My first character is nearing the end of Ultimate and level cap (currently at level 79). I’m starting to see some problems. For a long time now I’ve been able to situationally cap my resistances by swapping gear pieces around until whatever I need for the area and boss(es) ahead is at max or very close to it. But at this point if I run across a random spawn of several heros that face the gaps in my resistances, that’s a likely death. Most recent example, working through Darkvale with max chaos resist and high vitality/bleed (also max pierce and cold by coincidence, not particularly relevant for the area), three heros popped up who happened to be one lightning and two fire. Since in that gear configuration my resistances to those elements were around 20% - dead. :o
Is there a way to start picking up endgame gear at this level? I believe the highest gear level in vanilla is 75, so presumably it should be able to drop now. I’ve been wearing Elite Harvest Footpads since 70, but AFAIK that’s the only useful faction item. I’ve found one legendary helm blueprint and it’s completely useless for this character.
I tried Crucible back in Elite and got stomped at Aspirant 100 with my first nemesis encounter. If that level is guaranteed to always be Valdaran I could try again with lightning resistance stacked through the roof, but I’m guessing the nemesis is random…
Should I be doing a bunch of SoT (and later BoC)? Stacking pierce and cold is quite easy at the moment, and when I did SoT in Elite Alkamos didn’t seem especially dangerous. But the loot for the run was also completely negligible.
Or is the thing to do at this point in a first character’s career to simply bring big stacks of Hearts, Brains, and Blood to Etram Fald, try one’s luck, and repeat until one’s gear doesn’t completely suck anymore?
Nemesis farming is not possible, nor will it be possible for quite some time. Valdaran is 2500 rep away, Benn’jhar is almost 6000 away, Moosilauke around 8000, and Fabius and Iron Maiden around 16000 away.
What is loosely referred to as end-game gear is generally Lvl 94, so the painful answer is no. That doesn’t mean that you cannot better your resistances though. Potions are a great stop gap, and at 450 secs for an extra 25% res they shouldn’t be ignored. Try to get into the habit of constantly balancing your resistances to the maximum you can achieve at any moment – I know that that is often easier said than done, but practice in this area will go along way to solving your issues. Take a good look at the blacksmith and what they can craft to help you out with resistances. If you’re short on recipes then consider treasure trove farming or going to the Ancient Grove vendor (you don’t need to clear the area; you just need to make it to the vendor) who will have at least one potion recipe each time you visit.
It’s a risk as it is all RNG and you will find that any item recipe you want and can craft will likely need those rare mats too. On balance I would not recommend that course of action unless you have a lot of those mats spare.
All of this will come in the end. It just takes time. At some point you will pass the threshold and be able to farm gear efficiently either in Crucible or in the Campaign. Keep at it, persist and the rewards will eventually come… and that is a promise that I know will come true if you keep going.
OK, thanks, I’ll pass on the item roulette. And I’ll check what potion recipes I have.
For the rest, we have a complete communication failure. What is the correct shorthand for “I do not have the expansion, I am asking about the base game” in this forum? Elsewhere that’s called “vanilla”, but clearly that didn’t work here.
Level 94 gear does not exist, because the cap is 85. Level 75 gear is endgame gear. There’s no such thing as Ancient Grove. You get the picture. I don’t know why everyone on this forum assumes that all players have the expansion. Particularly when I thought I had made very clear in the original post (and thread title) that I do not.
Let’s try this from another angle. In some recent threads people have claimed that GD has pretty generous loot drop rates. Exactly when and where does that statement apply? It’s false in the campaign, or I wouldn’t be asking and others wouldn’t periodically make feedback threads asking for higher drop rates (note, I’m not making such a request here). Is the generous loot statement based exclusively on Crucible Gladiator 150? If so, how is that not a “you need gear to do the thing that gets you gear” catch-22?
(For further clarity, when I say loot rates are crap in the campaign, I mean I haven’t seen anything usable in over ten levels now, and my best items in many slots are item level 50. And don’t get me started on relics… :mad:)
That implies that items that are part of sets will someday start to drop. Which is exactly my question; I’m nearly at level cap and haven’t seen any (well, one, if you count that useless helm blueprint).
First of all Jackdaw is maybe a modder that’s why you’ve got different interpretation of vanilla. Second, when people say droprates in GD are good, they’re referring to the versions past AoM. Now idk if the droprates for the latest updates apply to those without the expansion but the best way to check it is to run Bastion of Chaos a few times and if you always get a legendary in the final chest on ultimate then droprates are good (patches are updated). Otherwise then you’re up for a hard grinding session.
Yeah this can be a problem with GD, especially playing your first char or playing pure self found. Work instead of fun is a good description. Rather than take a break from the game, maybe just start a new, totally different char. :undecided:
End-game is the end of the game which isn’t vanilla. I understood you clearly, but it was an oversight to mention Ancient Grove. The end-game will change again when Forgotten Gods comes out.
No one can honestly tell you when you will get whatever it is that you want; the game is driven by RNG and grinding is a key mechanic of this style of ARPG. I too had next to no useful gear (for that particular build) by the end of the base game, and I still did not have what I needed for my build for over a month after I hit lvl 100.
I appreciate your frustrations, having been where your are myself, but I can no more answer the very specific “when” part of your question than anyone else could. If you cannot continue on grinding with that one build then consider starting another character and bringing that character to whatever your maximum potential level is. What may not be useful for one build might be for another. I’d also recommend buying the remaining content as it is excellent content and will open your game up to higher level gear that is, naturally, more powerful.
Getting yourself into a position where you can efficiently farm --or consider a build complete-- is not easy, and I suspect that it was not intended to be either. But my original sentiment remains: keep at it and at some point you will pass that threshold where what seems to be an insurmountable barrier is no more.
Actually I reached that point maybe six weeks ago. And burned out on the endless cycling of the storyline - three playthroughs per character (with 5-6 characters) is one too many, I think… So that’s the motivation for the current push to get the first one to 85 and see about loot, since that’s the only new & interesting part left.
A couple more level 75 legendary drops from a failed SoT attempt (Alkamos was just a bit too tough once his <25% health buff kicked in) indicate that RNG wants me to un-retire my blademaster. Though he’s my lowest level alt and got retired for good reason… But at least I saw a couple more purples even if they are mostly-useless.
For the benefit of anyone who finds this thread from a forum search someday, I have come up with a decent solution to getting started with gear: MIs. Build threads tend to portray them as the hardest items to get, which is probably true for BiS versions with the one perfect prefix and suffix. On the other hand, getting an MI that’s better than the level 50-60 stuff you’ve been using for 20-30 levels is much easier. And they have the advantage that you know exactly what enemy drops the item, and the drop rate seems to be pretty high. Elite scales high enough to drop the level 70 versions, making the farming even easier.
Replaced old ring, pants, and shield with Cronley’s, Solael-sect, and Warden’s, respectively. None good, but all OK and much better than what they replaced.
Not sure this will prevent final burnout, but it should delay it a bit. And that legendary from the quest reward for killing Log yet again isn’t all that far away.
You didn’t mention using any components and augments, and they can add a fuckton of resists.
So try tweaking them on all your gear, it’s actualy pretty easy to have 70+ all resists except CC, if you augmented right and applied right components to your gear.
I can understand thread-starter pain as my pet Conjurer finished pre-AOM ultimate without completed Beastcaller Set and i later on i finished AoM Ultimate with non-mythical Beastcaller set only.
As already advised: keep farming, gain Revered status with the factions, check faction gear, components and augments.
Because nearly everyone does have the expansion. You are honestly the first person I have seen say they don’t have the expansion while looking for help. It’s not expensive and it adds a lot to the game, most importantly new devotions and new/upgraded items that give you exactly what you’re asking for: higher resists. So maybe the answer to your question isn’t “punch the RNG even more until you get everything”; maybe it’s “flip the couch over and see if there’s $18 in change in there”.
As part of the MI-farming, I’ve been doing that, particularly with the obscure components that only come from the blacksmith. Resists are finally in decent shape, all but two capped, and those two around 50%.
He hasn’t been helpful so far, no items above 65…
Crucible may be viable now though, initial drop rates look promising (nothing useful, but at least it was level 75).
Nope. Plenty of threads out there for those of us without AoM; the fact that you haven’t seen them is your problem, not mine.
Note also that if the game becomes “work, not fun” before even reaching the first level cap, that’s not exactly an incentive to buy the expansion… “The parts that suck, suck less now!” yay. As far as I know, GD was a successful game well before AoM even entered development, so I don’t think it should be a stretch to expect to enjoy the base game by itself.
Time for a break, I think…
Though he’s my lowest level alt and got retired for good reason… But at least I saw a couple more purples even if they are mostly-useless.
And they have the advantage that you know exactly what enemy drops the item, and the drop rate seems to be pretty high. Elite scales high enough to drop the level 70 versions, making the farming even easier.