Season Journey Chapter I (Season 11)

I’m slowly working my way through Season 11. This time around, I selected a Monk because the real world is making me want to punch things.

I already had a soft core female Monk, so I picked a hard core male Monk for Season 11. It’s nice to get a chance to really listen to all the different voice actors.

My brand new Monk is named Qiwoot (Chee-Woot). His name is inspired by Chirrut Imwe from Rogue One. My goal for Season 11 (other than to NOT die) is to get far enough through the Season Journey to earn the awesome little dragon pet that is offered this Season.

Here’s my brand new little Monk! I hope he lasts for the whole Season.

Challenge Rifts were newly added for Season 11. None of the previous Seasons have had them. At the time I’m writing this blog, I haven’t even looked at Challenge Rifts. They sound like fun, and if I have extra time in Season 11, I will at least give them a try.

Ready to start working on Season Journey Chapter I!

A New Start: Complete 5 Bounties, Open up the Waypoint Map in Adventure Mode to see what Bounties are available.

Qiwoot got The Crudest Boots when he was Level 13. The special thing about this item is: Mystic Ally summons two Mystic Allies that fight by your side. He wore these boots all through his adventure completing Chapter I. Having two Mystic Allies appear, and fight monsters with you, is more fun than I expected!

My plan is to put these boots into Kanai’s Cube shortly after Qiwoot hits Level 60 and picks up some Death’s Breaths. That way, I can still get the 2 Mystic Allies (for free) and use some other spell in place of Mystic Allies.

That reminds me… Season 11 was the first time players saw Elective Mode enable itself. I can’t remember what Level Qiwoot was at when it “unlocked”, but am certain that I did not start out the Season with that option.

This is the first time I’ve ever used Elective Mode instead of the default selection of skills. I’m not entirely sure that I’m making the most efficient choices, but I am having fun with it.

Begin Again: Complete a Nephalem Rift. Use the Nephalem Obelisk in town while in Adventure Mode to start a Nephalem Rift.

Glutton For Punishment: Kill Ghom.

The Truth: Kill Adria.

This is what Qiwoot was wearing when he hit Level 19.

Here’s Qiwoot at Level 21. A few small changes made an aesthetic difference.

A Life With Meaning: Raise the Blacksmith to level 10. Leveling up the Blacksmith unlocks access to higher level weapon and armor recipes.

Qiwoot has 2 Mystic Allies – thanks to The Crudest Boots.

Qiwoot got Gungdo Gear when he hit Level 26. Gungdo Gear gives a Monk something special: Exploding Palm on-death explosion applies to Exploding Palm.

Just a Hobby: Raise the Jeweler to level 10. Leveling up the Jeweler unlocks access to higher level gem recipes.

Seasonal Socketing: Socket 5 gems into your gear.

Qiwoot finally got a fist weapon somewhere around Level 33.

I decided to move the difficulty level up to Hard. Qiwoot was running into a ton of blue monster packs, and plenty of yellow monsters. I took this as a sign that he was ready to move up to the next difficulty level.

This is what Qiwoot was wearing when he hit Level 36.

Watch Yourself: Raise the Mystic to level 10. Leveling up the Mystic enables her to enchant more item types and unlocks new Transmogrify looks.

Here is what Qiwoot had equipped when he hit Level 38.

This is where I had to stop playing Diablo III for a while. My plan was to push through Chapter I as quickly as possible, and to not stop playing until I had achieved the goal. I have rheumatoid arthritis, and it got in my way. My hands hurt too much for me to keep playing.

After a day or two, I was able to get back into the game, and make a second attempt at completing Chapter I of the Season Journey.

Qiwoot was able to have 2 (free) fire Mystic Allies around when he hit Level 39. The “freebie” is thanks to The Crudest Boots.

It didn’t take long for Qiwoot to reach Level 40 and unlock 2 (free) air Mystic Allies.

For whatever reason, it felt like it took me a really long time to get Qiwoot from Level 40 to Level 50. I ended up having to stop playing again instead of pushing through to Level 50. To me, it feels like every character class gets slow between Level 40 and 50.

Players had to hit Level 50 in order to complete Chapter I of the Season Journey. I didn’t feel confident enough to increase the difficulty level, so Qiwoot ambled along to Level 50 at a slower than I would have liked pace. It was a bit frustrating because the only thing preventing me from unlocking Chapter II was the “Hit Level 50” objective. It made me feel kind of “stuck”.

Here is the start of my third attempt to complete Chapter I of the Season Journey. I’m not going to keep track of how many “sessions of game play” it took for me to finish what should have been a quick and easy thing to complete. Too depressing!

A Nephalem Rift turned out to be a really fun “Cow Rift”. The Rift Guardian was Lord of Bells. I’ve done this before, so I didn’t take screenshots of everything cow-related in this Rift this time around.

Lord of Bells was difficult! I was freaking out through this fight because Qiwoot kept losing, like, half his life every time he got hit by Lord of Bells. It didn’t help much that I thought the reason Qiwoot was close to death was due to the lightning that was scatted across the floor in this little, narrow, area. Turned out, the lightning was coming from Qiwoot. (I’ve forgotten what spell/rune does that.)

Forged in Fire: Reach level 50.

Qiwoot picked up the Bovine Bardiche somewhere between Level 40 and Level 50. I can’t remember exactly where he got it from. This weapon is fun because it randomly summons a herd of murderous cows.

He didn’t get to use the Bovine Bardiche until after he started working on Chapter II of the Season Journey.