I'd really like to see a level 29 named Bastard sword that an artificer can gain equal or greater usage from as compared to any other class

Bastard sword you say?

Yes Bastard sword!

Well there's the Legendary Wave Of Despair........

That's not a level 29 bastard sword, that's a level 28......

What about the Divinity the Morninglord's Goal bastard sword?

That would be fine...... for a paladin and situationally okayish for an artificer..... but realistically, it does not do enough for non-paladins to really crave it as a weapon...... what I want to see is a more artificer friendly level 29 bastard sword.

Well, you have the Nightmother's and the Morninglord's Bastard Sword....

-_- Everyone has a Nightmother's and Morninglord's everything........ and those are situationally decent at best, besides I want something with flavor!

Just craft yourself a Bastard sword then..... there's always Thunderforged and Legendary greensteel.....

Uuuuuh....... sentient compatibility or it's a no go!

Well, there are always cormyrian weapons.....

That's level 24 max..... and besides they may have flavor, they may be sentient compatible but no augment slots and poor dps makes them kind of sad for you to mention....

What about challenge weapons other than that?

Well, you never made a Bastard sword for cannith challenges, the Night Revels event, The Anniversary Event, or even the crystal cove event and all of those regardless are level 28 max.

Why not go with a weapon other than a bastard sword?

Why not wear pink rather than black? One person's taste is different to another person's taste, acknowledge all tastes within reason.

If your taste is a minority position, how is that within reason to acknowledge?

Anyone being adequately vocal about the kind of gear they want in DDO is a minority position, therefore by extension your logic is a bit flawed. Why not encourage people to be more vocal about what kind of equipment they want before brushing off what an individual may want? Also, wooden quarterstaffs have been a demand for how long and you've only just started giving them some love?

Well, what all is wrong with using a lower level Bastard sword?

Well, there are quite a few beautiful and flavorful Bastard Swords In DDO, but the flavor is kind of killed by there not being any adequate way to even reasonably supplement an increase in the proc chances of the flavorful aspects of said weapons in which is why I advocate for a special trinket that can be wielded as if an orb or equipped to the trinket slot and allow each blow of your weapon to do some sort of effect that can lower the saves of your enemy such as improved cursespewing or whatnot as to make effects such as slay the living or nightmare proc at least every now and then, heck perhaps even make trap the soul weapons usable again!

Wait, equip a trinket as if an orb, why?

Single weapon fighting!

Okay, but why not go with a different fighting style?

Why not make all items bound to account? Some items are precious to players thus making recycling them for other builds a must, plus many classes people will struggle to enjoy playing but to get to completionist they simply have to and so what you are looking at is people placing value in the gear that belongs to the class they enjoy the most and let's face it... you can't blame them for that. Favoring more than one fighting style or build style would means more loot need be stored than your character banks will permit.... besides I've fallen in love with single weapon fighting, the attack speed boost feels right!

Surely, you can get around a lot of that by multiclassing, right?

Sure, multiclass and risk having another useless character because an update on one of the multiple classes nerfed the very basis the multiclassing build was based on? I still have a cleric/artificer/rogue character that was ruined by an update related to the dodge cap and a few other matters, that character did not receive a lesser heart of wood at all let alone one capable of removing the now useless cleric and rogue levels due to some awesome updates made for the artificer class..... yeah that multiclass was done with the intention of building a certain way that I can now do without needing that multiclassing.... and yaaaay, that character has +4 to all stats so I really don't like the idea of deleting him!

Well, I'm sure a lot of people complain about that, but you could always just buy a lesser heart of wood and fix it

And you could give us a way to earn a +20 lesser heart of wood such as through such being a chain reward option, you could even create something like a +15 lesser heart of wood to make exclusive for such..... anyhow, not everyone has the money sadly and if you are going to give me a statement on what I should do, I might as well offer the same back to you, right?

Well, anyhow back to an earlier thing you were saying.... how is single weapon fighting needing anything extra?

Two handed fighters have their Bloodrage Chrism, two weapon fighters have their set daggers and vistani knife fighter tree, Sword and board users now have the awesomeness that is the best defense shield....... it's not completely unreasonable that maybe single weapon fighters get something special

And you think that should be a trinket that can also be equipped as an orb?

Yes, even a fighter can take the magical training feat and equip an orb while the attribute types that normally go onto a trinket would be most appropriate. With Trinkets you have effects such as eternal holy burst and shocking blows, so why not an effect that bestows Improved cursespewing or something else that can similarly improve the proc chances of equipment effects such as that in which is on Nightmare The Fallen Moon or Legendary Wave Of Despair? The thing is, if you make it a trinket that can also be equipped as an orb, you wouldn't be catering to only single weapon fighters and even still someone with a runearm might still want said effects. In other words, this kind of item should be a challenge item.... maybe for some Sharn challenges for that upcoming expansion.

Wait, how does that support it being a challenge item?

Because, challenge items come in multiple level ranges...... if a melee centric orb/trinket proves to be popular you win, if not then those who want it will still have a way to get such for almost whatever level they may happen to be. Further more, challenge items should be difficult to get and require dedication and I frankly wouldn't want an item like this to be easy to farm for!

Wait, aren't you the same guy who is big on the whole vampirism and healer's bounty attributes?

Yes, and I've concluded that I would be most satisfied with a blue augment that enhances my main hand attacks with a form of vampirism that scales by level with vampirism 1 at level 10, vampirism 2 at level 15, vampirism 3 at level 20 and vampirism 4 starting at level 26, I've also concluded that healer's bounty should also be placed onto a blue augment.

Why's that?

Because they are effects that your company gave a taste for to certain people and then decided to kill........ like a father giving a kitten to a child who took lovingly care of that kitten only to see their father sit on and crush it to death one day, it can be said that you owe those that you took from something they can farm to experience the joy they once got from items that had said effects, at least in the form of a consolation prize that you force people to bend over backwards dedicating hours to acquire.

But effects such as healer's bounty and vampirism still exist

So does your four effects per item limit still exist and with that......... no one is scrambling towards asking for vampirism or healer's bounty to be one of those four effects and if you indulge the few fans that still exist for said effects through item creation rather than augment creation you are going to take more effort and have to eventually design more of such items to keep said fans happy, that being said designing a blue vampirism and blue healer's bounty augment makes the most sense, just get it out of the way and you never have to create another healer's bounty or vampirism item ever again to keep said people happy on such. Also, viability for Healer's bounty and vampirism require other attributes on gear be present and those attributes that enhance those two effects are much more valued than those two effects on their own

But an augment like that should be red......

Logically perhaps, but all the same you could make those augments green (Emeralds) and thus limit their usage combinations a bit more reasonably

Interesting but in reality we would like to eventually change the augment system as it is outdated and the coding is problematic and possibly the reason for some lag issues!

Oh, I am well aware of that...... but in reality, versatility equal to that in which a green augment could have would be more than enough to satisfy me on this...... in other words the effect that grants your mainhand attacks a form of vampirism that scales by level could simply be a Night Revels enchantment for bracers that can go on even named bracers meanwhile the healer's bounty would be an effect that can go onto armors (Including named armors), surely you can be creative to find something that would suit your specifications on what you would deem acceptable?

Another interesting suggestion I suppose but then everyone would have those effects on their gear and it would cease to be special for anyone

Well, the statistics on the popularity of those effects that I've managed to gather say otherwise

So, let me get this straight.... you'd like to see some way to imbue mainhand attacks with vampirism, some way to imbue armors with healer's bounty, and an offhand/orb/trinket option that can be used in single weapon fighting to improve proc chances of weapons equipped by somehow lowering enemy saves with each hit?

Well, if we are doing a wishlist kind of thing, I also want Tieflings to have intelligence to hit and damage in their racial trees, The next challenge pack to have unique orbs and Bastard Swords as reward turn in options, Shadar-Kai to have more hairstyle options (Long hair for the males would be nice), cosmetic squirrel creature companions, a way to make legendary Greensteel weapons sentient, and a Wizard and sorcerer pass where the Eldritch Knight tree is improved to be at least fairly viable as an option.

...................I am not Santa Claus