Map Generation Analysis: The Weeping Hollow, Groups in Public Games

Map Generation Analysis: The Weeping Hollow Article by Apoc

I decided to take a closer look at the map generation for DiabloWiki.com - The Weeping Hollow The Weeping Hollow and I found that there is a fairly simple generation process behind it. Once you understand how the tiles are placed it becomes obvious how to use that for efficient farming purposes. One of the reasons behind this was because I had recently discovered that the second level of the DiabloWiki.com - Den of the Fallen Den of the Fallen was a place were you could still find higher level loot drop as well as monster affixes that normally don't spawn in the playable beta.

After Beta Patch 14, players were able to breech past the Cemetery of the Forsaken gate and reported seeing new elite monster affixes and higher level loot (amulets/rings). Apparently these things can still be found on elite Plague Carriers (a green version of the Carrion Bats) on the second level of the Den of the Fallen. My guess is they increased their monster level so we're finding Jailer, Vortex, Waller, etc affixes spawn on them and supposedly rings should drop too.

The Weeping Hollow is an area that will always have the same border size, but there are several tiles inside it that are actively swapped around on a grid (white are active, red are non-path event tiles):


Here's a labeled comparison of some generation:


* : Haedrigs' Apprentice's Hut
x/y, m/n : variations on path tiles
b/c : variations on filler tiles

So basically, if we ignore the tiles occupied by the path, there can only be 5 non-path varying tiles. Two of those are used as filler (labeled 'b' & 'c'), and one is reserved for Haedrigs' Apprentice's Hut (labeled '*'), leaving exactly two tiles for interesting things - aka, "Event Tiles".

There are 10 different "Event Tiles" that the game picks for you on generation. Those following the beta may have seen these before:




Open Grave / Open Grave (trapped version)


Hanging Tree / Hanging Tree (trapped version)


Four tombstones / Defiled Grave (elite version)


Abandoned Cart / Abandoned Cart with Rotting Corpses


Corpse Field / Den of the Fallen

What does this mean for farming the Den of the Fallen? Well from what we know now, the Den of the Fallen can only appear on two of the 5 possible tiles (shaded red above). So take the Northwest gate from New Tristram, head left and up, and hit those first four in the "L" shape. If you haven't seen two Event Tiles yet, head Northeast to the last red tile and you're done. Better than crawling the borders of the map. Happy Hunting! :)



Groups in Public Games - Divide and be Conquered

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

In my experience recently, if you're in a party of two or three, by the end of normal difficulty, if one person strays from the group and a pack of champions comes along, it's fatal.

I'm guessing that it's a little less risky in a group of four, but even then, probably only for a few more levels.

I'm talking about first characters, of course. Characters that are being fed gear and gold by higher-level characters can probably get by without everyone sticking together for a bit farther into the game.

My current motto for group play in Diablo III is "divide and be conquered".

He means that if 1 person leaves group of 3, the 2 people left grouped together will still die if they encounter hard mobs. The single person doesn't stand a chance.If there's a group of 4 and 1 person leaves, the group of 3 still has a chance to survive.

This.

And again, we're talking about two things that vary a lot: the speed at which your specific party can deal with regular enemies, and the degree of uptick in difficulty when you go from regular enemies to champions. The variance is on the skill of the players, and the affixes on the enemies. I'd guess that in some cases, a group of three players (in a game of four, where the fourth is away) are going to get along just fine for pack after pack after pack, albeit much slower than if their comrade was with them. And in other cases, those three players are going to rapidly die to the first pack they encounter.

Why? The answer will be their gear, or their mix of chosen skills, or the fact that the game happened to roll a pack of champs with lightning creeping all over the area, etc. etc.

Comments

  • To post a comment, please or register a new account.
Posts Quoted:
Reply
Clear All Quotes