let us summarize what ddo have done this year

[Loromir]

1. swashbuckler and swf came along with it make other fighting styles laughable.

2. new paladin enhancements and spells further increased swf power.

3. hirelings lobotomized. do whatever you want, customize and remove normal attack, order them stand ground and order them defend, doesn't matter. they will still come running to you randomly making challenges a torture.

4. mrr and prr made robes useless. monks earth stance gives no more protection than a stupid light armor +1 gives. actually, it gives less protection as it doesn't give mrr. why blank the mind and try to reach nirvana and get enlightened and be a grandmaster of forms? just go buy from your vendor an +1 light armor.

5. champions... there are definitely a lot of people who hated this, including myself.

6. the hopes that new barb will be good so thf will be good again disappeared as new barb is just old barb with more heal amp, it offers nothing new for thf...

so good going ddo. can't wait next update.

Nah...Turbine has done pretty good with the resources they have. You realize they are not much more than a Skeleton crew now. I think they done a nice job.

[Loromir]

swf is ridiculously fast and has no requirements and further powered by swashbuckling and pally spells and every freaking body knows that and you are still telling me stories...

Not possible to do both Swash and Pally both...pick one or the other.

[Inoukchuk]

honestly your post strikes me as one long rant about what you don't like.

no i haven't seen twf rangers solo EE dungeons, yes I have seen many twf rangers AND twf monks while leveling
I have 2 twf toons, they do just fine DPS-wise.

This.

And TWF is still faster than SWF. Is it as good? Maybe not, but it's not that far behind. 30% speed buff + even 50% doublestrike (which is huge) is only 195%. TWF gets 100% assuming you take tempest and/or monk enhancements, and still gets some doublestrike on top of that for what... 210%? 220%. Granted, they don't get full str to offhand, but rangers get built in burst ranged DPS, evasion, some self heals, etc. No, they're not top of the food chain anymore, but they don't totally suck either unless you count anything not best as sucking.

And for what it's worth, the historical use of SWF fencing, S&B, and polearms each greatly over shadow the historical use of TWF and THF... because they were better, more practical fighting forms whose advantages outstripped those of TWF and THF, so I wouldn't start crying about how unrealistic it is. Furthermore, have you ever done any sword fighting? It isn't possible (or at least practical) to attack with both weapons at once because to make a proper attack you must rotate your hips through, which can only be done to 1 side at a time. When TWF you generally feint with one then attack with the other, or block with one while attacking with the other (like SnB), so you're actual attack rate isn't greatly improved, it's your blocking and attack score that are greatly improved (with a small boost to attack speed). Having done a lot of that type of fighting, I can testify that in my experience (and I was a TWF style fighter) S&B fighters have the higher attack speed because they chain their attacks together counting on a shield to protect them and the flurry to overwhelm your defense. My attacks were more surgical because I had more ability to feint away your defense.

[minimomo]

This.

And TWF is still faster than SWF. Is it as good? Maybe not, but it's not that far behind. 30% speed buff + even 50% doublestrike (which is huge) is only 195%. TWF gets 100% assuming you take tempest and/or monk enhancements, and still gets some doublestrike on top of that for what... 210%? 220%. Granted, they don't get full str to offhand, but rangers get built in burst ranged DPS, evasion, some self heals, etc. No, they're not top of the food chain anymore, but they don't totally suck either unless you count anything not best as sucking.

And for what it's worth, the historical use of SWF fencing, S&B, and polearms each greatly over shadow the historical use of TWF and THF... because they were better, more practical fighting forms whose advantages outstripped those of TWF and THF, so I wouldn't start crying about how unrealistic it is. Furthermore, have you ever done any sword fighting? It isn't possible (or at least practical) to attack with both weapons at once because to make a proper attack you must rotate your hips through, which can only be done to 1 side at a time. When TWF you generally feint with one then attack with the other, or block with one while attacking with the other (like SnB), so you're actual attack rate isn't greatly improved, it's your blocking and attack score that are greatly improved (with a small boost to attack speed). Having done a lot of that type of fighting, I can testify that in my experience (and I was a TWF style fighter) S&B fighters have the higher attack speed because they chain their attacks together counting on a shield to protect them and the flurry to overwhelm your defense. My attacks were more surgical because I had more ability to feint away your defense.

yes historically swf used more everybody knows that but thats because it is easier. ever seen a monkey throwing stones with each arm at the same time? that require skill... any dimwit can swf...

it is really simple. if you swf you use one arm and to attack again you need to pull the arm back. it must be like %40 slower not %30 faster! so it is simply ridiculous! it is beyond ridiculous!

swf should give you the advantage of distance and this game has no such thing. swf (if battle axe or longsword or bastard sword) also should give you better cleaving than twf kukris. . you shouldnt be able to cleave with rapiers and other piercing weapons at all. but none of that this game cares.

but speed? no. swf shouldnt be freaking lightning fast. it looks silly too! it looks like shield and swf users has a freaking bionic arm!

twf blocks you gets closer and combo the freaking hells out of your belly. you run! you have to put distance between you and twf user. you cant just stay there and attack faster than him...

and if we turn back to game now yes it is very that far behind.

[minimomo]

Not possible to do both Swash and Pally both...pick one or the other.

never said you can use both... but both being awesome twf and thf became very weak in comparison. very weak.

[minimomo]

no i haven't seen twf rangers solo EE dungeons

but thats what freaking matters. so thank you.

[Jastarn]

but thats what freaking matters. so thank you.

i'm sorry, i thought this was a social MMO, not some videogame where the only thing that matters is power.

[minimomo]

everyone who switched to swf defending how swf is not that op. because they want to continue exploiting it. they even say twf is not that far behind...

and i must one by one AND kindly explain them why they are wrong? every single one of them? 3 of them pops up today 5 of them yesterday 4 more tomorrow? keep replying them? be kind no matter how hypocrite they are?

sorry. after like 10th reply my patience hits red alert.

you all are hypocrite powergamers and none of you give any **** about balance so just say no i love my swf because it is op.

then i will understand it. but dont come to me with krappy arguments cause then i wont be able to hold it and blow all over your face.

[MacRighteous]

Here is some truth: I don't give a **** about class or fighting style balance. I hate the idea that all classes and styles should be even. Balance was invented by the devil. I also hate when things stay the same. I'm glad that they nerf and gymp and roll out updates that create FoM builds that shake up the status quo - A static game is worse than class balance.

[haulindonkey]

[SNIP]you all are hypocrite powergamers and none of you give any **** about balance so just say no i love my swf because it is op.[SNIP]

Regarding there not being any instances of a twf ranger soloing EE content you said:

but thats what freaking matters. so thank you.

Hmmm, spoken like a true hypocrite and powergamer. Only a powergamer would care about such things, making you also a hypocrite.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

I thought the year ended much better than it started. Exploits - as bad as it was this year, didnt ruin my game any. Turbine had a solid content year. Bugs didnt stand out any more to me than previous years.

More layoffs and more exploits were the bad parts this year but through it all Turbine is cranking out more content, including Temple of Elemental Evil, which is an outstanding grab.

DDO is so resilient to exploiters and cheaters simply because noone needs to play that way nor hang out with cheating lowlifes.. which also means guilds that do not play that way will always prosper. When guilds prosper, DDO prospers.

I'm seeing new blood creep into DDO, faster than Im seeing them leave... but wish we could see much more. Im hoping ToEE launches in 2015 with a big marketing push.

DDO marches on -- REGARDLESS OF ANOTHER DOOOOOOOM THREAD! Imagine that!

[mobrien316]

I still have fun playing, but then I have never worried about flavor of the month and continue to play the same few characters I have for years.

This.

[SealedInSong]

Y'know, other than the barb pass making barbs essentially big doughy bites of h-amp/HP goodness with completely unremarkable DPS, I think the year was pretty good.

That's literally the only thing that has actually decreased my enjoyment of the game, and only for one class; and even then, they got buffed which is better than nothing.

I guess champions have been rough, and I don't think they've been implemented great.

But we're all still playing!

[Ausdoerrt]

I'm having fun, I think they've done a far better job this year than they have in many of the past years.

This.