Why you should never, ever practice racing

hillock


brutus

3 quicksilvers dropped in act 1 and 2

enough transmutes, alts, and whetstones to buy everything i needed after weaver (i even bought my woodsplitter upon entering town, don't need drops when you're rich)

i learned nothing

Racing is still fun, at least.

from hillock when i was practising as scion

Basically... RNG

No idea why anyone thought "racing" would be a good idea in an ARPG. I did a 'Merveil Kill' race recently and had literally life flasks or portal scrolls drop along the way. No uniques, no quicksilvers, nothing. And yes, I did kill plenty of mobs. I had to spend the little Wisdom scrolls I had to buy medium/large life flasks from vendors, and didn't have enough scrolls left to buy Coral/Sapphire rings for the boss fights.

As a result, the fights took a lot longer than someone who, for example, found what they needed along the way.

The only way racing would even remotely be fair for everyone is if all layouts, mobs, and drops (from mobs) are 'fixed seed' -- as in, everything is predetermined and the exact same for all racers going through any particular area. Then there would at least be some consistency between racers' RNG.

There can be a difference from one race to the next. But it averages out over several races. I think it would be rare for drops to make more than a couple levels difference in a one hour race. One good drop doesn't make the race. You need multiple upgrades during the race, especially with melee weapons. It usually averages out over the course of a race.

I assume most racers have race filters for flasks, sockets, jewelry etc. It was easy to miss stuff before filters. Filters made a big difference when mobs are dying off screen behind me. If I'm desperate I'll go back and get something. I might make a special "desperate" filter for small blue/yellow drops and small superior drops.