Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Retropunch]

It's also worth noting that the longer the game has been out the more wins older players will be able to get due to experience etc. Of course I'm sure old versions were harder (at least .11 and down), but it's not as bad as it looks.

.12 was pretty easy though the amount of effort you needed to put in to get a 3-runer was minimal (in comparison).

Yeah I imagine there's a lot of 'old hands' who basically just play it at the tournament time to see the new changes and get a few easy, satisfying wins in.

There's no denying it's gotten easier though, and while I don't think that's necessarily a huge problem, I do hope they expand the challenge again - even in terms of just adding more late game stuff/mechanics.

[Robsoie]

I don't think the old versions were that much difficult, my only tournament win was in 0.8 (a demigod earth elementalist) and while it was my last participation in a tourney, i have still played every version and the only thing that really changed in term of difficulty was just me having more experience and having then my character live much longer by avoiding silly mistakes of my early Crawl time.

edit : for a new player i think Crawl is now harder.
Because many of the "nerfs" that have been done in Crawl history were to make it harder for people that were winning too often.
So a newcomer now will certainly have a harder time than a newcomer in the old versions in which several of the nerfs weren't yet done.

[Retropunch]

I don't think the old versions were that much difficult, my only tournament win was in 0.8 (a demigod earth elementalist) and while it was my last participation in a tourney, i have still played every version and the only thing that really changed in term of difficulty was just me having more experience and having then my character live much longer by avoiding silly mistakes of my early Crawl time.

edit : for a new player i think Crawl is now harder.
Because many of the "nerfs" that have been done in Crawl history were to make it harder for people that were winning too often.
So a newcomer now will certainly have a harder time than a newcomer in the old versions in which several of the nerfs weren't yet done.

My perspective is that in the past there were a lot of exploits/grinds which knowledgeable players/highly spoilt players could exploit, but it was a generally harder game if you went in unspoilt/not too spoilt. In later versions a lot of items got made more common due to people just not finding any scrolls of whatever, and a lot of 'unfair' deaths and overly harsh RNG got taken out.

While I think that's generally a good thing (especially removing the exploits) I still think it's been made a lot easier, and certainly the curve between hard early game and easy late game is more pronounced than ever.
 

[Moron]

One thing that has made it easier is that at some point XL1 characters got given more HP, making random unavoidable deaths on D:1 less likely. Also, AFAIK some of the most dangerous low level monsters no longer appear on D:1.

[Retropunch]

One thing that has made it easier is that at some point XL1 characters got given more HP, making random unavoidable deaths on D:1 less likely. Also, AFAIK some of the most dangerous low level monsters no longer appear on D:1.

Yeah there was a lot of tweaking to Out Of Depth Monsters, to the point where you hardly see any anymore. HP also used to depend on Strength + Fighting whereas now it's just a linear amount at level increase + fighting which balanced it out a bit for casters/non-strength based chars. Things like permanent Draining were gotten rid of as well, which made some of late game a bit easier.

A lot of the changes have made sense in one way or another (although I still think the no-item-destruction is a mistake) and it has definitely made it more accessible for new players. I just hope they can balance the mid/late game challenge a bit so there's more reliance on tactics rather than o-tabbing through everything.
 

[Dr Feelgood]

I've been playing since 0.5. I haven't noticed a significant change in difficulty, except in 0.6 and 0.12. Crawl feels a bit easier overall, and a lot less tedious.

[DeKaFu]

So, how are Summoners these days? How do people play them, and are they worth playing?
I like the idea of them, but I've never had much success.

[Elephant Parade]

So. Uh. I found the +9 Armour of the Dragon King on Lair:1, as a Gargoyle Fighter of Qazlal. How lucky am I?

[frostshotgg]

gratz. now you're guaranteed to see Nessos on the next dungeon floor you go to. Hope you're ready for another run!

[Grek]

Summon Forest: Useful spell for a SpEn of Fedhas, or silly gimmick?

[Leafsnail]

The game is easier in current trunk due to the accidental ranged combat buff, but that will probably be fixed before the stable release.

[Retropunch]

The game is easier in current trunk due to the accidental ranged combat buff, but that will probably be fixed before the stable release.

I'd say a lot more than that. Even things like wands identifying on zap and remove curse scrolls removing all curses have made it easier in minor ways. A lot of these things have helped get rid of tedium which is great, but it's certainly gotten gradually easier.

New mechanics like barbs (only hurt when you walk) are great, and I hope they add more things like that in to balance it out.

[Darion]

I'm really bad at this game, and i'm in the mood of doing an halfling assassin. Any tips on how to do it right for a noob?

[Retropunch]

I'm really bad at this game, and i'm in the mood of doing an halfling assassin. Any tips on how to do it right for a noob?

Patience, make sure to use all your consumables/items and always, always run/escape/back off if you're not 100% sure you can win. A lot of newer players conserve consumables and always attempt to kill stuff, when you need to really take a step back most of the time.

Can I ask why you've chosen halfling? Spriggans (being very fast) make much better assassins and mean that you can outrun pretty much anything if it starts getting hairy.
 

[Mindmaker]

The only thing you can farm well in the Abyss is piety.
Even the deepest levels of it provides neglible XP for a character that can survive it and getting even small amounts of basic things, like Potions of Curing, takes forever.