06-05-2012, 02:06 PM
(06-05-2012, 03:52 AM)Roland Wrote: I hate to berate this point, but it's a sticking point for me. Your definition of "rushing" simply doesn't jive with my gameplay experience.
This was roughly my experience as well. It is arguable that the definition of "rushing" might be different in the Hardcore context, but to me Ironman was pretty much opposite in spirit to rushing/skipping, so I'm not so happy about seeing semantics slide in that direction. If you compare the player and monster/item levels you would be hard pressed to call that leveling rate "rushing" as well; req 60 items don't drop in A2 hell.
And yes, it's also my experience that the blacksmith is pretty much junk on your first playthrough doing a one-time full-clear. I'll have to see how he does for leveling a fresh character now; however, part of the effect the HC guys were seeing is again, being able to make higher ilvl items than could even drop for the regions they were playing in. Even Blizzard described the blacksmith as a way to cover any weak spots in your drop upgrades rather than a primary gear source. (Albeit inferno recipes are supposedly a different story.)