Hurkyl wrote:and into wrote:Now, I did use desperate haste intelligently (perhaps more tactfully than a new player could) but it seemed clear to me nonetheless that this feature overwhelms other tactics and items/consumables you would have to use.
Would your consumables have gotten you out of those same jams? With the MiFi, how sure are that DH is the issue, and not just the fact Minotaurs are rather forgiving?
MiFi is definitely forgiving, but my intention with that game was to see if desperate haste could functionally overwhelm other consumable use, even with bad tactics, on a good starting combo. Felt a bit like having Trog berserk on top of a complete non-Be starting set, you just couldn't use the haste too frequently of course. Still, that was enough. I didn't bother identifying (almost all) of my consumables up until D12. Did not have god abilities or exceptional items. I believe I had scimitar, shield, chain armor, gloves, boots, +1 MR cloak from Yiuf (unenchanted if not otherwise specified). I had lots of scrolls and potions, more than average, but I didn't use any except !might. When I quit !resistance was also IDed, not sure if I saw an enemy use it (do enemies drink !resist?), or if I mis-typed when trying to quaff the might pot at some point.
Is it true that the change to haste was the only change in the branch; in particular, the change has not been paired with making the early game less forgiving?
No idea. It is possible, but it did seem normal — early orc packs with wizards and priests, adders, some centaurs, iirc. I did not have crazy bad luck with enemies (early spriggan meph-ghost or something) but it was not unusually easy either. That's just my perception though, could be wrong.