DDOCast 504 - Ravenloft Review pt 3

[pjstechie]

We talk news with Arkat and then rejoin Draculetta, Evilbeeker, and Voodu for part 3 of our Mists of Ravenloft Review!

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Game News - 2:35
Community News - 20:27
Lightning Post - 29:45
Mists of Ravenloft Review - 41:30

Watch shows live at twitch.tv/ddocast

Pre-purchase Ravenloft
Ravenloft FAQ
DDO Chronicle 268
Axel: Reincarnate or stay at cap?
Axel: Best and worst PUG experiences
BioBreak: When MMOs take away your eyes

[Arkat]

Holy cow. Really Voodu, Evilbeeker, and Draculetta?

There are PLENTY of nice pieces of loot, both raid and non-raid included in this expansion!

I'm about to eat dinner so I'll end this post here and elaborate further in my next post.

[FuzzyDuck81]

Tip while the ice games are active, even if you don't participate in the event itself - the missile-toe abundant step consumables are available in the store! If you have the points to spare I highly recommend picking up a few (its 90 points for 10), I find them particularly useful for TRs to help get through some of the nastier traps in the lower levels.

That initial free weapon in Ravenloft is really nice - pro tip, if you're doing a TR, make sure you've picked up both the heroic & epic versions - run into the mists on epic casual if necessary at 20, if nothing else the freebie can be fed to a gem. The heroic weapons are pretty phenomenal bits of kit for TRs.

Loving that extra enhancement bonus to spellpower on the belts, it's a really significant boost.

The weird & fun extra tricks on weapons for certain situations - main/offhand, class-linked features etc. are cool & it's nice to see those "hidden" effects appearing again. It's annoying that the sinister handaxe is bound to character though, but combine that with the forgotten handaxe & you can have a nice axe-using dex based tempest which is sweet.

The set bonuses on the named loot are nice, though I'd prefer if they'd been implemented like slave lords & you could have assigned any item to any set using the Vistani tokens/talismans so less gear juggling would be required, even if toning down the bonuses a little would have been the trade-off.

Experimenting with the sentient weapons, I've found that a good single-filigree option even if you don't plan to go any deeper in the system is the treachery:threat reduction one, which gives an impressive -50% melee threat reduction, great for helping to keep the squishier melees safer & in position to get sneak attack bonuses as well as offsetting the threat boost from stalwart/sacred defender stances for splash builds.

Sentient vs. greensteel I actually like the contrast - legendary greensteel can only be used at the top levels whereas sentient can be straight from level 20 with the right weapons so it makes sense the power scales more & has increased versatility instead; also, the sentient system is far easier to just pick up & use at a basic level while allowing space for in-depth investment, vs. the far more involved grind for greensteel.

[stoerm]

Thanks for another awesome podcast.

Minor correction: PL is the country code for Poland, making DDOPL a Polish channel. Portugal would be PT.

HF and don't forget to gather for buffs!

[Arkat]

There's LOTS of great loot in Ravenloft.

First, as Evilbeeker pointed out in the loot segment, the Morninglord weapons are better than MANY of the Epic/Legendary weapons that existed in DDO previously. Even the level 10 Barovian weapons are pretty darn good for their level!

Some of the raid weapons in the two raids are particularly worth mentioning:


Duality - enough has been said already. These are now the quintessential handwraps for Shintao monks.

Divinity - this bastard sword not only has the coolest visual for a bastard sword in the game, it is a great weapon for Paladins. The extra Metalline and 9d6 Coruscating damage properties it only grants Paladins are especially nice.

Sanctity - See Divinity, only this is a greatsword. Same look and all the same powers (plus Greater Dispelling) of Divinity make this a truly nice weapon for the THF Pallies.

Calamity - This khopesh is also fairly desirable. I have no experience with it but depending on how often Utter Disintegration processes, it could be the best one handed weapon in the game, imho.

Flow - would be totally awesome if there weren't limits to stat damage. It's still a very nice rapier, though.

Echo of the Sunsword - GREAT look to it and it's a pretty darn good one handed weapon for a S&B or SWF toon that's not a Paladin.

Null - perhaps one of the most original weapons in the game. Put it in your main hand it's useful to negative energy using toons, put it in your off-hand, it's useful to positive energy using toons. Cool!

Pain & Suffering - Pain is the dagger from the CoS raid and Suffering is its counterpart from the Baba raid. This two-dagger set definitly eclipses Slice & Dice and gives a nice Set Bonus. Must-haves for Vistani knife fighters.

Volley - Some say this Great Crossbow eclipses Legendary Divine Artillery. I don't have it yet so it's hard to say but it looks like it could.

Spite - this shuriken is something TRULY special. The amount of damage the glass shards can do may not look impressive but, believe me, it is!

Fate - this throwing dagger is also desirable for Vistani throwing builds. The Pick a Card power is still mysterious to me but the Metalline, Sovereign Vorpal, and Improved Deception powers are all very useful!

Dusk - very good for Light-based builds, either Warlocks that use Utterdark Blast or Light-blasting Cleric/FvS builds.


Some of the non-weapon, raid items are definitely worth mentioning and getting:


Fleetfoot Necklace - You can't go wrong with a +20 WIS. The Superior Reinforced Fists are helpful for DPS and the Wind Through the Trees power is nice for an occasional knockdown.

Storm in a Bottle - Can't go wrong with +45 to all (including Sonic) resists. The Stormrage power is also worth getting.

Hand of the Dawn Healer - the trinket to get if your toon is a serious healer.

Bell of Warding - this trinket is great for Bards especially if they use Shout and Greater Shout but it's also great for Fey-pact Warlocks.

Echo of Ravenkind - will be VERY nice when they get the Holy Burst power to work.

Bloodrage Chrism - VERY nice for rage-type builds


Some of the more notable non-raid items in Ravenloft are:


The Armors - these are pretty much all better than the raid armors because they add 208% fortification whereas the raid armors add 0% fortification.

Legendary Bracers of the Fallen Hero - these bracers should probably have been in one of the raids.

The dual-spellpowered belts of opposing powers or elements - these belts add a +208 ENHANCEMENT bonus to various spellpowers. These are super nice as most other additions to spellpower are Equipment, Insight, or Quality bonuses to Spellpower meaning these belts add +208 stacking spellpower!

Legendary Keylock Ring - +22 to four of the most critical rogue-ish abilities (Spot, Search, Open Lock, Disable Device) on one item.

Legendary Perfect Pinnacle - Ring that reminds me of the Jidz-Tet'ka. That means one of its powers is different depending on what Monk stance you're in.

Legendary Mirrorplate Tower - tower shield that provides a VERY nice Insight bonus to MRR, among other nice things.

Legendary Braided Cutcord - very nice belt with no bad stats or powers on it.

Legendary Hound of Night (Collar) & Legendary Kindred Spirit (Light Armor for pets) - these are two very nice items for your Wolf or Homunculus pets. They compliment each other quite well in there are not duplicated powers between the two items.

Legendary Feargaze - a must-have for any intimitank.

Legendary Suppressive Fire & Legendary Blight Inferno - two fire-based rune arms that are comparable except one fires its shots for close-range effectiveness for melee-type artificers and the other fires its shots for long-range effectiveness suitable for crossbow artificers.

Epic Purifying Quiver - adds 1d8 fire damage to all arrows and bolts AND adds the Blunted property to all ammo fired. Very useful when ranging skeletons...like in Ravenloft content.


There are also several set bonuses that are very good. the Adherent of the Mists set requires you fill 5 slots with some of the new Ravenloft loot which is fairly easily done. It's possible to add another set like Silent Avenger or Knight of the Shadows set (3 pieces required for each set) to take advantage of 2 set bonuses.

All in all, I'd say the loot, while it could have been a little better, was still very strong.

Overall, I'd have to give the Ravenloft expansion a VERY solid "A".

[pjstechie]

There's LOTS of great loot in Ravenloft.

...

Overall, I'd have to give the Ravenloft expansion a VERY solid "A".

Keep in mind with regards to loot reviews: Draculetta doesnt get loot because the RNG doesnt like him and Voodu doesnt know what end of a sword to hold and is likely to shoot his eye out with a crossbow

[Draculetta]

Keep in mind with regards to loot reviews: Draculetta doesnt get loot because the RNG doesnt like him and Voodu doesnt know what end of a sword to hold and is likely to shoot his eye out with a crossbow

True, Loot what's this loot you speak of.....