Weekly Dev Activities 04/14/08

[Angelus_dead]

Now sure what that means.... Did we not get enough new content to Recap our Characters?

It's true that there should have been more quests in the level 16-17 range.
There also should've been more spells at level 8, especially for clerics.
Or for paladins/rangers, more spells at level 4.
And all classes/races probably should've had a few enhancements for levels 15-16.

[Dexxaan]

Yeah, would be nice to have a res shrine appear after his (and the elementals) death. Just saves wasted time running back and wasted time for people standing there holding the instance open for the people running back.

Solution = Don´t Die!

[Laith]

BZZRT! FoD

yep, since FoD is the answer every party has for every situation, any enhancement to melee is pointless.

yep. exactly.

[alans240]

Now sure what that means.... Did we not get enough new content to Recap our Characters? Do we not have access to some incredibly powerful Items and Weaponry? are Elite quests not a Challenge to the average player??

Spells, it's all about the spells.

For the love of God PLEASE give us more level 8 spells.

[Angelus_dead]

I assume they would... the Barbarian Critical Rage stuff stacks. I would think this would be a similar mechanic....

The question about whether Divine Sacrifice and Exalted Smite stack is really whether you can use them at the same time or not.

As the enhancement is written, Divine Sacrifice is a short self-buff that applies to the next attack you make. By that interpretation, your next attack could be a smite.

But it is reasonable to expect that Divine Sacrifice is really an active melee attack which causes a special-effect swing as soon as you click the icon. In that case, using it at the same time as Smite Evil is just impossible, and stacking isn't even an issue.

[Thrudh]

I think they should KEEP the stealth part of it... but make the DC higher, so you've got a REALLY good chance of an instant kill..

I LOVE the idea of sending in the rogue first to take out a caster or maybe even an orange name...

Of course, once he makes the first kill, all hell breaks lose, and it will be very difficult for him to stay in stealth to use that skill again...

I'd rather see this be a once per fight kind of attack, but for it to land 80%-95% of the time.

Adds great flavor to the rogue class that way.

[Rkik_Dnec]

I have been praying for an end to the Shield Wall tactic.. c'mon, buddy.. you're mad at the caster, and I'm in the way. Hit me, punk! HIT ME!

Now iof mobs would just run out of Walls of Fire and cloudkills when they can't hit the caster.. mm.. cooking with oil!

The only problem with this, is how realistic is it? I know personally that if I get caught in an enemy firewall, I will stand right there as long as I'm fighting someone. Of course I'll move if I start taking too much damage or getting too close to dead, but otherwise I'll stand there.

So if they coded it so that the mobs will either attack what is in their way, or will only move when close to dead I'd be fine, but if they make it so they instantly leave the firewall, well then that spell becomes almost completely useless.

[Impaqt]

The only problem with this, is how realistic is it? I know personally that if I get caught in an enemy firewall, I will stand right there as long as I'm fighting someone. Of course I'll move if I start taking too much damage or getting too close to dead, but otherwise I'll stand there.

So if they coded it so that the mobs will either attack what is in their way, or will only move when close to dead I'd be fine, but if they make it so they instantly leave the firewall, well then that spell becomes almost completely useless.

You would Stand ina Maximized, Empowered, Superior Potencied Critical Wall of Fire?

I doubt it.

[HumanJHawkins]

• NEW The bartenders of Stormreach have become tired of watching the lucrative business of item repair going to other shopkeepers, and have enrolled in an item repair courses. Barkeeps will now be able to repair items.
• NEW Intimidate now generates significantly greater threat against affected monsters when used.
• NEW Monsters will react more intelligently to being prevented from reaching their desired targets.

OMG this is cool! These three things are awesome... The last one, if it works, could be a huge sweet game-changing thing. Can't wait to see what happens when we shield block at doors! :-)

[gpk]

Sigh, Divine Sacrifice is pretty much remaining as crappy as it was first introduced.

Damage dealt/taken ratio is still way out of whack for DDO even with the "increased" dmg at higher tiers and then even if the damge is fixed it still pales in comparison to Ram's Might.

Take a questionable situational pnp spell (poor choice), implement it as 3 tier enhancement with total disregard to it's original purpose and don't take DDO mobs into account and you end up with what we have now; a sad sad spell like enhancement.
Meanwhile the good pally only spells and divine feats still go unanounced; are they even planned?

The WDAs are passing us by and still all we have is no real mod7 pally love

[Rkik_Dnec]

You would Stand ina Maximized, Empowered, Superior Potencied Critical Wall of Fire?

I doubt it.

If I had enough resists I would


I guess I would just like to see some middle ground. A lot of people seem to be calling for mobs to run away the instant they touch the fire, which seems to be the opposite extreme, and really no more intelligent than what they are currently doing. Though I guess it would really just make Firewalls act more like blade barriers with casters kiting them through the walls repeatedly. Unless of course they made the enemies' pathing smarter so they'd run around the wall or avoid it completely, which could make for an interesting situation of using it to block a door.

[dameron]

Why wouldnt you just DPS em to death if they are Blinded, Held or stoned?

In a way that's exactly my point. You can auto-crit or auto-sneak attack these mobs but you can't re-stealth on them.

Turbine should give 10,000 xp to every rogue who successfully pulls off an assassination in a PUG. That might balance it out.

[binnsr]

OMG this is cool! These three things are awesome... The last one, if it works, could be a huge sweet game-changing thing. Can't wait to see what happens when we shield block at doors! :-)

They'll probably all just back off and pull out their bows and spears .. which will make you break the shieldwall (or range/cast at them) to take them down.

[HumanJHawkins]

The only problem with this, is how realistic is it? I know personally that if I get caught in an enemy firewall, I will stand right there as long as I'm fighting someone. Of course I'll move if I start taking too much damage or getting too close to dead, but otherwise I'll stand there.

So if they coded it so that the mobs will either attack what is in their way, or will only move when close to dead I'd be fine, but if they make it so they instantly leave the firewall, well then that spell becomes almost completely useless.

Lol... Remind me not to Cleric for you!

Seriously... Wall of Fire is not supposed to be an offensive spell. Use of wall of fire as an offensive spell should have probably been considered an exploit from the beginning. It is supposed to be a barricade... The monsters either have to stand behind it and take ranged damage, or run through it (once and only once) to get to where they want to go.

It's supposed to hurt players as well as monsters, but because of the anti-griefing thing necessary to MMOs (where nothing you do can hurt another player), it doesn't. But you are not supposed to be able to drag an Ogre back and fourth through it until it dies.

In short, I hope this works well... It will nerf the hell out of my caster, but will overall be very good for the game. And my scorching rays should still one-shot a lot of things, so I think my Sorc will still be viable.

[dameron]

yep, since FoD is the answer every party has for every situation, any enhancement to melee is pointless.

yep. exactly.

Yeah, groups are so patient. They're totally gonna let folks "play rogue" and sneak into the room and assassinate mobs.

The same way they patiently wait for the rogue to check and disable the trap.

It's not pointless, just not nearly worth the AP spent to acquire it.

Maybe rogues who solo or two man teams might take advantage of this. Maybe.

[artvan_delet]

NEW Paladin Extra Smite Evil I - IV each now increase your maximum number of Smites by 1

At least we get to keep our extra remove diseases! Seriously, can we have remove disease do something useful. Panacea maybe? Something.

[Impaqt]

In a way that's exactly my point. You can auto-crit or auto-sneak attack these mobs but you can't re-stealth on them.

Turbine should give 10,000 xp to every rogue who successfully pulls off an assassination in a PUG. That might balance it out.

Well, Its a Tactic. If you dont use them in your groups, THen there isnt much more to be said.

AS I pointed out in another thread, there is indeed a pretty foolproof way to use this, but it requires and Intimitank inthe party.

ROgue Hangs with the Intimitank, WHen the Tank does his thing, you drop into Stealth and wait for them to come to you. Seems like a Pretty solid tactic to me. If your just zerging with Reckless abandon, most special abilities are lost.....

[VonBek]

Other Changes

• NEW Tasty Ham no longer makes potion sounds when it hits the ground.

Any word if this will use the "Ornate Urn Breakage" sound effect?

[Strumpoo]

I like these:
NEW Charmed monsters should be less indecisive about picking out enemies. Likewise, your foes will less indecisive about who they focus aggression toward when a summoned or charmed monster is near them.

I HATE this idea, if it is what I think it is.

Does this mean that charmed mobs are going to draw the same Insta Hate that cloudkill does?

You know, the aggro that makes all mobs in a ten mile radius attack the caster and pound him into the ground no matter who else attacks them? If so this change is horrible for enchanters and all the charm spells just became nearly useless. Charmed mobs are exactly that, charmed (and "on your side") attacking other mobs. Those mobs should be aggroed on the mobs attacking them, not the caster.

Maybe I am misunderstanding the change but I don't think so.

The other thing I don't like is the wrack construct enhancement.

How can a rogue suddenly be superbly damaging against one of their most feared enemies, the construct?

This enemy is the bane of all rogue types, since they can't be critically hit or sneak attacked.

How can, all a sudden, rogues bypass this inherant weakness in their class abilities?? Constructs are NOT machines, there are no gears, levers, and pullies powering them. They are not robots.

What is next? An enhancement that lets rogues crit undead?

[Laith]

Yeah, groups are so patient. They're totally gonna let folks "play rogue" and sneak into the room and assassinate mobs.

you're right: i don't expect any pugs to wait for this... it's on par with fascinate there.
then again, not all groups are pugs, and we shouldn't base the usefulness of an ability on the group that's least likely to take advantage of it.

of course, that's far from the only way to use the enhancement. personally, any mob that's worth vorpaling is worth using death attack on. if you can't come up with valid ways to use this attack DURING a fight, then perhaps this isn't the enhancement for you.