duvessa wrote:The way runes are set up is kind of bad, because your character generally gets stronger in the process of getting a rune. This means that if all the runes are equally difficult to get, the first rune you get will be the hardest and the remaining ones will be boring.
Now replace the word "rune" with "branch".
Both problems are fixed by having the next rune or branch be significantly hard enough that it's still challenging even after all the experience you acquired. The rune lock forces you to clear the last floor of branches, rather than only the first few floors.
Removing the rune lock would give you the option of skipping rune vaults (or the whole floor), which would reduce the risk of dying trying to get the rune, but raise the risk in the next branch, due to less experience and loot. Skipping vaults:5 would happen fairly often but I think most people would probably still want to clear lair branches for loot/exp. Some characters would still clear vaults:5, and some may skip lair runes as well. This is from a 'winrate' perspective, of people trying to win; some people would of course skip all runes just as an intentional conduct as well.