Alright folks, let me tell you about tackling that D2R ladder reset yesterday. Me and my buddies, we were hella pumped, ready to grind. Woke up extra early, coffee pot full, computers humming. Clicked that “Play” button right as the servers flipped, feeling that fresh start buzz.
Started strong with a Sorceress, obviously. Teleport is just too good early on, feels like cheating almost. Hammered out Tristram runs on repeat, just blasting those little fallen guys. Found a sick rare ring almost immediately – lucky drop, felt like a good sign. Kept that momentum going straight into the tombs. Cain rescued, Den cleared – we were flying.
Andariel went down smooth. The real slog started in Act 2. Everyone knows it – finding that damn viper amulet? Took freaking forever. Running circles in that desert like idiots. My group was getting antsy, voice chat full of “Where is it?!” “Did you check there?”. Finally found it tucked in some random corner. Seriously.
Act 3 was, well… Act 3. Jungle maze hell. Flayers everywhere. Me and the group, we stuck close, tried to stick to the river. Found the Travincal waypoint first try, thank god. Mephisto got melted – classic Static Field + Blizzard combo. That was our first big loot break! Couple good Spirit bases dropped, felt awesome.
Act 4 was surprisingly fast. Chaos Sanctuary runs for the win. De Seis is always a pain, but we nuked him good. Diablo fell over pretty quick after that.
Pro Tips We Actually Used:
- Group Up, Seriously: More people means stuff dies faster, XP flies. Sharing waypoints is massive. Don’t be a solo hero at reset.
- Skip the Fluff: Saw tons of folks clearing every corner. Waste of time! Run straight to objectives. Skip packs you don’t need for XP.
- Dolls? No Thanks: In Act 3, we just skipped those exploding doll areas near Meph. Too risky, too slow.
- Runewords are King: Farmed Countess in Act 1 like mad early on. Got those Tir + Ral runes quick. Threw a TirRal leaf staff on my Fire Sorc immediately. Huge damage boost early. Spirit swords ready for when we hit 25+.
- XP > Gear Early: Didn’t waste time farming Meph endlessly at level 20. Pushed levels, came back later when it mattered more.
Felt great hitting Nightmare mode while servers were still fresh. Server issues kicked in right as we hit Baal runs though. Classic D2R launch lag. We got kicked twice. Lost a couple good drops because of rollbacks. Super annoying. Had to take a break, grab food while they “fixed” things. Came back later, pushed to Hell Act 3 before finally crashing hard. That first day rush is something else.