Idea: Improve Scroll of Deep Descent for new players, and deep players.

[m0stlym0nk]

Deep Descent scrolls can show up on the first dungeon level, and I've been seeing new players get an unhappy shock when reading them un-ID.

While it's good for a new player to learn that using un-ID items is not without risk, I worry that dropping them 5 dungeon levels down might fall into the "mean gotcha for new players" category. A very shallow player can go from "safely checking out the game" to "welcome to Orcs" with one errant scroll read.

Deep players who wish to zoom downwards quickly (and safely), on the other hand, may find that 5 levels isn't all that huge of a jump, and perhaps might wish it was a bit more.

With that in mind, perhaps we could find value in making the number of levels Deep Descent will drop a player be charcter level dependent, with a min (and maybe a max).

We might consider character level divided by 5, minimum of 2. This would result in:

clvl1   drop  2 floors
clvl25  drop  5 floors
clvl50  drop 10 floors

Is ten floors a bit to generous? Perhaps a max of 8 would both punch up the value to a fast-diver, but keep values in reasonable bounds.

[Selkie]

@'s die in Angband. It's a fact of life. They will die regularly in novice hands and in stupid ways in even the most experienced hands. Let's just stop trying to sanitise the dungeon and accept these deaths for what they are... sharp learning curves

[m0stlym0nk]

Angband now has a long history of filing down those early sharp edges so new players can find engagement and fun when shallow in the dungeon, instead of tripping over mean gotchas left and right.

The early game is a heckuva lot better now, due to that process. I feel that these very early Deep Descents might be one of the few remaining speedbumps that a new player hits as they start their journey in Angband.

[Selkie]

Accidentally reading a scroll of descent is one of the most fun parts of adventuring with a green character. Every move is fraught with danger, every kill becomes a tactical chess match. All the time you're asking yourself do I burn that WoR and escape to the safety of the town. Then you probably end up getting killed by fucking Orfax son of Boldor.

[Nick]

I'm not keen on making objects behave differently depending on character level - I know there are some, but I'm not looking to add to them. If it does need changing (which I think is an open question) we could do it by making the behaviour dependent on dungeon level, or just simply by setting its native level to 20 instead of 10.

[m0stlym0nk]

Perhaps just pushing it down a bit, as you mention Nick, would work well enough. If it begins appearing a bit after when players are likely to encounter other non-good items (blindness potions, etc) then it could act as a reminder of risk to a player that has already had a less impactful lesson of what can happen using un-ID items (as opposed to it potentially being their first experience).

[feveredmonk]

Accidentally reading a scroll of descent is one of the most fun parts of adventuring with a green character. Every move is fraught with danger, every kill becomes a tactical chess match. All the time you're asking yourself do I burn that WoR and escape to the safety of the town. Then you probably end up getting killed by fucking Orfax son of Boldor.

I ID every scroll by reading it. Nothing brings more excitement and joy than reading a Scroll of Deep Descent with a 1st - 3rd level character

[Grotug]

As an experienced Angband player who has become very comfortable dying a lot I very much like the place in which deep descent scrolls currently exist in Angband and do not think they should be changed at all. The only change I might welcome is for them to become more common starting at DL60 or to drop the player 8 dungeon levels instead of 5 starting at DL60.

I very much enjoy reading ?Deep Descent on DL1. It's fun to gain character levels quickly when I land on a relatively safe DL6. I do not like the idea of a Deep Descent scroll taking the player down less than 5 dungeon levels, regardless if it's read on DL1 or not.

One thing I'd like to see added to Angband is special downstairs colored in bright peach/pink (or the color that Azog is) that takes the player down 4+1d6 stairs, with these stairs starting to show up on DL45.

Also would be fun to get deep descent trap doors. ^ (these might want to drop the player 2+1d3 stairs).

[tangar]

Deep Descent scroll bring roguelikish adventure and in my opinion it's alright. Default setting in Angband (not ironman) is pretty cheezy, you can dwell at shallow levels endlessly which is dull and boring - this is a trap in which a lot of new players might get into. So finding this scroll gives new player excellent roguelikish adventure in case if player scaried to go down by himself. As most of new players taking warriors - getting at dlvl 5 won't be too bad.

[Pete Mack]

I disagree strongly. ?DD at DL 1 is a lot of fun: either you die or imnediately jump to CL 6. If losing a DL 1 character is a big problem, you are doing it wrong.