SR drop rates were nerfed on lower difficulties, but if you’re “slow” on Ult SR, Normal SR 30-31 or 32-33(more expensive stone) can be worth it if your starter char is clearing decently faster
ala if Ult 26 takes you 8+mins starting out but Normal 31 takes you 5mins (i’ve still yet to compare Elite as i basically never go there 
)
Knowledge is Power! - Conduit + Voidsoul complete!
- This is where Shan is currently: Sentinel, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
- Using vendor resetting, I was easily able to get my conduit blueprint from Yurrith (Morgoneth’s Folly). I either forgot about conduit prices being reduced or it happened after I retired for a few years, but I easily crafted enough conduits to get the bonus to aegis + a decent resist affix roll.
- I still haven’t had a voidsoul visage blueprint drop despite getting nearly every other legendary blueprint lol, but I realized I was totally misuing the anti-dupe feature. I had not taken into consideration the ability to reroll set pieces. After I had 2 pieces, I stayed in the same session for an overly long time, but that meant I was actually limiting myself to realistically getting only 1 more piece to drop since the helm has super low drop rates. By resetting my session and doing a long run, I was enabling all 3 pieces to drop again.
- The takeaway is, when farming single non-set pieces, you probably want to do a super long session. But when farming set pieces, it’s worth considering resetting your session when a piece drops so that the anti-dupe feature isn’t limiting your ability to find it again and reroll it to another piece. It technically depends on how many legendaries have already dropped in your session, how many pieces are in the set, etc. to math out whether its optimal to reset or not, but utilizing this made farming my set without the blueprint a breeze.
- I pushed through SR36 without being BiS complete with relative ease. I died once on 35 and then just thought, “oh, I can’t facetank anymore,” and adjusted to play more carefully and cleared 36 deathlessly.
- I am marveling at how SSF-friendly GD is, where it doesn’t feel like it just throws everything you need at you too easily, but with know-how, you can very reasonably complete your build even if it’s not one that is inherently synergetic. There was a point where I wondered if I had made a mistake trying to play Chaos Aegis from start to finish, but once I gained/regained knowledge on how to target what I needed in gear, this feeling evaporated and was replaced with awe at what a good gaming experience I was having.
- Literally just adding an extra bullet point to emphasize how much I’m marveling at how well designed the progression felt. Crate Entertainment’s team is full of ARPG-designing geniuses.
- The plan is not to farm BiS rares. Once I get my missing belt and ring, I will move on to the next character, though I might put a LITTLE more time in trying for better greens. Next up will be the RoS Pierce Blademaster. I look forward to seeing how much smoother that goes with all the meta progression I’ve already unlocked. I will see how starting in ult feels with a merit + going back to pick up some easy devotion points and MI’s from lower difficulties.
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Getting legendary gear should be easier and more varied in the expansion too. Using the new Ascension Altar, you will be able to activate special chests in Rogue-like dungeons that will drop gear for the classes you are playing as. I don’t mind SR for gearing, but it will be nice having more options to do so.
Also, when I’m not finding the right gear for my current character, sometimes I’ll just go play another character for awhile. I’ve found I usually find what I needed while just playing other builds. That way I don’t have to farm if I don’t want to, I can just keep playing.
What about using The Crucible?
What about it? Not a pointed question, I am genuinely asking.
I haven’t played much Crucible, though I know it is also pretty good for farming. It is getting updates in the expansion as well. I forget how much, but I’m pretty sure it’s getting higher waves and more arena’s.
Checked: 30 additional waves
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@ adoomgod
Just wondering if it’s a viable option or if SR is the go-to route for item farming. I don’t see much chatter about it, even via online searches, mainly SR levels and sometimes people mentioning farming totems and Nemeses in Ultmate difficulty.
@ BPFrosty
I did for a while during Covid. I barely touched the Shattered Realms. Oh? Nice! Next xpack is going to be awesome. I keep hearing more and more good news about it.
Its viable if your build can clear 150-170 reliably. Rewards should be the same. But its just that SR is more popular and, probably easier? Idk, haven’t touched crucible since 1.2 came out as it sinply runs like trash on my PC.
Crucible is viable but SR is easier, less repetitive. But for people who just like farming while challenging themselves to complete runs as fast as possible, Crucible is totally viable.
I don’t know if the drops are the same rates as the old days, but back then, high SR was more legendary drops + less gear required to reach it per minute. They’re pretty close though, but for Crucible to compete you need high-performing builds and pilot well.
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I like the crucible and would play it a lot more than SR, however, thanks to lag and crashes, it’s just not doable (don’t know how we survived back then in multiplayer).
Once someone crashes out, players can’t rejoin until the wave ends. In SR that’s not an issue and can continue where everyone left off…
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Retiring Voidsoul, meet Inigo Montoya! (RoS Blademaster)
- I am following this build: Blademaster, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
- I did some weird shit to start him off. I farmed 10 devotion points by skipping to wave 150 in Crucible and dying on the first wave to get tributes. Then I ran through normal and elite, doing super quick quests while grabbing devotion shrines until I had all 55 devotion points. Then I started my play through in ultimate around level 30. I handed down mandates and warrants for all the factions I’m doing from my voidsoul sentinel. I decided NOT to share my components and materials, EXCEPT for manticore eyes. Fuck manticore eyes, so unfun to farm.
- Playing in ultimate with all devotion points at the start feels so good! I had forgotten how approachable ultimate difficulty is with faction gear/mandates and blueprints unlocked.
- I am really enjoying the increased danger melee characters face in GD now. Melee sort of feels like the way to play so far. I don’t think sunder/mechanics are unfair, I think there is just a lack of threats to ranged characters. Too few Valdaran-esque enemies.
- My Voidsoul sentinel is only missing the right affixes on greens + a voidheart ring, but can cruise through SR36, so it felt like a good place to stop and move on for now.
- When I need to upgrade my MI’s base level, I go back and farm them on elite just for speed.
- I wish I knew what the fastest way to get 55 devotion points is.
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And again, ofc I know farming devotion points in crucible for some might go against the spirit of ssf, but I am not claiming I’m a hardcore ssf player. I am playing ssf with exceptions, adding more as I go. I decided to drop ssf components for all my builds; they’re just tedious to farm, and once I tried allowing myself to share components, I found myself enjoying the progression way more.
I’m still going ssf on special mats, minus manticore eyes (fuck manticore eyes), because that feels like my character “earning” crafting gear through killing hero+ enemies and farming SR well because it becomes a strong enough build to vanquish evil at crazy speeds. I’m just feeling out what is most fun. Not using “fast leveling” skills was a GREAT restriction I chose on myself. Aside from the really dogshit leveling skills, sticking with the same build concept from start to finish just feels more rewarding to me. The progression of the build power feels more spread out and earned, with sudden windfalls from faction unlocks, MI’s, high-level components, and augments. My god, this progression curve is EMMACULATE when you’re not just handing yourself twink gear. I’m sure I’ll enjoy doing that too, but it’s good to play it both ways. Especially when the build has enough supportive gear options on the way to its BiS state.
And the fact that I intuitively remembered that you can get some REALLY powerful placeholder gear on the defensive side, with just placeholder double rare MI’s or just defensively stacked purples or greens. I just vendor-farmed vinelton for 1 of my MI’s and a great placeholder belt at the same time and got some great ones that are a bit higher level than me, so I can now grow into them.
The progress from lvl 60-75 if you’re playing ssf feels incredible. I but I’m making sub-optimal choices and could probably craft some better placeholder gear, but I don’t have all the “generally good placeholder” gear memorized anymore. I think that’s what I’ll look back into for future ssf runs because I might feel even more powerful progression-wise if I knew which craftables are “generally good for all builds but not that great offensively, all-rounder items.”
Once I get bored of SSF, I will also consider for builds that don’t scale as well before they get their BiS gear, to allow me to pass down to them generically-good-pre-lvl-84-twink-items, but none that are specifically for their build. That way I can at least enjoy some bumps in power as I level, playing a set of skills/combos that isn’t strong until it gets its set.
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Nice reference…I need to re-watch that film. Such a classic.
So as not to derail; I’ve been enjoying reading this thread. Welcome back!
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Thank you, sir. I think I’ll try to organize this thread better in the first and second posts, like subsections with links for my posts per character. Will make things a bit easier to follow when this thread gets long.
I am finding such joy in coming back to the game; I hoped it might be a minor amusement/interest to some readers to share my journey/thoughts. I appreciate you making that comment. I felt that if even one person derives something positive from this, it’s worth continuing.
And totally, The Princess Bride is a uniquely special film. Also, don’t worry about derailing. Since I’m going to organize it better later, I welcome any and all comments.
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I do the same thing with a character, I enjoy feeling the progression of the skills. I can never seem to make up my mind between full SSF and shared stashes. I feel like the game is giving us more and better tools to do SSF better, especially with the expansion. However, you’re probably not gonna play with certain things without some stash help, like early game blue sets. Often the fun for me comes from making a character because of some item I just found. Then, the build isn’t about building the most powerful version of that class or skill, instead building around that item. I guess the Community League scratches that SSF itch for me.
That’s why my rule is to restrict myself, but remove restrictions that impede fun after giving them an honest try.
Blueprints, warrants and mandates, XP pots (if you want), are just meta progression to me. Do I utilize them as I want.
Component sharing I use but don’t rely on. I craft primarily around what I find on the character I’m actually playing but if something is a pain in the butt I’ll use components I’ve saved up. (I can only be arsed to craft so many imbued and purified silvers lol)
Mats I don’t share between characters, except for manticore eyes. The other mats are so easy to farm and often let you farm mis or monster totems at the same time, so I haven’t reached a point where I don’t enjoy doing it yet. Also SR drops plenty later.
And agreed, I might use some generalized twink gear if I try a build that doesn’t really scale but just comes together all at once with its lvl 84+ gear.
TLDR I hate swapping to a different feeling build on the same character for the sake of efficiency. I like to feel progression slow and speed up as enemies level and as I unlock new gear, augments, etc.
I also enjoyed testing around a single item a lot back in the day, instead of building around skills. It was a great way to give feedback on what was outclassed or had no identity because another item or build already did it better.
FoA is adding multiple mechanics to allow for even crazier build diversity. I’m so hyped.
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What about those ROUS?
I have 3500 hours in grim dawn and rising ( just did a normaol run of tqredawn and I am now playing Reign of Terror… I may switch between that and DoM for the foreseeable future because I am having a blast using GrimCamera Mod.
Did the whole TQRedawn mod like that and like I said I am now playing reign of terror zoomed in and camera facing forward. than eventually I am try the grim dawn campaign with this style camera via the DoM Mod than we have AN EXPANSION coming at some point.
it’s actually pretty insane that I always say there is no way I am gonna get even more hours with this game and I always come back …
I am starting to think this actually might be one of my favorite Looters. It’s great for casual play and I dont have to worry aboujt seasons/leagues cuz they dont exist and no one in the community is going to look down on me for choosing not to play leagues.
and now with the grim camera mod I once again found new life from this game.
I will say two last things.
one I will evenetually reach a point whewre I played this game more than diablo 3 and poe ( 3-5k hours each)
two and lastly, I have still never really dabbled too muchg in the endgame… I mean dont get me wrong , ive done my fair share of shattered realm and what not, but yeah I would say 70-85% of my play time is going through campaigns (or modded maps)
The Dual Mastery is a great hook, I think that’s part of what keeps bringing people back.
Playing Diablo Mapsa with Dual Mastery is neither Diablo nort is it grim dawn.
its completely its own thing, and when i first started playing it , i was diwssapointed, but after an hour or so , I dont know whjat happeneed but I just started getting addicted.
Shattered Realm and Crucible are a million times more fun in multiplayer, but unfortunately, they’re also a million times easier due to current multiplayer scaling. But that also means you need to push deeper for the challenge.
Welcome back, its been a while for me too. News of the new update and expansion always gets me clicking again. Love this game so much it got me into cosplay, I think I might have to make some weapons and stuff to celebrate!