LET'S TALK: Introduction

[voodoogroves]

I'd also like to see rangers get some extra FEs that are resettable via ENH, 1 at 12th level and another at 18th. Even against FEs rangers are behind fighters/barbs/rogues so this would not be OP in the slightest, resettable with an ENH respec would be great so you don't need to swap a feat every time Turbine releases a new module.

But I digress . . .

Let's digress though ... balance by improving other classes / races

I'd like Uncanny dodge to be passive, not active. Why make it a clicky? Let's just do it.

Let's get Barbs an Amp line and boost their DR AP capabilities. Let other classes do the % reduction whatever; lets give the Barb more DR options via AP.

Give some weapons innate bonuses to tactics.

Un-nerf tactics for non-monks.

Add hammers to dwarven lines

There's several threads on elves/drow/halflings

Make AC a viable defense ... give folks multiple paths for damage mitigation (DR, the % reduction like earth stance/shield mastery, self healing ... AND AC).

Even out the Shield Mastery benefits (currently front loaded). Add a Shield Evasion / Shield Ward option that allows for bonuses to some saves but requires the Improved Shield Mastery as a pre-req.

etc.

[Xenostrata]

Paladins - the buff to DoS was great, but KotC needs a lot of help (and don't even get me started on HotD). Also, the smite system kind of sucks - maybe have the extra smite enhancement line and the KotC PrE reduce regen time on smites.
LoH should work when danced, earthgrabbed, or any other situation where I would be able to come in contact with myself purposefully (basically just paralysis and stun should stop an LoH from working).
A few new capstones should be added, to reflect the fact that Arti's can basically pass out the current one for free.
Give Paladins tower shield proficiency! What is debatably the best shield in the game is A)a tower shield and B)Paladin themed!
Look at AP costs, since Paladins have to make (imo) the most sacrifices when choosing enhancements, compared to any other class (a smite based paladin won't have any auras, a DoS aura paladin won't be able to have much in the way of smites).

[sweez]

or any other situation where I would be able to come in contact with myself purposefully

I see what you did there.

[ferrite]

Our update cycles require us to be developing/implementing and planning simultaneously.

These are good, but seem to be missing a key function: playing the game. It really is necessary for developers, systems personnel and anyone else involved with a product to actually play said product themselves, to see the fruits of labor firsthand, and not relying exclusively on playtesters to accomplish this function.

Just a mere hour a day playing the game can give immense insight into what works well, what doesn't, and what should never have made it out of the starting gate. Should be standard company policy, written in ink. If an hour a day is already required, make it two.

Take challenges for instance. This one update seems to be universally reviled by many on these forums, yet I feel if it was simply vetted properly many of the pitfalls that plague it could have been easily avoided from the start. Still, I look forward to elaborating further once the Lets Talk:Challenges discussion thread is created.

Otherwise, appreciate the introduction and look forward to participating!

[GermanicusMaximus]

I enjoy it alot, and I would hate to see that enjoyment ruined by making it a forced grind like they did with challenges.

Mabar is an EXCELLENT source of disposable income.

I have to agree that I love Mabar. Anyone who dislikes it can probably find at least SOME other content they can run during that time.

[Dwarfo]

gender changes should be added to the ddo store, plain and simple. i think alot of people would love that..including me.

[Antheal]

These are good, but seem to be missing a key function: playing the game. It really is necessary for developers, systems personnel and anyone else involved with a product to actually play said product themselves, to see the fruits of labor firsthand, and not relying exclusively on playtesters to accomplish this function.

Just a mere hour a day playing the game can give immense insight into what works well, what doesn't, and what should never have made it out of the starting gate. Should be standard company policy, written in ink. If an hour a day is already required, make it two.

Take challenges for instance. This one update seems to be universally reviled by many on these forums, yet I feel if it was simply vetted properly many of the pitfalls that plague it could have been easily avoided from the start. Still, I look forward to elaborating further once the Lets Talk:Challenges discussion thread is created.

Otherwise, appreciate the introduction and look forward to participating!

Take the introduction of the Pale Master prestige for example...

[Dagolar]

Just remember, you asked..

- class balance
An issue, most especially with Rangers on the low-end, and, perhaps, Artificers on the high-end. Ranger pets and the addition of shared druid spells would help a lot, here.

Wouldn't mind combat stances and techniques eventually making an entry into DDO simply to liven up playing Fighters. Not that tripping mobs ever gets boring..

Aside from needing to be finished, Deepwood Sniper I should probably grant a summon ammo ability as well.

Paladin Hunter of the Dead is potent, but between the game's focus on DPS and tanking for combat classes, Chalice and Siberys claim far more usage- especially given that, aside from the healing amp, Hunter's bonuses are easily duplicatable. Adding in some more turn undead focus could be a good balancing fix, but to really get interest in them something creative would be needed.

Barbarians, FvS, Clerics all lack from their single PrC path. More important than finishing PrC lines is making sure each class has at least two PrCs available; Else the class gets old fast. Not that I'm opposed to finishing PrC lines.. especially Sniper.. which, given it's non-magic focus, should have some truly potent abilities by the end.

Rogue Mechanics. This is the strongest point for me here, personally- and is detailed here: [http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=347013]. tldr version: Artificers dominate Mechanic's recognizable focus. So, completely regardless of op/nerf balance, Mechanics now completely lose out on flavor and uniqueness. That's easy to fix; The end result of the thread came out favoring improved trapping abilities among the full line. Some other comments made elsewhere also noted that many classes get instant kill abilities [Arrows of Slaying, Assassination] at high levels. So, it was suggested that Rogue Mechanic, at tier 3, get a bomb ability similar to those used in Blown to Bits [with a lengthy cooldown after use, of perhaps 5 minutes]. Explosions? Yeah, they could be uber-nerfed, and I'd still want to play them.

Divines: There are far too few divine spells; Not only in comparison to arcane spells, which have received lots of love for several updates now, but in relation to the classes themselves: Clerics have two benefits over FvS, at the moment: Better spell selection, and Radiant Servant's superior healing control. However, FvS will, in theory, eventually get a healing-type PrE. While Clerics may still need balancing out at that time, simply adding more useful spell variety would go a long way to keeping Clerics viable.
Nevermind making well worn necessary classes fresh to play.

Pale Master: The ultimate summoning master, the Pale Masters dominate the field! ..right? Well, no, not since Artis came in. Arti pets are far, far more capable than Pale Master summons, and far less demanding to acquire, maintain, and improve. So, aside from self-healing [at the cost of external healing], what's the real appeal to Pale Masters now? Pale Masters need better pets, whether it be by allowing 1x pet out per PM tier, overall improving of pets to hireling-type standards, ability to equip pets [well, it's what we did for them with PnP necromancers..], so forth. Honestly, it's a rich, but underutilized ability set that begs proper attention.

Bards: This is my pet peeve, which I've kept steady since I started playing: Bards are the undisputed masters of charm in PnP. However, in DDO, assuming comparable level 20s with capstones and no PrEs active, Bards have 1 less DC on their enchantment spells. Well, hey, that's not too bad. ..until you take in Archmage's ability to add another 2 DC in.
Well, hey, not all bards were great charmers, right? Certainly, we wouldn't expect it from PnP Skalds and Sworddancers and the like.. so, we should work it in thematically.
Easy, then. Add in another +2 DC at tier 3 Spellsinger. That'd be the only bard build that'd really care for the focus, anyway. It'd still actually be 1 DC less than Archmage, but, well.. they're Archmages. It can be forgiven. With a song..

Likewise, Virtuosos are coming out a bit soft; Spellsingers make solid support casters, Warchanters can fight well. Virtuosos have to be built specifically to make them decent in combat, and for comparatively unimpressive benefits.
Well, don't need to power them up to work that out.. just give them a wider array of song abilities.
Certainly, there's a good selection to work from: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20011207

- overall difficulty of content
I covered this in the associated Let's Talk thread. Aside from revamping how certain mechanics work [say, perhaps moving AC further from PnP D20 basis] or addressing why noone cares a whit for 3BC or ever plays the confusingly navigated and frustratingly designed Restless Isles, or similar issues, the overall difficulty balance across the levels is, if an issue, not a pressing one.

-bugs
See next post.

- AC
See next post.

-Ranged combat
AA: Poor quality till PrC1. Awesome [due to early potent damage increases/free ghost touch, etc]. Then poor quality again [due to ranged combat mechanics].
Sniper: Only one tier up, and it's already worse than all the others out there- it's essentially AA's true strike combined with extended point blank/sneak range. AA gets 20 sp, ammo summoning, imbuement.. what does Sniper get? Simple fix: While in point blank range, crit multiplier is increased by 1.
Mechanic: Short of taking in Sniper I, Mechanics don't really have a solid edge in ranged combat; And with Rogues being far more end-level benefited than most, by that point it's not an option [except, perhaps, by making the previously noted change- though it's hard to lose that capstone; But then again, that's the point, so it may be well balanced, then]. But, they don't really need to be ranged-combat focused, either; Making traps worth using [and, as noted above, perhaps giving Mechanics a unique edge to it] would more than make up for it.
Artificer: So far, so good.
FvS: Awful. But the related PrE should more than fix that, if it works as suggested.

- Challenges
Messy. Too much emphasis on using [store, dispenser] boosts. Rushmore runs are too randomized on seal drops, crystal gathering has far too many pathing bugs, kobold island is difficult to coordinate well, and hardest to get all stars on, and all of the challenges scale awkwardly to party size and level: Most notably, by making full party runs far more difficult [than scaling should] than smaller parties, and by scaling to reasonable difficulties by having a lower level toon in the party (Running a CR 20 Rushmore with 18-20s, and one 14. Was reasonable- difficult when not coordinated, challenging but solid when coordinated. 14 dropped, picked up an 18. The comparative difficulty scaled INSANELY for such a small change; Mobs seemed to be twice as strong and spawn more frequently. Likewise, running with less members dropped the comparative difficulty even LOWER than having the 14 in the party.)

Finally, ingredient drops are inconsistent in quantities to each quest; That's fine for rarity purposes, but sometimes it's absurd: For example, why can I more easily get more magma shards [highly valued] in a run than old coins [lowest value]?

- True Reincarnation
In what sense? Retaining of tome bonuses/kits? Epic Levels and how they correlate? Why True Hearts are easier to get than Greater and Lesser? Why we don't have a 10% to reincarnate as a badger, as per PnP?

- Strengths & weaknesses of the game
Strengths: Variety [in builds, features, locations, gameplay styles], synergy [between items, classes*, etc].
Weaknesses: Balance issues, glitches, frequent implementation of stronger and stronger items [and classes] at equitable levels to older items. And Bugs.

*: It needs to be possible to multiclass casters. Right now there's no way to do it whatsoever; In fact, doing so is a mandatory element to making an 'ultimate GIMP build' (which is always a throwing-based toon..). An immediate response that would alleviate most of the problems while in no way risking any sort of balance issues would be to have shared caster levels: Your spells cast at the total combined caster level of your spell-casting classes.
As mentioned by someone in a related thread to the topic, it's not as if you'd stop practicing and studying the spells you already know. Besides, we're capable enough to combine different casting styles, I'm sure we're capable enough to find a way to make them compatible.

- where we're headed
Kobolds to the moon!
Or, to playable races..
I'll also accept Gnomes, more PrEs, and Swashbucklers.

[Dagolar]

*rubs eyes* Is this the light at the end of the tunnel?






They could promote him all the way up to General Malphunktion and keep the same ring.

Split the difference, make him Major General Malphunktion.

As far as the direction the game is going, I would like to see more follow-up to the stories in the QUESTS. There is some of that in the game, but more would be better, and not just cameo appearances, but more on the order of quests that follow-up on previous quests, and not just in raids. Other things that could be done would be to further flesh out existing areas. The Waterworks for example could be more of a hub for harbor quests(Invaders SHOULD be inside, perhaps down a newly opened section of tunnels), and Steam Tunnels could have a lot of stuff down there, not just Shan-to-Kor. The Depths series under House D works, but why not have more of a foundation to the city, and that would give more depth to why some buildings seem to be self contained, while others seem to invite monster invasions?

I would also LOVE more Xoriat themed quests like Delirium that really are a bit...insane. Fun stuff.

Finally, one thing that would be nice would be for flavor NPCs in the city(or outposts) to have more variation based on what the player or players in the group have done. What would have happened if the character had not helped on Sorrowdusk Isle? Or alternate reality quests(alternate versions of the prime material plane).

This brings up some old points:
Story should be reemphasized in DDO; But at the same time, all dialogues should have an immediate 'skip to end' option at the introductory conversation responses.

Quests like Purge the Heretics should have alternate outcomes and repercussions. Add in a Sovereign Host favor entry, and make Purge the Heretics offer two variations at your initial run, one of which positively affects Host favor and negatively affects Silver Flame, the other the opposite. Yes, it's a bit of a muddle to add in, but it's a good way of dealing with a clearly evil-aligned quest in a game that only allows you to play non-evil characters, and a great way to spice up the game's flavor and dimensions.

Sounds good! Looking forward to this.

- AC: Don't be afraid to lose the D20. Try to make all AC count for at least something.

- Challenges: Good idea, but some problems. Scaling is a bit extreme, discouraging grouping. I absolutely despise the Pay2Win stuff, though.

- True Reincarnation: Ideally, TR shouldn't be something that interferes with our end-game progression. We should be free to TR when we want, without losing more than the XP. As it is, we're encouraged to either TR serially, until we're "done", then get tomes, and Raid completions. That's not as much fun as being able to mix end-game advancement and TR freely. To that end, don't kill Raid tomes on TR, and don't reset Raid completions.
.

These.

Bugs
This is the most infuriating to me. I understand that I am risking some sort of slap-down from the moderators by mentioning a recent bug. This bug, which may or may not have ruined the economies of the servers while possibly benefitting a few players who may or may not have exploited content, really drove the point home that bugs seem to be out of control, and Turbine’s plan for addressing said bugs seems non-existent. There needs to be some serious review of the QA/testing phase, and bugs identified on Lammania that have game breaking potential need to be triaged. Even if it means prioritizing bug fixes above content. The integrity of the game has to come first, or all the content in the world is useless.

And for heaven’s sake, fix the ladder bug that has been around since launch, please? This is silly…

And this.


And finally, major points I forgot to mention:

*Boosts. 20 second boosts, with a comparatively lengthy initialization delay.
There's a reason the only boosts I've ever bothered with are skill boosts for roguing; I almost never even use armor boosts from defense build prereqs. Missing out on dps/blocking/etc for 3 seconds so you can get 18 non-overlapping seconds of boost of quality lower than lengthier buffs, abilities, procs; It doesn't work out.

This game isn't WoW. Pushing aside how we bear that as a mark of pride, it's also a valid point of mechanical difference: DDO isn't built for such short term boosts, at such limited quantities, with such long initial delays.

Boosts are implemented into the game as if they were especially potent- it'd be nice to see them reach that status.
A simple reduction of the delay and doubling of the boost duration would be enough to see them worth considering..
basing duration off of level [at perhaps 20s+2*level, to a total of 1 min duration] would an even more appealing route.

*Ingredient Bag Sorting.

*Scroll Cases, Spell Component Pouches, and Potion Satchels.

Edit:

*Reworking Vaults of the Artificers [http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...4&postcount=9]

[AMDarkwolf]

- class balance - You defiantly need to nerf them melee's, I mean.. wow, Like.. they can do damage and stuff. Gotta nip that in the bud, quick. Like.. maybe force them to take a crappy feat with a stupidly long animation and cool down which they need to stack 5 times to have a chance to do 10% of the damage a caster can? Or maybe make them 'trip' when they swing their weapon when moving. Yea. Oh and casters.. divines.. wow these guys need a break, just remove the sp bar all together. And all cooldowns and casttimes instant. With all buffs perma. Except if cast on a melee. Can't have that.

- overall difficulty of content - All quests, of all levels, should have mobs with AC's at LEAST 20-40 pts higher than the players highest possible attainable to-hit value. Oh yea, and make all mobs saves to spells be -50. DONE!

- bugs - What bugs. Those things people call 'bugs' are just features.

- AC - You should need 150 ac to manage in normal content before level 10. 200 + for 16-20 content, and 250+ for epic level stuff. And mobs should all get those values instantly.

- Ranged combat - Remove all player access to any bows or crossbows. Let them throw rocks. Its overpowerd.

- Challenges - Theys is awesome, Release MORE packs like this with identical floor-plans to 'events' with slightly re-skinned visuals. Oh and also make sure that only divines and casters can manage. OOOH and make sure they get 'BONUS' points if they drag some of them overlypowerfullepic melee's along.

- True Reincarnation - Should triple the amount of xp needed, compunded per life, don't stop at 3. Oh and NEVER let us keep our tome bonuses, or raid counters. Gotta keep that FUN FUN GRIND right?

- Strengths & weaknesses of the game - (NOT being sarcastic on this point) The strength of the game is the MASSIVE customizable builds one can do, the GREAT combat mechanics, and the connection to D&D. The weakness is that YOUR FORGETTING WHY YOU ARE SO GOOD! Your killing the custom-minded builds, your trashing what makes the combat great, and your becoming too 'CASH GRAB'

- where we're headed - this.. is the question. Ive returned to the game, to try to get back in, while waiting for better things. (TBH The combat keeps me interested) All im seeing is 'make raids harder cuz ppl do them too easily, but lets give them items, easier to obtain, which blow those raid items out of the water' mindset.

This little 'We want your feedback' honestly feels more like a PR thing ("Oh hey look guys, WE DO CARE!" *Continues doing whatever it was you were doing before and ignore the droves of voices answering your call*)

[Dagolar]

Not so much elitist as possibly playstyle (or you never played a healer). The need to switch targets causes movement issues.....I heal group - move through blades take significant damage - need to heal self -hit F1 - can't move (key too far away) - heal self - hit F# for heal center (can't move again) - heal again....unfortunately that whole sequence is enough to get one or two others dead if the other healer isn't on the ball (or is doing the exact same thing as me.....

It's the overall frenetic pace of that 20second time period that causes me stress - not good tension stress oh **** lets get this pulled back together - but it is stress that if i make one keystroke wrong 12 other people are probably ****ed at me....why would I want that. When i can come into the quest on a Sorc and just dot Harry up with no stress at all.

This is a fair point: Due to how the UI separates your own player tab, and makes it hard to keep visual tabs on or select, even before its quirky selection recognition is taken into account, using a party-bar nursing method will often leave you in danger. I often have troubles recognizing my own health [on any healing type toon, even my paladins will be healing others instead of themselves when they should due to not being able to keep good tabs on their own health while looking over the party's condition] or switching from party healing to self-healing.
In fact, back with the old UI, I completely hid the personal stat bar and relied solely on the much more useful party version. Now..
Well, this is a horrible flaw, and one I made sure to provide feedback on.. a few times..

And yes, I have visual problems, so it may not be as much of an issue to other players. But it's still rather unfriendly to deal with, no matter how you look at it.

[Faent]

I'll keep this short.

Class Balance.

Almost all melees are royally gimped in comparison to arcanes and divines. Please fix this. Rangers, Paladins and Bards need some *serious* love. All melees need more insta-kill options. Bring back the old vorpals. And stop buffing the monks, for chrissakes. You've done more than enough for them. Focus on a class that you don't have to pay to get. The classes you have to pay for have enough power as it is.

When a melee can perform as well as an arcane or divine in epic content, then I'll be happy. As a first step, trying making AC matter. My wizard has more HP and mitigates more damage in epic content than my 90 AC melee. And kills about 10X faster. Really? Really?

[Quarterling]

- class balance: I only play two classes, rogue and sorcerer, so I'm not really the one to discuss this topic since I have no experience playing any other class. I've heard from others that the classes are pretty well balanced though, and I rarely hear "nerf this class/buff this class" (and the times I do, it's from an inexperienced player who doesn't know about the full potential of the class).

- overall difficulty of content: Pretty good. Not too hard, not too easy. Some boss battles tend to drag on a bit which is more of a nuisance, but I know you're testing the group's will to go on in order to complete difficulty-wise.

- bugs: The bugs don't really bother me all that much. Sure I encounter the infamous "ladder bug" once every other day, but I've gotten used to it. Bugs I would prefer that would be worked on is to ensure the safety of Large Ingredient Bags that suddenly go missing. IMHO, that is the biggest one that needs immediate attention.

- AC: Just lower the INSANE hit bonus that epic mobs have and AC should be fine.

- Ranged combat: I've never played a class that focuses on ranged combat, so I can't say anything here.

- Challenges: They are fun, but can we please not have yet another "ingredient/barter system"?

- True Reincarnation: I'm not tired of TR'ing... or at least yet. Others may have a different opinion however.

- Strengths & weaknesses of the game: Weaknesses are mainly the bugs. Strengths are that this is the best MMO I've ever played, mainly due to the excellent combat system.

- where we're headed: To Washington state I hope; it would be neat if I could get a job and program for you guys.

[grodon9999]

- AC: Just lower the INSANE hit bonus that epic mobs have and AC should be fine.

Don't be silly, we could never have such a simple solution. What would all the self-important people who think this problem was rocket science do if what indeed is a simple problem is solved with a simple solution?

[grodon9999]

I'll keep this short.

Class Balance.

Almost all melees are royally gimped in comparison to arcanes and divines. Please fix this. Rangers, Paladins and Bards need some *serious* love. All melees need more insta-kill options. Bring back the old vorpals. And stop buffing the monks, for chrissakes. You've done more than enough for them. Focus on a class that you don't have to pay to get. The classes you have to pay for have enough power as it is.

When a melee can perform as well as an arcane or divine in epic content, then I'll be happy. As a first step, trying making AC matter. My wizard has more HP and mitigates more damage in epic content than my 90 AC melee. And kills about 10X faster. Really? Really?

What he said, especially the bolded part.

[gloopygloop]

I'll keep this short.

Class Balance.

Almost all melees are royally gimped in comparison to arcanes and divines. Please fix this. Rangers, Paladins and Bards need some *serious* love. All melees need more insta-kill options. Bring back the old vorpals. And stop buffing the monks, for chrissakes. You've done more than enough for them. Focus on a class that you don't have to pay to get. The classes you have to pay for have enough power as it is.

When a melee can perform as well as an arcane or divine in epic content, then I'll be happy. As a first step, trying making AC matter. My wizard has more HP and mitigates more damage in epic content than my 90 AC melee. And kills about 10X faster. Really? Really?

I do think that Monks needed some love for quite a while, so I don't agree with Shade's call to nerf Monks (like his calls to nerf essentially anything that isn't a Barbarian), but I do agree that they have enough toys to play with for the moment.

With two important exceptions:
1) Please finish fixing Handwraps. They're mostly fixed, but there are still a few more bits and pieces to fix on them and they're essentially the only melee weapon that Monks use, so getting them working correctly is important.
2) Please figure out a way to have metal type wraps drop in the same frequency as metal-types in other weapons. A Silver Khopesh might be rare and expensive on the AH, but if you open enough chests, you'll pick one up eventually. We shouldn't have to farm Devil's Assault to pick up Silver and Cold Iron Handwraps that have a lower drop rate than the Bauble that has been hiding from my FvS for weeks and weeks.


Some things that are good on Monks:
1) tactics don't take longer to use than regular attacks.
2) off-hand procs on Tactics
3) Monks have more worthwhile Enhancements available than they have points with which to buy them. Most Barbarians and most Kensai Fighters look pretty much identical. Monks have real variety.

1, 2 and 3 on the Monks-good list should be on every melee character's list.

[Dagolar]

Some things that are good on Monks:
1) tactics don't take longer to use than regular attacks.
2) off-hand procs on Tactics
3) Monks have more worthwhile Enhancements available than they have points with which to buy them. Most Barbarians and most Kensai Fighters look pretty much identical. Monks have real variety.

1, 2 and 3 on the Monks-good list should be on every melee character's list.

Barbarians at least have the Frenzy abilities, such as they are.
Combat with Fighters consists of Sunder, Trip, Auto-Attack. Repeat with new mob.
Likewise for Ranger Tempests, with a basic selection of spells exchanged for tactical feats. The addition of animal companions and varied druidic spells would fix that up, though.

[Zapho]

First priority should be to make the allready implemented stuff work, like augment slots on the epic cannith challenge items.

And when you have sorted all the annoying bugs I would love to see finalizing enhancement lines, like warchanter III, Acrobat III, ninja spy III etc.

Then fill in with the missing enhancement lines like Ravager, Purple knight, henshin mystic etc.

Other than class finishing I would like to see new quest, no challenges pls, real quests are alot more entertaining. Though with the cannith chain most ppl have plenty to do at least for the next 6 months or so.

Druids would be a popular addition to the game, but I guess its bether if you take your time on perfecting it than releasing a bugged and messy class that need refreshing in the future.

When it comes to balancing I think the game is well balanced as it is, you cant compare melees and spell casters so realy hard to balance in a game like this. Nerfing and boosting is not needed as classes some ppl think of as useless can be great fun for others, alot of different kinds of players in this game.
And also using alot of time changing what allready is in the game and working well, takes the time you could have used on improving and adding more to the game

Cheers

[Faent]

When it comes to balancing I think the game is well balanced as it is, you cant compare melees and spell casters so realy hard to balance in a game like this. Nerfing and boosting is not needed as classes some ppl think of as useless can be great fun for others, alot of different kinds of players in this game.

You seem to think that there should be some gimpy classes for people who like the flavor of playing gimpy classes. I think people should enjoy playing those classes *and* those classes should be competitive with the current go-to classes for getting stuff done.

[Tom_Hunters]

Some of the topics on my mind are:

**Class balance
Out of the gaming experience and classes I have capped (paladin, rogue, sorcerer, cleric), I feel that paladin enhancements are outdated. To be more exact they lack the dps, against evil mobs generally, and particularly the sworn enemies (undead/evil outsiders), even with the PresE. need a boost

As a rogue, I feel the sacrifice and gain is alright, though they could be flexible against particular mobs (like flesh vs construct) if they choose to (eg. thru AP expenditure)

I think sorcerer and clerics are great. Anyway atm casters dominate. But I'd like to add a 1st life cleric probably won't land any spells at endgame with a DC. But sorc (high nuking, no save spells) and wiz (high DC) can make it thru. May I suggest adding more spells to cleric? (Earthquake) Some mentions the domain. Well, I support that but I know that gotta be lots of changes.


**Overall difficulty.
From my recent experience with house C quest, I think it's alright. Normal quest is probably not stressful to level appropriate players. Normal raid is demanding to the non-familiar. And anything of higher difficulties will be reserved for the more skilful/time-devoted ones. I kinda agree with that. Just as a remind, first life players and completionists both need to enjoy the game, though they don't need to do that at the same time.

**Bugs
Well, to be honest, I think the time spent to acknowledge a bug is horrible. and not to mention solving it without breaking other things.

**Where we are heading
I am not sure but is it possible to make different story arcs more coherent? I mean what happens to the truthful one and sorjek's sidekick? and the setback devils? the orc army? I mean it looks like the story arcs are very much separated from each other. I guess if they are more intertwined (at least in the speech of NPC, or some quests involving more than 1 line), there will be a more "realistic" or "real-time" feeling of existence in eberron.