Cost of Crowning too high?

[Blasphemous]

I don't understand why would anybody chase after monsters and lure them to the altar.
It's more than enough to just wait for them to come to you in the altar room.
With some extra food and half a decent altar location (no big deal), precrowning takes less than 10 minutes.
It could be made more difficult instead. It's not grindy at all unless you want 2nd and 3rd precrowns.
Also, If I have a good setup I will typically skip precrowning because of a small chance to get something really useful and indeed proceed with the game as SirTheta suggests.
Precrowning is by no means mandatory.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

You've convinced me. Let's make an RFE to eliminate precrowns.

I'm not sure if you're serious or exaggerating but if you're serious, you have my vote. I think a feature that is purely based on grinding and tedium to get a reward, with zero risk, just isn't good (and I have always thought it, not due to this particular thread). Precrowning should be removed and the frequency of features such as surges of power, pulsating power rooms, etc. increased. Let the players actually fight for the artifacts!

[Carter]

I don't understand why would anybody chase after monsters and lure them to the altar.
It's more than enough to just wait for them to come to you in the altar room.
With some extra food and half a decent altar location (no big deal), precrowning takes less than 10 minutes.
It could be made more difficult instead. It's not grindy at all unless you want 2nd and 3rd precrowns.
Also, If I have a good setup I will typically skip precrowning because of a small chance to get something really useful and indeed proceed with the game as SirTheta suggests.
Precrowning is by no means mandatory.

10 minutes? seriously? no way. more like an hour.

Once they stopped herb crowning i basically said no precrowns. they aren't worth the pain.

[Blasphemous]

Yes, once enough food is gathered beforehand, precrowning proper takes about 10 minutes.
Once or twice you need to ascend and descend a staircase to sort of "reset" the level, especially if the altar is not around the center, since monsters tend to aggregate on the other side.
Of course I usually precrown after adjusting the level a little - digging extra tunnels in crucial places to streamline the flow of monsters.
This significantly cuts the time necessary to raise piety.

[grobblewobble]

Sometimes a precrown just falls into your lap. If you get an altar on a level with a beehive, anthill, (appropriate) lesser vault or on a cavernous level, that's a precrown without effort.

If you're not that lucky, well why not skip the precrown.

This is another guidebook-induced beginner trap. The guidebook makes it sound like precrowning is a good idea, maybe even a logical / necessary step. But it isn't. Precrowning is good for headaches, stalling your game and wearing down your keyboard. It's a bad idea, just like taming the big room. Once I used to tame the big room and precrown every game. Quitting those habits made the game more enjoyable, faster and even easier. Precrowning often gets you a completely useless junk artifact, like the black tome. So unless the RNG throws you one for free, just don't do it. Spare your keyboard, grind less and have more fun.

[YourMum]

Only if the altar is in a cavernous level, a vault, our maybe a tension room with high value monsters.l, and only if I think I can finish the job off with gold or other live sacs easily enough. Been there done that, not worth the effort otherwise. In fact I think only PC5 precrowning is worth it because of the safety and high monster generation. Best I've received has been Lust For Glory and Serpents Bite. Not too shabby early on, but noPreserver or Vanquisher.

I wouldn't change anything, its a player choice. Soon enough the player will realise that the returns are really worth it, and its a gamble if you want to try it.

Actually I got the Silver Key once, I was sort of annoyed at first, but actually ignoring all door traps and being able to lock any door after myself was handy and I sort of missed it when playing a new character afterwards

[boat]

Don't chase monsters, let them come to you. Ws or w5 as mentioned. An hour is quite a while. If you have enough food it won't take long for a L or C pre crown. I'm trying to crown N= and it's taking a little longer

[Panda_Lord]

The last few times I've gotten precrowned on my characters, I've gotten awesome things like Vanquisher, Nature's Companion, the Iron Crown of Havlor, and Trusted One (at least *I* think that last one is awesome).

Getting good piety with your deity has a wealth of other benefits, however; having a reliable means of removing cursed and doomed means you can sip from pools early with a bit less risk. Lucky and fate smiles without needing equipment are also awesome to have. I still prefer to grind and sacrifice up to at least very close the first time I see an altar for this reason alone. The precrown is a gamble, yes, and looking back on the artifacts I've gotten doing it, I've come out very much ahead.

I would like to hear your reasoning as to why taming the big room is a bad idea, grobblewobble. It has none of the drawbacks of precrowning; it's quick to do as long as you have the gear and has reliable results. You can gather your herbs in peace.

[mimhoff]

I'm not sure if you're serious or exaggerating but if you're serious, you have my vote. I think a feature that is purely based on grinding and tedium to get a reward, with zero risk, just isn't good (and I have always thought it, not due to this particular thread). Precrowning should be removed and the frequency of features such as surges of power, pulsating power rooms, etc. increased. Let the players actually fight for the artifacts!

I am in. Let's make artifacts a gift from the RNG gods that you have to fight for.

[_Ln_]

Early artifacts are one of the few joys of replaying ADOM left for me. If you guys create an RFE to remove precrowns outright, I will downvote it relentlessly