After failing (by 120 million) to get my bowzon to lvl 99 during the last ladder season, I decided to try Hardcore. Another year of endless Baal runs didn’t seem like much fun. Fellow gamers warned me that losing my high lvl character due to lag is no fun either, but sometimes I like to face some extra risk. A bowazon that reaches 3400 billion (experience points) suffering only 2 deaths at lvl 98 is not necessarily able to kill anything but she certainly knows how to stay alive. So why not?
So this is my Hardcore Amazon’s Diary. It will go on for as long as she’s there. Please feel free to add your comments.
Day 1
My new HC bowzon is ready to go. When (and if ever) she grows up she wants to be a Frostmaiden but also able to kill Baal in 5 hits
. A quick search for some hardcore bowzon builds produces nothing but a hint about Mavina’s Set being better for hc than sc. I join a public Act1 game, full of lower than lvl 10 chars. After the Den and Blood Raven I keep Tristrunning until lvl 6. Then I join an Andy game and I find out that my zon must reach 15 to go to Act2. Tristruns to lvl 10.
Day 2
I spend some points on attributes. Life, Dexterity and a bit of Strength, just enough for that 5%ll bow I found. One skill point to Magic Arrow, 3 to Cold, 1 to Multishot. I bought almost all of her gear from Charsi and her resistances look ok for her lvl: all at 30 except cold. She has life leech and she can freeze. I keep Tristrunning until lvl 15. All games are eventless. People tell me I am lucky. The town portal pk hack is gone in 1.11 – for the time being. People also say that hackers always win.
Day 3
Tristruns to lvl 20 and then a public game for Staff, Arcane and Duriel. After half an hour we finally open Tal Rasha’s Chamber but no one goes in. My zon is the first to dare. Duriel attacks her and, even though she doesn’t look as if she will die immediately, I leave the game. When I return Duriel is dead. I decide to take a long break. A few hours later I come back to b-net only to find that Blizzard has banned all maphack users. Great. People say it’s impossible to play HC without a maphack but I wasn’t planning on using it anyway. The version I had used caused my laptop to freeze up once too many. After a lot of unsuccessful tries, I finally join a game that looks promising. We manage to reach Tal’s Chamber after half an hour and we get in all together. We were six or seven (pallys, sorcs and a java) and Duriel killed two of us (the lower lvls). The rest of us had to get up to town once for pots before we finished him. He killed my merc but didn’t seem able to kill my zon easily. She used cold arrow all the way.
Day 4
My zon is now lvl 21. She has 60dex and life, 29 str and does about 60dmg. Pitiful. But her life looks more than decent compared to her sc predecessor. She joins a game called *A3 get Book* hoping for the best. A lvl 29 pally is doing the Book quest and I take wps. He sends a Ruined Temple tp saying *my tp* and I step in. Big mistake. Very bad tp. Exit game with almost no life left. When I come back the pally has finished his quest and everyone is asking for Travincal. He said *we can kill the Council but nobody can smash the Orb* and he left.
Day 5
Council and Meph today. No more excuses. I join a public game, I help with the Council but when the time for Meph comes there are only two pallys and my zon left, all around lvl 20-25. We realize we can’t do it without help. Fortunately a lvl73 barb joins. He not only kills Meph but takes us all the way to the Ancients. I didn’t even have to get down for the quest. I got it while I was shopping in town. I wanted to kiss that Barb.
Day 6
My zon is now lvl 23 and she can Baalrun. She joins public games until lvl 51. Things go smoothly. No deaths and the only bad guy is a lvl 29 paladin named Gloinx or something who keeps joining, hostiling and ruining the runs.
Day 7
My zon now has 100 Vitality and that’s more than my lvl 98 zon had. Nothing looks able to kill her in one – or even 5 – hits. Dex is also there. Her bow is a Halstone Brim of Crap that dropped in the Throne and her second one is a fire bow that deals about 100k dmg. She can’t kill easily but she can freeze. Cold arrow is maxed and FA is approaching 10. Multi has about 5 points and Valk 2. I still don’t know about Guided. No points there yet.
Day 8
Time to kill Baal and move to NM. From the first visit to the Worldstone Chamber it is obvious that she needs a Cannot Be Frozen item. She also needs more mana steal. Her 3% ml gloves are not enough. After Baal is dead, my Destroyer zon makes a Lets Save Anya game in normal. A lvl 71 pally joins and she asks him if he is there to kill her. He laughs. *I just want to xfer* he says and he also gets me to Anya. *Consider this an act of charity* he says before he leaves. I add his account to my f-list. Time for a Lets Do A1 game. No one joins for a few minutes and then a lvl 71 sorc comes, teleports to Andy, sends tp, kills her and leaves. That was very nice of her. Next game I make is Lets Kill A2. It becomes full after a few minutes and it takes us about 45 minutes to get to Duriel. At some point a sorc who tries to teleport inside the Maggot Lair gets killed. When we finally open the wall to Duriel, the usual thing happens: My zon is alone with a pally. I leave the game and when I come back they haven’t killed him yet. Good. This time I didn’t miss it. We move to A3 and we manage to get rid of the Council but we know that we can’t deal with Meph without help. We make another game and then another one and finally a Java joins and brings her sorc and we get rid of him at last. I hate Mephisto and the Durance of Hate.
Day 9
Easy morning. I found a Diablo game very quickly, it soon got full and we killed him quite easily. We then moved to Harrogath, got the Ancients and saved Anya in less than 40 minutes. Anya gave me a nice Bow with 1 to skills and very good mana leech. I am now lvl 56 and ready to Baal in NM.
Day 10
NM Baal running is harder than I thought. Games are few and the monsters are many and strong. My zon comes very close to dying during the first run I join. A bunch of Death Lords had surrounded the Throne entrance and I was hit pretty hard before I managed to get back to Worldstone lvl 3. A nice rare Gothic Bow drops in the Throne and my zon now does 1,2k FA dmg. The game becomes private and she almost dies again. This time by dolls. There is a tiny potion of life left when I realize that something hit her. Her Vitality is up to 150 by now. Cold and Freezing Arrow are maxed, Multi has about 10 points and Valk is lvl 4. Day ends with lvl 66.
Day 11
Late night in the US is not a good time for hc NM baaling. Everyone is either asleep or in private runs. I need a new playing schedule and more hc players on my f-list.
Day 12
Today I am lucky. I join public runs and my zon gets to lvl 75 quite easily. We usually walk to the Throne and she is able to freeze almost everything down there. She also eats souls: D. Her lightning resistance is maxed thanks to a +30 amulet and a +30 (and +70 to life) belt. Both were bought from the merchants. All other resistances are red but this doesn’t seem to matter – as long as she stays away from the Worldstone Chamber. Poison and fire are no big deal but cold can be lethal, especially if stuck in the middle of Baal’s Festering bastards.
Day 13
My zon is lvl 76, her Vitality is up to 200 and her Dexterity is 150. How she is going to kill anything with that kind of dex is beyond me. She is wearing a Faithful Plate Mail of Accuracy and very often she feels like a barb. Monsters hit her but her life doesn’t move at all. Her FA damage is now 1,2k and she has an A2 NM offensive merc, equipped with a high dmg/7%ll weapon and a 300def armor, but he dies as often as the lvl 4 Valkyrie. It’s time to move to Hell but I don’t even want to think about it. I keep joining public Baalruns and in one of them my zon dares to step into the Worldstone Chamber, along with a pally and a java. They kill Baal in 5 hits while my zon is frozen, hiding behind a pillar.
Day 14
The average number of public hc games in Hell during non-busy USA hours is 5 – and most of them are barely active. This is going to be tougher than I thought. I make a public A1 game. A lvl 60 sorc joins and asks for bo.*Do you have a barb, I can tele*. I don’t have a barb, I only play bowzons. Even my mules are all bowzons. A lvl 77 sorc joins, doesn’t party and kills Andy while we are hoping for a barb. Very nice… It takes a couple of games to finally attract a barb and get rid of Andy. We move to A2 and I think this is where we are going to stay for quite a while. I look at my zon’s statistics. The only good news is 210 Vitality and 30% lightning resistance. She is able to freeze but she still can’t kill and she is quite pitiful against cold immunes. I add 7 points to Guided Arrow and hope for the best.
Welcome to Hell…
(to be continued)
So this is my Hardcore Amazon’s Diary. It will go on for as long as she’s there. Please feel free to add your comments.
Day 1
My new HC bowzon is ready to go. When (and if ever) she grows up she wants to be a Frostmaiden but also able to kill Baal in 5 hits
. A quick search for some hardcore bowzon builds produces nothing but a hint about Mavina’s Set being better for hc than sc. I join a public Act1 game, full of lower than lvl 10 chars. After the Den and Blood Raven I keep Tristrunning until lvl 6. Then I join an Andy game and I find out that my zon must reach 15 to go to Act2. Tristruns to lvl 10.Day 2
I spend some points on attributes. Life, Dexterity and a bit of Strength, just enough for that 5%ll bow I found. One skill point to Magic Arrow, 3 to Cold, 1 to Multishot. I bought almost all of her gear from Charsi and her resistances look ok for her lvl: all at 30 except cold. She has life leech and she can freeze. I keep Tristrunning until lvl 15. All games are eventless. People tell me I am lucky. The town portal pk hack is gone in 1.11 – for the time being. People also say that hackers always win.
Day 3
Tristruns to lvl 20 and then a public game for Staff, Arcane and Duriel. After half an hour we finally open Tal Rasha’s Chamber but no one goes in. My zon is the first to dare. Duriel attacks her and, even though she doesn’t look as if she will die immediately, I leave the game. When I return Duriel is dead. I decide to take a long break. A few hours later I come back to b-net only to find that Blizzard has banned all maphack users. Great. People say it’s impossible to play HC without a maphack but I wasn’t planning on using it anyway. The version I had used caused my laptop to freeze up once too many. After a lot of unsuccessful tries, I finally join a game that looks promising. We manage to reach Tal’s Chamber after half an hour and we get in all together. We were six or seven (pallys, sorcs and a java) and Duriel killed two of us (the lower lvls). The rest of us had to get up to town once for pots before we finished him. He killed my merc but didn’t seem able to kill my zon easily. She used cold arrow all the way.
Day 4
My zon is now lvl 21. She has 60dex and life, 29 str and does about 60dmg. Pitiful. But her life looks more than decent compared to her sc predecessor. She joins a game called *A3 get Book* hoping for the best. A lvl 29 pally is doing the Book quest and I take wps. He sends a Ruined Temple tp saying *my tp* and I step in. Big mistake. Very bad tp. Exit game with almost no life left. When I come back the pally has finished his quest and everyone is asking for Travincal. He said *we can kill the Council but nobody can smash the Orb* and he left.
Day 5
Council and Meph today. No more excuses. I join a public game, I help with the Council but when the time for Meph comes there are only two pallys and my zon left, all around lvl 20-25. We realize we can’t do it without help. Fortunately a lvl73 barb joins. He not only kills Meph but takes us all the way to the Ancients. I didn’t even have to get down for the quest. I got it while I was shopping in town. I wanted to kiss that Barb
. Day 6
My zon is now lvl 23 and she can Baalrun. She joins public games until lvl 51. Things go smoothly. No deaths and the only bad guy is a lvl 29 paladin named Gloinx or something who keeps joining, hostiling and ruining the runs.
Day 7
My zon now has 100 Vitality and that’s more than my lvl 98 zon had. Nothing looks able to kill her in one – or even 5 – hits. Dex is also there. Her bow is a Halstone Brim of Crap that dropped in the Throne and her second one is a fire bow that deals about 100k dmg. She can’t kill easily but she can freeze. Cold arrow is maxed and FA is approaching 10. Multi has about 5 points and Valk 2. I still don’t know about Guided. No points there yet.
Day 8
Time to kill Baal and move to NM. From the first visit to the Worldstone Chamber it is obvious that she needs a Cannot Be Frozen item. She also needs more mana steal. Her 3% ml gloves are not enough. After Baal is dead, my Destroyer zon makes a Lets Save Anya game in normal. A lvl 71 pally joins and she asks him if he is there to kill her. He laughs. *I just want to xfer* he says and he also gets me to Anya. *Consider this an act of charity* he says before he leaves. I add his account to my f-list. Time for a Lets Do A1 game. No one joins for a few minutes and then a lvl 71 sorc comes, teleports to Andy, sends tp, kills her and leaves. That was very nice of her. Next game I make is Lets Kill A2. It becomes full after a few minutes and it takes us about 45 minutes to get to Duriel. At some point a sorc who tries to teleport inside the Maggot Lair gets killed. When we finally open the wall to Duriel, the usual thing happens: My zon is alone with a pally. I leave the game and when I come back they haven’t killed him yet. Good. This time I didn’t miss it. We move to A3 and we manage to get rid of the Council but we know that we can’t deal with Meph without help. We make another game and then another one and finally a Java joins and brings her sorc and we get rid of him at last. I hate Mephisto and the Durance of Hate.
Day 9
Easy morning. I found a Diablo game very quickly, it soon got full and we killed him quite easily. We then moved to Harrogath, got the Ancients and saved Anya in less than 40 minutes. Anya gave me a nice Bow with 1 to skills and very good mana leech. I am now lvl 56 and ready to Baal in NM.
Day 10
NM Baal running is harder than I thought. Games are few and the monsters are many and strong. My zon comes very close to dying during the first run I join. A bunch of Death Lords had surrounded the Throne entrance and I was hit pretty hard before I managed to get back to Worldstone lvl 3. A nice rare Gothic Bow drops in the Throne and my zon now does 1,2k FA dmg. The game becomes private and she almost dies again. This time by dolls. There is a tiny potion of life left when I realize that something hit her. Her Vitality is up to 150 by now. Cold and Freezing Arrow are maxed, Multi has about 10 points and Valk is lvl 4. Day ends with lvl 66.
Day 11
Late night in the US is not a good time for hc NM baaling. Everyone is either asleep or in private runs. I need a new playing schedule and more hc players on my f-list.
Day 12
Today I am lucky. I join public runs and my zon gets to lvl 75 quite easily. We usually walk to the Throne and she is able to freeze almost everything down there. She also eats souls: D. Her lightning resistance is maxed thanks to a +30 amulet and a +30 (and +70 to life) belt. Both were bought from the merchants. All other resistances are red but this doesn’t seem to matter – as long as she stays away from the Worldstone Chamber. Poison and fire are no big deal but cold can be lethal, especially if stuck in the middle of Baal’s Festering bastards
.Day 13
My zon is lvl 76, her Vitality is up to 200 and her Dexterity is 150. How she is going to kill anything with that kind of dex is beyond me. She is wearing a Faithful Plate Mail of Accuracy and very often she feels like a barb. Monsters hit her but her life doesn’t move at all. Her FA damage is now 1,2k and she has an A2 NM offensive merc, equipped with a high dmg/7%ll weapon and a 300def armor, but he dies as often as the lvl 4 Valkyrie. It’s time to move to Hell but I don’t even want to think about it. I keep joining public Baalruns and in one of them my zon dares to step into the Worldstone Chamber, along with a pally and a java. They kill Baal in 5 hits while my zon is frozen, hiding behind a pillar.
Day 14
The average number of public hc games in Hell during non-busy USA hours is 5 – and most of them are barely active. This is going to be tougher than I thought. I make a public A1 game. A lvl 60 sorc joins and asks for bo.*Do you have a barb, I can tele*. I don’t have a barb, I only play bowzons. Even my mules are all bowzons. A lvl 77 sorc joins, doesn’t party and kills Andy while we are hoping for a barb. Very nice… It takes a couple of games to finally attract a barb and get rid of Andy. We move to A2 and I think this is where we are going to stay for quite a while. I look at my zon’s statistics. The only good news is 210 Vitality and 30% lightning resistance. She is able to freeze but she still can’t kill and she is quite pitiful against cold immunes. I add 7 points to Guided Arrow and hope for the best.
Welcome to Hell…
(to be continued
)
