Named Items only? Issues with Sentient Weapons

[OfElectricMen]

There's a few things wrong with this implementation of sentient, or intelligent, weapons.

1. Making them ML 20. Intelligent weapons have been with us in the pnp game forever. They can show up at pretty much any treasure level and don't require special feeding, just pandering to their egos. This implementation is nothing like how they should be (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/intelligentItems.htm).

2. Making Them Weapons Only (and primary hand weapons at that). As noted in the link above, intelligence isn't just limited to weapons. Just as mimic in the Mimic Hunt shouldn't only have a chance of appearing as chests, but as any clickable scenery object, intelligence should have a chance of showing up on any magic item.

3. Feeding. To improve your sentient weapon, you have to feed it named magical items (but not ones with augments in them because!). Conceptually, this isn't a bad idea at all, but in the current milieu, it's a terrible one. It's meant to force even more grinding of quests (at levels that aren't doing anything other than providing this food), and the game without the grind already has more than enough grinding. But that's not the worst of it. This is already having an impact on the item vendors, auction house, and shard exchange, reducing the number of named items available to purchase, leaving only the terrible, terrible rangen loot (face it, the last loot revision was an amazingly poor design decision; the loot is so boring now). This needs to be changed to either all lot being edible or only rangen loot. Some players don't have the time or ability to grind out some of the BtCoE loot (which should only come from raids; all other loot should never be bound), and this screws with those players in favor of the "elites".

4. Legacy Weapons. Why didn't you guys go with the idea of legacy weapons, which would've worked better with the feeding of items? You know, weapons that you acquire at levels 1-5 and that grow in power with you as you level up and feed them (rangen loot and named loot). That +1 flaming longsword you found at level 3 could stay with you until level 30, at which time, it might have grown powerful enough through time and the absorption of magic items that it could challenge even the archfiends of the Nine Hells.

You just didn't get this right, folks.

[Del]

Yeah, seems #3 is a big issue with regard to the auction house. Perhaps the feeding should be limited to Bound items only. As a relatively casual solo player, most of my equipment was crafted or purchased on the auction house. I don't have the time nor patience to continually grind for named items, let alone raid. So taking all the named items out of the auction system, as a result of the feeding frenzy, would make equipping characters with decent gear almost impossible!

[Arch-Necromancer]

Sentient weapons were designed to give players something to do in endgame.

And since they were meant to be rare, it makes sense for them to be level 20+.

It would be fine that only named items are allowed if all named items would be up to date with their enhancement power.

So it would be nice to see level 20+ outdated named weapons from older adventure packs updated to new values so that we have wider selection for sentient weapons.

[Saekee]

I like the system as it is

I do not have Ravenloft but will get it just for the sentient weapons

Named weapons have been subpar for a long time; this is a clever way to itilize them

[Turtlsdown]

There's a few things wrong with this post.

1. The system was meant to help keep interest at the end (epic) side of the game. DDO is very little like pnp, and has been for a while; this is because pnp does not translate very well to the DDO game engine and until/unless a DDO2 comes out, asking for DDO to be more like pnp is pointless. Feeding them is an online-game implementation of the system; it's done to make it work well in an online game. This implementation has nothing to do with pnp. This implementation is designed for Dungeons & Dragons Online, two very different systems.

2. They announced Sentient Weapons, not Sentient Items; the scope of what they are willing/able to do was clear. Same for the mimics: it's probably beyond the scope of what the devs are able/willing to do to make every click-able object in the game have a chance to become a mimic. For the people who don't like the mimcs btw, this would be an absolute nightmare.

3. Here I can agree that the side effect of clearing out the AH of any named items kinda sucks. Most of the long-timers won't see it as a huge deal but any new players are kind of boned. I'm not sure how else it could work though; feeding it random loot would be too quick since they want this system to last a while (it won't for Min/Max'ers but that's the nature of the beast).

4. Again the scope of this was announced beforehand, and they wanted epic weapons that are sentient. I don't disagree that if the scope had been to be able to slot a low level named item and then have it grow with you would have been cool. But it's not what it was designed to be.

[Turtlsdown]

Sentient weapons were designed to give players something to do in endgame.

And since they were meant to be rare, it makes sense for them to be level 20+.

It would be fine that only named items are allowed if all named items would be up to date with their enhancement power.

So it would be nice to see level 20+ outdated named weapons from older adventure packs updated to new values so that we have wider selection for sentient weapons.

Exactly this! This is the PERFECT opportunity to give some of the older and less popular packs the Epic treatment. Then upgrade the loot into epic versions! People will farm it for unique items to use at end game and/or to feed their current items! More people will get the older packs! Win-win!

[Hafeal]

3. Here I can agree that the side effect of clearing out the AH of any named items kinda sucks. Most of the long-timers won't see it as a huge deal but any new players are kind of boned. I'm not sure how else it could work though; feeding it random loot would be too quick since they want this system to last a while (it won't for Min/Max'ers but that's the nature of the beast).



On this issue, as a regular voice for casual and new players, I would offer this advice:

1) New and casual players can still run content and pull itmes themselves. Join any LoD run, for example, and if you don't pull some named items, you got to the quest late;

2) The best items in Epic are still available and need work anyway to be at the height of their power, which most new and casual players will not quickly achieve, if ever (legendary greensteel, ToEE, Slavers, Thunderforged).

3) Now is the perfect time for new and casual players to learn Cannith Crafting. With little effort, you can craft great weaponry AND gear. And collectables are still being sold on the AH if you are short. My main crafter was level 260 after just feeding the essences and makign level shards. But I now deconstruct gear instead of selling it on ALL my characters. My main character (not my crafter) is past level 100 by ONLY decontructing items from when CC was revamped. He would be even higher if I invested in it, but I have my main crafter.

Point being, at this stage of DDO, focusing on "named items" isn't where it is "at" for new and casual players. P.S. Not to mention that random loot today pulls weapons with incredible powers compared to prior years.

:cool:

[Annex]

I am seeing a lot of positive things written about Ravenloft and I truly hope that translates into good earnings for Standing Stone Games. Many aspects of the expansion show a dedicated effort to raise the bar--visual presentation, quest design, story, voice acting--and that deserves much praise. Truly.

However, I must agree with the original poster with regards Sentient Weapons. I was really hoping for a permanent sidekick for my avatar, a weapon I would want to use at all times, constantly making interesting comments about what I am doing and what she wants to do. I am very pleased the weapons talk to us but my happiness ends there. We did not get talking weapons so much as a weapon augment system. I still need to carry a bazillion weapons. I still need to change out weapons as I level. Worse, now I must actively hunt named items or I will never get anywhere with this new system. Worse worse, I must actually create multiple super weapons, per character, which compounds the woes of finding named weapons. I cannot move jewels and filigrees as I hoped because every 10 to 30 days I would just need to move them back. Ugg.

Initially, I was ambivalent about feeding these things other named items but I now believe that was an extremely terrible idea. I used to sell a goodly number of named items on the Auction House at low prices. No more. Worse yet, I find myself snapping up cheap named items, taking them out of the hands of players who could actually use them. As my initial excitement wore off I realized that, at my current rate of named item acquisition, it will take me about three years to max out one Super Weapon. This system makes Legendary Weapons from The Lord of the Rings Online look like a cake walk, and that is saying something!

The Super Weapon properties are uninspired. I cannot make a neat weapon with anything close to the properties I want. I must stick these new augments in weapons I would normally never use, just to gain a bunch of Melee Power. Ugg.

All the personalities I tried sound like characters from a really annoying cartoon show. They say the same three or four things over and over and over. I understand Super Weapons cannot be as interactive as Star Wars Companions, but the tone completely missed the mark for me.

I am very sorry for being so negative but the Super Weapon system feels like the developers ran out of ideas and had to push something out the door to meet a deadline. To be clear, I really like the talking aspect but I wish the comments were more varied and less nonsensical. I was not expecting Vexa.

Anyway, that is my subjective opinion and I will get over my disappointment.

[Gremmlynn]

Some players don't have the time or ability to grind out some of the BtCoE loot (which should only come from raids; all other loot should never be bound), and this screws with those players in favor of the "elites". This isn't about favoring the "elites". This is a simple economic reality of the game. If a pack/expansion's loot isn't bound, then acquiring that loot wouldn't require buying that pack/expansion. It's likely this effect that caused the shift away from BtCoE named items.