Is uphunting worth it?

[Tilnam]

So I have been risking my neck trying to uphunt, but I have yet to see any rewards from it. What do you exactly get from it? Just better gems and money from boxes that rarely drop in the first place? Or is it just some random dumb luck that some good item will drop?



Btw, symbol of courage dropping mid fight = lose :( Thank god undead fear is considered a stun.



You feel the extra courage wane.
>
Overcome by the waves of evil emanating from the skeletal lord, your arms fall slack at your side and you find yourself unable to move.

A skeletal lord thrusts with a splintered lance at you!
AS: +254 vs DS: +136 with AvD: +50 + d100 roll: +95 = +263
... and hits for 58 points of damage!
Neck skewered, sliding past the throat and spine! That looks painful.
You are stunned for 7 rounds!
!SI>
You regain control of your senses!
!>stand
A skeletal lord thrusts with a splintered lance at you!
Amazingly, you manage to block the attack with your shield!
!>
You are already standing.

[CrystalTears]

You'll find more benefits in regards to treasure if you group hunt. Solo hunting you'll find nice stuff just perhaps not as often.

What level are you?

[fallenSaint]

My benefit to up hunting is shorter hunts if you can actually kill the stuff quick enough. Supposedly the loot generator is supposed to be more kind but I've been up-hunting a group of three since the changes and have come up with nothing but a super queer shield.

[Tilnam]

You'll find more benefits in regards to treasure if you group hunt. Solo hunting you'll find nice stuff just perhaps not as often.

What level are you?


lvl 29. So using symbol of courage keeps me from getting undead feared. Unfortunately it hurts when it fades like that mid combat.

[CrystalTears]

You may be overhunting too much. Skeletal lords are 41.

I'd start with 5 levels above you and work from there. You may be overdoing it by overhunting 12 levels.

[Tilnam]

Isn't there a better benefit for 10+ levels? skeletal lords are actually quite easy for their level. They are very easy to stance dance. Fear is the only thing that makes it dangerous.

[justincredible]

I find more loot hunting rich things around my level than up-hunting 8-10 levels. I don't often group hunt so maybe this has something to do with it. All of my enhancives (all 2 of them...) have been found of near like leveled beasties (1-2 levels up hunting).

I find more loot on stone trolls than stone giants, 8-10 levels up-hunting with my 48 sorcerer.

Think the up-hunting thing works best in groups of 3+ 5-7 levels up-hunting. Purely anecdotal, I have no facts/data

[CrystalTears]

Yeah I don't believe in a great benefit 10+ levels over unless you're group hunting.

[The Ponzzz]

Uphunting is worth it when you know what to hunt. Castle Varunar is a harder area than say, vesperti (38) in Solhaven or Sheru (41) in the Broken Lands, IMO.

[The Ponzzz]

Yeah I don't believe in a great benefit 10+ levels over unless you're group hunting.

I don't know if this is a fact, but what CT is saying is very evident. I was uphunting solo by 21 levels by myself and found nothing with my cleric or wizard.

Group hunting is what the real draw is.

[BriarFox]

I uphunt Ithzir by 10-18 levels, but I'm just awesome like that. I also uphunt Vvrael in the Rift by several. I've found more nice stuff uphunting than I have hunting my level, but I make more money on average hunting like-level, because I kill more things.

Things I've found uphunting, mostly solo: enhancive ambush tiara, enhancive health circlet (w/partner), enhancive STR/Stamina/Trading brooch (w/ partner), 4x robes, spiked mithril leg greaves (last night), enhancive Mental MC/temp. very heavily damage weighted mithril backsword.

[Warriorbird]

It depends on the area and the huntedness of it. Anything Voln is going to axe your treasure like HELL unless it's something skinned/searched. The Landing still has high population effects on drops at its totally ravaged current population numbers.

[Danical]

As others have said, get in a group and uphunt only 5-10 levels above you. Past 10 levels the risk is generally too great for the reward.

[justincredible]

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/funny-pictures-kitten-attacks-older-cat.jpg

[Ashliana]

In my experience, uphunting isn't worth it at all. The pressure system means a lot, lot more. My empath is 26 (just turned 26) and I can kill frost giants/crones/trolls/titans pretty easily, which are around 38.

Do I get anything for it? Not really. Last box was 10 pounds, had 600 coins and no gems. It's totally a matter of the pressure system.

Now, if you're uphunting something that's already rare, you might get something awesome. Dunno.

[CrystalTears]

In my experience, uphunting isn't worth it at all. The pressure system means a lot, lot more. My empath is 26 (just turned 26) and I can kill frost giants/crones/trolls/titans pretty easily, which are around 38.
Not to derail, just out of curiousity.. what kind of training do you have that allows you to overhunt frost giants and crones effectively?

[Praefection]

Frost giants in the Landing have always been poor in my experience trying to hunt them. My sorceress gets a lot of high end gems/boxes when I hunt and they're about 4-8 levels over her.

Then again I've found a few items just going solo with some of my younger characters so I think a lot depends on the area and how overkilled they are.

[SolitareConfinement]

also a key factor is finding rich things to hunt....hunting something that is overhunted is also not helping matters

[Warriorbird]

Giants are really easy to uphunt as a Warrior or Rogue, CT.

Hunting the Landing STILL leads to lousy treasure.

[CrystalTears]

Giants are really easy to uphunt as a Warrior or Rogue, CT.
And she plays an empath, which is why I'm asking her specifically.

[Warriorbird]

Whoops. That is more impressive. Fire spells?

[CrystalTears]

That would be a buttload of gold wands, which is why I'm curious if that was the route. :)

[Asile]

That would be a buttload of gold wands, which is why I'm curious if that was the route. :)

That's probably the case, or at least a system like my Empath's got with a Ranger to make blank wands/rods and a Wizard to imbed them. (I soooo <3 my friends for this.) She could also be optimally set up (skills and stats) for a high bolt AS, so she can use Fire Spirit.

But then I want to know her defensive set-up, or if she just stance-dances a lot.

[Some Rogue]

At 26 how could you possibly have enough mana to hunt with fire spirit though?

[CrystalTears]

That's why I'm curious. She was asking recently about help with her training, and as it stood, she didn't have fire spirit yet. She was also singling in harness power so the mana wouldn't last long. And I'm also curious about defenses against critters 12 levels over.

But she's too busy yelling at everyone in the politics folder to offer up any answers. :D

[Ashliana]

As you have all guessed--yes, I use a high bolt AS (260-ish with self-buffs and CoL) and spam firespirit. They've very weak to it--extra wounds and almost always stunned. It's very mana intensive--I can only take down 1-2 frost giants with a full mind of mana.

I was just commenting on the pressure system--I do this for fun, but I get crap loot from it.

[Ashliana]

That's why I'm curious. She was asking recently about help with her training, and as it stood, she didn't have fire spirit yet. She was also singling in harness power so the mana wouldn't last long. And I'm also curious about defenses against critters 12 levels over.

But she's too busy yelling at everyone in the politics folder to offer up any answers. :D

I have up to 111 now. Unfortunately, I can't really progress my spell training any further because of how overtrained I am. I'm Lv 26, and have up to 225, 1125 and 111. Costing 32 mental for each spell at this point, and I'm already 200 in mental point debt.

[CrystalTears]

Well yeah, killing one or two giants won't help you find any loot. With that kind of expense it didn't seem worth it. As long as you enjoy it. :)

How do you have 200 in mental point debt?

[Ashliana]

As in Physical-to-Mental conversion. I ended up with a shitload of extra physical points and decided to use them. But since I trained so much in spells, past my 2x "cheap limit," it costs 32 mental (or 64 physical) for each spell, and that's too rich for my blood.

[Asile]

Meh. I gave up worrying about physical-mental conversion a LONG time ago. My Empath did a lot of converting to the point that when I did her first FIXSKILLS she got ONLY Pysical tps... haven't seen a Mental tp since. She still gets trained in everything I need for her.

[Stanley Burrell]

Yes it is worth it.

Mod please lock this thread, I have all the answers.

[Ashliana]

Your spell is ready.
You gesture at a frost giant.
You hurl a roaring ball of fire at a frost giant!
AS: +246 vs DS: +199 with AvD: +59 + d100 roll: +72 = +178
... and hit for 36 points of damage!
Burst of flames to left leg burns skin bright red.
The frost giant howls in agony as the flames dance over his body!
... 30 points of damage!
Nasty burns to left hand. Gonna need lots of butter.
The frost giant is stunned!

The roaring ball of fire strikes a frost giant, blossoming into a much larger sphere of flame upon impact.
... 10 points of damage!
Minor burns to right leg. That hurts a bit.
The frost giant howls in agony as the flames dance over his body!
... 20 points of damage!
Burst of flames to chest toasts skin nicely.

Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.

You gesture at a frost giant.
You hurl a roaring ball of fire at a frost giant!
AS: +246 vs DS: +176 with AvD: +59 + d100 roll: +94 = +223
... and hit for 66 points of damage!
Flames burn hole in chest exposing ribs!
The frost giant moans in pain as the flames singe his skin!
... 30 points of damage!
Nasty burns to back. Won't be sleeping on that for awhile.

The roaring ball of fire strikes a frost giant, blossoming into a much larger sphere of flame upon impact.
... 10 points of damage!
Minor burns to right leg. That hurts a bit.
The frost giant howls in agony as the flames dance over his body!
... 10 points of damage!
Minor burns to left eye. Foe blinks back the tears.

Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.

You gesture at a frost giant.
You hurl a roaring ball of fire at a frost giant!
AS: +246 vs DS: +189 with AvD: +59 + d100 roll: +48 = +164
... and hit for 22 points of damage!
Minor burns to left hand. Ouch.
The frost giant bellows in agony as the fire toasts his body!
... 25 points of damage!
Burst of flames to right leg blackens kneecap.
The frost giant is stunned!

The roaring ball of fire strikes a frost giant, blossoming into a much larger sphere of flame upon impact.
... 5 points of damage!
Minor burns to back. Looks uncomfortable.
The frost giant howls in agony as the flames dance over his body!
... 15 points of damage!
Minor burns to left hand. Ouch.

Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.

You gesture at a frost giant.
You hurl a roaring ball of fire at a frost giant!
AS: +246 vs DS: +169 with AvD: +59 + d100 roll: +76 = +212
... and hit for 45 points of damage!
Burst of flames to left arm toasts skin to elbows.
The frost giant howls in agony as the flames dance over his body!
... 25 points of damage!
Burst of flames to left eye incinerates eyelid. Gruesome.

The roaring ball of fire strikes a frost giant, blossoming into a much larger sphere of flame upon impact.
... 10 points of damage!
Minor burns to right leg. That hurts a bit.
The frost giant howls in agony as the flames dance over his body!
... 1 point of damage!
Minor burns to left eye. Foe blinks back the tears.

Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.

You gesture at a frost giant.
You hurl a roaring ball of fire at a frost giant!
AS: +246 vs DS: +189 with AvD: +59 + d100 roll: +18 = +134
... and hit for 11 points of damage!
Burst of flames to abdomen. Didn't hurt much.
The frost giant howls in agony as the flames dance over his body!
... 20 points of damage!
Burst of flames to chest toasts skin nicely.

The roaring ball of fire strikes a frost giant, blossoming into a much larger sphere of flame upon impact.
... 5 points of damage!
Minor burns to chest. That hurts a bit.
The frost giant howls in agony as the flames dance over his body!
... 10 points of damage!
Minor burns to chest. That hurts a bit.
The frost giant falls to the ground motionless.
The deep blue glow leaves a frost giant.

Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.

[BigWorm]

I have up to 111 now. Unfortunately, I can't really progress my spell training any further because of how overtrained I am. I'm Lv 26, and have up to 225, 1125 and 111. Costing 32 mental for each spell at this point, and I'm already 200 in mental point debt.

Just make sure you get 1130 at level 30 and you may be able to uphunt even more, though at that age mana is a seriously limiting factor.

[CrystalTears]

55 mana for one giant. Okayy.

[Ashliana]

55 mana for one giant. Okayy.

You do realize I'm not hunting these for the experience or loot? It's just fun to occasionally take down a Lv38 frost giant at Lv26.

[Kyra231]

ZOMG EMPATHS ARE OP, ONLY 55 MANA TO KILL THAT GIANT, NERF THEM NERF THEM


~K.