I've been playing this game off and on since it was first derived from ROM code and I've always had ambivalent feelings about where some aspects of the game have gone. There are still a lot a places I've never gone to because of the requirement of a large, knowledgeable group that is largely uninteresting to me. Plus I know no-one else OOC to work out any details with

I think that might be the one problem I have with the dragon re-design and what you've suggested for Silent Tower - there's no room for the solo-explorer to even survive, much less acquire anything cool. Even areas that should be survivable in a general sense are disproportionately tough to do so as a solo explorer.

Personally I like some of the puzzles in various places though there are few that are so, well, sneaky, that I've never figured them out. And others that I cackle with glee when I see something that I missed the previous 100 times through. Losing this to the spam of working with a large group is, well, just uninteresting.

It's one of the reasons I've never done a Hell trip.