Can someone explain the races to me real quick?

Played this for a while but never raced. Can someone tell me really quickly:

How do I join a race (they start tomorrow, which is Friday?)? Why should I do it? Which races I should join and in what order? What are the rewards? How many players participate? Is it like a ladder thing or does it have rewards for more casual participants who aren't going to be very high on the said ladder? Do you create new characters for it, and if so what happens to them after the race is over? Or maybe we can race with existing ones or sth?

(Not interested in negative posts, go be a dick somewhere else, there are other threads for you:-D)

I did attend races like two seasons before, so my opinion can be outdated, but I guess the core features do not change.

How to join - In the lobby (character selection screen) there will appear buttons with names corresponding to each of the race. You just select it (kinda like selecting a league) and create a character - it usually is possible like 30 minutes before the race itself. The char will then just be "frozen" until race start.

What races to attend - well depends on your situation. Will you race solo and never in party? If yes, I recommend starting with something "normal" (~ Three Hour Party (S09V002) or Two Hour Solo (S09V004) is the first one "normal" ). Prepare to die alot at first while trying to push the limits. At least I did, but I am a scrub, really. Just my preference - three hours are quite long. I prefer two or one hour races, but that is just a preference.

How many players - you can go to poestatistics.com and see the archives. In my times, it was usually hundreds of people really getting anywhere out of town, but it really greatly depends on your time slot / time zone. US puts in more players than EU in prime time, for example.

You always have a fresh character for each race.

What happens to them - the races are usually Hardcore based, so those who die go to standard immediately. Those who survive go to Hardcore league, UNLESS the base is different (~ VOID league for some of the special one like Champions. Void league = the character is basically gone)

EDIT : Do not get troubled by the "Player X has entered Ledge" when you are barely in the middle of mud flats. The top racers are - out of this world. Just focus on smaller goals set for yourself. Or at least that is what I did - I took a stopwatch and measured my time to kill Brutus. Then I focused on getting better and better time in each race. When I was confident about Brutus, I set a similar etalon on time to kill Merveil. And so on.

Thanks Aldorus for your reply; i was also thinking of starting with occasional racing myself and you provided some good answers.

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Tom7i wrote:

Thanks Aldorus for your reply; i was also thinking of starting with occasional racing myself and you provided some good answers.

You should, it is a lot of fun.

Just to add some more thoughts if you are interested - I usually had a "strategy plan" for each race, as basically the common approach is "get to the selected farmzone ASAP and then farm like mad until X, then race to the next selected one".

The reality of the game changed alot since I was racing, so this will surely not work now, but just to illustrate :

1. run to the Ledge.

run = Stop nowhere, pick only what you need along the way, get only Hillock reward (~know beforehand, what gem you are going to pick) while running through Watch. Kill only necessary minimum along. Beware the Merveils children.

2. farm Ledge one walk through, then back, then back again. Kill only clusters of mobs > 5 along

3. run to Coves, try to minimize the Brutus kill time (one of the key points)

4. farm Coves only on the single walk through

5. run to Riverways, minimize Merveil kill timer

...


EDIT : I recommend racing, really, at your own pace and for your own goals. I did not break a record on racing points, but I did have a great time seeing myself improve with each race. That is the reward beyond any measuring.

Racing used to be rewarding for everybody (you got currency based on your achieved level after each race). Even the casuals who did not end up in the top 10 got something out of it. Now it is just a fancy way for the no-lifers to farm for even more goodies (unique items).

-Only the top X players get points (which will basically always be the same people + those abusing maphacks).
-Only those with no life that can do just about every race and belong to the above said group will get proper rewards at the end.

So you need to ask yourself the following:
Do I enjoy challenging myself, in an attempt to be a better player? Or do I solely do it for the goodies?

You can then easily choose whether races are for you or not.

"

Ferumbras wrote:

Racing used to be rewarding for everybody (you got currency based on your achieved level after each race). Even the casuals who did not end up in the top 10 got something out of it. Now it is just a fancy way for the no-lifers to farm for even more goodies (unique items).

-Only the top X players get points (which will basically always be the same people + those abusing maphacks).
-Only those with no life that can do just about every race and belong to the above said group will get proper rewards at the end.

So you need to ask yourself the following:
Do I enjoy challenging myself, in an attempt to be a better player? Or do I solely do it for the goodies?

You can then easily choose whether races are for you or not.

Fucking. Nailed. It.

10/10.

GGG please rethink this horrible change to Racing.

With season 9 GGG is going backward - completely nolifer oriented prize system, that gives no incentive for casuals to participate.

Do you rememberer the seasons with great items at 135 pts, which is a realistic goal for everyone, even casuals / people that can't balance their lives around fixed race schedule?

Were those bad seasons, affluence-wise? Did the economy collapse, destroying the world as we know it?

I like racing, but no way I'm gonna support this backward development, by participating in this season.

"

Ferumbras wrote:

Racing used to be rewarding for everybody (you got currency based on your achieved level after each race). Even the casuals who did not end up in the top 10 got something out of it. Now it is just a fancy way for the no-lifers to farm for even more goodies (unique items).

-Only the top X players get points (which will basically always be the same people + those abusing maphacks).
-Only those with no life that can do just about every race and belong to the above said group will get proper rewards at the end.

So you need to ask yourself the following:
Do I enjoy challenging myself, in an attempt to be a better player? Or do I solely do it for the goodies?

You can then easily choose whether races are for you or not.

thats the reason i dont race.

Well - I skipped the last two (maybe three) seasons for a reason.

However, I did not want to turn the OP off right away, racing used to be really great experience. You just "have to" forget about the prizes and just challenge yourself to become better, more efficient player instead.