End of the Week with Major Mal

[dlsidhe]

Hey y’all, here we are again, approaching another Expansion pack. Been a crazy year or so, not exactly the smoothest I’ve ever been part of, but it has been exciting.

YAY! MajMalphunktion!

Are the people making decisions going to listen to us when it comes to the enhancement pass?
Yes they are. 100’s of player bugs and comments have been sent over to dev. I have full reports from surveys, and conversations with players, that along with internal testing paints a pretty clear picture of the good, bad and ugly of the Enhancement system. There is already some pretty big redesigns to the UI and some of the classes…like Clerics.

[/QUOTE]

That last sentence is one of the best things ever. The Cleric trees were horrifying things.

[Dandonk]

Welcome back, Maj.

Anything happening on the guild renown decay front?

[Maelphistez]

Welcome back to the forums Maj... I'm firmly in the camp that it's better for people to be yelling about too much information than not enough. Not a troll, but I'll add in a few more questions for you though...

- I've complete two TR's and Baudry is still closed. It's not a problem really, those levels are silly full of XP but is this going to be fixed any time soon?

- OMG lever bug. Make it stop, PLEASE make it stop. If there were ever a case of a bug needing an IMMEDIATE hotfix, this is it. Failing Shadow Lord at the second to the last torch because of a sneaky phase spider is just not cool. Can you tell us that this will be fixed sometime in the very near future?

- And because you wanted a handwraps question.... can you pretty please put Fernian Wraps back to BtA instead of BtCoE? Pretty please with an Owlbear on top?

[Drwaz99]

Thanks for posting Mal. Even if the only detailed info is really concerning the owlbear. And more than 8000 bugs resolved in the past year? Hrm, most of these must be on the technical side that we never knew about. But the number doesn't surprise me.

[Theolin]

oh and nice to hear something

[Tyrande]

Welcome back, Major.

• There are more than 14 mountain peaks higher than 8000 meters. So an average bug fix rate of 666 per month.
• Owlbear being addressed? Cool. Any thoughts of how the Improved Grab being translated? Personally, I would have preferred Evasion and Manslayer and correct functioning of 200 Physical Resistance Rating.
• Why no new named handwraps in the update 18?

[Charononus]

- OMG lever bug. Make it stop, PLEASE make it stop. If there were ever a case of a bug needing an IMMEDIATE hotfix, this is it. Failing Shadow Lord at the second to the last torch because of a sneaky phase spider is just not cool. Can you tell us that this will be fixed sometime in the very near future?

I had gotten a response from cordovan a while ago in a thread that the fix is slated for 18.2. Too lazy to find it atm though.

[dejafu]

Yay! Wild Maj sighting!

So here's a question that you're probably loathe to answer, but I'm going to ask anyway:

Any ideas about when we'll get our next crack at Alpha/Beta testing the new enhancements? I understand that specific dates are traps to be avoided, but could you give us the roughest of estimates? Is the wait bigger than a breadbox?

Oh, and PLEASE tell me that the Cleric revamp also means that Favored Souls are no longer going to have an enhancement tree lifted straight from Clerics with a couple of letters filed off!! Where's that blasted beg emote?!

[SirValentine]

Hey y’all, here we are again

Welcome back, Maj. Thanks for the various updates.

Are the people making decisions going to listen to us when it comes to the enhancement pass?
<snip>
There is already some pretty big redesigns to the UI

The UI appearance was fine. It is the horrible hyper-specialization required by that awful points-in-tree mechanic that makes the alpha so much less flexible than the enhancement system we have now. Why, a pure-class character can't even take their class capstone under the alpha, unless they go full-bore into a single little "tree".

...pretty big redesigns to the UI and some of the classes…like Clerics.

As a Cleric player, I'm playing wait-and-see on these "big redesigns". Divines have been repeatedly kicked in the teeth way too many times by past dev decisions, still uncorrected, for me to actually have much hope.

Why do so many bugs that get reported in Lamannia still make it through to the live servers?
Usually it is a time issue. We have a schedule to keep

Would you mind mentioning to the people that make the schedules that many your fans/customers care more about quality than scheduling? Thanks.

[Tyrande]

Are the ToD rings ever going to be updated to reflect the enhancement pass?
There is a plan, but it is more complex than you may think, not any time soon.

Question: are the missing rings for classes with PrEs like artificer, favored soul and druid going to be addressed as well?

When are we going to see a racial PrE that ISN’T Arcane Archer?
There is a plan for this too, no idea of an ETA.

But is there an ETA for the ETA?

What are the chances of the Combat Archery epic feat ever working?
It is in the bug pile.

Okay, but what is QA's stance on ranged combat? Would people laugh at me if I build a bard AA? FvS AA? Would you build one? Is it being tested? Automated script tested? Do you know that Ranged Damage is but 25% of melee damage in general without Destinies and not in Manyshot?

Are the people making decisions going to listen to us when it comes to the enhancement pass?
Yes they are. 100’s of player bugs and comments have been sent over to dev. I have full reports from surveys, and conversations with players, that along with internal testing paints a pretty clear picture of the good, bad and ugly of the Enhancement system. There is already some pretty big redesigns to the UI and some of the classes…like Clerics.

This makes me smile. My cleric and favored soul is not a hjeal bot. I told my party the other day in chat that she is not a healer. (16 FavoredSoul/2 Monk) and guess what the pure 18th level warforged fighter with no healing amplication answered? "I am not really a fighter". I kept a mental note of not healing him and let his soulstone lie.

[losian2]

Hey y’all, here we are again, approaching another Expansion pack. Been a crazy year or so, not exactly the smoothest I’ve ever been part of, but it has been exciting.

Here are some highlights from a QA perspective:

A new bug tracking tool! Woot. Finally. Yes, we do not lose your bugs to the Astral plane anymore. There is still a bug with reporting from in game that stinks, but the eggheads are working on it.

Mac Client! Woot for someone I guess.

New Lamma and Mournlands focus- I thank Squeak and the Kookie for upping the game on communication from the community. They may not speak much, but all the data from both of these communities is now meticulously tracked.
For example:

Then there are pretty pie charts and graphs…direct quotes and fun stuff like that.

Bugs? Right. You probably want to know about bugs. Let’s first talk about the fiction that Turbine does not fix anything.
Over the past year how many bugs do you think have been addressed? It is a scary large number, which I’m a jerk and I’m not going to share, but it is more than 14 mountains in the world are high in meters.

Some questions I have been asked:
Whats up with the spider Mask? Fixed in the next patch.
Goggles DEY SHOW NOTHING!-Also fixed in the Patch
I have no questions lately about handwraps…slackers.

What’s up with the Owlbear?
He is being adjusted for the next patch.
The Owlbear Defender hirelings (both level 17 and 25) have had the following changes:
-Armor Class significantly increased
-Fire Absorption increased from 20% to 50%
-Cold Absorption increased from 20% to 50%
-Acid Absorption increased from 20% to 50%
-Electric Absorption increased from 20% to 50%
-Sonic Absorption 50% added
-They now have limited ability to heal themselves when at low health.
What's involved in epic TR?
We have a design, but we are not willing to talk about it yet. Stay tuned, there will be a dev at some point that will pontificate about this.

When will spell casting be fixed/adjusted for Lore/crit damage?
This will be fixed completely for the expansion pack. There may be some band aids in U18 p2

Are the ToD rings ever going to be updated to reflect the enhancement pass?
There is a plan, but it is more complex than you may think, not any time soon.

When are we going to see a racial PrE that ISN’T Arcane Archer?
There is a plan for this too, no idea of an ETA.

What are the chances of the Combat Archery epic feat ever working?
It is in the bug pile.

Are the people making decisions going to listen to us when it comes to the enhancement pass?
Yes they are. 100’s of player bugs and comments have been sent over to dev. I have full reports from surveys, and conversations with players, that along with internal testing paints a pretty clear picture of the good, bad and ugly of the Enhancement system. There is already some pretty big redesigns to the UI and some of the classes…like Clerics.

Why do so many bugs that get reported in Lamannia still make it through to the live servers?
Usually it is a time issue. We have a schedule to keep, and sometimes the stuff gets kicked to a patch or later. It is just part of the ugly truth of MMO development.

Will the lag ever be fixed?
There are fixes to lag issues all the time. Some are pretty sticky, but yes this is one of the things that the game platform group is always trying to improve on all our games.

Will there ever be a fix to loot tables so that non hardcore players can eventually get the top end gear?
Right now the way we set up loot is all difficulties have the same % of loot, but it is different loot for each difficulty. There is talk about an upgrade system.


Will there be a sensible crafting revamp?
I know of no crafting upgrades or revamps in the near future.

What's Belichick up to with these joint practices with the Eagles?
Bill always believes in joint practices. He has done it in the past with the Giants, New Orleans and Tampa Bay. It’s good for both teams, and good for new ideas into the leadership team of the two franchises involved.

GO BRUINS!!

But.. but.. what about a playable race already? Geesh! :O

[Atremus]

awesome update MajMal! The glimmer of hope that this thread brings to DDO makes me happy.


Please tell Feather he forgot to update my Epic Flame Ward though.

[Produktion_Malphunktion]

Yay! Wild Maj sighting!

So here's a question that you're probably loathe to answer, but I'm going to ask anyway:

Any ideas about when we'll get our next crack at Alpha/Beta testing the new enhancements? I understand that specific dates are traps to be avoided, but could you give us the roughest of estimates? Is the wait bigger than a breadbox?

Oh, and PLEASE tell me that the Cleric revamp also means that Favored Souls are no longer going to have an enhancement tree lifted straight from Clerics with a couple of letters filed off!! Where's that blasted beg emote?!

late june

[lakewoodgames]

Do you know if any plans are in the works to help out guilds? A change was made and announced in the official discussion section last October, a lot of feedback was given that mostly depended on guild size and poof the devs left the thread hanging and never let us know the status of the "temporary" change and if anything would be done for smaller guilds to balance the system.

Many people would like to know.

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...y-from-Turbine

[MeliCat]

I have no questions lately about handwraps…slackers.

Cheeky sod

Although you do know what you're started now don't you?

[Ovrad]

Oh MajMal, it's good to see you again, you're like a beacon of hope in these... let's just say unpromising times. Glad you're feeling better.

I have no questions lately about handwraps…slackers.

Ok, since you asked: will wraps ever be fixed for Fury of the Wild's adrenaline, half of the Legendary Dreadnought tree, or the various effect stacking bugs of Primal Avatar?

EDIT: Oh and will smites (paladin or shintao) will ever be fixed to use off-hand as well? Because as it stands, you most likely lose DPS by using a smite.

[Sonos]

Thank you Maj! A simple post like that one goes a long way!


About those handwraps....

[Gratch]

I know it's slightly outside the game client. But any chance this game based on highly versatile characters and builds gets an export or display system outside of the game client? Like what we had from my.ddo but moreso like EVERYTHING. It has been 7 years.... for a D&D game...

[Ziindarax]

As others have pointed out, the Melee damage of the owlbears were rather lacking compared to other hirelings - but in particular, they lack the ability to bypass DR, which for their levels isn't good. Panther could break Good DR, which was enough to make them somewhat useful against evil outsiders that lacked metallic resistances.

Will Owlbears be given the ability to break damage resistance, alongside being granted better defences (more PRR, Dodge, and/or Evasion)?


As for the Enhancement pass, have the costs of Enhancements been reduced to make it less restrictive than what we've seen in Alpha? Will all enhancements in a tree have a point to taking them rather than being point wasters, and will the Toughness enhancements grant 10 HP per rank as they currently do on live?

[Gadget2775]

Since you said no one's hit on Handwrap's in a while Do you know anything about a fix for ToD rings working as they're suppose to with Canith Crafted wraps? My Holy Burst ring still doesn't stack with crafted Holy. When will Primal Avatar damage effects (specifically Summer Smoke) stop removing the Entropic proc from my Grave Wraps. And when will it stop removing my ToD ring effect?Positive note, my Flame Blades actually bypass appropriate damage on Monk off-hand strikes now. Woo woo! (Haven't hand a chance to see if all monk off-hand strikes bypass...But noticed yesterday the Flameblades do)Much appreciate you stopping by and sharing information with us MM.