Top 3 flawed items from module 4
The following prominent items from module 4 are flawed in their design or implementation, and it would improve the game to fix them in the manner I describe. I do not seriously expect these items to be fixed, as the established pattern is that Turbine will only change items to nerf them, or because the underlying shared property the item used was boosted. (However, the buffing of the Tempest Spine named loot was counter to that overall trend, so there's still hope). Items are included on this list not simply for being weak, but for being nonuseful or ugly such that players either cannot enjoy having it, or find it's value disproportionate to the effort of acquisition. Only raid loot or quasi-raid loot is considered, because it holds a prominent place in the game and should be aspirational and satisfying once acquired.
Flawed item #1- Ventilated Bracers
Reaver's Fate raid loot with 2 properties: +3 enhancement on Disable Device, and +5 armor bonus. Both of those properties are weak, adding up to a disappointingly weak raid loot. Only a very limited set of character builds could benefit from it, and even they get minimal enjoyment.
Flaws:
a. When a level 14 rogue has trouble with a trap, it's not Disable Device that's the sticking point- it's Search. An item boosting DD was introduced at the same time that Search was given primacy of importance in trap-fighting. My rogue has these bracers, and has never equipped them, because there is no trap I'd need a boost disabling, except for those I can't even find.
b. Any level 14 raid-running character who wants to wear bracers of armor can find bracers +6 without trouble. Partially this is due to some magic properties DDO introduced without basis in PnP: bracers with +2 dodge bonus, and robes with armor of +4 to +6.
c. Note that bracers with a +4 armor bonus can be acquired by level 1 characters in Waterworks. A level 14 raid loot giving only a +1 bonus above level 1 static loot is laughable on its face.
Fixed Ventilated Bracers: +2 enhancement bonus on Search and Disable Device, +6 armor bonus.
Alternatively, it would be interesting and non-overpowered to replace the armor bonus with either a +5 natural AC bonus, a +5 shield AC bonus, or a +2 dodge AC bonus.
Flawed item #2- Copper Ingot Incarnum
+2 Superior Lightning Lore Quarterstaff of Superior Magnetism IV. A named staff from the Gianthold Tor quest, which is a quasi-raid (indicating that the encounters are more intense than in a typical quest, and the loot should be correspondingly more powerful). It features custom 3d artwork, which is wasted because the item is too unattractive to really use. It compares very unfavorably to generic items occupying the same niches. Note that the same quest drops the similar items Silver Ingot Incarnum and Copper Ingot Incarnum, which share the same shortcomings. The core problem with all of them is that effort was expended creating custom artwork for items that hardly any caster will ever use.
This item's flaws:
a. Boosts an unpopular and underpowered energy type. The fact is that when a DDO mage wants to inflict hitpoint damage, he turns mainly to Wall of Fire, Scorching Ray, or Disintegrate. An item which does not boost those spells is far less valuable. However, I will ignore that limitation and consider it as unavoidable: the goal for the item should be something attractive for a caster who has already decided to use lightning spells.
b. It's a quarterstaff. That means it takes two hands to hold, essentially using up two item slots on your paperdoll. An item which costs two slots to equip needs to be seriously better than an item that fits in one slot. (Not necessarily twice as good, but moving in that direction). It's not real hard to get a +3 Scepter of Superior Lightning Lore, and it is massively more flexible by allowing me to use the other hand to hold a shield, superior magnetism item, or superior potency item.
c. The spell level limit is too low. For an item in a level 14 quest, its boost shouldn't cap out at spells wizards have been casting since they were level 5. (Note that Magnetism IV is no better than Magnetism III, since DDO has no lightning spells of level 4). If you're going to cast anything above level 3 Lightning Bolt, you'll need to hold another Magnetism item.
Fixed Copper Ingot Incarnum #1:
+3 Shocking Burst Quarterstaff of Superior Lightning Lore, Sup Magnetism V, Great Magnetism VIII, Greater Lightning Resistance.
This change makes it ideally useful for Chain Lightning and highly useful for Ball Lightning, plus has a handy consolation-prize in that non-spellcasters can equip it if they need help surviving a lightning threat. (The value of the lightning resistance is fairly low compared to the two body slots needed to use it). The Shocking Burst melee property is nearly useless on a quarterstaff, and is mostly flavor.
Fixed Copper Ingot Incarnum #2:
+3 Shocking Burst Copper Scepter of Superior Lightning Lore, Great Magnetism V, Imp Magnetism VIII, Improved Lightning Resistance.
This choice (which would require resizing the artwork) makes the item a better version of the ubiquitous Superior Lightning Lore Scepter. A caster wanting maximal lightning damage would still need a separate magnetism item, however.
Naturally, the Silver and Copper staffs should be improved in corresponding ways.
Flawed item #3- Madstone Shield
+5 Gem Tower Shield of Tower Shield Proficiency. The problem with this item is different from the others: mechanically it is a useful reward, as it allows a non-fighter like a paladin or cleric to gain a +2 AC boost in exchange for a -2 attack penalty and ACP penalties to balance and jump. As a high-end raid item, that's valuable but not overpowered. The problem is that to gain these advantages, the player character must walk around with an ugly model on her arm.
Flaws:
a. It's supposed to be blue crystal, but it looks like blue plastic, or at best wood covered in blue acrylic paint.
b. The lower edge of the shield has a dark shadow on it, indicating it was illuminated by a bright light source above. However, that shadow doesn't move when the shield is re-oriented in use, making the shadow seem painted on instead of naturally cast.
Fixed Madstone Shield: The same thing, but with texture and surface properties redone to keep the standard principles of 3d modeling in mind; any non-runtime shading should be using a gentle diffuse light, rather than a strong point-light that will noticably conflict with the actual lights in the gameplay scenes. Surface properties to make it shiny on the gem-edges but not the central plates would be good. And if the edges could be environment-mapped or semi-translucent, that'd be even better.
Note that the Axe of Adaxus shares the same graphical flaws as the Madstone Shield, but they matter less because the item is mechanically marginal.
Bonus Flawed items #4- Dragon scale docents
The fleshlings who get armor made from dragon scales can recieve the equivalent of +6 fullplate, +6 leather, or even +7 scale armor. But a Warforged who selects a docent still only gets the AC benefit of +5 above his Body feat. However, this is a subtle issue with points on both sides, and I won't go into documenting them here. It isn't easy to make a straightforward proposal of item properties that would be improved and yet still fair.
