ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

so I think the current way that starting zones are on nightmare+ is very difficult for some classes, such as brawlers, but I also think that you shouldn't be starting with extra gold(or extra levels) upon character creation in higher difficulties
I know drowning is a big issue, but its getting nerfed anyway, which I think is a good thing
I've got some suggestions that I think would fix the rest of the issues(barring shop scumming):

1: ruins of kor'pul would be able to spawn randbosses and uniques outside of chests again
2: trollmire would no longer be able to spawn rare enemies, just like escape from reknor
3: the scintillating caves would no longer be able to spawn rares, randbosses, or uniques, just like escape from reknor
4: norgos' lair would no longer be able to spawn rares, randbosses, or uniques either
5: I dunno how hard slazish fens(or w/e its called) is on insane, but if it can spawn rares or randbosses or uniques at all on nightmare+, that should also be prevented from happening, AND you should be prevented from being taken to the heart of the gloom, the ruins of kor'pul, and the rhaloren camp by the portal
6: concerning the searing halls, prevent the portal at the end from taking you to the heart of the gloom, the ruins of kor'pul, and the the rhaloren camp
7: remove the extra starting gold and levels(where applicable) from nightmare+; every race/class combo on every difficulty starts at level 1 with 15 gold

I would imagine that if those 7 changes were implemented, every race/class combo should be able to get past the tier 1 insane dungeons without startscumming
I think id be a little surprised if a halfling/ogre/thalore cursed wouldn't be able to beat insane trollmire, norgos' lair, and scint caves, and ben cruthdar, and the arena all before doing the rest of tier 1

as a comparison, a dwarf bulwark currently has little issue, aside from uncommonly dying in norgos' lair, with beating the tier 1 dungeons(even with no movement infusion) since escape from reknor has no rares/randbosses/uniques and they can be level 6 or 7 without drowning anyone before they even start the second t1 dungeon, so I think those changes should fix many of the issues with starting zones on higher difficulties
tinker classes shouldn't have trouble with those changes(or without them) because of how strong they are; its likely they'll have two t2 weapons(and maybe another steam generator) by the time they've done 3 starter dungeons, and that should be good enough for norgos' lair

I have been playing a bunch of character types on Insane lately and I don't think I've found any that can't handle Trollmire as it is. In fact I pretty much always leave whatever dungeon I start in (if possible) without meeting a single enemy and go instead to Trollmire, unless I'm already there. Which is a workaround for a stupid problem that would be fixed by your suggestions.

It feels really weird that the four elven starting areas are all much harder than Trollmire is. I haven't done any drowning or whatever and I can never beat these areas without fighting Prox and Bill first, and probably the Shade/Possessed too, plus the arena gladiators and Cruthdar. Every single race and class must do exactly that, except the few that start in their own special dungeons (like dwarves etc.), because an elf who fights first in his/her own starting dungeon is basically choosing suicide. It's silly and should be fixed.

It might feel a bit strange to have to go from Trollmire to the crystal caves to Norgol's place before then making another loop through the races' starting areas and tackling the three harder dungeons... personally I would prefer for just the one dungeon a character starts in to be easy, while all five (or six) that they don't start in are harder. Regardless though, the crucial thing is that a person should be able to fight effectively in their own starting dungeon, always.