Playing extended for a more decisive win ?

[giann]

Simple question:
Is playing extended in order to be more powerful when going for the Orb a stupid idea ?

[Sar]

It likely is.
Though Slime can be really easy for certain characters and usually has neat stuff.

[dck]

A character capable of doing extended is capable of killing a lung of the orb chamber and then run out with the orb, going to extended only makes you more likely to die.

[Sar]

True. I guess I mentioned Slime because it can be really easy if you know what are you doing, and I would rather do it as my third rune than Vaults on some characters.

[dck]

Oh sure I was replying to the OP.
Still, acid blobs are like ranged, acid branded orb guardians and azure jello is frighteningly similar to a fast ice fiend. But some characters are capable of killing this and more when you have two runes already and if you'd rather do slime instead of all of vaults I could understand it.
Plus slime has the advantage of always being the exact same, which does help a lot preparing for it.

[MrPlanck]

It is not necessarily my experience that 15 rune characters have an easy time in zot. First, of course, you can die in extended. Second, much of your preparations for extended are not as helpful in zot. Third, you may come out of extended more mutated and rotted than you would like. I think I've had the best success clearing to the orb chamber, then doing extended when I want to torture myself.

[and into]

To give a simple answer: Yes.

Less simple answer: No matter how strong you are, Zot 5 should command your respect; also, in some rare cases the ascension can be rough if you are really unlucky. Nonetheless, doing extended in order to "prepare" for Zot is a poor way to approach winning the game. You could grind Abyss for a really long time, for instance, as Abyss 1–3 is generally easier than Zot 5 provided you can prepare yourself in certain ways. But I don't think that is wise, ultimately; the longer you play the game, the more you open yourself up to a streak of bad luck that you don't respond to properly, which causes the death of your character or (less dramatically) some kind of serious setback that leaves you worse than you started. Go for 15 runes because you are still enjoying the character you are playing and you don't yet want to win with it. Or because you've only won with 3 to 5 runes and you think the character you are playing could go for more successfully, and you want to see the extended content. Otherwise, go for the win! (Sar is right that some characters can do Slime before Zot comfortably, though; but if you don't feel comfortable with that, go to Zot and use absolutely everything in your power to get the orb.)

[WalkerBoh]

If you're considering doing extended, you can already do Zot. If you are really looking to beef up your character, I'd recommend doing Elf, Crypt, Slime, and Forest (in that order). Don't go into extended to prepare for Zot unless your char is built so that you can trivialize some aspect of it (like Lugonu worshipper should do Abyss, Kiku worshipper should consider Tomb, a Zin guy with the right resists could consider a branch or two of Hell).

If you've already done everything not named Tomb, Hell, or Pan, then there is a 99% chance you are strong enough to do Zot and don't need anything else.

[cerebovssquire]

To give a simple answer: Yes.

Less simple answer: No matter how strong you are, Zot 5 should command your respect; also, in some rare cases the ascension can be rough if you are really unlucky. Nonetheless, doing extended in order to "prepare" for Zot is a poor way to approach winning the game. You could grind Abyss for a really long time, for instance, as Abyss 1–3 is generally easier than Zot 5 provided you can prepare yourself in certain ways. But I don't think that is wise, ultimately; the longer you play the game, the more you open yourself up to a streak of bad luck that you don't respond to properly, which causes the death of your character or (less dramatically) some kind of serious setback that leaves you worse than you started. Go for 15 runes because you are still enjoying the character you are playing and you don't yet want to win with it. Or because you've only won with 3 to 5 runes and you think the character you are playing could go for more successfully, and you want to see the extended content. Otherwise, go for the win! (Sar is right that some characters can do Slime before Zot comfortably, though; but if you don't feel comfortable with that, go to Zot and use absolutely everything in your power to get the orb.)

You can't really profitably scum Abyss. There is a ton of stat draining, mutating and item destruction. The mutating and item destruction is common enough to bypass conservation/rMut frequently during a time long enough to actually get a benefit from scumming Abyss.
I also find that Abyss is a lot harder now that the zymes exist and prevent quick regeneration (and I hate starcursed masses), but that isn't much of a danger to a character capable of doing Zot.

[evilmike]

Simple question:
Is playing extended in order to be more powerful when going for the Orb a stupid idea ?

In my opinion, yes.

Zot:5 can be as hard, or harder than anything in the extended endgame, and it helps to be prepared. But risking your neck in pan or hell (or even worse, tomb) probably won't end well. Slime is often doable though, as others have commented, and has nice loot. You could also clear zot:1-4, which a lot of people skip (for good reason...) but has a ton of xp.

Generally speaking, the reason you do the extended endgame is for a higher score, and therefore a "better" win. More runes means more points.

[cerebovssquire]

(Mummies with dispel undead and most Kiku characters have a very easy time with tomb if they can deal with the sphinxes. This is just an exception to the rule though, like the Slime thing mentioned earlier.)

[Sar]

I find that most characters that have good melee, a source of Haste, rCorr, decent defences and rC can get slimy rune pretty easily. This is not that big of a list for a character desiring to get third rune.

[pickled_heretic]

Specifically, characters who worship lugonu are at almost 0 risk for spending infinite time in the abyss and the abyssal rune is not hard for them to get.