The Great Race; a proposal for "Khalim" awards

[Crystalion]

If the race is to 8, twinking is not worth the time.

Well, while I'm considering the twink and build starting at clvl 1, I've been thinking about getting to 20, 25, 40 rapidly in all of my recent thinking, fyi.

However, I think the only race is to 20 (which when twinked right is not much longer than 8 when total time is considered).  For 20, what works fast below about clvl 9 is immaterial.

This is probably a good rule of thumb which could be stated more precisely and accurately if we benchmarked a character using nothing but ordinary attacks (e.g. throwing)--the point being that no effort purely to get to a low level "faster" should be expended if it doesn't improve on that net time significantly and without sacrificing later leveling speed (i.e. don't waste "valuable" skill points).

Unless there is a fast way to 20 (and 40), this whole approach is not worth the time.

If someone correctly claims to have gotten to clvl 50 in 3 hours, then I think that's an existance proof right there. I ran the xp/minute numbers for that claim and realized that any short sample run with my HolyFist character once he made clvl 25 and (later) nm Zombie Garden generates more xp/minute. I'm afraid I've been sloppy and not gone back with "lessons learned" and proven just how incredible xp leveling is clvl 25+ with Holy Bolt builds. For 25 to 40 I'm convinced this is not the best build for leveling, unless, possibly, you're very constrained (e.g. getting only location rushed, no other assistance/twinks). However I do consider the build a probable clvl 40 efficient "proof" for hell Hellforge...

Even the agony of cubing hell countess runes will be more efficient than the Hellforge.

Doubtful. I think you should peruse the backlog of posts on just how bad this gets. If you want below the best of the nm Hellforge runes then it could go either way. In my mind Um is the first key rune. As the top of the nm Hellforge it is 1/11th of such a rush. A *hell* Countess run has less than 1/11th of 1% chance (yes, 1 percent) chance of dropping it (I'm being generous, even allowing for the multiple drop picks: her single pick chance is ~ 1/38th of 1% and she is the mostly likely drop for the rune from a monster in the game). So, if we're after an Um, can we do 100 hell Countess runs in the time of one nm Hellforge rush??! Based on the numbers people are citing so far, I don't think it's even a close contest.

NM countess runs are fast and easy...

But only relevant up to (r16) Io (about 1/5th of 1% per pick) and not Lum Ko Fal Lem Pul Um which are each 1/11 for nm Hellforge. In addition the rusher can pick up Tal, Ral and Ort if desired in a reasonable "sidetrip" amount of time. While I'm glad the Countess runs are available, they are still very thin lottery tickets.

To get to clvl 40 fast, it's all clvl 30 skills with rapid AOE attacks.  I think that immediately narrows the field to the orb sorc and the javazon.

I'm not convinced, for a paltry goal of 40, that the list is so short. I don't think a v1.10 synergized WoF build runs out of steam before 40, for example. And I don't think a Necro has much trouble with corpses before then to roll over crowds with CE. Basically *any* scheme also has the 25+ location rush, party with a mass-murdering god trick as well (in other words, I'm generally not impressed with clvl 24 and 30 skills at all, on the *rushee*).

the one that I least enjoy playing alas

Since I'm not interesting in being a free R&D facility for EBay drones, I'd have to say *this* is a large part of...

I like to pretend to see a big picture too.

As the people I'm interested in (myself, other Lurkers) are not going to play mindless, joyless builds. We can, after all, mod the local game to be as Gods, so why in hell would be want to hold our hands in the flame on Realm--just to be in the misery-loves-company of fellow xp-slave sufferers?!

Reading alternate builds is fun

Agreed. As is thinking them up. And playing them. Viva la Race!