Hope for Sharn Gearing

[Feralthyrtiaq]

I really hope whatever gear options the Sharn expansion bring are better than the hot mess of redundant, over-lapped split stat we got with RL

Even after a year or more of donning this stuff I still shake my head goin "Do I even want to bother wearing gear with many stats that bring nothing to a build for a set bonus?"

Sheesh....

Can't y'all for the love of Pete just make the gear fun and useful with nice set bonuses without the punitive stick in the eye?

I understand trade-offs but it's just so flipping ridiculous,

[Xgya]

If gearing up makes you make meaningful choices that alter your build, that means they did something RIGHT.

Gearing up to the maximum possible level should by all means be a puzzle, Tetris-style.

You can choose to equip a full set of Cannith-crafted loot with each piece doing exactly what you want at exactly the level you want it to (though even that requires some amount of fiddling around), but the more power you want to pull from your gear, the more you actually have to start thinking about it beforehand.

There are certain stats you want on a certain character build.
You want those as high as possible.
There is such a thing as the maximum highest for those.
Getting that max in anything should usually mean you lose out on some of the others, or entirely forgo getting one of those certain stats to increase one of the others to as high as you can manage.

[Vorachtin]

I really hope whatever gear options the Sharn expansion bring are better than the hot mess of redundant, over-lapped split stat bull-sh!t we got with RL

Even after a year or more of donning this stuff I still shake my head goin "What the Frank were these mouth-breathers thinking?" and "Do I even want to bother wearing gear with many stats that bring nothing to a build for a set bonus?"

Sheesh....

Can't y'all for the love of Pete just make the gear fun and useful with nice set bonuses without the GD punitive stick in the eye?

I understand trade-offs but it's just so flipping ridiculous,

The current end game gear puzzle is one of the best things about DDO, not sure what you are talking about.

[Shadow_Jumper]

The current end game gear puzzle is one of the best things about DDO, not sure what you are talking about.

Would have been nice if they could have dropped 1-2 redundant +50-52 physical sheltering and maybe added fortification to the raid armor

[korgzz_bloodaxe]

Would have been nice if they could have dropped 1-2 redundant +50-52 physical sheltering and maybe added fortification to the raid armor

Agreed. I find ravenloft gear excellent apart from the poor sheltering itemisation.

[blerkington]

You can choose to equip a full set of Cannith-crafted loot with each piece doing exactly what you want

If only that were true. Cannith crafting does not cover every useful effect, not by a long shot. Some slots are also really bad choice-wise for effects.

There were several piece of Ravenloft loot that were just bad and disappointing. In addition to the problems the OP mentioned, there were items with effects that could most charitably be described as junk. Because of different builds' gearing requirements some also did a lot better out of Ravenloft gear than others; not everyone had to make the tough choices you mentioned.

Two of the things I'm hoping for out of gear in the future are more attention to how it fits together for popular and archetypal builds at cap and fewer junk effects. If this isn't happening already, and I suspect it isn't, I'd like to see someone other than the person who made the gear do a check of each item near the end for usefulness. That might be what is required to avoid pieces like a raid weapon with wounding on it, a ring that boosts our character's abjuration DC and the raid armours.

One other thing I'd like not to see is large amounts of power creep, like we had with RL weapons. If we can avoid that as well as have better horizontal choices for gear, an interesting utility item or two and no duds I'll likely consider gearing in Sharn to be a success.

Thanks.

[legendkilleroll]

I would like all current gear not to become obsolete and for sharn gear to actually be unique and not just a +1 over all current gear.

+20 to ability score is already way to high, lets just leave it there and not let it go any higher and no new stacking versions either.

[Saekee]

I would like all current gear not to become obsolete and for sharn gear to actually be unique and not just a +1 over all current gear.

+20 to ability score is already way to high, lets just leave it there and not let it go any higher and no new stacking versions either.

That would not sell the expansion

edit: I recant

[Cantor]

That would not sell the expansion

people will buy it to run the quests and have fun. sure on the forums it will be a complete fail if anyone is still using a silent avenger set afterward and it will be total garbage loot if every weapon doesn't have legendary dice and an improved crit profile and force you to replace everything. While at the same time complaining of power creep and having to replace everything.

[Feralthyrtiaq]

From level 1-28 Via Cannith Crafting with a few pcs of named BTA/BTC gear I can EASILY slot every necessary offensive + defensive stat I want for every single build through every single life. I very rarely (or so rarely I cannot recall) have to make any sacrifices of KEY pcs for a build through HEROICS and 20-28 Epics. I *might* have to give up something extra I like that is not a crucial part of a build's requirement but I NEVER feel like I am losing out on something because of it.

Then we get to ENDGAME type gearing 29/30 where this stuff falls. Part of my main point is this. When I am at the "end" of a life (A LEGENDARY EPIC AWESOME GODLIKE POWERFUL LIFE) @ LEVEL 30 I am having to PIECEMEAL a bunch of **** together to make something work so I can FEEL the EPIC Power of my character.

Shouldn't the piecemeal collection of gear be represented as an adventurer begins and levels through their career and NOT at the END? The END of A LEGENDARY EPIC AWESOME GODLIKE POWERFUL LIFE should have Best in Slot Gear with little to ZERO sacrifices having to be made.

As it stands RIGHT NOW I feel the most power and ease with regards to gearing for character requirements through HEROIC and <28 Epics.

[Cantor]

From level 1-28 Via Cannith Crafting with a few pcs of named BTA/BTC gear I can EASILY slot every necessary offensive + defensive stat I want for every single build through every single life. I very rarely (or so rarely I cannot recall) have to make any sacrifices of KEY pcs for a build through HEROICS and 20-28 Epics. I *might* have to give up something extra I like that is not a crucial part of a build's requirement but I NEVER feel like I am losing out on something because of it.

Then we get to ENDGAME type gearing 29/30 where this stuff falls. Part of my main point is this. When I am at the "end" of a life (A LEGENDARY EPIC AWESOME GODLIKE POWERFUL LIFE) @ LEVEL 30 I am having to PIECEMEAL a bunch of **** together to make something work so I can FEEL the EPIC Power of my character.

Shouldn't the piecemeal collection of gear be represented as an adventurer begins and levels through their career and NOT at the END? The END of A LEGENDARY EPIC AWESOME GODLIKE POWERFUL LIFE should have Best in Slot Gear with little to ZERO sacrifices having to be made.

As it stands RIGHT NOW I feel the most power and ease with regards to gearing for character requirements through HEROIC and <28 Epics.

You stated your problem in your post. The sitting at cap game is about raiding and finding the perfect gear set-up and piecing it together. If you just look at it as something to wear for a level before you head back to 20 then, yes, it will be piecemeal garbage. That epic perfect setup takes an epic commitment to putting it together.

[Drunkendex]

You stated your problem in your post. The sitting at cap game is about raiding and finding the perfect gear set-up and piecing it together. If you just look at it as something to wear for a level before you head back to 20 then, yes, it will be piecemeal garbage. That epic perfect setup takes an epic commitment to putting it together.

Exactly.

If you feel DDO is troublesome with level of effort it needs for this, you obviously never played any other MMORPG before, DDO has it easy and fast compared to, let's say Rift or (*shudder*) Guild Wars 2...

[Vish]

While I do enjoy the gear Tetris,
And you have loot, raid loot, cannith, slavers and LGS to choose from,
I kinda have to agree ravenloft was very hit and miss
So much so that the light armor set has become the meta
And the medium/heavy got left behind
They also screwed up the raid armors,
They were different on Lammas, like having profane,
But those are just poor armors
So overall I consider ravenloft not well planned
Yes there are tough choices to make,
That is the challenge
But the devs can do a better job of building for builds
Likewise, I pray they don't go over 20 stats,
And go horizontal instead of vertical
What I'm hoping for for Sharn is sets for medium heavy
And to fit builds like ek, which are hybrid builds
They need to fill the gaps, and not duplicate over already existing good fits

That being said, I am not buying Sharn until I see the loot list
Should be this week...

[FlavoredSoul]

If gearing up makes you make meaningful choices that alter your build, that means they did something RIGHT.

Gearing up to the maximum possible level should by all means be a puzzle, Tetris-style.

You can choose to equip a full set of Cannith-crafted loot with each piece doing exactly what you want at exactly the level you want it to (though even that requires some amount of fiddling around), but the more power you want to pull from your gear, the more you actually have to start thinking about it beforehand.

There are certain stats you want on a certain character build.
You want those as high as possible.
There is such a thing as the maximum highest for those.
Getting that max in anything should usually mean you lose out on some of the others, or entirely forgo getting one of those certain stats to increase one of the others to as high as you can manage.

The problem is it doesn't do this.

Having redundant gear doesn't in any way make it a puzzle because BiS will still be BiS, optimal gear sets exist just the same whether you're wasting 3 of 4 stats on each item for your stupid set bonus.

If anything RL gearsets have hurt build diversity because they are so much better than all Pre-Ravenloft gear, for most builds you NEED to use at least 1 RL set bonus.

Find me a melee/ranged dps that doesn't wear Silent Avenger.

[Emerge2012]

That being said, I am not buying Sharn until I see the loot list
Should be this week...

Same. Had better be **** good with some really cool quests or I'll be walking away I think.

[Saekee]

From level 1-28 Via Cannith Crafting with a few pcs of named BTA/BTC gear I can EASILY slot every necessary offensive + defensive stat I want for every single build through every single life. I very rarely (or so rarely I cannot recall) have to make any sacrifices of KEY pcs for a build through HEROICS and 20-28 Epics. I *might* have to give up something extra I like that is not a crucial part of a build's requirement but I NEVER feel like I am losing out on something because of it.

Then we get to ENDGAME type gearing 29/30 where this stuff falls. Part of my main point is this. When I am at the "end" of a life (A LEGENDARY EPIC AWESOME GODLIKE POWERFUL LIFE) @ LEVEL 30 I am having to PIECEMEAL a bunch of **** together to make something work so I can FEEL the EPIC Power of my character.

Shouldn't the piecemeal collection of gear be represented as an adventurer begins and levels through their career and NOT at the END? The END of A LEGENDARY EPIC AWESOME GODLIKE POWERFUL LIFE should have Best in Slot Gear with little to ZERO sacrifices having to be made.

As it stands RIGHT NOW I feel the most power and ease with regards to gearing for character requirements through HEROIC and <28 Epics.

I am ok with this--I have great gear for up to 28 but since I have not remained at cap, my stuff is not so great. I am trying to get some Ravenloft gearsets now for my main to sit at cap for a bit.

Otherwise I have a great ML 20 set that I swap out a bit with weapons and a Epic ToEE set at level 26. I would keep it this way but would like a good legendary setup.

[Chai]

Good luck. Theres a small in head count, but loud contingent of folks who poo poo and tut tut horizontal and lateral progression each time is it brought up, favoring the vertical progression approach of pushing already META builds slightly forward rather than catching non META builds up to within a few percentage points of META.

[Arjen]

Is it really that dire? Considering the popularity of RL and the resurgence of the game in general I'd say it went over pretty well.

Outside of the raid armor being total junk I think they did pretty well with the itemization.

One thing to note - I suspect that when they adjusted the levels of the raid gear and made the RL stuff min level 28 was because Sharn raid gear will be 29/30 and that will be the next tier (along with the sharn gear being ml30). Will be interesting to see what is on the test server over the next couple of weeks.

[Shadow_Jumper]

Is it really that dire? Considering the popularity of RL and the resurgence of the game in general I'd say it went over pretty well.

Outside of the raid armor being total junk I think they did pretty well with the itemization.

They did alright. My main issue would be that most of the Strahd gear is pretty bleh. Baba gear is for the most part good. And not saying all gear has to be bestamest either, but having redundant effects does get kind of annoying.

Gear:
Head: Legendary Executioner's Helm
Goggles: Legendary Greensteel, T2/T3 DEX Skills
Armor: Legendary Mist-laden Vestment
Bracers: Legendary Lore-fueled Packbanner
Ring 1: Legendary Ring of Prowess
Boots: Legendary Flightfoot Greaves
Gloves: Molten Silver
Ring 2: Legendary Ring of Nightfall
Belt: Legendary Braided Cutcord
Cloak: Legendary Shadowhail Cloak
Trinket: Echo of Ravenkind
Necklace: Slave Lords Sheltering/Deception/Quality PRR

That’s the gear I’m using on my rogue. 3 of them have +50 physical sheltering.

Looking through the wiki (https://ddowiki.com/page/Category:Sheltering_items) there are roughly 6 Ravenloft items that have Magical Sheltering, and approximately 16 that have Physical Sheltering.

The devs were Oprah with PRR items, Scrooge McGrinch with MRR

[SerPounce]

Gearing has been headed in the right direction. There are still some issues: people are spot on that the raid armors were too weak, the "every item has exactly four effects" is overly ridged, and silent avenger dominates the dps scene. I'm not going to dig up quotes, but I think the devs have acknowledged at least two of those as issues.

I strongly disagree that every item should have effects that work together in obvious ways and fits into gearsets with no significant trade offs. Easy != good. The fact that gearing tetris is tricky is a feature, not a bug. I know there's some growing pains and some people would like to go back to a "best in slot" system where gearing is laid out by the devs and you just go farm the best stuff, but once you embrace the complexity of the gearing game it becomes a lot more interesting and fun this way. You can't get hung up on the fact that everything isn't going fit together perfectly, and a piece of gear isn't bad just because it has an effect that you don't need. People keep saying that they want lateral progression rather than power creep, and this kind of gearing is what it looks like.

Lets no go back to the days when everyone had the same gearset full of BiS items: gloves/bracers of the claw, tharns, etc, etc.