T.Runic

I have an interesting job and a family, so it took me five times as long as anyone else, but now I have an Inferno-capable Level 60 Diablo III character. I’m wondering if this is when I start getting bored. Herewith a few notes on the experience, and some tips for those who haven’t done D3 yet.

Wanna Play? · My character’s name is TRunic, a Demon Hunter, built thus. She can pretty well walk through any situation at Hell Level, and is still grinding along through Inferno Act 1. Her DPS is about 18.7K [Update: Now over 20K], which is seen as low by connaisseurs of hard-assedness; but she’s really pretty good at crowd control and kiting, so she’ll be there pumping out that damage well into a long fight. The wall-builders give her trouble.

Anyhow, if you’d like some company working through Inferno, or hand-holding for a lower-level character having trouble with a piece of the game, figure out a way to get in touch and I’d be happy to posse up. Assuming you can do it between 10:30PM and midnight-ish, Pacific time, and not every night, either.

See Also · My previous Diablo 3 write-up covers the basics, and I haven’t changed my mind about much.

The Auction House · I understand there are people who want to grow their characters “organically”, as in not buy shit. I don’t see you how you could do that and have any kind of a life. You gotta work the auction house, looking for those bits & pieces that have the +Dex or whatever your statistical hunger is, plus a low buyout value. Sometimes you’ll have to page through lotsa screens; but yeah, you can find the bargains to keep your DPS and survivability at least respectable.

So, what you gonna pay with? I haven’t spent a real cent, but I farmed as I leveled. Which means I hoovered up every piece of gold, and every colored-letters drop whatsoever, as I worked my way through. This meant regular trips back to the merchant to cash out, but there are worse things. A complete load-out is what, a dozen or so items? Of mine, one is from a drop.

Which is a little sad; I built two Diablo 2 characters around super-drops. It doesn’t seem to get in the way of the fun, since the Market doesn’t burn much time to speak of. But sad.

Bosses and Crowds · The raw fun in the game isn’t any one boss (they’re kinda disappointing), it’s when you get huge numbers of attackers, and then more waves arriving from every direction, and it’s just a huge scramble with a premium on speed and maneuverability. In particular when you can maneuver so a bunch of them have to crowd through a narrow gap.

Hints · Can’t write one of these without some of those.

• Find a site written by someone smart who’s trying to do the same things you are. As a Demon Hunter builder, I’ve found Diablo 3 Artisans very helpful.

• Spend time with the game-play control options. No, more time. Find out what each and every one of them does. Some of the defaults are amazingly stupid.

• Playing in groups is way more fun than soloing, particularly if you have a competent tank. Having someone who can draw the monsters into a bunch and stay alive among them makes all the ranged attackers immensely more effective.

  If I get bored with T.Runic, I really do plan to try growing a Monk. We’ll see if that staves off tedium.

• Kite Diablo, particularly in the shadow-realm sequence. He’s just not that deadly and the way to win is by wearing him down.

Have Fun! · Otherwise, don’t play.