Welcome to Beacon Academy - Bizurker Progress Thread

[Bizurker]

Intro:
Howdy everyone,

Long time lurker, hoping to become less of a lurker and actually accomplish some of my plans for D2. Maybe if I just go ahead and make this thread, it will spur me to actually make progress on my plans, instead of just coming up with plans for forever and a day. Case in point, I posted this in the bar 9 months ago, and I'm just now getting around to doing it. I used to play D2 back in the day, but it's been probably 8 years since I've been really active and my play time has drastically changed in that timeframe. I played for a few years on Ladder, then after my friend group quit spent a few years doing SP and found this forum. Most of my characters and items from back then have been lost to the void, but I was able to find some stashes and a few old toons.

My current plan is to use the legacy items, that are now converted to D2R, as a stepping stone to get back into the swing of things. After my new toons are up to speed, the legacy characters will be fully retired, though I'm not planning on using the legacy much anymore outside a quick refresher and messing with Terror Zones. As for legacy items, after I am able to get new items, what legacy twinking gear I have will be retired, while I'm retiring any of the legacy late-game items now. Basically, I dont want to spend a ton of early-game time grinding early and mid items when I already have some, but I don't mind grinding for late and end game again. It's going to be hard to replace my level 1 Strength charms and a Great Maul with 6 minus req jewels, plus the bajillion Sigons/Angelic/Cathans/Death/etc types of gear, so I'm going to utilize it to speed up the early-game and actually get to playing.

I have a list of all legacy gear that I am going to use, and am keeping that separate from my new gear. It's going to be a bit of work, but since it will save me time in the longer run, I'm happy to do it.

My Plans:
Even though I have limited playtime, at best 2 hours a day, I am still going to go fairly in-depth on my return to D2. I want to do a standard Set/Unique Grail, and depending on how many I get, may branch out into an Ethereal Grail. I've never done a Runeword Grail, that sounds very interesting in trying to accomplish one of those. I don't like finishing a character and then ripping gear off for other projects; once a character is complete, it will keep it's "final" gear so it remains in a usable state, even if I don't use it. I say "final" as if I find a worse version of the same item (say 18/18 Barb Torch vs a 12/12 Barb Torch) I will swap those out to use the best versions on my Actives while the worse go on my Inactives as long as I don't gimp stat requirements into oblivion.

For Characters, I know I want to eventually complete a Class Set sept, though that will be a ways off; I also want to try a 99 Sept, though that might happen naturally with Terror Zones and farming. My first set of characters are going to be a Sept themed around the show RWBY, though I need to take some liberties to make them work in D2. The show is about a bunch of teenagers going to school to learn how to fight giant monsters; my headcannon is them being sent on a mission to the world of Sanctuary, while I'll be writing along with my writeups and progress. My first Sept will be progressing through at least Normal together, one act at a time, but will likely need to stop and do some MF in Nightmare and definitely Hell with the Sorc before I can get them all Patted and Matted. As they currently stand, albeit all at level 1 atm:

Ruby_Rose, WW Barbarian, wielding a Scythe
Weiss_Schnee, FO and CL/FB Sorc
Blake_Belladonna, MA Sin, with (2?) Mosaic
Yang_XiaoLong, Fireclaws Werebear Druid
Jaune_Arc, Smiter Paladin
Pyrrha_Nikos, Lightning Fury Javazon
James_Ironwood, Fishymancer

I know I will have questions on how to get some of this optimized, like what weapons can I use for a WW Barb and a Werebear nowadays, and there will be a lot of searching and reading old Mat/Pat threads for ideas in addition to my playing. For now, it's time to start beating Fallen in the Blood Moor....

 

[Bizurker]

My story headcannon for getting RWBY characters into the world of Sanctuary. Part 1 below.

---

Prologue:

As a Huntress-in-training at Beacon Academy, Ruby knew that there was always a risk when fighting monsters. She knew that her training and her teammates would keep her safe. But there was still something different about this mission, a sense of unease ever since the school's Headmaster, Professor Ozpin, had given this particular assignment to teams RWBY and JNPR. Sending multiple teams on a mission was not unheard-of, especially given how far this Sanctuary was from their home in Remnant. Sending a professor, all full fledged Huntsmen and Huntress, was commonplace, but sending General James Ironwood and his army along was unexpected to say the least.

What gave Ruby pause the most was Sanctuary itself. All of their weapons, projectiles, and even their dropship were powered with Dust, crystallized powder that contained the power of the elements. The pilots had told them the journey out was going to be tight, that the Dust reserves were barely enough to get there and back, and any detours would leave the transport dangerously low on fuel. From the reports of the mission that has been given to the teams, Dust was not in existence in Sanctuary, so the team would be limited to whatever they can carry. That after using their stores, all of the fighting would be done in a more conventional sense, using their martial skills alone to combat these monsters.

Ruby has her trusty scythe, Crescent Rose, that can cut through just about anything. Combine that with her natural speed, and she'd be a whirling dervish of death. Weiss would have some difficulty, using Dust to empower her magic, but still very capable of casting without the additional benefits. Blake with her dual blades, her stealth and her Shadow Clone, the monsters would never see her coming. Literally. Yang was a brawler, definitely the most comfortable on her team in close quarters. Her innate ability to soak up damage and then deal it all back to her attackers made her all the more deadly.Jaune wasn’t the best Hunter-in-training they had ever seen, but he was still a fairly good fighter, although he mostly hit things with his shield instead of his sword. Pyrrha was a force of nature with her javelin, being able to hit a target that thought it outside her range, with deadly accuracy; she was even able to hit multiple targets with a single throw at times. Ironwood commanding his army from the back was no pushover either, being more than able to hold his own if need be.

The team were all lost in their own thoughts, preparing their weapons and minds before their mission ahead when things changed. Their transport was hit by a blast of green goo, shaking the ship and its passengers and knocking Jaune to the floor. Blake looked at the wall, and saw that it was dissolving… that blast had been some kind of acid or poison. The ship was going down, and with the damage, it wasn’t going to survive the landing and they’d be stuck in Sanctuary. The only choice was to abandon ship, take only what they could carry, and proceed with the mission….

After reaching the ground, lights from a small Encampment could be seen in the distance. Maybe a basecamp could be set up there, then next steps determined.

 

[maxicek]

Welcome to the SPF

If you are using GoMule, it is easy to keep track of which items are from Legacy as it will show you the version.

 

[Bizurker]

Absolutely using GoMule for all of my item needs. The reason to eventually trash my legacy items and just use new items is because of how old my stashes are. In my prime, my Grail was at about 85% and Runewords like CoH, Grief, and Fortitude, but that's not the stash I found. I located an older backup from when I was about 20% and Runewords only going up to Spirit and Insight in power, so not significant. I'm basically starting from scratch anyways and can replace what I had with a few days of NM Meph runs, just without all the early grind.

Thanks for the welcome. Been a long time coming for me, looking forward to getting back to it

 

[Bizurker]

Been playing a bit, though not as much as I like. Most of my playtime is during the day when I can goof off at work, and work has been busy, haven't been able to goof off too much. When I have played, gotten the Sorc and Barb through A1 Normal, starting on the Paladin, and I must say... trying to level 7 characters concurrently sucks. Having to constantly mule gear back and forth is annoying, though it is easier with the Shared Stash in D2R. I'm thinking I am going to finish the din through A1, then switch back to the Sorc and get her to NM, farm up some gear to spread around to the others.

Also been playing with character planners, and I have a question on WW Barb. If I want to use a Polearm, to hit max breakpoint, are my two options just a BOTD Giant Thresher or a 3X Shael Tomb Reaver? I know the IAS calc I'm using is up to date, but I hoped there would be more options.... guess I finally need to find me a Zod.

 

[snickersnack]

IDK which one you're using, but this calc should be accurate: https://warren1001.github.io/IAS_Calculator//

 

[Bizurker]

I've used that calc, and the character planner on MaxRoll.

For those interested in story telling, I've written part of my of headcannon for this sept, posted above. I plan on writing additional parts as I progress through their story within Sanctuary, though I won't be keeping it in-sync with my play progression as I had originally thought.

 

[Bizurker]

Well, I did the thing, gave up on my original plan of doing seven characters at once, finished Normal with the Sorc. She's now level 47, no gear overly impressive as of yet. Twinked on a Spirit Crystal Sword from my legacy bank, along with a Vipermagi and Peasant Crown, so I got some nice plus skills. 26 Chancies from Diablo, completely stiffed by Baal, and an Eld from the forge.... Gonna play with Terror Zones a bit if anything good comes up, but getting to NM Meph is the next stop.

Edit: the first boss pack in my first Terror Zone dropped a Hel. Guess that makes up for horrible normal forge.

 

[Nehling]

Hi, it's cool that you are with us!

You write nicely, in detail. I like it. I look forward to the continuation of your stories!