The Far East with a mage

[PowerWyrm]

Is it me or is there some huge boost in difficulty once you finish the spider lair in the Far East? My last two mages, which didn't have much difficulties killing stuff until then, tried one of the Orc Price bastions and Caverns of Osse and got promptly killed on the stairs (new elite orc spellcasters are badass... not talking about the naga myrmidons, which can inflict damage with rush way over what a poor mage can stand in one turn...)
Of course, those mages were level 19 and 21 at their time of death... maybe I should do some level grinding before trying those dungeons...

[Patryn]

Yeah, difficulty goes up pretty much (not only for mages), especially with all those nice nasties added with beta9. But its manageable if you're cautious and adjust your tactics. It's pretty much fun actually.

BTW: Blood mages are *evil* and fighting a pyro and cryomancer at the same time heads on can quickly result in instadeath - beware and extend your tactical repertoire.

[darkgod]

Yeah the Far East is really not a safe place and you have not seen the High Peak!
Also the far east tend to have much more open levels, making it much easier to get surrounded.

Ardhungol (the spider lair) needs to be a tad harder because it is mostly a cakewalk and does not train you to the more general environment of the far east.

Oh and if you loved the new beta9 monsters, just wait until you meant the new major demons

[PowerWyrm]

My current mage now grinds in Vor Pride bastion. The good thing is that you can leave the level if the staircase is generated in the open and regenerate the layout until you find yourself hidden behind a wall. Experience is quite high (clearing first level 2 or 3 times is usually enough to gain a level)... and drops are quite profitable too (shimmering elven-wood staff of power anyone?)

Oh and if you loved the new beta9 monsters, just wait until you meant the new major demons

*gulp* sounds nasty

[darkgod]

Hummmm
But Vor pride should be like all other zones, with a persistant level

[darkgod]

Ohhh bug, found, fixed

[greycat]

I had a character who made it to the spider place in beta9. Spider, squish, spider, squish, spider, squish. Funny glowing light thing, hmm, wonder what that is... YOU HAVE DIED.

Oh. It was some sort of spellcaster? And I was supposed to be worried about that vulnerability thingy it put on me? Good to know....

Turned out to be an orc. I guess. Of course I couldn't see what letter it was, what with it being almost the same color as the floor.

[teachu2die]

Turned out to be an orc. I guess. Of course I couldn't see what letter it was, what with it being almost the same color as the floor.

i fidn this to be a huge problem, actually, with the various background colors sometimes completely masking an enemy (i much prefer to play with ascii than with graphics).
frost giant boulder throwers in carn dum are completely invisible, actually, as are umber hulks, if i recall. i've never lost a character due to this, but i've had innumerable close calls.

[Patryn]

Hint: Turn on the tactical mode (Shift+T), then all creatures and your char will be surrounded by a colored and good visible box.

[j-rod]

Good point about the tactical boxes. I didn't think about them when designing monster graphics. If people usually play with them on, maybe we should think about making sure graphics leave at least a 1 pixel border around the inside so the tactical box doesn't occlude the graphic? It's either that or make the tactical box highlight on the OUTSIDE of the 32x32 square, and not a pixel on the inside.

[darkgod]

Na the outside wont work when monsters are tightly packed

[j-rod]

yeah I haven't gotten far enough to have thought about the packing of monsters. Ah well, looks like it's just something to consider when making assets then.

[Final Master]

Actually with my recent exploits with a hobbit mage in the far east, I found it to be easier than middle earth. That's right, EASIER than stuff like the sandworm lair and tol falas. I think it was probably due to the fact that the levels were so open, having sense and vision maxed and plenty of high powered beam spells. Granted, if the prides were all completely open, I would have most likely ended up with a lot more trouble, but the little buildings really helped.

Mt. Doom Dash was fun, but I was a bit prepared (having fought so many cryo/pyromancers) I had 30% resistant fire/cold armors ready at the swap, along with a few really high resistant/multiple resistant rings. Really the only things that scared me during the dash was the elder fire elemental things. The non elders didn't do enough damage, were too slow, and had too little hp to stand up to a chain lightning-lightning onslaught. The boss, whoever it was, did have a lot of power & hp, but I just don't think it was able to hit me enough? It seemed like the range of it's magic was shorter than mine. The Ancient Drakes (I think I only ran into 3 or so) couldn't do anything because I'd just say freeze and then walk on by em. The hatchlings there and everywhere either need a small/weak breathe (something like maybe con/4 damage) or an increase in to hit/damage when adjacent to other hatchlings of the same type. You know, mob mentality.

Spider layer was far too easy. Not enough spiders, not enough damage, they had too low hp, though the few times I wasn't paying attention and got cursed then smashed with some blight it had me phase away, heal/rest then phase back in with electrical vengence.

Unremarkable cave was probably the easiest dungeon in the far east, probably one of the easiest in the game actually. Really reminded me more of the maze than of tol falas/amon sul. Odd little surprises kind of you know? It seemed very short, not packed enough with 'ancient never leaving the cave' mobs. Maybe make unique to there only R, S, J, b and m? Really make it a cave like place?

Underwater cavern was a bit of a joke once I got a way to breathe. With the boss stunable/freezeable and unable to rush/do more than 100 damage/turn I think I finished it off with more than 70% of my life left without healing. Being so short along with such a small density of life before the boss (I can see why though), I think I *could* have done it without the water breathing ability. It would have been close, but I actually think I could have done it.

Slime tunnels is where I had trouble. Not with damage I was being dealt, but with the sheer amount of replication. I just couldn't kill more than 40 (I really really was draining through my assets and tools to achieve this too) each turn. It would have been fine if I was making headway, but I was being ganged up on so badly that I just wasn't going to be capable of completing the quest.

I believe I entered the far east at level 22, and lost when a time lock death with a return to the slime tunnels killed off my beloved hobbit mage. She was 42.