Some questions about Item-drops/ gambling

[carnivore]

1. How is the distribution between normal/exceptional and elite version of items in hell?
it seems to me that i get a lot of low-level uniques, rares and set-items in nightmare, but in hell, it has a clear tendency towards the "bigger" stuff.

2. it seems that the council members have a higher chance to drop charms. truth or my imagination?

3. am i right that uniques and set items can be gambled at 1.11 (i know this feature was on and off over the patches)?

4. i think the only thing that determines the outcome of the gambled items is the character's level or has something like difficulty setting (for maximum item type) something to do with it?

and something strategical:
i am currently doing nightmare runs mainly for money (council, pindle, shenk, eldritch) and get around 100k in 3-4 minutes (plus a flawless gem every second game and a midlevel rune every 10th game; im taking some statistics while doing this ;) ). is there any faster way?

[mhl12]

1. yes, you will find a lot more elite/exceptional items in nm and hell than norm. Practically all elite items don't drop in norm. You might find a few exceptional items in act4/5 norm though.

2. from my experience, yes. But then, they do drop a lot of other things as well including rares, runes, and jewelry.

3. yes, you can gamble uniques and sets although the chances are very rare

4. the only thing that determines the chances of gambling is your character level.

As for the gold, you can always put on some more gold find items (wealth, chancies, goldwrap, dwarfs, etc.)

[carnivore]

1. that wasn't exactly what i was aiming at:

in nightmare a certain percentage of items drop as exceptional.
in hell there is a percentage for items dropping as elite.
in the last two acts of the the difficulty before, the better items can drop also, but they drop at a lower rate.
my intention was to ask for these chances to get a specific version of an item depending where you are.

4. picking up gold doesnt sound like fun (and particularly efficient), except those 4k piles from the council-members.

and thanks for the answers.

[mhl12]

well if you are looking for a drop calculator, the best one is ATMA:

http://diabloii.net/~atma/

[TheJarulf]

1. that wasn't exactly what i was aiming at:
in nightmare a certain percentage of items drop as exceptional.
in hell there is a percentage for items dropping as elite.
in the last two acts of the the difficulty before, the better items can drop also, but they drop at a lower rate.
my intention was to ask for these chances to get a specific version of an item depending where you are.


There is no such general percentage. It would be individual for each item and also differ between different monsters and areas even for the same item (to some extent).

The reason is that for item drops, the game doesn't have any relation or connection between normal, exceptional and elite items. The game doesn't upgrade any item based on a percentage (like in shops, at least in earlier versions). Instead, each item, regardless of if it is normal, exceptional or elite, is only treated based on its own level only which determine if it can drop and with what chance (based on what TC it is placed in which is determined by this level).

[carnivore]

thanks, this helps me alot.

and i will check out ATMA later.

[Hacknshoot]

1. that wasn't exactly what i was aiming at:

in nightmare a certain percentage of items drop as exceptional.
in hell there is a percentage for items dropping as elite.
in the last two acts of the the difficulty before, the better items can drop also, but they drop at a lower rate.
my intention was to ask for these chances to get a specific version of an item depending where you are.

4. picking up gold doesnt sound like fun (and particularly efficient), except those 4k piles from the council-members.

and thanks for the answers.

Only 4k? That isn't that much. I'd advise you running Hell Countess if you have a good merc if you're a c/f sorceress, and put on stuff like what I had- Chancies, Goldwrap, and Gheeds was my normal gear for most enemies, seing as I had no other gear to use, and I got up to 15k gold per run. And a gr(good rune, like lum on up), and sometimes, a grr(when she either doesn't drop a rune OR key in a run, or if I get about eth below. I'm not that picky when it comes to runes.). ;)