Where is the usual plateau with maps?

I'm 95% of the way to level 91 in the HC two week race. I have only run a single tier 10 map, which was a couple of levels ago. I have run maybe 10 total tier 9 maps. I just finished running the last tier 9 map that dropped. Zero maps dropped in it. Once I hit T8, I pretty much stayed there aside from some brief trips slightly upward and some lower level grinding for more Stone Hammers and chaos recipe stuff.

Here's how I'm rolling my maps:

Tier 7: for a while I just alched them. Now I occasionally throw four chisels on them, alch them, and chaos for decent quantity and pack size. Often I still just alch them, though. I started chiseling them when I almost ran out of T8s early on at level 90 (just a couple of Orchards left, which I was completely burned out on).

Tier 8: I very briefly just alched these. Now I 20% all of them, alch, and chaos for good quantity and pack size. I don't skip mods even if they're something like elemental reflect that cut my clear speed by 70%. I'll occasionally run Anarchy on these for the extra quantity.

Tier 9: 20%, alch, chaos for good rolls. I always run Anarchy and use 1-2 vaal fragments. The only boss I skip is Piety, who I always skip. I never skip any other bosses including those of other tiers, regardless of mods and whether or not I think this is finally the map where Tunneltrap kills me.

Tier 10: Same as above.

Is it common to be stuck in T8 maps after all this effort to move up? I feel like I'm getting unlucky, but I really have no idea how GGG has balanced this. All I know is that I'm progressing glacially due to the extreme XP penalty and it really sucks.

Do you Zana? I'm not as far along as you but I have a level 6 Zana that I run daily. With the maps I get from her and the ones that drop (and trade up with) I have been able to keep a pretty steady stream of tier 9's and have started running the 10's I have been stockpiling.


Wolf

tier 10 is a tier that i cannot imagine not sustaining - even doing blue maps (like most do - people TALK about running them crazy-hard but most simply roll simple blue maps and chain more of them that way)

zana lvl8 can sell several tier9-10 maps for few alchs a pop. ive literally run out of space on one of my characters starting with 2 tier 8 maps and not picking non-yellow ones. clogged the inventory with good maps quicker than i though was possible

It's like day 6 of the race. I have a Zana as high as she's gotten since then. I just died to a random rare devourer 5 minutes after writing that post, though, so my fucks given level is down to zero. The first hit taking off about 8.5K should have been clue one to instantly log the fuck out before the next hit finished me off. I blame lack of sleep caused by pushing to 91 one percent at a time. And yeah, he had powerful crits.

Oh well. I was really enjoying this character.

:(

Plateau is T10 map.

Update from Prophecy league. I just hit level 90, which was challenge number 36 completely solo self found. Yay for solo-friendly challenges and purple monkeys! Anyway, here's my current tier 9+ map tab:



I have never had to run a map of lower tier than I wanted to, which has been fantastic. The big difference between Prophecy league and the two week race is that instead of adding exiles to every tier 8+ map, I'm adding bloodlines with its 50% more magic monsters. This is obviously a solid boost to map drops, but not enough to explain the difference between this league and the two week race. I finally figured out the trick to maintaining maps, though.

Don't get fucking unlucky. That's it. Don't be the saddest sack of unlucky shit in the world, and you, too, can have fun playing POE.

I feel so sorry for whoever took my place in the shallow end of the RNG pool. My condolences, guy. Not even Zana's bloodlines will be enough to save you from a league of misery.

Zana 8 sells t10, opens t11.
That's the only source of maps.

"

dudiobugtron wrote:

Plateau is T10 map.

I am both disappointed that someone beat me to this joke and happy that someone made it. Apparently I wasn't on the forums much on may 14.

Anyway, yeah, wow OP, you're extremely unlucky. I generally start chiselling at t10 (1 chis), use 2 and t11, 3 at t12 and t13, and use 4 chisels at t14 and t15. I alch starting at t7, and chaos t9 and t10 maps that have unplayable mods for me (for t7 and t8 I just throw them away), but I only start chaosing for packsize at t11. I... never really run out of t12 maps with this strategy, once I have a decent pool going?