Epic Past Lifes - Pictures and Description

[lyrecono]

I actually like most of the past lives. I personally think they will be worth the grind, at lest compared to heroic past lives. My issue comes with stacking. because of the 9x passive stacking, that's a huge potential boost, with a ton of grind involved. I'd personally rather have a slightly larger, but non stacking bonus. I think what is proposed brings too large of a gap between 0 past lives in a sphere and nine. There is little room for passive improvement if any +1 is essentially +9 fully stacked. Development has to be careful and play it cautious because of the 9x multiplier that will eventually be factored into many builds later. I say, double the passive bonuses and make them non stacking with themselves (so 3x stacking instead of 9 if you earn each past life in the sphere once). A 9x multiplier has to be very carefully examined, which is why each individual passive may seem quite weak, because it has to be, because someone will have 9x that bonus at some point.

not realy
45 ac? prety much useless, even tanks (if they were still needed) wont hit meaningfull ac numbers
145 hp? ok this one is nice (though i wouldn;t grind for it.
27 prr? thats 16(ish)% dr, in reality this will be a 5% increase in dr (being generous here) for tanks: 1-2% increase in their dr
9% elemental absorption, nice but ot worth the grind

[Raoull]

I'm probably in the minority here, but these look pretty decent to me.

Of course, I don't plan on "grinding" any of them out, but I do plan on getting some.

What I hate about heroic TR is that it removes a toon in my stable from Epic play. I tend to have one in the act of TRing at a a time, to keep a choice of epic toons available.

But with Epic TRs, you aren't out of epic play very long. Sure, you want to get up to 24 or 25 before you're willing to take on top content, but that will go waaaaaay faster than 1-20.

So I expect with this new system, as soon as any of my toons gets their Karma cap, they'll do an Epic TR... and I'll concentrate them a bit more than others but probably only until I hit 24 or so.

But since they are easier to get naturally, I can't say I want them to be all that awesome. If you add +1DC to one, you'll pretty much require that for DC based casters. As it is, they're nice bonuses that will definitely add up with enough of them, but nothing that will draw a huge line in the sand between haves and have nots, such as Spell Pen and heroic TRs is now.

(Of course, much of this is reliant on a healthy end game scene we really don't have now, but I assume within a year we'll have lvl 30 and 3-6 end game raids and all will be good. I hope.....)

[Qhualor]

Requires even more (tons more!) XP earned while still stuck running in off active destinies. Not interested. When do I actually get to play the **** character I want to play?!

*hint, hint*

the only thing that actually holds me back from jumping on it. I am one who will grind out for that +1 of whatever that is meaningless for everyone else. fix the off destiny grind to be more enjoyable and makes more sense and I wont hesitate to get completionist.

[psteen1]

I don't think these bonuses look too bad. People on this thread seem to want +5 DCs, +100 hp, +5 tactics, and +50 spellpower for each past life. They also want it for free apparently, forgetting that they have spent years accumulating their heroic past lives. Suck it up everyone.

Some small tweaks may be needed but overall this isn't so bad. And give up on casting DCs. They mess with the balance of the game more than anything.

[lyrecono]

9 spell power is so minute that it will not make any sort of appreciable difference.

Vargouille, as a player let me try to explain something to you and the Dev team. The reason that this game lives now is because of TRing, since there is no endgame. The reason that this game can and has survived on people TRing is because the passive rewards were worthwhile. Myself, I suffered through 3 lives as a cleric just so I can get +3 DC to my web spell because I enjoy the web spell. This is "free all the time and stacks with everything". An epic past life will be more XP, take longer, and the quests to get there are a LOT more boring. In order to preserve the life of the game, these epic past life feats MUST be at least as powerful as the free effect of a regular past life feat. Anything less and the playerbase will scoff and completely ignore the feature.

Here are some of my suggestions (take or leave as you will please)

Martial Sphere:

Doublestrike:

Stance: 5% Doublestrike per stack of this Past Life
Passive Bonus: +5 PRR per stack of this Past Life and +5 AC per Ten Character levels.


Skill mastery:

Stance: +2 to all Skills per stack of this Past Life
Passive Bonus: +5 AC per stack of this Past Life and +5 AC per Ten Character levels.


Fortification:

Stance: +10% fortification per stack of this Past Life.
Passive Bonus: +5 AC per stack of this Past Life and +5 AC per Ten Character levels.




Primal Sphere:

Double Shot:

Stance: +5% double shot per stack of this Past Life.
Passive: +5 Maximum Hitpoints and +5 per ten character levels.


Fast Healing:

Stance: Each 30 seconds you heal with positive energy, 5Hp + 5 HP every 5 character levels. 2nd tier is every 20 sec, 3rd tier every 15 sec.
Passive: +5 Maximum Hitpoints and +5 per ten character levels.


Colors of the Queen:

Stance: Your unarmed, melee and ranged attacks and spells have a 7% chance to produce a random effect. This triggers at most once every 30 seconds. Additional stacks of the past life reduce the triggered effect cooldown to 15 seconds and then 0 seconds. (this is not OP since Shiradi cannot proc perma-DOTs anymore)
Passive: +5 Maximum Hitpoints and +5 per ten character levels.



Divine Sphere:

Healing Power:

Stance: +15 positive energy spell power per stack of this past life. +5 to positive spell power if Empower Healing is used per stack
Passive: +5 PRR per stack of this past life.


Brace:

Stance: +2 to all saving throws per stack of this past life.
Passive: +5 PRR per stack of this past life.


Block Energy:

Stance: While blocking, +10% damage absorption against Acid, Cold, Electric and Fire damage per stack of this past life.
Passive: +5 PRR per stack of this past life.



Arcane Sphere:

Energy Criticals:

Stance: 2% Critical Chance with Acid, Cold, Electric Fire and Sonic Spells - this increases to 5% and 10% on 2nd and 3rd stacks of the feat
Passive: +3% Absorption of Acid, Cold, Electric and Fire damage.


True Casting

Stance: +1 stacking DC to all spells when in stance per stack of the feat. 3rd tier doubles effectiveness of any Greater Spell Focus feat as well.
Passive: +3% Absorption of Acid, Cold, Electric and Fire damage.


Arcane Alacrity:

Stance: Cooldowns on your spells are reduced by 3%. Additional stacks of Arcane Alacrity past life increases this to 6% and then to 10%.
Passive: +3% Absorption of Acid, Cold, Electric and Fire damage.

nice list, i would put some sp in the passive divine and arcane past lives, maybe 10-15?
Some passive damage in the martial line, 1 per pl should be ok.
Heal amp for the passive wild sphere?2% per pl

[Drwaz99]

They also want it for free apparently, forgetting that they have spent years accumulating their heroic past lives. Suck it up everyone.

For reference, if you went triple epic completionist (doesn't exist other than descriptor) it's just about a quarter-billion XP earned. That's hardly free.

[Trillea]

nice list, i would put some sp in the passive divine and arcane past lives, maybe 10-15? Running out of SP is not really a problem for most casters in the current state of the game.
Some passive damage in the martial line, 1 per pl should be ok. Couldn't hurt but I wanted my suggestions taken seriously, and Devs apparently think melee does enough dmg already (they don't).
Heal amp for the passive wild sphere?2% per pl more healing amp would make the fast healing OP I think

Responses in red.

[redspecter23]

not realy
45 ac? prety much useless, even tanks (if they were still needed) wont hit meaningfull ac numbers
145 hp? ok this one is nice (though i wouldn;t grind for it.
27 prr? thats 16(ish)% dr, in reality this will be a 5% increase in dr (being generous here) for tanks: 1-2% increase in their dr
9% elemental absorption, nice but ot worth the grind

45 AC is a lot. True, in epic elite it's not likely to do much for most players, but balancing these past lives for a broken EE system is probably not a good idea. A tank that is "almost there" will find a massive benefit to 45 additional AC that doesn't take up a feat or gear slot. It's just there after you put the work in. The fact that the AC bonus doesn't help much in EE is a problem with EE and not a problem with a stacking 45 AC bonus.

[lyrecono]

I'm probably in the minority here, but these look pretty decent to me.

Of course, I don't plan on "grinding" any of them out, but I do plan on getting some.

What I hate about heroic TR is that it removes a toon in my stable from Epic play. I tend to have one in the act of TRing at a a time, to keep a choice of epic toons available.

But with Epic TRs, you aren't out of epic play very long. Sure, you want to get up to 24 or 25 before you're willing to take on top content, but that will go waaaaaay faster than 1-20.

So I expect with this new system, as soon as any of my toons gets their Karma cap, they'll do an Epic TR... and I'll concentrate them a bit more than others but probably only until I hit 24 or so.

But since they are easier to get naturally, I can't say I want them to be all that awesome. If you add +1DC to one, you'll pretty much require that for DC based casters. As it is, they're nice bonuses that will definitely add up with enough of them, but nothing that will draw a huge line in the sand between haves and have nots, such as Spell Pen and heroic TRs is now.

(Of course, much of this is reliant on a healthy end game scene we really don't have now, but I assume within a year we'll have lvl 30 and 3-6 end game raids and all will be good. I hope.....)

I wanted to make a nasty remark, something about asking if you like soloing, but you seem well aware of the low server population, with the current drop in paying people, i doubt we'll see it done

[Bowser_Koopa]

so 9 martial past lives gives someone 45 ac. I have no idea whether that makes any impact in DDO. I suppose a tank that can get to 120+ can now hit 165 ac which makes a difference for that tank and that might be woth investing. Does not seem that great. I would say 10 ac a life might be worthwhile so someone with 9 past lives could get +90 ac. The healing power is o.k. but most of the other caster stuff is not that impressive. Really disappointed in no DC increase in any school. Heroic Reincarnation should not be far better for any casters. Not enough spell power. I like the random 7% effect, but that might be nice for anyone depending on effect.

Hopefully when i get home i remember to check this but where is the number 45 ac coming from? From what I have read each feat stacks to 3 times. And assuming these take epic levels into account I get 9 total AC per (6 base+3 when we get cap 30) each peat you can select which would be 27 total.

I mean if it is 45 I guess if I do this having evasion and 230+ ac would be interesting

Bowserkoopa,

Please let the designer of Lord of Blades make the next raid, and the one after that...and the one after that.

[redspecter23]

For reference, if you went triple epic completionist (doesn't exist other than descriptor) it's just about a quarter-billion XP earned. That's hardly free.

Free in this context means it doesn't take a gear slot, feat slot and you don't have to do any tweaking to your build to fit it in. There is a time cost involved, but you can't create something overpowered because the time cost is too high. The solution might be to lower the initial time cost. It's like you can't create a +50 Greatsword with improved critical range and threat and give it to players after they put 5000 hours into the game. At some point many players will have this and it will be a permanent factor for those toons. Power creep has to be taken into account since there is no cost to these abilities other than the initial time investment.

[Portalcat]

As a DC caster on my main, it would be really nice to have something that boosts DCs, but the spell cooldown active feat is definitely useful.

I would be fairly happy with this list. The grind from 20-28 is really not that bad compared to the Heroic grind; it takes much less time given epic XP versus heroic XP, you have epic destinies that let you play EH content way underlevel even with just a few things twisted in while off-destiny, you can run with people in a wide level band, the loot you'll pick up along the way is far more valuable. The feats seem scaled reasonably considering such.

[Cetus]

There are melee DPS options in each sphere except Divine.



That 9 spell power isn't competing for anything else. We're extremely willing to hear balance and power feedback and consider changes, but something taking up a feat slot is not the same thing as something that's free all the time and stacks with everything.

Yea, no thanks.

Leveling in off destiny again?

Hell no, count me out.

Never heard of a game whose developers are deliberately making it UN-fun.

[Trillea]

Leveling in off destiny again?

Hell no.

Also this. Karma should be able to be spent and not have to run in any specific destiny. I should not have to be limited to run in Shiradi only when raiding for loot for 18 million XP because I want 3 arcane past lives. The arcane spheres SUCK for a DPS caster!

[Drwaz99]

Free in this context means it doesn't take a gear slot, feat slot and you don't have to do any tweaking to your build to fit it in. There is a time cost involved, but you can't create something overpowered because the time cost is too high. The solution might be to lower the initial time cost. It's like you can't create a +50 Greatsword with improved critical range and threat and give it to players after they put 5000 hours into the game. At some point many players will have this and it will be a permanent factor for those toons. Power creep has to be taken into account since there is no cost to these abilities other than the initial time investment.

Except what they are proposing isn't overpowered in any sense of the phrase. Time investment or from a power balance viewpoint.

Never heard of a game whose developers are deliberately making it UN-fun.

And yea, this baffles me and I will probably not do any of this if it goes thru having to level off destinies for 150million+ XP.

[kwyjibo_lol]

As a DC caster on my main, it would be really nice to have something that boosts DCs, but the spell cooldown active feat is definitely useful.

I would be fairly happy with this list. The grind from 20-28 is really not that bad compared to the Heroic grind; it takes much less time given epic XP versus heroic XP, you have epic destinies that let you play EH content way underlevel even with just a few things twisted in while off-destiny, you can run with people in a wide level band, the loot you'll pick up along the way is way more valuable along the way. The feats seem scaled reasonably considering such.

This please devs. Yes we know you once loved Necro but not anymore, but there are other schools that could at least get a boost.

If these EPL's are supposed to be something we look forward to obtaining, then there is precious little for us to look forward to - kind of like those Epic Casting feats which are just MEH.

To put it simple, if you don't boost any dc for a caster at all through EPL's, then just delete all dc casting to simplify the game so we can all cast dots and Magic Missiles. Fun for all the ddo family!!!!

[Henky]

The stances need to be substantially more powerful - for 2 reasons: 1. The passives effectively stack up to 9 times, so by contrast the stances need to be much better 2. There's competition, since we can only choose one stance active at a time from each sphere

Martial Suggestion - Make passives all different to avoid a 9-fold stacking, so they can be better. The 9-fold stacking is stupid imo.

Dreadnaught Stance #1: +2% Doublestrike, +1 Tactics DC, +1 Extra Action boost, +2 to damage
Passive: Cooldown on tactical feat DC's is lowered by 2 second (this doesn't include cleaves).

x3 = +6% doublestrike, +3 tactics, +3 Boost, +6 damage, 6 second cooldown reduction on tactics for 19.8 million xp.

Grandmaster Stance #2: Regen 2 Extra ki on hit, +1 to all saves and skills, + 1 to tactics, +1 wisdom, bypass 2% fortification
Passive: +3 AC, +4 PRR, +1 will save

x3 = 6-ki regen on hit, +3 saves and skills, +3 tactics, +3 wisdom, 6% fort bypass, +9 ac, +12 prr, +3 will save for 19.8 million xp

Shadowdancer stance #3: Bypass 5% fortification, +1 assassinate DC, +1d6 Sneak attack damage, +1 dexterity, +1 intelligence
Passive: +3 Sneak attack damage and + 1 reflex save

x3: 15% fortification bypass, +3 assassinate DC, +3d6 SA, +3 Dex, +3 intelligence, +9 SA dmg, +3 reflex save for 19.8 million xp

This isn't perfect, but these bonuses allow some competition between the stances for characters who benefit from this sphere, and something for say, arcanes and divine to give them reason to level these destinies as well (such as 3 intel for wizards from shadowdancer stance).

Removal of the x9 stacking of passives allows for customized passives for each destiny past life.

/this

And remember, the cap will be 30, we are farming 6.6M per life now, when level cap increases (if game is still alive) the new cap will be... 6.6M + 1.5M + 1.65M = 9.75M per epic past life.

And yes, farming karma points in a destiny not suited for your class is UNFUN and BORING.

[redspecter23]

Except what they are proposing isn't overpowered in any sense of the phrase. Time investment or from a power balance viewpoint.

Here, have +45 AC. No other effect in the game outside of endgame armor itself gives you that in one shot. You can argue about the usefulness of AC and how even with this, EE mobs will still come at you and crush you senseless, but 45 AC all at once without taking up a gear slot or feat is a huge leap over what we can get currently.

It's my opinion. I get that you disagree. I respect that. But a 45 AC boost over toons without epic past lives is a massive boost. Yes it may take a ridiculous amount of time to get, but once you have it, you have it for good. Same thing for the HP boost. We're used to stacking up small bonuses in the range of 20 - 50 hp per effect. This one BAM, you've got 100 or more HP over those with no past lives. Overpowered? Probably not, but it is a significant bump in survivability once you grind it out.

[SirValentine]

Here, have +45 AC. No other effect in the game outside of endgame armor itself gives you that in one shot. You can argue about the usefulness of AC and how even with this, EE mobs will still come at you and crush you senseless, but 45 AC all at once...

Can you please explain to me why you keep using phrases like "in one shot" or "all at once" and "BAM"? Are you or are you not talking about having to re-level to 28 (or 30) over and over again 9 times?

[Andoris]

There are melee DPS options in each sphere except Divine.



That 9 spell power isn't competing for anything else. We're extremely willing to hear balance and power feedback and consider changes, but something taking up a feat slot is not the same thing as something that's free all the time and stacks with everything.

9 spell power is fairly useless. If you wanted to make it worthwhile, how about 1/2/3 to spell dc. DC casters could really use some love. Unless you are max DC's you don't stand a chance in current end game (EE Stormhorns), and even then you are really relegated to only being a hold bot. The ability to add 3 points of DC would make them viable.