Forum:Playing for 15 years . . . still no ascension

< Forum:Watercooler

While being blown away by some of the high scores on alt.org I noticed that ascensions appear to happen pretty frequently. I realize there are some exceptionally skilled players who can manage a successful run with nearly any character. I was wondering what's the longest anyone's played before achieving a victorious run.

I ran a Yahoo search in 2003 for a free rpg and have been playing nethack ever since. I made it past the quest one time as a monk. One of my characters battled his way down to the last level of Gehennom before being killed by a master mind-flayer. I didn't discover much about surviving . . . I was completely clueless about everything from advancing skills to BUC testing at altars until I found this wiki and it blew my mind :)

I play on NAO only (so I can't cheat.) It's been 13 years and counting and still no success.

I've had some excellent runs but invariably I blow it. Most recently I was completely prepared to take down the Wizard as a level 23 Valkyrie and choked on a wraith corpse (I deserved that one - ) I'm on my way down to Lord Surtur right now with the +7 Excalibur, reflection, boots of speed and a -18 AC, I feel pretty confident this time. Buried (talk) 13:22, 5 May 2016 (UTC)

On reddit recently, one player said he has yet to ascend after playing for 20 years. Funcrunch (talk) 16:21, 5 May 2016 (UTC)