Weekly Development Activities 3/31/2008

[Elsiah]

Oh, sweet god thank you!

Do you have ANY idea how hard it's been to justify being a level 16 pure pally until today? Thank you, turbine, for giving me the reasons i KNEW you would to have my main be a crazy pick-weilding pure paladin. WELL worth it! jeez, all my friends are gonna be dying now that i will be able to smite with such crazy numbers...

[Tallyn]

Druids.

Hmmm, Druids can be strong, but PM me a build that can out-melee a battle cleric, or outspell an offensive caster cleric or is as defensive as a Cleric. Just basic books by the way, because I haven't reviewed too many of the new druid spells that were published with the other "Complete" series of books and what not.

[ArkoHighStar]

I actually think where this will have the biggest ramifications will be for low level bards where fascinate is most useful because arcanes are not as potent at those low levels. At the high levels gear, green steal items, etc. will be easier to attain, but fascinate will not be needed whether mass hold, mass suggestion, firewall, bb, fireball, are used, etc. The end result of all this is that there will be a lot less fascinates taking place in game which is actually a bad thing for ddo because fascinating is a truly unique aspect to the game. My advice to the devs is to add a few static items to low level quests which improve fascinating; thus reinforcing the advantages of fascinating. Like a +7 perform item min level 3 from ww for instance.

we have them, its just nobody uses them. Phiarlans ring comes to mind, and gwylans blade(stacks with other perform items) they are min lvl 5.

[maddmatt70]

we have them, its just nobody uses them. Phiarlans ring comes to mind, and gwylans blade(stacks with other perform items) they are min lvl 5.

Both are from gwylan's stand a level 7 quest and the ring only adds +5 and blade +2. They are not static rewards but random drops. You can find better items on the AH - +7 at that level. Regardless there should be a really nice low level static reward which is higher then appropriate for that level. If it is like a tr or delaras 50% drop rate that is fine with me. What is going to happen is fascinate will begin to disappear from the game. Fireballs and firewalls already ruin the fun at high levels and now it will be ruined at low levels as well.

[BlueBadger]

I love how Tolero hints at reallocating skill points and hardly anyone seems to notice or discuss it. I think that this is the single biggest change on all the WDA.

[rpasell]

I love how Tolero hints at reallocating skill points and hardly anyone seems to notice or discuss it. I think that this is the single biggest change on all the WDA.

I think she misspoke/you misunderstood. I took that to mean for those who don't allocate max points to perform, not that you will be able to change how you allocated skill points..

[TreknaQudane]

NEW Rogue Way of the Thief Acrobat II

• Cost: 2 Action Points
• Prereq: Rogue Level 12, Rogue Way of the Thief Acrobat I, Rogue Dexterity III, 42 Action Points Spent
• Benefit: Grants an additional +2 bonus to Balance, Jump, and Tumble skills, increases your movement rate by 10%, and 2 extra uses per rest of Uncanny Dodge. Also grants a greater increase to attack speed with staves and complete immunity to knockdown effects and slippery surfaces.

Would that stave bonus include the Shining Crescent or is it only for staff weapons type Quaterstaff?

[Laith]

What is going to happen is fascinate will begin to disappear from the game.

i don't get it.

without items, but with maxed skill, fascinate averages as on par (or better) in DC with an equivalent caster casting his highest level spell.

at lvl1 (assume 18 stat):
fascinate: 4ranks + 4stat + 1d20 = 9-28 DC (avg = 18.5 DC)
lvl1 spell: 10base + 4stat + 1spell level + 1 focus =16 DC

at lvl16 (assume 30 stat):
fascinate: 19ranks + 10stat + 1d20 = 30-49 DC (avg = 39.5 DC)
lvl8 spell: 10base + 10stat + 8spell level + 2 focus = 30 DC

[Dylos_Moon]

I love how Tolero hints at reallocating skill points and hardly anyone seems to notice or discuss it. I think that this is the single biggest change on all the WDA.

And I think the single biggest change is that this is the only WDA not posted by Q since 7/2/07.

[Eladrin]

Would that stave bonus include the Shining Crescent or is it only for staff weapons type Quaterstaff?

It will include the Shining Crescents.

[Ragons]

Since fascinate now has a saving throw, will fascinate work against Orange Names?

[Shaamis]

NEW! Shields now can be randomly generated with a much wider range of enchantments.

PLEASE do this for Half-plate as well! PLEASE

[Zenako]

i don't get it.

without items, but with maxed skill, fascinate averages as on par (or better) in DC with an equivalent caster casting his highest level spell.

at lvl1 (assume 18 stat):
fascinate: 4ranks + 4stat + 1d20 = 9-28 DC (avg = 18.5 DC)
lvl1 spell: 10base + 4stat + 1spell level + 1 focus =16 DC

at lvl16 (assume 30 stat):
fascinate: 19ranks + 10stat + 1d20 = 30-49 DC (avg = 39.5 DC)
lvl8 spell: 10base + 10stat + 8spell level + 2 focus = 30 DC

items just go to FURTHER the advantage to using fascinate.

Umm, don't forget all the spells, and things which add to Perform Skill as well (GH, Skill Boost, Focusing Chant, Luck Items). In general the effect will be almost nothing for any Bard who has kept Perform maxed out anyway. For example, my Spellsinger will have something on the order of a 19 (ranks)+12(stat)+4(GH)+2(head) = 37 in quests even without a Perform Item on him. add in one of the 15's I have and the DC is 52+ now. Don't see very many WILL saves coming into that neighborhood anytime soon. It does remove the song from being a 100% success to a 95% success for most bards. Warchanters builds might suffer a bit more depending on how that went about it.


Overall this WDA contains lots of yumminess for a lot of reasons. The explorer areas will help those of us compulsive types, and they figured out a way to avoid powerleveling effects. Lots of nice new options for Paly's, some for Rogues and few general things too. Like the cleaning up of the catacombs, those stupid slimes and oozes made that a low level hellride when you combine various undead with oozes it often ended up with trashed gear.

[Strakeln]

While I think applying a save to fascinate is long overdue, it is yet another overwhelming example of the need for a skill respec capability. For over two years, there has been little use for the perform skill, now all of a sudden it becomes highly important (esp. vs casters with Force of Personality), yet there is no recourse for bards who decided to not waste skill points for RP purposes.

Yes, many of us have learned from being screwed over by skill changes in the past... my bards all have max perform... but come on, Turbine... get with the program here. You recognize the need to respec enhancements and feats, bite the bullet and implement a skill respec.

[maddmatt70]

i don't get it.

without items, but with maxed skill, fascinate averages as on par (or better) in DC with an equivalent caster casting his highest level spell.

at lvl1 (assume 18 stat):
fascinate: 4ranks + 4stat + 1d20 = 9-28 DC (avg = 18.5 DC)
lvl1 spell: 10base + 4stat + 1spell level + 1 focus =16 DC

at lvl16 (assume 30 stat):
fascinate: 19ranks + 10stat + 1d20 = 30-49 DC (avg = 39.5 DC)
lvl8 spell: 10base + 10stat + 8spell level + 2 focus = 30 DC

items just go to FURTHER the advantage to using fascinate.

It is really easy to cherry pick numbers like you did. At 1st level and 16th level fascinate will be at its strongest. The 1st level for 4 ranks in the skill and the 16th for the inevitable items you will get. The levels that are worrisome are 4th - 12th. 4th level fascinate is +11 + roll which will land alot less then now currently. Bards love fascinate and think it is cool, but if it doesn't help that takes away another nice feature in the game.

[Yaga_Nub]

Since fascinate now has a saving throw, will fascinate work against Orange Names?

That would be great.

[ShadesofGreen]

[*]NEW Two of the shroud lieutenants were not properly buffing their pals; their boss has smacked them around a bit, and now they will play better with others.[/LIST][U][B]Quests

MuHahaha, oh yeah my laughter cause my boss to give me that; "You're not really working are you?" look! Priceless. Thanks Tolero.

[Laith]

It is really easy to cherry pick numbers like you did. At 1st level and 16th level fascinate will be at its strongest. The 1st level for 4 ranks in the skill and the 16th for the inevitable items you will get.

i didn't include items.
infact, i gave every advantage to spell casting, because i gave them focus feats but DIDN'T include skill boosting buffs for fascinate.


The problem with the "cherry picking" complaint is that both DCs and skill values raise LINEARLY as you level.

spell DCs go up 1 every 2 character levels.
skill DCs (and therefor fascinate DCs) go up 1 every 1 character level.

due to this. fascinate DCs improve at a quicker rate than spell DCs. At some point (depending on whether you look at average or worst-d20-roll) fascinate wins out hands-down.

worst-d20-roll tie (with no modifiers) falls at lvl13
fascinate: 16ranks + 1onthed20 = 17DC
spell (lvl7): 10base + 7spellLevel = 17 DC

worst-d20-roll: fascinate lose at lvl11
fascinate: 14ranks + 1onthed20 = 15DC
spell (lvl6): 16 DC

worst-d20-roll: fascinate win at lvl15
fascinate: 18 + 1onthed20 = 19
spell (lvl8): 18 DC

as you can see, the DC for fascinate goes up 1:1 for every level.
the DC for spells goes up .5:1 for every level.
spells start out at 11, fascinate at 5 (at lvl1).
naturally it takes a while to catch up.

~~~~

average-d20-roll has fascinate winning at lvl1.
fascinate: 3skill + 10.5rollond20 = 13 DC
spell lvl1: 10base + 1spell level = 11 DC
fascinate's lead just gets better as you progress.

at lvl16+, fascinate DCs are higher, assuming the same stat modifier and no buffs or feats.
this linear relationship would have been easier to see before if i had used the same stat modifier at lvl1 & 16, but i went for the more "real case" example.

[stockwizard5]

Oh, sweet god thank you!

Do you have ANY idea how hard it's been to justify being a level 16 pure pally until today? Thank you, turbine, for giving me the reasons i KNEW you would to have my main be a crazy pick-weilding pure paladin. WELL worth it! jeez, all my friends are gonna be dying now that i will be able to smite with such crazy numbers...

There is nothing here justifying Pure Palidin through Level 16.

Compared to your Pally 10 - an effective +1 to Crit Range * 5 uses provides (at best) a 25% chance for a single additional crit per rest - that is less than one per quest - I very much doubt your friends (or any additional enemies) will be "dying".

1. Replace Smite Clicky with Smite Cooldown (Manyshot Style)
2. Update Divine Sacrifice (Level 4/8/12/16/20) to Permanent -10HP/Level and -10SP/Level for Inherant +1d6/Level vs Evil (Double for Undead)

[MysticTheurge]

You know, I see a good deal of paladin love, and a little rogue love. Just saying, why isn't there any enhancements to boost a rogue's crit range or modifier while sneak attacking, or at least something similar?

So a no-uses-per-day, any-time-you're-sneak-attacking, short-cooldown death attack isn't enough?



Oh, and while you guys are working on shields, can you do to shields what you did to scepters? I'd love to get some shields that boost spellcasting (spell penetration, potency et al., focus items) with a enhancement bonus based on the level of the item.