having trouble making transition to late game

[Carnivean]

This way lies madness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_paralysis. If you keep trying to min-max, then you won't fight until you have the One Ring, Deathwreaker, Feanor, Cubragol and Gondor.

Most of the stuff you have at home, dump. Drop all the swaps you have, except Belthronding and Narya.

Look for better boots of speed. If you get enough speed, swap in Narya.

Learn to accept that you are not looking to become invincible. Any number of players get down to the big boss fights and find them a pushover, as they've packed enough gear and consumables to fight both of them at once.

[Derakon]

Any number of players get down to the big boss fights and find them a pushover, as they've packed enough gear and consumables to fight both of them at once.

Ha, now there's an idea: let Morgoth summon any unique he likes, whether or not they've been killed already. Including Sauron. Might spice things up a bit.

[Pete Mack]

You can't hold out for particular upgrades to equipment. All the things you list just don't show up that often. Yes, better boots of speed (9 or 10) are likely. Yes, a somewhat better Ring of Speed, as is ammo for Belthronding. But Feanor, and the rest? You might find one or two of them, but they aren't likely to be significant upgrades from your current gear.

[Raccoon]

Ha, now there's an idea: let Morgoth summon any unique he likes, whether or not they've been killed already. Including Sauron. Might spice things up a bit.

I think most of would appreciate seeing Bullroarer, Grip, and Fang instead of some of the meaner uniques!

[NotMorgoth]

Something similar that I think would be quite interesting: Make it impossible to permanently kill the Ringwraiths until Sauron is killed, so he always has them available to summon.

[Gram]

*sigh* again, it's not that I'm holding out for some One True Equipment Loadout, nor do I expect to become invincible. I was just mentioning that there are a fair number of incremental upgrades possible, and that the prospect of seeing a couple of those improvements is one of several reasons I'm not immediately spamming stair creation down to L99.

There isn't any one particular piece of equipment I'm going to stall forever hoping to find, I just don't think it's unreasonable to think I may find a couple things along the way.

[Avenger]

It's not unreasonable to think that. Personally, I *like* becoming as ridiculously overpowered as I possibly can.

Huge speed ring? Check. +10 boots? Check. Obscenely powerful shield that might as well be an artifact? Check. Power DSM? Check. Deathwreaker? Check. The One? Oh yeah. It's open season on Morgoth.

[AnonymousHero]

It's not unreasonable to think that. Personally, I *like* becoming as ridiculously overpowered as I possibly can.

Huge speed ring? Check. +10 boots? Check. Obscenely powerful shield that might as well be an artifact? Check. Power DSM? Check. Deathwreaker? Check. The One? Oh yeah. It's open season on Morgoth.

I must admit I'm a bit like that too... but I don't think I'll ever beat my Carsomyr character. Best Speed Ring ever (+23!), every high-level artifact (except Fëanor, but meh, who cares if you have +33 from one ring and Ringil), all RoPs, Ringil, etc.

The only character that I could imagine beating that would be a randart character who got even more ridiculously lucky. (I'm thinking two +2 attack rings and perhaps another +1 attack off-hand or something like that.) I must admit to scumming randart spoilers for quite a bit just for the hell of it, too.

(But, hey, at least it's not like ToME 2 with its +10 attack rings. Unfortunately, the limited set of artifacts is a big turn-off for playing Vanilla for me... I really like the feeling of unlimited potential in T2.)

[Derakon]

The only character that I could imagine beating that would be a randart character who got even more ridiculously lucky. (I'm thinking two +2 attack rings and perhaps another +1 attack off-hand or something like that.) I must admit to scumming randart spoilers for quite a bit just for the hell of it, too.

Do +2 attack rings even get generated any more? I thought +1 attacks on its own was considered to be roughly on par with a Ring of Power.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

*sigh* again, it's not that I'm holding out for some One True Equipment Loadout, nor do I expect to become invincible. I was just mentioning that there are a fair number of incremental upgrades possible, and that the prospect of seeing a couple of those improvements is one of several reasons I'm not immediately spamming stair creation down to L99.

There isn't any one particular piece of equipment I'm going to stall forever hoping to find, I just don't think it's unreasonable to think I may find a couple things along the way.

Then I don't think you're having trouble transitioning to the late game. Maybe trouble balancing risk-reward? But the subtext I hear is that you are pursuing the slow downward approach purely for the fun of the game. Who could argue with that? Have fun and good luck to you!

[Carnivean]

Then I don't think you're having trouble transitioning to the late game. Maybe trouble balancing risk-reward? But the subtext I hear is that you are pursuing the slow downward approach purely for the fun of the game. Who could argue with that? Have fun and good luck to you!

I agree with both this assessment and the sentiment. I think part of my comments have been drawn from the fact that you don't actually need help at this stage. You've got it covered. As Debo say GLHF.

[Timo Pietilä]

Do +2 attack rings even get generated any more? I thought +1 attacks on its own was considered to be roughly on par with a Ring of Power.

+ to blows rings don't exist in vanilla anymore. Way too powerful. Same with other non-weapon sources to blows and shots.

[Carnivean]

+ to blows rings don't exist in vanilla anymore. Way too powerful. Same with other non-weapon sources to blows and shots.

Even as randarts?

[Timo Pietilä]

Even as randarts?

That I don't know, but suspect so.

[Derakon]

+ to blows rings don't exist in vanilla anymore. Way too powerful. Same with other non-weapon sources to blows and shots.

Yeah, I meant as randarts. I'm pretty sure I've seen randart gloves with +1 blow, so it wouldn't surprise me if randart rings with +1 blow were possible, but I think +2 is just too far outside the range of power levels that the randart generator allows. Maybe if you could turn the One Ring into a randart.