15 replies to this topic

[Laevus]

I've come back to playing again recently and started farming for keys. My barbarian isn't super geared but has been farming keys on MP4 with little trouble. MP5 takes a bit too long for him to take down elites, and certain affix combos make me kite for long enough that it isn't time efficient.

So my question is what to do when I get my third device. I have two atm, and I'm not sure whether it's worth opening the portals on MP4 and risk not getting any organ drops. I've heard of others trading the 3x Machine for extra players on MP10 to get help, but I'll admit that I'm likely to not survive for very long and not sure if I'll get abuse from the others in the group. I'm also wondering if I'll be able to even kill the two bosses through the portal on MP4, depending on how improved they are from their original versions.

Anyone got any sensible suggestions or advice?

[Domeotaku]

Just ask in chat, there are always people who spent thousands of dollars on their gear and are 'helping' others with machines on mp8~10 since they're too lazy to farm machines themselves.

Edited by Domeotaku, 02 December 2012 - 09:07 PM.

[Jaetch]

1. Find others to team up with you (general chat, LFG chat, trade chat, here on Diablofans, official forums, d2jsp, reddit, etc. etc., whatever). State which MP you want to run on. If you're supplying all three machines, people will be more than willing to mooch off of your machines and help. They probably won't even care if you die in the process on MP10. Either way, you'll get the drops and they can't do anything to make you leave considering you have the machines. Be sure that the people you run on can also handle the MP level. Oftentimes people get too ambitious and end up attempting the impossible.

2. I'm going to assume you have friends who are playing this game. Party up with them. Given that they're your friends, you've played with them before, know them in person, or whatever. It'll work a lot better than partying up with strangers if you're concerned.

3. You don't have to use all three of your machines. It's courteous to share the machines, so everyone puts in a little something to help each other out.

...Don't solo.

Edited by Jaetch, 02 December 2012 - 09:20 PM.

[Loroese]

I'd say do one of two things:

1) Find someone offering free carries for people that provide the portals. This is typically done on MP10 and would be you and the guy doing the carrying, though sometimes that person will have a second friend to help the dps. Most of the time they won't expect you to do anything, so if you die 20s into the fight, they won't care, they'll just rez you at the end and you'll get a ring.

2) Join groups in chat where each person provides 1 machine, probably MP5 to start and if you don't have survival problems try MP6 the next time. You will be expected to contribute to the run which is why you should start at slightly lower MP to make sure you can handle it.

I don't recommend trying to solo ubers for any reason besides wanting the challenge. It is far more efficient to group up and only use 1 portal. If you just want 1 ring to make paragon leveling faster, I'd try option #1, otherwise go with option #2. You won't get a guaranteed ring from it but you get more organs per portal used on average, even at MP5. IMO it's also more fun to feel like you contribute to a group rather than dying in a corner and waiting til the fight is over to collect loot.

[TheDemokin]

Vendor them.

[Laevus]

Thanks for the replies (except for the troll).

It's taken me quite a while to get the first two devices due to bad luck with drop rates (third Key of Terror currently still missing after 8 kills on MP4). I don't mind the time it's taken too much though since I've still got many paragon levels to go, but would quite like an easy ring to speed up the process.

I think I'll use my first set to get some help on MP10 to guarantee a ring for my barb (my main) and then casually grind the next sets of keys for more rings and do them in groups. I'd prefer to do it with people for fun and be useful than feel like I'm taking advantage of others all the time. Unfortunately my friends all stopped playing D3 before the patch and aren't interested in starting up again. Tempted to try soloing some ubers to see how tough they are, but think I'll try that after I've got my first ring.

[Bagstone]

Laevus, on 03 December 2012 - 01:57 PM, said:

Tempted to try soloing some ubers to see how tough they are, but think I'll try that after I've got my first ring.

Definitely don't do this. They're a bit tougher than their "normal" counterparts; I'd say about ~2 monster power levels more than usual. For example, my (subjective) feeling is that uber Ghom MP8 is as fearsome as normal Ghom MP10. It's difficult to compare though because they always come in groups of two ;-) Also keep in mind that they have enrage timers (~8 minutes, Rakanoth and Kulle will instagib you then, the others just get harder but it's manageable).

Unless you have enough Hellfire Rings with decent stats for all your main characters and your followers, I would strongly recommend to get a decent group with at least 3 people, just as others suggested. We wasted one single portal once by trying a too high monster power and I can tell you, if you really *need* that ring, it hurts a lot, especially if you consider how much time it takes to farm one portal. This is different for people who can farm MP10 easily - but these people don't even need a Hellfire Ring anyways...

Edited by Bagstone, 03 December 2012 - 02:14 PM.

[WNxManiacMan]

TheDemokin, on 03 December 2012 - 05:22 AM, said:

Vendor them.

Dafuq?

[Laevus]

Bagstone, on 03 December 2012 - 02:13 PM, said:

Laevus, on 03 December 2012 - 01:57 PM, said:

Tempted to try soloing some ubers to see how tough they are, but think I'll try that after I've got my first ring.

Definitely don't do this. They're a bit tougher than their "normal" counterparts; I'd say about ~2 monster power levels more than usual. For example, my (subjective) feeling is that uber Ghom MP8 is as fearsome as normal Ghom MP10. It's difficult to compare though because they always come in groups of two ;-) Also keep in mind that they have enrage timers (~8 minutes, Rakanoth and Kulle will instagib you then, the others just get harder but it's manageable).

Unless you have enough Hellfire Rings with decent stats for all your main characters and your followers, I would strongly recommend to get a decent group with at least 3 people, just as others suggested. We wasted one single portal once by trying a too high monster power and I can tell you, if you really *need* that ring, it hurts a lot, especially if you consider how much time it takes to farm one portal. This is different for people who can farm MP10 easily - but these people don't even need a Hellfire Ring anyways...

Thanks for the warning. If I do try to solo them (out of curiosity) I'll try it on MP2 and see how it feels first (since I'm usually on MP4). Didn't know about the enrage timers either. A shame, but understandable. I wouldn't say I really *need* the rings since I have one of each class at 60 already, but my barb is the only one fully geared for higher MPs in Inferno, and he's the one I'm grinding Paragon levels on. My other characters would probably find the ring an upgrade, but if it's bad stats I'll probably stash it until they're geared better and ready to grind some Paragon instead.

[Bagstone]

Laevus, on 03 December 2012 - 04:49 PM, said:

I wouldn't say I really *need* the rings since I have one of each class at 60 already, but my barb is the only one fully geared for higher MPs in Inferno, and he's the one I'm grinding Paragon levels on. My other characters would probably find the ring an upgrade, but if it's bad stats I'll probably stash it until they're geared better and ready to grind some Paragon instead.

You can get any new character to 60 in about ~2 hours (Cain set, ruby in helm, any Hellfire Ring, lots of vit on all other slots, and then just let a friend kill everything on the highest possible difficulty setting on MP10). The HR is more important for paragon leveling. And if your character is not super-geared, keep in mind that any Hellfire Ring has at least 170 main stat, so you definitely won't sacrifice too much (if any) DPS anyways.

[vastling]

Do it with a group, that way if you do choose too high of a difficulty you only lose one machine

Also when it comes time to do ubers trade out some of the offensive passives for defensive passives.

if your running ww:
I would run overpower - crushing advance and iron skin (?) 25% armor if your not already

[Laevus]

I've got a selection of weapons and a shield depending on my build, but currently using a dual WW build as it's been the fastest for key farming so far. Only got 65k unbufffed dps though, so hoping to get some upgrades or something decent to sell while I'm farming. Act III Key attempt number 12 about to take place, so the sooner I can gear myself for a higher MP the better!

[Laevus]

13th try, and finally got the last Act 3 key. Unfortunately, while bored of Act 3 I tried Acts 1&2 again and got a key first time on each kill, so now I need to do ACt 3 again already!

Now I've got 3x Machines at last, I will be looking for an MP10 rush later. Check the LFG forum for the thread or message me if you can help. Be warned though, you'll be doing all the work and I'll be nothing but a bloody decoration on the floor after the first few seconds of the fight.

Edit: Europe Server
LFG thread http://www.diablofan...machines-ready/

Edited by Laevus, 04 December 2012 - 06:38 PM.

[Lucretia1417]

Bagstone, on 03 December 2012 - 02:13 PM, said:

Also keep in mind that they have enrage timers (~8 minutes, Rakanoth and Kulle will instagib you then, the others just get harder but it's manageable).

This is exactly what happened to a group I was in a few days ago.  Group of 3 on MP7.  I was occupying Kulle by myself, managing to get him down to about 75% of health, while the other two ganged up on Siege.  By the time they came over to help me, Kulle got crazy tough... Must have been the enrage!  The other two got killed and I tried to lure Kulle away and circle back to res, but the F-er kept teleporting directly on me and killed me.  Did this several times before we all gave up.  Must have tried that duo for about 90 minutes.

[Bagstone]

Lucretia1417, on 04 December 2012 - 06:29 PM, said:

Bagstone, on 03 December 2012 - 02:13 PM, said:

Also keep in mind that they have enrage timers (~8 minutes, Rakanoth and Kulle will instagib you then, the others just get harder but it's manageable).

This is exactly what happened to a group I was in a few days ago.  Group of 3 on MP7.  I was occupying Kulle by myself, managing to get him down to about 75% of health, while the other two ganged up on Siege.  By the time they came over to help me, Kulle got crazy tough... Must have been the enrage!  The other two got killed and I tried to lure Kulle away and circle back to res, but the F-er kept teleporting directly on me and killed me.  Did this several times before we all gave up.  Must have tried that duo for about 90 minutes.

Always go Kulle first.

If people can deal with Siegebreaker's reflect damage and you have a CMWW wiz, you can tank & spank them together. Since we switched to doing this instead of killing Kulle first while I tank Siegebreaker at one edge of the screen, they're no problem anymore - go down in no time since no one has to dodge all the nasty Kulle attacks.

[Laevus]

Done

Thanks to MrFister, Chaosman and Doflo for the help. It was good fun and I was surprised at how much I was able to survive (probs due to the constant freezing of the CM Wiz )

And my barb is now the proud owner of a Hellfire Ring, and it's not too shabby for my first one as well. 267 Str, 157 Vit and a little minimum damage. Now to farm some paragon levels like a madman!

Ref the posts above: We took Siegebreaker down first, Kulle second and didn't have much trouble with it. We had more problems with Maghda/Leoric. She was breaking the CM Wizz freezes just enough to drop some sentries or throw out some flies, and if that didn't get us, we were dodging them when Leoric whacked us. Too a few attempts, but finally managed it with one of the Wiz perma-freezing her separately while we took out Leoric.

Thanks for the helpful info in this thread guys, much appreciated.