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Progression through Diablo 3 from a 60 DH in Inferno
contingencyplan
Posts: 3,639 Member
Most of you who follow the game have probably heard the outcries about how the game favors ranged classes over melee, and how Inferno difficulty is nigh impossible.
Here is my experience leveling:
I rolled a Demon Hunter on day 1 of release and began leveling up alone. I played for roughly 3 hours a day or so and a little more on weekends.
I got through all of Act 1 without dying except for once on the Butcher fight. The rest was ridiculously easy because most of the mobs did not have ranged attacks and I was able to kill them from the next room over without aggroing them because of the way Hungering Arrow works. The ones that did aggro me I simply kited over a slow trap (caltrops) and killed.
In act 2 I switched to a build designed around nuking AOE packs from range by spamming bola and Elemental Arrow with the Ball of Thunder rune. I used this move combination to carry me through the rest of normal mode except for the Diablo fight itself. I was able to AOE nuke mob packs from range with high damage easily. I died in act 2 a few times mainly due to carelessness but that was it. The rest of the game went all too easily and this was without AT ALL using the abilities people were saying made my class overpowered (shadow power, smoke screen, preparation, etc). Those abilities were simply not a part of my build. After a few deaths on Diablo I switched my build to one that included Entangling Shot as my primary and I killed Diablo without taking damage once, nuking him and slowing him while off screen. The only time he was even ever on screen with me was when he teleported, and that I used vault to get away from.
I began Nightmare mode but I discovered that my "nuking AOE mob packs" strategy no longer worked when the mob pack contained rare/elite/champion mobs. Then I hit a problem: Because of how I explore all the optional content, I ended up way outleveling the zone I was in and I found that with my new significantly higher level I was able to start exploiting my AOE nuke build again even on elite/champion mob packs. A friend of mine who was already in Hell mode informed me that I was going into Act 3 NM at the level I should be going into Hell at, so he gave me the checkpoints needed to quickly get Diablo and move onto Hell mode.
Things started to get difficult in Hell mode because I wasn't getting any drops that were needed for my class, so I turned to the AH for new weapons while leaving armor up to drops and crafting. The Belial fight was the hardest part of all of this. This was the point where I finally gave in and switched my build to one that included some of the abilities people said made my class overpowered. Even though I used them sparingly the rest of Hell mode because a joke, stupidly easy.
I hit level 60 at the beginning of A4 Hell mode and bought an 842 DPS 2h xbow off the AH for 120k gold. This single weapon upgrade increased my raw damage output to a level so high that I could have started farming A4 right then and there if I wanted to without any continued upgrades to my gear set.
Progressing through A1 Inferno changed things for me. I was no longer able to experiment with my character build and had to resort to using cookie cutter builds from off the forums because Inferno progression means being pigeonholed into a single playstyle: Ranged dps/kiting while exploiting the hell out of abilities that provide you with increased survivability, even if only temporary, because they're the only form of actual survivability you'll see since the gear system is broken. The Nephalem Valor buff forces you to find one general purpose build that works for all occasions from farming to boss fights to elite mobs and stick with it, never switching again. The game at this point ceased to become fun because continued progression meant one of two things: Endless farming for gear(easiest way to do so is to go back and farm A4 Hell with Magic Find gear and stupidly high DPS weapons) or Exploiting the hell out of obviously broken (as in overpowered) abilities that grant stupidly high levels of survivability considering how undergeared I am. Although I am stuck at a point Inferno players are referring to as "The Wall" (beginning of A2 Inferno), I have no desire to continue further because there is no way to do so while keeping the game fun. It's either farm or exploit or a mix of both, neither of which seems to me like it makes the game at all "challenging." Only boring and stressful.
I am now starting up a new character in hardcore mode. Hoping it'll lead to the kind of fun that makes me feel like I got my $50 worth.
Here is my experience leveling:
I rolled a Demon Hunter on day 1 of release and began leveling up alone. I played for roughly 3 hours a day or so and a little more on weekends.
I got through all of Act 1 without dying except for once on the Butcher fight. The rest was ridiculously easy because most of the mobs did not have ranged attacks and I was able to kill them from the next room over without aggroing them because of the way Hungering Arrow works. The ones that did aggro me I simply kited over a slow trap (caltrops) and killed.
In act 2 I switched to a build designed around nuking AOE packs from range by spamming bola and Elemental Arrow with the Ball of Thunder rune. I used this move combination to carry me through the rest of normal mode except for the Diablo fight itself. I was able to AOE nuke mob packs from range with high damage easily. I died in act 2 a few times mainly due to carelessness but that was it. The rest of the game went all too easily and this was without AT ALL using the abilities people were saying made my class overpowered (shadow power, smoke screen, preparation, etc). Those abilities were simply not a part of my build. After a few deaths on Diablo I switched my build to one that included Entangling Shot as my primary and I killed Diablo without taking damage once, nuking him and slowing him while off screen. The only time he was even ever on screen with me was when he teleported, and that I used vault to get away from.
I began Nightmare mode but I discovered that my "nuking AOE mob packs" strategy no longer worked when the mob pack contained rare/elite/champion mobs. Then I hit a problem: Because of how I explore all the optional content, I ended up way outleveling the zone I was in and I found that with my new significantly higher level I was able to start exploiting my AOE nuke build again even on elite/champion mob packs. A friend of mine who was already in Hell mode informed me that I was going into Act 3 NM at the level I should be going into Hell at, so he gave me the checkpoints needed to quickly get Diablo and move onto Hell mode.
Things started to get difficult in Hell mode because I wasn't getting any drops that were needed for my class, so I turned to the AH for new weapons while leaving armor up to drops and crafting. The Belial fight was the hardest part of all of this. This was the point where I finally gave in and switched my build to one that included some of the abilities people said made my class overpowered. Even though I used them sparingly the rest of Hell mode because a joke, stupidly easy.
I hit level 60 at the beginning of A4 Hell mode and bought an 842 DPS 2h xbow off the AH for 120k gold. This single weapon upgrade increased my raw damage output to a level so high that I could have started farming A4 right then and there if I wanted to without any continued upgrades to my gear set.
Progressing through A1 Inferno changed things for me. I was no longer able to experiment with my character build and had to resort to using cookie cutter builds from off the forums because Inferno progression means being pigeonholed into a single playstyle: Ranged dps/kiting while exploiting the hell out of abilities that provide you with increased survivability, even if only temporary, because they're the only form of actual survivability you'll see since the gear system is broken. The Nephalem Valor buff forces you to find one general purpose build that works for all occasions from farming to boss fights to elite mobs and stick with it, never switching again. The game at this point ceased to become fun because continued progression meant one of two things: Endless farming for gear(easiest way to do so is to go back and farm A4 Hell with Magic Find gear and stupidly high DPS weapons) or Exploiting the hell out of obviously broken (as in overpowered) abilities that grant stupidly high levels of survivability considering how undergeared I am. Although I am stuck at a point Inferno players are referring to as "The Wall" (beginning of A2 Inferno), I have no desire to continue further because there is no way to do so while keeping the game fun. It's either farm or exploit or a mix of both, neither of which seems to me like it makes the game at all "challenging." Only boring and stressful.
I am now starting up a new character in hardcore mode. Hoping it'll lead to the kind of fun that makes me feel like I got my $50 worth.
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