Persistent levels

[Sky]

ok, all working for now (i hope no more DL99 bugs). it's .. weird, to play like this.
big advantage for sell_on play, as you can go back to DLs with a ton of gear on the floor waiting to be sold, not so sure about what's it gonna be like down to DL90 though.
Also, i feel kinda dumb for not enabling the $ option, as i can never really lose any artifacts.

I have a question, though. i read a DD by accident and actually went back up to clear those 5 levels, and somewhere along the way i met Grishnak .. and lost sight of him. Is he stuck on that level forever? Can he be summoned elsewhere, by a mob, or a trap or staff of summon?
What happens if i find a greater vault with many big uniques, does it mean i can leave them behind and they won't show up for the final fight?

[PowerWyrm]

Originally Posted by Sky

What happens if i find a greater vault with many big uniques, does it mean i can leave them behind and they won't show up for the final fight?

Exactly, that's the big advantage of persistent levels.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Sky

I have a question, though. i read a DD by accident and actually went back up to clear those 5 levels, and somewhere along the way i met Grishnak .. and lost sight of him. Is he stuck on that level forever? Can he be summoned elsewhere, by a mob, or a trap or staff of summon?
What happens if i find a greater vault with many big uniques, does it mean i can leave them behind and they won't show up for the final fight?

For now. I'm thinking about having the monster populations of levels gradually change as time passes, but haven't implemented anything like that yet.

[Sky]

this *might* seem unrelated, but it's very, very important that you give player-cast ice-storm and ice-balls a percentage chance of turning lava tiles into rubble. if a pit fiend decides to turn half a level into lava, the patient player needs to be able to return it to normal with a bit of work.
this already happens with mobs' ice breaths.

[Sky]

ok, this persistent levels thingie is much harder than normal play. we ought to have some sort of "autoscum for good levels" birth options again.

[fph]

Another thing that may be useful to include together with persistent levels is a scroll of "recall to specific dungeon level". Otherwise it might take a while if you wish to go back to that greater vault you skipped at dlvl 40, but now you are at dlvl 60...

[Sky]

i'm at DL46, CL34. i've pretty much cleared every level, because, there isn't any reason NOT to. i'm playing a relatively low-XP class/race combo.
i'm horribly short on artifacts for this CL/DL combination, normally i would already have most gear ready for lower depths, but i can't grind levels, so i only have one FA, one pBlind, no ESP, no pConf. i can't swap anything.

i've only left a level early twice: once when i teleported away The Queen Ant, and another where i had no SI and there were at least 10 Dreads on the level, plus one elder vampire (all passwall).

[Sky]

another WEIRD bug.

i recalled to town, and now my Phial does not emit light. torches dont work either. i can cast by the light of the stores, and when i go down in the dungeon, everything works as normal.

[Derakon]

Originally Posted by Sky

i'm at DL46, CL34. i've pretty much cleared every level, because, there isn't any reason NOT to. i'm playing a relatively low-XP class/race combo.
i'm horribly short on artifacts for this CL/DL combination, normally i would already have most gear ready for lower depths, but i can't grind levels, so i only have one FA, one pBlind, no ESP, no pConf. i can't swap anything.

Ha, interesting. I hadn't thought about it, but this does effectively mimic forced-descent in that regard. You can take heart in the fact that people routinely win forced-descent games despite having skipped a fair number of dungeon levels. You don't actually need all that much gear to win the game.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Originally Posted by Derakon

Ha, interesting. I hadn't thought about it, but this does effectively mimic forced-descent in that regard.

"...hadn't thought about it..." Huh? That was what I thought the whole point was for persistent levels. A sort of "Forced Descent-Lite" Whereas in forced descent you might need to run down some convenient stairs to avoid a nasty end, in this "lite" version you can go back up again when and if @ survives to be strong enough, in order to collect objects or kill uniques you didn't want to leave behind.