Month: December 2012

  • Diablo 3: Odd Gear Mixtures

    If you check out the top DPS people (or even the top EHP) on diabloprogress.com, you’ll often encounter odd combinations of gear these people. I find it interesting how people determined what the best in slot items would be to achieve these means. For instance, seeing monk gear on a demon hunter, or monk pants…

  • The Best Code Written and Myth of Academia

    Yesterday, I had lunch with some friends and two people mentioned that they lacked a proper college degree. Somehow they felt that having a proper college degree has hurt them in some way. While that part might have some truth, it’s not the whole story. The conversation led me to de-construct the notion of academics…

  • How I Should Have Never Left Japan in the First Place

    Only in retrospect can we clearly see. And at this point, I finally see the whole picture. My whole picture. What I should have done in the first place. And that thing is not leaving the first time. Back when my dad had his stroke, I panicked. I feared for him. But honestly, the damage…

  • 12-21-2012: The Great Disappointment

    It’s a week now with 12-21-2012 having come and gone. Apparently, we all physically survived the imminent end of the Mayan Calendar, what people for the last few years had been predicting as the apocalypse. Once again, prophecies were not fulfilled. Despite all of this hoopla, many people were lured into the belief that the…

  • Diablo 3: The Controversy of Magic Find

    There was an argument going on over at the Blizzard Diablo 3 forums where Athene called out Blizzard on false advertisement with regards to Magic Find. His complaint was that there was no empirical evidence that clearly demonstrates what Magic Find does. He compared the experience of playing his Wizard vs his Demon Hunter. His…

  • Diablo 3: Balancing Paragon Levels, Making Gold, Gearing and Keys

    It’s well documented that the most efficient route for doing Paragon levels is the Alkaizer method. Essentially, you’re running Act 3 Inferno on low monster powers (or none at all) over and over. To make it efficient as possible, you’re not supposed to pick up any loot. Of course, this tactic is primarily for whirlwind…

  • Diablo 3: Fine Tuning Gear and Monster Power

    Recently, I managed to hit Paragon Level 20 on my demon hunter. Before that point I had been running Inferno with no Monster Power enabled. However, I decided within the past few days to start upgrading my demon hunter’s gear again after becoming frustrated with his lack of true high end DPS and survivability. I…

  • Diablo 3: Current Progress

    At the moment, I’ve been focused on my demon hunter, who is now Paragon level 18. I’m mostly using a glass cannon type of gearing and build. I’ve managed to balance my play style with the gear and talents so that I can do okay both solo and when I group up with my friend.…

  • Diablo 3: Experimentation with Gear as a Demon Hunter

    I decided to try another little investment in my demon hunter by grabbing more DPS gear. Mostly, I focused on critical hit chance, critical hit damage and attack speed. The net result was a significant reduction in effective hit points vs massive gain in damage. Just to see how I would fare, I decided to…

  • Diablo 3: Group Play is the Way

    My ex-coworker got back from his trip and we were able to help him finish up Inferno on his barbarian. At the moment, I’ve lent him my barbarian’s gear and he’s able to progress quite easily. We gave Monster Power 3 a try just to do Siegebreaker and look for a key. No such luck…