Danut's Self-Found Gems Challenge [streamlined for Betrayal!]

"

Antaiseito wrote:

Sounds great.
Actually i was sometimes kind of wishing to have been playing the game back then, but never really though about just doing it like that.  :)

InB4 open beta so me and my kiwi pet have seen it all. Trust me when I tell you that you never ever would want to play PoE without Lockstep (aka Deterministic Lockstep). The huge amount of desync and rubber-banding almost drove me to permanently quit. Fast move builds were especially rife with rubber-banding in the temples with the leaper monsters. It was pure hell back then. Add on top of this the fact that I only had an AMD gpu back then and PoE stutters/stalls out much more frequently on AMD Radeon (even Crimson driver is inferior to Geforce) and I had the perfect storm trying to play at all solo. Lockstep was a godsend play improvement and then getting an Nvidia 1060 AMP! last Christmas makes playing today a walk in the park compared to then.

But GGG has talked the talk for years about custom leagues (like SSF with no skill or support gems from vendors) and that's all it ever will amount to, talk. I don't see it ever being a reality.

"

Antaiseito wrote:

Nice, congrats on Arakaali (she's actually the boss that i fear the most on HC, need to learn her properly some day) and the tabula! :D

My frost-blades scion died to Dominus a few days ago.
Why? .. I just didn't take him serious enough anymore ..

Took a break from PoE for a bit to do other things. But at least the challenge showed me why i like the game again.

Good luck in making it to maps! If you got this far that should also be possible! :D

Those lightning-discharge guys are my second most reason for HC-deaths while leveling. Or maybe not in frequency, but one of the mobs i'm most vary of.

Interesting. I find Arakaali quite easy. I do fuck up on it sometimes and die (on SC) due to staying in the way of her Laser Barrage for long, but that's just cause I'm really bad and fuck up on every boss in the game. Quite different perspectives!

Also, this time around Arakaali actually bugged midfight. For like 40% of her life she just stayed in a really weird position all bugged and I could damage her without taking any attack. Thinking about it now, I really should have logged off at this point. Not only cause it's a bit like cheating, but also because there was no way of knowing if I wouldn't suddenly get hit by a dozen different attacks or something like that. Luckily nothing happened, I just got a free 40% of the fight done.

The tabula was a lucky drop. Interestingly it's the second challenge char I make during Delve and the second that gets a Tabula. RNGesus is being good to me.

I had seen that your char wasn't on your char list anymore. What a shame. Maybe I'll see you around again at some point in next league?

I'll post an update here when I get to maps (or when I rip, whatever comes first).

"

FrancescoV wrote:

Going to give this challenge another try very soon.

During Abyss I got to mapping and level 85 with my Jug.. then lost interest in going on... but the char is still there, didn't delete it as I always do upon dying/end of league as it felt quite an achivment.

My goal now is doing better than that (unlikey... Delve can be very rippy).

Oh, you're the guy mentioned in jolsen26's thread for bestiary league? That was when I first saw about the challenge idea, and he mentioned that someone was still going on Abyss at level 83 when he last heard about. That's some impressive achievement, congrats!

Delves are really rippy, my own char has almost died to them a few times, even though I've been fairly conservative in making mine runs. One of them was so close that I couldn't even see that my life bar wasn't empty. On the other hand, Delves are really nice for getting gems.

One question about your run though: the original rules (and, from what I see in your profile, the ones you followed) were about using (almost) only uniques. My ruleset is a bit different. Are you going to run with the "classic" rules or the new version?

In any case I'll be looking forward to hear about your progress and see if you can beat that level 85 char.

"

Arrowneous wrote:

But GGG has talked the talk for years about custom leagues (like SSF with no skill or support gems from vendors) and that's all it ever will amount to, talk. I don't see it ever being a reality.

There's lots of speculation about it being announced in the next days. We'll see. For me this would hardly change anything since I don't have any friends (that play the game, that is) and am also not really fond of the idea of having to spend extra money I don't currently have just to play poe. But we'll see.

@Arrowneous
I wasnt in beta but when i started PoE desynchs were pain in the arse. It was the main reason why i dropped Duelist mele for scion Ice Nova (area - didnt had to think about desynchs).

"

DanutMS wrote:

"

FrancescoV wrote:

Going to give this challenge another try very soon.

During Abyss I got to mapping and level 85 with my Jug.. then lost interest in going on... but the char is still there, didn't delete it as I always do upon dying/end of league as it felt quite an achivment.

My goal now is doing better than that (unlikey... Delve can be very rippy).

Oh, you're the guy mentioned in jolsen26's thread for bestiary league? That was when I first saw about the challenge idea, and he mentioned that someone was still going on Abyss at level 83 when he last heard about. That's some impressive achievement, congrats!

Delves are really rippy, my own char has almost died to them a few times, even though I've been fairly conservative in making mine runs. One of them was so close that I couldn't even see that my life bar wasn't empty. On the other hand, Delves are really nice for getting gems.

One question about your run though: the original rules (and, from what I see in your profile, the ones you followed) were about using (almost) only uniques. My ruleset is a bit different. Are you going to run with the "classic" rules or the new version?

In any case I'll be looking forward to hear about your progress and see if you can beat that level 85 char.

Yeah that's me.
The origianl rules were a bit different and more unforgiving in a few areas.. but when I got to 85 we had rare abyss jewels and belts dropping like candies and that helped quite a lot.

That said I'm unsure about using identified/corrupted/essence crafted armor... the original rules made even crappy uniques really exciting drops.

I'll probably decide as I go, for now I'm level 10, still not a single gem dropped, had to deal with Brutus with the default attack... wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Hopefully I'll get a drop soon.

EDIT: Found a Vaal Ground Slam and Vaal Fireball in a Vaal side area at level 11, finally I had some area damage and was able to delve a little... in a Delve I found Glacial Hammer and Melee Splash Support.. so I now have a couple of options for my main attack.

I have decided to use the following house rule, something in between your new rules and original ones:

You are entitled to use a single magic/rare item coming from quest rewards/essence crafting or items dropping already identified/corrupted. A single one at the same time, all the other slots (apart from weapons/boots) have to be either white or unique.

I believe that in this way, while still looking forward to quest items/essences to boost your equipment, you will have to rely heavily on unique items... which is something I really liked of the orignal challenge.

EDIT 2: Just died delving at level 22, I was over confident and not paying enough attention... stupid mystake. Frustrating, those skill gems I found weren't bad at all. I'll take that as a warm up run, going to try again.

"

FrancescoV wrote:

I have decided to use the following house rule, something in between your new rules and original ones:

You are entitled to use a single magic/rare item coming from quest rewards/essence crafting or items dropping already identified/corrupted. A single one at the same time, all the other slots (apart from weapons/boots) have to be either white or unique.

I believe that in this way, while still looking forward to quest items/essences to boost your equipment, you will have to rely heavily on unique items... which is something I really liked of the orignal challenge.

You're right that my rules make unique drops significantly less exciting. I also liked that a lot on the original rules, and I do intend on following them again in the future. It's great when every unique drop is meaningful, and this got lost a fair bit on my rules (I've got like 8 or 9 different uniques so far, and the only ones I used were a staff early on, a Thousand Ribbons chest and later a Tabula).

The downside of the original version is that it limits your build options a bit more. With more rare options, there still are classes that will do better (looking at you Juggernaut), but I feel that it opens the playing field, making other classes less bad. Since I specifically wanted to give other classes a go, I went for something less punishing.

But every version has it's positive and negative points. Your rules certainly do a better job in keeping the unique drop excitement. Also, I really like the idea of this topic being a place where everyone can play according to their own rules and share their progress, as long as it has some similitude with the general idea. So keep going!

It's unfortunate that your char died early on. Delves are killing everyone (I guess I should stay away from them if I really want to hit maps). But from what I see in your profile you already started another char, right? The buff to vaal side areas really helped, since things like Vaal Ground Slam are much more common. And you also got Endurance Charge on Melee Stun. Though it's hardly used on normal runs, for a self-found run it's quite decent.

One question: I'd normally path directly to Butchery/Strong Arm. You haven't done so. Is that cause you're not set on one-handed vs two-handed or just cause the upper path seemed more interesting?

"

DanutMS wrote:

One question: I'd normally path directly to Butchery/Strong Arm. You haven't done so. Is that cause you're not set on one-handed vs two-handed or just cause the upper path seemed more interesting?

I tend to go directly towards the templar area which I find more interesting, mainly because I like elemental attacks more than physical ones. The area has also some good resistances nodes which are vital in this challenge.

Found a Gemcutter strongbox at the end of ACT 3, some lucky drops there(Smite, Onslaught and Concentrated effect support), later I also found Innervate support which is very good with Smite.
Now I have some good options for the main attack, I just need a 4-link, still on 3 and no currency.

Progress update.

I'm now level 62, ACT 8.
My main attack is Smite+Lightning Damage+Innervate+Ancestral Call, not bad at all, for bosses I switch AC with Endurance Charge on Melee Stun... not optimal but still it's a little more damage.

The main problems now are two, first is that I have no Leech or LGoH, which are vital to sustain damage later in the game, unfortunately you can't use smite with claws.
Second is that I have no curse setup with enfeeble or temporal chains, even a low level enfeeble can do a lot to keep you alive.

I also had a bad streak of luck with uniques... found 7-8 uniques so far but they all were bows/wands/staves... nothing usable for me, my equipment is still made of white items for the most part.

Now the good news.
Recently I found Vigilant Strike, a breath of fresh air... a little more survivability was really needed.

I also Turned a dozen of silver coins at Navali... and got The Jeweller's Touch! Even if my choice of support gems is still very limited... this will help a lot. The question is... should I use it on a white body armor... or wait for a unique? Will see, fot now I'll leave it there.

"

FrancescoV wrote:

Progress update.

Well, you're already almost the same level I am, even though I started playing over 20 days ago and am using less gear restrictions (so I have a much easier time). Out of curiosity, how many hours do you have on this char?

Getting the jeweller's touch was quite lucky. Now I hope you can soon find a good unique. It would be a shame to "waste" the prophecy on a white base. On the other hand, who knows when you'll get a unique (and which one, it might be some garbage). And playing just with a 4 link isn't great either.

Vigilant Strike is a good addition. I got it on my char as well. But I find it's range really annoying. Half of the time I just miss the enemies, and then it goes into cooldown anyway. I'm sure I'll end up dying because I don't have my fortify up after missing two or three Vigilant Strike attacks in a row.

I just made it to act 10. One more to go!

Had a really messy fight with Shavronne. Made some big mistakes in sequence. Luckily 3.4k life + instant health flask were enough. The rest was easy as I then focused like I should.

I've been quite lucky with drops. Managed to get my hands on a Brutality gem, which was perfect since I'm scaling phys all the way. Swapped Hatred for Haste and my DPS increased by a lot. Also changed Sunder back into Earthquake. Partially cause I hate swapping gems every time I fight a boss (and earthquake is better at bossing), partially cause Sunder is boring.

I might still end up not using either one of them and going with Ground Slam since this would allow me to generate endurance charges and does a bit more damage. But I think the hit and run nature of earthquake gives me more in terms of survivability than the endurance charges from Ground Slam.

I also got a quality faster attacks, which I'm still testing whether I should use with my Vigilant Strike to make getting fortify faster or with my Totem for some extra damage.

"

DanutMS wrote:

"

FrancescoV wrote:

Progress update.

Well, you're already almost the same level I am, even though I started playing over 20 days ago and am using less gear restrictions (so I have a much easier time). Out of curiosity, how many hours do you have on this char?

I'm around 17 hours so far.
Now I'm level 66, beginning of ACT 9, found a Skullhead helmet... having both life and resists it was a very welcome addition to my equipment.