Producer's Letter

[Nonesuch2008]

Something like that...

I agree on the skin tone, but it's hard to find solid artwork displaying that particular mix of characteristics that still maintains a PG-13 rating.

[The_Human_Cypher]

First, I am verrry excited for the Slave Lords modules coming to DDO. I remember those quite well, and can't wait to run though them here on DDO. I am glad to see that you will be making those available at low heroic levels as well as Legendary. I only hope that they are different from ToEE in being separate distinct quests rather than one very long quest.

You mentioned A1 to A3 - so no A4? Is this due to the way A3 ends and A4 starts?
Anyway this should be a fun module! p.s. keep in mind that TOEE without Hamlet definitely diminished a big part of those modules. i.e. some part of Highport as a starting area would be nice.

2. You hinted that the classic module was themed for halloween- do you have changed your plans or why are the slave lords are coming? What have this classic module to do with halloween?

Some part of A4 should appear in the Slave Lords classic module, even if A3 and A4 have to be merged with content edits. The docks battle with everyone trying to escape the volcanic island and then the final confrontation with the remaining Slave Lords was one of the best things about the entire A series. As the above poster noted, the classic update should be three or four discrete quests that must be played in order like the older quest chains in DDO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scourg...he_Slave_Lords

As also mentioned in this thread, why were plans changed for the 2016 classic module? I can't see how the A series is related to Halloween in the slightest.

[Severlin]

~ Yes, plans changed for the classic module. We had some resource shuffling and we had to push out our original plans a bit. It's probably something we'd like to revisit in the future.

~ The reason for monks is they are behind the other melee. The reason for Favored Soul over cleric is that they lack a third tree and one of our goals is three trees for each class. The reason we haven't touched Druid yet is that we will have to revisit all the animal form bugs, and that makes Druid a larger task than other classes.

~ The reason we would swerve from class passes to do an open enhancement tree is variety of content. Something like that also provides players a reason to re-evaluate all their builds.

~ Someone asked about monk handwraps. The reason there are so many things that don't work with them is they are not "weapons" in the way they were implemented. Because of this all enhancements that make attacks require a separate implementation for handwraps. If we, behind the scenes, classified them as a type of weapon this wouldn't be the case. The other option is to do an entire handwrap enhancement pass and do the special implementation on everything that isn't working. I'd prefer the first because going forward we wouldn't need to special case each attack, but it might require monk players jump through hoops to convert there handwraps. And by hoops I mean visiting the stone of change. So we haven't finished our evaluation yet on what is the best course.

~ The idea for making Slave Lord 8 was it can follow Temple of Elemental Evil. I will revisit the heroic level with the team and see if we want to target 9 or 10.

Sev~

[Vish]

New tree

Silver Flame

Wisdom to damage
Wisdom to hit

Tier 2-3 or 3-4,
So we can use our class tier 5

This will rescue divines, monks and make some exciting new build choices.

Ps oh and kobolds. Really?
No monsters.
Maybe half kobolds.
And then weed have something to rescue in Slavers. Save the children! Omg they're little monsters.

[The_Human_Cypher]

~ Yes, plans changed for the classic module. We had some resource shuffling and we had to push out our original plans a bit. It's probably something we'd like to revisit in the future.

~ The reason for monks is they are behind the other melee. The reason for Favored Soul over cleric is that they lack a third tree and one of our goals is three trees for each class. The reason we haven't touched Druid yet is that we will have to revisit all the animal form bugs, and that makes Druid a larger task than other classes.

~ The reason we would swerve from class passes to do an open enhancement tree is variety of content. Something like that also provides players a reason to re-evaluate all their builds.

~ Someone asked about monk handwraps. The reason there are so many things that don't work with them is they are not "weapons" in the way they were implemented. Because of this all enhancements that make attacks require a separate implementation for handwraps. If we, behind the scenes, classified them as a type of weapon this wouldn't be the case. The other option is to do an entire handwrap enhancement pass and do the special implementation on everything that isn't working. I'd prefer the first because going forward we wouldn't need to special case each attack, but it might require monk players jump through hoops to convert there handwraps. And by hoops I mean visiting the stone of change. So we haven't finished our evaluation yet on what is the best course.

~ The idea for making Slave Lord 8 was it can follow Temple of Elemental Evil. I will revisit the heroic level with the team and see if we want to target 9 or 10.

Sev~

The Slave Lords classic module may mean that a number of new monsters will appear in DDO. At the very least, this means Goblins as these humanoids figure heavily into the A2 story. This may also mean Aspis (ant men), Ropers, Boggles, Cloakers, Myconids (fungus men), and several other previously unseen mob types.

One thing about the A2 module: the grotesque human experimentation / Caveling part should probably be left out. My ten year old self was permanently disturbed after reading that module (I bought all of my D&D supplies at Toys R Us and my parents never read anything they purchased for me) and this may be too much even for the mostly adult DDO audience.

[Heynone]

The kobold would be built on an entirely new rig, which means all the armor in the game would have to be created for that body type from scratch. That's very hard to budget.

We have brainstormed other options, from kobolds needing to craft armor into a kobold version, or even that kobolds can't wear normal armor at all. We've also considered making kobolds a sort of hard mode way to play the game.

Sev~

Would some sort of [signed] style campaign for a kobold race be at all helpful in convincing the higher ups to allocate more budget to that? I'd honestly be willing to pay a sizable chunk of money for this, particularly since it would probably mean an overall revamp of the Kobold graphics which would be great for a lot of quests.

[Arkai]

one of our goals is three trees for each class

Thanks for all these news, Sev.

Are artificers also at sight?

Ty again for all the info.

[The_Human_Cypher]

The idea for making Slave Lord 8 was it can follow Temple of Elemental Evil. I will revisit the heroic level with the team and see if we want to target 9 or 10.

Both Temple of Elemental Evil and the Slave Lords modules take place in Greyhawk, with the Slave Lords specifically in The Pomarj which is a kingdom of evil humanoids. If DDO continues to add Greyhawk content, this could be turned into another game world itself with public areas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomarj

[Lauf]

~ Yes, plans changed for the classic module. We had some resource shuffling and we had to push out our original plans a bit. It's probably something we'd like to revisit in the future.

~ The reason for monks is they are behind the other melee. The reason for Favored Soul over cleric is that they lack a third tree and one of our goals is three trees for each class. The reason we haven't touched Druid yet is that we will have to revisit all the animal form bugs, and that makes Druid a larger task than other classes.

~ The reason we would swerve from class passes to do an open enhancement tree is variety of content. Something like that also provides players a reason to re-evaluate all their builds.

~ Someone asked about monk handwraps. The reason there are so many things that don't work with them is they are not "weapons" in the way they were implemented. Because of this all enhancements that make attacks require a separate implementation for handwraps. If we, behind the scenes, classified them as a type of weapon this wouldn't be the case. The other option is to do an entire handwrap enhancement pass and do the special implementation on everything that isn't working. I'd prefer the first because going forward we wouldn't need to special case each attack, but it might require monk players jump through hoops to convert there handwraps. And by hoops I mean visiting the stone of change. So we haven't finished our evaluation yet on what is the best course.

~ The idea for making Slave Lord 8 was it can follow Temple of Elemental Evil. I will revisit the heroic level with the team and see if we want to target 9 or 10.

Sev~

Thank you for your replies. I do not take them for granted, and they are most appreciated.

[ChildofWizards]

Greetings!

The next thing I wanted to talk about is some upcoming content; we are currently working on bringing you a new classic module experience! We are hard at work on our adaptation of Assault on the Slave Lords, originally presented in the A1 to A3 series of modules. We remember playing through the Slavers series fondly, and we want to bring these modules to life for our players with some of our own twists and turns. The dungeons will be offered at level 8 on Heroic, and will also have a CR 32 Legendary version as well.


~Sev

Any hints on the guest DM for this module?

Also sad to not see anything about sentient weapons

[Gralhota]

Nothing insteresting for me, maybe 2018.

[crazycaren]

The kobold would be built on an entirely new rig, which means all the armor in the game would have to be created for that body type from scratch. That's very hard to budget.

We have brainstormed other options, from kobolds needing to craft armor into a kobold version, or even that kobolds can't wear normal armor at all. We've also considered making kobolds a sort of hard mode way to play the game.

Sev~

hahahaha kobold's have to play naked

[Kza]

Exciting! I am very interested in the favored soul tree. My hope and suggestion is that you at the same time revisit the other 2 trees. Both needs to be updated also.

Thanks for the words and great you are not finished with the lagfixes. The game is really nice to raid in again!

Keep up the good work.

[The_Human_Cypher]

Any hints on the guest DM for this module?

Also sad to not see anything about sentient weapons

I just told Jeff Dee about the classic module (we are friends on Facebook). Maybe he can do the voice work. Mr. Dee did the covers for A1 and A3, along with much of the interior artwork for the series.

[TPICKRELL]

...

~ Someone asked about monk handwraps. The reason there are so many things that don't work with them is they are not "weapons" in the way they were implemented. Because of this all enhancements that make attacks require a separate implementation for handwraps. If we, behind the scenes, classified them as a type of weapon this wouldn't be the case. The other option is to do an entire handwrap enhancement pass and do the special implementation on everything that isn't working. I'd prefer the first because going forward we wouldn't need to special case each attack, but it might require monk players jump through hoops to convert there handwraps. And by hoops I mean visiting the stone of change. So we haven't finished our evaluation yet on what is the best course.

Sev~

I play almost only unarmed monks, so I have dozens to hundreds of wraps across my mules and half dozen variations of active monk toons. And I'd gladly camp out at the Stone of Change to get monks and wraps permanently fixed.

Don't shy away from fixing monks properly once and for all to avoid making players visit ye olde stone of change! Just fix it once and for all this time.

[Aelonwy]

Thanks Sev for the followups and clarifications.

I agree on the skin tone, but it's hard to find solid artwork displaying that particular mix of characteristics that still maintains a PG-13 rating.

Agreed. I like my characters to look beautiful and alluring not necessarily... uhm naughty. Which is why most of my alts are wearing some variety of Pale Violet & Tan Leaf cosmetic or Mirrored Elven Chain. I'm also terribly disappointed they haven't brought back Violet beast and some of the drow looking armor kits, I wasn't able to get many of those before they were removed from the game. The artwork assets must still exist. Put an intern on converting them to the new BTA cosmetics please. Please.

[stryder48092]

~ Y

~ The reason we would swerve from class passes to do an open enhancement tree is variety of content. Something like that also provides players a reason to re-evaluate all their builds.


Sev~

Personnaly this just feels like a money grab when you havent finished the enhancement passes for all the classes, especially if some of the classes you havent bothered with yet would get a signiifcant dps boost by buying a new tree than by utilising the trees for their classes.

[Paisheng]

Some Changes for Monk Pass
I am exceedingly pleased to hear that monks are the next pass! Here are some of my key ideas and recommendations for this:

Shintao Tree

1. Replace Exemplar with Flurry of More Blows Action Boost: Choose One:
Attack Boost: Activate to gain +4/+6/+8 Action Boost bonus to hit for 20 seconds.
Haste Boost: Activate to gain +10%/+20%/+30% Action Boost bonus to attack speed
for 20/20/20 seconds AP1

One of the key signatures of monks is to be the fastest striker in the game. Monks should not have to cross train to fighter or rogue acrobat to get the haste boost clickie.

2. Shintao is essentially the warrior tree for monks and it needs a boost to in some offense and defense – especially for the competing in the Epic levels. Therefore I recommend the cores receive each receive gain +2 melee power, physical and mental resistance. Your unarmed attacks gain +1/2 hit die.

3. Improve the Capstone: To Seek Perfection: You continually seek physical and spiritual betterment, reaping many benefits. Youur chance for a critical hit (critical threat range) when centered with hand wraps and monk weapons improves by +1. (Henshin increases staff and Ninja increases threat range of short swords. Wraps need the same love especially for epic levels). You receive +4 Wisdom. The bonuses you have for and against attacks from tainted creatures improve to +3. Remove: You no longer suffer penalties from Meditation of War (these penalties should just be removed from that enhancement.)

4. Change all enhancements that require earth stance to simply require being centered, so things like Ironskin and Violence Begets Violence can be used in any elemental stance.

5. Improve the curatives by having ki activated self heals of the same cures respectively. The toggle could remain as a way to heal others with the finishers still but monks should have instant self heals without the slow and costly build up of a finisher. Otherwise monks will just use pots.

Some possible adds to improve this tree:


Iron Mind: While centered, you gain an additional 5/10/15 Magical Resistance. AP 1

Vital Points: You gain +1/+2/+3 damage with open hand and monk weapons in which you remain centered. AP 1

Strike With No Thought: When centered with open hands or a monk weapon, you gain 1%/2%/3% Double Strike or 1%/2%/3% Double Shot (depending on whether your weapon is melee or ranged). AP1



Henshin Tree

1. Increase the core: Henshin only has a handful of spell like abilities and they should be as powerful as spell casters with their greater diversity. Also improve the staff of the Henshin. Passive for every core level::
+2 insightful melee speed with Staff
· +10 Fire and Force Spell Power
· +2% Fire and Force Spell Critical chance
· +4 Fire Resistance
Enemies have -4 Fire Resistance against your spells.


2. Increase the Elemental Words to do more damage and much like the curatives to have an instant ki activated increase.

3. Create a lesser Void strike around tier 2 or 3 that all monks may get access to in order to activate their void finishers. As now only monks who commit to tier 5 in this tree get those finishers. I suggest:
Void Strike: Void Ki Melee Attack: You have learned to make attacks backed by pure Ki energy. On Hit: 5d6 Force damage. On Vorpal: Your enemy is dazed for 10 seconds. (Activation Cost: 10 Ki. Cooldown: 3 seconds) AP 2
The tier 5 Void Strike should be kept – just rename it Infinite Void Strike.

4. Mystic Training: +1/+2/+3 to the DC's of all monk tactics such as stunning fist, quivering palm, trip, stunning blow as well as all monk finishing moves. AP 1
As of now this only improves finishers, but monks need a place to improve their stuns, trips and quivering palms so make this all inclusive of that including finishers.

5. The capstone needs a bit of love. Perhaps double all the current bonuses.

Another possible add to this tree:

Recycling Ki: Action Clickie: Instantly renew 15-45 Ki per use. 1 minute cool down. AP 2



Ninja Spy Tree

1. The cores are fairly unique and strong though perhaps a bit of add to the “Spy” part by giving +1 Hide and +1 Move Silently for every core level. And increase the capstone: You gain +10 hide and +10 move silently and +4 hit and +2 sneak attack die when performing sneak attacks. AP 1

2. Like the other trees the first line should activate instantly by ki in this case for the Ninjitsu moves, the toggles can still serve as more potent finishers. And end the line with something like:
Ninjitsu Master: The ninjitsu line caps with this enhancement which makes all 4 earlier toggles of ninjitsu active and effective at the same time with this toggle. In addition to this Ninjitsu Masterenhancement may act as ki activated clickie which casts Crushing Despair as per the spell. Ki cost: 25 (Cooldown: 3 seconds). AP 2

3. Move Touch of Death to an available top of a different tier 5 line and make this important change. Rather than the standard 500 points damage regardless if you are level 12 or level 30, change the attack that there is 100 dmg / attack for every 2 levels of monk. This makes it still powerful and usually a killer at low levels if monsters fail their save, and progresses to keep pace not only with more powerful monsters of higher level but even through the epic levels. So a level 16 practictioner could do 800 dmg / attack. A level 30 would do 1500 dmg (every 2 epic levels also increases damage) This should keep Touch of Death a worthy and practical tier 5 enhancement for all levels.

These are some of my suggestions to maintain flavor of each tree while upgrading them. I have a much longer and more detailed plan for each monk tree and enhancement that I recently posted in the Monk Class forum if you are interested.

[dunklezhan]

~ The idea for making Slave Lord 8 was it can follow Temple of Elemental Evil. I will revisit the heroic level with the team and see if we want to target 9 or 10.

Sev~

TOEE ramps up through Hard and Elite far more than the simple +1 quest level would have you expect. I don't think there's anything wrong with 'following' TOEE with a 9 or 10 quest rather than an 8 (or to be selfish about it, even an 11 or 12 since that's where *I* run into problems as my choices are rather necro-heavy at that point, which I don't enjoy).

[Robai]

As expected, yet another Producer's letter that doesn't mention any plans to increase BtC bank space ...
To me this is the number one problem in this game and it's so easily solvable (unlike Lag, which important, but I never complained about it since I understand that it's really hard to fix such things).

As you probably know, we have already begun discussing the update to Cannith Crafting. Ever since we updated random loot players have been asking for an update to this crafting system, and the project is in full swing. It is a big system that will provide a good way to fill in gear holes as you level.

Two things:
1) the items in Cannith Crafting should NOT be too useful (so that named items would be still valuable)
2) the new recipes in Cannith Crafting should require NEW matts (to reduce the effect of duping events)