Bring back player ghosts

[fearitself]

The first couple of games with the ghosts in the vaults were cool but I really don’t prefer it. Previously I’d fight most ghosts but occasionally find ways around. Now, they may as well mot exist. I might remember to come back if there is an item worth it but only when I’m sure to win.

Ghosts with draining breath = bad though.

This might be in the wrong section so feel free to move it.

[VeryAngryFelid]

I disagree with OP. Please leave ghosts optional behind runed doors as they are in 0.22, it is one of the best changes ever.

fearitself
If you are playing for fun, you can play with "open the ghost vault as soon as you see it" conduct. It will be even more challenging than in 0.21 because you will have the ghost just 1-2 tiles away from you and the ghost can use stairs.

[fearitself]

From the point of view of streakers or those who want less randomness to control the game, I get it. If nobody agees that the games are more exciting then keep them in vaults. Makes the post was just to get the conversation started since I may not be alone.

[VeryAngryFelid]

This is not first conversation about ghosts and as previous threads have shown there are several groups of players. You are not alone and I am not alone either. I think devs don't want to add a new option to control ghost appearance and current solution is quite good compromise.

[Berder]

As a streaker, I find that the early game is now too easy with the removal of ghosts. Ghosts provided your daily recommended dose of "fleeing in terror." How can streakers get respect when the early game is so boring and routine? Please free the ghosts from captivity. Oh and let's not make them all speed 10 either, bring back the terrifying speed 15 spriggan enchanter ghosts.

(and also they shouldn't follow you up stairs, give the player a break)

[Shard1697]

Please don't, ghosts are stairdance city.

[RoGGa]

Here are tournament stats:
v0.21 : http://dobrazupa.org/tournament/0.21/killers.html
Player Ghosts were in 3rd position with 4.26% of kills

v0.22: http://dobrazupa.org/tournament/0.22/killers.html
Player Ghost are in 35th position with a mere 0.55% of kills

One incentive to kill ghosts could be to liberate them during the Orb Ascension run.
Another incentive would be for them to count as player points (and not just Clan points).

[duvessa]

You're already incentivized to kill ghosts once you can safely do so, they're worth XP and the vaults even have loot for some reason.

[ion_frigate]

Personally, I think that randomly replacing some Pan lords with old-style XL25+ player ghosts during the Orb Run might be fun. It's thematic, and basically a lateral move in terms of difficulty. I suppose there's still the issue that people would check bones files, but I'd think that would be less pressing since your goal is now to run away from the thing, not defeat it. The inability to use stairs is mostly a non-issue since stairdancing during the Orb Run is suicidal and pointless.

Since there probably aren't enough high-level ghosts to allow for generating 10+ of them per run, ghosts could be recycled a few times.

[duvessa]

What would that accomplish, though?

It's much easier to make interesting monsters with the Pan lord code than it is to make interesting monsters based off player characters. With Pan lords, you have freedom to choose appropriate HP, AC, EV, spells, brands, etc. etc. instead of being constrained by something a random player did. Making monsters worse in exchange for getting player "interactivity" is not a good trade.

[ion_frigate]

I think the loss is more minor than you think, but a way to do both would be to make a "ghost bank": for each Pan lord that comes somewhat close to matching a ghost (similar stats, matches a couple spells, etc), just rebrand it a ghost, or maybe as a Pan-twisted version of the player, without changing its stats. Voila, you've preserved your Pan lord generation while still getting a little player interactivity.