Yeti i’ll hang on to that ik armor for ya.
Phase i’ll be on a good amount this weekend, so maybe we’ll bump into one another then. I also have a Vex rune, but that’s not something i’d give away lightly, so if you were thinking of trading for one maybe we can work something out.
Well, i’m over in West, but being only lvl 15, I can’t join any of y’all in Hell…yet.
So what is a Vex worth, anyway? I haven’t done a whole lot of trading. The biggest trade I’ve ever made was trading away a Tal Rasha’s ammy for a Jalal’s mane. Somebody told me I got screwed on that trade, but I look at it like "I rarely play Sorceresses, but I love Druids, so Jalal’s was far more valuable to me than that ammy.
I do have Tal Rasha’s Horadric Crest (Death Mask). Is that worth anything?
I haven’t done nearly enough MFing - mainly because I haven’t had a character that was well-suited to MF. Hopefully my in-progress Wind Druid (now clvl 66) will be good for that. Nearly every unique and set item I own was found while questing. I had a really good drop from NM Diablo the other day - he dropped both Stealskull and War Travellers! He must have known he was killed by a future magic finder 
The only character I have who carries the title “Patriarch” is my WW Fury Druid. I have finished NM with several characters - notably my TeslaFroster and my Avenger, but both suddenly found themselves having much difficulty in Hell. One big problem is keeping their mercs alive. Both characters have literally gone broke resurrecting mercs on Hell. My TeslaFroster is stuck in the Hell Cold Plains - almost every single monster there is either Lightning or Cold immune.
You have to remember that I was using a lvl 97 zon, so getting 1K life on her was not so much the challenge. I also made her as a MFer, not a tank (though she miraculously was able to serve as both, with minimal switching of gear), so what boni you’d get from gear in the way of +life and +res … I used MF gear there. I also used a buriza, which was basically the poor to decently wealthy man’s weapon of choice for a MS/GA or MF zon. Also remember that my ladder frenzybarb had over 4500 life when he was equipped as best as I could reasonably equip him … and I wouldn’t have complained with more life. We just have different playing styles. I tend to build for lag (56K when I played online for most of that last year), you tend to build laughing lag in the face.
My guess on the fireball dueling is that the absorb was helping to negate a good bit of the damage. Add that to the PvP dmg penalty and … well, yeah. I really don’t want to do the math (fortunately you already did it for me, Chronos:D).
I mentioned before, maybe, and certainly some months ago … I’ve given the no-pot char another try. Currently I have a level 40 assassin in A5. She hasn’t faced a really serious problem since maybe act2, where her leeching skill obviously didn’t work against skellies. I’m playing in players 8 because A) I can handle it, B) I can really handle it, and C) it gets me more xp, which I need to level and get more life (501 currently). If folks are interested I’ll post her stats and gear. I’m not looking for advice beyond “don’t die” (she’s SC, so that wouldn’t be the end of the world) mainly because I’m not sure y’all know the intricacies of this build (maxed claw for leeching, some in martial arts, some in claw block, working some on shadow master and death sentry) or the … well, how to do good damage without getting clobbered. Once I beat Baal I’ll be glad to tell some stories, send the file to anyone who wants it, whatever. That isn’t going to happen yet, though, for at least five more levels, and I’d like to get some slightly better gear so I’m not requiring on levels to get more life.
Vex is worth around 2 ist runes. To give you a basic idea of the currency system, Ist=3 Ums. Ber and the other high runes are in general worth 2-3 ist runes as well, and an SOJ is worth 3 ists. It’s harder to trade for Vex and Ber because they’re useful in some major runewords, Enigma and Heart of the Oak being the foremost examples.
the Tal’s ammy you traded was worth about an Ist rune, whereas Jalals is worth about 15 pgems or so. So in that sense, yeah, you got screwed. For what it’s worth, i have a jalals sitting around that you could have had for free. That’s why it’s always good to check in here if there’s something you want – i can generally pick up just about anything for rather cheap.
The Death Mask is worth about as much as Jalals, if i remember correctly. Meaning not much.
list of annis that will be going up for auction tomorrow, probably in the afternoon sometime (approximate value in parentheses):
20/13/9 (ist)
18/15/7 (ist)
15/16/5 (mal)
15/11/8 (um)
14/15/10 (ist)
14/15/6 (mal)
14/12/9 (um)
14/12/8 (um)
14/12/8 (um)
13/14/8 (mal)
11/13/10 (mal)
10/10/10 (um)
Oh well - I traded for the Jalal’s several months ago, shortly after the 1.10 patch came out. Long before I found this thread 
Highest-level rune I’ve ever found was a Mal. In what areas am I most likely to come across a Vex? I don’t have any ladder characters past Act 2 Hell.
This is alomost funny - my Wind Druid has now found Naj’s Circlet three times…
i’d say your best bet at getting a vex is rush a lot of mules to hellforge and transmute 2 guls…
as to where to find particular runes, i couldn’t say. probably cows or baal runs.
Quoth phase42:
Easy, for a paladin. Holy Bolt works wonders at keeping mercs alive, as long as there aren’t any undead in the way. It’s cheap, too: 40 points (in bolt and prayer) will max healing, and you can get a very respectable bolt for much less than that. After the first point in each, I would recommend building up Prayer before Holy Bolt itself, because it also has that nice synergy with Cleansing and Meditation (never, ever, use the Prayer aura itself). You might also trade in for a ranged merc (rogue or battlemage) if that’s not what you have already, as they’re good at staying out of trouble.
How much is the damage penalty in pvp? I thought that only applied to select skills like Thorns/IM/barbs. And whatever was keeping Yeti alive was something distinct to him: The high-level paladins (whom I assume have 75% or more resist and much more life than a 'Zon) were going down in 2 or 3 hits (when I was able to hit them), about as I expected.
By the way, I won’t be on probably until Tuesday evening. My good computer (the one on which I have Diablo) is in the office, which is currently closed for floor waxing.
The potless assassin is level 51 (3.8 to level 52). I want to get her better gear (she does 63-163/105-167) before I go gung-ho into NM mode, where I’ve already beaten the Den and Blood Raven. Are there any crafting recipes for claws, or will I just have to gamble/make/find my way to superior gear?
What level are they? Are they around the same level as the characters? And finally what type of merc are they? The Act2 and Act5 mercs seem to be the easiest to keep alive. They Act1 Rogue and the Act3 Mage mercs are much more difficult for me. The Mages especially since they have no life leech with their spells. For the three others, good equipment and high life leech are a necessity.
And an announcement: thinksnow and Eonwe have made the jump to West. I believe they’re both are still in normal difficulty but are coming on.
Welcome!
The mercs are the same levels as the characters - clvl 73 & 74 for my paladins. Both mercs are Act2 mercs; one defiance, one holy freeze. The biggest problem is the way they like to charge right into the middle of the monster packs. They don’t last long in the middle of a fanatacism-enchanted Quill Rat pack. They also have trouble keeping up, and they will often teleport themselves right into the middle of a monster pack, and are unable to get out when I try to retreat. And of course, even when they have an easy escape route, it seems I have to run two full screens away before they will follow. Arg.
They drive me nuts in the Catacombs and Tombs. When I need to enter a room full of monsters, I often like to lure them out of the room one at a time. So of course, as soon as the monster appears in the doorway the merc will run right up and start attacking, trapping the monster in the doorway while the merc gets hit by that monster and everything behind it. Sigh.
I think a mule rush is in the works for tomorrow night… I’m not sure whether we have characters for the norm and nm baal quests yet though, i’m going to have to check some of my mules tomorrow and see. If anyone’s interested, we’ll probably do this around 8 or 9 pm EDT. Anyone interesting in joining in is welcome to.
Count me in on the rush, if the office is open again (it probably will be). I don’t have any more level 20 mules, but I do have one around 17, I think… If he tags along behind everything, that might be enough to get him up. Or maybe I’ll just play him a bit before the rush starts. I don’t, however, have anyone above level 40 for NM Baal.
So my Mf’ing is going so well tonight that I don’t really want to go to bed, but I will. I was doing a Baal run tonight and I found a Tal RAsha’s Lidless Eye, spineripper, Coldsteel Eye and a +1 Necro summoning grand charm. I don’t know if we have a resident sorc on West, but the Tal’s is up for grabs. I assume that Who will want the GC. If someone is looking for a pretty decent sword the coldsteel is pretty nice.
–=Mike==–
Ps…Puhna, Ith-El-Eth is good in claws as is Chaos if you have the runes. I don’t remember the combination, but I think it has a Fal in it 
Chaos is Fal-Ohm-Um. Right now I’m going with two +1 asn claws, and while the damage isn’t anything spectacular, I’m using mostly traps, a level 17 SM and a merc doing ~90-400 dmg. I also have levels 7 CS and TS and level 5 Venom, so I’m not doing that bad. I go through most bits using players 8, then do the tough parts in players 1. I repeat some, if it’s profitable and quick enough, in players 8 for the XP. Size (her name) is level 57 right now and has just started A3 of NM. She has never drunk a potion, and the only potion anyone has drunk was the merc back in A1 Norm; she had 4 hp, we weren’t facing any fire and she wasn’t regenning life.
If nowhere else I will probably run into something of a wall when I try to get past the Ancients. However, at that point I will have Anya rescued, so A) I will be able to use Burst of Speed instead of Fade and B) I will be able to shop for claws very quickly (go through portal to Pindle, go back through, Anya has new claws for sale. 's how I bought my two +1 claws). I’ll also have gotten another crappy rare from Anya, though how that helps me is another matter entirely.
I’d like to get to level 60 before Meph mainly for the extra life and levels in SM. On that note, a question to anyone who knows (or knows where I should ask): I am told that casting SM is similar to casting valk in that, in higher levels, they can spawn with various gear pieces that make them preferable. Anyone know where I can find out more about this?
Damn, bad time for me. One of the people I supervise is out sick and I’ll either be working a 10PM to 6AM shift or a 6AM to 2PM shift if I can get hold of another employee and get him to switch. Either way, I can’t run with you this time. Weekends work much better for me.
I’ll be on around 8 (Eastern), but depending on 24 and The Shield, I’ll be off again until 11, then back.
… for the imbue advice. I eventually went with imbuing at level 66, but got nothing spectacular - a vampirefang belt that turned out useless and wyrmhide boots that got 30%+ resists to fire and cold.
I do have another knotty question, though. Exactly how useful is the Life Tap on Dracul’s Grasp, and is it better than the Confuse on a Delirium helm?
My Paladin swears by the Life Tap on Dracul’s. On a melee character, it can make a huge difference. It also has the added bonus of allowing you to leech from some normally un-leechable monsters. I think it’s the only item that i’d put my faith in to keep my paladin alive in some of the situations i get him into (i.e. surrounded by gloams and death lords in the throne of destruction).
Also, it’s invaluble for clone killing. Normal leeching effects don’t work with smite, but Life Tap does, so it saves me a lot in potions.