Hoobie, there are plenty of time-consuming cutscenes that would be worth skipping. The dinner table scene, the TV to Lucas' traphouse scene, etc. Really understanding how triggers activate and what they activate is the key. Again, as I've stated before, being skeptical of exploits doesn't help a speedrun community. Embracing them and searching for all you can, does. There is always more to learn about a game.

I may purchase this game this weekend and test things with this OoB glitch. In general, I feel people are thinking way too narrow, which seems to happen sometimes in speedrunning communities. My profession is to test software, so exploits like this have a much higher potential than just 'trying to skip to the end' kinds of things.

For example,

• This proves animations can push you through clipping.
• This proves that the game has no player physics, in terms of 'gravity'.
• This could be possibly be exploited on other animations, or allow you to clip through doors/walls/floors/etc, that normally require items.
• We aren't 100% aware of how all trigger sequences work, so there is still a potential to 'advance' things so that you aren't trapped in the area you clipped into.
• If possible, you might be able to clip into somewhere, and then clip out of it. It is quick and easy to do this exploit currently.

So, I'm really considering exploring using this glitch, since, despite initial findings, it could prove to be very valuable.

Here are a couple of options for setting it up.

And a guide here. http://blog.theevilpc.com/2009/01/left-4-dead-server-setup-guide-no-steam.html

There are probably more out there.

Co-op on 1.0 is difficult. You basically have to virtual network with the other players and then host a server on that virtual network.

Awesome. Thank you! I was looking through some of my old videos, and I completely forgot about all the shortcut jumps that you can do. Here is a good example on Dead Air 1.

And, apparently, I even made a video of the shortcut I mentioned above on Blood Harvest 3.

Oh my gosh. I forgot how many things I knew about this game. Here is a compilation of stuff I made for a guy doing a Time-Scale Assisted run of L4D.

I saw the AGDQ run, and I've compiled a list of comments below on the run.

To give some background to myself, I played L4D1 a lot. Easily over 2-3k hours. My account only has around 800 hours tracked, as that time tracking feature was implemented after L4D1 was released. I was going to play on a CPL L4D team, but both CAL/CPL died, and L4D2 was announced shortly after that, killing the competitive scene for L4D1.

I helped some people work on some TAS/TSA of L4D1 back in the day. Also, I know a lot of the glitches/tricks throughout the various versions (like turret launches, endless melee, etc). Let me know if you guys are looking for any optimizations. I mostly know the L4D1 Versus maps (which have differences from Single Player), but I remember when they patched those things in Versus (and not in SP), so I recognize the differences.

Lastly, do you guys have a Discord channel?

AGDQ Run Comments:

• I found it strange that you didn't use the shortcut on Blood Harvest 3 by going up the hill after exiting the tunnel. I also believe you can skip the bridge falling down scene, but I forget the mechanics of it.
• You didn't use the shortcut of jumping over the semi in Crash Course 1.
• You mention needing to get an Auto-Shotgun for The Sacrifice 1, and checking various locations is key. However, you miss at least 2 places it can spawn, right near the start of the map.
• I'm almost positive that skipping the tank in The Sacrifice 1 is possible. I know from experience that the tank can miss-spawn and die instantly on that map. But, I'm fairly certain you can simply go over the train car and skip the event.

For NG, running it as HC vs non-HC made no difference whatsoever. Most of the runs I did are HC simply because it was the start of the season, and I gained extra loot after the run from doing them. :-P But, in NG, you basically can't die. If the actual difficulty was harder, it would make a huge difference.

For example, I also run Shadow Warrior 2, and we separate the game by difficulty. It has an extremely similar system of difficulty to this game, even including torment levels (called Insanity levels in that game). So, we have the runs all separated by if they played the game on Easy versus played it on Insane (Insanity 1 can be played as NG). I suggested something like this for this game a while ago, but people didn't like the idea.

I have some documentation written, but it is only on my PC at the moment. I'll post it as guide(s) after I clean it up.

The runs that I have no longer show the Splits.io display under the run. Was the display removed?

Ummm. I'm so confused. Does this mean that Louren can achieve 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th place??? Also, does this mean I have to run the game with a faster character to be high up on the leaderboard? Before, with my time of 2:40 as Barb, I would have been 3rd place for the Barb leaderboard. Now, I'd be about 22nd place. I'm soooooooo confused.

Edit: Talked with Lightrockgaming. We got it sorted out. Filters all the way!! :-)

Running Normal, Softcore vs Hardcore makes no difference at all. I've done almost all my runs on Hardcore. There is 1 place where a death warp is useful, but I've only found out about it recently. It doesn't save a ton of time either way.

I think your main concern is that the game is stale to run. But, this is mainly caused by too much RNG, and not enough variation in strategy. Unfortunately, the overall best strategy for any category is simply memorizing map tiles. You effectively take a task which would result you in meandering between point A and point B, and make it a straight line. This is definitely the strongest place where RNG plays a role. You might know 1 arrangement of tiles better than another.

Overall, I do agree that there are way too many categories. However, I don't think it will increase the competitive nature of speedrunning this game. For me personally, I want a real NG category. Basically, how you start off a season. Throughout a run, you can use vendors, craft items, use stash, etc. You know, a real game run. If there was a way to actually reset the game appropriately, then we could do runs like that. But, I do not foresee Blizzard ever implementing it.

Just an update. Here are the results from my testing: Glitch: [Doesn't work] Talking to Leah after killing Captain Daltyn. [Works] Talking to Haedrig after killing his wife. [Doesn't work] Placing the Beacons on the pedestals. [Doesn't work] Grabbing the Glowing Sword Shard in the Drowned Temple.

Repeat? [Works] The bonus Wretched Mothers. Kill 3 of them, then leave the game before killing the Queen. [Doesn't work] Killing the 4 Champions in the Drowned Temple, but not talking to Alaric. Then, leaving the game. [Didn't test] Also, you could kill all of them except the last one, leave the game, and see what happens.

Doing any of the 'repeat' actions seems to take too long and doesn't give enough experience. The glitched bonus exp is worth it. It seems that for me to level up quick enough, I need to use both the glitch and a mixture of tactical legitimate leveling strategies to get the level I'd like to achieve by the end of Act 1 in a reasonable amount of time. I'm going to do more testing to see if I can achieve Level 16 in Act 1 in 45 minutes. For comparison, the time for the current WR for Act 1 of Barb is 39:53.

@Louren: Here is the attempt where I tried to level early.

The main problem was that I couldn't level fast enough. If I could find 2 more spots in Act 1 where I could use this experience glitch, I think you'd start to see a return on investment. I need to change my skills to try your Frenzy/Rend combo. These other skill builds that I tried do not seem to stack well together for boss killing.

Here are some spots I'd like to try the glitch:

• Placing the Beacons on the pedestals.
• Talking to Leah after killing Captain Daltyn.
• Grabbing the Glowing Sword Shard in the Drowned Temple.

Additionally, there are places where you might be able to 'repeat' the quest. Either do the quest 95% of the way or not talk to the NPC to complete it. Then, leave the game, come back in, and do the quest again.

• The bonus Wretched Mothers. Kill 3 of them, then leave the game before killing the Queen.
• Killing the 4 Champions in the Drowned Temple, but not talking to Alaric. Then, leaving the game. Also, you could kill all of them except the last one, leave the game, and see what happens.

As stated, I believe the target level is 16. At 16, you get Sprint. Additionally, boots at level 16 can have between 8-9% movement speed. I will test out some strategies tonight.

So, you guys state that being lower level is better. I was able to beat the game yesterday during my speedrun at Level 20. I definitely think 19 or maybe 18 is even possible. I got a time of 2:40 in this run.

The main problem I saw with the run (other than not knowing the map patterns exactly) is the lack of mobility. You can dodge mobs or get around them as easily if you don't have Furious Charge. Furious Charge is basically a worse version of Monk's Dashing Strike. But, even though it is worse, it is better than nothing. Leap can only do so much. I still believe if you could super level very quickly (like, get to at least Level 16 in Act 1), you would be able to get to 21 for Furious Charge within a reasonable amount of time.

The biggest upside I saw of being lower leveled was that, I believe, the game spawned less mobs. Also, you'll see the Leoric Crowns glitch, as I get 3 Leroic's Crowns in this run. It only happens when you are lower leveled. If someone else can confirm that less enemies spawn at lower levels, that would be awesome. :-)

If you are front-loading all of your EXP within Act 1, you do not fight many bosses within Act 1. So, if you get to a higher level quickly, you have a significant amount of time to get items prior to any bosses. You become more nimble/agile (via skills), and have a better chance of getting higher % movement speed boots. I believe, since you spend most of the speedrun running between places, you should maximize movement speed. Boss killing speed primarily matters in Act 4, since a majority of that act is killing bosses. All other acts are focused on movement.

@Ewil: I go from Level 4 to Level 7 using this trick, which is quite significant for that early in the run.

I can barely understand you. But, as I said, the glitch can be performed only using Campaign mode. I just used it in the run I did. I got 2:41 as the time, so I'm getting better. As long as you are fine with leaving the server and rejoining it in Campaign, then I'll continue to use the glitch.

As far as I can tell, experience for quests is boosted like this when the quest exists on a non-'safe' map. So, the area where Haedrig gives you the reward is considered non-safe. Thus, you get bonus EXP. I'd like to find more areas like this in Act 1 so that I can get higher leveled much quicker. The Level 21 Furious Charge, Sprint, and Leap combo is incredibly fast.

But, do you guys allow it? I'm looking to get to Level 8 ASAP in my Barb run for Leap. Ideally, I'd like to get to Level 16 and Level 21 too so that I can have Sprint and Furious Charge. Also, the longer I'm above Level 16, the higher chance I have to get boots with movement speed +9%, which is what I'd be targeting.

There is an exploit that allows you to gain an increased amount of quest experience. You can see an explanation of one place to use it in this video [starts at 1:28]:

However, it does require you to leave the game, and re-enter on a higher difficulty (you can do it only using Campaign mode, despite what the video said). I did a little testing. You can only raise the difficulty in the pause menu from Normal to Hard. It won't allow you to change it any higher. But, if I leave the game, I can change it up to Torment 6 (tested this in Seasonal, since I have no other Seasonal characters). So, logically, the highest difficulty the game can be played on a non-NG+ run is T6.

So, before I do more testing, is leaving the game (not restarting Diablo 3, but simply leaving the server) to change difficulty allowed? It will substantially change how I run this game.

Sidenote: My first run for Barb NG was 2:55. :-) There are some more exploits now involving Leoric's crown, but those are definitely allowed.

Any chance I could get mod status? After seeing WSM's run, I feel like I should get back to finishing my route videos so I can get to doing a full run myself! :-)

I will continue posting route videos later this week after I get my computer set back up. Also, I'm very sick right now, so I'd like to get better from that first.