Identify by use

[Rizwan]

There appears to be a slight drawback to id by use. My character got hit by a psionic blast of some sort and now I know its a weapon of whatever but I don't know any of its properties or activations. This would not be much of a hassle as I would normally id everything back to the way it was but now when I try to id it says "nothing to id". Now wielding each weapon etc one at a time and relearning everything is just a pain.

[Zikke]

Even with the new ID on use system, I only use that feature until I progress far enough in the game to easily afford IDs or get a rod/spell to do so. It just takes too much time to wear everything you find long enough to ID it. Especially in randart games

[Maupin]

That's been my experience - I just use pseudo ID when I run out of ID scrolls/staves and it's not much fun changing weapons around when you've got a pile of crap to be ID'd. It feels like work swapping about when you meet a troll/dragon/animal/etc. in case one in your pile happens to have a slay for that monster class.

Is it possible to pseudo ID special weapons? I didn't seem to be able to in the case I mentioned above so I scummed the town for ID to figure out what it was.

[fizzix]

Add me in the group that thinks that a rune-based system (possibly along with an elimination of ID altogether) is the way to go. Also, artifacts should all be pseudo-id'd as special on sight.

+'s and -'s could be learned by combat but also should be able to be 'ranged' on sight. So you'd immediately see a dagger of frost on the ground and you'd know whether it was say between +6 and +10 to hit and between +11 and +15 to damage, without even having to pick it up.

This makes a lot more sense than using enlightenment and seeing a glaive across the dungeon that is 7d6 and knowing immediately what it is, but silly @ doesn't know until they ID it.

[Bill Peterson]

After playing 3.1.x for awhile it seems to me that the only way ID by use is really going to be used is if the developers make ID scrolls/staves/rods rare, or in ironman games where the RNG makes them rare. At some level, say CL15 or DL15 average and magical items become squelchable and it's just easier to carry ID scrolls to check the ego and special things.

Strong Pseudo ID for everyone and the elimination of *ID* just completely overshadow ID by use. Maybe the grand plan, once ID by use is completely debugged and balanced, is to eliminate ID. But for the moment the ID system is far too easy.

[Zikke]

I think if the ID system were any harder, it would seriously detract from the adventuring aspect of the game and it would turn into hours of item management.

[Ghen]

Strong Pseudo ID for everyone and the elimination of *ID* just completely overshadow ID by use. Maybe the grand plan, once ID by use is completely debugged and balanced, is to eliminate ID. But for the moment the ID system is far too easy.

Eliminating ID certainly isn't the answer, sometimes you just want to know immediately if something's better than what you have. Basically anything deeper than Dlvl 40.

[Pete Mack]

@Bill -- you have a point.

But weak pseudo was the reason I didn't used to play rangers. It's just an aggravation to carry around huge stacks of ?ID or _ID and be forced to return to town more often to restock. Sure, strong pseudo makes the early game a bit easier, when gold is extremely scarce... But I don't even use strong pseudo for most stuff now--just wield it and walk up to the nearest snaga. If your armor is ordinary, it is IDed in a single turn. If it's ego armor, it's effectively pseudo-IDed as well. It's a bit more risky for melee weapons, what with heavily cursed stuff, but you can still remove heavy curses with big stacks of ?to_hit or ?to_a and a disenchantment mold.

I agree ID is not balanced now, but I think all it will take is to make it more rare, so people will carry stacks of ?Remove Curse instead.

[Ghen]

but you can still remove heavy curses with big stacks of ?to_hit or ?to_a and a disenchantment mold.

I agree ID is not balanced now, but I think all it will take is to make it more rare, so people will carry stacks of ?Remove Curse instead.

Disenchant mold, thats what I need!!! Thanks.

I read a scroll of *curse armor* without IDing it... so now my armor 10 [+25] is cursed and I can't enchant it because its +25


Oops, looks like Thalkettoth resists disenchantment . I found a death mold to play with but it won't disenchant me much.

[Pete Mack]

Thalk resists disenchantment only 1/2 the time. Be patient, or try a scroll of Aggravation. Also, use !Berserk if you can get it. It reduces your AC by a lot, and Molds of Disenchantment are very weak.