Diablo III

Just make sure that if you create a fresh Level 1 character, you don't actually kill any enemies between teleporting to the Old Ruins and entering the portal; I've read a few message board comments claiming that you only get the achievement if you're Level 1 when you enter the portal, and on most difficulty levels, killing even one enemy is enough to put you over the top for Level 2. If you don't already use Kormac as your follower by default - as I gather most top tier players do (I use Eirena instead, which may be part of why I've never reached Greater rifts above Level 50 - that and, as I mentioned in my previous post, beating higher level Greater rifts is of less interest to me) - it's probably wisest to do so for the retro dungeon run, since he's a melee fighter while Lyndon and Eirena are both ranged fighters, so he's less likely to pick off an enemy before you can enter the portal.

As to why they didn't use the Arreat Crater tileset for the "Hell" levels at the end, I suspect it's because the map layouts weren't really suited to the levels they wanted to put in, but the Halls of Agony layouts were, and they're at least fire-based. Just a guess, though.

edited 7th Jan '17 9:05:04 PM by mlsmithca

I'm gonna create a Level 1 Male Crusader, and go in without any followers.

I want the closest to a solo Warrior run I can get.

I just completed the game on my Monk. :)

Well, yes, not taking a follower at all is perhaps the best way of all to avoid the "follower accidentally picks off an enemy before entering the portal to Old Tristram" problem. And, as you say, it's a more accurate re-creation of the Diablo 1 experience, or so I'm led to believe. I presume a Demon Hunter is the best approximation to a Rogue, a Wizard the best approximation to a Sorcerer - best not to say that within earshot of a member of either character class in-game, mind - and, if one considers the Hellfire class (the finished one, anyway) fair game, the best approximation to a Monk is, erm, well, that one's obvious.

(Oh, and as luck would have it, my multiplayer seasonal D3 sessions are continuing after all. I chose a wizard in the end. Perhaps I'll have better luck with the Firebird Archon build with him than I have done with my non-seasonal wizard.)

I finished my "Warrior" solo run.

It was pretty fun, too bad the Dark Lord was a total push over on Expert, seriously, he couldn't even hurt me, the waves before him were several times more dangerous.

I might do it again but in Hardcore, now that will be scary.

edited 10th Jan '17 3:16:00 PM by RunoEddie

Surprisingly close to completing Slayer on my Hardcore Seasonal Crusader. Really did not expect to push that far, given that I just wanted the pet. Might go further and try for the stash tab.

So what exactly is this level one achievement? Don't you have to kill a dozen or so enemies just to get in and out of New Tristram?

Nope, you can get to the portal without killing anything, at least in theory.

Darkening of Tristram is an Adventure Mode event. You only have to fight to get into New Tristram in the story mode. AM starts you in the town square.

edited 10th Jan '17 12:26:17 PM by Eagal

Ah. So you just need to be level one when you enter the labyrinth?

Do you need to do it all in one session?

I think you have to do it in one session, yes.

edited 11th Jan '17 1:12:34 AM by RunoEddie

You have to do it in one session. People are saying that you have to not kill anything before you enter the Labyrinth, but for what it's worth, I did (though I used a fresh level 1 character when I started the game).

EDIT: Clarity.

edited 11th Jan '17 12:28:05 AM by disruptorfe404

It wasn't too bad, sent a demon hunter in since that's the closest thing to my old rogue.

The portal to Retro-istram (that sounded better before I typed it) is just one screen or so south-west of the Old Ruins waypoint, so getting into the portal without killing any enemies should be quite simple - even if you run into some encounters en route, the monsters at Level 1 probably won't do enough damage to be a serious threat.

That said, the precise nature of what needs doing for the achievement is still something of a matter of debate, as near as I can tell; there are Diablo message board threads on various websites (including battle.net itself, naturally) with posters saying they didn't get the achievement despite starting a fresh Level 1 character, and they think it might be because they killed an enemy in the Old Ruins before entering the portal. Other posters think they might have been screwed over by portaling back to New Tristram to clear their inventory or have Haedrig forge some better armour, but then others again say they got the achievement despite quitting out of the game and requiring two (or more) trips into the labyrinth to finish it. So I'm not sure what the requirements are - not the first time Blizzard have left this sort of thing a bit nebulous.

I took no chances myself - Level 1 Witch Doctor (albeit with nearly 700 Paragon levels), killed no enemies on the way to the portal, did the whole dungeon in one sitting, never teleported back to New Tristram, and got the achievement in about an hour and a half or so. Portrait frames are always good.

Incidentally, it seems Blizzard have addressed the long-standing concern among Barbarian players that the Wrath of the Wastes set is all waste and no wrath - to read the PTR forum, you'd think it had made no difference, and yet I've started seeing quite a few Wastes-based builds showing up near the top of the Greater Rift solo Barbarian leaderboards amid the Legacy of Nightmare builds and the 6 pc Immortal King/4 pc Raekor (or 4 pc Immortal King/6 pc Raekor) builds, so evidently some players have found how to make it work. The secret: Skull Grasp and the Bul-Kathos weapons to buff the hell out of Whirlwind, fill out the other skill slots with various offensive and/or defensive buffs, then turn your Barbarian into spinning death incarnate. I've already made this pay off with my Wastes-based non-seasonal Barbarian, who can now clear a Level 50 Greater rift in just over 6 minutes, and could probably keep going beyond that if I were interested.

(Hasn't made the Wrath of the Wastes set dungeon any easier, though. And not just the "no physical damage" objective, buff Whirlwind too much and you might do what I kept doing on several failed mastery runs and mow down every enemy before you have a chance to Rend 10 or more enemies simultaneously. It is interesting to note that most of the top tier Wastes-based builds don't use Rend at all, even though it's one of the skills buffed by the set.)

Probably because rend is a pure DOT effect which is unpopular in the meta of kill things now.

But with the right rune, it makes things explode, which makes your enemies die faster.

I can affirm that I went back to New Tristram, cleared my inventory, crafted a new shield with Haedrig, and still got the achievement.

The only thing I made sure to do was go into the dungeon ALONE at Level 1 with ZERO kills, only go from Dungeon -> New Tristram -> back to Dungeon, and do it in one sitting.

I was kinda worried I wouldn't get the achievement, but it all worked out in the end

How long will this event be going on?

End of January, I believe. If you miss it this year, it'll be back in January next year, and again every January until the game goes offline, if and when that happens.

No kills before the dungeon for me and I went back to town to clear my inventory and buy gear a few times. Finished it in one session.

I'm guessing it depends on gaining any experience outside of the labyrinth.

Yussssssssssss. Managed to get it. And the secret pet. And the side bosses.

A fun little distraction. Not a re-invention, not a real expansion but a fun little event. And they got the butcher right this time!!!

Now, just gotta wait for my Necromancer to return.

It's funny that no one has ever bothered to put the Necromancers amongst the D3 Characters in the Playable classes pages.

The Witch Doctor is fun to play. :)

Well, I mean, they aren't yet.

edited 16th Jan '17 8:22:06 AM by Yinyang107