Dear DDO: RE random loot. aka: not every toon is a caster.

[moonprophet]

I don't play casters. I play melee toons. Imagine my chagrin when I discover that rather than damage dealing effects (like shocking burst), random weapons now exclusively are designed to give bonuses to casters. Fix this.

[Memnir]

It is a bit infuriating.

[Thalmor]

It is very annoying when 19 out of 20 weapons I find are spell casting implements.

In my opinion; This random loot pass has been an unmitigated failure. Since this pass was implemented I have found one somewhat useful weapon. So now I have started farming quests with named weapons to try to get decent weapons, for a casual player this pass has been the worst.

Maybe they need to put in an extra step before a the enhancements on a weapon are determined, to determine if a weapon a spell casting implement or if it is a melee weapon.

Echoing the OP, please fix this or at least hurry up with he Cannith crafting pass so I can start making weapons for myself again.

[Gremmlynn]

It is very annoying when 19 out of 20 weapons I find are spell casting implements.

In my opinion; This random loot pass has been an unmitigated failure. Since this pass was implemented I have found one somewhat useful weapon. So now I have started farming quests with named weapons to try to get decent weapons, for a casual player this pass has been the worst.

Maybe they need to put in an extra step before a the enhancements on a weapon are determined, to determine if a weapon a spell casting implement or if it is a melee weapon.

Echoing the OP, please fix this or at least hurry up with he Cannith crafting pass so I can start making weapons for myself again.19 out of 20 I find are pretty much junk for anyone. Which I believe is WAI as we get a chance at about 20 times as many items as we really need.

[dunklezhan]

I think - I think - what they were going for is 'most weapons could be useful whether you are a caster or melee'. That's why the power level is higher than it was before, but is also why its near impossible to get two actual weapon effects at the same time. It may be that we're supposed to adjust and stop playing the 'old' way where you were looking for two effects at once to be useful and just accept 3d6 cold as the only damaging effect we get, occasionally with Tendon Slice thrown in (tendon slice seems to be the only effect for weapons that comes up regularly on the same item as a damaging effect).

Of course, if this was the goal, they never explained that, so we're all furious. Also, its a bad goal. Please don't make this be the goal.

[Milikki]

Its quite simple. If you are not playing a caster, you are doing it wrong. The most recent updates have really pushed the casters and kiters online mode. Dont fight it, just tr, you will be happier if you do it their way.

[Nimdeadlee]

Its quite simple. If you are not playing a caster, you are doing it wrong. The most recent updates have really pushed the casters and kiters online mode. Dont fight it, just tr, you will be happier if you do it their way.

Yep Clerics and FvS absolutely wipe the floor with pallys and barbs.

[Enderoc]

I say the casting implements should remain, but there should be a more balanced loot gen which does satisfy non casters as well.

The elemental damage has been increased to where it increases to the damage of a burst weapon every hit, which is nice until later levels where the damage is actually less than old weapons...and there is some slayer weapons which tend to be more specific on average than "favored enemies". Then again vampirism and vorpal also is more common. However overall nearly every weapon seems niched for casters.

The tables should be readjusted and aligned to more practical usage depending on prefix and suffix.

Not saying the weapons that give extra damage on top of spell power should be eliminated. That is very appropriate for caster types.

[kpak01]

I don't play casters. I play melee toons. Imagine my chagrin when I discover that rather than damage dealing effects (like shocking burst), random weapons now exclusively are designed to give bonuses to casters. Fix this.

It seems almost every weapon has a useless combination of a damage effect and a mediocre caster effect. It's just as annoying for casters as for melees. What the heck am I supposed to do with +3d6 cold damage on my caster stick?

Those old weapons that had a basic spell power plus a spell lore are priceless now. I can't seem to find either at all anymore, just melee damage with a tiny amount of Insightful spell power.

Loot pass was stupid junk.

[Basura_Grande]

it would be very nice if the prefixes and suffixes were a little less random, most combos make no sense.

[Kriogen]

I think - I think - what they were going for is 'most weapons could be useful whether you are a caster or melee'. That's why the power level is higher than it was before, but is also why its near impossible to get two actual weapon effects at the same time. It may be that we're supposed to adjust and stop playing the 'old' way where you were looking for two effects at once to be useful and just accept 3d6 cold as the only damaging effect we get, occasionally with Tendon Slice thrown in (tendon slice seems to be the only effect for weapons that comes up regularly on the same item as a damaging effect).

Of course, if this was the goal, they never explained that, so we're all furious. Also, its a bad goal. Please don't make this be the goal.
Yup. New lootgen is new.

You get random "first effect", random "second effect" and sometimes random "third effect". Effects have no relation with each other. Totally random.

And ML is not based on sum of all effects as before, but just on the strongest effect. You can say that second and third effect are freebie.

I like new lootgen more then old one. Because:
- any give item is actualy good. Its because ML is based on strongest effect. Other 1 or 2 effects are freebie
- on a very lucky day you can find something really nice. Nicer then what you could find before.

Example: found googles with +7 Int, +1 necro DC and +3 insightful Wis. ML:13. Yes, forums whiner will say its vendor junk. But its not:
- it is +7 Int stat, low ML item. Good for anyone that can use Int.
- it even has +1 DC. Combined with 1st effect its a **** good item for a Wizzy
- its has extra +3 stat. Yes, "wrong" one for a wizzy. I was not that lucky. But you can say it was "close".

And I don't want that lootgen would be less random. If I want less random, I'll just go for named items.

[Jiirix]

Random lootgen weapons boil down for me to looking for the xD6 damage or vorpal of critical slashing/piercing combination. Because anything else is either weak, for casters only, to situational (new banes) or I can get it on a non-weapon item.

[bsquishwizzy]

It is very annoying when 19 out of 20 weapons I find are spell casting implements.

In my opinion; This random loot pass has been an unmitigated failure. Since this pass was implemented I have found one somewhat useful weapon. So now I have started farming quests with named weapons to try to get decent weapons, for a casual player this pass has been the worst.

Maybe they need to put in an extra step before a the enhancements on a weapon are determined, to determine if a weapon a spell casting implement or if it is a melee weapon.

Echoing the OP, please fix this or at least hurry up with he Cannith crafting pass so I can start making weapons for myself again.


“Unmitigated failure?” Hyperbole, anyone?

The issue only affects weapons. And I have come across non-caster weapons in the game. They just need to tweak the tables / process a bit.

But random loot a “failure?” Hardly. I’m finding all sorts of interesting items out there. Yesterday I came across a set of bracers with Dodge and Reflex boosts on them. While I can’t use them for my caster, a DEX-heavy toon would love them.

I’ve got a bunch of random loot stuff sitting in my inventory right now, trying to figure out how to fit them in to one toon or another with my current gear scheme.

People have a point about weapons. But, please, don’t sit there and tell me that it’s all bad. ‘Cause it ain’t.

[Hydian]

What they probably should have done is this:

Keep all of the prefixes in one table, but break the suffixes down into two tables, caster and weapon. The bonus abilities should also remain in one table.

Roll for the prefix randomly from the table of all prefixes. Then, based upon whether the prefix is weapon or caster, roll against one of the secondary tables. This shouldn't be 100% weapon/weapon and caster/caster. Make it something like 75/25 same and other. I say this because there are casters out there who do use their weapons to hit things (Bard and EK immediately spring to mind, but a lot of multiclass builds can as well).

This would drastically lower the number of weapons out there with both weapon and caster abilities, but not eliminate them as I do think that they have their place.


Then you can go back to complaining about trashing lootgen items just like you always have without this added issue. I mean, I trash 95% of the stuff I find now which is about the same as it was before the pass. The only difference now is that I can't currently recycle it via crafting.

[Basura_Grande]

What they probably should have done is this:

Keep all of the prefixes in one table, but break the suffixes down into two tables, caster and weapon. The bonus abilities should also remain in one table.

This.

Reanimating of Deadly and Deft of Necormancy just make no sense, no artificer would ever craft such garbage.

I'm not gonna mention Double-shot handwraps :)

[HastyPudding]

Call me elitist or not...but why are people using random loot weapons? Are we talking about heroics or epics? If you're in epics and not using some form of named/unique/crafted weapon then I don't know what to tell you (outside of certain situations, like fighting oozes and such, of course). If anyone has the right to complain about random weapons it's casters, because scepters/daggers with proper spellpower/spell lore are now darn near impossible to find. Nobody wants a radiance dagger of acid lore or a deadly scepter of ice lore.

And don't say 'well I don't have this pack to get the good weapons'. Horse pucky. If you don't have the pack, earn the TP to buy it. I did it that way, too, earning just about 75% of all content in the game simply by favor farming.

[Feralthyrtiaq]

The only lootgen weapons I have used from the new system are JUST for Insightful Spellpower

[edgarallanpoe]

Yep Clerics and FvS absolutely wipe the floor with pallys and barbs.

LOL!!! Huge +1.

[Qhualor]

Call me elitist or not...but why are people using random loot weapons? Are we talking about heroics or epics? If you're in epics and not using some form of named/unique/crafted weapon then I don't know what to tell you (outside of certain situations, like fighting oozes and such, of course). If anyone has the right to complain about random weapons it's casters, because scepters/daggers with proper spellpower/spell lore are now darn near impossible to find. Nobody wants a radiance dagger of acid lore or a deadly scepter of ice lore.

And don't say 'well I don't have this pack to get the good weapons'. Horse pucky. If you don't have the pack, earn the TP to buy it. I did it that way, too, earning just about 75% of all content in the game simply by favor farming.

I can see new players using random weapons in epics until they get a better named weapon. In heroics I can see new players using them too until they get a good named weapon from a mid to high level range or until they craft greensteel. Other than that, most random melee weapons aren't better than named weapons, except below level 12. I personally preferred the old school Whirlwind over random weapons, but I even looted a weapon with vorpal and some other affect that I found was better than the Carnifex. Normally I would use the Carnifex to level 12, but stopped using it by level 6 when I looted that random weapon until level 8 when I switched to Whirlwind. I had saved weapons from Sharn, Carnifex, 3BC and a couple other named low level weapons that used to be better than random loot, but with these new affects, competitive or better BDR and the fact that they can drop at any level versus the old every other level the low level random weapons are out shining the low level named weapons. I also do come across a lot of caster weapons or something like deadly with some caster affect that makes it usually useless for a melee. I don't know, but maybe there needs to be an update when you check the box for class specific items or want random whatevers.

[knobaroo]

While it is annoying that the majority of items are spell casting implements, I think its still better then what used to drop. Almost everything was vender trash before. Some of the items for low lvl characters are insanely powerful. I have seen 1st lvl vorpal ... I have a 5th lvl keen vorpal. As a matter of fact, Vorpal weapons seem to be just falling from the sky in low lvl content.
I know this is only one type of weapon but low lvl loot (2 stat bonuses on one ring) and plenty of other examples.
My only gripe is now I have to read all the descriptions on items now before I cast it away.

[xaul17]

Yes - too many caster items. It's on armor, weapons, boots, rings... everything : P

My biggest problem in heroic levels was getting weapons to use. I had just TR'd into a Great Xbow user, but the thing was, I never had any great XBow users before this one. With no old TR gear to work off of in this department, I was stuck with trying to farm out a lootgen, or looking for one of those rare named drops. Because the economy is about dead in the game, you can bet that there was nothing on the AH to go off of. As for drops, try as I might, I couldn't find anything that didn't have some kind of spellcasting implement on it. I made it to level 20 using a ML 10 Great Xbow, because I couldn't find anything better....

A little infuriating, if you ask me.

That said, who in DDO uses a Great XBow as their spellpower item anyhow? I wouldn't even on an artificer.

[Red_Frostraven]

This is getting freaking seriously old, extremely fast.

I was going to complete a quest... but... I'm spending time looking for sources of guaranteed loot instead of actually completing the quest, because I need a better weapon right now... which means sidetracking and searching for a quest with a named guaranteed item reward, just for an item upgrade, because nothing has beat the randomly rolled vorpal +3 falchion I found at level 6 or something.
It's going to die from repair failures before I find anything better, unless I reach such a high level that I can use any random weapon.

I mean:
+3 Impulsive 66 Sickle of Deception
+3 Enhancement bonus
+66 to Force spell power
+9 to Universal spell power
Deception I

Nice. IF you're a sorcerer rogue that focuses on sneaking around and hitting people. I guess.

+4 Greataxe of Glaciation 29
+25% movement speed / 5% attack speed
+4 Enhancement bonus
+29 to Cold spell power
+10 to Universal spell power

I don't even...

... the worst part is that there's likely so few realistically defensible enhancement combinations that it'd be faster to just plot out a table with several different minor/medium/major effect variables for the 100 different archetypes, and limit those archetypes to fitting weapons...

Like;
Weapons with cold effects enhancing cold spell damage...
Burning weapons giving cold absorbation...

A weapon with three elemental damage also increasing evocation DC...

...

[PsychoBlonde]

It doesn't help that they took most of the useful non-caster stuff off weapons. No more disruption, ghostbane, smiting, banishing. So for useful suffixes you have:

Deception
Deadly
Doublestrike/shot
Critical slashing/piercing/bludgeoning
mob-specific bane something
aaand . . . that's it. That's all there is. Everything else is spellpower or spell lore or similar.

[dunklezhan]

I am still not a fan of the new loot. I dont' care how powerful the individual effects are, it is annoying to have half the stuff on all your tooltips more or less totally useless to you.

[Astoroth]

I don't play casters. I play melee toons. Imagine my chagrin when I discover that rather than damage dealing effects (like shocking burst), random weapons now exclusively are designed to give bonuses to casters. Fix this.

Its little more half baked than just that, scepters have done a runner as well. It also seems to be a way too low of a chance that the attributes match the same school or element.

[Coyopa]

It seems almost every weapon has a useless combination of a damage effect and a mediocre caster effect. It's just as annoying for casters as for melees. What the heck am I supposed to do with +3d6 cold damage on my caster stick?

Those old weapons that had a basic spell power plus a spell lore are priceless now. I can't seem to find either at all anymore, just melee damage with a tiny amount of Insightful spell power.

Loot pass was stupid junk.

I have a weapon in my guild's chest that has 80 Radiance and 40 Insightful Radiance on it. I have another one that is Combustion and Insightful Combustion. And they're one-handed weapons.

[Tyrande]

Be an arcane archer or a spell sword type character... or multi-class or the crazy melee warlock. Then, those items become meaningful as your elemental attacks scale with spell power.

[Nuclear_Elvis]

Actually, one of my biggest peeves with the new/random loot was the use of the Assassinate boost in gear. Assassinate is not a Skill, and it's not an elemental damage type. Assassinate is a niche enhancement tree selection only in the Rogue/Assassin enhancement tree. This was one of the silliest things ever, that Turbine did with the lore in game, to boost an enhancement tree selection item.

One could argue - why aren't other enhancement tree selections found on random loot gear?

I say this, as someone who played Rogue/Assassin as my first ever character, to level 28 and eTR'd, so this is not anti-Assassin, it is simply against the decision to boost an enhancement tree selection within random loot.

Remove all Assassinate boosts in gear, in the next Update.

[janave]

I play caster types most, and i do think the martial effect rate and variety is not where it is desirable, if only class based reward would work on this, but that seems unlikely.

Items to the fix-list:
- Deception lost scaling, stops at tier 1, so please add the bonuses.
- Keen lost scaling, stops at tier 1, pls fix it to scale again.

Suggestions:
- Armor piercing should be a semi-rare 3rd effect on martial weapons, it is a bit too common as a 1st effect.
- Please add back 'Burst' effects, eg: Flaming Burst (even if it has to be a lucky effect)
- Vorpals should not appear below ML10 or ML8 Masterful/lucky roll.




Remove all Assassinate boosts in gear, in the next Update.
I agree with this on general level, but since so many players probably stocked up on 6-7/+2 DC items, id suggest make it a rare 3rd effect on jewel types only.

[dunklezhan]

Be an arcane archer or a spell sword type character... or multi-class or the crazy melee warlock. Then, those items become meaningful as your elemental attacks scale with spell power.

Yes my warlock is loving it. My monk however has been parked longer than he's ever been parked before. My THF horc EK... is hating it. He was never 'top of the tree' because, well, EK, but because 2 handers do not have double the bonuses of 1 handers when it comes to spellpower and such they really suffer in terms of having no choice but to take weapons that are half as powerful, melee wise, than they should be and being more or less forced to take weapons that boost very low base damage elemental attacks via not-nearly-enough spellpower.

So I think 2 handers need looking at for both casters AND melees - caster staves are also not remotely attractive now either.

Arcane Archers would have it as bad as my THF EK, except that their tree was recently redesigned, obviously with this impending loot in mind. So things seem to scale well for them because their base elemental damage is so much higher than an EK can manage.

artificers are also pretty shafted because you don't get lootgen runearms. On the other hand, arties do have the option to nuke with spells so if they are a caster/ranged built they do ok as long as they can get electric or fire spellpower on their Xbows.

S&B pally or 'lock? No problem, something on your shield, something on your sword, and you have relatively recent enhancements to keep you in the realm of effective.

2WF EK or 'lock? Great damage output on both dps and spell damage by the time you've equipped something in each hand.

Pure melee anything though suffers a lot in terms of weapon availability (especially SWF but really who does that and isn't playing a swashbuckler and intending to pick up one of the offhand options?).

It would be catastrophic for the melees (again, to be clear, just in terms of weapon options - I'm not saying melee needs a buff - just the lootgen!) were there not so many named weapons in the game many of which will turn up just through normal questing relatively frequently. For a monk that's much less often going to be true, particularly at lower levels. The trouble is that hits the very players who need decent lootgen: i.e. newer players, permadeath players - although in the case of most permadeath players they can probably do lower levels under normal rules completely naked pretty easily.

Honestly - I see what Turbine were getting at with this loot (at least I think I do) but I do think there is more tweaking to do with weapons, and very particularly with 2 handers and handwraps.

The most obvious solution for the weapons in general is the one that keeps getting suggested: a roll to determine first whether it will have double caster effects, melee + caster effects or double melee effects. The next one is to try to guess based on someone's class split what sort of weapons they'd prefer and then tie it to 'class based rewards' but I think that way failure probably lies, given the complexity of build options in DDO.

For 2 handers, I think that they do get higher bonuses than 1 handers already, but its' not enough. either let 2 handers have more effects, or buff the numbers. I'm not saying it should be twice that of a 1 hander given the different uses for 2 handed fighting/wielding vs SWF or TWF, but it certainly ought to be more than it is.

[LightBear]

This is getting freaking seriously old, extremely fast.

I mean:
+3 Impulsive 66 Sickle of Deception
+3 Enhancement bonus
+66 to Force spell power
+9 to Universal spell power
Deception I

Nice. IF you're a sorcerer rogue that focuses on sneaking around and hitting people. I guess.

+4 Greataxe of Glaciation 29
+25% movement speed / 5% attack speed
+4 Enhancement bonus
+29 to Cold spell power
+10 to Universal spell power

I don't even...



To bad that was a sickle, on wraps, short sword, q staff or kama it would been very nice for a monk.
The axe is nice for a bard/barbarian.


So much thinking inside the box in this thread, I'll see if I can dig up some treasures I've found in the last week or so.

[HAL]

IMO, the perception that "most" weapons have caster stats is memory bias. I have seen lists of loot that people have accumulated and caster stats on weapons were around 50%.

[Whitering]

/signed

And most of the non caster weapons I find are two vorpal effects, which is cool, you know, 5% of the time.

What bugs me mostly is the armor. Okay it's nice to get one of your spell bonuses on a piece of armor, but umm, I have found very few good non caster armors.

[Coyopa]

The next one is to try to guess based on someone's class split what sort of weapons they'd prefer and then tie it to 'class based rewards' but I think that way failure probably lies, given the complexity of build options in DDO.

This made me laugh because I'm currently running what will be a 12 wiz/6 bard/2 fighter SWF undead swashbuckling melee/caster hybrid ... and even I don't know what kind of weapons I want! I'm currently using a +4 Vorpal Scepter of Nullification 66, but I haven't even transitioned to being undead most of the time - let alone all the time.

[Lerincho]

I will say that this was mentioned personally during my time on the council last year, but it was also voiced personally as someone who places a caster that not every item needs to be caster friendly. Sorry for your frustrations, but I was overruled.

[PsychoBlonde]

I will say that this was mentioned personally during my time on the council last year, but it was also voiced personally as someone who places a caster that not every item needs to be caster friendly. Sorry for your frustrations, but I was overruled.

Not EVERY item is. You can't get caster boosties on bracers, belts, cloaks, or boots. Only goggles (and then only stats/DC's), Helms (stats), Necklaces, Rings, Gloves, armor, and weapons.

So, how exactly were you "overruled"? They did what you asked. Not EVERY item can get caster bonuses on it. Just more items than before.

Relying exclusively on random pulls to get items is silly. There's an auction house for a reason.

[Coyopa]

There's an auction house (that nobody uses) for a reason.

Fixed that for you! You're welcome. :D

[Lerincho]

Not EVERY item is. You can't get caster boosties on bracers, belts, cloaks, or boots. Only goggles (and then only stats/DC's), Helms (stats), Necklaces, Rings, Gloves, armor, and weapons.

So, how exactly were you "overruled"? They did what you asked. Not EVERY item can get caster bonuses on it. Just more items than before.

Relying exclusively on random pulls to get items is silly. There's an auction house for a reason.

Overruled because there is an even larger over abundance of items that are useless because of the new loot generator.

What is "boosties"?

[kmoustakas]

Actually, one of my biggest peeves with the new/random loot was the use of the Assassinate boost in gear. Assassinate is not a Skill, and it's not an elemental damage type. Assassinate is a niche enhancement tree selection only in the Rogue/Assassin enhancement tree. This was one of the silliest things ever, that Turbine did with the lore in game, to boost an enhancement tree selection item.

One could argue - why aren't other enhancement tree selections found on random loot gear?

I say this, as someone who played Rogue/Assassin as my first ever character, to level 28 and eTR'd, so this is not anti-Assassin, it is simply against the decision to boost an enhancement tree selection within random loot.

Remove all Assassinate boosts in gear, in the next Update.

I totally agree with that. Any tier 5 specific enhancement boost should remain out of the random loot table and strictly into named items. You don't see any sacred* random items any more, do you? That being said, no assassin is gonna complain when he's getting epic quality assasin boost at level 15. +4/+2 is what you can get at that level from what I've seen which matches the highest you could get from level 26 named item.

The actual ammount of assasinate bonuses both on weapons and accessories don't correspond to the amount of possible assasins ever.

* By the way, the abscence of a minimum level 24 'epic turning' feat that matches all the 'master of' feats is not nice.

[kmoustakas]

Fixed that for you! You're welcome. :D

I totally disagree. I have made excess of millions of plat and thousands of shards since the loot update.

[LightBear]

I totally disagree. I have made excess of millions of plat and thousands of shards since the loot update.

Same here.

Below are some of the nice finds, mostly weapons except for two items that fell to the eye because they seem to be an anomaly.
Or at least for the current update.

http://s27.postimg.org/pgjiz4uk3/Funny_Items2_From_DDO.png

Mind you, I only pickup Guild Renown or Commendations of Valor except if I see something that's worth auctioning, storing away for a later life or simply because it makes me go wut and then giggle.
Take those +10 handwraps of doubleshot 8 for instance, at first I was like "why isn't this fixed yet", then I moused over them and saw the lawful damage and +14 stunning and I was like "ok, that's nice but not sure I'll use them" but then I saw the +5 insightful stunning and I was like "****, these better stack and if only that was doublestrike +16 like it was supposed to be on wraps... man, that would be killing!". ;)
Now if I compare that +6 longbow with other weapons of that level it's just plain weak, I doubt these affixes properly scale with the ml of the weapon.


I might make some screenshots of the other items I've killed a gazebo for.

[dunklezhan]

Not EVERY item is. You can't get caster boosties on bracers, belts, cloaks, or boots. Only goggles (and then only stats/DC's), Helms (stats), Necklaces, Rings, Gloves, armor, and weapons.

So, how exactly were you "overruled"? They did what you asked. Not EVERY item can get caster bonuses on it. Just more items than before.

Relying exclusively on random pulls to get items is silly. There's an auction house for a reason.

True fact - I do pull really nice stuff from time to time, invariably nothing I can actually use but yes it goes on the AH. It sells about as often as it ever did to be honest. Part of the reason for that is that the new loot plays worse with the AH search and filters than the old loot did. needing to mouse over multiple items just in case they have a hidden effect you are after, or when things like 'slayer' are so non-descriptive...

The AH is the other thing that I think needs another look at. The new loot would not be half so bad if you actually could more easily find the effect(s) you are after in the AH.

[dunklezhan]

Take those +10 handwraps of doubleshot 8 for instance, at first I was like "why isn't this fixed yet", then I moused over them and saw the lawful damage and +14 stunning and I was like "ok, that's nice but not sure I'll use them" but then I saw the +5 insightful stunning and I was like "****, these better stack and if only that was doublestrike +16 like it was supposed to be on wraps... man, that would be killing!". ;)


I would not have taken a second look at those wraps. I would have seen that they were wraps of doubleshot, thought 'bugged' and moved on. Sure, I lose out from my own laziness & assumptions, I realise it would have been my own fault. But I really just don't like the approach of 'force people to look at everything just in case there's a secret' thing they're doing here. That's not making loot more attractive IMHO, its making checking your loot more tedious.

[AbyssalMage]

I would not have taken a second look at those wraps. I would have seen that they were wraps of doubleshot, thought 'bugged' and moved on. Sure, I lose out from my own laziness & assumptions, I realise it would have been my own fault. But I really just don't like the approach of 'force people to look at everything just in case there's a secret' thing they're doing here. That's not making loot more attractive IMHO, its making checking your loot more tedious.
I would have probably would have scrolled over them, noticed the hidden effects, calculated the amount of deconstructed shards it would provide, then decide. Other than that, they are garbage. Unless they have hidden code (which hand-wraps are notorious for) you lose DPS which a Monk already suffers a lack of.

I will say some of the new loot is interesting though from 4 to 15'ish now. Slightly better than before (in reference to non-caster stuff).

[Coyopa]

Same here.

Below are some of the nice finds, mostly weapons except for two items that fell to the eye because they seem to be an anomaly.
Or at least for the current update.

http://s27.postimg.org/pgjiz4uk3/Funny_Items2_From_DDO.png

Mind you, I only pickup Guild Renown or Commendations of Valor except if I see something that's worth auctioning, storing away for a later life or simply because it makes me go wut and then giggle.
Take those +10 handwraps of doubleshot 8 for instance, at first I was like "why isn't this fixed yet", then I moused over them and saw the lawful damage and +14 stunning and I was like "ok, that's nice but not sure I'll use them" but then I saw the +5 insightful stunning and I was like "****, these better stack and if only that was doublestrike +16 like it was supposed to be on wraps... man, that would be killing!". ;)
Now if I compare that +6 longbow with other weapons of that level it's just plain weak, I doubt these affixes properly scale with the ml of the weapon.


I might make some screenshots of the other items I've killed a gazebo for.

Honestly? Most of these items you've screenshotted for us are garbage, particularly considering their minimum level. You can't seriously tell me anyone is using Speed 9 Boots of Featherfalling at level 22. And you can't seriously tell me you'd consider it, except on the most gimp geared character you could possibly put together. The only good things I see in that list is the Nullified Longsword and the Impulsive Kama. The rest is vendor trash or grist for the deconstruction mill. I wouldn't be bragging about any of the rest of that junk.

[Gremmlynn]

To bad that was a sickle, on wraps, short sword, q staff or kama it would been very nice for a monk.
The axe is nice for a bard/barbarian.


So much thinking inside the box in this thread, I'll see if I can dig up some treasures I've found in the last week or so.I disagree, as in either case I would be putting the spell power someplace besides the weapon slot, or putting it there in the form of an augment. It can go just about anywhere now, so much better to use one of the many, mostly interchangeable accessory or even armor slots than use one of the few unique weapon slots for it.

[Gremmlynn]

Items to the fix-list:
- Deception lost scaling, stops at tier 1, so please add the bonuses.
- Keen lost scaling, stops at tier 1, pls fix it to scale again.As did feeding/draining. Though not as big a deal as the temp hp/sp's aren't enough to matter much regardless of the affix level and the neg level is the same for all.

[Hoglum]

They should break up the tables into 4 sections.

1. Orbs, scepters & thaumaturgy staves.. These should be loaded with caster stuff.

2. Slashing weapons. Weapons other than those in #1 should all have a chance - low chance - of some caster stuff so the EK's & such still have some goodies that might fit well for them. Slashing weapons should be the only weapons with vorpal properites.

3. Piercing weapons. These should be the only weapons that might get something like bleeding/puncturing.

4. Bashing weapons. These should be the only weapons with disruption and stunning.

Even if they never get back to having cool stuff they should at least separate #1 from the rest. Weapons in a D&D game should be cool and have unique properties and not all mixed into one giant pool of slop. When "MMO" developers have a hold on the game for too long everything seems to get bland and boring. That is where we're currently at.

It would be nice if we got back to D&D roots a little. The above guidelines for weapons are not comprehensive but meant to show how development should be done. There is currently no reason to choose a weapon for any reason other than crit range/damage. Having some cool and unique properties on different weapon types might help get back some flavor that still has some teeth. The way things are currently nobody has a good reason to build around being a Maul user. You can do it but it's all about taking the destiny with the maul crit range. Boring.

[Coyopa]

They should break up the tables into 4 sections.

1. Orbs, scepters & thaumaturgy staves.. These should be loaded with caster stuff.

2. Slashing weapons. Weapons other than those in #1 should all have a chance - low chance - of some caster stuff so the EK's & such still have some goodies that might fit well for them. Slashing weapons should be the only weapons with vorpal properties.

3. Piercing weapons. These should be the only weapons that might get something like bleeding/puncturing.

4. Bashing weapons. These should be the only weapons with disruption and stunning.

Even if they never get back to having cool stuff they should at least separate #1 from the rest. Weapons in a D&D game should be cool and have unique properties and not all mixed into one giant pool of slop. When "MMO" developers have a hold on the game for too long everything seems to get bland and boring. That is where we're currently at.

It would be nice if we got back to D&D roots a little. The above guidelines for weapons are not comprehensive but meant to show how development should be done. There is currently no reason to choose a weapon for any reason other than crit range/damage. Having some cool and unique properties on different weapon types might help get back some flavor that still has some teeth. The way things are currently nobody has a good reason to build around being a Maul user. You can do it but it's all about taking the destiny with the maul crit range. Boring.

I don't want to be pigeon-holed into using a scepter or staff on a caster. There are casters other than just wizards and warlocks, you know, and those other casters use a variety of weapons.

[Hoglum]

Weapons other than those in #1 should all have a chance - low chance - of some caster stuff so the EK's & such still have some goodies that might fit well for them.


I've already addressed that. I'm just saying caster weapons should not be the norm.

[Red_Frostraven]

I don't want to be pigeon-holed into using a scepter or staff on a caster. There are casters other than just wizards and warlocks, you know, and those other casters use a variety of weapons.

Great.

Now.
Can our melee characters have quarterstaves have a 99% chance to be great for melee characters -- since all other weapons have a 99% chance to be useless for non-spellcasters..?

...I actually used a quarterstaff for my slashing-specific sword and board paladin, who currently uses two-handed weapons because I simply can't get my hands on any decent one-handed weapons.

...

Seriously, though... completely random affixes makes the game look and feel like Diablo 3 -- and that is not a good thing.

[cpw_acc]

What the heck am I supposed to do with +3d6 cold damage on my caster stick?

Stick it into a potion of healing, wait for a minute = healing-potion lollipop!

[Coyopa]

Seriously, though... completely random affixes makes the game look and feel like Diablo 3 -- and that is not a good thing.

I'll grant that it would be nice if certain prefixes and suffixes were more likely to be found together, which should reduce the absolute randomness we have now. However, when I was running a druid/monk wolf build that used kamas and I could NEVER find a kama with devotion on it (for my off-hand), I think I'll just bask in the schadenfreude of everyone else understanding how I felt during that time.

[Duetotheseverity]

If you are playing a melee toon you are doing it wrong.

Seriously i don't know why theres an option to create any toon other than warlock and ranged toons.

Sounds like a trollbine to me.

[JOTMON]

They should break up the tables into 4 sections.

1. Orbs, scepters & thaumaturgy staves.. These should be loaded with caster stuff.

2. Slashing weapons. Weapons other than those in #1 should all have a chance - low chance - of some caster stuff so the EK's & such still have some goodies that might fit well for them. Slashing weapons should be the only weapons with vorpal properites.

3. Piercing weapons. These should be the only weapons that might get something like bleeding/puncturing.

4. Bashing weapons. These should be the only weapons with disruption and stunning.

Even if they never get back to having cool stuff they should at least separate #1 from the rest. Weapons in a D&D game should be cool and have unique properties and not all mixed into one giant pool of slop. When "MMO" developers have a hold on the game for too long everything seems to get bland and boring. That is where we're currently at.

It would be nice if we got back to D&D roots a little. The above guidelines for weapons are not comprehensive but meant to show how development should be done. There is currently no reason to choose a weapon for any reason other than crit range/damage. Having some cool and unique properties on different weapon types might help get back some flavor that still has some teeth. The way things are currently nobody has a good reason to build around being a Maul user. You can do it but it's all about taking the destiny with the maul crit range. Boring.


There does need to be a weighted factoring in randomgen.. a melee item should tend to spawn more melee effects and a very low chance of caster effects.
the same for caster items..

At the start of randomgen spawning..
d100- 45% melee/ 45% caster/ 10% mixed. (could look at adjusted weighted % based on character classes and the existing options checkbox for class loot)
if=melee then subset randomgen to be melee options
if-caster then subset randomgen to be caster options
if=mixed then anything goes.

The current 100% completely random mash floods the loot tables with an overabundance of garbage items that makes you wonder what randomgen magical crafter flooded the mob market with this stuff.. was the void portal they were using to junk stuff actually opening into some rift that popped out randomly in mob caves for them to trip over and put in chests for visitors to pillage through.

[Strider1963]

It doesn't help that they took most of the useful non-caster stuff off weapons. No more disruption, ghostbane, smiting, banishing. So for useful suffixes you have:

Deception
Deadly
Doublestrike/shot
Critical slashing/piercing/bludgeoning
mob-specific bane something
aaand . . . that's it. That's all there is. Everything else is spellpower or spell lore or similar.

Not to mention, the dr breakers have been left out. Just because a new lootgen weapon says it does good damage, doesn't mean it has good dr, because it doesn't!

[Aletys]

It doesn't help that they took most of the useful non-caster stuff off weapons. No more disruption, ghostbane, smiting, banishing. So for useful suffixes you have:

Deception
Deadly
Doublestrike/shot
Critical slashing/piercing/bludgeoning
mob-specific bane something
aaand . . . that's it. That's all there is. Everything else is spellpower or spell lore or similar.

This. Not to mention that you cannot find any of the improved versions of those anymore (they've been removed from the loot tables apparently, someone said Sev doesn't like them). And since the vanilla versions (eg: paralyzing, with a save of 17) are completely useless at epic levels, I just trash those weapons. Any epic level weapon with any of those properties is complete garbage, since all the epic level mobs save against them.

And, it's not just melee's who have no useful weapons dropping, anyone ranged is in the same boat. It wouldn't be so bad if at least the spellcaster versions dropped something useful, but most of the time I'm seeing spellcaster weapons that most casters can't use, unless they're running an Eldritch Knight build.

Or, when a melee weapon actually drops, it's a useless combination: A two-handed weapon with assassinate on it.

[HAL]

This. Not to mention that you cannot find any of the improved versions of those anymore (they've been removed from the loot tables apparently, someone said Sev doesn't like them). And since the vanilla versions (eg: paralyzing, with a save of 17) are completely useless at epic levels, I just trash those weapons. Any epic level weapon with any of those properties is complete garbage, since all the epic level mobs save against them.

And, it's not just melee's who have no useful weapons dropping, anyone ranged is in the same boat. It wouldn't be so bad if at least the spellcaster versions dropped something useful, but most of the time I'm seeing spellcaster weapons that most casters can't use, unless they're running an Eldritch Knight build.

Or, when a melee weapon actually drops, it's a useless combination: A two-handed weapon with assassinate on it.

I don't run melee very often so I don't make note of all the melee stuff I've seen, but those aren't the only useful attributes on weapons. Just off the top of my head at work I know I've seen Armor-Piercing, Keen, Feeding...

And I just pulled an Improved Paralyzing weapon yesterday.

[Bimbelbo]

The system is broken in it's current state. Wonder if they are able to allocate enough manpower and still have people with deeper knowledge of this rather complex system which needs fine balancing, to make it run again. I have my doubts to be honest, this might be the final state and this saddens me, because this game didn't deserve this, even though the system was more plain and unspectacular before the latest changes, at least it was coherent and balanced. Each change brought ups and downs. Unfortunately they haven't managed to keep the better parts (diversification) without braking other parts. In broader terms, Feather of Sun made the weapons more diverse and interesting and adding a random factor that could produce fine items in rare cases and in many cases useful items. Last update improved clothing and jewelry, but broke armor and weapons in a serious manner. So many loose ends, and still much manpower seems to get wasted with stuff that's not broken and shouldn't be the primary focus.

[Gremmlynn]

When "MMO" developers have a hold on the game for too long everything seems to get bland and boring. That is where we're currently at.One size fits all code means less code to write and less code for the game to have to sort through is all. Less margin for error as well.

That's not to say I agree they should be doing things this way. Just pointing out why they would.

[J-2]

It does stink. I also play melee. Consider crafting as an alternative.
Its almost as painful while you level up, but it is nice when you get there.

[Nuclear_Elvis]

It doesn't help that they took most of the useful non-caster stuff off weapons. No more disruption, ghostbane, smiting, banishing. So for useful suffixes you have:

Deception
Deadly
Doublestrike/shot
Critical slashing/piercing/bludgeoning
mob-specific bane something
aaand . . . that's it. That's all there is. Everything else is spellpower or spell lore or similar.

I would go a step further, because the Suffixes like Deadly and Doublestrike/shot can be found on gear, and as result are preferred to be used from non-weapons for a DPS minded character. As result, that further reduces your list of useful Suffixes down to just the damage producing Criticals/Banes. Deception is niche also, not generically useful to all melees, as it's factored most effectively for a Rogue with Sneak Attack.

Draining is also underwhelming, and it should have been a scaled effect with multiple tiers. Same with Vampirism, and save-based effects like Paralyzing and Erosive/Disintegration (which I have not seen in new loots). These effects were never envisioned for the level 30 game we have now, but a new light should be shed on them (pun intended for Vampirism), to scale them up, perhaps have as many as 4-5 different tiers that go beyond just a "normal" and "greater" division. DDO has moved the level cap up over the years, but they have not yet figured out that a scaled system for many things such as this are overdue for implementation. 2 tiers may have worked for a level 20 cap, but not now.

EDIT: To add a Stats based comment, this is not Pen and Paper (PnP) D&D, it's a digital game, so it is not beyond reason to convert all scaling effects to have a different value for every single wield level in the game, within the loot tables. I say this as an extreme simply to make a point - weapons found randomly in the game could have a scaled increasing value for effects for each of the 30 levels in the game. A level 6 Paralyze weapon would have a different DC check than a level 18 Paralyze weapon, as would a level 30 Paralyze weapon. Breaks with lore? Frankly, the computer breaks with lore - we don't even need dice with digital factors.

[Coyopa]

I would go a step further, because the Suffixes like Deadly and Doublestrike/shot can be found on gear, and as result are preferred to be used from non-weapons for a DPS minded character. As result, that further reduces your list of useful Suffixes down to just the damage producing Criticals/Banes. Deception is niche also, not generically useful to all melees, as it's factored most effectively for a Rogue with Sneak Attack.

Draining is also underwhelming, and it should have been a scaled effect with multiple tiers. Same with Vampirism, and save-based effects like Paralyzing and Erosive/Disintegration (which I have not seen in new loots). These effects were never envisioned for the level 30 game we have now, but a new light should be shed on them (pun intended for Vampirism), to scale them up, perhaps have as many as 4-5 different tiers that go beyond just a "normal" and "greater" division. DDO has moved the level cap up over the years, but they have not yet figured out that a scaled system for many things such as this are overdue for implementation. 2 tiers may have worked for a level 20 cap, but not now.

EDIT: To add a Stats based comment, this is not Pen and Paper (PnP) D&D, it's a digital game, so it is not beyond reason to convert all scaling effects to have a different value for every single wield level in the game, within the loot tables. I say this as an extreme simply to make a point - weapons found randomly in the game could have a scaled increasing value for effects for each of the 30 levels in the game. A level 6 Paralyze weapon would have a different DC check than a level 18 Paralyze weapon, as would a level 30 Paralyze weapon. Breaks with lore? Frankly, the computer breaks with lore - we don't even need dice with digital factors.

I would argue that Deception is important for all melees, not just the ones with sneak attack damage. Why? First, if the mob isn't facing you, it can't hit you. If the group is largely on one side of a mob, it's possible to keep it facing away nearly the entire fight. With the attack speeds we have today, this is quite reasonable when there are multiple characters with Deception attacking the same mob. When my rogue was an assassin (about 3 months ago), I was able to attack fast enough to keep mobs facing away from me 80% of the time all by myself. Second, your Deception proc opens sneak attack opportunities for those characters with sneak attack damage. This means they don't have to rely on their own Deception proc'ing in order to get sneak attacks in.

EDIT: In fact, I like having Deception on both my melee and ranged characters. Every time the Deception procs when I'm using ranged attacks, the mob turns around and runs a little further away from me and all the while I'm drilling it in the back with arrows or shuriken. I've also seen where mobs try to do some special attack, like Minotaurs and their charge, and Deception procs at just the right time to prevent it. In the case of Minotaurs, they tend to turn around and take a few steps backwards in your direction - but it prevents them from trying to knock you over. And in the case of casters, if you can get them facing away at the right time, their spells will have no effect.

[Kompera_Oberon]

One size fits all code means less code to write and less code for the game to have to sort through is all. Less margin for error as well.

That's not to say I agree they should be doing things this way. Just pointing out why they would.

It would not take too much coding effort for them to skew results in one way or another.

But, and this is a big but (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reTx5sqvVJ4), it would be very easy for any skew they put on the random results to exclude or marginalize a particular build.

So my vote is on random results and looking for the gems amongst the chaff.

What I'd like for them to fix are the actual errors in the new loot system. Items claiming to do 5d6 damage only doing 1d6, items with alignment damage not breaking that DR, double effects on items, and the horrible naming schema. And I do not believe that this is a complete list.

[Andu_Indorin]

The new Random Loot system -- which is problematic for five or six reasons OTHER than the topic of this thread -- is one reason why U29 should be considered the WORST update in the DDO's history. When the obituary for this game is written, the new Random Loot system will no doubt be considered one of the four or five developments that killed this game.

[VinceWhirlwind]

Actually, one of my biggest peeves with the new/random loot was the use of the Assassinate boost in gear. Assassinate is not a Skill, and it's not an elemental damage type. Assassinate is a niche enhancement tree selection only in the Rogue/Assassin enhancement tree. This was one of the silliest things ever, that Turbine did with the lore in game, to boost an enhancement tree selection item.
...

Maybe offering assassinate boosts is arguably a bit silly, but putting "Assassinate" on a Greatsword???
And I've also had it on a Longbow. Correct me if I am wrong, but you can't range-assassinate, can you?

Boosts such as assassinate should be constrained to a short list of applicable weapons: daggers, shortswords, handwraps.

With the low-level loot that has multiple pointless low-level boosts - rather than a Reconstruction 32 +1 Mace of Healing Lore 3, how about a +1 Mace with a *single* boost. With only one boost, it's going to be more useful.

[DYWYPI]

The Assassinate DC effect is not likely to be of much use on a bow, as those need two hands to wield and are ranged weapons.


Yes, the Rogue's Assassinate enhancement; is a special mêlée attack. It cannot be performed with 'unarmed attacks' and that should include; handwraps and wielding scrolls as incompatible with execution of 'Assassinate'.

The pure DDO Rogue Assassin tends to favour; Daggers, Kukris, Rapiers and Shortswords. Though they can still use other weapons to activate their Assassinate enhancement, which in some cases could be preferable depending upon their opponent(s) - especially, should the swing(s) miss, and they'd have to "quickly" resort to standard attacks, etc. Assassinate DC effects could also apply from other wearable items, and not just the item the Rogue is hitting the monster with.

[Nuclear_Elvis]

...Boosts such as assassinate should be constrained to a short list of applicable weapons: daggers, shortswords, handwraps...

To correct this - if Assassinate does stay in the loot system (which I hope it doesn't, and goes away completely, but if it does stay...) --
Then there are only 2 perspectives that should be used for this, since the enhancement tie-in is only with Rogue class:

- Daggers and Kukri only, since those are the only 2 weapons granted boosts directly in the Assassin tree.
- Or, also add the "Weapon Finesse" light weapon list, since you can take Weapon Finesse and the Assassin tree still works.

[Greyhawk6]

Random loot is the best thing about this game. You literally never know what you will get in a chest. Yes, a lot of it is weird, way too specialised and/or useless but that has been addressed by generally giving you more shards when you break them up for crafting. I've found a lot of decent gear. I think my best find was a Vorpal Staff (!) as quest reward for Millers' Debt :). Play Everquest 2 if you want to see what the absolute definition of "dismal" is. Everything is the same. Boredom city. Or play LotrO where you get 5 inventory slots and 7000 items of random crud every time you kill a mob.

I just have one real wish - PLEASE reduce the amount of smegging docents! The amount of times I loot a docent is just depressing.

Oh yeah and isnt it about time the named items got looked at? They have had hardly any enhancements since 2006 and a lot of them are to say the least, shoddy. Especially the lowbie ones.

[Andu_Indorin]

Random loot is the best thing about this game.

Best part of the game? Am I reading this right?

There is just so much wrong with the new loot system, from very BAD English to Lvl.1 Vorpal Weapons that surely has poor Gary Gygax rolling in his grave; from a plethora of garbage clogging the Auction House and item vendors to an equipment system so arcane that it must alienate many new players.

And then there are the quest rewards. There is nothing quite like the sense of achievement of soloing heroic Tempest's Spine at level and being given a reward list that provides a choice between ****, crrap, craap, crapp, krap, qrap, ckrap, kcrap, qurap, and -- ah yes! -- a pile of you know what. At least they should increase the incidence of guild renown reward option so one can obtain something befitting a significant achievement instead a slap in the face.

[dunklezhan]

To correct this - if Assassinate does stay in the loot system (which I hope it doesn't, and goes away completely, but if it does stay...) --
Then there are only 2 perspectives that should be used for this, since the enhancement tie-in is only with Rogue class:

- Daggers and Kukri only, since those are the only 2 weapons granted boosts directly in the Assassin tree.
- Or, also add the "Weapon Finesse" light weapon list, since you can take Weapon Finesse and the Assassin tree still works.

Whilst I agree it should only drop on items that can feasibly be used with the Assassinate ability, I would be dead against your first option. The revamp of that tree already leads people to pigeonhole their assassins to using just the choice of the two weapons, let's not double down on that.

[Lauf]

My issues with the random loot, aside from the fact that it's heavily tilted towards casters, is that it's more power creep where no more power creep is needed.

I mean, when was the last time you've had trouble with heroics?

used to be you couldn't get past +6 stat before epics, or 70 spell power, or a +2 DC spell focus item, or any insightful stat (gs aside).
nor could you have more than +2 attack items, and a +2 to damage, and those usually came as a set bonus. (top crafters could make +4 attack...)

now you can easily find 80+ spell power, +3 DC, +7/8 stats, +3 insightful, +6 deadly / accuracy, etc etc etc.

why?

the problem with the old random loot wasn't that it was too weak, it was that the effects were mundane and lacked variety. that hasn't changed, they've just increased in power.

does adding oodles of power make them interesting? sure. but it's the wrong way to go about it.
why? because there's no power shortage in the game. A better attempt would have been to create more interesting loot, rather than stronger loot.

P.S.

get off my lawn.

[VinceWhirlwind]

My issues with the random loot, aside from the fact that it's heavily tilted towards casters, is that it's more power creep where no more power creep is needed.

I mean, when was the last time you've had trouble with heroics?

used to be you couldn't get past +6 stat before epics, or 70 spell power, or a +2 DC spell focus item, or any insightful stat (gs aside).
nor could you have more than +2 attack items, and a +2 to damage, and those usually came as a set bonus. (top crafters could make +4 attack...)

now you can easily find 80+ spell power, +3 DC, +7/8 stats, +3 insightful, +6 deadly / accuracy, etc etc etc.

why?

the problem with the old random loot wasn't that it was too weak, it was that the effects were mundane and lacked variety. that hasn't changed, they've just increased in power.

does adding oodles of power make them interesting? sure. but it's the wrong way to go about it.
why? because there's no power shortage in the game. A better attempt would have been to create more interesting loot, rather than stronger loot.
.

Yes, I agree.
Picking up endless amounts of melee weapons with spellcaster boosts on them is annoying, but you can go and craft them away and bank essences.
Incomprehensibly meaningless item/boost combinations is even more annoying, but you can craft them into oblivion, just keeping the ones that make sense to put on the AH.
But the addition of extra power, with Minimum Level numbers that just don't add up, makes it *feel* completely broken.
I mean, almost straight after the update came out, I scored a STR+6/CON+6 item (with a low ML) in a <lvl20 quest and thought "wow", but also felt really disappointed that the work to gradually improve my toons' gear was suddenly rendered worthless by an unnecessary over-powering.

[Llewndyn]

“Unmitigated failure?” Hyperbole, anyone?

The issue only affects weapons. And I have come across non-caster weapons in the game. They just need to tweak the tables / process a bit.

But random loot a “failure?” Hardly. I’m finding all sorts of interesting items out there. Yesterday I came across a set of bracers with Dodge and Reflex boosts on them. While I can’t use them for my caster, a DEX-heavy toon would love them.

I’ve got a bunch of random loot stuff sitting in my inventory right now, trying to figure out how to fit them in to one toon or another with my current gear scheme.

People have a point about weapons. But, please, don’t sit there and tell me that it’s all bad. ‘Cause it ain’t.

These are the forums, how many reads would you get with "The new loot tables could use a little tweaking, they seem to be a bit caster heavy"? Just typing that put me to sleep 4 times!

Now post "OMFG THE BUS STATION S%%*$S AT TURBINE HAVE RUINED MY LIIIIIIYYYYYY!!!IIIIIFFEEEEEE!!!!!" and see if there's a difference? I rest my case. Well reasoned, accurate arguments are to forums as Terror is to the game.

[Andu_Indorin]

“Unmitigated failure?” Hyperbole, anyone?


No hyperbole in my opinion. Though I'd call it a "total disaster" rather than "unmitigated failure."

"What is wrong with it?" you might ask. Let me explain:

1. An absurd proportion -- upwards of 95% -- are genuinely useless items ...
2. That are a slap in the face as quest rewards, ...
3. and now clog the AH, SE, and equipment vendors with garbage,
4. and that violate central design precepts of Dungeons and Dragons (as in the majority of all martial and exotic weapons as casting implements, or a plethora of specialist equipment far in excess of their potential users).

Of those items that are useful,
5. they represent a Power Drift unprecedented in the previous ten years of the game ...
6. that has rendered the hard work of experienced players all but null and void, leading to many leaving the game, ...
7. as well as a power drift that violates central precepts of Dungeons and Dragons (as in Vorpal was never meant to be common place, but something very special, to be proud of).

Furthermore, many new loots items are:
8. Grammatically incorrect, always a sign of unprofessional work;
9. Semantically incorrect, as in an AMATEUR armed with a thesaurus but who doesn't know its correct usage.
10. And this has created an unnecessarily obtuse random loot system that is alienating to experienced and especially new players.

Have I missed anything?

(My apologies for my own atrocious grammar. It seems I've worked myself into a tizzy.)

[TomahawkOrange]

It doesn't help that they took most of the useful non-caster stuff off weapons. No more disruption, ghostbane, smiting, banishing.

The loss of those started killing it for me at mid-level. Went to the AH to see what I could find since they weren't dropping in loot like they used to. Only realized recently that they aren't even available anymore. I suppose we can look forward to seeing what's left of them in the AH at 1.5M soon. The AA arrow imbues don't hold a candle to what those weapon effects offered.

I agree with the sentiment a few others have espoused as well. The idea behind this loot is that at some point in history someone with magical crafting abilities either needed or commissioned such an item. The new loot gen system makes it look like those people were buffoons. (Maybe that's why their goofy weapons ended up in some random monster's chest.)

[Gremmlynn]

“Unmitigated failure?” Hyperbole, anyone?

The issue only affects weapons. And I have come across non-caster weapons in the game. They just need to tweak the tables / process a bit.

But random loot a “failure?” Hardly. I’m finding all sorts of interesting items out there. Yesterday I came across a set of bracers with Dodge and Reflex boosts on them. While I can’t use them for my caster, a DEX-heavy toon would love them.Not really as that Reflex bonus wont stack with a full up Resistance item and seems to scale at the same rate.


I’ve got a bunch of random loot stuff sitting in my inventory right now, trying to figure out how to fit them in to one toon or another with my current gear scheme.

People have a point about weapons. But, please, don’t sit there and tell me that it’s all bad. ‘Cause it ain’t.All? No. A lot? Sure.

That Reflex item is an example of why too. To many filler effects that are, basically, poor man's versions of what we actually need clogging up the tables. To many insight bonuses as well. What used to have to be covered by a single affix will now need two as the devs start setting (more, stats are already there) benchmarks based on what is possible.

Insight bonuses are great if they are rare enough that they are actually above and beyond what the content is balanced to. make them common and they will become an expectation and thus needed, rather than an actual bonus above what is the norm to have.

Frankly, it would have been better if they had given the insight bonuses to those poorman's effects, rather than everything, so they would stack with the full up items.