... Snail Time ...

Ceri - Congrats on 93!

Turnip - Yeah after I thought about it, that was foolish of me to open that box...getting some gems worth a few chaos isn't worth the risk of losing 10% exp.

Speaking of which...I'm curious to see how the exp penalty will be changed...up or down? Either way getting to 97 before 2.3.0 is now mandatory...

Has anyone thought about how the Ascendency tree changes will affect their builds and grinding? Looks like my Pathfinder is getting buffed (YES!) so getting those last 2 points will really take my build to a whole new level. So I'm sure the new final lab will be a ballbuster, but failure is not an option. :)

I'm still at 96.50%...getting a little low on good maps...but Tier 12 maps are only around 12-15 chaos...I think I may have to purchase a few so I can start my final path to 97 grind sessions.

Hi Sas

You're doing good. I wouldn't pressure yourself to reach 97 by a given time, it will add stress etc.

Why do you feel the need to lvl to 97 before patch. If they nerf stuff, you'll still need to get to 98 and beyond.
Btw, I don't understand the 'I don't buy maps rule' this solo levelling is hard as s*** as it is. Why not buy maps?

Best

Turnip



Edit: imo avoiding strong boxes is a good strat unless you can GUARANTEE not ripping :D

Turnip,

My goal to hit 97 is due to the rebalancing, tougher monsters (doing more damage), possible higher exp penalty now makes me want to do it more. It is also a good goal to set...I'm needing a break from the crazy grinding and I really want to play the Prophecy League...I've never played anything but Standard so I think this could be really fun. Plus it is something my one remaining active guildie and I can do together (the rest of our guild left to play D3).

But now that I know my char won't get nerfed (buffed, rather!) I don't have to worry about doing an Atziri recording like I've been wanting to do (that was another reason to hit 97). I've yet to kill her without dying...my last attempt I got there on one life...saw her die and jumped up from my chair in a victory dance...and then noticed right before she croaked she launched a final Flameblast and before I could react...the damn thing hit me and my flasks were down...and that stupid bitch KILLED ME after she was already dead! GRRRRR! I don't know if I can consider that a deathless victory...but the risk of dying on her map is too high to risk losing exp.

Plus, prior to all this grinding I was running around with my MF gear on and just focusing on building wealth. It was fun and I was dying left and right and didn't care...but I got used to playing like that...and I kind of miss it. It would be fun to just focus on that for a little while. :)

I don't know why I got so adamant about not buying maps...I buy plenty of other stuff. Just spent all my remaining exalts on new armour for my Pathfinder...kinda silly isn't it? I've got a good stack of chaos orbs so it's just my ego getting in the way since I've never bought any maps before.

Agreed on the Strongboxes...even Gemcutter's aren't all that useful to me any more...I have plenty of 20/20 gems. But a Carto's or Unique Strongbox? I'd portal out and bring in my backup character for those...then again I've only ever found one Unique box (barrel thing) and Carto's seem very rare these days.

Imo as I said in last post. Buying maps is cool. Don't know why people are against it unless they are self-found or want a
Harder goal than soloing to 100 - I think it's hard enough. And I agree with the strongbox strat tbh never found anything that good in them apart
Form a carto which I haven't seen in ages.

Turnip

At 95.85 at the moment with enthusiasm renewed after seeing the buff to my ascendancy -- by level 98, I'd be 3 more jewels in, have a 20/20 and should have other 21/20 gems, and two more ascendancy points. Basically a boost all round to eHP, armor, damage and defense. Been playing a fair bit actually, but splitting my time and alternating with a standard toon after testing some things out a bit and ending up liking the build and leveling it (plus its progress was faster as it's lower level and has a generally faster clear speed).

"

Turniphead2 wrote:

Imo as I said in last post. Buying maps is cool. Don't know why people are against it unless they are self-found or want a
Harder goal than soloing to 100 - I think it's hard enough. And I agree with the strongbox strat tbh never found anything that good in them apart
Form a carto which I haven't seen in ages.

Turnip

In my case it is not only the "I don't buy maps", it is rather a philosophy of play. I do not like to depend on others, I want to be self-sufficient. Unfortunately I can not say I've never bought or sold anything but I try to stay as far away as possible from trade for the day I get to level 100 to say "I did it" and feel absolutely conformity with myself. If I get to 100 with these particular rules you can be sure that I will be much happier than any that had a much easier way constantly trading.

The more difficult the road, the greater the final joy.

96.55%...moving right along. :)

Well I respect that Actkqk. Both views are valid to me. 8)

I broke down and bought two T12 maps today and decided to run them along with 2 of my own. One that I bought had 40% pack size and amazingly high (and tricky) mods, along with two bosses. I got a few very low tier maps from it (boo!)..in fact running all 4 reds I got nothing above T8...very disappointing. I've got 3 left that I'm saving...so much for replenishing my pool!

Rngesus indeed rules over us all. :D

Speaking of which, after spending 20+ chaos on the maps, I was surprised to get a flurry of people buying stuff. Selling has been slow for me over the past few days. Today I sold a few things in a 20 minute windows which ended up giving me back what I'd spent on maps plus a few extra.

So, Rngesus stiffeth me on thy maps, but thine chaos, hast returned with a bounty. :D

Haven't bought a map in ages. Mostly because I tend (or want) to play builds which can handle most, if not all, mods and map bosses. Doesn't translate to the fastest map clearing speed usually but it suits my personal preferences. Also the map drops seemed overall buffed, at least to me. Helps that I switch up maps all the time to alleviate potential boredom.

Me three for not buying maps. Partly that's because as I said before, I'm quite sure (having been there in other games) that gaining 100 on any particular character will actually feel quite hollow (to me, I'm sure others enjoy it). I'll just be looking at it forevermore thinking 'well, there's actually nothing that character can really gain from here'.

And I would avoid an ice nova strongbox sometimes if it's a bad layout but generally I open them all. It's xp, after all. Not with easily stunlocked characters of course or if the latency has been bad recently.

96.58%...snuck in a little more POE after hitting my second pub of the day (rough day at work, lol). ;)

This may strange, but I really enjoy Academy maps. I've ran so many I can blaze through them very quickly...although I'm not a fan of the stupid Assbiter of Knowledge and his overpowered attacks. Ran my final one of the day just now and got a Chateau, Shipyard and another T8 map drop...very nice. So I ended the day with one less red map then when I started...I call that progress!

Hopefully I can hit 97 soon...will need a little break after that...:o