P100, 100% self-found player reflection

This is transcript from http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/9972467756 about a player P100 100% self-found Monk. I found this to be a very interesting read.

Here is the gear set in case you're wondering. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/overg-1771/hero/850632

Transcript begin

So I just dinged paragon 100 with my 100% self found monk. I’ve never bought or sold anything on the AH, and no other character has contributed anything to him, except for maybe 10 gold which my demon hunter added to the communal stash. I thought I’d use the occasion to throw out 50 anecdotes, facts, thoughts, stats, suggestions, and comments about the game.

1. I’ve been playing my monk since release.
2. He has 29,332 elite kills.
3. It took me 1,223 hours of game time to reach P100.
4. I would estimate that I used + experience gear less than 1% of my playtime. I never put a ruby in my helm and very rarely use a Hellfire ring.
5. I have beaten/cleared everything in the game, with the exception of MP10 Uber ZK/SB. I’m in the ballpark of killing them, but haven’t been able to do so yet.
6. I cleared through MP9 without ever finding a weapon upgrade that contained lifesteal. The Skorn I have was found on the MP10 Act I Keywarden when I was clearing that content the first time through. I do not believe I would have cleared the rest of MP10 with the LoH gear I made work at the lower MP levels.
7. Belial is by far the hardest boss in the game, and he routinely took me at least a couple of extra weeks to kill after the rest of any given MP-level content was cleared.
8. I am not a fan of “hard” enrage timers. In addition to Belial, Butcher was also often an absolute roadblock on several occassions. The problem with “hard” enrages is they’re so limited. If you’ve got sufficient DPS to beat them, they might as well not exist. If you don’t, they’re impossible roadblocks. There is only a very narrow range of time/gear where they are “fun”, namely, when you’re right on the cusp of being able to beat them.
9. Speaking of not a fan, my number one most hated mechanic in the game . . . respawning with a half mana globe after death. In fact, I think this is really the only mechanic in the game that I outright loathe. There are many things which aren’t fun, or could be improved, but I just hate, hate, hate this one.
10. I’d guess the longest period of time I was ever roadblocked on any content without finding any upgrades was about 6 weeks. That was back in MP6. The rest of the time I was always either progressing with what I had or finding upgrades on a pretty consistent basis.
11. If asked, I’d say the self found drop rates are a little too low. It took me about 14 months to clear all of the regular content in MP10. If I were in charge, I’d probably aim for 10 to 12 months for that sort of accomplishment.
12. I never farmed for experience.
13. I’ve not spent much time purely farming for items in and of themselves. I’ve tended to either push progression or key farm.
14. I have several hundred square gems still in my stash from the time period when they dropped in inferno, but Tomes of Jewelcrafting did not. Every so often I drop down to Hell to farm for Tomes, but it’s pretty boring and the drop rates are pretty bad.
15. I’ve made 0 marquis gems, and, absent a change in drops or recipes, don’t expect to be able to do so for at least another 6-8 months. The closest I am is being 2/3 of the way to a second radiant star ruby.
16. I’ve found one legendary crafting pattern, for the level 53 two handed mace.
17. I’ve still yet to find the pattern for radiant star emeralds.
18. I love the monster density changes which were implemented. Running into a gigantic horde of mobs in Acts I and II is as fun as this game gets.
19. I really enjoy playing in Act IV, even if the time/reward is pretty badly out of tune with the rest of the game.
20. I found the game a bit more fun to play when I used life on hit compared to life steal. Being able to facetank almost everything has its perks, and is fun too, but LoH requires a more tactical playstyle that I liked a bit more.
21. I beat Inferno Diablo for the first time a week before Monster Power was introduced
22. My first “good” weapon I used to clear through Acts I and II of Inferno was a 2 handed sword with life on kill.
23. Yes, I said life on kill.
24. If I were ever to seriously start a second character now, it would probably be a witch doctor. After that, it would be a demon hunter.
25. I have found 140,777,598 gold
26. I currently have 37,289.303 gold in my stash.
27. My favorite dye color is purity/white. I would like to see more dye options in the game to go with the new transmogrify they’re working on.
28. My favorite monk skill is probably seven sided strike, which I only use in very rare situations now. It's just extremely weak compared to bells, sweeping wind, and even exploding palm. My second favorite skill is probably dashing strike, which is just an incredibly fun skill to use. I'm interested to see if this stays true with the reworks which recently leaked.
29. The most troubling elite affix depends upon my build, but vortex probably does me in more than anything else these days.
30. Dashing strike has been on my bar from the moment I got it. I’ve played around quite a bit with every other skill spot.
31. I never used anything close to resembling a “cookie cutter” spec until I really started pushing the highest MP levels. Before that my attitude was always “my gear is already weak, why worry about min/maxing my skills? I found that even some pretty off the wall and inefficient specs are perfectly capable of clearing content well into MP9.
32. Tome of Secrets are a huge limiting resource to crafting. For a long time I upgraded every gem I found. When I eventually went Tome-broke, I stopped upgrading topazes. Now, upgrading only rubies, amethysts, and emeralds, I barely break even, and can only use the blacksmith to craft on a very infrequent basis.
33. I’ve picked up every gem I’ve ever seen.
34. Asmodan is probably my least favorite boss fight. Either you can facetank him, which is just boring, or you’re just running around in a circle for long periods of time, which is also kind of boring.
35. Hardcore Hint: Treasure goblins are a great gauge for whether or not you have the DPS to take down Butcher and Belial. If goblins are regularly escaping you, best wait on the enrage bosses. If you’re killing goblins with ease, you’re probably ready, at least from a DPS perspective.
36. You’re ready to progress to harder content if you’re picking up more health potions than you’re using.
37. The best reason to play self found is if you enjoy the sense of “progression.” You’ll get a much more steady dose of “I’m stronger!” than you can get if you use the AH.
38. The worst reason to play self found is for bragging rights. There are more impressive ways of playing if you want to chest thump.
39. By far the best single upgrade I ever found was my Skorn. My PDPS instantly jumped from about 125K to about 155K, and I was able to shift around other gear to increase my effective health.
40. I’ve played most days since release, although I frequently take small breaks where I don’t play for a 3 or 4 days straight.
41. My 5 year daughter’s favorite monster are the huge worm things in Act III which vomit up the other monsters. She knows all of their spawn points and yells out “it’s my favorite monster!” every time she sees one.
42. My 11 year old son finds Ponyland hilarious. My 5 year old just thinks it’s pretty.
43. Most missed attribute from D2 – ability to teleport anywhere in the world from any waypoint.
44. Something I don’t miss from D2 – stat point allocation. It wasn’t just boring, it was homework. Looks like what they’re contemplating for RoS might be a little more interesting.
45. In addition to enjoying the sense of progression, I don’t use the AH because I just don’t like having to track it “out of game.” Once again, it feels like homework.
46. I’m 39 years old, I’ve got a BA and a JD. I’ve got 3 kids, one in high school, one in middle school, and one in kindergarten. I’ve done too much homework in my life. To that end, I fully support all of the efforts Blizzard has made in its games to allow for my play time to consist solely of playing the game, as opposed to researching how to play the game.
47. I think Jay and the rest of the development team did a great job on D3.
48. I think Josh and the rest of the development team have offered us some really promising glimpses of SoR, and I'm pretty confident I will play it a lot and enjoy it a lot.
49. I think game design is a lot more complicated than most people understand.
50. MP10 Uber ZK/Sk are going to die by my hands. Soon.

Posted in: