Thoughts on Ladder 1 Week Later

As mentioned in another post, I decided to roll a Barbarian for this ladder season (I always roll Barb no matter what but thats besides the point) and good lord I forgot how hard it is to start from scratch as one.

Currently: I'm stuck in late NM farming with a Barb build I'm testing that has the potential to be viable:

Leap Attack.

Problem: I'm not doing any MF with this Barb so finding gear is difficult for me right now. I know what I need, I just need to get it, somehow.

Funny stuff: I'm in Sigon's set at Lv 73. Here's my Barb

Leap Attack'ing at Eldtrich in NM and killing him lol

Thoughts: Depending on how long it takes me to get what I need for this guy, I may only level him to 85 and then go back to NL and get the rest of the gear I need for him, then gear him after S1 ends. Kind of defeats the purpose of playing ladder to begin with but, still hoping to test out some of the new stuff like Wisdom. We'll see.

Gonna be honest, ladder was...painful.

Really just wanted to get a dclone hunter up and running to fund potential trades for rare stuff that I just can't find non-ladder (even more so with a continuously dwindling economy there).

And while he is since done, geared, has proven successful and is sitting on a few

Ber to spare, the process of getting there really wasn't fun at all.
It may be partially due to the fact that I already have a pally NL that is just so much better..but even more so, it may have been the fact that I went "I'll just use a spec I wouldn't use normally, just to have something different..hybrid farmer, go!"..that just turned out to be no fun at all!

Lesson learned: Season 2 will not be joined with a pally.

Schnorki wrote: 3 years ago

Gonna be honest, ladder was...painful.

I'll also be honest, I'm not having that much fun with it currently and the thought of going back to NL is very tempting. I could level this guy to 85 and then just wait for him to roll over into NL and fix him then.

Maybe I'm not enjoying it because I ended up doing it solo, or because Ladder games for leveling are so weirdly sparse right now.

The leveling up was much harder. While I made it to endgame in 6 days (much faster than my first char in NL), it felt sometimes like I was swimming though sludge, with enemies that could tank a ton of my attacks (blizz/ball sorc). Now, I got to lvl 85 and just want to get my sorc up and running to get the gear for my next char, a smiter.

Also, saw some people running

Hydra and failing, since hydras would target whatever mob they want, even cold immunes, rendering them ineffective.

Currently right around top 100 Barb and AFAIK the number 1 wolfbarb in the world.

So glad I started barb and got a good group night 1 to push me through via pub games. Was able to pair up with a Fire druid and Light trapsin, just maxing BO/

Leap/

Find Item.

Traded my nm and hell forges to

Ribcracker and

Wolfhowl and swapped to Dkey running.

Wolfred is currently sitting just under level 92, with 21 Dclones killed and 4 rounds of Ubers done. Haven't died since I put on the wolf helmet and completed my Ebotd

Archon Staff on the end of day 2 after a successful 22 dkey day.

It probably boils down to why you even played ladder to begin with.

If you do it for the fun of it or because you enjoy the race..awesome.

If you do it as a thing you feel you have to so you can get more trade options just to carry stuff over to your NL chars once the season ends..it kinda takes the fun out of it.

I initially started ladder because I wanted to test stuff out, but I'm realizing the stuff I want to test (

Leap Attack) would be easier in NL since I have well-geared Barbs that I can farm with more effectively. I most likely will return to NL after getting my Ladder Barb to Lvl 80-85 and then fix him once S1 ends.

I'm also unsure if I'll do ladder going forward. It feels like I just don't have the time to do stuff as quickly or efficiently as others, which gives me the feeling of "Oh great, now I'm behind." I'm not necessarily talking about the race to 99, but the other race that goes along with it: Gearing your characters and getting to the end-game.

LuckyAce wrote: 3 years ago

I initially started ladder because I wanted to test stuff out, but I'm realizing the stuff I want to test (

Leap Attack) would be easier in NL since I have well-geared Barbs that I can farm with more effectively. I most likely will return to NL after getting my Ladder Barb to Lvl 80-85 and then fix him once S1 ends.

I'm also unsure if I'll do ladder going forward. It feels like I just don't have the time to do stuff as quickly or efficiently as others, which gives me the feeling of "Oh great, now I'm behind." I'm not necessarily talking about the race to 99, but the other race that goes along with it: Gearing your characters and getting to the end-game.

In three weeks, there will still be sorcs in

Perfect Topaz-socketed helmets and armors. The feeling of falling behind is disconnected from the reality of things.
Although the problem you highlighted was exactly the reason I started with a sorc. It's just such a strong starter.
Initially, I planned to make a barb and only play this duo this season, but now I'm considering other options. Especially since I built the sorc as a

Hydra Stony Tomb farmer, but, as Aegis200 pointed out,

Hydra turned out not to be all that and a bag of potato chips.

Regardless, I'll do two characters this season and a bit of testing to find out what alternative starter to the sorc will be the best come next season (provided we don't get any more balance changes with it). Maybe I'll go trapsin in 4 months.

Having fun with the ladder so far. Not competing. Just buying and selling crap for the simplest purposes like rolling a 35FCR Spirit is super refreshing.

iamergo wrote: 3 years ago

LuckyAce wrote: 3 years ago

I initially started ladder because I wanted to test stuff out, but I'm realizing the stuff I want to test (

Leap Attack) would be easier in NL since I have well-geared Barbs that I can farm with more effectively. I most likely will return to NL after getting my Ladder Barb to Lvl 80-85 and then fix him once S1 ends.

I'm also unsure if I'll do ladder going forward. It feels like I just don't have the time to do stuff as quickly or efficiently as others, which gives me the feeling of "Oh great, now I'm behind." I'm not necessarily talking about the race to 99, but the other race that goes along with it: Gearing your characters and getting to the end-game.

In three weeks, there will still be sorcs in

Perfect Topaz-socketed helmets and armors. The feeling of falling behind is disconnected from the reality of things.
Although the problem you highlighted was exactly the reason I started with a sorc. It's just such a strong starter.
Initially, I planned to make a barb and only play this duo this season, but now I'm considering other options. Especially since I built the sorc as a

Hydra Stony Tomb farmer, but, as Aegis200 pointed out,

Hydra turned out not to be all that and a bag of potato chips.

Regardless, I'll do two characters this season and a bit of testing to find out what alternative starter to the sorc will be the best come next season (provided we don't get any more balance changes with it). Maybe I'll go trapsin in 4 months.

Having fun with the ladder so far. Not competing. Just buying and selling crap for the simplest purposes like rolling a 35FCR Spirit is super refreshing.

I think I just got used to being spoiled by how good my NL Barbs are lmao. I technically have a

Leap Attack Barb on NL, so maybe I can Repsec my ladder Barb into something else. I've never done a Wolfbarb before, and I do have the

Helm for it so maybe I'll look into that.

This is my first ladder, so I guess I made a lot of mistakes...

First, I played a build I didn't like, and deleted the character.

Then, I played one I didn't really know that well (and don't like that well, to be honest) but I don't feel like deleting that one too.

I should've played a paladin/sorc like everyone else I suppose.

Already missed out on annis (tried to kill it, in vain), might miss more because I'm still not ready.

(I know I could just ask for help to kill it, but that's not how I roll hah)

Problem is that if I play a paladin, it's like... When ladder ends, what do I do, just delete one of my paladins?
Feels a bit of a waste.
I already have 2 on non-ladder, so keeping 3 seems too much.
I guess I wouldn't have that problem if it wasn't for the ridiculous 20 characters limit.

Also it was a really bad timing for me personally (real life stuff) so... Yeah.
Next ladder should be better I suppose, if I decide to do it.

Because honestly, after doing it once, I'm questioning the whole thing; All this for a few minor runeword upgrades?
I'm not sure it's worth the hassle.
Sure there's the new economy and all that, but this doesn't mean much to me.

So... Mixed feelings I suppose is the best way to put it?

I wasn't planning on playing stairs, but I decided to try. I started playing the sorceress, who is now level 21. And I see that I don't have the time and experience to move on quickly. But, I like to "raise" the character, I like to enjoy the first yellow ring and the first amulet again. But, I can get all this outside of the stairs. As of today, I do not know if I will participate in the ladder again in the new season, as I do not see a goal for myself personally.