Stone of Shared Experience Promotion Feedback

[Tolero]

In anticipation of the upcoming Expansion, we will be running a limited-time promotion on the Live servers for experienced DDO players to get their characters ready for Menace of the Underdark. You may have tried out the Stone of Shared Experience on Lamannia, which previews how this new mentoring system will work. We're interested in collecting feedback regarding the Stone's usage for limited promotions on the live servers for the Expansion launch.

How it works:

Introducing a new way to help your friends get their old characters up to level to play the Expansion with you! The Stone of Experience allows an experienced character who is level 16 or greater to pass on some knowledge to another character who is at least level 8 so they can join you in the Forgotten Realms.

For MotU beta, pre-purchasers of Menace of the Underdark may claim some Stones of Experience by speaking with Braddack Bouldershoulder in the Harbor near the Marketplace Gate.

• Base edition buyers get 2 stones
• Standard edition gets 3 stones
• Collectors edition gets 5 stones
• (These quantities are subject to change)

Using the stone takes a character who is between level 8 and 15 up to level 16 and grants a set of basic level 16 gear.

• Each account may only receive the benefits of a Stone of Experience on one character (that includes your own account).

The stone is meant to be applied to another player.

• Target the recipient and activate the Stone from your hotbar. The character must be a minimum of level 8 to be a valid target (you can also target your own character)
• You can use a Stone on your alts by passing the Stone through the Shared Bank, or mailing it to your alts, then targetting yourself. You may prefer to target friends if you already have characters high enough level to access the Expansion.

It is better to give than to receive! If you utilize the Stone on another player, and they accept, you will get another sent to you in the in-game mail system for being a good mentor. If you're a *very* good mentor, we have a teacher's pet for you: if you use the Stone on 3 other players, and they accept, you'll receive a special White Panther cub pet!

The Stone of Shared Experience is a limited time promotion to help players get their returning friends join them in the Expansion, and all Stones of Shared Experience will expire once Update 15 launches in August.

Now that you have the basics of the promotion down, let's talk a little more about the nature of the promotion:

• These Stones of Shared Experience are meant for players who are excited for the Forgotten Realms, who know how to play the game, but may have characters who are sitting at former DDO level caps.
• We'd also like to welcome former players into the Expansion with their friends and experienced DDO players, who can help show them some of the things that have changed over the years since they last left off.
• At the same time, we don't want our existing experienced players to be left out of the fun, so the Stones can be sent and used on your own alts so that you can also get an extra level 16 character.
• To spotlight and reward our really good MOTU mentor players - we know you're out there selflessly showing other players the DDO ropes - the White Panther cub is given to players who use all their stones on other players rather than using their stones on themselves.

So if you have a friend who used to play with you, but lagged behind your level from an extended break, the Stone will help both of you get a character to a level that you can play in the Expansion together again. Obviously there are some big ramifications for boosting up characters, so we're interested in hearing thoughts from players regarding the promotion. A few things we've already considered:

• We don't want *completely* inexperienced players jumping up to level 16 - that's no good for them or for the mid-level players. You can't go from level 1 - 16. Even if you try to use Vet Status, you still need to get yourself up to the appropriate level before you can activate the Stone. Sorry but you're going to need to play some DDO before you make that leap to 16.
• We also don't want this to turn into unlimited free level 16 characters, so everyone is restricted to allowing 1 character on their account to receive this boost. Just enough to let you get your foot into the Underdark.
• The program is meant to help players join their friends in the Expansion, so the duration is limited. This is not an "always on" feature. Once the promotions are over, the Stones evaporate out of the game world, so there's no hording them for later.
• The characters need to have some gear for that level, but we don't want to hand them high-end gear without effort, so their initial gear sampling is very modest.

Let us know your thoughts about this new mentoring program. If you tried the Stone of Experience on Lamannia and have specific feedback about your Lamannia experience with it, please use the Lamannia thread to report your findings by clicking here. This thread is strictly for the purpose of gathering feedback regarding the live version of the promotion, and thus this thread should not be used to report Lamannia bugs. Off topic posts will be removed.

UPDATE: As of Beta 4, it is now possible to use the Stone on a TR character (yourself or your friend)! Players who are returning may be TR characters and we didn't want them to be left out.

[ArkoHighStar]

will this work for TR'ed characters?

[Tolero]

will this work for TR'ed characters?

In the current implementation it only works on first-life characters.

[Momsboys]

So when does this come out?

[danotmano1998]

Is this going to be JUST for playing on the beta?
Or are there any kind of thoughts as to putting this on live?

Feedback will be vastly different based on the answer to this.

[Phoenix-daBard]

Is this going to be JUST for playing on the beta?
Or are there any kind of thoughts as to putting this on live?

Feedback will be vastly different based on the answer to this.

We're interested in collecting feedback regarding the Stone's usage for limited promotions on the live servers ahead of the Expansion launch.

Seems pretty clear to me.

[Tolero]

So when does this come out?

No set date, but the *idea* would be a countdown to MOTU for the final month before it launches.

Is this going to be JUST for playing on the beta?
Or are there any kind of thoughts as to putting this on live?

Feedback will be vastly different based on the answer to this.

This promo would be on live.

[gtjohnson]

In the current implementation it only works on first-life characters.

Why? Why release something like this and only allow a portion of your player base benefit. I mean not complaining but it just seems counter productive to not let those who might of just TRed or who will TR at the first of June get a little grindage taken out of the leveling EXPERIANCE lol.

[Ziindarax]

In anticipation of the upcoming Expansion, we will be running a limited-time promotion on the Live servers for experienced DDO players to get their characters ready for Menace of the Underdark. You may have tried out the Stone of Shared Experience on Lamannia, which previews how this new mentoring system will work. We're interested in collecting feedback regarding the Stone's usage for limited promotions on the live servers ahead of the Expansion launch.

How it works:


Now that you have the basics of the promotion down, let's talk a little more about the nature of the promotion:

• These Stones of Shared Experience are meant for players who are excited for the Forgotten Realms, who know how to play the game, but may have characters who are sitting at former DDO level caps.
• We'd also like to welcome former players into the Expansion with their friends and experienced DDO players, who can help show them some of the things that have changed over the years since they last left off.
• At the same time, we don't want our existing experienced players to be left out of the fun, so the Stones can be sent and used on your own alts so that you can also get an extra level 16 character.
• To spotlight and reward our really good MOTU mentor players - we know you're out there selflessly showing other players the DDO ropes - the White Panther cub is given to players who dole out all their stones for other players rather than using their stones on themselves (although you can still receive a Stone from a friend and be qualified to get the Panther).

So if you have a friend who used to play with you, but lagged behind your level from an extended break, the Stone will help both of you get a character to a level that you can play in the Expansion together again. Obviously there are some big ramifications for boosting up characters, so we're interested in hearing thoughts from players regarding the promotion. A few things we've already considered:

• We don't want *completely* inexperienced players jumping up to level 16 - that's no good for them or for the mid-level players. You can't go from level 1 - 16. Even if you try to use Vet Status, you still need to get yourself up to the appropriate level before you can activate the Stone. Sorry but you're going to need to play some DDO before you make that leap to 16.
• We also don't want this to turn into unlimited free level 16 characters, so everyone is restricted to allowing 1 character on their account to receive this boost. Just enough to let you get your foot into the Underdark.
• The program is meant to help players get ready for the Expansion, so the duration is limited. This is not an "always on" feature. Once the promotions are over, the Stones evaporate out of the game world, so there's no hording them for later.
• The characters need to have some gear for that level, but we don't want to hand them high-end gear without effort, so their initial gear sampling is very modest.

Let us know your thoughts about this new mentoring program. If you tried the Stone of Experience on Lamannia and have specific feedback about your Lamannia experience with it, please use the Lamannia thread to report your findings by clicking here. This thread is strictly for the purpose of gathering feedback regarding the live version of the promotion, and thus this thread should not be used to report Lamannia bugs. Off topic posts will be removed.

So when this stone hitslive, a person who is level 20 could elevate someone else who is eligible to the same level as them (or does it only let you get to level 16 as the highest)? What about TR's, would the level restrictions regarding their use apply to them as it does "first-life" characters seeing as you have to hit level 20 in order to TR? At the very least, it would seem logical if the conditions for using them did not apply to "Legend" build characters, as by the time they've become legendary characters, the player already knows a fair bit about the game (or should anyways). >.>

All in all, I think this promotion would be wicked awesome, and hope it goes to live.

[Demarill]

looks like a cool idea, is there anything that could be done to prevent selling them (1 player to an other) they strike me more as a gift or a exchange between friends rather than a chance for someone to grab plat/loot which is invariably what happens

[Anthios888]

Why? Why release something like this and only allow a portion of your player base benefit. I mean not complaining but it just seems counter productive to not let those who might of just TRed or who will TR at the first of June get a little grindage taken out of the leveling EXPERIANCE lol.

Of the returning players I can think of inviting back, I know that almost all would like to start out by reincarnating to bring their build up to speed, and revive their old, sentimental characters with their treasures banked instead of making new naked toons. How well is a 28 or 32 point character created after June is going to play in new epic levels, epic raids, and whatnot?

[Tolero]

Of the returning players I can think of inviting back, I know that almost all would like to start out by reincarnating to bring their build up to speed, and revive their old, sentimental characters with their treasures banked instead of making new naked toons. How well is a 28 or 32 point character created after June is going to play in new epic levels, epic raids, and whatnot?

In terms of Epic, keep in mind that we're doing some changes to the way Epic play happens, now that first-life characters need to start progressing past level 20. In the past epic was the mountain to scale after the journey, and you had better get ready to be punched in the face if you so much as stuck your toe in there or looked at something the wrong way. In fact that toe, it'd get bitten off for good measure probably. Epic people don't even NEED toes, booyah!

Now we need to be able to let level 20 characters of all playstyles progress into level 25.

[Anthios888]

Now we need to be able to let level 20 characters of all playstyles progress into level 25.

Good! More people to play with!

[ArkoHighStar]

In the current implementation it only works on first-life characters.

well that rules out any of my friends who would return, guess I will be giving them to strangers

/sigh

[Astarii]

I really like the idea of this.

[Atremus]

I would buy into this for a character. I would really love that this worked on a TR'd character as well so that we can all prepare for the Expansion.

[serenamoonblade]

I know what I will use mine on. My brother, my best friend, and my oldest friend are all interested in playing but don't want to play from low levels up. These three, having by a miracle been scheduled to return from the sandbox at the same time, have had no time to play until now. These heroes will be getting my stones and my prayers.

Why not see if there is a similar situation in other self sacrificing people you all know?

[sacredguyver]

I would really like to see this work for TR'd characters. You can't abuse it because it only works once per account, whether it was given to you or you use it on an alt. A person would have to think about which character they would use it on and when.

[Quarterling]

I'm just adding my voice here to the people that are suggesting to make it work with characters that are TR'ed. I don't see any harm to it, and it can only do good.

[Duilio]

I am interested in the Panther Cub. So basically I just give my stones to friends or acquaintances and I become eligible for the cub? I realize I can't use one on myself unless a friend sends it. And in the main post it says that if i give mine away and the person uses it I am mailed another one. So do I have to keep giving them away?