U38 Preview 2: Loot

[changelingamuck]

Weapon

Vulkoor's Edge Scimitar
Damage Dice: 2[1d6]/7.5[1d6+2] (2, and 7.5 is because of Vorpal + Keen)
Critical Profile: 15-20/x2 (Because of Keen)

• Poisonous 3d6/9d6
• Metalline
• Keen I/V
• Vorpal/Sovereign Vorpal
• Red Augment Slot

Tail of the Scorpion Falchion
Damage Dice: 2[2d4]/7.5[2d4+4] (2, and 7.5 is because of Vorpal + Keen)
Critical Profile: 15-20/x2 (Because of Keen)

• Poisonous 3d6/9d6
• Metalline
• Keen I/V
• Vorpal/Sovereign Vorpal
• Red Augment Slot

This isn't a criticism of these specific poisonous items per se. But, I do want to note that there hasn't been a named poisonous short sword added to the game since the MotU expansion in June of 2012. That's roughly six years.

Thematically and when it comes to their class enhancements, assassin rogues and ninja spy monks are the characters that should have appealing named poisonous weapons. The named poisonous items that have been added to the game since 2012 are weapons that monks and rogues either lack proficiency in or they cannot remain centered while using them, or they cannot apply stacks of ninja poisons while using them because they're not bladed weapons.

Every update for the past the six years, I check release notes to see if there's a poisonous named melee weapon that is usable by assassins and ninja spies. And there isn't...

I suspect that this is an oversight in the named item design because it doesn't track with how other named weapons are designed for this game. For instance, bard's occasionally get named weapons added to the game that deal sonic damage and those are weapons that they're proficient in. And artificers occasionally get weapons added to the game that deal electric damage and those are weapons that they're proficient in. Etc. etc.

But ninja spy monks and assassin rogues haven't gotten a single named poisonous melee weapon for six years that they can use. The highest minimum level poisonous named shortsword is ML 20.

[UurlockYgmeov]

What about cloth? D: I think a few druid/monk splits would like it too.

could also provide a darkwood / darkleaf version.... (med/light)

[Scuddy]

Trace of Madness Upgradeable Items:

Each of the items in this section has the enchantment "Trace of Madness" which allows them to be upgraded at the "Altar of Insanity" in the Hall of the Planes in the Tower of the Twelve.

I am happy to see one of the old crafting systems pop up again!

[Arkat]

Why isn’t there an insightful STR 9 items? With this update every stat except STR has insightful 9, and can wear 2 set bonuses !

Yeah, and the lone +9 Insightful Wisdom item is a set of Heavy Armor which means it, realistically, will be used by Clerics, Paladins, and possibly Favored Souls. Druids are left out (mostly) and Monks are also left out.

It would be nice if there were Medium, Light, and Cloth (Outfit) versions of the armor.

[Lokeal_The_Flame]

Set bonus for Champion Renegade not worth it when you have Adherents Of The Mist set bonus along side a Machination Of Madness.

A Dwarven Axe, but no Bastard sword.... I suppose I am alright with that, the Dwarven axe doesn't even look half as tasty as my Legendary Wave Of Despair does so I likely would not use the Bastard sword version if it had the same effects are the dwarven axe.... especially when that kind of vampirism does not seem to do anything for warforged.

Trace of Madness intrigues me, it will not allow me to apply an effect to it in the twelve..... what could be planned for it? Anyhow, yeah, the helm is repelled off as soon as you try to place it onto the altar of insanity.

About the Legendary Construct Champions Bands bracers... Deadly 16, really? Please either place a seeker effect onto it instead or replace the deadly with a quality deadly effect. There are simply already too many items with Deadly on them already and many of these are already used in combination with eachother, now with these bracers having it I have a build on Lamannia where THREE items have said unstackable trait. Also, quality MRR might also be a good choice.

About the Legendary Mantle Of Madness-Love the idea of placing a purple augment slot on it, but I have not yet seemed to be able to get anything to proc socketed into that slot. Please do replace the shatter with a quality or insightful shatter effect...... Also, very very curious about the Altar Of Insanity upgrades!

New tree is nice tree....... Something is missing it seems but I can't quite place my finger on it....

Melee artificer viability is satisfactory in terms of viability, however I have to say the MRR capabilities are lacking.

New epic feats are needed.... I use scion of Shadowfell to help remedy my health leak problem, problem is that it does not scale with repair amplification. A feat that has a Construct vampirism variant with +20 melee power would be a dream come true but you'd have to make it so it can't stack with Scion Of Shadowfell. Most people don't understand the health leak mindset, let's say you calculate your average health loss for a 30 second period of time surrounded by a mob while your equipment is focused on MRR, PRR, fortification ect. well, then you could calculate a necessary health gain to remedy said health leak. For me this calculation requires Vampirism+Greater Repair Systems+Fast Healing Past Life Feat X3+Fast Healing Twist Of Fate+Autumn Harvest+Legendary Greensteel consciousness extension and heal over time Effects. Through this I can get the best sort of feeling in battle, retain a sense of challenge, survive fairly well, and focus the rest of my build around healing/repair amplification and DPS. Right now the missing part of the equation is a form of vampirism that can scale with repair amplification similarly to how regular vampirism scales with healing amplification (Yes it does, as do all of the above others aside from greater repair systems). Some people think that a form of vampirism that scales with repair amplification would be overpowered, but those people don't understand that regular vampirism already scales with healing amplification, meanwhile other people think "Vampirism is weak" and they'd be right, but in combination with every autoheal effect along side some good healing amplification, it really does help a lot.

[Fivetigers33]

What's with all the hate on Keen? Do you guys not realize that it is ADDING BASE WEAPON DIE? It's adding 2[1dx +2] damage to the weapon's damage profile. If the weapon didn't have keen, if it just had some new effect instead that said "Legendary Reinforced Weapon: +2[W]" you guys would be all about it.

[Qhualor]

What's with all the hate on Keen? Do you guys not realize that it is ADDING BASE WEAPON DIE? It's adding 2[1dx +2] damage to the weapon's damage profile. If the weapon didn't have keen, if it just had some new effect instead that said "Legendary Reinforced Weapon: +2[W]" you guys would be all about it.

this is my issue with it as I pointed out earlier in the thread.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Keen

This does not stack with Improved Critical feat.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Improved_Critical

Improved Critical does not stack with the Keen or Impact weapon enchantments.

[Fivetigers33]

this is my issue with it as I pointed out earlier in the thread.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Keen

This does not stack with Improved Critical feat.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Improved_Critical

Improved Critical does not stack with the Keen or Impact weapon enchantments.

It's not supposed to stack. The fact that it increases your weapon's base damage makes it useful even if you have the feat.

You still get the increased weapon die damage which is in turn increased by melee/ranged power and multiplied by crit multipliers. You are still getting a nice dps boost even if you already have the improved critical feat. I'm still not understanding you fixation on that one small point. You'd rather have 9d6 random proc damage that is not increased by anything and quickly nerfed to nothing in reaper?

[neain2008]

The thought was that Caster Druids - People using Season's Herald for offensive spellcasting - would likely be using two casting implements, and that others who might use the set would be likely to do the same. If a lot of you thought it was likely some might go Implement+ Large Shield instead on a dedicated caster, we might be able to figure something out.

This ends up being true for my caster druids as well, mainly because its so hard to find caster shields. While leveling I have a small number of rings and other items that I canith crafted so that I can continue to use a shield, but once I get into epics those slots start to get filled with other effects that I want (Epic ring of shadows, etc.). I usually manage this by keeping my main hand a single element (whatever I decided to go with for energy burst this life) and not having full spellpower in others. As a druid I have so many different elements that ALL need spell power that I can't specialize easily, which is just getting exasperated a bit more after this pass by also needing acid more than I used to .

One of the things that make druid casters unique (at least to me) is that they are casters who can pretend to be defensible. Not as well as a pally or dedicated melee would be, but better than the average sorcerer or wizard. It lets people choose how glass cannon they really want to be.

[Nickodeamous]

I noticed that this Dev team seems to overlook the Insightful wisdom ability modifier. I feel like this is due to monks so why not make a Tower Shield with this on it? That would cut monks out without hurting clerics/Favor souls/Druids. Also why has this team not taken into consideration the eberron setting materials like Darkleaf and Bronzewood? Do you not read the setting at all when coming up with new quests? This update tastes like bland meat to me.

You are probably right about monks and the insightful wisdom being MIA. I personally have a handwrap monk that wears CC goggles with Insightful Wis +7, Seeker +15, and accuracy +23 (plus a colorless augment slot). It would be nice to see a +9 Insightful wisdom item, but there are other ways (Painful as it might be) to get up to +7.

[Qhualor]

It's not supposed to stack. The fact that it increases your weapon's base damage makes it useful even if you have the feat.

You still get the increased weapon die damage which is in turn increased by melee/ranged power and multiplied by crit multipliers. You are still getting a nice dps boost even if you already have the improved critical feat. I'm still not understanding you fixation on that one small point. You'd rather have 9d6 random proc damage that is not increased by anything and quickly nerfed to nothing in reaper?

so than its half the value if you have IC and if you use that weapon. I like full benefits so the item has top value rather than decreased value to make it a more compelling choice. last thing we need is for feats to lose more value if you can get some or all of the same benefit on gear.

if the damage di is the issue than just increase it on the weapon that would match what you could be getting if you did have IC. than replace Keen with some kind of damaging effect or something.

[Pilgrim1]

I just want to pop in and say that im a druid caster and I use a shield.

I would like more druid shield options.

[PsychoBlonde]

this is my issue with it as I pointed out earlier in the thread.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Keen

This does not stack with Improved Critical feat.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Improved_Critical

Improved Critical does not stack with the Keen or Impact weapon enchantments.

Keen and Impact also add +[w] which you don't get from the feat.

[GramercyRiff]

I just want to add/echo that more caster shields are needed and would be greatly appreciated. Sure we can CC shields, but named items are often quite superior, as they should be probably.

I'm not crazy about these items, but I guess they don't suck. Some are probably pretty good to great. Haven't given it much thought. I also don't know anything about the madness stuff. I wasn't playing the game when that was a thing.

The set bonuses are pretty cool though, I will say that.

[Qhualor]

if Keen stacks in some way with Improved Critical, than Wiki and the in game descriptions are outdated and need to be updated.

[slarden]

why isn't there a single-handed force spellpower/crit item that matches stats from the last 2 releases?

[Grinn]

Mantle of Madness Helm

• Intelligence +7/+19
• Shatter +8/+22
• Wizardry +145/+412
• Exceptional Astute Skills +4/+10
• Purple Augment Slot

Isn't Astute for Wisdom skills? Shouldn't this be Clever Skills?
(At least for this helm you didn't say "Exceptional Mad Skillz!")

[Yesenia]

Why? And before I go any further, I noticed ILOCKEHART post received no response (unless i somehow overlooked it) so i won't

hold my breath waiting for a response to this. For it would seem as though you wish to sweep the issue under the rug like a child that's

too lazy to find a dust pan.. Sorry about the attitude but i just can't sing the DDO praises any longer. Why are guys seemingly incapable

of releasing mid-level epic content and gear? My God has the end game gear horse been beaten to a bloody pulp! Enough already!

Please! I honestly want to believe you guys are more talented and creative than this. You guys knocked it out the park with Ravenloft! So

much so that i was willing to overlook the fact it was once again endgame gear, but it had some decent enhancements and boosts on

them! So i dismissed that minor concern and did my song and dance of praise. I just knew for sure the next ad-pack would be mid-epic

level content and gear.... yeeeaa....no.. its end game **** once again... GAAAHHHHH!!! Are ye serious then???!! You realize there are 8

other epic lvls that are direly lacking in loot and content right? And i won't even get started on the antique items in heroic levels...

Seriously the base value for some of the heroic loot and named gear should go up exponentially due to their age... seriously... chew on

that for a bit, lemme know what you think.. Anyways on a serious note.. I truly hate being the type to leave a negative post but I

honestly feel like the money i put into supporting this game, A game mind you, that I desperately LOVE! is going out the window when it

comes to creative loot and gear. For we no longer get those rare beauties like the Torc. One of a kind jewels. Those items that make us

feel special inside and let's us get our Smeagol on! but no.. -sighs- instead you give us more of the same stuff that we can use for a few

quest and then let it collect dust when we tr... My personal thoughts on this new ad-pack and "named loot" is reminiscent of an old David

Allen Coe song in which you can replace "Job" with "Loot" I know it may not be a significant loss but i can promise you if thee next

update is end gear and legendary quest, I'll just take my support and love elsewhere.. I just can't anymore.. What happened to the old

DDO? Did it leave with Turbine??

[noinfo]

Why? And before I go any further, I noticed ILOCKEHART post received no response (unless i somehow overlooked it) so i won't

hold my breath waiting for a response to this. For it would seem as though you wish to sweep the issue under the rug like a child that's

too lazy to find a dust pan.. Sorry about the attitude but i just can't sing the DDO praises any longer. Why are guys seemingly incapable

of releasing mid-level epic content and gear? My God has the end game gear horse been beaten to a bloody pulp! Enough already!

Please! I honestly want to believe you guys are more talented and creative than this. You guys knocked it out the park with Ravenloft! So

much so that i was willing to overlook the fact it was once again endgame gear, but it had some decent enhancements and boosts on

them! So i dismissed that minor concern and did my song and dance of praise. I just knew for sure the next ad-pack would be mid-epic

level content and gear.... yeeeaa....no.. its end game **** once again... GAAAHHHHH!!! Are ye serious then???!! You realize there are 8

other epic lvls that are direly lacking in loot and content right? And i won't even get started on the antique items in heroic levels...

Seriously the base value for some of the heroic loot and named gear should go up exponentially due to their age... seriously... chew on

that for a bit, lemme know what you think.. Anyways on a serious note.. I truly hate being the type to leave a negative post but I

honestly feel like the money i put into supporting this game, A game mind you, that I desperately LOVE! is going out the window when it

comes to creative loot and gear. For we no longer get those rare beauties like the Torc. One of a kind jewels. Those items that make us

feel special inside and let's us get our Smeagol on! but no.. -sighs- instead you give us more of the same stuff that we can use for a few

quest and then let it collect dust when we tr... My personal thoughts on this new ad-pack and "named loot" is reminiscent of an old David

Allen Coe song in which you can replace "Job" with "Loot" I know it may not be a significant loss but i can promise you if thee next

update is end gear and legendary quest, I'll just take my support and love elsewhere.. I just can't anymore.. What happened to the old

DDO? Did it leave with Turbine??

Any pack that does not release for cap is a waste pure and simple. I won't grind for mid level gear as I can wear vendor trash to cap anyway and will only rarely bother crafting anything along the way. There is more than enough content to get me to level 30. I would not have an issue with them revisting the gear on old packs but making packs for mid level is a waste.

Higher level content can be run on lower level toons for challenge and xp without penalty and I do this regularly, lower level quests cannot. What is worse is that high level but not cap quests get ignored as they do not offer significant reaper xp to make them worth running more than once and their loot is outdated as well. RIP Orchard for example.

[noinfo]

if Keen stacks in some way with Improved Critical, than Wiki and the in game descriptions are outdated and need to be updated.

Improved Crit won't make an item with Keen any better but Keen does more than improve the crit profile now it improves damage dice as well making it worthwhile to those who have improved crit even if the crit profile does not change.