(June 2/3) Default ladder race

"

Riney wrote:

I wonder what rank I was before the 70 minute mark.

Follow the links above...One should show you almost a 3 minutes incremental progression...So I found out 3 minutes in I was in 28th place or so....dropped down into the area of 50-60 and clawed my way back.

"

Riney wrote:

I wonder what rank I was before the 70 minute mark.

Forget about minute 1-10, since they are more or less irrelevant. You fluctuated between number 21 at 20 minutes to number 2 at minute 35. From minute 38 to 52 you are loosing some momentum falling to number 10. From minute 65 you are declining untill minute 76 where you are number 18.

Could you tell what your strategy was and what happened in those periods?

"

Metronomy wrote:

"

TehHammer wrote:

Not bad, my first time and I got a 9th place finish. Was doing a gimped build (bow ranger), stuck with poison arrow (at least I got a skill!).

I was stuck WITHOUT poison arrow, I forgot to get it =(. I also prefer HC races, though it was still pretty fun.

I started at templar to be able to use the insane weapon elemental nodes, I hoped for lightning arrow as any extra elemental damage really pays off when investing in those nodes (elemental + area of effect = win), would have been 5x better with burning arrow, but had to settle for poison arrow. Hindsight being 20/20, would have finished top 5 had I just stuck with melee/lightning strike.

It took too long to get buffed up and spent points stupidly going across towards ranger/shadow for the other elemental damage nodes, which could have been better spent on defense & melee nodes had I picked the better route. I finished 1 node away from that cluster. It was a risk with huge rewards if I made it (nearly 30% boost to elemental damage if I got that cluster) but it didn't pay off as I just didn't level quickly enough.

Did some other silly noob stuff that I learned from. I have a habit of opening every chest/pot I see, a habit that is hard to break. After about 2.5 hours, I finally forced myself to stop.

"

TehHammer wrote:

Hindsight being 20/20, would have finished top 5 had I just stuck with melee/lightning strike.

It took too long to get buffed up and spent points stupidly going across towards ranger/shadow for the other elemental damage nodes

I agree with you here, not necessarily that going for elemental damage nodes is bad, but if you are decided on your passive tree build before you start, you will definitely do better. Small variations can be fun though, but the further you deviate from your planned passive route, the more time you waste thinking about other possible routes =P.

"

Metronomy wrote:

I agree with you here, not necessarily that going for elemental damage nodes is bad, but if you are decided on your passive tree build before you start, you will definitely do better. Small variations can be fun though, but the further you deviate from your planned passive route, the more time you waste thinking about other possible routes =P.

The problem was I didn't really have a plan, well, I had a plan, I just didn't know I wouldn't have time to execute it. Had I gotten to the other elemental cluster, it would have worked out well, but instead the last 15 nodes I invested in went to Iron Grip (nearly pointless with a 8 to 20 physical damage bow) and a bunch of +10 dex/str/int nodes.

I could have put those points in Melee weapon/defense and been far better off with Lightning Strike (an attack that utilizes my passive nodes far better than Poison Arrow) and a decent weapon. You live and you learn. Finishing top 10 while really only investing in 5/6 worthwhile nodes is pretty impressive. =D