I still don't understand the point of rune locked vaults

[Reptisaurus]

I don't see why greater linearity is a plus, and why the generally much more difficult depths are left unlocked, only 1-2 levels later.

[Siegurt]

I don't see why greater linearity is a plus, and why the generally much more difficult depths are left unlocked, only 1-2 levels later.

They were also locked at one point i think the greater difficulty was considered a sufficient deterrent.

Greater linearity results in the s runes being less of a cakewalk if you could consume all the xp in vaults [1-4] before tackling the end of the s branches, you could more readily steamroll them.

[Reptisaurus]

Ok. I.. sort....of... see the logic behind that. Like when I forget I haven't done crypt until I'm a ways into extended and go through tab tab tab tab "yawn* tab tab tab tab?

And I guess depths isn't a problem because it's much, much harder to survive to get enough XP to crush Spider?

Still, optimal play is pretty much always gonna say "Do the easiest required branch, first." Removing rune lock on Vaults wouldn't change 95% of my games.

Thanks for explaining though!

[Siegurt]

Ok. I.. sort....of... see the logic behind that. Like when I forget I haven't done crypt until I'm a ways into extended and go through tab tab tab tab "yawn* tab tab tab tab?

And I guess depths isn't a problem because it's much, much harder to survive to get enough XP to crush Spider?

Still, optimal play is pretty much always gonna say "Do the easiest required branch, first." Removing rune lock on Vaults wouldn't change 95% of my games.

Thanks for explaining though!

Fwiw i would personally like it if slime, abyss, and elf were 1 rune locked, and crypt and depth were 2 rune locked, and tomb, hell and pan were 3 rune locked with zot. (Possibly even more locks than that, like 4/5 rune locks on hell/pan and a 6 rune lock on tomb)

[watertreatmentRL]

The lair branches range from bad content (spider, swamp) to awful content (snake, shoals). To somehow shoehorn that into a game that also features "nonlinearity" in the most naive form of arbitrary backtracking, you have to make some goofy rules. That's where the rune lock comes in.

[Sprucery]

The lair branches range from bad content (spider, swamp) to awful content (snake, shoals).

I think you should play some other game.

About the rune lock: it does not change how I play my games in any way.

[WingedEspeon]

The rune lock is stupid and should be removed. Maybe replaces with some suggestion comments when entering branches giving new players advice on branch order.

[watertreatmentRL]

The lair branches range from bad content (spider, swamp) to awful content (snake, shoals).

I think you should play some other game.

I do play another game. It's called hellcrawl.

[Shtopit]

I personally don't get the Zot lock. I mean, I get it for new players. The search for the runes is pretty cool, since they are important, getting even just one of them is a way to measure your skill or in general the results you have obtained and your growth as a player. If you have played many games, however, you might start to wish to try some new things. One new thing could be entering Zot without having done three runes, which is enough to get an enormous XP boost.
Or maybe it would be better if there were a few rune areas in depths which aren't death traps if you aren't end-game ready, just to add some choice or variety. This still from the "many games" POV.

[WingedEspeon]

Zot rune lock is there because otherwise you would win with 2 lair runes and nothing else. Zot rune lock makes runes matter.