Sharn!

[Splunge]

I guess we all knew it was coming with the downtime announced for Thursday. It looks like the packages are almost exactly the same as last time. They even have a teleport item, a weapon aura, and a new enhancement point tome.

*links removed*

[Splunge]

I wonder if the augment bag is bta or btc and if you get one total or one per character.

And there's an actual target date for the main part of the expansion: April 30.

[Arkat]

Awesome find!

You can order tonight, too!

[askrj1]

Limited Cosmetic Pet: Warforged Peacock

I'm still waiting for my pet titan.

EDIT: Oh. And this.


scheduled to release the week of April 30th, 2019

[J1NG]

That "Universal Enhancement Tree Point Tome" reads very interesting...

J1NG

[askrj1]

That "Universal Enhancement Tree Point Tome" reads very interesting...

J1NG

So easier access to VKF and/or Intmod and/or Wismod... and probably a +2 to come like racials?

[Harkmar]

I guess we all knew it was coming with the downtime announced for Thursday. It looks like the packages are almost exactly the same as last time. They even have a teleport item, a weapon aura, and a new enhancement point tome.

This says it is "A Universal Enhancement Point Tome for every character" Does this stack into the racial AP tomes or are they saying max AP was 80, with this tome it will be 81?

Tomorrow's official announcement will be interesting.

[mistress_minx]

I wonder if the augment bag is bta or btc and if you get one total or one per character.

And there's an actual target date for the main part of the expansion: April 30.

After you make your purchase, be sure to redeem your expansion coupon code. This is a pre-purchase. Some content will only be delivered with the launch of the expansion.

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Masterminds of Sharn expansion is scheduled for release on April 30th, 2019. In the event of delay, you will receive the expansion content and items no later than May 30th. Dungeons & Dragons Online: Masterminds of Sharn is available in English.

*This content will be delivered at launch of Masterminds of Sharn (scheduled April 30th, 2019)
**Sharn supplies and Dimensional Augment Bag are delivered immediately on the character and server where you redeem your expansion coupon code. Supplies and Bag are bound to account. Limit one Dimensional Augment Bag per server. Limit one set of Sharn Supplies per account.

[J1NG]

This says it is "A Universal Enhancement Point Tome for every character" Does this stack into the racial AP tomes or are they saying max AP was 80, with this tome it will be 81?

Tomorrow's official announcement will be interesting.

If we're reading this right:

1. It only works either for all Enhancement Tree's barring Racial Tree's (Unlikely, since you could in theory get Two Capstones with the +2 version that will invariably come out, but then again, you could get a Class and Universal Tree in theory too this way... Hmm...)
2. Or more likely, it only applies for the various Universal Tree's. So Vistani Knife Fighter, Falconry, Harper and the new Inquisitive.

I don't mind either way. I'm interested in the prospect of possible Two Capstones, even if one is from the Universal Trees.

J1NG

[Cocomajobo]

Awesome find!

You can order tonight, too!

It is HIGHLY advisable that you refrain from purchasing those tonight. I can not currently vouch for whether your purchase will go through correctly at this time. Genuinely, for the sake of your own wallet and time do not attempt to purchase any of those until after we have made an official announcement.

[Epitome]

It is HIGHLY advisable that you refrain from purchasing those tonight. I can not currently vouch for whether your purchase will go through correctly at this time. Genuinely, for the sake of your own wallet and time do not attempt to purchase any of those until after we have made an official announcement.

Whoops....

Already redeemed code. Some stuff is missing but we'll see if it comes in after patch tomorrow... A ticket and a wait maybe in my future if it doesn't pan out.

[Arkat]

Whoops....

Already redeemed code. Some stuff is missing but we'll see if it comes in after patch tomorrow...

Yeah, you probably should have waited until after tomorrow’s update to redeem your code.

[Cocomajobo]

Those offerings have been disabled, we've identified all of the accounts that redeemed their codes, and we'll get you sorted after the patch. <3

[Epitome]

Those offerings have been disabled, we've identified all of the accounts that redeemed their codes, and we'll get you sorted after the patch. <3

Many thanks. Patience is a virtue that I often lack.

[Calonderial]

Many thanks. Patience is a virtue that I often lack.

Ditto, I also jumped the gun without reading everything first, seems I got everything though except the dimensional augment bag

[Memnir]

https://i.imgur.com/G4qULFT.gif

[blerkington]

This just seems like Ravenloft all over again.

* Offering increasingly poor value in more expensive packs is the opposite of what you should be doing.
* There is very little incentive at all for us to order early, beyond people being keen to get those new past life feats done right now.
* The pricing structure seems like it's going to reward people who play one or two characters most if they buy the cheapest pack as late as possible, and only certain add-ons later.
* One of the major drawcards of your most expensive pack, the AP tome, doesn't have enough of a product description for us to be sure of what it does.

These are the sort of things you'd expect to see former bandits doing if they wandered out of some tiny backwater after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and decided to turn their hands to this fancy new capitalism thing. Not people who have been running a game for 10+ years and already have a lot of feedback about what some of their customers didn't like with the last expansion.

I don't think it reflects well on the company at all when it's so clear you think those of us who are still here will give you money for pretty much anything. You may be happy with the amount of revenue you gained from the RL expansion, but if you'd done a better job with packaging and sales the community would have been happier overall and you'd also have more money from us.

Thanks for posting those details, Splunge.

[janave]

This just seems like Ravenloft all over again.

* The pricing structure seems like it's going to reward people who play one or two characters most if they buy the cheapest pack as late as possible, and only certain add-ons later.


I will spend that $40 at some point ..but, I agree on the above, there is nothing in there that make me want to actually "PRE" order the SE pack. The point of the PREorder is to offer greater value "SOONER"™ than if you wait and just buy then.

Edit: Renown potions should be replaced with another booster, because some of us are in capped guilds, that dont get anything from that.

The shard count could be doubled too, so skinny :/

[Caarb]

This just seems like Ravenloft all over again.

* Offering increasingly poor value in more expensive packs is the opposite of what you should be doing.
* There is very little incentive at all for us to order early, beyond people being keen to get those new past life feats done right now.
* The pricing structure seems like it's going to reward people who play one or two characters most if they buy the cheapest pack as late as possible, and only certain add-ons later.
* One of the major drawcards of your most expensive pack, the AP tome, doesn't have enough of a product description for us to be sure of what it does.

These are the sort of things you'd expect to see former bandits doing if they wandered out of some tiny backwater after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and decided to turn their hands to this fancy new capitalism thing. Not people who have been running a game for 10+ years and already have a lot of feedback about what some of their customers didn't like with the last expansion.

I don't think it reflects well on the company at all when it's so clear you think those of us who are still here will give you money for pretty much anything. You may be happy with the amount of revenue you gained from the RL expansion, but if you'd done a better job with packaging and sales the community would have been happier overall and you'd also have more money from us.

Thanks for posting those details, Splunge.

Sadly I think that ship has sailed. as someone who waited to buy Ravenloft with points even though I was looking for an excuse to buy the top tier bundle I can safely say our feedback from RL fell on deaf ears. I can’t understand why they can’t make a bundle of digital goods such good value that it would be a no brainier to get instead they give us soomethibg that barely breaks even value wise even in the most optimal circumstances.

[Grandern_Marn]

This just seems like Ravenloft all over again.

* Offering increasingly poor value in more expensive packs is the opposite of what you should be doing.
* There is very little incentive at all for us to order early, beyond people being keen to get those new past life feats done right now.
* The pricing structure seems like it's going to reward people who play one or two characters most if they buy the cheapest pack as late as possible, and only certain add-ons later.
* One of the major drawcards of your most expensive pack, the AP tome, doesn't have enough of a product description for us to be sure of what it does.

These are the sort of things you'd expect to see former bandits doing if they wandered out of some tiny backwater after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and decided to turn their hands to this fancy new capitalism thing. Not people who have been running a game for 10+ years and already have a lot of feedback about what some of their customers didn't like with the last expansion.

I don't think it reflects well on the company at all when it's so clear you think those of us who are still here will give you money for pretty much anything. You may be happy with the amount of revenue you gained from the RL expansion, but if you'd done a better job with packaging and sales the community would have been happier overall and you'd also have more money from us.

Thanks for posting those details, Splunge.


https://i.postimg.cc/k5gZXGGH/Sharn.jpg

[Iriale]

This just seems like Ravenloft all over again.

* Offering increasingly poor value in more expensive packs is the opposite of what you should be doing.
* There is very little incentive at all for us to order early, beyond people being keen to get those new past life feats done right now.
* The pricing structure seems like it's going to reward people who play one or two characters most if they buy the cheapest pack as late as possible, and only certain add-ons later.
* One of the major drawcards of your most expensive pack, the AP tome, doesn't have enough of a product description for us to be sure of what it does.

These are the sort of things you'd expect to see former bandits doing if they wandered out of some tiny backwater after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and decided to turn their hands to this fancy new capitalism thing. Not people who have been running a game for 10+ years and already have a lot of feedback about what some of their customers didn't like with the last expansion.

I don't think it reflects well on the company at all when it's so clear you think those of us who are still here will give you money for pretty much anything. You may be happy with the amount of revenue you gained from the RL expansion, but if you'd done a better job with packaging and sales the community would have been happier overall and you'd also have more money from us.

Thanks for posting those details, Splunge.
It's actually worse than ravenloft prices. At least the most expensive RL packages came with a vip subscription, which gave 500 and 1000 points respectively. Here, neither directly points nor vip. We are going from bad to worse since we have SSG. And seriously, guild pots? Not even experience pots or slayers pots? c'mon, SSG.
Guild pots are too niche, too restrictive. SSG, do you know how many of your buyers are in guilds that do not need to level up anymore?

Cosmetics are becoming a real problem of space. And the truth is that cosmetics that everyone has are not very attractive, in that sense mirrors of glamour are more useful.

And wow. Two perma hires more of warrior type. At least SSG could be original, and sell another type of hireling than a warrior, they are so useless. They have no endurance. And SSG does it without improving the very crappy hireling folders. They could give 1 hireling folder per character with the packages. At least there would be something useful among all the trash

I hope that the universal AP is really universal and not for the universal trees, because that would be something incredibly restrictive to sell for that price. Most of the builds do not have use for universal trees.

For things like this I did not want them to rush to release the preorder to expansion. It was better they think about it a bit, consult someone who knows something about marketing (or at least, with common sense), and create something with real value.

Wow worse marketing than with RL. Incredible but true

SSG, be smart and say that you forgot to add the points to the packages. Move ahead to the avalanche of criticism.

On the other hand, I consider that packages do not need exclusive preorder bonuses. As has been seen in these forums, for many people having early access to a certain content is enough preorder bonus. The problem comes when the packages themselves have no value, bought now or from May

[Satyriasys]

The only thing I can't resist is temptation.

[Amoneth]

Yeah, I have to agree, I'm really disappointed that they didn't listen to the feedback from Ravenloft so we got another expansion with insane prices for cosmetics and a few other bits. Menace and Shadowfell were no brainers, I purchased the top tier and was happy with my decision. Ravenloft top tier was poor value and Sharn is the same. I want to support DDO but I also don't want to be ripped off.

[DrakeFury]

It's actually worse than ravenloft prices. At least the most expensive RL packages came with a vip subscription, which gave 500 and 1000 points respectively. Here, neither directly points nor vip. We are going from bad to worse since we have SSG. And seriously, guild pots? Not even experience pots or slayers pots? c'mon, SSG.
Guild pots are too niche, too restrictive. SSG, do you know how many of your buyers are in guilds that do not need to level up anymore?

Cosmetics are becoming a real problem of space. And the truth is that cosmetics that everyone has are not very attractive, in that sense mirrors of glamour are more useful.

And wow. Two perma hires more of warrior type. At least SSG could be original, and sell another type of hireling than a warrior, they are so useless. They have no endurance. And SSG does it without improving the very crappy hireling folders. They could give 1 hireling folder per character with the packages. At least there would be something useful among all the trash

I hope that the universal AP is really universal and not for the universal trees, because that would be something incredibly restrictive to sell for that price. Most of the builds do not have use for universal trees.

For things like this I did not want them to rush to release the preorder to expansion. It was better they think about it a bit, consult someone who knows something about marketing (or at least, with common sense), and create something with real value.

Wow worse marketing than with RL. Incredible but true

SSG, be smart and say that you forgot to add the points to the packages. Move ahead to the avalanche of criticism.

On the other hand, I consider that packages do not need exclusive preorder bonuses. As has been seen in these forums, for many people having early access to a certain content is enough preorder bonus. The problem comes when the packages themselves have no value, bought now or from May


Agree with this on all points.
Ravenloft was high price but at least they gave you two months of VIP, now for Sharn i see no incentive to buy most expensive pack other than tome (which i guess will depend on what can you use that point)

[askrj1]

I think they did away with pre-order only perks after some people were unhappy being unable to get older exclusive stuff (like them cats). Not unsolvable if it was points or otherwise consumables, but I doubt we'll see anything extra out of pre-orders.

Anyway of the higher packs:

Guild renown and treasure pots are essentially complete misses. The number of people that will practically benefit from the guild renown pots are few as someone else has pointed out. We also don't need higher level random loot by this point, really.

More fighter? paladin? hirelings. Right. At least give us something more unique in terms of role beyond lever puller.

Cosmetics has always been a hit or miss. Some early view of the cosmetics would help people decide earlier if they want it rather than wait to see it on live. If they were really awesome I don't see anything stopping people from picking up the pack early.

Universal point sounds cool I guess? Almost every toon I play has some points in harper and then there's all those falconry and vkf people out there... but more creep as usual.

I'll be honest, I'll probably be getting the bundle anyway for the boarding pass, early access to the universal AP and I'm hopeful of the weapon aura, but I'd have to say I'm disappointed as to how little value otherwise the packs are holding compared to Ravenloft. In comparison the consumables pack were items actually somewhat useful in quests, and VIP time + associated bonus points paid for even more goodies.

[Earthbound Misfit]

so I guess we wont hear about it first here http://www.ddo.com/en/20190225/ after all?

[trevitt]

I think they did away with pre-order only perks after some people were unhappy being unable to get older exclusive stuff (like them cats). Not unsolvable if it was points or otherwise consumables, but I doubt we'll see anything extra out of pre-orders.

Anyway of the higher packs:

Guild renown and treasure pots are essentially complete misses. The number of people that will practically benefit from the guild renown pots are few as someone else has pointed out. We also don't need higher level random loot by this point, really.

More fighter? paladin? hirelings. Right. At least give us something more unique in terms of role beyond lever puller.

Cosmetics has always been a hit or miss. Some early view of the cosmetics would help people decide earlier if they want it rather than wait to see it on live. If they were really awesome I don't see anything stopping people from picking up the pack early.

Universal point sounds cool I guess? Almost every toon I play has some points in harper and then there's all those falconry and vkf people out there... but more creep as usual.

I'll be honest, I'll probably be getting the bundle anyway for the boarding pass, early access to the universal AP and I'm hopeful of the weapon aura, but I'd have to say I'm disappointed as to how little value otherwise the packs are holding compared to Ravenloft. In comparison the consumables pack were items actually somewhat useful in quests, and VIP time + associated bonus points paid for even more goodies.

I pretty much agree. I have with treasure pots running all the time anyways on heroic toons as they are cheap to buy as a vip and 90% of the people you see around are in a 150+ guild so no need for guild pots.

The fighter hire is okay for me, well at least it will be at its level, as I play a ranged toon. So being able to pop a cleric and a meatshield, no matter how squishy lol, will be good.

Cosmetics are good but getting bogged down in them nowadays as you can get them from silver/gold rolls and the new 13 cloaks.

But like the man said in his post I will probably get the pre-order anyway just because I can lol. After all I suppose it is the actually game content we are mainly looking forward to not the shiny extras that come with it. Though shiny would be preferable to tarnished lol.

[Iriale]

Universal point sounds cool I guess? Almost every toon I play has some points in harper and then there's all those falconry and vkf people out there... but more creep as usual.
Well, if that's the case, it does not interest me. Let's see:
Casters builds (wizzie, warlock, cleric, druid) --- not universal tree for them
Wolf multiclass str based --- not universal tree for him
Barbarian --- not universal tree for him
Acrobat (dex based)-- not universal tree for him
My only toon that I could make use of is the artificer, which uses harper, and maybe it could change to inquisitive.
So it really is not worth a tome per character if they are restricted to universal trees. And even less with the null support that alts currently receive. My alts are basically parked in the cap for raids in low difficulty, and I'm not willing to invest in them or enter them into the TR grind while SSG does not do something with the insane time it requires now to get an alt ready.

The "universal trees" of the DDO are very niche, very focused on concrete builds. Vistani and inquisitive are for concrete weapons. Harper and falconry are for melee people focused on an ability stat different from str, and lacking that in their enhancements. Actually, SSG did the dirty trick of not adding wis to hit & damage in wapriest, warsoul and monk trees to increase sales of falconry, which not casually is tied to a stupid number of trash to increase its price by more than 1000 points

So I hope that the tome is really universal, and not focused on specific trees, or for me those packages will have even less value than what I already give them xD. I can not say I'm disappointed, because I really expected a bad move from SSG, but this is very bad, SSG, really bad.

[Fauxknight]

Agree with this on all points.
Ravenloft was high price but at least they gave you two months of VIP, now for Sharn i see no incentive to buy most expensive pack other than tome (which i guess will depend on what can you use that point)


Agreed, all items pretty much identical to RL packages except the larger packs lost the VIP access. I can kinda see dropping the VIP because of the 1k players out there on the season pass, but not replacing it with anything diminishes the value of the top tier packs.



Also I'm mindboggled that anyone would purchase an expansion that isn't officially for sale yet and and I'm completely at a loss that someone would redeem a code for content that hasn't even been patched into the game...

[janave]

The "universal trees" of the DDO are very niche, very focused on concrete builds. Vistani and inquisitive are for concrete weapons. Harper and falconry are for melee people focused on an ability stat different from str, and lacking that in their enhancements. Actually, SSG did the dirty trick of not adding wis to hit & damage in wapriest, warsoul and monk trees to increase sales of falconry, which not casually is tied to a stupid number of trash to increase its price by more than 1000 points

So I hope that the tome is really universal, and not focused on specific trees, or for me those packages will have even less value than what I already give them xD. I can not say I'm disappointed, because I really expected a bad move from SSG, but this is very bad, SSG, really bad.

Yup, not exactly happy about another exclusive passive stacking power item, considering it will probably take years to add these to loot tables, and even then it will be probably best to buy it (drop rates out of "hopeful" margins).

If they need money this desperately, could communicate it better, the player base would be supportive and buy more of the other stuff they buy already to help them with their expenses.

These kind of sales practices just encourage players not to participate at all! No wonder new players skip the opportunity to pay $400 upfront to start on an even field, and then still grind for years to catch up.

I would grade this marketing an F-, and I have to tolerate far worse every day due to my job :).

[SerPounce]

I almost listened to the naysayers with Ravenloft, but I got the big pack and was very glad I did. The bottle of mist is probably my second most valued item in the game after only the quiver of alacrity and having a year of racial AP before it was in the store was great. Sure it's easy to find things in the packs you don't need (like guild renown for those of us in lvl 200 guilds) and feel like you're paying for stuff you don't want, but the stuff I do want easily makes it worth it. I know everyone is in different financial situations, and if the price of the larger pack doesn't work that's what the smaller packs and the eventual point offers are for, but from my perspective this is a super cheap hobby compared to other stuff I do and I have no problem splurging. It's the cost of one day of skiing, or a single triathlon race registration. And let's not even talk about how much I spend on my bike, lol.

[Saekee]

If the shield guardian has the DDoor dragonmark, people will flip

[blerkington]

I know everyone is in different financial situations ...

I'm glad you're happy with your purchase and that there are enough other people like you who feel the same way. Otherwise, despite SSG's concerted efforts at providing continually worsening value for money with their products, there might no longer be a game at all.

The problem I have with this is not that I can't afford to buy the expensive pack, it's that I would feel like I was being insulted if I bought it. The value just doesn't seem to be there and as other posters here have pointed out it's getting worse every time. I like ice cream but I'm not going pay $130 for an ice cream cone, not just for the sake of supporting the company that makes it, nor because it's still cheaper than doing something else. And I'm not going to pay for my cone early then wait patiently for it when I could just get exactly the same cone later on at the same cost and the same time.

What makes this situation particularly galling is additional existing items from the store could be included at essentially zero cost. SSG seems to assume that if they give us more stuff with an expansion purchase, we'll buy less stuff later on. My feeling is customers who are happy with how they are treated, because they are getting a good deal, are as likely or more likely to spend again later on.

But people who feel like they are being nickel-and-dimed or even ripped off are not going to spend, at least that's how it works with me. This expansion was a great opportunity to vary their approach and see how customer spending patterns might improve over what happened with Ravenloft, but of course that chance was squandered for the sake of more needless and unimaginative gouging instead.

SSG, you are miraculously still in the position of having enough cashed-up customers left to stay afloat. Since you have absolutely no reason to expect an influx of new ones, why not do a better job of appreciating the ones you have, especially when it it could done at little to no additional cost?

Thanks.

[Iriale]

I'm glad you're happy with your purchase and that there are enough other people like you who feel the same way. Otherwise, despite SSG's concerted efforts at providing continually worsening value for money with their products, there might no longer be a game at all.

The problem I have with this is not that I can't afford to buy the expensive pack, it's that I would feel like I was being insulted if I bought it. The value just doesn't seem to be there and as other posters here have pointed out it's getting worse every time. I like ice cream but I'm not going pay $130 for an ice cream cone, not just for the sake of supporting the company that makes it, nor because it's still cheaper than doing something else. Nor am I going to pay for my cone early then wait patiently for it when I could just get exactly the same cone later on at the same cost and the same time.

What makes this situation particularly galling is additional existing items from the store could be included at essentially zero cost. SSG seems to assume that if they give us more stuff with an expansion purchase, we'll buy less stuff later on. My feeling is customers who are happy with how they are treated, because they are getting a good deal, are as likely or more likely to spend again later on. But people who feel like they are being nickel-and-dimed or even ripped off are not going to spend, at least that's how it works with me.

SSG, you are miraculously still in the position of having enough cashed-up customers left to stay afloat. Since you have absolutely no reason to expect an influx of new ones, why not do a better job of appreciating the ones you have, especially when it it could done at little to no additional cost?

Thanks.
+1

Exactly my thoughts

[Cantor]

Have to agree that guild renown pots are trash.
The shards are ok.
The treasure hunters, pretty much needs a few focused tweaks of random gen to be worthwhile. Just making MC drops be at max crafted +0 to +2 (so there is still some randomness but always at least crafted) would be a start (they are random effects, to even be worth considering they have to beat crafted on levels). Currently you can get a MC item and all the stats be lower than crafted. Also uncap loot levels from chests and tweak epic effect scaling, if you run a +2 gem on a +2 weekend with a chest blesser in top level content then you should be able to get something amazing (top tier raid stat+1, since it will likely be 2 things you don't want and one you do) if you get super lucky.

Bag, ap tome, teleport pass, iconic access all look good.

The perm hires and cosmetics are to be expected.

I think the VIP time like with ravenloft would be poor taste here following the season pass, but not sure what I'd balance there points just seems lame (like getting a gift card), but idk what else.


As trashy as the guild renown are, the treasure hunters makes me madder because it could be good. I like that the current guild system doesn't punish you for playing with non-powergamer friends like the old decay system did, but random loot is useless and doesn't have to be.

I'll get the top bundle for early access and the convenience items like many people will, but it is slimmer than ravenloft was.

[ForgettableNPC]

I'm going to guess it will also be purchasable with points like Ravenloft and all other expansions before it after a few weeks/months (Well I think Menace and Shadowfell are still off the shelves)?

[Aelonwy]

The lack of any points in the Sharn bundles is a head-scratcher. :/ It won't change which packages my hubby and I buy for ourselves but it will weigh-in on which ones we eventually get the kids. Remember that points are a way to customize what you get with your money. Someone that doesn't value the Guild Renown or Mirrors might use points (were they included) to purchase something they do value.

[Thar]

No VIP time with the packages?? but same price as ravenloft… getting cheaper and cheaper on the package contents.

[deredriel]

I'm glad you're happy with your purchase and that there are enough other people like you who feel the same way. Otherwise, despite SSG's concerted efforts at providing continually worsening value for money with their products, there might no longer be a game at all.

The problem I have with this is not that I can't afford to buy the expensive pack, it's that I would feel like I was being insulted if I bought it. The value just doesn't seem to be there and as other posters here have pointed out it's getting worse every time. I like ice cream but I'm not going pay $130 for an ice cream cone, not just for the sake of supporting the company that makes it, nor because it's still cheaper than doing something else. And I'm not going to pay for my cone early then wait patiently for it when I could just get exactly the same cone later on at the same cost and the same time.

What makes this situation particularly galling is additional existing items from the store could be included at essentially zero cost. SSG seems to assume that if they give us more stuff with an expansion purchase, we'll buy less stuff later on. My feeling is customers who are happy with how they are treated, because they are getting a good deal, are as likely or more likely to spend again later on.

But people who feel like they are being nickel-and-dimed or even ripped off are not going to spend, at least that's how it works with me. This expansion was a great opportunity to vary their approach and see how customer spending patterns might improve over what happened with Ravenloft, but of course that chance was squandered for the sake of more needless and unimaginative gouging instead.

SSG, you are miraculously still in the position of having enough cashed-up customers left to stay afloat. Since you have absolutely no reason to expect an influx of new ones, why not do a better job of appreciating the ones you have, especially when it it could done at little to no additional cost?

Thanks.


I agree and think the choice in the bundle is not relevant. It's better for SSG to sell the highter price pack. If people don't find inside something to motivate their purchase, they buy a lower price one; They buy one sure, we are players but the cheapest or middle one. I can buy any of them but sure i don't buy the the most expensive as i don't buy the most expansive ravenloft pack. Now it's depend of the objectives of SSG, if selling 1000 expansive pack is enough , they have find 1000 for season pass then...
valdomir

[Iriale]

I agree and think the choice in the bundle is not relevant. It's better for SSG to sell the highter price pack. If people don't find inside something to motivate their purchase, they buy a lower price one; They buy one sure, we are players but the cheapest or middle one. I can buy any of them but sure i don't buy the the most expensive as i don't buy the most expansive ravenloft pack. Now it's depend of the objectives of SSG, if selling 1000 expansive pack is enough , they have find 1000 for season pass then...
valdomir
no, it is a sign that SSG now has only focused on whales, in which they will pay any price without looking at its value or the absurdity of its price, and it is not interested in the rest of its customers. They probably get enough money from their whales, the problem is that this strategy denotes an entrenched business not interested in growing, but in resisting a little more time: that is, it denotes a business in its decline.

The current state of the game is a disaster when it comes to attracting new players. And it is not good to retain but the most fervent followers of SSG. Bad thing...

[OrodelaSol]

You can make some of the people happy all of the time, and all of the people (except ddo players...) happy some of the time... myself? happy to spend money for VIP and expansions only and use monthly points for whatever else to support THE BEST MMORPG available.

[cru121]

If those treasure hunter pots were Greater Elixirs of Discovery...

[Damian]

I almost listened to the naysayers with Ravenloft, but I got the big pack and was very glad I did. The bottle of mist is probably my second most valued item in the game after only the quiver of alacrity and having a year of racial AP before it was in the store was great. Sure it's easy to find things in the packs you don't need (like guild renown for those of us in lvl 200 guilds) and feel like you're paying for stuff you don't want, but the stuff I do want easily makes it worth it. I know everyone is in different financial situations, and if the price of the larger pack doesn't work that's what the smaller packs and the eventual point offers are for, but from my perspective this is a super cheap hobby compared to other stuff I do and I have no problem splurging. It's the cost of one day of skiing, or a single triathlon race registration. And let's not even talk about how much I spend on my bike, lol.

I completely agree.

I must also agree to some extent to the naysayers, the packs are worse than RL, way worse.

[MaeveTuohy]

Hurling abuse at SSG over their Sharn packs seems unproductive.

Yes, the tier 1 and 2 offerings don't tempt me either at those prices, but I give them the benefit of the doubt that they sold enough high-end Ravenloft packs to justify a similar model.

The games is 13 years old now, it clearly is surviving financially.

All that said, I don't think the packaging system is creative enough. SSG ought to consider packages aimed at player types.

The new player version would be purchasable only by accounts that have not purchased older expansions and offer Sharn, Ravenloft and similar expansions without fripperies. Just content.

A power gamer pack would include mostly non-cosmetic benefits (xp pots, shards, the hireling).

The cosmetic lover's pack would focus on pets and cosmetics.

A fully loaded could combine the second two.

[ned_ellis]

Sadly I think that ship has sailed. as someone who waited to buy Ravenloft with points even though I was looking for an excuse to buy the top tier bundle I can safely say our feedback from RL fell on deaf ears. I can’t understand why they can’t make a bundle of digital goods such good value that it would be a no brainier to get instead they give us soomethibg that barely breaks even value wise even in the most optimal circumstances.

Exactly my point of view too; such a shame! :(
Anyone know if it's been confirmed that the pack will eventually be available with ddo points as was Ravenloft? Thanks...

[SerPounce]

no, it is a sign that SSG now has only focused on whales, in which they will pay any price without looking at its value or the absurdity of its price, and it is not interested in the rest of its customers. They probably get enough money from their whales, the problem is that this strategy denotes an entrenched business not interested in growing, but in resisting a little more time: that is, it denotes a business in its decline.

The current state of the game is a disaster when it comes to attracting new players. And it is not good to retain but the most fervent followers of SSG. Bad thing...

It's quite the accomplishment in mental gymnastics that the dooomers can spin literally anything as evidence of decline and collapse of DDO. If they packed the pre-orders full of store stuff you guys would say that they're desperate for cash so enticing people with store stuff because they don't care about losing out of future sales. Textbook confirmation bias.



The problem I have with this is not that I can't afford to buy the expensive pack, it's that I would feel like I was being insulted if I bought it.

Well you don't play DDO anymore right? So yeah, wouldn't make a lot of sense for you to pre-order an expansion as you can continue your, uh, "valued contributions" to the forums just fine without it.

[janave]

divide and conquer, the real reason why we cant have nice things :)


It's quite the accomplishment in mental gymnastics that the dooomers can spin literally anything as evidence of decline and collapse of DDO. If they packed the pre-orders full of store stuff you guys would say that they're desperate for cash so enticing people with store stuff because they don't care about losing out of future sales. Textbook confirmation bias.
.

Just wrong.

It is perfectly possible to make all happy.

Clean content pack (base price)
+ a) Pack with fluff+cosmetics and points
+ b) Pack with powerups and points

If you buy either a or b you get the discount on the other one too!

This way "ultimate fans" can still get it all, meta gamers can get power, fluff enthusiasts can get what they want. Players who just wanna play get the content.

This took me approx 5minutes, if i put in an hour more i can probably come up with a scheme that works even better and make players send you free pizzaz on top ;)

[askrj1]

The "universal trees" of the DDO are very niche, very focused on concrete builds. Vistani and inquisitive are for concrete weapons. Harper and falconry are for melee people focused on an ability stat different from str, and lacking that in their enhancements. Actually, SSG did the dirty trick of not adding wis to hit & damage in wapriest, warsoul and monk trees to increase sales of falconry, which not casually is tied to a stupid number of trash to increase its price by more than 1000 points

So I hope that the tome is really universal, and not focused on specific trees, or for me those packages will have even less value than what I already give them xD. I can not say I'm disappointed, because I really expected a bad move from SSG, but this is very bad, SSG, really bad.

To be fair a Warsoul build should not need wis/chamod enhancements, will refrain on commenting about monks and warpriests since that's not really the discussion here. 1 AP very token if you spend in the first core, but it's still a bonus I guess. Similarly racial tomes wouldn't have been nearly as relevant if racial reincarnations weren't added ahead of them making deep investments in racial trees viable.

All that aside, it'd be nice if it was an AP that can be spent anywhere, but odds are that it's refering to the non-class universal trees.

[Cantor]

Hurling abuse at SSG over their Sharn packs seems unproductive.

Yes, the tier 1 and 2 offerings don't tempt me either at those prices, but I give them the benefit of the doubt that they sold enough high-end Ravenloft packs to justify a similar model.

The games is 13 years old now, it clearly is surviving financially.

All that said, I don't think the packaging system is creative enough. SSG ought to consider packages aimed at player types.

The new player version would be purchasable only by accounts that have not purchased older expansions and offer Sharn, Ravenloft and similar expansions without fripperies. Just content.

A power gamer pack would include mostly non-cosmetic benefits (xp pots, shards, the hireling).

The cosmetic lover's pack would focus on pets and cosmetics.

A fully loaded could combine the second two.

I agree that some themed packs would be good, especially a new player pack! You need to get Motu and Shadowfell to get in the door. Or a permanent upgrade option when buying expansions... buying this? add this at 30% off... buying this and this? get this at 50% off... etc. The buy-in cost needs to be accessible.

[Iriale]

It's quite the accomplishment in mental gymnastics that the dooomers can spin literally anything as evidence of decline and collapse of DDO. If they packed the pre-orders full of store stuff you guys would say that they're desperate for cash so enticing people with store stuff because they don't care about losing out of future sales. Textbook confirmation bias.
it is not an apocalyptic post, but a reality that an entrenched business that does not seek to attract new players (and in fact, makes it very difficult) and that only seeks to please a very small segment of its current population is playing with its long-term sustainability. That is bread for today, hunger for tomorrow. It is not having a strategy to sell in the long term.


I have never been of apocalyptic posts; you will not see posts of mine announcing the end of the ddo. But this is a commercial blindness without a future vision that speaks clearly of a strategy designed to resist, not to expand. And that only happens with businesses in their decline. No more, no less




Well you don't play DDO anymore right? So yeah, wouldn't make a lot of sense for you to pre-order an expansion as you can continue your, uh, "valued contributions" to the forums just fine without it.
Where did you get that he does not play? Not only is he an elite player, but one of the most polite, kind and generous with whom I have played (besides really helping the new players) One of the best people on the server, and a regular player

[Aelonwy]

If those treasure hunter pots were Greater Elixirs of Discovery...

Right!?!

[askrj1]

If those treasure hunter pots were Greater Elixirs of Discovery...

How will we get the poor sods to buy shards to reroll their Sharn chests! :(

Considering that discovery pots are still not in store they probably have no intentions of actually giving any realistic increases to drop rates.

[NemesisAlien]

Another 6 cosmetics? :rolleyes:

At least give

https://ddowiki.com/images/Elite_Spider_Cult_Mask_shown.jpg

https://ddowiki.com/images/Elite_Spider_Cult_Mask.png

[Iriale]

To be fair a Warsoul build should not need wis/chamod enhancements, will refrain on commenting about monks and warpriests since that's not really the discussion here. 1 AP very token if you spend in the first core, but it's still a bonus I guess. Similarly racial tomes wouldn't have been nearly as relevant if racial reincarnations weren't added ahead of them making deep investments in racial trees viable.

All that aside, it'd be nice if it was an AP that can be spent anywhere, but odds are that it's refering to the non-class universal trees.
and if it is only for "universal" trees, it has no value for me, and it will not have value for many other people who do not use these trees. Which further lowers the value of overpriced packages that do not have enough attractive content to universally attract players.

When you want to sell something above its real price, add things that are wanted by a broad segment of your consumers. Basic marketing lesson.

[fatherpirate]

I usually play it smart.
I wait, until the packages go on sale, like black Friday.
The buy the middle one.
for less than the minimum one.

that is me.

[Vish]

So much moaning
Buyer beware...

I will spend 40 bucks,
And get 16 quests and 2 raids
I will farm all the gear and put it on a mule
I still have about half racials to do,
So I will get ddo points and get for free anything else
I pay 10 bucks a month for VIP and that is the best value
The tome will eventually be available, and I will get that for free

If you want it now, ie greed, you can fork over the 130
It's not really too much considering what ppl make nowadays
It supports the game, and keeps the wheels turning
I mean I would spend 60 bucks and get the new sekiro game
That has impressive graphics and combat, and good storyline
But many will pay the 130, regardless what they get out of it
Who cares
If you want it buy it
If you don't, then don't
So much drama from the whiners here

[NemesisAlien]

What exactly is a shield guardian?

Another dumb fighter?

[askrj1]

and if it is only for "universal" trees, it has no value for me, and it will not have value for many other people who do not use these trees. Which further lowers the value of overpriced packages that do not have enough attractive content to universally attract players.

When you want to sell something above its real price, add things that are wanted by a broad segment of your consumers. Basic marketing lesson.

SSG? Marketing? I have no idea what you're talking about. D:

[J1NG]

Lets see...

Cosmetic Fashion. I like cosmetics, especially good looking ones. But the ones from Ravenloft were a bit meh for my toons. I now have them all junked and left a character spot open to create the cosmetics as necessary now they're BTA. But since I don't know how these High Society ones look like, I won't know if I really want this or not.

Tiefling. Not really that big a deal for me, since I don't do Racial TR'ing. Heroic Completionist has already burned me out a few years ago. Plus I don't have any builds in mind that I can use a Tiefling that also looks good.

Hirelings. Already got a full party of them now, not sure I really need more: Panther, Lioness, Owlbear, Scarecrow and the Cleric. I suppose I "could" replace the Cleric at Epic levels, but I'm not certain I need a full party of Hirelings at Epic levels...

Cosmetic Pets. I collect them, but lately, with all the walls being put up, I've kinda given up on them. I'm not rolling Gold dice until I get lucky, that's potentially never ending with RNG. So there's no real desire to get the most expensive pack for the Cosmetic Pets.

Iconic. Same as the Tiefling really. Nothing really stands out for the playstyles I have, so I can't see an Iconic being better than the standard Tiefling.

Augment Bag. 1 only, BTA. But 500 spots. In theory, that can fit every Filigree into it and not take up space elsewhere... But, we have 10 spot bags already for free from Ravenloft, and not only that, those who TR will get another one each time. Is there really a need for so many more inside one bag? I've already got 20+ toons who each hold their own sets of Filigree to search through. So is this convenience really that much better? I'm not sure.

Boarding pass. Same as the Bottle. Really useful potentially, but it depends on how hard it is to reach Sharn. If it's relatively short, then it's not really in the same league as the Bottle, simply because with the Bottle, you can hit Eveningstar as well in short order. Hard to tell until it can be tested I guess.

The Universal Enhancement Point Tome. This really depends on how "Universal" is "Universal". Either way, assuming a +2 upgrade is made available at some point, this is very valuable if you have lots of toons and especially if they utilise the Universal Trees (Harper, Vistani, Falconry and the upcoming Inquisitive) as well, which I certainly do on many of them. So assuming it is 350 DDO points each normally in the future when released, and you have 14 toons like I do, that's 4900 DDO points only. That for me is roughly $50 US. Nearly half way to the price of the Ultimate Fan Bundle already.

Inquisitive. Assuming like the previous trees where it takes a while to unlock or needs a VERY long time before it becomes available to unlock, then potentially getting it early may yield some impressive builds that others will need to wait to put together.

Since the basic pack is $40 US already, and the tomes for me is roughly $50 US, that's $90 US already, only $40 US away from the asking price. Had there been the same 2 month VIP pass ala the Ravenloft expansion, it would totally be worth it I feel. Right now, it's very tempting, but I need to see those Cosmetics before I put things down for it. But I can certainly see that SSG is keeping the bonus in the UFB more lean than before.

J1NG

[Scrapco]

Well you don't play DDO anymore right? So yeah, wouldn't make a lot of sense for you to pre-order an expansion as you can continue your, uh, "valued contributions" to the forums just fine without it.

SSG could do a lot worse than making him an executive producer and doing everything he says. There are very few people I agree with almost 100% of the time, and he's at the top of that list.

And as mentioned, he's great in-game too, so nyaaah. :p

</fan club>

[NemesisAlien]

Weapon Aura: Forgewraith, got a picture?

I regretted glamming the ravenloft mist...

[Urklore]

My anger is that you can pre-order today and get the new Inquisitor universal tree but the Falconry tree is still only available by purchasing a bloated package costing over 1400 DDO points (Unless you do the 750 favor run)!

Shouldn't the Falconry tree be in the DDO store by now before a new tree is available for purchase? :( Here is hoping this patch does that.

[caberonia]

Like ravenloft WAY over priced in my opinion for what is offered. That being said.. top tier ravenloft packs must have sold well enough that it makes sense for them to do it again. My opinion/complaints etc etc of the package/pricing structure is pretty much moot if the rest of the market is buying up the ultimate fan edition like it's going out of style. If my opinion is in the minority then you can't blame them for doing it again if it's working. (I'll be saving points, would get the cheapest pack but i simply don't play enough anymore due to the current condition of the game to justify even the cheapest pack)
_

[J1NG]

Weapon Aura: Forgewraith, got a picture?

Guessing it'll be a fire type effect from the name. Hopefully one that'll look good on a Sunsword, the Fire effect looks not that good, and the other effects hardly show up at all. Only the Acid effect looks good.


I regretted glamming the ravenloft mist...

I took one look at the effect on someone elses weapon and I never bothered to use mine; ever. But that's because I've been using Celestia, and now Sunsword as well for cosmetics. And they don't look good with that darkened mist around them.

J1NG

[Cantor]

How will we get the poor sods to buy shards to reroll their Sharn chests! :(

Considering that discovery pots are still not in store they probably have no intentions of actually giving any realistic increases to drop rates.

increases?!?!? holy **** man! loots drops like candy these days. 33% drop rates on elite. Yes it can feel tough looking for that one thing if you get unlucky but, are there any items from ravenloft quests or later that you don't have (or fed) multiples of by now?

Drop rates are so high now that you feel cheated if you ransack and haven't gotten that one specific item. And heaven forbid you don't get it after 2 ransacks.

[NemesisAlien]

Wait, there is no preorder pack, only ultimate fan bundle...

[askrj1]

If you want it now, ie greed, you can fork over the 130
It's not really too much considering what ppl make nowadays
It supports the game, and keeps the wheels turning

It's not so much when I want the tomes, I'd like the option of getting it for "free" too when I make new toons for whatever reason. I'd also pay the top pack because 1) I want the teleport item 2) I can afford it and it's to support a game I like. I'd rather not just brush it off as greed. To be fair it's also not an unsubstantial amount to pay for a game and not everyone here has the same sort of income, so saying "it's not really too much" may be a little insensitive.

The truth is if they made "better" high tiered package more people will be willing to fork out more for the goodies, and marketing choices like these will affect their income in the long run. So making valid criticism of what SSG may not be doing right is in good faith of maintaining the health of the game.

[Thrudh]

I almost listened to the naysayers with Ravenloft, but I got the big pack and was very glad I did. The bottle of mist is probably my second most valued item in the game after only the quiver of alacrity and having a year of racial AP before it was in the store was great.

The bottle of mist is your second most valued item? Really think about that statement. Teleporting to House J, and then Ravenloft is such a terrible burden? Worth a lot of money to avoid that torture?

The tomes for all characters (racial in RL, universal in this Sharn) is the only substantial in-game benefit they are offering. I understand why people bought the package for that.

But they are not worth $90 to me. Like someone else said, I don't like being ripped off. I have the money, but I'm not going to waste it on cosmetics that I don't want.

Guild potions, really? How about slayer and xp potions? How about a DDO points package so we can buy whatever we want?

[NemesisAlien]

Guessing it'll be a fire type effect from the name. Hopefully one that'll look good on a Sunsword, the Fire effect looks not that good, and the other effects hardly show up at all. Only the Acid effect looks good.



I took one look at the effect on someone elses weapon and I never bothered to use mine; ever. But that's because I've been using Celestia, and now Sunsword as well for cosmetics. And they don't look good with that darkened mist around them.

J1NG

I think the best shiny look is holy or good, the glitter...

My glam was sireth, major regret there, not willing to reglam again though...

[Blase]

I almost listened to the naysayers with Ravenloft, but I got the big pack and was very glad I did. The bottle of mist is probably my second most valued item in the game after only the quiver of alacrity and having a year of racial AP before it was in the store was great. Sure it's easy to find things in the packs you don't need (like guild renown for those of us in lvl 200 guilds) and feel like you're paying for stuff you don't want, but the stuff I do want easily makes it worth it. I know everyone is in different financial situations, and if the price of the larger pack doesn't work that's what the smaller packs and the eventual point offers are for, but from my perspective this is a super cheap hobby compared to other stuff I do and I have no problem splurging. It's the cost of one day of skiing, or a single triathlon race registration. And let's not even talk about how much I spend on my bike, lol.

^^^^ This. Bottle of mist has saved my static tr group hours of our lives at this point.

Ditto on the bike, I put new Michellin Road 4's on my v-strom yesterday.

[Thrudh]

It is really disappointing that SSG didn't listen to ANY of our feedback from last time.

I know they sold a lot of RL Ultimate packages, and they will sell a lot of Sharn Ultimate packages.

But they could have sold MORE.

Why wouldn't they want to sell more??

[askrj1]

increases?!?!? holy **** man! loots drops like candy these days. 33% drop rates on elite. Yes it can feel tough looking for that one thing if you get unlucky but, are there any items from ravenloft quests or later that you don't have (or fed) multiples of by now?

I'm -mostly- fine with Ravenloft, but I'm still missing a second piece of some items to gear my alt. I'd have to say I'm still missing some WPM as well but that's more of how little I run it (group I play with most tend to fill/run just before I'm back from work). Generally it's not the recent packs that have issues with drop rates in anyway... but that was mostly snark regarding how little access they're giving for discovery pots.

[Thrudh]

Hurling abuse at SSG over their Sharn packs seems unproductive.

Yes, the tier 1 and 2 offerings don't tempt me either at those prices, but I give them the benefit of the doubt that they sold enough high-end Ravenloft packs to justify a similar model.

The games is 13 years old now, it clearly is surviving financially.

All that said, I don't think the packaging system is creative enough. SSG ought to consider packages aimed at player types.

The new player version would be purchasable only by accounts that have not purchased older expansions and offer Sharn, Ravenloft and similar expansions without fripperies. Just content.

A power gamer pack would include mostly non-cosmetic benefits (xp pots, shards, the hireling).

The cosmetic lover's pack would focus on pets and cosmetics.

A fully loaded could combine the second two.

This. They should appeal to all players, not just cosmetic-lover players.

Adding more stuff would keep all the people who already want to buy, and add more sales from those of us who want more.

I should be excited to buy. I was excited to buy the ultimate packages in the past, but I didn't buy RL, and I'm not buying the ultimate Sharn package either.

[caberonia]

It is really disappointing that SSG didn't listen to ANY of our feedback from last time.

I know they sold a lot of RL Ultimate packages, and they will sell a lot of Sharn Ultimate packages.

But they could have sold MORE.

Why wouldn't they want to sell more??
Attempting to strike a balance between units sold/profit per unit. They could sell more for a lower price or by offering more in the pack..but at some point they are actually losing money by doing so. You'd have to ask the number cruchers as SSG.. but bottom line is if UF ravenloft sold super well at that price point then why wouldn't they do it again. Personally find the packs overpriced and will be saving points like i did for ravenloft, but if people like me are the minority then it makes sense for them to repeat what was successful.

[Thrudh]

divide and conquer, the real reason why we cant have nice things :)



Just wrong.

It is perfectly possible to make all happy.

Clean content pack (base price)
+ a) Pack with fluff+cosmetics and points
+ b) Pack with powerups and points

If you buy either a or b you get the discount on the other one too!

This way "ultimate fans" can still get it all, meta gamers can get power, fluff enthusiasts can get what they want. Players who just wanna play get the content.

This took me approx 5minutes, if i put in an hour more i can probably come up with a scheme that works even better and make players send you free pizzaz on top ;)

Not only did this take you 5 minutes, but we had this EXACT same conversation last time when RL came out.

It's really amazing to me that SSG took ZERO feedback from the last go-around.

[yfernbottom]

What levels will the hirelings be? Will they have any interesting abilities?

Can you use the tome in any tree or only in universal enhancement trees? The former is a bit OP (but holy ****, that would probably force me to buy the big pack), the latter is a pretty niche feature I'd only use on roughly 1/3 of my builds.

Why are there no SSG points included? I spend $40 on points every few months, it would be a lot easier for me to justify dropping that kind of cash on an expansion if it at least let me put this purchase off for a while.

[caberonia]

Not only did this take you 5 minutes, but we had this EXACT same conversation last time when RL came out.

It's really amazing to me that SSG took ZERO feedback from the last go-around.

Are you REALLY surprised they took zero feedback..i mean it's SSG. You can't be THAT surprised given their track record of responding to player feed back i'm surprised it's not more expensive or offers less per pack(oh wait no included VIP.. so they did decide to offer less).. lol

[askrj1]

My anger is that you can pre-order today and get the new Inquisitor universal tree but the Falconry tree is still only available by purchasing a bloated package costing over 1400 DDO points (Unless you do the 750 favor run)!

Shouldn't the Falconry tree be in the DDO store by now before a new tree is available for purchase? :( Here is hoping this patch does that.

To be fair Inquisitive is not available for "purchase", it probably won't be available in the store either. Not for a while at least. I do want to know why they're still not listing Falconry on store yet though.

[kamimitsu]

These price points make me wonder if DDO hates its VIP players. A few months ago I purchased Assassin's Creed Odyssey (onsale, granted) for $40. That's an entire game, and a HUUUUGE one at that, with top of the line graphics, heavily researched world, tons of professional voice acting, etc. It's a bit hard to justify paying the same for an expansion of a 13 year old game... even for a game I love and have been playing for those 13 years.

When DDO went F2P, I decided to just keep being VIP. Why not? I pay if I want to play and have access to everything. If I want to take a break, I do so. Whenever I want to come back, I just re-up my subscription. VIP still meant access to EVERYTHING. Then DDO started to make me pay for stuff. I think MotU was the first. I wasn't too thrilled, but I thought "Sure. I love the game, and if spending a few more dollars helps keep it alive, I guess I'll do my part." I considered buying whatever packs and stuff to go F2P, but couldn't justify throwing a few hundred more dollars on a game for which I had already spent over 500 cumulative dollars on (I'm not complaining, I got what I paid for and gladly so, I'm just putting it in perspective. That number is close to $1000 now) I feel like VIP players like myself helped keep the lights on when things were bad, and now that DDO is riding high again (content wise), we've been thrown aside and treated like... well, not Very Important Players, to say the least. VIP stopped meaning access to everything, and became access to most stuff, and its level of access has declined with each passing update. It seems that now we're expected to pay for almost every new thing that comes out. And to add insult to injury, some things (like enhancement trees) aren't even available to purchase with DDO points (the receipt of which is a "perk" of being VIP) until much, much after the release date. I sure don't feel like a VIP these days- more like a sucker that should have switched to F2P at the first chance. What VIP was and what it has become are two vastly different things, and its value is whittled down every update... while simultaneously making the choice to dump it and go F2P harder to swallow by the month. Surely SSG can look at the number of months each account has been VIP and use that to offer some discounting on the new packs or other benefit, perhaps on a tier system based on contributed dollars. Or, amnesty in moving to F2P (access to races/packs/etc based on previous payment) so that we don't feel like we're throwing good money after bad (well, good money after good, but wastefully so).

TL;DR SSG should consider offering discounted pricing to VIPs and/or figure out some parity for VIPs in light of the decreased value and necessity to purchase packs, particularly since many of us VIPs have helped keep the game going through the lean times and vastly outspent a player with the full F2P content.

[Thrudh]

Lets see...

Cosmetic Fashion. I like cosmetics, especially good looking ones. But the ones from Ravenloft were a bit meh for my toons. I now have them all junked and left a character spot open to create the cosmetics as necessary now they're BTA. But since I don't know how these High Society ones look like, I won't know if I really want this or not.

Tiefling. Not really that big a deal for me, since I don't do Racial TR'ing. Heroic Completionist has already burned me out a few years ago. Plus I don't have any builds in mind that I can use a Tiefling that also looks good.

Hirelings. Already got a full party of them now, not sure I really need more: Panther, Lioness, Owlbear, Scarecrow and the Cleric. I suppose I "could" replace the Cleric at Epic levels, but I'm not certain I need a full party of Hirelings at Epic levels...

Cosmetic Pets. I collect them, but lately, with all the walls being put up, I've kinda given up on them. I'm not rolling Gold dice until I get lucky, that's potentially never ending with RNG. So there's no real desire to get the most expensive pack for the Cosmetic Pets.

Iconic. Same as the Tiefling really. Nothing really stands out for the playstyles I have, so I can't see an Iconic being better than the standard Tiefling.

Augment Bag. 1 only, BTA. But 500 spots. In theory, that can fit every Filigree into it and not take up space elsewhere... But, we have 10 spot bags already for free from Ravenloft, and not only that, those who TR will get another one each time. Is there really a need for so many more inside one bag? I've already got 20+ toons who each hold their own sets of Filigree to search through. So is this convenience really that much better? I'm not sure.

Boarding pass. Same as the Bottle. Really useful potentially, but it depends on how hard it is to reach Sharn. If it's relatively short, then it's not really in the same league as the Bottle, simply because with the Bottle, you can hit Eveningstar as well in short order. Hard to tell until it can be tested I guess.

The Universal Enhancement Point Tome. This really depends on how "Universal" is "Universal". Either way, assuming a +2 upgrade is made available at some point, this is very valuable if you have lots of toons and especially if they utilise the Universal Trees (Harper, Vistani, Falconry and the upcoming Inquisitive) as well, which I certainly do on many of them. So assuming it is 350 DDO points each normally in the future when released, and you have 14 toons like I do, that's 4900 DDO points only. That for me is roughly $50 US. Nearly half way to the price of the Ultimate Fan Bundle already.

Inquisitive. Assuming like the previous trees where it takes a while to unlock or needs a VERY long time before it becomes available to unlock, then potentially getting it early may yield some impressive builds that others will need to wait to put together.

Since the basic pack is $40 US already, and the tomes for me is roughly $50 US, that's $90 US already, only $40 US away from the asking price. Had there been the same 2 month VIP pass ala the Ravenloft expansion, it would totally be worth it I feel. Right now, it's very tempting, but I need to see those Cosmetics before I put things down for it. But I can certainly see that SSG is keeping the bonus in the UFB more lean than before.

J1NG

This is a good breakdown. If you actually have 14 characters, and most of them use the Universal trees, then it probably is indeed a good deal for you.

Because SSG has made alts harder and harder to keep up, I'm down to 3 alts at this time, and only one of them uses Universal trees, so it's a terrible deal for me.

[J1NG]

To be fair Inquisitive is not available for "purchase", it probably won't be available in the store either. Not for a while at least. I do want to know why they're still not listing Falconry on store yet though.

Oh it'll be in the store. It'll be packaged along inside another Cosmetic pack and some other minor goodies too. For a price...

:p

J1NG

[Thrudh]

The truth is if they made "better" high tiered package more people will be willing to fork out more for the goodies, and marketing choices like these will affect their income in the long run. So making valid criticism of what SSG may not be doing right is in good faith of maintaining the health of the game.

This. I'm trying to help SSG. I WANT to give them my money.

[Chai]

The bottle of mist is your second most valued item? Really think about that statement. Teleporting to House J, and then Ravenloft is such a terrible burden? Worth a lot of money to avoid that torture?

The tomes for all characters (racial in RL, universal in this Sharn) is the only substantial in-game benefit they are offering. I understand why people bought the package for that.

But they are not worth $90 to me. Like someone else said, I don't like being ripped off. I have the money, but I'm not going to waste it on cosmetics that I don't want.

Guild potions, really? How about slayer and xp potions? How about a DDO points package so we can buy whatever we want?

This brings up my suggestion from past expansions on this, as many times, as exampled in the quoted post here, people often name a few other items they consider more valuable than what is offered.

SSG could do some marketing research at the same time they are selling expansions by creating a significant list of items taken from past player feedback, then specifying a number you can choose. This would not only limit the griping as people could get what they want, but it would allow them to determine what the player base values most, by the numbers.

[barecm]

I am not sure why they do not give us a choice. So, like when you use an otto's box, you can choose the cosmetic cube or shards. They could do something similar by allowing you to choose from a variety of different options so that more folks get what they want. Nothing is perfect, but making things better, even if its not perfect, is still a step in the right direction.

[DANTEIL]

First of all, this is very cool:

Celebrate all things Eberron with guest Dungeon Masters such as: Campaign creator Keith Baker; Maze Arcana's Ruty Rutenberg & Kyle Vogt.

Second of all, as a Season Pass holder, I understand that (like VIP) I do still have to buy the Expansion. Does a Season Pass holder automatically get the Tiefling/Iconic & Inquisitive Tree, though? Knowing that will determine which Sharn package I buy.


Looking forward to Sharn!

[HungarianRhapsody]

My anger is that you can pre-order today and get the new Inquisitor universal tree but the Falconry tree is still only available by purchasing a bloated package costing over 1400 DDO points (Unless you do the 750 favor run)!

Shouldn't the Falconry tree be in the DDO store by now before a new tree is available for purchase? :( Here is hoping this patch does that.

If sharn is Free Agent favor, then I'll have Falconry in May

If Sharn is not free agent favor, then I'll have Falconry as soon as they put it in the store by itself because I ain't paying $14 for a single enhancement tree and cosmetics I don't want.

[Khurse]

Seriously SSG, I like the game, I've left it a dozen times or more over the years, but I keep coming back to it.
I have a VIP subscription, and I'd love to support you more, I understand that it takes customers buying your product for you to keep producing content.

But as people have said..this deal feels like I'm giving you money for free... Guild Renown pots? Even the "basic" version has a Guild Renown pot?
Treasure hunters pots are decidedly meh..
Have to wait and see on the cosmetics, but even then...

I don't think anyone is expecting a return to the offer when- Underdark(? can't remember which one it was) that offered so many TP's with it that you had to be stupid NOT to buy it if you could afford it, but
this is hard to look at like anything close to a deal, I thought about Ravenloft and decided the the big pack wasn't worth it to me, but I had to think about it for a bit, this one is easy.

Replace the Guild Renown with Sovereign XP, replace the Treasure Pots with half as many Elixirs of Discovery and honestly I'd pick it up. And I really don't think it would cost you that much.

[Blase]

The single thing I would have loved to have seen is a cosmetics bag. Between my existing cosmetics and my thirteen new cloaks, I could really use the space back.

That being said I'm all in, buying the UF package. SSG is actually done a really good job of offering me things that get me to spend money. Turbine sort of flubbed it, I coasted is a VIP ( snagging the fifteen month for 99.99 whenever it came around) only having purchased Mastery of the underdark And shadowfell expansions for years. SSG got me with the ultimate fan bundle for ravenloft, they got me to buy the package for white plume mountain, they got me to buy the season pass, and now I'm gonna buy the ultimate fan bundle for Sharn.

To be fair the sharn bundle could have contained more. Some extra ddo points would have been nice. I don't really have any comment about the treasure Hunter elixer versus elixer of discovery Or the Guild renown elixer as none of those are necessarily things that I'm gonna be using.

A guaranteed purchase item for a lot of people would be something similar to The Cursed Blade Jack Jibbers. Electro shock Paddles of revivification 15 minute cooldown And you're getting shocked to death for the one minute that you're alive. My epic TR group Has ransacked that chest so many times and yet only 2 out of 5 of us have the dagger. And yes we're running it on reaper.

At any rate I'm certain that everyone has something that could have been added to the bundle that would have made it an instant purchase. But the truth is it offers enough at least for me to make it an instant buy.

[J1NG]

This is a good breakdown. If you actually have 14 characters, and most of them use the Universal trees, then it probably is indeed a good deal for you.

Because SSG has made alts harder and harder to keep up, I'm down to 3 alts at this time, and only one of them uses Universal trees, so it's a terrible deal for me.

Yeah, I saw the change go from having many alts, and being able to bring whoever as necessary for a run to complete, to just bringing your dps/healer/trapper/combination. So having a variety of toons was no longer necessary for many players, and also many don't have the time to invest into so many toons especially if they want to grind for more power/items. Most of mine were made from a long while ago, and all have their own niche playstyle that didn't rely on power/items, so I was able to keep my stable of toons relatively intact. Only a few of them have been deleted lately because those ones were side projects that never reached the end (a viable and playable result), so they were due to be removed anyway. But yeah, as I have quite a few of them, the UFB is very lucrative for my stable of toons in terms of the tome alone.

But I do recognise that my situation is not the norm, so can totally sympathise with the majority who are now more focused on a few toons.

A side thought. I haven't seen any "optional" bundles since MotU and Wheloon, but that was a different Store back then, and I'm wondering if that change might be related to why we don't have something like that now for Ravenloft and now Sharn.

J1NG

[Captain_Wizbang]

https://i.imgur.com/56mnnIB.png?1


1) I'm still waiting for the subscription extension from the downtime.

2) We all knew it was going to be a price point structure just like Ravenloft, so there's no surprises there.

3) I am disappointed that there are no cosmetics or items that represent the different wards. In Sharn, that's half the fun of the layout. (The disparity of the wards and which one you identify with.) I mean the high society cosmetic is along that line of thinking, but it ends there?

4) as per Ravenloft, I fail to see the value of top tier.

5) I'm still waiting for the subscription extension from the downtime.

[HastyPudding]

So when the patch is done, the preorders will be available on digitalriver or are we purchasing it from WWW.DDO.COM/SHARN?

[Fedora1]

Soloing up my guild, in the 80's now. Anyone in a 150+ guild who doesn't want your guild pots just use them on me. :)

[janave]

So when the patch is done, the preorders will be available on digitalriver or are we purchasing it from WWW.DDO.COM/SHARN?

Probably some redirects will happen to digital river.

[kelavas]

always negative, and it's going to happen again.

Masterminds of Sharn Expansion*
A gimmie.

Tiefling Race & Character Slot
^

Ultimate Sharn Supplies**
140 Astral Shards
3 Major Guild Renown Elixirs
20 Greater Treasure Hunter's Potions
5 Mirrors of Glamering
Just like Ravenloft..
Universal Tree: Inquisitive
^
Heroic Level Shield Guardian Hireling
big whoop these are always trash
Legendary Level Shield Guardian Hireling
^
Inquisitive Cosmetics
Inquisitive's Robe, mask, & cloak
meh, they look OKAY.
Cosmetic Pet: Bloodhound
ok
High Society Cosmetics
High society outfit, hat, & cloak
meh, they look OKAY.
Cosmetic Pet: Warforged Peacock
interesting
Iconic Hero: Scoundrel
not a good iconic except for past lives, remove the use of alacrity - motherf*********************
A Dimensional Augment Bag**
Holds 500 unique items
I wanna see how this works
Weapon Aura: Forgewraith
^
A Universal Enhancement Point Tome for every character
I called it, I knew this was going to drop, falconry tree tanking gonna be super op, same with harper agent tree know the angles.
A Boarding Pass – Teleport to Sharn!*
obvious.

worth value? maybe 80.00, MAYBE.
im still buying it ;-;

[Fauxknight]

What exactly is a shield guardian?

Another dumb fighter?



It's a construct bodyguard, so pretty much 100% chance it's another tank.

[Captain_Wizbang]

This brings up my suggestion from past expansions on this, as many times, as exampled in the quoted post here, people often name a few other items they consider more valuable than what is offered.

SSG could do some marketing research at the same time they are selling expansions by creating a significant list of items taken from past player feedback, then specifying a number you can choose. This would not only limit the griping as people could get what they want, but it would allow them to determine what the player base values most, by the numbers.


+1 good post, Truhd's also.

Marketing research in this case ALL the feedback we gave from Ravenloft release. SSG does a much better job as of late interacting and listening to the player base since the company was formed, but thats content and mechanics, not marketing.

I think that ship has sailed for the trend in cosmetics, sure it's still popular, but in the end, just a fad. As per your statement about taking from the players feedback, that obviously did not happen.

[Fedora1]

It's a construct bodyguard, so pretty much 100% chance it's another tank.

Do we know what level? Hopefully they at least fit it in between the others:

L3 Cleric
L10 Scarecrow
L17 Owlbear
L20 Panther
L25 (?) Owlbear
L30 Scarecrow

Am I missing any perma hires?

[J1NG]

Do we know what level? Hopefully they at least fit it in between the others:

L3 Cleric
L10 Scarecrow
L17 Owlbear
L20 Panther
L25 (?) Owlbear
L30 Scarecrow

Am I missing any perma hires?

Alabaster Lioness is only other one really I think. :: edit :: Level 20.

J1NG

[HastyPudding]

^
Inquisitive Cosmetics
Inquisitive's Robe, mask, & cloak
meh, they look OKAY.
High Society Cosmetics
High society outfit, hat, & cloak
meh, they look OKAY.


How do you know what the cosmetics look like, already?

[kelavas]

How do you know what the cosmetics look like, already?
don't question my superiority. D:<.

there's a long story and I can pm you why/how I know.

[J1NG]

don't question my superiority. D:<.

there's a long story and I can pm you why/how I know.

The problem is, your asthetic tastes are not our aesthetic tastes. So your meh, may be someone elses goldmine. We need pics really, not feelings without even describing them to truly get an idea of how meh, or how much of a goldmine they are.

J1NG

[kelavas]

The problem is, your asthetic tastes are not our aesthetic tastes. So your meh, may be someone elses goldmine. We need pics really, not feelings without even describing them to truly get an idea of how meh, or how much of a goldmine they are.

J1NG
like I said, long story. and an understanding I just said meh, it's better than ravenloft, but it's not something I would wear
im gonna get spanked for this ;-;

[J1NG]

like I said, long story. and an understanding I just said meh, it's better than ravenloft, but it's not something I would wear
im gonna get spanked for this ;-;

I do understand.

But you do realise you could have simply not included a comment on them at all right? Because without any sort of pic or even a rough description, all it is is an opinion that no one else can even make their own opinion on. So it's a bit of a wasted comment to have included is all. *shrugs*

Personally, waiting on actual pics/descriptions on them. Some people laughed at Blue Dragonhide Armour. Then cloaks came out and then I had a Superman-eque costume in play when that was put together with a basic red cloak. :) (Although having Aasimar Scourge and those eyes helped too :p )

See? Description helps at least when you can talk about it. :)

J1NG

[Cordovan]

Whew! Quite the overnight, huh?

I wanted to update a couple of things:

- I have removed the links in the OP, as we'd prefer people use the actual links that will be available shortly through ddo.com/sharn. It could get messy otherwise, and we'd rather have people going to the place with the official information.

- There is a spectrum of bad decisions that could be made around Midnight Eastern on a Wednesday, and I'd put "going to a purchase page that isn't supposed to be active yet, buy a thing through a system not expecting to see payments yet, and then putting the subsequent code into a game client that doesn't yet have all of the associated data in it" probably somewhere between, "Breaking into a zoo to feed the sharks" and "Deciding to take up parasailing." :) Please consider not doing this in the future. That said, we feel we have a good handle on the number of purchases that were made, and if necessary we'll get customer service involved to get purchasers their stuff.

- Anyone who purchases Sharn when it is available shortly through DDO.com/Sharn can ignore all of the above.

[Aelonwy]

Hey Cordovan can we get some screenshots of the Sharn cosmetics? That may inform purchasing decisions for some people.

[J1NG]

Hey Cordovan can we get some screenshots of the Sharn cosmetics? That may inform purchasing decisions for some people.

This. So much this.

J1NG

[LightBear]

Whew! Quite the overnight, huh?

I wanted to update a couple of things:

- I have removed the links in the OP, as we'd prefer people use the actual links that will be available shortly through ddo.com/mastermindsofsharn. It could get messy otherwise, and we'd rather have people going to the place with the official information.

- There is a spectrum of bad decisions that could be made around Midnight Eastern on a Wednesday, and I'd put "going to a purchase page that isn't supposed to be active yet, buy a thing through a system not expecting to see payments yet, and then putting the subsequent code into a game client that doesn't yet have all of the associated data in it" probably somewhere between, "Breaking into a zoo to feed the sharks" and "Deciding to take up parasailing." :) Please consider not doing this in the future. That said, we feel we have a good handle on the number of purchases that were made, and if necessary we'll get customer service involved to get purchasers their stuff.

- Anyone who purchases Sharn when it is available shortly through DDO.com/MastermindsofSharn can ignore all of the above.

Parasailing is only bad without a parachute as that would be the equivalent of water skiing without skies.
And nothing bad about feeding sharks either, just don't use a human as food.

Other than that totally agree ;)

[Arkat]

If those treasure hunter pots were Greater Elixirs of Discovery...

Absolutely.

[J1NG]

Absolutely.

Not even 10% or 15% or 20% ones, just 5% ones would have made it an instant buy option for me.

J1NG

[GramercyRiff]

Hey Cordovan can we get some screenshots of the Sharn cosmetics? That may inform purchasing decisions for some people.

I was going to post this. So this.

[SerPounce]

The bottle of mist is your second most valued item? Really think about that statement. Teleporting to House J, and then Ravenloft is such a terrible burden? Worth a lot of money to avoid that torture?



Oh man, bottle of mist is so much more than a quick way to get to RL quests. It's basically a permanent airship beacon with one extra click that you can use *in quests!* I don't even recall out of quests if the next quest giver isn't nearby. Just get the xp, hit the bottle, and back on the airship one click later. And even before you do into the mist it drops you right near the house J teleporter. Sure it saves you 1 minute or so each time, but that's 1 minute 50-100 times a TR, and time is xp so that's what 100-500k+ per TR depending on how efficient you are? Other than the quiver of alacrity I can't think of anything else that does me that much good.

[Epitome]

- There is a spectrum of bad decisions that could be made around Midnight Eastern on a Wednesday, and I'd put "going to a purchase page that isn't supposed to be active yet, buy a thing through a system not expecting to see payments yet, and then putting the subsequent code into a game client that doesn't yet have all of the associated data in it" probably somewhere between, "Breaking into a zoo to feed the sharks" and "Deciding to take up parasailing." :) Please consider not doing this in the future. That said, we feel we have a good handle on the number of purchases that were made, and if necessary we'll get customer service involved to get purchasers their stuff.


A better analogy.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FantasticRaggedAffenpinscher-size_restricted.gif

[Thrudh]

Oh man, bottle of mist is so much more than a quick way to get to RL quests. It's basically a permanent airship beacon with one extra click that you can use *in quests!* I don't even recall out of quests if the next quest giver isn't nearby. Just get the xp, hit the bottle, and back on the airship one click later. And even before you do into the mist it drops you right near the house J teleporter. Sure it saves you 1 minute or so each time, but that's 1 minute 50-100 times a TR, and time is xp so that's what 100-500k+ per TR depending on how efficient you are? Other than the quiver of alacrity I can't think of anything else that does me that much good.

Teleport scrolls can be used *in quests!*. Teleport to House K bank right from inside a quest, and the airship is right there.

I guess you think it's worth it for the low levels when you don't have teleport scrolls yet. Meh.

I have no problems you saying it's awesome, but saying it's the second-best item in the entire game was a bit much.

[Aelonwy]

A better analogy.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FantasticRaggedAffenpinscher-size_restricted.gif

mmm my favorite section of that movie... riddles and traps and cosmic mysteries... dang it now I need to play the movie while I wait.

[Arianrhod]

Things I want to know before deciding which (if any) version to preorder:

What levels are the hirelings? I already have L10, 15 (17), 20, 25 (27), and 30. Anything new would need to complement those, not replace them (especially if it's yet another melee, and not something with a different skill set)

What exactly is the universal enhancement tree tome? does it work only on universal trees, or is it "universal" as in usable for any tree? Does it increase the total available enhancement points to one more than they were before? (I would assume it does that, but some other posts I've seen make me wonder, so would prefer to have it explicitly confirmed)

What do the cosmetics look like? Will every character have them pop up immediately on creation (my newly created characters already have most of their first pack page filled, will this make inventory issues even worse?)

[SerPounce]

^^^^ This. Bottle of mist has saved my static tr group hours of our lives at this point.

Ditto on the bike, I put new Michellin Road 4's on my v-strom yesterday.

https://i.redd.it/1w4b4glxuwhz.jpg

[blerkington]

... your, uh, "valued contributions" to the forums ...

Oh, that really stings. But regardless of what you might believe, a forum monoculture where SSG is only ever praised would not be good for the game.

I am logging on less frequently now than I was for most of last year, but I still have a sub running and I am a potential customer for Sharn. My money is just as good as yours, and my point is if SSG modified their approach just a little bit they could also have my $130 with a smile too.

Most of what I've said in this thread is about how SSG could improve customer satisfaction and get more sales. If they did what some people here are suggesting, you would be getting better value for your $130 too. So this is not about 'fans vs haters', it's about how SSG can do better by its customers and make more money too.

On the other hand, your post seems to be celebrating the loss of yet another customer (me) and resisting better value for money both for yourself and others. It's the rabid fan paradox to a nicety; defending poor business practices and cheering the departure of people who criticise the company, both of which are actually harmful to the game. But carry on.

Now I'm not going to judge you for how you spend your money, that's your affair and as I said before it's good for the game and its other customers that you are prepared to pay. But even if I thought you were the most obnoxious person on the forums, I'd still want you around because by playing and paying you keep the game alive.

Take care.


snip


snip

Thanks for your kind words, guys. Hopefully I'll see you both around the traps again sometime soon.

[SerPounce]

Oh, that really stings. But regardless of what you might believe, a forum monoculture where SSG is only ever praised would not be good for the game.

I am logging on less frequently now than I was for most of last year, but I still have a sub running and I am a potential customer for Sharn. My money is just as good as yours, and my point is if SSG modified their approach just a little bit they could also have my $130 with a smile too.

Most of what I've said in this thread is about how SSG could improve customer satisfaction and get more sales. If they did what some people here are suggesting, you would be getting better value for your $130 too. So this is not about 'fans vs haters', it's about how SSG can do better by its customers and make more money too.

On the other hand, your post seems to be celebrating the loss of yet another customer (me) and resisting better value for money both for yourself and others. It's the rabid fan paradox to a nicety; defending poor business practices and cheering the departure of people who criticise the company, both of which are actually harmful to the game. But carry on.

Now I'm not going to judge you for how you spend your money, that's your affair and as I said before it's good for the game and its other customers that you are prepared to pay. But even if I thought you were the most obnoxious person on the forums, I'd still want you around because by playing and paying you keep the game alive.

Take care.
I didn't actually say any of that, but OK... You have a narrative that you want to go with and you're not going to get bogged down with the specifics of what anyone says. I have no problem with you, I don't even know you, we just have different takes on this issue. Disagreement isn't disrespect. You're the one throwing around ad homs like "rabid fan" and "obnoxious person."

[tygara]

The is just going from good, to bed, to worse...
Lets compare a few things about the collectors edition:

Price:
Underdark: $79.99
RL: $129.99
Sharn: $129.99


Content:
Underdark:
- 3 forgotten realms adventure packs
- Eveningstar Challenges
- 4 Epic packs (Devils Assault, Red Fens, Sentinels on Stormreach, VON)
- 4 Regular Adventure packs (Deaming Darm, Path of Inspiration, Attack on Stormreach, Phiarlan Carnival)
- Other Adventure packs ADDED TO EVENINGSTAR
RL:
- 12 Dungeons
- 2 Raids
- 1 Explorer zone (huge, but still, only 1)
- Nothing new added yet to RL
Sharn:
- 9 Dungeons
- 2 Raids
- 1 Explorer zone


Other game content:
Underdark:
- Druid class
- Epic Destinies
- Vet Status 7
- Vet Status 4
RL:
- Aasimar Race
- Character Slot
- Scourge Iconic
- Vistani Enhancement tree
- +10 shared bank upgrade
Sharn:
- Thiefling Race
- Scoundrel Iconic
- Character Slot
- Inquisitive Enhancement


Other useful stuff:
Underdark:
- 1 greater tome of learning / server
- 1 lesser tome of learning / character
- 1 greater xp potion
- 2k DDO points
- 5x stone of experience
RL:
- 140 Astral Shards
- 3x supreme res cake
- 2x rest shrine
- 5x mirror
- 60d vip
- TP to ravenloft item
- +1AP tome on every character
Sharn:
- 140 Astral Shards
- 3 Major Renown elixirs
- 20 Greater Treasure potions
- 5x mirror
- TP to sharn
- +1 Universal enh tome / character
- Augment bag


Fluff items:
who cares lol, its all inventory filler

The RL pack was already worse then the underdark, the sharn one is even more a slap in the face. I am going to downgrade from the top tier pack, to just the basic. No way you are getting 130bucks out of me for this trash
Just look at the content alone. In Underdark, there was in the end over 50 quests in Eveningstar alone, and you havent even added a single quest to Ravenloft yet. How do you think we all feel seeing you folks charge us 130 bucks for 12 quests, 2 raids and an explorer zone, if you don't even bother to add new quests and such to it all even. And Sharn has even LESS content. Only 9 quests this time, once againf or 130 bucks. DREAM ON!

[Clemeit]

Hey Cordovan can we get some screenshots of the Sharn cosmetics? That may inform purchasing decisions for some people.

This 100%. Not making any purchases until I know what everything looks like.

[blerkington]

I didn't actually say any of that, but OK... You have a narrative that you want to go with and you're not going to get bogged down with the specifics of what anyone says. I have no problem with you, I don't even know you, we just have different takes on this issue. Disagreement isn't disrespect. You're the one throwing around ad homs like "rabid fan" and "obnoxious person."

Perhaps if you re-read my last post you will see that the majority of it is not actually about you. Like my other posts it's about how we can improve the game. If you are really interested in continuing this then just send me a PM. I have no intention of getting this thread locked due to argument because it is serving a useful purpose.

I did not use any ad hominem arguments in my post either, which should be apparent from a careful reading. Talking about the paradox of how the behaviour of rabid fans can be harmful to a game and saying 'even if I thought you were the most obnoxious person on the forums' are not personal attacks.

Thanks.

[lyrecono]

Sigh, , first of all, yes, i got all of your messages, please stop sending me them.

Noe for the heart of the matter:
You people amaze me, how dare you ask that amount of money for this dumpster fire?

The +1 universal tree point (utp) is a useless to me, none of my builds make use of them and unlike racial point (that sometimes have usefull trees), that are supported by racial tr-ing. Is this a precurser to alignment based tr-ing that add utp's?

Another construct tank melee hireling that is only usable as a lever puller or on the lowest of settings, the lv 3 cleric is much cheaper (especially during a steam sale).

Guild pots? Worthles to most whales.
Treasure hunters, pff, i rather would have seen the other, more usefull pots. Or points to buy what i need

16 quests
Lv 15(ish, i assume from the slayer area), the question remains the same, will it be playeble to all classes or is more pandering to classes that missue the broken ai and poorly ballanced game mechanics? The way the devs keep pandering to the xbow crowd i assume the latter.
Btw, were these open to preview prior to the (leaked) preorder?
And why is this leaked? Incompetence or free adverticement?

Scoundrel? Pffff, abbot quiver for the win. (You gave m away at one point ....)

Thiefling? Only if going reclaim racial completionist, thought there is barely time for that before sharn drops.
Honnestly, it is hardly worth the effort anymore if you're already maxed out, reaper trees add so much more power creep for less effort. As for the race itself, meh to the core with nerfed looks.

Cosmetics, without the propper account wide storrage, these btc cosmetics only clog your tr cache.

Not that i would like to wear them, half the server will look like them for a while anyway, just like last time.
Everytime i see one of those repainted decade old white dragonscale armor run by i think: more money than common sense, i wonder how the 3 year sub works with the low frequency of normal quest packs appearing these days.

A dimensional Bag, hmmmm, this almost sounds usefull, only because its so vague, is this:
An augment type bag for a new type of collectable or crafting item that only goes in there?
A 3rd shared bank tab for cosmetics?
A spell component bag?
A bta bag that allows us to transfer btc items to help with alts?
A bag designed to hold ddo store consumebles only?
The wording is just to vague.

Today, people have been pestering me to look at the leaked sharn preorder on the vault in the hopes i would start playing again.
I can only dissapoint them, none of this looks appealing at all.
Setting asside all the issues with my favorite playstyles that hamper my 3 mains, that made me quit playing, these packs are unapealing and over priced.
Are ssg taking a page from EA and chris robberts? With these prices you could buy multiple triple A games, something ddo never was.
I feel like i was forced into buying the most expensive rl pack for the racial ap tome, the rest was garbage to me (and many others), essentially 90 bucks for something i could have bought in the ddo store some time later
Royaly ****ing of your fanbase in the process.

So for a short while i thought about buying the cheapest pack. ( though the bag loooked intriquing)
Then it dawned on me, it's miss-managed, its still turbine/ssg.

Why should i reward them for a job poorly done? So they can stay in some kind of echo chamber, boosting the builds they play?, Never fixing the problems or ballance the game propperly?

No thanks.

The best way to make yourselve heard is not to buy anything from ssg anymore.

[Lynnabel]

- 9 Dungeons
- 2 Raids
- 1 Explorer zone

Quick correction, but this does not include the 7 non-story dungeons in Sharn, for a total of 16 Dungeons, 2 Raids, 1 Explorer area.

[SerPounce]

Perhaps if you re-read my last post you will see that the majority of it is not actually about you. Like my other posts it's about how we can improve the game.

If you are really interested in continuing this then just send me a PM. I have no intention of getting this thread locked due to argument.

Thanks.

You quoted me and used the second person pronoun throughout the post... but again, sure, have it your way.

[Iriale]

A dimensional Bag, hmmmm, this almost sounds usefull, only because its so vague, is this:
An augment type bag for a new type of collectable or crafting item that only goes in there?
A 3rd shared bank tab for cosmetics?
A spell component bag?
A bta bag that allows us to transfer btc items to help with alts?
A bag designed to hold ddo store consumebles only?
The wording is just to vague.
It is an augment bag with a fancy name. It can store 500 items instead of 300 of the colossal bag (350 now).

Nothing special for that price, really. The colossal is already quite slow when it is opened. It is just an excuse to not fix the filigree stacking in the crafting bank, and because they have already made enough money selling the colossal bags. Do you think that all those sales before giving one with this pack have been coincidence? They have already milked people, after all. Anyway, why are the btc store bags if this bag is bta? I imagine that with this bag all the conspiracy theories about strange bugs and exploits are dismantled. Can we finally have bta bags from the store?

[tygara]

Quick correction, but this does not include the 7 non-story dungeons in Sharn, for a total of 16 Dungeons, 2 Raids, 1 Explorer area.


OK, so 16 quests then, in combination with 2 raids and 1 explorer area.
That still doesn't come even close to the value of 130 bucks. The items offered are mostly useless, you don't even offer VIP time, or DDO points in the pack anymore, while the previous 2 packs you gave at least that. Next to that, it will most likely be another 130 bucks expansion pack that NOTHING EXTRA of content or quests will be added too, like Ravenloft. And we wont even talk about the useless guild renown pots, or treasure hunters pots. The least you folks from marketing could do, is actually make something appealing to purchase, but at this moment, you only offer in my eyes 16 quests, 2 raids, 1 explorer area, 1 tome/character, an augment bag, a race and an iconic race, and an enhancement tree. ALL THE REST IS USELES! You can say what you want, but that is totally not worth 130 bucks, that's a plain insult, if you compare is with the previous 2 expansion packs (and definitely with the 80 bucks Underdark pack)

[Fedora1]

I have no problems you saying it's awesome, but saying it's the second-best item in the entire game was a bit much.

Don't misquote him. He said it was the second most valued item in the game to him. Which is basically the same thing as him saying it's awesome.



The bottle of mist is probably my second most valued item in the game




Teleport scrolls can be used *in quests!*. Teleport to House K bank right from inside a quest, and the airship is right there.

Teleport scrolls are far less useful IMO. Must be caster or have high enough UMD, which not all builds do. Also something you have to remember to keep in stock. Then you have to remember to swap back to your main hand weapon. The cookies that teleport are much better, but obviously more rare.

Nope, I'm with SerPounce, the bottle of mist is awesome. :cool:

[janave]

That still doesn't come even close to the value of 130 bucks. The items offered are mostly useless, you don't even offer VIP time, or DDO points in the pack anymore, while the previous 2

This, I am gladly giving $130 to the team if the offer is nice, but i just checked out Steam and some online streaming sites, what I can get for $130 is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar more in terms of value, by so much it is just not really the same league. :S

As much as I would like to support DDO, I`ll pass this time.

[Iriale]

Teleport scrolls can be used *in quests!*. Teleport to House K bank right from inside a quest, and the airship is right there.

I guess you think it's worth it for the low levels when you don't have teleport scrolls yet. Meh.

I have no problems you saying it's awesome, but saying it's the second-best item in the entire game was a bit much.

Don't misquote him. He said it was the second most valued item in the game to him. Which is basically the same thing as him saying it's awesome.
Teleport scrolls are far less useful IMO. Must be caster or have high enough UMD, which not all builds do. Also something you have to remember to keep in stock. Then you have to remember to swap back to your main hand weapon. The cookies that teleport are much better, but obviously more rare.

Nope, I'm with SerPounce, the bottle of mist is awesome. :cool:
Here you have your answer, Thrudh. There are people who do builds without umd. Yes, that kind of people that you group with and then they are not able to throw a raise. Hence, they overvalue the bottle of mist more than it serves.

The bottle is not bad, but it is an item of convenience that in no way is worth so much. Indeed, the teleport scrolls do the same. I prefer to teleport to the harbor or to the twelve than to kundarak, but personal preferences. The bottle is something more useful when you want to reach Eveningstar and you have the key in cooldown, although I would say that those are cases not so frequent as to put the bottle on an altar and worship it. Anyway, I would say that it is a nice addition if it were accompanied by other valuable content, but both RL and sharn falter in this. And holy heaven, sharn even less. They have not even added some points to sweeten the package.

Anyway, what has been said, this game has enough whales so that SSG can not be saved from its own mistakes. They should be looking at the recruitment of new players and the retention of the old ones, but they only look at their whales. Short-term business strategy *sigh*

[JohnFlory]

Build a game around the "whales" and you will get diminishing returns.
Build a game around good value and you will always attract new people.
Guess you've made your choice.

It's funny, back when Ravenloft came out I was so incredibly hyped and played quite a lot. It felt like a no-brainer to pre-purchase, maybe even more than just the base version. Once I saw the prices and the content of the pack, I lost a lot of interest in the game as a whole. I grinded for a bit and after a while I was able to purchase Ravenloft with the points from my grind. Ravenloft was bad. Like, really, really bad. So I stopped playing for about half a year. Now that I come back, much less enthusiastic about this game, and only 3 days after I install it again, the next pack drops - with the exact same issues.

Sure, you can exploit the whales, I don't doubt that tons of people will pay 130$/€ out of habit, sunk-cost fallacy, support or genuine excitement, but in the long run this'll hurt player growth (who wants to join a game where they would have to pay hundreds of dollars to get access to even half of the game?) and drive people away.

[Nonesuch2008]

Hey Cordovan can we get some screenshots of the Sharn cosmetics? That may inform purchasing decisions for some people.


This. So much this.

J1NG


Go here, scroll down & have a gander :)

https://www.ddo.com/en/masterminds-sharn-faqs

[Hawkwier]

I just bought the UC version.

Do I think it's a good value bundle compared to the others? Not really...

That's not why I bought it though - Last time round, with Ravenloft, I bought the cheapest version.

A the time I had little faith in it being much good, as I found the previous expansion was poor, so back then I was persuaded that spending £100 just wasn't worth it.

So, what changed this time round? In a word: Ravenloft! And much that has come since - I think the Devs have been doing a good job overall and I'm someone who votes with my wallet.

So, this time, I've put more faith in them to deliver something I will really like, again, and consequently spent more than I would otherwise, some of it on stuff I'll probably never really use or need. So, what!

If this is great, and the Devs keep up the good work beyond too, then the next one will also get my fullest support - If not, it won't.

Happy customer means more cash. That's how it works with me anyway.

I really don't give a stuff what anyone thinks of that - It's my earned dosh, and I'll spend it how I **** well please. Others are free to do the same or otherwise. I honestly don't give a stuff about that either way.

So, keep up the good work Devs, and I'll continue to support you. Oh, and well done on Ravenloft!

[J1NG]

Go here, scroll down & have a gander :)

https://www.ddo.com/en/masterminds-sharn-faqs

Not really feeling the High Society cosmetics. The Inquisitve however, I could see being used on some of my female toons. But can't really be sure, as it's only one view of the front. Was hoping for a side and back view too. And the image is also rather small. Why aren't there ever any good large images put up for things like this?

J1NG

[Thrudh]

Other useful stuff:
Underdark:
- 1 greater tome of learning / server
- 1 lesser tome of learning / character
- 1 greater xp potion
- 2k DDO points
- 5x stone of experience

This is the kind of stuff that made me get my wallet out immediately.

And then they even had that extra optional points sale that went with it.

[Nonesuch2008]

Not really feeling the High Society cosmetics. The Inquisitve however, I could see being used on some of my female toons. But can't really be sure, as it's only one view of the front. Was hoping for a side and back view too. And the image is also rather small. Why aren't there ever any good large images put up for things like this?

J1NG

True, they never give you more than a taste, really. It would be great if they had stills of them posed in front of something like the old 3-way armor preview mirrors.

[LogiTinker]

Here we are again...…..

I agree with most of what has already been said.

Been saving up for the UF pre-release pack for a while but after looking at it the only thing it offers is inventory cluttering rubbish and the teleporter. Guild pots? Mirrors of wanting to look like your not playing DDO? More hirelings (the word shield in most games would conjure up an image of something that takes some of your damage, but nah, not here), Astral Shards, Cosmetics, Pets, etc

I, like a lot of the community am getting on a bit

'Know that I am OLD'

and cosmetics, no gameplay pets, hirelings that probably don't do anything and other pointless things just don't do it for me. Maybe it gets some people on Steam worked up but in fact it wouldn't as there is no mention of even the RL expansion on the Steam store page, let alone the pre-release of this. Probably as SSG are too embarrassed to let the rest of the world see these packs.

I may however be totally wrong, writing this as the game is down, maybe the hire is an Xbow wielding toon with a rune arm that can trap and scales from levels 1-20, with the epic scaling from 21-30, but as this is DDO, probably not.

So with the £80 that I have saved so far (was gonna get the rest of the money next week) I have just bought Outward a new release on Steam (amazingly it has even worse graphics than this) and I'm off to the pub to pick a fight.

I'll buy Sharn with points, it will probably kill me to wait as I loved the RL quests, but I can't pay the top price again for stuff that degrades my game, I'm a hoarder, I can't throw the junk pack items away and there is no more space! As for buying the other two packs, plain and simply why? By the time this goes up for points I'll have more than enough store points to get races and classes and whatever else I want.

MatronPain


(and for all the people who have kindly pointed out over the years that I use a lot of brackets, I have no idea why) lol

[Thrudh]

Don't misquote him. He said it was the second most valued item in the game to him. Which is basically the same thing as him saying it's awesome.

You are correct. My apologies to him.



Teleport scrolls are far less useful IMO. Must be caster or have high enough UMD, which not all builds do.

True enough in early levels.


Also something you have to remember to keep in stock. Then you have to remember to swap back to your main hand weapon.

Yeah, you're just quibbling here now. I'm not spending $90 bucks so I don't have to buy teleport scrolls every 3-4 weeks. :)

[lyrecono]

Quick correction, but this does not include the 7 non-story dungeons in Sharn, for a total of 16 Dungeons, 2 Raids, 1 Explorer area.
I stand corrected, i might not like what ssg does to this game or how it manipulates its people but i'm usually not above correcting the facts.


It is an augment bag with a fancy name. It can store 500 items instead of 300 of the colossal bag (350 now).

Nothing special for that price, really. The colossal is already quite slow when it is opened. It is just an excuse to not fix the filigree stacking in the crafting bank, and because they have already made enough money selling the colossal bags. Do you think that all those sales before giving one with this pack have been coincidence? They have already milked people, after all. Anyway, why are the btc store bags if this bag is bta? I imagine that with this bag all the conspiracy theories about strange bugs and exploits are dismantled. Can we finally have bta bags from the store?

Thanks,
Just a big bag and a utp that won't be usefull for any of my builds/playstyles
In that case, there is absolutely no reason for me to buy anything.
Just a few quests ( that will proberbly be detrimentel to my prefered playstyles) for the base package and useless trash for the 2 even more expensive ones.


Go here, scroll down & have a gander :)

https://www.ddo.com/en/masterminds-sharn-faqs

Thanks for the info, wow, their prices really don't match up....
And the cosmetics....
Ugh, with a capital U.

[OmgItsMoving]

I feel bad today for some of the devs. There's recently been some genuine enthusiasm from certain devs over this expansion. You can tell there's some pride there, and excitement to share it.

For them to watch the pre-purchase hype largely fall flat on public reception must suck (*). Especially when it seems that learning a few minor lessons from the Ravenloft pre-purchase public reception could have significantly improved things here. And doubly so, when at least matching the value of the Ravenloft pre-purchase seems like it should have been an obvious given.

/signed another who was ready to part with $130 yesterday, but will now just wait to drop points on it in Sept.


(*) this assumes the devs themselves were not the authors of the pre-order offerings -- that some non-dev "marketing" function exists

[GramercyRiff]

I was a bit stunned at how bad the Inquisitive cosmetic is.

The ultimate bundle is pretty bad again.

[OrodelaSol]

I feel bad today for some of the devs. There's recently been some genuine enthusiasm from certain devs over this expansion. You can tell there's some pride there, and excitement to share it.

For them to watch the pre-purchase hype largely fall flat on public reception must suck (*). Especially when it seems that learning a few minor lessons from the Ravenloft pre-purchase public reception could have significantly improved things here. And doubly so, when at least matching the value of the Ravenloft pre-purchase seems like it should have been an obvious given.

/signed another who was ready to part with $130 yesterday, but will now just wait to drop points on it in Sept.


(*) this assumes the devs themselves were not the authors of the pre-order offerings -- that some non-dev "marketing" function exists

I would imagine that the only devs that look at the forums are the ones who have to... why on earth would they wanna read so much absolute garbage!? people complaining about things that are not even out yet!? SO many people love Ravenloft and if this is better!? they put a price on this ranging from $40-130 for "whales" and minnows alike. no one is forcing you to buy it so if RL was a failure to you and this one is worse according to those who are complaining then dont buy it. the new races and content alone are worth it to me.

[Fedora1]

Yeah, you're just quibbling here now. I'm not spending $90 bucks so I don't have to buy teleport scrolls every 3-4 weeks. :)

Well sort of, but hey, I know me... lol

And I never said the mist (or any other teleport item) was worth $90, just saying how much I like it. :)

[Rog]

[QUOTE=cru121;6195079]If those treasure hunter pots were Greater Elixirs of Discovery...[/QUOT
on the money
Greater Elixirs of Discovery are put into epic otto boxs
the one item i have no use for already having 36 etrs:(

[Fedora1]

Here you have your answer, Thrudh. There are people who do builds without umd. Yes, that kind of people that you group with and then they are not able to throw a raise. Hence, they overvalue the bottle of mist more than it serves.

Actually people with your attitude (as seen here with the passive aggressive insult) are why I solo, and enjoy it, thank you very much.



The bottle is not bad, but it is an item of convenience that in no way is worth so much.

You'll not find where I placed a dollar value on it either. I said it's awesome and better than scrolls IMO.



but personal preferences.

I see, personal preferences only apply to usage of teleport scrolls. Other things, such as build choices and whether teleport scrolls or the bottle of mist is more useful, are not personal preferences. Makes perfect sense.




put the bottle on an altar and worship it.

Who said they do this? Oh that's right, no one.



Anyway, what has been said, this game has enough whales so that SSG can not be saved from its own mistakes. They should be looking at the recruitment of new players and the retention of the old ones, but they only look at their whales. Short-term business strategy *sigh*

It's weird, but every time I see someone mention whales, it comes off sounding like jealousy.

And before you make further assumptions about me or what I think and do, I will go on record as saying I also think Sharn is over priced and needs a lot more to make it worth the asking price.

[J1NG]

Update on estimate:

Universal Tome: 3495

So 14 toons and that becomes 48930 DDO points needed to kit my toons out.

That's... I dunno what that is, but that's a good deal more than buying the UFB if by going DDO points only via purchasing during Double or Triple Points... I'm Sold!

Will go for the UFB when server comes back up now. :)

J1NG

[Rog]

I would imagine that the only devs that look at the forums are the ones who have to... why on earth would they wanna read so much absolute garbage!? people complaining about things that are not even out yet!? SO many people love Ravenloft and if this is better!? they put a price on this ranging from $40-130 for "whales" and minnows alike. no one is forcing you to buy it so if RL was a failure to you and this one is worse according to those who are complaining then dont buy it. the new races and content alone are worth it to me.

i am sure they have knocked it out of the park. i will be buying my pre purchase. on Friday.

[Fivetigers33]

Thanks for making the Standard Edition a no brainer. Looking forward to April 30th!

[SpartanKiller13]

Teleport scrolls can be used *in quests!*. Teleport to House K bank right from inside a quest, and the airship is right there.

Isn't tele-to-Harbor faster? Also no loading out of the bank? Unless I'm missing something :)


Don't misquote him. He said it was the second most valued item in the game to him. Which is basically the same thing as him saying it's awesome.

Teleport scrolls are far less useful IMO. Must be caster or have high enough UMD, which not all builds do. Also something you have to remember to keep in stock. Then you have to remember to swap back to your main hand weapon. The cookies that teleport are much better, but obviously more rare.

Nope, I'm with SerPounce, the bottle of mist is awesome. :cool:

I have a Royal Guard Mask and a Stormreach D12, so I haven't prioritized other teleport items. Also my current life is a Wizard.

Maybe a Greater Teleport clicky?


This is the kind of stuff that made me get my wallet out immediately.

And then they even had that extra optional points sale that went with it.

Shadowfell expansion is still an excellent purchase after all these years; especially when it goes on sale. But Ravenloft is only good as long as the gear is good and the raids are popular; since those are both true, it's very highly recommended. In a few years, I doubt it will be.

[rfachini]

Nice work on the cosmetics and pre-order items/classes.

I need to know...What is the story of the inquisitive's gasmask? Is that because of smoky air in the Cogs?

[Chai]

A better analogy.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FantasticRaggedAffenpinscher-size_restricted.gif

Dad: But in Latin, Jehovah begins with an I.

Indy: J? ahhhhhhhh!!!!!! /clings for dear life.

[Gesh]

So, I started playing DDO at the beginning with my wife and some friends, switching from Asheron's Call, Turbine's original MMO. When Turbine launched Lord of the Rings Online, we as a group switched to that game for a few years. After burning ourselves out on LOTRO, we sort of did our own thing for a while. Last year, I along with my wife and now older daughter recruited some additional family and friends to start playing DDO again. So, I and 2 others returned to the game, and I basically recruited another 9 people new to DDO so that we could have two parties and group up for RAIDs. I was reminded that I had splurged for my and my wife's accounts on the pre-order of MotU because we have the nifty Elite Spider Cult Mask, the Panther, and other experience tomes and other things that definitely made it worth pre-ordering and to my knowledge you can't get the mask or panther anymore if you didn't pre-order. There was no Ultimate Fan Bundle available for Sharn, but I went with the Collectors edition plus Legendary Upgrade pack for my daughter and I (just standard for my wife who doesn't play as much) because it collectively offered a lot of valuable cool stuff like skill and xp tomes (I even took advantage all three times on the half-price on MotU and 40% off DDO points to give to my newly playing friends and family). Getting the Ultimate Fan Bundle for Ravenloft wasn't as obvious since I really don't care about pets and cosmetics, but when I added up the value of the 2 months of VIP, which I would need regardless, plus getting more Share Bank slots, the Epic Hireling, the Vistani Knife Fighter tree, Aasimar race and some Resurrection Cakes and Ethereal shrines that I would find useful, I went for it for my daughter and I, and did the Collectors for my wife (again, probably because I could use her 1 month VIP code, otherwise I'd have gone standard for her).

So, all that is to say that I'm excited that DDO is alive and well and adding new content. I'm not going to bash SSG because it is HARD to keep a game alive this long, yet they've done it and kept if fun, if not without flaws. I was primed to buy at least two of the most expensive "pre-order" bundles plus a lower cost one for my wife starting today. But when I saw the bundles and saw that most of the added stuff is, in my world, useless stuff like pets and cosmetics, I was sad. I'd like the Hirelings and the Tome for every character. I'm sure I'll eventually want the Inquisitive enhancement tree. But, I'm going to wait on buying Sharn now because the "goodies" just don't excite me. My friends/family and I have plenty of content to work through before needing to go to Sharn, so I'll hope SSG comes up with a better package. If not, and we get to where we want to play Sharn, I may yet decide to buy one or more of the Ultimate Fan Bundles with a mindset of supporting the game to make up for the disappointing offering, but maybe I won't either. And that's a shame, cuz I'm the guy who buys this expensive stuff.

In conclusion, I'm not going to bash SSG. They HAVE to make money and I have zero sympathy for those who think everything should be free. I'll continue to invest in the game. However, my excitement about Sharn and the cool unique goodies I might get by buying early (which I now see doesn't matter other than getting the Tiefling race a month early, which isn't that big a deal) and/or buying a fan bundle has been quenched by the paucity of the offering.

[Fauxknight]

Do we know what level? Hopefully they at least fit it in between the others:

L3 Cleric
L10 Scarecrow
L17 Owlbear
L20 Panther
L25 (?) Owlbear
L30 Scarecrow

Am I missing any perma hires?


Shield Guardian is 15 and 30 and oh oh is it pretty awesome. Haven't looked at the 30 yet but the 15 has some great hit points (like 800 ish) and some interesting abilities:

Shield - Self
Displacement - Self
Blur - Self, Friend
Reconstruction - Self, Friend


Reconstruction is the key here, that's the construct version of a heal spell with a speed buff attached, great for itself and any warforged or artis. Shield spell is nice to make it immune to MMs, and it can blur the party if you want some extrai protection.

[Fedora1]

Shield Guardian is 15 and 30 and oh oh is it pretty awesome. Haven't looked at the 30 yet but the 15 has some great hit points (like 800 ish) and some interesting abilities:

Shield - Self
Displacement - Self
Blur - Self, Friend
Reconstruction - Self, Friend


Reconstruction is the key here, that's the construct version of a heal spell with a speed buff attached, great for itself and any warforged or artis. Shield spell is nice to make it immune to MMs, and it can blur the party if you want some extrai protection.

Sounds nice! Where did you see this information? Thanks!

[Fauxknight]

Sounds nice! Where did you see this information? Thanks!



...on my shield guardian in game...

[Ralmeth]

I'm definitely looking forward to checking Sharn out. In regards to the pre-order options, I'll end up going with the standard edition as the thing with the most value to me will be the quests. The items offered in the next tier does not equal $40 in value to me. I would have preferred to see a bundle that included something like the following.
1) Some form of XP (ex. XP stone with enough XP so you could TR and level up to play Sharn)
2) One +1 Universal Tree Tome (I really only use one character)
3) One +1 Racial Tree Tome (again, one character)

[Dark_Helmet]

I had sticker shock on the pricing. We are buying something being added to the same game engine (not super-duper improved graphics and performance), but it is almost the "$50 standard" price for a game. This is not an out-of-the-box new game. It is an expansion. And, this is a digital delivery!

I was never a fan of Ravenloft (gasp!), so it was an easy decision to not pay that much money.

I live with DDO's quirks and might (maybe, possibly?) considering forking out over $40 for a completely overhauled engine and even richer graphics (honestly, I love how it is now so am not driven away in the least on how the game looks).

I hope those who pay for this "expansion" enjoy it. I just hope that SSG doesn't start messing with the game mechanics based on what comes from Sharn (like what they did based on the other expansions and things like reaper points!) and ruin playing in StormReach and Eveningstar (my friends won't come back).

It is interesting that they include a "major guild renown" for an expansion (where most guilds would be well established) - unless they are looking at increasing the guild levels (or put back in the decay?)

The (always awesome) Lynnabel does mention that there are a lot more dungeons, but their description leads me to believe that they are not conducive to a dungeon crawl (1 hour or more of exploring and reading the rich details) but along the lines of the threnal caves.

[NemesisAlien]

So, I started playing DDO at the beginning with my wife and some friends, switching from Asheron's Call, Turbine's original MMO. When Turbine launched Lord of the Rings Online, we as a group switched to that game for a few years. After burning ourselves out on LOTRO, we sort of did our own thing for a while. Last year, I along with my wife and now older daughter recruited some additional family and friends to start playing DDO again. So, I and 2 others returned to the game, and I basically recruited another 9 people new to DDO so that we could have two parties and group up for RAIDs. I was reminded that I had splurged for my and my wife's accounts on the pre-order of MotU because we have the nifty Elite Spider Cult Mask, the Panther, and other experience tomes and other things that definitely made it worth pre-ordering and to my knowledge you can't get the mask or panther anymore if you didn't pre-order. There was no Ultimate Fan Bundle available for Sharn, but I went with the Collectors edition plus Legendary Upgrade pack for my daughter and I (just standard for my wife who doesn't play as much) because it collectively offered a lot of valuable cool stuff like skill and xp tomes (I even took advantage all three times on the half-price on MotU and 40% off DDO points to give to my newly playing friends and family). Getting the Ultimate Fan Bundle for Ravenloft wasn't as obvious since I really don't care about pets and cosmetics, but when I added up the value of the 2 months of VIP, which I would need regardless, plus getting more Share Bank slots, the Epic Hireling, the Vistani Knife Fighter tree, Aasimar race and some Resurrection Cakes and Ethereal shrines that I would find useful, I went for it for my daughter and I, and did the Collectors for my wife (again, probably because I could use her 1 month VIP code, otherwise I'd have gone standard for her).

So, all that is to say that I'm excited that DDO is alive and well and adding new content. I'm not going to bash SSG because it is HARD to keep a game alive this long, yet they've done it and kept if fun, if not without flaws. I was primed to buy at least two of the most expensive "pre-order" bundles plus a lower cost one for my wife starting today. But when I saw the bundles and saw that most of the added stuff is, in my world, useless stuff like pets and cosmetics, I was sad. I'd like the Hirelings and the Tome for every character. I'm sure I'll eventually want the Inquisitive enhancement tree. But, I'm going to wait on buying Sharn now because the "goodies" just don't excite me. My friends/family and I have plenty of content to work through before needing to go to Sharn, so I'll hope SSG comes up with a better package. If not, and we get to where we want to play Sharn, I may yet decide to buy one or more of the Ultimate Fan Bundles with a mindset of supporting the game to make up for the disappointing offering, but maybe I won't either. And that's a shame, cuz I'm the guy who buys this expensive stuff.

In conclusion, I'm not going to bash SSG. They HAVE to make money and I have zero sympathy for those who think everything should be free. I'll continue to invest in the game. However, my excitement about Sharn and the cool unique goodies I might get by buying early (which I now see doesn't matter other than getting the Tiefling race a month early, which isn't that big a deal) and/or buying a fan bundle has been quenched by the paucity of the offering.

I want the mask and the cat :(

[SerPounce]

Shield Guardian is 15 and 30 and oh oh is it pretty awesome. Haven't looked at the 30 yet but the 15 has some great hit points (like 800 ish) and some interesting abilities:

Shield - Self
Displacement - Self
Blur - Self, Friend
Reconstruction - Self, Friend


Reconstruction is the key here, that's the construct version of a heal spell with a speed buff attached, great for itself and any warforged or artis. Shield spell is nice to make it immune to MMs, and it can blur the party if you want some extrai protection.

It didn't seem to be healing me on my self forged human arty, or healing the scarecrow. Or maybe it was, just not as frequently as I'd like. It did live through a quick run of (legendary) r2 lost at sea, which is all I've had time to do.

It's definitely cooler than a straight fighter hire though. Source of a long lasting blur effect too which might be a minor convenience thing for some characters.

[Lynnabel]

the threnal caves.

You can expect a lot more than the Threnal Caves, believe me. We've learned a lot since then, and I think you'll find every inch of Sharn some of our best work yet :)

[NemesisAlien]

Just wanted to say loving the new background pic...

[Knctrnl]

Yeah, I have to agree, I'm really disappointed that they didn't listen to the feedback from Ravenloft so we got another expansion with insane prices for cosmetics and a few other bits. Menace and Shadowfell were no brainers, I purchased the top tier and was happy with my decision. Ravenloft top tier was poor value and Sharn is the same. I want to support DDO but I also don't want to be ripped off.

I also was waiting and hoping for a nice PreOrder set of packages.
Sadly not worth it again. I guess I will preorder the base one at some point.
SSG your overcharging and giving bad value for your preorders... again. Please look at other games and how they entice preorders with real value in their packages. Guild Reknown elixirs? More space eating cosmetics?
You even removed the VIP time this this time from them.

[Fauxknight]

It didn't seem to be healing me on my self forged human arty, or healing the scarecrow. Or maybe it was, just not as frequently as I'd like. It did live through a quick run of (legendary) r2 lost at sea, which is all I've had time to do.

It's definitely cooler than a straight fighter hire though. Source of a long lasting blur effect too which might be a minor convenience thing for some characters.


I did definitely get at least a few unprovoked heals from it with my warforged, but not as frequently as a normal cleric might.

Also tested healing on it. It seems resistant to healing spells, but not immune. Not a huge deal since it brings it's own healing, has a lot of hit points, and quite a few spell points as well.

[OrodelaSol]

I also was waiting and hoping for a nice PreOrder set of packages.
Sadly not worth it again. I guess I will preorder the base one at some point.
SSG your overcharging and giving bad value for your preorders... again. Please look at other games and how they entice preorders with real value in their packages. Guild Reknown elixirs? More space eating cosmetics?
You even removed the VIP time this this time from them.

which other games are you referring to?

[Fauxknight]

Also both cosmetic head items show on dragonborn, which surprised me, the gas mask in particular was a very custom, and awesome looking, job. Sadly I did not take pics and am off to sleeps.


I did notice some minor cosmetic issues. My warforged with the high society hat, I don't think he was wearing it as much as chewing on it. My friend swapped his dwarf arti/rogue over to inquisitive and one of his crossbows is mounted in his shoulder.

[Knctrnl]

which other games are you referring to?

Here is a site with a list. https://gamepreorders.com/
Or you know look at expansions for games and or even NEW games and check their preorders on say Steam or gaming sites. Not too hard.

Here this is the last EQ expac from 2018. It has a comparable 3 pack structure. Check out its top tier vs DDO
https://www.everquest.com/news/eq-the-burning-lands-preorders-live-2018

[Drakos]

I did not receive the Boarding Pass - Teleport to Sharn with my Ultimate Bundle. I know that the Shar area is not available so will we get the pass when Sharn is launched? Also, is that for each character or one / account.

Also, the Ultimate Sharn Supplies and Augment Bag, it that one per account or one per server per account?

[Cantor]

I did not receive the Boarding Pass - Teleport to Sharn with my Ultimate Bundle. I know that the Shar area is not available so will we get the pass when Sharn is launched? Also, is that for each character or one / account.

Also, the Ultimate Sharn Supplies and Augment Bag, it that one per account or one per server per account?

I read it as one bag per server but one set of consumables per account, but I only do one server so cant confirm.

[Steelstar]

I did not receive the Boarding Pass - Teleport to Sharn with my Ultimate Bundle. I know that the Shar area is not available so will we get the pass when Sharn is launched?

As it says on the page at ddo.com/sharn (http://ddo.com/sharn) in the footnote attached to the Boarding Pass, "This content will be delivered at launch of Masterminds of Sharn (scheduled April 30th, 2019)"

[cdbd3rd]

... the page at ddo.com/sharn (http://ddo.com/sharn) ....

Just browsing the expac content.

Has anyone posted a screenie of the Warforged Peacock anywhere? I have wandered Google a bit and didn't find anything on it.

edit: Found.

[koriolis]

(...) going to a purchase page that isn't supposed to be active yet, buy a thing through a system not expecting to see payments yet, and then putting the subsequent code into a game client that doesn't yet have all of the associated data in it(...)"


After the fact but maybe reversing the order of those changes - i.e. 1. Game Client Update, 2. Market System Update, 3. Purchase Page deploy, 4. Pre-purchase announcement - would be the sensible thing to do to prevent eager players from jumping the gun and preventing traffic to Customer service ;-)



- Anyone who purchases Sharn when it is available shortly through DDO.com/Sharn can ignore all of the above.


Except the annoying issue (TBH not a problem, just annoying) that pre-purchase market page does not share the data with the main market page, forcing purchasers to create new Market Accounts to pre-purchase.

Still, As eager as I am to start playing in Sharn (and I am) I think will wait a bit for pre-purchase until all the kinks are sorted.

Version 1.0 curse and all that B-)

[Draculetta]

Just browsing the expac content.

Has anyone posted a screenie of the Warforged Peacock anywhere? I have wandered Google a bit and didn't find anything on it.


I plan on making a video and some screen shots this weekend :)

[cdbd3rd]

I plan on making a video and some screen shots this weekend :)

Cool, cool.

In the meantime, I did find a forum posting with several screenies. Thanks and /Props, Blase.

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/504303-BLOoDHOUND-pet (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/504303-BLOoDHOUND-pet?highlight=peacock)

[SerPounce]

Just browsing the expac content.

Has anyone posted a screenie of the Warforged Peacock anywhere? I have wandered Google a bit and didn't find anything on it.

https://i.imgur.com/19AB4Tn.jpg

[Drakos]

As it says on the page at ddo.com/sharn (http://ddo.com/sharn) in the footnote attached to the Boarding Pass, "This content will be delivered at launch of Masterminds of Sharn (scheduled April 30th, 2019)"
Thanks for the response.

The footnotes also indicate that the Augment Bag is per server, but I did not get one one each server, just on the first server I logged into.

[SSG_RedPanda]

Thanks for the response.

The footnotes also indicate that the Augment Bag is per server, but I did not get one one each server, just on the first server I logged into.

The footnote is wrong. Both the bag and supplies are one per account, we will fix that error.

[Dnarth]

The footnote is wrong. Both the bag and supplies are one per account, we will fix that error.

Are the bag and supplies one code?

[SSG_RedPanda]

Are the bag and supplies one code?

yes, one code to rule them all.

[Dnarth]

yes, one code to rule them all.


hmmm.... not ruling them all. Want the bag on my main toon main server and the shards and stuff on my side server solo guild....

[Natashaelle]

bag : one per account

That is very disappointing.

The present tendency to stop one/server is seriously devaluating recent content.

[Niminae]

My anger is that you can pre-order today and get the new Inquisitor universal tree but the Falconry tree is still only available by purchasing a bloated package costing over 1400 DDO points (Unless you do the 750 favor run)!

Shouldn't the Falconry tree be in the DDO store by now before a new tree is available for purchase? :( Here is hoping this patch does that.

Well, Falconry is in the store... In that "bloated package costing over 1400 DDO points" you mentioned. Or you can run every single of the 53 Free Agents quests in the game including the seldom run Titan pre-raid and buggy raid to unlock it on a per-character basis.

But there might be hope. In one of the Wednesday livestreams Cordovan made some vague reference in response to someone asking about the Falconry favor unlock that went kind of like "That won't be a problem for much longer." I am hopeful that Sharn will include some more Free Agent quests which will make this unlock a little less odious. Even 48 favor points to replace those locked up in The Twilight Forge and The Titan Awakes would be enough to open this up quite a bit. We shall see.

[Niminae]

What exactly is a shield guardian?

Another dumb fighter?

From the D20srd (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/shieldGuardian.htm):


Created by spellcasters to be bodyguards, shield guardians are constructs that protect their masters with spells and stamina. When it is fashioned, a shield guardian is keyed to a particular magical amulet. Henceforth, it regards the wearer of that amulet to be its master, protecting and following that individual everywhere (unless specifically commanded not to do so).

It has some potential to be cool, since in P&P it has some interesting abilities:


Shield Other (Sp)

The wearer of a shield guardian’s amulet can activate this defensive ability if within 100 feet of the shield guardian. Just as the spell of the same name, this ability transfers to the shield guardian half the damage that would be dealt to the amulet wearer (this ability does not provide the spell’s AC or save bonuses).
Spell Storing (Sp)

A shield guardian can store one spell of 4th level or lower that is cast into it by another creature. It "casts" this spell when commanded to do so or when a predefined situation arises. Once this spell is used, the shield guardian can store another spell (or the same spell again)

Of course time will tell if the SSG implementation is really a Shield Guardian or just a useless construct hireling like the scarecrows from Ravenloft.

[NemesisAlien]

From the D20srd (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/shieldGuardian.htm):



It has some potential to be cool, since in P&P it has some interesting abilities:



Of course time will tell if the SSG implementation is really a Shield Guardian or just a useless construct hireling like the scarecrows from Ravenloft.

I meant in ddo terms :p

[Niminae]

It is an augment bag with a fancy name. It can store 500 items instead of 300 of the colossal bag (350 now).

Nothing special for that price, really. The colossal is already quite slow when it is opened. It is just an excuse to not fix the filigree stacking in the crafting bank, and because they have already made enough money selling the colossal bags. Do you think that all those sales before giving one with this pack have been coincidence? They have already milked people, after all. Anyway, why are the btc store bags if this bag is bta? I imagine that with this bag all the conspiracy theories about strange bugs and exploits are dismantled. Can we finally have bta bags from the store?

Thanks for the information! The question of what exactly was a Dimensional Augment Bag was bugging me also. And it's not on the wiki yet. It seems obvious from the name, and because Sharn is also obviously going to introduce more filigree, but the vague wording of "Holds 500 unique items" when it would have been trivially easy to say instead "Holds 500 unique augments" made it a question mark.

If the bind status is correct then perhaps they can change the bind status of all the other bags people have already purchased. I believe there was a dev statement that changing bind status was something that could be done fairly easily and would change existing items without making players have to re-aquire an item. And a BTA augment bag would be proof that this isn't an undesirable thing, exploit-wise, which has been the excuse I've heard the last couple of times a SSG employee commented on the subject.

[Niminae]

I feel bad today for some of the devs. There's recently been some genuine enthusiasm from certain devs over this expansion. You can tell there's some pride there, and excitement to share it.

For them to watch the pre-purchase hype largely fall flat on public reception must suck (*).

You might be confusing a pile of negative forum posts with the expansion pre-purchase "falling flat on public reception."

I suspect that the devs will be sat down in a meeting sooner or later and will be told how the pre-order sales are going, and that this will be the sole metric they and their management use to determine if the Sharn pre-purchase offering was successful.

If I were to place a wager, my money would be on it being successful. The history of Ravenloft and the Season Pass sales make that a fairly safe bet.

[Thrudh]

If I were to place a wager, my money would be on it being successful. The history of Ravenloft and the Season Pass sales make that a fairly safe bet.

Oh, it will absolutely be considered successful. They will make a good amount of money.

But they could have made MORE money with some very minor tweaks. But, for some reason, they don't care.

[Niminae]

[Re: Shield Guardian]I meant in ddo terms :p

I ran across this post a bit along in the thread:


Shield Guardian is 15 and 30 and oh oh is it pretty awesome. Haven't looked at the 30 yet but the 15 has some great hit points (like 800 ish) and some interesting abilities:

Shield - Self
Displacement - Self
Blur - Self, Friend
Reconstruction - Self, Friend


Reconstruction is the key here, that's the construct version of a heal spell with a speed buff attached, great for itself and any warforged or artis. Shield spell is nice to make it immune to MMs, and it can blur the party if you want some extrai protection.


I guess the damage transfer was just too hard to code? Radiant Forcefield or Positive Energy Infusion would have at least come close. Maybe the 30th version has different spells.

[Earthbound Misfit]

hmmm.... not ruling them all. Want the bag on my main toon main server and the shards and stuff on my side server solo guild....


If it's the same account, shards are account wide. appreciate this doesn't help with pots but *shrug* what can you do?

[janave]

I ran across this post a bit along in the thread:




I guess the damage transfer was just too hard to code? Radiant Forcefield or Positive Energy Infusion would have at least come close. Maybe the 30th version has different spells.

Every time it gets hit trigger a temp hp aura-nova, copy over from warlock.

[Fedora1]

If it's the same account, shards are account wide. appreciate this doesn't help with pots but *shrug* what can you do?

Shards are per-server. I have differing amounts of shards on my VIP account depending on which server I am logged into.

[Dnarth]

If it's the same account, shards are account wide. appreciate this doesn't help with pots but *shrug* what can you do?


Shards are not account wide. They are bound to server. Not really concerned about that either it's 140 shards. Nor the pots. So they did a typo with the new dimensional aug bag. It's clearly said one per server. Which isn't the case. But what ever. I have changed my original plans without chastising SSG with boring threads about how I was cash grabbed in the ..... oh nvm.

[Seikojin]

That is very disappointing.

The present tendency to stop one/server is seriously devaluating recent content.

It is a BTA bag, so you can swap it around. Or I think it was...

[John3000]

Thank you for correctiong the Sharn Bundle descriptions :


An Extra Dimensional Bag**
Holds 500 unique items

to

A Dimensional Augment Bag**
Holds 500 unique items


From the initial description I thought the bag could hold any item and help solve my BTC item storage problems. SSG should really consider making a real dnd Extra Dimensional Item Bag which can store normal items, weapons, armor, etc.. There are so many BTC items in this game, it's a real challange to TR and manage inventory. Include such a bag on a per character basis in your ultimate fan bundle and you guys would probably sell off thousands of ultimate bundles... which is not to diminish the great work you guys have done as of late. Just a piece of advice probably largely shared amongst your player base.

If not, could you please make solving BTC storage a priority ? And not in little packs of 10's please.... I would definately buy the ultimate bundle for 500 BTC/BTA/.. item bag on all characters
or seperately in the store if priced equivalent to 3 xtra toon spaces.

cheers

[Seikojin]

Thank you for correctiong the Sharn Bundle descriptions :


An Extra Dimensional Bag**
Holds 500 unique items

to

A Dimensional Augment Bag**
Holds 500 unique items


From the initial description I thought the bag could hold any item and help solve my BTC item storage problems. SSG should really consider making a real dnd Extra Dimensional Item Bag which can store normal items, weapons, armor, etc.. There are so many BTC items in this game, it's a real challange to TR and manage inventory. Include such a bag on a per character basis in your ultimate fan bundle and you guys would probably sell off thousands of ultimate bundles... which is not to diminish the great work you guys have done as of late. Just a piece of advice probably largely shared amongst your player base.

If not, could you please make solving BTC storage a priority ? And not in little packs of 10's please.... I would definately buy the ultimate bundle for 500 BTC/BTA/.. item bag on all characters
or seperately in the store if priced equivalent to 3 xtra toon spaces.

cheers

If they can, that'd be awesome. However, I recall discussion on this before resulting in: Each new inventory space type consumes massive resources on the server end. So a BTC bag = lag for everyone.

[dreamzz08]

Those offerings have been disabled, we've identified all of the accounts that redeemed their codes, and we'll get you sorted after the patch. <3


When are they going to take care of people that did pre-order and redeem ahead of time, and are now missing items

[Pnumbra]

Look, all of the postulating on why SSG did X or Y is useless. None of us work there so have idea what their business strategy is or what their marketing team is devising. So lets just ask the basic customer questions:

1) Is the price-point reasonable for the expected value or suspect value in this case, based on past offers?
2) Does the package offer anything new that would justify cost (this is subjective, and up to each player)?

For me, both are answered with a resounding no. RL had true historic D&D value, Sharn no so much. RL moved our emotion because many of us remember playing the pen-paper version thus, the price was acceptable. Sharn, while full of potential, isn't RL and being priced the same was a bold move by SSG. I can't understand the reasoning behind the various packages. The ultimate fan package is just the $80 package with $50 worth of cosmetics. Are cosmetics really that valuable to player base?

Time will tell, but my money is on the $80 Collector's package. It has all the essentials with a few cosmetics. The Ultimate seems to be marketed to the fluff lovers - pet collectors, clothing overlays, and new visually appealing weapon effects. Don't get me wrong, I like some cosmetics but my tipping point is well below $50.

[Niminae]

I ran across this post a bit along in the thread:


Shield Guardian is 15 and 30 and oh oh is it pretty awesome. Haven't looked at the 30 yet but the 15 has some great hit points (like 800 ish) and some interesting abilities:

Shield - Self
Displacement - Self
Blur - Self, Friend
Reconstruction - Self, Friend


Reconstruction is the key here, that's the construct version of a heal spell with a speed buff attached, great for itself and any warforged or artis. Shield spell is nice to make it immune to MMs, and it can blur the party if you want some extrai protection.


I guess the damage transfer was just too hard to code? Radiant Forcefield or Positive Energy Infusion would have at least come close. Maybe the 30th version has different spells.



The 30th version has the same spells, which is disappointing.

On the plus side, the thing is fairly durable. I took it into a EE run of Sealed in Amber and it never died. It didn't take much damage, either, and even healed itself a couple times. Much of the durability might be because the players kept aggro due to vastly higher damage output, but we were split up several times during the run and even while it was just the Shield Guardian and it managed to hang even though I wasn't paying it any attention at all.

[deredriel]

SSG could do a lot worse than making him an executive producer and doing everything he says. There are very few people I agree with almost 100% of the time, and he's at the top of that list.

And as mentioned, he's great in-game too, so nyaaah. :p

</fan club>

agree with you. In game it's a good fellow and great with his rogue.
valdomir

[Fedora1]

On the plus side, the thing is fairly durable. I took it into a EE run of Sealed in Amber and it never died. It didn't take much damage, either, and even healed itself a couple times. Much of the durability might be because the players kept aggro due to vastly higher damage output, but we were split up several times during the run and even while it was just the Shield Guardian and it managed to hang even though I wasn't paying it any attention at all.

I took the L15 shield guardian into EH Reclaiming the Rift to grab some agro in the end fight, as I need to shrine after losing 600 health taking the barrier down (solo). He did fine and never died.

[janave]

If they can, that'd be awesome. However, I recall discussion on this before resulting in: Each new inventory space type consumes massive resources on the server end. So a BTC bag = lag for everyone.

Rent a backend only for new bags and storage space. There are standalone flexible autoscaling cloud DBs for rent. Make it part of the VIP plan for a decent amount of new space, and sell in small chunks the same way old bags for everyone else. It almost doesnt matter where you sent that network request as long as it is fast and set up correctly to return your stuff.

There must be some seriously deep dark sorcery stuff behind all the DDO logix.

//Even a storage you only get to access 2 times a day and download a ~100 items would be insanely helpful, basically a "store for later" storage.

[Niminae]

When are they going to take care of people that did pre-order and redeem ahead of time, and are now missing items

After the patch. It was right there in the post you quoted! :p



Rent a backend only for new bags and storage space.

[...]

There must be some seriously deep dark sorcery stuff behind all the DDO logix.


Dark sorcery? Naw. It's mostly just old and busted.