OK, so randarts don't necessarily all suck...

[Bogatyr]

I'm playing my 2nd randart game and I've been up to now severely unimpressed with my randart finds. Like ego weapons with one extra feature….not very impressive. My Defender spear beats the pants off of any randart weapon I've found so far. Many standarts have feature lists that fill the page in comparison, even low level ones, like artifact daggers which are both branded, carry the corresponding resist, *and* have a nice activate.

Well that all changed when I found boots with +7 speed, INT! Woohoo my human mage with this one item reaches INT 18/200 and 0% fail, yay! A real RNG-send for a human mage. Then I found another crappy pair of randart boots (named "Valar", WOW, that MUST BE AWESOME! Nope, just +3 dex, speed), but I don't care because I don't see ever taking these off again. So there are some gems among the turds.

Oh and the artifact short bow with +3 shooting power packs more than the punch of a heavy crossbow and is nice and light, so that's pretty awesome, too.

[Derakon]

That's what you get with randomness. We could fairly readily make randarts be more "thematic" with grouped powers, but then they basically just become super-ego-items, which IMO is actually less interesting. As it is, they can be very hit-or-miss, but that's nice because it means you end up relying on different items than you might otherwise use in a standart game. No assuming you'll get Thorin to fill your STR/CON deficit!

[AnonymousHero]

I'm playing my 2nd randart game and I've been up to now severely unimpressed with my randart finds. Like ego weapons with one extra feature….not very impressive.

I kind of thought that too initially, but have a look at this thread. (Of course there's lots of bias in that only people who've seen ridiculously amazing randarts post, so YMMV.)

[Bogatyr]

I kind of thought that too initially, but have a look at this thread. (Of course there's lots of bias in that only people who've seen ridiculously amazing randarts post, so YMMV.)

Are the # of randarts fixed, or does the RNG just keep generating more the longer you play?

[AnonymousHero]

Are the # of randarts fixed, or does the RNG just keep generating more the longer you play?

Fixed number -- equalling the number of original standard artifacts (-2).

(There are 2 artifacts that aren't randomized, the ones dropped by Morgoth.)

[Derakon]

Fixed number -- equalling the number of original standard artifacts (-2).

(There are 2 artifacts that aren't randomized, the ones dropped by Morgoth.)

3. You forgot the One Ring.

[Estie]

3,5. The phial usually is the same for lack of randomizable properties, though occasionally it gets something like acid resist.

[Bogatyr]

Fixed number -- equalling the number of original standard artifacts (-2).

(There are 2 artifacts that aren't randomized, the ones dropped by Morgoth.)

OK, so each lame^H^H^H^H unimpressive randart really is another "exciting challenge."

edit: is the distribution of types (boots, gloves, armor, weapons) also the same? Same number of particular pieces of armor as standards, and so forth?

[mushroom patch]

Hm, in the randart games I've played, I've always found at least one game-breakingly good artifact, e.g. a shield with +2 attacks. I definitely agree that on average, they suck, but everything sucks on average.

[Derakon]

edit: is the distribution of types (boots, gloves, armor, weapons) also the same? Same number of particular pieces of armor as standards, and so forth?

On average, yes, but randarts allow a lot more variance than standarts in just about everything. So it's entirely possible that you'll have a game with very few boots, for example. I don't think it's possible to have a game where a given equipment slot has no artifacts, though. No guarantees on if any of them will be worth using!

[fizzix]

I don't think it's possible to have a game where a given equipment slot has no artifacts, though.

It's not, unless the code has changed. The generator requires that there are a certain minimum number for each slot (different by slot).

[Magnate]

It's not, unless the code has changed. The generator requires that there are a certain minimum number for each slot (different by slot).

Correct. It's three or four for most slots, which is why randart games have SO many artifact weapons. Mind you, that's pretty close to true for standarts as well.

[Egavactip]

I've just done two randart games in a row, and in one of them I got great artifacts--I pretty much had all the gear I needed relatively early and just spent time dicking around on levels to up my hit points and get more consumables for the final battles. But in terms of resists, damages, immunities, etc., I had all I needed. I had scary speed. Think I killed the Big M when I was level 49. The other one, which I just ended last night, with a half-troll fighter, didn't have that same level of mana from heaven, but there really wasn't anything I could complain about. Had to swap more and couldn't quite get the perfect combos I wanted, but overall had a decent set, certainly nice enough to win.

I did not realize that there was a max number of artifacts. Given that, why do some players continue down after killing Morgoth (in all my games that got that far, I never continued past Morgoth)?

[mushroom patch]

Some people view collecting artifacts as a sort of extended endgame, I gather.

[Zikke]

I stopped playing with randarts a while ago because they would consistently not allow me to make a viable kit. The set of standarts are specifically balanced and holes are filled, but that's not the case with randarts.