DDOcast Episode 119 (5-29-09)

[Mockduck]

Hi everyone! Episode 119 of DDOcast is now ready to go - here's a LINK to the file. Just left-click to play, right-click and 'save as' to download as an mp3. Thanks so much for listening! www.ddocast.com

This week's show features the latest news along with a good look at tactics in "Know Your Role", adding a boost to your items in the Stone of Change in "Definitive Collectibles" and a look at leadership traits in "Sound Concepts".

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DDOcast Episode 119 (5-29-09)

:15 Intro
1:44 Amaurea leaving
3:17 Smitey gets a promotion
4:10 Stormreach Community Chronicle news
4:50 Mod 9 latest
6:05 Mod 10 puzzle
7:03 E3
7:35 Memorial Day stuff
7:55 Eladrin talks thief-acrobat, quarterstaff question
9:00 Press articles
10:50 DDO Compendium updated
11:33 Keeper stuff - instances, public areas, user generated content etc
15:25 Contest Winners
16:30 Sanadil's Interactive DDO Game Guide
17:47 Turbine business news
18:35 Lessah - Know Your Role
27:56 Steiner-Davion - Definitive Collectibles
33:32 Samius - Sound Concepts
44:05 Events - Sarlona - "You Look Mahvelous"
45:05 Sarlona - Adventurer's Race Circuit
45:37 Aussie/Eight congrats
45:48 iTunes reviews
47:23 Email

TOTAL TIME: 52:57

END

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LINK to wish Amaurea the best of luck in the future as she moves on from Codemasters. LINK to first post by Dnote.

LINK to Smitey getting promoted to community moderator on DDO-Europe.com

LINK to Brannigan Foehammer's announcement as he retires from the Stormreach Community Chronicle.

LINK to the latest Stormreach Community Chronicle.

LINK to Tolero's Mod 10 info puzzle and here's the puzzle:















ok, here's the
first set of clues
for you.
I hope you
can solve
it and get the
answer as quickly as
last time.

For now,
our hope is that it's
really hard to
uncover our
meaning this time, mwuhahah!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E (Clue: *flex*)
_ _ _ _ _ . _ E _ _ _ _ (Clue: I see what you did there)
_ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (Clue: Smart song)
_ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E (Clue: Your Ki is strong!)
_ _ _ _ . _ _ _ (Clue: Share with yourself)
E _ _ _ _ _ _ (Clue: It's a creature and a spiffy person)
_ E _ _ _ . _ _ E E _ (Clue: evil ruler)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (Clue: wee butterflies!)
_ E _ _ E _ _ E _ (Clue: RAWR!)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E (Clue: Keeper)
_ _ _ _ _ _ . _ E E _ _ _ _ _ (Clue: It could happen if you fought a speaker with a microphone)
_ _ _ . _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (Clue: Devils aren't known for their works of this)
_ _ _ _ _ _ (Clue: Soon you will use this to loot all)
_ _ E _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (Clue: side by side)
_ E _ _ E _ (Clue: He loves mushrooms, kegs, and jumping)
_ E _ _ _ _ (Clue: You are the master of body mind and will)
_ _ _ _ (Clue: Stuff, it goes in them!)
_ _ _ _ _ E _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E . _ E _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (Clue: ZOOOOM goes the sword!)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (Clue: The eldritch device likes to go nom nom nom on these)
_ E _ E _ _ (Clue: Hirelings are going to be better at using these)
_ _ _ _ _ . _ _ E _ _ E _ (Clue: Eladrin gave you this as a present for xmas)
_ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ E _ E _ _ _ (Clue: Phax likes doing these)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ (Clue: Celebrating with this is lucritive)
_ _ _ E _ _ _ _ _ (Clue: Pocket haste ftw!)

Eek! Count me out...

LINK to the Zam.com article on DDO.

LINK to the Sarcastic Gamer article on DDO.

LINK to the DDO Compendium update Release Notes.

DDO.com Fan Contest Week One winner: LINK, IMAGE

Week Two winner: LINK, IMAGE

Motivational Poster Contest info: DDO.com, DDO-Europe.com

LINK to Sanadil's Interactive DDO Game Guide, v 3.0. LINK to the download.

LINK to Turbine's press release about a new executive named.

LINK to Steiner-Davion's info on the Stone of Change info. Here it is:

During our last conversation we talked about the all important Bind and Attuning Ritual and Adamantine Crafting Rituals and where to farm for Adamantine Ore. This week we turn to two of my favorite crafting rituals, Force Damage and Force Critical.



Now some of you may be wondering why these two rituals are my favorite, when there are a couple of others that could be argued far superior and rightfully so. My reason is quite simple, every character can benefit from one or the other. In DDO there are tons of weapons that bind on acquire or bind on equip. Retribution is a classic example. It is a solid weapon all throughout the game for the average player, that is assuming you are Lawful Good or have a high UMD score.



The point being though is that there is no reason not to upgrade these bound weapons if you have the requisite crafting materials, as you are not hindering yourself by binding and attuning the weapon to your character anyway, since you cannot hand it down to an Alt to begin with. So why not make it a bit more useful?

So first let’s talk about these two crafting rituals and the pros and cons of each, and when each one is appropriate or worthwhile. Force Damage grants your weapons damage an additional 1 point of Force Type damage with each hit, while Force Critical deals an additional 1d4 points of Force Type damage with each successful critical hit. In my opinion both are equally hard to gather the necessary components. But, Force Damage is the way to go in most circumstances. The exception being 1 of 2 things:

1) You have the appropriate Improved Critical feat for the weapon in Question or
2) You have a Keen or Impact Weapon


Exception #2 is a bit more tricky because when it comes to blunt weapons because of their small Critical Threat Range But if you have a Keen Rapier or Scimitar, or Improved Critical Piercing or Slashing and use those weapons, Force Critical is the way to go in those cases. Otherwise it is just best to go with Force Damage. compared to edged weapons.

So Force Damage requires you to collect 3 Luminescent Dusts, and 9 Fragrant Drowshood Mushrooms.

Luminescent Dust is almost exclusively found from either Adventure Packs or Alchemy Tables. Some great farming locations include: Tomb of the Crimson Heart, don't waste your time anywhere else if you need dusts; Catacombs Part 1, two bookshelves behind doors, near each shrine; Catacombs Part 3, three bookshelves total, but these drop a lot of junk; STK Part 2, alchemy table near entrance; Redfang the Unruled , go in the pull switch and open the door, a cabinet is at far end of the room and finally Enemy Within, some rooms in this quest have many alchemy tables which drops pigments close to 80% of time, not sure if it worth the effort of clearing mobs though.

Fragrant Drowshood Mushrooms can be found from any Purple Mushroom, but most profitably and efficiently from two quests in House Deneith, that don’t offer much other than Favor; Depth of Darkness - 2 near entrance, detect the secret door and take right, and from Depth of Despair – with its total of 3 mushrooms in the entrance area.


Force Critical requires you to collect 6 Sparkling Dusts, and 12 Deadly Feverblanch Mushrooms.


Sparkling Dust is almost exclusively found from either Adventure Packs or Alchemy Tables. Farming locations are the same for Luminescent Dust as mentioned previously , but include: Tomb of the Crimson Heart, Catacombs Parts 1 and 3, STK Part 2, Redfang the Unruled and Enemy Within.


Deadly Feverblanch can be found in just about any Harbor or Marketplace quest that has a Red Mushroom, which is to say just about, if not all of those quests. Some of the more profitable ones include: Bonebite Hideout ; Clan Gnashtooth (Water Works parts 3 and 4); The Butcher's Path; and The Kidnapper's Refuge.

As always if you have any questions or comments feel free to post them in the New & Improved Definitive Collectable List thread on the DDO.com forums (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=155251).

LINK to the "You Look Mahvelous" event happening Sunday on Sarlona.

LINK to Sunday's Adventurer's Race Circuit info, happening on Sunday on Sarlona.

LINK to Aussie and Eight's wedding photos, from Khyber.

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The latest screenshot:



Later!

Jerry

[Sarkastik]

Ok, so I've given in and accepted that I really do enjoy grinding, and hence I'm still really enjoying playing DDO :-). I've taken these extra steps to increase the grind factor in my DDO experience:

1. In addition to my VIP account, I have taken to running a pure F2P account so that I can also grind out DDO points for all the adventure packs. After 4 years, I've finally TR'd once ... completionist *may* take a while!

2. I've started listening to every DDOCast episode, right from the start. BUT, episode 119 is missing at cyberears!! Where is it? How will I ever get my fix?

[Arkat]

8.5 year old necro...nice.