I think it's going to be along the lines of you're going to get the audio which is available. I haven't had time yet to transcribe all the audio, so I can't guarantee what's the same, new, or missing. I guess worst case, AI could always be used to generate any missing speech

Yes it does. And you don't need to necessarily do Act 1. Act 3 & 5 though, I would hold off on, as they tend to be time intensive, best left to having some move speed.

So, if SSF without Cache, the only classes I would start immediately as that class would be Witch Doctor and Wizard. Every other class, I'd level to 70 as a Necro, and unlock the first 4 chapters to get Haedrig's Gift, and then level up with your real character wearing Haedrig's Gift. Last season, did that as a SSF No Cache HC Demon Hunter, and was rank #8 on Lioneart (clearing a GR75): eu.diablo3.blizzard.com/en-us/rankings/season/31/74987252048933

Quite a lot of shows from the 90s have aged that well, my take is that society isn't changing as much as we often tend to think. just recently watched Babylon 5, so many times you'll think "yep still relevant"

The crypts are honestly not that big of a deal, and worst case scenario, only add about 30 seconds. Try using PokeyToe's Map Guide: docs.google.com/document/d/1OYseWy9qocOxNDNhn25318ulqML7o82PtFU5JdNoebg/edit?pli=1#heading=h.4fv9e0ka8ly4 This way, you can know if you're in the correct crypt roughly a few seconds in, as the first corner you reach (which is always a few feet in) will alert you if you're in the wrong one.

Are you playing in a group, or solo? For group play, you need to make sure you place 1st in points.

I play solo on 360 version And i got an update I did 11 runs as Soma, with 51 luck and got 1 valmanway, 2 Astarte souls and the Miser ring left. Im in awe with my results.

Pharaoh's curse

For the overall season, I'd probably look to other people. I'm not really the best person to answer that question.

Good luck with those.

The first question I have is, are you playing on the Console or PC? There are different strategies to each for quick leveling.

@@Nytegard PC. Also just a casual player with no pro friends

@@Nytegard I realise this is on the PTR, just wondered what the drop rate will be for the shard to drop on ZK?

@@divegabe If using the Cache, gamble Grasps of Essence (gloves) with your Level 1 Necromancer. The first thing you do is head to the magic rock (Level 5 dungeon in The Darkening of Tristram) to get diamonds. You have an 83% chance to get 2+ diamonds in one attempt, 98.9% to get 2+ diamonds in 2 attempts, and a 99.9% chance of worst case scenario of being able to convert gems to diamonds. Craft a Level 70 Two Handed Scythe. Grab the cube now on T6 Difficulty. Then, finish crafting all Level 70 gear, with the Sage's Helm, Boots, Belt, and Gloves. Upgrade the Two Handed Scythe. You will need to convert some mats over. At this point, just keep killing stuff on T6. Once it starts to get too touch, switch over to running Cursed Chests.

@@divegabe I don't know. People have guess anywhere between 50% (most likely way too high) to as low as 16%. So, I'll just give you a range (some rounding included): Percentile Minimum Runs Needed (50% Soul Shard Drop Rate) Minimum Runs Needed (40% Soul Shard Drop Rate) Minimum Runs Needed (30% Soul Shard Drop Rate) Minimum Runs Needed (20% Soul Shard Drop Rate) 10th 1 1 1 1 20th 1 1 1 1 30th 1 1 1 2 40th 1 1 2 3 50th 1 2 2 3 60th 2 2 3 4 70th 2 3 4 6 80th 3 3 5 7 90th 4 5 7 10 This is just to get a Soul Shard, not a specific gem from one. So, at a 20% drop rate, the average player would need to run Zoltun Kulle 3x for one Soul Shard. And one out of every 10 players would need to run him 10x to get one Soul Shard.

This isn't about the Soul Stone drop rate. This is about the materials, and how, even if the diamond drops, you're not going to be close to running Level 70 gear.

@@Nytegard you’re supposed to do act 2 bounty on T1 1st but it doesn’t hurt to try getting a few soul shards I mean you’ll still have to kill him at level 18 to try and get the diamonds anyways.

Percentile Minimum Runs Needed (50% Soul Shard Drop Rate) Minimum Runs Needed (40% Soul Shard Drop Rate) Minimum Runs Needed (30% Soul Shard Drop Rate) 10th 1 1 2 20th 2 3 4 30th 4 4 6 40th 5 6 8 50th 7 9 11 60th 9 11 15 70th 12 15 19 80th 15 19 26 90th 22 28 37 This is to get a diamond. So rather than guessing at what the drop rate is, I'm covering a range. That is, even under the absolute best guesstimates of the soul shard drop rate, 1 out of every 5 people will need 15 Zoltun Kulle runs to get a diamond from a Soul Shard. 1 out of every 10 people will need 20+ runs. Other streamers have guessed that it's as low as a 1 in 6 chance to get a soul shard. If that was the case, half the people would need 21+ runs to get a diamond. If you want to go after the gold first, that's certainly acceptable. It would have higher top times, but lower average times. But for the majority of people, just stop when you have the gold.

@@Nytegard I just did some testing. The Diamond needed for the level two augment from the Alter, just need to be level 18. Boss bounties such as Zultan, Maghda, Ghom and Azmodan are the fastest to get to. I also did two practice runs at the Darkening Of Tristram. One run I got at least two of all Gems at lvl 15ish and the other run I got two of all gems except for only 1 Diamond that time. I know two runs is terrible and most likely insufficient data to go by, I think I'd rather do boss bounties at level 18 and hopefully get lucky and finding a Shard while farming for the Diamonds needed for the Alter. To play devils advocate. Let's assume the Darkening Of Tristram event is the most reliable way to get Diamonds for the Alter. Now we ask ourselves how many quick boss bounties could we have done in that time?

@@crazyoliver7877 The magic rock will drop 15 gems. You have roughly an 83% chance of getting 2 diamonds. And I'd agree, hitting 18 and fighting the boss bounties will most likely be the fastest way, as you'll still need Soul Shards to salvage into gems. It takes no time at all to get to 18 with double massacre bonuses. So, you get your 2 diamonds from the boss bounty, and still a few Soul Shards short up upgrading the blacksmith. What you can do though, is transfer over your gear to a Level 1 character, and kill Zoltun Kulle on T6 difficulty to get a significantly increased rate of Soul Shards.

@@Nytegard I'll definitely be trying out these tips and tricks on the Asian server when it goes live. I didn't know Torment effects the rate of Soul Shards can drop. 0 Clue about that. That's another thing I can practice on the Asian server. Out of curiosity, are you starting on the NA server?

@@crazyoliver7877 Yes. I try to play all 3, though not always possible. And good luck on Asia. The Asian Challenge Cache is really difficult, and I feel a lot of people will be playing without a Challenge Cache there, whether they want to or not.

This is mainly a response to another person elsewhere asking why not just to start off rushing soul shards. Most of my videos are targeted responses to threads with videos of why I take the approach I do.

Its 87%, not guaranteed

T1 will get you that DB, but you're looking at 30 mins to get the money, the node, and the mats for a weapon. And you'll still be very short on mats. For gear, you're still going to need a Vision for the mats which drop. Even if it's normal, you'll most likely get 1 Death's Breath.

@@Nytegard Aye, getting vision is huge. But you still need a vision if you go cube first right? I'm just wondering if you think theres any pros to going cube first vs going bounty first? Is there a higher chance to spawn a vision on the way to the cube?

@@domperry4175 The spawn rate is independent here. You might get a Vision, you might not. The question comes down to: do you feel confident starting a T1 bounty right off the bat with no gear? If you can do that, definitely go for it. If you feel the need to snapshot, then you might want to just focus on Visions. Going Cube + Vision will be faster than going Bounty, but the bounty gets you one requirement of Chapter 3 done. You're going to have to do that bounty anyway if you want Haedrig's Gift. But it also comes down to how fast you can complete the bounty. If you're looking at 20+ minutes, your time is better off just speeding to the cube and finding a Vision ASAP. If you can keep it under 20 minutes, then you'll be saving more time in the long run.

@@Nytegard Yeah all makes sense. The T1 bounty at level 1 isn't easy but possible for sure - there are a couple videos from season 28 where people did it, although im not sure i'd be able to do it that quickly. Maybe ill give it a shot on non-season and see how I get on time-wise. My thinking is you might as well hunt for a vision doing a bounty so if you whiff the vision, you at least can fall back on the bounty cache and you're most likely 18 already to go straight to boss bounties for gems. If you find a vision on the way you can abandon the bounty (or just complete it if almost done). If you go cube first and whiff finding a vision for a long time then that time isn't as productive. However if the chance of spawning a vision is relatively high then there's no real advantage to going bounty first.

@@domperry4175 I know Wudijo put out a guide today and that's the approach he's taking. My line of thinking on this: us.forums.blizzard.com/en/d3/t/question-about-leveling-from-1-to-70/62840/17 Plus, if you're going HC, you can always cheese it by finishing most of the requirements in SC (DO NOT FINISH CHAPTER 2!!!), switch to HC, collect the magic rock, get enough mats to unlock the second node, finish Chapter 2 requirements, collect your 6 piece, and blast away to 70 in 10-15 minutes.

Go to 14:40. They can drop in Visions at any level, although the rate is much lower than live.

Necro has the easiest spec for this with Inarius Nova (~p1000 - 1500), DH should also be fine but propably needs more paragon levels (Natalya Spike Traps / Marauder).

I'd craft the highest level weapon I could craft, start on T6, start a bounty, and just lower it down as necessary. (If HC, just start on T1). You should be able to at least end on T1 when you complete the bounty. Most likely I'd search for an Act 4 without a boss, so that I wouldn't get slowed down.

@Nytegard Thanks for the tip! I am tempted to pray to rng gods and try high roll a diamond from repeated kulle/maghda bounties in normal from level 1, unlock second altar node, craft highest possible weapon. Then go get cube and pray for a vision proc. Not going to be competing for any records but i still find optimising the levelling fun.

@@domperry4175 So, I would not go for the diamond first. Sure, if you see a ZK bounty, go for it. But diamonds matter less when you don't have a Death's Breath. Once you have that Death's Breath, you may actually be near Level 18 regardless, giving you another opportunity from boss chests. (Boss bounties only start dropping gems at Level 18). For example, Season 29, I was Level 19 on Asia before I saw my first Vision portal. If you really want to unlock diamonds quickly, just go directly to the magic rock in The Darkening of Tristram. This will be far more efficient than hoping for a boss to drop them. That's a 5-7 minute run. With trying to get a soul shard for diamonds, you're looking roughly 14 runs on average. If each ZK run takes a minute, that's a 50% chance for it to take more than 14 minutes to get your diamond.

@@Nytegard Hmm, do you not think there is value in being able to craft e.g. a level 50 weapon quickly, rather than focusing on going all the way to level 70 weapon? Granted doing the soul shard method for the diamond is very rng - but you could combine it with the magic rock method to get enough gold for blacksmith upgrade to get a good starter weapon to move to T6 for cube/bounties/visions. Although not sure where would be best to get the mats for the altar node + crafting the weapon itself. Surely without a much higher level weapon doing anything above torment I would get difficult quite quickly (assuming SSF here, not group)? Or is the level 70 weapon such a game changer its worth focusing on DB as number 1 priority? In that case would it not be better to do a T1 bounty act first (and hopefully proc a vision) rather than going for cube first? I think that method was popular in season 28. Edit: i guess going for cube first is the play _if_ you manage to high roll a vision on the way, but that's a similar gamble to doing kulle runs for the diamond.

@@domperry4175 For the very long explanation: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqOwmJ6NjJd5j9U Short explanation, you still will need mats to unlock the node and craft the weapon, which will have you going to the cube anyway without a higher level weapon.

Cacheless? The Necro is going to be far and away the fastest class. At least 15 minutes faster.

@@Nytegard I saw someone mention this strategy, going necro first and then switching to monk: "At 70, use 2 keystones to get LOD gem and make Season Journey, claim haedrigs gift on monk" is picking necro and doing journey really much faster than just going monk and doing journey on that?

@@Ulve124 Without a legendary for a multiplier (Rivera Dancers, Crudest Boots, etc.), the monk is one of the slowest levelers to 70. They lack multitarget and range. Once you have your 6 piece, it will take roughly 15-20 minutes to level yourself up as a monk. And completing the first 4 chapters for Haedrig's Gift takes roughly the same amount of time, regardless of class. So, the question becomes, can a Necromancer level up to 70 more than 20 minutes faster than a Monk, assuming you start cacheless. And the answer to that is yes. (If you start with the Cache though, you'd obviously start as a monk.) So, here's another approach, if you're playing cachless. You're playing monk. Start as a Necro, do the stuff to get your level 70 gear unlocked, and craft a level 70 weapon as a Necro. Then create your monk and use that gear to about Level 45-50. If by Level 45, you found a multiplier, continue with your monk. If not, switch back to your Necro. Now, you will hit 70 about 5-10 minutes slower (about the time it takes to go 1-45 with Level 70 gear). But, if you get a multiplier, you save the time of leveling up your Necro from 20-70, minus about 10 minutes. Granted, finding a legendary in that timespan is almost nonexistent. But a 6 piece won't level you up any faster to 45 than Level 70 gear, because below that level, you're going to be one shotting everything regardless.

New random rifts=vision of enmity?

@@rauharikas6905 yes ty

Go for it. Saving your cache, you're probably looking at 75-90 minutes. Sure, you're not going to compete with people using their cache, as we should see half an hour broken this season, but 90 minutes isn't slow by any means. As far as boss bounties, the Magic Rock will be the fastest consistent way to get diamonds. You have an 83% chance of getting 2 diamonds. It's 6-7 minutes per run typically, as I put up one of my slowest runs. Plus, you have The Butcher, and can also backtrack to The Skeleton King to have 2 chances at Soul Shards. Whereas if you focus on spamming Zoltun Kulle, you're talking 14 minutes on average to get a diamond (sans 18). But my best advice here would be to just start leveling as you normally do. Because in the end, you'll still need mats to unlock the second node. It really doesn't matter if you get the diamond, yet still need 15 blues and 20 whites to actually unlock the node. Depending on how quickly you can get the mats, you might actually be Level 18, at which point, bosses make more sense, as you'll still have to face them to get the Soul Shards to salvage into gems to sell.

@@Nytegard love it dude. And ty. I'm pretty certain I'm saving cache. But also with the nerfs to the altar not sure if having it fully unlocked provides that big of a boost vs only having the 13 or 14 unlocked due to using cache. And really yea if I'd really feel up to farming staff of herding , getting lucky with ancient puzzle and hellfire ammy opening weekend.

@@superchuck6391 Not really any luck involved with puzzle ring and hellfire amu. Amu u can just craft a bunch and you're done, puzzle ring you will likely have to reforge but with the visions the only thing slowing you down is some souls.

No. Provided you're 5+ levels difference, the game will remain at the original level.

​@@Nytegard Interesting. I thought it was 10 levels. I'll test it tomorrow probably.

@@Nytegard Well... I did check. It doesn't update the level of the game. Wonderful! Didn't know about that. Thank you )

I thought it was at level 10 as well.@@alexanderlishnev6471

They ended up getting a Cursed Chest bounty. You really only need a 200 massacre streak to go from 11-18, which can be hard depending on the bounty. Cursed chests, Halls of Agony 3, Fields of Misery, Temple of the Firstborn, grabbing the cube (Elder Sanctum), Ruins of Corvus can all get you there within a couple minutes. If you're going after the 18 approach, for instance, I was one level short of 18, you can get your final levels there. Otherwise, just run the Darkening of Tristram, get to floor 5, and open a magic rock. This is from Season 29, using a similar approach (I'm just grabbing the cube). kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYmzanqsnceKaa8

​@@Nytegard Ran through to it with a DH. Yes, it does drop a lot of gems... Wonder about how much time would it take to get there...

@@alexanderlishnev6471 It can range between 5-8 minutes. Useful if you're using your cache. But not going to be nearly as efficient if not. Remember, you're not going to have any materials if you save your cache, so unlocking the second node is still a bit off, along with the gold needed to upgrade the blacksmith. If you're in a group with everyone saving their cache, I'd probably skip the Magic Rock approach. (I'm just uploading a video with an overall bad luck run, which should appear on my channel in a few minutes).

@@Nytegard My group is going to use the cache. So... I'm looking for ways to speed up getting that diamond...

@@Nytegard Ah! You did a "Magic Rocks" video. Nice! Watching... )

Added the final build in the description, which you'll reach by Level 41, which won't be a problem with the altar next season. Included is a link to the original strategy, though it's in Korean. I made some small tweaks for a little extra efficiency, but nothing too shocking.

Cursed chests tends to work better due to forced density. Corpse Explosion is the most powerful leveling skill in the entire game, allowing you to play far greater difficulty than normal, which is why I'm 100% built around that. When I hit 70, I'll switch Bone Armor for Mages + Gift of Death, because armor isn't as important at that point, since you can survive easily enough the highest difficulty you can reasonably play. Season 29 results (Asia/Americas/EU), all captured around the same point in time of the season (though I couldn't play EU): i.imgur.com/YFOX9BJ.png Your first 70 Achievement points will be your first 70 levels. You gain 10 points for every 10 levels. Though, I'll admit, I am curious as to why DH is doing so well on Asia (and at least half of them aren't being carried). There are a ton of Level 60+ DHs there, even beating the top EU DH, and EU is typically the strongest server.