iTEMZ ???

[TheDarkSide]

So Im trying to find out just when and IF Ill start finding some decent items. Currently have a level 50 Barb and level 51 WD and really havent found anything worth using to this point. Maybe a rare or two here and there when leveling up but certainly nothing like D2 where Sigons set was a early option or finding a Wiz Spike, Shako, etc late Nm to help in Hell.

I dont get how the Nephalem Valor actually works either.. Is it only in Hell mode that this anomaly works ?? Im guessing Blizzard got their wish come true for the AH as I use it on a daily basis just so I can survive. Ill never pay real money for it though so it might be failed, selling in game items has allowed me to use the AH all I want..

Frustrated with MF , NO Answers can I find !!

[MoUsE_WiZ]

So Im trying to find out just when and IF Ill start finding some decent items. Currently have a level 50 Barb and level 51 WD and really havent found anything worth using to this point. Maybe a rare or two here and there when leveling up but certainly nothing like D2 where Sigons set was a early option or finding a Wiz Spike, Shako, etc late Nm to help in Hell.

I dont get how the Nephalem Valor actually works either.. Is it only in Hell mode that this anomaly works ?? Im guessing Blizzard got their wish come true for the AH as I use it on a daily basis just so I can survive. Ill never pay real money for it though so it might be failed, selling in game items has allowed me to use the AH all I want..

Frustrated with MF , NO Answers can I find !!

You start getting NV when you hit 60. I think this is because:
- NV is partially intended to punish changing your build frequently
- Blizzard wants people below 60 to experiment

I think this is stupid and just puts more emphasis on the notion of 'endgame' that suddenly exists in our wonderful world of Sanctuary.

[rberacha]

Yes, levels 1 to 59 is just get some DPS and stay alive. Gear and gear choices are about as generic as can be. Sets, runewords and Uniques from D2 don't factor into gameplay at all.

[mrmud]

The question you need to ask yourself is: how do I define what is "worth using"?
If you define it as "something that I can use to safely level my character" then I will be shocked if you have not found anything yet. This by the way is the definition mostly used in d2 HC.
If you define it as "approaching best in slot for my particular item level" then of course you havent found anything. You could find BIS items while leveling d2x but that was because of the prevalence of uniques and sets (and them being good to boot). You would never find BIS rares in d2 classic during the early levels.

So yes, you will find stuff. You will find stuff thats worth using, its just that the AH provides the best possible items that you could get so nothing of what you find will compare to that.
But what you find is enough, you can live by just using that.

[Trebol]

The biggest difference between leveling gear in D2 vs D3 is the longevity of the items. In D2, if you found a Skin of the Vipermagi at level 35, you had your armor for that character for pretty much the rest of the game - or until you found a better one. In D3, items have a much more limited shelf-life. On top of that, creatures drop things way lower than their level... up to 10 levels or more lower than their level.

The net result is that you're constantly finding stuff that would have been nice 5 levels ago, but you've already bought better on the AH, because doing those 5 levels with what you had before would have been ridiculously slow or impossible.

Or maybe you're one of the people who doesn't use the AH... in which case, you're forced to repeat zones trying to gear up - which means you're higher level than the creatures, so the items that are dropping are even further behind.

On the whole, itemization in D3 is pretty messed up, and it's hard not to look at all of that and come to the conclusion that it's all a calculated decision to get you to use the RMAH.

[Matt]

I agree with what Trebol said to a point. While you're leveling up, I think it's true that it's hard to find a ton of upgrades without replaying areas that you're a little overgeared for. That being said, I'm not sure I have a big problem with that. In D2, the VAST majority of gear that the VAST majority of people found was from rerunning the same areas (99% of the time the same couple of bosses) over and over, and in that respect, I'm not sure D3 is a whole lot different. I think the difference is that it's more worth your while to rerun whole areas rather than just act bosses, so it feels like you're playing behind where you otherwise would be.

That being said, I 100% disagree with the complaints about drops in later hell/inferno. I have a grand total of about 10% MF on my level 60, and I'm rerunning acts 3/4 hell before I venture much more into inferno. With a 5-stack NV, I get more rares than I know what to do with. Every champ pack seems to drop 2-3 of them, and bosses are guaranteed to drop at least 2! Are all of them good? Of course not. I have certainly found a couple of upgrades for myself, and a handful more that are great for other classes. I wish the legendarys would drop more for me, as I've only found one since release (some terrible low level monk thing). That being said though, I'm absolutely thrilled that the best items are by and large rares, not legendarys. I do not miss the days of joining a game to find 7 hammerdins wearing exactly the same loot. I want to see more oranges/greens dropping because it's fun finding them, not because they are or should be the best items.

A lot of people seem to be pointing to all the awesome gear on the AH, and act surprised they haven't found much better. As mrmud said, of course you haven't found things better in most cases, you're comparing one persons drops against those of many thousands of others. By nature the odds are vastly against that happening! If you don't like that, don't use the AH. All that awesome loot for sale there was found by other people MFing. The drop rates are perfectly fine in my opinion, so long as you're not basing it either on the number of shakoz you've found or against the collective loot the rest of battle.net has found on the AH.

[TheDarkSide]

Yep its almost as if the RMAH is the only way to get better gear to survive late NM, Hell , and Inferno. Ive never made it into Inferno but have a Barb thats defeated NM Diablo and if I didnt shop on the AH id never had made it that far. Kind of discouraging as I used to get all kinds of items in my D2 days to help my characters along the way. Its as if they dont want anyone to find things and have the ability to help their other characters level and survive and only use the RMAH ...

[Matt]

Yep its almost as if the RMAH is the only way to get better gear to survive late NM, Hell , and Inferno. Ive never made it into Inferno but have a Barb thats defeated NM Diablo and if I didnt shop on the AH id never had made it that far. Kind of discouraging as I used to get all kinds of items in my D2 days to help my characters along the way. Its as if they dont want anyone to find things and have the ability to help their other characters level and survive and only use the RMAH ...

Seeing how there's no RMAH for hardcore (thankfully), I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's doable without that, since there are plenty of folks well into inferno

[mrmud]

Yep its almost as if the RMAH is the only way to get better gear to survive late NM, Hell , and Inferno.

THis is such crap.
I cant speak for inferno yet (currently in act4 hell) but you absolutely don't need the AH to survive in NM or Hell. I have found everything I need by playing the game like I played D2. Meaning that If I did not feel comfortable in a new difficulty I would run the previous one a few more times until my gear was up to par.

This is how you played D2 and you can still play D3 this way, its just that you have the AH as a crutch if you dont want to.

[TheDarkSide]

Seeing how there's no RMAH for hardcore (thankfully), I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's doable without that, since there are plenty of folks well into inferno

Umm - I only play HC and there is indeed a RMAH in HC as that is exactley what IM talking about....

THis is such crap.
I cant speak for inferno yet (currently in act4 hell) but you absolutely don't need the AH to survive in NM or Hell. I have found everything I need by playing the game like I played D2. Meaning that If I did not feel comfortable in a new difficulty I would run the previous one a few more times until my gear was up to par.

This is how you played D2 and you can still play D3 this way, its just that you have the AH as a crutch if you dont want to.

Ive yet to find any useful weapon for my level 51 Barbarian(act 1 Hell) and have had to buy many items just for him to survive. I have a 53 WD(act 1 hell) and most of his stuff is AH bought as well. Id be afraid to play the game with only the Junk I seem to find...