Boots of Speed, more common now?

[Neuro]

So I recently grabbed 3.1.0, started a new character, and at 500' I killed Lagduf and he dropped Iron Shod Boots of Speed (+8). I remember looking forever for good boots of speed in 3.0.9, so was the drop rate on them drastically raised, or did I get incredibly lucky?

Corollary: This game is one of the easiest I've had. Currently my guy is lvl 29, 1600' in, and nothing has been a real issue. Is this due to 3.1.0 being easier overall, or those boots just helping immensely?

[Donald Jonker]

So I recently grabbed 3.1.0, started a new character, and at 500' I killed Lagduf and he dropped Iron Shod Boots of Speed (+8). I remember looking forever for good boots of speed in 3.0.9, so was the drop rate on them drastically raised, or did I get incredibly lucky?

Egos in general are much more common in 3.1 - not sure about speed boots in particular. They certainly benefit from the overall boost, though.

Corollary: This game is one of the easiest I've had. Currently my guy is lvl 29, 1600' in, and nothing has been a real issue. Is this due to 3.1.0 being easier overall, or those boots just helping immensely?

The rise in ego drops has definitely lowered the difficulty overall.. for the most part. There's been a dearth of consumables which is troublesome in the late game, esp for warriors. I believe this has been somewhat alleviated in development versions.

[PowerDiver]

So I recently grabbed 3.1.0, started a new character, and at 500' I killed Lagduf and he dropped Iron Shod Boots of Speed (+8). I remember looking forever for good boots of speed in 3.0.9, so was the drop rate on them drastically raised, or did I get incredibly lucky?

Corollary: This game is one of the easiest I've had. Currently my guy is lvl 29, 1600' in, and nothing has been a real issue. Is this due to 3.1.0 being easier overall, or those boots just helping immensely?

Boots of speed are much much more common now. It is a combination of more boots dropped proportionally, and each more likely to have an ego.

It's almost certainly the boots, but you [presumably] only have them because of changes in 3.1, so I don't think your question makes sense the way I believe you meant to ask it.

[Mondkalb]

Could be just RNG disposal.
My last chars in the latest nightly version had no luck with boots of speed, only stealth, free action, and slow decent did turn up.
OTOH every single elvish armor (it was three or four, I think), had rdisenchant as high resistance.

I'm back to 3.1 now und luckily walking around in Wormtongue's boots, which is a major boost in early gameplay. ^^