I will start this off by saying that the closest thing I play to casters is hybdrids, and that I run EE content the majority of the time I am logged in.

I will be using EllisDee37's wonderful posts to make formatting easy and quick on my part.

I have played every MMO that has come out since Everquest back in 1999 and have a lot of time invested in MMORPGs. I would love to see DDO's popularity expand outside of hardcore D&D fans. The enhancement panel update is a beautiful adaptation of DDO's original enhancements.

However, a few things can be learned from other games and applied here. In Rift the class trees are similar in style and set up with auto granted abilities along the bottom of the tree that are awarded when a number of points are spent within the top part of the tree. I see the similarity in DDO's new panel but it lacks in execution.

The first problem is that there is the ability to spend way more points within the tree than what is required to unlock the last auto granted ability. On top of that you have to actually spend points in the bottom "auto granted" abilities as well. The design decision to put abilities along the bottom that requires a minimum amount of points spent AND minimum class levels is a good one, it keeps multiclasses from picking up capstones that are supposed to be incentives for purists. However, the capstones for some of the trees are lacking (I will get into more detail in the following posts), and the design flaw of requiring AP spent on what is supposed to be auto granted based on class levels.

I suggest you add two additional tiers prior to the capstone at level 9 and level 15 to smooth out the progression and power of the class as a character progresses. This will also allow for a wider range of "break points" for multiclasses instead of all the 12/6/2 builds based around enhancements instead of actual class abilities.

To remedy these design flaws I urge you to make changes to total AP able to be spent in one tree to 41, and that you make all bottom "auto granted" abilities truly free if you meet the minimum class level and AP spent in tree.

For the spell power change I suggest that you make skills such as heal, repair, perform, and spellcraft grant 2 spell power per 1 point. I like the idea that you can focus on Int at creation to make dragon mark healing viable on Halfling characters that don't have access to devotion as a class line or for builds that want to get more use out of Rejuvenation Cocoon in epic level play.

I urge you to give Rangers 1 devotion per point spent in a class tree as an auto grant lvl 0 ability. They are a high skill point per level class and should be able to find the points to max heal to make up for the other 40 spell power lost if self healing is what they desire.

Paladins on the other hand are a 2 skill point at base class and will find it near impossible to find the extra points to spend on Int in creation since they already have to focus on Cha, Con (they are melee range as a general rule), Str, and sometimes Dex if they want to duel Wield. For them I suggest getting 2 positive spell power per point spent in a class tree. Paladins in P&P are much better healers than they are in DDO because of the inflated HP pools present. The extra devotion would do well to remedy their shortcomings. I strongly urge the development team to allow Lay on Hands to be affected by positive spell power with the release of the new enhancements. In P&P lay on hands is an iconic ability that defines the class because of its ability to fully heal an ally and put them back into the fight. In DDO it retains its limited number of uses and will heal maybe 1/3rd of someones HP bar in todays Epic content.