Could I suggest a switch to +9 insigthful constitution? I understand there are not many caster items with +9 insight int/wis/char stats but I do not think there is any caster item with constitution.
Also the clouded ring penalties seem to much (the -5% mana) for a level 30 raid item. Also there are not penalties in the other items.
Oh my. I strongly suggest that SSG re-evaluate its fundamentals. Itemization absolutely should balance weapon styles.
I mean… you COULD have classes, feats, and enhancements handle the balancing, but then all your weapons need to be basically the same and it’d a much bigger headache to add… anything to the game.
It’d be much easier and more durable to have weapons balance against each other provided that a few simple rules are maintained.
1. Each weapon should fit specific role.
Ie. Greataxes deal big crits, Greatswords crit more often. Quarterstaves are versatile in basically being two 1-handed weapons in one. So when making a new weapon, greataxes should typically be enchanted with effects that synergize with those big crits. Quartersaves should probably have up to 8 effects, but split into two roles. Like 4 for offense and 4 for spell damage. Or perhaps Defense and spell dc. Or Offense and Tactical.
Technical limitations aside of course, but we both know there are ways around that. For instance having something like, “Defensive Staff – Gain a bonus to your prr, mrr, and shield ac equal to this weapon’s enhancement bonus.” Functionally gives 3 effects for 1 slot.
Alternatively/additionally, you should at least be flavoring the enhancements to specific weapons. A good example, I’d expect to see doublestrike at higher numbers and/or more often on a quarterstaff than other two-handed options.
2. When attempting to bring a weapon closer/in line with another weapon through non-weapon means, don’t use raw pump.
Only affect weapons that are below the par you want. For example, you want Henshin Mystic’s staves to crit as hard as a Great Axe. Don’t use “Staves you wield gain a +1 to their crit multiplier.” Instead use something like, “staves with a base crit multiplier of x2 gain a +1 to their critical multiplier.” This way you don’t bloat weapons you specifically increased to an overpowered level.
3. When increasing part of a weapon’s base, don’t set the prerequisite for that bonus to different part of the base profile.
Example, “staves with base damage of 1d6 gain +1 to their critical multiplier” is a no go.
4. Never let a weapon’s base go beyond another weapon’s base unless its balanced against other outliers.
This is here to maintain balance between weapons and to make sure its not possible for a weapon type’s outliers to outpace another weapon type’s outliers when augmented with character options. Example, there should never be a staff with a x4 crit multipier. One of the things SSG thinks is a good idea right now is adding +X to a weapon’s base damage. This is dangerous, but perfectly ok in terms of balance if each type of weapon receives an option (eventually) and/or is surpassed by a superior group of weapons that are balanced.
With those rules in place, it’d be pretty hard to go wrong. Enhancement trees would now only need to be balanced against each other in terms of what they offer and now you only need to balance weapons against each other and others of its type instead of having to factor in the entire suite of character options.
Really this all comes back to having soft caps. My very strong opinion is that the biggest mistake in DDO is either never having a cap or constantly forgetting what the cap was supposed to be. Its why systems like Attack and AC needed to be changed from its d20 system to some vague percentage system. It’s the root cause of the hit point balance issues. Etc.. SSG needs to find the minimum of an attribute and then set a maximum to specific range and then only work within that range until the minimum is raised. Right now, it feels like SSG is only looking at the maximums and just keeps raising the maximum with no regard to the minimum. If there isn’t a course correction, the divide between players is only going to widen.
Anyway, hope this helps. I’m not really invested in what happens to the staff. Just reading how SSG plans to balance weapons with character options instead of weapons… felt like I needed to put in my 2 cp.
Now introducing, Divine Spell Failure!
Close enough, I'll take it! :P
Back on non-staff topics, though, what should the rage armor do instead? Gimme suggestions!
Also, what's something cool the Chaosbow could do? I want it to be thematically chaos-aligned due to its look and origin story, but if you guys want more pizzazz I gotchu - just give me ideas![]()
100% radical, enthusiasm enthusiast.
"Have you tried preproccing feat directory?"
That's precisely what I want to hear a raid item to be described as - "not bad."
The Staff of Shadows must be improved and the way to do it and still keep it in tune with the "Sword of Shadows" theme is to improve the crit profile.
Earlier in this thread I suggested a crit profile of 18-20/x3 would be sufficient. After seeing the numbers published by Lynnabel and others in this thread, I have decided a 19-20/x3 crit profile would be enough to make it special enough to be a raid item, as far I am concerned.
Alternatively if they're worried about the scaling issues involved in boosting the crit multiplier they could increase enhancement bonus dramatically. Say to +30. A nice side effect of that would be it would help out the to-hit values for staff users that probably have in general lower than usual to-hit for front line melee.
Sabbathiel/Sabathal/Sabath-1
Sarlona
100% radical, enthusiasm enthusiast.
"Have you tried preproccing feat directory?"
While raging suggestions.
- Immunity to Stun and/or Knockdown Effects.
- Immunity to Knockback effects would be super interesting.
- Regen action boosts
- Regen rage uses.
- Chance to reset the duration
- Emit a fear-like aura the reduces enemy melee (ranged and/or spell) power.
Chaotic suggestions
- Chance to proc an Enervation effect.
- Haven’t had a curse spewing weapon in a while.
- Chance to have projectile damage a nearby enemy(s). (kind of like chain lightning)
- Temporarily suppress a target’s DR.
- Or since it's tied to maralith.... maybe a chance for the weapon to deal 6x its damage.
It's certainly flavorful but does it make up for what would be lost with a plain old 20/x3 crit profile? I doubt it. I thought SerPounce made a pretty good argument for a +30 enhancement bonus. How much higher than +18 could you go and still avoid an overly weird amount of Enhancement bonus stuff issues?