Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Calling All Hunters: The Zero Damage Challenge

I made a comment that I believed it was possible for all ranged classes to make it to at least level 30 without taking damage and that it was quite possible a hunter could make it to level cap without taking damage.  I was challenged to try it and I have accepted.  I now want to invite the rest of the hunter community to join in on what will be a fun and extremely difficult challenge.

Any class can join in on this challenge but to be honest melee classes can't do it, sorry, it is impossible.  All ranged classes could conceivably do it but lets face it, no class can hold a candle to hunters in a challenge like this.  They are uniquely designed to do just this.

So do you think you are a master hunter?  Lets see what you can do.

The Zero Damage Challenge

Rules:

1) You must reach max level with less than 10K damage received. *
2) You can not enter a group at any point. **
3) You can be in a guild for bonus experience.
4) You can use heirlooms for the bonus experience.
5) You can take mining and herbalism for bonus experience.
6) You can not use a scroll of resurrection to start your journey at level 80. **
7) You can not use refer a friend to grant levels to your character. **
8) Sugar daddies are allowed to pay for flying, gear, etc.
9) No tag and kill allowed, you must kill your mobs yourself. **

* 10,000 damage is being allowed for incidentals like walking over fires or braziers, the 1-10 experience where you do not control your pet yet, and mobs that do AoE while you pass them but you are not actually in battle with them.  It is not much of a buffer and 0 would still be better than 10,000, so be careful.
** No way we can check this, up to you to be honest about it.

Tips and A Heads Up:

1) Know the mobs.  Some mobs will hit you even if your pet has 100% aggro.
2) Know the mobs.  Some mobs hit you when they die.
3) Pick your quests.  Some quests should be avoided, picking and choosing is suggested.
4) Work on rested.  Make it easier on yourself and only work on rested.
5) Beast Mastery is the way to go.  Less likely to grab aggro until you get misdirect.
6) Concussive shot everything.  Even if your pet keeps aggro.
7) Keep off of PvP servers.  This would be 1,000,000 times harder on them.
8) Do not go in to dungeons or battlegrounds.  It would not only break the group rules and you have no control over other people getting you damaged.
9) Beware of quests that assure you take damage.  There are some that you will always take damage on.
10) Slow and sure.  This is not a race, it is a challenge.  Everyone can win.

Do you have any comments on rules that should be changed or added?
If so leave a comment and  we might change of add it.

Do you have any tips to help out?
I can add them.

Are you planning on doing it yourself?
Let me know and if you want to leave your progress I will add it in an update and a page designed for all people trying.  Even failed tries will be kept noted if you let me know about them.

Do you think you can do better than a hunter?
Bring your mages, shadow priests, warlocks, elemental shaman and boomkins to the challenge.  I would be really impressed if a warlock could do this because they would end up damaging themselves for more than 10K in no time.

I will update this post and make a few pages to update from time to time for those that wish to share their progress.

There are less two months left to this expansion, lets have some fun on our way out.

Can you be the ultimate hunter, the true iron man?  Anyone can get to 85 without dying, a few people can get there without dying in no gear and even less can get there with more restrictions but can anyone get there taking zero damage?

Join the zero damage challenge.

Special thanks for Hyperious at Toys of Azeroth for the inspiration for this challenge.

A blog was made just for this challenge, you can view it at the hunter challenge.

For those that think this sounds a little extreme, you can do the Low Damage Challenge instead.  Under 2M total damage received.  It will still be hard, trust me, but there is a lot more room for a mistake.

10 comments:

  1. This sounds like fun!

    Count me in!!!

    Z

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good luck with it.

      It will be a lot harder than I had imagined after starting a new character yesterday showed me.

      Delete
  2. Frost mage might be able to do it, what with kiting/slowing. It'd be a lot harder though.

    I might give a shot!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think a mage can do it but they would need the top gear they can get every step of the way whereas a hunter has the pet to take all the damage making it infinitely easier on them.

      Delete
  3. well, I've already blew it! /failhunter

    My first mistake was rolling a worgen. The first round of quests has the character taking damage. It is unavoidable. Then I rolled a Nelf, thinking how easy it would be.

    My mistake was attacking an owl to closely. He got to me before my pet got agro. I sustained 10 dmg, and I'm only level 6! /facepalm


    Z

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Check my recent post, I started one and am level 5 now.

      Night elf is the way to go. Just take it slow and easy.

      Did you attack the spiders? I avoided them out of fear they would spit poison at me.

      PS: You are allowed up to 10K damage. Or maybe you are just like me and trying for a true 0.

      Delete
  4. I can't say that I'm trying for true hard. I just knew better about those stupid owls. I should have been at max range, but I wasn't. w/out the ability to control the pet, there is less of a likelihood that they will get aggro on things tha tmove fast. You've already pointed out that some cats jump and of course the boars can charge. Tough stuff!

    Also, if we go truly hard, then we can't tame a tenacity pet until we get freeze trap!!!!!

    I really wanted to keep the 10K dmg saved for those things like running into a fire. :(

    Z

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fire hits for so little that you can get hit by it many times and still be under 10K.

      That 10K is also the buffer for the first 10 levels were we do not control our pet. I really think those first 10 levels are going to be harder than the next 20. With no control over out pet it is an effort in patience.

      I did not even think about that. It is going to be a while before I tame my tank pet.

      Hey, at least in mists we can make the cat a tank pet with the new way talents are designed.

      Either way, cats can serve as decent tanks in the old world since the change. Things hit for much less than they used to and cats do more damage thus hold aggro better than a tank pet would.

      Delete
  5. I was thinking about this and how you said melee characters need not apply. Now you wouldn't be able to get to cap with zero damage but what if you levelled to 5 and then levelled via gathering?

    It would be an exercise in how well you know aggro radius' and how fast you can run until level 60. After that you could get flight and then only drop down to gather when you can see you wouldn't get attacked.

    10k damage isn't much but it's quite a lot until you get into the higher levels. So long as you avoid all damage after level 60 you should be fine.

    This is just a theory. I think it might be possible but I don't know for sure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you want to give it a try you can, but I think that 10K number is really a lot lower than you think it is.

      The hunter I started for this is only level 5 and he has already put out 5K damage. So I doubt a melee can get to even level 20 for the ground mount before they pass 10K.

      I'd say it would be a really interesting challenge for them, more than any ranged of course. But you can level a character with gathering only. I read an article somewhere that someone leveled all the way to 85 with gathering, not even one kill after they reached level 5. If they got attacked, they let themselves die.

      That of course would not work here, but the concept of can you level that way is proven. But to level that way without even taking a hit would require the patience of job. You would have to basically camp safe herbs and mines.

      I think once you make it to level 60 it would make life a hell of a lot easier and I might just consider doing that on my hunter if I reach a point where there are dangerous mobs, just to make it to the next questing area. I already figured I was going to herb and mine my way through deepholm, because there are no mobs there that I can think of that I can farm for zero damage.

      Delete