Hey guys. I wanted to see for myself what zones warranted spots in my exp runs rather than blindly follow Alkaizer's route. First, I was bored with the same 5 maps, and second, as a WD, I'm not constrained by having to keep up WotB (or Archon for that matter).
My goal is not to provide some sort of bible here - there are far too many variables, such as my class, gear, spec, playstyle, individual skill level, etc. I just wanted to provide some ballpark figures for anyone who was interested. I decided on the general forum because I figure input from all players would be welcome and help us all to figure out our own ideal paragon leveling experience, rather than limiting it to a class forum.
I took data from most zones in act 3. Notably absent is Keep lvl 2 - I feel it's a great map for exp, but my specific build makes it slow and painful for me, so it wasn't an option. I did take a couple of samples from unconventional zones such as Tower of the Cursed lv 1 and the one just outside of town, but the xp/hour sucked so I dismissed them.
All data was taken with five pre-existing stacks of Nephalem Valor. I took 5 samples from each map, and in the interest of saving space I'll just post the averages. All data is highly interpretable, what works well for a WD with my build may not work well at all for someone else.
Additional notes: I rounded to the nearest quarter of a minute for easier maths. In zones with possible dead-ends such as the keep depths and arreat crater 1+2, I ended my run if I hit a dead-end unless it would take a very short time to backtrack. If I died on a run I discarded the data. I killed all goblins and did not deduct any time for doing so. My build tends to kill them quickly anyway. I pick up all recipes which I don't know, or which are for legendaries or 6-property items. I pick up all legendaries, set items, rings and amulets, and most 61+ weapons and armor with a few exceptions. I know most by name and don't waste time with ctrl+mouseover. I do not pick up blues (except gem recipes), potions, gems or tomes of secrets. Lastly, I did not separately weight the average for each run based on the total exp of the run, I simply averaged each run's exp/hour. As I said, I'm only attempting to provide a ballpark figure.
For reference, here's my WD My gear was a bit different when taking data from what it is now, I had bought a few upgrades while collecting but kept them stashed until I was done. If interested, I use this build, with much thanks to the author for providing such a detailed and well thought out approach.
Format:
Zone Name
Average time per run // Average exp per run (millions) // Average exp per hour (millions)
Stonefort
5:06 // 1.62m // 19.44 m/h
Keep 1
4:36 // 1.24m // 16.40 m/h
Keep 3
2:18 // 0.82m // 22.24 m/h
Rakkis Crossing south to fields
5:09 // 2.10m // 24.82 m/h
Fields of Slaughter
5:57 // 2.05m // 20.64 m/h
Crater 1
3:27 // 1.60m // 28.96 m/h
Tower of the Damned 1
2:33 // 0.95m // 22.30 m/h
Crater 2
3:27 // 1.77m // 31.18 m/h
Core
1:54 // 0.62m // 19.46 m/h
My interpretation of the data: For starters, Stonefort and Keep lv 1 don't seem worth it. Secondly, Arreat Crater lv 1 and Rakkis south to Fields, maps not in Alkaizer's route and which most players ignore, yielded excellent exp for me. I feel it's probably best to start in the small zones which give lower total exp, I go Core -> Keep 3 -> Tower 1 personally. On average, you'll probably encounter the same amount of trash while stacking up no matter where you begin, but the smaller maps are guaranteed at least a pack or three, whereas on a larger map you might get unlucky and kill tons of trash before fully stacking up.
My goal is not to provide some sort of bible here - there are far too many variables, such as my class, gear, spec, playstyle, individual skill level, etc. I just wanted to provide some ballpark figures for anyone who was interested. I decided on the general forum because I figure input from all players would be welcome and help us all to figure out our own ideal paragon leveling experience, rather than limiting it to a class forum.
I took data from most zones in act 3. Notably absent is Keep lvl 2 - I feel it's a great map for exp, but my specific build makes it slow and painful for me, so it wasn't an option. I did take a couple of samples from unconventional zones such as Tower of the Cursed lv 1 and the one just outside of town, but the xp/hour sucked so I dismissed them.
All data was taken with five pre-existing stacks of Nephalem Valor. I took 5 samples from each map, and in the interest of saving space I'll just post the averages. All data is highly interpretable, what works well for a WD with my build may not work well at all for someone else.
Additional notes: I rounded to the nearest quarter of a minute for easier maths. In zones with possible dead-ends such as the keep depths and arreat crater 1+2, I ended my run if I hit a dead-end unless it would take a very short time to backtrack. If I died on a run I discarded the data. I killed all goblins and did not deduct any time for doing so. My build tends to kill them quickly anyway. I pick up all recipes which I don't know, or which are for legendaries or 6-property items. I pick up all legendaries, set items, rings and amulets, and most 61+ weapons and armor with a few exceptions. I know most by name and don't waste time with ctrl+mouseover. I do not pick up blues (except gem recipes), potions, gems or tomes of secrets. Lastly, I did not separately weight the average for each run based on the total exp of the run, I simply averaged each run's exp/hour. As I said, I'm only attempting to provide a ballpark figure.
For reference, here's my WD My gear was a bit different when taking data from what it is now, I had bought a few upgrades while collecting but kept them stashed until I was done. If interested, I use this build, with much thanks to the author for providing such a detailed and well thought out approach.
Format:
Zone Name
Average time per run // Average exp per run (millions) // Average exp per hour (millions)
Stonefort
5:06 // 1.62m // 19.44 m/h
Keep 1
4:36 // 1.24m // 16.40 m/h
Keep 3
2:18 // 0.82m // 22.24 m/h
Rakkis Crossing south to fields
5:09 // 2.10m // 24.82 m/h
Fields of Slaughter
5:57 // 2.05m // 20.64 m/h
Crater 1
3:27 // 1.60m // 28.96 m/h
Tower of the Damned 1
2:33 // 0.95m // 22.30 m/h
Crater 2
3:27 // 1.77m // 31.18 m/h
Core
1:54 // 0.62m // 19.46 m/h
My interpretation of the data: For starters, Stonefort and Keep lv 1 don't seem worth it. Secondly, Arreat Crater lv 1 and Rakkis south to Fields, maps not in Alkaizer's route and which most players ignore, yielded excellent exp for me. I feel it's probably best to start in the small zones which give lower total exp, I go Core -> Keep 3 -> Tower 1 personally. On average, you'll probably encounter the same amount of trash while stacking up no matter where you begin, but the smaller maps are guaranteed at least a pack or three, whereas on a larger map you might get unlucky and kill tons of trash before fully stacking up.
I doubt I'd be able to make a run as fast as you, having a weaker WD, but it's nice to see some exp data based on what people are achieving.