MB9 necessary?

[PowerDiver]

To those of you skilled at winning with mages, I ask a question.

Should I assume I will have MB9 when I fight the big two?

I just dumped two shields of preservation, one with rPoison and one with rNexus, due to lack of home slots. That sure feels like a mistake. If I assume I will have MB9, should I toss the ?banish and ?massbanish from home to get two more slots?

My prayer casters tend to find a couple of MB9 before they win, but of course my current mage hasn't seen one.

[fizzix]

To those of you skilled at winning with mages, I ask a question.

Should I assume I will have MB9 when I fight the big two?

I just dumped two shields of preservation, one with rPoison and one with rNexus, due to lack of home slots. That sure feels like a mistake. If I assume I will have MB9, should I toss the ?banish and ?massbanish from home to get two more slots?

My prayer casters tend to find a couple of MB9 before they win, but of course my current mage hasn't seen one.

I'm not an expert by any means but it seems that without MB9 you are essentially going to fight them as a Ranger. If you don't think you can handle them that way then you should probably get the book.

Mass banishment scrolls are certainly useful against Morgoth, since the spell costs so much mana and can have a reasonably high fail rate. Banishment are useful, but you can probably cast that one with better success. Of course that depends on how much restore mana you have, and how much you'll fight with mana storms.

[Storch]

MB9 is the reason to play a mage :-)

As a mage I was never able to melee two big guys - damage per hit was OK but I was not able to hit them. It is possible to use both archery or manastorms to kill them. With runes of protection, banishment, destruction and door creation it is quite easy although it takes longer time because of lower damage output. Low HPs also mean that it is necessary to play cautiously.

[PowerDiver]

MB9 is the reason to play a mage :-)

I guess the RNG wants me to play some other class. Care to make any comments on http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=9639 ?

[Magnate]

I guess the RNG wants me to play some other class. Care to make any comments on http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=9639 ?

Yes: you're using three (or perhaps even four) of the artifacts I tweaked. In particular, all of Haradrim, Hammerhand and Wormtongue were previously on the "never used" list.

[PowerDiver]

Yes: you're using three (or perhaps even four) of the artifacts I tweaked. In particular, all of Haradrim, Hammerhand and Wormtongue were previously on the "never used" list.

Wormtongue is a good improvement. I'd still prefer that the others had been removed instead of being beefed up, but maybe some day I will change my mind.

I'm not actually using the others. I don't think I have used them a single time so far this game. I usually outfit differently. That dump is for the sole purpose of discussing whether melee vs M is feasible.

I am considering the others *only* because the Haradrim shield is now unbalancingly overpowered. I am only considering them because I'm planning to play a mage as a warrior. I'm not sure that should be considered as an endorsement. If I can play a mage as a warrior, does that mean that things are too easy?

Note also, as I predicted when you took rSound off of Thorin, my mage is wearing Isildur. I guess that doesn't matter since you put it back, but one has to trumpet one's correct prophecies. [edit] To be fair, I often kit with something else, but I think Isildur is most likely at the end.

[Magnate]

I'm not actually using the others. I don't think I have used them a single time so far this game. I usually outfit differently. That dump is for the sole purpose of discussing whether melee vs M is feasible.

I am considering the others *only* because the Haradrim shield is now unbalancingly overpowered. I am only considering them because I'm planning to play a mage as a warrior. I'm not sure that should be considered as an endorsement. If I can play a mage as a warrior, does that mean that things are too easy?

Sorry, I hadn't realised that that dump was not what you were actually wearing in the dungeon. Fair enough then - it's only Wormtongue that's been useful.

Note also, as I predicted when you took rSound off of Thorin, my mage is wearing Isildur. I guess that doesn't matter since you put it back, but one has to trumpet one's correct prophecies. [edit] To be fair, I often kit with something else, but I think Isildur is most likely at the end.

I'd forgotten that I'd bowed and reverted Thorin. I probably also have to revise my opinion of the rarity of Isildur.

[PowerDiver]

I probably also have to revise my opinion of the rarity of Isildur.

Well, I don't know about that. Maybe about everything, but not Isildur in particular. Artifacts are plentiful. I've seen 4 !*HEAL and 2 !*LIFE. OTOH, I've seen about 70 artifacts including all 3 elven rings. Looking at the notes in the dump, I found Isildur before any of the elven rings.

Except for the really rare uber-artifacts, it's just not that hard to collect most of the artifacts in a winning game. The shocker is that I haven't found Calris yet, but I guess you're likely to miss something, but not many somethings.

[Derakon]

Keep in mind that Isildur is one of the few ways to get confusion resistance in the midgame. It, Rohirrim, Caspanion, Thengel, and Holhenneth are the only remotely commonly-found artifacts that have it, and Thengel/Holhenneth have to compete with the vastly superior Thranduil.

Does chaos resistance still cover confusion effects in Vanilla?

[JohnCW9]

Keep in mind that Isildur is one of the few ways to get confusion resistance in the midgame. It, Rohirrim, Caspanion, Thengel, and Holhenneth are the only remotely commonly-found artifacts that have it, and Thengel/Holhenneth have to compete with the vastly superior Thranduil.

Does chaos resistance still cover confusion effects in Vanilla?

I can tell you that ...no and I still dont like it

John