cloudburst

[Rathic]

I think cloudburst lacks a little in comparison to the sword that shall not be named.
the cloudburst special on it is pretty rare. (a graphical effect like the marut thunder punch would be nice so we know when it goes off)
not to say it should be 17-20 and X3 but I think it should be atleast one or the other :P

[Gimpster]

It could be adamantine, like the Stormreaver's real weapon. Or at least byeskh.

It could be thundering, like the Stormreaver's real weapon.

It might give you Lightning Guard. It might be a Chain Lightning clicky. Or Cloudburst could debuff the enemy with static charge so he takes double damage from electric for 10 seconds.

It could do tons of stuff to be a stronger weapon.

But- maybe Turbine doesn't want it to be a stronger weapon. Maybe they're content that it's far weaker than the SOS from VON6. Maybe since you can repeat Reaver's Fate without reflagging, and you can swap in any character to come loot when something drops, they decided it should be low-powered.

[gpk]

It could be adamantine, like the Stormreaver's real weapon. Or at least byeskh.

It could be thundering, like the Stormreaver's real weapon.

It might give you Lightning Guard. It might be a Chain Lightning clicky. Or Cloudburst could debuff the enemy with static charge so he takes double damage from electric for 10 seconds.

It could do tons of stuff to be a stronger weapon.

But- maybe Turbine doesn't want it to be a stronger weapon. Maybe they're content that it's far weaker than the SOS from VON6. Maybe since you can repeat Reaver's Fate without reflagging, and you can swap in any character to come loot when something drops, they decided it should be low-powered.

QFT

I'm really kinda surprised its not at least Adamantine+Thundering, it's not like that would make it godly like some other raid greatsword.

As for the Cloudburst effect rough tests show it to kick in 5% of the hits for ~50 dmg.

[Rathic]

still... cloudburst is level 14 req and SOS is level 10. and bumping the crit range or multiplier or making it adamantine, or adding thundering still wouldn't make it as good as the SOS

[Lifespawn]

cloudburst shouldn't be electric it should be force or some non named damage that'd be cool with a special effect animation.

[Shade]

The SoS is so overpowered to the point I almost think it was type when they made the crit multiplier x3..

They have to radically change the game and insane increase mobs HP after people getting that weapon to keep the game balanced.. And despite that once you get it, the game is still way easier then it ever was at lvl10 pre SoS.

I dont think they want to make that mistake again and make the players too powerful to balance the game for., much less for a raid that takes on average 20minuits vs one that can take well over 2 hours.

I think the Sword of shadows may continue to be the strongest weapon in the game untli lvl20. They coud make equal weapons to it, like say a greataxe with the same stats and maybe a different metal like byshek, but never something better.

[Gimpster]

The SoS is so overpowered to the point I almost think it was type when they made the crit multiplier x3.
It wasn't a typo, but it was clearly someone punching in numbers that look good without thinking through the consequences.

I'm sure someone was looking at the reward list for Vault of Night and decided that a +5 Adamantine Greatsword was underwhelming, which is true. So he went and gave it a 19-20/x3 crit, combining the best features of a greatsword and greataxe. That would've been powerful enough, but apparently someone short-sightedly looking at the numbers decided that an upgrade of only +1 to the size of the crit range was still not raid worthy. Maybe he told himself "Bah, it's only a +5 keen greataxe. Let's give it another threat increment"

So we are left with a +5 adamantine weapon merging the best features of a Greatsword, Greataxe, and Falchion all in one. The power of that weapon is an obvious design flaw.

Fun fact: If a DDO character somehow obtained a +15 greatsword (which is an epic-epic weapon, only open to characters far past level 20), you shouldn't use it in existing content. With the ACs found on current high-level monsters, the +15 weapon would do less total damage than the SOS.

[Gimpster]

I think the Sword of shadows may continue to be the strongest weapon in the game untli lvl20. They coud make equal weapons to it, like say a greataxe with the same stats and maybe a different metal like byshek, but never something better.
I expect they'll try to offer other weapons approximating the SOS in power- but a Greataxe with the same stats would be noticably stronger, simply by virtue of being categorized as an axe.

The existing SOS doesn't qualify for Dwarf Axe Damage, and making any super-weapon that allows a racial damage enhancement would be quite biased towards that race. (As you've probably noticed, dwarves already have a strong racial advantage in terms of melee, second to humans in only a few regards)

[Gimpster]

They have to radically change the game and insane increase mobs HP after people getting that weapon to keep the game balanced.. And despite that once you get it, the game is still way easier then it ever was at lvl10 pre SoS.
One approach to weaken the SOS would be to give monsters Fortification, instead of increasing their hitpoints. However, that would also penalize other characters who use Imp Crit or Crit rage, and it would especially demolish the damage output of rogues.

An alternative would be to step away from the PnP rules and create alternate, cheaper defenses that provide some of the benefits of fortification, but not against as wide a range of attacks.

Step 1: Create separate Rogue-ward and Barb-ward effects, which can be applied to monsters or loot. They provide an X% immunity to sneak attacks or critical hits, respectively.

Step 2: Separate barb-ward into Crush-ward, Cleave-ward, and Impale-ward, which provide an X% immunity to critical hits from a weapon that does bludgeon, slashing, or piercing damage, respectively.

With that in place, monsters could be given light or moderate cleave-ward, protecting them from the SOS but leaving sneak-attacks and other weapon categories unaffected. It would still hurt wielders of other swords and axes, however.

Step 3: Create a new weapon effect called "Breacher", which subtracts -X% from the fortification-style defense of your target. Slashing-spec characters would be able to find random weapons with the Breacher property to do good damage against enemies with Fortification, Barbward, or Cleaveward, but there would be no way to add that benefit to the SOS.

Of course, that's a painfully elaborate amount of changes just to compensate for one single item that was accidently overpowered.

[Strumpoo]

Yeah, I am not too impressed by the Cloudburst sword either.

It is cool looking, has good to hit numbers since it is +5, but the damage output for my barb is pathetic compared to my Mauls and Greataxes.

If the cloudburst hits then the damage scales up to where my axes and mauls are, but only on that slim chance.

When I see crits on my great axe for 120-135 points of slash damage (then add in the bursting effects) and then I see a crit on this sword at 80-90 points of damage (then the burst effects) it is a little underwhelming...:eek:

It would be all worthwhile however if when the cloudburst effect hit, a giant lightning bolt hit your enemy. That would at least make me want to use this sword....;)