History lesson in the original method of procuring:
Before RoS, when Hellfire rings were first introduced into the game, you had to do the following to obtain parts to craft a ring:
1: Farm and kill Elites. This equipped you with a 30 minute buff called Nephalem Glory. (this was later replaced with Nephalem globes)
2: Farm and kill the keywardens WHILE the buff was active. If you didn’t you would not get the machine parts. (these were the “keys”) You would need to kill another pack to keep the buff if you ran out of time hunting keywardens.
3: Using the Blacksmith, you would then “craft” the Infernal Machine. The plan was obtained back then I think from either the Act 4 keywarden, or the Act 4 quartermaster. Been a while. (this plan is no longer needed)
4: You would go farm another elite pack for another 30 minute buff from Nephalem Glory.
5: Act 1, kick the door open in the north shop and enter. Open a machine and get a random portal (total of 3 were possible) You could do this until you open all 3, using up a machine you crafted each time.
6: Enter portal and kill the uber bosses. As long as your nephalem buff was active, you would then get hellfire parts.
7: Once you have farmed all 3 uber boss portals, you could then craft a hellfire ring, as long as you had the plan from Squirt. (Squirt used to be down in the Act 2 town)
Doing this solo would eat up a good hour or more of your time, just to get enough parts to craft a couple rings. In a party you could cut it down to maybe 15-20 minutes. You still had to farm the elites in a group or you didn’t all get the buff. lol
Now its a HELL of a lot easier. I remember hating doing them, especially since the reward of the hellfire ring was so lackluster compared to the effort to make it.
Anyway. History lesson for the day.
Game on.