This blog is part of the series I am putting together about my experience in Season 3 of Diablo III. So far, I’ve picked a different focus each season. For Season 3, I decided to put my best effort into the Greater Rifts.
I’m not entirely certain how the difficulty level that you set the game to matches up to the Tiers of the Greater Rift. At first, I though that if I set the difficulty level to Torment 3, for example, the Greater Rifts I enter would be that much harder than when I ventured into them with the difficulty set to Torment 2 or Torment 1.
Now, I’m not sure if it works like that. The reality might be that a specific Greater Rift Tier is, by itself, equivalent to a certain difficulty level. That being said, splitting them up based on what level I had set the game to works quite well for blogging purposes.
The screenshots you see in this blog were taken on June 7, June 28, July 3, and July 4, and July 26, 2015.
This is what McGlynn, my soft core Crusader, looked like right before I changed the difficulty to Torment 3. She looks pretty tough, and is carrying around a snazzy looking shield. McGlynn had just hit Paragon 61.
Here I go – moving the difficulty level from Torment 2 to Torment 3. So far, the highest difficulty level I’ve been able to manage with a Seasonal character is Torment 3. I was fairly certain my Crusader would be able to handle it without dying over and over again. What I wasn’t confident of was how she would do in the Greater Rifts.
My first attempt at Greater Rifts in Torment 3 ended at Tier 10. I finished it in 16:35.616, but was unable to complete it before the timer went off. This definitely wasn’t my best time at Tier 10. I was able to upgrade a Gem, which I hoped would help make me more successful next time around.
I got kind of discouraged with Greater Rifts for a while, and spent some time going after a few of the Seasonal Achievements that I though were obtainable. I had earned more than 100 Seasonal Achievement points, which unlocked the banner. My next goal was to get 400 Seasonal Achievement points so I could get the special portrait frame.
I discovered that the banner makes it a lot easier for me to find where my character is at after she gets surrounded by a mob of monsters. Very useful!
My second attempt at Greater Rifts in Torment 3 also ended unsuccessfully. I finished Tier 6 in 10:12.283, and was not able to kill the boss before the timer went out. I upgraded a Gem. It was starting to look as though my Crusader wasn’t quite ready for Greater Rifts in Torment 3 after all.
The day I started working on this blog (July 26, 2015) I decided to see what would happen if I really focused on Greater Rifts in Torment 3. Previously, I was attempting to earn several other Achievements in addition to working on the Greater Rifts. What follows is how that went.
Here I go again, with a Keystone of Trials.
It gave me a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 6.
I did better this time than I did the previous time I attempted Tier 6 in Torment 3. I finished it in 6:52.750. It wasn’t my best time ever with Tier 6, but it was an improvement over my first attempt at this Tier in Torment 3.
I received a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 11. Things were looking better! I got to skip Tiers 7, 8, 9, and 10.
I completed Tier 11, in Torment 3, in 15:28.316. However, I was not able to complete it before the timer went off. I attempted to upgrade a gem, but it failed all three times. I think that’s incredibly unfair.
At least one attempt to upgrade a gem should work. Otherwise… all a player is getting from a Greater Rift that they couldn’t complete on time is experience points. Right now, I need those experience points because I want to hit Paragon 100. But still, watching the Gem upgrade fail, three times in a row, is a disappointment.
This ended my Greater Rift run. Next, I had to run some Bounties, in the hopes that I completed one that dropped a Nephalem Keystone Fragment. Then, I had to run a Nephalem Rift. It dropped a Keystone of Trials, and so I had to do the Trials one more time. This is the tedious process involved in obtaining a new Greater Rift Keystone.
It is my understanding that this system is about to change to what appears to be a more efficient one. I’m hoping the new way of doing it works well.
Finally ready to make another attempt at the Trials.
I earned a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 11, which put me right back to exactly where I’d left off. Not bad!
This time, I was able to successfully complete Tier 11. I finished it in 13:53.649. That’s my best time for Tier 11 in Torment 3.
As a result, I obtained a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 12.
Another success! I finished Greater Rift Tier 12 in 12:50.683.
I got a Greater Rift Keystone Rank 13. Was my Crusader ready for this?
Almost…but not quite.
I wasn’t able to complete Tier 13 before the timer went out, but I think I could have done it if I had one more minute. I completed Tier 13 in 15:28:566. Once again, I attempted to upgrade a gem, but all three attempts failed.
This seems like a good point to end this blog. I will continue to work on Greater Rifts in Season 3 until the Season ends. My goal is to complete a Greater Rift 15 so I can earn the corresponding Achievement. If I have more success, I’ll update this blog to show it.