This blog is part of the series I am doing about my progress through Season 2 of Diablo III.  My main goal for this Season is to get my hard core Demon Hunter to Level 70. If I can do that, I will unlock the Seasonal transmog.

I’m having a hard time this Season due “in real life” health issues. As a result, I’m taking things much slower than I did in Season 1.

The screenshots you see in this blog were taken on March 11, 2015. It was the same day that Blizzard announced that they would be giving players a two week notice before Season 2 would end. This announcement was not the notice, but many of us sort of freaked out and jumped into Diablo III really quick anyway.

I started out this “session” by doing some Act II Bounties (in Normal difficulty). In addition to trying to hit Level 70, I’m also hoping to earn the Seasonal Monster Slaying Achievements. I’d finished the ones that connect to Act I, so it was time to work on the ones that go with Act II.

In Season 1, I mostly played solo games and I stuck with Story Mode for the majority of the Season. My plan for Season 2 was to play the game differently than I did in Season 1. One way I’m doing that is by focusing on Bounties (something I ignored until nearly the end of Season 1). The other thing I’m doing is getting on Mumble and talking to friends while playing (when I can).  This was the second time I’ve done that in Season 2.

My first batch of Bounties were: Kill Belial (City of Caldeum), Rygnar Idol – Enter the Chamber of the Lost Idol and help Poltahr retrieve the Rygnar Idol (Stinging Winds), Kill Sammash and 50 other enemies (Road to Alcarnus), Clear the Cave of the Burrowing Horror – Enter the Cave of the Burrowing Horror and kill all enemies in the Cave of the Burrowing Horror Level 2 (Desolate Sands), and Kill Thrum – Enter the Realm of Shadow and Kill Thrum and 100 other enemies (Archives of Zoltun Kulle).

This was the first time I’d killed Belial in Season 2, so a bunch of Achievements popped up.

The Lord of Lies: Kill Belial

No More Lies: Kill Belial in Hardcore mode.

Good Eye: Kill Belial without dying and without getting hit by his projectile or meteor attacks.

I also got the No More Lies Achievement on my Career Achievement Board.  This can happen when you play in a Season.  The Achievements you earn during a Season that you hadn’t yet earned “out of Season” get added to your Career Achievement Board (in addition to your Seasonal Achievement Board).  I like this because it means you don’t have to do certain Achievements twice – one in Season and one out of Season.

No More Lies: Kill Belial in Hardcore mode.


This one comes with a Banner Accent reward.

I’d already completed the Rygnar Idol Bounty in Season 2 (and covered that in a previous blog), so I don’t feel a need to repeat it here.  However, I did want to note that a Legendary item dropped for me when I was working through the Rygnar Idol event this time.

These were an upgrade for Dusk the Demon Hunter, so I equipped it.  This special thing about this item is: Gain up to 29% increased movement speed based on amount of Life missing.  The flavor text says: “Good, heavy steel.  Nice flex around the ankle, good weight in the toes.  A solid pair of boots.  What, did you need them to sparkle?” – Kormac the Templar.  


Sammash, Coven Thug

The next Bounty was to Clear the Cave of Burrowing Horror.  It is located somewhere in the Desolate Sands (and you have to search around for it).  The easiest way to know when you have found it is to watch for Shaitan The Broodmother to pop out of the ground.  When she does… kill her!  (Sometimes, on difficulty levels higher than Normal, there could be several other similar monsters that pop out of the ground near her.)

Shaitan the Broodmother, Great Maker

After you kill Shaitan the Broodmother, and she disappears, The Cave of Burrowing Horror (Level 1) is revealed.  Jump in!

This automatically puts you in Cave of Burrowing Horror Level 1.  The goal for this level is to find the entrance to Level 2.  Go ahead and kill whatever gets in your way.  Doing so will give you some experience points (XP) and possibly drop some good loot.  The Bounty is earned after you kill everything on Level 2.  The monsters you kill off in Level 1 simply do not count towards completion of this Bounty.

Somewhere in Level 1, I picked up a Legendary ring.  (Your experience in Level 1, of course, will vary).

This Wyrdward ring has some Dexterity on it, which is good for Demon Hunters.  It appears that the ring wasn’t an upgrade from what Dusk the Demon Hunter was already wearing, though.  The flavor text says: This ring was crudely crafted by a barbarian wise woman from the fulgurite left behind after a lightning strike.  It still possessed a strong connection to the force that birthed it, and the wise woman used its power to strengthen her own magics in order to defend her tribe from Westmarch invaders.  

Kill everything you see in Cave of the Burrowing Horror Level 2.  When you get close to finding all the enemies, the game will give you a hint about where the remaining few of them are located.  Look on your map for little skull symbols.

The Cursed Chest of the Murderer is not part of the Clear the Cave of the Burrowing Horror Bounty.  I just happened to find the Chest in there.

LEVEL 47!


I had time to run through a second set of five Bounties.  They were: A Miner’s Gold (Howling Plateau),  Kill Samaras the Chaser – and 75 other enemies (Stinging Winds), Prisoners of Kamyr – Free the Captive Guards (Dahlgur Oasis), Clear the Cave of the Burrowing Horrow  – Kill all the enemies in Level 2 (Desolate Sands) and… one other Bounty I apparently didn’t think was exciting enough to take screenshots of.

Samaras the Chaser, Heart of the Storm

The Prisoners of Kamyr Bounty takes place in the Dahlgur Oasis.  Somewhere along the way, I happened to find the Old Fisherman’s Cellar.  I decided to go in mostly because I hadn’t found this one yet during Season 2.

Legion the Ghastly was inside the Old Fisherman’s Cellar.  He’s a gold monster, but he doesn’t have a purple name.  I’m not sure if players will always find this particular monster in the Cellar or if random ones appear.  Once you kill him off, there isn’t much left to do (other than finish off the smaller monsters).  There are no vendors in the Old Fisherman’s Cellar.

LEVEL 48!

I got some help from my friend Lanntonio, fellow co-host of the Shattered Soulstone podcast.  His help made the Prisoners of Kamyr Bounty go really fast!

Prisoners of Kamyr (Cooperative): Complete the Prisoners of Kamyr event in a cooperative game.

Prisoners of Kamyr: Complete the Prisoners of Kamyr event.


I also picked up this Achievement for my Career Achievement Board.  Seems I’ve never done this event in a co-op game before.

Prisoners of Kamyr (Cooperative): Complete the Prisoners of Kamyr event in a cooperative game.

Lanntonio also helped me out with my last Bounty in the batch of five I was working through.  It was the Cave of the Burrowing Horror one.

Slaughterhouse: Kill 50 elite (champion, rare, or unique) enemies in cooperative games.

Life is Beautiful: Heal other players for 500,000 Life by picking up health globes in cooperative games.

Lanntonio was kind enough to power level me.  I know that this is a common practice in Diablo III, and that it is a nice thing to do to help out a friend.  Up to this point, I hadn’t actually had anyone power level me.  Part of what I wanted to do in Season 2 was to try and play differently than I had before.  This qualifies!

As you can see, his Witch Doctor was at Level 70 and Paragon Level 158.  My Demon Hunter was had just hit Level 48.  I’m going to take a minute to explain how Power Leveling works (for those who don’t know or who have never done it).  The lower level player joins a game with a player who is a much higher level.

That player opens up a Rift. (The lower level player can get in if he or she has at least one Rift Keystone Fragment).  Ideally, the Rift should be in a Torment difficulty level.  The lower level player is too small to survive the monsters in that Rift, so he or she stands in the doorway, out of harms way.

The higher level player then kills all the monsters.  The player standing back in the doorway benefits from the experience points earned by the higher level player.  The result is that the lower level player can level a lot quicker than he or she would be able to do alone.

On the very first night of Season 2, got in a group with some friends who were a higher level than I was.  Nobody had hit Paragon yet.  In that game, I waited until someone said he was clear, and then teleported to that player’s location.  I was able to shoot at some monsters once in a while, but had to stay back so I wouldn’t get squished.  This enabled me to level a bit faster than I could on my own and contribute a little bit to the group.

This time, though, I was going to be Power Leveled the way that I think most players do it.  To be clear, I have no objections to people getting Power Leveled.  It’s a perfectly legal way to play Diablo III.  I can see where it would be super efficient for players who don’t get a lot of time to play Diablo III and who want to be able to get in a game with friends (who all have much higher level characters).  Some people even “pay it forward” when they get to a higher level by Power Leveling another low level player who could use some help.

The reason I’ve been so hesitant to get Power Leveled is because I didn’t want to open myself up for potential harassment later.  Not by my friends, or the people who listen to Shattered Soulstone, of course.  All those people are cool.  At least some of them have been Power Leveled themselves.

A while back, there was some “drama” on Twitter about a young woman who was a streamer.  I had no idea who she was and can’t recall her name.  I’d never heard of her before some of the people I was following on Twitter started talking about this situation.  The thing I remember is that people were claiming that she got Power Leveled from 1 to 70 – and people were angry about it.

From what I gathered, the “problem” seemed to be that she wasn’t a real gamer because she didn’t get to Level 70 due to her own effort.  But, lots of other people get Power Leveled, and no one had complained about that.  As I said, I didn’t know this woman, so it is possible that there is more to the “drama” than I’d realized.

From my perspective, it appeared that the problem wasn’t the Power Leveling – it was because a woman had been Power Leveled.  It was as though Power Leveling was fine for male players – they were still real gamers. But for women…. not so.

Since then, I’ve been hesitant to let anyone Power Level me.  I just don’t want to deal with the potential Twitter harassment.  I don’t want somebody to say that “the girl” on Shattered Soulstone only has a Level 70 hardcore character because she got Power Leveled.  Part of the reason why I blog my progress through Seasons is to show that I didn’t just jump into someone else’s game the first night of Season 2, stand back, and get Power Leveled all the way to 70.

Anyway, I guess part of what I’m trying to say is that I needed to get over that in order to go ahead and let my friend Power Level me.  So, I did.

Here I stand in the doorway, wearing armor the colors of McDonalds.  I swear, this is random!  I didn’t dye them.  As I am putting together this blog, it dawns on me that “Shifting Dilemma I” is a fitting name for a Rift I’d jumped into with the thoughts that I described above.

Here’s how to get from one Level in a Rift to the next when you are the player who is being Power Leveled:

Right click on your friend’s portrait.  Select “Teleport to Player”.  Off you go!  (Note: For best results, wait until your friend gives you the “all clear” first.)

LEVEL, LEVEL, LEVEL!This was the point where we both ran out of time to play.  I went up six levels in a really short amount of time – and all I had to do was stand in a doorway.  Now that I’ve done it,  I can say from first hand experience that Power Leveling is quick and efficient.  I think it’s best to have a friend Power Level you rather than a stranger.  It would be possible for a stranger to run the big monsters back to you just for the lulz.

I also recommend that you get on Mumble with the person who is Power Leveling you (or that you are Power Leveling).  It makes communication about when to teleport very clear, and it’s fun to be able to chat while playing Diablo III.  I’ve no regrets about being Power Leveled.  I even earned some Achievements while I was standing around.

Forged In Fire (Hardcore): Reach level 50 in Hardcore mode.

The above Achievement was for hitting Level 50 in hard core during Season 2.  The Achievement below is for hitting Level 50 hard core as a Career Achievement.

Forged In Fire (Hardcore): Reach Level 50 in Hardcore mode.

Forged In Fire: Reach Level 50

Just Riffing: Kill 500 monsters while in Nephalem Rifts.

That’s the end of the highlights from this “session” of Diablo III in Season 2.  Next time I play, I am going to continue working on the Seasonal Monster Achievements in Act II.  But, instead of doing it in Normal difficulty, I think Dusk the Demon Hunter may be ready for Hard difficulty now.

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