(Aug 19 NZT) Hardcore No-Party Ladder Race

Awesome, can't wait for this one! :D

Never played dualist before, got to level 29 in 3 hours 2 minutes. Wonder how far I can get this event ;)

Always played 2h marauder, but this seems alot faster.

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Struyk wrote:

Never played dualist before, got to level 29 in 3 hours 2 minutes. Wonder how far I can get this event ;)

Always played 2h marauder, but this seems alot faster.

Do it at the race man, prove them all wrong.

Did you clear the act 2 boss?

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Struyk wrote:

Never played dualist before, got to level 29 in 3 hours 2 minutes. Wonder how far I can get this event ;)

Always played 2h marauder, but this seems alot faster.

That's pretty solid. Did you have items in your stash already or actually go on a fresh run to that point?

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Glowinglight wrote:

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TehHammer wrote:

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Metronomy wrote:

This is exactly why I wanted a solo event as well, no one arguing for solo play has a coherent argument either that is backed up by comprehensive proof.

Um... The mechanics of the game. That's all you need to know. They favor parties.

Drops aren't wasted, someone in the party will use every item that is "good" whereas solo you get far less drops and far more drops wasted.

Experience is gained 30% faster. Mobs gain 50% health and 50% experience per party member, which cancel each other out, but the 30% bonus still sits there.

If this isn't a coherent argument that is backed up by comprehensive proof, I'm not sure anything is. These are the game mechanics, facts. Proof in its purest form.

More party members mean you can find your objective faster and complete quests faster too. For Act 2 it is really annoying having to go from level 23 or whatever it is on one side then having to go back to a level 17 zone. If you have more party members you can find your way out of the level 17 zone faster and move on to a zone that is more fit for your level.

There are even more advantages than that. If you are solo and you place a town portal, you can only use it once. If you are in a party and someone else places a portal, you can use it an infinite number of times.

This means that if 2 people in a party place a portal at every boss fight, the whole party can go back to town for potion refills as many times as they wish.

Also, if one player loses connection (this happens frequently) a party member can use a portal scroll and that person can come right back to the fight without having to backtrack from the last waypoint.

So parties enjoy plenty of obvious advantages to solo competitors:

- Drops aren't wasted unless the party is all the same class
- More loot
- Gain experience faster (this is an EXP race after all)
- Cover more ground when searching for quest objectives, so they can be found more quickly
- Tactical advantages (One player can tank while another focuses on ranged damage. A player who is in trouble can call out for a teammate to draw the monster's attention. Boss battles are more manageable because the boss can only focus on 1 player at a time.)
- portals do not disappear when a party member uses it, so parties can take a lot more trips to town than solo players (2 portals in one location provide infinite town visits)

The actual disadvantage (you must have 3 party members to get double the EXP, instead of 2 party members for double EXP) is reduced by the fact that a party kills things faster anyway. This is because monster health in a 2-person party is +50%. So 2 players = double damage to the monster but the monster doesn't get double health.

Having said all that, I do believe the main factor in winning 1st place for your class is player skill, not party size. I just think it's pretty clear that a party offers more advantages than disadvantages. Encouraging party play is a GOOD thing in an online only action-RPG, it's just not so good for these kinds of competitions.

So I hope that GGG does more of these "No-Party" events, even if it is only 1 out of every 4 events. A more level playing field could make final EXP totals closer together, which will feel like more of a "race".

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Struyk wrote:

Never played dualist before, got to level 29 in 3 hours 2 minutes. Wonder how far I can get this event ;)

Always played 2h marauder, but this seems alot faster.

Booya! If you did that time race styles then you're better than any duelist has done in a team so far.

Let's dance ^_^

Do they really expect people to make it to cruel difficulty?

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Razqua wrote:

Do they really expect people to make it to cruel difficulty?

I'd say that with a bit of drop luck and without going back to farm areas over again you could make cruel solo.

I ran a trial run last night to try and work on my early build and was able to almost start pyramids before my alarm signaled 3 hours. However I had spent a fairly considerable time farming ledge/fellshrine and I had a few deficiencies elsewhere which wasted time.

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Razqua wrote:

Do they really expect people to make it to cruel difficulty?

My feeling is that the top 5 overall absolutely will, perhaps not of all classes though.

On all my practice runs it seemed faster and slightly safer to just farm pyramid instead of trying to make it into cruel in time to be worth it. but I wasn't playing a marauder/witch cause I like a real challenge :P

I also can only make it to pyramid with like 30 minutes left, I don't think I can make it any faster unless I get a phase run drop or really lucky with a weapon.