With the new quests and raids seemingly adding yet another level to the above, it's time to seriously rethink the way you allow us to interact with items in DDO.

I know tentative steps are being made with the barter UI for crafting in various places but I feel this needs to be accelerated. There are far, far too many different types, sources, and natures of ingredients in the game now and I think it is likely to have a detrimental effect on players old and new alike;

  • New players - likely to purchase bags they feel are appropriately sized for them, then as they work through new content have to repurchase bigger bags as the span of their active questing increases. Likely to be confused by overwhelming variety of ingredients as they explore further.
  • Old players - similar to above, although they are wiser up front and I assume purchase larger bags to begin with, and may be jaded by what's perceived as never-ending new ingredient types to push bigger bag sales.

I think it would be useful to see work in the following areas;

  • Standardising the UIs (this is in progress)
  • Rationalising current ingredient types to reduce the overall number
  • Possibly separating cannith shards out from regular ingredients through tabs in ingredient bags (a loading bar when you open a bag - really?)
  • Introducing future new recipes as different combinations of existing ingredients, or the same ingredients in different devices
  • An overarching crafting/ingredients framework, accessible in game

Particularly the last item is sorely needed for new players. The introduction of House Cannith gives you the perfect opportunity. I know there is a Cannith crafting tutorial but this should be expanded - where is the Sage I would turn to in PnP to ask questions about local traditions, smiths, magicians, etc.? It would be great to see a wizened old dwarf who could tell tales of all the various areas of Eberron, what the locals craft there, how the items work, what to collect, the benefits, etc.

It's an opportunity for you to sell packs too through advertising the in-game wares - for example, how about selling the idea of DT armour to new players who've yet to purchase Reaver's Refuge?

"Ah, I see you wield magic. Ever have trouble getting Mass Hold Monster to stick? Did you know you can get Spell Penetration IX in the Desert by crafting an Epic Green Blade?"
That kind of thing.

Not to mention Green Steel. Come on, the cat's out of the bag. The recipes are known... the fact we have to go out of game to third party planning apps these days is silly. Let the wizened old dwarf help you plan your Green Steel, or one of his minions.

At the moment, I can't imagine how confusing it is for a new player coming to terms with all this stuff. I'm sure I only cope because I've been exposed in incremental steps. The number of things I carry around, track and use on my chars and mules is just silly.