Berder wrote:Translation: let's remove yet another obstacle to mindlessly tabbing.
Actually, spiny and the shock serpent aura are sometimes significant damage, particularly if you have low-moderate AC. There's nothing dumb about switching to different attack types on different enemies. That's half the game. You're upset about having to use 3 brain cells on crawl and want to use only 2?
The issue is not whether one needs to think more, but whether there is any meaningful choice in the matter. If there is only one correct choice, then that choice should be made as painless as possible. If that choice is Tab, then Tab is best.
How does one use one's brain if one switches to a bow to kill a porcupine (if that is the correct choice)? Do you specifically train bows in case you meet a porcupine? This argument would be as if one were arguing that one should remove Tab because it removes the decision of whether to move left or right to attack a monster who is to one's left or right respectively. Yes, one would needs to think more, but such brain activity is mostly useless, because there's only one correct choice.
Finally, I don't know why tabbing is often paired with "mindless". Tabbing is just an interface convenience. It is no more mindless than quaffing a potion or casting a spell. If people choose to do something mindlessly, that's on them.