Devs give us an answer please..

[KoobTheProud]

Iconics are a game design abomination.

If we had gotten Veteran Status III to create new characters at level 15, every race could be 'iconic' and you wouldn't be stuck buying Lesser Hearts of Wood +1 in order to change your starting character class level.

Iconics = Hey, kids, you know what's cooler than Veteran Status III? Veteran Status III except you don't get to choose from all of the available races AND the first level of your character class is chosen for you! Pretty cool, huh?

Also, this really has to be said: "Purple Dragon Knights" is not a race!

Iconics are a necessary inclusion in an aging game system that has vested so much power in the remaining player base.

You have to give newer players a chance to catch up to some extent and you have to give them reasons to buy mid and high level content as they do that.

I believe Iconics should go a step further and allow players to bypass certain past life packages. An Iconic caster with a racial tree that allows them to gain significant spell penetration and DC's in any of the classes as an example. An Iconic melee with a racial tree that allows for substantial PRR and heal amp is another thing that would be good.

Both of those would allow a veteran gamer to chance upon DDO when whatever they were playing had worn out for them and not immediately run screaming into the parking lot when they realized that all that DDO offered them was a years long grind towards a questionable endgame.

[zachmandude]

Kind of neutral on the whole idea of Dragonborn being Iconic, but to be honest, I'm glad they aren't. Just saves a heart of wood; I don't mind playing from level 1 <3

[changelingamuck]

Iconics are a necessary inclusion in an aging game system that has vested so much power in the remaining player base.

You have to give newer players a chance to catch up to some extent and you have to give them reasons to buy mid and high level content as they do that.

They could have introduced Veteran Status III to allow any characters regardless of race to start at level 15, changed it so you could select a heroic past life instead of an epic one by leveling from 15 to the level cap, and introduced all of the iconics as ordinary races (sun elf, shadar-kai, etc).

And it would've achieved the exact same effect except your options for what level you want to start at and what character class you want your first level to be wouldn't be pointlessly restricted like they are with iconics.

I genuinely do not understand how Iconics would be seen as *better*, let alone *necessary* compared to the implementation I'm suggesting which allows you to create any character at level 15 including what we call 'iconics' now and choose your own starting class...

[Uska]

Make them +2 str, con, cha / -2 dex and make them 28/30/32 point like drows...

Not a bad idea but it's drow

[KoobTheProud]

They could have introduced Veteran Status III to allow any characters regardless of race to start at level 15, changed it so you could select a heroic past life instead of an epic one by leveling from 15 to the level cap, and introduced all of the iconics as ordinary races (sun elf, shadar-kai, etc).

And it would've achieved the exact same effect except your options for what level you want to start at and what character class you want your first level to be wouldn't be pointlessly restricted like they are with iconics.

I genuinely do not understand how Iconics would be seen as *better*, let alone *necessary* compared to the implementation I'm suggesting which allows you to create any character at level 15 including what we call 'iconics' now and choose your own starting class...

What Iconics do is to take 5 mainstay classes, all of them in the basic class set, and allow players to get a headstart in playing some very basic concepts in the game. You have a Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, Rogue and Paladin to choose from. That's not accidental on the part of the devs/marketers. They've allowed new players a step up into the game at mid-level for basic character classes that most people explore the first time they try an MMO.

Everything else about Iconics, the way veteran players use them, the fact that they sell hearts with some regularity, is secondary to their basic purpose of allowing new players a controlled entry to the game in a build designed to be competitive as it reaches into Epic levels.

Iconics at the moment are the trinity plus a Paladin as an alternate tank/solo machine.

Vet III would be great for vets but it wouldn't do a lot for new players. They wouldn't have enough info on how to exploit it properly and they wouldn't have the built-in racials designed to facilitate a first life character, including healing, DC's in a given spell class, movement options, etc.