Going from CL 1 to CL 30 on the first level

[Ingwe Ingweron]

A new kobold warrior descended to level 1 for the first time. Danger level 1, no problem. Soon met with a treasure feeling of 9, Superb! Explored the entire level carefully, but only turned up some pathetic sandals, a few scrolls and some potions. Hmmm. Not wanting to blow it, I stood on the stairs and read the scrolls, among them - deep descent.

"Okay, this might be a short-lived character," I thought. But, that scroll shouldn't have been enough to trigger the best level feeling possible.

Quaff the potions. CLW, okay. Wait...what's this...Oh, Yeah! !Experience. Instantly went from CL 1 to CL 30! Maybe This kobold will survive that initial deep descent after all!

[Nomad]

It's all fun and games until your kobold gets stat-drained...

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Originally Posted by Nomad

It's all fun and games until your kobold gets stat-drained...

Yep, struggling with that now. Strength has gotten banged a few times already and the next level-up is a long way away. Maybe I'll find some vigor or !brawn...

[emulord]

I cannot believe they removed the (Experience only can double, or 100,000xp, whichever is lower)

This is a prime example of a rare situation that broke early game in half

[AnonymousHero]

Originally Posted by emulord

I cannot believe they removed the (Experience only can double, or 100,000xp, whichever is lower)

This is a prime example of a rare situation that broke early game in half

Because it's more fun this way -- and means that you can safely use-identify potions with no fear of potentially losing 100k XP. Once in a blue moon you'll get a really different experience of the early game.

(Stat drain is annoying, but IMO that's because stat drain itself needs to be slightly different: I'd want a stat drain which gradually "fades" after some set amount of time.)

[emulord]

Its only a mindset of "oh no I lost 100k". In practice, its best to quaff as soon as levelling starts to slow down a bit.

Use identifying potions should be safe yes, but just like drinking !speed in a empty room, it should have a chance of being wasteful.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Originally Posted by emulord

Its only a mindset of "oh no I lost 100k". In practice, its best to quaff as soon as levelling starts to slow down a bit.

Use identifying potions should be safe yes, but just like drinking !speed in a empty room, it should have a chance of being wasteful.

Having that early potion of experience fully useful isn't really as helpful as it first would seem. It is also incredibly rare. For those reasons, I agree with the way it currently works - with full experience granted.

Why wasn't it as helpful, you might ask? Well, in my case at least, I bombed down the levels trying to get to where it made sense for a 30th level @ to be, using the massive hit points pool as a soak for damage even though my weapon sucked. I made it as far as DL 25, but, as Nomad pointed out, it's all fun and games until you get stat drained. At one point I was drained down to a Str of 8 and -11 speed, only prevented from further draining by the lucky find of a =Soulkeeping. I had to recall and then relegate myself to scumming the first ten levels where I could survive. Finally, found a mushroom of vigor in the BM, but by then all the great turncount had been used up. No better off than I would have been getting the "experience" naturally, and perhaps worse off, since my consumables and equipment portfolio is abysmal compared to what would have been acquired over the course of time on a regular descent.

[AnonymousHero]

Originally Posted by emulord

Its only a mindset of "oh no I lost 100k".

Yes, but some of us can't help but think that way. (It's probably related to mild OCD in my case.) Meanwhile, it doesn't really hurt the ordinary game experience.