Worlds first lvl 60 bound to be in Europe now!

[Chaboi]

its my opinion that the worlds first 60 will enjoy the game much less than a more patient player. however that is just my opinion

For me, I love the race to Max level. I had realm firsts several times and it always felt great to (when the next expansion came out) look at the accomplishments you had and the things YOU did that no one else could make claim to. Is it necessary? No, but it created a sense of pride that no one could take from me

[Arcanae]

@DarkPhenomen You can always play on odd-ball server like European or Korean if you are going for world firsts. But I don't think it's really necessary. The reason I singled out HC race over SC race to 60 is simply because, HC race actually requires a lot of skill. From everything that we know about the game so far, even if you are 9 or so hours behind, there is a very high chance of people ahead of you simply dying and needing to start over, giving you time to pass them bye. I don't think it will be easy to get 60 without dying even once. Hence, the need for skil, preparation and patiance, and that is excactly what seperates HC race from SC race.

[snifsnif]

now that I think about it, I bet that we will have a hc full inferno victor in 3-4 days. maybe less. i may be way off, but someone, somewhere is going to make it happen fast. if someone gets lucky and has friends that will help him craft all the best gear so he doesn't have too farm at all, it could easily be done. with the right supporting cast I imagine that a good player could play all 4 acts in about 5-6 hours. again, this is just my small thinking, but the game isn't so large that it would literally take days just to get through the game play...

[Mn_Swe2]

I also don't think that being first to hit Clvl 60 will be is THAT much of an achievment, simply because it honestly isn't that difficult. I don't think we should really make a big fuss about it simply because it is merely matter of time a person has versus time that other people don't have.

There will be hundreds (counting only really serious contenders) of people making really serious attemps to get a worlds first at D3 launch. If you actually think you can just take a couple of days off and get a worlds first you have absolutely no idéa what so ever what this is about.

Teams have planned "perfect" parties, set up item hunt parties to support them, planned their crafting strategies, read about al lthe affixes/mods decided the ultimate party builds down to the tinyest detail for all character level intervalls (so they know exactly how they should play from lvl 32-35 for example). They have been theory crafting ALOT already to be able to go at maximum pace at launch. They are setting up playing schedules to be able to play their chars 24/7 until all major records are done.

SC First lvl 60
SC First Inferno clear
HC First lvl 60
HC First Inferno clear

As a single player with a couple of days vacation, or at best with a friend that has the same, you will be so far behind you can't believe it.

It will be extremely difficult to claim one of these 4 records. Do not let anyone fool you into believing anything else.

[DarkPhenomenon]

@DarkPhenomen You can always play on odd-ball server like European or Korean if you are going for world firsts. But I don't think it's really necessary. The reason I singled out HC race over SC race to 60 is simply because, HC race actually requires a lot of skill. From everything that we know about the game so far, even if you are 9 or so hours behind, there is a very high chance of people ahead of you simply dying and needing to start over, giving you time to pass them bye. I don't think it will be easy to get 60 without dying even once. Hence, the need for skil, preparation and patiance, and that is excactly what seperates HC race from SC race.

Yea I'm also going for first Inferno clear and I really have zero inclination to farm up gear on a server who's language I don't speak only to start from scratch when I switch back to the America's server. I've already admitted defeat in world firsts, I'm legitimately going for Region firsts

Teams have planned "perfect" parties, set up item hunt parties to support them, planned their crafting strategies, read about al lthe affixes/mods decided the ultimate party builds down to the tinyest detail for all character level intervalls (so they know exactly how they should play from lvl 32-35 for example). They have been theory crafting ALOT already to be able to go at maximum pace at launch.

Yes there is a lot of theory crafting and planning, but theory crafting on a game that isn't launched that has many many mechanics and features we don't know about doesn't translate into success. The best plan you can make is to plan and theory craft what you know and have a solid plan to accomodate the unknowns and changes when some of your theory crafting turns out to be ineffective or just straight up incorrect. The biggest benefit Inferno clear groups have is pure manpower outfitting the top few characters with gear, but farming hell in HC mode isn't a gold farmer task (Especially at launch when we all have crap gear), you need skilled, reliable people, and finding a significant number of those people who don't die while farming and are willing to hand over all their gold and top tier items is a pretty tall order.

[Mn_Swe2]

Yea I'm also going for first Inferno clear and I really have zero inclination to farm up gear on a server who's language I don't speak only to start from scratch when I switch back to the America's server. I've already admitted defeat in world firsts, I'm legitimately going for Region firsts



Yes there is a lot of theory crafting and planning, but theory crafting on a game that isn't launched that has many many mechanics and features we don't know about doesn't translate into success. The best plan you can make is to plan and theory craft what you know and have a solid plan to accomodate the unknowns and changes when some of your theory crafting turns out to be ineffective or just straight up incorrect. The biggest benefit Inferno clear groups have is pure manpower outfitting the top few characters with gear, but farming hell in HC mode isn't a gold farmer task (Especially at launch when we all have crap gear), you need skilled, reliable people, and finding a significant number of those people who don't die while farming and are willing to hand over all their gold and top tier items is a pretty tall order.

Agreed

The benefit of theory crafting is that even if your main strategy does not work as perfect as you wish, you have read up on all the other skills and potential builds, so you know what is possible, what you can switch to, where you should tweak your party etc.

I would say that half the benefit of theory crafting is the actual plan you have made, half if the vast knowledge you gailned while doing so. This knowledge allows you to be agile, tackle the situations that arise in the best way, and adapt your strategies depending on what you notice during the journey.

I agree that it is all about being agile, have the knowledge that allows for that, and have an awesome team working together.

I can just wish anyone running for a record the best of luck, I will be watching you.

[Arcanae]

I didn't mean to imply that getting to Clvl. 60 requires no strategy or that it's something that is easy to do. Of course, like in D2, most of the casuals will never leave Normal, and even if they do leave Normal they won't make it far in Nightmare. And beating subsequent difficulties will obviously be harder then beating Normal. However my point, which my post conveyed rather poorly, is that reaching Inferno, while certainly not easy, is accomplishable by trial and error approach. That coupled with the fact that harder difficulties will mark your second or third passage through what is essentially same content, means that simply running headfirst and seeing all the dangers will actually be perfectly viable strat. Don't get me wrong, it will take skill to reach Inferno, especially to be the first one to reach inferno, but most of that skill will be offset by the fact that it is easily compansated for relative lack of skill through large time investment.

As far as theory crafting goes. I think that theory crafting is great way of preparing for some general situations and threats the game may throw at you, but, as somebody who created virtually hundreds of builds after skill calculator was realesed, it is mostly "crack-pot arm-chair theorizing". Preparing for specific situations and threats even before we know what they are is simply impossible, and even if we knew what they were, without facing them, there is a high chance that anything we create won't work. That is why pre-game theory crafting has to be extremly flexible and able to adapt to any new situation, and theory crafting, for me, at least, mostly serves as a foundation of knowledge which will allow me to make good decisions in Inferno, and create an amazing character.

[StrudelStraddler]

The HC Inferno race won't be about "skill", but organizational effort. The racers, the blacksmith, and as many gold/mat farmers as you can sign up. All the farmers pooling their gold and mats together to level the blacksmith of a designated player, that player rolling gear, someone ferreting the best rolls to the racers, and the racers obviously taking turns to go 24/7.

The more farmers, the more rolls for blacksmith, the better the gear. A hill of ants propping up the chosen one.

[Arcanae]

@StrudelStraddler Perhaps, but for your average racer, or even for your average group of racers, skill, the skill of staying alive, recognising danger before it becomes one, and then countering it, creating a build that allows you to survive but at the same time keep going forward at the pace that is fast enough that you won't left behind, picking which piece of gear to get to maximize your survivibility but, again, that has enough fire-power to guarentee that you won't end up far behind everybody else. Isn't that how 99% of people/groups racing to HC inferno will play? You need to do a lot of those in SC as well, of course, but in softcore, if you mess up, if you focus too much on your offensive stats and end up dead, or if your build has a gaping whole in it, you will die, but you will also restart, relativly unscathed. And with new experience and knowledge of what killed you and why. While, that is obviously not possible in hardcore mode.

Also, what do you mean by gold farmers? I don't think that market in D3 will be "controllable" unlike WoWs, and I am pretty certain that you will need to invest a lot of money to even attampt to control the prices of items and commodities. Or, do you think several players with multiple accounts all farming at the same time, giving each other supplies and gold? If that's what you meant, I don't think that's posible, though it might be. It never ceases to amaze what kind of loop-holes people can find.

[DarkPhenomenon]

racers, the blacksmith, and as many gold/mat farmers as you can sign up. All the farmers pooling their gold and mats together to level the blacksmith of a designated player, that player rolling gear, someone ferreting the best rolls to the racers, and the racers obviously taking turns to go 24/7.

This has a few holes in HC that I've pointed out. High level gear is going to need high level mats. High level materials aren't going to be purchaseble on the AH so all the low level gold farmers in the world aren't going to be able to help you on your quest to world firsts. That leaves organized groups to find people not only able to farm at high levels, they need to not die and they need to be willing to give away all their earned gear as well. Considering there's no monetary compensation or rankings for doing this people will be extremely hard pressed to find a sizable group willing to do this. People like Athene who already have an army of fanatical followers probably have the best chance, but I don't see it being possible for most people to organize.

I myself have already gathered a team of 8 players, but our primary purpose is to be the first players to hit 60, the players can't commit to a month long farm-fest like I can, nor are they willing to filter all the good gear to a single player (Especially since one death means it's all lost permanently).

So you're right in regards to the organization effort being the most important, but getting that organization is going to be extremely difficult.