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)

While somewhat reluctant to admit it, I have been playing since the days it was just 'Hack' and have yet to ascend. I have won several other roguelikes, but not NetHack or any of its variants. It probably does not help that I have been sadomasochistically playing SLASH'EM much more than NetHack the past 10 years (I just like all of the added levels, techniques, etc.). That said, I am rather close to ascending 3 characters in SLASH'EM (Archaeologist, Knight and Rogue) but am taking my time. Also, I am darn close to ascending a Valkyrie in 3.6.0 and a Priest on my phone (3.4.3).

My problem with not ascending is mostly attributed to my bad habit of playing NetHack like it is a live action game and not the chess match turn-based game that it really is. I have been able to be more thoughtful in my games lately however. I have probably had 100+ ascendable characters over my lifetime, but always seem to goof it up somehow . . .

--User (talk) 20:54, 5 May 2016 (UTC)

I have never ascended on NAO. I did ascend a couple of times 25 years ago playing an earlier version on my non-networked home PC - so the only Bones I ever found were my own, for example - and the characters who ascended were a barbarian and a samurai. Since discovering NAO I have played exclusively Tourists, which start with significant fighting and defence disadvantages but do start with tripe (to train the pet for shoplifting) and 4 scrolls of magic mapping and a lock-picking tool. My reasons for repeated failure are numerous, ranging from overconfidence (leading to YASDs) to ridiculously poor luck (a game a few days ago ended when a relatively puny monster on a lower Mines level walked over a polymorph trap and became a mastodon, one of the rarest but also strongest monsters in the game). It would appear that ascending a Tourist is very, very hard ... but that's why I keep playing as a Tourist. I think when I do achieve an ascension with my Tourist it will be that much more satisfying. Darcyj (talk) 23:49, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

And may I just add, there is no defence at all, no matter how carefully and methodically one plays, against a booby-trapped door that kills you in one blow. RNG strikes again. Darcyj (talk) 08:23, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

I first played Hack on an old Unix TRS-80 back in 1986. I ascended my first character on 3.4.3 (on a local machine, not NAO) about a year ago. TWO THINGS factored into that ascension immensely: I stopped playing NetHack like it was Duke Nuke'Em and this wiki. Mannc (talk) 21:20, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

I first played Rogue in 1981 at Purdue. I've played several roguelike games since. I first played NetHack on an Amiga in 1988. My first ascension was last year, 2015, on NAO. That was 27 years of NetHack for my first ascension. I had only retrieved the Amulet of Yendor once before in all of those years and didn't make it out that time. I've not ascended a second time yet. --Mcowper (talk) 15:18, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for this post. I hit the forum to ask the same question and saw this. On and off for a couple of years and nowhere close. Usually level 10 and die. Almost every time I can look at my inventory or recent strategy and see my mistakes. There was almost always a way to stay alive. Oh, I almost ascended once. Ran through in wizard mode and sacrificed to the wrong altar at the very end. Chose not to die 50 something times after wishing for everything I wanted. I may be at this for a while.