Gynli's sept projects progression thread

[Gynli]

... Something about me being a lazy completionist with a bit of OCD.

I've always wanted to finish this game; but I have a long history of clean-slating and starting from scratch whenever something goes awry, and thus losing all progression. To prevent another such moment, I created this progression thread.

The main goal of this thread is to serve as a 'save point' of progression; and to make sure any time spent on the game is time spent towards finishing the game.

By finishing. I mean doing everything and collecting everything that the game has to offer.
And that is a ginormous list of projects when it comes to Diablo II, I know.

So in this thread, I will attempt to do the following:
1. Define 'finishing the game' as a list of projects.
2. Keep regular progression updates on each milestone for on-going projects.
3. Archive links to write-ups for completed projects.



THE BUCKET LIST

The day this is empty is the day I can finally call quits.

Spoiler

Divided into Do, Collect, and Maybe.

Do : Anything to do with Characters that are either in progress or will be soon.
Collect : Anything to do with Items that are either in progress or will be.
Maybe : Ideas I'm mulling over that are not yet developed into full-blown projects.
Strike : Moved to on-going projects below.

-- Do --
Max level on every class.
Title Sept

Untwinked Guardian on every class.

  Guardian as /p8/p8/p3 untwinked single-pass full-clear, on every class.

Speedrun every class.

  figure out appropriate time for each class.
  untwinked of course.

Class-set Sept.

  twinked and leveled at Pits until full set is equipped.
  Once full set, All of Hell in /p5 or higher.

Classic/Expansion set builds.

Mat/Pat character using each set

Random builds. - perhaps as Sept x Sept

twinked obviously. Leveled in Pits until items are equippable. All of Hell on /p5 or higher.
Ideas might turn into separate Septs if it seems fun enough.
FuzzyDodger -- on the edge. Bear sept?
PDR tank
2h Zeal chantress -- on the edge. zeal sept?
2h Axe Vengence sorc
CtC build -- on the edge. Ctc sept?
Merc-oriented bro/sis (bowa + rogue, spear + desert, Mage + pally, Barb + barb)
FrostBear (high-def bear pally)
Synergied Fire fury wold
Rabies Flee
Ancients (Leap Attack/Double throw barb/WW barb)
PJ + venom??


-- Collect --
The Holy Grail
1. The Holy Grail
2. Eth Grail
3. Runeword Grail
4. Runedrop Grail
5. Misc Grail (Potions, gems, etc)
6. Affix Grail (plain blue 'prefix of something' and 'something of affix')
7. Staff mod grail
8. Cathan grail
9.


-- Maybe's --
1. Items
  i. Ormus
  ii. Cathan
  iii. Perf Grail
  iv. Perf/Eth Grail
2. Naked Sept
  - not too keen on naked runs; as it seems like just relying on merc 7 times over.
  - Perhaps if I lose enough of my mind down the road...
3. Mfers
  - Not too keen on fast-paced pitzerker. Perhaps singer, perhaps AT sorc.
  - Javazon cow, for bases
  - Trav runner (zeal or ww), for hrs.
  - IF I get the big 3 before the grail is complete... Pindle runner. Something with high frw.
4. Item-grade Sept
  - Magic-only
  - Rare-only
  - S/U-only (no class set allowed)
  - 4 types of Craft-only


[ Eventually... before I die ]
Perfect Grail
Perfect Eth Grail
JMoD


[ with trade ]
perfectly kitted out, perfect rolls, on some(? or all 7?) chars.
Amazon - Bowa / Java
Assassin - ?
Necromancer - Summoner
Barbarian - WW
Paladin - Hammerdin
Sorceress - Orb + smth
Driud -

Last updated : April 30 2019

THE "DOING EVERYTHING" PART

Every idea that's gotta do with characters - that actually involves doing something.


[Untwinked 99er Sept] - Reach level 99 on every class.
Last progression update : Nov 15 2019

If you haven't already, join us at Revenge of The 99ers!

As title suggests, this is about reaching the max level untwinked. I got crazy and decided to do a full sept.

NAME/CLASS
----------
Amazon       pre-LK  LK&95  96  97 98
Assassin     
Necromancer
Barbarian
Paladin
Sorceress
Druid

[Title Sept] - Earn every title in the game.
Last progression update : Nov 15 2019

I first came across The Title Grail while skimming through the stickied threads.

In short, its about earning all 19 titles the game assigns to a character based on the game version (Classic/Expansion), the gender of the character, the game mode (SC/HC) and, of course, the difficulty completed. Hell variants obviously have to go through and earn titles from Normal and Nightmare; and conveniently, there are exactly 7 different Hell-completed titles in the game.

So, one title sept it is.

VERSION    GENDER  MODE      NORMAL     NIGHTMARE  HELL
Classic    Male    SC        Sir        Lord       Baron
Classic    Female  SC        Dame       Lady       Baroness
Classic    Male    HC        Count      Duke       King
Classic    Female  HC        Countess   Duchess    Queen
Expansion  Male    SC        Slayer     Champion   Patriarch
Expansion  Female  SC        Slayer     Champion   Matriarch
Expansion  Both    HC        Destroyer  Conqueror  Guardian

9 of 12 classic        titles obtained
1 of  7 expansion      titles obtained
3 of  7 Hell-completed titles obtained

THE "COLLECTING EVERYTHING" PART

Can't call myself a completionist if I don't try and collect every item in the game, right?


[The Holy Grail] - Collect all Sets and Uniques in the game.
Last progression update : Nov 15 2019

Every item in the grail will remain unidentified. No wear and tear allowed!

                Total  Have  Missing
The Holy Grail    504   472       32

Uniques           377   352       25
- Normal          116   114        2
- Exceptional     119   116        3
- Elite            85    70       15
- Jewelry          30    27        3
- Class-specific   27    25        2

Sets              127   120        7
- Normal           62    61        1
- Expansion        65    59        6

Spoiler: Holy Grail Details

Spoiler: Normal Uniques - 114 of 116 found

Slot        Total Found Missing
Maces       8     7     1
                        Felloak
Staves      5     4     1
                        Bane Ashe

Spoiler: Exceptional Uniques - 116 of 119 found

Slot        Total Found Missing
Axes        10    9     1
                        Islestrike
Staves      5     3     2
                        Chromatic Ire
                        Skull Collector

Spoiler: Elite Uniques - 70 of 85 found

Slot        Total Found Missing
Helms       9     8     1
                        Nightwing's Veil
Armor       7     5     2
                        Templar's Might
                        Tyrael's Might
Shields     6     5     1
                        Spirit Ward
Gloves      3     2     1
                        Steelrend
Axes        8     6     2
                        Death Cleaver
                        Executioner's Justice
Bows        3     2     1
                        Windforce
Crossbows   2     1     1
                        Gut Siphon
Maces       10    8     2
                        Schaefer's Hammer
                        Earth Shifter
Polearms    4     3     1
                        Stormspire
Spears      3     2     1
                        Steel Pillar
Staves      2     1     1
                        Mang Song's Lesson
Wands       2     1     1
                        Death's Web

Spoiler: Jewelry Uniques - 27 of 30 found

Slot        Total Found Missing
Amulets     12    11    1
                        Metalgrid
Rings       9     7     2
                        The Stone of Jordan
                        Wisp Projector

Spoiler: Class-Specific Uniques - 25 of 27 found

Slot        Total Found Missing
Weapons     13    12    1
                        Death's Fathom
Armor       14    13    1
                        Spirit Keeper

Spoiler: Classic Sets - 61 of 62 found

Set        Total Found Missing
Vidala     4     3     1
                       Vidala's Ambush

Spoiler: Expansion Sets - 59 of 65 found

Set        Total Found Missing
Cow King   3     0     3
                       Cow King's Horns
                       Cow King's Hide
                       Cow King's Hooves
Griswold   4     1     3
                       Griswold's Valor
                       Griswold's Redemption
Tal Rasha  5     2     1
                       Tal Rasha's Adjudication

//Holy Grail Detail

[Runeword Grail] - Make every runeword in the game.
Last Progression Update : AAA 11 1111

Every runeword will be made from runes dropped as-is in superior bases. No cubing allowed!

                Total  Have  Missing
Runeword Grail     78     0       78

Original           24     0       24
1.10               24     0       24
1.10 Ladder        23     0       23
1.11                7     0        7

Spoiler: Runeword Grail Details

Spoiler: Runes needed

El 8
Eld 6
Tir 14
Nef 6
Eth 12
Ith 6
Tal 7
Ral 10
Ort 9
Thul 8

Amn 12
Sol 11
Shael 9
Dol 7
Hel 8
Io 6
Lum 8
Ko 11
Fal 6
Lem 8

Pul 7
Um 11
Mal 13
Ist 7
Gul 6
Vex 8
Ohm 7
Lo 10
Sur 7
Ber 9

Jah 12
Cham 3
Zod 1


//Runes needed

//Runeword Grail Detail

FINISHED PROJECTS

Archive of links to write-ups of completed projects.

Spoiler

Nope. No completed projects yet.

- NTS - Notes and ideas.
Frequently edited.

Spoiler

Flavie Runeword typo. (Ice, Amn-Sheal)
Classic area levels

 

[Gynli]

First of the project is one for the Title Sept.

Presenting, Baron Baron.

View attachment 6651

He was played as Holy Fire Zealot in Normal, Holy Freeze Zealot in Nightmare, and Hammerdin in Hell. I will follow this trend on all my characters for this sept, and switch builds for each difficulty.

Normal and Nightmare went by pretty easy thanks to Holy Fire and Holy Freeze.

In Hell, I hit a brick wall against immunities. Due to the lack of elite gear, Cleglaw's set was gonna be my final gear, and it did not provivde nearly enough damage against the immunities. I had originally planned to go through Hell as Holy Thunder zealot, but seeing how poorly the Holy Freeze zealot did; I knew I would have too much trouble going forward. I wasn't too excited to play a Hammerdin, but it looked like I had no choice. Once I decided to switch to a Hammerdin, rest of Hell went by pretty easy; but it's surprising how well a Hammerdin does without any plus skills and without teleport.

I stopped at Andy and farmed her as Holy Freeze zealot for the needed gears. I progressed through the rest of Hell with the gears stated below; but had I been playing HC, I would've definitely farmed long enough to finish the Iratha's set. In Classic, the resists and max resists provided by Iratha's set is quite invaluable.

There were many deaths, mostly farming Andy, as I was getting tired of farming her and put on lots of mf gear and upped the players count. All in all, hammerdin is definitely not one of my favourite builds out there; and I am glad that I can cross him off my list of builds to play.

Here are his final stats/skills/gear.

Spoiler

STATS
75 str - for tower shield.
51 dex - for shard.
50 energy - for slight boost to mana pool.
rest in vit

75 fr
64 cr
75 lr
75 pr

1k hammer dmg w/o concentrate
4.9k hammer w/ concentrate

SKILLS
20 Hammer
20 Concentrate
20 Vigor
9 Blessed Aim (rest will go here)
3 Holy Shield (rest after blessed aim)
1 Redemption
1 Sanctuary
and some prerequisites.

GEAR
Iratha's Coil
Iratha's Collar
Gold Wrap
Chances(40)
- would've used full Iratha's set had I found them.

Spectral Shard
Tower Shield with 3 PDiamond
24 fhr, 7 life, 30 lr, 5 fr, 16 pr, 7 pdr breast plate
20 frw, 32 cr, 10 fr, 9mf demonhide boots
10% fcr, 21 lr, half freeze ring
Stone Of Jordan - yes =D i found soj before i found rest of my iratha's lol

 

[D2DC]

This means, all gems, runes, and bases for the runewords will have to be found as-is on the ground.

Where can you get pgs on the ground? Just HF quest and Andariel?

Good luck with this project! Very ambitious.

Edit: do gem shrines count as "finding on the ground"?

Edit: ninja'd

 

[Gynli]

@DiabloTwoinDC :
Yup. And I guess Gem Shrines. It is indeed very ambitious. Although I do think most of these are possible/feasible - the 99er sept is.. well yes... ambitious. =P

EDIT: Andy can drop perfect gems?? Never knew that.

EDIT2 : on second thought, I wonder how likely it is that I find one Tyrael while grinding lvl 8.8 area to lvl 92~ on 7 characters?

EDIT3 : this also means 2 Zods... one for the rune itself and one for the runeword... Please wish me luck everyone, I'll take all the luck I can get. lol

 

[D2DC]

https://www.purediablo.com/forums/threads/perfect-gems.547732/

I wasn't sure on Andy. Looks like NO.

 

[Albatross]

@DiabloTwoinDC :
Yup. And I guess Gem Shrines. It is indeed very ambitious. Although I do think most of these are possible/feasible - the 99er sept is.. well yes... ambitious. =P

..

EDIT2 : on second thought, I wonder how likely it is that I find one Tyrael while grinding lvl 8.8 area to lvl 92~ on 7 characters?

EDIT3 : this also means 2 Zods... one for the rune itself and one for the runeword... Please wish me luck everyone, I'll take all the luck I can get. lol

You're in for a long haul, good luck!

I'm afraid it's quite unlikely you'll find it going from 88 to 92, but if you push all the way to 99 with 7 characters, that might help

You can check out the odds of grinding ancient tunnels exclusively in a spreadsheet here.

 

[Lemstar]

Getting to 92 on a character is an afternoon's work. Your odds of getting anything rare at all through leveling 7 characters to that point, let alone a Tyrael's or a Zod, probably round to 0.

 

[Gynli]

@necrolemming
@Albatross

It seems i overestimated the difficulty of leveling a bit and understimated the difficulty of farming the two items greatly. That makes me reconsider my leveling geat to include some mf. After another look at the 99er thread, i am actually looking at lvl 98 on all 7 chars before the real challenge.

We shall see which will take longer; the grail or the 99 sept. =P

 

[Lemstar]

For some perspective, it takes about 3300 p8 clears of seal bosses + minions + Diablo to level a character from 94 to 98.

It takes 154000 of those runs to drop one Zod rune on average.

You need two of them.

 

[Gynli]

@necrolemming
Ahahahaha cool! thanks i never realized the odds were stacked so heavily against me. Well, nevertheless, these goals are something ive set to 'finish' the game - ill be done with d2 when finished - so in one sense its a good thing itll take as long as it should. =)

I had thought by the time i complete the 99 sept, everything else would easily follow. But by the looks of it, it seems i should rather aim for the grail instead. =P

 

[Lemstar]

Well, I've never done it, but I think 98-99 takes a similar amount of time as 1-98.

If you're wired to find absurdly lofty goals motivating instead of discouraging, I'm all for it, but personally, I don't think I could handle the prospect of knowing up-front that the estimatable portion of the time commitment is something in the vicinity of 2000 hours playing at very high efficiency (including having to grind LK seven times for six Enigmas and at least six CtAs, assuming there's no sharing of items between characters), and that you'll still probably need to win the lottery three times afterwards.

Just keep in mind that the quest effectively boils down to "find two Zods and a Tyrael's." You'll almost certainly have every other unique by the time that happens, and every rune below Zod is far more efficiently farmed just running Trav.

 

[Gynli]

@necrolemming

The ultimate goal of these projects is to 'finish' Diablo II. In my previous iterations of D2, I've always started with something similar to one of these projects, only to burn out and quit and return again with something else. And these multiple qutiting and returning to the game has gotten very tiring. This post is to stop myself from scratch each time and challenge myself to continue a smidge further. It's effectively a 'save point' for my D2 career. =)

I am wired to find most of my motivation in the challenge of something new or something difficult and I find satisfaction and sense of achievement in fully completing said challenges. I do understand I am reaching for the stars here - three times at that. And the only reason these absurdly lofty goals aren't discouraging is because I know it is absurd - and therefore I don't see it as a challenge. These lofty goals will be broken into smaller challenges per "return" to the game; maybe something like 'get to 98 on necro' or 'find one zod'. For many years to come, theses projects will be more about how far I can get than actually getting there. You and I both know it is very unrealistic and near impossible - at least from where I am standing -, but I've set up this post so that any time spent playing the game is time spent towards completion. If there comes a day that I actually have done all I could think of and all that is left of my D2 career is to find the 2nd Zod, then perhaps I could persuade myself out of the 'as-is' rule on the runeword grail.

 

[Dezrok]

Nice to see an ambitious long term project that should keep you playing D2 for the next 10 years or so!

One of the things I like about D2 is that I don't feel that I can never really "finish" it. There are so many different builds and so much gear ot be found. Then there is HC and SC, twinked and untwinked, questing, area running, single-pass, gear restrictions, no gear, skill restrictions, no skills, stat restrictions, no stats, going all the way to 99, and the possibilities end up being effectively infinite (although probably technically there are a finite number of ways to play the game). By the time you finish your list, I'm guessing that you will have found some more things that you want to do with the game.

 

[Gynli]

@Dezrok

Hahaha yes exactly. That must be the reason i keep coming back to d2. I have many other ideas in mind, but ive only listed what ive challenged myself to complete. While there are extremities of the game that i will not play - like not using stats skills or gears at all or things like time travelling -, a sept of chars like titan builds and randomized stats/skills or colour-restricted gear builds are still up in the air. Usual tourneys have rules like these, so im quite looking forward to participating in upcoming tournaments. =)

 

[Gynli]

Quick progression update.

I pushed my 99er Amazon to Hell for the MFO. She's currently sitting at lvl 87, and by the end of MFO she should be 90 or so. The readout of the stats/skills/gear will be posted after the MFO.

The Holy Grail challenge now includes a number of each runes needed to make all the runewords in the game. I'll properly change the syntax with tabs later.

After the MFO, I will probably move back to the Title Challenge and start up the Baroness or the King.

 

[ffs]

@Gynli It's cool to see your motivation, but I have to agree with @necrolemming. I would bet all my savings without thinking twice that you will never ever finish this. Not because it's impossible (comes close to it though) or because I doubt you, but because you will burn out long before, as any human being would. You will get discouraged quickly and may end up not achieving a single one of these goals, just because they're simply overkill.

Why not just take it step after step and go with one untwinked 99er first, see how that goes -- and most importantly join us in the untwinked 99er thread?

 

[Gynli]

@ffs

Thanks! I acutally mentioned joining the untwinked 99er thread in the previous post but i edited it out. Plz do welcome me when i join after the MFO! =D

In all honesty i dont think ill finish it either, at least for another decade. Its been mentioned before but this is mostly to keep my motivation up and to keep track. My previous plays in d2 has ended up with me setting up a goal similar to just one of the sub-goals in the op, playing like mad, and burning out real quick. Then I inevitabily call quits and delete all my progress. Its happened a couple times and i got fed up with myself lol.

This post is a save point of my progression; all the goals independent of each other asides from the holy grail. Even the holy grail itself actually, if i think of each item as a tiny milestone.

Ive set it up such a way because i 100% agree that i will burn out. Idk when, but i know i will inevitably call quits and delete d2 off my computer again =P. Nevertheless, D2 never fails to lure me back into play; ill continue along with the unfinished goals when im back. No more starting from scratch! -ish. everything is untwinked lol.

My current goals for this playthrough, and im guessing the more realistic ones, are L98 on amazon - yes 98 cause i hear 98 to 99 takes just as long lol - couple chars for the title sept and one tourney participation. The grail is based on luck so im hoping it is simply a byproduct of the 99er sept. After that, ill probably go back to playing some other games like LoL and Counter-Strike for a good while. =)

 

[T72on1]

For some reason I seem to have missed this one the first time around. So ... good luck !!!

I'm not going to argue about the level of craziness of this project anymore, as this has been done by others already, and you made your point clear as to what your reasons and motivations are to do it the way you do. Crazy as it might seem, I can actually see myself trying to get to something similar in the very, very long run. I would have one change though, and that's not to do everything with the untwinked rule. It's already hard enough to spend all those hours grinding for xp, items and runes, that I wouldn't want to have to grind LK every time again to make yet another CtA, Enigma, Infinity, ...

I would probably do this by pushing the 99ers as much as I can, and then when I get bored of that go for the titles or the tournaments. Even playing 7 characters to 99 won't probably give you all the items and runes you need for your challenge, but you will be quite close. From there on you'll know what to work on, and you'll probably have to farm Pits or AT for any leftover S/U and Travincal for required runes.

O yes, thinking about it some more, I'd also enable the possibility to cube up gems and use socket quest and Cube to socket items. Again, this challenge is already tough enough as it is.

As @Dezrok mentions, this is probably the main reason why we keep coming back to this wonderful game: we keep having things to do. And being a part of the SPF obviously helps in staying motivated, as there are always other crazy people one can use as an example to keep pushing .

People really shouldn't do this kind of challenges. Or at least not post about it. One moment I'm on a break from D2 to play the wonderful game Grim Dawn (interrupted for the MFO), next thing you know all I can think of is doing something like this myself, and spending the next few years on Diablo 2 and nothing else. And that's all your fault !!!

 

[Gynli]

...
Even playing 7 characters to 99 won't probably give you all the items and runes you need for your challenge, but you will be quite close.
...

I had originally thought by the time I finish the absurd 99er sept, I'd have finished the Holy Grail and then some. It seems I'm still quite underestimating the odds of Tyrael's and Zod dropping - but we'll see. =P

...
O yes, thinking about it some more, I'd also enable the possibility to cube up gems and use socket quest and Cube to socket items. Again, this challenge is already tough enough as it is.
...

Just to be clear, I am cubing up all gems and runes and using cubes in general for the 99ers. It's just for the grail I planned to do without. Perfect gems are not a problem; shrines and hellforges between 7+ chars will provide plenty. In terms of runes, I definitely want to see at least one Zod drop in my D2 career; I'm just not sure of the 2nd. If it really comes down to it - long log down the road when i've completed this insane 99er sept - I will cube up the 2nd Zod to make the BotD. =P

...
People really shouldn't do this kind of challenges. Or at least not post about it. One moment I'm on a break from D2 to play the wonderful game Grim Dawn (interrupted for the MFO), next thing you know all I can think of is doing something like this myself, and spending the next few years on Diablo 2 and nothing else. And that's all your fault !!!

I'll gladly take the blame! You are welcome to challenge me. =P

EDIT: Now that i think about it, isn't there a holy grail thread? Or am i thinking of the perfect grail thread...

 

[T72on1]

EDIT: Now that i think about it, isn't there a holy grail thread? Or am i thinking of the perfect grail thread...

Both.