A detailed, printable guide that gives you all you need to know -- right when you need it -- to smash the Sprinter and Speed Racer conquests.
What's in the Sprinter Guide?
There are five main sections:
Runner Guide-- (just the essentials, including maps and key reminders)
Town Camper Guide-- (detailed enough that even a monkey wouldn't mess it up)
Explanatory Notes-- (explainging how to understand and use the Guides, tips for builds, tricky maps, etc)
Comprehensive Runner Guide-- (all the detail for every step, to help learn where you're going wrong)
Time Record-- (to help analyse what went wrong, and for posterity)
The Explanatory Notes include separate sections for Runners, the Town Camper, and Everyone.
Do I Need to Read the Whole Sprinter Guide?
Certainly not!
You can skip straight to the Guide you'll need during the run. The Town Camper should print the Town Camper Guide and the Time Record. Runners should print just the Concise Runner Guide. Everyone should skim read some of the Notes, to make sure they understand the Guides, and to pick up any Tips they may not have seen.
Where Can I Download the Sprinter Guide?
The quick link is goo.gl/dsru6o (mouse over the link to see the full destination).
You can download the whole guide (and just print the bits you need), or download the individual sections.
I apologise about the two extra clicks for the larger files -- free web hosts...
What's Changed Since Version 3 of the Sprinter Guide?
A one-page introduction and Table of Contents.
Reordered the sections so you can jump straight into the Runner and Towner guides.
Numerous tweaks, especially to increase the number of Boss Events that everyone joins.
More notes on tricky sections.
A token nod to possible Necromancer builds.
What's Next for the Sprinter Guide?
This will probably be the last version I produce.
But I do have some ideas for further improvements. This includes (in rough order of priority):
Using GameFAQs to host the files, so every download link is direct.
Adding stylised maps for Act 5, to replace the coloured arrows.
Adding more colour cues to the Town Camper Guide.
HTML versions of the main guides.
CSS overhaul of my website (it'll never happen: too boring).
I've just uploaded my printable Kanai's Cube Checklist updated for Season 12 and patch 2.6.1
(It's okay if you don't understand why such a thing exists, but please keep in mind there are many people who do find this useful.)
Downloadable, as usual, at:
paulius.50webs.com/diablo3.html
goo.gl/dsru6o (short URL for sharing)
New Features
I've made some changes since last time, and provided a new option:
In addition to Word and PDF versions, you can now choose to group items by class rather than just sorting by item name.
Items whose Legendary Powers were upgraded in patch 2.6.1 are highlighted in yellow so you know what might be worth keeping for non-season.
I've swapped the Season and Non-Season columns so the Season data is closer to the item names.
Colours for each class are now locked in. The Key appears at the end of the document.
After struggling against two serious table formatting bugs, I've tidied up the Word styles so the tables should display the same for (almost) everyone.
Behind the scenes, I've used fields to automate first-letter-highlighting. You'll see the results but not be bothered by the fields in the published documents.
Migration to the New Word version
If you've been entering data into the old version and want to transfer it to the new layout (where items are grouped by class), here's how:
Open the new file with items grouped by class.
Move all Wizard items to appear just before the Necromancer items (select the rows, cut and paste into the new location -- doing it the other way can stuff up the formatting).
Select all rows except the Necromancer-item rows at the end, and sort by Name (column 1).
Select all the cells (except for Necromancer items) in either both season or both non-season columns.
Copy and paste into these cells from your Season 10 version of the Checklist. (If the number and layout of cells matches, all the formatting should be preserved.)
Repeat for the other two columns.
If the font size has changed, reapply the "Items - Checklist" style to all four columns.
Select the whole table and Sort first by Class then by Name.
Select all rows with A and xH codes, and sort by Name alone.
Finally, move the multi-class items (BCDM, MNDW and HDW) back into their original positions (weapons table only). Either drag-and-drop or cut-and-paste.
Repeat for the other two item tables.
Notes on the Word Versions
If you don't like some of my formatting, it's easy to change by modifying the appropriate style. You can turn off the yellow highlights for modified items by removing the fill colour from the "Item - New" style (under Borders & Shading). You can disable the two forced page breaks by turning off "Page Break Before" in the "Paragraph" section of the "Items - Name - New Page" style.
However, if you're having serious formatting issues, you may have encountered one of Word's persistent table style bugs. The main tables are all supposed to have 12 point text, with no text wrapping to a second line (Thunderfury is 10 point). Try the following:
Go to the Developer Tab (if you can't see it, turn it on under File > Options > Customize Ribbon). Make sure that the checkbox is NOT ticked for: Document Template > Automatically update document styles. Exit Word, then try opening a fresh version of the file.
Manually adjust the table formatting so the table cells have left and right margins of 0.1cm, and the text is 12 point (except for Thunderfury, which is 10 point).
Worst case, select the whole document, change everything to 11 point, then reapply heading styles (and 10 points for Thunderfury). Or use the PDF version.
When you're running fast rifts or bounties, most people want to continue to get the advantage of group play without interrupting the group with long periods of inventory sorting that can be done later.
So it's always good to have a couple of stash tabs clear as very temporary storage.
As you learn which items are most/least useful, and as you increase your proportion of Ancients, the need for this will naturally drop off.
Agreed. But making decisions is difficult for many people. And those people are also likely to enjoy chasing achievements. Which makes stash space (and even character slots) an appropriate reward.
And season are, effectively, targetted at keeping exactly that kind of player involved in the game.
I you look at the rest of my posting on the official forums (this site didn't let me post the full calculation), I think I made some reasonable assumptions -- apart from not realising that Necromancers' primary stat is Intelligence, not Vitality.
Let me put it this way: how do you feel if you realise that the build you want to try requires an item you've been consistently salvaging?
Some people will anticipate this possibility by keeping one of everything. Some people will try to avoid it by carefully studying the meta. Some people will get disillusioned and stop playing. Some people will switch back to a more familiar class or build. And some people won't let it affect them, and will simply focus their Kadala/Kanai's Cube gambling on getting that item.
We're all different, and all of these are valid responses.
The producer of a game ultimately needs to understand which types of people are keeping their game alive, and make a choice to address the needs of each type in an appropriate way, or understand the consequences and choose not to.
Personally, I would like to see the opportunity to gain a total of 15 Stash Tabs (this is a bit arbitrary -- there's an argument for four tabs per class, one each for Sets, Weapons, Armour, and Jewellery) and 21 character slots (3 for each class, being one of each class and gender in SC and one of each class in HC). It makes sense to continue to tie the extras to "achievements" and/or (hopefully to a lesser extent) money spent. That way, if you don't feel you need the extra space, personally, you don't have to pursue it.
I've heard that buying the Necromancer pack is going to also increase our stash space by two tabs and our character roster by two. I thought it would be interesting to estimate if that will be enough to store all the extra items we may need.
The bottom line is that 2 stash tabs plus 2 character slots leaves us about a dozen full-size items short on storage space.
Kanai's Cube Checklist has now been updated for Season 10 (patch 2.5.0).
Same webpage as before (previous post). Only change is the addition of Holy Point Shot.
As I've said before, this isn't for everyone, so please be respectful. As some people have pointed out, you can tell if an item is in the Cube while looking at the item because the diamond next to the Legendary Power is filled in rather than open. However, this won't tell you anything about Season vs non-Season, or what you have and what you don't when you don't it in inventory!
(I'm hoping to release a more user-friendly Sprinter Guide in the next couple of week. Feedback before that is always appreciated.)
I've just uploaded a new version of my Guides to the Sprinter and Speed Racer Conquests.
What is the Sprinter Guide?
A detailed, printable guide that gives you all you need to know -- right when you need it -- to smash the Sprinter and Speed Racer conquests.
What's in the Sprinter Guide?
There are five main sections:
Introductory Notes-- (including explanations of how to understand and use the Guides, and tips for builds, tricky maps, etc)
Town Camper Guide-- (detailed enough that even a monkey wouldn't mess it up)
Runner Guide-- (including maps and strategies for division of labour)
Concise Runner Guide-- (just the essentials, for quick reference during a run)
Time Record-- (to help analyse what went wrong, and for posterity)
The Introductory Notes include separate sections for Runners, the Town Camper, and Everyone.
Do I Need to Read the Whole Sprinter Guide?
Certainly not!
You can skip straight to the Guide you'll need during the run. The Town Camper should print the Town Camper Guide and the Time Record. Runners should print just the Concise Runner Guide. Everyone should skim read some of the Notes, to make sure they understand the Guides, and to pick up any Tips they may not have seen.
Where Can I Download the Sprinter Guide?
The quick link is goo.gl/dsru6o (mouse over the link to see the full destination).
You can download the whole guide (and just print the bits you need), or download the individual sections.
I apologise about the two extra clicks for the larger files -- free web hosts...
What's Changed Since Version 2 of the Sprinter Guide?
A whole new section: The Concise Runner Guide. Much easier to use during gameplay than the full version.
Captions on all the maps.
Visual directions for three maps in Act 5 (with proper maps planned).
Contents table showing the different parts of the guide. (You only need to print the bit you'll be using.)
Clearer layout of the Notes (with corrections and clarifications).
Each section now has its own page number prefix, from A to E.
Corrections and other adjustments, based on experience running the conquest a few more times.
Updated target times for Act 3.
What's Next for the Sprinter Guide?
I have some ideas, and some feedback to address. This includes (in rough order of priority):
Adding stylised maps for Act 5, to replace the coloured arrows.
Using GameFAQs to host the files, so every download link is direct.
Rearranging the sections, moving the heavy text to the end.
Adding more icons (like the speech-bubble icon that means "talk"), especially to the older parts of the guide.
Adding more colour cues to the Town Camper Guide.
Using more headings in the Notes, so specific information is quicker to find.
CSS overhaul of my website (it'll never happen: too boring).
Items 1 to 3 are likely to happen during Season 9. Beyond that, I'll tackle things based on feedback and enthusiasm. So let me knowif you like or dislike these ideas (politely), or if you can think of better solutions.
Before any of that, I need to finish off the patch 2.4.3 version of my Kanai's Cube Checklist (possibly tomorrow).
I really appreciate it, and you make some good point that I would like to improve. Perhaps you can help me decide on some solutions?
As I see it, there's kind of three reasons why the guide is so long:
1. The introduction covers pretty much everything you need to know to prepare for Sprinter (9 pages).
2. The Town Camper guide needs to be very detailed, covering every stage of every quest. That's so the Town Camper knows exactly what to do and when, and can offer reminders to the Runners (8 pages).
3. The guide actually has four (now five) distinct sections. For most people, they'll only need to print one or two of them. (That's why I also provide the guide broken down into these sections.)
(4. I enjoy writing, and want to cover everything! )
So the basic problem that I hear is that there's too many barriers to entry. In particular, the download has too many steps, and opening the document gives the impression that you have to read the whole thing to use it (which is not the case).
How I could solve this?
2. Okay, so there's not much I can do to shorten the Town Camper section. Even if I did cut out all the bits where the Camper just has to wait, that would risk the Camper missing a cue from absent context. Trust me on this! -- I've used it more than once.
1. I could move the good stuff to the front. For example, I could start with a simple front page that shows the Contents and includes most of the first intro section, plus a clear description of the parts of the guide and how to use them. That would be a single page. Then, the new Concise Runner Guide could go next (because it's short and has pretty pictures). Then either the full Runner Guide (which is really too dense to use during a run) or the Town Camper Guide (probably the latter, first). Then the Notes and Tips, then the Time Record.
3. That intro page should clarify the structure of the guide and how to use it, which should point people just to the parts they need.
4. Every time I look at the guide I try to be more brief -- but only if it doesn't cost necessary detail. I do try to use headings and bold text to help the eye quickly find things. But perhaps I could add more headings and even change some of the heading styles (I noticed that two of them might be too similar).
5. I can't do much about the restrictions of my free web host, but I could upload the guide to GameFAQs (I think) and link to there. I could reorganise the links so it's clearer what's going on. (I could also tidy up the website with some CSS, but that's not something I'm enthusiastic to take on, right now -- I'd rather play Diablo!)
How does that sound?
Incidentally, I've just uploaded version 3.0 of the Sprinter Guide (with a few big improvements).
I have plans to add three small, Act 5 maps for version 3.1, but I don't know that many of the ideas in this post will make that version. Might need v3.5 for so many drastic modifications.
I'm working on an updated version for Season 9, hoping to release in the next couple of days. So be quick if you want your ideas to be incorporated.
The major update will be the addition of a much shorter version of the Runner guide. That's because, using the runner guide myself in Season 7, I found there's no time to actually read much. Unfortunately, I forgot all of the other observations I made at the time. D'oh!
1
What is the Sprinter Guide?
A detailed, printable guide that gives you all you need to know -- right when you need it -- to smash the Sprinter and Speed Racer conquests.
What's in the Sprinter Guide?
There are five main sections:
The Explanatory Notes include separate sections for Runners, the Town Camper, and Everyone.
Do I Need to Read the Whole Sprinter Guide?
Certainly not!
You can skip straight to the Guide you'll need during the run. The Town Camper should print the Town Camper Guide and the Time Record. Runners should print just the Concise Runner Guide. Everyone should skim read some of the Notes, to make sure they understand the Guides, and to pick up any Tips they may not have seen.
Where Can I Download the Sprinter Guide?
The quick link is goo.gl/dsru6o (mouse over the link to see the full destination).
You can download the whole guide (and just print the bits you need), or download the individual sections.
I apologise about the two extra clicks for the larger files -- free web hosts...
What's Changed Since Version 3 of the Sprinter Guide?
What's Next for the Sprinter Guide?
This will probably be the last version I produce.
But I do have some ideas for further improvements. This includes (in rough order of priority):
Happy Running!
1
I just released the Season 13 version of my Kanai's Cube checklist (pretty much identical to Season 12).
But I've also released a completely new version 4.0 of my Sprinter Guide. Everything has been reorganised, so it should be much easier to use.
Same download page (sorry I haven't found an easier way around the file size limit yet).
Good luck for Season 13!
1
I just released version 4.0 of the Sprinter Guide (and a Season 13 version of my Kanai's Cube checklist).
Everything has been reorganised, so it should be much easier to use.
Same download page (sorry I haven't found an easier way around the file size limit yet).
Good luck for Season 13!
1
Just uploaded the new version, for Season 12, patch 2.6.1
Full details at:
www.diablofans.com/forums/diablo-iii-general-forums/diablo-iii-general-discussion/229860-announce-kanais-cube-checklist-for-season-12
(Note that my Sprinter Guide will be completely overhauled in time for Season 13.)
1
I've just uploaded my printable Kanai's Cube Checklist updated for Season 12 and patch 2.6.1
(It's okay if you don't understand why such a thing exists, but please keep in mind there are many people who do find this useful.)
Downloadable, as usual, at:
New Features
I've made some changes since last time, and provided a new option:
Migration to the New Word version
If you've been entering data into the old version and want to transfer it to the new layout (where items are grouped by class), here's how:
Notes on the Word Versions
If you don't like some of my formatting, it's easy to change by modifying the appropriate style. You can turn off the yellow highlights for modified items by removing the fill colour from the "Item - New" style (under Borders & Shading). You can disable the two forced page breaks by turning off "Page Break Before" in the "Paragraph" section of the "Items - Name - New Page" style.
However, if you're having serious formatting issues, you may have encountered one of Word's persistent table style bugs. The main tables are all supposed to have 12 point text, with no text wrapping to a second line (Thunderfury is 10 point). Try the following:
Good luck in Season 12!
0
I forgot to mention one thing:
When you're running fast rifts or bounties, most people want to continue to get the advantage of group play without interrupting the group with long periods of inventory sorting that can be done later.
So it's always good to have a couple of stash tabs clear as very temporary storage.
As you learn which items are most/least useful, and as you increase your proportion of Ancients, the need for this will naturally drop off.
0
Agreed. But making decisions is difficult for many people. And those people are also likely to enjoy chasing achievements. Which makes stash space (and even character slots) an appropriate reward.
And season are, effectively, targetted at keeping exactly that kind of player involved in the game.
I you look at the rest of my posting on the official forums (this site didn't let me post the full calculation), I think I made some reasonable assumptions -- apart from not realising that Necromancers' primary stat is Intelligence, not Vitality.
Let me put it this way: how do you feel if you realise that the build you want to try requires an item you've been consistently salvaging?
Some people will anticipate this possibility by keeping one of everything. Some people will try to avoid it by carefully studying the meta. Some people will get disillusioned and stop playing. Some people will switch back to a more familiar class or build. And some people won't let it affect them, and will simply focus their Kadala/Kanai's Cube gambling on getting that item.
We're all different, and all of these are valid responses.
The producer of a game ultimately needs to understand which types of people are keeping their game alive, and make a choice to address the needs of each type in an appropriate way, or understand the consequences and choose not to.
Personally, I would like to see the opportunity to gain a total of 15 Stash Tabs (this is a bit arbitrary -- there's an argument for four tabs per class, one each for Sets, Weapons, Armour, and Jewellery) and 21 character slots (3 for each class, being one of each class and gender in SC and one of each class in HC). It makes sense to continue to tie the extras to "achievements" and/or (hopefully to a lesser extent) money spent. That way, if you don't feel you need the extra space, personally, you don't have to pursue it.
0
I've heard that buying the Necromancer pack is going to also increase our stash space by two tabs and our character roster by two. I thought it would be interesting to estimate if that will be enough to store all the extra items we may need.
The bottom line is that 2 stash tabs plus 2 character slots leaves us about a dozen full-size items short on storage space.
How do I come to this number?
Unfortunately, for some bizarre reason, I can't tell you here. But the full explanation is at: us.battle.net/forums/en/d3/topic/20753995762#1
0
Kanai's Cube Checklist has now been updated for Season 10 (patch 2.5.0).
Same webpage as before (previous post). Only change is the addition of Holy Point Shot.
As I've said before, this isn't for everyone, so please be respectful. As some people have pointed out, you can tell if an item is in the Cube while looking at the item because the diamond next to the Legendary Power is filled in rather than open. However, this won't tell you anything about Season vs non-Season, or what you have and what you don't when you don't it in inventory!
(I'm hoping to release a more user-friendly Sprinter Guide in the next couple of week. Feedback before that is always appreciated.)
1
I just updated my Kanai's Cube Checklist for patch 2.4.3. Same download page as above.
Note that this won't be for everyone. I find it useful, and if it helps a few other people, then I'm happy.
2
I've just uploaded a new version of my Guides to the Sprinter and Speed Racer Conquests.
What is the Sprinter Guide?
A detailed, printable guide that gives you all you need to know -- right when you need it -- to smash the Sprinter and Speed Racer conquests.
What's in the Sprinter Guide?
There are five main sections:
The Introductory Notes include separate sections for Runners, the Town Camper, and Everyone.
Do I Need to Read the Whole Sprinter Guide?
Certainly not!
You can skip straight to the Guide you'll need during the run. The Town Camper should print the Town Camper Guide and the Time Record. Runners should print just the Concise Runner Guide. Everyone should skim read some of the Notes, to make sure they understand the Guides, and to pick up any Tips they may not have seen.
Where Can I Download the Sprinter Guide?
The quick link is goo.gl/dsru6o (mouse over the link to see the full destination).
You can download the whole guide (and just print the bits you need), or download the individual sections.
I apologise about the two extra clicks for the larger files -- free web hosts...
What's Changed Since Version 2 of the Sprinter Guide?
What's Next for the Sprinter Guide?
I have some ideas, and some feedback to address. This includes (in rough order of priority):
Items 1 to 3 are likely to happen during Season 9. Beyond that, I'll tackle things based on feedback and enthusiasm. So let me know if you like or dislike these ideas (politely), or if you can think of better solutions.
Before any of that, I need to finish off the patch 2.4.3 version of my Kanai's Cube Checklist (possibly tomorrow).
Happy Gaming!
0
Thanks for the feedback, grilledchiz.
I really appreciate it, and you make some good point that I would like to improve. Perhaps you can help me decide on some solutions?
As I see it, there's kind of three reasons why the guide is so long:
1. The introduction covers pretty much everything you need to know to prepare for Sprinter (9 pages).
2. The Town Camper guide needs to be very detailed, covering every stage of every quest. That's so the Town Camper knows exactly what to do and when, and can offer reminders to the Runners (8 pages).
3. The guide actually has four (now five) distinct sections. For most people, they'll only need to print one or two of them. (That's why I also provide the guide broken down into these sections.)
(4. I enjoy writing, and want to cover everything!
)
So the basic problem that I hear is that there's too many barriers to entry. In particular, the download has too many steps, and opening the document gives the impression that you have to read the whole thing to use it (which is not the case).
How I could solve this?
2. Okay, so there's not much I can do to shorten the Town Camper section. Even if I did cut out all the bits where the Camper just has to wait, that would risk the Camper missing a cue from absent context. Trust me on this! -- I've used it more than once.
1. I could move the good stuff to the front. For example, I could start with a simple front page that shows the Contents and includes most of the first intro section, plus a clear description of the parts of the guide and how to use them. That would be a single page. Then, the new Concise Runner Guide could go next (because it's short and has pretty pictures). Then either the full Runner Guide (which is really too dense to use during a run) or the Town Camper Guide (probably the latter, first). Then the Notes and Tips, then the Time Record.
3. That intro page should clarify the structure of the guide and how to use it, which should point people just to the parts they need.
4. Every time I look at the guide I try to be more brief -- but only if it doesn't cost necessary detail. I do try to use headings and bold text to help the eye quickly find things. But perhaps I could add more headings and even change some of the heading styles (I noticed that two of them might be too similar).
5. I can't do much about the restrictions of my free web host, but I could upload the guide to GameFAQs (I think) and link to there. I could reorganise the links so it's clearer what's going on. (I could also tidy up the website with some CSS, but that's not something I'm enthusiastic to take on, right now -- I'd rather play Diablo!)
How does that sound?
Incidentally, I've just uploaded version 3.0 of the Sprinter Guide (with a few big improvements).
I have plans to add three small, Act 5 maps for version 3.1, but I don't know that many of the ideas in this post will make that version. Might need v3.5 for so many drastic modifications.
0
Sorry about the extra two clicks.
One of my free web hosts doesn't allow files over 500K, and the other doesn't allow files to be linked directly from other sites.
0
No feedback at all? I guess my Sprinter guide is already perfect. Woo hoo!
0
If you've used my Sprinter Guide (downloadable from http://paulius.50webs.com/diablo3.html ), I'd love to hear any feedback you have.
I'm working on an updated version for Season 9, hoping to release in the next couple of days. So be quick if you want your ideas to be incorporated.
The major update will be the addition of a much shorter version of the Runner guide. That's because, using the runner guide myself in Season 7, I found there's no time to actually read much. Unfortunately, I forgot all of the other observations I made at the time. D'oh!