IDDC mode in TomeNET has GREAT gameplay mode but there are two nasty things:
1) necessity to clear all dungeon “to zero” – kill all monster to get as much exp from one level as you could. Without exploring every corner you dramatically reduce your chances to survive in compare to players who clear everything. But scouting every tile feels quite BORING sometimes, especially at the beginning.
2) necessity to cheeze items from shops at Bree, and _especially_ at dungeon towns. You have to scum shops in dungeon towns for a lot of hours to get items with resistances which you need. Cheezing shops for hours is no doubt BORING.
So I think it would be great to have a IDDC-like mode without necessity to clear every small corner of the dungeon and scum shops – with very dinamycal, fast-style and in the same moment hardcore gameplay.
I thought a lot about how to fix this two problems but didn’t had any good ideas… I thought about limiting exp.. About giving exp only for going to the next level.. Its was quite bad ideas. Then I’ve asked my wife, Shtukensia, for an advice and she proposed GREAT idea! Limit your time at the certain level! Its really genious! Shtukensia, we love you! 😀
So lets call this mode Zeitnot; its German term from chess; literally “need of time” (zeit – time; not – “need” (like in chess). Also it called “time trouble” (in Russia we call it just Zeitnot – Цейтнот 😉 ).
Idea, as all genius – very simple: limit time when character could be at any level. If you stay more then certain time limit – you getting forced down automatically
1) after you created character you could stay in Bree for 5 minutes (for example.. we need to think about numbers). After 5 minutes you get automatically pushed undeground in IDDC dungeon -50 ft. So you could buy just a few items in Bree and can not cheeze!
2) at -50 lvl you could stay only 3 minutes again. Kill and gather as much as you could – and be hurry! Cause in 3 minutes you would fall down again – at next lvl: -100 ft.
3) the same at every level. But the more deeper you go – the more time you got. So after lvl 5 (-250 ft) you could stay at lvl for 5 minutes. After -500 ft – 7 minutes & etc.
4) when you go to the dungeon towns (-1000 ft and -3000 ft) you also have limited time there – so choose wisely what to buy there – you can’t cheeze forever 🙂
5) if you wish you could go to the next level before timer ends (useful at terrifying lvls). Maybe also give small bonus to time to the next lvl if you go there before timer ends – need to think about it…
I think it would be awesome to leave IDDC-mode as it is now, cause a lot of players like traditional gameplay without haste and just add this new mode as separate with its own score ladder.
Guys.. What I can say. Its great idea by Shtukensia and its my dream. Just non-stop extreamely dynamic playing without boring stops and lurking in the corners… A lot of fun and.. deaths. Yes, this mode would be somewhat harder then IDDC, it would be very different by dynamics. It would make possible to play fast and furious, very unusual experience fomr TomeNET 😈 A lot of new emotions! Hope to see it in-game one day 🙂
UPDATE:
I got a new vision, another approach (previous was fun too, it’s just _another_):
This Zeitnot also based at IDDC, but got major feature – ‘Portals’:
1) All staircases becomes ‘portals’ which pull characters inside after he came close to them. So when you come near to the portal – you have 1 minute till it would teleport you to the next level.. get prepared!
2) By default all ‘portals’ are hidden; it’s not possible to detect them with rods, spells & etc
I’m planning to play this way at my streams soon 😀
UPDATE 2:
I still thinking sometimes about this idea…
It’s great that most of cheezing problems in IDDC are solved 
Although in IDDC there is still problem #1:
1) necessity to clear all dungeon “to zero” – kill all monster to get as much exp from one level as you could. Without exploring every corner you dramatically reduce your chances to survive in compare to players who clear everything. But scouting every tile feels quite BORING sometimes, especially at the beginning.
Another approach: ‘Cursed’ mode.
You are cursed, so after you’ve spend 3 minutes the dungeon lvl – you stop receiving any experience and get any loot. You could still stay at the level as much as you want (for example, you could stay in Menegroth for a week), but it’s kinda pointless.
1) you have to be fast – the faster you would fight – more exp you would gather… but also higher risk to die if you act without caution.
2) this mode would make possible do not clean sweep all far corners of dungeon (obligatory in IDDC and very.. VERY boring).
It would bring new emotions to TomeNET
UPDATE 3:
Another approach to solve problem with necessity to clean corners at every lvl – make smaller lvls.. It could be ‘mini-IDCC’ mode where would be only ‘medium’ to ‘small’ levels.
It’s not the best idea maybe (because small lvls are way too dangerous at 35+ lvls cause it’s hard to teleport away from dangerous enemies), just wanna to group all thoughts in one place to continue brainstorm.
Update from 2018:
This idea is still one of my favorites, I come in my mind to it pretty often; this mode could solve the most boring aspect of IDDC – ‘clearing every corner so you won’t loose exp’ and make this mode really immensely dinamic and interesting 🙂