Another thing the auction house is good for is small but specific items. Like, I’m doing speed runs with my wizard, and decided she needed a nice fast pair of boots. So I searched for boots of up to her level, with 11% move speed (the most available at that level), and found tons of them. OK, then, might as well get a bit of Int off of them, too (aside: How does a shoe make you smarter?). Ended up with a comfortable pair of blue shoes that had a little more int than I had before plus the move speed, and for less than 2k.
Now that I think about it, there was one Belial I just couldn’t beat on my own. I’m pretty sure it was on NM mode and I had to recruit a friend to help me out. Without the diamond skin, I bombed. I swear he’s harder than any other boss in the game for a wizard. Reminds me of Duriel from D2.
Search for item level 60 - 60, but then for one of the modifiers you can do “Reduced Level Requirement” and a limit of however many minimum levels you want removed. It’s a really good way to get some OP-ish gear in the 45-59 range, actually, since even a blue with nothing but a decent damage mod and a reduced level requirement is going to be way better than anything super rare that’s actually level 48.
Inferno Belial, I have no problem saying that I had to join a public game and get help from some classes that didn’t get one shot by every single attack. 4-5 minutes over 3 stages is too much to have to be absolutely perfect, especially with the terrible hit detection in this game.
[QUOTE=nikonikosuru]
Just finally able to hold a million gold in my inventory, how are people able to get millions? It’s insane. And Inferno is insane.
[/QUOTE]
Getting lucky with farming, mostly - in Acts 1 and 2 of Inferno, it’s about getting that one 500k item, among all of the 20 and 30k items that you’re also selling as you go. If you’re in the middle of Act 2, you should be able to do the 5 stacks > Warden > Butcher run at the end of Act 1 in 30-45 minutes and get 100-200k worth of gold and items even if you don’t get lucky. You can also do about a 30 minute run of 5 stacks > Maghda near the beginning of Act 2 that won’t get you quite as many rares, but has a better chance of getting you that one higher quality item that could go for a million plus.
Once you get through Act 3, though, that’s where you can really make the cash. Siegebreaker is a good run because you have lots of open space to move around along with Tyrael for half of it, and Cydaea/Azmodan is a slightly shorter run with two easy bosses as long as you don’t get unlucky with a bad elite affix combo in a tight area along the way.
i think i’ve worked out a ratio for Damage and Life that i am comfortable with,but i just do not know how to look at Resistance to All Elements. it seems to be an important stat to have, but how much exactly? if you have, say 50 Resist to All, how many Vitality points is that worth? i guess it’s different for each class and roles, so let’s assume a tank then.
The thing about resistances is that each point of resist (or other damage reduction states) makes each point of vitality worth more. Vitality is worthless without damage reduction stats in inferno, and damage reduction stats are worthless without vitality. If you raise them both, its better than raising one of them more and ignoring the other.
It’s similar to the %life items. Each point of %life you have makes each point of Vitality better. It’s really hard to work out a ratio for how good one is compared to the other, or how many points of one the other is worth, because that number changes as you get more of one or the other.
Did you have more problems with phase 2 (lots of snakes and Belial running around) or phase 3 (big Belial)? Phase 2 was the tougher one of the two for me. Having mirror images or teleport with the illusionist passive makes a huge difference, as does having diamond skin with the double absorption rune.
Phase 3 can be tough if you’re just trying to run around randomly, but it becomes a ton easier if you realize the pattern of attacks he uses. He has two basic attacks, one in which he hits where you are, and other where he hits to your left+right+right. So it’s best to stay still and not move until you see what he’s going to use.
If it’s going straight at you, then you need to move away from that spot. If it’s the 3-combo, then you just move left after he hits left and you won’t get hit by the other two attacks. If you stay near the rightmost area of the room, the breath will never hit you. That just leaves the big explosions attack, which is the toughest part of the phase.
Thanks for this idea. I never thought of it. I just doubled my 53 wiz dps for 20k with a 60 mace reduced level req. Huge difference.
As I understand it, they designed the game so that Str, Dex, and Int are all of equal importance for defense, so one point of resistances (i.e., ten Int points) is worth the same as ten points of armor (ten Str points). Except that the way the math works out, you’ll get more benefit out of increasing whichever one is higher. At least, up until you’re getting 75% damage reduction from that stat, at which point further increases to that one are useless.
Dex increases work the same way, on average, except that being dodge chance instead of damage reduction gives it some extra pros and cons. On the con side, it’s less reliable: Anything that’s a one-hit-kill without the dodge chance will still be a one-hit-kill with it, it’ll just happen less often. And even with things that aren’t 1HK, you can get a string of bad luck where you just happen to not dodge a bunch in a row. On the other hand, if something can one-hit-overkill you, then armor or resist might just decrease the overkill to no practical effect, while dodge chance (if it works) stops the whole kill. So I think for a glass cannon build, Dex ends up being better than Str (or Int, if you’re not a W), but for a tank build, Int (or Str, if you’re not a barb) is better than Dex.
I found my first legendary item, a Starfire. It wasn’t as good as my current weapon, and since I heard about how overpriced they are I put it for sale on the AH. I checked out what they were selling for and lowballed a bit. It sold quickly for $38k, way more than it was worth.
So the gearing is silly. I tried the searching for items with a reduced level requirement trick, and at level 51 I got a 780 dps weapon with some good stats for 20,000. Previously my weapons were pretty awesome and I was breezing through the game at 170 dps. So I guess now I can have my cat play and still win.
In all fairness, nobody is forcing you to use it. If you think the uber weapon makes the game too easy, don’t use it.
Fair enough, but in a game revolving around loot, it’s hard to turn down massive upgrades just to handicap yourself.
I think they changed the way the stat displays - I think it used to be that the requires level X was before the modifier (so if it said requires 55, but also 5 off level requirement, you could wear it at 50) - so the 740 dps weapon I bought is actually a level 59 usable at 55, rather than a level 55 usable at 51.
So it looks like I’ll be using a 450 dps weapon instead, which is only triple the previous.
Yeah, sorry if I sounded harsh. I just love upgrading and being able to face-melt mobs, so it sorta tinged my response.
I am progressing into Act III now on my barbarian new build
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WVRXkP!bUV!ccbacZ
Stats
With enchantress/warcry
11500 armor
Lowest resistance is 1025 highest is 1178
79% damage reduction
20% block (poor shield only blocks up to 2700 something)*
19% dodge
39500hp**
19k dps (with frenzy full stack)
- My last purchase I am looking to make on the AH is a solid stormshield but until the 20million appears I am swapping between two mediocre shields.
** I am bouncing with health, I have a shield swap that allows me 6k more health and better block amount with a decreased dps by the same amount. I have found mobs dying faster mean more than 6k health + 1000hp worth more of block.
Frenzy, now with maniac increases my dps
Revenge with provocation I found that more useful than increased healing, based on the amount of procs.
Ignore pain with the healing rune is wonderful, because when you need ignore pain you tend to be in the middle of the crap hurting, so that heal based on dps is a nice addition. Used in conjunction with my oh poo button…
Leap with Iron Impact. I am practically invulnerable for a few seconds, 4 seconds out of 10 I have an obscene 93% damage reduction just with this choice.
War Cry with impunity allows my armor/resists to be that high
Wrath of the Berserker with increased damage rune. I actually was going to go with Striding Giant (dodge) and did so for a few quests but the damage just wasn’t high enough. Used in conjunction with ignore pain/leap I can go from almost zero health to full health based on the Ignore Pain heals.
My passives are both armor increasing (tough as nails, and nerves of steel) and the new one, I dropped superstition based on my reading that my resistances where plenty good enough already and went with relentless. Relentless combined with my other survival skills almost always allows me to get out of a troubling situation and regroup without the added repair costs.
I do not like to park packs, and so far I have progressed with relative ease through the first few Act III quests. Soul Lashers however can be a huge problem if “fast” “extra health” or “shielding” is any part of their affix. I am not a pro player by any means, so I am sure I am missing something that could allow me to progress faster, but for me being able to farm Act II alone was a win. 
The Tyreal nerf hurt a lot of Barbarians doing Siegebreaker runs. Previously they geared up very defensively and let Tyreal do most of the damage to champs/elites. Now Tyreal is a liability and we need to do all the DPS ourselves. It’s possible but it looks like I need about another 15 million gold for gear as opposed to around 5 million before the nerf.
I completely ignore all trash when doing Warden/Butcher runs now. I still click on any bodies/chests/barrels but I try to get my 5 stacks as quickly as possible and take down the bosses. I never have to drink a potion, even while killing champions with immune minions. The runs usually takes 20 minutes and probably brings in around 200k a run on average.
Yeah I seen about the Tyreal nerf, sadly it was done before I got to that point. Or maybe not sadly, what I never had cannot hurt. My farming usually starts on Blood and Sand, through laughably simple Belial. This is full clears, entering clearing dungeons etc. I manage to not only make about 100k gold drop but almost always find a rare to auction. Yesterday got my best ah piece, a 3 socket 160 intel/100vit some other stats chest that sold for 3m.
I am currently wearing 3 total pieces I farmed myself, which makes me happier than just the 1 I entered Act II with! An amulet a ring and boots!
Having an incredibly hard time with Diablo on NM. Here’s my DM build. Can’t see my gear at the moment, but I got a decent 200 dps 1h crossbow last night, and I believe my total damage is up to like 4k at the moment. Any suggestions?
To be honest the Tyrael thing was pretty obviously going to be changed, it doesn’t feel right to let something else do all your DPS for you. Everything seems to get nerfed just as I’m about to get to it, heh. The only item I’m using that I found myself is my weapon and that was found with my WD while farming the Siegebreaker. It’s nothing special (950 DPS, 1.42 speed, 145 strength) but it has allowed me to concentrate on upgrading other pieces.
I might give Act 2 runs a try. The only downside is the Belial fight is a little long and requires complete attention whereas I can do Act 1 runs while concentrating on something else.
The best item I’ve gotten in Act 1 so far is a set piece I sold for 1 million.
I narrowly missed out on an awesome deal on the AH earlier today. A 220 strength, 80 vitality, ~60 all resists, + armour shoulder piece for 100k! On the EU auction house that would usually be at least 1.5 million. In fact I think it was re-listed shortly afterwards for 1.5 million.
I was playing the AH buying low selling high, rather than farming. It did allow me to purchase some nice items, but it isn’t fun. Belial is not that long really, phase 3 is easy, phase 2 is sort of a pain in the @#$ for me but I manage it and grab my 2+ rares and restart. Oddly enough the rares I get from Belial are almost always 57s. Or I just see it as such 
The reasoning behind the Act II farming and the start point is because usually a treasure pygmy/goblin etc spawns between the path and map. So he is a quick gold grab, and the loot on average seems to be better so I can make more selling it than the actual gold drops I would get on Act I.
This is something I didn’t want to say and ruin it for me 
But I vendor all items below 60 and smash all blues/worthless yellows. The resulting parts are worth FAR more on the AH than the vendor worth. 1500 average for the powder, same for the tear, and the rare inferno craft item 20k plus. And I know from actually writing down a few runs, 60s drop much more regularly in Act II than I.
I do exactly the same thing. It makes a lot of sense. I estimate about a quarter of my loot is level 60 so it’s a nice little bonus.
I watch a lot of videos by a guy called ZraveX on YouTube. He plays a Barb and gives loads of useful advice. He recently did a 1 million gold challenge where he stashed all his gear and bought a full set for just 1 million from the AH. His goal was to be able to farm the Warden/Butcher but he managed to farm Belial with 5 stacks and even farm the Siegebreaker, all with just 1 million gold spent. It was before the Tyrael nerf and he didn’t do a full playthrough of Act 2 but I still thought it was impressive.
Inferno feels a lot less broken on my Barb than it does on my WD but judging by the Barb forums it seems I’m in a minority there, heh. My opinion on the game has improved over time and I think with the changes to loot and damage spikes in 1.03 it can only get better (as long as they don’t nerf Revenge!).