Very Skeptical about the Astral Shard Enchanted Repair

[Zonixx]

Ok I do not have a problem with astral shards being used to repair items in quests, used for re-specs and repairs as long as they do not take away the plat options we have now, this is no problem. Paying for convenience, fine with me.

However, I am a bit concerned with this:

Astral Shard repaired items can receive a temporary "Blessing of Moradin" (when in Forgotten Realms content) or "Blessing of Onatar" (when in Eberron content), which will apply a random beneficial effect to equipped armor, primary, and off-hand items.
This effect ends upon death or un-equipping the item.
Note that using an Astral Shard repair on an item subsequent times will apply a new random effect, over riding any existing one.
Runearms are not eligible for this effect since they do not take item damage.

If you repair an item with astral shards only it gets this temporary buff. First of all, that seems kind of weird. Why would you want to get a buff to your gear after repairing it, unless the buff has to do with it not breaking as much. Second of all, I really really really really hope these buffs do not become gamebreaking p2w buffs that force you to have to repair with astral shards.

Can a dev please clarify what these are? I tried going on the lammania test server to try this out, and neither the shards are in the DDO Store, nor can you buy astral diamonds and doubleclick on them to get astral shards. I also have no idea how to get these in game as well.

Thanks again for any clarification!

[irnimnode]

That is what i would like to know also where do you get these shards if they are not in the store? There has not been much explained about where and how to get them and the details on there use is kind of vague

[WielderofGigantus]

You get them from Astral Diamonds, and likely you also get them from the same locations that Astral Diamonds drop: in random chests.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem like we can test the shards at the moment, since the store seems to be down and the conversion from diamond to shard isn't working at the moment according to the known issues.

[SirShen]

Double clicking on Astral Diamonds on Lama does nothing for me so that's not working.

[Dandonk]

This seems like a really annoying P2W step... once again. This really does seem like a last-minute cash-milking effort... /sigh

[Syllph]

wow. everyone is so grumpy anytime Turbine changes something.

How about you try it, see what the buff is, then come and discuss it. I don't see how assuming it's some game-breaking, p2w thing automatically is very productive. p2w is impossible in a pvm game, like ddo. We can't win ddo. We're not competing with each other like in a pvp game. This game runs on money, someone has to pay their bills. So yeah, surprise, a business wants to make money.

[Jorianon]

Honestly, if it's a way to use up my otherwise useless ADs, it sounds good to me.

[katz]

Double clicking on Astral Diamonds on Lama does nothing for me so that's not working.

that's on the known issues list. really the only thing i see in the latest lammy update is the ability to play around with the winter games and get your technique down before it hits live

[Kinerd]

wow. everyone is so grumpy anytime Turbine changes something.

How about you try it, see what the buff is, then come and discuss it. I don't see how assuming it's some game-breaking, p2w thing automatically is very productive. p2w is impossible in a pvm game, like ddo. We can't win ddo. We're not competing with each other like in a pvp game. This game runs on money, someone has to pay their bills. So yeah, surprise, a business wants to make money.

No one has ever said they don't want Turbine to make any money at all under any circumstances. What annoys people is when the company tries to do so in a clumsy, backhanded way. Understanding this distinction is crucial if you want to understand why people are annoyed by changes like this.

[Eladrin]

Why would you want to get a buff to your gear after repairing it, unless the buff has to do with it not breaking as much.

We thought of that - most of the time, the buff is +10 hardness (until you die or unequip the item). There are other buffs on the list at varying percentages, but most of them are weaker than a +1 equivalent enchantment.

It's intended to be an easy to use repair system that happens to come with a minor bonus. I don't really expect that everyone will be sitting there mashing the button for a chance to do 1d4 acid damage on hit.

[Syllph]

No one has ever said they don't want Turbine to make any money at all under any circumstances. What annoys people is when the company tries to do so in a clumsy, backhanded way. Understanding this distinction is crucial if you want to understand why people are annoyed by changes like this.

My comment was relating to the few people that were super critical and had 0 knowledge of what this buff was. They were claiming it was game breaking and had 0 knowledge of this. There is no distinction there. There we crying DOOM when they had not tried it, nor even knew what they were upset about.

[Kinerd]

I didn't see anyone saying doom. The OP said "skeptical", "concerned", and "hoped" it wasn't gamebreaking, the only other relevant post before yours said "seems like". Everyone couched their language in vagueness because the system had been described vaguely. Frankly, the biggest overreaction seems to have been yours, accusing people of some kind of anti-capitalism.

[Syllph]

I didn't see anyone saying doom. The OP said "skeptical", "concerned", and "hoped" it wasn't gamebreaking, the only other relevant post before yours said "seems like". Everyone couched their language in vagueness because the system had been described vaguely. Frankly, the biggest overreaction seems to have been yours, accusing people of some kind of anti-capitalism.

Comments like these

This seems like a really annoying P2W step... once again. This really does seem like a last-minute cash-milking effort... /sigh

This is the comment you seem to think is fine. I personally think cash-grab =/= earn profit. Which is why I mentioned p2w. last-minute cash-milking effort implies the game is dying, ie. doom.

Second of all, I really really really really hope these buffs do not become gamebreaking p2w buffs that force you to have to repair with astral shards.

4 reallys in a row + gamebreaking+ again p2w leads me to think he's more than just a little skeptical.

[Dandonk]

Comments like these

I admit I was wrong... about this, anyway. I do believe it wasn't too farfetched, though, based on the other stuff we've gotten lately. In my own opinion, of course.

[Syllph]

I admit I was wrong... about this, anyway. I do believe it wasn't too farfetched, though, based on the other stuff we've gotten lately. In my own opinion, of course.

You could be totally right, who knows. I just like to see people wait a week or so after something comes out, test it, then give feedback.

[Dandonk]

You could be totally right, who knows. I just like to see people wait a week or so after something comes out, test it, then give feedback.

But giving things time has shown itself to be, in the past, to miss the only opportunity you might have had to get any influence over things.

But yes, it -was- reflex, and maybe not the most constructive. Oh, well.

[Systern]

I appreciate Eladrin's clarification, and it confirmed what I believed the buff would be.

I have no problem with +4 tomes in the store; It's the natural progression and it was clearly stated back during the +3 tome brujaha that once +5s were somewhat common in the game, +4s would be added.

I'm wondering if the Astral Shard system is going to replace the efreeti repair altar thingie that's currently in the store.

The only thing added to the store lately that I'm less than fine with is raid bypass timers. Raid timers are an artificial hurdle implemented to prolong the game's life. Selling something to work around said hurdle just feels wrong. Yes, Rust monsters eat metal and equipment takes damage. The comparison is between: Here's a convenience item to get around this flavorful, logical aspect of the game world -- fine.; versus Here's an arbitrary speedbump put in solely to slow you down, but pay us to get over it -- blech.

I feel the same way about Looms of Destiny and Bloods of Dragons as well.

I think the only thing that I'd find more offensive would be a "Clean Slate" item in the store that resets repetition counters on a dungeon. This is because the repeat penalties are another artificial mechanic that simply punishes players for playing their game. First time bonuses and streaks are fine with me. Punishing me because I like to play in Gianthold, but not Necro 4, is not.

[WielderofGigantus]

(until you die or unequip the item)

What about logging on and off? Does that remove the bonus too, or does it last through that?

[nayozz]

We thought of that - most of the time, the buff is +10 hardness (until you die or unequip the item). There are other buffs on the list at varying percentages, but most of them are weaker than a +1 equivalent enchantment.

It's intended to be an easy to use repair system that happens to come with a minor bonus. I don't really expect that everyone will be sitting there mashing the button for a chance to do 1d4 acid damage on hit.

talking about "weaker than a +1 enchantment" what about making the slicing shard 1d4 bleed damage a +0 ml shard ?
like the elemental touch shards... :-)

[nibel]

I don't really expect that everyone will be sitting there mashing the button for a chance to do 1d4 acid damage on hit.

Just like you guys didn't expected people to farm the same quest 3500 times in a row to max out all Epic Destinies?