Lost my passion for elves

[SchwaWarrior]

This might be a weird thread, but...

In the past I have always played High Elf Conjurer exclusively. Then I've gotten two wins as that. So I started Tengu Monk, eventually grew to like it and got one win as that, then finally moved on to Demonspawns, which I had promised myself I'd try in depth once I've "become a true skilled player" and I think a 10-rune win would qualify me as that. My XL 27 DsWz got six runes, had Ice Storm castable in Dragon Armor, and died 2/3 of the way through his second Ziggaurat that game, not to mention having cleared out an entire Pan floor full of angels (as a Demonspawn!). So, brilliant success in my opinion, even if he did die.

My problem is that I've been trying to get back into High Elves in order to secure my first 15 rune win, as I had sought to do, but... maybe the other races spoiled me or something, because I am simply NOT capable of playing a High Elf anymore, as a Conjurer or any other class. I've tried Gladiators, Archers, Skalds, some of the Elementalists, and even a bunch of games as a Wanderer with things like +2+2 Falchions to start out. I die before Lair every game. I just sorta meander through and half-ass it and give in when the first dangerous thing shows up instead of use tactics to avoid it or beat it. My desire to play is not there anymore. I just died to a Giant Ant today even though I had just bought a Wand of Disintegration that would have easily beat it. There was nothing preventing me from using it-- there was just a disconnect in my head, like I'm no longer playing the game anymore, I'm just hitting keyboard buttons mechanically.

And see, I want to go on to Demonspawn again because it was so fun for me... but, laugh at me if you must, I'm hesitant to give up High Elves because they are my roots, and I thought up an entire personality and backstory and whatnot for my elf sorceress of Jiyva and Ashenzari, and I feel like I'm committed to staying with her until she gets her 15-rune win at long last. But it feels like a chore to play her now. I'm really torn.

I guess this thread is me asking for input and what people here think I ought to do. Is my dilemma just silly or does someone here understand what I'm feeling? Ahh, maybe this thread is just me needing to rant, I don't even know :-/

[cerebovssquire]

i recommend faeries anyway, they're more petite
i had this dream where i discussed this with minmay (he had short black hair)

[wizzzargh]

Is simple!

You play Demonspawn, but you imagine that the character is Half-Demon Half-High Elf, so you can still use your original character idea but add in a melodramatic tale of doomed love between your character's High Elf ancestors and their dark and brooding demonic lover/fetishy fapfiction of Grinder having BDSM kinkfests with your parent/Some ridiculously overlevelled High Elf Healer who looks like Fabio seducing Ereshkigal in a plot ripped from a steamy bodice ripping dimestore novella

[Psieye]

Ok, ok I'll spend this weekend on my HECj project instead of a few other potential projects.

[SchwaWarrior]

i recommend faeries anyway, they're more petite

Yeah but they're too energetic personality-wise and they probably wear me out.

If we're going "preferences" I think I lean more in the direction of Arachne or the Sphinx, as they seem more dominating while possibly being maternal and gentle. Possibly. Like if they weren't trying to kill you in the game.

I know I say Jellies a lot but truthfully I see the Jellies as the children, the Jiyva-following elf as the mother, and Jiyva itself as a sort of Borg-esque hive mind connecting her to all of the slime race, suffusing her with all of their combined primal sense of emotion and feeling without logic or thought to delude it. It's a beautiful thing to me but in a very complex and abstract way.

You play Demonspawn, but you imagine that the character is Half-Demon Half-High Elf, so you can still use your original character idea but add in a melodramatic tale of doomed love between your character's High Elf ancestors and their dark and brooding demonic lover/fetishy fapfiction of Grinder having BDSM kinkfests with your parent/Some ridiculously overlevelled High Elf Healer who looks like Fabio seducing Ereshkigal in a plot ripped from a steamy bodice ripping dimestore novella

I laughed so hard.

I do sorta use some of this though. The Demonspawn character I've been using, "Mitzi", is the Elf girl's natural child, not as one of her spawned jellies but as a normal birth, and since the Elf is a chaotic jelly-creature it caused Mitzi to be a Demonspawn when she was born, basically a mutant. She's actually only five years old as she traverses the dungeons of Zot but has the mental understanding and thought processing of someone nearly ten times her age in human years, while her curiosity and emotional maturity are still only a five-year-old's, part of what makes her so incredibly dangerous-- no one has any idea how she will react to anything.

I wanted to get the 15 rune win with both the Elf and the Demonspawn to complete the story.

Serious: One reason I've started disliking High Elf Conjurers is their starting 7 STR. I've tried Skalds so I could start with more STR but they're so much harder for me to play... I'm too used to being able to cast ranged attacks at the start x_x

[Galefury]

Also Skalds suck. That's why they are hard.

[SchwaWarrior]

Also Skalds suck. That's why they are hard.

It wouldn't be so bad if I had a sliiightly better weapon earlier on. I've run a couple Wanderers with a +2+2 elven Falchion or Short Sword and the Book of War Chants, which performed **marvelously** compared to my typical Skalds using all the same tactics. Though I guess I don't want to sound like this guy so I'll choose not to downright whine about it...

I really do love the Book of War Chants. Next to Minor Magic it's one of my top favorite finds in any Crawl match. But you're right, Skalds suck. :-/ Why not give them a +1+1 weapon to begin with?

[Galefury]

It's okay if some backgrounds are weaker than others, as long as they offer a unique and interesting playstyle for the early game. Which Skalds do.

[Grimm]

You need to change your sig SW.