I hadn’t put very much effort into doing Greater Rifts before Season 3 of Diablo III started. There wasn’t any particular reason why I hadn’t been working on them. I guess I was much more focused on Seasonal Achievements that didn’t involve Rifts during Season 1 and Season 2.
My plan has always been to try and do something different each Season. Sometimes, that means earning Achievements I’d never gone after before. There have been times when I switched up my play style or got into a game with other players. (I usually stick to solo games).
For Season 3, I decided to focus primarily on Greater Rifts. I knew that I didn’t stand a chance of getting on any Leaderboards. Instead, I decided to sort of make my own Leaderboard, in this blog, by posting my results here.
The screenshots you see in this blog were taken on May 15, May 16, May 24, and May 25, 2015.
I started out by moving the difficulty level to Torment I. I’d worked my way up to it, perhaps more cautiously than necessary, and was ready for Torment.
The Rift Trial started me out at…. Greater Rift Level 1. Not a very impressive starting point!
I completed Tier 1, in Torment I, in 10:19.666. This is my starting point. Doing this one Greater Rift increased my Bloodshard Capacity to 510.
By the end of that Greater Rift, I had obtained a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 3. I got to skip Tier 2 because I chose to upgrade the Greater Rift Keystone instead of a Gem.
I completed Greater Rift Tier 3, in Torment I, in 5:59.699. That was much quicker than I completed Greater Rift Tier 1. When I completed Greater Rift Tier 3, my Bloodshard Capacity increased to 530.
Again, I chose to upgrade my Greater Rift Keystone. I ended up with a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 8. That means I got to skip Tiers 4, 5, 6, and 7.
I complete Greater Rift Tier 8 in 12:24.100. This caused my Bloodshard Capacity to increase to 580.
After finishing Greater Rift Tier 8, I decided to upgrade the Greater Rift Keystone again. This time, it gave me a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 9. I didn’t get to skip any levels this time around. This probably meant I wasn’t doing very well at this anymore.
I completed Greater Rift Tier 9, in Torment I, in 15:22.750. This was the end of the run. I failed to earn a new Greater Rift Keystone, so I upgraded a Gem instead. This concludes my first try at Greater Rifts. I started at 1, and ended at 9. I guess that’s not too terrible for a first try.
My second attempt at Greater Rifts started with another Trial, and a Keystone of Trials that had the symbol for infinity on it.
This time, I got a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 8. This makes sense to me, since the last Greater Rift I was able to complete before the timer went off was Rank 8. So, I felt like I was pretty much starting where I left off.
This time, I managed to finish the Greater Rift Tier 8 in 11:04.916. That was an improvement over my first attempt at Greater Rift 8, in Torment I, which was 12:24.100. I think the 11:04.916 time was my new personal best for Tier 8.
Once again, I decided to upgrade the Greater Rift Keystone when I got to the end of Tier 8. I received a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 9.
This time, I managed to complete Greater Rift Tier 9 in 7:50.549. That was a huge improvement over my previous attempt at Tier 9 (in Torment I). My first attempt took me 15:22.750 and I failed to kill the Rift Guardian before the timer went off. This new score is my new personal best at Tier 9. Completing this Tier increased my Blood Shard Capacity to 590.
At the end of Tier 9, I decided to upgrade my Greater Rift Keystone. This time, it gave me a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 13. That was unexpected! I got to skip over Greater Rift Tiers 10, 11, and 12.
I was able to complete Greater Rift Tier 13, but not before the timer ran out. It’s nice that players have the option to upgrade a Gem even when they fail to complete a Greater Rift in time. You are guaranteed to get something beyond experience points no matter what the outcome. My attempt at Greater Rift Tier 13 (in Torment I) took me 18:10.116.
What would my third attempt at Greater Rifts in Torment 1 be like? Unfortunately, this run didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. I ended up feeling like I hadn’t made any progress at all.
This time, I started with a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 7. This was disappointing, considering that my previous Greater Rift was Tier 13.
I managed to complete Greater Rift Tier 7, but it took me 12:14.850. This was the first time I did Tier 7, because I’d managed to skip over it before.
Once again, I chose to upgrade the Greater Rift Keystone. I received a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 8. I probably deserved it, considering how long it took me to get through Tier 7. Even so, it felt like I was crawling through the Tiers this time around, and not making any progress.
I completed Tier 8 in 12:05.783. This wasn’t the longest time it took me to get through Tier 8, but it certainly wasn’t my best time.
When I upgraded the Greater Rift Keystone, it gave me a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 9. Looks like I’ll be going through each and every Tier this time around.
This time, I completed Greater Rift Tier 9 in 11:32.883. Again, not my best time. I was starting to wonder what changed between the last run and this one.
My next Greater Rift Keystone upgrade gave me a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 10. No skipping over Tiers for me this time around!
I feel like I actually made some progress with Greater Rift Tier 10. It was the first time I’d been through this particular Tier, and I completed it in 12:46.116. This resulted in my Blood Shard Capacity increasing to 600.
When I upgraded the Greater Rift Keystone …. I received… the one for the very next Tier. I got the Greater Rift Keystone Rank 11 this time.
I completed Tier 11, but not before the timer ran out. So, I upgraded a Gem. This was the end of the run for that third Keystone of Trials. Shortly after that, I moved the difficulty level up to Torment II. So far, the highest Greater Rift I’ve managed to complete was Tier 13.