Subject: Some comments about PC Moria 4.873 aimed toward your Moria 5.0

From: [email-masked] (Greg Flint)
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 90 16:32:51 -0500

You comment that Umoria 5.0 will have good balance because it will be
player tested before its release.  I'd be willing to volunteer to do
some of this beta testing.  I don't have lots of time to play but I find
moria to be a good way to unwind after a long day fighting more mundane
mosters such as Vaxes, Cybers and Suns.

A few opinions about PC Moria 4.873 that might influence Umoria 5.0:

 STATS
 -----
 * Once stats get to the 18/xx stage, I find that I can deal with almost
   anything non-hastened (except for MHD's and Green d/D's) because by then
   my HP's are usually quite high.  I can just hack away and usually come
   out on top.  If I have sufficient haste self, I tackle V's and L's.  If
   I don't, I phase door, teleport away or run for the stairs.  (The method
   depends on my character type, distance from the monster and equipment at
   hand.)

 * After I reach the 18/xx stage, the game degenerates in to a sequence of
	1) attack until I loose life levels,
	2) WOR to store level,
	3) buy more WOR and RLL, if available,
	4) kill time on level 1 if no RLL, then back to #3
       	5) WOR back to deepest level,
	6) go to #1".
   until I'm finally ready to go to level 50 of the dungeon.

 MONSTERS
 --------

 * It seems to take "forever" to go up the levels of 32+ because there is a
   big disparity between the value of monsters and the amount of points needed
   to rise to the next level.  I find myself looking for D's (and L's if I've
   the proper abilities and/or tools) and being bored by almost anything else
   -- and yet I'm not yet ready for Iggy or the big "B".

 MAGIC
 -----
 * Maybe I've been lucky, but I've always been able to find some "see
   invisible" item early (about Banshee dungeon level).  This makes G's, L's,
   etc a lot easier (see the earlier comment on my playing sequence.)

 * When playing as a mage and reaching about level 29 where I gain fire ball,
   I find that I've reached the peak in spells.  Of the two spells after that,
   I've never used WOD and find Genocide so powerful that it seems like
   cheating.

 STORES and MONEY
 ----------------

 * Money is an issue early, but once I get to about 10,000, I never need to
   worry about money again -- for two reasons.  The scrolls, potions, staves
   and the like are cheap (relative to 10K gold).  The weapons that are HA,
   DF, etc almost never appear so even though they are expensive, I never
   seem to need the money.

 * It would be nice to know how may of a given item are in a store.  This
   would help with questions such as "should I buy now or wait and chance
   that it (they?) are gone next time?" or "can I buy him out in the hopes
   of getting better stock next time?".

 MAGE SPELLS
 -----------

 * The two recharge and the three sleep spells seem redundant (especially
   the latter).  I usually ignore the Level I recharge and Levels I and II
   sleep spells because I need more offensive weaponry (spells).  By the time
   I get around to learning these low level spells (because I've moved up
   a mage level and you've got to pick something), I really don't need them.

 * I don't know what I'd suggest, but I'd like to see some other spells in
   place of the ones listed above -- especially some after level 29.

 * How about spells being fixed in terms of there letter?  Nothing is more
   painful than forgetting that I've added spell "b" thereby making spell "e"
   spell "f" and wasting a bunch of mana and maybe allowing a monster a free
   hit.

 MAP
 ---

 * I find the reduced map a help in speeding up the game.  I favor anything
   that speeds up the game at no penalty me.  (For example, using "H" to
   "run" in place of lots of h's is a no cost plus.  I would not want to be
   penalized for "running" since all I'm doing is speeding up the game, not
   trying to "tire out" the character.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Flint 	  Math G-169   (317) 494-1787   UUCP:  purdue!klaatu.cc!afc
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