Instant pseudo-id

[Magnate]

Sangband has a nice solution to the carrying-to-ID problem: you get a chance to pseudo an item the moment you pick it up (or just walk over it, if autopickup is off or your inv is full) - this is based on how good you are at perception, and what sort of skill you have with the item (warriors do better at pseudo-IDing weapons and armour, which are the only ones we're really talking about - but this logic could be extended if you wanted mages to be able to pseudo-ID devices/rings/amulets etc.).

Then, if you decide to try wearing/wielding the item, you get another go at pseudo-IDing it, with better results - you're more likely to get a more detailed sensing (so something {good} you picked up may become {excellent} or {special}).

If neither of those works, you have to ID it (either by magic or by using it, which will pseudo-ID it eventually).

So if you get no pseudo at the time you pick it up, you can risk trying it on, or just bin it or ID it. No lugging it around.

IMHO the ID issue is fundamentally connected to the "what to do about cursed items" issue. As long as cursed items remain no-brainers (i.e. they are all bad, with no reason to use them), one of ID or RC remains essential. If cursed items are made more ambiguous (a weapon might have good bonuses but a negative pval, for example), the prospect of being stuck with one for a while is less awful, and ID is therefore a less critical issue. (In S, there are some perfectly good items which are cursed - so you're happy to use them, but need to find RC before you can take them off.)

Just my 2p - I hope those maintainers thinking about re-working ID are thinking about cursed items at the same time.

CC

[Djabanete]

One vote for instant pseudo-ID. Each class can get more or less detail for the sake of game balance, but the waiting around that is currently involved is just dumb.

Personally, I think that artifacts should always be obvious as such. I imagine them in real life as being extremely distinctive, and there's no particular gameplay/balance reason for this not to be the case.

[Rizwan]

One vote for instant pseudo-ID. Each class can get more or less detail for the sake of game balance, but the waiting around that is currently involved is just dumb.
Personally, I think that artifacts should always be obvious as such. I imagine them in real life as being extremely distinctive, and there's no particular gameplay/balance reason for this not to be the case.

In real life there are no say swords that activate for fire bolts

That said, in real life you can look at a sword and see if it well made or not if you have experience in such things but not until you wield it can you tell if the balance is right etc. Nor could you instantly tell if it were magical and what that magic might be.

So being able to instantly id something is not quite real world.

Waiting some turns to familiarize yourself with an item sounds about right.

[Seany C]

>>In real life there are no say swords that activate for fire bolts

Oh, I don't know - it should be possible to fit a small rocket-launcher to a sword, although it might make the hilt a bit warmish...

[Djabanete]

I'm aware of the pitfalls of the "real life" argument as applied to gaming. "It would be more like XYZ in real life" does not necessary mean that it should be more like XYZ in the game.

Basically, since this is a game, the best option is the one that makes the game the most fun to play. Games are meant to be fun. Waiting around for a pseudo-ID is not fun. Note that "Fun" =/= "Easy".

BTW: the swords/fire bolts argument (yes I know you were joking) is ridiculous. In the *fantasy* real life, swords *do* shoot fire bolts.

[zaimoni]

Waiting around for a pseudoID that may never resolve is definitely less fun.

If weak pseudoID were changed to explicitly resolve average, that would "fix" it enough to be reasonable for non-divers. (PseudoID vs. diving is an entirely different problem.)

The strong pseudoID works, and having weak vs. strong to further differentiate classes works. It's just that weak never terminates for average items.

[Conker]

One vote for instant pseudo-ID. Each class can get more or less detail for the sake of game balance, but the waiting around that is currently involved is just dumb.

Agreed. I'd say this would positively impact on turn-counts - they'd actually mean something. Instead of spending a thousand turns sitting around with my warrior hitting 'R' '200', pseudo-ID'ing all the things I got from a troll pit, it'd do that for me. Which seems reasonable. Responsibility on the player is one thing, but there's a reason we don't have a command for 'breathe in/breathe out'.

In my ideal world of ID, things would be pseudo-ID'd once you stood on top of them.
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