MP HF Rushing Group

[RibGriller]

1.11b SC RWM/RRM

Disclaimer:

If you think that HF Rushing is cheesy, then please stop reading here. I've heard the mozarella argument over and over, and I'm not trying to start up another one. Thank you...

Ok, so I've been thinking about this for a while now, and wanted to see how many ppl would be interested in rushing NM and Hell HF -- MP style.

Motivation:

There's only about 10 uniques that I haven't found so far, and I don't care about them either. I'm only interested in Rune words now. (But, I wouldn't leave a Dweb laying on the ground either. :grin:)

I'm sure there has to be some other people out there like me that want to make the higher RW's, but don't have the freedom to buy multiple copies of D2 and another computer to rush the HF. Others don't want to rely solely on popping chests in LK.

Some ppl are fiercly against HF Rushing, but it is generally accepted cause Rushers are not hacking or duping the runes. And, I'm sure that Rushers probably have more fun cause they can play whatever char they're interested in.

History:

I've ran to Hell HF like Dune does five times now. Recently, I teamed up with another player, and we would rush each other's char at lvl 1 up to Act 5. Then we'd go back and level up on our own til lvl 40. After that, we just rush each other through NM and on to Hell HF.

That was in Expansion 1.11 of course, but I'm considering doing them in Classic to make the process faster. This thread will probably decide for me. If there's not enough interest in the thread, then I'll probably go back to HF Running.

Also, I've heard Asmodeous talk of an MP group where they would take turns rushing seven other players, and they really cranked out some good runes together.

Options:

Expansion 1.11 Rushing <-- Need to level up to 40
Classic Rushing <-- No leveling required (Does this have to be 1.09?)

Proposal:

Match yourself up with other players to rush with at the times when you're available. Also, pick a rushing method that you're comfortable with. (See table below)

Requirements:

A kick butt sorc (pure Blizz/Blizzballer/Meteorb). I would recommend 105 FCR for fast teleporting -- let me know if you need help getting to that 105.

Any comments/suggestions are very much encouraged. :thumbsup:

[RibGriller]

I'll start us off


Player X1.11 Classic Goal Days/Times Available (EST)/GMT
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RibGriller yes yes Forti All Days/11P-1A/4P-6P

[Nazdakka]

*Welcome to the dark end of the darkside :D*

Some ideas and things I've found out...

That was in Expansion 1.11 of course, but I'm considering doing them in Classic to make the process faster. This thread will probably decide for me. If there's not enough interest in the thread, then I'll probably go back to HF Running.

The two biggest time-sinks that I've found along the way (rushing in 1.11 Classic, convert after getting to Act 3 Hell) are 1) mule-handling and 2) Act 2 Hell. Adding more people will help with 1), although there are diminishing returns, but 2) basically depends on how well built and equipped your rushing Sorc is. I find that Act 2 Hell has the potential to take as long as the whole of Normal.

Options:

Expansion 1.11 Rushing <-- Need to level up to 40
Classic Rushing <-- No leveling required (Does this have to be 1.09?)

1)By glitch-rushing, you can avoid the Ancients quest and rush the expansion. Here's (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=493005) a guide on how to do rush in the expansion by using an Enchantress.

2)You can avoid the Ancients quest by rushing in 1.11 Classic, so long as you rush the mules all the way to Act 2 Hell in Classic. Apparantly the game checks how many total acts you've completed as opposed to where you are in the game, which is a little odd. This (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=379966) is a guide on doing it using 1.09, which is largely relevant to 1.11.

3)In terms of raw efficiency, it would probably be better for 8 people to rush solo by running multiple instances, rather than having 1 person rushing and 7 people spending 95% of their time sitting in town doing nothing. You can get a mule all the way to the Hell HF without gaining a single point of XP. Doing it solo is much less sociable, and you need to be able to run multiple instances of D2.

4) Just a thought: team Hellforge running could actually be a lot of fun. See just how fast 8 people can get twinked characters to the forge!

[RibGriller]

*Welcome to the dark end of the darkside :D*


Why in the heck is it so dark if so many ppl do it?


3)In terms of raw efficiency, it would probably be better for 8 people to rush solo by running multiple instances, rather than having 1 person rushing and 7 people spending 95% of their time sitting in town doing nothing. You can get a mule all the way to the Hell HF without gaining a single point of XP. Doing it solo is much less sociable, and you need to be able to run multiple instances of D2.


I really don't want to involve anything other than my one PC, and one copy of D2. I think ppl are worried that others will look down on them if they do it. I'm at the point, however, where I don't care cause so many of the oldest SPF members do it. If it's good enough for them, then why not me?

Whatever, this doesn't look like it's going to happen. Oh well, thought i'd try.

The last straw came when I seen Jaedhann's giveaway. I seen a few getting free Griefs/Deaths/Fortitudes, etc. Meanwhile, I worked worked very hard for all of my RW's. They got it in the blink of an eye. At that point, I said screw it, who cares what ppl think of me... I'm not bitter towards Jae or anyone who got that elite gear, just wondering why do I have to work so hard when others don't have to?

[Thyiad]

I have a level 40 classic sorc. I can give you a bit of a boost.

[Kedali]

If you do any rushing, Thyiad, I'd like to come along. :p Starting a classic sorc, in act2, forgot how much it sucked to play a low level untwinked sorc lol.

[RibGriller]

@Thyiad: Thx for offering the help. It is much appreciated. :smiley: The bad part is that I start playing when it's 4AM in your timezone (I made a mistake on that table, it should read 4AM-6AM GMT). Maybe you could help Kedali?

@Kedali: You're way ahead of the game. Awesome, maybe we can work together when I get home later. Classic 1.11b it is...

[RibGriller]

Fixing availability times.


Player X1.11 Classic Goal Days/Times Available (EST)/GMT
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RibGriller yes yes Forti All Days/11:30P-1:30A/4:30A-6:30A

[In the name of Zod]

Sounds good. Just don't have the time atm with study. If you want to contact me use http://inthenameofzod.blogspot.com and post a comment. I'm also in the SPF a lot these days. 8 weeks and counting.

RWM/RRM Lod 1.11b (only)

:thumbsup:

[RibGriller]

Cool, I've got a good Classic Blizzballer up if you ever want to do some Classic rushing. It's two or three times faster than LoD.

Your Blog webpage takes a loong time to load, btw. :)

I guess the first step would be to get a couple chars through normal. What times/days are you able to do it?

[In the name of Zod]

Ooops, just realised how poorly written my previous post was. 8 weeks meant 8 weeks till I'm playing again. Its my study you see, so the game is boxed. No one seemed interested in discussing Hellforge running @SPF so I came here instead just to post a comment on it. Hope you don't consider this spam :smiley:

I'm going to PM you with some thoughts about this, ok. Maybe together we can get this thing working. Two brains are better than one.

[pancakeman]

I guess I'm in, but one question: Are you guys pursuing the "rimp through the game extra-speedy" technique, or the "Sorcy teleport mules wait" technique?

If it is the latter, I guess I could jump in for some fast HRs :smiley:

[RibGriller]

@Zod: I don't consider your interest as spam. And, I admire your self-control cause school is more important. We'll talk later. :)

@Pancake: Sorcy is the work horse, others can kick back. It goes pretty fast so the rushees don't get too bored waiting. Here's some info I need from you:

What flavor do you like Classic or LoD?
If Classic, do you have a Classic sorc already, or need help with one?
What days/times are you available?

The Classic Forum (http://forums.diabloii.net/forumdisplay.php?f=115) is a great place for info on the different types of classic sorcs. Here's a few options: pure blizz, blizzballer, orb/fb, orb/static, orb/firewall. It may look like a daunting task without full tal's or Occy, but you'd be surprised. I also have some twinking gear for those interested.

I'm at lvl 69 and gonna level up some more to rush Naz and 7 chars to see how it goes. I'll let you guys know...

[pancakeman]

I prefer LoD myself, I tried a bit of Classic but got confused very quickly.

If need be, though, I can do Classic if that is what is settled on.

How would the runes be split this way? If we are going to do lvl 1 mules and rush those, would we do smaller individual games after the rush to collect the runes?

[RibGriller]

If you want to do LoD, that's fine. It looks like Zod wants to do Lod too. This thread is for matching up Lod rushers with Lod rushers, and classic rushers with other classic rushers. I personally can do both. You really should consider classic rushing cause it takes about 1/2 the time. If you play 1.11, classic has the same synergies as in Lod. In fact, classic is exactly like Lod, except for:

1) No Act 5, obviously.

2) You can static all monsters/bosses in all difficulties down to 1% health (no cap).

3) No dex required for blocking -- what you see on the shield is what you get (unless you have bonuses from other equipment).

4) No rw's and only Normal uniques/sets.

In classic, you rush a lvl 1 char til you get to hell a3, convert the char to Lod, continue the rush to hell hf, then back to nm hf. As for splits, there's a couple of options:

Splitting Option 1 (Keep what you get)
Say you and I decide to team up for 5 or so rushes. You rush me, I keep my HF. In return, I rush you, and you keep your own HF. Rinse and repeat a few times... Simple enough?

Splitting Option 2 (50/50 split)
We keep the runes on the mules or in special stashes somewhere. After the first two, you happen to have Gul and Ist on your mules, and I have Pul, Lum on mine. I say, "I need some runes, can we split the Gul and Ist now?" (Gul+Ist = 6 Mals) You say, "Sure, the split would be Ist and Mal each, we don't have a Mal on the mules yet, but I could give you one out of my personal stash if you want." I say, "Cool, let's do it."

You give me Ist+Mal, move the Gul off the mule and into your personal stash.

If we wait til another Gul+Ist drop. Then we each get to 'withdraw' a Gul and Ist from the mules.

Another option would be to download the dll (I can email it to you or anyone) for window mode. Me or someone else could rush you in classic while you handle the 7 mules, or vice versa.

I'm open to alot of different options, and will team with you for whatever. Maybe this thread will pick up some steam down the road, and you won't have to rely on just me for partnership.

[Callador]

Thanks for the advice RibGriller! :thumbsup:

I would love to get rushed + some levels for my classic sorc because at this rate I won't be able to HF rush before new year... :undecided:

Maybe I can later rush others even though I have two comps at my home so I could HF rush by myself.

[RibGriller]

Thanks for the advice RibGriller! :thumbsup:

I would love to get rushed + some levels for my classic sorc because at this rate I won't be able to HF rush before new year... :undecided:

Maybe I can later rush others even though I have two comps at my home so I could HF rush by myself.

Sure, I could rush you through Classic. Although, you should solo when levling so you can re-run whatever areas you like. I've got some starter gear that'll help ya out a little.

These are the best places to level through Normal and NM:

Tristram
Canyon of Magi
Tal Rasha's tomb area
Lk/Kurast Bazaar/Upper Kurast
NM Mephy for mfing

IIRC you're building up a blizzsorc, which is very gg. If so, then Hell Meph and Hell AT is the only/fastest place for you after you hit lvl 45 or so.

You can see on the first page what times I'm available for rushing. Also, if you haven't rushed before, I suggest you team up with someone for a couple cause you can learn alot of time saving tips. :thumbsup:

[Callador]

Sure, I could rush you through Classic. Although, you should solo when levling so you can re-run whatever areas you like. I've got some starter gear that'll help ya out a little.

That sounds nice. Of your available times 11:30P-1:30A would be nice for me (if I did did that timezone thing right...) most likely on saturdays/sundays.


IIRC you're building up a blizzsorc, which is very gg. If so, then Hell Meph and Hell AT is the only/fastest place for you after you hit lvl 45 or so.


I am not so sure about the build yet... If I go pure blizz, won't cold immunes be a problem (Viper Temple, etc)? I already have a blizzsorc in LoD (which I use a lot) so I would like to try something different (FO/FB maybe) but I would like to have as efficient/safe build as possible. I haven't spent much skill points yet so I can think this build thing through.

[RibGriller]

Saturday or Sunday would work, just PM me about a day in advance.

When thinking of a build, plan on the fact that you're not going to have all of those mega powered items/sets you have in Lod. Plan on +2 skills from gear (I only have +1 from my sorcy amulet), and no more than that. Here's a couple more problems with classic:

1) The mercs are completely worthless.
2) No skillers, charms, or jewels.

So, I'd advise against experimenting in Classic. Although, there's a few in the classic forum who like FO/FB. But, going against my pure blizz recommendation, I'd recommend a strong Blizz and a weak FB. The other night I ran into a situation where I was glad to have my pitiful FB against a couple tough CI's. I just spammed static, and used a few FB's to finish em off, sweet.

What to do in the Claw viper temple? With 70 fcr, you'll be reasonably safe teleporting past all the snakes, but I still die there every now and then. It's no big deal, just s&e to get your corpse back, and try again. If it's really, really crowded with snakes, then reroll the map. :)

[DaveW]

Hi RG, I'd be keen to play some 1.09 HFR. I recently had a laptop meltdown (some virus) and had to reload Win XP over the top of old stuff. Lost all my 1.11 Gear. So I thought I may as well try some earler versions as I have read about them. Do you know of a general guide to playing 1.09 (players settings and so forth). Im gonna try a Meteorber or BlizzBaller for my first MF char in 1.09. BTW I just installed 1.09b from the Blizzard website.

[RibGriller]

Hey Dave, I've never played 1.09 before, but it sounds like it's alot easier to rush in. The biggest thing is you don't have to get staff+amulet in act 2 in NM or Hell. That means no Hell Claw viper temple!! Naz posted a link to 1.09 rushing on the first page of this thread. GL, and let me know how it goes. :)