An introduction: you can call me Doctor Loot

[PlagueVector]

The most irritating problem with the current loot system that I have is the end rewards...not the loot itself but the selection method. I'd like to get loot based on my character but I play a rogue with artificer splash and if I tell the system to give me loot based on character class I get lots of stabby stuff but no thwock-thwock-thwock. Is there any way this could be fixed to select class you want to focus end loot to?

[ThomasHunter]

What was shared last weekend by Feather had me more excited about U21 and beyond than I have been recently. The MotU loot was awesome (all of the wonderful named stuff including the commendation turn-ins stuff). I have learned to really enjoy and love the GH stuff. Thanks for making it fun even in the heroic levels.

U19 loot. I still haven't farmed these quests much. My guild simply hasn't run much of them and I am not sure why. I have done the whole Prison series on heroic, but I've only done a couple in the Stormhorns yet. That said, I'd love to get more of the named stuff in U19 for sure!

I do miss the MotU suffixes and prefixes. That was cool. Oddly enough, Feather's posts last weekend was a real education in that it wasn't intuitive to me that a "II" was better than a "Burst" (typically). Certainly in hindsight I can see that. However, as a long-time player, Burst was always "the bomb"! I've been on the lookout all week for items again with "II" and above ratings for elemental damage. So, the lesson here is that better educating the players out of their old habits might have gone a long way to "liking" the new system better.

I'd like to see more shields. The Wall of Wood seems like the only item worth it for my cleric. I LOVE set bonuses. MotU was wonderful that way. That made me work hard (does that make sense for a game???) to make those set bonuses work. Admittedly, I care much less about those particular sets since U19 and now simply mix and match where I can.

I've started getting into monks more recently, and it seems weird that the Garments of Equilibrium are almost necessary and that they can be worm from level 10 to 20 where you would then just get the Villagers outfit to replace it.

I can also say THANK YOU for making the Minos Legens unnecessary now. Wow, that REALLY helped my whole character slotting diversification.

Yeah, too much rambling. Obviously not a power gamer here, but I spend a fair amount of time playing each week and love this game more all the time. U14 and beyond have simply made this game amazing. Feather's loot thoughts for U21 seem like another awesome advancement. Thanks for caring and making a great game!

[alancarp]

- Aside from the diversity issue, what are the biggest problems with random loot, today?
- What weapon and equipment types do you feel are underserved in named and in random loot?
- I’d love to hear about some of the non-named loot your character’s are currently wearing.

1. Sustenance items. I don't know how, but my Cleric found a set of Sustenance +15 Gloves (ML 17). Since getting that, I have not yet seen anything close to matching this below level 23 or so... and 99% of those items are multi-effect items (like Dexterity +3 Gloves of Sustenance +10 or something).

I want to see these new kinds of augments:
> Topaz of Heal/Sustenance (up to +30: gotta be a topaz even though Ruby makes more sense - healing Clerics don't carry many/any items w/Red augment slots)
> Topaz or Sapphire of Devotion (up to +140; same thing - Ruby makes more sense, but would be unusable)
> Topaz of Spell Resistance (up to +30? I was assured in a post last year that Update 17 would address that... no dice).
> Underwater Action (which should include Swim built-in)

2. Armor and shields are honestly almost useless as options. Oddly, for an end reward, when there is nothing else of interest, I'll still often choose a shield because it usually has the highest valuation. But of all equipment, once you get the armor and/or shield you want... that's it - for several levels. In my case, my epic toons all have the House C mournlode plate, Epic Cavalry Armor, and are starting into dragonplate. I have no use for any other armor.... and one epic shield each will be quite sufficient.

3. Non-named loot in use: My melees (2) are all over the Deadly items. Especially the paladin, since I had a ton of trouble finding any means of generating sufficient dmg-generation otherwise... at least prior to U19. Is it over-powered as some suggest? Relative to named items, yes. Relative to caster damage, Not at all. Even with an Epic Antique Great Axe and Divine Might, I really feel like the Deadly Items are still necessary (and even that wasn't sufficient in a couple of EE Underdark quests last night).

I used House C challenge items for a LONG time on my primary melee. But since lvl 25 (and U19), that has finally changed somewhat. I would rather have Tier 4/5 House C items, but that's a topic for another day, I suppose. The resistance, deadly, wizardry, natural armor and stat boosts (+7/8/9/10) were definitely welcomed above lvl 25... in absence of Shroud/House C/Alchemical upgraded levels, these new unnamed items have at least filled the gaps.

Otherwise. I guess Guild Augments are all but history at this point - no such items drop. That's kinda disappointing.

Thanks for engaging this.

[Oxarhamar]

Happy Friday, everyone. I’d like to introduce myself

*snip*

Welcome!

as far as random loot goes I absolutely love Masterful Craftsmanship and Wondrous Craftsmanship items

these Items have to potential to be the absolute best random loot since the level requirement is lower than the enhancement bonus

Cursed I am not so much a fan of I just haven't found anything Cursed that was worth the trade off



*this predates masterful but has the prior race required ML reduction and is my absolute favorite lowbie Item

I have yet to find a better repeater at low levels and am constantly looking.

[Lauf]

- Aside from the diversity issue, what are the biggest problems with random loot, today?
- What weapon and equipment types do you feel are underserved in named and in random loot?
- I’d love to hear about some of the non-named loot your character’s are currently wearing.

Diversity aside, you've corrected a major oversight a few updates ago, making items actually list their benefit in the title (e.g. striding boots became striding 25% boots). then, with the later releases, you went back to the unknown bonus naming (e.g. deadly, ghostbane etc) where people again have to click and read in order to see what the bonus actually is. essentially you've repeated a mistake after already fixing it. not smart.
why is it an issue? well, you try looking for a better item on the AH than the one you have.... you'd have to pull up every item with a bonus by the same name, and start to manually go through them one by one.
do this for several items, and you'll begin to wonder why the hell didn't we just name them differently?
please do.

as for your 2nd question, let me begin by saying there are currently weapon/ item types that are completely pointless. for example, light picks, light hammers, hand axes, to name a few.
veteran players will never use one, so these basically become traps for new players. leading to the obvious question - why have them in the first place?
hopefully you'll mull over that one for a minute.

as for items that aren't receiving proper representation: bludgeoning weapons of all kinds, picks, kamas.
at the moment (handwraps aside) anyone who wants to build a bludgeoning build would have a sub par dps, few item choices, and would basically build around a single named weapon. same goes for heavy picks.
this makes them pretty much another trap for new players.

[FlaviusMaximus]

- What weapon and equipment types do you feel are underserved in named and in random loot?

Weapon types that I feel are underrepresented as far as powerful endgame versions go: Dwarven Axe, Scimitar, Maul, Mace (heavy and light), Kama, Kukri, Great Crossbow (it would be nice if one or two of these gave repeaters a run for their money), Picks (heavy and light), Sickle, Handaxe, Long Sword, and Great Club. While high level named weapons of some of these types exist, I don't feel those weapons are powerful enough to justify using them.

I cannot name an wearable equipment type that needs to have more options. It's very hard to find room to slot everything you might want on a character right now as is. More augment crystal options and more slots on random and named loot items would help.

- I’d love to hear about some of the non-named loot your character’s are currently wearing.

Bracers with Convalescence of Parrying are on most of my characters. On non-strength based builds that still use strength to hit, I like accuracy items. At end game, items with +10 to a stat, +10 to Deadly, +10 Seeker, +10 resistance, wizardry X, false life +50, and fortification well over 100 are desirable for me. Slotted items with those stats or stats close to them are even better.

Possibly on a tangent, it would be nice to see exceptional seeker, sneak attack on wearable (non weapon) items, and more wearable (non weapon) doublestrike or doubleshot items pop up, although again, without more augment crystal options and slots, it is going to be very hard to find room on a character for such items. Oh, and wearable tactical gear is always desired.

*edit
Ohhh. Just remembered something big. Devotion. Would love to see Devotion on more random equipment or would at least like to see the augment color changed or expanded to yellow or colorless.

[Systern]

Happy Friday, everyone. I’d like to introduce myself as a bit of a new dev face on the forums. First, it’s about time I quit lurking, and second, I’m putting on an additional hat on the DDO team. What hat is that? In a word: loot. I’m here to listen to you and to keep my eyes on the big picture. Yes, that includes avoiding Ghostbane-situations.

So in the name of listening rather than blathering on and on, I’d like to ask you all a few questions as a sort of pulse-check on the state of loot. Go on and fill up the thread – I’ll check back in after the weekend (and a bit today, as schedule permits), with head-nods, follow-up questions, and answers where necessary.

- Aside from the diversity issue, what are the biggest problems with random loot, today?
- What weapon and equipment types do you feel are underserved in named and in random loot?
- I’d love to hear about some of the non-named loot your character’s are currently wearing.

(In the future, I’m planning some similar question sessions about named loot and named loot systems, BTW.)

1) Random loot is just... random. There's no real grouping of what affixes appear on what pieces. Life-stealing is a really powerful affix that in the past only appeared on things like daggers and staves... weapons that underperform in the crit/base damage profiles. Put Life-stealing on a bastard sword and the affix gets nerfed. Okay, Nightmare is not OP anymore, but the daggers and staves that needed it now suck again.
Flurry is a decent concept as an ancillary DPS increase, but it appears primarily on weapons and mains. +2% double strike is always going to be less damage than +nD6 or whatever. So it's a good effect in the wrong slot. Much like Seeker on a weapon. I guess if the intent is to help sword and board, that's fine. But Flurry also encompasses doubleshot, and it'd help my arti and the rangers to be able to slot it somewhere which won't cripple us.

2) Please know that Epic Ward is a real thing in the game. You're designing loot for a playerbase conditioned to run Elite and Hard quests, not normal. Stat Damage and Energy Drain are severely weakened in these difficulties. For example, every named repeater in the game (other than Needle) is either niche (Silver Slinger), or does stat damage which is pretty irrelevant in the environment. Epic Ward causes mobs to be 90% resistant to stat damage in the first place, and regen damage and negative levels every 3 seconds. The proposed affixes that FoS designed doing a fixed 1 negative level on vorpal will be largely ineffective in EH and EE content.

3) My characters that are up that high are wearing Stat +10 of Accuracy, Deadly of Resistance, and older Convalescent of Superior Parrying, Strength +10 of Dodge +9%, Con + 8 of Protection +7 w/ yellow slot.

4) biggest problem with Random Loot is that the changes to it aren't reflected in Cannith Crafting.

5) U14 added Druids to the game. The players were asking for the class for 6 years. To celebrate, Turbine gave druids medium armor proficiency, and took out all random-gen non-metal armors!!!! Please, change the lower MDB medium armors to a non-metallic material type.

[Flavilandile]

Happy Friday, everyone. I’d like to introduce myself as a bit of a new dev face on the forums. First, it’s about time I quit lurking, and second, I’m putting on an additional hat on the DDO team. What hat is that? In a word: loot. I’m here to listen to you and to keep my eyes on the big picture. Yes, that includes avoiding Ghostbane-situations.

Hi! Welcome
to the DDO Party.

- Aside from the diversity issue, what are the biggest problems with random loot, today?
- What weapon and equipment types do you feel are underserved in named and in random loot?
- I’d love to hear about some of the non-named loot your character’s are currently wearing.

1) Well, the diversity issue is a huge issue. Close second is the way they are done, at mid level it's next to impossible to find a single power item
( like a +6 stat item, or a plain +5 weapon with only a prefix or a a suffix ( but not both ) ).
At least for me.

2) diversity.... the trashing of the old system at U19 damaged that a lot.
For Named items we want certainties. A named item should be a sure thing with fixed powers and not something with random powers.
Named items should not have ANY random power at all.

3) The character ( rogue ) logged in right now has : a Tinker Set, a Black Dragon Armor and Helm, a Supreme Tyrant Greensteel Neckie, an Epic Treasure Hunter Spyglass, a LVL 20 Cloack of Night, and Epic Ring of the Bucaneer, a Pair of Cannith Boots of Propulsion, and a Pair of Bracers of the Sun Soul...

Oh and two random items : an Ogre Power +8 Ring of Balance +13 ( for the STR bonus ) and a health +7 belt of False Life +40 ( because I haven't found the +8 or more equivalent yet )

That should give you an idea where Random loot sits ( oh I forgot : Weapon Sets : Greensteel Lightning II, Mineral II, Rebellion, Balizarde, Celestia

Another character ( cleric ) for the fun :
supreme tyrant greensteel goggles, white dragon armor and helm, death's locket, planar focus of erudition, stormreaver tablecloth, sage sash, epic ring of the bucaneer, gauntlets of immortality, cannith boots of propulsion, ring of the stormreaver prophecy, supreme tyrant greensteel bracer of concordant opposition, blade of the high priestess and a madstone aegis....

who said random loot ?

[Zirun]

- Aside from the diversity issue, what are the biggest problems with random loot, today?

A lot of the affixes are extremely weak (Absorption on armors/shields, Doublestrike/Doubleshot on weapons for example) or extremely strong (Deadly), especially at the levels you start seeing them. Seriously, why are Doublestrike/Doubleshot and Absorption so low on the table? They're worthless at level 5. The damage on Riposte is largely worthless, Retributive is largely worthless (and way too common), things like that. Either replace a lot of these bad affixes (especially on low-level loot) with better ones or just remove them from the low-level tables altogether and balance them better for higher levels.

In addition to that, the naming scheme that previously worked so well was destroyed. Being able to see that a belt was Health +6 of False Life +20 is extremely useful, and the new items don't do that. Everything is Acid of Riposte or Retributive of Cold Absorption with no indication as to their strength. Fix the names of these items.

- What weapon and equipment types do you feel are underserved in named and in random loot?

"Flavour" weapons (sickles, light hammers/maces/picks/crossbows, throwing weapons, hand axes, etc.) have very little going for them, since they're not only flat-out worse than other weapons but are largely ignored by things like the new enhancements. Offensive shields are rare; seeing things like a shield with almost no defenses, decent damage and 50% shield bashing would be a great boon to builds that are tied to being S&B (like a lot of Paladins).

- I’d love to hear about some of the non-named loot your character’s are currently wearing.

My level 5 multi TR'd FvS is using almost none. My shield is random-gen, but only because I'm too lazy to craft one when it'll make a minimal difference at this level. Same with my armor, and maybe a few other pieces I can't remember. The important thing (my weapon) is Cannith crafted, because it's impossible to beat +1 Screaming of Bleeding at level 5 when there are no damaging suffixes on weapons that aren't Riposte.

[brian14]

Welcome to forum!

- I’d love to hear about some of the non-named loot your character’s are currently wearing.

Endless stream of Deadly, Accuracy and Speed items is both overpowered AND boring. Yes, my level 23 currently wears Deadly VII (or is it Deadly VIII?) necklace of Magi -- or whatever suffix it is that gives +150 SP, -- but I will be quite happy if all Deadly items are gone from the game. Not just no more in chests, but retroactively vaporized or broken into crafting ingredients.

Update 14 random items were exact opposite of the above. Affixes with multiple functions, such as Lacerating, Rebel, Night's Grasp, "of the Sun", etc. were fun. They made the game more interesting. Removing them was a huge mistake.

I really miss Banes and Greater Banes. Yes, they can be crafted, but when combined with synergistic U14 affix, they were truly amazing. I would say the most treasured random lootgen item I have is Night's Grasp longbow of Greater Aberration Bane. My level 23 AA still uses it against epic illithids and such.

If you mean literally "wearing" as opposed to "equipped", the only random loot my level 23 wears are the aforementioned necklace and Ogre Power +7 belt of Greater False Life. Everything else is named. I TR'd my bard at level 24, and the only random item he wore at the time were Ogre Power +6 belt of Greater False Life and Fearsome shield of Radiance. Again, everything else was named or crafted.

[RavenStormclaw]

The biggest issue is the whole concept just sucks. Random just SUCKS. The game was better when my level 20s didn't have a single piece of radom kit on them. Random should remain vendor trash . . . let us kit our toons how how WE want them to be.

Cannith crafting was the best thing ever to happen in DDO regarding trash loot. Being able to craft WHAT YOU WANTED was a zillion time better than having to rely on dumb luck.

Random loot over-shadowing named loot, even if a few levels higher, is friggin ******** as well.

Seriously, as long as you're on this "random" kick your loot/game will all be a bucket of fail.

Sorry troll,

Gonna have to disagree. I think you should have a chance to get decent random gear. I hate Cannith crafting, shroud is do able but a pain, and I'm really not a big raider... And I suspect a great majority of players fall into my category and we also probably spend the bulk of money as well. Good random loot is our lives. So doctor loot don't listen to the troll just brandish a torch and drive him back under ground.

as to my thoughts:

red, purple, or orange augments on robes. Would help a lot of robe wearing melee/caster hybrids put.


And welcome!

[Ancient]

Some thoughts I have:

1.) Is it possible to control what prefixes/suffixes drop by pack? In addition to the diversity of what is dropping, there is no diversity of where it drops. Having a few unique to a pack prefixes/suffixes could help liven things up.

2.) IMO the biggest problems with random loot isn't the loot, it is the action house and cannith crafting. It is hard to search for certain features in the auction house and cannith crafting has been left so so far behind. Superior radiant lore is another drop that was rare in the past... I haven't looked recently.

3.) Convalescence / superior parrying bracers are an example of random loot that I wear.

[Rinnaldo]

Two quick issues:

I have a Cormyrian Scimitar that I traded Challenge ingredients for, and I like what I ended up with. A paralyzing scimitar with acid burst, that also does occasional DoT salt damage. What I don't like is that it seems to be treated like a Named weapon in terms of trying to craft Festival recipes onto it. I get that it is (was) slightly better than the average random loot of its level, but it is also essentially just randomized loot, in terms of the abilities.

The second issue is more annoying because it actually seems buggy, rather than just a hidden WAI feature, like the first. Collars. Crafting handwraps into collars is awesome. Not being able to put them on your Pet is not. I have a collar that has chaos damage on it, which requires me to be chaotic to use it. I am. However, the game believes that my wolf is not. I cannot apply it to him, even though he should fulfill the prerequisites for it. This is incredibly annoying.

[sebastianosmith]

Hey Doc,

To be perfectly honest, the new loot tables appear to have been selected by committee to address concerns regarding new player retention issues. While I agree that such measures are warranted, the chosen path has been less than satisfactory. Balance is a difficult topic to puzzle through. Distributing what is in essence a "newb-friendly" set of attributes across the entire user base can, and has, generated a great deal of controversy among the more established community.

I'm not going to delve into the minutia of "what" or "how" as the specifics are as always entirely up to Turbine. I would, however, like to point out that there should probably be a level limit on just when the training wheels can be disposed. Enhancements such as Deadly, Accuracy and Ghostbane, while useful at lower levels for those not so familiar with the game, are grossly overpowered in the hands of veterans at mid-range to cap. Not only do these sorts of things devalue named loot and lend an air of ease which can lull new players into a false sense of accomplishment, which will lead to player loss a few levels later, they also upset those who have been with the game for years and feel that their efforts have been diminished.

Well, that's about all I have to say on the matter. I wish you and the rest of the Dev team luck in finding a solution.

[ArcaneArcher52689]

- Aside from the diversity issue, what are the biggest problems with random loot, today?
- What weapon and equipment types do you feel are under-served in named and in random loot?
- I’d love to hear about some of the non-named loot your character’s are currently wearing.

Welcome to the forums!

My biggest issue with current loot gen is that in some cases it outclasses old loot gen by miles, where in others it's miles behind.
Examples: deadly- as has been said, more damage is always better and it's widely available. Multiple augment sockets on one loot piece. I have a heal+9 helm with a blue and yellow socket that i'll be using as soon as i have the right augments. However, healing amp(as said by others) is no where to be found. many of the old loot-gen weapon aoe-effects, neg-level effects, or insta-kill effects were also worthwhile.

-I'm taking this as weapons/slots i'd like to see more of. Great Club/maul(when you're lvl 7 running delera's and need a thf blunt weapon right then), kama's(at least note-worth ones, cause DR/slash is a thing), then boots, necklaces, and gloves just don't seem to show up in loot gen as much as i thought they used to anymore (especially noteworthy ones. The past couple toons i've level have used +6 dex boots from 11-20).


currently, not wearing much loot-gen, but if i am, it has an augment slot

[Pooklebunny]

The biggest issue is the whole concept just sucks. Random just SUCKS. The game was better when my level 20s didn't have a single piece of radom kit on them. Random should remain vendor trash . . . let us kit our toons how how WE want them to be.

Cannith crafting was the best thing ever to happen in DDO regarding trash loot. Being able to craft WHAT YOU WANTED was a zillion time better than having to rely on dumb luck.

Random loot over-shadowing named loot, even if a few levels higher, is friggin ******** as well.

Seriously, as long as you're on this "random" kick your loot/game will all be a bucket of fail.

Want to pile in and agree with this (surpriiiise!) and would also like to point out that the stupidity of the random is a total immersion-breaker. Some demented crafter actually decided to make worthless combinations of tat like Keen of Ghostbane, Reconstruction of Healing Lore, blah, blah, blah. Random does indeed suck when it's *that* random. Likewise the interminably dull and stupid "Acid" (hover for MOAR!), "Flaming" and so on. Rubbish.

Upgrade Cannith Crafting, *definitely*. Some of us spent a vast amount of time on it, and it's practically worthless now. Ditch stupid incremental properties that "scale with level", but don't, like Speed. Was the ...person... who created that aware that you can slot 10% alacrity from level 1? Clearly not. Also, remember how to count when designing properties: do you have any idea how much damage is added by 1% doublestrike on a lowbie weapon? Think about it for a minute; just divide damage per swing for an average character in the level range by 100. Now, how much damage does Acid - or heck - even Righteous do by comparison? That's right! Still think rapid strikes is worth a slot on a weapon? Maybe on something higher-level, but not at the expense of a damage-dealing property... and it's far from unique in being something that only sounds good. I could go on, but people have already covered most things that make me grit my teeth

[SilkofDrasnia]

1) I'd very much like to see Cannith crafting get new recipes. It's decent for leveling gear, but when you consider just how much you need to

2) I'd like to see the old scroll/seal/shard Epic items get some love. It takes a VERY long time to get those items and they're just mid-game "passing through" loot now. I do think that having a significant investment in getting end game items is fine, but for items that you're just going to wear for a few levels, I think it's reasonable to just have the item itself drop directly OR add a seal exchange and shard exchange just like the Scroll exchange that we have now.

3) I think that random loot is mostly fine. Most of it is vendor trash and there is an occasional shining example of a great item. I'd like to see raid loot surpass that lootgen gear in most circumstances. That's a particular concern for caster weapons since there is nothing exciting in CitW for Clerics/FvS that have spells as their primary focus and Twilight isn't very exciting for Wizards/Sorcerers/Artificers compared to a variety of the lootgen caster sticks that are available.

4) Interesting items are more appealing to me than items that just have raw power from better numbers. Madstone boots, Torc, etc. are all more interesting and more fun than just a +12 [blah] item even if that is better than a +10 [blah] item.

Aye pretty much agree with this here especially point 2.

I would add I think named loot should be better overall than random junk and named raid items should be better than regular named items. Also old loot needs to be revamped random lvl 15~21 loot with +8 stats being better than hard farmed old raid loot (level 20 epic version) is just plain sad and wrong.

Oh and for the love of god if old loot is to remain like it is raise the chances on the seal/scroll/shard rates cuase right now if you only play a few characters you will hit 28 before ever ever seeing an old raid item become epic.

[FlaviusMaximus]

Also, remember how to count when designing properties: do you have any idea how much damage is added by 1% doublestrike on a lowbie weapon? Think about it for a minute; just divide damage per swing for an average character in the level range by 100.

Not to get sidetracked, but you would have to divide by more than 100 to figure out what % damage it adds to your character, because doublestrike does not grant glancing blows in THF and only applies to the mainhand weapon in TWF.

[Braegan]

Welcome Dr Loot!

Few randoms thoughts...

- I've never been a fan of random generated loot as being the "best in slot" for any build. To me random gear was something you wore until you got the piece of rare/raid loot you were looking for. This was the previous design of the game, the best loot was raid loot. This has the beneficial side-effect of producing a healthier then what we have now end-game. What's the point of raiding if you can pull better then raid loot out an explorer chest?

Raid loot and rare drops should remain the most powerful versions of loot until the ML of that item has been surpased by a respectably degree. If the highest stat value you can get out of the current level caps raid is 11, the highest random loot should go is 10. This provides a balance that grinders and powergamers will continue to pursue that last point, and casual gamers or alts will be perfectly happy being a slight margin below the cap or getting lucky.

A flaw of random loot is that it is random. Trying to plan a gear set without having any clear idea of what you will get (value/effect), where you will get it (item slot) and hoping you won't wind up doubling up on a stat/effect already covered in some other area is frustrating.

An example how random loot provided raid loot equivelent effects that was good: Having Shroud effects generate on weapons that were 20+. If you want to enjoy the rewards of a weapon of your choice with exactly your effects chosen at a lower level you had to raid (to at least get shards). If you wanted a lightning stike effect on a random weapon it wouldn't come until much higher level.

An example how random loot provided rare loot equivelent effects that was poor: Having Deadly effect drop in larger number, lower level and with extreme abundance thereby curb-stomping Dream Visors. The Deadly effect could have been introduced as D6(ml 26), D7 (ml27), D8 (ml28). That would have allowed for random loot to eventually eclipse a rare drop but without cripling the value of that rare item into nothing. In addition, with the last expansion I feel the values of stat gear jumped too high, too quickly. The newest and latest should be a bit better then the previous, but it doesn't need to "blow up."

- Random effects such as Dazing, Vorpal, Banishing existing on any kind of weapon not only doesn't make sense but also goes against anything that this game was based on (3.5 pnp). Now I know this isn't pnp, and it is a fantasy setting but a "no-holds barred" randomization is just silly.

- Pre-Motu epic items need a re-vamp of some sort. I understand that the amount of attention that area of the game would receive is marginal at best. But, at the least consider any one of and/or combination of:
-unbinding all shards and seals
-allowing a trade in 3-1 (like present sands scrolls)
-adjusting all shards/seals/scrolls to be from the pack. (I.E. any sands shard becomes Shard of the Sands, etc. base item plus shard,seal, scroll of that pack makes the item)

- I do understand that a certain degree of randomness and customization is healthy to prevent a game of clones all walking around with the same gear in the same slots, etc. I believe the best way to do this is with augments. Give us solid raid/rare loot with an attractive main feature with augment slots, random loot with a slightly lesser version of those main features available, and augments that are either orignal and values in design or combine enough effects to deem worthy of pursuit.

- The only random loot I can think of on any of my characters are a couple of high + stat items and conv of superior parrying bracers. Oh and some Deadly items in the mix.

Well that's all for now, thank you for listening.

[Kambuk]

Epic Shroud Level 30 Raid
This would get people back raiding in guilds in a big way.
Add Rune Arms and Handwraps to Shroud crafting at the same time.

Also

Random loot Rune Arms as quest end rewards the same way collars are now.
A new Epic house Cannith quest got added and it didn't have a named Rune Arm in it?

Level 25+ named weapons needs to have increased crit profile for them to be relevant.

Caster items need to have something more than just +x to spell power as that can be slotted with an augment.
i.e. reduced spell point cost (-10% discount to spellpoint cost), increased spellpoint cost while adding to damage of all spells - (10% penalty to Spellpoint Cost, offensive spells have 50% chance to deal 5d10 additional sonic damage)
Powerful dangerous items - Shradi Double Rainbow 7% chance targeted on the user (This would be good for an item that drops on quest exit - hmm that scepter you have to use in Rainbow in the Dark to give light would be perfect for the epic version... no wait that's far to evil)

Kambuk