Random Tournament 2012

[Grisu]

Darnit... I thought I could resist... but much like D2 in general, just when I thought I was out, you pulled me back in!

So could I get a roll on an Amazon, 1x Amazon Bows, 2x regular bow, 1x javelin (is that legal? if not, just give me one regular bow).

And I'll keep my fingers crossed for something that I won't kill off too quickly, and that I make some time to play her.

Hehe...evil Grisu can rock&roll again!

I'll be back in a few minutes with your zon!

EDIT:
jamesixgun's Amazon:

Forever Skills:
Power Strike
Lightning Fury
Immolation Arrow --> Magic Arrow
Guided Arrow (locked normal Skill)

Normal Skills:
Ice Arrow
Guided Arrow --> locked
Slow Missiles
Pierce
Critical Strike

Armor:
Heavy Armor --> Light Armor
Bone Helm
Gauntlets
Heavy Belt
Greaves
Bone Shield

Weapons:
Reflex Bow
Short War Bow
Long Battle Bow --> Composite Bow
Pilum

Uh, well...could have been worse, I guess...any rerolls? Lock a skill?

[jamesixgun]

Thanks, Gris!

Ok...

I'd like to reroll Immolation Arrow, Heavy Armor, and Long Battle Bow.

And I'd like to lock Guided Arrow (not that it will matter, methinks, seeing as I remain the king of A1 Normal...)

[Grisu]

Thanks, Gris!

Ok...

I'd like to reroll Immolation Arrow, Heavy Armor, and Long Battle Bow.

And I'd like to lock Guided Arrow (not that it will matter, methinks, seeing as I remain the king of A1 Normal...)

Composite Bow, Light Armor, Magic Arrow.

Good luck! I edited your original roll to reflect the rerolls!

[jamesixgun]

Thanks again, Grisu! I think I can make something work, for a little while anyway...

And in honor of my current march through the Dune books, Ghanima the GA/LF zon will be born later today...

[jamesixgun]

Even though I was the last person to post, I'm happy to go again...

Ghanima has made it to The Dark Wood, all waypoints hit, all quests through the Cain rescue completed. No finds, no NDEs, nothing special.

Is it me? or is 1.13 just a bit easier than 1.12c?

It's been p8 the whole way (except for the run through the Dark Wood to fetch the scroll and tag the waypoint), and she maybe drank 10 red pots the whole time. The only time she drank more than one was against the Smith, and that was only because Wendy the Cold Rogue lured a bunch of carvers and champion goat men over during the battle. If memory serves, that would've been a belt-emptier with a 3 row belt in 1.12...

Or maybe I've just gotten better? Maybe just restarters luck?

Well, not really... No finds to speak of. She's sporting 22% mf (14% on the Studded Leather, and 8% on a ring she just got for rescuing Cain), so no surprise there. But still.. the dearth of drops in my 1 week of play has been shocking. (2 other toons at pretty much the same point, both sporting early game mf gear (helm/armor both full of topaz chips, plus some rings) and no sets or uniques, and only maybe 15 rares total.

Anyway. Ghani is sc, because when she dies here, she'll be respec-ed to a fishyzon or something and continue on without the restrictions.

So:
3 quests, 4 waypoints, lvl 14.
Studded leather with topaz chips, starting shield, no hat, belt or boots. Blue pilums with fire damage on one side; blue composite bow on the other (both gambled). Rings and ammy are largely unremarkable.

[felixbavaria]

1.13 is as difficult as 1.12 except for better rune drops ...

And wow, a MF ring from Akara in Normal difficulty.

Don't worry too much about useless drops in Normal, for me the purpose of MF in Normal is mostly to generate more gold ...

[jamesixgun]

@felix... good to know they didn't dumb down d2... And I'm fairly well acquainted with drops in A1Normal, but still would've expected one or two tc3 drops by now, what with 3 toons in the Cain-rescuing phase, after trips through both crypts and killing Cold Crow and all. But it's all luck-of-the-drop, really. And I agree about MF in Normal providing cash, though in tourneys like this, Normal finds can also bring items that will last for awhile... Arctic Furs, for example, might prove rather useful to Ghanima, what with her Light armor restriction and all.

Anyway. I'll chalk up the seeming easiness to my vast skill (especially with A1N), and the seeming lack of drops to probability, and I'll continue having a marvelous playing D2 again after so much time away.

[Smips]

@jamesixgun: I agree on the "easiness" comment, however I chalk it up to patience. I remember Normal being a chore until Act 5 when I used to play, but I think the reason for that was that I rushed through it. I would be level 15 or so in Act 2, be getting my *** handed to me, and assume playing untwinked was difficult. If you do full clears and whatnot, the few extra levels really makes a huge difference I think.

[jamesixgun]

I think you're probably right about patience, Smips. I've been doing full clears (or close to full clears) since I found this forum, but I'm not trying to do anything except play just now.

Previously, I was trying to get a mat or pat, or trying for a sept, or grail, or something else, and the slog through A1 was always just a slog.

But this time, I'm just trying to have a good time, and that's a much better way to play than turning it into work, for me, and if I actually complete the game, or collect all the tc3s, or whatever, so much the better!

[Vang]

Klaudia has slain Diablo and rescued the Barbarian horde in Act5!

Nothing really awesome dropped, though did finally use imbue on an orb and got +1 cold skills. Runes were plenty though have found two Sols and 2 Amns. Hopefully I'll find a Partizan sometime soon to socket it and a 2 os war hat to make a lore out of.