Ick Swamp "Way of the open fist"

[Lujo]

[Darvin]

A few hits of vine form couldn't hurt then. Given that all the opponents are dealing magic damage, Mystera is probably suicide so stick Earthmother.

[CznRhubarb]

Vine Form is normally my go-to EM boon, but I'm thinking in this level with the monk's terrible damage, Greenblood may be the better way to go. Though I usually don't have enough piety after clearing the plants to get more than something like 4 levels of Vine Form before it gets too expensive.

I'm also thinking that maybe I need to use Vine Form (or Corrosion) a little earlier, because even though it drops more plants, it also has the chance of dropping more plants that I can IMAWAL (the regular defenseless plants and the barbs).

[Lujo]

Ok, Vine form deffinitely, the other guy's SMM, and my subdungeon is useless. Lost a lot of exploration space looking for the other boss too.

[Lujo]

And a wild punishment from EM for no apparent reason apears. There goes my run...

Well, if the other guy was anything except SMM (I could possibly even take the Goo blob on with Bycepss), and if I had better luck in finding him earlier I think it wouldn't be undoable. Or if my other god was say, TT, to get me some money for items or something...

The level has 1 too many magic DMG dealers for sure, or at least needs some sort of cannon fodder that doesn't kill you while trying for a mid fight lvl up. I restate that magic damage on vampires really goes over the top. I like the new monk, but expecting him to do a purist run of something where he has to scum for a secific god just to get one of his abilites working to a degree (and one of his abilities is a perma debuff which makes him item/conversion dependent) is just silly.

VERDICT: Feel's a lot like the old Magma Mines - the one that started a chain of events that ended up with my Monk harangue in the first place. Combination of factors due to unrelated changes that made the "theme" work too well. Plenty of ways to ease everyones life here, either doing something about plants, removing the "purist" prerequisite, easing down on the new magic damage dealers...

EM gets you rid of plants really, really easily, but I don't think what's underneath the plants is "working as intended".

And if JJ works here, I've got news for JJ users - that god is broken. At least his piety acquisition is. I've been avoiding him like a plage for ages, and any strats that depend on him. Was even more obvious with the 25 starting piety boon.

[gjaustin]

We're way ahead of you. I've already made a post in the bug thread reporting the absurd piety gain that JJ gets in Ick Swamp

In terms of overall balance, he's probably the best deity. But mostly because he has boons that are useful for everyone and doesn't make you jump through too many hoops. That said, every other deity (except Earthmother) is much better in certain circumstances. He's just (roughly) the 3rd best at everything.

Personally, I don't have a problem with that.

[Darvin]

[gjaustin]

I don't know, a strong argument can be made that Pactmaker is the best. Otherwise, you are 100% correct.

Thinking about this, I just had an idea for Earthmother. She should have a boon that gives you Poison and Mana Burn immunity.

[The Avatar]

She used to have a poison immunity boon, but it was removed. I think making Vine form a 1 off granting 10 DR, 30 hp, poison and mana burn immunity would be better for her.

[Lujo]

Well, I still think JJ's piety gain is a bit nebulous (not to say preposterous). I know he's not the best at everything, but he sort of rewards you for breathing. I don't think anyone except mysteria should reward bycepss casts

And on the subject of Ick Swamp, can someone with some credit make an official post about it being "the new Magma Mines", as far as the Monk quest is concerned, due to unforseen concequences of many changes? I don't think we need a harangue (ever, about anything), but... something must be done!

Come to think of it, old Magma Mines were also a "purist" challenge. The thing about that badge seems to be that while you can possibly get it with SOMEONE on every level, forcing item/CP deendent classes into it can turn into a nightmare. The fact that old monk could do it just goes to show how broken he was. He got fixed (sort of), making him do a purist run of this thing is really unfair and unfun.

If were gonna have a Monk questline, I'd rather have noobies chasing less difficult medals, sort of like screwy old masters make martial arts movie guys do random bullshit just to screw with them. Just trying to tackle Slime Pits with Monk is allready the pinnacle of pointless difficulty seeing how that dungeon was probably designed with nothing in mind but annoying monks to no end.