The Mentaldom Zy-El Hardcore Tournament Thread

[Tazjhe]

[quote=JrEye";p="336223"]...my son's bday party was yesterday. He turned 1 today.[/quote]

Excellent, JrEye! I've got two kids (much older than 1), so I know how fun the first birthday party can be

[Al-T]

[quote=JrEye";p="336223"]I didnt play this weekend either worked almost all day Sat, and my son's bday party was yesterday. He turned 1 today.[/quote]
Enjoy it while you can my friend. They don't stay 1 for long

The good thing about a birthday party when they are 1 year old is, if they eat and drink too much and are sick out of both ends it is expected and everyone goes "aww the poor dear". You go and clean them up and you are a "great parent".

When they become teenagers and start partying, drink too much and are sick out of both ends, your son/daughter is a disgrace, you are a terrible parent and.....you still have to clean it up .

Enjoy it while you can JrEye .

[JrEye]

[quote=Tazjhe";p="336225"][quote=JrEye";p="336223"]...my son's bday party was yesterday. He turned 1 today.[/quote]

Excellent, JrEye! I've got two kids (much older than 1), so I know how fun the first birthday party can be [/quote]

Heh well I have a second on the way thats due in early Dec. Werent trying but you know, stuff happens

On a side note Im up to lvl 62 and avoiding Radament (Resists still suck cause I havent crafted or created many RWs for my necro this go around)

[Gospodarik]

Tazjhe, how did your druid and paladin die? Was it the infamous "shift out of wereform and be at 1 HP" bug?

[Al-T]

So you are human after all Tazjhe and can be killed

I finally got some time to play the tourney and my Barb made it to Nightmare. Lazy fat Baba

[Gospodarik]

What the HELL is the matter with the modmakers nowadays? They seem to love single-hit kills or something? If the Cyclops would at least give a warning, maybe by having a monster description saying (preferrably in a big red font) CAN 1 HIT KILL YOU, but no! all they say is "big one-eyed dude"! WTF? 1300 damage in act 3 normal is INSANE! and my necro had a bone armor that absorbs 5700 points of damage which didn't seem to help at all!

And another thing that really bugs me are those Plaster Blasters, they crash every other game! IMHO if a monster is prone to crashing a game then it may not exist at all! They aren't even strong monsters, so they don't make the game harder by themselves, it's just their frickin crashing that really sucks ass! (on a side note, I still managed to get through Mephisto's durance but I don't want to have to go through this again before Nighmare... the battle in the last level was so insane that I was about to lose my sanity! Playing Zy-El is always mentaldom, not just if one is playing it HC! )

(please don't be insulted by my rant people, it's just my opinion so you can ignore it if you don't like it, I just felt I needed to say some stuff that I think should be said)

[Al-T]

I don't think anyone who has played the mod for a while will be insulted by your comments. We have all been there and know how it feels to be 1 hit killed. All I can say in defence of the mod, having played since version 1.01, is that this has always been the case. My 10K heavily twinked softcore amazon and barb still ocassionally get 1 hit killed if they stay too close to Unique Immortals/Chimeras/Vorloons/Mini-Diablos. All previous versions had occasional 1 hit kills also, regardless of how good your character was. It is Kato's way of keeping us humble.

The "Psych Orb" act 3 durance (I assume this is what you mean) crashes are a little annoying but you can keep restarting the game until you get through. Maybe Kato will have a think about sorting this or removing the "Psych Orbs" from the mod if we ask nicely enough but just ranting about it won't help. At the end of the day my view is, in a mod this massive and with so many great things in it, a few crashes in act 3 are worthwhile persevering to gain greater rewards. Just my tuppence worth.

Good luck and happy ZyElling .

[Gospodarik]

Well, I got over it in the meantime and I'm in act 4 now (in case you were wondering, I wasn't 1 hit killed, but it was a close call - one hit of a cyclop and I was down on 100 from previously 1400 hp), just thought it should be mentioned. It makes me wonder how all of you melee players got past those mean baddies... And maybe the Psych Orbs (yes, I was referring to them) could be transformed into a clone of a big boss monster? It might reduce the chance of graphical errors.

Also, one of the funny things in this mod is that my necro is still using the same Ith bow from Act 1. It's just cool to have a necro avatar where he's wielding a bow.

[Al-T]

[quote=Gospodarik";p="336670"]Well, I got over it in the meantime and I'm in act 4 now (in case you were wondering, I wasn't 1 hit killed, but it was a close call - one hit of a cyclop and I was down on 100 from previously 1400 hp), just thought it should be mentioned. It makes me wonder how all of you melee players got past those mean baddies... And maybe the Psych Orbs (yes, I was referring to them) could be transformed into a clone of a big boss monster? It might reduce the chance of graphical errors.[/quote] Your problem is low life, not strong monsters. 1400 Hp is way too low for an untwinked hardcore character to be attempting act 3 Travincal, let alone act 4. This is ZyEl so think "way out of the box" and get much more life. Remember the cap is just over 8.38 million for life and is achievable in the mod for a reason .

[Gospodarik]

Uh... so how can I get more life? Could you tell me a few items with +% life or really big +life values? All that I have is a charm with three rubies in it and a runeword with +2xx life but as you said it's not much... if only Ith armors were nearly as powerful as my Ith bow. Maybe I need a runeword for my armor as well, currently my armor has three Ort runes but even without it my lightning res is still 77 and written in gold.

[Al-T]

Try a few of the "Star Trek" runewords in particular Spock at this link. Check the Wiki for more runewords both for life and ressies.

[Gospodarik]

Thanks. +14-25% life sounds like a deal to me, I'll probably have to drop a few useless tall charms to have enough space, however.

[Tazjhe]

[quote=Gospodarik";p="336544"]Tazjhe, how did your druid and paladin die? Was it the infamous "shift out of wereform and be at 1 HP" bug?[/quote]
Hi, Gospodarik! No, not quite.

At level 31, Yong-Shi, the Druid, stepped into the Countess' Tower, was immediately surrounded, and was beaten to death by before I could get to the <Esc> key.

At level 16, Hai-Heng, the Paladin, got just a little too close to Bishbosh (the Fire Enchanted super-unique in the Cold Plains). Bishbosh hit me a couple (honest, just a couple!) of times and that was that. Bishi didn't even explode...he didn't die, I did.

[quote=Al-T";p="336562"]So you are human after all Tazjhe and can be killed [/quote]
Hi, Al-T! All too true, my friend!

[quote=Al-T";p="336562"]I finally got some time to play the tourney and my Barb made it to Nightmare. Lazy fat Baba[/quote]
Poor Baba! Buy him a from An-Mei.

Al-T, at what level did GetAn-Mei take on Baal? An-Mei took him down at levels 360, 1365, and 2067.

[quote=Al-T";p="336674"]Try a few of the "Star Trek" runewords in particular Spock at this link. Check the Wiki for more runewords both for life and ressies.[/quote]
Gospodarik, Al-T usually suggests a 'life' belt! Since he didn't, I'll do it for him this time!

[quote=Gospodarik";p="336670"]...It makes me wonder how all of you melee players got past those mean baddies...[/quote]
Each character has something to help take on big tough guys. Here are a few:
* Assassin -- Psychic Hammer (yes, Psychic Hammer!) and Mind Blast
* Barbarian -- Taunt (yes, Taunt!), Battle Cry, and War Cry
* Druid -- Shock Wave
* Paladin -- Smite (yes, Smite!)

For the Barbarian, Taunt and Battle Cry don't stun your opponent, but they do reduce its fighting efficacy. All the other skills will stun your opponent. Of course, a stunned opponent is just begging you to open up a can of, ah, trouble on them!

[Al-T]

Poor Baba! Buy him a from An-Mei.

Al-T, at what level did GetAn-Mei take on Baal? An-Mei took him down at levels 360, 1365, and 2067.

Erm he was level 403 when he killed Baal . I am still playing it safe. I will do the Den of Evil in NM then go back to Normal WSK and Killing Grounds runs until I reach around the 1K mark, if I get that far.

Gospodarik, Al-T usually suggests a 'life' belt! Since he didn't, I'll do it for him this time!

It's on the Wiki so I didn't think I had to keep telling people about it .

It makes me wonder how all of you melee players got past those mean baddies...

Each character has something to help take on big tough guys. Here are a few:
* Assassin -- Psychic Hammer (yes, Psychic Hammer!) and Mind Blast
* Barbarian -- Taunt (yes, Taunt!), Battle Cry, and War Cry
* Druid -- Shock Wave
* Paladin -- Smite (yes, Smite!)

For the Barbarian, Taunt and Battle Cry don't stun your opponent, but they do reduce its fighting efficacy. All the other skills will stun your opponent. Of course, a stunned opponent is just begging you to open up a can of, ah, trouble on them!

I have to offer an alternative Barb strategy (nothing wrong with what Tazjhe is saying...I just prefer the following): Bash early on (stuns and knocks back...useful early on in HC untwinked). Once you get to level 40 "ish" and have a decent amount of life (say approaching 1 - 2k) go for double swing as it has a very low mana cost and as long as you use it in areas where you can pump up the "Players" setting it is a very efficient skill. It is highly underrated in it's effectiveness and with even a low amount of IAS can be a great skill even for crowd control. I used it right through to act 4. Double swing Act 3 Travincal/Durance runs from level 50 - 120 with 10% CtC 'Hydra' rings made life a bit easier.

[Gospodarik]

Thanks for the suggestion of the Life runeword, Tazjhe! *wonders why he's still running around in a standard belt socketed with two Eth runes*

[Tazjhe]

[quote=Gospodarik";p="336798"]Thanks for the suggestion of the Life runeword, Tazjhe! *wonders why he's still running around in a standard belt socketed with two Eth runes*[/quote]
Oops, Gospodarik...I didn't mean to give the impression that it's a runeword.

The 'life' belt that I was thinking of is a crafted item. The recipe is on page 28 of the guide and can also be found in the Wiki (look for the Ruby).


[quote=Al-T";p="336749"]...It's on the Wiki so I didn't think I had to keep telling people about it ...[/quote]

[quote=Al-T";p="336749"]...I have to offer an alternative Barb strategy...Bash...[/quote]
I forgot about Bash!

[Gospodarik]

[quote=Tazjhe";p="336915"]
Oops, Gospodarik...I didn't mean to give the impression that it's a runeword.
[/quote]

Never mind, I'm using the "Broken Promise" runeword instead. Also I'm already level 111 and have killed the "big one" yesterday. His most dangerous attack was the same as in my own mod - the dreaded melee attack. I figured that if a monster can 1 hit kill my 2500 HP skeletons then I'd better stay well clear of such a monster. By the way, I have skeleton mastery on 102 but I fear that the skellies will be useless in NM and cannon fodder in Hell. *hopes that revives will do the trick*

By the way, I have to admit that I had a dream about the Zy-El mod yesterday. It was inspired by a post in this forum about "a greatly increased Arreat Summit" (I didn't visit it in Zy-El yet, so my dream probably doesn't match the summit found in the game): My character exited the Glacial Caves and appeared on the summit where a few baddies tried to finish me but instead I finished them. Then, after a few steps there's an unlocked entrance to the World Stone Keep level 1. In there I'm fighting more monsters but the only way to proceed reads "To the Arreat Summit". It leads back to the summit where I encounter a gigantic maze. Obviously the modmaker chose to hide the Ancients in this big maze. It took me a long time to finally find and dispose of them, and then the final door to the World Stone Keep opens so I can proceed.
Now, that would be c00l if it was like that in Zy-El...

Major Update!!!
Now look at the Zy-El Wiki! Hereby I request a coronation/culmination for my necro. And it's no joke, this is the third time that I'm actually playing the game, I didn't ever get this far in Zy-El.

There was one close call though when a Nihlathak hit me with his CE (Code Editing) skill which did ~7500 damage. God bless that bone armor, without it I would be dead. And the CE does actually seem to have a non-physical component - two thirds of my bone armor were gone but one bone fragment still rotated around me, and I had still taken about 1500 damage to my HP. Also, the blood witches are annoying... why isn't the fire golem immune to burn damage? He's a walking fire himself after all!

edit again: it's a shame that CE doesn't display "code editing" anymore when I hover my mouse cursor over it... it was so cool to have a "Code Editing" skill in the necro skill tree...

[Hans]

Congrats to GetAlT_II on beating normal.

[Gospodarik]

Did you see what level I was when I beat it? Who needs to level up to 400 before beating Baal anyway...

[Hans]

Yes I did see the level.

[Tazjhe]

[quote=Gospodarik";p="337314"]Did you see what level I was when I beat it? Who needs to level up to 400 before beating Baal anyway... [/quote]
Hi, Gospodarik!
Level 151! Wow!

An-Mei beat Baal at level 360: she was just too chicken to make it through all of Baal's throne room before then!

Congratulations!

[Al-T]

[quote=Gospodarik";p="337314"]Did you see what level I was when I beat it? Who needs to level up to 400 before beating Baal anyway... [/quote] You can quite easily beat Baal in normal when you are under level 100. Doing it at level 150 in a Hardcore tournament is fairly impressive however. I just chose to level and get a hoard of item drops before progressing.

Just remember that your necro summons are like paper if you try to do the Insanity Levels. Even revive isn't that great a skill in the Insanity levels because you can't resurrect the monsters you really want as they don't leave any bodies. Get yourself a range of PB skills as well as curses to supplement your summons or you will die fast in the Insanity levels.

[JrEye]

finally created a CoM charm for my necro (lol ive been forgetting to, should have had like 2 by now)

Up to lvl 66 and about to go to A3

[Gospodarik]

Uh, the insanity levels... you know, once a crash bug prevented my death. I was running from a mob in the Rigid Highlands and saw the entrance to abandonment so I clicked it but it wasn't abandonment but the wayside of woe. Luckily there weren't any UI files for the German version, so the game crashed with a File Read Error saying "data/local/ui/ger/expansion/wayswoe.dc6" or something.

[JrEye]

Damnit for the life of me I cant do well

Well got to Arcane sanctuary this time, dies though lvl 66, got mobbed hard

EDIT: Decided to retry Zon, Jeska rises from the ashes of her predecessors and will try to continue farther