TOPIC: Astral runs in 2015?

valetutto wrote: I always assumed folks put thought into the transmutes they choose to transmute. There have been a lot that In My Opinion weren't worth transmuting into.

I think the argument about "transmuter's remorse" is stronger for the earlier Relics (+3 Mithral Bracers, Ring of Improved Evasion, maybe Girdle of Frost Giant Strength) than for the most recent ones (including the +3 Rod of Niltongue).

I don't normally like to weigh in on power creep mostly because I think some power creep is good and too much is bad. IMO the overall power level TD started at was "too low" because they didn't leave themselves enough design space to create enough variety with tokens. Not conceptually but in the crunch. There just isn't much variation using whole numbers between 0 and 1. Had they made everything with at least 0-3 then you could have general levels for common, uncommons, rare and URs.

Oh there were plenty of ways to create variety with the tokens without excessive power creep. But it required time and effort to figure out.

Power creep was the "easy way." Plenty of psychology experiments have shown that most people have a tendency to take the "easy route" (requiring less cognitive load) when faced with the choice. Even nature works that way, with natural forces taking the path of least resistance.

I don't disagree but if the system was built with more inital tolerance the concept of power creep wouldn't even have to exist by-in-large becuase everything would be balanced on a 0-5 scale which allowed for plenty of growth as well as creative thinking when the easy stuff pans out.

I'm not saying we can't work with our limited system. I'm just saying i think it could have been better.

Sorry, I can't trade the niltongues for toothpicks. The cat wants them.

I think she wants to pin her mice victims to the wall with them.

I would overrule the cat, but only for a charm of avarice.

After all, I am avaricious.

What does an astral run entail?

Josh Rayden wrote: What does an astral run entail?

The original concept was that it was a Dungeon on a special Astral plane where only Relics, Artifacts, Legendaries, and Eldritch tokens worked.

The concept was then modified to include special "astral" tokens, which were a set of white-backed tokens pulled from the Rares, Uncommons, and Commons from that token set. The selection of these astral tokens was essentially a set of the best tokens from that year, plus a few utilitarian tokens.

I prefer the original concept of just Relics and above, because once you include the best Rares/Uncommons/Commons from each year, you don't even need the higher level tokens. The original concept really added value to the Relics and higher tokens people were getting.