TOPIC: Why did you do more than 5 runs?

All of my extra runs except 1 were on Thursday before the runs I did with my group. So if I spoiled anything it would have been with my group. If they felt I spoiled anything they would let me know.

The one other run I got to run with some real veterans of TD and in each room there was a check to see who had already solved or knew the puzzle before it was tackled.

I actually use the forum runs to scout to see what difficult would be appropriate for my group. Just FYI.

One of my runs was with Kirk and MasterEd as a two and a half man Nightmare run. I was really just along for the ride as I didn't cast a single heal until the 6th room. It was decided that I should rarely slide so we could keep combat moving quickly.

Honestly I do it because I love TD. I did 2 nightmare runs with Silver Bulettes and then 2 runs with a friend whom I always do one of each with; then two random ones just because.

I like meeting other people who enjoy TD and love to help the new players. I always hand out weapons and armor and useful items to those on my runs, answer questions and try to make sure they all have a good time.

This year I met a fantastic bard and wizard on one run and on another I wound up using a lot of healing potions to keep the two wizards alive after the cleric made it clear they would only heal "front line fighters". I even met a family that had 3 generations on the run and we had a really great time.

Lots of reasons already mentioned.

I have friends that want to run with me each year, but their schedules are different, so I end doing multiple runs, just so I can run with them once. Sometimes my son will come down on Saturday and want to do a run with me. Generally, my friends will do normal runs, but I want maximum XP,so then I end up doing at least a couple of nightmare runs to cover that base.

But in general, I just love TD. Different groups, different difficulty levels and different days create a unique experience each time. A run on Saturday can be quite different from a run on Thursday as TD will adjust rooms based on whether they were too difficult or too easy. I try to do 2 each of the different run types and then when I see a solo ticket come available that fills a hole in my schedule and I can't resist and grab it. So I ended up with 10 runs this year.

Treasure is a factor, but only a minor factor as I rarely pull anything of significant value and 4 runs is usually enough to get a full set of monster trophies.

To do NM on each side and at a pair of sealed runs. Also a little greedy for treasure.

Ryan Short wrote: I'd hate to be the one that says this because I know that pretty much no one will want to hear it, but I think this is a primary contributor to the issues we have been talking so much about concerning newbies having their experience tarnished by veteran players.

I understand the need/want to get a bunch of treasure and also to use all the cool tokens we've collected because I enjoy doing the same (I did 6 runs this year including true grind). By dominating all of the time slots with experienced groups we are drastically cutting down on the slots that are available to newer players or just experienced players that don't have a large set group to run with regularly.

This forces experienced players to plan their runs within the limited confines left to them after the "elite" groups go through and plan their 8,10,12 or however many runs they do. I was able to go through 2 runs this year with a pre-planned group (true grind I don't know is a huge concern for "newbies") so that left 3 runs that were just pick up groups for myself and my girlfriend, who are pretty well equipped for at least hardcore.

I feel we did a good job trying to preserve the experience for new players on those runs (and I do love equipping new players and trying to get them excited about coming back for TD) but during combat I felt like I was walking on eggshells. I'd sit out every other round or so just to give them a chance to slide and do some damage, and my goal when I did slide (most of the time) was to bump their sliders into a number they could hit on.

As much fun as that is though I still feel like I'm missing out on some of the fun. I don't get to do runs on nightmare anymore because I don't have the static group that can manage it, I have to prowl the forums just trying to get a group that has 2 spaces open with the classes we like to play for hardcore. We miss out on the rare completion tokens during years we can't find those groups and it gets frustrating.

I love True Dungeon, and I love playing with new players but I can't help think that part of the issue is that the players that are doing the runs I'd like to be a part of are taking a dozen time slots to fill out with people they already know, and getting into that "next tier" of True Dungeon player is like someone in the lower class trying to become someone in the upper class. Not impossible, but pretty darn difficult.

I personally am a big proponent of bringing back time slots with pre-set difficulties. When we had that I could run the difficulties I wanted to run even though I didn't have 8 other friends that I knew could do it. If a new player joins that time slot and no one wants to run on normal I can't help but think that they set themselves up for that failure as opposed to how it is now that better geared players have to "tone it done for the good of True Dungeon." (Which I don't inherently mind)

This has turned into a bit of a ramble/rant but hopefully my point has come across. I like doing every dungeon once, and I feel that is fair across the board for everyone. Taking up a dozen slots seems selfish and hypocritical, because a lot of those players (you all know who you are) are now preaching that we need to be more understanding and helpful to the newer TD players. Which is fine from atop your perch of 6,8,10,12 or whatever pre-planned nightmare runs where you get 100's of treasure pulls and handfuls of completion tokens. But not so much for the greater majority of players caught in the middle of this debate that have trouble getting into a group that can manage hardcore.

I'm looking forward to discussion on this, and hoping I'm not labeled a leper for such talk against the "upper class" of TD

I disagree - if repeating the same dungeon is your idea of fun, go for it so long as you're not ruining anyone else's fun. What I do think we need to get away from are these "challenge" runs where one or a handful of people buy out an entire run and "ghost" the other characters. If a real person is using a ticket, awesome. If one person is buying out 9 additional tickets for the challenge and/or the treasure - I think that's a little wrong. Those are spots that could have gone to other people.

Next year I'm strongly considering just doing the 4 variations of the dungeons and True Grind. Last year I did 9 runs, this year I did 8 + 3 grinds. By Saturday I was exhausted.

I did 5 Runs + 1 Grind.

I do multiple runs because we Yeti like to go through a second or more time to ensure we killed everything the first time and they all stayed dead.

Ro-gan wrote: I did 5 Runs + 1 Grind.

I do multiple runs because we Yeti like to go through a second or more time to ensure we killed everything the first time and they all stayed dead.

^^^^THIS.

joshua baessler wrote: I disagree - if repeating the same dungeon is your idea of fun, go for it so long as you're not ruining anyone else's fun. What I do think we need to get away from are these "challenge" runs where one or a handful of people buy out an entire run and "ghost" the other characters. If a real person is using a ticket, awesome. If one person is buying out 9 additional tickets for the challenge and/or the treasure - I think that's a little wrong. Those are spots that could have gone to other people.

And I disagree with this. If you want to buy all 10 tickets and die in the first room it is your prerogative. It doesn't affect how I play. Yes tickets sold out faster than ever but from looking at the forums it seems because more people our buying out entire runs or as many as they can so they can have better control of the run.

Everytime someone was looking for tickets on the forums there were people that had tickets available.

I buy 4 complete runs to have that control. I get to decide who I have on my runs. Now that might be 9 of my friends or 3 new people I met at Gen Con that wants to try TD (like this year). Still I get to know them to know if I want to play with them or not. I would rather play with 4 I feel comfortable and ghost the other 5 than get into a bad full party because one guy is an ass (that guy usually is me btw). And if I get into a party from the forums that someone doesn't like me being the ass that I am I wouldn't be back in their party next year because they won't invite me.

I always buy full runs. Its not for the treasure because I was doing it before we got any. I do it because I like more space and I like control over who I run with.

I think supply is currently meeting demand. Yes tickets sold out quick this year but there were tons of runs that went through with open slots that could have been filled and I'm not talking open by choice.

The waitlist folks seemed to be doing their jobs but it just seemed like there wasn't any wait list, meaning supply was good.


I did more than 5 runs because I have a fair number of friends and we can't all be in the same run so it gets broken up. Also because the best laid plans occasionally fail. I went on an extra grind run because I couldn't organize my side of it in time. Most years I do exactly 5 and that's it.

jedibcg wrote:

joshua baessler wrote: I disagree - if repeating the same dungeon is your idea of fun, go for it so long as you're not ruining anyone else's fun. What I do think we need to get away from are these "challenge" runs where one or a handful of people buy out an entire run and "ghost" the other characters. If a real person is using a ticket, awesome. If one person is buying out 9 additional tickets for the challenge and/or the treasure - I think that's a little wrong. Those are spots that could have gone to other people.

And I disagree with this. If you want to buy all 10 tickets and die in the first room it is your prerogative. It doesn't affect how I play. Yes tickets sold out faster than ever but from looking at the forums it seems because more people our buying out entire runs or as many as they can so they can have better control of the run.

Everytime someone was looking for tickets on the forums there were people that had tickets available.

I buy 4 complete runs to have that control. I get to decide who I have on my runs. Now that might be 9 of my friends or 3 new people I met at Gen Con that wants to try TD (like this year). Still I get to know them to know if I want to play with them or not. I would rather play with 4 I feel comfortable and ghost the other 5 than get into a bad full party because one guy is an ass (that guy usually is me btw). And if I get into a party from the forums that someone doesn't like me being the ass that I am I wouldn't be back in their party next year because they won't invite me.

I mentioned it in another thread but I forgot to include it here - I'm on the fence with ghosting/not-ghosting. I can see the appeal of soloing a dungeon (or duo, trio, half, etc) for the achievement - it's our Everest, we do it because it was there. On the other hand, I hate to see anyone miss out on getting to play (I didn't realize that some runs still went not completely full regardless, thanks valetutto). I have nothing at all against buying out a whole run to make sure you have control over who is or is not part of your group.

I just don't like to see a situation where people get turned away when that spot could have had a person. On the other hand, at this point most of the gamer population understands how quickly TD sells out when tickets go-live, so I guess it's really on them to be more prepared.

Opinion withdrawn.

When Shelly worked the wait list, there were people waiting for hours because there were zero no-shows. One family waited 12 hrs to try to get three openings, and they finally ran a group of eleven. But I don't have insight into other time periods.

I had scheduled 3 grinds and 3 story runs (one was green with envy).

Did:
2 Underdark combat (waitlisted pug and envy)
1 Underdark puzzle scheduled
2 Sable puzzle (waitlisted pugs)
1 Sable combat Scheduled
3 grinds (all scheduled)

Total 9 runs

2 of the pugs i was on ended up being other volunteers and their kids/family's. I appreciated being welcomed into the run even on a non lethal run. I was glad to see the story in a relaxed setting.