Pax East Interview with Standing Stone Games (DDO and LOTRO)

[The_Human_Cypher]

Severlin and Cordovan discuss the new DDO racial variant planned for 2019 (probably a type of Drow elf, but not decided yet) and the new character class (sounds like an Alchemist from Sev's description). They also go over the Sharn expansion and upcoming things for LOTRO.

http://www.mmo-central.com/2019/04/05/pax-east-2019-interview-with-standing-stone-games-rob-severlin-ciccolini/

[Kutalp]

Good one. Thanks for sharing.

[The_Human_Cypher]

Any guesses on what the new class might be from Severlin's comments? From the description, it would almost have to be the Alchemist class.

[HastyPudding]

Any guesses on what the new class might be from Severlin's comments? From the description, it would almost have to be the Alchemist class.

Utility/Casting sounds like Gadgeteer, Alchemist, Archivist, Beguiler, Arcane Trickster, or maybe even Factotum:
- Alchemist and Gadgeteer are too close to Artificer. You could make an enhancement tree for Artificers and call it Alchemist or Gadgeteer and save the time of making a new class.
- Archivist is meh. We don't need another skill-based class.
- Beguiler is pointless in DDO. We already have enchantment wizards, fey warlocks, and spellsinger bards.
- We don't need Arcane Trickster. Just use a shadar kai, and do a wizard/rogue build. That's really all it is.
- Factotum...meh. We don't need a class that's utterly average and mediocre for 80% of the time it's in a quest.

That completely destroys my hopes of a hexblade or shaman. Oh well.

[Memnir]

All I know is that I think that my excitement for the new racial variant and class just lessened by a fair bit.

Another Elf... big ol' meh. I've never been a fan of Alchemist in pen and paper D&D. And I loathe the implementation of the Admixtures with Artis - and I imagine there would be a lot of similarities. Hopefully the reality will better that the trepidacious pre-hype the Devs are ascribing to both of them at the moment. I mean, I also dislike PnP Tieflings, and DDO's version of them is better than I expected - beyond a few quibbles.

[Graskitch]

I am really surprised that you made a transcript of the interview - that is pretty awesome. I assume that was really time-consuming and you had to write it out as you were listening and re-listening to the audio??


but... when Severlin says that the new class may be a "utility/casting type class" ... that uses "all sorts of gadgets and magical things like filters and bottles"...

.. is that not supposed to be philters?

as in love/charm potions?

Anyway, I do not know - initially when I think of an alchemist class, I was a bit skeptical - as others have said, it seems like artificer already does that.

but if they really invest in a class which only juggles/throws molotov cocktails, it could be interesting.... with new animations.



.. one day they will make a class that will let us dual wield scrolls as a viable attack option - the librarian!

[The_Human_Cypher]

I am really surprised that you made a transcript of the interview - that is pretty awesome. I assume that was really time-consuming and you had to write it out as you were listening and re-listening to the audio??


but... when Severlin says that the new class may be a "utility/casting type class" ... that uses "all sorts of gadgets and magical things like filters and bottles"...

.. is that not supposed to be philters?

as in love/charm potions?

Anyway, I do not know - initially when I think of an alchemist class, I was a bit skeptical - as others have said, it seems like artificer already does that.

but if they really invest in a class which only juggles/throws molotov cocktails, it could be interesting.... with new animations.



.. one day they will make a class that will let us dual wield scrolls as a viable attack option - the librarian!

I didn't transcribe the Pax East interview. The website is MMO Central, not DDOCentral. :)

[HastyPudding]

I can't seem to find anything other than the 3.5e Alchemist class layout anywhere that isn't some random homebrew build other than from pathfinder. I guess they were replaced with artificer and other technology- and science-based classes. Either way it looks to be a support buffer with alchemical bombs, potions, and a smattering of divine and arcane spells. I really don't see how this is any different from artificer.

[leesun]

artificer -> druid -> warlock -> "Utility/Casting" arcane assumed

may divines and martials get some love too, please?

[HastyPudding]

artificer -> druid -> warlock -> "Utility/Casting" arcane assumed

may divines and martials get some love too, please?

Yes, I was hoping for a shaman (divine caster/melee) or a hexblade (martial/arcane). I really don't see us getting things like knight, marshal, or warlord, since there's really only so many variants of 'fighter' you can have and not have them be mirror copies of each other.

[GramercyRiff]

Drow is a bummer.

I didn't know anything about the Alchemist (it's a Pathfinder class) until now. It seems pretty good. Not opposed to this at all assuming we can take anything Sev said 100% seriously. Clearly there will have to be appreciable differences between Pathfinder's Alchemist and DDO's Alchemist, but the concept works for me.

As far as I know, there is no Dungeons and Dragons class other than Artificer that uses gadgets, bottles etc.

[HastyPudding]

Drow is a bummer.

I didn't know anything about the Alchemist (it's a Pathfinder class) until now. It seems pretty good. Not opposed to this at all assuming we can take anything Sev said 100% seriously. Clearly there will have to be appreciable differences between Pathfinder's Alchemist and DDO's Alchemist, but the concept works for me.

As far as I know, there is no Dungeons and Dragons class other than Artificer that uses gadgets, bottles etc.

That's what I don't understand. Artificer is Eberron's take on an alchemist. I honestly don't see how an alchemist could possibly be any different from a mastermaker artificer.

Unless it's not alchemist and it's some strange nonsense like factotum or archivist or something we don't need.

[Kutalp]

I would like to bring and extraordinary one to the table.;)


A Kalashtar Rogue Scholar/Brawler.


Toughness, wisdom (not by means of ability score) and wits; Flexibility.


High social skills and awareness. Multi focus at lore. Use magic device, traps, knowledge about the surroundings (wilderness/city/history/geography/Botany/Zoology etc). In other words the realm and the inhabitants.


Prefers social skills if fails,for survival and getting the job done, prefers certain tricks to raw brutish force of muscle or magic.


Combination of high defense and survivalibility;flexibility according to the conditions,quests,types of npcs.


About combat ; sustained damage, aoe tricks. May get a single or two burst options that aim weakness of the type of npc (Bane-DR-Alignment bypass abilites added to simple weapons and wand casting ) Instead of Digging the dirt with critical feats and enhancements or instant kill combat abilites/spells as power muscle/caster types live their entire lives for.


and naturally Psionic abilities.



As npcs and monsters I believe more of outsider types Genasi,Githyanki and additonal native ones may be added such as Lizardfolk, Aarakocra,Thri-kreen,Kenku etc...(Some Greyhawk mix?)



What would sell as player races ? I am sure as multiclassable Eberron races Kobold, Goblinoid, Ogre, Minotaur would sell fast.


As ready built iconics; Illithid, Hag and Cursed Lycanthropy trees would sell fast ( Should be ready set/non multiclassable race,class,tree combo with optional choices ?)

[LurkingVeteran]

Pretty sure Arcane Trickster gets sneak attacks on some spells in 3.5. That would be kind of interesting, but the ray spells are pretty meh in DDO and that class was super weak at low levels.

I would like to see them add more interesting combat mechanics to the game rather than just more classes tbh. E.g. give THF some kind of AoE debuff/knockdown, TWF/SWF a 2s 100% dodge move or shadow step, and shield users a timed block move that was actually useful.

Also, a reworked summoning/charming that actually works like expected in D&D 3.5 (i.e. not useless, and not as a 6s DPS move).

[Cordovan]

Getting caught up on things and realized I'd missed this thread. Glad this was able to get transcribed, too!

[Xgemina]

All I know is that I think that my excitement for the new racial variant and class just lessened by a fair bit..

I'm with Memnir. I like elfs, but DDO doesn't need a 5th elf - (it already has Khorvaire, Eberron Drow, Wood and Sun).

As for a 'gadget using' class, again, DDO already has Artificer.

[HastyPudding]

As for a 'gadget using' class, again, DDO already has Artificer.

My only hope is they do a cleric vs fvs or wizard vs sorcerer kind of thing with artificer/alchemist; being the same class but different characteristics (artificer being more combat-oriented and alchemist being more magic oriented).

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

I would like to bring and extraordinary one to the table.;)


A Kalashtar Rogue Scholar/Brawler.


Toughness, wisdom (not by means of ability score) and wits; Flexibility.


High social skills and awareness. Multi focus at lore. Use magic device, traps, knowledge about the surroundings (wilderness/city/history/geography/Botany/Zoology etc). In other words the realm and the inhabitants.


Prefers social skills if fails,for survival and getting the job done, prefers certain tricks to raw brutish force of muscle or magic.

Personally, I'd support that. I want so much more use of social skills !

[GramercyRiff]

w
That's what I don't understand. Artificer is Eberron's take on an alchemist. I honestly don't see how an alchemist could possibly be any different from a mastermaker artificer.

Unless it's not alchemist and it's some strange nonsense like factotum or archivist or something we don't need.

Archivist is an extremely good and flexible class. I really wanted it in DDO, but then remembered the greatest strength of the class is that it can potentially cast EVERY divine spell in the game. That's any divine spell from any list. Since Anyspell is a divine spell, this allows it to cast arcane spells too. On top of this, it has incredible synergy with the Knowledge skills (which are arguably the best skills in the game). But our spell lists here are very limited and some spells flat out don't even work. So Archivist would be bad for DDO despite being one of the best classes in Dungeons and Dragons 3.5. Plus we don't even have Knowledge skills and Archivist heavily uses these skills, moreso than Wizard even.

Frankly it's the same with Artificer. Artificer is an incredibly versatile class in 3.5, but it loses so much of its power the way it was translated to DDO.


As for Alchemist, I don't think Artificer gets Jump. Alchemist does. I'm being sarcastic here in case it's not clear. I mean I love the spell Jump, but I'm not really seeing how these two are that different either. Still, Alchemist could be fun even if it does a lot of what Artificer does.



And I am not opposed to Drow variant existing. I really want it actually. But I'd rather a non-elf variant come out first. Maybe a few non-elf variants come out before Drow.

[The_Human_Cypher]

Getting caught up on things and realized I'd missed this thread. Glad this was able to get transcribed, too!

The upcoming class and racial variant choices don't seem very popular with the community on the forums so far. Is there any chance these selections will be exchanged for something else? :D

[Captain_Wizbang]

I think that another elf variant is bad juju.

Kalashtar would be a logical choice, especially if Psionics have been kicked around in SSG meetings (and rumor control)

A human racial would better serve DDO all around anyways.

[The_Human_Cypher]

I think that another elf variant is bad juju.

Kalashtar would be a logical choice, especially if Psionics have been kicked around in SSG meetings (and rumor control)

A human racial would better serve DDO all around anyways.

I proposed the Dusk Elf, but only because I thought that this racial variant would fit well into a subsequent Ravenloft adventure pack. Other picks for a new racial variant could be Mountain Dwarf, Forest Gnome, or Talenta Halfling (dinosaur riders from Eberron).

https://dungeonsdragons.fandom.com/wiki/Mountain_dwarf

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Forest_gnome

https://eberron.fandom.com/wiki/Halfling

Now might not be the time to introduce another Elf racial variant, as the new variant would immediately follow the Wood Elf.

[noinfo]

Glad they are looking at upgrading Drow as a variant- Every complaint that is made regarding upgrading drow is met with but its a free to play race and should not be as powerful blah blah blah. Well am VIP so all races are pay to play for me anyway so I am glad they will finally not have this excuse and can make drow what they should have been in the first place and hopefully get a decent racial tree and 32pt build.