Diablo III: DH Nightmare Cleared

So its been more than one week since Diablo III. Obviously I've been too busy playing in my spare time to update this blog. I just cleared nightmare with my Demon Hunter. I used this build to kill Diablo.

Basically, Thunder Ball and Impact for the stun. Caltrops(Tortuous Ground) was more useful against monsters outside of boss fights when there is not enough space for Vault. Multishot to deal with groups of monsters, also outside of boss fight.

When low on health while health globes/potions were unavailable , I used Shadow Power with impale to regain some health.

Before Act 3 I was able to kite everything in the game. After that, some very annoying monsters have the ability to charge/Jumb on you which completely nullifies the effects of Vault and Caltrops. That's when I added the stun and ShadowPowers. I died a lot to those monsters anyways. At first it seamed that there was no ways for me to beat champion packs of these types.

The stun was also very useful for boss fights.

So right now I'm back to Act1 again, in hell this time. I switched a few skills, I really like the Tactical Advantage / Evasive fire combo. Makes me run very fast.

Diablo III: Auction House Algebra

Recently Blizzard revealed more details on the Diablo III auction house.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/services/auction-house/how-to
http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/diablo-iii-auction-house-functionality

 The flat 1$ fee on gear at the real money auction house (RMAH) versus the percentage fee on the gold auction house(GAH) suggests one of them will be more profitable than the other depending on the value of the item. For higher value, 1$ on the RMAH will be much less than 15% on the gold auction house. Of course the best way to avoid these fees is to avoid the auction house altogether and trade in-game.

The best auction house to sell your item also varies depending on what your end-goal is because there is an extra 15% fee if you sold your item on the GAH and need to sell your gold on the RMAH.

Here I make an attempt to find these limits depending on the case. Forgive me if I make mistakes, its been years since I had to calculate anything.

Real Money Auction House (RMAH):

Maximum price: 250$
Minimum price: 1.25$
Blizzard cut on gear: 1$
Blizzard cut on commodities: 15%

Gold auction house (GAH):

Maximum price: 100 000 000 000g
Minimum price: 100g
Blizzard cut: 15%

Variables:

v: The current value of the item in gold
g: The current value of 1 gold in $ (gold/$)
vg: The current value of the item in $

1) When is it more profitable to sell gear on one auction house instead of the other:

a) When your goal is Gold.

P1: Profit from selling the item on the gold auction house.
P2: Profit from selling on the $ auction and then buying gold.

P1 = v * 0.85
P2 = (vg - 1)/g

The breaking point:
P1=P2 v*.85 = (vg-1)/g
vg*.85 = vg-1
.85 = 1-1/vg
.15 =1/vg
vg = 6,67

So if you want gold, you should sell gear on the gold auction house when its value is under 6,67$

And you should always sell on the $ auction house when the value is above 6,67$ And then buy gold.

But what happens when you reach the limit? you can ever make only 249$ profit on the $ auction so you might think to sell on the gold auction house anyways, but there will be range where its still more profitable to sell at a lower price on the $ auction house because of the huge 15% blizzard cut. So at what gear value does selling on the gold auction house allow you to make more profit than 249$ in gold?

249$/g = v *0.85
vg = 293

So in conclusion, if you want gold:

• If you think that the item will sell under 6.67$, sell on the gold auction house.
• If you think that the value of the item is between 6.67$ and 292.94$, sell it on the real money auction house and then buy gold with the balance.
• Assuming than the maximum price on the GAH is worth more than the maximum price on RMAH, if you think the item will sell for more than 292.94$ in gold, sell it on the gold auction house.

b) When your goal is real money: 

P1: Profit from selling the gear on the gold auction(15%) house and then selling the gold (15% for commodities!) on the RMAH.
P2: Profit from selling the gear on the RMAH (-1$).

P1 = (v*.85)*g*.85 = 0.7225 *vg
P2 = vg -1

0.7225*vg = vg -1

0.7225 = 1-1/vg
0.2775 = 1/vg
vg = 3,60


Same thing, when nearing the limit there is a range where its still more profitable to sell on the $ auction house despite the 250$ limit.

249 = 0.7225*vg
vg = 344.63

So in conclusion, if your goal is money:

• If you think that the item will sell under 3.60$, sell it on the gold auction house, and then sell the gold.
• If you think that the item would sell between 3.60$ and 344.63$, sell it on the real money auction house.
• Assuming that maximum value on the GAH is much higher than the maximum value on the RMAH, if you think that the item would sell above 344.63$ sell on the GAH and then sell the gold in batches on the RMAH.

Other questions which could be answered with basic algebra:

2) When is it profitable to buy an item on the RMAH and sell it on the GAH:
 a) When you goal is gold.
 b) When your goal is $

3) When is it profitable to buy an item on the GAM and sell it on the RMAH:
 a) When your goal is gold.
 b) When your goal is  $.

Diablo III: Weapon DPS Not To Be Trusted

Its important to note that the DPS shown while hovering a weapon does not take into account magical properties on other equipment. Everyone will see the same DPS for the same weapon. However, a faster, lower DPS weapon might actually give you more DPS in your character sheet than a slower weapon with higher DPS if you have other equipment with + damage stats.

While playing the open beta, I found that +damage rings (2-4 dmg) made a big difference with my crossbows. This will probably be the first thing I buy from the town npcs when the game comes out.

Dual wielding makes you alternate between weapons and gives you an attack speed bonus. This causes the +damage stats from other equipment to make an even greater difference.

Also be careful, if one weapon is too weak compared to the other; dual-wielding actually lowers your damage. If one of the weapons has a lower DPS it's better if its the faster weapon, because dual-wielding will give the other weapon the attack speed bonus and the faster weapons takes less time in the cycle. This article explains it and contains a video demonstration: http://www.osirisguide.com/diablo-3-dual-wield-guide/.

Even if they don't dual-wield, I think Wizards and Witch Doctors will be greatly affected by this because it looks like endgame off-hand items might provide a considerable portion of the raw damage while the weapon will set the attack speed. I had not realized all this while playing the open beta so I did not verify it yet.

Also its good to note that, for some characters, faster weapons will regenerate resources faster and that, for the same DPS, faster weapons waste less damage between kills.

Anyways, sometimes there's really no way tell which weapon is better other than trying them on the battlefield. Or just take the cooler one.