Personally, I wouldn't like to see changed too much in ADOM anymore. Why? Because ADOM is not only the EXE-File and the good manual - it's also the heap of material You find in the internet to help You through the first steps (the famous guides, the forums, the wikis, ...) . And imagine a new ADOM version that is not compatible to the lot of since long existing information anymore.
The most important thing for a new ADOM version is not working on bugs most of the very new players won't ever see. The most important thing is cleaning up the terminology and information given in the Manual and in the game and thus help the new player. The greatest ADOM experts won't help much here, because they are too used to the strange ADOM world, so they don't see some of the hurdles for new players anymore.
Much of the help I'd like to give new players is quite simple:
- Make sure the reader does understand the difference in the manual between "Praying" for help with "_" and "Praying" with Using a holy symbol as god-o-meter. I would say for "_" command "begging" or "pleading" might be a better term. And is there any information about "crowning" somewhere? And that it only might happen if you are begging with very very high piety on an altar?
- In Play, every new class power You can Use with CTRL-X is introduced to the player at the time he is capable to use it. So why not introducing the special abilities that you can use with "m" ? I wonder how many drakelings died because they didn't remember or knewabout the special skill drakeling spit - it should be introduced to the player. Or what about the exhale sulfur - corruption? The information that the player can use drakel spit now should be given to him. Likewise the information CTRL-I to the new born mindcrafter...
- another thing I'd like to see is an "in-game-save-scumming-option" - after you died you will be given another (f.e.) 10 turns of play (if you want to) just to see what might have happened if You had zapped this wand or read that scroll or drank that potion - but the final outcome after these 10 turns won't be saved anymore
- what about two or three little standard savefiles (a barbarian, a wizard, ... ) , that are included or given with ADOM to have certain distinct situations that can be used in tutorials to explain the keybindings?