U17 epic dragon armors

[Tharlak]

Is there an upgrade path if you already have the dragon armor?

[MeliCat]

The cost to make any set is: 20 flawless [blue/white/black] dragon scales, 10 of each refined relics (these drop in epic gianthold chests), and 3 commendations of heroism (omg these better fall somewhere(s) in epic gianthold as well).

heroic comms?

lol

oh no... we're all going to be LIVING in CITW now. which bright spark wanted to stop people from swapping out at the end?

i really really really hope that they drop in epic GH as well - and in a much more reliable drop rate. possibly in a much more FUN way than CITW also too. please. OH PLEASE.

[4tonmantis]

I agree with the sentiment that for end game.. which is what these would have to be geared towards at that ML.. there is waaaaaaay better Planeforged Lootgen and other items that are just flat out easier to farm for or otherwise acquire. I thought it was said that the team was aware that Epic items weren't worth the grind for the effect. This is basically two steps back.

Also, the devs need to look at how much of the stuff that's out there overlaps. I got a TOD ring with exceptional Con 2.. awesome.. except.. that I just turned in for Bracers of the Sun Soul.. and PDK Gloves..
With this armor, especially the blue.. it is a very similar story.. and it's not even optimal considering the effects that were listed. I will have to look more closely at each one individually.. maybe there are subtleties, but outside of the higher armor rating and set bonuses, the rest is just extremely underwhelming.


EDIT: I just realized the TOD Ring was con 1, but the point still stands.

[UurlockYgmeov]

heroic comms?

lol

oh no... we're all going to be LIVING in CITW now. which bright spark wanted to stop people from swapping out at the end?

i really really really hope that they drop in epic GH as well - and in a much more reliable drop rate. possibly in a much more FUN way than CITW also too. please. OH PLEASE.

I would hope that HC's would drop in the new epic GH raid.... that would make sense - and if they aren't - they should.

[UurlockYgmeov]

Also, the relic crafted armors are updated. They now come with a level 23 version for 10 epic relics. It's not bad considering. The Epic blue dragon armor is okay; I mean stacking 15 spellpower (since it's relic then I assume it stacks with spionic from the planar). But greater lore, spell pen 9 and potency?

Oh well. At least it has an augment slot unlike the spiderweb.

I would expect major arcane lore - I know how powerful that is - but this is supposed to be endgame armor.

[UurlockYgmeov]

Is there an upgrade path if you already have the dragon armor?

it doesn't appear there is - and according to the release notes - as of U17 you won't be able to swap in old non-epic dragonscale armor for the revised version.

[4tonmantis]

The other thing I forgot to mention.. but kinda deals with the overlap thing.
Why oh why do the devs keep giving casters stuff that buffs spell points, lore, spell power, etc etc.. and forgetting that what most casters need desperately are more freakin HP. On Cannith you see a ton of guys with 4 digit HP and that's great for epic content.. but casters are having to really really really scrap stuff together to keep from being uber squishy. Unless I mis-remember, Magister has no way of increasing your HP.. nor do the majority of other caster-specific items. Blue Scale armor would probably be better off dropping frankly anything from it's list and adding Superior False Life or anything really.

[Syllph]

so with the blue armor and the blue helm my sorc would gain a blue, colorless, and yellow. (this is based on the EN version.)

doesn't seem like much of an improvement. (assuming here they will offer + Charisma. If they don't this set is even worse)

Helm gives yellow + colorless +3 insight

Level 24 colorless will give +7 to a stat or +2 insight. I'm already getting +8 CHA (goggles) and +3 insight (Focus) so colorless is pretty much useless. Additionally +3 insight is innate on the helm so that's completely redundant. Sure I could add +7 CON or +2 insight con but I already have that and I'd be gearing a helm just to have +2 con when I could make a Greensteel HP helm that's infinitely better (Heavy fort +45 HP and more) Greensteel will probably be easier to get than the EE version too.

the yellow gives +35 to an elemental resist, 200 SP, or a greater focus. Using Twilight and a focus I get +250 SP which would not stack with the +200 SP of the yellow and +2 focus is covered pretty much anywhere else. Marginally useful.

Blue gives +7 AC, greater spell pen IX (very nice), greater Lore, Potency 80, and a blue slot. using a twilight set I get almost all of that (one less spell pen) and much more.

The green scale armor gives so much more: better AC +9 (kind of useless for my caster but hey), toughness - very useful, resistance, absorption, +6 to all resists, Proof +10, and of course +10% more Spell points.


All in all seems pretty lack luster to me. I can't imagine changing from my Green armor for 1 spell pen. Plus with the Twilight set everything else this blue set offers is redundant and two of the three augment slots are also made redundant. I would gain a wimpy +15 (most likely) stacking bonus to everything. Just doesn't seem worth it.

2/10 rating from my caster.

[soloist12]

I would expect major arcane lore - I know how powerful that is - but this is supposed to be endgame armor.

Yeah, people are using superior lore to aquire a ML 25 item with greater lore? lol.

So far, this looks like a huge grind for 15 spell power and 1 spell pen.

No thanks.

[oradafu]

Black is really the only one that looks interesting at all. I don't have a regular blackscale, does relentless fury stack with itself? If it does that could be pretty sweet, if it doesn't it's still a decent rogue armor for at least situational use against high fort enemies. Not amazing, but decent.

White is silly. Those AC bonuses just don't mean much, and the protection part is all over the place. Maybe 0.5% more miss chance in EE. 50 stacking HP with the helm is alright I suppose, but the armor itself seems like a joke. Was hopping for +50% exceptional fort and/or a decent PRR bonus.

Blue has the same arcane lore as the lvl 14 version? I suppose its OK if you actually need everything on it, but I doubt many will. Most casters will already have better lore and better spellpower. Maybe the spellpen will attract some people? Not me...
Would have liked major lore (at least), and implement bonus to spellpower, and an purple slot so you could slot 114 spellpower if you want. Was secretly hoping for transform kinetic energy, but knew it was probably a pipe dream..

These are pretty close to my thoughts of the Epic dragonscale armors.

The black dragonscale armor appears fine as is and honestly what I expected it to should be.

However, White and Blue Dragonscale is a bit of a let down.

White Dragonscale needs some additional Exceptional Fort on it or increased PRR. Maybe 50% is asking too much, but as it stands, the ML 24 Leaves of the Forest appears in my mind to be better armor than this, even if the White Armor has more AC.

As for the Blue Dragonscale Armor, it needs something more to be worth the grind. As stated, Major Arcane Lore would seem like the natural progression for Epic Armor. Also, increasing the Potency to at least 85.

Flavor-wise, I'm surprised these don't have 20% elemental absorb like the Cormyrian ones do. Not a huge deal though.

I'm not too surprised about the lack of Elemental Absorption on these armors. It seems to be one of those Ebberon vs FR things. Appears the Devs have made the Elemental Absorption on Dragonscale to be FR only. Might be only for Flavor or... It might be leaving the door open for possible Cormyrian Blue/Black/White Armors in a future update.

[Dieterstrife]

Totally random question, but can anyone get me the Max Dex bonus for the Flawless White Medium armor?

I will love you forever.

[4tonmantis]

Totally random question, but can anyone get me the Max Dex bonus for the Flawless White Medium armor?

I will love you forever.

Flawless White Medium is Armor Bonus +26, Max Dex 8, Check Penalty -1, 25% ASF

[Ebergar]

Have anyone checked green dragon armor changes? Did it get any augment slots?

[fool101]

IDK,

The white dragonscale is looking pretty sweet for my 12monk/8fighter.

I would probably use the blue dragonscale for my wizzie simply because I do not have any gear yet with potency that high, or greater spell pen 9. I also only am using normal arcane lore. Although if the grind is too much it would probably be a year or so till I acquire any of them anyway.

I can understand the disappointment with the blue armor if a person already has end-game gear though.

[Saravis]

IDK,

The white dragonscale is looking pretty sweet for my 12monk/8fighter.

I would probably use the blue dragonscale for my wizzie simply because I do not have any gear yet with potency that high, or greater spell pen 9. I also only am using normal arcane lore. Although if the grind is too much it would probably be a year or so till I acquire any of them anyway.

I can understand the disappointment with the blue armor if a person already has end-game gear though.

The thing is, the Ingot Arcanum staffs have 80 Potency AND +30 Implement Bonus, while running Tor to pick up all the dragonscales you need, you're more than likely to pick up at least one of the staffs. While the greater arcane lore and greater spell pen ix is nice, those can be found elsewhere and with less effort to acquire.

I don't even have much end-game gear and I'm rather disappointed by it and I say that finally having seen what the helms look like. I wanted to withhold judgment until I saw what the Dragonscale Set looks like and overall its just very disappointing, especially with the amount of effort required to obtain it all.

[Dolphious]

IDK,

The white dragonscale is looking pretty sweet for my 12monk/8fighter.
.

Can you elaborate on that? What about white is attractive for you? the 50 stacking HP from the two item set?

[Missing_Minds]

Can you elaborate on that? What about white is attractive for you? the 50 stacking HP from the two item set?

he likes to wear a white wedding dress.

*grumbles about lack of outfits*

[Kirlian]

White looks good. It is known.
Black has its advantages. It is known.
Blue needs upgrade in all aspects. It is known.

[SealedInSong]

(snip...) doesn't seem worth it.

2/10 rating from my caster.

Where can I find the stats for the epic helms and for the ingot arcanum staves? (thanks in advance)

I think all of these points are good ones.

Personally, I think I understand why Feather is hesitant to implement major arcane lore--currently we can only get it by wearing three pieces of equipment: something with with gAL, and the two pieces of Rahkir's set.

However, since there are sources of greater arcane lore at level 12 (Greenblade) and Rahkir's set is lvl 18, one would think that mAL might be acceptable this late in the game (lvl25).

Barring the addition of mAL, I don't think that the blue scale offers as much slot consolidation as it should. As was pointed out earlier, green scale offers a lot more competitive slot consolidation.

Power store in particular is something very desirable for any caster and normally offered either on three pieces of equipment (Eveningstar set) or a two-handed weapon (staff of the petitioner). The current destiny enhancement in Magister that is supposed to replicate its effects is untwistable and also doesn't even provide the 10% discount it's supposed to (iirc it's bugged at -5% nonstacking enhancement bonus).

I'm not clamoring for something best in slot--in fact, I think there have been too many items released in MotU that are best in slot and not by much, thereby killing diversity and not for a very big payoff. I already see enough people in dragonscales and caparisons and spiderspuns and stone hearts.

I think the epic gianthold sets should be a good choice to create some new (not code intensive) effects that really ask players to make a choice about their gear.

Ex: Epic Blue Scale
armor +10
draconic mind set
greater spell pen IX
arcane strike (All spell criticals damage is increased by adding 0.75 to the spell damage critical damage multiplier. This effect does not stack with other item effects or potions)
superior lightning resistance
blue slot

Spell pen IX is only offered on eGreen Blade and Magewright's Spectacles as far as I know, so greater spell pen IX and the draconic mind set are the only truly novel and appealing things on this armor. The rest is slot consolidation (gAL, slot) and irrelevant gravy (armor, lightning res).

I would urge Feather to think of giving the blue and white armors a unique flavor and character like the black scale, rather than trying to make it yet another consolidation item that doesn't even fulfill that purpose.

More novel player suggestions for epic gianthold loot:
Trillea OP http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=232401
Shade OP http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=392821

[MeliCat]

With the exception of the heroic comms, these armors are not that hard to get ingredients for - so maybe they should be on par with clerics, Druids, wizards etc hand ins

However if heroic comms remain as hard to get as the have been to date maybe we won't see that many people investing in these armors.

I will wait and see what the vanilla raid options look like and a genuine idea of the heroic comms drop rate before I get excited.