D2 SPOT REPORT: An Amazon of Limited Means, Day 25
jill
recollecting ald's sage advice to never let one's RL interfere with
one's fun, I figured it was time to see what Kits was up to.
Thanks for reading!
jill
(Kitsilan's earlier adventures and mishaps can be found at:
http://www3.telus.net/jillh/alm_home.html)
============
Day 25:
"Hi, Larzuk!"
"Hi, Kitsilan. Want to see me make a muscle?"
"Um, no, not right now, thanks."
"Oh."
"What do you have in your bow bin today?"
"I've been working on this bicep for weeks."
"Bows, Larzuk."
"It's almost as big as my head."
"That's not saying much," Kyle muttered.
Kitsilan bit her lip and counted to ten. "Okay, okay. Let's see what ya
got, big guy."
The young smith grinned and flexed. Sure enough, his upper right arm
bulged, almost doubling in size. He held his pose for a beat, then
relaxed.
"That was... really special, Larzuk," Kits said, "and I-- we-- we both
feel just ever so pleased, yes, pleased and proud that you wanted to
share this moment with us. Don't we, Kyle?"
"Absolutely, boss. No question," Kyle replied, stifling a yawn.
"Now, about those bows..."
Larzuk pulled a short war bow from under an old apron. "I've been saving
this for you. Since we're such good friends and all."
"We're what?"
"It's got 5% life steal and 9-30 cold damage built in."
"We're pretty good friends, all right. Thanks!" Kits snatched up the bow
and tossed some gold on the counter. "C'mon, Kyle! Today we gotta go
find Anya. You got the map?"
"Yeah. Crystalline Passage to Frozen River. Or maybe vice versa.
Something like that, anyway."
They stepped on the waypoint and twinkled to the Arreat Plateau. Boss
packs of Lashers and Enslaved skipped and danced around their immediate
area. Kitsilan put her new bow to use right way, slowing approaching
Enslaved and frenzied blow-up dollies and turning them to ice cubes.
With Kyle backing her up in her usual calm way, Kits oriented herself on
her AP map and headed for the far end. Nothing more interesting than a
Lasher champion herd and a few Demon Huts barred their way, but by the
time they'd reached the entry to the Crystalline Passage, her pack was
full and they portalled back to Harrogath.
Larzuk waved a Cobalt Field Plate of the Sentinal under her nose, and
Kits picked it up on her way back to her portal. There'd been a cold
breeze coming from the Passage entrance.
They stepped through the entry. Kitsilan looked around and, seeing
nothing of note, took several steps southward. A boss pack of Moon Lords
raced up to greet them, twirling and whirling. Kits broke free, but Kyle
was surrounded and fading fast. Kits jumped back through the entry to
the Arreat Plateau, pulling Kyle after her, and none too soon.
"Ouch!" was the Rogue's only comment, but she put a lot of feeling into
it.
Kitsilan handed her another healing potion. "What armour do you have,
again?"
"Um..." Kyle pulled out her lapel to read the label. "Greyform."
"Greyform? Where the heck did you get Greyform?"
"You gave it to me."
"Was this while I was drunk?"
"Well, it *is* ethereal. Besides, you're the one with two sets of tank
suits."
"Oh. Right. Okay."
"What are you gonna do about the Moon Lords?"
"I'm trying to remember what I did before I had you to distract them...
oh, yeah-- Decoy!"
Decoy worked like a charm all the way through the Passage. Kitsilan cast
it well ahead of herself and Kyle, luring all manner of monsters out of
their hiding places. After a particularly nasty encounter with a pack of
Champion Moon Lords flanked by Stygian Harlots, Kyle leveled to 33
herself. Kitsilan found a useless ring and took it back to Harrogath to
see what she could craft from it.
She stuffed it in the Cube, along with a ruby, a jewel of equal
uselessness and a Sol rune. Crossing her fingers, she checked the
result:
Stone Turn Ring
required level: 29
1% life stolen per hit
+3 strength
+14 to life
+11 maximum stamina
cold resist +30%
"One percent of life steal? One?" Kyle was incredulous.
"Yup. But, on the bright side, there's 30% cold resist," Kitsilan
replied.
"Oh. Hey, yeah, that's all right."
Kits swapped Stone Turn with her regular life steal ring, and grinned as
her cold resistance maxxed out. Just in time.
They finished clearing the Passage and wandered back down and through
the entry to the Frozen River. Kitsilan put up a decoy and picked off
the Abominables and Blood Temptresses that it suckered into range. In
this way, the two carefully and methodically cleared the river shores
deeper and farther in. A Frozen Terror boss pack gave them a touch of
grief, but only because its boss was lightning enchanted. Still,
Kitsilan's lightning resistance was now so high that it was more of an
annoyance rather than a serious obstacle.
They didn't even bother with Decoy to take out the Rot Walkers, just
knocked them down till they ceased getting up again. No one dropped
anything interesting.
They found an evil urn at the other end of a double handful of Blood
Temptresses and Kits kicked it over. Abominables swarmed her, Kyle and
the decoy, but Kits pulled free and Kyle followed. A fast fight ensued,
with Kitsilan putting up decoys just in time to keep the monsters
occupied while she and Kyle fired. Once again, the treasure wasn't, so
they pushed on, crossing a streamlet and proceeding northeast up its far
bank.
Kyle began shooting off to the right, just as Kits finished with some
persistant Rot Walkers. Kits loped over to see what the fuss was about--
Kyle had trapped Frozenstein and his minions on the far side of the
stream! Kitsilan quickly raised a decoy in their midst, and then another
and another, as Kyle picked them off one by one.
"Nice work," Kits said, "and very neatly done."
"It's a gift," Kyle responded modestly.
They took out the last of the stragglers, mostly Rot Walkers, on the
other side and trotted up to the platform Frozenstein had been guarding.
A woman shivered in the centre of a lump of ice.
"Kyle," Kitsilan said, "I think we've found our last lost barbarian."
"Sure looks that way. Got an ice pick?"
"Mmm... nope. Not even a Glimmering Dagger." Kitsilan frowned as she
pondered this new problem.
A small voice shivered from the ice lump. "P-p-p-please, Nihlithak did
this--"
"Yes, yes, we know. Don't worry about a thing, lady, we're Heroes," Kyle
said, reassuringly.
"Kyle, what about those flaming arrows you do?" Kitsilan asked.
"I can try..." Kyle stood off a pace and aimed. "No good. I can't get a
bead on her."
"M-m-m-Malah..."
"Lady, could you keep it down? We're trying to work here," Kitsilan
responded.
Kyle unstrung her bow and walked over to Kitsilan's side. "You know,"
she whispered, "she might have something there. Maybe we should check
with Malah. After all, this was her idea."
"A good point," Kits acknowledged. "She has all kinds of potions and
gewgaws in that hut of hers." She conjured a town portal. "Okay, lady,
you just chill out there, um, well, sorry-- anyway, we'll be right
back."
They stepped through the portal and accosted Malah. Sure enough, the old
healer had a potion ready just for this occasion. Taking it back
through, Kitsilan poured it over the ice and was amazed at how fast it
melted Anya free, and then at how fast Anya spun on her heel before
using her own town portal to quit the platform.
"Was that a cold shoulder or what?" Kyle enquired.
Kitsilan groaned. "Rogue, you are replaceable. You should remember
that."
Kyle stuck out her tongue. "With what? Larzuk?"
"Ew, no, please-- okay, you still have a job. Let's finish up here."
"I think we're done."
Kits checked her map. All ends were closed off. "I think you're right."
Back in town, Malah gave Kits a scroll that raised her resistances by
10% all around, a very nice gift for which Kitsilan thanked her several
times. They followed the path to Anya's hut and found her outside,
waiting for them.
She expressed what certainly sounded to Kits and Kyle like sincere
thanks for her rescue.
"It was nothing, lady. We're Heroes, like I said. It's what we do," Kyle
responded.
"Nevertheless," Anya went on, "I had Larzuk make something just for you,
Kitsilan, tailored to your needs and strengths as I see them. Here--"
she tossed a spear lightly toward Kits, who caught it reflexively.
Glyph Dart
Maiden Spear
Two-Hand Damage: 24 - 35
Durability: 28 of 28
(Amazon Only)
Required Dexterity: 40
Required Strength: 54
Required Level: 15
Spear Class - Normal Attack Speed
+30% Enhanced Damage
+3 to Maximum Damage
+84 to Attack Rating
Adds 1-4 cold damage
+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
Kitsilan pulled Kyle to one side. "Are you sure you can't target her?"
"I'm sure."
"Shucks. Me, either."
Anya was going on about some Barbarian relic and Nihlithak and suddenly
raised a red portal right at Kitsilan's elbow. Kitsilan looked at it,
and at her. She sighed-- a quest was a quest, and she wasn't in a
position to ignore any of them, no matter their origin. But there was no
need to hurry off right away.
They walked back over to Larzuk's forge, and handed him the spear.
"Didn't you like it?" he asked.
"Um, well, see-- I'm not really all that good with spears."
He nodded. "I told her. I told her you didn't like nothing but bows, but
she insisted."
"I'll bet she did," Kitsilan said, thoughtfully. "You know, Larzuk, I
think she's sweet on you."
"No! She's gonna be an Elder someday! I'm just a--"
"A very fine smith," she said, patting an enormous bicep, "and just the
man for Anya. I'm sure of it."
The left a bemused Larzuk to his work, and settled down by their stash
for the evening. "Kits, he's going to be mooning after her for months,
probably drive her nuts."
"You think?"
"Uh, huh. And not after you."
"Gosh, that's just awful. Is there any more cocoa?"
Donald Shepherd
(jshay...@mac.com) says...
<snip>
ROFL. Thank you, that was excellent :)
--
Donald Shepherd
<donald_...@hotmail.com>
The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they'll be when you
kill them.
Stephen van Ham
out of the petri dish and said:
>My network connection to my employer totally hosed itself today, and
>recollecting ald's sage advice to never let one's RL interfere with
>one's fun, I figured it was time to see what Kits was up to.
>
>Thanks for reading!
<Snippy fantastico>
You, missus, are a marble. No, wait, a marvel. Yes, that's it.
I'd tender a plate of spluggleberries in your direction, but ald took
delivery of them quite a while ago, and I haven't seen neither he nor
said berries since that time.
Jamie Kahn Genet
Agreed. That was one of my favourites so far in the adventures of Kits.
I'm already looking forward to the next.
--
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
jill
I'll take the thought for the deed. One rather has to, on usenet. <g>
jill
--
*Slayer* pericat-- USWest lvl 48 Bowazon
*Slayer* Beobear-- USWest lvl 39 Barker
st_roch-- USWest lvl 17 Trophyzon (HC)
Mavican-- Open lvl 52 Bowazon Bard-- Open lvl 50 Paladin
Bernard-- Open lvl 46 Barbarian Tankgrrl-- Open lvl 38 Javazon
cypress_ar-- AR lvl 44 Bowazon perimage-- USWest lvl 26 Magezon
Kitsilan-- Open lvl 32 Bowazon
http://www3.telus.net/jillh/alm_home.html
jill
> In article <1fbfahh.1n1g3nv1ahmr40N%jshay...@mac.com>, jill
> (jshay...@mac.com) says...
> <snip>
>
> ROFL. Thank you, that was excellent :)
Glad you liked it!
jill
Shucks, Jamie, the ink's not dry on this one! <g> I'm glad you liked it.
tcells
jill wrote in message <1fbfahh.1n1g3nv1ahmr40N%jshay...@mac.com>...
>My network connection to my employer totally hosed itself today, and
>recollecting ald's sage advice to never let one's RL interfere with
>one's fun, I figured it was time to see what Kits was up to.
>
>Thanks for reading!
>
>jill
best spot report I'd read for many a moon, only spot report I've read for
many a moon, makes me wonder what I've been missing out on
ald
<sva...@paradise.net.nz> wrote:
>You, missus, are a marble. No, wait, a marvel. Yes, that's it.
>I'd tender a plate of spluggleberries in your direction, but ald took
>delivery of them quite a while ago, and I haven't seen neither he nor
>said berries since that time.
Wait a minute, I'm *sure* they've come into season again since then!
Although the frozen part may just be coming there, since it's
alternating between hotter than level 16 and colder than the same area
the day after Maryland won the National Championship here ;-) My
greatest thanks for commenting on this one, Stephen, I saw it on
Google today but, despite trying at least a couple of times, didn't
get a chance to finish reading it before IE crashed :-(
jill, I whole-heartedly agree with Stephen's sentiments expressed
above. We'll have to get you some more of that frozen confection as
soon as Stephen can whip some up ;-)
--
ald
"Knowledge is Power"
reply via e-mail to a717 at erols dot com
VK`Sister`ald level 47 Rogue (HF V&K)
Matriarch Sis-West level 81 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer RingsNThngs level 54 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer ZannEsu-ald level 51 Sorceress (US West)
Slayer Sis-AR level 78 Bowazon (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Slayer Creepy-AR Level 72 Necromancer (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Zan-AR Level 48 Sorceress (Ancestral Recall Mod)
CotSRSig #16
http://users.erols.com/a717
ald
>My network connection to my employer totally hosed itself today, and
>recollecting ald's sage advice to never let one's RL interfere with
>one's fun, I figured it was time to see what Kits was up to.
>
>Thanks for reading!
>
>jill
>
Good work! :-) And thank you for posting this.
>(Kitsilan's earlier adventures and mishaps can be found at:
>http://www3.telus.net/jillh/alm_home.html)
Duly noted and bookmarked :-)
<snippety-do-dah>
>"I'm trying to remember what I did before I had you to distract them...
>oh, yeah-- Decoy!"
>
>Decoy worked like a charm all the way through the Passage. Kitsilan cast
>it well ahead of herself and Kyle, luring all manner of monsters out of
>their hiding places. After a particularly nasty encounter with a pack of
>Champion Moon Lords flanked by Stygian Harlots, Kyle leveled to 33
>herself. Kitsilan found a useless ring and took it back to Harrogath to
>see what she could craft from it.
>
What, still no Valk?
>She stuffed it in the Cube, along with a ruby, a jewel of equal
>uselessness and a Sol rune. Crossing her fingers, she checked the
>result:
>
>Stone Turn Ring
>required level: 29
>1% life stolen per hit
>+3 strength
>+14 to life
>+11 maximum stamina
>cold resist +30%
>
>"One percent of life steal? One?" Kyle was incredulous.
Kyle's not the only one, I don't think I've seen *anything* with less
than 3%, when it rolls life steal :-(
<snippety-ay>
>"A good point," Kits acknowledged. "She has all kinds of potions and
>gewgaws in that hut of hers." She conjured a town portal. "Okay, lady,
>you just chill out there, um, well, sorry-- anyway, we'll be right
>back."
5 minutes, that's how long it took me to stop laughing at this one ;-)
<my oh my what a wonderful day>
>"Nevertheless," Anya went on, "I had Larzuk make something just for you,
>Kitsilan, tailored to your needs and strengths as I see them. Here--"
>she tossed a spear lightly toward Kits, who caught it reflexively.
>
>Glyph Dart
>Maiden Spear
>Two-Hand Damage: 24 - 35
>Durability: 28 of 28
>(Amazon Only)
>Required Dexterity: 40
>Required Strength: 54
>Required Level: 15
>Spear Class - Normal Attack Speed
>+30% Enhanced Damage
>+3 to Maximum Damage
>+84 to Attack Rating
>Adds 1-4 cold damage
>+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
>
>Kitsilan pulled Kyle to one side. "Are you sure you can't target her?"
>
>"I'm sure."
>
>"Shucks. Me, either."
I'd have *had* to have found a way to impale her with that spear :-(
She's given *me* better ones, which I promptly passed along to Stephen
;-)
<plenty o' sunshine heading my way>
>"Gosh, that's just awful. Is there any more cocoa?"
She definitely deserves it, and your sig (strangely missing here) now
needs updating (and when is Day 25 going to appear on your website?)
;-) Thanks again for another *great* tale, jill, made even more so
because Sis-AR went through this same area in NM earlier today, er,
yesterday by this point. SBPP! :-)
Stephen van Ham
up out of the petri dish and said:
>
>best spot report I'd read for many a moon, only spot report I've read for
>many a moon, makes me wonder what I've been missing out on
I'm sorry, tcells, but the best I can manage for spot reports these
days is this...
...
It was a dark and stormy night, and I logged onto battle.net. Once
dressed in my selected character avatar (a young sword-slinger dark
hair, a darkly handsome face, breast plate of polished dragon hide,
fancy green pants, and sandles), I talked trash with a few of the
locals, and laughed at the goons in the chat channels who were begging
to be boosted to Hell Cows. The ones that could only type in all
caps and without punctuation were especially funny.
Despite these good times, I soon grew bored, for alas, there is only
so much cretinism one can stand before the soul desires more. In
this case, the soul desired hacking, slashing, and standing knee-deep
in demon guts. So I went into a game and killed some monsters. The
soul liked this very much. Then I picked up some treasure. Most of
it was junk. The soul found this less to its liking, for the soul is
a fickle thing. Requiring more treasure and less junk to apease said
soul, I killed some more monsters. Soon the hills were alive with
the sound of bloodlust, sword swings, bow twangs, magic, and death.
Countless hours passed in a blur of steel and flame, and the soul felt
full and complete again.
Exhausted at last, and desiring sleep and dreams of exotic go-go
dancers cavorting in vats of jello, I logged off.
The End.
...
I figured that you didn't really need to read anything like this.
Stephen van Ham
oozed up out of the petri dish and said:
>jill, I whole-heartedly agree with Stephen's sentiments expressed
>above. We'll have to get you some more of that frozen confection as
>soon as Stephen can whip some up ;-)
I find it best not to whip the confectionery, just in case it decides
to fight back.
tcells
Stephen van Ham wrote in message ...
ahhh
I've missed the best of fanfics and the worst of fanfics, the warring
fanfics and the peaceful fanfics ...
apologies to London & Paris
Cameron
"jill" <jshay...@mac.com> wrote in message
news:1fbfahh.1n1g3nv1ahmr40N%jshay...@mac.com...
<snip> cos you know what you typed
A day well spent in my opinion, far more productive than work.
Thankyou,
Cameron
Cameron
"Stephen van Ham" <sva...@paradise.net.nz> wrote in message
news:bt2vcusa0asok63b8...@4ax.com...<sniip>
> Exhausted at last, and desiring sleep and dreams of exotic go-go
> dancers cavorting in vats of jello, I logged off.
>
been expressing lately.
Does anyone else here have any literary talents?
Cameron
ShieldWolf
> >uselessness and a Sol rune. Crossing her fingers, she checked the
> >result:
> >
> >Stone Turn Ring
> >required level: 29
> >1% life stolen per hit
> >+3 strength
> >+14 to life
> >+11 maximum stamina
> >cold resist +30%
> >
> >"One percent of life steal? One?" Kyle was incredulous.
>
> Kyle's not the only one, I don't think I've seen *anything* with less
> than 3%, when it rolls life steal :-(
I do believe that crafted thingys get something like 1-3%. Bit of a
shame...
> I'd have *had* to have found a way to impale her with that spear :-(
> She's given *me* better ones, which I promptly passed along to Stephen
> ;-)
>
> <plenty o' sunshine heading my way>
>
> >"Gosh, that's just awful. Is there any more cocoa?"
>
> She definitely deserves it, and your sig (strangely missing here) now
> needs updating (and when is Day 25 going to appear on your website?)
> ;-) Thanks again for another *great* tale, jill, made even more so
> because Sis-AR went through this same area in NM earlier today, er,
> yesterday by this point. SBPP! :-)
I really confused the poor girl last night when I rescued her with my
Tankazon in Normal. She tried at least and gave up a spear which I
prompty sold back to her. I couldn't convince her to have a sword
made with +2 to Passives. ;)
jill
> On Tue, 30 Apr 2002 05:41:57 GMT, jshay...@mac.com (jill) wrote:
>
> >My network connection to my employer totally hosed itself today, and
> >recollecting ald's sage advice to never let one's RL interfere with
> >one's fun, I figured it was time to see what Kits was up to.
> >
> >Thanks for reading!
> >
> >jill
> >
>
> Good work! :-) And thank you for posting this.
thank you! my pleasure.
> >(Kitsilan's earlier adventures and mishaps can be found at:
> >http://www3.telus.net/jillh/alm_home.html)
>
> Duly noted and bookmarked :-)
>
>
> <snippety-do-dah>
>
> >"I'm trying to remember what I did before I had you to distract them...
> >oh, yeah-- Decoy!"
> >
> >Decoy worked like a charm all the way through the Passage. Kitsilan cast
> >it well ahead of herself and Kyle, luring all manner of monsters out of
> >their hiding places. After a particularly nasty encounter with a pack of
> >Champion Moon Lords flanked by Stygian Harlots, Kyle leveled to 33
> >herself. Kitsilan found a useless ring and took it back to Harrogath to
> >see what she could craft from it.
> >
>
> What, still no Valk?
I've been waffling on the Valk question. I've finally decided that a
Valkyrie is okay, but of course it'll be another two levels before she
can stuff a point there.
<snip>
> >"One percent of life steal? One?" Kyle was incredulous.
>
> Kyle's not the only one, I don't think I've seen *anything* with less
> than 3%, when it rolls life steal :-(
pericat's crafted three so far, only one of which came up with 3%. The
range is 1-3, which is simply stingy, imo.
> <snippety-ay>
>
> >"A good point," Kits acknowledged. "She has all kinds of potions and
> >gewgaws in that hut of hers." She conjured a town portal. "Okay, lady,
> >you just chill out there, um, well, sorry-- anyway, we'll be right
> >back."
>
> 5 minutes, that's how long it took me to stop laughing at this one ;-)
hehehe! Some bits wrote themselves.
> <my oh my what a wonderful day>
>
> >"Nevertheless," Anya went on, "I had Larzuk make something just for you,
> >Kitsilan, tailored to your needs and strengths as I see them. Here--"
> >she tossed a spear lightly toward Kits, who caught it reflexively.
> >
> >Glyph Dart
> >Maiden Spear
> >Two-Hand Damage: 24 - 35
> >Durability: 28 of 28
> >(Amazon Only)
> >Required Dexterity: 40
> >Required Strength: 54
> >Required Level: 15
> >Spear Class - Normal Attack Speed
> >+30% Enhanced Damage
> >+3 to Maximum Damage
> >+84 to Attack Rating
> >Adds 1-4 cold damage
> >+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
> >
> >Kitsilan pulled Kyle to one side. "Are you sure you can't target her?"
> >
> >"I'm sure."
> >
> >"Shucks. Me, either."
>
> I'd have *had* to have found a way to impale her with that spear :-(
> She's given *me* better ones, which I promptly passed along to Stephen
> ;-)
It really is pathetic, isn't it? One would think the Anya routine could
check the character's skill point allocation, preferred weapon, and then
forget all that and just ask the character what he or she wants.
Instead, it appears to go out of its way to create something of no
benefit.
> <plenty o' sunshine heading my way>
>
> >"Gosh, that's just awful. Is there any more cocoa?"
>
> She definitely deserves it, and your sig (strangely missing here) now
> needs updating (and when is Day 25 going to appear on your website?)
You are so right! I hadn't noticed that I failed to record Kitsilan's
last level-up, and that was weeks ago. I shall hang my head in shame.
I do need to update the site. I'll get on it.
> ;-) Thanks again for another *great* tale, jill, made even more so
> because Sis-AR went through this same area in NM earlier today, er,
> yesterday by this point. SBPP! :-)
mmm... berries! <g>
jill
--
*Slayer* pericat-- USWest lvl 49 Bowazon
*Slayer* Beobear-- USWest lvl 39 Barker
st_roch-- USWest lvl 17 Trophyzon (HC)
Mavican-- Open lvl 52 Bowazon Bard-- Open lvl 50 Paladin
Bernard-- Open lvl 46 Barbarian Tankgrrl-- Open lvl 38 Javazon
cypress_ar-- AR lvl 44 Bowazon perimage-- USWest lvl 29 Magezon
Kitsilan-- SP lvl 33 Bowazon
http://www3.telus.net/jillh/alm_home.html
jill
Many work days are like that. Please don't tell my employers. <g>
jill
> I really confused the poor girl last night when I rescued her with my
> Tankazon in Normal. She tried at least and gave up a spear which I
> prompty sold back to her. I couldn't convince her to have a sword
> made with +2 to Passives. ;)
Now see, this would be totally cool reward. Anya asks what you want,
like any decent char editor, and within some limits you click off on
item, affixes and prefixes.
ald
<sva...@paradise.net.nz> wrote:
>I find it best not to whip the confectionery, just in case it decides
>to fight back.
Good thinking ;-)
--
ald
"Knowledge is Power"
reply via e-mail to a717 at erols dot com
VK`Sister`ald level 47 Rogue (HF V&K)
Matriarch Sis-West level 81 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer RingsNThngs level 54 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer ZannEsu-ald level 51 Sorceress (US West)
Slayer Sis-AR level 79 Bowazon (Ancestral Recall Mod)
ald
Er, SBPP!? ;-)
ald
wrote:
>Not bad considering that opening line and all the fiery vengeance you've
>been expressing lately.
>Does anyone else here have any literary talents?
>
>Cameron
You mean *other* than the lady who started this thread? Alas, it seems
that most of the others with literary talent have left us for that
other newsgroup that's so recently been being complained about in here
:-(
ald
>I do believe that crafted thingys get something like 1-3%. Bit of a
>shame...
That would explain it, as I've done *very* little crafting ;-)
>I really confused the poor girl last night when I rescued her with my
>Tankazon in Normal. She tried at least and gave up a spear which I
>prompty sold back to her. I couldn't convince her to have a sword
>made with +2 to Passives. ;)
Yeah, or +2 to all. Zan-AR is casting about for *anything* that adds
to skills and can be used with a shield, she's had no luck with Orbs
or such yet and is currently using a staff with +1 to all, although
that's slowing down her attack speed with the kick attacks. She has a
Culwen's Point that she *might* be able to use when she gets two Orts,
as she's already waiting for one for the +25% life charm. Oh, yeah,
getting through the Jungles and finding Lam Eisen's Tome might help,
too ;-) She made it to the Flayer Jungle Waypoint this morning, next
stop is to see what Enraged Diablo (TM) Pack she draws and then on to
Kurast :-)
--
ald
"Knowledge is Power"
reply via e-mail to a717 at erols dot com
VK`Sister`ald level 47 Rogue (HF V&K)
Matriarch Sis-West level 81 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer RingsNThngs level 54 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer ZannEsu-ald level 51 Sorceress (US West)
Slayer Sis-AR level 79 Bowazon (Ancestral Recall Mod)
ald
>I've been waffling on the Valk question. I've finally decided that a
>Valkyrie is okay, but of course it'll be another two levels before she
>can stuff a point there.
Why, because they weren't in D1? As Mickey has said (or something
similar), an Amazon without a Valk is like a fish without water ;-)
>pericat's crafted three so far, only one of which came up with 3%. The
>range is 1-3, which is simply stingy, imo.
As I said to Randy, I haven't crafted much, and *no* rings, so I
hadn't seen this. Yeah, stingy would be the least offensive word I
would use to describe it ;-)
>It really is pathetic, isn't it? One would think the Anya routine could
>check the character's skill point allocation, preferred weapon, and then
>forget all that and just ask the character what he or she wants.
>Instead, it appears to go out of its way to create something of no
>benefit.
Well, I've gotten a *few* things from her that actually did help.
Creepy-AR is still using the Zombie Head that she came up with for
him, the + 1 to all skills (and a few additional additions to skills
that he doesn't use) he hasn't been able to match, but he hasn't found
a Sigon's Guard yet ;-) I *think* she's actually come up with a decent
bow for me at least once, not anything that I'm still using, but at
least it was better than what I had at the time. But more often than
not, yeah, what she gives me is immediately sent off to the bit bucket
;-)
>You are so right! I hadn't noticed that I failed to record Kitsilan's
>last level-up, and that was weeks ago. I shall hang my head in shame.
>
Nah, I'm just anal about this kind of thing, I'll alt-tab out of the
game to update my sig, when I'm sure the game has saved it ;-)
>I do need to update the site. I'll get on it.
>jill
Again, whenever you have time, I've waited a couple weeks at times to
decide whether my ramblings should go onto my site ;-)
--
ald
"Knowledge is Power"
reply via e-mail to a717 at erols dot com
VK`Sister`ald level 47 Rogue (HF V&K)
Matriarch Sis-West level 81 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer RingsNThngs level 54 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer ZannEsu-ald level 51 Sorceress (US West)
Slayer Sis-AR level 79 Bowazon (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Cameron
"ald" <10317...@compuserve.com> wrote in message
news:3cda53fb...@News.CIS.DFN.DE...
> You mean *other* than the lady who started this thread? Alas, it seems
> that most of the others with literary talent have left us for that
> other newsgroup that's so recently been being complained about in here
> :-(
>
>
abilities.
That other group has improved with the criticism, but they aren't willing to
write any tales of their adventures either.
Cameron
Cameron
> On Thu, 02 May 2002 01:52:33 GMT, jshay...@mac.com (jill) wrote:
>
> >I've been waffling on the Valk question. I've finally decided that a
> >Valkyrie is okay, but of course it'll be another two levels before she
> >can stuff a point there.
>
> Why, because they weren't in D1? As Mickey has said (or something
> similar), an Amazon without a Valk is like a fish without water ;-)
>
> >pericat's crafted three so far, only one of which came up with 3%. The
> >range is 1-3, which is simply stingy, imo.
>
> As I said to Randy, I haven't crafted much, and *no* rings, so I
> hadn't seen this. Yeah, stingy would be the least offensive word I
> would use to describe it ;-)
You really should do some crafting, the runes and other ingredients, except
the higher level bovine ones, aren't difficult to obtain. Time consuming,
but not hard.
That leaves you with pretty much all the charms makeable in normal and most
of the rings and ammies. That way the actual weaponry is not as important as
it otherwise might be.
About half my assassin's equipment and all her charms are crafted, the rest
being set or unique items. Halfway through H Act I she's having no trouble
killing and doing almost no potion drinking and needed no potions for NM
Diablo, Ancients or Baal.
Yes she should be more advanced at her current level (72?), but most of that
extra experience was gained in the long dungeons.
Cameron
jill
> On Thu, 02 May 2002 01:52:33 GMT, jshay...@mac.com (jill) wrote:
>
> >I've been waffling on the Valk question. I've finally decided that a
> >Valkyrie is okay, but of course it'll be another two levels before she
> >can stuff a point there.
>
> Why, because they weren't in D1? As Mickey has said (or something
> similar), an Amazon without a Valk is like a fish without water ;-)
It seemed to me the valk's AI changed in 1.07 or 1.08 or whenever it was
the expansion was released, and not for the better. I was annoyed. My
other zons have stopped casting them, except on the rare occasions when
I remember valks exist and think a walking target might be useful.
> >pericat's crafted three so far, only one of which came up with 3%. The
> >range is 1-3, which is simply stingy, imo.
>
> As I said to Randy, I haven't crafted much, and *no* rings, so I
> hadn't seen this. Yeah, stingy would be the least offensive word I
> would use to describe it ;-)
Crafting in AR is much more rewarding.
> >It really is pathetic, isn't it? One would think the Anya routine could
> >check the character's skill point allocation, preferred weapon, and then
> >forget all that and just ask the character what he or she wants.
> >Instead, it appears to go out of its way to create something of no
> >benefit.
>
>
> Well, I've gotten a *few* things from her that actually did help.
> Creepy-AR is still using the Zombie Head that she came up with for
> him, the + 1 to all skills (and a few additional additions to skills
> that he doesn't use) he hasn't been able to match, but he hasn't found
> a Sigon's Guard yet ;-) I *think* she's actually come up with a decent
> bow for me at least once, not anything that I'm still using, but at
> least it was better than what I had at the time. But more often than
> not, yeah, what she gives me is immediately sent off to the bit bucket
> ;-)
A couple of days ago my magezon put her bow in her inventory and bought
a blue pike from Larzuk before visiting Anya. She got a rare stag bow.
+3 to min damage was one. Woo, woo. That and the +14 to attack rating
would really frighten the Fallen, I'm sure. Dammit, I want quest rewards
to be rewarding!
jill
--
*Slayer* pericat-- USWest lvl 50 Bowazon
*Slayer* Beobear-- USWest lvl 39 Barker
st_roch-- USWest lvl 17 Trophyzon (HC)
Mavican-- Open lvl 52 Bowazon Bard-- Open lvl 50 Paladin
Bernard-- Open lvl 46 Barbarian Tankgrrl-- Open lvl 38 Javazon
cypress_ar-- AR lvl 44 Bowazon perimage-- USWest lvl 31 Magezon
jill
> On Wed, 1 May 2002 23:00:46 +1000, "Cameron" <camer...@bigpond.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Not bad considering that opening line and all the fiery vengeance you've
> >been expressing lately.
> >Does anyone else here have any literary talents?
> >
> >Cameron
>
> You mean *other* than the lady who started this thread? Alas, it seems
> that most of the others with literary talent have left us for that
> other newsgroup that's so recently been being complained about in here
> :-(
Well, there's you, with your always enjoyable rambles. *cough* And Mr.
Short posted an entertaining piece on his pally, and there was Zombie
(mumble) with the Beekeeper, another well-done account.
What's missing is folks doing spot reports who'll put 'spot report' in
the subject line. We gotta dig to find them.
ald
wrote:
>Well considering Jill started the thread of course I wasn't overlooking her
>abilities.
>That other group has improved with the criticism, but they aren't willing to
>write any tales of their adventures either.
>
>Cameron
Shame, as there is an awfully good amount of talent there :-(
ald
>Well, there's you, with your always enjoyable rambles. *cough* And Mr.
>Short posted an entertaining piece on his pally, and there was Zombie
>(mumble) with the Beekeeper, another well-done account.
>
>What's missing is folks doing spot reports who'll put 'spot report' in
>the subject line. We gotta dig to find them.
>
>jill
Thank you, although I consider my talent to be in reporting, not
writing ;-) I saw the thread with Short's pally on Google, but didn't
have time to read it yet. Heehee, I figured if worst come to worst it
would keep me from doing a MAR so that I could eventually find it
again ;-)
ald
wrote:
>You really should do some crafting, the runes and other ingredients, except
>the higher level bovine ones, aren't difficult to obtain. Time consuming,
>but not hard.
>That leaves you with pretty much all the charms makeable in normal and most
>of the rings and ammies. That way the actual weaponry is not as important as
>it otherwise might be.
>About half my assassin's equipment and all her charms are crafted, the rest
>being set or unique items. Halfway through H Act I she's having no trouble
>killing and doing almost no potion drinking and needed no potions for NM
>Diablo, Ancients or Baal.
>Yes she should be more advanced at her current level (72?), but most of that
>extra experience was gained in the long dungeons.
>
>Cameron
Ok, yeah, I forgot about the charms, *those* I've done a fair amount
of crafting with ;-) Potions? Oh, yeah, those things that sit in the
belt, none of my trio has used them much since the Crypt/Normal.
Sis-AR *may* have used one against NM Diablo, I don't remember for
sure, but I *know* she didn't use more than that. The hard part for me
has been finding 13 Tals to get the Tal-Ral-Ort, and after the
aforementioned trip over the power cord this morning, Sis is back at
square one on that one (and she was down to only five needed, too) :-(
ald
>It seemed to me the valk's AI changed in 1.07 or 1.08 or whenever it was
>the expansion was released, and not for the better. I was annoyed. My
>other zons have stopped casting them, except on the rare occasions when
>I remember valks exist and think a walking target might be useful.
Well, they never *were* the brightest things around, giving credence
to all of those dumb blonde jokes always seemed to be their main role
in life ;-) I mean, even before LoD they were always ignoring the pack
of Might-enhanced Night Lords to go off and attack those all-too
menacing Trapped Souls. I haven't given up on them, although I *do*
seem to find myself saying things like "Where do you think *you're*
going?" and "Nice of you to join us" more often.
>A couple of days ago my magezon put her bow in her inventory and bought
>a blue pike from Larzuk before visiting Anya. She got a rare stag bow.
>+3 to min damage was one. Woo, woo. That and the +14 to attack rating
>would really frighten the Fallen, I'm sure. Dammit, I want quest rewards
>to be rewarding!
>
>jill
Well, yeah, but it's no less rewarding than Charsi's imbue, except
that with that one you get to choose what gets a pile of useless mods
ShieldWolf
> >Tankazon in Normal. She tried at least and gave up a spear which I
> >prompty sold back to her. I couldn't convince her to have a sword
> >made with +2 to Passives. ;)
>
> Yeah, or +2 to all.
Considering she only has points in the Passives tree, +2 to Passives
*is* +2 to all. ;)
> Zan-AR is casting about for *anything* that adds
> to skills and can be used with a shield, she's had no luck with Orbs
> or such yet and is currently using a staff with +1 to all, although
> that's slowing down her attack speed with the kick attacks. She has a
> Culwen's Point that she *might* be able to use when she gets two Orts,
> as she's already waiting for one for the +25% life charm. Oh, yeah,
> getting through the Jungles and finding Lam Eisen's Tome might help,
> too ;-) She made it to the Flayer Jungle Waypoint this morning, next
> stop is to see what Enraged Diablo (TM) Pack she draws and then on to
> Kurast :-)
You may want to go to Kurast, then double back to visit the ED's.
short
> ald <10317...@compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 1 May 2002 23:00:46 +1000, "Cameron" <camer...@bigpond.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >Not bad considering that opening line and all the fiery vengeance
you've
> > >been expressing lately.
> > >Does anyone else here have any literary talents?
> > >
> > >Cameron
> >
> > You mean *other* than the lady who started this thread? Alas, it seems
> > that most of the others with literary talent have left us for that
> > other newsgroup that's so recently been being complained about in here
> > :-(
>
> Well, there's you, with your always enjoyable rambles. *cough* And Mr.
> Short posted an entertaining piece on his pally, and there was Zombie
> (mumble) with the Beekeeper, another well-done account.
>
> What's missing is folks doing spot reports who'll put 'spot report' in
> the subject line. We gotta dig to find them.
>
> jill
>
report" in there.
thanks
short
-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----
short
> On Sat, 04 May 2002 14:22:16 GMT, jshay...@mac.com (jill) wrote:
>
> >It seemed to me the valk's AI changed in 1.07 or 1.08 or whenever it was
> >the expansion was released, and not for the better. I was annoyed. My
> >other zons have stopped casting them, except on the rare occasions when
> >I remember valks exist and think a walking target might be useful.
>
> Well, they never *were* the brightest things around, giving credence
> to all of those dumb blonde jokes always seemed to be their main role
> in life ;-) I mean, even before LoD they were always ignoring the pack
> of Might-enhanced Night Lords to go off and attack those all-too
> menacing Trapped Souls. I haven't given up on them, although I *do*
> seem to find myself saying things like "Where do you think *you're*
> going?" and "Nice of you to join us" more often.
>
Trapped Souls.
short
> --
> ald
> "Knowledge is Power"
> reply via e-mail to a717 at erols dot com
> VK`Sister`ald level 47 Rogue (HF V&K)
> Matriarch Sis-West level 81 Bowazon (US West)
> Slayer RingsNThngs level 54 Bowazon (US West)
> Slayer ZannEsu-ald level 51 Sorceress (US West)
> Slayer Sis-AR level 79 Bowazon (Ancestral Recall Mod)
> Slayer Creepy-AR Level 72 Necromancer (Ancestral Recall Mod)
> Zan-AR Level 48 Sorceress (Ancestral Recall Mod)
> CotSRSig #16
> http://users.erols.com/a717
Mickey
news:3cd6e...@corp.newsgroups.com...
>
> "ald" <10317...@compuserve.com> wrote in message
> news:3cdcf690...@News.CIS.DFN.DE...
> > On Sat, 04 May 2002 14:22:16 GMT, jshay...@mac.com (jill) wrote:
> >
> > >It seemed to me the valk's AI changed in 1.07 or 1.08 or whenever it
was
> > >the expansion was released, and not for the better. I was annoyed. My
> > >other zons have stopped casting them, except on the rare occasions when
> > >I remember valks exist and think a walking target might be useful.
> >
> > Well, they never *were* the brightest things around, giving credence
> > to all of those dumb blonde jokes always seemed to be their main role
> > in life ;-) I mean, even before LoD they were always ignoring the pack
> > of Might-enhanced Night Lords to go off and attack those all-too
> > menacing Trapped Souls. I haven't given up on them, although I *do*
> > seem to find myself saying things like "Where do you think *you're*
> > going?" and "Nice of you to join us" more often.
> >
> Yeah, but you have to cast them a LOT less when they're kickin ass on
those
> Trapped Souls.
Bah, I can walk around all of act4 with the same valk, and she will never go
near a trapped soul. It's called Multi-Shot, just spam ahead as you walk.
Mickey
short
"Mickey" <mic...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:ab6roa$fpkni$1...@ID-134767.news.dfncis.de...
in Hell Durance trying to kill all those damn enchanted Stygian Dolls on the
way to Meph. I don't even want to mention the council, Shortazon is still
in therapy after that experience =)
I did have a helpful thing happen today though (in between computer
crashes). My Valk spawned with Nova 3 times in a row =)
short
Mickey
>
> >
> Hehe.......yeah I bet you can. I can in NM with no problems...but I'm
stuck
> in Hell Durance trying to kill all those damn enchanted Stygian Dolls on
the
> way to Meph. I don't even want to mention the council, Shortazon is still
> in therapy after that experience =)
> I did have a helpful thing happen today though (in between computer
> crashes). My Valk spawned with Nova 3 times in a row =)
> short
Ah, dealing with sygian dolls is easy if you know the trick.... they will
rush you, so have a low level bow that can freeze on. Hit them one, they
will stop, back away quickly and finish them off.
Mickey
short
had to quit. Depressing really, I had just found the stairs to Durance 3
and everything (I was late anyway, should have just finished).
I blame it all on reaction time....I really need to work on that.
ald
wrote:
>LOL.........I don't know about entertaining, but next time I'll put "spot
>report" in there.
>
>thanks
>
>short
Thanks, that would make it *much* easier to find it when I go skimming
through 35K messages, or if I ever get off my lazy rear and add the
words "Spot Report" to the Watch filter ;-)
ald
>Considering she only has points in the Passives tree, +2 to Passives
>*is* +2 to all. ;)
Ok, yeah, I'd forgotten that part about Tankazons ;-)
>You may want to go to Kurast, then double back to visit the ED's.
Where's the fun in that? ;-) Seriously, if I'm gonna die, I'd rather
it be at the *beginning* of the game, especially with Zan-AR, who
still has enough space so that she's not dropping stuff on the ground.
If she gets a really bad roll, or finds she can't handle it for some
reason, she can always quit, *then* find the Lower Kurast waypoint and
double back ;-)
ald
wrote:
>Yeah, but you have to cast them a LOT less when they're kickin ass on those
>Trapped Souls.
>
>short
I don't know, at level 23 (not maxed, but doesn't need more) I don't
have to recast the Valk very often ;-)
ald
wrote:
>Bah, I can walk around all of act4 with the same valk, and she will never go
>near a trapped soul. It's called Multi-Shot, just spam ahead as you walk.
>
>Mickey
I tried that on this last Act 4 run (in NM, admittedly) and still had
her wandering off occasionally. With all of the extra arrows that MS
takes as opposed to what I'm used to with Strafe, I haven't gotten
into the habit of spamming ahead much, I run out of arrows often
enough *without* doing that :-(
Mickey
> On Mon, 6 May 2002 17:13:26 -0400, "Mickey" <mic...@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> >Bah, I can walk around all of act4 with the same valk, and she will never
go
> >near a trapped soul. It's called Multi-Shot, just spam ahead as you walk.
> >
> >Mickey
>
> I tried that on this last Act 4 run (in NM, admittedly) and still had
> her wandering off occasionally. With all of the extra arrows that MS
> takes as opposed to what I'm used to with Strafe, I haven't gotten
> into the habit of spamming ahead much, I run out of arrows often
> enough *without* doing that :-(
Arrows are cheap, buy enough :)
Mickey
ald
> Arrows are cheap, buy enough :)
>
> Mickey
Arrows are cheap, space in the stash is *not* ;-) Sis-AR is running
with only 12 squares open in the backpack (and remember, the pack and
cube are much larger in AR) and not much more in the cube, at least up
until the accident this weekend. She didn't have *room* to carry extra
arrows ;-)
ald
Mickey
news:e670ce76.02050...@posting.google.com...
Yeah so, take the extra arrows with you and if you find an item, toss arrows
on ground, pick up item and take to town, return and pick up arrows. All my
chars play with 8 squares open only.
Mickey
Stephen van Ham
of the petri dish and said:
>Arrows are cheap, space in the stash is *not* ;-) Sis-AR is running
>with only 12 squares open in the backpack (and remember, the pack and
>cube are much larger in AR) and not much more in the cube, at least up
>until the accident this weekend. She didn't have *room* to carry extra
>arrows ;-)
Ah ha! Now we get down to the nitty gritty. ald's number one
reason for disliking Multiple Shot... being a packrat. I just knew
there'd be a good reason for it.
jill
I get round this by tossing every quiver that drops. There's a lot of
those.
Not that I spam MS all over the landscape. Strafe is so much better. <g>
jill
--
*Slayer* pericat-- USWest lvl 52 Bowazon
*Slayer* Beobear-- USWest lvl 39 Barker
st_roch-- USWest lvl 17 Trophyzon (HC)
Mavican-- Open lvl 52 Bowazon Bard-- Open lvl 50 Paladin
Bernard-- Open lvl 46 Barbarian Tankgrrl-- Open lvl 38 Javazon
cypress_ar-- AR lvl 44 Bowazon perimage-- USWest lvl 33 Magezon
Mickey
> Mickey <mic...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> > "ald" <a...@altcastlenet.com> wrote in message
> > news:e670ce76.02050...@posting.google.com...
> > > "Mickey" <mic...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > news:<ab8a0r$g26ra$1...@ID-134767.news.dfncis.de>...
> > > > Arrows are cheap, buy enough :)
> > > >
> > > > Mickey
> > >
> > > Arrows are cheap, space in the stash is *not* ;-) Sis-AR is running
> > > with only 12 squares open in the backpack (and remember, the pack and
> > > cube are much larger in AR) and not much more in the cube, at least up
> > > until the accident this weekend. She didn't have *room* to carry extra
> > > arrows ;-)
> >
> > Yeah so, take the extra arrows with you and if you find an item, toss
arrows
> > on ground, pick up item and take to town, return and pick up arrows. All
my
> > chars play with 8 squares open only.
>
> I get round this by tossing every quiver that drops. There's a lot of
> those.
>
> Not that I spam MS all over the landscape. Strafe is so much better. <g>
My zon has both, and except for times when I help out people in areas where
lurkers and leapers live, I never use strafe. It simply doesn't kill as fast
as MS does.
Mickey
ald
wrote:
>Where's the fun in that? ;-) Seriously, if I'm gonna die, I'd rather
>it be at the *beginning* of the game, especially with Zan-AR, who
>still has enough space so that she's not dropping stuff on the ground.
>If she gets a really bad roll, or finds she can't handle it for some
>reason, she can always quit, *then* find the Lower Kurast waypoint and
>double back ;-)
>
Well, *that* certainly didn't pan out like I expected. She found
John's six-pack of LEB EDs down there. Fortunately, that staff she's
using gives her maxed lightning resistance (something I didn't notice
until she was back up in town). *Un*fortunately, her Rogue doesn't
have a staff like that, and D uses things besides lightning. After
kicking at the Bone Prisons that the first one out kept trapping her
in, she finally remembered that she's a Sorc and started using
teleport, but still ended up with about 3 of them right by the stairs
as she high-tailed it out of there, with another one or two in the
adjacent room. ATM she's standing in town, trying to convince me that
Static will work on them, but since they're lightning immune I think
this is an argument she's going to lose.
Ok, on to plan B: Find the other dungeon with the body part, and the
way into Kurast, and try them again in the *next* game ;-)
ald
<sva...@paradise.net.nz> wrote:
>Ah ha! Now we get down to the nitty gritty. ald's number one
>reason for disliking Multiple Shot... being a packrat. I just knew
>there'd be a good reason for it.
Lol, there may be something to that ;-) The experiment *is*
continuing, she's still using MS until the point where she *has* to
switch back to Strafe, and I think MS is up to about 11 now, since she
can use her Tarn again (the Naj's Circlet, that was another one lost
in the trip). Oh, and she finally managed to cube a Mara's, while it
didn't add any skills over her +2 to Amazon skills rare amulet, it
sure is a sweet one :-) The speed of MS is very addicting, but the low
damage is very frustrating, and I know it will only get worse in Hell.
I'll say this much, though, this experiment is so far going well
enough that I'm considering making another attempt at making an MS
Bowazon, hopefully *this* time I'll be able to resist the temptation
to turn her into another Strafazon ;-)
ald
wrote:
>Yeah so, take the extra arrows with you and if you find an item, toss arrows
>on ground, pick up item and take to town, return and pick up arrows. All my
>chars play with 8 squares open only.
>
>Mickey
I do that, when they're dropping. But I'll usually start a run with
only the one quiver equipped and a second one equipped in the backup.
I spend so much of my gaming time dropping and picking up all of the
non-essential but still wanted stuff that it seems wrong to spend any
more time in town than I have to ;-)
ald
>I get round this by tossing every quiver that drops. There's a lot of
>those.
>
>Not that I spam MS all over the landscape. Strafe is so much better. <g>
>
>jill
Ah, a woman after my heart ;-)
jill
(sigh. some mens just can't be teased.)
> lurkers and leapers live, I never use strafe. It simply doesn't kill as fast
> as MS does.
(better give him another chance.)
Does so!
Mickey
> On Wed, 08 May 2002 01:24:10 GMT, jshay...@mac.com (jill) wrote:
>
> >I get round this by tossing every quiver that drops. There's a lot of
> >those.
> >
> >Not that I spam MS all over the landscape. Strafe is so much better. <g>
> >
> >jill
>
> Ah, a woman after my heart ;-)
Which would be much easier to get with MS than with strafe :o)
Mickey
Mickey
Does not.
Mickey
ShieldWolf
> John's six-pack of LEB EDs down there. Fortunately, that staff she's
> using gives her maxed lightning resistance (something I didn't notice
> until she was back up in town). *Un*fortunately, her Rogue doesn't
> have a staff like that, and D uses things besides lightning. After
> kicking at the Bone Prisons that the first one out kept trapping her
> in, she finally remembered that she's a Sorc and started using
> teleport, but still ended up with about 3 of them right by the stairs
> as she high-tailed it out of there, with another one or two in the
> adjacent room. ATM she's standing in town, trying to convince me that
> Static will work on them, but since they're lightning immune I think
> this is an argument she's going to lose.
What? They didn't change Static to do cold damage or something? Are
you sure they are immune, not just resistant? LEB doesn't make them
immune by itself. My Trapper managed to get a seal boss in hell that
was fire immune and LEB. Since fire and lightning are the only types
of damage she can do it posed a bit of a problem. She ended up just
recasting the Shadow master to hold him still and wearing him down
with lightning sentry. It did work, eventually.
> Ok, on to plan B: Find the other dungeon with the body part, and the
> way into Kurast, and try them again in the *next* game ;-)
Possibly the wisest move. ;) (other than getting your rear back on
West...) BTW, Meph dropped a Cruel Shadow bow for me the other day.
It's pretty aberage for a cruel (250'ish) with a bit over 200 max
damage. Anything you could be persuaded with?
ShieldWolf
> continuing, she's still using MS until the point where she *has* to
> switch back to Strafe, and I think MS is up to about 11 now, since she
> can use her Tarn again (the Naj's Circlet, that was another one lost
> in the trip). Oh, and she finally managed to cube a Mara's, while it
> didn't add any skills over her +2 to Amazon skills rare amulet, it
> sure is a sweet one :-) The speed of MS is very addicting, but the low
> damage is very frustrating, and I know it will only get worse in Hell.
> I'll say this much, though, this experiment is so far going well
> enough that I'm considering making another attempt at making an MS
> Bowazon, hopefully *this* time I'll be able to resist the temptation
> to turn her into another Strafazon ;-)
As a converted Strafer, let me say that the number of arrows hitting
targets per second more than makes up for the extra damage of Strafe,
as long as there are plenty of targets to hit. With a few targets
Strafe may gain a slight lead but that occurs about the same time that
GA or FA become better that Strafe. Still, Strafe is very handy in
some situations.
jill
> "jill" <jshay...@mac.com> wrote in message
> news:1fbu2j9.1h646fv1uo3ao6N%jshay...@mac.com...
> > Mickey <mic...@comcast.net> wrote:
<snip>
> > > lurkers and leapers live, I never use strafe. It simply doesn't kill as
> fast
> > > as MS does.
> >
> > (better give him another chance.)
> >
> > Does so!
>
> Does not.
Nuh-uh. 'Sides, Strafe kills them better.
jill
--
*Slayer* pericat-- USWest lvl 52 Bowazon
*Slayer* Beobear-- USWest lvl 40 Barker
st_roch-- USWest lvl 18 Trophyzon (HC)
jill
> On Wed, 08 May 2002 01:24:10 GMT, jshay...@mac.com (jill) wrote:
>
> >I get round this by tossing every quiver that drops. There's a lot of
> >those.
> >
> >Not that I spam MS all over the landscape. Strafe is so much better. <g>
> >
> >jill
>
> Ah, a woman after my heart ;-)
well, really! It's so untidy. Though I must admit that MS is certainly a
quieter skill.
jill
--
*Slayer* pericat-- USWest lvl 52 Bowazon
*Slayer* Beobear-- USWest lvl 40 Barker
st_roch-- USWest lvl 18 Trophyzon (HC)
Richard Buckle
<jshay...@mac.com> wrote:
> A couple of days ago my magezon put her bow in her inventory and bought
> a blue pike from Larzuk before visiting Anya. She got a rare stag bow.
> +3 to min damage was one. Woo, woo. That and the +14 to attack rating
> would really frighten the Fallen, I'm sure. Dammit, I want quest rewards
> to be rewarding!
Anya did come through for me once: in Normal she gave my single-player
javazon Alcippe some fairly nice sticks which she's still using in Act
4 NM:
Rune Nails
Maiden Javelin
Throw dmg: 9 to 30
One-hand dmg: 11 to 20
Quantity: 112
Rqd dex: 47
Rqd Str: 33
Rqd lvl: 17
Javelin class - very fast attack speed
+29% enhanced dmg
+1 to max dmg
+140 to attack rating
+21 poison dmg over 4 secs
6% life steal
Increased stack size
+1 to javelin & spear skills
Not godly I know, but not bad for an untwinked single-player character.
--
Sailmaker Software: Programming and consultancy services.
<http://www.sailmaker.co.uk/>
PGP key: E88BA153 = 140D E231 73C5 CA24 CD48 FE4C BDA9 308C E88B A153
Richard Buckle
Simply brilliant. Welcome back, Kitsilan!
John Sessoms
>
> On Tue, 07 May 2002 03:22:17 GMT, 10317...@compuserve.com (ald)
> wrote:
>
> >Where's the fun in that? ;-) Seriously, if I'm gonna die, I'd rather
> >it be at the *beginning* of the game, especially with Zan-AR, who
> >still has enough space so that she's not dropping stuff on the ground.
> >If she gets a really bad roll, or finds she can't handle it for some
> >reason, she can always quit, *then* find the Lower Kurast waypoint and
> >double back ;-)
> >
>
> Well, *that* certainly didn't pan out like I expected. She found
> John's six-pack of LEB EDs down there.
<snip>
>
> Ok, on to plan B: Find the other dungeon with the body part, and the
> way into Kurast, and try them again in the *next* game ;-)
FWIW, when I finally went back to see them after eating my Wheaties,
it seemed like an awful lot of work for very little reward. The drops
were totally unmemorable.
Not even worth taking the time to ferry them up to town & pawning.
YMMV.
My current stupidity involves the large pack of Listers that lurk
somewhere down in Hell Act 1 on the way to Natalia.
Ran the same stupid play that didn't work on the 6-pack, i.e. die and
then fritter away everything else I had stashed in vain attempts to
recover what I'd already lost. Which I could have just quit after the
first time and got it all back except for some potions.
Lost that Melody Ward Bow that had turned out so nicely, a crafted
(cold/fire/lightning/poison) Spider Bow, and a brand spanking new
Silence Gothic Bow.
And worst of all, no one to blame it on but myself.
--
I do not speak for any corporation, government or organization.
All opinions expressed are uniquely my own. Ain't nobody else to
blame!
John Sessoms
ald
>What? They didn't change Static to do cold damage or something? Are
>you sure they are immune, not just resistant? LEB doesn't make them
>immune by itself.
Relatively sure, since their title said "Immune to Lightning" ;-) I
don't *think* they've changed Static, but haven't used it enough
(haven't *needed* it) to be sure ;-)
>Possibly the wisest move. ;) (other than getting your rear back on
>West...) BTW, Meph dropped a Cruel Shadow bow for me the other day.
>It's pretty aberage for a cruel (250'ish) with a bit over 200 max
>damage. Anything you could be persuaded with?
Realm-Sis has a Cruel Hydra, IIRC, that Marshall donated to her. I'll
definitely try to get on tomorrow night and see what the damage is on
that (IIRC, it's around the same range).
ald
<no....@no.where.invalid> wrote:
>FWIW, when I finally went back to see them after eating my Wheaties,
>it seemed like an awful lot of work for very little reward. The drops
>were totally unmemorable.
>
>Not even worth taking the time to ferry them up to town & pawning.
>YMMV.
>
Yeah, the drops have never been good for me either, from *any* of the
Diablos, but at her level the experience points *should* be. Sis-AR,
at about 4 levels lower, was getting a half a level from each of the
Enraged Diablos (TM).
>My current stupidity involves the large pack of Listers that lurk
>somewhere down in Hell Act 1 on the way to Natalia.
>
>Ran the same stupid play that didn't work on the 6-pack, i.e. die and
>then fritter away everything else I had stashed in vain attempts to
>recover what I'd already lost. Which I could have just quit after the
>first time and got it all back except for some potions.
>
>Lost that Melody Ward Bow that had turned out so nicely, a crafted
>(cold/fire/lightning/poison) Spider Bow, and a brand spanking new
>Silence Gothic Bow.
>
>And worst of all, no one to blame it on but myself.
> John Sessoms
Ouch! :-( Zan-AR got lucky due to the lightning resistance on that
staff, otherwise she might have found herself in the same situation.
Silly get was *still* trying to convince me to let her try going back
down and teleporting into the unexplored adjacent room after she found
the Lower Kurast waypoint, but I convinced her that, since she still
had to go back and find the body part, she *would* have a chance in
the next game. Sis-AR is currently fighting those Minions in Act 5 in
NM, they ate up her Rogue in about 2 seconds flat, and ate one Decoy
in what seemed like one hit, but the next one (which only drew 2
Minions away from the Valk) lasted long enough to actually get it's
attackers off-screen.
ald
>As a converted Strafer, let me say that the number of arrows hitting
>targets per second more than makes up for the extra damage of Strafe,
>as long as there are plenty of targets to hit. With a few targets
>Strafe may gain a slight lead but that occurs about the same time that
>GA or FA become better that Strafe. Still, Strafe is very handy in
>some situations.
At level 11 or so, I'm not seeing that :-( As an example, Sis-AR found
the Icy Cellar early this afternoon, just before I had to leave for
work, and descended into it. From the first area, she sent one MS
volley to the right, send a second to the top before noticing the
leech animation from the first volley. Fortunately, the shot to the
top didn't hit anything, and she spent about the next 5-10 minutes
MSing the plain pack and boss pack of Minions across the way. Finally
killed them, then ran into another boss pack while trying to get to
the drops (this was the one that took out the Rogue). She dropped back
to the first area, spent *another* 5-10 minutes MSing that pack, with
a FA or two mixed in in the beginning, before finally whittling it
down to just the boss, who she took out with GA. She noticed a Well to
the left and headed toward it since her Valk (who'd already died once)
was in the yellow. That set off *another* boss pack (this was the one
I was trying the Decoy with), but MS was going *so* slow that she used
mostly FA to whittle that one down, followed by GA for the boss.
The two stragglers who had knocked the second Decoy off of the screen
were picked off with GA, and that went *so* quickly compared to MS
that she's seriously considering trying to pick off the pack
one-by-one. GA is actually a bit *lower* damage per arrow than Strafe,
but like I said, I'm trying my best not to resort to Strafe until I
have to, but it's getting *really* frustrating when her Crowd Control
skill seems to be less effective than her single critter skill. It
seems to me that in this situation the maxed out Strafe would be a
much better choice, but I may have to try it to see ;-)
ald
wrote:
>"ald" <10317...@compuserve.com> wrote in message
>news:3cffa86d....@News.CIS.DFN.DE...
>> Ah, a woman after my heart ;-)
>
>Which would be much easier to get with MS than with strafe :o)
>
>Mickey
Lol :-)
jill
> Simply brilliant. Welcome back, Kitsilan!
prrrrrrrrrrrrr
jill
Not bad at all. And that's for a sure-nough javazon? Poison, increased
stack, life steal... Anya must like you.
ShieldWolf
> >West...) BTW, Meph dropped a Cruel Shadow bow for me the other day.
> >It's pretty aberage for a cruel (250'ish) with a bit over 200 max
> >damage. Anything you could be persuaded with?
>
> Realm-Sis has a Cruel Hydra, IIRC, that Marshall donated to her. I'll
> definitely try to get on tomorrow night and see what the damage is on
> that (IIRC, it's around the same range).
The Shadow is a bit faster than the Hydra so it may work out better.
I just have to remember which mule I stuck it on since my two bow
mules were both full. ;) I'm raising up more Rogues to try to use
some of these things since it seems nobody wants them.
ShieldWolf
When my AR Zon was in that area I remember using MS to scout and kill
them from off screen. I also used FA a lot when I ran into situations
like you did. GA may list a bit lower damage than Strafe, but
considering it hits three times it is much faster at taking out one
opponent. The problem with MS is that the damage is spread out over
all the bad guys so you can't see much progress until they are almost
all dead. In the mean time they are all still smacking your Valk all
over the screen. That is, if you let them get on the screen, which
you don't really have to do. ;)
Richard Buckle
> ...
> Not bad at all. And that's for a sure-nough javazon? Poison, increased
> stack, life steal...
Yup, Alcippe has never twanged a bow or hefted a spear in her life. She
was dead chuffed, as good sticks are even harder to find than good
bows. The +140 AR was also very welcome.
Of course, before she went to visit Anya she took the precautions of
tossing all her wardrobe of sticks and shields on the floor, even the
backup ones in her stash, and borrowing her rogue's bow, a Zephyr'd
composite bow which Shikha was very reluctant to part with for even a
few minutes. She can really pump it out with that bow.
"Look, your grip's all wrong," she said. "You'd skin your knuckles if
you tried to shoot it like that; especially a bow this fast. Besides, I
think you're just being superstitious."
"Just shut up and keep a straight face for five minutes. And don't
slouch like that. I want to make a good impression on this Anya woman
and Cain says that they respect a proud bearing and a direct manner."
"Oh, that would explain why *he's* so well-liked around here then."
"Sarcasm doesn't become you, girl. Now let's go."
> Anya must like you.
It appeared so at first, but the friendship didn't last long. Alcippe
decided to personalise her favourite shield, a Rhyme, because she liked
the sound of "Alcippe's Rhyme". Rather Homeric, she thought. Pithy and
understated, yet hinting at its hidden powers. A worthy name for a
Hero's shield. The sort of name that would resonate in stories not yet
written.
The stupid bloody illiterate barbarian only went and engraved
"Alcippe's Large Shield" on it instead.
"Alcippe's Large Shield? ALCIPPE'S LARGE BLEEDING SHIELD? What in
blazes were you thinking, woman? You're the daughter of an elder of
Harrogath: you of all people should know rune magic when you see it! I
mean sheesh, I offed Nihlathak for you, at considerable personal risk I
might add, and you stand here the whole while and then can't even be
arsed enough to get the name of my freaking shield right, with Deckard
Cain not ten paces away!"
"Well I never could spell 'Rhyme' properly, so I thought I'd better
play safe. And to be honest, that Cain fellow you brought along is a
bit, um, you know, well, it's the way he looks at you. I mean, he can
be a bit..."
"Yes, all right. Just ignore him as much as possible, that's what we
do. So what are you going to do about your defacement of my favourite
shield? I has considerable sentimental value, I might add, and I am
*not* pleased to see it go down in history as 'Alcippe's Large
Shield'."
"Here, look, I've got some unidentified circlets in. This one's really
sparkly."
"Ooh, I'll try that one."
[ka-ching]
"Please explain to me how I can benefit from +1 to druid skills."
It went downhill pretty fast from there.
Richard.
ald
>When my AR Zon was in that area I remember using MS to scout and kill
>them from off screen. I also used FA a lot when I ran into situations
>like you did. GA may list a bit lower damage than Strafe, but
>considering it hits three times it is much faster at taking out one
>opponent. The problem with MS is that the damage is spread out over
>all the bad guys so you can't see much progress until they are almost
>all dead. In the mean time they are all still smacking your Valk all
>over the screen. That is, if you let them get on the screen, which
>you don't really have to do. ;)
But you can't kill them *all* off-screen, can you? Even if you could,
especially with those Minions, it would take more arrows than she
could carry :-( I ended up using Strafe through most of the rest of
the Cellar, it was *so* much faster than MS it wasn't funny. Battles
were lasting less than a minute as opposed to 5-10. From what I'm
seeing (and I'm still not in Hell, where the problem will only be
worse from my understanding) MS *is* faster at killing Quill Rats and
the like, but when it comes to critters with mega-hitpoints, like the
Minions, Strafe is *much* faster.
Oh, I should add that I filled up in town, before I decided to
definitely try out Strafe, and went down with about six extra quivers
of arrows. That wouldn't have gotten me through to Snappy at the rate
that MS was using them, as it turned out, but using Strafe I came out
of the Cellar with two extra quivers left ;-)
jill
<snip masterful brilliance>
ROFL! Oh, you have brought great pain to my sides, and I do thank you
most sincerely for it.
"Alcippe's Large Shield," that's got to be the best Anya cock-up yet.
Donald Shepherd
(jshay...@mac.com) says...
> Richard Buckle <rich...@sailmaker.co.uk> wrote:
>
> <snip masterful brilliance>
>
> ROFL! Oh, you have brought great pain to my sides, and I do thank you
> most sincerely for it.
>
> "Alcippe's Large Shield," that's got to be the best Anya cock-up yet.
It used to produce "Alcippe's Rhyme" but it got changed in the last
patch, much to my characters' disgust on finding out that they were now
the proud owners of such gems as "Dlaness' Mage Plate" and "Benedict's
Bone Shield"...
--
Donald Shepherd
<donald_...@hotmail.com>
The closest I came to perfection was when I wrote my Resume.
ShieldWolf
> especially with those Minions, it would take more arrows than she
> could carry :-( I ended up using Strafe through most of the rest of
> the Cellar, it was *so* much faster than MS it wasn't funny. Battles
> were lasting less than a minute as opposed to 5-10. From what I'm
> seeing (and I'm still not in Hell, where the problem will only be
> worse from my understanding) MS *is* faster at killing Quill Rats and
> the like, but when it comes to critters with mega-hitpoints, like the
> Minions, Strafe is *much* faster.
If not all, you can kill a good number of them off screen in a place
like that. At least you could kill them from across the water (ice).
> Oh, I should add that I filled up in town, before I decided to
> definitely try out Strafe, and went down with about six extra quivers
> of arrows. That wouldn't have gotten me through to Snappy at the rate
> that MS was using them, as it turned out, but using Strafe I came out
> of the Cellar with two extra quivers left ;-)
It just occured to me that in AR the monster regin is high enough that
MS may have a problem. The lower damage, spread out so much may not
be staying as far ahead of the regin as Strafe. But I would think
some poison damage would help there, which I figure you already have.
Oh well, use whatever works for you, but remember it may be a bit
different in normal LOD.
Mickey
news:fb41fd55.02051...@posting.google.com...
All I can do is repeat that my zon has both, and using Goldy, made VERY
short work of hell cows with MS. Strafe, at any level, got me mugged every
single time. Now, I could run away, play alone, and strafe, but then why
bother with realms or multiplay at all?
Mickey
ShieldWolf
> > MS may have a problem. The lower damage, spread out so much may not
> > be staying as far ahead of the regin as Strafe. But I would think
> > some poison damage would help there, which I figure you already have.
> > Oh well, use whatever works for you, but remember it may be a bit
> > different in normal LOD.
>
> All I can do is repeat that my zon has both, and using Goldy, made VERY
> short work of hell cows with MS. Strafe, at any level, got me mugged every
> single time. Now, I could run away, play alone, and strafe, but then why
> bother with realms or multiplay at all?
>
> Mickey
In cows, deffinately. My Zon has max Strafe and around 10 in MS, yet
in cows I fair much better with MS than Strafe. That's with either
the Eaglehorn or the Burrito. Of course that's in LOD, not AR where
ald is playing. Then again, ald doesn't bother with realms or
multiplay any more. :(
Mickey
His loss :o)
MS is also much better for dealing with the minions in the throne room,
assuming you have the valk to go with it. I just park a valk and decoy, and
stand WELL back and open fire. When there is only one left, I know it's the
boss, and I GA him into the night.
Mickey
ald
wrote:
>If not all, you can kill a good number of them off screen in a place
>like that. At least you could kill them from across the water (ice).
Heh, I have no problems killing them from across the ice with Strafe
;-)
>It just occured to me that in AR the monster regin is high enough that
>MS may have a problem. The lower damage, spread out so much may not
>be staying as far ahead of the regin as Strafe. But I would think
>some poison damage would help there, which I figure you already have.
>Oh well, use whatever works for you, but remember it may be a bit
>different in normal LOD.
Yeah, although I was down to only one charm, 25 over 3 seconds IIRC.
Which leads me to a question: Should I ditch that one now that I can
*finally* use the 150 over 5 second one? I know there was some
discussion about the lower damage ones actually reducing the amount of
damage you do, but don't remember the exact formula.
Oh, and believe me, I'm remembering that a *lot* of things are going
to be different in LoD (*especially* for Creepy and Zan, but even for
Sis, too).
--
ald
"Knowledge is Power"
reply via e-mail to a717 at erols dot com
VK`Sister`ald level 47 Rogue (HF V&K)
Matriarch Sis-West level 81 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer RingsNThngs level 54 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer ZannEsu-ald level 51 Sorceress (US West)
Slayer Sis-AR level 80 Bowazon (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Slayer Creepy-AR Level 72 Necromancer (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Zan-AR Level 49 Sorceress (Ancestral Recall Mod)
CotSRSig #16
http://users.erols.com/a717
ald
wrote:
>All I can do is repeat that my zon has both, and using Goldy, made VERY
>short work of hell cows with MS. Strafe, at any level, got me mugged every
>single time. Now, I could run away, play alone, and strafe, but then why
>bother with realms or multiplay at all?
>
>Mickey
What level are they at? I admit that my MS is only at about 11, which
would put Strafe at something ridiculous like 30, I'm assuming yours
would be the other way around. Also remember, we're talking about
Minions of Destruction here, think Lister's gang on steroids, since
they would *normally* have 10 times the hitpoints of regular Minions
(at players 2) and it seems the mod maker has enhanced them even more.
Add in overlapping auras from different bosses, and their hitpoints
can sometimes reach unbelievable numbers. Again, I admit that I don't
have a bow any where *near* as good as a Goldstrike, but I'm not
kidding when I say the battles against *one* boss pack were 5-10
minutes long with MS, and only a minute or so with Strafe.
--
ald
"Knowledge is Power"
reply via e-mail to a717 at erols dot com
VK`Sister`ald level 47 Rogue (HF V&K)
Matriarch Sis-West level 81 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer RingsNThngs level 54 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer ZannEsu-ald level 51 Sorceress (US West)
Slayer Sis-AR level 80 Bowazon (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Slayer Creepy-AR Level 72 Necromancer (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Zan-AR Level 49 Sorceress (Ancestral Recall Mod)
CotSRSig #16
http://users.erols.com/a717
ald
wrote:
>Then again, ald doesn't bother with realms or
>multiplay any more. :(
I'm getting back to it, I promise. Hopefully tomorrow night, if I can
get Zan through to finding the other body part in the Flayer Jungle
and getting to the Bazaar waypoint in between my early morning meeting
(which I have a sneaking suspicion that the boss and I will be the
only ones attending) and when I have to be in at work ;-(
--
ald
"Knowledge is Power"
reply via e-mail to a717 at erols dot com
VK`Sister`ald level 47 Rogue (HF V&K)
Matriarch Sis-West level 81 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer RingsNThngs level 54 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer ZannEsu-ald level 51 Sorceress (US West)
Slayer Sis-AR level 80 Bowazon (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Slayer Creepy-AR Level 72 Necromancer (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Zan-AR Level 49 Sorceress (Ancestral Recall Mod)
CotSRSig #16
http://users.erols.com/a717
ald
wrote:
>His loss :o)
>
Agreed ;-)
>MS is also much better for dealing with the minions in the throne room,
>assuming you have the valk to go with it. I just park a valk and decoy, and
>stand WELL back and open fire. When there is only one left, I know it's the
>boss, and I GA him into the night.
>
>Mickey
>
That's basically the strategy I've been employing during my MS
experiment (which is *still* on-going, although I had to ask my myself
if I was purposely courting death by using it in WK2). Question,
though: If you're standing that far back, how do you know when it's
down to only one? If you can *see* that it's only one, you're close
enough to use Strafe, and get the higher damage per arrow ;-)
--
ald
"Knowledge is Power"
reply via e-mail to a717 at erols dot com
VK`Sister`ald level 47 Rogue (HF V&K)
Matriarch Sis-West level 81 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer RingsNThngs level 54 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer ZannEsu-ald level 51 Sorceress (US West)
Slayer Sis-AR level 80 Bowazon (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Slayer Creepy-AR Level 72 Necromancer (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Zan-AR Level 49 Sorceress (Ancestral Recall Mod)
CotSRSig #16
http://users.erols.com/a717
Stephen van Ham
oozed up out of the petri dish and said:
>What level are they at? I admit that my MS is only at about 11, which
>would put Strafe at something ridiculous like 30, I'm assuming yours
>would be the other way around. Also remember, we're talking about
>Minions of Destruction here, think Lister's gang on steroids, since
>they would *normally* have 10 times the hitpoints of regular Minions
>(at players 2) and it seems the mod maker has enhanced them even more.
>Add in overlapping auras from different bosses, and their hitpoints
>can sometimes reach unbelievable numbers. Again, I admit that I don't
>have a bow any where *near* as good as a Goldstrike, but I'm not
>kidding when I say the battles against *one* boss pack were 5-10
>minutes long with MS, and only a minute or so with Strafe.
I've been experimenting with both MS and Strafe on my AR bowazon to
try and get a feel for how the two compare there versus regular LOD.
With items, MS is at around level 11 or 12, while Strafe is around
level 25, so a similar scenario to what you have. Although I used
mostly Strafe up to the low seventies, I switched over the MS once
shortly after I got a Knockback/Crushing Blow setup and have never
looked back. Now it's quite possible that the Crushing Blow is
somewhat diminishing the damage difference per arrow (Strafe is listed
as doing almost TWICE the damage that MS is), since I'm still not
having the same results with Strafe that you are. Basically, MS is
killing a whole lot faster, despite what the screen says.
I'd recommend that, if you have a Ber rune, you 'waste' a socket quest
on that Screaming Gothic and then compare the two skills again.
One other thing... are you running with any IAS equipment on?
Stephen van Ham
oozed up out of the petri dish and said:
>... Question,
>though: If you're standing that far back, how do you know when it's
>down to only one? If you can *see* that it's only one, you're close
>enough to use Strafe, and get the higher damage per arrow ;-)
You can determine when the pack size decreases by the amount of mana
you're leeching back... when the mana ball starts to drop, you're down
to small number of targets to leech off.
Stephen van Ham
oozed up out of the petri dish and said:
>What level are they at? I admit that my MS is only at about 11, which
>would put Strafe at something ridiculous like 30, I'm assuming yours
>would be the other way around. Also remember, we're talking about
>Minions of Destruction here, think Lister's gang on steroids, since
>they would *normally* have 10 times the hitpoints of regular Minions
>(at players 2) and it seems the mod maker has enhanced them even more.
>Add in overlapping auras from different bosses, and their hitpoints
>can sometimes reach unbelievable numbers. Again, I admit that I don't
>have a bow any where *near* as good as a Goldstrike, but I'm not
>kidding when I say the battles against *one* boss pack were 5-10
>minutes long with MS, and only a minute or so with Strafe.
Okay, I have to ask something else... do you use Knockback? Are you
still sworn off Freezing Arrow? Are you using a mercenary? Do you
have any elemental damage charms? The reason I ask all this is that
I just tried to reproduce a scenario closer to yours (or what I think
it is), although admittedly outfitted with the Mavinas set to test
drive it, so higher base bow damage, and using Strafe but no Freezing
Arrow and no Knockback, my Valk and I were sent heading for the hills
before one Minion went down (I think the Valkyrie got knocked back
almost to Harrogath) Contrast this with MS using with Knockback
where I could literally clear the entire Icy Cellar at players 4 in
apparently the same amount of time it's taking you to kill one pack at
players 2 with MS. There are obviously many factors at work that are
making your experiences quite different from a lot of other folk.
jill
> On Fri, 10 May 2002 18:39:08 -0400, "Mickey" <mic...@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> >His loss :o)
> >
>
> Agreed ;-)
>
> >MS is also much better for dealing with the minions in the throne room,
> >assuming you have the valk to go with it. I just park a valk and decoy, and
> >stand WELL back and open fire. When there is only one left, I know it's the
> >boss, and I GA him into the night.
> >
> >Mickey
> >
>
> That's basically the strategy I've been employing during my MS
> experiment (which is *still* on-going, although I had to ask my myself
> if I was purposely courting death by using it in WK2). Question,
> though: If you're standing that far back, how do you know when it's
> down to only one? If you can *see* that it's only one, you're close
> enough to use Strafe, and get the higher damage per arrow ;-)
Bingo. the WK throne room ain't that big. The best argument I've heard
for using MS over Strafe is that the longer reach more than compensates
for the lower damage.
But if the area of effect is not more than a screen and a bit, why on
earth should I go with a lower damage attack? I still have a valk. I
still have a decoy. Those advantages have naught to do with whatever
attack I employ. Strafe kills monsters quickly and accurately, and in my
experience with close quarters, with much less fuss. Less fuss means
less chance of me looking at a red screen.
jill
--
*Champion* pericat-- USWest lvl 59 Bowazon
Mickey
> On Fri, 10 May 2002 18:39:08 -0400, "Mickey" <mic...@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> >His loss :o)
> >
>
> Agreed ;-)
>
> >MS is also much better for dealing with the minions in the throne room,
> >assuming you have the valk to go with it. I just park a valk and decoy,
and
> >stand WELL back and open fire. When there is only one left, I know it's
the
> >boss, and I GA him into the night.
> >
> >Mickey
> >
>
> That's basically the strategy I've been employing during my MS
> experiment (which is *still* on-going, although I had to ask my myself
> if I was purposely courting death by using it in WK2). Question,
> though: If you're standing that far back, how do you know when it's
> down to only one? If you can *see* that it's only one, you're close
> enough to use Strafe, and get the higher damage per arrow ;-)
See? Who needs to see? I just look at my mana bowl. As long as it is full,
there are plenty of minions. As soon as it starts to go down, I know there
is only one left, and I move in.
Mickey
Mickey
news:1fbzpao.1w9msqemw5k3sN%jshay...@mac.com...
Lower damage? Not in this life. I have this spurious arguement too many
times here. MS does JUST as much damage as strafe dies, and usually more.
The fact is that any given monster will be hit MANY more times with MS than
he will with strafe. You can fire a lot more MS than you can strafe, as
there is no wait time. The trick to LoD has never been damage, but dam/sec.
With a high pierce, MS deals WAY, WAY, WAY more damage to a group of
monsters than strafe does.
Mickey
Mickey
> On Fri, 10 May 2002 11:30:31 -0400, "Mickey" <mic...@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> >All I can do is repeat that my zon has both, and using Goldy, made VERY
> >short work of hell cows with MS. Strafe, at any level, got me mugged
every
> >single time. Now, I could run away, play alone, and strafe, but then why
> >bother with realms or multiplay at all?
> >
> >Mickey
>
> What level are they at? I admit that my MS is only at about 11, which
> would put Strafe at something ridiculous like 30, I'm assuming yours
> would be the other way around. Also remember, we're talking about
> Minions of Destruction here, think Lister's gang on steroids, since
> they would *normally* have 10 times the hitpoints of regular Minions
> (at players 2) and it seems the mod maker has enhanced them even more.
> Add in overlapping auras from different bosses, and their hitpoints
> can sometimes reach unbelievable numbers. Again, I admit that I don't
> have a bow any where *near* as good as a Goldstrike, but I'm not
> kidding when I say the battles against *one* boss pack were 5-10
> minutes long with MS, and only a minute or so with Strafe.
My strafe is at lvv 16 (all wasted points), and my MS is at lvl 12, which is
optimum for my use. As to Lister, Rimmer and Cat, they go down in a matter
of seconds for me, which anyone here who has walked the Keep with me can
tell you.
Mickey
ald
> My strafe is at lvv 16 (all wasted points), and my MS is at lvl 12, which is
> optimum for my use. As to Lister, Rimmer and Cat, they go down in a matter
> of seconds for me, which anyone here who has walked the Keep with me can
> tell you.
>
> Mickey
Well, yeah, but *you're* not using a crappy rare Gothic bow, either
;-) Or facing four boss packs of Minions coming at you from two
directions.
ald
short
"ald" <a...@altcastlenet.com> wrote in message
news:e670ce76.02051...@posting.google.com...
LOL........you're talkin about THOSE minions. If I recall correctly, I ran
like a little b*tch, as fast as I could.
short
-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----
Mickey
No, not any more. But remember, this is the same setup I used to lvl to 99,
and I used a Goldy all the way :)
Mickey
ald
<sva...@paradise.net.nz> wrote:
>You can determine when the pack size decreases by the amount of mana
>you're leeching back... when the mana ball starts to drop, you're down
>to small number of targets to leech off.
Not with 16% mana leech you can't ;-)
ald
wrote:
>Lower damage? Not in this life. I have this spurious arguement too many
>times here. MS does JUST as much damage as strafe dies, and usually more.
>The fact is that any given monster will be hit MANY more times with MS than
>he will with strafe. You can fire a lot more MS than you can strafe, as
>there is no wait time. The trick to LoD has never been damage, but dam/sec.
>With a high pierce, MS deals WAY, WAY, WAY more damage to a group of
>monsters than strafe does.
>
>Mickey
Then explain to me how the packs that were taking 5-10 minutes to kill
with MS were taking 1.5 minutes tops with Strafe? Seems to *me* that,
in my situation at least, Strafe is doing a *lot* more damage per
second.
ald
wrote:
>See? Who needs to see? I just look at my mana bowl. As long as it is full,
>there are plenty of minions. As soon as it starts to go down, I know there
>is only one left, and I move in.
>
>Mickey
Unfortunately, with 16% mana leech, even with my low damage bow I
*don't* see the mana ball dropping, even when MSing a single monster
;-(
ald
<sva...@paradise.net.nz> wrote:
>I'd recommend that, if you have a Ber rune, you 'waste' a socket quest
>on that Screaming Gothic and then compare the two skills again.
>
The Screaming Gothic was one of the things lost when I tripped over
the power cord, although it already *was* socketed (no need to waste a
quest in AR, there are recipes for that ;-) ) with two p-skulls
(before I got the armor) and a Shael.
Oh, and though I have at least one Cham, I still haven't *seen* a Ber.
>One other thing... are you running with any IAS equipment on?
Yeah, although not as much as before I got the armor, when I was still
using Twitchthroe. The gloves give something like 20 or 30 %, IIRC.
ald
<sva...@paradise.net.nz> wrote:
>Okay, I have to ask something else... do you use Knockback?
Nope, tried the Pinchers for the Ancients, and that went well, but
afterwards down in WK1 I was having trouble keeping the monsters in
range using it, even using MS ;-)
>Are you still sworn off Freezing Arrow?
Nope, although I'm having to re-train myself to lead with it. Up until
Act 5 I was mostly using GA and MS, but FA is always on f12, which is
the key for my most used unused spell on most characters, if you know
what I mean ;-)
>Are you using a mercenary?
Well, yeah, but maybe not the one *you're* using. Abhaya is stuck with
a relatively low powered bow to get her to +2 skills so that she
shoots Freezing Arrows and Ice Arrows most of the time ;-)
>Do you have any elemental damage charms?
Yeah, two of the Grand elemental ones and the two poison ones I was
asking about somewhere in here. There are probably a couple more minor
elemental damages on her + life charms, but I'm not sure about that.
>The reason I ask all this is that
>I just tried to reproduce a scenario closer to yours (or what I think
>it is), although admittedly outfitted with the Mavinas set to test
>drive it, so higher base bow damage, and using Strafe but no Freezing
>Arrow and no Knockback, my Valk and I were sent heading for the hills
>before one Minion went down (I think the Valkyrie got knocked back
>almost to Harrogath)
Lol, I had to get out of the way several times to prevent her from
ending up in my lap ;-)
>Contrast this with MS using with Knockback
>where I could literally clear the entire Icy Cellar at players 4 in
>apparently the same amount of time it's taking you to kill one pack at
>players 2 with MS. There are obviously many factors at work that are
>making your experiences quite different from a lot of other folk.
Your higher damage bow and Crushing Blow may have a lot to do with
that, too ;-)
ald
wrote:
>My strafe is at lvv 16 (all wasted points), and my MS is at lvl 12, which is
>optimum for my use. As to Lister, Rimmer and Cat, they go down in a matter
>of seconds for me, which anyone here who has walked the Keep with me can
>tell you.
>
>Mickey
And I have no doubt of, using a Burrito or Goldstrike ;-) 12 is
optimum, huh? Ok, then I'm only about 1 level below that :-)
ald
wrote:
>LOL........you're talkin about THOSE minions. If I recall correctly, I ran
>like a little b*tch, as fast as I could.
>
>short
The only battle I'll run from is an Enraged Diablo (TM) one, where I'm
hopelessly outclassed (Creepy two or three times, Zan once, Sis
*never*) ;-)