DDOcast Episode 133 (9-5-09)

[Mockduck]

Hi everyone! Episode 133 of DDOcast is now ready to go. Here's a LINK to the episode - just left-click to play, right-click and 'save as' to download as an mp3.


This week's episode features a group chat about the release of Eberron Unlimited! It's a big post-release chat about the latest update to DDO in addition to other news.

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DDOcast Episode 133 (9-5-09)


:10 Intro
2:55 Eberron Unlimited here, patch days
5:35 Head Start info, Turbine Points, signup help, premium info
10:00 My.DDO.com
11:00 9/9/9 talk
15:00 DDO:U likes, launch thoughts
22:55 DDO:U issues/skill change talk
26:20 Dungeon Scaling
32:26 Standpoint - Downgrade
38:40 Leveling tips
40:50 New quests - difficulty
46:50 Mouselook text, guild ranks
48:00 Loot Drop Rate - Mythbusters
52:30 Atari/Turbine Lawsuit latest
1:03:20 Advertising
1:05:00 Cannith names
1:09:03 Turbine at PAX
1:10:50 Tips for New Players
1:23:10 New Manual
1:23:50 Emails, final thoughts and tips


END


TOTAL TIME: 1:40:50


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LINK to FAQ about Eberron Unlimited and the new account plans.


LINK to Eberron Unlimited/Mod 9 Release Notes.


LINK to the latest Known Issues list.


LINK to Ten Ton Hammer's writeup about Atari's response to the Turbine lawsuit. This article basically says the same stuff as all of the other web site articles about this situation, so I'm not going to bother linking to a bunch of sites here.


LINK to Erfworld's web site, where a new DDO banner ad has recently been seen.


LINK to Turbine@Pax info. LINK to a pic of the booth, LINK to a pic of the t-shirts, LINK to a pic of the temporary tattoos.


LINK to Ron's Character Planner.


LINK to the new and latest DDO Manual by Turbine (PDF).


LINK to info about the Philadelphia Stand Down for homeless veterans.


Here's a pic of the new skills allocation screen, as discussed by Steiner-Davion on the show:






Jerry

[TreknaQudane]

Nice as always Jerry.

Another inaccurate manual however. I wish my fighters gained 4 + Int skills per level. ... Looks like they swapped Fighter and Monk skills per level.

[Ghirmeshk]

/applause

nice show

[Bekki]

Thank You.

An outstanding show as always.

BUt a was literally floored
when I got to the E-mails.


To be honest I wasn't sure about asking you to
to post it for fear of starting a precednet of promoting non DDO stuff
on the Podcast but I felt so strongly about this I decided to go for it.

I Just, I don't know how to say thank you enough.

Thank you, Thank you jerry.

Helping the Veterans is Something I truly Believe in.

These Brave men and Women Step up and As Marine Officer once said
"for little more than a Meager paycheck "and the love of their country
write a Blank check to there country saying Payable up to the cost of Ones Life'
(To Not only USA but many other countries as well)

And then they cvome home. And Some never truly recover.
It is my Honor to do my small part to repay these brave men and women
who made it possible for me to be a Marine.

And if my little bit can in some way, help get someone off the street
and maybe start a new life, or even in some small way just make there life
better for a day, or for just a little while. Then I think it is a small thing to do.

I cannot thank you enough for doing this.

Not Just for the Homeless Veterans.
But all Homeless, it is up to us as a soceity
to help those who need it.

Sometimes all someone really needs to make a change is for
someone , anyone to take a chance and Believe in them.


I truly cannot say thank you enough.


So for one last time
Thank you.

Bekki.

[KealGreystone]

Hey Bekki, Just wanted to say Thank YOU for taking your time to do what you can to help those in need in your community. We sure could use a lot more folks like you around this silly little Earth. But my thanks also go out to Jerry at DDOCast for mentioning this. Just goes to show that DDO isn't just a game. It's a growing community that will be around for a long, long time.

Keal.

[Mockduck]

Hey Bekki, Just wanted to say Thank YOU for taking your time to do what you can to help those in need in your community. We sure could use a lot more folks like you around this silly little Earth. But my thanks also go out to Jerry at DDOCast for mentioning this. Just goes to show that DDO isn't just a game. It's a growing community that will be around for a long, long time.

Keal.

Exactly. It's not DDO related, but it's a good effort and deserves a mention. I figure anything being done by a DDO player is also good to mention on the show, even if it does mostly impact people in Pennsylvania. I don't mind going "off topic" for a good cause!

[Kistilan]

Finally catching up on DDO Casts for the last 2 months.

Just listened to this one -- and the shows lately are great -- nice work Jerry & crew.

Now, I do want to disagree with what Jerry said some people will disagree with -- the levelling xp process.

Normal, Hard, and Elite are big deals. Prior to mod9, I would almost 99.9% of the time state ELITE is the way to go for players that have "twitch skills" and relatively good quest knowledge & gear.

Now that I've played through the harbor on Cannith, not so much atm. However, I think the error also lies in the failed dungeon scaling mechanic currently over-powering npcs. My opinion may return back to my original stance once they fix this.

That said, the rule NNN, NNH, NHE, or EEEEEEEENH really depends on the quest and the crew. Each letter represents a run in this code.

Crunching numbers is great, but 25% increase and 50% increase is just one of the benefits. The BASE xp of a quest changes significantly plus the bonus. I'm fairly positive 12% is not the gain difference between N-Constant and E-Constant. The 50% bonus isn't account for in this calculation, nor is the -10% -20% -30% -40% from the base xp for repeated runs. There is more leftover xp on elite than normal after these penalties are applied.

Finally, and I'm not sure this was accounted for either, if you can enter a quest on ELITE first, run the quest down to -50% and then enter on hard and normal, the penalty is REMOVED and the 25% first-time completion bonus for normal and hard is reinstated. This generates far more than a 12% difference.

However, the general view that I believe came from the show was that the group should play the level if their time vs completion is not significantly different. This is the rule of thumb to apply.

If you cannot complete the elite quest within 5-10 mins of a normal run, don't do it. You should really try to keep a normal and elite run (speedily, pre-Dungeon Alerts) within 2-5 mins of completion times. Powerlevelling for experienced players versus new players will vary base on quest knowledge and player capabilities.

Also, (and this is a Chronotrigger secret) if you have two characters of the same level and you are entering a quest on elite multiple times, there is a trade-off available. The quest may be very easy with a caster or fighter barreling through heedlessly. A fast tactic is to log the sorc/wiz of the same level (or group level) in and blaze through the first 6.5 mins killing as fast as possible. Then, log out and relog the character meant for completion. The character can enter and gain full xp by the end of the 13-15 min quest. This works particularly well in quests like Stormcleave, Thrall of the Necromancer, Gwylans, Etc. This also gives an edge to quests that are ridiculously hard at elite (currently) under the new Dungeon Alerts and erroneous Scaling system on the elite setting.

Anyway, I wanted to throw my 2-cent in on the levelling topic. I have always been an elite-only player but at this moment with the Dungeon Scaling it's just not an option for me when I fill a party up to 6 and take them into an elite wipe. Currently, the fastest way to level would be HHHHHHHHHN on most quests if the party is full (5-6 players). Mod 9 (and bugs) have completely changed the previous rules on levelling quickly.

[Mockduck]

Finally catching up on DDO Casts for the last 2 months.

Just listened to this one -- and the shows lately are great -- nice work Jerry & crew.

Now, I do want to disagree with what Jerry said some people will disagree with -- the levelling xp process.

Normal, Hard, and Elite are big deals. Prior to mod9, I would almost 99.9% of the time state ELITE is the way to go for players that have "twitch skills" and relatively good quest knowledge & gear.

Now that I've played through the harbor on Cannith, not so much atm. However, I think the error also lies in the failed dungeon scaling mechanic currently over-powering npcs. My opinion may return back to my original stance once they fix this.

That said, the rule NNN, NNH, NHE, or EEEEEEEENH really depends on the quest and the crew. Each letter represents a run in this code.

Crunching numbers is great, but 25% increase and 50% increase is just one of the benefits. The BASE xp of a quest changes significantly plus the bonus. I'm fairly positive 12% is not the gain difference between N-Constant and E-Constant. The 50% bonus isn't account for in this calculation, nor is the -10% -20% -30% -40% from the base xp for repeated runs. There is more leftover xp on elite than normal after these penalties are applied.

Finally, and I'm not sure this was accounted for either, if you can enter a quest on ELITE first, run the quest down to -50% and then enter on hard and normal, the penalty is REMOVED and the 25% first-time completion bonus for normal and hard is reinstated. This generates far more than a 12% difference.

However, the general view that I believe came from the show was that the group should play the level if their time vs completion is not significantly different. This is the rule of thumb to apply.

If you cannot complete the elite quest within 5-10 mins of a normal run, don't do it. You should really try to keep a normal and elite run (speedily, pre-Dungeon Alerts) within 2-5 mins of completion times. Powerlevelling for experienced players versus new players will vary base on quest knowledge and player capabilities.

Also, (and this is a Chronotrigger secret) if you have two characters of the same level and you are entering a quest on elite multiple times, there is a trade-off available. The quest may be very easy with a caster or fighter barreling through heedlessly. A fast tactic is to log the sorc/wiz of the same level (or group level) in and blaze through the first 6.5 mins killing as fast as possible. Then, log out and relog the character meant for completion. The character can enter and gain full xp by the end of the 13-15 min quest. This works particularly well in quests like Stormcleave, Thrall of the Necromancer, Gwylans, Etc. This also gives an edge to quests that are ridiculously hard at elite (currently) under the new Dungeon Alerts and erroneous Scaling system on the elite setting.

Anyway, I wanted to throw my 2-cent in on the levelling topic. I have always been an elite-only player but at this moment with the Dungeon Scaling it's just not an option for me when I fill a party up to 6 and take them into an elite wipe. Currently, the fastest way to level would be HHHHHHHHHN on most quests if the party is full (5-6 players). Mod 9 (and bugs) have completely changed the previous rules on levelling quickly.

You raise very good points. I just know that when all is said and done I can get someone from lvl 1 to level 4 in maybe 4 hours of playing on normal, but die a lot more on elite. I find it much easier to power-level on normal and run a bunch of stuff, rather than elite. But if you are good at quests, it's true that elite is probably the best way to go.

I also like to go NHE so I know that I'm not missing any xp bonuses. It can be hard to know what's been run on what for the first time if you start on elite.