[1.09b] Erayz’s Unreasonable Project [1460/2376]

It's been a while, because I've been doing other things since the last update, and played other games. But I tried doing at least one CS run every day with my Softcore Classic Barb, and today I finally reached level 90!

Since last time:
Softcore Classic Barb: 89 -> 90
Softcore Classic Paladin: 65 -> 66
Softcore Classic Necromancer: 74 -> 75
Hardcore Classic Sorceress: 1 -> 20

So, now my total is 1409/2376

I'll try going for at least level 91 with the barb, but a Chaos Sanctuary run where I kill every unique packs + Diablo while ignoring everything else now gives only ~600k XP (~250k of it coming from Diablo alone).

However, I rolled a pretty good map where a pack of Urdars almost always spawn near the entrance of the River of Flame. Sometimes there's even double unique Urdars pack or champions. There's also a shrine really close to this spawn, which is sometimes an XP shrine. Killing those Urdars should be faster XP than Chaos Sanctuary + Diablo I got to test a few different strats/runs to see if running this is actually faster than just going for Diablo. Maybe doing CS on players 1 then spawning Diablo on players 8 will give better rates, but I doubt it for now.
 
After testing different runs this morning, I can confirm killing Urdars is the way to go for 90 -> 91 (wih my map seed at least).

Types of runs tested in order of slowest to fastest:
  1. Full CS run + killing Diablo , all on P8
  2. Killing only uniques, seal bosses and Diablo all on P8
  3. Seal bosses only on P1, Diablo on P8
  4. Killing Urdars
The XP rates for the first three are pretty similar, and #2-3 are a lot riskier due to constantly having huge packs running after you, plus all the Oblivion knights casting Iron Maiden while you try to focus on uniques. Also it's less sustainable because you end up using more Full rejuvs, and don't get to pick up as much loot and gold

The XP rate also depends quite a bit on finding an XP shrine before killing Diablo (if there is no shrine in CS or RoF, I go to Stony Field and Dark wood to search briefly for one). The difference is almost 20% more XP in total for the first two types of runs, and near 50% for the third,

Killing Urdars is the best in almost all regards. The XP rate is a lot more consistent while being higher than the other types, the runs are super fast (~30 seconds) and there's little to no risk. The only danger is when you get a pack with Curse, Fanat/Might, Extra Strong or Mana Burn, but even in this case it's safer than CS.

Keep in mind that all of this is with a level 90 whirlwind Barbarian, the rates and strategies will probably differ as I get higher level and Urdars start giving less XP, and the different strategies might be faster/slower for other classes. I also haven't tested runs where I clear RoF when regular Urdars spawn, without Blood maggots slowing me down. These might be worth doing when I see them.
 
Yeah, on the old incgamers forum we had a discussion about Urdars, I think champions specifically gave the most XP, but that was for 1.00-1.06. How does XP compare in 1.09? How much do cows give? I remember trying to get to 99 absolutely is not worth it in pre LoD because past about 92-93 only Diablo gives any worthwhile XP and it takes something like 90,000 runs iirc. Back when the game released there was a race between "RusBarb" (from russia) and GerBarb (germany) and both made it to 99 after a team of people did optimal runs 24/7 for months where they just popped into p8 games killed diablo and left.
 
galaxyhaxz said:
Yeah, on the old incgamers forum we had a discussion about Urdars, I think champions specifically gave the most XP, but that was for 1.00-1.06. How does XP compare in 1.09? How much do cows give? I remember trying to get to 99 absolutely is not worth it in pre LoD because past about 92-93 only Diablo gives any worthwhile XP and it takes something like 90,000 runs iirc. Back when the game released there was a race between "RusBarb" (from russia) and GerBarb (germany) and both made it to 99 after a team of people did optimal runs 24/7 for months where they just popped into p8 games killed diablo and left.
Click to expand...
I don't know how much XP monsters give in 1.00-1.06, but I'd guess you get a lot more in 1.09.

Regular Cows on players 8 at level 90 in Classic only give 716 XP. Champions give 2149 and Uniques, 17194. That's because cows are only level 78 (80/81 for champions/uniques), so they're not worth killing at this point.

Regular Urdars still give 5606, Champions, 31686 and uniques, 65197. A pack of 4 champions will beat a unique pack with 5 minions. But sometimes only 2-3 champions spawn. Though starting at level 91, the XP from Urdars start to drop rather quickly, so I'll have to check again if they're still worth doing vs killing Diablo only.

As per my calculations and testing, a level 98 character gains 87690 XP from Diablo on Players 8, so around 131k with an XP shrine. If you were to get an XP shrine on every run, this would take "only" a bit more than 2200 runs for 98->99

If you're curious, in the second post ofmy leveling guide thread, there's a table of XP per monster for each character level from 85-98. The numbers are for players 8, and I included only relevant monsters, so cows and monsters from River of Flame and Chaos Sanctuary.
 
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I haven't posted my progress in a while, because I wanted to wait until reaching 91 with my Classic Softcore Barb, but it's taking a lot of time (only ~40% done), and am currently focusing on other games so I haven't played much D2 recently.

Total went from 1409 to 1460

Softcore Classic Necromancer: 75 -> 77

Hardcore Expansion Sorceress: 59 -> 62
Hardcore Expansion Assassin: 5 -> 51
 
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