ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

so im not sure what constitutes spoilers, but i've seen other threads talk about levels and dungeons, and thats the main focus of my thread, so here goes (and i couldnt find any rules post)

I am basically having trouble progressing in the game, i usually get to around level 19-20, and then the options i have left, all seem too dangerous. My basic route is this, do the three sets of starter + lvl 6~ dungeons for loot and levels, then do the bandit tunnels, the cursed dude, and the old forest. By this point im usually around lvl 13, and i attempt the hidden compound, worm tunnels, and halfling ruins, followed by the sher'tul fortress, which leaves me around lvl 17, with maybe a death or two under my belt. Next i do daikara and the maze, possibly with another death or two, leaving me at the mentioned lvl 19-20, with no idea where to go next; wherever i go, i feel underleveled.

If i go for the necromancer, i usually roll some crazy dude from one of the coffins and lose the rest of my lives.
If i go spellblaze scar i just get rolled.
If i go to the tower i am clearly underleveled.
Elven ruins same problem.
Everytime i go urkis, i somehow take the stairs, and am instantly surrounded by 20 storm giants and urkis himself, so i kinda stopped trying.

Which leaves the ruined dungeon, the golem graveyard, and the temporal rift.
The golem graveyard i can usually clear no problem, but the treasure and xp there isnt exactly bountiful, as far as i remember
Ruined dungeon would be doable i guess, but it seems like a bad choice that id only be making for lack of anything better, though i suppose it could be the key?
Temporal rift just seems extremely risky, doable to some classes, death sentence to others, i usually skip it thinking ill come back at a higher level.

So im wondering what im doing wrong, im not looking for a detailed guide to complete the game, just a general idea. Do i just need to be more aware of everything, use infusions every cd, switch gear for proper resistances, do very detailed planning? or am i just being really ineffective with my dungeon clearing? going cornac for the extra xp is tempting i gotta say...
My main confusion is that up untill that point, i can kill most stuff easily, with only daikara being somewhat dangerous; all the dungeons i mentioned clearing, i only really die if i get impatient or lazy.

I personally hit dreadfell early, usually before daikara. Imo the boss there can be really rough if you meet him post lvl 18.

Golem Graveyard then Ruined Dungeon then Urkis the Temporal Rift then Mark of the Spellblaze then Dreadfell.

This post should more likely be in the spoilers section. But anyway. The ruined dungeon is really not that hard, unless you're extremely unlucky. I usually follow the route by omni in this thread:
http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=34793
and it works quite nicely.

Two thing to note. First, make sure you have at least some way to escape, the more the better. Torque of psychoportation (try zigur and thaloren city shops), teleport rune, movement infusion, any native ability your class have, etc.

Second - chests and vaults are more dangerous than rest of the dungeons by FAR. It's pretty normal to find a boss popped out of chest, or 47 level mob in 22-levell Dreadfell vault. So, leave the for later, or at least clear rest of floor first, so you have where to flee.

Note Dreadfell's level scaling is from 15 to 26 - it's not terribly difficult at 15. Check out this page for a list of the level scaling of all zones (don't scroll down to avoid spoilers). Note that all T2 zones scale from 7 to 16, no need to wait to do Maze.

It's not as much specific levels needed, as specific gear. Maze and lake nur needs protection from confusion and good light, sand pits and dreadfell - teleporting, daikara and especially tempest peak - lightning, dark crypt and scar - blight (and in case of scar, fire, for fearscape). Physical wild is needed everywhere, but unless you are shalore, you start with it.

Always be ready to escape a battle, and take note of all of the things that can prevent you from escaping. This includes confuse, freeze, silence (if you're relying on spells, such as teleport runes), surrounds and pin (if you're relying on movement infusions), and anything that can kill you in one hit.

thanks for the replies guys! ill see if i cant progress a bit further now also i wasnt actually aware that dungeons scaled with level, at least not that much, so thatll be useful aswell.
and yeah about the spoilers, like i said i couldnt find a rules post, so i wasnt really sure, feel very free to move this post wherever it belongs

I have a few additional questions about zone scaling.

1) If I enter a zone at level 10 then immediately exit and then come back at level 20, what will be the level of the zone? Will it be 10 (it gets set the first time you enter) or 20 (it gets adjusted every time you re-enter)?

2) This question is only relevant if a zone's level gets set in stone when you first enter. But assuming that's the case: if a zone has multiple levels (as most do), is the level of each level determined in relation to your level or in relation to the first level of the zone? For example let's say that entering a zone locks it's level and it won't increase when you come back at a higher level and I do that in Dreadefell. I pop in at level 10, then exit and come back at level 20. Will the second level of Dreadfell be leveled as if I was level 10 or will it be leveled to my actual level 20?

Once you enter, it's set, including further floors, and it's actually called seeding. Very useful for Dreadfell and Halfling complex. Note you can't really do that to Cementary, Celia will be pushover (she usually is anyway), but coffins generate when they open it, so they can be dangerous all the time. That said, generally the later you do them the more your powerful your char is in relative to same level monsters.

Dragatus wrote:I have a few additional questions about zone scaling.
1) If I enter a zone at level 10 then immediately exit and then come back at level 20, what will be the level of the zone? Will it be 10 (it gets set the first time you enter) or 20 (it gets adjusted every time you re-enter)?

Each zone has a min and max level scaling: enter Dreadfell at level 1 and the zone will scale with min value,
that is level 15 in that case. When your level is above the max value, the zone will scale to it's max level.
You can find each zone min/max levels in the wiki...

In most places, I found that digging through walls and having some form of scouting the surrounding, like ESP,
tracking talents (some items provide it too) or detection wands will help avoid getting ambushed and to prepare in advance for a threat. Yes, it's a slow crawl but a safe one
Cheers!

omero wrote:

Dragatus wrote:I have a few additional questions about zone scaling.
1) If I enter a zone at level 10 then immediately exit and then come back at level 20, what will be the level of the zone? Will it be 10 (it gets set the first time you enter) or 20 (it gets adjusted every time you re-enter)?

Each zone has a min and max level scaling: enter Dreadfell at level 1 and the zone will scale with min value,
that is level 15 in that case. When your level is above the max value, the zone will scale to it's max level.
You can find each zone min/max levels in the wiki...

Yes, I understand all that perfectly well. Maybe I didn't express myself properly.

When I wrote "will it be 10 or 20?" I meant "will the zone still have the same level it had when I was level 10 or will it get updated and adjusted to my new level?"

It will be 10 for the rest of the game (or 15, in the case of Dreadfell, since that's the minimum).

The down side to this - there is always a down side - item drops are also keyed to level of the dungeon.