Lowest possible level to beat normal

Those who were in the Discord’s #general chat were probably aware of my daring task - finishing the game with lowest possible level. It was a rough ride, but I made it in the end. For those that don’t want to read any longer the lowest level to beat normal is 17.

Here’s how I did it:
I started the game, looted all the scrap and things I could so I could repair the bridge. So I crossed the bridge at level 1. To make things less messy I got myself up to level 2 to take on Direni, the first unpassable boss. From there on out every time I got exp after reaching level 3 I would keep killing myself until the exp bar was nulled, meaning I reached the lowest possible experience points on the given level. In most cases it didn’t really help at all, but in two-three cases it kept me from leveling one higher than I was. It was a tedious task, but it was one I was willing to take.

Here is my entire log:

Level 1: Got really unlucky with scraps, so I had to farm those for about and hour in a row, after which I went straight for the bridge. Leveled to 2 to make Direni fight possible.
Level 2: Direni fight. It was a big mess and took really long(about half an hour to an hour) but I eventually did it. The fight leveled me to 3.
Level 3: Reached Cronley’s room, killed the two crystals, and then let Cronley kill me until I lost all the experience(level 3 is the first level where dying causes you to lose experience). Cronley fight itself was extremely easy, as even on level 3 I didn’t need to use a single potion, nor did I die. Only about half of the hunger bar was actually used. The fight leveled me to 4.
Level 4: Rushed to Smuggler’s Pass where I met my third unpassable boss - the gatekeeper Voldrak. Made a huge number of instances to find one where I stood a chance against the horde in the end. Killed the 3 mobs in the end(2 warriors and a shaman) and let the gatekeeper smash me until I lost all the experience. The boss fight itself was again fairly easy due to having taken care of the mobs around. I had enough space to run around the boss without him hitting me(other than with the AoE circle). 10 minute fight, and it leveled me up to 5.
Level 5: Rushed to Homestead portal, and let them kill me until I got to lowest possible experience. Defeating Nazagrad leveled me up to 6.
Level 6: Got rid of the overflow exp from leveling up and killed the tiny mobs left around the portal. The game bugged and the portal didn’t open, causing me to spend multiple hours in this particular location. Eventually I managed to get everything done as level 6 and nulled the experience bar once again. But then… Then I gave the quest to Ulgrim to open the west gate… Level 10.
Level 10: Nulled experience -> took the quest to destroy the Aetherial Amalgamation(which gave 2.5k exp) -> nulled experience -> went to Aetherial Amalgamation -> killed all mobs inside the gates -> nulled experience -> killed Amalgamation. Not much experience, awesome. Gave the quest away… level 12. Damnit.
Level 12: Nulled the overflow experience before proceeding any further, because I have to talk to Ulgrim to get the gate open. Thankfully only 100 exp. To North! Eventually came across Karroz. The fight was hard and tough, but thankfully no level up. Let’s keep going! Upon reaching Fort Ikon I opened the rift, but unfortunately gate was closed. Back to Homestead to finish the prisoner mission! Aaaand it leveled me to 13(about 5% missing from 14). Close one, but still a level-up.
Level 13: Took a while to get rid of nearly a full experience bar, but it was worth it. Or so I thought. Gave in the next quest in line aaaaand level 15.
Level 15: Nulled the experience bar once again, gave in the next quest, and nulled it again. Attempt two for Fort Ikon! The quests leveled me to 16.
Level 16: And then to 17.
Level 17: Finally got the blood wagon quest and I can enter the final dungeon! And the game has been finished!

Some notes I made along the way:

Lowest experience possible at level 3 - 192
Experience lost on death at level 3 - 1
Lowest experience possible at level 4 - 452
Experience lost on death at level 4 - 2
Lowest experience possible at level 5 - 914
Experience lost on death at level 5 - 5
Lowest experience possible at level 6 - 1652
Experience lost on death at level 6 - 8
Lowest experience possible at level 10 - 9164
Experience lost on death at level 10 - 44
Lowest experience possible at level 12 - 17131
Experience lost on death at level 12 - 80
Experience lost on death at level 13 - 104
Lowest experience possible at level 15 - 37082
Experience lost on death at level 15 - 168
Lowest experience possible at level 16 - 46409
Experience lost on death at level 16 - 205
Lowest experience possible at level 17 - 57317
Experience lost on death at level 17 - 249

And here’s some screenshots!

Let me know what you think of this little pet project of mine!

After doing some calculations for fun in the Discord I found out I have messed up big time… Expect improved manly game completion soon!

Hey, you finished! Well done.

Resizing your screenshots to 800x600 before posting them here makes them a better size for viewing. I know it’s a huge achivement, but the pictures don’t need to be huge as well.

so what is the minimal level for elite and ultimate?
my guess is lv30 and lv40

Is there a way to add the resizing to the [] tags or do I have to manually change the image proportions and then upload it?

Manually change and upload again as far as I know. Guess it depends on which site you use. For Imgur, which is what I use, you select 800x600 from the autosize before uploading then just copy the BBC message boards and forums link when you select the photo, then paste it here.

I still don’t understand why no one hasn’t edited the source code to force a width of 1100px on the IMG tag, if the image is wider than that. It’s the perfect size, with a little room to spare.

Does Crate host the software on their servers or are they using a cloud service that hosts vBulletin? I’d guess the former, since I remember the last time Crate tried to upgrade vBulletin. But things may have changed since then.

I redid the math and turns out that 17 is indeed the lowest level possible to play through it.

Here are the quests you can not skip if you wish to make it to the final dungeon:

A Timely Arrival - 8000 EXP
The Black Legion’s Finest - 2500 EXP
The Aetherial Farm - 11000 EXP
The Way North - 100 EXP
Blood Harvest - 12000 EXP
Reaping What You Sow - 16000 EXP
The Inquisitor - 5000 EXP
A Forgotten Evil - 8000 EXP
Betrayal at Fort Ikon - 16000 EXP
The Necropolis - 22000 EXP

If you were to somehow only gain experience from the missions and not a single experience from mobs, and still nullify all excess experience, this is how it would go:

Level 1:
+8000 EXP = level 9
6401+2500=8901 still level 9
6401+11000=17401 level 12
+100 not even exp
17131+12000=29131 barely under 14 = level 13
22582+16000=38582 level 15
+5000 matters not, nor does the +8000 at this point(9327 EXP required to level up)
37082+16000=53082 level 16
46409+22000=68409 level 17

But here’s the kicker - you can do it even at level 11:
12700+8000=20700 level 12
+2500 matters not
17131+11000=28131 level 13
+100 matters not
22582+12000=34582 level 14
29187+16000=45187 level 15
+5000 matters not, nor does the +8000 at this point(9327 EXP required to level up)
37082+16000=53082 level 16
46409+22000=68409 level 17

So even in a perfect mathematical scenario you can not get a lower level than 17 to finish the game. Therefore my first run was indeed the perfect one. All one can do is do it faster, which was not the intent in the first place.

This here looked like one real test of patience!

Only 2070 deaths!

If you upload them to the forum, they get resized. External links it seems it does not. Ancient software for ya.

Question is was it more or less for the second run Zan? Kezeal can you tell us? You did it faster, but did you have to die more?

Edit: Okay about 600 so way less second time.

Nothing a little Javascript won’t fix, though.

Yeah, second run was around 600 deaths and took half the time. I did the calculations after I had already did the first run so on the second run I knew exactly what I was doing.

Putting the death xp penalty to work towards the goal. A new story line.

he did that…

Fixed the first image as well! Been a while since I’ve used forums so had to reacquaint myself with the buttons.

Interesting, reminds me of those challenges people did on D2, although that game was a good deal easier because you could kite pretty much everything, a luxury you don’t always have in GD.
I dabbled a bit in it myself as well (naked HC D2 but no further restrictions, D1 Sorc with cursed items) but it was never a passion for me.

Now do it naked.

The armor didn’t really give much, other than reduce some deaths from running through maps, so doing it naked would be the exact same, just take maybe an hour longer due to a few hundred extra deaths.

Also, that death count alone deserves some special forum title.

I also had an adventure in Elite to replicate the things, but unfortunately when I finally reached Karroz I could not bypass him. His lightning bolt could not be dodged, and I couldn’t even use Mirror of Ereoctes efficiently against it due to little to no indication of it arriving. The pets corner you very very easily in the small room that the battle takes place, and the slow he casts on you guarantees you won’t be outrunning the pets.

Rest In Peace, Kezeal the Man. Your adventures have been the stuff of legends. After 20 hours and 3 minutes of gameplay you can finally rest. May the 2838th death be your last.