Season 21: Trials of Distraction

[Orbert]

So that's kinda different.  Every once in a while, colors change and things go batshit for a while.  Folks on the net have been whining about this season since before the season even started.  I don't care.  I think it's interesting that Blizzard continues to devote any resources at all to this game, and I'm grateful for whatever I can get.  And I'm amused at the reactions on the net, so that's a plus.  Yeah, it's silly and distracting, but I still gotta give them credit for trying out different things.

Anyway, I got a chance to check out that new DH set after the patch, and yeah, it's another "cruise around really fast and destroy everything" kinda build, but whatever, I kinda liked it and would like to see how far I can go with it.  I started a DH, and man she hit the 60's Slog hard.  Worst I've had in a while, it felt like absolutely torture.  Then at 67, she got a couple of great drops in short succession.  The Crossbow which cranks up Rapid Fire to insane levels (she happened to be using Rapid Fire at the time), Dawn which cuts your Vengeance cooldown by 2/3, and just for fun, an Obsidian Ring.  So the last few levels flew by, and the first drop once she made 70 was the Quiver which removes Rapid Fire cost.  Sure, why not?  I put together a pretty fun Rapid Fire build a few Seasons ago, and things seemed to be pointing that way for right now.  Second gem to drop was Legacy of Dreams, another piece which fit with the Rapid Fire build since there isn't a set for it.

I haven't even bothered finishing the Season Journey because honestly, I don't really care for the Shadow/Impale build.  At some point I'll end up finishing it anyway, so no biggie.  For now, I'm gonna keep cruising with the Rapid Fire.  By the time that tops out (I think last time things started getting really tough around 80 or 85), I should have at least one or two sets/builds to choose from.

[Drozz]

I went DH also, but I was planning to go DH before the new set came out and before I knew that Shadow would be the gift. My son ran tempest monk, and we reached 70 in about four and a half hours the first night. We don't do any of the other stuff to speed up the race to 70. We're just figuring out our builds and running bounties and such. The next day I finished chapter four, so I have all the pieces of the shadow set now. Torment 5 seems to be pretty easy, so I'll keep going up and looking for more pieces of the build suggested by Icy Veins. Eventually, I'll look at the leader board to see what others are running for DH. I'm looking forward to the GOD set when I find it. Outside of that, I'll try to reach GR100 this season and eventually, build a crusader. I'm looking forward to it, because the past few weeks have been pretty boring as far as D3.

[syn]

another DH, aiming for the new set. Will probably save haedrigs gift for a different class.

[Orbert]

Wait, you can do that?

How does that work?  You get the gifts, but don't open them?  Then open them later with the class you really want them for?

[Drozz]

Yep, that's how it works. I did that last season when I found the last two pieces of the haedrigs set before I finished chapter four. So, I saved it for a different character, and it came up with that other character's class set.

[Orbert]

Cool, I'll have to remember that.  Thanks!

[Silverthorn]

It's totally amazing to me how fast you guys level etc. I assume you are using previously stashed loot and since you all have high-lvl chars that speeds stuff up? Or do you just play insane amounts of time?

[Orbert]

You start with nothing at the beginning of a Season.  No gold, no stash.  To me, that's the main attraction.  I like building the character, and having to learn to use the items they find along the way.  It can also be frustrating, but that just makes the payoff that much sweeter.

Anyway, there are things you can do to help level up faster.  Around level 20 or so, you start seeing socketed items drop.  Put the biggest Ruby you have into your helm to increase XP.  A lot of people run the Skeleton King Bounty around then to get Leoric's Crown, which doubles the effect of the gem.  Remember to keep upgrading Rubies and keep putting the biggest one into your helm.

There's also the Leoric's Signet ring that adds +% to your XP gain.  If you get it, use it.

There are two sets that Haedrig can make for you that boost XP.  Use them.  Run Bounties for the gear and recipes.

I hang onto Leoric's Crown long after I'm finding helms that look better on paper, because the XP boost is worth it.  Same with the ring.  Sacrificing one or two slots is still worth it for the XP.

A lot of it is also just having played the game so much and knowing what kinds of things get you the most bang for your buck.

[syn]

And once you get the set gifts, things take off. With skill and gear inflation over the past few years, its easy to get the set pretty fast.  Nswhorse was speedrunning GRs in the mid 60s last night with the DH gift set and otherwise mediocre gear. Piles paragon levels on really fast.

edit: got a sash of knives for the GR70 primal. boo...  am really liking the DH dreadlands set, tho. speedy.

[Silverthorn]

Rrright. It sounds interesting, I'll try to find some playing time and start a character.

[hurtlocker]

Gears of Dreadlands is very powerful indeed. I have all normal Legs and weapons and missing one cube Item and I did a Gr 77 easily. (4 min)
I suspect I will break my own GR level (104) record this season easily. Fun!! 

[Orbert]

I'm already itching to start another character.  My DH has a nice Rapid Fire build going, and I made her a nice M6 setup to get the GR 70 Primal.  Blind Faith (boring!) but I thought the 40% chance to blind on hit could be helpful for the Rapid Fire build.  It sure as heck doesn't proc 40% of the time.  Must be the dreaded proc coefficient messing things up.  I thought maybe the passive which slows things you hit might be interfering with it, so I switched that out temporarily to see, and nope, still definitely not seeing nearly 40% blind on hit.  But the basic stats (Vit, Dex) were still better than the helm she was using, so what the heck.

Anyway, after reaching GR 70 with both of those builds, there's a part of my brain that considers them "done" and wants to move on to something else.  Like, a different class.  Never did get to the DH Gears build, lol.

[Orbert]

That rainbow fire effect is pretty cool, though.

[syn]

realized the '6 sets to gr55' wasn't a conquest this season. no good reason to have saved haedrig's gift after all. oh well. was able to get a 2min T10 rift with the dreadlands set, so it worked out. don't think i've ever gotten that conquest before. have the 3 conquests done, but need to figure out which set dungeon to do. not a fan of the DH options there.

i've tried using blind faith before but never have figured how to use the high blind rate to good effect.

edit: got the new pet. purely cosmetic but i really like the steampunk design of the set/pet.

[Drozz]

When I started with the DH this season, I got the Shadows set, and I enjoyed running it, but didn't take it past GR50. Once I acquired all the GOD pieces, I switched over, and have achieved GR70. I built another DH, because I wanted to switch between the two sets, but not necessarily just do that thing where you save the set up in the wardrobe. I am doing that with the main one with the GOD set, because I need to achieve the conquest for no set pieces on GR45, so I'm working on a LOD build for that. Mainly to reach the higher GR's, I just need to work on gear.