Do you have an MF grinding ritual?

I read it takes about 250 trav runs to get a nice rune. But, I can do maybe 40 in one sitting before I get bored. I read watching a movie while playing or listening to an audio book helps out. But, those don't work for me. On some other online games I can just play non-stop when I set up a show to watch. But, I haven't figured out how to play a ton of farming the same map in D2R.

What are your thoughts on farming?

I prefer running multiple boss in one run instead of doing always the same again and again.

I'm playing casualy with a MF cold sorc.
My rotation is :

Mephisto,

Andariel,

Pindleskin,

Travincal,

Nihlathak and sometimes diablo.

Im the same but i would also clear lvl 85 areas too like the Pits,

Ancient Tunnels etc.

You can play trav run,

Baal, keys, countness rune,

Andariel in this list. Then play normal socket quest in end.
Those are valuable thing, even socket quest sometimes can worth more than 1h trav run. (most of time , it is equal, just different taste. socket is troublesome but worth more, consider the trouble of selling , it is equal)

Basically, trav run is best , because it is easy get and easy sell. Problem is that it is very boring. Or you might try bar

Gold find to do 10 min 10m

Gold ,
Though it is less value of 10m

Gold, but sometimes it can make you feel 'rich'.

I sometimes think, minmaxing isn't everything - i sometimes enjoy doing keys or Bossruns without

Teleport. I think of it like doing cows in terms of average high killrate. I like running those: All keys, Chaos,

Baal, Flameriver

Dont forget: They respawn - you slay again!

I'm extremely averse to doing anything in a game that I don't find fun, so if it takes some effort to "get me in the mindset" to do a task, I won't do it. Typically, I grind when I'm feeling like I just want to passively do an activity while I think of something else.

If I'm actually playing the game, I usually do a series of different things: kill act bosses, do

Terror zones, or even play whole acts from start to finish.

I like to warm up by running all the act bosses, although it's usually in annoyance order (

Andariel > diablo >

Duriel >

Baal >

Mephisto)
From there it varies. Cows, WSK,

Key farming runs (which get old very fast),

Terror zones, or just go rush random people in lobby. Sometimes I'll do eldrich > shenk >

Pindleskin on loop since that's faster than

Arcane Sanctuary.

human_being wrote: 1 month ago

I'm extremely averse to doing anything in a game that I don't find fun, so if it takes some effort to "get me in the mindset" to do a task, I won't do it. Typically, I grind when I'm feeling like I just want to passively do an activity while I think of something else.

If I'm actually playing the game, I usually do a series of different things: kill act bosses, do

Terror zones, or even play whole acts from start to finish.

it is most important, have fun, feel good

I usually also include the current

Terror zone (completely), as it makes you revisit all the game areas.

dorito wrote: 1 month ago

I read it takes about 250 trav runs to get a nice rune. But, I can do maybe 40 in one sitting before I get bored. I read watching a movie while playing or listening to an audio book helps out. But, those don't work for me. On some other online games I can just play non-stop when I set up a show to watch. But, I haven't figured out how to play a ton of farming the same map in D2R.

What are your thoughts on farming?

I say HAVE MAXIMUM FUN in your way while playing!

To be honest with you, this is a grinding/farming game, one of the first - if it is the game mechanic itself, what u are bored of.. May u need a break?
Or.. i mean you asked for it... i give you a little sum up of my 28-year-experience of playing Diablo-Games, while i ever had the best feelings while playing Diablo 1 in 1997 and the most fun till today in D2:LoD. I still come back to this day for some ladder resets if i have the time to invest, but only to Diablo 2. Why is that so..?

Personally i love to just play straight normal and do quests, then baalruns (only because everybody get in parties there only) and my bigger routine is as the following.
Straight leveling and questing until lvl 7x in Nightmare. But have to say, i always try to be effective, even in doin quests and that stuff.
Then go for some full clear runs in hell act1: Countess, the Pit - that's it! But 50-100 runs, maximum effective. Depending on the build, also possible is some areas in hell act 2, aswell.
At lvl 7x - 8x you get nice XP out of every run - even if you do it by yourself while watching something besides.

You will find some stuff, even without mf at all. Just do like 50 runs fast as possible. Runes for Runewords and if possible some cowruns in Nightmare mode for socketed bases.

Most important for me, to get less bored while farming a single boss over and over, that's why i prefer to full clear areas.
But even that super simple

Mephisto can be a meditive grind with some beer, ongoing conversation via headset etc. from time to time.
When i say "effective", i am thinking of a maximum of 5 minutes per route. Thats at least 10-12 Runs per hour, while always focusing to get faster with that down to 2 minutes per run.
Because i like that kind of optimizations and to improve killspeed and drops.


So, how to find the maximum fun out of your way to play the game?!
Let me give you a little direction:

Check the internet easy with AI about "D2R farming areas for >your build<"
And start to build up a most time effective route where you like to or the build offer to farm. Compare and choose for yourself.
The alltime legal answer is easy: killspeed over MF!
It really doesn't matter that much we think about mf, a bit is enough.

BIG DEAL OF HAVING FUN or HAVING NO FUN
In general i compared, felt and tried so many solutions and things in the game, but mostly it's breaking down for the following:
If you loose too many killspeed because you equip MF-gear instead of +skills + resistances (!) you won nothing, because you kill slower, struggle the more and the lesser runs are more frustrating,
even when no drops occure, while MF geared. That can be very frustrating, and the reason is just because you need too much of luck for nice drops,
that's the point most people get bored of (the game), but the solution is close..


Let me explain that MF for grinding a bit more and help you, improve your fun-level:

Item Calculator give you the naked facts, about

Mephisto, Diablo and

Baal drops (best ingame monster for drops) and that most wanted stuff, yes.
But think about,

Mephisto runs... port port port port port port, standing shooting, checking drops, "mmmhhh nothing"
That was really not the intension of David Brevik and is not how I would have fun in D2R.

That's why i love to full clear build legal areas, to have fast runs but "normal play" for the most fun.
Easy have a forum and maybe a stream/Series ongoing on Screen2 - DON'T do this in Hardcore mode!


Beside of more fun while playing,
while you do just easy full clear areas, you kill way more minions = way more drops in general, just with lesser drop chances, but way more loot = more to find.
Runes f.e. don't need MF at all. They even more drop trough maxium Killspeed performance = the more you kill, the more runes will drop.

If you are mid-gear equipped and about lvl 70-85 you should be able to do some act 1+2

Terror zones and farm for even better drops while full clear areas (or pack running) and find yourself some sunder charms, if necessary for your build. Elite end-gear mostly can smash everything, so don't focus to hard on "being possible to kill everything" when you do f.e. a self found run.


Conclusion:
Go for a build you most like and play it - maybe restricted to some areas at first, but effective and fluent trough killspeed. More loot to look at, and more fluent gameplay is in general more fun.
Sideeffect - you definetly will find items even without any mf geared, those you can equip and upgrade your build, or at least trade online to chill and chat (what is also a way of fun).
Don't stress yourself, maybe you do just 10 runs per day. It's also 50-70 per week at least. So, get the right mood and let the dropluck make your heart jumping
Or Be very focused for exiting gear, and farm your ass up with maximum fast runs - optimized per hour, so that you easy do 100 runs per day, and only pick up elite gear.

For drops It is better to stick on optimal killspeed runs, for your XP, drops at all and if you prefer runes and like to trade, even more because of runedrops!

I think that the other game-mechanic: "finding stuff and exchange to optimize your build" is also chilled and fun, too.
You hoard stuff in stash - full at one point, time to trade useful items you've found - guess that is in the hole also a relaxing and improving way to have fun in the game as well.


Facts that killspeed is correct
To drop a all needed

Shako statistically (without any luck, just mathematics) you need to kill xxxx times:
(only listed the best drop chances in the hole game for this example)

with ZERO MF

Mephisto 2035
Diablo 2091

Baal 2111

The Cow King 7473

with 200 MF

Mephisto 965
Diablo 992

Baal 1000

The Cow King 3542

with 400 MF

Mephisto 805
Diablo 827

Baal 835

The Cow King 2954

Without MF you need to kill

Mephisto about 2000 times to get a "guaranteed" drop of

Shako.
With 200MF it is cut in half time - about 1000 times still.
And then the increase of indirect drop chances degenerate hardly after ~200MF, that is the moment, all Diablo gamer should realize that killspeed wins.
In addition to that, rune-drops increase only by kill many minions as possible, as they don't affected by %mf.

>> Runes are used as Trading factor >> the more you find, "the richer you get" >> killspeed with 0-250mf wins.

Now is the point with clarified facts, to say that magic find is not important as it feels, even for your needs of items.
So, don't focus hardly on the most frustrating factor in the game at all! Sometimes a

Gheed is more than enough, focus the smashing!!!
A "standard player" invest about 10-50 runs per session, so it's all about luck in comparison to the statistics (guaranteed drop),
as long as we are not grinding an build-friendly area efficiently 1000 times. That's exactly what streamer do, they farm just 8 hours per day. But neither we do i guess


Yes i know, you didn't ask for that little mf discussion...
..but it is as i explained one of the most important factor of having fun as far as i can say and i play D2:LoD for 25 years now and still.

People just love magic find too much, but loose massive killspeed overall and get stuck more often!
Important to understand in therms of fun in D2R is, that drops are just luck, with a feeling of a better chance by stacking mf (but loosing killspeed and fun to play).
Because, as long as you aren't grinding at least 1000 times effectively (within a short amount of time), magic find will only cut that guaranteed drop for a specific item in 1/2 or 1/3, depending on the amount of mf used. So there is no evidence to calculate your mf too much, ever!


Slay them, as you like buddy, don't give a f*** on too many informations from build reviews and don't overlook the superior runewords.
(You really don't wanna see the calculation of thousands of runs, to drop the high end runes, THAT is a gamekiller information)
And if something cool will drop, just get excited and not bored while you stacked mf "and nothing would ever drop" - even that happens ;D
And overall i can confirm: The more you kill, the more loot you see, the more you find, and finding something is fun. Trading unuseful is fun the second.
Optimize my build with all that dropped and traded stuff is fun the third and finally feel the smoother runs and grind yourself trough

Baal, fluent and fast in the end, with top gear, is kind of rewarding in the end. In this way, i have maximum 4x fun

Hopefully that helped you!

nl sc, As late stage of game,

Shako need is 0 . You probably need look into griffon eye,

Wisp Projector, metagrid, mara and

Crown of age.

Or just focus on

Wisp Projector, griffon eye.

Things like soj, wedding ring have value but sales volume is very low now.

leox wrote: 1 month ago

Shako need is 0 .

Many MF builds use it.
In fact, any real MF build use it.

Tornado_OLO wrote: 1 month ago

leox wrote: 1 month ago

Shako need is 0 .

Many MF builds use it.
In fact, any real MF build use it.

That is true but I doubt that who havent get one at 11 season.

That one have no random attribute except no real effect defense.

That I still remember week ago , some free low def

Shako there without people claim it.

I listen to music and/or stream on twitch during grind sessions. Chat helps keep it from feeling monotonous. I also like to sing so music keeps me focused.

Usually, I start with

Andariel, then I do the tower if I feel for going through all the floors. Then I do Act 2 -

The Summoner and

Duriel, Act 3 -

Travincal and

Mephisto with all the mobs around, Act 4 -

Chaos Sanctuary with Diablo and Act 5 -

Shenk the Overseer,

Eldritch the Rectifier,

Nihlathak and

Baal. I usually do this whole round only once or twice. I never play if I don´t enjoy it. If it starts to bore me, I just quit. When there is TZ in the

Tal Rasha's Tomb,

Chaos Sanctuary,

The Secret Cow Level or Worldstone keep, I usually clear up the whole area.

Nope... I don't MF at all. Unless I need some minor thing (<1:100 chance) for whatever reason and I don't want to buy it from market. All I have found so far was just randomly while playing thru game.

I do go for 4-5 Cow runs from time to time, but very very rarely (on avg. maybe once per month) just in case some nice base drops.

I once did like 7 hours grind of Normal Cow King/

Andariel/

Blood Raven just because my dad founded me

Lenymo that I accidentally upped too soon so I couldn't use it for my project, so I had to find another one to "fix my mistake" so I forced myself to do it. I would never do that ever again, it made me puke and pull all my hair off my head! I did find 3 more

Lenymo afterwards in like Tower and random places so it wasn't even necessary but at least now I know what I DON'T want to do ever again

About HRs (not related to MF but to farming in general instead) what I founded so far just playing thru games and trying out different builds something like:
3x

Pul, 2x

Um, 2x

Mal
6-7x

Ist, 2x

Gul, 2-3x

Vex, 2x

Ohm, 1-2x

Lo, 1x

Sur, 2x

Ber, 2x

Jah, 1x

Cham that's what I remember but might be more, also bunch of other runes below

Pul
Yes, not much but not nothing either... I finished game with about 30 characters so far on SCNL (2 of which was on Ladder) not counting full rushes

I do like to listen VODs or some podcast, F1 training, some football match in the background (and then when someone scores goal I'm like wait lemme see what happened lol) or music while playing

I don't magic find, because there are only a few uniques that are really worth finding such as

Windforce or

Shako. I seem to do well enough finding those items without stacking my char with magic find gear that reduces clear speed. Also magic find does nothing for rune drops and can decrease the odds of finding base item drops.

In most cases I do the current

Terror zone. And I use different chars for different

Terror zones: Horker for

Travincal; Summon Necro for

Baal; Lightning Sorc for Arcane; Javazon for Cows; Bowazon for

Nihlathak and Fire Sorc for Andy, Mephi and most other places. The variation helps a bit. But I do also hear audio books or listen to Youtube: comedy or interviews where you do not need the video. And recently I started filling out the Holy Grail Tracker here. It makes the runs a bit less efficient but also a bit less boring.

I usually do whatever i find enjoyable. This season i was focusing on the pit, then trav, then farming keys, now im doing worldstone keep/Chaos sanct. Normally i go through 10-30 runs of one thing before i move onto another.

My MF ritual is to reach 300-400mf as going anything above 350 is basically already pointless. Then I grind. Grind like your life depends on it.

Though Ive stopped completely going for magic find, it seems like magic find is for two types of people: 24/7 grinders who barely sleep, eat and wash. Or botters.

Better luck finding high runes and good bases with no magic find and trade those. In the time you find anything useful with magic find running, you have found more of value in runes and bases. Ofc there is the trouble of trading but still more fun imo than mf hunt.