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Quote from pernunz

In the patch notes it says experience gained by monsters in inferno has been increased by around 60%.

I was looking at that as well, not sure if that particular bit of information was out when the originator on reddit made his calculations of how many i63 monsters to reach 100. My guess is people will be accurately estimating the number of Act x clears to 100 etc by the end of the week.

Unless I missed it NV still resets when you jump between Acts so time to get bored farming your favourite Act and look forward to those sexy new Legendaries.

In your OP you mentioned your Barb does Act 2 with ease, presumably at about the same ease you would like your III/IV farmer to do. With 1.0.4 as close as it is my recommendation for you is to hold your gold, farm Act II when you feel like it and level that Monk. Blizzard indicates so far they are after diversity and skill changes may elevate many more class builds and encourage people to consider alternatives to fotm builds like the WW Barb. Whatever MF direction Blizzard take will also have a bearing on the gear cost post 1.0.4 as well.

It would not surprise me that builds not currently viable shape up to be exactly what you seem to be seeking after the patch. Perhaps even a WD pet gear build may rise out of obscurity, who knows until we actually see more information. Just do what is most fun for you now and build a decent bankroll ready to splurge on whatever seems like it will take you in the direction you want after the patch.

Thanks Rip,

I just wanted to understand your rationale is all. Total x vs total y is still a viable comparison, the break point in DPS will be quite different of course (and class dependent) but I understand what you saying about an inequitable fairness view.

Another way to think of it is that total nominal achievable stat of one versus the other gives a different view to just where a choice need be made. Say for example we wanted to compare effectiveness of primary stat but restricted ourselves to only Shoulders to reduce the complexity, it wouldn't be sensible as Strength gets an unfair advantage in that slot.

I completely agree that it is not a case of only seek one stat, but sadly a lot of people just want someone else to tell them what to do the math for them and blindly follow a popular mantra. You know that better than most as you also had to contend with "just stack LoH, Lifesteal is crap" zealots in previous threads ;-)

Quote from riptide

I want to point out that you CAN NOT fairly compare total loh vs total life steal. You should only compare 959 loh vs 3% lifesteal, ...

I read your other thread earlier as this topic appears quite regularly. Good stuff for articulating the Monk example. What I do not really appreciate is the statement that comparing potential totals break fairness? Obviously much easier to compare just what is gained solely on weapons but what was your rationale for marginalising any other source or LS or LoH please? You go to pains to point out "CAN NOT" so you clearly have a reason. Sorry if you made it clear in the previous thread, I must have missed it.

Did you by chance keep a total deaths count? My apologies if it was on the youtube (maybe I was sipping coffee or something at that point ;-)

You certainly set yourself some interesting challenges. Perhaps just dot point the restrictions of how you handled gear/AH etc edited in the first post give all those reading this a bit more context to your effort. Nice compilation youtube as well, I watched the first one when you started this challenge.

Quote from AvgJoeGamer

Diablo is dead! But boy did he take a long time to kill. At this point on my AH Barb I think I had 1k more DPS and 3.5k more health and never used a potion. AH-Free barb I used dozens of potions. But Normal Diablo is killable as an AH-Free barb. Talk about patience though.

Build: http://eu.battle.net...RXVYk!bXV!ZZaab
Stats: http://postimage.org/image/kbf2qawfz/

Gratz on the kill ... on, on to the more difficult ones.

Just another link http://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/xqpg6/i_finally_did_it_i_beat_the_game_hardcore_solo/
That particular player cleared inferno HC Barb with only 3 AH items. Must have gotten tired or no luck at all in those slots but there is obviously a price to pay to do that, you need to farm a lot to get the mitigation and Vitality gear.

It does show what can be done if you are persistent enough all the same. Not for me though as I do not have that degree of patience.

Quote from Obisidian13

I did... within the first day of release... I would try to conceal any pride in that statement if literally tens of thousands of people didn't do the exact same thing.

Yes many did (possibly including the OP) but the Ghom fight was slightly different then as well before 1.0.3. Easy to forget/omit the bits that were to your advantage I imagine.

Not long now before we have people claiming they beat Inferno HC on their great grandfather's '286 with a green screen monitor and a broken mouse (uphill in the snow both ways ;-).

OP, this thread from reddit http://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/x9vjv/inferno_completed_with_all_5_classes_without_any/
may be of use to you. Not specifically with Ghom (you have now since beaten anyway) but with the approach. The author despised farming and avoided it at all costs although he did dip into the AH from time to time. So in essence he just used the quest gold and drops on way from the play through to augment unlucky slots with cheap replacements.

Not sure that I agree with your reasoning that game balance is only proven if you can do what you are trying. We know that Blizzard has said they did not balance around AH as the gear source, but the sheer randomness and number of affixes mean if you are only running through a single character in this method it is quite likely the mean usefulness of your drops is better suited to another class. My personal observations when levelling up some HC classes was that using 2-3 and doing a decade of levels before swapping meant I could reuse the better slot gear and amortize my 'luck' across multiple characters.

I also like your new challenge of "Clearing Inferno with Nothing". No gold or gear to start. Entertaining watching on the stream but it really makes me wish for an offline single player version of the game so i could practice in low latency those outstanding stutter step skills you demonstrate in your normal play.

Clearly a guy that just loves to play his DH, well done.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/xgag9/dh_clearing_inferno_with_nothing/
http://www.twitch.tv/mukunda_

Quote from Nigelism

Not to flame you or anything, but isn't this more an expression of the gear prices falling rather than anything else? You have more DPS than I did when I cleared up to Siegebreaker (Post SS nerf, Pre NT and Inferno nerf), but less health. I had around 18k dps and 20k hp for Belial (and no resistance), and my gear was not less than a 100k at that time.

These challenges are cool and all, but I must admit it's getting a bit much. It started out as a proof that you can clear Inferno without farming your ass off, now it's more of an every day occurrence. No hatin'!

I actually quite like this one as it is an Inferno clear. The posts that just proclaim "Killed Inferno Diablo with xx Gear" that clearly wouldn't make it past any of the preceding gear checks or elites really irk me. What I also appreciate with this vid is the demonstration of good DH skills against various mobs (depending which one you watch). Possibly that helps far more people than the motivation of "someone else did it xx gear so I should be able to" as way too many people just toss up excuses like "they got a bargain" or "it costs 20 million on this server" etc.

Now I just want to see some uber DH do the same with less gear AND 400ms+ latency so I can feel really bad ;-)

Edit: Typo

Quote from Hubbs

Maybe I'm just a skeptic... but the belt you posted in your gear is a "barbarian only" belt, which a demon hunter can't equip....

Read it again. It only pertains to gaining Fury from Rend, lots of gear has similar class stats as an affix.

Quote from alveoli

Life steal vs. LoH - I personally prefer life steal, so my opinion may be biased. LoH is limited by the amount you have on your gear (which can be very expensive) and it also does not scale with cleave very well (imo). Life steal however, scales up when you crit and when you hit multiple enemies with revenge and charge. With my build, when I crit vs a single target I usually gain back 1800-2200 life. When I hit multiple mobs with cleave it is usually >3-4K life gained (from cleave!!). When you factor in the bonus life gained from revenge and charge (with life steal), well you can see the amount of life gained back is immense. Life steal is however DPS dependent - without DPS to do damage, you will not get life back.

Don't forget the Bloodthirst passive if you can afford to drop the mitigation passive, that is another 3% lifesteal. Barbs really do have an opportunity to lead the charge in Lifesteal/high DPS builds with the belt and passives to boost the amount combined with the natural Strength focus for inherently high armor.