Should i change to version 0.9? Mainly playing wizards

[speciesxx]

Hey all,

i know 0.9 aint fully stable yet (According to the website) but still i wonder if i should change from 0.8 to 0.9? Mainly i am playing wizards, and i got 1x 3 rune win, no other wins so far. Working on a 3+ rune win atm, but keep dying due stupid things hehe.

I read nice things about 0.9, but also that casters got hit by the nerfbat?
Is there somewhere a changelog of some kind? Think there is but i must have overlooked it :S.

Cheers and thanks for the advice .

[slowcar]

you can read the changelog here:
http://crawl.develz.org/trunk/changes.txt
for exact changes you'll have to check the commits though.

i would suggest to play 0.9, and if only due to the new skill system.
you are no longer required to victory dance, and since i learned the difference between automatic and manual mode i love it a lot.

[speciesxx]

Ok thanks. Biggest change is the skill system i guess? And maybe some more hitpoints for us casters .

Edit: if i put on manual mode, will i train fighting?

[slowcar]

all skills are automatically trained (if used) until they reach rank 1.
in manual mode the new skill is disabled. you can enable or focus it (focussing puts a bigger part of overall xp in it).
it is very easy to get and train fighting, but it gives a lot less HP now (on the other hand you have more starting hp).

what i do, for example, is putting a focus on spellcasting and the weapon skill, disabling the rest. when the weapon is at a good delay i enable other skills to get new spells from the start book castable. if you don't melee you might want to focus spellcasting, enable your main casting skills and disable all else etc.

the new system allows you to train shields without wearing one (you need it only until you get rank 1), same with armour or weapons.
you can, for example, continue with your shortsword while you are building staffs&evocations in the background and switch to an elemental staff when they reach an usable level.

[speciesxx]

Cool thanks for the help

[speciesxx]

Maybe i'm just lucky, but it seems i find way more artifacts with this 0.9 :d.
Got a buckler, a robe and the singing sword in 1 game now . With a HE who wanted to focus in long swords, nice !