Best place to farm post 1.03?

[Stryfe]

So, after 1.03 hit I have noticed a few changes.
Rares seem to drop a rare item more often and bosses seem to drop less rare items. This led me to thinking that just killing rares might be more profitable.

But where? Since all acts now can drop the best loot (the lower acts at a lower rate) it might be better to farm Act1 than the other acts as the mobs are much easier here generally.

I am currently up to Desolace in act2 but I'd like to know all thoughts you have.

Is it still worth it to run e.g. Warden/Butcher runs or similar or should I instead clear areas for rares and in that case which areas are good?

The black canyon mines in act2 have good enemies, none are inherently fast or have really nasty abilities.

Of course all of this applies to Inferno.

[magicrectangle]

It depends how good your gear is, I suppose. I'm doing basically full clears of act 3, carrying the 5 stack across the whole zone wiping out every elite pack I can find. Act 3 still has the best drop rate to difficulty ratio, IMHO. The only reason to do a1 is if you just don't have the gear for a3 yet - and a2, I can't see any reason to ever do. It is still annoying.

[Zekareisoujin]

So, after 1.03 hit I have noticed a few changes.
Rares seem to drop a rare item more often and bosses seem to drop less rare items. This led me to thinking that just killing rares might be more profitable.

This is clearly stated in the patch note that 5 stacks of NV will ensure 1 rares from elites/champion packs and from boss alike. Therefore, it seems the better method to farm now is to clear as many areas as you can before remaking the games.

Just as magicretangle suggested, it really depends on how good your gear is, or how comfortable you are with the acts. I myself am farming act3, do a full run of the act starting from Siegebreaker quests: go to Rakkis crossing to get Tyrael (he is still useful somewhat), then go back to the beginning for a full run. Of course I am also prepared to skip any groups that might kill me for more than 4-5 times to reduce my repair cost.

On the other hand, weaker characters can do an almost full run of act1 & clear the following place: Cemeteries, Cathedral lv3-4, Watch Towers, Cursed Hold Butcher run. I myself sometimes still go back to act1 to farm when I don't want to tire myself out with act 3 anymore.

It is also possible to farm in act2, from Kulle dungeons to a full Belial clear. However, I feel that it is not advisable to do so since there are only 3 dungeons that way, the number of elites/champions you might encounter would be less than that of act 1. Farming other areas than the aforementioned is not advisable due to the very annoying nature of act 2 monsters.

[melianor]

Full runs of Act 1 is what i am able to do at the moment, and that is the way at the moment. I tried playing around in Act 2 as well, but there are some really nasty combos floating around that i just cannot handle, which sometimes even resulted in my NV stack running out!

Act 1 has been fun so far and there have been some items that have indeed become useful!

[korrekt]

I'm doing full a2 clearances right now, which isn't too annoying with proper defensive gear. I hardly ever die. Gonna go up to a3 soon, however, and try if I can do full clears there without dying too much.

[Omelet]

In general simply doing a full clear gives the best return. I would suggest trying to find your best zone where you can kill and move along efficiently (i.e. without dying). You should also try and consider how much MF% you are able to wear within each act.

For example... If you can wear 150% MF in A1 and clear it relatively quickly, this may be a lot more productive than struggling through Act 2.

Certain places like the Festering Woods, Cemetary of the Forsaken (Act 1) always have rare packs, so you can move your stack up quickly by hitting these areas.

[PhoeniX Skye]

For example... If you can wear 150% MF in A1 and clear it relatively quickly, this may be a lot more productive than struggling through Act 2.

I don't know about that... as MF doesn't affect the item level but the item quality... and I don't know specifically how the MF affects the affix rolls or how many more rares drop instead of magic. You would definitely end up with more Blues, but of lesser average item level as compared to act2.

Personally, I've been doing act2 starting at the Magdha(sp) quest, then sweeping from Black Canyon Mines forward. All those caves where you need to find Kulle's stuff always houses a bunch of Elites (but sometimes they're annoying and spawn right at the entrance!). I personally don't have enough time to clear the whole act, but I would definitely stop before fighting Belial; the fight time and difficulty is definitely not worth it.

Also, I'm timing my runs and the number of elites I run into in act2 and I'm going to compare with an act3 run. This obviously depends on mostly on your stats but I'll share my results when I'm done.

[koalasgomeep]

Act 1 farming is the best imo. 40 min per run, 100kish guarenteed, plus whatever you might find that's sellable.

I run festering woods>cemetary>manor+guaranteed elite north of it>check for watchtower>butcher.

I could do A3, but there's at least 3-5 deaths guaranteed because something or another is going to spawn fast. Plus spear chuckers are annoying.

[Stryfe]

Do you run all the quests or set the last quest and run through all areas?

I suppose it would be a good way to get the speedrun achievement, I guess that requires to run all the quests though.

[LeminaAusa]

I do act 3 clears of the keep, the bridge and the area before it. I'm usually lazy to do more than that. I do act 1 when I need a break from act 3, since its fun zerging down stuff with total disregard for defence every now and then.