TOPIC: Ten-Pack only run provides great experience!

A quick report on Team Yeti’s ten-pack runs is hard – so much happened. If I stick to the format maybe we can just discuss how this worked.

The concept was simple: Get two runs back-to-back. In the first run, you could only equip treasure-enhancing tokens and what you pulled from your ten-pack. In the second run, you could add any treasure you pulled and the second ten-pack. It was suspected that the first run would be on normal, while the second should at least be hardcore.

The party consisted of: Tom and Jenny, Steve and Logan, Rocky and Boonie, and Tim, Jason, Chris and TJ. There was a lot of experience in this group.

The tokens from the first run provided an absolutely terrific challenge to the party. We had one ranged weapon amongst us all! As expected, members gravitated towards classes they were familiar with. We ran Lycan’s combat on normal. The puzzles were beaten, as we’d seen them all the day before (though we hadn’t solved them yet). The combats were tricky, especially the Will-o-Wisp, since we only had Rocky’s blunder weapon. We failed that room when time ran out.

The fascinating thing was the challenge presented in the final battle. With little armor and plain weapons, bardsong and bless became critical to our success. We found uses for first level spells, and even employed firebirds to overcome the Big Stick.

Overall, the run presented a completely different experience. I recommend at least one ‘ten-pack’ run for everybody.

The treasure pulls provided our first real challenge for the format. Good ol’ Tom pulls a Ring of Heroism out of the box…. Geez, some guys….

So the debate began – do we stick to the format or exclude treasure pulls? Our first experience argued for going with as little equipment as possible and reducing the difficulty level. Our premise said to include the treasure and increase to hardcore. The latter is what we chose to do. So Tom led us into Golembane as a 5th level druid with a small handful of equipment…

Hardcore with two ten-packs and treasure proved to be less of a challenge to me. It could be that we had already been mentally prepared by our earlier run, or that we had solved all the puzzles. However, it was still more challenging than nightmare synergy run with purple tokens dripping of us.

Overall, my feelings are that this format is valid, at least for only one ten-pack by itself. It gets you more involved in the dungeon and less distracted remembering all your equipment bonuses. Everyone should try it once.

If you choose to do a set back-to-back, talk about the impact treasure will have on your party’s strength and adjust the difficulty level accordingly. Of course, who expects to have Rings of heroism in the chests next year?

This sounds awesome! I've been considering a "red run" for a while - Nightmare with no one using anything better than a rare (treasure enhancers allowed).

Kudos on being creative and having fun!

I feel the point of a sealed pack run is to have fun and to use equipment that you would normally not use. We did a back-to-back sealed run with treasure taken from the first run added to the second. I really do not see any problem with this as it is your "reward" for winning/finishing the first dungeon. As for difficulty level you should choose whatever you feel comfortably running. We did normal both runs because we just wanted to relax and enjoy the moment.

If you do decide to run back-to-back sealed pack runs I do suggest you have a sufficient break in between. Our group did and we went to Champions to refuel before the second run.

Rafiq

As TJ said, it was a blast! My normal team has decided to do that for their runs next year.

I definitely would like to do another one (both runs) next year. I just don't want to do one as late as our second with Rafiq. I think everyone was feeling it physically and I know most of us (Adeya) were feeling it mentally. Or I least I hope we are not all that loopy all the time.

Yes, Darq, return with us next year! Who else's gonna bring the potato salad?

Jedi - I agree; scheduling the two runs is important. We did a 9 am, followed by a 12:30. Plenty of time between the two to tend to business.

Raf: Of course that was our objective as well, and we accomplished it. In addition, we felt it important to study the format for the future. Our debate over treasure tokens was important to us, and we arrived at a decision that worked for us. The majority also feel that the point may be moot - there won't be a RoH in the buckets next year...

Our group chose hardcore as we wanted the challenge. Your group chose normal to enjoy the moment. Cool. Everyone got what they wanted.

The only issue still in debate is whether to run ten-pack first, without pre-knowledge, for maximum challenge. Or is it? Isn't that what the new players are doing already?

I agree with Jedi on the timing of that last run. That was definitely crazy to do the 2nd run so late. Granted, still had a blast, but next year, perhaps we should time the runs for earlier in the day.

The watering down of nightmare makes this method the only way we can get back that fear of death.

EN 429 wrote: The watering down of nightmare makes this method the only way we can get back that fear of death.

You can always limit yourself of what tokens you take into a dungeon if you want the fear of death. Rare, Uncommon or common only runs should accomplish a fear of death on nightmare for you.

I had planned on doing two normal runs to get my first experience with True Dungeon. When the opportunity (via these forums) came up to do a couple of sealed pack runs, I returned my other two tickets and jumped at this opportunity (even though I'd bought a bunch of red tokens in prep for GenCon.)

Usually, by doing two runs, you get to play 2 games. Doing sealed pack, it turned to 4.

1) Preparation for Run 1 -
This becomes a whole part of the experience. I didn't know anyone, so this was my opportunity to get to know the team I was with. The fact we were trying to find ways to arm our group most efficiently between what we pulled made it an enjoyable experience. This is an extra 20-30 minutes of entertainment I don't think you get when you come in with your gear pre-chosen.

2) Run 1 -
As stated in the original post, the first run is much harder. We were lucky enough to have a handful of blunder weapons and I was grouped with some amazing sliders (who evidently slid even better than normal) so we got through the fights with no problems, but it was a fun run, and I'd assume more challenging than if we were geared up.

3) Reloading
Collecting treasure and reequipping the party was a lot of fun as well. When drawing our tokens, it wasn't simply a matter of looking for the best or most valuable tokens. The mundane stuff was better chances to survive our upcoming adventure. We had dinner between runs, comparing pulls to see who we could set up with better equipment. One of our members took the party gold from the pulls to play plinko to get even more gear for the pool. Going into round 2 we were a much stronger, much improved group.

4) We went into the second run with much better gear. We still went normal (although we debated hardcore). However, I actually don't think the combats went much easier than the first.

So I too highly recommend this. I think the overall experience is enhanced since it's not just about the time in the dungeon. If I'm given the opportunity to do it again (especially with the group I got to play with last year) I would do it again in a second. I plan to expand out to 2 sealed pack runs on normal, 2 hardcore runs with regular gear, and a true grind. I think what order to do things in is the big question.

Robert - agree with your points, especially the last one - what order to do the runs? If I were a bettin' man, I'd say Team Yeti will ten-pack it first next year. Then a coupla nightmare to exercise our tokens, pretty much just like you listed.