Should scrolls of remove curse go away?

[Pereza0]

I think this is part of how much the identification minigame has been stripped down.

But yeah, what was the last time an item being cursed was any hassle to you, and you didn't immediately take it off upon reading a scroll of remove curse? (and if you were running low on those you could just use identify)
I think items with drawbacks like *Slow, *Corrode, *Drain and that sort are interesting. But curses? I don't feel they add anything at this point.

Some alternatives I would consider :

* Remove scroll of remove curse and curses. Don't replace them. Ashenzari equipment is now merely "bound". Ashenzari still allows you to "remove" curses in other way.
* Remove scroll of remove curse. Remove curses as they currently exist. Now cursed weapons do this - they temporarily decrease max HP if removed immediately, but the effect can be avoided or diminished by getting some kills with it. This could be just another negative effect like *Drain


Ashenzari could get compensation by being able to neutralize some of the negative effects bound equipment might have.

[Aean]

I'll toss another alternative into the mix:

Move negative qualities like *Slow, *Corrode, *Drain, etc. from "item properties" to "curse effects." You could even pair these effects with beneficial ones, like Ponderous gear already does.

Say, you find a +12 Ponderous plate; wear it as-is, or burn a scroll on it - maybe it'll turn into a +0 plate (or worse), or maybe it'll be +5...but it won't be ponderous anymore. Or maybe you get a curse that gives you *Slow, but +X strength (or whatever). Now you can either use your item that could slow you, but adds some benefit, or you could remove the curse, and lose both the good and bad. Not all of them would have to be paired - you could just find that storm dragon armor with *corrode - but it'd add some complexity, especially to the usual "Find it, put it on, never take it off" items.

Basically it'd be more like with mutations and mutation potions. Some you are willing to put up with because of the benefits provided (either by that mutation, or another mutation that you don't want to risk losing); some you want to remove immediately, whatever the cost.

[Pereza0]

I guess the problem with this is that it removes the risk/reward element for non-artifact weapons. But honestly, that risk reward element barely exists right now anyway. Either bring it back with a rework to curses, or remove it outright

[Airwolf]

Yeah, I just ran into my first wight pack since the ID change in trunk. In case folks don't know, wights' weapons have pretty good base types, a high chance of good enchantment and egos (particularly freezing), but a high chance (1 in 3, I think) of being cursed. This made weilding their weapons have an interesting risk- benefit trade-off, but not so much now that they're fully IDed.

[duvessa]

The problem with leaving monster equipment unidentified is that monster equipment can be "soft-IDed". You can figure out what ego of armour that orc warrior is wearing (if any) by probing at it with fire/cold/poison/negative attacks and seeing which ones it resists. If a trivial monster has an "enchanted dagger", you can figure out whether it's negatively or positively enchanted by letting it hit you a few times and inspecting the resulting damage. This is tedious to do, so it should not be possible.

You still experience the wight dilemma every time you find a glowing weapon on the ground. For whatever it's worth, removing curses and removing equipment identification are functionally equivalent (and it doesn't make sense to do one without the other).

[Pereza0]

It would still make sense to identify artefact equipment even with curses remove due to the potential negative characteristics


For regular branded equipment, yeah, it would become meaningless unless you created a new type of curse