Not as bad as I expected - just incredibly tedious at times. Varn was by far the worst. I actually did it before I did the crystal quests because I had cleared Dragonsand, it was getting close to the end of the year, and I was pretty sure it was about to respawn. Did it at level 95 - I must have made 35 to 40 trips in and out of there to complete it.Darkmoor wasn't too bad. I cleared the initial big cube area but then took the side door shortcut to get the crystal.Up until then I had played it pretty 'straight' - completely clearing out dungeons for the most part. I was really getting tired of it by that point and fudged a little after that. Did Supreme temple in one trip. Didn't kill anything in the Control Center. Only went into Paradise Valley to get master blaster and didn't kill a single thing in Hermit's Isle.
Took 4 trips and two days (only way I could heal was to rest and heal outside) to clear the first room in the Hive. Did the rest of it in one shot thanks to the magic barrel. Used 8 divine cure potions before I did the reactor. Also used some restoration potions in there. Hardly used any potions at all before I got to the Hive. Never used a scroll of any kind.
Took two attempts to kill the Queen. The first time I tried using a wand of shrapmetal which didn't work well at all. Second time I just went around the corner and used the blaster.
Finished at level 119. Can't even imagine the level 0 peasant game and I don't think I'll ever try this again.
