Interest for 2nd LL Tourney?

[MonTy]

Hail all,

Last year we held a tournament that was quite fun. Seeing if there is any interest from players if I were to host another tournament.

I'd be open to suggestions, but looking to have a similar structure. Thinking of cutting out full clear single pass, but having people start on MP3 for Normal, MP2 for NM, MP 1 for Hell, and MP 0 for Inferno. Will also make it a shorter league as last time it was nearly 3 months, and allow more characters as three seemed a bit low.

Thanks for your input and hope we can get some contenders. Will raise the prize to gifting Reaper of Souls to the winner, as well as $100 to your selected Charity Organization.

[Chesspiece_face]

I am in. Can also donate to a prize pool if we have enough interest.

On my phone now but will post ideas for gameplay later.

[Aahzmadius]

Well of course you can count me in. I just lost my P62 wizard, so I'm up for a new project. As far as the rules, I think you should be allowed to use the blacksmith and jeweler-but I'm not picky. Wait, I have one more suggestion: no barbs. Too OP. (Having said that, I've killed one off already, not to mention the fact that it was NOT a barb who won the last tourney.)

I am also willing to kick in for the prize pool.

[Frag]

I'm in, wounded warrior project, let me know what you need from me, Monty.

[FoxBat]

Not sure we have enough interest but I enjoyed the last round and would be down for another. I certainly have some thoughts about rules variation though.

As you pointed out an issue with the last tournament was duration. I would therefore recommend going for a brutal, shorter experience if possible, with more tries to compensate if needed. Something more like D1 Ironman. If you agree with such an approach, I would do MP 10 as a start. It's actually not *that* much harder since your always overleveled (very reasonable to do without farming in softcore) but it's still notably harder.

Like Ironman I would also like to see potion buying banned, meaning you will have the careful resource-scrounging dimension, more care about taking excessive hits from trash, without going to the old extremes of "I can't ever get hit to save pots" or "guzzle my whole inventory to pass this part." Time pressure as in the last tourney is important to prevent excessive running or AI glitching to conserve potions.

You could still allow repair just to save on stash space but it's fairly irrelevant in normal. No reason to allow trinket buying in my opinion (except maybe for mercs in the field), it just minorly waters down challenge while adding a major asspain of rerolling games to buy things.

If using random skills then I also think you should be prevented from using a skill slot until the base version of your assigned skill is available (except perhaps a "primary" of your choice), and prevented from using runes until your rune turns up. This adds not just a bit of difficulty but also a better flavor sense of using only the skills you have to work with, rather than basically whatever you feel like until high levels.

[MonTy]

Not sure we have enough interest...

I think around six people would be enough to start, might get a few more interested once it begins. I would start the tournament shortly after the New Years, but I'll square down the rules before then.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I certainly believe MP10 is doable, but if you get selected with some weak skills I could see some fights being neigh impossible.

My thoughts are to disallow jeweller, blacksmith, and vendors and to force MP3 for Normal, MP2 for NM, MP1 for Hell, and MP0 for Inferno until you clear Inferno. I think it's a good balance for difficulty and you'll be able to re-run zones if needed this time. But the winner will be selected by the highest quest cleared in the highest difficulty. If you clear MP0 in Inferno you can bump up the MP, so if we have multiple people that cleared Inferno MP0, winner will not be selected by Paragon, but by your quest progression in the highest MP. I think the game is easier this time around, so I foresee people making it further. If your character dies you do not lose whatever quest progression that character made.

Nothing is set in stone, but the above is what I'm leaning towards. Will keep an open mind if anyone has further suggestions.

[Aahzmadius]

One other quick note: MP1 on hell is pretty brutal for non-twinked characters. Way, way harder than NM, MP2. Just something to consider, since non-melee especially will need a lot of DPS to get past Belial.

Again, I'm OK with whatever settings you want to go with.

[TheDragoon]

I'm not sure how much time I'll have, but I'd be interested to at least try to join in.

[MonTy]

One other quick note: MP1 on hell is pretty brutal for non-twinked characters.

Agreed, which is why I'm allowing people to re-run zones. Should be do able that way.

What are people's thoughts about making this a league until the expansion hits? Do you prefer the idea of a month or two tournament, or is this something you'd like to play longer? If we play longer I'm thinking of allowing re-rolls of your skills based how far you've gotten. So a re-roll for each difficulty you've cleared. You might get tired of the random skills over time and re-rolling may be fun without having to make a new character.

Even if we don't get a big player turn-out, if a few of us will enjoy this and post some updates then I think it would be worth it.

[Chesspiece_face]

Agreed, which is why I'm allowing people to re-run zones. Should be do able that way.

What are people's thoughts about making this a league until the expansion hits? Do you prefer the idea of a month or two tournament, or is this something you'd like to play longer? If we play longer I'm thinking of allowing re-rolls of your skills based how far you've gotten. So a re-roll for each difficulty you've cleared. You might get tired of the random skills over time and re-rolling may be fun without having to make a new character.

Even if we don't get a big player turn-out, if a few of us will enjoy this and post some updates then I think it would be worth it.

I've been out of touch on this topic a bit, but I'll chime in a bit.

I don't have any issue with a longer term league type play. But if we go that route we really need to put some harsh limitations on how the game will be played. My feeling about having a Hardcore tournament is that the expectation should always be that you are going to die. That every inch forward should be a huge accomplishment. If the base assumption is that people are going to make it into Inferno, I'm already a bit turned off. And I almost feel that this is where things will go with the ability to re-run zones. We can limit this a bit by putting in strict time limits, but that's a risky thing and hard to get the right balance going into it.

I would also recommend keeping the no merchants/jewelers/blacksmith rule. I know there are a lot of people that have much more invested into their hardcore accounts than I have and it's necessary for the integrity of the tournament that everyone uses the same resources going in.

[FoxBat]

I don't have any issue with a longer term league type play. But if we go that route we really need to put some harsh limitations on how the game will be played. My feeling about having a Hardcore tournament is that the expectation should always be that you are going to die. That every inch forward should be a huge accomplishment. If the base assumption is that people are going to make it into Inferno, I'm already a bit turned off. And I almost feel that this is where things will go with the ability to re-run zones. We can limit this a bit by putting in strict time limits, but that's a risky thing and hard to get the right balance going into it.

That's more or less my point of view. Actually I dislike standard hardcore because its such a time investment in something ephemeral. I much prefer short and brutal roguelikes where dying and dying often is expected (and no scumming/farming), and it takes crazy skill and luck to have a chance at finishing. Hence the last tournament had an appeal, but I'd like something closer to ironman. Encouraging my cowardice by allowing zone farming would take all the fun out of it for me.

With the PTR going up now though I wonder if we're going to see the RoS features relatively soon, like say january, well ahead of the xpack release. If someone has a bead on that it would be good to clarify as the patch completely revamps how difficulty levels work (not to mention loot and skill balances...)

[Chesspiece_face]

With the PTR going up now though I wonder if we're going to see the RoS features relatively soon, like say january, well ahead of the xpack release. If someone has a bead on that it would be good to clarify as the patch completely revamps how difficulty levels work (not to mention loot and skill balances...)

Well if they do it like D2, they will put all the difficulty rebalancing into the game but leave out all the item and skill changes forcing you to buy the xpack to play a full game! =P

[FoxBat]

Actually what might be even funnier is to just run the tournament on the PTR, assuming it will be around for a while. These are toons we should expect to die after all! I'll have to take a look at what its like ATM.

[MonTy]

Actually what might be even funnier is to just run the tournament on the PTR, assuming it will be around for a while. These are toons we should expect to die after all! I'll have to take a look at what its like ATM.

Having the same thoughts. I just got done playing the PTR. Having a lot of fun and would be hard pressed to go back to vanilla D3. I'm thinking of having it last a month or until the PTR ends, which ever comes first.

If you're playing on Expert the difficulty is like a seesaw. Easier to get better items but some of the champ packs are pretty hard. Vendors have ridiculous items, so many with main stat + vit. It almost feels like cheating, so living off the land would be perfect for the tourney.

And on the PTR it's not like rerunning zones will make the game much easier, since enemies scales with your level. Might help if you want to get a certain skill before facing a boss, though.

I've done some trial runs and I have died on Expert, but I think it's doable on Normal difficulty. I'm finding a decent amount of legendary items and rares with incredible stats.

So I'd like to close in on the rules for the tourney. Thinking PTR, Expert, Live off the Land, random builds (no limit of rerolls), and for it to start January 1st. Unless everyone wants it to start sooner, I can do this weekend, but figure it will be a tough time for people to play with the Holidays.

[MonTy]

Haven't heard much of people playing PTR, so probably just going to call off tourney. Who knows how long PTR will last, if they do wipes, etc.

[Mavfin]

I'm playing PTR. PTR has ruined me for live, really....