Rewarding Abyss
The Abyss serves two valuable roles.
- It's a scary bad place to be sent to, a super-shafting. A bit like Paralysis - it won't kill you directly, but still, better avoided!
- An 'alternate' third rune choice that stealthy characters tend to be a bit better at grabbing - noisier characters can have more trouble.
We removed XP & items from the abyss so that it wouldn’t encourage scumming in extended, when the abyss is less risky than other routes available. However, this feels powerfully bad to players. XP and items feel good - going through a long sequence while getting nothing is very unpleasant! The Abyss should be frightening, but it shouldn’t be anti-fun.
This document proposes a plan for preserving the two Abyssal roles above (banishment threat + rune opportunity), while also removing the feel-bad of 'no reward Abyss'.
If we change the Abyss to always be the most risky place you can be at any time, it’s fine for it to have XP and items, since ‘scumming’ there will be more likely to kill you than to help. We can do this by making abyssal entry depth based on XL, not source. For an example, an XL 25 character going in an abyss entry or getting banished would arrive either in abyss 4 or 5. An XL 27 character would arrive in abyss 5.
It’s my belief that abyss 5 is sufficiently scary even for extended characters, but if not, we can adjust it and/or add even deeper floors as needed. We can even track XP beyond XL 27, as with felids, to place extended characters in deeper levels than 3-rune XL 27s. We can also rescale early Abyss to be a bit more survivable.
If Abyss is the scariest place around, it’s no longer a viable third rune choice. To solve this, let’s move the rune out of the Abyss and into a new branch, which I’ll call the Paradox Road.
The Paradox Road is a finite area using the Abyss’s monsters and theme. It’s structured as a largely linear, clearly marked path, with a few enemies along that path and many more beyond it. Sneak along, and you’ll have a much easier time than if you go in firestorms blazing. It’s probably 1-2 floors.
To make this feel more distinctively abyssal, we can apply the 'shifting' terrain effect to some parts of the Paradox Road (walls appearing and disappearing).
There’s no longer any good reason to go to the Abyss, so entries in Depths/Lair will now lead to the Paradox Road, and Abyss kills will always generate exits, never downstairs. (Pan Abyss entrances may remain unchanged - TBD.)
- Restore XP and items to the Abyss.
- Make the Abyss floor that players enter based on their XL (formula TBD), rather than based on what sent the player there.
- Rebalance Abyss levels and add new ones if needed (easier and/or harder).
- Move the Abyssal Rune to a new, finite & small, stealth-encouraged 'Paradox Road' branch.
- Make killing enemies in Abyss always generate exits (never downstairs).
- Halve the XP from the abyssal rune.
- Revert Wretched Stars' temp malmut nerf.
- Convert Abyss's rune vaults to exit vaults.
- Make Lugonu's Enter the Abyss guarantee a brief safe period, perhaps.
- Transdimensional Membrane
- Infinite Corridor
- Vile Intrusion
- Interworlds Fortress
- Glittering Starfield
- Cosmic Nursery
- Starlit Expanse
- The Unshaped