push the save Melinda mission post east

[jinsediaoying]

A tiny map crowded with mages is way too dangerous. And the fact it is straight scale with the player level (opposite to those who have level cap) make it highly not recommanded in difficulities above normal. I think a map that people just won't go(in above normal) is not good.

Push it post East will make it much safer, and also make caome back to west more interesting.

[supermini]

Pushing it after east would make it less dangerous and less interesting.

[jinsediaoying]

Pushing it after east would make it less dangerous and less interesting.

Since this map is significantly harder than every other map on west (in nightmare and above), I just skip it every time (because 9/10 of the time I try it).
So push it after east will make me start trying it again, it is definately more interesting than just skip it.

[supermini]

Since this map is significantly harder than every other map on west (in nightmare and above), I just skip it every time (because 9/10 of the time I try it).
So push it after east will make me start trying it again, it is definately more interesting than just skip it.

Make an addon then. While I enjoy nightmare (and skip dark crypt on nightmare every time like you), ToME is balanced for normal difficulty.

[Doctornull]

Some characters have a harder time with the Crypt than others.

Skipping the Crypt entirely is a valid strategic choice (which I ought to make more often).

So, I'm not really fussed if it were to move to later, or even if it became a fixed portal which the player could enter any time after it appeared, like the Caldera or the Sludgenest.

[Zizzo]

Pushing it after east would make it less dangerous and less interesting.

Can't possibly get any less interesting than "Never do it, it's a death trap." (and that's on normal, BTW) Pushing it past east might make it actually survivable, and thus more interesting.

[HousePet]

Could the generation of the npcs be altered to make them a few levels lower?

[supermini]

Can't possibly get any less interesting than "Never do it, it's a death trap." (and that's on normal, BTW) Pushing it past east might make it actually survivable, and thus more interesting.

It's quite survivable - but not on every character. Thaloren, characters with AM shield, and reavers and corruptors (because bone shield) should be able to clear it consistently (barring an extremely unfavourable layout). For others it depends on the build but a good rule of thumb for me is 50% blight resist and access to movement infusions.

[Tom]

Can't possibly get any less interesting than "Never do it, it's a death trap." (and that's on normal, BTW) Pushing it past east might make it actually survivable, and thus more interesting.

It's quite survivable - but not on every character. Thaloren, characters with AM shield, and reavers and corruptors (because bone shield) should be able to clear it consistently (barring an extremely unfavourable layout). For others it depends on the build but a good rule of thumb for me is 50% blight resist and access to movement infusions.

A year ago when I played a lot I regularly won here with a rogue.
Movement infusions was the thing.
KILL and RUN into shelter.

Dont let weakness spells overburden you is another thing I recall I prepared me from.

[Zizzo]

It's quite survivable - but not on every character. Thaloren, characters with AM shield, and reavers and corruptors (because bone shield) should be able to clear it consistently (barring an extremely unfavourable layout). For others it depends on the build but a good rule of thumb for me is 50% blight resist and access to movement infusions.

Huh? I admit it's been a while, but in the handful of times I actually tried it before giving up on it as unsurvivable, I don't recall any of the cultists doing any blight damage to me. And the layout is "extremely unfavourable" by design: big wide open empty space, with nothing to hide behind and no time to hide behind it.

[And I did try it with the movement infusion; IME, all that really does is get you into no-cover LOS of the spell-spamming cultists that much faster.]

[Tom]

It's quite survivable - but not on every character. Thaloren, characters with AM shield, and reavers and corruptors (because bone shield) should be able to clear it consistently (barring an extremely unfavourable layout). For others it depends on the build but a good rule of thumb for me is 50% blight resist and access to movement infusions.

Huh? I admit it's been a while, but in the handful of times I actually tried it before giving up on it as unsurvivable, I don't recall any of the cultists doing any blight damage to me. And the layout is "extremely unfavourable" by design: big wide open empty space, with nothing to hide behind and no time to hide behind it.

[And I did try it with the movement infusion; IME, all that really does is get you into no-cover LOS of the spell-spamming cultists that much faster.]

Are we talking the last lvl?
Thats a walk in the park.

Its the lvls above that are dangerous.

[Zizzo]

Are we talking the last lvl?
Thats a walk in the park.

Its the lvls above that are dangerous.

*blink* ...wait, what?! Seriously, the early levels of that zone only gave me slightly more trouble than any other zone I'd be likely to be running around in at that stage of the game. But that last level has four cultists doing something like 300-400 ranged spell damage to you every turn, with no terrain features to hide behind or bottleneck them into one-at-a-time fights. And I recall their HP being several times the average non-burst damage per turn that a character at that stage could reasonably expect to be dealing out, so we're talking at least a dozen turns of that spell damage. Let me know which parks you've been walking in, so I can avoid them...

[kestell]

It also would make more sense story wise... I mean you could save Melinda and decide your character wants to be happily ever after with a ginger.

[Sirrocco]

See, I'm confused here. Sure, it's a bit more challenging than most, but it's totally survivable if you know what you're doing. The only really difficult part is killing all of those cultists before the time runs out, if I happen to be a melee character with limited mobility.

Admittedly, after having saved Melinda, I cheat like a cheating thing by parking her all the way at the back of the ritual chamber, and using movespeed boosts and teleports to get out of her perception range so I can clear the rest of the dungeon without endangering her, but...

I suppose I play AM as a matter of course. That may have something to do with it.

...and yes, blight resist matters. There are a lot of diseases going around in that place. Efficient ways to deal micropokes also matter (dots, additional bits of other damage types, and so on) as ways to drop those bone shields.

[Zizzo]

The only really difficult part is killing all of those cultists before the time runs out,

That's all I was ever talking about, and all I assumed anyone else was ever talking about; apologies for the confusion if I appeared to be suggesting otherwise. You're absolutely right, everything before that part is pretty much on par with the other places I'm usually going at that stage, and if that were all there was to the zone, I wouldn't even have piped up.

[That said, I'd argue that the cultists part is "really difficult" in much the same sense that Antarctica is "really chilly"...]