtA isn't very helpful for LK so I'll hold off until I finish the LK grind, then go look for a base for it.
It breaks my heart to Ormus this:
Finally, here's an image of my high rune hoard. Looking pretty nice! I still need Lo, Vex, and another Ber (or 2 Sur) before I call this grind done
Lastly, I do have a superior 3os mage plate. I can't decide if I want to put my eventual Enigma in it or not. Extra defense doesn't do much, but if I don't find something different when I look for bases, I don't love the idea of doing more farming to look for something different. Repair costs shouldn't be terrible since I'm not hammers or melee so I shouldn't be getting hit too much. Would love some advice if anyone has any
Hurricane-Syd has reached level 98. 1 more to go! Terror Zones substantially cut down on the time of the grind. I leveled the last half of 97 in about 9 days. I took a screenshot of 3.2 billion exp because I was so close after a run to being right on it, only 5,111 over. Thought it was interesting. I would have never guessed or believed anyone that I would ding level 98 in the Barracks of all places. Thanks TZs.
The Grail for this character by itself now sits at -50 after Spirit Ward dropped. No way to find the rest before 99 in the TZs but I hope to get that number to maybe -40 by the end.
The last screenshot is the runes Syd has stockpiled over all the levels. Not including all the runes cubed or used for 2 HoTo's, CtA, Enigma, Fortitiude and the Cham'd SS. Plus 1 UM rune that was in the SS before the Cham. I'll have a complete/compiled list of all the runes once Hurricane-Syd completes the journey/grind to 99.
Where does everyone usually get their important bases? Mainly I'm looking for an Infinity base. For Villanelle I was lucky with a rack, but I'm wondering about racking vs running The Pit for example.
@maxicek would highly vouch racking if you’re ok with sacrificing your map. Don’t put too much stock into finding some perfect rack that’s producing the base you want every other run. Even something that’s dropping Thresher 1/5 runs is going to have a good chance to get you to your goal very quickly because the runs are very fast.
I'm joining you guys! My goal is to make 99 lvl for the first time. I'll keep you posted on my progress here and on my topic that I created. It's great to be part of such a team! I play trapsin
Hurricane-Syd has reached level 98.61. Syd is currently running in the RFL round 1 at the moment. Based on the exp gained so far in the RFL, it should put Syd around 98.75 when done with round 1. On to the finds of the first 1/2 or so of 98! Syd also found a 43 Lifer Ele GC in the Blood Moor or Den of Evil while it was Terrorized! 2nd Ele lifer found for Syd.
Death Cleaver (Grailer for Syd)--Tristam
Trang's Wing--Durance Lvl 3
Rainbow Facet (-3/4 Cold)--Trav
Halaberd's Reign--Outer Steppes
Stone Crusher--Cows
Bow/Xbow GC--Arreat Plateau
Arach's--Cave Lvl 1
Cow King's Boots (Grailer for Syd)--Cows
43 Life Ele GC--Blood Moor/Den of Evil
40 MF Chance Guards--Blood Moor/Den of Evil
Blood Raven's Charge--Den of Evil
Nice rare ring--Stony Field
RFL Rune #1--Pits (Can't post screenshot til round 1 is over)
-70 Psn Res Sunder GC--Arreat Plateau
Stone Crusher--Arreat Plateau
Started the RFL at 98.45 (3.358 Exp), Currently at 3.410. Just shy of 100 mill exp to go....so close yet so far it seems like. Until next time. Good luck, stay safe and enjoy the grind to 99.
To get to to 99 using only the items you find/make/craft along the way via killing monsters, without hundreds (or thousands?) of LK runs just popping chests hoping for high runes, is a legit challenge. But, like, just put everybody in one big table, it's all good 
