Enhancements: Event #1 – Dev Q&A

[blerkington]

Hi,

I'd like to second the call for text showing how enhancements are supposed to work.

All of my worst professional experiences with systems developers have been dealing with people who can't or won't document their work. I double special promise with a cherry on top that it will be useful both to you and to us.

Thanks.

[Arlathen]

Rangers were given both melee and ranged bonus feats to replace the missing pets which one are you willing to give up to get a half-strength gimp pet?

For me, neither. Keep Ranger pets shelved, I'd rather have access to both combat styles.

[Arlathen]

How effective (or ineffective) would 12/6/2 builds become in light of the new enhancement pass?

We'll get to see soon enough

I'm sure I'll find a lot to post about

[LrdSlvrhnd]

(Oh and was it an intentional snub at those Ranger players who've wanted the pet since forever to have Druid Wolves be classed as Rangers?)

What gets me is even though they're rangers, you have to *purchase* Evasion, and you can't until L13... after purchasing 3 ranks of Trap Sense.

Some rangers they are...

Rangers were given both melee and ranged bonus feats to replace the missing pets which one are you willing to give up to get a half-strength gimp pet?

I have said before, and I still maintain... rangers are hardly so overpowered that adding companions would require that, especially at the half-levels you seem to think is the only way to go.

And even if it did: I'd cheerfully give up ranged feats. Give me a perfectly valid reason to never pull out a bow on my Tempests. And 98% of AAs never switch to melee anyway. As long as the individual ranger got to choose which line to take, that would be perfectly acceptable... for a full-leveled pet, at least.

[Uska]

What gets me is even though they're rangers, you have to *purchase* Evasion, and you can't until L13... after purchasing 3 ranks of Trap Sense.

Some rangers they are...



I have said before, and I still maintain... rangers are hardly so overpowered that adding companions would require that, especially at the half-levels you seem to think is the only way to go.

And even if it did: I'd cheerfully give up ranged feats. Give me a perfectly valid reason to never pull out a bow on my Tempests. And 98% of AAs never switch to melee anyway. As long as the individual ranger got to choose which line to take, that would be perfectly acceptable... for a full-leveled pet, at least.

Your wrong on evasion rangers get it for free at level 9 and they dont have to use any enhancement points to get it and even full strength pets are annoying and useless I would hate to see more in the party cluttering up my screen with their soon to be dead bodies.

Ranger pets are half strength by pnp they should in no way get equal to arties and druids

[Uska]

For me, neither. Keep Ranger pets shelved, I'd rather have access to both combat styles.

I find pets annoying anyways I approve of getting both styles myself

[Ovrad]

Your wrong on evasion rangers get it for free at level 9 and they dont have to use any enhancement points to get it and even full strength pets are annoying and useless I would hate to see more in the party cluttering up my screen with their soon to be dead bodies.

I was about to post a similar response, but noticed he was talking about pets having to buy evasion even though they are 'considered' rangers.


And personally, the less pets there are in the game the happier I am.

[Azara]

Here's the thing:

1 - Rangers DO get pets as PART OF THEIR CLASS! Just like Artificers. Just like Druids. Get over it.

2 - Paladins get mounts as PART OF THEIR CLASS. We have yet to see mounts OF ANY KIND.

3 - Sorcerers and Wizards get familiars as PART OF THEIR CLASS. We have yet to see those either.

So your wish to keep the "pet classes" to a minimum has already been over-written by THE PLAYER'S HANDBOOK and Turbine would be stupid to keep promising these additions only to never add them (I do however remember a promise of the Warlocks coming to the game 4 years ago that still has yet to materialize).

[Ryiah]

Rangers DO get pets as PART OF THEIR CLASS! Just like Artificers. Just like Druids. Get over it.

Turbine's original stance was they either didn't have the code in place to handle animal companions or simply did not want to be bothered. Either way instead they gave us the ability to have both melee and ranged bonus feats for free. As part of their class, Rangers are supposed to be required to choose one path.

I would rather have both melee and ranged than a pet that is worthless to anyone playing on a difficulty higher than casual.

[Fecerak]

Could you give a source for any of those promises? Because I cannot remember ever seeing the promises of any of them, and I often view the dev tracker. I cannot remember a dev ever stating that we would eventually get familiars/paladin mounts/ranger pets/warlocks.

Also:
This is not PnP. Sure, rangers in PnP would get animal companions as part of their class. However, they would not get both archery and TWF feats. Considering how useless the pets are (IMO anyway) a pet that's half the strength of the druid pets that I'd basically just use as lever pullers is not worth losing RS/MS/IPS or TWF/iTWF/gTWF for.

[Dieterstrife]

Here's the thing:

1 - Rangers DO get pets as PART OF THEIR CLASS! Just like Artificers. Just like Druids. Get over it.

2 - Paladins get mounts as PART OF THEIR CLASS. We have yet to see mounts OF ANY KIND.

3 - Sorcerers and Wizards get familiars as PART OF THEIR CLASS. We have yet to see those either.

So your wish to keep the "pet classes" to a minimum has already been over-written by THE PLAYER'S HANDBOOK and Turbine would be stupid to keep promising these additions only to never add them (I do however remember a promise of the Warlocks coming to the game 4 years ago that still has yet to materialize).

If you read some of the info about this game, it states a simple fact about rangers:

Rangers were granted access to both Ranged combat and Two Weapon fighting instead of being granted a pet.

Now, which are you going to give up: Two Weapon Fighting or All ranged feats? I'm perfectly fine with them not getting a pet, I'm none to fond of the druid and arti pets as is.

I will say though, I wouldn't mind mounts in the game but it's currently not expansive enough to justify needing to move like that

[Azara]

ACTUALLY, there is no rule anywhere in D&D that states you cannot follow both paths as a Ranger. You only get the feats for one of them for free, but you can still take the feats for the other as selected feats.

I would say that it is high time Turbine went to a strict 3.5 edition stance. Half-Elf Dilettante is NOT part of 3.5, it was introduced in 4th edition. So at BEST what we have now is some amalgamated bastardized half-breed that truly fits nowhere in either game. Is it playable? Yes. Is it D&D? Not so much.

I understand changes and "compromises" have to be made to bring it to a video game equivalent, but Neverwinter managed to do it WITHOUT compromising the game mechanic structure that made it D&D in ALL 3 of their incarnations! Turbine could take a lesson.

[Ryiah]

ACTUALLY, there is no rule anywhere in D&D that states you cannot follow both paths as a Ranger. You only get the feats for one of them for free, but you can still take the feats for the other as selected feats.

For starters, this is not D&D. This is DDO. As for adding back the other path via selected feats, that really isn't viable with the heavy feat requirements for Tempest and Arcane Archer. Even if you could fit them in you would still be gimping yourself in some fashion. All for a pet that is worthless in any meaningful content.

[Fecerak]

Neverwinter (not talking about the MMO, which doesn't seem to have character customization from what I've heard anyways, which doesn't make it PnP in any way shape or form to me) also is a single player game. When you are making a singleplayer game different rules apply compared to when you are making a MMO. In single player class balance isn't as important, repeating quests/dungeons/raids, etc. doesn't necessarily have to be something one can do and loads of other things.

And while you can take both types of feats as a ranger, who would do that? The thing is that if that change went through and rangers would have to specialize in exchange for getting a pet, it would likely be a huge nerf to the class overall.

If you really think NwN is that much better, go play that instead then, or make your own computer game version of DnD.

[Nephilia]

ACTUALLY, there is no rule anywhere in D&D that states you cannot follow both paths as a Ranger. You only get the feats for one of them for free, but you can still take the feats for the other as selected feats.

That's pretty much what the other guys are saying to u... In pnp u get one line of damage for free and u've to spend feats for the other one (if u care). Here in DDO u get both lines for free.
The pet would be really worthless and in case u're going for tempest u should waste almost all the feats u've to get both the PrE and the TWF line.
If u really really really want a little wolf that follow u and contribute near to 0 in contents just farm 250 pdk favor
Heck they could even jump and dance all around with a shiny sprinkling dust following 'em (and they can dress a big top!!!)

I would say that it is high time Turbine went to a strict 3.5 edition stance. Half-Elf Dilettante is NOT part of 3.5, it was introduced in 4th edition. So at BEST what we have now is some amalgamated bastardized half-breed that truly fits nowhere in either game. Is it playable? Yes. Is it D&D? Not so much.

And this was one of their best move since Helf in 3.5 were a worthless race. The introduction of dilettante was a great choice since here Helf are not only useful but, for certain purposes and builds, one of the best race.
About the D&D facts one could even state that enhancement system is nowhere in no D&D editions so the game itself it's a half bastardization

I understand changes and "compromises" have to be made to bring it to a video game equivalent, but Neverwinter managed to do it WITHOUT compromising the game mechanic structure that made it D&D in ALL 3 of their incarnations! Turbine could take a lesson

But it was not a MMO, isn't it?

[Azara]

Actually, the current incarnation (based on 4th edition) is an MMO and as a beta tester for it I can attest that it stays fairly close to the PnP.

[CarpeNoctu]

Thursday, April 11th from 6:00pm to 9:00pm

1am to 4am for me... Looks like I'll be getting up a couple of hours early.

[Truga]

Actually, the current incarnation (based on 4th edition) is an MMO and as a beta tester for it I can attest that it stays fairly close to the PnP.

Unfortunately, 4th edition is a steaming pile, so staying close isn't really a good thing.

[Svartelric]

*sigh* Well thanks for the answer, Squeak. It is appreciated.

*removes a few more months on how much longer he thinks he has left in this game* Those outfits could have done a lot to help keep me.

Small things matter after all.

Lol, passive-aggressive behaviour galore!

[Archangel666]

Rangers were given both melee and ranged bonus feats to replace the missing pets which one are you willing to give up to get a half-strength gimp pet?

Yes.