Making Sense of the Madness

[Ferengi]

I by no means try to sound like an expert, but I got this "feeling" that 1.10 is closest to 1.04 from all the patches.

Yup, I'd agree. I'm back to all the old tactical tricks I used back then. For instance:

Using constrictions to limit the monsters into a funnel. Then it becomes "Who's First?" and so on.

I'm back to doing full clears, since if an area has no 'one-hit-kills' monsters, I'd rather stay there than discover what lies beyond that next area exit.

Run Away! Run Away! The game has killer rabbits! For my non-sorcs, I am really good at running backwards past whatever helpers I have with me. With the increased gold drops, paying for merc revival is not much of a problem. With the sorc, TK has found new life for doors and chests. I thought that you used to be able to activate a TP with TK, guess that hack fix removed that handy feature (think about Meph's portal in a 'hot' room).

I'm playing far below my normal level for all areas, just as I did on 1.04. I know a lot about the Blood Moor in NM for instance! Only this time, I can get decent experience there. And the pace of the game is slow, in fact this may be the greatest problem.

The purpose of game play is to get some relaxation and to feel some accomplishment (otherwise, it is no escape from RL). WIth the pace so slow, it's difficult to feel good about killing 49 Quill Rats...again.

The other thing that is evident to me is that 1.10 is NOT the beta. My entire carefully planned BP+Confuse necro is going to be useless. In the beta, an enchanted boss pack was a no-brainer. Confuse would remove the aura from the minions and turn the pack into a civil war and Bone Prisons would hold. A minionless necro was possible with some nimble fingers. But 1.10 is different, an aura pack shows the Confuse animation, but nothing happens (if anything, the pack seems more interested in getting me). I've got 20+ points invested in BP&BW and have watched far too many prisons disappear in a single blow (but there are some strange events here, sometimes suddenly they hold for a long time and I cast a dozen to be sure).

So the other thing that reminds me about 1.04 is how little I know now about the gameplay....the real question is will I be willing to spend the time to learn everything again? Chances are the first alternative game that looks good will win. Especially if a "solo-8" style of play is now out.