Is preparing cheating ?

[flap]

I have always had a weird relation with preparation : I have kept felling like it was cheating. Except for gods : I thought that not preparing a god was a sign of my lack skills with them.

So I have unlocked most dungeons as a purist (and aiming at a near 100% succes ratio), untill I have reached the vicious dungeons. I am now going there fully prepared, and fell a bit guilty...

Now, about you : what is your own relation with preparation ?

[William]

Do you plan on rainbowing normal and hard dungeons going in purist? I think most dungeons are reasonably doable purist with specific class and race combos but get complicated with certain other classes. Vicious dungeons are certainly also doable purist, but certain classes excel at beating certain vicious dungeons more than other classes.

For me, the "cheatiest" part of prepping would be locker items such as Amulet of Yendor, Orb of Zot, Dragon Shield and Namtar's Ward to name a few. Some of those are from Vicious dungeon boss kills though.

[Tinker]

The main purpose of preparations in my opinion is to reduce the need for you to scum (i.e. repeatedly attempt a run until you get what you need to win it). I really dislike scumming, I consider it somewhat distasteful, and I hate to do it (basically, there's only 2 badges that I could only do by scumming; everything else I did normally, sometimes not at first try, but giving everything to all of my attempts).

But I don't think every badge is really doable without preparations. Most probably are, mind you, and it's surprising how even things like Vicious + VT runs are doable Purist (check the Purist + Vicious thread, 3 out of 6 vicious dungeons were already completed this way, and I'm sure at least two more are doable!).

[flap]

[Darvin]

My relationship with preparations was formed during the early beta, where the dungeons were far more difficult (most were more or less on par with their vicious token difficulty today). Moreover a lot of the great items and deities we know and love today were either weaker or non-existent, which meant you often had to scum for the much more limited selection of "top tier" material. Going purist was basically a scum-fest, and many players (including myself) flatly stated that it wasn't worth our time to pursue 100% completion in every dungeon because of how annoying purist was to grab. This is no longer true today, with the difficulty being toned down (although if you want a taste of that old-school masochism, take Tinker's Purist Vicious Challenge) but that's the environment where my views on preparations were shaped.

[Tinker]

[berpdreyfuss]

[flap]

[berpdreyfuss]

[Astral]

I don't consider preps cheating, but I know how you feel. For me it is drinking health and mana potions that feels that way. The game has plenty of ways of granting you %-based restores, and the game feels more strategic if you only rely on them. Besides, even stuff like VT VGT are doable parched on top of plenty other badges, so there isn't even a need for consuming them. Most advanced potions are more powerful, so I avoid them too. Whupaz, for example is my archenemy. It's not only powerful, but completely uninteractive too, you click and there goes 25% HP from the boss.

Back to preps, while I consider them fair, I try to pick as few of them as possible and only fully prep for really hard stuff or doing 'stunts'. Tipically I prep extra attack boosters, bet on boss, and based on my class maybe a god too.

Just to echo what some of the others said, the most important thing is to have fun while playing, so that's the way you should play.