A Letter from Executive Producer Rob Ciccolini – February 2021

[Severlin]

Happy 15th Anniversary DDO! We are excited to reach this milestone and are ever-thankful to our players for making this possible. Today I'll be talking about some of our plans for the rest of the year and letting you know what we are looking forward to.

In the coming weeks we will be celebrating in House Phiarlan as we bring out an updated Anniversary Event! This year's event features a few minor updates to the challenge itself along with a large number of new items added to the reward list. We're bringing back all of the House-specific Eberron Cloaks in the rewards list that we gave out a few years ago for our anniversary, in case you missed one or missed it, and we're adding a new cosmetic helm and cosmetic pet as well. We're also going to be distributing two special gifts to everyone! One will be something your character will wear as a cosmetic, and the other is something your character will equip.

The release of the new raid, The Dryad and the Demigod, marks the grand finale of the Fables of the Feywild expansion. This raid features the music of our in-house composer Bill Champagne and we think it is a raid unlike any other you may have seen before. The idea of a “musical raid” has been kicking around for a while in the office, and we think players of all types will find something special here. Anyone who has purchased Fables of the Feywild will have access to this new raid.

This spring brings the first Hardcore League season of 2021 to the game! Our 4th Hardcore Season will feature some new and returning guests in the form of the minions of the Nine Daelkyr Lords. You’ve met the Lord of Eyes and the Lord of Stone, but have you met the rest? We're also planning to run a 5th season of the Hardcore League later this year.

This spring will also bring Update 49 that includes four dungeons where you will help Morgrave University hunt down lost relics in a series of adventures that feel somewhat “Indiana Jones-like”. Alongside this adventure pack the bow combat style is being revamped and will get new animations.

This summer will see the release of the first "mini-expansion" in Dungeons & Dragons Online in the form of the Classic Adventure: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh! An evil Alchemist's mansion stands alone on a cliff and mysterious lights and hauntings have kept people away despite rumors of great treasure. What is the secret? Debuting alongside this classic adventure will be our next Universal Enhancement Tree called Horizon Walker, which focuses on marking and neutralizing extra-planar and other enemies with a bow. As we get closer to the release of Saltmarsh, we will have more information about what to expect from a DDO mini-expansion, the lessons that we learned from The Lord of the Rings Online’s first mini-expansion last year, and plans to give more value to VIPs.

The fall will feature a set of new adventures and a raid revolving around the Wild Hunt as well as a significant update to our Epic Destiny system. We are restructuring the core of the system, modernizing some trees and redesigning others, and making Epic Destinies more versatile by allowing players to have multiple Destinies active at the same time.

Other things to look forward to this year include a new Monster Manual volume, a free dungeon to wrap up the year, updates to our various festivals, and more! We want to thank you for continuing to make this game and community thrive, and we look forward to making 2021 a fantastic year for DDO!

Sev

[straytext]

Lots of really long awaited bits here. Can't wait. Well.. I can. I have no choice. But, I'm excited all the same. :)

[cdbd3rd]

A "musical raid"...

So at every dramatic scene, every character stops and breaks into an involuntary emote of singing and dancing. :)



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




*CD hears* "mumble something mumble mumble Monster Manual! something mumble"

[Madja]

Some exciting stuff! I'm very much looking forward to the bow pass, as I've long wanted to play an archer build.

Though I must say that I'm surprised that the grand finale of an expansion comes only 4 months after its release. I've probably been spoiled by WoW. Since Wild Hunt stuff is coming out later this year, does "Grand Finale" mean the final adventure pack that is free for owners of the expansion?

[NemesisAlien]

A "musical raid"...

So at every dramatic scene, every character stops and breaks into an involuntary emote of singing and dancing. :)



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




*CD hears* "mumble something mumble mumble Monster Manual! something mumble"

Bollywood comes to ddo.

https://i.makeagif.com/media/6-28-2018/fbb5QJ.gif

[NemesisAlien]

Some exciting stuff! I'm very much looking forward to the bow pass, as I've long wanted to play an archer build.

Though I must say that I'm surprised that the grand finale of an expansion comes only 4 months after its release. I've probably been spoiled by WoW. Since Wild Hunt stuff is coming out later this year, does "Grand Finale" mean the final adventure pack that is free for owners of the expansion?

Hopefully I can finally do monkcher built.

[SlyGO12]

Another lowbie level quest chain and one I enjoyed back in the PnP days!

I love the diversity we are introducing to the low levels it will inspire new players to keep at the game and now they basically have 4 options to choose from - Korthos, Harbor, KBL and now Salt Marsh!

[axel15810]

Thanks for the update, getting info like this is always appreciated.

[JoeCamb02140]

This summer will see the release of the first "mini-expansion" in Dungeons & Dragons Online in the form of the Classic Adventure: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh!
Sev

Ah nostalgia! I owned this one back in the day, and loved it. Thanks.

[Aelonwy]

The Nine Daelkyr Lords? Oh I hope that means someday we might see a Xoriat expansion. Xoriat content kicks my bum but its always fun and mind-bending.

Will the mini-expansion include more than just Salt Marsh what about the module after it with the Lizardfolk? Dunwater?

A set of adventures centered around the Wildhunt?! Awesome! And a wildhunt raid, interesting. I'm glad we're getting more feywild content. Will its items be included in the feywild season sets?

Looking forward to the revamp of Epic Destinies.

NEW Monster Manuals! Yes. I love these.

[Valerianus]

mini-expansion?

sorry my blood is boiling can't help it i even forgot about the good things i wanted to....


just for using that words you learned nothing seriously


you got so much rage with lotro mini-expansion (war of the three peaks) that you just in the past days you had to reassure, much needed, that the next pack WON'T be a mini-expansion

for those who don't know about it, it means an adventure pack, priced almost as an expansion, 20\60\100 dollars, not free to vip cause labeled mini-expansion. released october 2020 and available for lotro points only since a few days ago, exactly like a real expansion, available at lauch only for cash.



you got so much rage about it and you even got reactions like

***** SSG BIGGEST MMO BLUNDER 2020 (staff pick) \\ STANDING STONE’S LOTRO FIASCO ********

https://massivelyop.com/2020/12/14/massively-ops-2020-awards-biggest-blunder/



please edit that out and don't even think about creating a rage surge like that here in DDO really please please please

[CaptainSpacePony]

Ah nostalgia! I owned this one back in the day, and loved it. Thanks.

I only played U1, but was a big fan.

[Stoner81]

Lots of good stuff in here it would seem to me :cool:

Stoner81.

[Annex]

Happy Anniversary! Thank you to everyone at Standing Stone Games for all your creativity and hard word. May the fruits of your efforts bring you happiness and prosperity. I look forward to exploring all these upcoming adventures. :)

[ShifterThePirate]

Yay cosmetic overload! :rolleyes:

No word on how the state of the game will be improved? Like the lag or the storage/inventory space problems (making a new character is insta full inventory)?

[Dalnarac]

Not sure if I missed something or just misunderstood. Wasn't a level cap increase on the charts for this year? Delayed from last expansion? Not happening anymore?

[The_Human_Cypher]

Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh!! I've suggested the U-series modules as the next classic adventure pack many times. Thanks!

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/9koAAOSwYkdfUqpg/s-l1600.jpg

[TharJr]

so the only raid for 2021 was the one from the 2020 expansion???

[The_Human_Cypher]

so the only raid for 2021 was the one from the 2020 expansion???

No, there will be a raid later in 2021 about the "Wild Hunt."

[Elfishski]

This summer will see the release of the first "mini-expansion" in Dungeons & Dragons Online [...] the lessons that we learned from The Lord of the Rings Online’s first mini-expansion last year, and plans to give more value to VIPs.

This is deeply disappointing. More "value" to VIPs or otherwise, it appears the lesson that was learned from LOTRO is that SSG could get away with charging essentially a full expansion price in cash for essentially a regular quest pack [+a cosmetic or two], instead of just releasing that regular quest pack as part of the understood arrangement with players.

Repackaging quest packs as "mini-expansions" comes across as insulting and either desperate or greedy, and I'm shocked that the response over in LOTRO didn't tell you that already. Bugs and lag notwithstanding, I very much enjoy my time in DDO and I do appreciate the dedication and quality that has gone into the game in recent years in many respects, and I can be parted with money in many ways that would leave me feeling satisfied instead of taken advantage of, including but not limited to:
- proper expansions with large swathes of new content and a cohesive story to tie that content together, in addition to regular updates
- a cosmetics closet (then sell all the cosmetics you can make) - how is THIS not in the plan yet (or any other storage improvements)?!
- a new season's pass

[rabidfox]

This spring will also bring...the bow combat style is being revamped and will get new animations.

This summer will see next Universal Enhancement Tree called Horizon Walker, which focuses on marking and neutralizing extra-planar and other enemies with a bow
It's nice to see that the bow revamp will come out first so it'll let us see how it works with existing classes without it being instantly mixed up with Horizon Walker metas from the get go. That'll be good.

[mojoflea]

Happy 15th Anniversary DDO! We are excited to reach this milestone and are ever-thankful to our players for making this possible. Today I'll be talking about some of our plans for the rest of the year and letting you know what we are looking forward to.

Sev

But what about the server Lag?
MEH!

[Widmore]

Out of everything, my biggest take away from this letter....

SALTMARSH!!

Yeah, kinda looking forward to another classic module. Keep 'em coming!

[Indubitably]

mini-expansion?
sorry my blood is boiling can't help it i even forgot about the good things i wanted to....
just for using that words you learned nothing seriously
you got so much rage with lotro mini-expansion (war of the three peaks) that you just in the past days you had to reassure, much needed, that the next pack WON'T be a mini-expansion
for those who don't know about it, it means an adventure pack, priced almost as an expansion, 20\60\100 dollars, not free to vip cause labeled mini-expansion. released october 2020 and available for lotro points only since a few days ago, exactly like a real expansion, available at lauch only for cash.

you got so much rage about it and you even got reactions like

***** SSG BIGGEST MMO BLUNDER 2020 (staff pick) \\ STANDING STONE’S LOTRO FIASCO ********
https://massivelyop.com/2020/12/14/massively-ops-2020-awards-biggest-blunder/

please edit that out and don't even think about creating a rage surge like that here in DDO really please please please

I know your feeling. I've never questioned myself stopping DDO, or not buying every single piece of content (I'm usually VIP, but not always, so have all content bought also).
But this... For the past few years I've felt their grip get tighter and tighter, more and more ways to milk their whales. Every year there were rage posts and quit posts... I mostly ignored these, I was content.

But it's been a few too many blows recently and this has had me serious question how much farther am I willing to go? And when will enough serious players leave that the whales no longer want to spend tons of money on an old game.
VIP has felt more and more pointless. XP (and the more expensive versions) have felt less and less impactful. Now a mini-XP thats just a module.... I might not even get it... do I need it?
There are way better, newer games, that are so much more cheaper to keep up with. That don't involve monthly fees + frequent expensive XP + mini XP + etc etc. I feel like I'm being played here.


Nothing else in this letter feels like new news. And I am OK with that. I appreciate the openess SSG has been showing lately. And I'll be honest. I like the changes they have been making and the plans they have coming up. Bow changes and tree, monk changes, revamping and fixing up the EDs (hopefully help out artificers, warlocks, druids, Pale master / Death clerics, etc...). I really really wish they would finish their enhancement tree pass and actually make Archmage usable... but they must have reasons for that.

Love the direction (gamewise) the game has been going. Great content and changes. Lots in the pipeline....
But marketing... what the hell? Don't ruin the game because you got too greedy. And do something with archmages.

P.S. I've always bought the biggest XPs (because I'm an idiot). But cosmetics is quickly running out as a valid reason for it.... were getting SERIOUS banking issues now to keep this stuff. Especially with all these new BtC artifacts. Make banking and storage a priority please... you know thats what everyone wants.

TL;DR
Direction of Game = Great.
Marketing and idea of Mini-XP = much rage quitting.
Archmage and Bank/Storage - Please do something! it's getting ridiculous.

[Arkat]

Saltmarsh...because the DDO community was united in clamoring for more underwater adventures. :rolleyes:

[Gralhota]

Disappointed.

[Livmo]

For all the win in the letter!

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.drivethrurpg.com%2Fimages%2F4 4%2F17069.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

[Gralhota]

Saltmarsh...because the DDO community was united in clamoring for it. :rolleyes:



Anyway, "mini-expansion"? Will we have to pay a separate "mini-price" for it?
Do you still have any questions?

[ssternlight]

But what about the server Lag?
MEH!

Seconded!

If I can't play...

Having said that, more content is always welcome, a re-envisioned Epic Destinies might make for some interesting game play options, and a bow rebalancing will likely make for a couple of interesting lives. Hopefully, there will be some new challenges in hard core 3 & 4 other than a slightly different character theme.

[Loromir]

mini-expansion?

sorry my blood is boiling can't help it i even forgot about the good things i wanted to....


just for using that words you learned nothing seriously


you got so much rage with lotro mini-expansion (war of the three peaks) that you just in the past days you had to reassure, much needed, that the next pack WON'T be a mini-expansion

for those who don't know about it, it means an adventure pack, priced almost as an expansion, 20\60\100 dollars, not free to vip cause labeled mini-expansion. released october 2020 and available for lotro points only since a few days ago, exactly like a real expansion, available at lauch only for cash.



you got so much rage about it and you even got reactions like

***** SSG BIGGEST MMO BLUNDER 2020 (staff pick) \\ STANDING STONE’S LOTRO FIASCO ********

https://massivelyop.com/2020/12/14/massively-ops-2020-awards-biggest-blunder/



please edit that out and don't even think about creating a rage surge like that here in DDO really please please please


I'm guessing SSG is cash strapped...and needing an influx. Why else would they charge us for a regular update?

[blarhblarhblarh]

This summer will see the release of the first "mini-expansion" in Dungeons & Dragons Online in the form of the Classic Adventure: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh! An evil Alchemist's mansion stands alone on a cliff and mysterious lights and hauntings have kept people away despite rumors of great treasure. What is the secret? Debuting alongside this classic adventure will be our next Universal Enhancement Tree called Horizon Walker, which focuses on marking and neutralizing extra-planar and other enemies with a bow. As we get closer to the release of Saltmarsh, we will have more information about what to expect from a DDO mini-expansion, the lessons that we learned from The Lord of the Rings Online’s first mini-expansion last year, and plans to give more value to VIPs.

Sev

How will I trust DDO if the last expansion still unfinished and have tons of issues? do you guys really think that the playerbase want more things in DDO while simple things such as chat, load screen, inventory space and lag made even the "playable" part of th endgame unplayable? why I will pay for a mini-expansion (Or "paid pack" that would be the correct name) if you guys DESTROYED items from the Ravenloft expansion AT WILL just for the bury the old (and paid) expansion?

Just listen to the players that are still here and are dropping like flies day after day. Fix the game and money will follow. The business model of "sell expansion with op system, nerf it before launch new expansion" only works for children and teenagers. Playerbase in ddo are made of adults so show us some respect and money will flow. People need trust to spend.


Loved ddo decisions in last year but since feywild came out every time I ear something from the developers looks like they don´t want the players to play ddo because when something is working they simple brake it. Fix the game please. Give us inventory space if you are releasing more itens. MMO without chat is not mmo. 3 load screens of death a day is too much but became the rule. And lag issues.

But more value to vips? great. Will be now or will wait until there are no more ddo players?

[ssternlight]

I'm guessing SSG is cash strapped...and needing an influx. Why else would they charge us for a regular update?

You have to pay for the cost of the acquisition somehow. :)

Having said that, it doesn't seem from the letter (to me at least) that the purchase has resulted in additional programming resources being allocated to DDO.

[vassilator]

I know your feeling. I've never questioned myself stopping DDO, or not buying every single piece of content (I'm usually VIP, but not always, so have all content bought also).
But this... For the past few years I've felt their grip get tighter and tighter, more and more ways to milk their whales. Every year there were rage posts and quit posts... I mostly ignored these, I was content.

But it's been a few too many blows recently and this has had me serious question how much farther am I willing to go? And when will enough serious players leave that the whales no longer want to spend tons of money on an old game.
VIP has felt more and more pointless. XP (and the more expensive versions) have felt less and less impactful. Now a mini-XP thats just a module.... I might not even get it... do I need it?
There are way better, newer games, that are so much more cheaper to keep up with. That don't involve monthly fees + frequent expensive XP + mini XP + etc etc. I feel like I'm being played here.


Nothing else in this letter feels like new news. And I am OK with that. I appreciate the openess SSG has been showing lately. And I'll be honest. I like the changes they have been making and the plans they have coming up. Bow changes and tree, monk changes, revamping and fixing up the EDs (hopefully help out artificers, warlocks, druids, Pale master / Death clerics, etc...). I really really wish they would finish their enhancement tree pass and actually make Archmage usable... but they must have reasons for that.

Love the direction (gamewise) the game has been going. Great content and changes. Lots in the pipeline....
But marketing... what the hell? Don't ruin the game because you got too greedy. And do something with archmages.

P.S. I've always bought the biggest XPs (because I'm an idiot). But cosmetics is quickly running out as a valid reason for it.... were getting SERIOUS banking issues now to keep this stuff. Especially with all these new BtC artifacts. Make banking and storage a priority please... you know thats what everyone wants.

TL;DR
Direction of Game = Great.
Marketing and idea of Mini-XP = much rage quitting.
Archmage and Bank/Storage - Please do something! it's getting ridiculous.

I am right there with you. this is the only game i play .
i spend money on it as a vip and i buy everything.
the lag has affected my enjoyment.
their lack of customer support is killing it.
all the heroic quests need a revamp in terms of items , i have been screaming for this for a long time.
most items in heroic are useless.
the anniversary raid items they are offering only benefit the epics.
you only get 1 item per account?????
get stuffed with the cosmetics and useless fluff that take up much needed space already.
nerfing items like no worries is still a thorn as i spent so many hours farming that thing and when they nerfed it i deleted all of them i had
i have 48 character slots so i need good items and the stuff they create these days is too similar.
i might as well craft stuff.
the last expansion was a waste of time.
to say i am extremely dissapointed is an understatement.
When diablo2 remastered comes out that will be the end of my ddo days.
they might finally get it when their whales leave.

[rabidfox]

Not sure if I missed something or just misunderstood. Wasn't a level cap increase on the charts for this year? Delayed from last expansion? Not happening anymore?
Well, they delayed it because they said they wanted to do it right and not rush it; so at least them not listing on the letter means they're still not rushing it out just for sake of having a new cap.

[Gniewomir]

Nothing about raising lvl cap? Thank God!

[JoeCamb02140]

T
- a cosmetics closet (then sell all the cosmetics you can make) - how is THIS not in the plan yet (or any other storage improvements)?!


+2 How come there isn't a cosmetics closet already? I mean, how do you think the folks at ArenaNet make their money? It's not called Fashion Wars instead of Guild Wars for nothing... This is an easy revenue stream to make that does not require charging the VIPs for new content. It does require artists to make said cosmetics.

[mikarddo]

This summer will see the release of the first "mini-expansion" in Dungeons & Dragons Online in the form of the Classic Adventure: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh! An evil Alchemist's mansion stands alone on a cliff and mysterious lights and hauntings have kept people away despite rumors of great treasure. What is the secret? Debuting alongside this classic adventure will be our next Universal Enhancement Tree called Horizon Walker, which focuses on marking and neutralizing extra-planar and other enemies with a bow. As we get closer to the release of Saltmarsh, we will have more information about what to expect from a DDO mini-expansion, the lessons that we learned from The Lord of the Rings Online’s first mini-expansion last year, and plans to give more value to VIPs.
Sev

This does not sound at all like fair play. Either something is a full expansion which you get to charge for - or it is not and is therefore free to VIPs.

Trying to cheat us by calling a regular pack a "mini-expansion" in order to charge for it is not at all reasonable.

Until this is sorted out the rest of the letter is irrelevant.

[Aelonwy]

+2 How come there isn't a cosmetics closet already? I mean, how do you think the folks at ArenaNet make their money? It's not called Fashion Wars instead of Guild Wars for nothing... This is an easy revenue stream to make that does not require charging the VIPs for new content. It does require artists to make said cosmetics.

Or recolor existing ones.

I mean take the High Society outfit for example from Sharn... I heard, I don't even know how many people, say they would have preferred it in dark red/burgundy. Myself I would have liked blue-violet but I was happy enough with blue. No one I know liked the Inquisitive Cosmetic because gray is boring. Barovian Aristocrat could have been some very dark somber colors without actually being dark gray, brown, and black - they could have used indigo, dark forest green, dark cherry, or eggplant and it would have been more visually appealing. Now look at Feywild Mosaic, why gray? Would it not have looked more whimsical, exciting, and cheerful on white? We certainly have a greater lack of on-white armors/cosmetics than on gray and black. Either one of the artists at SSG is depressed or someone has an OCD for gray/black.

[Iriale]

mini-expansion? LOL. I am glad I wil not renew my subscription. Honestly, this already reaches levels of theft.

Your disdain for the alts, SSG, is resounding. You take it for granted even in these kinds of letters that we only play a toon. "One will be something your character will wear as a cosmetic, and the other is something your character will equip." yeah, why suppose we play multiple toons, when you've done everything and more to kill our alts?

I miss Turbine. A lot. At least, before I was not from disgust to disgust, before I enjoyed the game...

[Gniewomir]

I miss Turbine. A lot. At least, before I was not from disgust to disgust, before I enjoyed the game...

You know those are the same guys, right? And right now, without WB supervision probably they have more freedom to make their own choices than when they were turbine.

[Iriale]

You know those are the same guys, right? And right now, without WB supervision probably they have more freedom to make their own choices than when they were turbine.
In Turbine's time they weren't so abusive, so presumably they had some supervision that prevented them from doing these abuses.

In any case, I am out. I have been a loyal customer for over 11 years. I can't take any more abuse. Let someone else pay the bills, I won't spend a penny on this game again.

[NabeGewell]

This is deeply disappointing. More "value" to VIPs or otherwise, it appears the lesson that was learned from LOTRO is that SSG could get away with charging essentially a full expansion price in cash for essentially a regular quest pack [+a cosmetic or two], instead of just releasing that regular quest pack as part of the understood arrangement with players.

Repackaging quest packs as "mini-expansions" comes across as insulting and either desperate or greedy, and I'm shocked that the response over in LOTRO didn't tell you that already. Bugs and lag notwithstanding, I very much enjoy my time in DDO and I do appreciate the dedication and quality that has gone into the game in recent years in many respects, and I can be parted with money in many ways that would leave me feeling satisfied instead of taken advantage of, including but not limited to:
- proper expansions with large swathes of new content and a cohesive story to tie that content together, in addition to regular updates
- a cosmetics closet (then sell all the cosmetics you can make) - how is THIS not in the plan yet (or any other storage improvements)?!
- a new season's pass

You don't learn, do ya? This is why they keep doing what they been doing for years.

[SirValentine]

Wasn't a level cap increase on the charts for this year? Delayed from last expansion? Not happening anymore?

The fact that it was not mentioned was the best part of this letter!

New adventures and new Monster Manual sounds great. Looking forward to seeing them.

I'm playing wait-and-see on the bow and Destiny reworks. The devil's in the details.

I have to agree with others, "mini-expansion" does sound kind of like "money grab".

Hardcore is OK as a rare thing, but even 2 per year seems about 1 per year too much. Not everyone is interested, and you further split the player base.

[BurnerD]

No storage or inventory improvements?!? Even something minor would be welcome...

It is always good to see new content but I have to admit game performance and lack of inventory improvements are more likely to make me stop playing the lack of content.

Thanks for the update... only moderately disappointed.....

[Indubitably]

This does not sound at all like fair play. Either something is a full expansion which you get to charge for - or it is not and is therefore free to VIPs.
Trying to cheat us by calling a regular pack a "mini-expansion" in order to charge for it is not at all reasonable.
Until this is sorted out the rest of the letter is irrelevant.

Exactly... VIPs are clearly your most dedicated players, and the way they have made decisions that impact VIPs... not good.
First they question keeping their VIP status up, next they start questioning needing every module. Once your doing that... once your not wholly committed to a game. The haze starts to fade, you see more clearly, and you realise there were way more sensible options all along... you had just dug yourself so deep you felt too invested to leave.
But when staying around becomes a ridiculous investment....you climb out.



When diablo2 remastered comes out that will be the end of my ddo days.
they might finally get it when their whales leave.


And this here is the source of my concern personally. There ARE other options.
When whales start to leave, they are the ones truly supporting this game.


My concern is not for me. If I want to leave, I will leave.
I buy all the content anyways... so clearly a mini-XP doesn't effect me as much as it does some others. Other than I think it's ridiculous your going to charge X% more for the same thing and cut VIPs out of the only deal they get.
But if people start to leave, especially your VIPs and Whales... then it's a problem.

The recent news of Diablo 2 resurrection has got me super excited.
So much so I started looking into and trying "Project Diablo 2" which turns out... is fantastic and super well updated, faithful yet a little new... and free.

To then read about how I will have to pay 20-100 bucks for a simple adventure module. On top of my monthly fee, with a full XP looming next year I'm sure...
For a game that is having MASSIVE lag issues, chat issues, bank and storage issues (so I cant hold the stuff they want to sell me), etc...

It's time I let the Diablo 2 modding community and upcoming remake carry me away.

[dragons1ayer74]

Thanks for the update Severlin; I don't understand why these couldn't be quarterly.

I am moving my account from regular annual VIP to freetoplay and will likely be taking a break from this game. Too much disappointment, too little to look forward too.

Latest Disappointments:
-Continual Ballance (nerf) Cycles
-No actual decent enhancement passes
-Feywild was IMO among the worst expansions we have gotten (could be its own thread on how bad it is)
-No new grind cycle (if we can only play one character give us something to do)
-Lag
-Focus on Hard Core (I have played every season but unless their are major changes to keep it something fresh will not likely be really going back)


Long Standing Disappointment
-Insane grind cycle as it relates to alts and newer players
-No more Season Pass and no regular option for it (and I was unable to participate in the last one before they all were snatched up)
-Epics gear as a whole
-Storage as a whole


There are a few nuggets from your letter that look good but also much that doesn't with so little new content coming out and going to a new mini-expansion idea it is just more disappointment.

[rfachini]

We definitely need to hear something about the persistent lag situation,
and also about the level cap. (I was really looking forward to it.)

[salmag]

mini-expansion? LOL. I am glad I wil not renew my subscription. Honestly, this already reaches levels of theft.

Your disdain for the alts, SSG, is resounding. You take it for granted even in these kinds of letters that we only play a toon. "One will be something your character will wear as a cosmetic, and the other is something your character will equip." yeah, why suppose we play multiple toons, when you've done everything and more to kill our alts?

I miss Turbine. A lot. At least, before I was not from disgust to disgust, before I enjoyed the game...

+1

I especially love the way he states "your character" repeatedly; NOT "characterS." At least make that ONE item BTA. Those that run alts have ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to like this anniversary event. NONE, NADA.

Cosmetics mean more items to delete since you aren't addressing the storage concerns.

As for Saltmarsh, meh... I would have preferred Talenta Plains, or Sigil, or Myth Drannor.

As for Horizon Walker, my feelings on that have been well documented...

This is very sad.
This next year

[Epzilon123]

If there's anything else I think this game could really use, its a rework to Hireling AI.

Hirelings (especially higher level ones), seem to freeze up and either have to constantly be reset (via switching them from defensive to active multiple times) or manually controlled to be reliable at all for healing. In addition, they're really low stat-wise unless your really high in your past lives. Even then they still probably snap like twigs. Also, basically every other hireling except rogues are useless (even then, most players probably just skip over traps, but I'm not that good at this game yet and like the XP bonus. I'm only really at my 4th life and I play pretty sporadically).

I understand that they weren't designed to 100% replace players, but they're way less effective than half a player at this point given how much stronger players have gotten since Ravenloft and Sharn.

Also, there's no clerics between 21-25 in terms of level, just a bunch of favored souls that can't be commanded to cast Heal.

If they fixed this one issue I'd probably have twice as much fun with the game. Manually controlling my hireling to do stuff while I have to play my character is just an additional annoying level of micromanagement. They don't need to be optimal, just functional.

[Dandonk]

Mini-expansion? Really? The LOTRO fiasco wasn't bad enough, so you had to do it twice?

I like expansions, possibly more than I should, but calling a normal quest pack a miniexpansion is a cheap (well, not so cheap, in the LOTRO version, anyway) moneygrab.

[donblas]

One will be something your character ... will equip.



Sev

"Character"??? I have 49! :D They will have to fight over it!

I don't do raids but nice for people who do.

Hardcore is problematic - getting a toon to level 20 on hardcore seems a bit pointless when I don't have any character slots left to transfer anyone to my main server.

New quests are nice.

I play a lot of archers (elves of various classes). I am concerned that elves have to pay an AP premium to access Arcane archer (if not a ranger), but there might not be any such cost for the new archery tree. If the new tree is better than AA (or even comparable with) and every class can access it, won't that make AA, and the elf advantage of be able to access it no matter their class, obsolete?

Sad there's no mention of the level cap increase.

[Hawkwier]

I thought that's what Feywild was? :)

Seriously though, anyone know what it's supposed to be? Maybe LOTRO players can shed some light?

At least they appear to have shelved raising the cap for now, so that's good.

[Torkzed]

I was glad to see no mention of a level cap increase. My guild will almost certainly lose many longtime players if the cap is raised again.

(I don't know if I am one of them...I probably would wait and see. But I am pretty confident that several guild mates will stop playing and that would tend to make me more likely to leave as well.)

[Hawkwier]

Mini-expansion? Really? The LOTRO fiasco wasn't bad enough, so you had to do it twice?

I like expansions, possibly more than I should, but calling a normal quest pack a miniexpansion is a cheap (well, not so cheap, in the LOTRO version, anyway) moneygrab.

Doesn't sound encouraging, but I've learned thing are often worse on the forum than in practice. Can you shed a bit more light and maybe try to put this in a ddo context? What can we expect from this?

[Montegue]

*screams Archmage revamp into the void.

[Whaldorf]

I thought that's what Feywild was? :)

Seriously though, anyone know what it's supposed to be? Maybe LOTRO players can shed some light?

At least they appear to have shelved raising the cap for now, so that's good.



My guess... mini expansion behind a paywall even for VIP with some choice items like +275 sp at cap and a trinket with +50% attribute modifier for THF?

[socky-mcsockerton]

I was glad to see no mention of a level cap increase. My guild will almost certainly lose many longtime players if the cap is raised again.

(I don't know if I am one of them...I probably would wait and see. But I am pretty confident that several guild mates will stop playing and that would tend to make me more likely to leave as well.)

They didn't mention it in the letter, but the level cap increase was supposed to go hand in hand with the Epic Destinies update, so time will tell.

[Memnir]

Did I miss the bit about significant lag improvements? I hope I did.

[Dandonk]

Did I miss the bit about significant lag improvements? I hope I did.

Lag will improve greatly, do not worry. I'm sure we'll see an increase during the year of 50%, at the least.

[Assassination]

Lag will improve greatly, do not worry. I'm sure we'll see an increase during the year of 50%, at the least.

Yes, they are getting better and better at this.

C'mon SSG, get it together. Clean up the lag, clean up all the broken stuff. Then come out with some decent content.

Feywild is a mess, please make everything work. Having us pay for an "expansion" then releasing the raid 6 months later is an embarrassment.

[Hawkwier]

I'm going to indulge some completely uneducated guesswork here as hypothesis...

The model til now has generally been that VIP get some advantages over Premium including "free" access to content other than expansions, which generally have been major content releases.

The letter mentions adding value to VIP in addition to mini expansions.

A reasonable conjecture may be that this represents a move to make VIP pay to a much greater extent for the hitherto "free" content they have enjoyed in return for their VIP payments, compensated by some other material incentive.

If so, the compensation would need to be substantial. I can't see VIP being happy. I can't see Premium being happy either.

Didn't the recent due diligence papers show that ddo players already pay a larger contribution than other games into SSGs purse?

In that context, as a consumer, the prospect of this new model doesn't exactly thrill!

[Jerevth]

The Nine Daelkyr Lords? Oh I hope that means someday we might see a Xoriat expansion.


Lord of Stone, Lord of Eyes, Lord of Ears, Lord of Noses, Lady of Lag, Lord of Tastes (Flavor Madness), Lady of Feels, Noble of Fluidity and the Lady of Ceaseless Complaint.


I'm going to indulge some completely uneducated guesswork here as hypothesis...
The model til now has generally been that VIP get some advantages over Premium including "free" access to content other than expansions, which generally have been major content releases.
The letter mentions adding value to VIP in addition to mini expansions.
A reasonable conjecture may be that this represents a move to make VIP pay to a much greater extent for the hitherto "free" content they have enjoyed in return for their VIP payments, compensated by some other material incentive.
If so, the compensation would need to be substantial. I can't see VIP being happy. I can't see Premium being happy either.
Didn't the recent due diligence papers show that ddo players already pay a larger contribution than other games into SSGs purse?

Or they are looking to gain back all the VIPs who dropped their subs with value added to a product that lost its luster, at the same price?
Not that that reflects the current trend but playing Devil's Advocate.

[Hawkwier]

Lord of Stone, Lord of Eyes, Lord of Ears, Lord of Noses, Lady of Lag, Lord of Tastes (Flavor Madness), Lady of Feels, Noble of Fluidity and the Lady of Ceaseless Complaint.

That made me chuckle! :)

[Valerianus]

I thought that's what Feywild was? :)

Seriously though, anyone know what it's supposed to be? Maybe LOTRO players can shed some light?

At least they appear to have shelved raising the cap for now, so that's good.


i thought that feywild was a mini expansion....

(disclaimer, i play lotro, i lurk the lotro forum, i'm in touch with players there i'm in a kinship (lotro word for guild) with both newbs like me and vets, i personally have not played that far, my first playthrough, that's endgame, and i don't own w3p)


that phrase you wrote, they have actually a lot in common, war of the three peaks and feywild.

hasty release and heavily bugged, customers angry cause the bundles had no value. cash grab accusations particularly in lotro because obvious reasons, expansion, and this mini expansion, are NOT free to vips. w3p was released october 2020 (feywild shortly after in november) and was made available in the lotro store 6 days ago for 1995 lotro points.

why cash grab? let's look the lotro market

https://store-new.standingstonegames.com/lotro/expansions

standard bundle for 20 dollars. the bonuses of the 60 and 100 bundle, a real lot of cosmetics and not much more, nothing special.

vips felt "taxed", even getting the basic for content only, it's 20 dollar. now 1995 points. agree, it's not that much, but...you know, something new at endgame, new stuff, new gear, 20 dollars now or wait for months. a slap in the face, since it's not a real expansion, it's a pack in disguise


disclaimer 2, i got feywild ultimate. i don't know why. i'm an idiot, i regretted it...good marketing....

[beuwolf78]

You have to pay for the cost of the acquisition somehow. :)

Having said that, it doesn't seem from the letter (to me at least) that the purchase has resulted in additional programming resources being allocated to DDO.

They keep losing paying players (like me) every time they release nerfs so it makes sense they need new revenue streams.
Bottom line: in order to keep operating this game, they need a certain amount of money. Every year, this money keeps going down since the paying player base is diminishing.

To offset that, they need to make sure to have something that everyone will want to pay for every year (like an adventure pack). There is no way around it.
If you want to keep DDO alive then you kinda have to buy it or this game won't be celebrating the 20th anniversary :)

PS. Like I said, I am out of this equation as of the enhancement nerf in 48.4 so the gauntlet is yours.

[Aelonwy]

I thought that's what Feywild was? :)

Seriously though, anyone know what it's supposed to be? Maybe LOTRO players can shed some light?

At least they appear to have shelved raising the cap for now, so that's good.

Probably similar to Gianthold, I imagine.

Regular adventure pack is 4-5 quests usually. Expansion pack should be at least 12 IMHO, and more is always welcome.
Regular adventure pack typically has a wilderness zone the size of Red Fens/KotB, Expansion wilderness should be more the size of RL, Sharn, Stormhorns.
Regular adventure packs just have quest chain givers which don't even give anything worthwhile anymore. Expansions have sagas.
Regular adventure packs don't usually come with any new class, race, or trees, but expansions usually do.
Regular adventure packs don't come with any cosmetic or gameplay goodies, expansions always do.
Regular adventure packs don't usually have raids but expansions (Shadowfell) don't always either so... *shrug*

So my expectations for a mini-expack would be 6-8 quests, larger than average wilderness zone, full public zone, mini-saga, possible packaged tree/race/or class, a single cosmetic set, pet or mount, possibly a raid or challenge.

But if they think they can charge as much for it as they did for Sharn/RL/Feywild... I'm thinking I will opt out.

[Falkyron]

I suppose if they make the mini-expansion half the size of a regular expansion, make it available on the DDO store soon after release, and make it cheap (justifying using earned points from playing)? Then it won't be so bad.

Things that are big issues:

Archmage. Come on guys, just give it a good t5 at least. It doesn't have to be amazing.
Lag. Particularly, the lag just to log out. It's insane that that lag bug has been in the game for literally years.
Trapfinding. Let us get it with feats or something. Having to always have one level in rogue or artificer just to do it is obnoxious.



Things I think people are overstating:

Items being obsolete; they just recently revamped generated loot again. They're working on it. Give them some credit.
A free legendary raid item being bound do character; Not something I mind. I want to juggle less, honestly, which segues to...



The worst issue in my book is storage.
By the gods it's horrible. It's so bad. I have 6 bank alts and every shared bank slot, but it's a nightmare for me to do anything. An alt just to hold good weapons that can't even hold all the weapons. I'm no hoarding anything, but it adds up. One of each Ravenloft item alone is so much of your space. Then one of each Sharn item, etc etc. If we didn't have crafting storage I'd just give up playing.

Have you seen how insane it is to try and reincarnate these days and empty your cache? What should be an exciting and fun experience is ruined by the extremely strange dread of "Oh no... I found three items that are excellent in that life. Now I need to make space to store it to clear my cache." For some people I know, clearing the cache and reincarnating is a game session by itself. Hours of work, made all the more frustrating by the massive lag delay when removing items from the cache one-by-one.

[carsonfball]

The worst issue in my book is storage.
By the gods it's horrible. It's so bad. I have 6 bank alts and every shared bank slot, but it's a nightmare for me to do anything. An alt just to hold good weapons that can't even hold all the weapons. I'm no hoarding anything, but it adds up. One of each Ravenloft item alone is so much of your space. Then one of each Sharn item, etc etc. If we didn't have crafting storage I'd just give up playing.

Have you seen how insane it is to try and reincarnate these days and empty your cache? What should be an exciting and fun experience is ruined by the extremely strange dread of "Oh no... I found three items that are excellent in that life. Now I need to make space to store it to clear my cache." For some people I know, clearing the cache and reincarnating is a game session by itself. Hours of work, made all the more frustrating by the massive lag delay when removing items from the cache one-by-one.

I agree. And with so many bound-to-character items, I have to store multiples of some of the good items. If they would sell me more character bank storage, I would buy it. But they haven't released any character storage for a long time. I know that they've said there are technical reasons why it is difficult to do so, but they've now had years to either work on that or create a new alternative.

Reincarnation is definitely a nightmare. I've gotten it down to around an hour or two of shuffling items (a lot of that time is because pulling items from out of the reincarnation cache is horribly slow).

[Xgya]

I'm very happy you chose to make the bow pass and new bow-using enhancement tree to be released separately.

New stuff is always welcome.
I do hope there's some major work done on lag still, but I also know this is one very high CL beast.

[cave_diver]

got one warning on this thread, let me try for 2

awesome patch...1st quest in loading screen hang...SSG fix your stuff

[elvesunited]

Well that said they learned lessons from the mini-expansion on LOTR. So it's quite possible that the mini-expansion will be reasonable for what it is. Let's not break out the pitchforks and torches quite yet.

I heard rumor of an archmage enhancement pass. No mention of it here.

No level cap increase. Hopefully when they do mention increasing the cap again they'll give enough details to allay any fears. ( such as the fear that the xp to get an epic past life will drastically increase )

Interesting that there is a potential monster manual update. It's been a long time. I thought I read that the reason was that monster manual updates are too much work for too little reward.

[carsonfball]

Well that said they learned lessons from the mini-expansion on LOTR. So it's quite possible that the mini-expansion will be reasonable for what it is. Let's not break out the pitchforks and torches quite yet.

+1


No level cap increase. Hopefully when they do mention increasing the cap again they'll give enough details to allay any fears. ( such as the fear that the xp to get an epic past life will drastically increase )

They'd said in the past that the xp and levels to get an epic past life would not be changing and that they were going to add a new type of reincarnation in addition (legendary reincarnation?).


Interesting that there is a potential monster manual update. It's been a long time. I thought I read that the reason was that monster manual updates are too much work for too little reward.

They have said that in the past, but still ended up releasing more. I think when they get a critical mass of people complaining about no new monster manuals, they finally release a few. :)

[Steelstar]

I heard rumor of an archmage enhancement pass. No mention of it here.

We'd still like to do it when we can. It definitely won't be before Epic Destinies release, and probably won't be this year.

[Arkai]

Any chance on the iconic sorc this year?

Thanks!

[L.P]

The game is dead already and SSG knows it.
But it's not wise to say "Yea, we are discontinuing DDO. Thanks for all and farewell". There are yet some whales to milk, who still believe in a bright future coming from nowhere.
So what we see is people begging for attention and hoping for a candy or two (because more than that we know it's impossible), whining about issues like lag, storage... fixing it would take days of work, without fast cash retribution. Whales are the target and whales pay for things way less labor-intensive.
Look, whal err... VIPs, we have "plans to give more value" to you, like a brand new mini-expansion! /s

Note: Don't whine about this mini-expansion, it's real, will come and nothing you say will change it.
Pay attention to the word "first", right before "mini-expansion", in the original post. There will be more and if you want to complain, complain about it. Well, if you still believe your moanings count for something, of course.

[TitusOvid]

Happy 15th Anniversary DDO! We are excited to reach this milestone and are ever-thankful to our players for making this possible. Today I'll be talking about some of our plans for the rest of the year and letting you know what we are looking forward to.

In the coming weeks we will be celebrating in House Phiarlan as we bring out an updated Anniversary Event! This year's event features a few minor updates to the challenge itself along with a large number of new items added to the reward list. We're bringing back all of the House-specific Eberron Cloaks in the rewards list that we gave out a few years ago for our anniversary, in case you missed one or missed it, and we're adding a new cosmetic helm and cosmetic pet as well. We're also going to be distributing two special gifts to everyone! One will be something your character will wear as a cosmetic, and the other is something your character will equip.

80 party favor for each of those cloaks is kinda hefty, don't you think?!
As others said, you didn't account for alts at all with 1/acc. Oversight?
When will you address the storage issue that gets worse with every cosmetic you give away? Don't get me wrong. A lot of people like cosmetics but there comes a point pretty early in the game where you have to decide, if you keep a cosmetic and or need the spot for equipment that actually helps the gameplay.


The release of the new raid, The Dryad and the Demigod, marks the grand finale of the Fables of the Feywild expansion. This raid features the music of our in-house composer Bill Champagne and we think it is a raid unlike any other you may have seen before. The idea of a “musical raid” has been kicking around for a while in the office, and we think players of all types will find something special here. Anyone who has purchased Fables of the Feywild will have access to this new raid.

I tuned down the sounds to 0.01 for the single settings and I still can't hear party members. You pretty much forced us to use other platforms of communicating for month now. So I guess, you could get rid of voice once and for all.
Impressions on the new raid are still too fresh to form an opinion. But it does need to start from subpar. Melees seem to be disadvantaged again.



This spring brings the first Hardcore League season of 2021 to the game! Our 4th Hardcore Season will feature some new and returning guests in the form of the minions of the Nine Daelkyr Lords. You’ve met the Lord of Eyes and the Lord of Stone, but have you met the rest? We're also planning to run a 5th season of the Hardcore League later this year.

One to many, imo. It hurts the population of the other servers too much to have more than 1 a year.



This spring will also bring Update 49 that includes four dungeons where you will help Morgrave University hunt down lost relics in a series of adventures that feel somewhat “Indiana Jones-like”. Alongside this adventure pack the bow combat style is being revamped and will get new animations.

Sounds intriguing.



This summer will see the release of the first "mini-expansion" in Dungeons & Dragons Online in the form of the Classic Adventure: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh! An evil Alchemist's mansion stands alone on a cliff and mysterious lights and hauntings have kept people away despite rumors of great treasure. What is the secret? Debuting alongside this classic adventure will be our next Universal Enhancement Tree called Horizon Walker, which focuses on marking and neutralizing extra-planar and other enemies with a bow. As we get closer to the release of Saltmarsh, we will have more information about what to expect from a DDO mini-expansion, the lessons that we learned from The Lord of the Rings Online’s first mini-expansion last year, and plans to give more value to VIPs.

Mini-expansion ... More details please. Fewer quests, no public area, no wilderness, no race, no class, no cosmetics? The impression I got from the reactions of the LotRo playerbase was not the best to be honest.
A universal tree that focuses on special kind of enemies does sound counter-productive, doesn't it?! But surprise me.
ViP-value. Either dispose of ViP and give them a big fair-well package or make it real good.




The fall will feature a set of new adventures and a raid revolving around the Wild Hunt as well as a significant update to our Epic Destiny system. We are restructuring the core of the system, modernizing some trees and redesigning others, and making Epic Destinies more versatile by allowing players to have multiple Destinies active at the same time.

Sounds good. A similar concept for all trees in the game would make it a lot easier for new folks.
No mention of level increase is a BIG plus.




Other things to look forward to this year include a new Monster Manual volume, a free dungeon to wrap up the year, updates to our various festivals, and more! We want to thank you for continuing to make this game and community thrive, and we look forward to making 2021 a fantastic year for DDO!
Sev

This last paragraph does sound great.


Thanks for the information.
Cheers,
Titus.

[Saekee]

Sev please work on NEW PLAYER RETENTION STRATEGIES we have offered multitudes here, just do some ok?

I like classic modules so +1 for that, rest is gravy

[KoobTheProud]

Sev please work on NEW PLAYER RETENTION STRATEGIES we have offered multitudes here, just do some ok?

I like classic modules so +1 for that, rest is gravy

I'm guessing the substitute for new player retention strategies is going to be another DDOFREEQUESTS promotion this summer to try to get the schoolkids to look at DDO.

[NabeGewell]

We'd still like to do it when we can. It definitely won't be before Epic Destinies release, and probably won't be this year.

Hopefully it has to do with doubleshot, ranged power and int to dmg :P Wasnt Divine disciple fix mentioned along with EK too?

[Tarinia]

Happy 15th Anniversary DDO! We are excited to reach this milestone and are ever-thankful to our players for making this possible. Today I'll be talking about some of our plans for the rest of the year and letting you know what we are looking forward to.



This summer will see the release of the first "mini-expansion" in Dungeons & Dragons Online in the form of the Classic Adventure: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh! An evil Alchemist's mansion stands alone on a cliff and mysterious lights and hauntings have kept people away despite rumors of great treasure. What is the secret? Debuting alongside this classic adventure will be our next Universal Enhancement Tree called Horizon Walker, which focuses on marking and neutralizing extra-planar and other enemies with a bow. As we get closer to the release of Saltmarsh, we will have more information about what to expect from a DDO mini-expansion, the lessons that we learned from The Lord of the Rings Online’s first mini-expansion last year, and plans to give more value to VIPs.
Sev


Hi Devs,

I had a gut feeling immediatly in seeing that mini expansion wrote up from SEV. Where is our free classic pack 2021? Should we now pay for something we got for free in the last years?
And immediatly a lot of other players jumped in before I even could write. Seeing what happened in LOTRO it is a shame that you try such a thing for DDO, too.
Do you think we are dump or do you just forgot to announce the free classic pack IN ADDITION to the mini expansion for 2021?
Perhaps I should go "free to play" to save money for the mini expansion? Is that what you want? Or are you changing the overall strategy to give VIP no more free content, but instead only faster exps and so on?
In that case you should be fast in announce what are you planning for VIPs instead, before lots of them go free to play. It´s all the more disappointing knowing that DDO is earning a lot of money (see selling of "podcasts")
Sorry disappointed....
Tarrinia

[Silverleafeon]

Cordovan held a Ask Sev anything Twitch Broadcast, the day after this letter came out, and there was clarification and details not found in the letter worth looking at:
(Please pardon any errors or ommisions on my part


Some specific notes on LAG:

"Have been experimenting with new infrastructure changes, starting with Argo...to mixed results...some say a little better, some say not better.

Looking at effects system and changes there.

Main goals: Continue to look at infrastructure, but really the effects system is lagging us in terms of how many effects can apply to creatures. We need to revamp our proc system (so it makes more sense and to be more unified as now there are procs all over the place), part of this is at the high end players attack so fast. Need to make action boost feel good (like crits rather than haste). Effects system needs to be streamlined and work better. There are ways its being used currently that are not ideal.

Infrastructure stuff should help some backend things part of it.

Referenced weird year and pandemic impact on internet and saw some strange cases on the public internet, and many cases are related to this (good pings; dropped packets)."

More people; more engineering resources. They are hiring.



That proves it; Cetus is the cause of our lag.


A point that I forgot:

Player Council Application deadline is closed.

The people working on that project are sorting thru applications.

If you did apply, Mid March is the earliest you might they might be done with choosing applications, maybe later than that.


They are planning 2 Hard Core seasons this year, the first happening in April


From my memory:


Hired several tech to deal with lag issues.
Are hiring more people right now.
Lag issue solutions are currently divided between: making effects more efficiently applied, and too many attacks at level cap, and ____
There will be a mega server, but initial tests on the mega server indicate that lag issues must be solved first.

Cosmetic Bag is very, very difficult because mirror of glamming links to the real item.

Horse Bag is going to replaced with Horse Stable like the backpack tab for companions (creatures that follow you around).
This is difficult but much less problematic than Cosmetics.
Sample of what this looked like was shown.

Talking about fitting a new iconic into this year if the extra time works out, otherwise next year.

Psionics will have to wait not only due to work on spell system but the additional work of balancing such, but is a favorite to do someday.
Alchemist took much, much more time than anticipated and Psionics would be greater.

Would like to add a new stateroom to the guild airship and its about 9th on the to do list, but keeps getting pushed back.

Class balancing is an ongoing process.

Bows required a complete rework of the Bow animation and when it is done the Bow will be in much better shape.
New Bow tree will be later, and while it will add to the Bow options it is not consider a Bow fix in itself.

Bows will not fire faster at level cap due to too many attacks increasing Lag issues, but they are working over the Bows (implied level cap Bow will be improved).
On the same note, the Haste Action Boost might need to be replace with something just as attractive like massive crit bonus due to Lag issues.

Epic Destinies explained somewhat in detail.
Seems to be going towards their versions of some of the ideas I and others presented:
Epic Destiny will be more like Heroic Trees in function.
There will be a pool of points to spend when you reach level 20.
There will be points earned per each level gained to spend.
You will be able to spend points on multiple Epic Destiny Trees.
They have pinpointed which Epic Destiny Trees are very popular and which are not.
The unpopular trees will be improved.
One of the goals is that thru the pool of points and improving the overall effectiveness of the Trees, entry into Epic will be enjoyable (or some other words therein).

They know people want Monks improved, but its Bow time atm.
They have lists of things to do on Monks including making Finishing Moves more dramatic.

No answers on individual items, because this is not the format for that.

Server opened up for new update.

Goal of doing these Q&A talks more often.
We should see more ask Sev anything format with Cordovan.

The questions about Mini Expansion were:
Salt____Marsh is too big for a pack.
Might be 8 or 9 (rough guess not commitment) dungeons.
They realize that ViP should either get:
1) a discount on the Base Pack
2) or bonus items.
The tech to make that happen (I guess seeing you are VIP when purchasing) is being put in place and will be available to use by the time Mini Expansion arrives.
So, they realize that Vip needs to feel Mini Expansion still worthwhile to be Vip.
Also, realize that the LotR Mini Expansion was not as attractive as usual and future could be improved upon.

Savage Island (whatever the Dino pack is) will not be this year, but enthusiasm is too great to withhold in the future.

There is unlikely to be a Greyhawk World due to the scope required for creating a new world and the demand for people to return to Forgotten Realms (which they will do sometime in the future) and continue with Eberron.
Sev did not want to discuss Copywrite issues, saying simply if they bring in a new world they want it to be BIG.
Planescape will have to wait for the same reasons (although he is inclined to do that world), due to the fact that it would be so intense there might not be any new content for a year in order to create the new world (which is not a good business model at this time).

No comments or complaints about the new owners.
Was a comment on having applied for _____ (I forget) and therefore he could not discuss yet.
Also, artists are getting new texture and particle tools and ____ (which is the equivalent of a graphic update of sorts).

Half Elf is being redone as we speak.

Other races have been used so often that it might be a mistake to rework.
Therefore instead of improving the Elf race, they brought out the Wood Elf as an model upgrade.
New races with better looks instead of redoing all the old, to prevent shocking players.
(Here is where the mention of iconics came in).

No mention of a new class in the works.
Currently focused on Epic Destinies.

There will be a level increase with the next Big Expansion, however the Epic Destinies MUST be done first.
(And there will be the Mini Expanion before the Big Expansion.)
No mention of how high the level cap will go, but mention that they read player feedback about the level cap increase in detail and decided they must do the epic destinies (implication of other thoughts of reading feedback not said).

Comment by Cordovan that the new Epic Destinies will be more enjoyable/better than the old?

Other questions answered....

Half Elf will have new skin/model.


Oh and yes, Reaper points will be increased, but only after the new reaper system is created which should reduce lag, creating a Reaper Ranks along with Leadership for Party Leader sharing part of their Reaper Rank power to help newer players survive in reaper better.


Also, Epic Destinies will become more approachable by new players.



Another Lag issue is that the internet as a whole is far more unstable after the Virus hit than before.


Mention of until December for redeeming code (but please check and make sure that is right)?


Go Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnN2DN0PfZo

Press the [...] icon below the video window, or to the left of the video title.
You get a selection of which one is "Open Transcript".

To the right of the video the auto generated transcript appears.
About 1500 lines of text, not going to paste that here.

[FengXian]

Nothing about raising lvl cap? Thank God!

Seconded, keep it at 30 as long as possible. Plus it really dilutes the playerbase we can't really afford that.

Great to get bow pass BEFORE Horizon Walker, good call there.

Great to get HC4, we got a chance to play the game after HC3. Not sure if HC5 coming in 2021 as well is a good thing though. While it's great to play on HC because of population, it must be pretty lonely on regular servers. Maybe one per year is enough...

Mini-expansion feels like a cashgrab. Unless it's like 5$ which it should be, but even then it's meh...

Wild hunt themed content (and more Feywild) is great, hopefully you take the opportunity to indirectly fix the existing Seasons Sets by adding some desirable items to them...

Here's something I was hoping to see though: you have TONS of old content loved by veterans both because it's great quality and nostalgic. I think a revamp of Scroll-Seal-Shard items is long overdue, given how rare they are. They might just fit into that 20-30 ETR use niche, but it's sad that a random Borderlands drop outclasses them so hard. Sure we can still use ESoS or EThornlord (the latter for a whopping 3 levels) but 99% of those items that were so difficult to get are utter garbage now. Power creep is natural and it has been many years but cmon, Epic Spectral Gloves not even being able to compete at lv 20 is just sad :(

That, and maybe Legendary Desert/Amrath. Also Korthos Raid. A huge chunk of your revenue comes from veterans, give us some cool nostalgic stuff ^^

[carsonfball]

I think a revamp of Scroll-Seal-Shard items is long overdue, given how rare they are. They might just fit into that 20-30 ETR use niche, but it's sad that a random Borderlands drop outclasses them so hard. Sure we can still use ESoS or EThornlord (the latter for a whopping 3 levels) but 99% of those items that were so difficult to get are utter garbage now. Power creep is natural and it has been many years but cmon, Epic Spectral Gloves not even being able to compete at lv 20 is just sad :(

I agree. That system is extremely annoying. I've been playing since sometime in 2009 and still don't have all of the seals, shards, and scrolls and, these days, I don't even try getting them since most of that loot isn't very useful. For the items that I finally got all three parts, I haven't even upgraded any of them because of the lack of usefulness for the ones that I can upgrade.

Along with that, I'd also add that I have ran Epic VON dozens of times and still have not found a shard of the red dragon. I realize that the armor isn't anywhere near best in slot now, but I'd like to at least have it after all of these attempts to get the shard. I don't see why old crafting items like this can't be obtained via a trade-in of some kind or bought for store points. It's not going to break the game when there is now non-raid armor that's better for nearly every build.

[Arkai]

I agree. That system is extremely annoying. I've been playing since sometime in 2009 and still don't have all of the seals, shards, and scrolls and, these days, I don't even try getting them since most of that loot isn't very useful. For the items that I finally got all three parts, I haven't even upgraded any of them because of the lack of usefulness for the ones that I can upgrade.

Along with that, I'd also add that I have ran Epic VON dozens of times and still have not found a shard of the red dragon. I realize that the armor isn't anywhere near best in slot now, but I'd like to at least have it after all of these attempts to get the shard. I don't see why old crafting items like this can't be obtained via a trade-in of some kind or bought for store points. It's not going to break the game when there is now non-raid armor that's better for nearly every build.

We have been asking for a seal and shard barter for ages, because there are some useful weapons like eSoS or eStorm. At this point, I lost hope and threw all the ingredients away after 10 years of collecting, just to focus on BTA and updated stuff :/

[Montegue]

We'd still like to do it when we can. It definitely won't be before Epic Destinies release, and probably won't be this year.

Come on. That's unacceptable. Seriously. It's been *years*, the tree is absolute pants compared to all other trees, your game doesn't even have a classic Wizard archetype to play as a result. It's all Necromancers and melee hybrids.

Just put someone on the task and get it done. It's way, way, way overdue.

[FengXian]

We have been asking for a seal and shard barter for ages, because there are some useful weapons like eSoS or eStorm. At this point, I lost hope and threw all the ingredients away after 10 years of collecting, just to focus on BTA and updated stuff :/

Honestly I don't mind rare iconic items staying, you know, rare. What I would like is for super-duper rare stuff to be at least somewhat useful. At least for a handful of levels. I love how some old weapons with better crit profiles withstood the test of time, honestly it's beautiful. You're not required to have carnifex nor SoS nor Silver Longbow, but it you do have them, they're great! Do that for S/S/S items as well, they'll still only be good for leveling 20 to 30 anyway. More like 20-25 probably, but still...

They have this great system where you can make viable accessible items for everyone (like lootgen pass did) and then you can have stronger, very rare items for the ones that want to put in the extra time to farm them. But just items for the leveling process, not end game.

Just make a desert item pass or something, is it really that difficult to implement?

[Lonesols]

I am right there with you. this is the only game i play .
i spend money on it as a vip and i buy everything.
the lag has affected my enjoyment.
their lack of customer support is killing it.
all the heroic quests need a revamp in terms of items , i have been screaming for this for a long time.
most items in heroic are useless.
the anniversary raid items they are offering only benefit the epics.
you only get 1 item per account?????
get stuffed with the cosmetics and useless fluff that take up much needed space already.
nerfing items like no worries is still a thorn as i spent so many hours farming that thing and when they nerfed it i deleted all of them i had
i have 48 character slots so i need good items and the stuff they create these days is too similar.
i might as well craft stuff.
the last expansion was a waste of time.
to say i am extremely dissapointed is an understatement.
When diablo2 remastered comes out that will be the end of my ddo days.
they might finally get it when their whales leave.

I resubbed one more time, i may mot be a whale but i did dump like 300 pr more. Now that i see d2 ressurrected im done too. The lag and stuck on loading screens, was the last straw for me. Maybe thier goal is to just make every one leave so they can shut it down.

[FengXian]

I resubbed one more time, i may mot be a whale but i did dump like 300 pr more. Now that i see d2 ressurrected im done too. The lag and stuck on loading screens, was the last straw for me. Maybe thier goal is to just make every one leave so they can shut it down.

Not "everyone", speak for yourself. Both lag and loadscreen stucks are pretty rare and don't bother me that much. The game is perfectly enjoyable for me, not just playable.

As for the above, regular quest rewards could be better but I don't see it as a priority.
Anniversary items only benefiting epics is a LIE.
One item per account is a bit low but at the same time they are offering some TOP TIER endgame items (the ones you can turn into augments), if they gave you like 3, you'd complete a set straight away.
Who cares about no worries nerf lol.
Lastly last expansion is a matter of preference really. Visuals, story and music were amazing. Loot was meh but they did it to slow down powercreep, I'll support that policy any day. Raid took way too long to release, yes. Overall I liked it.

[Arkai]

Honestly I don't mind rare iconic items staying, you know, rare. What I would like is for super-duper rare stuff to be at least somewhat useful. At least for a handful of levels. I love how some old weapons with better crit profiles withstood the test of time, honestly it's beautiful. You're not required to have carnifex nor SoS nor Silver Longbow, but it you do have them, they're great! Do that for S/S/S items as well, they'll still only be good for leveling 20 to 30 anyway. More like 20-25 probably, but still...

They have this great system where you can make viable accessible items for everyone (like lootgen pass did) and then you can have stronger, very rare items for the ones that want to put in the extra time to farm them. But just items for the leveling process, not end game.

Just make a desert item pass or something, is it really that difficult to implement?

There are 64 sands epic items and all seals and shards drop in the same (3) quest(s). Wanna talk about chances? :) and only 3/4 of them are not bad. Why fix this when you can just... embrace madness =)?

[MasterKernel]

In the coming weeks we will be celebrating in House Phiarlan as we bring out an updated Anniversary Event!
Nope. It's still the same old BORING endless GRIND of a dungeon !


This year's event features a few minor updates to the challenge itself along with a large number of new items added to the reward list.
At least, this year there is NOTHING in the reward list I would want...


The release of the new raid, The Dryad and the Demigod, marks the grand finale of the Fables of the Feywild expansion. This raid features the music of our in-house composer Bill Champagne and we think it is a raid unlike any other you may have seen before. The idea of a “musical raid” has been kicking around for a while in the office, and we think players of all types will find something special here.
No. Just no. Nope.
The music is ok, though.


This spring brings the first Hardcore League season of 2021 to the game! Our 4th Hardcore Season will feature some new and returning guests in the form of the minions of the Nine Daelkyr Lords. You’ve met the Lord of Eyes and the Lord of Stone, but have you met the rest? We're also planning to run a 5th season of the Hardcore League later this year.
So. 12,5 elite players would get their server back on. What's for the rest ? Nothing ? OK.


Alongside this adventure pack the bow combat style is being revamped and will get new animations.
Even more nerfs ? Sure. What else could we expect ?


This summer will see the release of the first "mini-expansion"
In other words "we are going to sell 1 dungeon for real money for everyone instead our previous "free to VIP"
WHY ON EARTH DO YOU THINK ANYONE WOULD BE HAPPY ABOUT IT ?!

On the other hand... Guess the quality of the dungeon and it's price might be crucial.


Debuting alongside this classic adventure will be our next Universal Enhancement Tree called Horizon Walker, which focuses on marking and neutralizing extra-planar and other enemies with a bow.
Oh ! That's why the existing bow trees would be nerfed ! Sure. 'cos every bow user had to buy a new toy for their characters !
The last thing DDO needs is a new bow-oriented tree.


The fall will feature a set of new adventures and a raid revolving around the Wild Hunt as well as a significant update to our Epic Destiny system. We are restructuring the core of the system, modernizing some trees and redesigning others, and making Epic Destinies more versatile by allowing players to have multiple Destinies active at the same time.
I'm already horrified. At least there is nothing about we would need to re-buy the Epic Destiny for the 2nd time after revamp.


Honestly. If the letter was something like "We are going to fire every art/sound/dungeon creators therefore there would be no new dungeons for the next 15 year. But, instead we are going to hire a bunch of engeneers and create a new, bigger inventory system" I'd be much MUCH happier !
After the latest patch's nerfs such "Producer's letter" is just garbage that shouldn't be ever posted.

[NabeGewell]

~
Oh ! That's why the existing bow trees would be nerfed ! Sure. 'cos every bow user had to buy a new toy for their characters !
The last thing DDO needs is a new bow-oriented tree.
~

Agree with what you said here and especially this, just seems like another cash grab (and probably the next op thing that's gona be nerfed after a while too) to what is supposed to be an increase in bow's attack speed, maybe add extra arrow with doubleshot or smtg reduction and bringing Arcane Archer/Stalker trees up to date. But they know a percentage of the playerbase is gona get on it on day one no matter what, so why shouldn't they repeat their rotation?

[Silverleafeon]

Full video to text transcript of the Ask Sev anything twitch event here:

+1

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/522077-Very-Informative-Q-and-A-with-Severlin?p=6407405&viewfull=1#post6407405


Explains a lot of details about this Letter.

[As_The_Bat]

Mini expansion?
No tks.
Its a very dumb idea.
As dumb as releasing an expansion half cooked.
With its raid 4 months late.



revamping and fixing up the EDs (hopefully help out artificers, warlocks, druids, Pale master / Death clerics, etc...). I really really wish they would finish their enhancement tree pass and actually make Archmage usable... but they must have reasons for that..
You really think they will fix those things?
I think they will ruin all the classes. Expect more that than a good job.

[blarhblarhblarh]

The game is dead already and SSG knows it.
But it's not wise to say "Yea, we are discontinuing DDO. Thanks for all and farewell". There are yet some whales to milk, who still believe in a bright future coming from nowhere.
So what we see is people begging for attention and hoping for a candy or two (because more than that we know it's impossible), whining about issues like lag, storage... fixing it would take days of work, without fast cash retribution. Whales are the target and whales pay for things way less labor-intensive.
Look, whal err... VIPs, we have "plans to give more value" to you, like a brand new mini-expansion! /s

Note: Don't whine about this mini-expansion, it's real, will come and nothing you say will change it.
Pay attention to the word "first", right before "mini-expansion", in the original post. There will be more and if you want to complain, complain about it. Well, if you still believe your moanings count for something, of course.


This really make sense and I would add the otto box sales that people said that had a gm involved. I am not angry with people that used it, I get angry about SSG not matching the prices or doing something effective against it. While the game is broken in many levels such as chat issues, load screen of death, server lag, terrible inventory management (who spend a dime in expansion with 30+ itens if they don´t get a single new inventory slot?) and more than all the trust in the company. Axel or Strintom pay atention and listen to DDO´s players. DDO´s staff just don´t give a **** for a long time and a proof is cordovan laughin and having fun in the live while we ragequit because of the load screen of death.

The staff didn´t even considered the lag issues or gave extra xp pots for the time we loose while stuck in load. I am in the team droping the vip and looking for other games to spend my money and free time. I don´t play to get angry, I play and pay to have fun and ddo´s team only works hard to take out the fun out of ddo. Feel really sorry about the new players that needed that kind of advantage to be usefull with their weak toons because the whales will always be strong enought or will know how to change their builds to something usefull.

[Xoham]

I suggest a Forgotten Realms drow for the iconic (or racial variant). I haven't yet tried any iconics (or racial variants); but I would reincarnate my character into one of those!

[dennisck2]

I, too, have dropped my sub. It ends in May, and I don't think I will ever pay for it again. I'm tired of feeling bent over constantly. It feels like everything is a cash grab (Mini expansion? KMA.)and nothing is being done to fix age old problems (ladders, outdated trees), and worsening new ones (Lag and loading screens). I love this game, but unfortunately I don't see myself playing it much longer. SSG has become a joke, and I refuse to give them my money. I'll still log in every now and again to hit up my old buddies, but until something major changes I won't give SSG a dime.

I hope DDO gets the changes it needs, and I wish everyone well.

[blarhblarhblarh]

Ok, after a few tries and three lifes under the new system: Great changes. Still there was no reason to nerf meteor and take burnscar sarsh extra spellpower off. Just look like a scam. The reason a sorcerer does more damage than a favored sou is that the sorcerer can´t heal whole raids. Can´t even self heal properly without umd or ED. Chain Lighting without spellpower does more damage than a meteor. And there´s nothing more D&Dish than meteor and fireball so... what a dumb change. Did 3 lifes since the update enjoying the server xp + pots and days off.

I wanted to say more and test more but since 03/04 I have lag issues, chat issues and client issues (auto closing from time to time) so I can´t even be angry with the nuker nerf. Anniversary 16 will not happen if those issues continue. 1 less vip here and 1 more that will not spend a dime until it all is fixed. I really lost the trust in the company and I have been in DDO before it begins.

I leaved DDO 3 times. One when F2P came out with the lifes grinding. One when multi green steel would unbalance the game forever. One when lag made ddo unplayable but was a quick try. I was really happy with SSG´s decisions until feywild, now that you guys raised the gap between the first lifers and the whales while the game is unplayable makes me wonder if you guys want players in the game at all.

My solution? DO A ROLLBACK IN THE CHANGES OF THE NUKERS ASAP. Then work in usabillity, client preset options for windows 10. Work in lag, load screen of death and chat issues. One at a time or all at once, doesn´t matter. What matter is that you guys stop releasing new bugs until the old bugs are fixed and the game is playable.

[TekkenDevil]

Players of all types will find something in the new raid?
Well I don't think players of the solo persuasion, nor players with the "play with one or two other friends" persuasion will find anything in your new Raid.
I do not know what makes SSG continue to lock players like me out of Raids, I don't think anything bad would happen if I was allowed to solo it with a hireling on Casual. Just make Casual unlock a month or two after the Raid releases so that players can't just explore it first before attempting it for real.

Or keep DDO designed for private socialite guilds and Discord groups, if you want to keep steadily leaking playerbase size...
Every time a guild goes inactive, this game dies a little. Because you guys don't like solo and don't want to revive the LFM tab. You are allowing Guilds and Discord groups to be the primary life blood of DDO's monetization.
If SSG is tired of developing DDO, then you're doing a good job in soon freeing yourself from that burden. Otherwise, you're blind as bats to this issue of "DDO is for private clubs".

[TekkenDevil]

On a lighter note, I hope we are getting a brown adventurer's coat from the Morgrave University quests to match the brown Indiana Jones hat we got from last year's.
I also am looking forward to learning the shadow creature's identity from Feywild, more content added to the planar rift in the Hags' hut where we access Feywild and very much hope you guys haven't forgotten about the Graz'zt plot in Mines of Tethyamar, though it doesn't seem like any of these three will develop in 2021.

[SirValentine]

Players of all types will find something in the new raid?
Well I don't think players of the solo persuasion, nor players with the "play with one or two other friends" persuasion will find anything in your new Raid.


It's already been solo'd multiple times on Hard. Maybe you with your two other friends could try it on Normal.

[Arkat]

It's already been solo'd multiple times on Hard. Maybe you with your two other friends could try it on Normal.

Sounds reasonable to me.

[Oxarhamar]

Happy 15th Anniversary DDO! We are excited to reach this milestone and are ever-thankful to our players for making this possible. Today I'll be talking about some of our plans for the rest of the year and letting you know what we are looking forward to.

In the coming weeks we will be celebrating in House Phiarlan as we bring out an updated Anniversary Event! This year's event features a few minor updates to the challenge itself along with a large number of new items added to the reward list. We're bringing back all of the House-specific Eberron Cloaks in the rewards list that we gave out a few years ago for our anniversary, in case you missed one or missed it, and we're adding a new cosmetic helm and cosmetic pet as well. We're also going to be distributing two special gifts to everyone! One will be something your character will wear as a cosmetic, and the other is something your character will equip.

The release of the new raid, The Dryad and the Demigod, marks the grand finale of the Fables of the Feywild expansion. This raid features the music of our in-house composer Bill Champagne and we think it is a raid unlike any other you may have seen before. The idea of a “musical raid” has been kicking around for a while in the office, and we think players of all types will find something special here. Anyone who has purchased Fables of the Feywild will have access to this new raid.

This spring brings the first Hardcore League season of 2021 to the game! Our 4th Hardcore Season will feature some new and returning guests in the form of the minions of the Nine Daelkyr Lords. You’ve met the Lord of Eyes and the Lord of Stone, but have you met the rest? We're also planning to run a 5th season of the Hardcore League later this year.

This spring will also bring Update 49 that includes four dungeons where you will help Morgrave University hunt down lost relics in a series of adventures that feel somewhat “Indiana Jones-like”. Alongside this adventure pack the bow combat style is being revamped and will get new animations.

This summer will see the release of the first "mini-expansion" in Dungeons & Dragons Online in the form of the Classic Adventure: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh! An evil Alchemist's mansion stands alone on a cliff and mysterious lights and hauntings have kept people away despite rumors of great treasure. What is the secret? Debuting alongside this classic adventure will be our next Universal Enhancement Tree called Horizon Walker, which focuses on marking and neutralizing extra-planar and other enemies with a bow. As we get closer to the release of Saltmarsh, we will have more information about what to expect from a DDO mini-expansion, the lessons that we learned from The Lord of the Rings Online’s first mini-expansion last year, and plans to give more value to VIPs.

The fall will feature a set of new adventures and a raid revolving around the Wild Hunt as well as a significant update to our Epic Destiny system. We are restructuring the core of the system, modernizing some trees and redesigning others, and making Epic Destinies more versatile by allowing players to have multiple Destinies active at the same time.

Other things to look forward to this year include a new Monster Manual volume, a free dungeon to wrap up the year, updates to our various festivals, and more! We want to thank you for continuing to make this game and community thrive, and we look forward to making 2021 a fantastic year for DDO!

Sev


What were the lessons learned from Lotro because, bringing that mess to DDO shows that lessons were not learned.

[rfachini]

There’s no harm in letting hirelings in raids. They are not particularly overpowered.
Casual raids would be great. Just lower or eliminate the loot drops.

PS also please fix familiars movement rate.

[donblas]

It's already been solo'd multiple times on Hard. Maybe you with your two other friends could try it on Normal.

Did anyone who did that have reaper advantages or past lives?

Important information.

[Gljosh]

The "Epic Destiny" redesign, this will be a large change related to End-Game and the work that was gone into builds. Please release this information at a time during the development cycle when there is ample time to gather and respond to player feedback. Much of the End-Game experience has been crafted around the current Epic Destiny concept (coming close to 10 years with the current system), if these are not properly balanced much of the gameplay will be greatly effected and with it an exodus of players.

[Ewynn]

Sev,

Appreciate what you’re working on for this year, but it seems kind of tone deaf to me. I like new content as much as the next adventurer; however, I think that you are missing some key gripes from the community. LAG, continue to fix and report on what you are doing to address lag. Recent fixes helped a lot, moae may need to be done. Do something with TR caches, make them sortablem expand shared bank, or individual bank to make items easier to find.

Incentivise players to play alts. I’ve basically finished the game, other than the last 50 reaper points. I’m NOT doing the grind on another character for all lives, so give me a reason to continue to play as a different class, etc. Once I’ve got everything thing done, give me account wide abilities that let me change classes, or let me share my reaper points with alts, something where I don’t have to grind it out again. I guess what i’m saying is get inventive about your endgame, more grind isn’t it.

[Duhboy]

...let me share my reaper points with alts, something where I don’t have to grind it out again. I guess what i’m saying is get inventive about your endgame, more grind isn’t it.

Couldn't agree with you more.

An account based reaper system sounds pretty interesting especially for newly created alts making where you don't HAVE to do the hamster wheel grind in order to get reaper points for them.

[puberdade]

I've seen a game I loved die and I can see the similarities here.
The game was marvel heroes omega and the main issue was lack of content for old timers.
The thing is, they managed to get new players (even tried a desperate release on console), but the heavy spenders were the veterans that were lacking content to keep spending. With all the incentives to new players (like the free DDO store points for favor) the veterans usually do not have much reason to spend much more as they acquired most of the stuff they need and new players aren't hooked enough to do so. To make things worse there is a high barrier to new players here, getting hooked takes time because the game systems are complex, and the money inflow from investing in new players take too long to come.
We need to talk about money making with SSG because if they do not make money the game is over. Simple as that. We, the ones that love the game, do not mind paying the bills, as long as we are getting reasonable content for it. Diminshing VIP advantages (VIP is great for people in between veterans and new players) and try to sell packs doesnt seem like a good strategy for the long term.

We need a new agreement between players and SSG about whats good for everyone. I like paying a fixed reasonable fee and get all content I need whithout having to pay "extra" for new and powerful content. It's even worse when the content I have access, as a paying player, gets nerfed to create a need to buy those new packs.

If SSG needs to rise their revenue I can think of a few things that sounds more fair for both sides:
- Adjust VIP price. I know it is pricey already when compared to other games, but if its necessary to keep the game alive w/o pushing us to buy extras, it wouldnt be so bad
- Raise level cap. New level cap = new content that doesnt unbalance old content, paid expansions for higher lv cap and so on
- Segment players and create signatures for each bracket to get an increasingly commitement. For example, I really like to play heroics and TR and I don't want to mess with epics until I get racial completionist, I could have a different signature than people raiding at 30. Also, new players could have a lower signature w/o epics until 3rd TR or something
- Segment players by region and adjust prices accordingly. I know fellow south americans who dropped the signature because the dollar got too pricey down here. For example, the price of Blizzard in Brazilian Reais is lower than it is in U$ Dollars if it was directly converted. Just for the example, the VIP of DDO is around R$ 70 while the signature of WOW is around R$ 35 in Brazil.
- Focus new paid content on players that expend the most. What do they want? New raid? New level cap? Give those guys whatever they want for a reasonable price and the rest will follow

Whatever you do, it needs to be clear with everyone what the new deal will be, and that it will be necessary to keep the game going.

If you keep gating content behind paywalls while depreciating old content an the paying player base do not go togheter with you, you will end up like Marvel Heroes Omega

[blarhblarhblarh]

and plans to give more value to VIPs.


Sev


Still waiting for it. Please include a way to use cellphone or whatsapp for comunications at least for vip players. Spend a week online waiting for support and the staff still closed my ticket without any help.



And if you have the time please take a look here: I spend almost two months of vip, many slayer pots and xp pots to solve an epic destinie bug while trying to contact the support. When support came I had already fix it but didn´t got my vip time or pots back. This is not am exception in DDO´s custumer support.



https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/525916-Note-and-requirement-about-quot-Notice-about-Customer-Service-Reponse-Time-quot

[Arkat]

Still waiting for it. Please include a way to use cellphone or whatsapp for comunications at least for vip players. Spend a week online waiting for support and the staff still closed my ticket without any help.



And if you have the time please take a look here: I spend almost two months of vip, many slayer pots and xp pots to solve an epic destinie bug while trying to contact the support. When support came I had already fix it but didn´t got my vip time or pots back. This is not am exception in DDO´s custumer support.



https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/525916-Note-and-requirement-about-quot-Notice-about-Customer-Service-Reponse-Time-quot

You didn't like the amazing 10% off the purchase price of Saltmarsh?

I saved $2!!!

[Oxarhamar]

You didn't like the amazing 10% off the purchase price of Saltmarsh?

I saved $2!!!

Yeah the discount on something that should have been free for vip Woooooo

[Dandonk]

Still waiting for it.

Heh, yeah. The only thing they learned from the "mini-expansions" outrage was that they can get away with anything.