Potion of Mutation is Completely Different in Trunk
Posted: Friday, 10th February 2017, 14:59https://github.com/crawl/crawl/commit/b ... 2b8fab371f
I am of two minds about this.
I am happy that, should I wish to play mutation roulette, I can now do so with a reasonably positive expectation value. There have been times when I've been in a mood to see what could happen, but the odds in <=0.19 has been stacked against me. Now they're stacked in my favor, so there's fun to be had if I want to try it.
I am unhappy that, should I wish to play without mutations, the first successful malmutator irrevocably* frustrates that goal. The risk-averse playstyle is as compromised by this change as the gambling playstyle is enhanced. I don't like the idea that the game will mutate you--the "and there's nothing you can do about it" part doesn't feel Crawlish to me.
FR: Retain Potion of Cure Mutation and have it always get rid of all mutations, but bundle with it Degeneracy's effect: Potion of Purging maybe? So if you really want to play without mutations, you can with a downside; or you can just change a set you don't like with the new Potion of Mutation.
*(^Zin/^Jiyva)
- Code:
Shove Mutation, Cure Mutation, and Beneficial Mutation into a blender.
The new !Mutation will strip 2-6 mutations, add 1-3 random mutations,
then add one good mutation... in that order. It takes the spawn weights
of all three previous potions, and thus is now the third most common
potion in the game. (On average, ~17 will spawn in a three-rune
victory.) This is subject to further change and balancing.
===
Gameplay effects:
Once a character is mutated, then that character is permanently
involved in the mutation game unless they worship Zin, because the new
potion will only replace their current (mal)mutations. There is a
reasonably decent chance (~39%) to acquire only good mutations.
Because the new potion removes more mutations than it adds,
players won't be able to gather large mutation sets without consuming
the meat of mutagenic monsters. Ugly things are on the menu tonight!
===
A brief explanation of the philosophy behind this change:
The current status of Crawl's mutation game is essentially
solved: if you get malmutations, quaff Cure Mutation. If you find
Beneficial Mutation, quaff it. If you're feeling lucky, or if you
absolutely need to get rid of a certain malmutation and are out of Cure
Mutation, then quaff Mutation. These choices are not very interesting.
Cure Mutation in effect becomes a tax paid for making positioning
mistakes against malmutators, and when they run out of !cmut, then for
some players malmutators become top priorities, with a risk of
'permanently ruining' their character if they become too malmutated.
Since the new potion generates frequently, for now, it ensures that
the player will usually have the option to reroll their mutations if they
get a set that they decide that they don't want to play with. The
decision to reroll is also no longer binary: each mutation set is
evaluated in the context of the character's abilities and strengths, and
the player will decide "Is it worth risking getting something worse
or better?" (Compare the Cure Mutation decision described above.)
It creates a mutation baseline for most characters: at least two
mutations in any given game (unless they were lucky / savvy enough
to never be malmutated, and Zin-ite enough to never succumb to the
purple temptation!), and likely 3+.
The goal is to increase player control and interaction with the mutation
mechanic, and to generate more relevant and interesting decisions that
will differ on a character-by-character (or even mutation-by-mutation)
basis.
===
New mutations, good and bad alike, will probably be added to the game.
Keep an eye out!
Potions of Cure Mutation and Beneficial Mutation have been removed. Most
vaults containing Cure/Beneficial potions have been converted to
Mutation, or another suitably good item.
master
I am of two minds about this.
I am happy that, should I wish to play mutation roulette, I can now do so with a reasonably positive expectation value. There have been times when I've been in a mood to see what could happen, but the odds in <=0.19 has been stacked against me. Now they're stacked in my favor, so there's fun to be had if I want to try it.
I am unhappy that, should I wish to play without mutations, the first successful malmutator irrevocably* frustrates that goal. The risk-averse playstyle is as compromised by this change as the gambling playstyle is enhanced. I don't like the idea that the game will mutate you--the "and there's nothing you can do about it" part doesn't feel Crawlish to me.
FR: Retain Potion of Cure Mutation and have it always get rid of all mutations, but bundle with it Degeneracy's effect: Potion of Purging maybe? So if you really want to play without mutations, you can with a downside; or you can just change a set you don't like with the new Potion of Mutation.
*(^Zin/^Jiyva)