DDOCast 482 - DDO Debates: Endgame

[pjstechie]

This week we take a look at the state of DDO’s endgame (gameplay at or around level cap) with Asheras & Evilbeeker!

Have thoughts on this show, ideas for round table topics, questions you’d like us to answer, or topics you’d like to see us debate? Leave us a comment, send us an email (ddocast@gmail.com) or give us a tweet (@ddocast)!

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DDO Debates: Endgame - 2:03
-Is endgame dead? - 4:37
-What do we want to see for a viable endgame? - 21:38
-Is Reaper Mode extending game life? - 42:33
-Can DDO attract new players at this point? - 49:52
-Which class still needs its pass most? - 1:01:20
Game News - 1:08:29
Community News - 1:18:00
Closing - 1:22:58

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DDO Chronicle 242
Full Moon Fury: Mines of Tethyamar
Gencon gather for buffs

[FuzzyDuck81]

There's already a "free quest per day" system present in the game - it's the cannith challenge tokens. Maybe this could be expanded this to include quests so that once per day per account you can play a single quest you don't have access to otherwise, or save up a handful and have a once-through of a quest line to try it out before committing to actually getting the pack.

Weekly store code for a free guest pass could be a good idea too - since you can only get them for other people, it'd also help boost interaction between current & new players.

Speculation time - devs recently mentioned improvements to FvS basic class changes for Ravenloft in addition to cleric domains... I suspect that cleric will get domains, and FvS changes will be to get a more limited version based purely on the divine choice, granting access to a few SLAs as they level, similar to how warlocks get specific spell access dependent on their patron - that way they'll be a valuable boost to all FvS regardless of enhancements but also maintain the classic distinction between the 2 classes, much as the sorcerer vs. wizard thing.

Yep they're pretty cheesy Scottish accents - they're kinda Mike Myers as Shrek vs. actual Scottish guy

[Vindraxx]

I don't think it would be worth a whole topic of a show, but I'd love to hear thoughts about grouping since Reaper has come out specifically regarding the effect of the over-level penalty to Reaper XP. With the self-healing penalty, it seems like Reaper is set to promote better team coordination and grouping play, but the over-level penalty seemingly makes that much harder to do from my anecdotal experience. For instance, last night I was running a PUG Catacombs on R2 with three other level 3's. One of the guys took level four and then apologized and offered to drop group as he was now incurring the rest of the group a -20% RXP penalty. I run into this type of situation frequently in my PUG Reaper grouping experiences, where by being one level outside the base quest level, a person feels like they are a burden on the whole group.

Things that could potentially be discussed:

Does the over-level RXP penalty make it more difficult for players to group together? During heroic levels? Epic levels?
For Epic levels, there are a lot of level 20-22 quests that can only be played on Reaper for a very short window before RXP penalties. Does it make sense to have quests that you can only enter at literally a single level (level 20) before you start taking RXP penalties?
Is the RXP penalty further segregating our player base of characters between those that run quests specifically at level versus those who run at quest level +2 (or +4 during Epic levels)? Does having a uniform system make more sense?
What tweaks could be made to make Reaper grouping (or grouping in general) easier to put together?
Advice to players looking to setup Reaper groups. Etiquette on taking next levels, best ways to post your LFM to avoid potential conflicts, etc...