Curses, crusades and random nonsense

[Nandrew]

WRT Yin / Yang swords:
We think their primary use lies in getting 2 free stackable death protections in small inventory slots, mainly useful for late-game bosshappenings. The damage has always been the extra. But I'll add this subdungeon to more regions when I playtest and investigate more carefully.

WRT Curses:
Yep, it's a DR cracker. And bloody difficult to avoid. And easy to lose control over. A dangerous debuff for resist/DR stackers.

WRT Martyr Wraps:
Also 10 gold cheaper. Though I suppose it was a bit cheeky to append another nerf when its value was already being questioned. We just felt the wraps had lost their thematic point somewhere. This idea was rather more rushed than some others, it'll probably change soon.

[Picotrain]

Two things with the update that may be normal, I'm not sure:

1.) I FINALLY got Dracul. I found his subdungeon while doing the Perpetual Quest. I completed it, worshipping Dracul, but I could no longer level up. I had 1 HP, and every time I killed an enemy, my XP would go up but my level would not. I ended up with 17/5 (I think, but that makes no sense since the level-up limit should have been higher. In any case, I had more XP than required to level-up). I was at level 3, one of those being the artifical level created by Dracul. I decided to quit. Luckily, this still permitted me to keep Dracul. I still have him and have played him since and this issue did not recur. Does this only happen the first time you get Dracul?

2.) My second Perpetual Dungeon Initiative quest has me playing as the vampire. I do not have the vampire, so I cannot continue. Isn't this a random generator sort of thing? If so, shouldn't it suggest classes that I actually have?

[Blovski]

[The Avatar]

The problem with random quests is they are both harder AND less profitable than flame runs.

[Nandrew]

The "harder" part is intended, since "interesting" combos tend to be non-optimal.

As for profits, we'll be sure to adjust after some more feedback. We're also experimenting with the stacking rewards for victory with successive new classes, and that's what the random quest generator tends towards.

[The Avatar]

Cool! Sort of like an arena where it just keeps getting harder and more profitable till you collapse.

When did Namtar switch 50% physical res to his second form? I could of sworn it was the first form last week.

[Darvin]

[Darvin]

Okay, a few remarks:

GG isn't really that great for removing curses. In fact, since he removes low-level monsters from play (your primary method of curse-cure) with absolution he actually exascerbates the curse condition for anyone not going for Enlightenment.

Secondly, curse isn't really a big deal for Assassins. With no natural resists or DR of their own and the ability to go on late-game killing sprees, you can freely rack up large stacks without too much loss and then work it off in the end-game if you actually do have resistances you want to use.

Thirdly - not sure if this is intended or not - but killing no-XP enemies still removes a layer of curse. I encountered this with the Lekon Goat subdungeon. Speaking of which, that subdungeon has always been a little too easy for Assassins to pull off and a little too nasty for other classes (which usually just knock out one or two goats prior to leveling up and otherwise leave the stronger ones standing). Perhaps their first-strike and mana burn should be replaced with curse?

[The Avatar]

The only problem with Curse is it ruins monks. You keep getting more and more levels, it's almost impossible to kill stuff without your resists, and you get more layers due to low damage. Also, I don't like how cues copies the symbol from death gaze and the text color from corrosion.

[Nandrew]