Update 21 Treasure Preview - Haunted Halls (+ TH landscape items)

[DrOctothorpe]

Since what has been dropping in the Haunted Halls chests on Lamannia is an early prototype, I thought I would share what is actually planned for Haunted Halls treasure. As mentioned a bit back, the quest offers six “classic” items, inspired by treasure in the original module. Each item can be upgraded once, using Zhentarim tokens. The tokens drop in modest rates in the “core” version of the quest and fair rates in the extended version. They also drop at different rates between Normal, Hard, and Elite.

These items will have no or very small drop rates from the core and extended “main bosses” - you’ll primarily win them from the challenging optionals found beyond them:

* Giant Skeleton: Lantern Ring, Purple Dragon Shield
* Mummy: Magestar, Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
* Miior: Libram, Eidolon Necklace
* White Dragon: all the items

On to the items themselves:

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


And as a bonus, we have a few named items planned specifically for the Thunderholme landscape. I'll be sharing more about the "dwarven forge" system which some have you have seen the crafting station for on the Lamannia server, and about the named Raid items next week. These items are neither of those - they are found in the chests of bosses found in the halls of Thunderholme itself.

Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot

Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level

Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot


Your feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.

[whereispowderedsilve]

All ML28 I take it?(it would be awesome if they could be: ML20/ML24/ML28).

Thanks for posting, I appreciate the dev communication!

I had questions not regarding this stuff, I was going to start another thread in Lama discussion, hopefully you will be able to drop on by.

Keep up the great work! Cheers! :P! :D! :)!

[EllisDee37]

Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment SlotExceptional?

[Ebondevil]

Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot


Adamantine?

If not then most constructs will break it pretty fast.

[DrOctothorpe]

All ML28 I take it?(it would be awesome if they could be: ML20/ML24/ML28).

Yup, ML 28 is the plan.

However, I can't recall how it appeared in the last Lamannia drop, but the "dwarven forge" system in Thunderholme will step up from ML 22 (tier zero), in twos, to ML 28 for the third tier.

[LavidDynch]

I am sorry to not be more constructive... (http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/23/23d26f095c02f32b7f5477dd16144b26224d8f6e2e788e0960 c4bfc4b20e9f5a.jpg)

[Thrudh]

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Insightful Con
+2 Insightful Dex

Is the puppeteer really awesome? Because what's so great about deathblock and ghostly and a couple of stat bonuses on a level 28 item?

Also, does the upgrade replace the exceptional bonuses? Or add the two insightful bonuses and keep the exceptional bonuses? Because the latter is good, the former (replacing exceptional with insightful) is bad.

[Thrudh]

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

This one is pretty sweet... but just for swapping to it.


Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

Upgraded ring looks very nice... can we change to an exceptional wisdom bonus?


Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

This also looks pretty decent... maybe another augment slot, yellow or colorless?

[Teh_Troll]

Make that cloak 20 minute Deathward clickie.

None of this is giving me wood. Add this . . .

Gloves of the Ubber Troll.

- STR +11
- 30% Hjeal meh! Amplification
- +6 Artifact bonus
- Vamprism to all weapons
- Infraction Absorption (25 charges/rest)
- Green and Colorless slots

[DrOctothorpe]

Also, does the upgrade replace the exceptional bonuses?

Whoops, that should both have been the same bonus type. Exceptional, I think.

I'll post some details on the shadow summon tomorrow. Left that info at the office!

[Thrudh]

Whoops, that should both have been the same bonus type. Exceptional, I think.

I'll post some details on the shadow summon tomorrow. Left that info at the office!

Oh, if it's the first item in the game to grant +2 exceptional, you WILL get people to grind for it... (Edit: Although, maybe not for CON and DEX)

I highly recommend you add different named items with +2 exceptional for every stat... Make them very rare, and you will keep the powergamers busy for a few months. Get some +2 exc STR, WIS, INT, CHA items out there, and the elite crowd will grind for them.

[dwen]

Really?

All I can say in underwhelming, not a single item I would use even to grind out an etr if it was lvl 20 gear, no way any of this justifies a min lvl 28 or will inspire me to run new quests, good thing Elderscrolls releases soonish.

[Stoner81]

Not that impressed to be honest considering that this is supposed to be end game gear could just be me being a cynic I guess but still...

Stoner81.

[maddmatt70]

I am not a fan of the Magestar which is like the jeweled cloak really which was a year ago and level 25 so bump that up perhaps add 3 slots to it such as colorless, yellow, and green that way someone could slot those for a swap to this item and if you come up cool augments like say absorption augments could be a fun swap. The cloak is pretty lame for one the deadly should be 11 or 12 I think and bump up the negative level removal. The ghostly/deathblock necklace is pretty lame - I would say +3 insight dex and +3 insight con would be interesting and then you add minor displacement to the item like on the ring of shadows. Spell caster players should chime in on the orb as I think if the exceptional power and lore was high enough and stacked with other lores and powers a shiradi wizard would want the item just not sure it is high enough.

[BlueSilence]

About the Orb...

Summons are not popular, much less in epic content. A better upgrade would be to increase the exceptional Universal Spell Power and Lore %.

If summons were viable then maybe getting a druid-theme item with stacking Augment Summoning.

[Teh_Troll]

Not that impressed to be honest considering that this is supposed to be end game gear could just be me being a cynic I guess but still...

Stoner81.

It's not just that. . . with ETR the dynamics of the game have changes.

devs . . . just a little hint . . . NOBODY STAYS AT CAP ANYMORE.

What good is level 28 loot when the best practice is to never be at level 28?

It's like this loot is a tree falling in the forest and nobody will care, so will it make a sound?

[Mahalko128]

Since what has been dropping in the Haunted Halls chests on Lamannia is an early prototype, I thought I would share what is actually planned for Haunted Halls treasure. As mentioned a bit back, the quest offers six “classic” items, inspired by treasure in the original module. Each item can be upgraded once, using Zhentarim tokens. The tokens drop in modest rates in the “core” version of the quest and fair rates in the extended version. They also drop at different rates between Normal, Hard, and Elite.

These items will have no or very small drop rates from the core and extended “main bosses” - you’ll primarily win them from the challenging optionals found beyond them:

* Giant Skeleton: Lantern Ring, Purple Dragon Shield
* Mummy: Magestar, Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
* Miior: Libram, Eidolon Necklace
* White Dragon: all the items

On to the items themselves:

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Insightful Con
+2 Insightful Dex

Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


And as a bonus, we have a few named items planned specifically for the Thunderholme landscape. I'll be sharing more about the "dwarven forge" system which some have you have seen the crafting station for on the Lamannia server, and about the named Raid items next week. These items are neither of those - they are found in the chests of bosses found in the halls of Thunderholme itself.

Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot

Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level

Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot


Your feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.

Alright after looking over the whole dilly, there's a bit I'd like to say/ask about each item which you have presented here.

Magestar: I'm supposing that the absorption here will be the same as with the Jeweled Cloak where it's one taken away per spell, and not one tick taken away per spell level as with the Pale Lavender Ioun Stone, correct? If this is true, than how does the ML 25 jeweled cloak, which gives us 25 charges and 10/rest compare to this ML 28 trinket, which gives 5 charges and 5/rest? If you ask me, there certainly needs to be some sort of increase in charges here to make it worth using as compared to the other several spell absorption items.


Necklace of Mystic Eidolons: Absolutely love the unique affect! But why are you changing the exceptional +1 bonuses to insightful +2 bonuses? We have plenty of insightful +2 and +3 items out there already, so wouldn't it make more sense to make these the very first exceptional +2 items instead since they are at cap level?


Lantern Ring: It's great, but let's be honest, at level 28 even 6d6 damage isn't going to make all that much of a difference. Wouldn't you think by cap level there should definitely be a significant boost to damage given, such as 8d6, or even 10d6?


Deathwyrm Cloak: Love the passive! Yet a couple of the affects don't make terribly much sense. With the ML 28 Consuming Darkness we receive Seeker XII, so why couldn't we receive the same from this ml 28 item as well? As for the Force Absorption of 10%, why is it that we can achieve electrical absorption of 33% on an ml 23 Ring of the Djinn, and yet only a 10% sonic absorption from this cloak at ml 28?


Really enjoy the rest of the set, and thanks for considering what I've said in advance!

[xTethx]

I am not a fan of the Magestar which is like the jeweled cloak really which was a year ago and level 25 so bump that up perhaps add 3 slots to it such as colorless, yellow, and green that way someone could slot those for a swap to this item and if you come up cool augments like say absorption augments could be a fun swap. The cloak is pretty lame for one the deadly should be 11 or 12 I think and bump up the negative level removal. The ghostly/deathblock necklace is pretty lame - I would say +3 insight dex and +3 insight con would be interesting and then you add minor displacement to the item like on the ring of shadows. Spell caster players should chime in on the orb as I think if the exceptional power and lore was high enough and stacked with other lores and powers a shiradi wizard would want the item just not sure it is high enough.

Its still not better than having another crafted caster stick from the possible new raids.

Also, to DocOc: Will the base items have a higher chance of dropping on epic elite as compared to epic normal? (not the tokens)

[maddmatt70]

It's not just that. . . with ETR the dynamics of the game have changes.

devs . . . just a little hint . . . NOBODY STAYS AT CAP ANYMORE.

What good is level 28 loot when the best practice is to never be at level 28?

It's like this loot is a tree falling in the forest and nobody will care, so will it make a sound?

I know a lot of people that just want to stay at level 28 many of whom are on break currently because DDO has no end game to speak of. ETR is so boring as is true reincarnation at this point. Give the end gamers some stuff to run and some loot to get please.

[Teh_Troll]

Also, to DocOc: Will the base items have a higher chance of dropping on epic elite as compared to epic normal? (not the tokens)

According to my minions . . . the NHE versions of items is a thing of the past.

[Teh_Troll]

I know a lot of people that just want to stay at level 28 many of whom are on break currently because DDO has no end game to speak of. ETR is so boring as is true reincarnation at this point. Give the end gamers some stuff to run and some loot to get please.

The loot needs to be better than this to get people to stay at cap.

[xTethx]

According to my minions . . . the NHE versions of items is a thing of the past.

That's not what I asked, but ok!

[Cyr]

One item is a swap item which is not really needed at all.

One is another spell absorption item.

Got to say there is nothing there that I would bother running the content for.

The ring is nice, but it is a build specific ring (light damage ie divine caster) and I have no plans of running that build.

Another is a shied, two are throwers (but NOT shurikens the good throwing weapon). Some build specific stuff here means lots of people will have no use for them.

The less specialized gear is just not competitive with already obtained lower level gear.

The most amusing ability on the items is the cloak's speed up negative level removal. That is just funny. At level 28 negative levels only occur when you forget to hit deathward or switch in your proper item for beholders. Then they are quickly removed by greater restoration. You do not slot gear for effects like that.

The summons on hit is also a really strange one. Short term summons which if I remember the mob type correctly will try and move away from combat to cast spells and spend half it's time phased out. Another note on that one is if it breaks the one summons out rule. If not then it is even more questionable.

These items look like flavor items and I note have no EE/EH versions. Most of these items look like EN gear, the ring is more compelling for it's build type. Where are the EE items here or is there no reason to run EE again?

[Firewall]

Nothing special to see here.

Magestar: Even 10 charges of spell absorbtion will last only quite a short time in a quest at that level. For example water elementals in epic Spies in the House drain 3 charges of my Jeweled Cloak with a single Frost Lance spell. So you will get a short healing burst in the first fight against a spell user while probably not even taking damage and then nothing. Might be cool if it was absorbing one spell and heal (for less HP than now) once every 60 seconds without any charges similar to a variant of the Fast Healing FotW enhancement because of the spell absorbtion.

The Lantern Ring might be ok and the trinket is be something a rogue might switch in when disabling traps but otherwise i don't see anything i would use on any of my toons. The throwing hammer is more flavor than real use in my opinion. I woud use it if it was a shuriken for very special purposes maybe.

Will monks be centered when using the flask? I'm not sure if a flask counts as a Ki-weapon. ^^

[dejafu]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

Like a Pale Lavender Ioun stone, but with fewer charges, a healing bonus, and a green augment slot.

Not bad for somebody who doesn't have an ioun stone (or for extra spell absorption for somebody who does), but not spectacular. Would be worth keeping if the trinket had, say, a 5% chance to heal when attacked by harmful spells even if it's out of charges. Otherwise, it's a modestly useful utility item that is ultimately outclassed by a level 20 item.


Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Insightful Con
+2 Insightful Dex

Meh, summons are notoriously weak even in regular content, and aren't worth bothering with on Epic Elite. I'll just treat that as a flavor ability unless it is absolutely amazing on testing.

The +1 Exceptional Dex/Con is arguably more useful than the +2 Insightful, since the latter at least stacks with other bonuses. +2 Insightful stop being top tier at level 25. Make them +3 and it's worth having - it's not higher than the current maximum insightful bonus, but it would be a rare item that covered two different stats at once.

Finally, it's level 28 now - could we have a deathblock upgrade that functions as a full-blown permanent Death Ward? Leave it as unique to this item and it will make it an item people will always be happy to loot.


Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot


I'm assuming that's Exceptional Wisdom.

This item is very nice as is... though the 4d6/6d6 extra light damage 5% of the time seems pretty weak to even both with. Why not make it fun and make it do something like proc Sunburst 5% of the time, or blind enemies 50% of the time?


Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

A very handy item for trappers and not so much for anybody else. Add +20 Spellcraft and you'll have an item that would actually be decent for most spellcasters as well!


Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

Hmm, stacking USP and Lore... I'm not opposed to going there, but for a weapon slot item it really needs more oomph than +10 USP and +1% lore. And the Int/Cha bonus needs to get bumped to +11 - there's little point in having end-game named items that have anything less than a maximum stat bonus.

Augment summoning is only a useful feat at lower levels, so it's not much good on an endgame item. Give it another red slot instead.

Also, here's one really out there idea: why not make this item a consumable Tome? +10 USP and +1% Lore becomes a lot more enticing if it's a permanent character boost, but it's by no means a gamebreaking one.


Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus

Again, go for +11 instead of +10 Cha/Con - especially for a shield to have such a vital stat as Con, it needs really good justification for keeping it slotted.

Am I reading this right - it's a shield that gives an Orb bonus? If so, that's neat and interesting (as long as it still gives a shield AC bonus, naturally)!




Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot


Unless we're talking about speeding up negative level removal to something like 1 level every 10 seconds, I don't see too many people wanting to bother with this. Make it a 3/3 Greater Restoration clickie instead. Again, we're at endgame content at level 28 now, let's see some more impressive effects!


Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level

Neat! I don't have any throwing specialists, but there's enough interest in them lately that it's time they got a unique weapon like this. Neat effect while still being generally useful.


Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot

And hey, another good thrower! Not great, but not bad, and useful against the sort of things that would typically be immune to the Flask of Gloaming.


In general:

These items seem to be moving in the right direction compared to previous offerings, but still have a ways to go before any are worth getting really excited over.
It's good to see more unique effects being added, but these effects need to be a little less conservative in order to be much more than flavor.
This bears repeating: Endgame items should have maximum stats! If we already have an item with +11 stats, there's not much reason to include +10 named items, even if they have two stats. Similarly, +2 insightful stats aren't worth much anymore, either.

[BOgre]

Not one thing in that list that any of my characters will gain any benefit from, except maybe the Manual as a swap item. ML 28 is silly, even in light of the new lvl30 cap. Having not seen the upgrade material drop rates I can't comment intelligently (so i'll just make a wild baseless guess), but based on the terribad drop rate of CoV from the ONE raid you can reliably get them, and the vast amount needed to upgrade the eGH/MotU loot, I'm not looking forward to yet another grindfest in one(two?) quests and a wildy looking for mats to upgrade mediocre loot. Was kinda hoping to see something COOL, rather than the same ol' same ol'. The one intersting new thing is the Puppeteer, but 30 seconds?? And judging by the wealth of buggy, weak, AI-lobotomized summons we've already got, I'm again not too hopeful.

Sorry Dr. O, but this doesn't feel like an incentive to run the content. It feels like you've been told to not add any power creep, given a dozen 'effect' cards from the list already coded, threw them in a hat, and raffled together what we're seeing. Biggest turn off? Failing to represent every class with a meaningful new item.

[Qhualor]

must have Magestar for melees like my squishy barbs. although, the charges could be depleted not far into the quest. maybe they could regenerate?

intrigued with the Deathwyrm Cloak. deadly X for cap? is that how high deadly goes now?

Libram of Silver Magic is obviously a caster item. too bad it wasn't more generalized that other classes could benefit from it more like *ahem* rangers.

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons seems pretty cool, but is that right? exceptional and insightful?

a lot of them have unique affects and I like that. something different is always good. all I ask is compare to what is current in game and if this new loot is cap gear, than it needs to be the best gear for its level and better than what we can currently get. the gear needs to be scaled appropriately for its level range. a lot of this gear seems directed more towards specific builds, which I like. Its frustrating trying to get gear in groups that benefit multiple classes.

[Teh_Troll]

Sorry Dr. O, but this doesn't feel like an incentive to run the content. It feels like you've been told to not add any power creep, given a dozen 'effect' cards from the list already coded, threw them in a hat, and raffled together what we're seeing. Biggest turn off? Failing to represent every class with a meaningful new item.

I suspect this to be the case as well.

Doc Oc . . . if you can't make us more powerful go with a slot consolidation theme. Deadly + Artifact Damage bonus on the same item for example.

[die]

thought... maybe they don't want us at cap Tr =more money. Grinding at cap=less money?

I thought the items for being EPIC 28TH LV look very Meh. +!CON EXC . I THINK +4 stacking looks more Epic IMO

[Jasparion]

The loot needs to be better than this to get people to stay at cap.

Agreed. A few of the items look like they will be nothing more than clickies or swapped to outside of combat. And there is nothing remotely "powerful" in that list. Hopefully its a lowball and their plan is to boost the more negative feedback we provide.

Now, if they were level 26 items which we could use for our final 2 levels... then that is getting closer.

But you are still far better off farming a couple of older items, then hitting the AH / AS and kitting out in Mastercraft and Wondrouscraft random loot with +10/+11 of this/that/the-other.

What I would really love to see from the Devs is their idea of what each class would be wearing at level 28. When they map out loot, what do they see a level 28 PM Wizard wearing. What about a level 28 AM Wizard. How about a Pally tank. Or a Shiradi Sorc. Or a DC Divine. What weapon(s) are the melee classes using in their view. Etc.

Because it seems to me that this game has never actually planned anything out. Its just pack after pack of "what gear in the development pool is close to being ready, cos we need to chuck a couple of things in this release...".

People run specific dungeons for specific loot. Some direction would be great.

[Zoda]

Great! I'll finally be able to save some shards now without any reason to reroll loot.

I guess they are still useful to players without access to random generated loot.

[sirgog]

Why not make the EN version of the single-upgrade items ML 28, the EH version ML 26, and the EE version ML 24 (with identical stats)?

It will make the higher tiers legitimately useful, but not promote any character power creep.

[dejafu]

Regarding the Libram of Silver Magic, here's one really out there idea: why not make this item a consumable Tome? +10 USP and +1% Lore becomes a lot more enticing if it's a permanent character boost, but it's by no means a gamebreaking one.

[Jasparion]

Why not make the EN version of the single-upgrade items ML 28, the EH version ML 26, and the EE version ML 24 (with identical stats)?

It will make the higher tiers legitimately useful, but not promote any character power creep.

The reverse of the old EN/EH/EE loot system.

Now... THAT is something which would make for a great discussion !

[maddmatt70]

If I understand this correctly this is the only named (rather shoddy) loot we will get from a lengthy quest for which Turbine spent a lot of money on and designed in honor of one the most famous Dungeons and Dragons authors and designed with his help. Should not the loot be like some of the other famous 6 person quest loots in DDO's history? This might be one of those random loot chest farm quest depending on where the chests are, but other then that not seeing this having the repetitive quest qualities that I thought the Devs intended with their quest design.

[Teh_Troll]

The reverse of the old EN/EH/EE loot system.

Now... THAT is something which would make for a great discussion !

Oh man, that's gonna be an AWESOME thread . . .

[Krelar]

Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


As someone who's main used to be a s&b pally and desperately wants a reason to go back I'm underwhelmed by this.

I suppose it depends a bit on what sovereign vorpal is. If it applies to the main hand weapon it could be interesting, if it only applies to shield bashes then meh (And really how am I cutting someone's head off with a shield?)

You keep trying to add feats and effects that only work while blocking. Stop it. Until you fix out abysmal damage we can't block or we lose agro. Make it a passive energy absorption even if you feel like you need to lower the amount.

With +'s to 2 stats this is going to be something people keep equipped all the time rather than a swap in item, make it worth it.

[Ziindarax]

Since what has been dropping in the Haunted Halls chests on Lamannia is an early prototype, I thought I would share what is actually planned for Haunted Halls treasure. As mentioned a bit back, the quest offers six “classic” items, inspired by treasure in the original module. Each item can be upgraded once, using Zhentarim tokens. The tokens drop in modest rates in the “core” version of the quest and fair rates in the extended version. They also drop at different rates between Normal, Hard, and Elite.

These items will have no or very small drop rates from the core and extended “main bosses” - you’ll primarily win them from the challenging optionals found beyond them:

* Giant Skeleton: Lantern Ring, Purple Dragon Shield
* Mummy: Magestar, Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
* Miior: Libram, Eidolon Necklace
* White Dragon: all the items

On to the items themselves:

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


And as a bonus, we have a few named items planned specifically for the Thunderholme landscape. I'll be sharing more about the "dwarven forge" system which some have you have seen the crafting station for on the Lamannia server, and about the named Raid items next week. These items are neither of those - they are found in the chests of bosses found in the halls of Thunderholme itself.

Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot

Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level

Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot


Your feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.


Thanks for the loot notes:

Here're some questions though:

1) on the towershield, you mention +8 orb bonus. Does this mean that it can be used by casters?

2) On the Flask of gloaming, will the AOE effect heal friendly undead (as it would enemy undead)? If not, it should, as the necromancer builds could really use a bone (they receive no epic-equivalent for negative energy healing, whereas non-undead receive 2 epic healing destiny powers).

As for the Deathwyrm cloak, I vote that rather than having rapid regeneration of negative levels, make it so that the player is completely immune to negative energy (deathward on an item, but with a unique twist).

Magestar Absorption is pretty cool! Any chance you could make it so that the heal is applied independently from the charges of absorption?

Purple Dragon Knight Tower Shield - Sovereign Vorpal - seems neat, but not really all that great unless you're applying it to all currently equipped weapons (meaning both the main and shield hands benefit from the Sovereign Vorpal effect). :)

Last, but not least, any chance you could throw the Eldritch Knights a bone with a nice suit of armor and a decent shield that won't tank their spell casting (or at least, can be mitigated by enhancements and items)?

[JOTMON]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot


is alright




Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex



meh



Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot



interesting.




Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD


decent swap in item .. best of the lot as far as I can tell



Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot


kind of ok, wouldn't go out of my way for it.
means giving up offhand spec item..
Sucks for staff users... really need to change the mechanic so staves can be used with orbs or have orbs slotted on staves....




Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


Seems alright, hat is the base DR/AC for this shield if it isn't better than alchemical then it is sh..scrap.




And as a bonus, we have a few named items planned specifically for the Thunderholme landscape. I'll be sharing more about the "dwarven forge" system which some have you have seen the crafting station for on the Lamannia server, and about the named Raid items next week. These items are neither of those - they are found in the chests of bosses found in the halls of Thunderholme itself.

Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot



Worst item of the lot...
Add a Seeker or exceptional seeker to make it enticing




Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level



no comment.



Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot
.

lightningsphere ?... guess will have to see what this actually does.



Nothing here that would make me want to go out of my way to run the content for anything specific here.
Nothing here that replaces what I already have obtained in the game so far.
...
Some ok class specific items for certain toons, nothing here that would be generally useful to all classes and desired by everyone..
Random drop +11 stat item.. vs grind +10 named item....

Personally I will pass over most of this and hope something better comes along with the level 30 update..

[Ovrad]

Why not make the EN version of the single-upgrade items ML 28, the EH version ML 26, and the EE version ML 24 (with identical stats)?

It will make the higher tiers legitimately useful, but not promote any character power creep.

Now that's using the old noodle! I still despite items with ML going up as you 'upgrade' it. A higher ML makes the item less desirable, so it's not an upgrade to me, regardless of if it gains a couple of stats.

[DagazUlf]

Very lacking and lackluster.

[die]

At lv 28 do any of these bosses and or under minions have true seeing? would really make ghostly blur and displacement not necessary. Then you could stop adding more hp and just give them the same buffs we have?

[PsychoBlonde]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot


This is cool in concept but those charges are going to get sucked up in seconds. I'd suggest giving it 2 charges and have 1 charge regenerate every 180 seconds--then reduce the cooldown to 120 seconds with the upgrade. This way it remains useful as you go along, eating a spell and healing you every once in a while. I'm not sure if it'd be better for it to work equally well for WF or not.



Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

+2 exceptional stats, huh? Neato. I'd be a little worried that random summons might be problematic in some cases. Ooze guard could get a little weird back when it was a commonish thing to have. Why not make this a Puppet Guard instead of summoning what might turn out to be a seriously annoying mob?



Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS <--
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot


Tell me that "+1 Insightful" wis is a typo, because that's a *joke* if it's not. 5% of 6d6 light damage seems really weaksauce to me, also. Is there a chance for it to hit on every proc of a spell like Shiradi effects or is it just on the initial hit? To me, this really seems like a weak item at this point. Is the light damage going to be affected by spellpower or is it a flat 6d6?




Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD


My main is a trapper and this looks like awesomesauce to me, I'm super-excited about this item. Could we maybe get +20 search on there too pretty please there are a lot more +20 spot items in the game than +20 search at present and one of the toughest parts of playing a rogue is fitting all your dang skill bonuses in somewhere so you don't have to be constantly switching out gear. Slot consolidation of trap skills really isn't POWERFUL, just more CONVENIENT.



Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot


Totally need to make this book-shaped. Totally. Otherwise looks pretty okay. I'd almost say have 2 different versions of it, 1 with int, 1 with cha, 1 with wis cause, you know, divines are people too.



Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


The orb bonus is cool says I. It looks decent, although vorpal on a shield, how often is THAT going to go off.




Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot



10% force absorption is totally negligible, and how much does it speed up neg level removal?


[b]
Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level


This seems more hilarious than anything, but I'm not opposed to hilarious items. I'm almost seeing this as a "quick, check if they've got death ward" item more than anything else. Actually, in that light add a Dispel or Disjunction effect to that bad-boy and you have a ready-made "GOODBYE DEATHWARD!" for people to huck around.


Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot


What's the damage/crit profile supposed to be on this puppy? I'd suggest adding weaken construct and weaken undead, might make it worthwhile to use it.

[HuneyMunster]

Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot
[B]

Your feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.


"+1 Insightful WIS" Shouldn't this be Exceptional? Also please change the upgrade "5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage." to +2 Exceptional WIS so it doesn't become redundant to the +1 WIS from Globe of True Imperial Blood augment.

[Firewall]

2) On the Flask of gloaming, will the AOE effect heal friendly undead (as it would enemy undead)? If not, it should, as the necromancer builds could really use a bone (they receive no epic-equivalent for negative energy healing, whereas non-undead receive 2 epic healing destiny powers).


That would be useful if the damage would be affected by negative spellpower.

[Thrudh]

Now that's using the old noodle! I still despite items with ML going up as you 'upgrade' it. A higher ML makes the item less desirable, so it's not an upgrade to me, regardless of if it gains a couple of stats.

Agreed... I'd love to put a red slot on my CiTW rapier, but I don't want to raise it's ML to 27 from 23... so it's not really an upgrade. very cool idea sirgog to LOWER ML as an incentive to run EE.

[Firewall]

Why not make the EN version of the single-upgrade items ML 28, the EH version ML 26, and the EE version ML 24 (with identical stats)?

It will make the higher tiers legitimately useful, but not promote any character power creep.

Agreed. Really cool idea!

[sephiroth1084]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot
Does the healing occur when you absorb a spell? That's a cool mechanic, but it's still too few charges given the Jeweled Cloak has 25. I know you probably think the healing means it needs fewer, but these sorts of items are worn for the spell absorption; the healing will just be viewed as a nifty bonus. This also could use something more. Add a yellow augment slot to the base, which remains alongside the green slot when upgraded. Remember, as a trinket, this has to compete with the Planar Conflux set bonuses, Litany of the Dead, and a couple of other really excellent trinkets that are several levels lower in ML, and probably much easier to acquire.


Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

If the shadow puppeteer is very useful, that would be nice. If this actually does upgrade to +2 exceptional Con and Dex, this will have a shot at being very popular, as it would be the only source for them in the game at present.

Change Deathblock to 3/day Mass Death Ward, CL 20 (or keep the Deathblock and add the clicky).


Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot
+1 Insightful Wis is useless, given that we have +3 Wis on some rather excellent items, again with a lower ML. If you change it to exceptional, give it the same upgrade as the Necklace of Mystic Eidolons making it the only +2 exceptional Wis item in the game--divine casters could use it, and while monks may as well, they won't be gaining anything else out of this. Leaving it at +1 exceptional Wis will also be disappointing given the prevalence of Globes of True Imperial Blood. Increase the % chance for the extra light damage to trigger on the upgraded version to 10%.


Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD
Do you want this to be an item characters wear all the time, or do you want it to just be a swap item when one comes across a trap? If the latter, then this is pretty good, and you can drop the +3 UMD. If the former, this needs something else. My suggestion:

+2 luck
+4 exceptional Wis skills (for Spot)
+4 exceptional Cha skills (for UMD, Bluff, Diplomacy)
+4 exceptional Dex skills
+4 exceptional Int skills

Upgrade:

+3 luck
change all the exceptional skill bonuses to +6
green augment slot
+3 enhancement to UMD
+10 Resistance (saves)

It doesn't need the Open Lock and Disable--we have plenty of items to swap to when those are needed, and no one needs to have them on at any time except when dealing with a trap or lock. +6 to most skills makes for a pretty good ML 28 item. If you want to clear up space, add in the Str and Con skills, and just make the item read +4 exceptional bonus to all skills.


Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

1% Lore is pretty weak, even if it is an exceptional stacking bonus. We have random loot with +11 stat bonuses on them, and probably an easier to acquire item with +11 Int on it already, and that item doesn't take up a valuable hand slot (a second caster stick, or a staff). Change the Lore to +3% exceptional, and on upgrade, increase the stat bonuses to +11 and the Lore bonus to +5%. Augment Summons is useless at level 28 (and it's pretty close to useless at level 20) for anything but hirelings. You've ensured and emphasized this by leaving summon AI fairly poor, by not upgrading the power of summons as the overall power level of the game has gone up, and by not making the Magister summons strong enough to be useful at even level 20, let alone 28 (if you're afraid of it being too strong at level 20, just have the summons increase in power based on your epic level). It's a fairly disappointing upgrade.


Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus
You are aware that paladins don't have Tower Shield Proficiency, right? That they would want the Cha more than a fighter would, and that paladins are too feat-starved to be dumping a feat on TSP?

In addition to that, make the following changes: Passive Energy Absorption 10%, doubled to 20% when blocking, +10% Healing Amp. Upgrade: increase energy absorption to 15%/30%, and add +20% Healing Amp (do not replace 10%). Consider also adding an Orange augment slot alongside the purple.



Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot
Most people are going to view this as a Deadly X cloak with a green slot, which we can acquire on random loot. This needs something more. How about having it add Greater Dragon Bane to our attacks? Also, Negative Energy Absorption charges (Silver Flame Talisman) would be far more valuable than speeding up negative level removal, unless we're talking very fast, like, removing a level every 10 seconds. You could also add a high CL Death Ward clicky here. Sure, the Force absorption is unique...but how much Force damage are we taking at that level? How much of it gets stopped with a Shield or Nightshield clicky/wand/scroll/spell?


Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level
Is this affected by negative energy spell power? 10d6 damage is pretty poor when even trash monsters have upwards of 2,000 HP. Does this carry any of the other benefits of using a throwing weapon? Can it be used with the special shuriken feats? I think it would be a cool addition to those play styles if this were to act as a shuriken for the purposes of interacting with feats/enhancements, dealt 2d6 negative energy + Str (and all other thrown weapon damage bonuses you may have), then also "explodes" on-hit dealing the 10d6 negative energy with the chance to deal a negative level (including on the initial target hit).


Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot

What does Lightning Sphere do? This needs to be adamantine. Add Weaken Construct and Weaken Undead.[/QUOTE]

[Havok.cry]

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex



I am VERY excited for more minion summoning items. Please tell me though, that this will be in addition to a monster summoned by the summon monster/nature's ally spells rather than replacing them. Also it needs to be able to actually take control of an enemy mob like it should (both have the ability and the DCs to make it happen).

[blackdoguk]

I really like the look of the necklace and the Magestar, although it would be nice to have a few more charges, but other than that I'm a little underwhelmed.

I also respect your willingness to stay true to the original magic items from the campaign, as DDO should stay as close to its PnP origins as possible. That said it's important to remember the significance of loot as a reward incentive and to consider the usefulness of this reward for our players. While I enjoy tossing around throwing hammers and acid flasks in my regular game, they're not going to help me take down the epic elite bosses in the new round of content coming later this year.

When I look back upon my time in DDO every now and again I consider what my character has achieved, amassed and implemented into the dungeons I run. Fun though they might be, I can't see myself making room in my pack for these two.

Finally, give Troll his gloves, please. Kargon got his ham.

*Edit* One thing you NAILED (though maybe this was good luck) was the cloak slot as a swappable/spell absorp item. We all swap our jewelled/storm horns cloaks in and out so it's great that this is here. Think long and hard before designing any future cloaks as this is a big loss if an item has to be on more or less all the time.

Also Sirgog's idea is stand-up-and-applaud good.

[Seikojin]

Why not make the EN version of the single-upgrade items ML 28, the EH version ML 26, and the EE version ML 24 (with identical stats)?

It will make the higher tiers legitimately useful, but not promote any character power creep.

^This^ Seriously. I think those items at lvl 24 would be appropriate, but at 28, they are not best in slot, nor do they really offer much. Maybe if they had 1 extra tier to all their bonuses and an augment slot guarantee or two, then they would be utilized and sought after.

[mikarddo]

Those are the top loots from the extra hard optionals at the end of the new ultra long and very much hyped quest in the Haunted Halls?
What a completely disappointment. They need some juicy upgrades for anyone to truly bother AND there need to me alot more items to cover more builds.
What you have posted here is far, far worse relatively speaking that what Epic Tor alone offered in term of interesting new stuff let alone Epic GH as a whole.

If you meant to sparkle interest in the next update you failed miserably.

As for the suggestion to make EE items similar in stats to EN items just lower ML. That sounds good right now because ETR is hot but once people start actually playing at cap it will be lackluster. Hence I think that needs to be carefully considered as it may just be a very short term good idea.

[bbqzor]

Since what has been dropping in the Haunted Halls chests on Lamannia is an early prototype, I thought I would share what is actually planned for Haunted Halls treasure. As mentioned a bit back, the quest offers six “classic” items, inspired by treasure in the original module.

Your feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.

Man where to begin. I guess a few points then by item.

First, Ive never read the original module, and I am sure that some of what I say probably wont jive with the intended "original" flavor of the items. That said, this game is what it is, so I hope some flexibility is in mind.

Second, regarding these being ML28 and the current "Epic TR" treadmill game-play... eventually there will be level 30 and these items will then serve a (small) purpose. However, given the nature of ML27 "wonderous" loot being common now, and only increasing in common-ness as time goes on, I think it would be fair to bump this stuff to ML27. You want people to have value in farming it now, to use now... not in 8+ whatever months when lv30 comes around then going "oh, lets go farm that thing from like 8 months ago to use for 2 levels". ML27 will do that, perhaps not ideally, but as best as can fit given the situation. And yes, I realize that basically no one farms ML27 items for an epic TR either... but assuming its intentional for people to desire playing this quest at some point each epic life, it would be nice that any loot which shows up can be put to use.... thats what I mean by as best as can fit given the situation.

Now for the items.

Magestar: Nice item, nice utility swap to have. What it should have is "recharges over time" like endless wands. Once every two minutes is enough (with the heal, once every minute seems too close to fast healing twists etc). But without that, its simply another mantle/pale lav/jeweled/etc thing that will sit in a bag taking up more space. Yes, its better, but its more of the same. If it recharges over time, there would actually be an incentive to wear it full time, and perhaps use it to replace some of the others in some situations. Thats what items like this need to be actual items, and not inventory icons.

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons: Summons are generally more detrimental than helpful because they make a situation more unpredictable by affecting mob AI etc. Not true for all of ddo, but by level 28, yea. A summons which shows up randomly is about the only possible way to make the above situation even more detrimental. Frankly, almost everyone I know would rather avoid that problem than have 1 more dex/con over existing itemization. Like the above item... make it a clicky summon with a 30s duration and a 2 min recharge (or 80s on upgrade), instead of a proc.... the effect is there for anyone who wants it and those that dont can avoid it. And then add something, because 1 dex/con is not really worth an item slot at this point in the game. Im not sure what the original item's flavor was, but its just too small an upgrade to bother with imo. Wish I had a good suggestion but I cant think of one that isnt also lame... sorry lol.

Lantern Ring: Fair item I suppose, simply as an alternative to using weapons, but +1 insightul wis is terribly low. It at least needs to be +2 to match other items way lower in level, but at this point in the game it really should be +3 (perhaps on the upgraded version). Also, 5% chance for 14 dmg? Even if its amp'ed by spellpower, even at 500 spellpower, thats only an extra 3.5 dmg per nuke. At 28, thats literally unnoticeable. Something more like 10% chance for 10d6 is appropriate. Even at 500 spell power thats only 17.5 dmg per nuke, but I suspect its not affected by spell power meaning its still probably unnoticeable. Then maybe the upgraded one could be 10% chance for 20d6 (might sound high but thats only an avg of 7 extra dmg per cast... when light nukes regularly hit for 500+ with virtually no effort, its like a 1% dps gain tops if even that). Still, when it goes off its at least an extra number worth reading then, and the main point of the item would be the 3 wis and spellpower mods, not the extra nuke. With a tiny nuke and only 1 wis though... this item is lacking.

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering: While its item is great for convenience, its a failure in an itemization sense. It adds nothing... all those things are available well before lv28, in multiple places even. If the intent was to just add an item to make trapping swaps easier as a quality of life issue, okay... but its not actually adding anything to the player's stable of availability. Other than making this go past +20 (which I feel is a mistake, as it just adds trap DC inflation) I am not sure where to go with it... maybe the best answer is to leave it as it is, and then call it as it is. Make the drop rate on it a little less harsh so anyone into traps can get one without beating themselves up and let it be a quality of life concern, rather than a rare treasure concern.

Libram of Silver Magic: I am assuming the intent here was to have this basically be a stacking 30 spell power and 1% spell lore with everything else. So like, you give up your offhand to get more universal spell power because it stacks with everything. If that is the case, then I can say this is a decent item, but I would suggest adding +10 Wis as well. It might seem overkill having a triple 10 item, but A) wis-casters deserve some loot too and B) giving up your offhand is very expensive in opportunity costs, and with +11 items on the table I dont think a triple 10 item, which in all likelyhood will be a swap for times you need max spell power, is really that absurd. To ease the concern there, I would suggest making it +8 int/wis/cha to start, and then +10 on the upgrades. That would curb a bit of the concern over just having access to large stats without work, since farming the upgrade bits would still be needed. Also, it makes the upgrade a bit more useful since augment summoning is pretty situational at best and an aug slot on an item swap tends to be relatively low appeal to begin with.

Purple Dragon Shield: While these are some nice mods, especially in terms of elemental damage defense, this item probably won't see any use for several reasons. One, its a tower shield, limiting dex for any evasion splash tanks, you know the kind that often wind up doing things like tanking elemental damage things. Two, it doesnt offer any stats which are not already available, and it puts them in a place which is less desirable... no ones going to want to rely on Con on their shield, because they may swap their shields. Three, shield bashing attacks suffer lost swings (either because there is a maximum rate of shield bash, or because it doesn't proc right, or because the animation chain doesnt allow it to complete, Im not sure why)... but you do not get them as fast as you should (as of U19 anyhow, thats the last time I tested). Thus, enhancing a broken mechanic isn't that appealing. You get the idea. The sentiment of adding a tower shield which kind of provides cover like the old school rules, and adding the orb mod for paladins and extra elemental defense is all well and good and appealing... but it needs to address those other things to actually be useful. The best solution I can come up with, and one which would really make it a stand out choice, is making it a Large Shield which functions like a Tower Shield. Like, its a large shield, uses large shield prof, has no dex cap etc... but interacts with feats like Shield Master and Shield Deflection like a tower shield. Like its a shield so awesome and protective for purple dragon knights they can use it with legendary ease, without loss of defense. Nothing else offers that, it takes the pressure off needing tower shield prof on a straight paladin, it avoids the evasion/dex/dodge issues, and actually adds something new to the item choices other than just another elemental defense shield.

Deathwyrm Cloak: Neat in that it has some unique effects, but also kind of lame because those effects are marginal. Add a nightshield clicky (3/rest because mobs dispel and its self only) and make it exclusive. We already have nightshield clickies around but they aren't very accessible to newer players, and it fits the theme of mitigating force damage. Id also consider adding deathblock, which doesnt prevent negative levels but might stop them from immediately killing you, thus making the quicker removal relevant. As it stands, this will just sit in a bag until people need to heal some negs while they tab out and opt for this over restoration scrolls... no ones going to bother with just like 1-2 negs, and if you have 8 or something you generally wont keep zerging unless you also have deathblock etc. I think that combo is the best way for the unique effect to see actual play.

Flask of Gloaming: Does this heal Pale Masters? If so, is there a minimum throwing range? And if they are affected by the dmg, are they also affected by the neg or does their immunity block it (only asking because some things like consort bracers can go around the immunity due to wonky coding). If it can heal them, hey neat, finally a nice clutch heal option anyone can stow, plus a fun toy to attack with. If not, meh, tons of mobs have deathward or are undead or etc etc not so cool. Hopefully, this is like the artificer potion spell equivalent for PMs, which (while marginal, I know) is at least interesting.

Dagan's Mallet: Finally a named throwing hammer, and it isnt terrible. Making it Adamantine is a necessity please, otherwise it won't do its job very well at all. Likewise, whats the "slow" effect exactly... are we talking cripple, some new effect, the slow spell (which has a save and sr check, in which case we need to know dc and caster level etc). If its a decent effect, I would call this item a success, now that dwarves can have enhancements affecting throwing hammers its neat to see one which is also useful in a practical sense. But, without the slow, it can be outperformed by much lower level things (ie, smiting, disruption, etc) which do damage and have a chance to kill, so hopefully that slow effect is pretty solid for lv28 zones.

Okay thats it for now. Hopefully some useful bits there. Overall I would say, decent starting point, definitely not there yet. But most of it has potential if adjusted properly, and thats more than can be said of last round of items (which, by the way, still arent dropping with properly scaled bonuses on life... ie shield of morning is stuck at +3 on all difficulties where it wasnt on test, and other issues). But where as fixes take extra time, hopefully these can simply be done right the first time. Cheers.

[Correlan]

If I understand this correctly this is the only named (rather shoddy) loot we will get from a lengthy quest for which Turbine spent a lot of money on and designed in honor of one the most famous Dungeons and Dragons authors and designed with his help. Should not the loot be like some of the other famous 6 person quest loots in DDO's history? This might be one of those random loot chest farm quest depending on where the chests are, but other then that not seeing this having the repetitive quest qualities that I thought the Devs intended with their quest design.

Exactly this.

[Skavenaps]

If I understand this correctly this is the only named (rather shoddy) loot we will get from a lengthy quest for which Turbine spent a lot of money on and designed in honor of one the most famous Dungeons and Dragons authors and designed with his help. Should not the loot be like some of the other famous 6 person quest loots in DDO's history? This might be one of those random loot chest farm quest depending on where the chests are, but other then that not seeing this having the repetitive quest qualities that I thought the Devs intended with their quest design.

cof cof delera's cof cof

[SirValentine]

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Upgrade:
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

Wait, after going out of your way to nerf our many previous +2 Exceptional stat items out of existence in a previous update, you're now re-introducing them? How about un-nerfing my ToD rings and Greensteel weapons at the same time, please?

Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

So it's pretty much just the Sage's Skullcap, but instead of 110% Fort, you get a bit of bonus Light damage instead. Oh, and an entirely useless Wisdom bonus.

Any particular reason that, while the Spell Power is slightly higher, and the minimum level is higher, the Lore is actually lower?

Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

First, the ability stats: +10? There's +11 on random loot. Is this meant to be temporary starter-gear until you get something better?

You missed one of the caster stats completely. More classes use Wisdom to determine their spell DCs than those that use Int and those that use Cha combined.

And then, you've got to remember, this is competing for a HAND slot on a caster. You know, where we have to fit in most of our +DC and +Spell Power? As is, it just doesn't compete. Throw in at least 2 more slots (say, a Red and a Yellow) for a start...even then, it's iffy.

I don't object to Augment Summoning, for flavor. But nobody cares; it's pretty much useless.

[Kalevor]

If I understand this correctly this is the only named (rather shoddy) loot we will get from a lengthy quest for which Turbine spent a lot of money on and designed in honor of one the most famous Dungeons and Dragons authors and designed with his help. Should not the loot be like some of the other famous 6 person quest loots in DDO's history? This might be one of those random loot chest farm quest depending on where the chests are, but other then that not seeing this having the repetitive quest qualities that I thought the Devs intended with their quest design.

This is my main concern, i don't really see myself running a 1h30min quest for a crapy loot like this...

[Wipey]

Exceptional?
Make it Profane, exceptional +1 doesn't cut it on a lvl 28 item, too many Globes and solves the whole "wear ml 14 Litany for top notch DC caster ".

[Oxarhamar]

If I understand this correctly this is the only named (rather shoddy) loot we will get from a lengthy quest for which Turbine spent a lot of money on and designed in honor of one the most famous Dungeons and Dragons authors and designed with his help. Should not the loot be like some of the other famous 6 person quest loots in DDO's history? This might be one of those random loot chest farm quest depending on where the chests are, but other then that not seeing this having the repetitive quest qualities that I thought the Devs intended with their quest design.

yep nothing I'd replace any of gear I currently have.

not one

[SirValentine]

...the "dwarven forge" system in Thunderholme will step up from ML 22 (tier zero), in twos, to ML 28 for the third tier.

Oh, great, another upgrade system with a built-in DISINCENTIVE for actually upgrading our stuff. If I'm going to be reincarnating, I want to use my gear while doing so.

I'd much rather you decide a single appropriate level for this gear and leave it there during upgrades. And retro-fit Alchemical to the same idea.

[SirValentine]

Make it Profane, exceptional +1 doesn't cut it on a lvl 28 item, too many Globes and solves the whole "wear ml 14 Litany for top notch DC caster ".

/signed

Instead of further inflating total numbers, give us more options for arranging them. Make the Wisdom be a +1 Profane. Scrap the +2 Exceptional and turn those into +1 Profane.

[Oxarhamar]

Why not make the EN version of the single-upgrade items ML 28, the EH version ML 26, and the EE version ML 24 (with identical stats)?

It will make the higher tiers legitimately useful, but not promote any character power creep.

This would be amazing

[sephiroth1084]

Make it Profane, exceptional +1 doesn't cut it on a lvl 28 item, too many Globes and solves the whole "wear ml 14 Litany for top notch DC caster ".

This is a good idea.

In fact, I'd like to see some high level loot that also features +1 Profane bonuses to the various stats so characters can finally move on from Litany 14 levels after they put it on.

[Wipey]

This is a good idea.

In fact, I'd like to see some high level loot that also features +1 Profane bonuses to the various stats so characters can finally move on from Litany 14 levels after they put it on.

Yeah, was gonna say this next, it doesn't invalidate other +1 or +3 stat gear, if I remember correctly there were some "problems" with +2 exceptional stat things I think.
Still don't know about raid gear so hard to suggest anything but something for charisma, int would be cool too ( trinket, orb ? ).

DW clicky on that cloak would be fantasic.

[Kmnh]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

This is a powerful item. I'm not sure if we want more of this effect in the game, the jeweled cloak and pale lavender ioun stone have a lot of charges already.

Does it do damage to pale masters in undead form?


Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex


Is this supposed to be a rogue/ranger item? Add improved deception or some extra action boosts and it will be nice. I would love 10% healing amplification or fleshmaker, but those don't go well with the flavor, right?


Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

This adds a lot of damage to spells like force missles and meteor swarm, that creates a lot of chances for proccing per cast. I would add a timer like the one on the Colors of The Queen past life feat.



Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

This is a fine swap-in trinket.


Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot This looks powerful, too. Nice one.


Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus

This one will depend on stats that are not listed. Max dex bonus? Total AC? Spell failure?

[Yalinaa]

Let's forget the xp here, as a level cap quest it's totally irrelevant. So the only thing we would run this quest for is the LOOT. The items introduced to us are very lacklusters, not a single piece I would want for any of my characters, and I know others feel the same. They wanna bring this update as end game content, but it bleeds from many cuts already... We have Stormhorn chain, Wheloon, Brothers, Study in S as recently brought "end game content", but rarely anyone does them, the loot sucks there badly (except 1-2 items), noone bothers with those quests. Well, the powergamers does, but their reason is different, they do them on EE once, 'cause the true elite saga xp is a nice headstart after an epic TR, but that's all. But even the powergamers will skip this update, unless Turbine manages to put them into every saga and force players to run them (once in a life).

[ycheese123]

+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex




+1 Insightful WIS


Did you mix these up? Or are these types of bonuses getting new stacking values? Currently, on live, an "Exceptional" bonus only drops in the form of +1. And an "Insightful" bonus only drops in forms of +2 & +3.

[Systern]

Whoops, that should both have been the same bonus type. Exceptional, I think.

I'll post some details on the shadow summon tomorrow. Left that info at the office!

Prior to U17, IIRC the ToD rings could have Exceptional +2 stats. With U17, the Devs feared massive proliferation of stacking un-typed bonuses, and mandated that Exceptional +2 would be Insightful so that they could introduce Insightful +3s. Is this a reversal of that policy?


I've also heard about the end of tiered loot by difficulty. If you're concerned about the power creep, and situations like the new ML 28 trinket isn't as good as the ML 25 cloaks from U17, and the design space that gets eaten up by having 3 different versions of the same item. Might I suggest 2 sets of effects, 1 for casual/normal, and the other for hard/elite, and the difference on the elite version is a slightly lower ML? The way the game plays out this helps players while not adding to powercreep majorly. For example, in Gianthold, Madstone Crater has the Madstone Rage effect that basically silences casters. The counter to this status ailment is found in Gianthold Tor, AFTER you've completed Madstone Crater. Since people generally run all quests 2 levels above the quest on Normal, for elite bravery streak, this means that the loot we find, named loot that's usually themed to be beneficial in the pack, can't be used until after we've run the content. The perk of elite gear being able to be worn while playing the content it was meant to address would be rather nice.

[Wipey]

For example, in Gianthold, Madstone Crater has the Madstone Rage effect that basically silences casters. The counter to this status ailment is found in Gianthold Tor, AFTER you've completed Madstone Crater.
Off topic but just drag Defensive Fighting to hotbar, turn on the stance, turn it off.
Voila, no more Madstone Rage.

[Stoner81]

It's not just that. . . with ETR the dynamics of the game have changes.

devs . . . just a little hint . . . NOBODY STAYS AT CAP ANYMORE.

What good is level 28 loot when the best practice is to never be at level 28?

It's like this loot is a tree falling in the forest and nobody will care, so will it make a sound?

I have been quoted by Teh_Troll *swoon*

Stoner81 :p

[Grosbeak07]

For non raid loot, who cares.

Remember there are 2 raids coming as well, its not surprising that this loot is a little underwhelming.

That being said there have been a few suggestions in this thread to make these listed items better. The main thing is that these items should add to your character. Most of these are swaps or not worth it, because their stats and bonuses are already on 10 other different items we have in game and are no better. Not all of us want to TR endlessly for more power, some of us enjoyed the gear grind. But this gear adds less power to my character than doing another heroic or epic TR.

[Ivan_Milic]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

It heals when it absorbs or what, if it runs out of charges doesnt heal anymore?

[Lencrennis]

The powerlevel of these items looks fine to me. After the levelcap adjustment, we have a content patch that gives us lateral growth instead of linear growth. That's logical. The game grew far too quickly for its own good with that expansion and it needs to fill out before it goes up, nevermind the desire of the playerbase to move up. This is better for the game in the long run. /signed there

Here's my problem.

We have this massive quest in front of us that is supposed to be this new and ambitious thing that we're going to want to run again and again... so long as Ed Greenwood sounds better than Gygax or Arneson. Curiosity and excitement will carry us for two or three runs at the minimum, with those who love the concept getting more than that for the sheer unadulterated hell of it. For the rest, there needs to be carrots. Consider, only six items are going to be present, most of them fairly powerful, but also fairly niche. That means fairly large swathes of the playerbase are going to be ignoring this quest once the novelty is gone and, to reduce this to an absurdity, we'll see a number of rogues and evoker divines running in there looking for their items.

For a flagship unit of content with so much love put into it, this is a sad state of affairs. I am not advocating creep, but I am advocating variety. I think the odd abilities make this some of the most exciting static loot you fellas have produced in awhile. Let's have a bit more, shall we?

Build upon the ideas set forth by A Study in Sable and Brothers of the Forge. There's a dragon in the back, yes? A dragon has a hoard and hoards contain gems. Rather than give Whisper all of the other loot, give Whisper some fun augments.

Blue - Heal 1d8+1 on a vorpal strike. (Low, yes, but some builds, like a shuriken thrower, will still fight to fit one.)
Yellow - 2% chance to irresistible dance something that hits you for 3 seconds (Effectively a useful guard in this saves-mad world)
Yellow - Magma Surge guard
Yellow - Negative energy absorption (3 charges)
Yellow - Absorb beholder eye rays (5 charges)
Red - Weapon gains dragon bane (Farm this to ease the raids slightly!)
Red - Remember that lovely effect on tier 3 calomel? 45 bane damage, doubled against fire enemies, and 45 temp hp on a vorpal? It's a tad on the low-end with the deconstructor and the like in play, but also an option. If it feels weak, also add tidal. (Again, this can ease raids. Also, it fixes the whole "I can't get calomel in my weapon type!" problems we'll be having.)
Red - Whenever the weapon kills a creature, it gets bane (+2d6) against that sort of creature until it kills another creature. ...Might be laggy.
Colorless - +3 enhancement to UMD. (This exists on two items and a ml 28 version as an augment would be fair. Of course, if worried, a +2 would also get the right people salivating.)

Again, you've made some good items here, but the fact of the matter is people are going to power through 6 drops fairly quickly. Give what may be DDO's crowning glory some longevity. This update is your big release for level 28 and is Turbine's chance to reverse what Shadowfell did to the endgame. Produce that endgame by putting something out there. It's not a raid, fine. Years ago, people still ran the Cursed Crypt for a few items that some people couldn't live without. Litany was chock full of awesome stuff and it took a VERY long time to get a tome together.

All that means to me the gear here shouldn't push the boundaries of power. Push the boundaries of our imagination instead.


At the very least, let's see one more item that's only in Whisper's chest.

[brian14]

It's not just that. . . with ETR the dynamics of the game have changes.

devs . . . just a little hint . . . NOBODY STAYS AT CAP ANYMORE.

What good is level 28 loot when the best practice is to never be at level 28?
Precisely.

That's why everyone is clamoring for items which are first usable at level 20 or at least 22, then improve as you level.

[Leclaire1]

Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot
[

We wants this....we wants the ring! The precious, we wants it!

[Thrudh]

Remember, as a trinket, this has to compete with the Planar Conflux set bonuses, Litany of the Dead, and a couple of other really excellent trinkets that are several levels lower in ML, and probably much easier to acquire.

This is what the devs need to remember.. they need to compare new items to existing items. If you don't want make an item more powerful than existing items, then give us consolidation with multiple augment slots, or benefits (like Deathblock and FoM on the same item)

We're not going to seek out an item that's weaker than our current items. but with a higher ML.

[Havok.cry]

I would like to say thank you for getting this out to us early enough for feedback to matter. I hope we can all work together to create some awesome loot



Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slotThis seems like a swap item to me. People will swap it in when they go to fight the big baddie, but will keep it off to preserve it's charges. If you want it to be a permanently equipped item, what would you say to this idea: Make it like the heroic eternal wands, but lower it to 1 charge. So it has 1 charge that regenerates every 6-10 seconds or so. It still has the heal. Spells like Frost lance woudl get through, and a caster that spammed spells, or more than one caster woudl still be getting damage through. It would mitigate without being a temporary invulnerability thing. I think that would be a more interesting item that way.



Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional DexI like summons. At level 28 my archer uses it's ooze2 longbow just as often as it uses pinion, if not more. I want armies of them. My favorite ED is primal avatar because it boosts minions. So please don't listen to anyone who doesn't want this to summon stuff. They don't have to equip it. That being said, would you consider making it a small chance to proc on being hit, and then removing the cooldown? By making it a chance to proc on being hit, you encourage people to get hit... which is a really funny idea on EE, but you also allow those few of us casuals who 1-like summons, and 2-don't play on EE to have a fun new item that has the unlikely potential to build up a bunch of minions for us to be amused by (at the cost of being beat on to get them of course).

As a note, I don't even care if this item has ANY other abilities or slots, if it can add to my minion count I want it regardless. Also note that this really isn't trolling, I actually feel this way.



Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment SlotHonestly, I think this looks cool. I have a handful of characters that will want one. People are scoffing at 4-6d6, but to be honest that is like +4-6CL and max CL on the spell. The way it is worded makes it sound like it will be the spell doing the extra damage not the item, meaning spell power would apply, yes? If so the SP and crit chance will have some relevance to anyone that equips the ring. Could I make a request though: make it shed light like a lantern arcon summon/shoulder cannon? At min level 28 making a level 15 quest easier to farm should not be much of an issue, and it would fit thematically with the item.



Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD
This needs Search added to it. Anyone stealthily pilfering has to be able to find the stuff before they can pick it open or disable it. Also what is UMD doing there? It has no synergy with the theme of the item at all. It is only associated with those skills because of class grouping. Also if you insist on having it there, make it higher than you can get on a min level 20 cove item. Epic Spy Glass gives you +3 stacking UMD at 8 levels lower.




Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot
+10 sp and 1% crit will not motivate anyone to equip this over a random gen club that gives 144 spellpower and 18% crit to an element. Augment summoning is a shiny bonus, but it is not something anyone will value enough to equip this. This will be used solely for max SP achievement screenshots and nothing more as it is. You seem to be trying for a universal "everyone can use this" orb. My suggestion is, since you gave it both charisma and int, give it two slots as well. Allowing a player to slot two spellpower augments in it might make it more valuable than a random gen club that has an augment slot.




Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus Interesting. Looks like a sheild designed to protect you from casters as well as weapons. I want to see it's stats before I pass judgement on it though. One person pointed out that con on a commonly swapped item might be a bad idea, so that might be a serious consideration. What about instead of con, it gives +5 stacking fortitude saves and a supply of temporary HP (about 240 would be equal to what +10 con would give you) with a reactive effect that restores those temp HP when ever you receive healing? That would get rid of the concerns with swapping it and give an interesting ability that could be just what a tank needs to keep himself up with pots/cocoon/renewal in EE.



And as a bonus, we have a few named items planned specifically for the Thunderholme landscape. I'll be sharing more about the "dwarven forge" system which some have you have seen the crafting station for on the Lamannia server, and about the named Raid items next week. These items are neither of those - they are found in the chests of bosses found in the halls of Thunderholme itself. More wildernesses need items wandering around them. I am glad to see this one will. It makes exploring the wilderness even more fun in my opinion.



Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slotThis needs deathblock added to it. If it had deathblock then the neg level reduction would be an upgrade to the ability as normal deathblock does not prevent neg levels. Also it needs to be a significant reduction in the time. If it is 15 seconds off the time, don't bother wasting your time coding it, because no one will care.



Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level This looks interesting. My first question is will artificer potion mastery (or whatever that ability is called) effect this? I think it should. You should also allow either spell power or wand and scroll mastery to effect it's damage. I say this, because I am assuming strength will not apply, nor any other stat. If no stat applies, this will have such low damage as to be entirely worthless. While we are on that subject, what would you say to making UMD increase spell power of items, like spellcraft/heal/perform/repair increases spellpower for various spells (would you pass this suggestion on to the appropriate person)?




Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot

The game is not ready for this. Plain and simple. If a throwing weapon is not a shuriken, in the current metagame, it is a gimped piece of shiny vendor trash. Shuriken Expertise, Advanced Ninja Training, and Ten Thousand Stars, all team up to make a very strong argument against ever using any other thrower for anything but hitting ranged levers. This belongs in an update that includes the devs making other thrown weapons actually relevant in the game. Of course we haven't seen it's profile, it could be a thrown eSoS for all we know and that could impact how much this is worth.

[redspecter23]

On to the items themselves:

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot


I like the idea that you're exploring new design space. You get points for that. I'm not quite sure how this will work out in an actual game play situation. As mentioned, Jeweled Cloak is better at protecting from spells as it has more charges. Maybe this is a swap in healing item? For that purpose, I suppose it's interesting, but at 5 charges may not be worth swapping in for those times when you need healing fast. If it's meant as a healing item, might I suggest having it start with 0 charges, then "fill up" as you are hit by spells. Then you expend the charges for healing when you need it. Might need re balancing, but that's the mechanic I see working here.




Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex


First fix summons. There are issues there. They are mostly useless in anything over casual except for one shot target practice by the mobs. Assuming this summon is no different, then it's a flavor ability at best. Basically, I see this as a +2 ex dex and con item. It's at least unique. With ghostly and deathblock, some people might slot this one if they need to even out con and or dex.



Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot


5% chance of pitiful damage. This is another joke perhaps? Either 100% chance of smallish damage or 5% chance of large burst damage. At the end of the day, it is extra damage and spellpower and lore on a ring slot so it has that going for it. Is the extra light damage affected by spellpower? That really could make the judgement on this item vary.




Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD


Great swap in item. Not much else to say here. Throw in improved deception and sneak attack + 10 and you could have something people will keep on full time.



Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot


1% exceptional is extra damage, but wow is it underwhelming. Those that use orbs might pick this one up, but for an endgame item it feels lacking. Up the cha and int to +11 each and either increase or scrap the insulting 1% lore bonus. Augment Summoning? As stated earlier, go fix the core problems with summons then we might be interested in this mechanic.



Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


What's the armor bonus? Max dex bonus? As someone currently playing a sword and board character this is almost worth thinking about. If it's no better than Madstone Aegis, then it may not be worth actively farming. Also, please stop with the "actively blocking" bonuses. Unless it reads "negate all incoming elemental damage" players won't go out of their way for a mere 20% extra absorption. We'll just keep swinging. The bonus for blocking and basically turning our dps off has to be massive. This isn't really a horrible item, but lacks the wow factor.






Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot


10% absorption isn't something players go out of the way for. Deadly X is mandatory, but available elsewhere. Neg level removal speed up is jokingly poor for this level of item. I might use it at level 6 when I'll get a "surprise!" neg level here or there. Just make it immunity to neg levels and you'll have something people might want to use.




Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level


I'd have to see this in action. Might have potential... or might be junk. Not sure.



Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot

Depends on what "lightningsphere" is. This weapon isn't horrible so much as throwing weapons in general are weak. Please add adamantine if possible.

[digital_terror1]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot


Frankly, this looks like something that might be appropriate as ML 15. For ML 28 it falls far short of even qualifying as 'meh'. As many others have already said, it needs the # of charges beefed up considerably and a couple more slots added at a minimum to even be worth considering.



Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot


More entries that fall far short of 'meh'. There is far better random gen loot available.




Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD


Add +20 search to it so we don't have to carry as many swappables, and this would make a decent swap in for rogues. Maybe toss a colorless slot on it as well.



Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot


The suggestion to turn this into a consumable tome of stacking +10 spellpower and 1% lore is a good one. As an item to equip, this needs as much of a major overhaul as most of the rest of the loot list.



Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


Nice. A tower shield that looks geared towards a PDK Sorc EK...and that's about it. It would need to be beefed up more to be useable though. As others have said, as an ML 28 item the minimum bonus to stats should be +11. Maybe even add upgrading the stats to +12 each along with that purple slot and orb bonus.

The other 3 items on the list are just like the Magestar...the flask looks like it should be closer to ML 12 while the cloak and hammer look like they should be ML 20.

[Leclaire1]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment


The Jeweled Cloak has a lot more charges, but this could have some situational use for. It'd be a LOT better if it was an AoE heal. Then I could stand next to the Abbott during inferno and nuke him while staying healed and fire proof. :)



Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex


As others have said, most of the utility depends on how good the summons is, esp given the incredibly short duration of the summoning.. All the other entrees are fairly commonplace. If the summon is good I'll use it to summon the puppeteer than swap back to my Torc or other useful necklace. Overall atm this seems like the weakest entry here, but again, it depends on the strength of the shadow.



Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot



This is the Bee's knees, I want it for my caster cleric already. How long do I have to wait for this to go live so I can get one?



Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD


Definitely a very useful one size fits all trapper item. I'd definitely farm one for all my trappers and switch it on when I need to search, disable, or open locks. What bonus type is UMD? Competence? Exceptional? Untyped?



Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot


Funsies. I like the idea of this being a book you carry around. My only problem with the great Orbs we have is that the only other good caster Items are staffs, which are exclusive with Orbs. There is a serious lack of named, one-handed caster items atm to compliment these great Orbs, forcing me into a lot of unpleasant gearing situations. It doesn't help that Cormyrian scepters are DPS items for some silly reason. I'd like to see a good raid scepter, permi want with bonuses, or other weapon with caster specs. The only option atm is Alchemical, which take a lot of investment and are then out-leveled. Nice item, I'd just like to see some complimentary ones.



Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


Nice shield. There is a need for some more decent tower shields in game, and this definitely fits that profile. It'd be even nicer if the vorpal effect would be added to your main hand weapon as well- people might even be drawn to S&B builds more if there were nice combos like this. Still, nothing to complain about with this shield. My Dwarven Cleric will definitely make use of it.




Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot


My goal would be to avoid neg levels in the first place, so unless its super-duper fast I don't see that as a desirable effect. Deadly is nice but sadly avail in that amount on tons of lootgen garbage. Of course, if we nerfed the deadly on lootgen this would be more desirable for DPS toons. As is its not great. Cool name though.




Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level


Uh oh, my shuriken abusing friends are going to have WAY too much fun with this one. Nice for sure, but will end up being OP with certain builds. Nonetheless it is a very interesting and unique, so I like it overall.



Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot


I like it. More nice throwing weapons for tank types or situational ranged use is good. This one has an interesting design concept as well. I'll definitely farm out a couple.


Thanks again for posting and taking feedback doctor. I'll admit that loot is the subject I most interested in the development discussions at the moment, so every new revelation is like a cookie to add to a greedy kobold's hoard. Thanks again.

[Nibor]

Bonus type matters - when you get a chance, double check all the bonus types and get them updated. Insightful +1 at lvl 28 is pretty garbage; Insightful +2 is not so interesting. Exceptional is quite interesting. The +UMD bonus needs to be defined; it would be nice if it was Enhancement, like the Tier 3 Spyglass, and not Competence, like Spare Hand, Flameward, and so on.

If you are using Exceptional +2, can you talk about the thinking behind it? With MOTU, all Exceptional bonuses above +1 were converted to Insightful to avoid creep. Why use Exceptional +2 instead of Insightful +4? Also, before MOTU, Exceptional +1 stacked Exceptional +2. After MOTU, it has not been an issue. Will Exceptional +1 and +2 stack in U21?

[ArcaneArcher52689]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

Instead of giving this item charges, what about giving it a flat % trigger? 10% on base, 20% on upgrade? I think that would make people far more likely to use it, since it wouldn't compete with jeweled cloak.




Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

Depends on what the puppeteer does. If it does what I think it should (aka takes control of a nearby mob), then it's great. But wait and see.



Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

If this item works the way i think it does, being amplified by spell power, then it's a great item. a chance to do a free ~70 damage? yes please. SLA's would be closer to ~100,






Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

seems good.




Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot


Orbs haven't proven themselves to me as being useful yet.




Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


Now this makes me want to make a divine tank again... Even if it's just because i can behead people with my shield...

[count_spicoli]

Is this for real? Almost all the bonuses on these items can already be had and some at very low levels. This is a lengthy level 28 quest. shouldn't loot that drops in here be beyond anything we have seen. I mean no healing amp bonuses. I'm still wearing the pdk level 21 gloves that give me nothing other than the heal amp bonus.

Let me make something for you that I think a level 28 long tedious quest should have:

Mutalaters Gauntlets
+4 profane str bonus.
40% heal amp
Deadly 12
Bash to the head - upon being hit 25% stun with fort save equal to 10 +1/2 char level plus str mod)

Something useful with high level benefits that actually are better than anything in game?

I would run this thing repeatedly to get these even if drop chance was small.

Also I for one like building a toon and staying at cap trying to make that char even better. If this gear was made level 28 would be fine with me.

[Impaqt]

Since what has been dropping in the Haunted Halls chests on Lamannia is an early prototype, I thought I would share what is actually planned for Haunted Halls treasure. As mentioned a bit back, the quest offers six “classic” items, inspired by treasure in the original module. Each item can be upgraded once, using Zhentarim tokens. The tokens drop in modest rates in the “core” version of the quest and fair rates in the extended version. They also drop at different rates between Normal, Hard, and Elite.

These items will have no or very small drop rates from the core and extended “main bosses” - you’ll primarily win them from the challenging optionals found beyond them:

* Giant Skeleton: Lantern Ring, Purple Dragon Shield
* Mummy: Magestar, Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
* Miior: Libram, Eidolon Necklace
* White Dragon: all the items

On to the items themselves:

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

Please fix spells so one spell does not consume multiple charges and this might be worth it. Or give it a Time limit between Absorbsions. like every time it goes off, it cant absorb another spell for 30 seconds.



Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

Whats the percentage on the ghostly?
Add % of negative absorbsion.



Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot


So close to a decent cleric/Divine item. But so far...

+1 Insightful is completely useless at this level.
WIsdom should be
+10 enhancement (+11 Upgrade)
or +2 Insight (+3 Upgrade)
or +1 Exceptional (+2 Exceptional Upgrade)

THAT would makie it something I would go after,



Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

What Type UMD Bonus?




Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

I just dont understand the point of this one... Who exactly would use this? I dont even have a suggestion to improve....



Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus

I dont see shields very often. OK I guess?




And as a bonus, we have a few named items planned specifically for the Thunderholme landscape. I'll be sharing more about the "dwarven forge" system which some have you have seen the crafting station for on the Lamannia server, and about the named Raid items next week. These items are neither of those - they are found in the chests of bosses found in the halls of Thunderholme itself.

Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot

Get rid of "Speed up neg level removal. Give it a greater restoration clicky and Deathblock



Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level

Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot


Your feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.

weapons are interesting situationally.

[Atremus]

/signed

Instead of further inflating total numbers, give us more options for arranging them. Make the Wisdom be a +1 Profane. Scrap the +2 Exceptional and turn those into +1 Profane.


Another vote for Profane bonus types here. That would really make the Lantern Ring worth farming with just that change alone.

I would also request like that the base ring come with a Colorless and Yellow slot so that we can consolidate our gear and Stats some more. The upgrade version should remove the colorless and replace it with the Green slot. The extra slot won't be overpowered and will allow it to compete with other multislot rings.

Also, thanks for the early look Doc. I really appreciate the new approach even if it is strange to show off unfinished DDO

[stoopid_cowboy]

Yup, ML 28 is the plan.

However, I can't recall how it appeared in the last Lamannia drop, but the "dwarven forge" system in Thunderholme will step up from ML 22 (tier zero), in twos, to ML 28 for the third tier.

Min lvl 28??? You are joking right?
As good if not better random loot drops for min lvl 24. There is nothing wonderful or exceptional on that list!
In my opinion, this loot table is just named random garbage. At best, a couple of niche items for niche builds.

Sorry to be blunt, but this loot list is prolly the worst list released. It almost feels like the loot dev has lost all of his/her creativity
signed,
a very disappointed yuda

[BOgre]

this has got to be so discouraging for Dr. O. I feel for ya. Do all this work, come up with ideas you think are great, only to have us trash you and ruin your weekend. Real sorry. Maybe if you could come back and discuss your thought process for each of the items we might see it from your perspective. We all hated Bladeforged and trashed them to death in the forums, only to now see them as the defacto DPS survivor build... Maybe if we could see these items the way you envision them being played, we'd be less harsh... Like show us a build or two, fully geared, with these pieces included and we might clue in to the synergies...
Otherwise this stuff is sorta falling into a vaccuum and they're not looking very shiny from in there.

[ddorimble]

I just look forward to seeing all the Pale Masters standing around chucking their Flasks against the wall to heal, hehehe.

[Satyriasys]

Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

These should upgrade to +11 or wont be used.

Overall I like the theme of these items. Nothing must have and everything has its place with a unique feel to it. The Lantern Ring is awesome.

[Henky]

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex
http://ddowiki.com/images/Leaves_of_the_Forest_%28Level_24%29.png
Level 28 items shouldn't be worse "stat wise" than a level 24 item.

[Seikojin]

Here is a more detailed breakdown on my thoughts... Changes inline.


Since what has been dropping in the Haunted Halls chests on Lamannia is an early prototype, I thought I would share what is actually planned for Haunted Halls treasure. As mentioned a bit back, the quest offers six “classic” items, inspired by treasure in the original module. Each item can be upgraded once, using Zhentarim tokens. The tokens drop in modest rates in the “core” version of the quest and fair rates in the extended version. They also drop at different rates between Normal, Hard, and Elite.

These items will have no or very small drop rates from the core and extended “main bosses” - you’ll primarily win them from the challenging optionals found beyond them:

* Giant Skeleton: Lantern Ring, Purple Dragon Shield
* Mummy: Magestar, Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
* Miior: Libram, Eidolon Necklace
* White Dragon: all the items

On to the items themselves:
I think the drop rate should be reversed; more possibility doing the extended run. I can understand the impact on farming. I just want the items worth the effort and be represented by the effort. Not a stepping stone that people ignore because it isn't best in slot nor offering enough utility to be worth the slot.


Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Colorless augment slot
Upgrade:
10 charges total
adds a green augment slot

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+3 Exceptional Con
+3 Exceptional Dex
adds a yellow augment slot

Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
+150 Equipment bonus to Light and Alignment Spell power
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
adds a Green Augment Slot


Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Blue Augment slot
Upgrade:
+4 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
Adds a green augment slot
+4 UMD

Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 10 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Purple Augment slot
Upgrade:
augment summoning (or epic if the augment summoning feat is already present, or both)
adds an orange augment slot

Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 10 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Red Augment slot
Upgrade:
Adds a Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus

Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot
Yellow augment slot

Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level
I think this is unique and just fine. However there is no cooldown listed. I think 10-12 seconds? Maybe 15-18? Essentially once per 2-3 rounds...

Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow (maybe boost this to 20% chance?)
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot
I also think this should have a better crit profile. +1 to min crit range.

[Seikojin]

this has got to be so discouraging for Dr. O. I feel for ya. Do all this work, come up with ideas you think are great, only to have us trash you and ruin your weekend. Real sorry. Maybe if you could come back and discuss your thought process for each of the items we might see it from your perspective. We all hated Bladeforged and trashed them to death in the forums, only to now see them as the defacto DPS survivor build... Maybe if we could see these items the way you envision them being played, we'd be less harsh... Like show us a build or two, fully geared, with these pieces included and we might clue in to the synergies...
Otherwise this stuff is sorta falling into a vaccuum and they're not looking very shiny from in there.

I try to be less trash talk, more suggestion.

[rest]

None of these items make me want to run your 5 hour quest. None of them would make me want to run a 1 hour quest. I feel bad that you're trying to fill this thing with shout outs to the old module. It looks like it's crippling your ability to design loot worth trying for.

[Kielbasa]

Why not make the EN version of the single-upgrade items ML 28, the EH version ML 26, and the EE version ML 24 (with identical stats)?

It will make the higher tiers legitimately useful, but not promote any character power creep.

This is far more interesting than any of the loot in this preview. Do this devs with all future loot and you'll see players rejoice and gain yourselves much goodwill.

In general much of this loot is very nitch and will not make people want to replay this content for it. The roguish trinket might see some use on one of my characters as a swap item but the rest of it does not interest me in the least.

[HungarianRhapsody]

According to my minions . . . the NHE versions of items is a thing of the past.

That makes me sad. I thought it was a really good idea to have an actual in-game reward for running content on Elite.

[HuneyMunster]

Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

These should upgrade to +11 or wont be used.

Overall I like the theme of these items. Nothing must have and everything has its place with a unique feel to it. The Lantern Ring is awesome.

Unless I mistaken, currently there are no named +11 CHA items and only 1 named +11 INT on gloves.

[digital_terror1]

One thing for all the people who think shuriken builds are going to have a lot of fun with the Flask of Gloaming:

Throwing flasks are *NOT* centered weapons...makes them perhaps a bit less useful for shuriken builds.

[HungarianRhapsody]

I'm thoroughly unimpressed with the loot. I'm perfectly happy to stick with the loot I have now and this new loot will not make me want to run the quest.

ESPECIALLY since eternal reincarnation means that we won't be sitting at 28-30 most of the time anyway.

[Shorlong]

I think one thing some are forgetting is that this is NOT the be all, end all end game loot you are looking for. They have said multiple times that like A Study in Sable, this quest won't be for everyone. They are hoping everyone runs it, of course, but they know that it's not going to be something people are going to grind. It makes sense that the loot here is something that will be a bonus to the people who want to run a 5 hour quest. They might have uses for some of these items. I see a few things here that I would like on a few toons that aren't completely geared out, and considering I hate switching items, these items would work for my builds.

I also see that the three items at the end of the list are from a wilderness area. I also don't expect that to be endgame loot.

Now, the REAL endgame loot with U21 will not be the loot from Haunted Halls and Thunderholme. It will be the raid items. Remember, there are TWO raids coming with U21. We have already been promised a shield that will be usable by druids, shadow dragon armor, and many other things. I am assuming (and I could be VERY wrong here, but I don't think I am) that the loot you guys are hoping for is coming in those two raids. Not to mention we have the Wyrm-Wrought weapons that you can only make the base item of in the wilderness, but need to run those two raids to get them at the highest tier. We also have the Deserts of Anauroch coming later this year and a possible third raid that will contain more end game items, some best in slot and some for niche builds.

That being said, if the raids come out and the loot looks similar to this, yes, I will have a disappoint.

[stoopid_cowboy]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

Is this a clicky or an absortion item like the Mantle or Jeweled cloak? If it is an absortion item, complete fail. Call five charges/hjeals will be gone in seconds. Better to use Jeweled Cloak and SF pots



Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

Yay! Just what we need, another auto proc lag inducing summons like the bat cloak. /sarcasm
+1 exc. stats are useless. +2 is useable, should upgrade to a +3


Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

Niche item for light casting Flavored Souls and a few clerics. Spell bonus to light power is decent.
Again, +1 exp. stat is useless. 5% chance to do an extra 4-24 points of light damage? Might as well be nothing. Considering mobs have tens if not hundreds of thousands of HP's. Make it 30d20 and you might have something.
Radiance lore again fits the niche build.



Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

This item can be useful to rogue splashes. Again Niche use. A real rogue wouldn't turn it down, but they have no reason to go find one.
Toss a UMD bonus on there and it will be golden. +2 exc. UMD?


Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

Only good thing about this is the Int and Cha on a weapon. Bad thing, int and cha on a weapon. Swap weapons, lose stats. I would never use it for that simple reason.
+10 exc spell power? Can you even notice a difference? +20exc spell power and would be great.
1% lore... Seems kind of crummy to me. 3% lore minimum, preferably 5%.
Augment summoning, Meh. We already all have the House P stick.


Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus

This could be useful to tanks if they were actually viable in game. Con and Cha on a shield can be good for certain builds. Energy abs. is pretty nice (yes, I gave a compliment). Granting the shield bash feat is ok. Kind of getting a little something for nothing. Not sure what Sovereign Vorpal means.
Give it +30prr at tier one and +50prr at tier 2 and I might farm it.




Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot

Neg level removal, uhh, no comment.
Give it 33% force absorption like the level 12 elemental items in game.
Moar deadly...Ugh
Considering there is no real reason to actually use this, give it a crazy useful stat like Freedom of Movement.





Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level

Does it have a save that will actually ever let it land? Like 60DC? Preferably 80DC.
If you say something like 24DC will save then 30DC fort save, I will point and laugh.
It will be like the old Terror Sword. Dc is so low that it will only land when favor farming Korthos.



Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot

Has potential. Does the slow actually have an Epic DC? If it is the same DC as every other slow weapon in game, FAIL!!!
Bonus damage is ok. Could be a little better, but gift horse and all.
What is lightningsphere? If it is the radiant blast light bomb, make it the same proc rate and damage as LitII. Then you got something



Your feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.

There, actual creative feedback instead of open complaining.
Again, this is END GAME GEAR. Why does it have stats and abilitites worse than most random generated gear? Didn't we just have a long forum discussion about this?

yuda

[LavidDynch]

Now, the REAL endgame loot with U21 will not be the loot from Haunted Halls and Thunderholme.

So the real end game loot from GH when that was released was in FOT?

no reason to drop some cool usefull items in these pre quests or whatever they are...

[dejafu]

Suggested changes in italics:

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect has a 5% chance to absorb harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
Upgrade:
10% chance to absorb/heal
green augment slot

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathward
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+3 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 10d6 Light damage and blind the target (no save).
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
+20 spellcraft
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

Libram of Silver Magic
Tome
+10 universal spellpower (permanent inherent bonus)
1% Lore (permanent inherent bonus)


Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
+11 Cha
+11 Con
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus

Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Greater Restoration (3/rest)
Force absorption 10%
Deadly XII
green augment slot

Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
Centered
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level

Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
5% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot

[Shorlong]

So the real end game loot from GH when that was released was in FOT?

no reason to drop some cool usefull items in these pre quests or whatever they are...

No, but with the inclusion of Wyrm-Wrought, it is more like Vale than GH. When Vale was end game, how many named items did you get out of the quests? Oh yeah, none. You got ingredients to make a blank item, which you then ran the raid to get more ingredients. Haunted Halls is labor of love, and is targeted towards a certain demographic, people who like 5 hour quests with lots of traps. The loot is fine for what it is. Thunderholme is a Wilderness area. When the sands was endgame, or gianthold, or vale, or amrath, did the wilderness areas drop top-tier loot? Probably not.

Again, the loot is nice and useable by a lot of people in game. Not everyone has the House P stick with augment summoning as was mentioned in the post right before yours. Not everyone has exceptional items. This loot serves a place and a purpose: good loot that will be right behind end-game loot. It is not meant to be the best loot in the game, as that will be coming from the raids and the Wyrm-Wrought stuff. But, again, as we haven't seen teh loot from teh raids and don't know the drop rates of the things needed to make the Wyrm-Wrought, I could still be proven wrong with my assumption. As it stands, I think this loot is just fine, though may need a few minor tweaks here and there (like the +1 insightful wisdom, only 30-second shadow puppeteer summon, etc).

[rest]

I think one thing some are forgetting is that this is NOT the be all, end all end game loot you are looking for. They have said multiple times that like A Study in Sable, this quest won't be for everyone. They are hoping everyone runs it, of course, but they know that it's not going to be something people are going to grind. It makes sense that the loot here is something that will be a bonus to the people who want to run a 5 hour quest. They might have uses for some of these items. I see a few things here that I would like on a few toons that aren't completely geared out, and considering I hate switching items, these items would work for my builds.

I also see that the three items at the end of the list are from a wilderness area. I also don't expect that to be endgame loot.

Now, the REAL endgame loot with U21 will not be the loot from Haunted Halls and Thunderholme. It will be the raid items. Remember, there are TWO raids coming with U21. We have already been promised a shield that will be usable by druids, shadow dragon armor, and many other things. I am assuming (and I could be VERY wrong here, but I don't think I am) that the loot you guys are hoping for is coming in those two raids. Not to mention we have the Wyrm-Wrought weapons that you can only make the base item of in the wilderness, but need to run those two raids to get them at the highest tier. We also have the Deserts of Anauroch coming later this year and a possible third raid that will contain more end game items, some best in slot and some for niche builds.

That being said, if the raids come out and the loot looks similar to this, yes, I will have a disappoint.


Link to back up your claim of "2 raids with U21" please. This Haunted Halls thing IS U21. I think you're getting confused. I'm pretty sure it was said there would be 2 raids THIS YEAR, not this update.

I'd also love to see your links for this alleged druid shield, shadow dragon armour, and "many other things"

[Shindoku]

This loot seems to be pretty blah, it looks like your just trying to lure us with larger numbers and upgrade slots. I hope they look just look like this because of trying to keep them similar to the concept of the Haunted Halls original loot. Some of the effects on the items confuse me why they are even there.


Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex
The only thing that I can see on the Necklace of Mystic Eidolons that makes sense is the Ghostly and I guess the summon, as an eidolon is a human like phantom and it could be coming out to protect the necklace? As something that exists because of death the deathblock seems strange on it and the exceptional bonuses seem to be thrown on there to peak interests.

The likelihood of me wanting this piece is low as I could slot 2 pieces of gear that give me what is good about this item (the deathblock and ghostly) and get MUCH more out of it, Treads of Falling Shadow alone would give me +10 Dex which is much more valued over +2 Exceptional Dex/Con.

Also, last night someone pointed something out. Didn't a dev post a while ago that they were removing exceptional bonuses from the game as to allow people to create more gearing options?

[die]

This loot seems to be pretty blah, it looks like your just trying to lure us with larger numbers and upgrade slots. I hope they look just look like this because of trying to keep them similar to the concept of the Haunted Halls original loot. Some of the effects on the items confuse me why they are even there.

The only thing that I can see on the Necklace of Mystic Eidolons that makes sense is the Ghostly and I guess the summon, as an eidolon is a human like phantom and it could be coming out to protect the necklace? As something that exists because of death the deathblock seems strange on it and the exceptional bonuses seem to be thrown on there to peak interests.

The likelihood of me wanting this piece is low as I could slot 2 pieces of gear that give me what is good about this item (the deathblock and ghostly) and get MUCH more out of it, Treads of Falling Shadow alone would give me +10 Dex which is much more valued over +2 Exceptional Dex/Con.

Also, last night someone pointed something out. Didn't a dev post a while ago that they were removing exceptional bonuses from the game as to allow people to create more gearing options? To me Ghostly is a joke that's like what a 10 th lv item and at lv 28 shouldn't these epic mobs have true seeing? they have death ward, silly. And the necklace is silly also negative absorption we get that from threnal already and from invaders those are low lv quests ? just the simple fact that the devs are on here wanting too know what we think tells me they don't know what to think, t

[Shorlong]

Link to back up your claim of "2 raids with U21" please. This Haunted Halls thing IS U21. I think you're getting confused. I'm pretty sure it was said there would be 2 raids THIS YEAR, not this update.

I'd also love to see your links for this alleged druid shield, shadow dragon armour, and "many other things"

Absolutely. Now, I'm not going to go through EVERY developer post, but it was mentioned numerous times from the devs that the first previews on lam would NOT include the raids, but they would be coming to preview soon. Here it is, also, in Rowans letter from early December, and has been confirmed multiple times by the devs.

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/431908-Holiday-Producer-s-Letter


Our first update of the year introduces two level 30 raids in the dwarf ruins of Thunderholme. The adventure area covers 7 floors with multiple raid and group encounters, while the raids start with a mated pair of red dragons and culminate in a confrontation with Aurgloroasa the Sibilant Shade. In addition to these two raids, we’ve reserved the option to add a third later in the year.

With the 40th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, we’ll also be introducing a tribute to the classic Ed Greenwood module Haunted Halls of Eveningstar. This dungeon will have a version matching the published module, and an extended version using Ed’s unpublished notes that introduces you to Whisper’s Crypt. The Original Elminster (Ed) will provide the Dungeon Master voice and an optional author’s commentary around creating this beloved adventure.

Thunderholme and Haunted Halls will both be free to VIPs.

Also, as seen in a reply from a dev to something I said , here is further confirmation:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/435045-ETA-of-Update-21?p=5234292&viewfull=1#post5234292

As for the sheild for druids and the shadowscale armor, here is the quote and a link to the thread where it was discussed:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/435018-Alpha-Look-Crafting-Weapons-and-another-use-for-COV-s?p=5234597#post5234597


Hey all - I've been planning to share a bunch of the treasure details here in the near future. I'll mention a few things now as a preview. First, we are also planning traditional, named items in both the landscape and the raids. (There is currently a returning throwing weapon on that list. As are a stone shield and Shadowscale Armor.) Second, the base ingredient (ingots) will be found on the landscape. They'll also appear generously in the raid; the other ingredients a little less so. The base tiers of these weapons will therefore be possible without raiding, and acquirable fairly quick with raiding. The upper tiers will take a little more work.

There you go! :)

Now, do things change? Yes, they do. There is a possibility they will move the raids back, but I don't see it happening. They have said since last year, BEFORE that letter from Rowan, that there will be 2 raids with the first update of 2014. I really don't see that changing at this point.

[Postumus]

It's not just that. . . with ETR the dynamics of the game have changes.

devs . . . just a little hint . . . NOBODY STAYS AT CAP ANYMORE.

What good is level 28 loot when the best practice is to never be at level 28?



28 won't be cap for much longer. They mentioned this a long time ago.

[Impaqt]

28 won't be cap for much longer. They mentioned this a long time ago.



yes, and then the cap is "Permanently" at level 30. People wont stay at 30 either if the present is any indication of the future.

[Steelstar]

Link to back up your claim of "2 raids with U21" please.

There are two raids coming with Update 21. If you're on Lamannia, you'll be seeing them soon. Very soon, even.

[Shorlong]

There are two raids coming with Update 21. If you're on Lamannia, you'll be seeing them soon. Very soon, even.

This is the best confirmation possible. Thanks Steelstar!

[Hathorian]

I don't see myself going out of my way to go for these items...they'll go straight to the AH most likely. They need to be made better to justify ML28 (and/or drop their ML). +10 stats for ML28? I already have random gen +10 cha/+10 resistance ML27 and +10 int. These should be +11 or add +2 exceptional cha/int. And the items with summons on them...I don't think anybody uses summons at level 28. The orb won't be good for a lot of builds unless you can stay centered while using it....

[Postumus]

My feedback in red.

Magestar

As proposed, this is worse than an upgraded PLIS which is a L5 item.

This L28 item should be at least 25 charges with a green slot upgradeable to 50 charges with a green and purple slot.

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons

The summons is not very good. For a ML28 30 second summons, that thing better be awesome.

Change it to an AOE spell effect like symbol of death, or negative energy burst centered on the wearer.
Change the ghostly to 25% incorporeal on upgrade.
Give the upgraded version two augment slots.

Lantern Ring

Change it to +20% light on upgrade
+200 light & alignment SP on upgrade
2 augment slots on upgrade.


Manual of Stealthy Pilfering

Change to
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+10 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+10 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+8 UMD

Libram of Silver Magic

Change to:
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+30 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
3% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
+50 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
5% Lore (exceptional bonus)
augment summoning
orange augment slot

Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
+5 exceptional combat mastery
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
while blocking: 35% energy absorption
+8 exceptional combat mastery
+2 exceptional CHA
Purple augment slot
Green augment slot
+8 Orb bonus

Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: prevent negative levels
Force absorption 20%
Deadly XV
green augment slot


Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (50d10) - 1/2 as powerful as boulder toss
10% chance to add neg level
20% chance to dispel effect

Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
Adamantine
metaline
15% Chance: 35 % Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (5d100)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot

[geoffhanna]

Nice flavor! I'll leave the number crunching to my math-o-betters, but i love the concepts!

Three questions:

1. Will the Libram (shown as an orb) look like a big scary magical book? Because that would be awesome.

2. Does "augment summons" stack with the feat? Because that would be awesome too, but the converse would devalue either the feat or the Libram (yes some of us take this feat) and devaluation is not awesome.

3. Zhentarim tokens? Another currency is really necessary? No better/more creative upgrade path exists? If you absolutely must introduce yet another new currency, can you let us buy them with Valors? Or sell them for Valors?

Looking forward to seeing more!

[Shindoku]

Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD


Is this a +3 UMD in the green augment slot or is it alone?

[Postumus]

yes, and then the cap is "Permanently" at level 30. People wont stay at 30 either if the present is any indication of the future.


How many xps from 28 to 30? Typical players could take weeks to get from 28 to 30 depending on the xps needed.

But yeah, they need to give SOME reason to remain at cap.

[Postumus]

To me Ghostly is a joke that's like what a 10 th lv item and at lv 28 shouldn't these epic mobs have true seeing? they have death ward, silly. And the necklace is silly also negative absorption we get that from threnal already and from invaders those are low lv quests ? just the simple fact that the devs are on here wanting too know what we think tells me they don't know what to think, t


Yes the loot is severely underpowered.

[rest]

There are two raids coming with Update 21. If you're on Lamannia, you'll be seeing them soon. Very soon, even.
Thanks for the confirmation. Hopefully they're worth running, and nothing like CITW. And by worth running I mean good loot. And no escorts. Ever. everevereverevereverevereverever

This is the best confirmation possible. Thanks Steelstar!

Looks like you won this round! *fist shake*

Apparently I was the uninformed one :o

[Atremus]

How many xps from 28 to 30? Typical players could take weeks to get from 28 to 30 depending on the xps needed.

But yeah, they need to give SOME reason to remain at cap.

I want to say Level 30 will be around 10million Epic XP but that is just a guess given the XP curve

[Steelstar]

And no escorts. Ever. everevereverevereverevereverever

The Raids are 100% escort-free.

[Teh_Troll]

The Raids are 100% escort-free.

What do you have against hookers?

[LavidDynch]

Yes the loot is severely underpowered.

There is something fishy here..

1. It is supposed to be a very long quest. which leads to point 2.
2. We can now re-roll chests 3 times (i assume this still wont work on raid loot, which leads to point 3.)
3. We are getting 2 raids this year.

I suspect, there is at least one piece of loot not posted yet, just gotta be. something decent with uber potential on a lucky roll (goatskin boots anyone?)

[Atremus]

The Raids are 100% escort-free.

Best news ever posted

[Teh_Troll]

it is greatly appreciated that the RANDOM ASPECT OF THE NAMED LOOT IS GONE!!!!!!!!

The was the worst thing from the Feathered Loot, glad it is no longer with us.

[Ovrad]

The Raids are 100% escort-free.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

[sephiroth1084]

The powerlevel of these items looks fine to me. After the levelcap adjustment, we have a content patch that gives us lateral growth instead of linear growth. That's logical. The game grew far too quickly for its own good with that expansion and it needs to fill out before it goes up, nevermind the desire of the playerbase to move up. This is better for the game in the long run. /signed there

Here's my problem.

We have this massive quest in front of us that is supposed to be this new and ambitious thing that we're going to want to run again and again... so long as Ed Greenwood sounds better than Gygax or Arneson. Curiosity and excitement will carry us for two or three runs at the minimum, with those who love the concept getting more than that for the sheer unadulterated hell of it. For the rest, there needs to be carrots. Consider, only six items are going to be present, most of them fairly powerful, but also fairly niche. That means fairly large swathes of the playerbase are going to be ignoring this quest once the novelty is gone and, to reduce this to an absurdity, we'll see a number of rogues and evoker divines running in there looking for their items.

For a flagship unit of content with so much love put into it, this is a sad state of affairs. I am not advocating creep, but I am advocating variety. I think the odd abilities make this some of the most exciting static loot you fellas have produced in awhile. Let's have a bit more, shall we?

Build upon the ideas set forth by A Study in Sable and Brothers of the Forge. There's a dragon in the back, yes? A dragon has a hoard and hoards contain gems. Rather than give Whisper all of the other loot, give Whisper some fun augments.

Blue - Heal 1d8+1 on a vorpal strike. (Low, yes, but some builds, like a shuriken thrower, will still fight to fit one.)
Yellow - 2% chance to irresistible dance something that hits you for 3 seconds (Effectively a useful guard in this saves-mad world)
Yellow - Magma Surge guard
Yellow - Negative energy absorption (3 charges)
Yellow - Absorb beholder eye rays (5 charges)
Red - Weapon gains dragon bane (Farm this to ease the raids slightly!)
Red - Remember that lovely effect on tier 3 calomel? 45 bane damage, doubled against fire enemies, and 45 temp hp on a vorpal? It's a tad on the low-end with the deconstructor and the like in play, but also an option. If it feels weak, also add tidal. (Again, this can ease raids. Also, it fixes the whole "I can't get calomel in my weapon type!" problems we'll be having.)
Red - Whenever the weapon kills a creature, it gets bane (+2d6) against that sort of creature until it kills another creature. ...Might be laggy.
Colorless - +3 enhancement to UMD. (This exists on two items and a ml 28 version as an augment would be fair. Of course, if worried, a +2 would also get the right people salivating.)

Again, you've made some good items here, but the fact of the matter is people are going to power through 6 drops fairly quickly. Give what may be DDO's crowning glory some longevity. This update is your big release for level 28 and is Turbine's chance to reverse what Shadowfell did to the endgame. Produce that endgame by putting something out there. It's not a raid, fine. Years ago, people still ran the Cursed Crypt for a few items that some people couldn't live without. Litany was chock full of awesome stuff and it took a VERY long time to get a tome together.

All that means to me the gear here shouldn't push the boundaries of power. Push the boundaries of our imagination instead.


At the very least, let's see one more item that's only in Whisper's chest.

This is a good idea.

[digital_terror1]

To me Ghostly is a joke that's like what a 10 th lv item and at lv 28 shouldn't these epic mobs have true seeing? they have death ward, silly. And the necklace is silly also negative absorption we get that from threnal already and from invaders those are low lv quests ? just the simple fact that the devs are on here wanting too know what we think tells me they don't know what to think, t

Ghostly = partially incorporeal. True seeing does not help with hitting incorporeal targets, it only negates illusion based defenses like blur or displacement. So while epic mobs MIGHT have true seeing, you're at least getting a little benefit from the ghostly, unless they have ghost touch as well.

[JonD]

The Raids are 100% escort-free.

I wondered why Jeets was crying in a corner.

[Krelar]

The Raids are 100% escort-free.

But....

they're all underwater....

involve staring at the gigantic bosses feet the entire time....

there are 223 different raid items each with a 2-23 chance of dropping (on EE).....

:D

[rest]

The Raids are 100% escort-free.

Thank goodness. Can we retcon this to make CITW not so awful?

[lugoman]

Not sure what kind of data mining you can do with peoples characters, but it would be interesting to see how many recently played toons have an orb equipped. Do many people use them? When considering +1 exceptional stat bonuses it would be helpful to know how many players are using globes. I think they are more wide spread (for some reason) than you might think.

Not sure why the orb bonus on the shield, not sure if an orb wielding caster would use this or not. Would be nice as a tank shield with some kind of attack speed bonus (that stacks with current buffs/enh in game) or 40% healing amp or even something that accelerates intim cool down.

I do like that you have a healer oriented item in the loot list as raids need healers. Just listen to the healers and make sure it is something they want to grind for.

[brian14]

And no escorts. Ever. everevereverevereverevereverever

Oh, I would not be that adamant. Succubi escorts have potential.

As long as they fight like any level-appropriate succubus :)

[harry-pancreas]

i like most of them

guys don't forget these items are based on the original module, and it's an homage for the D&D and DDO aniversary.

DR; will these items drop in 3rd completion or so, or are they thought as chest drop only ? That could change a lot.


I personally see lot of caster and DC love for this update, keep it that way, we need moar shinies!!

[lugoman]

What do you have against hookers?


They don't accept astral shards!

[nolifer1]

is there any way we get spell focus mastery 5 items? we alwys had spel lfocus mastry 2 items, since now whold be time for +5...
basiacally items + 5 conjuration boots adn +5 enchat kloack from last expasion has no slots, its just not haveing dc-s u need slot in some stats, saves, good luck, and hitpoints, and atm its just horrible gear up dc caster, since u need tjhose dc and u have to give up somthng to wear that, gave us all those shiny augments that stack , which is nice, but to slot those i have to drop my hitpoints aswell, dead caster is not worth anything....
edit: ah yeah and augment summoning on new caster orb????? its almost usless effect , since we al lknow how useful pets are lol, this is stat shold be replced with spell focus mastery 5 and we have realy nice orb for while

[Wizza]

On to the items themselves:

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

10 charges only? Make it 20. We don't want to carry 231231431 Spell absorption items.



Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

Will wait on the Shadow Puppeteer info. However, a shadow-summon like creature than wastes half of the time running around into the ground and it's just a 30 second is going to suck very hard regardless of its stats. Make it a 2 min summon with actually good stats.



Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

Seems decent to me. I'd upgrade the chance to 10% to make it worth something. However, Shiradis will abuse the heck out of this. 5% 6d6 dmg PER magic missile is going to be uber.




Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

Decent swap in. Nothing more.



Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

Wow, this sucks so much it's not even fun. +10 stats? No Focus? No Spellpower? No Spell lore? AUGMENT SUMMONING? You are giving us 10 USP but you are forgetting that most casters use two one-hander with 2 elements, forcing us to lose one of them. Add a random +20% Lore to make it actually useful. Also, +10 stats DO NOT belong to weapons since we swap them constantly. Instead, these should be either a +5/6 Focus or have one of Arcane Augmentation X/Efficient Empower II/Lesser Empower 1/1 /Lesser Maximize 1/1 /. Or give it an unique clicky: +10 stacking USP for 5 min, 3/rest





Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot


So-so swap in for Force damage absorption. I'd make it Force resistance 20, Force Absorption 15%, Green slot, Speed up negative level removal.

[rest]

i like most of them

guys don't forget these items are based on the original module, and it's an homage for the D&D and DDO aniversary.


I couldn't care any less about the original module. I play DDO, not a 22 year old module for a game that has had 4 iterations since said module was released.
Saying they are "an homage" is just an easy out for how truly terrible this loot is.

[Oxarhamar]

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

Upgraded this as a whole is a decent swap in item.

However I already have every single one of these at lower levels

+3 Luck Idol of fortune tier 3 ML25
+6 exceptional dex skills Greensteel tier 3 ML 11
+6 exceptional int skills Greensteel tier 3 ML 11
+20 pick lock
+20 disable Epic Utility Vest ML 20
+3 UMD Golden Cartouche ML 7

sure it would be nice to consolidate some of these effects into 1 item for inventory space issues.

at the same time a ML 28 item is far less appealing because, it is a useless bank space until you've reached level 28 meaning if your a trapper and doing any sort of reincarnation the lower level items have much more value.

[Shorlong]

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

Upgraded this as a whole is a decent swap in item.

However I already have every single one of these at lower levels

+3 Luck Idol of fortune tier 3 ML25
+6 exceptional dex skills Greensteel tier 3 ML 11
+6 exceptional int skills Greensteel tier 3 ML 11
+20 pick lock
+20 disable Epic Utility Vest ML 20
+3 UMD Golden Cartouche ML 7

sure it would be nice to consolidate some of these effects into 1 item for inventory space issues.

at the same time a ML 28 item is far less appealing because, it is a useless bank space until you've reached level 28 meaning if your a trapper and doing any sort of reincarnation the lower level items have much more value.

But what about the lots and lots of people who don't have those items, do do any reincarnation or just want to consolodate that banks space? Why must EVERY peice of loot be more uber than the last loot? Isn't that what we were complaining about before? The the old loot was invalidated immediately by the next update?

[ArcaneArcher52689]

Add a random +20% Lore and change the orange slot to red so we can slot our own Spellpower, making it actually useful.

...

Orange slot= red or yellow or colorless.

[Wizza]

...

Orange slot= red or yellow or colorless.

Shush, noone has seen that!

[irnimnode]

is the server open or closed? I cant tell keep getting internal error contact customer support

[Munkenmo]

The Raids are 100% escort-free.

now how am i going to get lucky at the end of the raid :(

[Oxarhamar]

But what about the lots and lots of people who don't have those items, do do any reincarnation or just want to consolodate that banks space? Why must EVERY peice of loot be more uber than the last loot? Isn't that what we were complaining about before? The the old loot was invalidated immediately by the next update?


You want to get a ML 28 swap item that has effects easily attainable at much lower levels then delete any lower level gear to have more bank space be my guest.


Your the odd man out here in this thread defending this loot for no other reason than you want to argue.

Your taking the loot being invalidated out of context and you know it.

Here we are talking Upgradeable rare items from a level 28 quests there invalidation was of EE rare named item by random generated trash that dropped in every chest.

Of course we want higher ML items to be better that lower ML otherwise what is the point.

[Desonde]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

This doesn't equate to a ml28 item to me, especially when it's exclusive. Will you make sure that it won't eat charges when someone has some other form of spell immunity (deathward for energy draining/death spells, nightshield for magic missles). Sure having an item that heals you and blocks an incoming spell is great, but this item has to be twitched to be used effectively so it doesn't go from 10-0 in 3-5 seconds.



Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

If these are exceptional bonuses they will have a useful place and can be given pretty much any ml you want, ghostly is a ml16 effect and deathblock is a ml0 effect, so if these are the only source of exceptional stat it's a good place to go.

Also, useful(less)ness of the Shadow Puppeteer aside, you are aware that the item defense enhancement sprinkled through some of these trees that many people are asking you to remove now makes your ml28 gear less effective right?



Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

Falls short of a ml28 named item, the Spell Power Boost and Lore bonus are good and both ml28 effects, insightful wisdom comes easier from other sources, and a 5% chance to do an extra tiny amount of damage isn't worth it (CR30 mobs have ~3000hp, doing and average of 21 light damage is the same as saying 5% chance to do <1% damage to your target). Only real benefit to this is the fact that you don't have to play the random lottery to find the Light Spell Power bonus and Radiance Lore bonus on the same item.



Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

I like it, what bonus type is the UMD? [+29 to pick lock and disable trap makes a solid item to swap to]



Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

I don't know much about orbs give detailed feedback on this, but a ml28 item without a +10 enhancement bonus?



Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus

ml28 shield w/o +10 enhancement bonus/orb bonus, Vorpal, Vorpal on a Shield, While blocking effect [actually this while blocking effect is pretty decent since it's not a chance to have a chance while blocking].

This looks to be a paladin shield, which they may find some use for, it's too large (tower) for an EK, and doesn't have an Int Bonus for EK wizards. With Epic bonus and Sovereign Vorpal (which is +1[w] 250dmg and 2500 slay?) it has a 3[1D6] attack with slower than main hand attack speed?

This item looks far too situational to be of any real use other than for niche situations.



Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot

How much does it speed up neg level removal? Neg levels are so devastating that this effect isn't desirable (since you won't suffer just 1 neg level, you will get spammed with them) that sitting around to let them wear off isn't worth it [even if it's 50% faster it's still 30seconds per neg level]. Deathward spells and clickies protect you from them completely.

Force Absorption is ok, 10% is still kinda low and nightshield clickies absorb much of the force damage I take. [Maybe 10% force and untyped to help against the disintegrate]

Deadly X is good.



Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level

I like this, [can flasks get the dex modifier bonus to damage from halfling's skillful thrower?] as strong as it is, there is still an common enemy type that is immune to it making it a decent weapon to switch to in an arsenal.



Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot

+10 is good, Aligned is good, Bonus to constructs and undead is good.

How long is the slow [this is a flavor effect as well, just trying to figure out the statistical slow upkeep].

Define "lightningsphere", is it like the artificer spell? [Way to weak for a 2% proc, and way to weak for a ml28 item]

[SirValentine]

is there any way we get spell focus mastery 5 items? we alwys had spel lfocus mastry 2 items, since now whold be time for +5...


Or just make the Mastery items give the same bonus type as the Yellow Augments do now, and presto! +2 becomes useful again.

[SirValentine]

The Raids are 100% escort-free.

Very carefully stated: "The raids".

The escorting will be in the 6-man quests, then?

[Shorlong]

You want to get a ML 28 swap item that has effects easily attainable at much lower levels then delete any lower level gear to have more bank space be my guest.


Your the odd man out here in this thread defending this loot for no other reason than you want to argue.

Your taking the loot being invalidated out of context and you know it.

Here we are talking Upgradeable rare items from a level 28 quests there invalidation was of EE rare named item by random generated trash that dropped in every chest.

Of course we want higher ML items to be better that lower ML otherwise what is the point.

Easily obtainable for you is not worth the time for me. Why would I want to swap out 6 items when I can do it with one. Most people in my guild don't TR, they get a toon to cap and work on the next toon, so that way they will have an abundance of toons ready to go at any time. Most of those items would work for most of my toons, and I know several in my guild who would like them as well.

Again, if you read my previous posts, you would see that I say this is not intended to be end game loot. The REAL end game uber loot you guys are dying for will be coming from the two new raids located in Thunderholme accompanied by the Wyrm-Wrought weapons obtained through the raid and the wilderness area. The loot in the Haunted Halls is loot that will be good for many builds, a lot of people will enjoy it, but they know most people aren't going to farm a quest that can take 2+ hours to get to the named loot. It isn't meant to be that way. It is average named loot from a quest that happens to be at the level cap. When the level cap was 20, not every item from Amrath was amazing. Not every epic-craftable item was awesome. You will get your awesome loot in the raids.

[Kamode_Corebasher]

I'm not appreciating these items...and I feel providing my suggested adjustments will not be a good use of my time as I've yet to see you change an items effects once listed like this...though I do hope.

I have a question and then a recommendation.

Question on the Magestar: does the heal auto-discharge when hit with a spell, or does it take 5 enemy spells to charge and the player determines when to use, up to 5 heals total, so equals 25 absorbs total? <--if that's the case, then totally worth farming and totally neat idea.

Recommendation (in hopes that you will make a change...for each item): I would like to point you (DrOctoThorpe and/or SteelStar) to our other famous quests in honor of Gary Gygax ...to please look at the specialty loot there...the uniqueness and power of them. If you could make each of these (already unique) items you listed below powerful and/or wonderous in honor of this quest (yeah I know--define powerful and wonderous....I really can't...I just know you're not there with this offering) then we'd all be excited and constantly farming this content. Not asking for OVER powered, just...something more.

Thanks,
Kamode



Since what has been dropping in the Haunted Halls chests on Lamannia is an early prototype, I thought I would share what is actually planned for Haunted Halls treasure. As mentioned a bit back, the quest offers six “classic” items, inspired by treasure in the original module. Each item can be upgraded once, using Zhentarim tokens. The tokens drop in modest rates in the “core” version of the quest and fair rates in the extended version. They also drop at different rates between Normal, Hard, and Elite.

These items will have no or very small drop rates from the core and extended “main bosses” - you’ll primarily win them from the challenging optionals found beyond them:

* Giant Skeleton: Lantern Ring, Purple Dragon Shield
* Mummy: Magestar, Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
* Miior: Libram, Eidolon Necklace
* White Dragon: all the items

On to the items themselves:

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


And as a bonus, we have a few named items planned specifically for the Thunderholme landscape. I'll be sharing more about the "dwarven forge" system which some have you have seen the crafting station for on the Lamannia server, and about the named Raid items next week. These items are neither of those - they are found in the chests of bosses found in the halls of Thunderholme itself.

Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot

Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level

Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot


Your feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.

[PsychoBlonde]

I don't see why the Manual of Stealthy Pilfering should be relegated to a "swap" item--there aren't many good epic trinkets, anyway. I don't like swapping skill gear on my rogues. Granted, most of the rogues I run across at epic levels don't qualify as trappers anyway. Even as listed it's a better item than the Skullduggery kit or the Ventilated Armbands for helping out us actual trapper rogues. I'm hesitant to ask for MORE bennies on it even though I'd love to see stuff like:

+exceptional wis skills
+20 search and spot (search being more important than spot)
True Seeing
Deception VII (+6 sneak to hit, +12 sneak damage)

Actually, cancel all that, put Deception VII on that bad boy plzthx and call it a day.

[oradafu]

Has the Bind status for these been announced yet?

Because if these are ML 28 and BTC, I'd be really disappointed. Since we have little BTC space, there's little room in our inventory, even with the new inventory slots. Additionally, if the Devs are expecting us to use the Epic and Iconic TR system alot, the ML 28 means that for an individual character the item will be sitting in the bank a majority of the time.

[Oxarhamar]

Easily obtainable for you is not worth the time for me. Why would I want to swap out 6 items when I can do it with one. Most people in my guild don't TR, they get a toon to cap and work on the next toon, so that way they will have an abundance of toons ready to go at any time. Most of those items would work for most of my toons, and I know several in my guild who would like them as well.

Again, if you read my previous posts, you would see that I say this is not intended to be end game loot. The REAL end game uber loot you guys are dying for will be coming from the two new raids located in Thunderholme accompanied by the Wyrm-Wrought weapons obtained through the raid and the wilderness area. The loot in the Haunted Halls is loot that will be good for many builds, a lot of people will enjoy it, but they know most people aren't going to farm a quest that can take 2+ hours to get to the named loot. It isn't meant to be that way. It is average named loot from a quest that happens to be at the level cap. When the level cap was 20, not every item from Amrath was amazing. Not every epic-craftable item was awesome. You will get your awesome loot in the raids.

You do what you want. Sit at cap and build X million alts if you like but, THE DEVS NEED TO KNOW they built the game for TRing they would do much better to make some items that went hand in hand with that. something more like the LVL 5 Abishai set from Chronoscope for Epic levels.

We are tired of average named loot that is out powered by randomly generated loot or MUCH MUCH lower ML loot.

As far as the Manual

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

ADD +6 exceptional wisdom skills (for spot)
+20 search
+20 spot
Then you have created an ALMOST all inclusive trapping item (still missing +5 exceptional disable +5 exceptional open lock)

[Arianka]

Since what has been dropping in the Haunted Halls chests on Lamannia is an early prototype, I thought I would share what is actually planned for Haunted Halls treasure. As mentioned a bit back, the quest offers six “classic” items, inspired by treasure in the original module. Each item can be upgraded once, using Zhentarim tokens. The tokens drop in modest rates in the “core” version of the quest and fair rates in the extended version. They also drop at different rates between Normal, Hard, and Elite.These items will have no or very small drop rates from the core and extended “main bosses” - you’ll primarily win them from the challenging optionals found beyond them:* Giant Skeleton: Lantern Ring, Purple Dragon Shield* Mummy: Magestar, Manual of Stealthy Pilfering* Miior: Libram, Eidolon Necklace* White Dragon: all the itemsOn to the items themselves:MagestarTrinket Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points5 chargesrecharge 5/restExclusiveUpgrade:10 chargesgreen augment slotNecklace of Mystic EidolonsNecklace Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.GhostlyDeathblock+1 Exceptional Con+1 Exceptional DexGreen augment slotUpgrade:Lower cooldown to 80 seconds+2 Exceptional Con+2 Exceptional DexLantern RingRing +144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power+1 Insightful WIS5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.Colorless augmentUpgrade:5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.+18% Radiance LoreGreen Augment SlotManual of Stealthy PilferingTrinket +2 luck+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills+20 pick lock+20 disableUpgrade:+3 luck+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skillsgreen augment slot+3 UMDLibram of Silver MagicOrb + 8 Enhancement Bonus+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)1% Lore (exceptional bonus)+ 10 int+ 10 chaUpgrade:augment summoningorange augment slotPurple Dragon Shield Tower Shield+ 8 Enhancement Bonus+10 CHA+ 10 CONWhile blocking: 20% energy absorption20% chance to shield bash while attackingSovereign VorpalUpgrade:Purple augment slot+8 Orb bonusAnd as a bonus, we have a few named items planned specifically for the Thunderholme landscape. I'll be sharing more about the "dwarven forge" system which some have you have seen the crafting station for on the Lamannia server, and about the named Raid items next week. These items are neither of those - they are found in the chests of bosses found in the halls of Thunderholme itself.Deathwyrm Cloak Cloak Passive: speed up negative level removalForce absorption 10%Deadly Xgreen augment slotFlask of Gloaming Returning Throwing Flask All effects are AoE:Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)10% chance to add neg levelDagan's Mallet Returning throwing hammer+10 Enhancement bonusAligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)15% Chance: 25% SlowBonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"orange augment slotYour feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.

definitely disappointed u did nothing with the stone warhammer in room #13. I made a suggestion here:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/434971-Haunted-Halls-Alpha-Preview?p=5233319&viewfull=1#post5233319


the stone warhammer from room #13 shoud be something good.



Earth Hammer

This seemingly inert, simple stone warhammer awakens when hefted by a worthy dwarf (epic level dwarf with at least 1 level in a melee class like pally, fighter, ranger). Several shards of stone fall away revealing lustrous veins of adamantine running throughout the handle, haft, and head. When held by such a dwarf, a very slight rumble can be felt hinting at a much greater potential.

Powers:

Min lvl 28
Adamantine
+10 Enhancement
Damage 2[2d8] +10 Bludgeon, Adamantine, Magic
19-20/x3 crit profile
Acid Burst
Acid Blast
Acid Torrent
Greater Stone Prison
Greater Earthgrab (reflex save DC 55 to avoid being grabbed)
Earthquake (like the druid spell) AOE - 3 charges per rest, reflex save DC 55 to avoid falling down (could be 1 charge if 3 charges are to many.)
Red augment slot
Purple augment slot


think of this hammer like Divine Vengeance from VoD. doesn't look like much when u first see it but in the hands of a melee dwarf it becomes super cool like Divine vengeance does in the hands of a pally.


maybe the example above is the hammer at its most powerful version.

maybe u can find the a less powerful version then upgrade it as you beat the bosses in the optionals.

[Wizza]

Also, no Assassinate bonus even on these items.

You guys are great.

[Kamode_Corebasher]

I really like your ideas on the stone warhammer...what do you think of this variation:

Earth Hammer
This seemingly inert, simple stone warhammer awakens when hefted by a worthy dwarf (subtract the "New" features I list below if used by any other race). Several shards of stone fall away revealing lustrous veins of adamantine running throughout the handle, haft, and head. When held by such a dwarf, a very slight rumble can be felt hinting at a much greater potential.
Base Damage Rating: ?
Min lvl 28 (27 EH, 26 EE)
2.5[1d10] +8 Bludgeon, Adamantine, Magic
19-20/x3
+8 Enhancement Bonus
Fracturing
Acid Burst
Acid Blast
NEW Adamantine Entangle - (Duration 60 seconds) 2% chance to trigger an entangle spell where the tendrils are made of adamantine and grasp at the enemies of the wielder of the hammer. Saving Thow Reflex (DC55) or Strength (DC70) to escape the tendrils. Lasts 60 seconds. A new triggering of the effect removes the previous instance to create the new instance.
NEW Acid Pool - When the Adamantine Entangle triggers, an Acid Pool forms at its base. All creatures entangled take increased Damage Over Time while stuck within the confines of the pool (5d4 dmg, multiplied by 2 every 3 seconds).

Soooo... I would think coding wouldn't be too bad...UI may be more difficult??...thinking the entangle spell would work as the template...just warp it to fit this adamantine entangle; and the pool could be similar to the TAKEN acid blob or the dog spit in LOB. Imagine a DPS'r and other party members kiting mobs into this pool :-) Fun!

EDIT:
Damage from the pool would grow too powerful...maybe cap it at the 9th multiple (realistically the 7th multiple, but leaving at the 9th for kicks):
3seconds = 5d4
6seconds = 10d4
9seconds = 20d4
12seconds = 40d4
15seconds = 80d4
18seconds = 160d4
21seconds = 320d4
24seconds = 640d4
27seconds = 1280d4
30seconds = 1280d4
33seconds = 1280d4
continues until the special effect expires.



definitely disappointed u did nothing with the stone warhammer in room #13. I made a suggestion here:https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/434971-Haunted-Halls-Alpha-Preview?p=5233319&viewfull=1#post5233319


the stone warhammer from room #13 shoud be something good.Earth HammerThis seemingly inert, simple stone warhammer awakens when hefted by a worthy dwarf (epic level dwarf with at least 1 level in a melee class like pally, fighter, ranger). Several shards of stone fall away revealing lustrous veins of adamantine running throughout the handle, haft, and head. When held by such a dwarf, a very slight rumble can be felt hinting at a much greater potential.Powers:Min lvl 28Adamantine+10 EnhancementDamage 2[2d8] +10 Bludgeon, Adamantine, Magic19-20/x3 crit profileAcid BurstAcid BlastAcid TorrentGreater Stone PrisonGreater Earthgrab (reflex save DC 55 to avoid being grabbed)Earthquake (like the druid spell) AOE - 3 charges per rest, reflex save DC 55 to avoid falling down (could be 1 charge if 3 charges are to many.)Red augment slotPurple augment slotthink of this hammer like Divine Vengeance from VoD. doesn't look like much when u first see it but in the hands of a melee dwarf it becomes super cool like Divine vengeance does in the hands of a pally.maybe the example above is the hammer at its most powerful version.maybe u can find the a less powerful version then upgrade it as you beat the bosses in the optionals.

[yynderjohn]

The shield, ring and hammer are all nice for very niche builds (tank, laser/sla clerics, throwing builds). The Manual is a nice swap item for any rogue. The rest needs work, unless the version posted on the front page is the EN version. Random gen gear is better and that makes players sad.

[IBCrabin]

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex


On upgrade give this 15% ghostly and one extra slot



Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot


Change +10 int/cha to +3 insightful int/cha
1 Red slot for base item

On upgrade give 2 to 3 slot purple / Orange



Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


Give this +12 seeking, 9% double strike
On upgrade make it heavy shield type




Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot


Add Speed XV, Ghostly, and 1 more slot,

Need more items with +3 insightful.

[Desonde]

I don't see why the Manual of Stealthy Pilfering should be relegated to a "swap" item--there aren't many good epic trinkets, anyway. I don't like swapping skill gear on my rogues. Granted, most of the rogues I run across at epic levels don't qualify as trappers anyway. Even as listed it's a better item than the Skullduggery kit or the Ventilated Armbands for helping out us actual trapper rogues. I'm hesitant to ask for MORE bennies on it even though I'd love to see stuff like:

+exceptional wis skills
+20 search and spot (search being more important than spot)
True Seeing
Deception VII (+6 sneak to hit, +12 sneak damage)

Actually, cancel all that, put Deception VII on that bad boy plzthx and call it a day.

Deception VII would move this item from a swap item to a wear item.

[Stoner81]

Also, no Assassinate bonus even on these items.

You guys are great.

Cloak of the Master Assassin
Type - Cloak.
ML - 28
Hide +15
Move Silently +15
Sneak +15

Upgrade:

Hide +20
Move Silently +20
Sneak +20

Assassins Sight
This item has a powerful magical effect and grants you the ability to blend in with your surroundings almost to the point where nothing will ever see you, as such you receive a +2(?) to your Assassinate DC.

Blue Augment slot.

Just a suggestion :)

Stoner81.

[Nightmanis]

Give this +12 seeking, 9% double strike
On upgrade make it heavy shield type


Don't care for seeker, hell yes to doublestrike, make it something akin to a mithral tower shield. AKA All the PRR goodies of a tower shield, all the no dex cap of the heavy shields.

[Havok.cry]

Cloak of the Master Assassin
Type - Cloak.
ML - 28
Hide +15
Move Silently +15
Sneak +15

Upgrade:

Hide +20
Move Silently +20
Sneak +20

Assassins Sight
This item has a powerful magical effect and grants you the ability to blend in with your surroundings almost to the point where nothing will ever see you, as such you receive a +2(?) to your Assassinate DC.

Blue Augment slot.

Just a suggestion :)

Stoner81.

Sneak is not a skill in DDO, it is a feat that uses your hide and move silently skills. Min level 15 and 20 items already have +2 assassinate DCs, a min level 28 item should have higher, +3-4. It should further have deception VII and improved deception (okay wishful thinking here). Maybe add in +20 bluff for good measure.

[Scraap]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

I'll second that if it were either regenerating or a proc that can only go off so often it'd be more desirable, even if that meant it took a bit of a hit to the spike heal. Particularly given it's exclusive.



Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

+

Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

Summons in general are either a casualty of the left hand not paying attention to the right hand's power-creep, or deliberate stat reduction, judging by the latest play-through of the same toon with the same feats + two druid past lives having a summon that went from an almost assured ability working, to almost never seeing it go off. Perhaps consider retooling augment summoning and the druid passive past life feats to percentiles to offset the added chaos.



Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

The desirability of this one would go up and likely stay up longer if it was on harmful spell *crit*.



Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

It may cut down on inventory space for swap items, so there's that. Danger there of course is folks will go right back to carrying a half a page of swaps as soon as a collection of higher numerical stats come into play.

Perhaps for future-proofing, consider a third tier on all of the above that would turn each into a unique augment with at least two of what you consider the iconic effects.



Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus

This one's pretty schizophrenic. Likely too late for Lam, but might be time to look into a 20% chance to automatically block, rather than 20% chance to shield bash for the next similar item.



Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot

Haven't really been able to cook up a coherent reaction to this one that'd turn it useful and still maintain the... theme(? is there a theme to this one?), so I'll just leave my initial 'whut'.


Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level

I Reeely wish you guys would let spellpower apply to this...



Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot

Consider giving this one some form of doubleshot to compensate for the alternatives, or upping the lightningsphere proc-rate to say 5%.

As a final note, I'll also add that I rather liked the notion brought up for lowering ML with upgrades. Nicely sidesteps the issue of trying to design the hardest settings to be as hard without the reward as with.

[Cyr]

Suggestions...

Libram of Silver Magic, Manual of Stealthy Pilfering, and Magestar...

Change each of these to grant permanent 'tome type' bonuses. You use the item and your toon has these effects forever and they kick in at the appropriate ML.

Libram: +10 Universal Spell Power
Manual: +20% Sneak Speed, -20% threat toggle
Magestar: +1% Spell Critical Chance on all spells

And add warrior typed one from DMG can not remember name now...+1 damage bonus to all ranged, thrown, melee, and unarmed attacks

That would provide a compelling reason for people to run what seems like it is designed to be the longest dungeon in DDO's history.

[Shorlong]

Also, no Assassinate bonus even on these items.

You guys are great.

Fear not, found in the Bone Guardian chest of the Shadow Dragon raid:

http://i.imgur.com/OVh0jtL.jpg

[Flavilandile]

The Manual Trinket is a great swap in to go along with the Cove Spyglass.
( you swap spyglass to find, then manual to disarm, then you put back the focus/whatever you had in slot... at end quest you put VOM )

The Lantern Ring is...
beside the obvious reference, the ring is nice for a divine.
Now I can say that I find this kind of reference more fun than Ponies references.

Magestar looks so much like a Conc-Op Item on Steroids. The only interesting bit is that it's a Trinket.

Neckie is meh ! Summons are bad. You don't want summons, they can't be controlled and they have a tendancy to die pretty fast once they have triggered Dungeon Alert.

Libram : meh... Yeah it consolidates Int and Cha on a single item with +10, but really as an arcana you need one or the other, so no need to consolidate it.
( and it's no use in a weapon slot where every body swaps things in and out all the time )

Shield : Bleh, who uses shields nowadays when TWF or THF is soo much better ? ( except when tanking, and in that case you already have better stat bonuses )
I suppose it is a Paladin Sentinel specific item to make them palatable.

Cloak : Mabar Cloak is almost better for a lower ML.

Flask : Really ? really ?

Hammer : hmm, I'm dubious.

[Lencrennis]

This is a good idea.

Thank you, sir. I'm glad somebody took the time to read it. The more I think about it, the more I think making Whisper's hoard an augment clearinghouse would be awesome.

90% chance of pulling a single randomgen augment from level 4-28. Hey, I got 1d2 acid damage for my lowbie and don't need to mess with a collector! Not bad! And suddenly the endgame is supporting the TR system in a new way.

10% chance for a new named augment.

[Iriale]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot
I'm not impressed. Absortion items are depleted of charges very fast. They are used as swap item, and we have plenty (and nearly useless) absortion items in the current game.


Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex
Flavoroul item. Not very useful, but some people will love have one. But--- add healing amplification (positive/negative) and a lot of people WILL WANT grind for it.


Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot
If you change +1 Insightful WIS to +3 insightful or +1 exceptional you will have a winner. Caster divines divines will love the ring.

+1 Insightful WIS is useless, please.


Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD
Add +20 search and you will have my love too. I am tired to swap trapping items. Let me a consolidation of trapping skills.

what bonus type is these umd?

The item is good.


Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot
uh, no. the worst item of the pack.

first, the stats need to be +11. if you are a melee you don't need maxed fighting stats, but if you are a caster you need maxed casting stats. nobody will want a named with devaluated casting stats.

second. this can't be a orb! Bad thing, int and cha on a weapon. Swap weapons, lose stats. I would never use it for that simple reason. And you can kill the casting staffs. Change this item to other item slot. This is very important!!!!!

+10 exc spell power and 1% lore is very meh but if this item don't compete with casting weapons (change the item to other slot!!!) and you give +11 casting bonus would be a very nice item. As an orb and with the current stats is useless, a big piece of garbage. Change this, and you will have to all arcane casters grinding for it.

augment summoning is useless. Summon are useless and PM skeleton is weak in harder quests. Other red slot would be very nice (or blue for a defense augment), but is not needed; with a change to other slot and +11 to stats the item will be good.

A divine version with +11 wis and +11 char would be loved too.

If you want an orb, forget the stat thing and give us real bonuses to spellpower and/or DC spell. then, other named item with stat bonuses will be appreciated.



Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus
i don't like stats in shields, weapons or orbs. A tank too can want swap it to a two handed weapon, and lose the +10 con is a BIG problem. No, please, no more important stats (casting/con) in weapons or shields!



Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot
this item has two valuable bonuses: deadly and green slot. we have random items with these bonuses. the other two are situational and weak.

change "speed up negative level removal" to a deathward clikie with a long duration and you will have other winner.


Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level
flavor item, not very useful. Perhaps useful for PM healing, but… PMs don't need negative healing, they need a way of remove stat damage without dropping the shroud!!!

i love the flavor, though


Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot.
Has potential. i like it.

Suggestion: lower the min level to the items
Suggestion 2: storage space is a big problem. If you don't give us more storage, give us a powerful reason for grinding these items and destroy some old ones. Lower the min level helps to extend the usefulness of the items.


some ideas for other rewards:
* healing amplification augment and named items with healing amplification in other slot than gloves. this game has very few healing amplification items. give us more variety! We don't need bigger bonuses, give us variety in other slots and paired with different effects!
* +4 insighful to saves in other slot than bracers and in items more advanced than eveningstar sets!!!
* PM stat damage healing (too for heroics, please, this is much needed)

[SisAmethyst]

@DrOctothorpe

A little bit off-topic, but as we are talking about loot, is there any chance that mithral will ever come back into the loot tables, including their corrected properties?

[SisAmethyst]

Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus.

I would urge you to avoid putting stats one weapons and shields. I mean if I as a fighter would swap for DPS from S&B to a two-hand weapon I would drop 10 points in CON with this shield, which is not acceptable. same goes for casters that swap different lore and mastery items. Weapons and shields get swapped too often to making any stat on them of any greater use!

[HuneyMunster]

Not sure what kind of data mining you can do with peoples characters, but it would be interesting to see how many recently played toons have an orb equipped. Do many people use them?

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/1688971008/hF327E5BC/

[Shorlong]

I would urge you to avoid putting stats one weapons and shields. I mean if I as a fighter would swap for DPS from S&B to a two-hand weapon I would drop 10 points in CON with this shield, which is not acceptable. same goes for casters that swap different lore and mastery items. Weapons and shields get swapped too often to making any stat on them of any greater use!

I can see this, but there are a subset of people who don't swap out items at all. On my PM, I strive to get as much in my gear as I possibly can, and then I don't switch it out. I know I'm not the only one, either. Same goes for my paladin, my druid and my cleric. They all use shields, and I have no intentions of taking off the shield to go twf. I may switch weapons sets, but my shield will be in all of those sets. So, it has it's place, it's just not for everyone.

[PsychoBlonde]

Deception VII would move this item from a swap item to a wear item. Yep. It's cool, but it just needs that little extra something.

[Kamode_Corebasher]

BUT rename these and add as extra loot...then take Ed Greenwoods unique items and adjust them to be more or better than what you've presented so far!


Suggestions...

Libram of Silver Magic, Manual of Stealthy Pilfering, and Magestar...

Change each of these to grant permanent 'tome type' bonuses. You use the item and your toon has these effects forever and they kick in at the appropriate ML.

Libram: +10 Universal Spell Power
Manual: +20% Sneak Speed, -20% threat toggle
Magestar: +1% Spell Critical Chance on all spells

And add warrior typed one from DMG can not remember name now...+1 damage bonus to all ranged, thrown, melee, and unarmed attacks

That would provide a compelling reason for people to run what seems like it is designed to be the longest dungeon in DDO's history.

[Wizza]

Fear not, found in the Bone Guardian chest of the Shadow Dragon raid:

http://i.imgur.com/OVh0jtL.jpg

Okay, we have assassinate +4. Good.

Too bad the rest of the item is horrible. MS and Hide +20? What the F? Put Devotion VIII on this, put some SA, put some untyped dmg, put SOMETHING ELSE USEFUL beside Assassinate +4 ffs.

[Kamode_Corebasher]

Two topics here:

1) an adjustment to my thoughts on the below example of a unique artifact. Instead of subtracting the "New" features, make it more a cursed effect for any user not of Dwarven heritage...where if a non-dwarf wields the weapon, the Adamantine Entangle and Acid Pool will grasp at all persons on the battlefield.
1a) What I'm trying to do with this example is to give party members (us players) reasons to communicate more.
1b) Imagine a high strength non-dwarf wielding this...he could break away once triggered and maybe his next tactic would be to kite other mobs into his makeshift trap. But But, what about party members who cannot break free if trapped. OR, the dumb barbarian utilizing this weapon on a boss where all other melee are close and engaged as well, and the darned Adamantine Entangle with Acid Pool triggers...what chaos!

and more important, 2) I'd really like to talk about this Module that you and Ed Greenwood created. This is the 40 year tribute module to D&D. This is from Ed, basically a big part of the Ao essence of the Forgotten Realms. Not some lowly deity like Lolth, not some half-dead deity like Mystra...no, this artifact loot you're presenting is from the essence of he who is all the greater gods in this realm. Please, the loot here should be on par with any of the level 30 raid loot you're creating. Maybe set the drop rate to rare like the SOS scroll or seal (but not even close to as rare as the ring of spell storing [which is arguably way more powerful than any of this loot you presented]). Make this loot wonderful. Make this loot unique like most artifacts are. Make this worth our time. Make us want to spend 100's of hours playing this module. Please do not create another Master Artificer failed experience!



I really like your ideas on the stone warhammer...what do you think of this variation:

Earth Hammer
This seemingly inert, simple stone warhammer awakens when hefted by a worthy dwarf (subtract the "New" features I list below if used by any other race). Several shards of stone fall away revealing lustrous veins of adamantine running throughout the handle, haft, and head. When held by such a dwarf, a very slight rumble can be felt hinting at a much greater potential.
Base Damage Rating: ?
Min lvl 28 (27 EH, 26 EE)
2.5[1d10] +8 Bludgeon, Adamantine, Magic
19-20/x3
+8 Enhancement Bonus
Fracturing
Acid Burst
Acid Blast
NEW Adamantine Entangle - (Duration 60 seconds) 2% chance to trigger an entangle spell where the tendrils are made of adamantine and grasp at the enemies of the wielder of the hammer. Saving Thow Reflex (DC55) or Strength (DC70) to escape the tendrils. Lasts 60 seconds. A new triggering of the effect removes the previous instance to create the new instance.
NEW Acid Pool - When the Adamantine Entangle triggers, an Acid Pool forms at its base. All creatures entangled take increased Damage Over Time while stuck within the confines of the pool (5d4 dmg, multiplied by 2 every 3 seconds).

Soooo... I would think coding wouldn't be too bad...UI may be more difficult??...thinking the entangle spell would work as the template...just warp it to fit this adamantine entangle; and the pool could be similar to the TAKEN acid blob or the dog spit in LOB. Imagine a DPS'r and other party members kiting mobs into this pool :-) Fun!

EDIT:
Damage from the pool would grow too powerful...maybe cap it at the 9th multiple (realistically the 7th multiple, but leaving at the 9th for kicks):
3seconds = 5d4
6seconds = 10d4
9seconds = 20d4
12seconds = 40d4
15seconds = 80d4
18seconds = 160d4
21seconds = 320d4
24seconds = 640d4
27seconds = 1280d4
30seconds = 1280d4
33seconds = 1280d4
continues until the special effect expires.

[jessman615]

are the quests still locked to vip. kinda hard to preview or give any feedback otherwise.

[maddmatt70]

Okay, we have assassinate +4. Good.

Too bad the rest of the item is horrible. MS and Hide +20? What the F? Put Devotion VIII on this, put some SA, put some untyped dmg, put SOMETHING ELSE USEFUL beside Assassinate +4 ffs.

I like MS and Hide +20 actually. Really good on an assassin. Having a 100 hide and 100 move silent is useful on epic elite. You can sneak through a dungeon without messing with mobs. I would like the color slot to be upgraded to green though.

[Wizza]

I like MS and Hide +20 actually. Really good on an assassin. Having a 100 hide and 100 move silent is useful on epic elite. You can sneak through a dungeon without messing with mobs. I would like the color slot to be upgraded to green though.

No sorry. This is the first Assassinate item since Epic Midnight greeting. It should have offensive abilities, first of all Deception which is awesome coupled with the above Assassinate.


IMHO, this should be:

Intelligence +11 OR Insightful Intelligence +3
Assassinate +4
Deception VIII
MS +20
Hide +20
Yellow slot

[Vellrad]

Please tell me you're not introducing landscape to DDO, and by landscape you mean wilderness areas.

[Urjak]

Yesterday I ran both the normal version of Haunted Halls and the extended version on epic normal solo (for speed ;)):
From those two runs I got:
Lantern Ring (Giant Skeleton)
Eidolon Necklace (White Dragon)
Purple Dragon Shield (Whisper's Apprentice)
5 Black Stones (End Chest)

So basically in two normal runs I got 3 of 6 items and 5 of 6 x 300 stones needed for upgrading them ... am I the only one thinking that there is something off here? ;p

To the items themselves: Corrected a few things from DrOctos post with the values I found ingame in red:


... *snip* ...

On to the items themselves:

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
15 charges
green augment slot


The healing effect sounds interesting, yet there are far more interesting trinkets out there currently - would be FAR more interesting if it would recharge over time (like endless wands) - and at the same time only absorb spells up to a certain level to avoid making it overpowered - or only of certain schools (then you could for example make one trinket per school and thus mix the loot up a bit ... with the current drop rate this wouldn't hurt)



Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Insight Con
+2 Insight Dex


So far I only tried out the necklace in those new undead and constructs only areas and thus the Shadow Puppeteer didn't do anything at all. It is CR 30, so I hope that vs. living foes it is of some use, because the other effects aren't anything special at all. The upgrade though is the worst, as it is actually a DOWNGRADE! Who wants a +2 insight bonus at cap? Either make it a +2 exceptional bonus or create some totally different upgrade effect. +2 insight is completely redundant. In case you decide to make +2 exceptional, I think it would be cool to create 5 versions of the item (again assuming that the droprate stays roughly the same as on lamma now): each would have the bonus to con. The +1/+2 exceptional bonus would than go to either of the other attributes => thus this item would appeal to all characters as everyone can use more con and whatever your primary stat is - there is a version that has it



Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Exceptional WIS
On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage. (Ingame description doesn't say anything about it only being a chance)
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage. (Ingame description doesn't say anything about it only being a chance)
Radiance Lore VIII (+18% Radiance Lore)
Green Augment Slot


Haven't tried the ring out yet, but at least it sounds interesting



Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
Enhanced UMD +3 (enhancement bonus)


pretty awesome to swap in for trapping ... nothing to wear constantly -> consider replacing the green slot with something else - maybe enhanced disable & open lock +5? That would fit the theme and make this a truly awesome item!



Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot


This one is just bad ... I mean REALLY bad:
+10 ex spellpower: exceptional spellpower - sounds cool! But +10 is really not all that much
+1% ex Lore: 1%? I couldn't care less
+10 int AND cha - there aren't many people who care about BOTH of those attributes - only ones I can think off are assassins and maybe artis, but both of them won't care about an orb. Also +10 is readily available on random loot.
Augment Summoning - this used to be cool to have on an item - nowadays noone really cares and those few that do are probably druid or arti - which again both aren't interested in the rest of the item.

Again assuming the drop rate stays so high, I would suggest to change the item to:
Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+8 Enhancement Bonus
+15 exceptional universal spellpower
+3% exceptional lore
RANDOM: +10 int, wis or cha
Colorless Slot
Upgrade:
+20 exceptional universal spellpower (instead of +15)
+5% exceptional lore (instead of +3%)
+11 to int, wis or cha (same as base item)
Enhanced Augment Summoning (like Augment Summoning one more Toughness feat, +50% fortification and +4 to all stats, but all of them fully stacking with the feat and also granting +25 PRR, maybe also grant +25 spellpower and 10% melee/ranged alacrity (not stacking with haste))
Orange Slot



Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
Shield Bonus: +20, Max Dex: 2, DR: 16, 1.50[2d6]+8, 19-20/x2
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption Item description doesn't mention this effect - hidden effect?
Improved Bashing X: On Shield Bash: +5d4 bludgeoning damage, 20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal: +0.5[W], On vorpal: Instakill if foes has less than 3000 hp, else deals 300 damage
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus


The base item looks quite solid in my opinion. But the upgrade is just bad. Considering (in case my runs were any indication of the actual drop rates) one will need around 60 runs to upgrade it - it should really be more than a purple slot (i guess noone cares about the orb bonus). Upgrade the attribute bonuses to +11 and upgrade the enhancement bonus to +10 (all in the upgrade ofc)



And as a bonus, we have a few named items planned specifically for the Thunderholme landscape. I'll be sharing more about the "dwarven forge" system which some have you have seen the crafting station for on the Lamannia server, and about the named Raid items next week. These items are neither of those - they are found in the chests of bosses found in the halls of Thunderholme itself.

Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot


At the very least add a 3/day Mass Deathward CL20 clicky - else ... looking rather generic, but probably also not that hard to acquire



Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level


Please let this count as shuriken or at least not uncenter a monk



Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot


Should also be adamantine and silver. I hope that the slow proc actually works on all contructs and undead (as they seem to be immune to many slowing effects)



Your feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.

I hope the feedback helps ;)

[-Avalon-]

Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus

Ok, Orb bonus, as a melee PM player (most of the last 3 years) that used shields quite often, one of my biggest concerns is something I didn't see anyone mention yet: ASF. This is a tower shield, which usually has a 50% ASF. Best hope is to max out EK tree's shield ASF reduction, and get -30%, which drops this to 20%? The only other way in past this has been handled has been nullifying the ASF completely (like on the Skyvault Shield). So, on this Tower Shield that has an upgrade to having an Orb Bonus... what sort of ASF are we looking at?

Also, I would like to second the notion that +automatic-block-chance would be better than +chance-to-bash. Perhaps even make a shield that has an effect that says when wielding this shield you are considered to be actively blocking at all times but still have the freedom to act normally? Honestly think that all shields should do this now anyways, especially considering how much lag there is in game, and the latency between pressing block and actually blocking, plus the latency between letting off block and resuming attacks, the only time people block anymore is when they are in the 'oh no, it's on me, get it off GET IT OFF' mode, or when they mistakenly think they have plenty of aggro and start blocking like a good tank, then find out the enemy is pulled away mere milliseconds after because by turning turtle, they stopped putting out DPS.

Here's an idea, add on to a shield something like, 'When actively blocking, this shield will do X damage to any attackers, hit OR miss' and make the number decent enough that it would matter... otherwise, due to how intimidate fails in epic proportions, aggro is lost quickly, thus defeating the reason for 'turtling up' as a tank... actively blocking has too much wrong with it to be remotely useful...

--------------------------------------------------------

As for the neck piece for Assassin's, I love it, just wish they would add on it keeping with the basic concept they have shown and talked about... make the neck piece have +2 Exc. Dex/+2 Exc. Int once upgraded, starts at +1/+1 like the Mystic Eidolans piece (+1 Exc. Dex/+1 Exc. Con becomes +2/+2) But then, I don't know what other items they have in store for us, but was just an idea on how to make a nice necklace into a much better one.

Oh, and side note, I am one of those who likes to just have one set of gear for my toon, not swap stuff around and all... just supporting the claim by the other poster about how these people DO exist lol...

[Nightmanis]

The base item looks quite solid in my opinion. But the upgrade is just bad. Considering (in case my runs were any indication of the actual drop rates) one will need around 60 runs to upgrade it - it should really be more than a purple slot (i guess noone cares about the orb bonus). Upgrade the attribute bonuses to +11 and upgrade the enhancement bonus to +10 (all in the upgrade ofc)

Max dex 2 on the shield. Right now, I can honestly say that that shield is worthless.

I'd rather use a large shield than a tower shield, solely for this fact.

[SirShen]

300 Black Stones to upgrade an item are you having a laugh. If lucky its 30 runs of a quest and if unlucky it could be 300 runs of a quest. Thats if its true that 1 to 10 black stones can drop in a chest.

[maddmatt70]

No sorry. This is the first Assassinate item since Epic Midnight greeting. It should have offensive abilities, first of all Deception which is awesome coupled with the above Assassinate.


IMHO, this should be:

Intelligence +11 OR Insightful Intelligence +3
Assassinate +4
Deception VIII
MS +20
Hide +20
Yellow slot

Hmm you might be right that this item should have some more assuming that this raid and its loot are designed for level 30 characters. I was actually thinking that the MS and Hide are not enough. Skill items at level 30 might be +23 so I propose that this item should definitely have whatever the top skill item for MS and Hide will be at level 30 cap. I think that both insightful intelligence and insightful intelligence will be higher at 30, but I am not sure that this is the right item or raid to introduce +12 intelligence and +4 insightful intelligence items so not a fan of that. The deception VIII and yellow slot seem feasible.
Proposed Item
Assassinate +4
Deception VIII
MS +23
Hide +23
Yellow Slot

[Wizza]

Hmm you might be right that this item should have some more assuming that this raid and its loot are designed for level 30 characters. I was actually thinking that the MS and Hide are not enough. Skill items at level 30 might be +23 so I propose that this item should definitely have whatever the top skill item for MS and Hide will be at level 30 cap. I think that both insightful intelligence and insightful intelligence will be higher at 30, but I am not sure that this is the right item or raid to introduce +12 intelligence and +4 insightful intelligence items so not a fan of that. The deception VIII and yellow slot seem feasible.

Proposed Item
Assassinate +4
Deception VIII
MS +23
Hide +23
Yellow Slot

Already better. I'd go as far as putting Intelligence (either +11 or Insightful +3) to make this a perfect Assassinate item. We've had EMG for too long, time to reward our patience.

[Eth]

Again not a single item with healing amp :(

Shall I roll a bladeforged now like everyone else?

[Wizza]

Again not a single item with healing amp :(

Shall I roll a bladeforged now like everyone else?

Sorry, we got Assassinate in this round.

One rare suffix/affix/item per Update.

[harry-pancreas]

I couldn't care any less about the original module. I play DDO, not a 22 year old module for a game that has had 4 iterations since said module was released.
Saying they are "an homage" is just an easy out for how truly terrible this loot is.

my point is this quest will be mostly about flavor, the "real" stuff we should care about is the new crafting system, but it's just my opinion.

And i do care a lot about the original module, without that you wouldn't have DDO, rpgs and who knows what else.

D&D = the beatles of the roleplaying.

[JOTMON]

~snip

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons

Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex


Your feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.


Can we get some clarification on the +2 Exceptional... is it +2 Exceptional or +2 Insight, does it stack ?

We already had the fiasco where the old +2 stacking Exceptional's were changed to the non-stacking Insight bonus.





~Snip

Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot

Your feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.

+1 Insightful WIS ?
Insightful bonus doesn't stack and we already have access to +2,+3 insightful at lower levels...
I think this is a poor choice for bonus type.
Profane or Alchemical would make more sense... or some other stacking bonus would be more desirable..

[lyrecono]

i have no idea if the dev's actually still read this, meeting deadlines and all,

the items need some work.
Here's some dwarven tank perspective: dependent on many stats the +10 to cha&con looks nice but those will be slotted elsewhere with a +11
Just 1 slot?
i see no reason to put my bullwark (http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Bulwark_of_the_Storm%27s_Fist_(Level_25)) away.
At least it will accommodate my 19 dex mod (max dex bonus from plate, with enh etc)
basicly, the new shield is worse then the old one
Not that tanks are viable in ee's...
Strangely, i brought this up during the U19 loot discussion. it got ignored then....
one saving grace would be: have the paladin/fighter defender stances make you count as blocking all the time.
With all the lag, bloking becommes meaningless
DrOctothorpe, i understand the time pressure, i understand the amount of time you spend on it so far, but please, learn from the mistakes of your predecessor, don't make high lv junk that gets out preformed by years old gear.


as for the raid gear, take a hint from the shroud, most likely the most popular raid gear in the history of DDO.
What made this so great? the utility? sure that was a huge factor, but i think the best part was running to the (tr) bank all giddy at lv 11&12 to grab my greensteels.
The entire upgrade system should be 28 base, -2 min level per upgraded tier.
Another point with the WW weapons is the lackluster attitude it seems to radiate. it lacks the fun factor and punch sort to speak.
the other thing is: very little people stay at cap atm, many are on the heroic or epic tr train. They will stay at cap for a few weeks before moving on, the content and loot is simply not worth it to stay at cap at the moment.




As someone who's main used to be a s&b pally and desperately wants a reason to go back I'm underwhelmed by this.

I suppose it depends a bit on what sovereign vorpal is. If it applies to the main hand weapon it could be interesting, if it only applies to shield bashes then meh (And really how am I cutting someone's head off with a shield?)

You keep trying to add feats and effects that only work while blocking. Stop it. Until you fix out abysmal damage we can't block or we lose agro. Make it a passive energy absorption even if you feel like you need to lower the amount.

With +'s to 2 stats this is going to be something people keep equipped all the time rather than a swap in item, make it worth it.

This:
Thanks have a hard time as it is, don't make it worse by giving worse gear at higher level


The Raids are 100% escort-free.
You are learning!


it is greatly appreciated that the RANDOM ASPECT OF THE NAMED LOOT IS GONE!!!!!!!!

The was the worst thing from the Feathered Loot, glad it is no longer with us.
And again, you dev's do seem to be learning!

[moo_cow]

Magestar
Trinket
Magestar Absorption: This effect absorbs harmful spells targeted at the wearer and heals the wearer by 20d10+200 Hit Points
5 charges
recharge 5/rest
Exclusive
Upgrade:
10 charges
green augment slot

No idea how the heal triggers but spell absorption items are always handy.
Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
Necklace
Eidolon Summons: On Being Damaged: Summons a Shadow Puppeteer for 30 seconds and can be created once every 120 seconds.
Ghostly
Deathblock
+1 Exceptional Con
+1 Exceptional Dex
Green augment slot
Upgrade:
Lower cooldown to 80 seconds
+2 Exceptional Con
+2 Exceptional Dex

Interesting could help you save some slots but I don't see this being an end game piece of loot.
Lantern Ring
Ring
+144 Equipment Bonus to Light and Alignment Spell Power
+1 Insightful WIS
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 4d6 Light damage.
Colorless augment
Upgrade:
5% Chance On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 6d6 Light damage.
+18% Radiance Lore
Green Augment Slot


Should work very nice with the new melee divine.
Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
Trinket
+2 luck
+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
+20 pick lock
+20 disable
Upgrade:
+3 luck
+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills
+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skills
green augment slot
+3 UMD

Good item for trappers.
Libram of Silver Magic
Orb
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
1% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 10 int
+ 10 cha
Upgrade:
augment summoning
orange augment slot

Summons in this game are useless so augment summoning is odd choice. I also rather have a second element in my hand, however it can be a little dps boost when mobs are immune to your second element. The +10 to stats kinda seems like a waste as well no one is gonna use it as their stat as many people will be using +11.
Purple Dragon Shield
Tower Shield
+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 CHA
+ 10 CON
While blocking: 20% energy absorption
20% chance to shield bash while attacking
Sovereign Vorpal
Upgrade:
Purple augment slot
+8 Orb bonus

20 % energy absorption is nice, but that's it. It's a situational item


Deathwyrm Cloak
Cloak
Passive: speed up negative level removal
Force absorption 10%
Deadly X
green augment slot

Speed up negative level? As soon as people get negs they use restoration on themselves, no one waits on it. Force absorption seems odd, not sure what we are in for though. I like the deadly 10 and green slot, but I rather use a deadly xi and resistance x.

Flask of Gloaming
Returning Throwing Flask
All effects are AoE:
Negative energy damage per hit (10d6)
10% chance to add neg level

Interesting item however it's only gonna work on 1 in 10 mobs... so it isn't really useful.

Dagan's Mallet
Returning throwing hammer
+10 Enhancement bonus
Aligned (bypasses alignment-based DR)
15% Chance: 25% Slow
Bonus damage to constructs & undead (7d6)
2% Chance to explode in "lightningsphere"
orange augment slot

I don't see a real use in throwing hammers.

Your feedback heartily welcome. I'll try to respond when I can & be generally useful.[/QUOTE]

I don't see these items as really end game loot aside from the ring, I see these items more of swaps for doing traps, spell absorption, energy absorption, etc. Overall I'm not really gonna be aiming for any of this except the spell absorption.

[DrOctothorpe]

Thank you everyone who took the time to share your feedback here. Some of it was undeniably less varnished than others, but that's all right.

I was unable to respond to some questions I wanted to answer, thanks to a stomach bug (my recommendation: don't get one of those), but I've got a few answers here for you, tonight:

1. Haunted Hall items will be Min Level 26! And Thunderholme Landscape items will be Min level 27!
There is, of course, a delicate between keeping the treasure from lower-CR dungeons worth seeking and making near-cap stuff generally useful. We think this decision might hit that sweet spot. Note that with items that upgrade here, the upgrade does not change the CR.

2. The Necklace of Mystic Eidolons will summon a shadow that will cast Unholy Blight and Hold Monster
The goal is that it should some nice accessory crowd control for you... even (or especially) if you're not a CC build.

3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?

4. Exceptional vs. Insight Bonus - explained
Actually, the weird combination of these as first posted was a vestige from the Greensteel days that required poring over scrolls penned in the dark tongue of the ancients to comprehend. While we do like to honor tradition, we're considering what you have all said, and may well change them.


Cheers!
Dr#

[redspecter23]

3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?
[B]


Anyone in level 20+ content (or level 7+ for that matter) should have a contingency plan for negative levels. There is no save and they can RUIN your run. Because of this, players learn very early on that they need a way to deal with it. Early on, that's Flesh Render visors. Later on, it's perhaps a group divine or self cast or hireling or Silver Flame necklace or even potions from the Eveningstar traders or the store. The point is, by level 25+, if you're even moderately familiar with the game, you already have a method of neg level protection that is far, far better than 25% speed up in recovery.

Because of the fact that players should already have protection of some sort, this item is very lackluster. What it does is completely unnecessary as if you're taking negative levels, you can't afford to wait around for them to wear off. You recall out of the quest and get the protections you should have brought with you or hit the store for them.

Really, would it be gamebreaking to simply grant neg level immunity? If that's seen as too much, even a 20 minute death ward clickie would be preferred or a single restoration clickie really. 25% speed up in recovery is just that poor for this level of the game. It's perhaps a very small tag on ability that you could place on an already good item as a small bonus. It shouldn't be the highlight of the item itself. To be honest, it's not worth the time it takes to code the ability into the game.

[HungarianRhapsody]

I was unable to respond to some questions I wanted to answer, thanks to a stomach bug (my recommendation: don't get one of those), but I've got a few answers here for you, tonight:

Curse you, QA! You're supposed to catch those!

[Ivan_Milic]

3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?
[B]


I use dw clicky or dw pot, anyone who is playing after lvl 20 shouldnt get in epic quests without dw, ofc this doesnt apply to wf and bf.

[DrOctothorpe]

Curse you, QA! You're supposed to catch those!

Actually, we devs really should catch any bugs we can before they get to QA. So... I guess I took this one for the team?

[Ayseifn]

3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?
[B]
Cheers!
Dr#
Yes, no?
I have 4 toons I play, Bladeforged archer is immune and so is my WF wizzy, they can scroll heal/resto though if needed. Human paladin is immune depending on enhancement setup, or can cast greater/lesser resto, or scroll it and my FvS is the same as the pally except no immunity. I also have a lot of DW clickies floating around too as well as spell absorption items, neg levels are not a threat for those of us that prepare and/or build for it.

I get that I'm basically saying DW and robo immunity are OP and may need a nerf like FoM and disease/poison immunity received, and it probably does if you want energy drain type abilities to be threatening. But please don't go too far with it, having it go from awesome to very niche would not be cool.

[Kamode_Corebasher]

1. Haunted Hall items will be Min Level 26! And Thunderholme Landscape items will be Min level 27!
There is, of course, a delicate between keeping the treasure from lower-CR dungeons worth seeking and making near-cap stuff generally useful. We think this decision might hit that sweet spot. Note that with items that upgrade here, the upgrade does not change the CR.
Dr#


Is there any way to convince you to make this loot compare with the new Raids loot. There will be (and currently are) other quests that fill this lvl26 loot slot (Stormhorns, Wheloon, HighRoad, CitW, eGH) with gear that is already comparable. Like my previous post, this is the D&D 40th and with Ed Greenwood artifacts...and with our final level cap happening this year.

Good to have you back from the sick :-)

[Havok.cry]

1. Haunted Hall items will be Min Level 26! And Thunderholme Landscape items will be Min level 27!
There is, of course, a delicate between keeping the treasure from lower-CR dungeons worth seeking and making near-cap stuff generally useful. We think this decision might hit that sweet spot. Note that with items that upgrade here, the upgrade does not change the CR.
This sounds better. I also assume the near future level cap raise is being factored into this. When the cap is thirty this will give them 3-4 levels to be used at.


2. The Necklace of Mystic Eidolons will summon a shadow that will cast Unholy Blight and Hold Monster
The goal is that it should some nice accessory crowd control for you... even (or especially) if you're not a CC build.Will the monster's DC's be enough to matter in level 26+ EE content?


3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations? I solo. Sometimes I use scrolls, sometimes I have the spell prepared, and sometimes I use a hireling that has it. I also often have the deathward spell available to me and only take neg levels from beholders that have antimagiced away my deathward. I also use several Silver flame amulets that have multiple negative energy absoptions on each. Yes I use them all the way to cap. I rarely actually suffer from a negative levels past level 9.


Will this effect the death penalty negative levels?

Have you considered making it reduce the down time for dying in certain epic raids, so those wearing the cloak could be raised sooner?



4. Exceptional vs. Insight Bonus - explained
Actually, the weird combination of these as first posted was a vestige from the Greensteel days that required poring over scrolls penned in the dark tongue of the ancients to comprehend. While we do like to honor tradition, we're considering what you have all said, and may well change them.
As regards to the Insight bonuses, please don't over look the fact that MotU items have higher insight bonuses at much lower levels than these items. People who actually care about maxing out a stat will chose those items over these out of necessity.

[BOgre]

2. The Necklace of Mystic Eidolons will summon a shadow that will cast Unholy Blight and Hold Monster
The goal is that it should some nice accessory crowd control for you... even (or especially) if you're not a CC build.

3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?


2. That's fair. If the summon can survive more than a few seconds, this might be a good item.

3. Yes, I solo, but even when I don't I always carry Resto/Greater Resto scrolls, both for myself and for backup when the party needs it. Even with reducing neg time to 25% of current, think about fights where you've taken 5 or more negs; waiting for the item to timeout those levels will still feel like forever.

[Ivan_Milic]

Will the monster's DC's be enough to matter in level 26+ EE content?



IF it will be high enough then I might use the item instead of taking a wizard in group. :D

[bbqzor]

2. The Necklace of Mystic Eidolons will summon a shadow that will cast Unholy Blight and Hold Monster
The goal is that it should some nice accessory crowd control for you... even (or especially) if you're not a CC build.

Unless the shadow has some really, really, really inflated spellcasting ability.... these will simply do nothing. If you are not going to consider alternatives to this (poor) idea, at least ensure the spells land in appropriate content. That means if the shadow cant consistently land 2-3 spells in the 20-30 second window its present in L26 Epic Hard quests, its too weak. A single target hold monster once every 2 minutes is not worth the AI headaches a summoned pet causes... it needs to really needs to be a burst of actual cc to matter. And, it should at least have a chance of functioning on EE... I think its safe to say that at 26+ people generally arent flailing about looking for ways to get through EH anymore, so while a neat cc pet is a fun boon it would be nice to see it actually matter on the elite stuff too.


3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?
Theres a ton of ways to deal with this already. Restoration scrolls, Greater restoration scrolls, Restoration potions, Axe of Famine, having a Paladin or Cleric around, some Favored Souls, the Hammer of Life, hitting a Shrine thats already been cleared, the Cove Potion, using Sun Soul Set bonus, etc etc etc. No one should be sitting there for like 5+ minutes waiting on these to peel off... and dropping that wait by 25% is essentially nothing. Even if it made them peel off twice as fast (ie, 30 sec/lvl) it would be a non issue. This needs to either A) make questing with the lost levels safer to make waiting for them to peel off less dangerous (ie, deathblock) vs just using a normal strategy, so youd actually choose to wait on the timer while you keep questing as a matter of convenience, or B) do something else meaningful since this effect is just icing and not the "big thing" it seems that was the design impression when making it.


4. Exceptional vs. Insight Bonus - explained
Actually, the weird combination of these as first posted was a vestige from the Greensteel days that required poring over scrolls penned in the dark tongue of the ancients to comprehend. While we do like to honor tradition, we're considering what you have all said, and may well change them.

So basically this due to reading about greensteel since we all liked greensteel and not knowing that the bonus types and stacking rules for them have changed twice since then. Check. Please adjust them to the contemporary format (that'd be +3 insightful bonus on the upgraded items in todays parlance, probably +2s on the base since theyre ML26 offerings), I think thats all anyone was really commenting about from the little I saw.

Thanks for the feedback... I hope we get to see new versions soon. Cheers.

[krzyysiek098]

Will the monster's DC's be enough to matter in level 26+ EE content?

Now we can clearly see who wants to be carried by a puppy ;-D

[cru121]

3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?

Casual players use Althea/Albus/that epic fvs for deathward and restoration.
Average players carry Deathward clickies, restoration scrolls, perhaps a spell absorption item, or they are immune.
Top players swim in absorption items and can quaff deathward/restoration pots, and they are probably bladeforged anyway.

[Yalinaa]

Casual players use Althea/Albus/that epic fvs for deathward and restoration.
Average players carry Deathward clickies, restoration scrolls, perhaps a spell absorption item, or they are immune.
Top players swim in absorption items and can quaff deathward/restoration pots, and they are probably bladeforged anyway.

Don't forget the HALFLINGS!!:) They remove neg levels in every 3 seconds.:)

[patang01]

Anyone in level 20+ content (or level 7+ for that matter) should have a contingency plan for negative levels. There is no save and they can RUIN your run. Because of this, players learn very early on that they need a way to deal with it. Early on, that's Flesh Render visors. Later on, it's perhaps a group divine or self cast or hireling or Silver Flame necklace or even potions from the Eveningstar traders or the store. The point is, by level 25+, if you're even moderately familiar with the game, you already have a method of neg level protection that is far, far better than 25% speed up in recovery.

Because of the fact that players should already have protection of some sort, this item is very lackluster. What it does is completely unnecessary as if you're taking negative levels, you can't afford to wait around for them to wear off. You recall out of the quest and get the protections you should have brought with you or hit the store for them.

Really, would it be gamebreaking to simply grant neg level immunity? If that's seen as too much, even a 20 minute death ward clickie would be preferred or a single restoration clickie really. 25% speed up in recovery is just that poor for this level of the game. It's perhaps a very small tag on ability that you could place on an already good item as a small bonus. It shouldn't be the highlight of the item itself. To be honest, it's not worth the time it takes to code the ability into the game.

I agree quicker neg level restoration should be a lower ML item, while a death ward clickie or such should be higher end. Like a 20 minute AOE. We currently only have one level 20 Epic one and there's definitely time for another. Quicker restoration just seem...not high ML to me.

[cru121]

I agree quicker neg level restoration should be a lower ML item, while a death ward clickie or such should be higher end. Like a 20 minute AOE. We currently only have one level 20 Epic one and there's definitely time for another. Quicker restoration just seem...not high ML to me.

If you have already coded the function, quicker restoration of neg.levels sounds like a feature that could be integrated into the tiered Deathblock effect. It's marginally useful at best and certainly not worth a separate slot.

[RedOrm]

Casual players use Althea/Albus/that epic fvs for deathward and restoration.
Average players carry Deathward clickies, restoration scrolls, perhaps a spell absorption item, or they are immune.
Top players swim in absorption items and can quaff deathward/restoration pots, and they are probably bladeforged anyway.

This. Yes I solo, yes I pug, and in both cases I make sure to have something on me that either prevents neg levels or can get rid of them fast (assuming I'm not immune to begin with).
And IF for some reason I can't get rid of it fast, and there's no partymemeber that can help me out, I just grit my teeth and move on as I'm not willing to make the group wait for me. Cutting the time by 25% or even by 50% won't change that and certainly isn't worth farming an item for, especially an item that I wouldn't be wearing already for other, far more important reasons.
And even if it WAS a good, solid cload I'd want to wear all the time, I would assume the time-reducer was there strictly as filler material, in an attempt to justify a higher ML (like the +6 stat/ +6 resist items with a colourless slot that NEVER sell on the AH because the slot makes the ML too high for the item to be interesting).

For the rest of the items, I agree with what's already been said (the only item I'd want is the manual of pilfering), and add that ML27 still feels too high and even 26 is dubious.

Greetz,
Red Orm

[Oxarhamar]

Thank you everyone who took the time to share your feedback here. Some of it was undeniably less varnished than others, but that's all right.

I was unable to respond to some questions I wanted to answer, thanks to a stomach bug (my recommendation: don't get one of those), but I've got a few answers here for you, tonight:

1. Haunted Hall items will be Min Level 26! And Thunderholme Landscape items will be Min level 27!
There is, of course, a delicate between keeping the treasure from lower-CR dungeons worth seeking and making near-cap stuff generally useful. We think this decision might hit that sweet spot. Note that with items that upgrade here, the upgrade does not change the CR.

2. The Necklace of Mystic Eidolons will summon a shadow that will cast Unholy Blight and Hold Monster
The goal is that it should some nice accessory crowd control for you... even (or especially) if you're not a CC build.

3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?


4. Exceptional vs. Insight Bonus - explained
Actually, the weird combination of these as first posted was a vestige from the Greensteel days that required poring over scrolls penned in the dark tongue of the ancients to comprehend. While we do like to honor tradition, we're considering what you have all said, and may well change them.


Cheers!
Dr#

1) think you missed the sweet spot... to me only the Manual is interesting as a swap in and ONLY because it will be ML 26

2) No room for a CC summon on a necklace that doesn't replace the stats that a Charicter themselves needs unless OFC the summons CC are extremely effective then I could sacrifice a slot but, then I feel like it would be nerfed quikly if it worked well

3) Yeah I scroll resto when nessisary or use other items that block Neg levels when needed Ioun stone / Dethward clicky etc...

4) hopeful that these end up being useful for those wanting them however either way none of these items look like much use to me

[ddorimble]

3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?
[B]

I exclusively solo, and can't remove Neg Levels myself (not a Cleric, or WF, or whatever). I plan for this with my hireling, they need to have Death Ward, Restoration, and a Raise/Resurrection spell on their bar. Albus at Level 20 is my usual go-to. A hireling with just Death Ward is usually good enough since that keeps the Neg Levels away, but I like having that Restoration around just in case. I would never ever wear this item unless it was to address some very specific situation (like some horrific raid mechanic that forces unavoidable and un-Restorationable Neg Levels on you).

[Loromir]

Thank you everyone who took the time to share your feedback here. Some of it was undeniably less varnished than others, but that's all right.

I was unable to respond to some questions I wanted to answer, thanks to a stomach bug (my recommendation: don't get one of those), but I've got a few answers here for you, tonight:

1. Haunted Hall items will be Min Level 26! And Thunderholme Landscape items will be Min level 27!
There is, of course, a delicate between keeping the treasure from lower-CR dungeons worth seeking and making near-cap stuff generally useful. We think this decision might hit that sweet spot. Note that with items that upgrade here, the upgrade does not change the CR.

2. The Necklace of Mystic Eidolons will summon a shadow that will cast Unholy Blight and Hold Monster
The goal is that it should some nice accessory crowd control for you... even (or especially) if you're not a CC build.

3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?

4. Exceptional vs. Insight Bonus - explained
Actually, the weird combination of these as first posted was a vestige from the Greensteel days that required poring over scrolls penned in the dark tongue of the ancients to comprehend. While we do like to honor tradition, we're considering what you have all said, and may well change them.


Cheers!
Dr#

The cloak defeintely needs an overhaul. If I'm solo and can't cast Deathward or Restoration..I'll drag along a hireling that can. Or I'll get the Flesh Render Goggles.

Now you say can't take hirelings in a raid...well in a raid there is quite likely someone along who can cast restore.

So...in it's present form, the cloak is useless.


Just to restate what plenty of other have stated. It seems the nature of the HH quest will make it a quest that won't be necessarily farmed for XP. The TR crowd likes high XP per min..I'm guessing HH won't provide that. So, loot is going to be the driving factor to get people to run it over and over again.

Turbine has paid Ed Greenwood alot of money for consulting and voice work (I assume it was alot anyway). Turbine apparently has devoted alot of dev time and other resources to develope something special. I'm guessing there is alot riding on the success of HH.

The novelty of the adventure its self will draw a crowd for the first few weeks, but loot is what will keep people coming back over and over again. I don't think anyone beleives that this loot in it's current state will sustain the replay value of this quest.

You guys have invested alot into the developemnet of what seems to be something special. Please don't throw this hard work down the drain by rolling out some very uninteresting loot. It needs to be better and there needs to be more of it (alot more of it). And...there needs to be loot in there that is useful to everyone.

One last thing...the loot probably needs a farily low drop rate (at least on Normal).

[Lifespawn]

Thank you everyone who took the time to share your feedback here. Some of it was undeniably less varnished than others, but that's all right.

I was unable to respond to some questions I wanted to answer, thanks to a stomach bug (my recommendation: don't get one of those), but I've got a few answers here for you, tonight:

1. Haunted Hall items will be Min Level 26! And Thunderholme Landscape items will be Min level 27!
There is, of course, a delicate between keeping the treasure from lower-CR dungeons worth seeking and making near-cap stuff generally useful. We think this decision might hit that sweet spot. Note that with items that upgrade here, the upgrade does not change the CR.

I can see this being useful and used when the cap is 30 as long as the items stay relevant

2. The Necklace of Mystic Eidolons will summon a shadow that will cast Unholy Blight and Hold Monster
The goal is that it should some nice accessory crowd control for you... even (or especially) if you're not a CC build.

could be good will it follow you or just be stand where cast

3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?


This one is terrible even casual players carry restoration or have a hireling with them i honestly don't see this being useful for anyone sitting around isn't something most people want to do.

I think it's time for a high level death ward clicky or a greater restoration clicky with a couple charges.



4. Exceptional vs. Insight Bonus - explained
Actually, the weird combination of these as first posted was a vestige from the Greensteel days that required poring over scrolls penned in the dark tongue of the ancients to comprehend. While we do like to honor tradition, we're considering what you have all said, and may well change them.

stacking will make these worthwhile lower than we can get elsewhere and non stacking will make them wasted time


Cheers!
Dr#


my thoughts in red

[hit_fido]

3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?


What about changing the effect to something like:

"Death Battery: [25|50|75]% to convert any negative level the player would have received into +1 profane bonus to damage and universal spell power, stacking up to [5|10] times, dissipating upon rest."

Exact numbers to be determined by you but this would make the item far more interesting with regards to negative level "defense". It also lets the effect still be useful for level drain immune players (warforged, undead, etc), increasing its applicability. Swap profane for whatever other bonus type yields more benefit, the point is the added damage should stack with the Deadly effect and could turn this into the new best-possible Deadly item, under certain circumstances.

[Kamode_Corebasher]

What about changing the effect to something like:

"Death Battery: [25|50|75]% to convert any negative level the player would have received into +1 profane bonus to damage and universal spell power, stacking up to [5|10] times, dissipating upon rest."

Exact numbers to be determined by you but this would make the item far more interesting with regards to negative level "defense". It also lets the effect still be useful for level drain immune players (warforged, undead, etc), increasing its applicability. Swap profane for whatever other bonus type yields more benefit, the point is the added damage should stack with the Deadly effect and could turn this into the new best-possible Deadly item, under certain circumstances.

A chance the negative level drain is instead converted....I really like this!

[Impaqt]

Thank you everyone who took the time to share your feedback here. Some of it was undeniably less varnished than others, but that's all right.

I was unable to respond to some questions I wanted to answer, thanks to a stomach bug (my recommendation: don't get one of those), but I've got a few answers here for you, tonight:

1. Haunted Hall items will be Min Level 26! And Thunderholme Landscape items will be Min level 27!
There is, of course, a delicate between keeping the treasure from lower-CR dungeons worth seeking and making near-cap stuff generally useful. We think this decision might hit that sweet spot. Note that with items that upgrade here, the upgrade does not change the CR.

2. The Necklace of Mystic Eidolons will summon a shadow that will cast Unholy Blight and Hold Monster
The goal is that it should some nice accessory crowd control for you... even (or especially) if you're not a CC build.

Consider adding Mass Inflict to the list... WOuld be cool for Pale masters.



3. The Deathwyrm Cloak reduces Neg Level time by 25% currently
For those who say they just use Restoration - do you solo? Do you just buy Restorations?


Restoration and greater restoration scrolls are readily available. UMD on Restoration is 32. Pretty easy to get to, and they are cheap enough that even if you fail a couple times, its not a big deal.

If you dont want to worry about UMD, there are potions available from Mabar and Eveningstar.

Hammer of life has a clicky.

and when all else fails, we have turbine store pots.

bottom line. 2 Minutes or 1:30 makes no difference. If I dont want a neg level for 2 Minutes.. I still dotn want it for 1:30. those 30 seconds mean nothing.

Someone who is a serious soloer is prepared for neg levels. SOmeone who isnt.. Isnt going to care about those 30 seconds.




4. Exceptional vs. Insight Bonus - explained
Actually, the weird combination of these as first posted was a vestige from the Greensteel days that required poring over scrolls penned in the dark tongue of the ancients to comprehend. While we do like to honor tradition, we're considering what you have all said, and may well change them.


Cheers!
Dr#

Please keep in mind. Useless Stat enhancements are useless.

[redspecter23]

What about changing the effect to something like:

"Death Battery: [25|50|75]% to convert any negative level the player would have received into +1 profane bonus to damage and universal spell power, stacking up to [5|10] times, dissipating upon rest."

Exact numbers to be determined by you but this would make the item far more interesting with regards to negative level "defense". It also lets the effect still be useful for level drain immune players (warforged, undead, etc), increasing its applicability. Swap profane for whatever other bonus type yields more benefit, the point is the added damage should stack with the Deadly effect and could turn this into the new best-possible Deadly item, under certain circumstances.

I think you're on to something. There is huge unexplored design space here. They could even make players WANT negative levels. Perhaps there could be a bonus of +1 critical threat range and +1 tactics and spell DC for every negative level you have. Instead of giving a near meaningless bonus to the speed at which negative levels are healed, give me enough positives to go out of my way looking to get negative levels. I'm not saying it's perfect, but I'd rather have a unique ability like this than what was proposed for the item by Turbine.

[Violith]

No sorry. This is the first Assassinate item since Epic Midnight greeting. It should have offensive abilities, first of all Deception which is awesome coupled with the above Assassinate.


IMHO, this should be:

Intelligence +11 OR Insightful Intelligence +3
Assassinate +4
Deception VIII
MS +20
Hide +20
Yellow slot

would agree with this... however, I would like to see that +4 either upgraded to something higher, or changed to provide either a profane or competence bonus instead so it doesnt make the epic midnight greetings useless.

[Ziindarax]

A chance the negative level drain is instead converted....I really like this!

Seconded.

[-Avalon-]

Consider adding Mass Inflict to the list... WOuld be cool for Pale masters.

Seconded on this! We need more items than just Abbot Shroud and Mabar robe for self-inflicts, and maybe a better one than those at 28th lvl? Maybe we can get inflict MODERATE wounds instead of light?

And still waiting on a reply about the Tower Shield with an Orb bonus... so many questions... what will be the Arcane Spell Failure on it is the main question... or does it start with a 50%, and after upgrade drop to 30% to allow full specced EK's to negate the ASF? Or is it mithral and have less ASF to start with, or is it like Skyvault shield and just have NO asf to begin with? Would like to know that, because if it has typical Tower Shield ASF, then what arcane caster would use it? At that point the orb bonus becomes a worthless add-on.

[Violith]

Seconded on this! We need more items than just Abbot Shroud and Mabar robe for self-inflicts, and maybe a better one than those at 28th lvl? Maybe we can get inflict MODERATE wounds instead of light?

And still waiting on a reply about the Tower Shield with an Orb bonus... so many questions... what will be the Arcane Spell Failure on it is the main question... or does it start with a 50%, and after upgrade drop to 30% to allow full specced EK's to negate the ASF? Or is it mithral and have less ASF to start with, or is it like Skyvault shield and just have NO asf to begin with? Would like to know that, because if it has typical Tower Shield ASF, then what arcane caster would use it? At that point the orb bonus becomes a worthless add-on.

orb bonus adds to saves and resistances, it doesnt technically mean its meant for casters, so more then likely it'd be a regular tower shield for non casters, with the added benefit of increassing resistance and saves along with DR/AC when they are blocking.

[Kamode_Corebasher]

re: the Raid loot necklace Dark Diversion w/ Assassinate DC +4 --
however, I would like to see that +4 either upgraded to something higher, or changed to provide either a profane or competence bonus instead so it doesnt make the epic midnight greetings useless.

I completely agree with not making the epic midnight greetings useless!

[soloist12]

Anyone in level 20+ content (or level 7+ for that matter) should have a contingency plan for negative levels. There is no save and they can RUIN your run. Because of this, players learn very early on that they need a way to deal with it. Early on, that's Flesh Render visors. Later on, it's perhaps a group divine or self cast or hireling or Silver Flame necklace or even potions from the Eveningstar traders or the store. The point is, by level 25+, if you're even moderately familiar with the game, you already have a method of neg level protection that is far, far better than 25% speed up in recovery.

Because of the fact that players should already have protection of some sort, this item is very lackluster. What it does is completely unnecessary as if you're taking negative levels, you can't afford to wait around for them to wear off. You recall out of the quest and get the protections you should have brought with you or hit the store for them.

Really, would it be gamebreaking to simply grant neg level immunity? If that's seen as too much, even a 20 minute death ward clickie would be preferred or a single restoration clickie really. 25% speed up in recovery is just that poor for this level of the game. It's perhaps a very small tag on ability that you could place on an already good item as a small bonus. It shouldn't be the highlight of the item itself. To be honest, it's not worth the time it takes to code the ability into the game.

If it was 90% reduced time, I think it would be a cool item while also remaining competitive. Yes you'll take neg levels, but they'll quickly dissipate.

25% however, is just plain awful.

[-Avalon-]

orb bonus adds to saves and resistances, it doesnt technically mean its meant for casters, so more then likely it'd be a regular tower shield for non casters, with the added benefit of increassing resistance and saves along with DR/AC when they are blocking.


First orb was introduced with Update 16.
Only characters with the Magical Training feat are proficient with orbs.

Yeah, but there is a small problem with Orb Bonuses, you need Magical Training to use them... so, if this shield is a non-spellcaster shield with orb bonus, then it is going to cause some problems... right now, the reason casters use orbs is because they give same bonuses as using a scepter (or other implement with casting stats) BUT it has an orb bonus as well. Otherwise, they'd just use scepters. Orb bonuses are for casters, and is one of the special perks for casters (or, bone that Turbine threw them to help keep them calm).

Throw the bonus on a shield that is directly opposed to casters using it, and it might send a very bad message (especially since to get that bonus you SHOULD need magical training!) When I saw this item on the OP, the first thing that hit me was, 'cool! the shield a War Wizard of Cormyr would use!' You know, those Purple Dragon Knights who specialized in battle magic instead of swords and bows? Or, maybe the shield of a battle-priest (since they get magical training as well)...

In any case, they made it pretty clear that Orbs and Orb Bonuses were for casters, not 'non-casters'... so I would think it would be a reasonable question to ask how this shield is statted on the caster-side of things.

EDIT: the quote system is messing up for some reason, and consistently splits that quote no matter how I format it to NOT split, so please forgive that strange glitch.

[redspecter23]

If it was 90% reduced time, I think it would be a cool item while also remaining competitive. Yes you'll take neg levels, but they'll quickly dissipate.

25% however, is just plain awful.

I agree that with a 90% reduction you could probably just keep playing and let it wear off on it's own. You would recover faster than neg levels can accumulate so it would be a useful addition. You might be at a slight hp/saves disadvantage for a few seconds so that's the only real penalty. Because of this reason, I suggested they simply make players immune to neg levels instead of coding a brand new ability which would do basically the same thing if they made the % high enough to matter. The ironic part of a 90%+ reduction is that it allows you to be on par with EH and higher mobs that recover extremely fast.

25% isn't really awful, it's a joke ability. I put it on par with "regeneration" greensteel effects that restore 1 hp a minute, retributive effects at endgame or most of the primal avatar abilities that read "when you take damage, once every 3 seconds, when there's a full moon, if you're in animal form, snap your fingers 3 times and get +1 to hit, stacking up to 2 times, losing one stack every 6 seconds as long as you don't get damaged or move or tumble.". They could just give you +2 to hit. It's just so far off the mark, it has to be a joke. Thinking otherwise would mean the devs are so out of touch the game could implode at any second.

[DrOctothorpe]

Here is a glimpse some changes we've made since the posting of this thread. (No, these changes won't be found in the next prop to Lamannia. Sorry!)

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
+20 Spot
Upgrade UMD will go to +4 enhancement bonus

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
I'm sorry to have got everyone excited with the exceptionals. After some debate, we've decided this should really be +3 Insightful, upgraded to +4 Insightful.
We're also moving the Augment Summon from the Libram to the upgrade on this necklace, where it will have a built-in advantage. Oh - and if there are any CC spells you'd like to see on the Shadow Puppet, feel free to let us know!

Libram of Silver Magic
Staying an Orb. Adding 20 Spellcraft.
Upgrade goes to 2% exceptional lore bonus, +11 INT & CHA. No more augment summoning

Deathwyrm Cloak
Is trading some features with the Dragon Masque.
Permanent Nihil: +30 Alchemical Bonus to Negative Energy Spell Power
10% negative energy amp
Deadly goes to the masque, negative level rates go away. (Force Abs. and the augment stay.)

[redspecter23]

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
I'm sorry to have got everyone excited with the exceptionals. After some debate, we've decided this should really be +3 Insightful, upgraded to +4 Insightful.
We're also moving the Augment Summon from the Libram to the upgrade on this necklace, where it will have a built-in advantage. Oh - and if there are any CC spells you'd like to see on the Shadow Puppet, feel free to let us know!



Hold Monster, mass would be nice. Otto's Irresistible dance would be fantastic, especially if the DC's on the summon aren't going to be EE worthy. At that point, it would at least have a no save option. If you want to go all out, give it Otto's Irresistible Dance, mass and call it a day. Too much? Maybe, but then you don't have to worry about whether it has a meaningful DC for EE or not. If it doesn't spam cast it, it would feel kind of like winning the lottery when it shows up and casts this. I like the "win" feeling associated with that.

[Scraap]

If you want to go all out, give it Otto's Irresistible Dance, mass and call it a day. Too much? Provided it's cast once, either on spawn-in or on death, that might actually be useful without going overboard. That, or a dance/facinate guard ala the old madness chain loot effect (Though obviously probability, not DC based).

[redspecter23]

Provided it's cast once, either on spawn-in or on death, that might actually be useful without going overboard. That, or a dance/facinate guard ala the old madness chain loot effect (Though obviously probability, not DC based).

The ability is powerful but easily balanced. As you mentioned, either have it contingent on spawn or death or perhaps give it a 3 spell rotation

Hold Monster, mass 50%
Otto's Irresistable Dance 40%
Otto's Irresistible Dance, mass 10%

Really, it depends on what spell DC they are planning on giving it. If the DC is high enough, it can rotate through single and mass holds with some dominates thrown in and it will have some use. My suggestion for using the dances is mostly there to give it some EE bite if the devs have no intention of making the DC high enough for that content.

[caellwin]

Here is a glimpse some changes we've made since the posting of this thread. (No, these changes won't be found in the next prop to Lamannia. Sorry!)

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
+20 Spot
Upgrade UMD will go to +4 enhancement bonus

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
I'm sorry to have got everyone excited with the exceptionals. After some debate, we've decided this should really be +3 Insightful, upgraded to +4 Insightful.
We're also moving the Augment Summon from the Libram to the upgrade on this necklace, where it will have a built-in advantage. Oh - and if there are any CC spells you'd like to see on the Shadow Puppet, feel free to let us know!

Libram of Silver Magic
Staying an Orb. Adding 20 Spellcraft.
Upgrade goes to 2% exceptional lore bonus, +11 INT & CHA. No more augment summoning

Deathwyrm Cloak
Is trading some features with the Dragon Masque.
Permanent Nihil: +30 Alchemical Bonus to Negative Energy Spell Power
10% negative energy amp
Deadly goes to the masque, negative level rates go away. (Force Abs. and the augment stay.)


So Con and Dex get Insightful +4 but not the other stats?
The Orb got pretty good now.
Are the Raid items going to be fixed and upgraded too?

[count_spicoli]

It would be cool if this shadow was actually your characters shadow separating from you and really was an extension of you since it is a shadow. And its cc and dc will be based on your highest stat. Say for instance your highest stat is str it would do a stunning blow with a dc based on your str mod, if its dex then a trip based on your dex mod, con an overrun based on con mod, int a hold based on int mod, wis a command based on wis mod, cha a ottos dance based on cha mod. might be tough to code this but would be a nice twist.

[Havok.cry]

Here is a glimpse some changes we've made since the posting of this thread. (No, these changes won't be found in the next prop to Lamannia. Sorry!)

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
+20 Spot
Upgrade UMD will go to +4 enhancement bonus

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
I'm sorry to have got everyone excited with the exceptionals. After some debate, we've decided this should really be +3 Insightful, upgraded to +4 Insightful.
We're also moving the Augment Summon from the Libram to the upgrade on this necklace, where it will have a built-in advantage. Oh - and if there are any CC spells you'd like to see on the Shadow Puppet, feel free to let us know!

Libram of Silver Magic
Staying an Orb. Adding 20 Spellcraft.
Upgrade goes to 2% exceptional lore bonus, +11 INT & CHA. No more augment summoning

Deathwyrm Cloak
Is trading some features with the Dragon Masque.
Permanent Nihil: +30 Alchemical Bonus to Negative Energy Spell Power
10% negative energy amp
Deadly goes to the masque, negative level rates go away. (Force Abs. and the augment stay.)

I like these changes, thank you.

CC I would like to see it have: A charm/dominate spell that counts the effected mob as dead for the purposes of quest advancement (maybe auto kills the effected mob upon the end of the spell). Call it Magic Jar, as that is the name of a spell in D&D that lets you possess a target, and when you leave it the target is dead. It would count as a necromancy spell, a death effect, and as a possession effect, magic circle against evil/protection from evil would block it. Make it have a cooldown on this spell long enough that it may only cast it once during the 30s the shadow puppeteer is out. This would also fit the theme of a puppeteer, and fit what we see them do in the wehloon landscape and quests.

I would also like to see it casting Debuff spells like waves of exhaustion and crushing despair, to support player's own CC. Further, power word blind would be a nice spell for it to have, and in my opinion, fit the theme of a shadow.

[bbqzor]

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
+20 Spot
Upgrade UMD will go to +4 enhancement bonus
Well at least now theres sort of a reason to wear it all the time instead of just while trapping. Still, it is what it is... a convenience item.


Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
I'm sorry to have got everyone excited with the exceptionals. After some debate, we've decided this should really be +3 Insightful, upgraded to +4 Insightful.
We're also moving the Augment Summon from the Libram to the upgrade on this necklace, where it will have a built-in advantage. Oh - and if there are any CC spells you'd like to see on the Shadow Puppet, feel free to let us know!
Well now its certainly worth wearing, what with +4 insightful stats on it. Still the summon though... I cant help but feel a clicky would be vastly superior. Guess we will have to see what kind of actual ability to land spells the shadow has. As far as which spells... Hold Monster, Irresistible Dance, Power Word Stun, Ghoul Touch, Flesh to Stone. All single target, all not broken if someone not paying attention or doing area attacks like cleave hits it, all with a duration long enough to give players a chance to react and utilize it. Flavor wise I think Hold, Stun, and Ghoul Touch make the most sense... other things already do Flesh to Stone and Dancing, those three seem more like an undead guy pulling someones strings.


Libram of Silver Magic
Staying an Orb. Adding 20 Spellcraft.
Upgrade goes to 2% exceptional lore bonus, +11 INT & CHA. No more augment summoning
Solid upgrades actually, nice orb. Still very sad to see no Wisdom... can you let us know if you plan on making Wisdom Caster loot at some point? Like with Wisdom, spellpower, dcs, etc? Please? =)


Deathwyrm Cloak
Is trading some features with the Dragon Masque.
Permanent Nihil: +30 Alchemical Bonus to Negative Energy Spell Power
10% negative energy amp
Deadly goes to the masque, negative level rates go away. (Force Abs. and the augment stay.)
This actually makes sense. Any chance we could get Light Resist on it something on it? There are already a lot of PM cloaks of sorts... 30 power and 10 amp is definitely nice for the slot but its not going to save you in a bad situation, just make healing in normal ones easier. Itd be nice to see the Light Resist carry over, so it helps you die less as well as heal more. Seems to fit thematically as well, and its rough having to go all the way back to ML20 loot for an effect that got Ghostbaned off the loot table (it used to spawn as part of the now removed Shimmering affix, meaning its only on a tiny number of ml20 or less items now). Bring that mod into the Epic world!

......

Overall this represents steps in the right direction. I am not 100% satisfied, but as a single individual with only a single point of view, thats not entirely a bad thing either. With a little more tweaking, I would actually spend time trying to acquire this stuff, and thats a marked improvement. Cheers!

[cru121]

Oh - and if there are any CC spells you'd like to see on the Shadow Puppet, feel free to let us know!
Look at the abilities of the best CC summons that we have:
* Mummy from Create Undead spell
* Chaos Beholder from Shard of Xoriat clicky
Cannibalize on those. For red/purple bosses, consider giving him Bound Fate+Grim Fate from Fatesinger.

[Portalcat]

Deathwyrm Cloak
Is trading some features with the Dragon Masque.
Permanent Nihil: +30 Alchemical Bonus to Negative Energy Spell Power
10% negative energy amp
Deadly goes to the masque, negative level rates go away. (Force Abs. and the augment stay.)

A very good item.

Sadly, it's competing for a lot in that slot, including sage's mantle, which will be a must-slot for maxed necro-speced DC casters if the new crafting system forces enchant focus off of weapons. It's a shame - I would have worn the Masque just for the alchemical bonus.


Nice problem to have - so many new bonuses to my DCs that I can't slot something else nice.

[Wizza]

Libram of Silver Magic
Staying an Orb. Adding 20 Spellcraft.
Upgrade goes to 2% exceptional lore bonus, +11 INT & CHA. No more augment summoning


So the Orb will be:

+ 8 Enhancement Bonus
+10 universal spellpower (exceptional bonus)
+20 Spellcraft
+ 2% Lore (exceptional bonus)
+ 11 int
+ 11 cha
Orange Slot

Still not sold. We are still giving up a complete Element for this.

Let's see if we couple this with a WW Weapon, Air/Fire Sorcerer:

- Scepter

+11 Enhancement
+150 Electrical Spell power
+6 Evocation Spell focus
+22% Electric Critical Chance
Red slot
Colorless slot


We can slot +144 X Spellpower in the red slot of WW but we lose 20% X element's critical lore that is a MUST to any savant. This to gain:

2% exceptional lore
+10 USP
And for most of us +1 cha and +1 Int.


Still not sure about it. What I'd do is give us different versions of the orb and add a random 20% Element lore to it. This is one of the few cases in which random is good IMHO.

[SirValentine]

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
+20 Spot
Upgrade UMD will go to +4 enhancement bonus

Will trapper types where this just for Spot and Luck? Because everything else on it says "swap item". Though the higher UMD might make others want this as a swap item, too. Raid drama!

Libram of Silver Magic
Staying an Orb. Adding 20 Spellcraft.
Upgrade goes to 2% exceptional lore bonus, +11 INT & CHA. No more augment summoning

But no spellpower, base lore or +DC. So this simply can't compete with even lootgen caster sticks. At a minimum, I'd think it still needs another Red slot and a 10% (non-stacking) spell lore.

[Iriale]

Here is a glimpse some changes we've made since the posting of this thread. (No, these changes won't be found in the next prop to Lamannia. Sorry!)

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
+20 Spot
Upgrade UMD will go to +4 enhancement bonus
Thank you, but… Search, not spot. The point is not swapping trapping items, and spot is a lot easier of find in a not trinket slot. If I have replace the gianthold trinket with +20 search, I need that this trinket give Search!!

So, +20 search, please. We can slot spot in other slot.


Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
I'm sorry to have got everyone excited with the exceptionals. After some debate, we've decided this should really be +3 Insightful, upgraded to +4 Insightful.
We're also moving the Augment Summon from the Libram to the upgrade on this necklace, where it will have a built-in advantage. Oh - and if there are any CC spells you'd like to see on the Shadow Puppet, feel free to let us know!
You don't understand. We like +2 exceptional. But in a first time you write the bonus as insight, and +1 insight is a joke. +2 exceptional or +4 insightful is the same (+1 global to the stat), we like the same.

The problem with this item is not the stat. The problem is that summons and minions are useless in epics. This is the true problem. Their AI are awful, and they don't keep live much time. So, the items with summons are swapping items, because they don't give enough fundamental bonuses for deserve a full time slot. Seriously, think in how many bonuses are MUST en epics: ST bonuses (with resistance, insightful and good luck bonus), PRR, AC (armor, natural armor, deflection), blur, ghostly, PRR, healing amplification or devotion, Hps increases, deathblock, dodge. These are the bonunses that all toons should have. After, each class or archetype has other must: spellpower, DC spell, spells points and SR penetration for casters, deadly, dousblestrike/doubleshot, combat mastery and bonuses to some particular tactic feat for fighter types, monks need too reinforced fist and enhanced ki. Trappers need spot bonuses too. Count, they are a lot of bonuses!!!

All these bonuses need a lot of slots or augments. The flavorfur bonuses will be slotted AFTER of have all important bonuses.

So, a flavourful bonus (as the summon of this necklace) need: or to be a swap item, o have several of the important bonuses slotted in the necklace. Because nobody have the space for dedicate a full slot to a useless though flavourful bonus. And if this is a swap item, the stat bonus is useless (we only use the item for summon the creature) and our interest in the item is low. Well, if we obtain it good, but it is not a priority.

Do you understand me? English is not my native language. Flavourful bonuses are awesome, but they need be paired with several real bonuses, or the item don't deserve a full slot. Because ours toons need to be competent and keep live before to be cool!



Libram of Silver Magic
Staying an Orb. Adding 20 Spellcraft.
Upgrade goes to 2% exceptional lore bonus, +11 INT & CHA. No more augment summoning
This is very disappointing. Stats on weapons, which are traditionally swappable for other weapons, is a serious design flaw. And if we had even a few named that offered +11 to stats, well. But not. There is not a supply of +11 stat nameds, and you do an orb? Why design suboptimal and disappointing things from the beginning, which only irritate the players?

The only named with +11 is paired with a DC illusion. Seriously? How many wizards use illusion? There are other schools more used: enchantment, necromancy, evocation, even conjuration. Illusion is an odd election for the first +11 named. And the second is an orb. Well… great.

First, you're killing the qstaffs, starting with the qstaff of new crafting system. Second, you are limiting us to switch weapons depending on the situation and therefore our versatility. Third, you are blatantly favoring shiradi casters above DC casters, evocation sorcerers and divine casters. Shiradi needs less swapping of casting weapons. Four, random items with +11 stats are better and preferable over two named… would not you find this strange?

The weapons should be weapons (with spellpower bonus and / or DC spell), and the stats should be separate items.

Since you are making such a serious design flaw, I ask you for a favor. Give us other objects which can be permanently slotted with +11 bonus to int, cha or wis (not weapons, not orbs, not shields, please). Give us at least something that we want, because this orb is not enticing. Not for me. And it's not as if the raid had many items, there is room to add more.

It is the same as the meridian augment in an orange slot. There are so few options with an orange slot that you give the impression that you do not want us to use it.

Sincerely, Dr, you give the impression that you hate casters. You are terribly inflexible designing things for them. And versatility is a good thing.

My advice would be to change the +11 to stat in the orb for one school DC or particular energy spellpower, and to do other items with the stats (with option for cha, int and wis casters), but since you do not want to change, I ask for you at least for the stat item. I won't use the orb.



Deathwyrm Cloak
Is trading some features with the Dragon Masque.
Permanent Nihil: +30 Alchemical Bonus to Negative Energy Spell Power
10% negative energy amp
Deadly goes to the masque, negative level rates go away. (Force Abs. and the augment stay.)
Ok, but I prefer light damage reduction to negative energy amp. Divine punishment is deadly for PMs, and more needed than negative healing amp. PMs can self heal fine, except when there are light damage. Then nothing is enough, and a 10% neg energy amp don't help. There are not items for light damage protection (only a sceptre)

This cloak with only two bonuses feels… weak. Add a pair of augment slots at least, or give it spellpoints, DC necro, or something useful. Or DR 10 and one guard as the mabar cloak perhaps, something defensive related with the dragon theme.

[Iriale]

Hold Monster, mass would be nice. Otto's Irresistible dance would be fantastic, especially if the DC's on the summon aren't going to be EE worthy. At that point, it would at least have a no save option. If you want to go all out, give it Otto's Irresistible Dance, mass and call it a day. Too much? Maybe, but then you don't have to worry about whether it has a meaningful DC for EE or not. If it doesn't spam cast it, it would feel kind of like winning the lottery when it shows up and casts this. I like the "win" feeling associated with that.
are you kidding? DC spellcasters barely can obtain DC for EE and you want that a summon have not DC spell?

lol my wizard too wants a Otto's Irresistible Dance. And Irresistible finger of death, please. lol

[HungarianRhapsody]

are you kidding? DC spellcasters barely can obtain DC for EE and you want that a summon have not DC spell?

lol my wizard too wants a Otto's Irresistible Dance. And Irresistible finger of death, please. lol

Your Wizard can have an Otto's Irresistible Dance. If you need a scroll to inscribe and you're on Argo, drop me a PM. I'll mail it to you from my bank mule.

[SinnJinn2]

Manual of Stealthy PilferingTrinket +2 luck+4 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills+4 exceptional bonus to all int based skills+20 pick lock+20 disableUpgrade:+3 luck+6 exceptional bonus to all dex based skills+6 exceptional bonus to all int based skillsgreen augment slot+3 UMDIMHO i think this is pretty good as it is. It does not need search or spot added for the fact that it is not very hard to farm and upgrade http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Epic_Treasure_Hunter%27s_Spyglass

[Portalcat]

Then nothing is enough, and a 10% neg energy amp don't help. There are not items for light damage protection (only a sceptre)

Shroud of the Abbot?

[redspecter23]

are you kidding? DC spellcasters barely can obtain DC for EE and you want that a summon have not DC spell?

lol my wizard too wants a Otto's Irresistible Dance. And Irresistible finger of death, please. lol

I suggest it because it can be balanced in other ways. It's not like you summon it like a hireling and tell it exactly what to do. Even then, in EE it's probably being 1 or 2 shot to death anyway so it has a few seconds to do something, maybe one or two actions. Of those one or two actions, maybe... maybe it casts mass Irresistible Dance. Perhaps 9 times out of 10 it casts something else instead. Yes, the suggested spell would be powerful, but it's not like the player has control over it. It's like saying that the top tier tea effects should be nerfed because they're too powerful. It's not true because there is a random element keeping it in check and a low proc rate as well.

[Dreppo]

IMHO i think this is pretty good as it is. It does not need search or spot added for the fact that it is not very hard to farm and upgrade http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Epic_Treasure_Hunter%27s_Spyglass

But the Treasure Hunter's Spyglass is in the same item slot (trinket) as the Manual of Stealthy Pilfering. Not everyone wants to swap between the two.

Incidentally another Search +20 item, the Giantcraft Siberys Compass, is also in the trinket slot. The only named non-trinket with Search +20 is a bracers. That's why people are saying they'd prefer Search +20 to be added to the Manual rather than Spot +20. There are two different named goggle options for getting Spot +20.

[Wurmwood]

Is that flask of gloaming going to throw monks out of stance?

[Kamode_Corebasher]

Here is a glimpse some changes we've made since the posting of this thread. (No, these changes won't be found in the next prop to Lamannia. Sorry!)

Manual of Stealthy Pilfering
+20 Spot
Upgrade UMD will go to +4 enhancement bonus

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
I'm sorry to have got everyone excited with the exceptionals. After some debate, we've decided this should really be +3 Insightful, upgraded to +4 Insightful.
We're also moving the Augment Summon from the Libram to the upgrade on this necklace, where it will have a built-in advantage. Oh - and if there are any CC spells you'd like to see on the Shadow Puppet, feel free to let us know!

Libram of Silver Magic
Staying an Orb. Adding 20 Spellcraft.
Upgrade goes to 2% exceptional lore bonus, +11 INT & CHA. No more augment summoning

Deathwyrm Cloak
Is trading some features with the Dragon Masque.
Permanent Nihil: +30 Alchemical Bonus to Negative Energy Spell Power
10% negative energy amp
Deadly goes to the masque, negative level rates go away. (Force Abs. and the augment stay.)

Thanks for your good adjustments...very much appreciated!

At this point, I believe "more" loot is needed for the two Raids and for Haunted Halls. I'm relisting and adding adjustments from an idea (by Cyr) for the Haunted Halls treasure:

...more items in Haunted Halls like 'tome type' bonuses in the form of a consumable tome. You use the item and your character has the effect forever (non-stacking):
tome1: +10 Universal Spell Power
tome2: +10% Sneak Speed
tome3: -10% threat
tome4 thru tome15: +1% Spell Critical Chance to (corrosion, combustion, devotion, etc.)
tome16 thru 19: +1 damage bonus to (ranged, thrown, melee)


These would take care of any further treasure needed for the Haunted Halls...period. These would keep us coming back (and filling PUGs) to this specific quest for years to come.
...(and to beat a dead horse) This is a pretty huge and significant quest for DDO and D&D...it deserves something like these tomes--something no other quest should offer. If not these, then please add more unique artifacts.
And again, Thanks!

[maddong]

Please make hard and desirable EE only versions. It is something for triple epic completionists to do and makes turbine money thru the shard exchange (so we can play this game longer).

[rest]

Please make hard and desirable EE only versions. It is something for triple epic completionists to do and makes turbine money thru the shard exchange (so we can play this game longer).

They've done away with tiered loot. No more en/eh/ee loot. Ever again.

[Satyriasys]

Oh - and if there are any CC spells you'd like to see on the Shadow Puppet, feel free to let us know!

Since it's a Puppeteer I would expect some sort of dominate. Whatever it's called when the Puppeteers take control of npcs and theres little strings attached, that.


Thank you, but… Search, not spot. The point is not swapping trapping items, and spot is a lot easier of find in a not trinket slot. If I have replace the gianthold trinket with +20 search, I need that this trinket give Search!!

So, +20 search, please. We can slot spot in other slot.




I agree. Since this is a Thief manual it makes more sense it would teach how to search for things instead of the wis based spot.

[arkonas]

A very good item.

Sadly, it's competing for a lot in that slot, including sage's mantle, which will be a must-slot for maxed necro-speced DC casters if the new crafting system forces enchant focus off of weapons. It's a shame - I would have worn the Masque just for the alchemical bonus.


Nice problem to have - so many new bonuses to my DCs that I can't slot something else nice.

kinda. the new wrymscale have +6 dc. which i think that is better then the sage mantle if im correct.

[Don1966]

Necklace of Mystic Eidolons
I'm sorry to have got everyone excited with the exceptionals. After some debate, we've decided this should really be +3 Insightful, upgraded to +4 Insightful.
We're also moving the Augment Summon from the Libram to the upgrade on this necklace, where it will have a built-in advantage. Oh - and if there are any CC spells you'd like to see on the Shadow Puppet, feel free to let us know!


how about making it a shadow puppeteer, make it so occasionally it takes control of a enemy and attack the other enemies.