So here's the deal, before the IAS patch nerf hit, I was kind of out of the diablo circuit, not really following the news. I heard about a slight nerf to IAS coming, but always heard it was going to be minor and not effect how I should gear, and my dps wouldn't drop much. So, a few days before the patch (I realize, numbers were out at this point, I just didn't know that at the time), I blew all the gold I saved up, about 14m, on a few decent pieces (andy's, boj, beckon sail, etc), to try to get my damage up there. I was thrilled with my new numbers and my pure glass cannon DH (under 8k hp), having an absolute blast!
Since the patch, my dps dropped down to about half of what it was, my bow was now terrible (25% ias hellion xbow, now 10%), and I realized that farming a3 and inferno ponyland was now out of the question. I had a little bit of leftover gold and spent it all on a new bow, a decent 1k dps rev bow with 46% crit damage for a little over a mil (best thing I could find at the time). Since then, I've resided to farming act 1 as much as I can. I'm now back up to 43k dmg (before SS) and act 1 farming is a breeze... but since the patch, I have made a total of 2m gold. the items I'm finding don't seem to be worth anything (best find was 250k on a demi-lich), and I'm struggling to even figure out how to gear my dh with the little money. I've bought a few items to bring my hp up enough to survive a hit or 2, and to help with reflect damage, but it still feels like there is something better I can be doing than wasting hours of my time on a1.
I was able to go into ponyland today and clear it out (almost losing my 5 stacks to an extra hp, reflect, fast pack), in a little over an hour (used to be 30-40 mins/ run including 5 stack gathering).
my a1 farm route (based around predictable rare spawns):
So, the help I'm asking for here may be a little too much to ask for on a forum, but I"m hoping someone can help with these questions:
-What should I gear for (I'll be posting my gear up, and any suggestions on what to change out with my limited cash flow would help)
-Where else can I farm besides A1? I don't seem to be getting any results here (friends of mine have been getting lucky and finding 5-6m+ items a bit, just not me)
-Should I just re-roll a diff class? I have a lvl 60 monk, wd, and wizard as well, none have any respectable gear on them, but enough for a1 inferno I'd say.
-any additonal tips from the more experienced. I put in the time needed to farm some good gold, just no results, what can I change?
So here's the deal, before the IAS patch nerf hit, I was kind of out of the diablo circuit, not really following the news. I heard about a slight nerf to IAS coming, but always heard it was going to be minor and not effect how I should gear, and my dps wouldn't drop much. So, a few days before the patch (I realize, numbers were out at this point, I just didn't know that at the time), I blew all the gold I saved up, about 14m, on a few decent pieces (andy's, boj, beckon sail, etc), to try to get my damage up there. I was thrilled with my new numbers and my pure glass cannon DH (under 8k hp), having an absolute blast!
Since the patch, my dps dropped down to about half of what it was, my bow was now terrible (25% ias hellion xbow, now 10%), and I realized that farming a3 and inferno ponyland was now out of the question. I had a little bit of leftover gold and spent it all on a new bow, a decent 1k dps rev bow with 46% crit damage for a little over a mil (best thing I could find at the time). Since then, I've resided to farming act 1 as much as I can. I'm now back up to 43k dmg (before SS) and act 1 farming is a breeze... but since the patch, I have made a total of 2m gold. the items I'm finding don't seem to be worth anything (best find was 250k on a demi-lich), and I'm struggling to even figure out how to gear my dh with the little money. I've bought a few items to bring my hp up enough to survive a hit or 2, and to help with reflect damage, but it still feels like there is something better I can be doing than wasting hours of my time on a1.
I was able to go into ponyland today and clear it out (almost losing my 5 stacks to an extra hp, reflect, fast pack), in a little over an hour (used to be 30-40 mins/ run including 5 stack gathering).
my a1 farm route (based around predictable rare spawns):
So, the help I'm asking for here may be a little too much to ask for on a forum, but I"m hoping someone can help with these questions:
-What should I gear for (I'll be posting my gear up, and any suggestions on what to change out with my limited cash flow would help)
-Where else can I farm besides A1? I don't seem to be getting any results here (friends of mine have been getting lucky and finding 5-6m+ items a bit, just not me)
-Should I just re-roll a diff class? I have a lvl 60 monk, wd, and wizard as well, none have any respectable gear on them, but enough for a1 inferno I'd say.
-any additonal tips from the more experienced. I put in the time needed to farm some good gold, just no results, what can I change?
my gear:
magdha runs are pretty easy, and act2 is pretty easy.
get new boots, you can find +180-200 dex boots w/ ms for a decent price.
replace your helmet. its god awful. missing too much dex. find high dex w/ crit chance. if you like andarial, try to find one with 120+ dex.
gloves are kinda ok, try to find one with crit chance tho.
chest is decent, but with a cloak you can get one w/ discipline, and other dh ability attributes.
rings need replace. get crit chance/crit dmg/dex.
amulet needs replace. get one with high dex+crit chance, and crit dmg if you can afford.
bracers need replace, get dex 120-140 w/ crit chance or whatever you can afford.
you are missing a lot of crit chance. ias is still very valuable, but it won't carry you like before. need to stack more dex too.
bow is alright depending on your build. keep in mind it has a lower damage range, but is quicker to offset that slightly. if you want to do more explosive damage, a 2h xbow (with high crit, and high crit dmg if you can afford it) is a must. if you find something at a reasonble cost with high dex+socket (or crit dmg+socket) dont hestitate to take it. my friend found a 930 dps bow with +300 dex, crit dmg, and a socket. it rivals my own 2h xbow which is just under 1400dps w/ 140 dex. dont just look at the dps. other things a factor to weapons true dps.
Stack gold find =) There is no reason to farm crap before 1.0.3b hits the live servers. On topic: stack crit damage and use sharp shooter. Items with dex+crit+crit.dmg is too expensive.
On the contrary, 1.0.3b will not be touching drop rates from Act1 and Act2, so I think he is fine farming what he is doing. I wouldn’t throw on gold find unless I went to Hell Act 3 and 4 because You would actually get a quicker return there since you can blast everything into oblivion so much easier.
To give you a second opinion on gearing, after the patch (1.0.3) I went with a tanky DH build. Instead of stacking everything on one attribute (aka DEX), I actually shopped for gear that has a good amount of DEX, VIT and resist all too. I completely changed my skills (Smoke screen to Shadow power) and I can tank in Act1 and hold my own in Act2. I just couldn’t run glass canon anymore because of the repair bills.
I also farm with 4 extra pieces that add magic find (+18% each). I swap them on for the last hit on packs. I find that when I do this I consistently get 3 rare items after 5 stacks, most of the time 1 to 2 rares before I hit 5 stacks of valor. Also another thing, I just started farming act 2 yesterday after finding upgrades on 2 of my gears. I would have to say that in my opinion, act2 is just a tab bit better than act1. In comparison from my experience I usually end up with 1 ilvl63 item when I spend 1 ½ hours in act1. With the same amount of time I spend in act2 I get 2 to 3 ilvl63 items (almost double ilvl62 as well). I don’t do whimsyshire because I don’t find it profitable at the moment. If you factor in repair and time spent while clearing whimsy, you actually lose money. I will return to whimsy once I get a weapon that has 1200+ DPS.
In act 2 I run (spelling?)
Dagur Oasis (elite placement really random)
Road to Alcarnus (clear out and check dungeons in the encampment)
As stated by another poster, you can also kill Mahgda
Khasim outpost (head a bit south)
Goblin at ancient path
Seriously, anybody suggesting him to farm Act 2 right now instantly shows how he has no clue about current drop rates and time efficiency - especially if you're suggesting stupid stuff such as Magdha runs.
Some facts:
Having 5 stacks, rare/champion packs right now only barely drop less rares than bosses. Since boss runs usually involve resetting the game (and thus your stacks) afterwards, they've become fairly inefficient. At the same time increased champion/rare pack loot and decreased boss loot often makes it more viable not to do a boss at all if it takes too much time to get there with a low rare/champion pack density on the way.
Considering the way the acts are set up and how much longer it takes not only to kill but also to find rare/champion packs, it's simply not worth farming anything but Act 1 right now. The lower high level loot drop rate is easily made up for by the sheer amount of drops you get in a relatively short amount of time.
My current farm route is fairly similar to the one the OP is using:
Northern Highlands (check for The Watchtower, if it's there or there were any packs on the way then continue - otherwise reset)
Festering Woods (2 dungeons + area)
Leoric's Manor (building + area in front of the building)
Cemetary of the Forsaken (3 Crypts, TP out of the quest one as soon as you see level 2)
Area between New Tristram and Cemetary of the Forsaken (area + sometimes dungeons/sarkoth)
The Warden/Butcher if I feel like it (whether this part is worth it is mostly RNG on rare/champion spawns)
Rainbow Level if I feel like it
Farming those areas on my DH is pretty much the fastest way of farming right now. I can reliably (with fairly high DPS and with no/few deaths) farm everything from Act 1 to Act 4 on three of my characters (DH, Monk, Barbarian) and, while Barbarian comes close, DH mobility simply makes for the most efficient farming in Act 1 right now. So I wouldn't recommend switching right now either.
As for gear (only mentioning possible low price upgrades):
Bow is okay
Quiver is okay
Boots are almost-okay, you can probably find ones with higher Dex and similar Vit/AR+MS for cheap
Pants are almost-okay, you can find ones with some Vit/AR and similar Dex+Sockets for cheap
Helm is almost-okay, you may find a better one for cheap - needs >130 Dex and >3% Crit to be an upgrade though
Gloves are okay
Chest is okay, you may want to look for a similar one with +Max Discipline though
Shoulders are almost-okay, you can grab similar ones (slightly lower Dex possibly) with Vit or AR as secondary stats for cheap
Belt is okay
Bracers are upgrade-worthy, you can usually easily find better ones with some crit (at slightly lower Dex) and Vit or AR for cheap
Neck and Rings are almost-okay, it's hard to find good ones for cheap but I'd try to get an additional good stat on them since they really only have two good stats each
Edit: Thought I read in the OP's post that he was having problem with Act 2, might be my imagination. I am no way suggesting anyone run Magdha, only that is easy.
EditEdit: "-Where else can I farm besides A1? I don't seem to be getting any results here (friends of mine have been getting lucky and finding 5-6m+ items a bit, just not me)" OP was asking where else he can farm besides ACT I. I don't know if I was responding to efficiency or not. Maybe he doesn't want to farm ACT I even if its the most efficient? Act III/IV is only worth farming if you're actually geared for it. I can do ACT I in full MF gear with only 40k+ dps with not a single problem. I lose 30K dps just do that.
Magdha runs are not stupid. It's only stupid because you don't get 2 guarantee drops off her, but shes an easy as heck boss if you're clearing elite trash to her. Also, he was saying Act 2 is difficult. I was just saying on the contrary it is actually pretty damn easy. Personally speaking, I am not farming either Act I, II, III, or IV until they fix drop rates in 1.03b later this week. For efficiency, you can farm Act I til the cow comes home if you so wish. I don't know about you, but I got tired of farming ACT I 2 days after patch 1.03 hit, and I can 4-5 shot most of the elite packs there, including invulns. It's a total joke.
Magdha runs are not stupid. It's only stupid because you don't get 2 guarantee drops off her, but shes an easy as heck boss if you're clearing elite trash to her. Also, he was saying Act 2 is difficult. I was just saying on the contrary it is actually pretty damn easy. Personally speaking, I am not farming either Act I, II, III, or IV until they fix drop rates in 1.03b later this week. For efficiency, you can farm Act I til the cow comes home if you so wish. I don't know about you, but I got tired of farming ACT I 2 days after patch 1.03 hit, and I can 4-5 shot most of the elite packs there, including invulns. It's a total joke.
So you're saying Magdha runs are not stupid but right now they are stupid? Am I reading this correctly? I'm not sure how that helps him in the least.
Killing Butcher, Madha, or any other boss is not stupid if they are on your route. You can still get 2-3 rares off them, but they are not guaranteed to be 2. If the bosses are too hard to do (you wipe, you just suck, or any number of reason) than by all means, SKIP THEM. You are trying to find something that isn't there. Also, I guess school is out?
Edit: BTW, nice job pretty much repeating what I saying about the gear. Yeah, I'm sure he can't afford the best of the best, so he will have to make compromises on the two main stats. I think necklace w/ crit dmg+dex, and gloves with crit chance+dex, and rings with crit chance+dex is probably the most efficient purchases.
Since the patch, my dps dropped down to about half of what it was, my bow was now terrible (25% ias hellion xbow, now 10%), and I realized that farming a3 and inferno ponyland was now out of the question. I had a little bit of leftover gold and spent it all on a new bow, a decent 1k dps rev bow with 46% crit damage for a little over a mil (best thing I could find at the time). Since then, I've resided to farming act 1 as much as I can. I'm now back up to 43k dmg (before SS) and act 1 farming is a breeze... but since the patch, I have made a total of 2m gold. the items I'm finding don't seem to be worth anything (best find was 250k on a demi-lich), and I'm struggling to even figure out how to gear my dh with the little money. I've bought a few items to bring my hp up enough to survive a hit or 2, and to help with reflect damage, but it still feels like there is something better I can be doing than wasting hours of my time on a1.
I was able to go into ponyland today and clear it out (almost losing my 5 stacks to an extra hp, reflect, fast pack), in a little over an hour (used to be 30-40 mins/ run including 5 stack gathering).
my a1 farm route (based around predictable rare spawns):
-Cemetary (4-5 rares)
-festering woods (3-4 rares)
-Leoric's Manor (1-3 rares)
-Halls of agony 1&2 (4-8 rares)
-cursed hold (2 rares + boss)
-halls 3 (2-4 rares)
-butcher
So, the help I'm asking for here may be a little too much to ask for on a forum, but I"m hoping someone can help with these questions:
-What should I gear for (I'll be posting my gear up, and any suggestions on what to change out with my limited cash flow would help)
-Where else can I farm besides A1? I don't seem to be getting any results here (friends of mine have been getting lucky and finding 5-6m+ items a bit, just not me)
-Should I just re-roll a diff class? I have a lvl 60 monk, wd, and wizard as well, none have any respectable gear on them, but enough for a1 inferno I'd say.
-any additonal tips from the more experienced. I put in the time needed to farm some good gold, just no results, what can I change?
my gear:
magdha runs are pretty easy, and act2 is pretty easy.
get new boots, you can find +180-200 dex boots w/ ms for a decent price.
replace your helmet. its god awful. missing too much dex. find high dex w/ crit chance. if you like andarial, try to find one with 120+ dex.
gloves are kinda ok, try to find one with crit chance tho.
chest is decent, but with a cloak you can get one w/ discipline, and other dh ability attributes.
rings need replace. get crit chance/crit dmg/dex.
amulet needs replace. get one with high dex+crit chance, and crit dmg if you can afford.
bracers need replace, get dex 120-140 w/ crit chance or whatever you can afford.
you are missing a lot of crit chance. ias is still very valuable, but it won't carry you like before. need to stack more dex too.
bow is alright depending on your build. keep in mind it has a lower damage range, but is quicker to offset that slightly. if you want to do more explosive damage, a 2h xbow (with high crit, and high crit dmg if you can afford it) is a must. if you find something at a reasonble cost with high dex+socket (or crit dmg+socket) dont hestitate to take it. my friend found a 930 dps bow with +300 dex, crit dmg, and a socket. it rivals my own 2h xbow which is just under 1400dps w/ 140 dex. dont just look at the dps. other things a factor to weapons true dps.
tl;dr need to get some crit chance/crit dmg.
profile: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/vanboon-1499/hero/3962228
http://i.imgur.com/8AfIp.jpg 4/4pc natalyza dps: 73k (w/o ss), dex: 1967, health: 22k, resist: ~150, mf: 90%/261%
To give you a second opinion on gearing, after the patch (1.0.3) I went with a tanky DH build. Instead of stacking everything on one attribute (aka DEX), I actually shopped for gear that has a good amount of DEX, VIT and resist all too. I completely changed my skills (Smoke screen to Shadow power) and I can tank in Act1 and hold my own in Act2. I just couldn’t run glass canon anymore because of the repair bills.
I also farm with 4 extra pieces that add magic find (+18% each). I swap them on for the last hit on packs. I find that when I do this I consistently get 3 rare items after 5 stacks, most of the time 1 to 2 rares before I hit 5 stacks of valor. Also another thing, I just started farming act 2 yesterday after finding upgrades on 2 of my gears. I would have to say that in my opinion, act2 is just a tab bit better than act1. In comparison from my experience I usually end up with 1 ilvl63 item when I spend 1 ½ hours in act1. With the same amount of time I spend in act2 I get 2 to 3 ilvl63 items (almost double ilvl62 as well). I don’t do whimsyshire because I don’t find it profitable at the moment. If you factor in repair and time spent while clearing whimsy, you actually lose money. I will return to whimsy once I get a weapon that has 1200+ DPS.
In act 2 I run (spelling?)
Dagur Oasis (elite placement really random)
Road to Alcarnus (clear out and check dungeons in the encampment)
As stated by another poster, you can also kill Mahgda
Khasim outpost (head a bit south)
Goblin at ancient path
Hope this helps
Edit: Thought I read in the OP's post that he was having problem with Act 2, might be my imagination. I am no way suggesting anyone run Magdha, only that is easy.
EditEdit: "-Where else can I farm besides A1? I don't seem to be getting any results here (friends of mine have been getting lucky and finding 5-6m+ items a bit, just not me)" OP was asking where else he can farm besides ACT I. I don't know if I was responding to efficiency or not. Maybe he doesn't want to farm ACT I even if its the most efficient? Act III/IV is only worth farming if you're actually geared for it. I can do ACT I in full MF gear with only 40k+ dps with not a single problem. I lose 30K dps just do that.
Magdha runs are not stupid. It's only stupid because you don't get 2 guarantee drops off her, but shes an easy as heck boss if you're clearing elite trash to her. Also, he was saying Act 2 is difficult. I was just saying on the contrary it is actually pretty damn easy. Personally speaking, I am not farming either Act I, II, III, or IV until they fix drop rates in 1.03b later this week. For efficiency, you can farm Act I til the cow comes home if you so wish. I don't know about you, but I got tired of farming ACT I 2 days after patch 1.03 hit, and I can 4-5 shot most of the elite packs there, including invulns. It's a total joke.
profile: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/vanboon-1499/hero/3962228
http://i.imgur.com/8AfIp.jpg 4/4pc natalyza dps: 73k (w/o ss), dex: 1967, health: 22k, resist: ~150, mf: 90%/261%
Killing Butcher, Madha, or any other boss is not stupid if they are on your route. You can still get 2-3 rares off them, but they are not guaranteed to be 2. If the bosses are too hard to do (you wipe, you just suck, or any number of reason) than by all means, SKIP THEM. You are trying to find something that isn't there. Also, I guess school is out?
Edit: BTW, nice job pretty much repeating what I saying about the gear. Yeah, I'm sure he can't afford the best of the best, so he will have to make compromises on the two main stats. I think necklace w/ crit dmg+dex, and gloves with crit chance+dex, and rings with crit chance+dex is probably the most efficient purchases.
profile: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/vanboon-1499/hero/3962228
http://i.imgur.com/8AfIp.jpg 4/4pc natalyza dps: 73k (w/o ss), dex: 1967, health: 22k, resist: ~150, mf: 90%/261%
Advice was amazingly helpful, then you 2 decide to start having a dick measuring contest, lets get back on topic, I'm taking notes!!!