DDO Producer's Letter!

[Full_Bleed]

In 3.5 gnomes were bigger than halflings. But in Eberron, they are not.

From the Eberron Wiki:

Halflings: 3'10" - 4'2" / 75-85 lbs.
Gnomes: 3'4" - 3'8" / 50-75 lbs.

Gnome Description:

Gnomes are one of the smallest humanoid races, even smaller than the halflings. They resemble their eladrin cousins, with pointed ears, chisled facial features, high cheekbones, and sharp jaws. Gnomes from Thelanis have a more wild look to them, while gnomes from Khorvaire wear the garb as many other races do.

Gnome skin tones range from tan to brown to gray. Their hair can ve almost any color, including white, blonde, brown, orange, or even green. Their eyes are glittering black orbs.

Like eladrin, gnomes are extremely long-lived, living 300 year lifespans. Unlike eladrin, however, gnomes start showing their age at 100 years old, with their hair going white and their skin show wrinkles and weather lines.

The notion that they should be pudgy or "rounded" in Eberron does not seem supported by sources. They sound more elven/pixiesh than dwarvish to me.

That said, what we see right now does look like a Halfling with a beard. I guess I expected that.


As for what's coming in the next 3 months:

1) 10th Anniversary Event/Free multi-character-level dungeon
2) Bug Fixes
3) Gnome Race / Deep Gnome Iconic
4) Updated Cannith Crafting

Looks pretty substantial to me. I know people want to know what's coming after that (since most of this has been mentioned before)... but quarterly letters are, obviously, going to reel in the horizon. And I'm not so sure that might not be for the best. When people are anxiously waiting a year for something I think it's inevitable that their expectations will exceed the current reality of this game and its development.

[Natashaelle]

- A greatly improved random loot system?

Please tell me Sev's kidding?

Personally, I think the new **system** is a lot better, but that its implementation could use a bit of tweaking plus some extra work.

[eris2323]

Personally, I think the new **system** is a lot better, but that its implementation could use a bit of tweaking plus some extra work.

Everyone I know now stops to check their treasure in quest endings now, and makes sure to check their chest loot too. Sometimes we even see something amazing for a party members current class, and we'll take that to help them out a little.

I think that's a sign it's a LOT better, as opposed to the junk we used to get that was just sent to vendor.

So I agree, a little bit of tweaking and extra work, and this system is AWESOME. Right now, it is pretty darned good though.

[Natashaelle]

Why gnome is shorter than halfling?
Gnomes stands between dwarves and halflings!

In 5th Edition, they're about the same height -- 3' tall. Which was their original 1st Edition Monster Manual size, that the 1st Edition DMG then contradicted LOL

[The_Human_Cypher]

I am looking forward to meeting our friends, the Gnomes.

[Axeyu]

Wouldn't a producer letter be better if it told us more about what's coming next year than what happened in the previous year? I mean we were here for 2015.

That usually doesn't turn out so well.

[mraz]

im really excited about new event and i cant wait to happen but... i dont understand this logic, hows a new race more important then improving some old classes like fvs, arty, fighter...

[dunklezhan]

I can't agree that the new loot system is much improved - not until its actually working properly. I can see the potential but it's too early to cry victory, I'm sorry Sev.

[dunklezhan]

In 3.5 gnomes were bigger than halflings. But in Eberron, they are not.

The notion that they should be pudgy or "rounded" in Eberron does not seem supported by sources. They sound more elven/pixiesh than dwarvish to me.

That said, what we see right now does look like a Halfling with a beard. I guess I expected that.

It does. A stuck on beard at that, which I really hope is just because its an early model and they wanted to show us something. I'm all for the gnome looking like an eberron one but obviously it won't be what people were necessarily expecting in their heads - on the other hand, it is also very possible that the iconic deepgnome will be a more conventional Gnome, as it may be FR based. At least that works to an extent - there's no point having a FR gnome starting at L1 in this game

[LuKaSu]

Interesting, i really like the gnome.And a new iconic is great.
Deep Gnome will probably be the first +2 Wisdom race.If so, please dont make the same mistake as Sun Elf and release a Deep Gnome Artificer, use Druid, cleric or even monk for Deep Gnome Iconic.

Considering the complexity that it would take to have a Premium player, who doesn't own Druid/Artificer/some-other-p2p-class, that wants to purchase the iconic, I'm guessing it won't be a p2p class.

That being said, I'd love it if they just decided to have a higher tier Vet Status, so we could just take whichever class we want and still start at mid levels.

[Thar]

I'm worried that lack of communication plan for the remaining 2016 = start of maintenance mode

[dunklezhan]

I'm worried that lack of communication plan for the remaining 2016 = start of maintenance mode

I think its more likely that he wants the freedom to change plans without people being unreasonable about it.

[FranOhmsford]

Considering the complexity that it would take to have a Premium player, who doesn't own Druid/Artificer/some-other-p2p-class, that wants to purchase the iconic, I'm guessing it won't be a p2p class.

Complexity?

What's so complex about:

Druid 1495 TP
Svirfneblin Iconic 1295 TP {Same as every other Iconic}
Druid+Svirneblin Pack 2495 TP {295 Discount for buying both together, Throw in 5 XP pots and 5 Slayer Pots while they're at it.}?

Heck the Devs could probably give an even bigger discount or have Svirfneblin Free with Purchase of Druid for the first two weeks and rake it in.

[Vellrad]

Everyone I know now stops to check their treasure in quest endings now, and makes sure to check their chest loot too. Sometimes we even see something amazing for a party members current class, and we'll take that to help them out a little.

I think that's a sign it's a LOT better, as opposed to the junk we used to get that was just sent to vendor.

So I agree, a little bit of tweaking and extra work, and this system is AWESOME. Right now, it is pretty darned good though.

Everyone I know was doing that for a week or 2, now its just vendor all again.

[Amundir]

As far as the letter having a recap of 2015, who cares. Doesn't hurt anything. And not listing a lot of stuff they are going to focus on this year is fine. Sev mentions he wants to do it more often. If that's the case it would make sense to not include everything you think you may work on in 2016 and only mention some of the stuff they think they'll work on until the next letter.

If the letter wasn't what you were expecting, there's a simple solution. Expect less. *lol* Kinda fanboyish, but seriously. They don't meet your expectations? They can't meet everyone's expectations. They're just going to tell you what they're going to try to do. Anyway.

Gnomes: I could really care less. Never played them in pnp. *weak yay*

We're also bringing out the bug zapper in the coming weeks to get rid of some of the things we've been hearing from you about.

Some? Heard (recently?) from you about? This makes it seem like your only going to try to fix recent bugs. Not long standing bugs that players have possibly stopped reporting on cause they've existed for so long. ?!?

[IronClan]

Personally, I think the new **system** is a lot better, but that its implementation could use a bit of tweaking plus some extra work.

I do as well. Thumbs up, the bugs not withstanding.

I can't agree that the new loot system is much improved - not until its actually working properly. I can see the potential but it's too early to cry victory, I'm sorry Sev.

Maybe you see the 6 or 7 bugs and they see Renown, Seeds and Comm's ratios from end rewards dropping dramatically as people actually take random loot end rewards?

I'd call it a success, I guess empty scepters and 0 concentraition items and naming kerfuffles make some people frightened, but I ignore them as they are all totally trivial and almost zero impact on my gameplay.

I'm worried that lack of communication plan for the remaining 2016 = start of maintenance mode

So you think he's lying about quarterly updates so he can fool you temporarilly? Nice shiny hat you have there

Everyone I know was doing that for a week or 2, now its just vendor all again.

I can't imagine not mousing over items that can be best in slot if you get lucky, that can also have affixes and combinations that are available from no other source and stack. Buy hey whatever floats your boat, the game has plenty of room for flower sniffers, casuals and role players who don't care about that stuff more power to you.

[KoobTheProud]

Complexity?

What's so complex about:

Druid 1495 TP
Svirfneblin Iconic 1295 TP {Same as every other Iconic}
Druid+Svirneblin Pack 2495 TP {295 Discount for buying both together, Throw in 5 XP pots and 5 Slayer Pots while they're at it.}?

Heck the Devs could probably give an even bigger discount or have Svirfneblin Free with Purchase of Druid for the first two weeks and rake it in.

Can you name another occasion when Turbine has undercut one product in the DDO store with another?

[ArekDorun]

Complexity?

What's so complex about:

Druid 1495 TP
Svirfneblin Iconic 1295 TP {Same as every other Iconic}
Druid+Svirneblin Pack 2495 TP {295 Discount for buying both together, Throw in 5 XP pots and 5 Slayer Pots while they're at it.}?

Heck the Devs could probably give an even bigger discount or have Svirfneblin Free with Purchase of Druid for the first two weeks and rake it in.

Actually, because of the way Druid is handled, it would make more sense to simply include Druid with the purchase of Deep Gnome.

This is because it's easy and cheap to get Druid. The most common way to get it with MotU.

--ArekDorun

[FranOhmsford]

Can you name another occasion when Turbine has undercut one product in the DDO store with another?

How about the Newbie Pack?

When they bunched a number of disparate low level packs together, threw in a Gold Seal Hire and some Pots and made a killing!

Or how about the Half Breed Bundle - H-Orcs and H-Elves could be bought separately but you could also buy them together and get a slight discount!

Ooooh and of course Iconics and the Expansions!


Druid is pretty blatantly overpriced at 1495 tp as well so bundling it in with Svirfneblin at a discount won't cost Turbine anything and will make them a few more friends!

[The_Human_Cypher]

Good points made here regarding the Deep Gnome Iconic. To what class should this Iconic be assigned? We already have Fighter, Cleric, Rogue, and Paladin Iconics, so that leaves 10 more classes from which to choose. I hope that the devs don't repeat an existing Iconic class with the Deep Gnome.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Classes

http://ddowiki.com/page/Deep_Gnome

I am not sure what the Deep Gnomes class should be, but I think Artificer may be the only one that makes any sense. Any ideas?