DDO Producer's Letter July 2014

[azrael4h]

I beg to differ as I do play a pure Tempest ranger, but people wont always agree. rangers were considered pretty weak before the enhancement pass and some thought they would go extinct. they however did not and many Tempests splashed 2 levels of fighter, like I did, since the capstone was near worthless to them. the Tempest tree still needs work with the long cooldowns and need more offensive and less defensive buffs, but comparing my ranger pre-pass to now, he has doubled in strength especially if you throw in free ranged feats and a Pinion.

its funny you say rangers are on equal footing as paladins because I do play paladins as well. rangers with mostly or pure levels have a huge advantage over paladins with dps by a wide margin. not saying paladins are weak because they are not, despite what the forums say. what I find interesting in these topics in comparing dps is that people compare builds on an uneven ground or they failed at building one and think the class is delete worthy.

People playing something isn't the same as being competitive. Yeah, Tempests are better than they were post-U5 and the PrE being made useless by ill-advised nerfs. When the bar is set so low, you can't help but improve. And yes, I've ran both classes. I've ran everything except Barbarian, most of them multiple times. Notice I don't speak about Barbarians much? That's because I'm not very familiar with them. You should do the same with Rangers before demanding a ill advised nerf, returning them to post-U5 levels.

Paladins have a survivability advantage over nearly every class save Monk, plus fairly potent self-healing. They still reside firmly at the bottom of the barrel. Their weakness is in the area that the game's design has made most important: DPS.

[Robai]

Just want to make sure that devs are aware of this problem:
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...ve-new-players

[Qhualor]

People playing something isn't the same as being competitive. Yeah, Tempests are better than they were post-U5 and the PrE being made useless by ill-advised nerfs. When the bar is set so low, you can't help but improve. And yes, I've ran both classes. I've ran everything except Barbarian, most of them multiple times. Notice I don't speak about Barbarians much? That's because I'm not very familiar with them. You should do the same with Rangers before demanding a ill advised nerf, returning them to post-U5 levels.

Paladins have a survivability advantage over nearly every class save Monk, plus fairly potent self-healing. They still reside firmly at the bottom of the barrel. Their weakness is in the area that the game's design has made most important: DPS.

well, like I said, I do have a tempest ranger so I do know how they were before and how they are now. if your ranger can only survive on ranged and twf than might want to look at the build and do some tweaks. I never did ask for a nerf, just simply stated the improved power they have gotten so that they really don't need both lines to be what is considered viable. sounds to me you are afraid of change more than anything else.

same can be said about paladins. notice ive never said they have top notch dps, but I have said theirdps does not suck as bad as some people say on the forums. might want to look at the build while looking at your ranger.

[Holyshank]

So many people say this about rangers needing to be able to swing a sword???

I'm curious, my ranger (Pure Ranger) has never used anything besides a bow and keeps up just fine in EE quests and raids not a problem. At the end of most EE quests there are TR players with multi deaths and much lower kill counts than mine. My Ranger is also first life.

No disrespect to any ones previous comments but can someone please explain why if a first life ranger can keep up with just a bow (and be highly competitive) where the need is to be able to swing a sword as well and divert precious CE's to Tempest?

Maybe I just have the right combo of RE's/CE's/ED's and Twists.

Appreciate any constructive feedback.

Cheers

[dunklezhan]

Maybe I just have the right combo of RE's/CE's/ED's and Twists.

At epic levels, your EDs make much more of a difference to everything than you are accounting for. My Wiz12/Fight8 EK for example was complete weaksauce at L20. By L21? Happily munching through Epic Hard with everyone else. Consider your L15-20 first life pure ranger compared to L15-20 Arti or Druid.

[jwelch]

developing another classic dungeon like the haunted halls of eveningstar.

s1! Tomb of horrors!
S1! Tomb of horrors!
S1! Tomb of horrors!
S1! Tomb of horrors!

[Todkaninchen]

No deal. Ask paladins how thy like trading their animal companion (mount) and half their useful spells for nothing in return

Add another to my list...

Velociraptor mounts for halflings...

Only the Eberron ones, of course.

I think--overall though--DDO does okay for powergamers and PUGgers, but yeah, soloing raids is practically an anomaly...

...but it should be.

Not everyone plays the same, not everyone enjoys the same parts of the game. Which is one of the things DnD--paper and MMORPG--has historically done pretty well in, especially in the character building and party-focused elements in the game.

Additionally, people's play styles radically differ and what doesn't work for one, can work for others. People complain about arties and arti dogs all the time, I've run a couple of characters through pure arti lives and most of the time, I have one of the higher kill counts and least number of deaths in most runs and--when I do die--my dog usually lives on for quite a while. Mostly, it's probably play style, gearing, and such, but I also don't pretend I'm a wizard or a melee when I play arti.

On ranger...

I keep trying to play one and I just feel totally weak at it. Others I run with turn it into a powerhouse. I'm cool with that. I do the same things with my (overgeared) rogue mechanics. Everyone screams "weaksauce" and I go solo stuff with a hire. I might take a little while longer, but I can solo Epic Hard Chains of Flame with one (and a hire) at level 21 or 22 most of the time because I build a certain way, gear a certain way, etc.

So, just because it doesn't work for you, no need to trash it. Also, not everything needs to be equal the way you play...

[Todkaninchen]

How about a "Solo Saga"?

We have a handful of solo quests in game, but not a lot of specific soloable material. Go back to the "roots" and give us a series of quests across the levels that form a continuing arc but are exclusively solo, "RPG" stuff. If you introduce sentient, upgradeable weapons, that level with us, it might be a way to get the first one, maybe upgrade it or learn about it as you go along, and be a somewhat interesting solo chain.

Let's see...

Bring back Jeets, Celimas, and Talbron. After the Grotto, at low levels, run into them, well, in Harbor. Maybe outside a tavern...

Someone has hired the intrepid adventurers to seek out a cache of special, magical weapons. They want you to help.

At this point, some combination of dialogue and class-based algorithm to determine exactly what role the character will play in this little adventure. This way you can have a playable quest for a pure heal-cleric and a barbarian. Perhaps tailoring the quest towards "role" ("tank", "DPS", "healer", "offensive caster", "support...?") and creating specific solo parts within the quest (chain). So, the basic structure would be something like:


************************************* --> Critical "Healer" action
************************************* /******************\
*************************************/*******************\
INTRO --> "Ensemble" Forms --> Ensemble activity --> Core Team Action --> ---> Regrouped Core Action --> (A)
************************************ \********************/
*************************************\************ *******/
**************************************--> Critical "DPS" action.


************************************** --> Critical "Support" action
************************************* /******************\
*************************************/*******************\
(A) --> Ensemble activity --> Core Team Action --> ---> Regrouped Core Action --> Etc.
************************************ \********************/
*************************************\************ *******/
**************************************--> Critical "Caster" action.

For the lowest level quests, the "side action" could include basic in-game tips as an option. Additionally, the "core team" could be supplemented by a small group of in-quest "hires" that can be chosen based on the character's class. (so, a supplemental DPS if no one is pure DPS).

The actual quests could be an ongoing series with 2-3 quests every few levels with the continuing efforts of the team to initially locate and then upgrade a particular, customizable weapon and tie into the other Jeets/Celimas/Talbron lore quests.

One quest or so, maybe at level 10-12, has to start in Ataraxia spa though. (Actually, a neat update/added use for Ataraxia.)

[Arnez]

The word "abandoned" is too strong, as it implies that something was started and then ended, with the presumption that it will never happen. That said, there is no current plan to add player housing by the end of the year. As with any of a large number of features, if the right combination of factors fall into place, it could be something that might happen in the future, but the currently outlined slate of development does not include player housing.

THANK YOU. Well said. Now to perma-link it for those upcoming "Player Housing Posts".

[Kaiserkreuz]

What I would like to see from Devs;

Standardization of named items when they introduced the new augment slots there are still many named items from different adventure pack that still don't have augment slots in them at least the developers could fix and add slot to them for example item from Deception and Attack on Stormreach and the adventure pack before the introduction of new augment slots they didn't put slots on those item coz they we're still developing the new augment systems.

Fix or update things on less unpopular adventure pack or almost not run ones like Reavers Refuge they need to update things there and also improve and update that dragon touch armors with the introduction of epic level they have become not worth the time into making it for some people.

Update and fix some enhancements since some are lacking or not really good for example like drow race enhancement for an elven sub-race they don't get the grace and skill enhancement while the other 2 elf sub-race gets them? While Ambidexterity cost too high 6 AP for just giving +1 Hit/DMG/Dodge seriously is the cost wort the bonus you could get? Plus their whole enhancement tree have plenty of spaces for improvement.

Fix Barbarian enhancement there is nothing with the abilities gained by them every level but they are very hit hard on how much spread their needed enhancement it like you need to spend points on all 3 trees just to improve the rage ability, plus the other 2 trees aren't like that worth taking and their capstones are bad and why barbarian only gain an enhancement bonus to constitution at least give them a choice between STR or CON. Plus improve Occult Slayer and Ravager trees they look like more of a flavor enhancement.

Improve the other class enhancement like monthly or so since many enhancement are lack luster and more like just for flavor compare to their respective counter part.

As for rangers they aren't hit hard with the lost of animal companion unlike paladin who don't gain anything for their lost but I have to agree they still lack on certain areas. Tempest now are at least viable unlike in the old enhancement they should improve some of their abilities since they have long cool downs and low duration too much defensive abilities not much offense.

I just wished they gave Deepwood Stalker and option of choosing between a melee or range stalker since the tree only focuses on range mostly in their enhancement at least make it how they did swashbuckler you could choose between a melee or range one. Since the ranger tree already has a range focus one Arcane Archer and melee focus one Tempest why not make Deepwood Stalker a sneaky variable enhancement tree that would enable you to choose from being melee or range stalker.

Give ranger useful spell of their own they only got some useful spells they could use along with their limited amount of sp like how paladin's suffer.

[TromboneFireTurtle]

If I know my Eberron lore, an easy way to introduce the Ranger's animal companion, the Paladin's mount, and familiars would be to introduce the Mark of Handling to the game. House Vidalis works with all of the above, and adding in a Dragonmark and all of the benefits/detriments that come with it would be both lore appropriate and possibly give more options with said companions/familiars/mounts. The mechanics already exist for companions, and familiars have been brought up in quests, so I don't think that this would be overly difficult to implement.

Oh, and bring back the Paladin's mount, please!!!

[cheetah17]

Awesome stuff can't wait!!! Wish the Heroic Otto Boxes were for sale to finish off my toons past life easier!!!

Hello! I’m writing today to tell you more about our plans for DDO in the coming months, and introduce you to a few folks you might not know. We’ve made some adjustments to our “road map” for 2014 that we think you’ll be excited about, and we’ve added a few folks to the team that we want to introduce you to.

For those of you who missed my letter written for DDO’s 8th anniversary, my name is Athena, and I’m DDO’s Franchise Director. I’m the person heading up the DDO team, working with our partners, producers, and teams leads, and making various business decisions that keep the engines running. We’re really pleased to have added Design Manager Severlin to our team in recent months, and I notice that you’ve already been seeing his design leadership in action in the Official Discussion Forums (and in the game!) Severlin comes to DDO from Asheron’s Call, where he served as Producer (and wore many hats) for quite some time. Additionally, we’ve added two other members of the Asheron’s Call team to our staff: NoWorries and Kintani, who are working on items, quests, systems, and more! Of course, it takes a huge amount of creativity to keep DDO going, so I also want to thank the many other developers, quality assurance, production, operations, art, and community people I work with every day for all of their hard work – thank you!

When Rowan spoke with you back in December, we outlined a plan for 2014 that we’ve delivered so far (like Epic Three Barrel Cove, Haunted Halls of Eveningstar, etc.) However, we’re making a few changes to our calendar for the rest of the year, and I want to make sure you are up-to-date on our plans. Initially, we were considering creating Anauroch for Update 23, and raising the level cap to 30 in Update 24. Rowan also talked about the concept of “Sentient Weapons” in his letter, although that wasn’t assigned to an update. You can expect all of these things to happen! But, our team has been looking at alternatives, reading your ideas on the forums (and Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Twitch, etc.), discussing our plans with the Players Council, and gathering their feedback on what they’d like us to work on. We’ve been talking amongst the team as well, assessing what it is we’d like to do, and when the right time to do it is. In that context, we’ve shifted our plans slightly.

Update 23 will bring Epic Orchard of the Macabre to DDO, along with a new Epic raid! While the raid will share some locations and similarities to the current Accursed Ascension raid (“Abbot raid”), our team will bring a whole new series of challenges to adventurers brave enough to enter. We’re not simply “adding hit points to the Abbot”, but are rather re-thinking the raid space for an entirely new battle, with a new story line, baddies, loot, and more! One of the things we’re looking to do in the coming year is to provide more high-level questing and raiding to DDO, and we think an Epic Orchard of the Macabre fits nicely with that goal.

Besides newly Epi-fied versions of the quests found in Orchard of the Macabre, we’re also planning to make sure the Orchard itself is ready for high-level adventure with exciting battles against rare enemies, werewolves (yes, in Eberron!), new loot, and more! We’ll be talking a lot more about the Epic Orchard of the Macabre in the coming months, and I can’t wait for you to see what our devious devs have planned.

Update 23 will also feature a series of improvements aimed at making sure heavy armor-wearing adventurers feel powerful and ready to go toe-to-toe with some of DDO’s toughest enemies, updates to improve the Paladin class, and other changes that will give our melee players a boost. We’re also creating new Augments for our Crystal Cove event that higher-level players can slot into their favorite weapons, armor, and items, and expect to bring those new Augments to you when Crystal Cove reopens after the release of Update 23.

Update 24 will round out the year with new quests, new Festivult cookies, and a new event that centers on something we can all agree on: looting chests! We’ll be continuing our work on the Anauroch Desert (in the Forgotten Realms), planning for Sentient Weapons, and developing another Classic Dungeon like the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar. We expect these to be something you’ll see in the first half of 2015. We’re pushing out the level cap for now to make sure we have plenty of questing to support your journey through the highest levels of DDO. Hitting level 30 will be a big milestone for DDO, and we want to put it out when the timing is right, and make sure its design keeps up with the way you, the players want to play DDO.

And these are just the tip of the iceberg that is our whiteboard. We are constantly reviewing our ideas and your suggestions, and making adjustments based on your changing needs and requests as well as our own excitement on new ideas for you to play with, so you may see a few more surprises pop in over the next year as we get closer to releasing our updates.

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to hearing from you about these plans, and anything else you’d like to see happen in DDO! Happy adventuring, and we’ll see you in Dungeons & Dragons Online!

Cheers!
Athena “Vyvyanne” Peters
Franchise Director – Dungeons & Dragons Online

[wraxzz]

So many people say this about rangers needing to be able to swing a sword???

I'm curious, my ranger (Pure Ranger) has never used anything besides a bow and keeps up just fine in EE quests and raids not a problem. At the end of most EE quests there are TR players with multi deaths and much lower kill counts than mine. My Ranger is also first life.

No disrespect to any ones previous comments but can someone please explain why if a first life ranger can keep up with just a bow (and be highly competitive) where the need is to be able to swing a sword as well and divert precious CE's to Tempest?

Maybe I just have the right combo of RE's/CE's/ED's and Twists.

Appreciate any constructive feedback.

Cheers

or maybe there is distance between your bow and the area of immediate damage. Play a melee toon and see if you retain that "no death" rapsheet. This post sounds snarky althought i dont mean it so

[Free2Pay]

The main blockage to DDO is the double/triple logins required before one can play the game. Has a fix been found yet? Why isn't the issue of not being able to log in successfully on the first attempt not a top priority bug to be fixed? Is that really too much to ask?

[mezzorco]

The main blockage to DDO is the double/triple logins required before one can play the game. Has a fix been found yet? Why isn't the issue of not being able to log in successfully on the first attempt not a top priority bug to be fixed? Is that really too much to ask?

Had same problem, this fixes it.
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...eload-official

[Derana]

Like the ideas but could somebody address the needs of solo players. I have made it to level 18 without playing in a group or raid. I would love to see some content directed toward solo play please.

Raiding the Giant's Vault is a solo quest on lvl 19. Apart from that I want to advice you to maybe go and play a shooter instead of an mmo because solo isn't what an mmo is about.

[Winter_storm]

The only thing I wish is a open area where you can meet players as solo or group. Is has always been the best way to meet up with a good group or players. Joining PUG for a dungeon is a pain and it seems there is very little "Looking for PUG" these days. Everybody pretty much runs with their own guilds.. And yes there is the specials during the year but everyone is always running to get their stuff before its over, it not very casual and not very good for something to do every day waiting for your guildies to come on.

[songswrath]

Spellsinger and Warchanter improvements will actually arrive before Update 23. These changes are currently expected to be in our next patch, which is slated to release this month (in July.)

next patch as in 22.2 or Will we see a lama build 1st?

[Free2Pay]

Had same problem, this fixes it.
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...eload-official

I'm amazed, it actually works.

[mezzorco]

I'm amazed, it actually works.