U42 Preview 1: Loot

[MacRighteous]

No, that's kind of where I spend most of my time nowadays. It's a DDO developer in-joke - it's only kind of funny to me (and even then it's not very funny! :P)

I work on a database as a QA engineer - so i kinda get the joke - and I agree, it's not very funny - but did you overlook my not very funny joke? Or just decided to ignore it?

[Thar]

I'm comparing what is optimal for each if I slot their tank sets. I have to then tie in con and ins initim since they are not in the new set which limits space and options to pull in adherent with the new set. Even if I could pull it in it wouldn't address the MRR issues. I'm sure as I look longer I can find small tweaks to bring it closer but the item slots and omissions that were in prior set make getting everything to fit more difficult without doing substantial doubling or tripling up redundancies.

In either case I would expect my tank with a minor artifact and new tier of sharn gear to not only break even but eclipse a toon in all RL gear...irrespective of where the bonuses come from

armor - sharn
helmet - sharn
bracers - sharn (missing ins con 9 from RL set unavaialble otherwise in RL gear elsewhere)
ring - sharn ins intim, ins con, insight, ling

left for 5piece set

goggles - garstones, negotiators, summoners, smpyonic. no good options here for a tank other than maybe chr 19 for pally

boots - flightfoot or softsole if pally- good tank options here.

ring 2 - cursebane probably has 3-4 effects that are tank good. other options 1-2 effects.

cloak -mantle of fury gives perhaps you 2-3 effects you care about as tank in con and dodge...maybe doublestrike depending on tank, other cloaks have 1 effect not copied elsewhere.

neck - dawn's herald, reflective bloodstone, kindred spirit. nothing good here... maybe 1 effect per item.

belt - ONLY 5 piece belt is viscani fighters sash with vitatlity and deadly 16 (only 2 good effects a tank needs)

gloves - crumbling for ins dex/ins prr, rest garbage to tank. or inate arcanium for pally if no chr above or knifepalm for deadly if not elsewhere. no good 3-4 effect items here.

trinket - raid trinket for con or dodge or chr (worst option)

so to use a 5 piece you need to use a lot of subpar effect gear that gives you really only one good effect to get the bonus as the remaining RL items aren't that great for defensive. (no protection) and you need to slot a minor artifact now in ring (one of 2 only good tank RL gear slots) goggles or gloves (invalidating con as a RL beneficial effect as it's higher). You're probalby getting rid of the 5 piece set and swapping the RL to Sharn sets losing the magic prr bonus from the set which can be big depending on the content. the other random set bonus need to make up for those items along with the 5 piece set bonus AND improve overall character or what's the point.

[legendkilleroll]

The ranged dps set gloves dont even offer any offense.

Blurry, dodge, nat armor are all defensive effects. Compare this to the melee dps sets gloves with doublestrike, seeker and ins deadly, three offensive effects, their neck also has another 3 with armor pierce, relentless fury, deadly.

[Kilgrave]

Hi Lynnabel on Arcsteel Battlemage Tanky Spell DPS Set can you add +25/50 Acid, Cold, or Universal, I use acid on my EK build?

Also Staggershockers Raid Gloves gives Quick Draw Feat but I already get quick draw from EK imbue the blade can you change it to Quicken Feat would really help out my sorc ek?

•Blurry +35%
•Melee Alacrity +15%
•Electric Damage on Crit
•Quick Draw Feat

[voxson5]

You are conflating the Platinum Knuckles with the Raid Handwraps - Fetters of the Forgewraith. They are two separate items.

Yeap my bad

Am looking forward to having a play with both

[amessi1]

Celestial Celestite Ring
Minimum Level: 15/29
*(WIS, DEX, CON +8/21)
*Dodge +8%/+21%
*Natural Armor +8/+21
*Parrying

Looking for a WIS based ring that wasn't intim or caster based for my falcon build. I'm assuming the dex skills ring would be my CON item. Something to compliment the "Part of the Family" set. BTWs Celestite is also a gem like other rings....so, maybe?

[Alcides]

Where can we view the stats for the community item?

You mentioned the Protection From Evil effect would be scaled up on the Crusader's Cloak (what would the scaled values be)?

Would it stack or overlap a Deflection Bonus to AC vs evil?

Would it stack or overlap a Resistance Bonus to Saves vs evil?

[Wongar]

@ Lynnabel

As the title say: Is the complete absence of Acid in set bonuses and gear intentional or an oversight?

I ask because I play a pure Sorc Earth Savant / EK. If it was intentional please simply reply as such so I know I need to find something else to play. If it was an oversight, I think it can be addressed.

Summary:

Acid is left out of every set bonus and no items have acid spell power or lore of any kind on them. (The staffs say they do but on Lam they do not.)

As an Earth Savant /sadly I can not find a single piece of gear in the expansion that I can slot that does not make me go backwards - this includes the minor artifacts. I am not a gear guru and I may well be missing some awesome combination but I find it very disheartening that in an entire update there is not one piece of gear that I want to get. The main problem is that acid being excluded from all set bonuses means that I have to keep a 5 piece slavers set and the 2 piece mountainskin set.

Consider this:

Tanky Spell DPS set bonus:
50 Electric, Fire, Force, Repair Spell Power, 10% Electric, Fire, Force, Repair Spell Lore, 4 Artifact bonus to Intelligence, 3 Artifact bonus to Spell Focus Mastery

Total +50SP, +10% lore, + 5DC (+ advantages of 2 extra stat such as spell points and saves)

v.

Slavers Sorcery set bonus:
2 Int/Wis/Cha, 10 artifact bonus to Spell Power, 4 artifact bonus to Spell Focus Mastery
Mountainskin Set:
30 Exceptional bonus to Acid Spell Power, 15% Exceptional bonus to Acid Spell Lore, Stoneskin proc

Total +40SP, +15% lore, + 5DC (+Stoneskin proc)


As you can see the 3 piece Arcsteel Battlemage is roughly equal to 7 pieces or existing gear.

The problem with the minor artifacts is that both the Charisma items are completing with slavers slots. Mountainskin competes with a slavers slot as well. This boils down to slot either Charisma minor artificat I need to move a slavers item or give up the slavers set or give up the mountainskin set. Moving a slavers set item results in slotting a mostly useless slavers item and giving up whatever is in the slot it lands in. Alternatively, I could choose to slot a less useful minor artifact but I still have the problem of loosing whatever is currently in that slot.

This problem can be addressed if there was at least one set that an acid sorc could use. Needing only 3 pieces to replace 7 pieces for about the same set bonuses allows the freedom to slot some of the new gear.

This is why I suggested adding Acid, Cold and Charisma to the Arcsteel Battlemage set. The set as is works great for Artificers, is good for Wiz EKs, but does not work well for sorc EKs - especially acid and cold.

In a previous post, you said you added Staggershockers Raid Gloves to support EK builds - can we modify the set to support both Wiz EKs AND Sorc EKs please?


A final plea: I gave up tanking after years of frustration as a tank and how they fit in DDO and took most of last year off (though never cancelled my VIP) The EK pass gave me something to come back to. I have played Wiz EKs and other Savant EKs but for some reasons (some out of DDO) Earth really resonates with me and even though it is arguably the worst choice I really enjoy it. I know it sounds a bit childish, but seeing all the new toys and not getting to play with any of them is likely more than I can handle. Also, when I say play something else - I don't mean a different game. I have already purchased Sharn and am looking forward to playing. I just really want to look forward to some loot as well. Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading this far

[Lynnabel]

Acid is left out of every set bonus and no items have acid spell power or lore of any kind on them. (The staffs say they do but on Lam they do not.)

Yes, the items on Lamannia are not finished. The Acid staff, and its raid counterpart, should be functional in Preview 2 I don't mean to specifically exclude Acid, believe me - they also had a set in Killing Time - it just sort of shook out this way for this first pass. I'll see if I can swap some stuff around to make it a little easier to gear for Acid.

[Wongar]

Yes, the items on Lamannia are not finished. The Acid staff, and its raid counterpart, should be functional in Preview 2 I don't mean to specifically exclude Acid, believe me - they also had a set in Killing Time - it just sort of shook out this way for this first pass. I'll see if I can swap some stuff around to make it a little easier to gear for Acid.

Thank you

[DeCourcy]

I'll swap it out. Any suggestions?

Desert Moon
Khamsin (hot dry southeasterly wind of Egypt)
Rashabar (or Rashaba) ("black wind") (a strong wind in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, particularly in Sulaimaniya)
Blade of Badru - In Egyptian, it means born during the full moon

[majikpaul]

You may ask to make gear more condensed
By pleading with no recompense
but at the end of the day
if your suggestions all say
"make it stronger!!!" I'll argue against

Easy choice is a mere gilded cage
It does nothing to inspire or engage
Restrictions make you wonder
And experiment longer
For your plan on DDO's stage

This made up my mind for me. Not buying this expansion

[Thrudh]

Then why are they up for testing?



i'm not asking to make tings stronger, i'm asking to get things fixed, gear from 3 years ago is stronger.
Resistance bonus to saves has always been about all 3 saves, for over a decade.
please repair your mess
sheltering has been 1 stat, not mrr and prr, we want it back so we can do the dps we are expected to do without loosing 9 slots on saves and sheltering.
Go play a non tank frontline melee through some quests with me and see why we're asking for this.

Sorry, I'm with the devs on this one.

Tough choices makes for a good game.

You don't get to be max DPS AND have all the defensive stuff too... Make a choice.

[ThreadNecromancer]

No, that's kind of where I spend most of my time nowadays. It's a DDO developer in-joke - it's only kind of funny to me (and even then it's not very funny! :P)

So... out of curiosity... what is 'effects-property-2.cdb" ? Is that like... Banishing?



Looking forward to Preview 2 with new filigrees, probably some more dual-filigrees, and hopefully another Spark of Something-Fancy.
(Edit: I 'was' wondering about minor artifacts and have since found the separate thread.)

Poem was hilarious too.

[Lynnabel]

So... out of curiosity... what is 'effects-property-2.cdb" ?

It's the name of one of the files I tend to work in the most I am glad you liked my poem, Steelstar helped a little but I think it was worth it.

[Krelar]

Sorry, I'm with the devs on this one.

Tough choices makes for a good game.

You don't get to be max DPS AND have all the defensive stuff too... Make a choice.

Personally I feel like they've gone overboard.

It's gotten to the point where, at least for me, it's so hard just to fit in the things I consider "mandatory" that when I see these items with unique abilities I just think "That's nice but no way I'll ever fit it in, so pass".

[Burakii]

Set 4 (Tanky Spell DPS) - Arcsteel Battlemage:

Set Bonus: +25/50 Electric, Fire, Force, Repair Spell Power, +5/10% Electric, Fire, Force, Repair Spell Lore, +2/4 Artifact bonus to Intelligence, +1/3 Artifact bonus to Spell Focus Mastery

The Mark IV Medium Armor
Minimum Level: 15/29

• Fortification +94%/+214%
• Physical Sheltering +19/+54
• Healing Amplification +30/+85
• False Life +29/+81

Plasma Core Docent
Minimum Level: 15/29

• Fortification +94%/+214%
• Physical Sheltering +19/+54
• Healing Amplification +30/+85
• False Life +29/+81

Arcsteel Gauntlets Gloves
Minimum Level: 15/29

• Electrical Spell Power +94/+214
• Electrical Spell Lore +14/+31
• Evocation DC's +3/+9
• Blurry +20%/+35%

Mastermaker's Fingers Gloves
Minimum Level: 15/29

• Repair Spell Power +94/+214
• Repair Spell Lore +14/+31
• Evocation DC's +3/+9
• Blurry +20%/+35%

Staggershockers Raid Gloves
Minimum Level: 29

• Blurry +35%
• Melee Alacrity +15%
• Electric Damage on Crit
• Quick Draw Feat

Arcsteel Crown Helmet
Minimum Level: 15/29

• Spell Focus Mastery+3/+7
• Will Saving Throws +6/+17
• Quality Constitution +1/+5
• Magical Resistance Sheltering +19/+54

Who is this for?
Wizard EKs?
Arti's?
Tanky Spell DPS FUD?
How is this tanky?
How is this DPS?
How is this Spell DPS?

[ThreadNecromancer]

This is a perfect vision of why a second alternative should be considered. It's crazy the only way for these poor poor monks to stay alive wearing outfits is to have to load a 5 Filigree slot to move MMR up past a terrible 50 max. With 8 cap now, and soon to be 11, these outfit wearers have been forced to date to forgo all the sweet sets for 5 helpings of Nystuls. Yuck, this proves a second path is needed desperately. The original suggestion is a useful way.........but open to any that moves MMR up, all ideas are worth considering!

How many bumps and other players need to chime in to get a firm no, nothing to see here, move along from our handy Devs? So much interaction about other suggested tweaks to gear, got 4-5 players from 2006 commenting on this suggest MMR add to the outfit, just say no so I can stop posting.

It's not so much the MRR cap as much as it is the bypassing of Evasion/Imp. Evasion compounding the issue.

[Sean-Fatbo]

Reading through these responses, it seems there are some recurring concerns regarding the weapons listed. With most of the weapons following a similar basic cocktail of effects, many are left wondering what new options such weapons would bring to the table. I use that wording as I understand one can't reasonably expect all new items to just be universally "better" than the old ones; one can, however, reasonably expect many of these new items (if not explicitly "better") to be notably different.

So, judging by the effects of these proposed weapons, what does their purpose seem to be? As expressed initially, these weapons will bear many similarities with the "free" Ravenloft weapons; they will be fairly easy to obtain, and serve well as a general-purpose weapons (perhaps explicitly to deal with the new content, as with Ravenloft weapons being expressly undead-killers). Many of the weapons have vorpal and at least one damage effect, as well as a DR break / slot, which likely WILL contend with Ravenloft weapons, or at least offer a different use case (maybe they'll prove effective trash-killers).

However, I do wonder: does vorpal not lose some efficacy in Epic content? In heroics its power is clear, especially with fast-hitting weapon types. But with more drastic health scaling in the endgame relative to heroics (and indeed even lower/mid-level epic content), I wonder if sovereign vorpal / whatever vorpal will be present here should similarly receive a greater-scaled base health threshold (not even necessarily a damage increase on failure - it is the vorpal effect after all, the slaying, that makes these weapons potentially unique). I would be curious to hear some player or developer insight regarding the apparent strength of vorpal in the endgame, especially in relation to endgame health thresholds.

Last, on the "lightning on crit" - and other such effects added to weapons. With longstanding effects like "flaming burst" already extant, can we expect some guaranteed (lightning) damage per hit, with a much greater amount on crits? Can we only expect a burst of damage on confirmed critical hits? I ask because in practice, different weapon types can have vastly different critical profiles, and a more general "per-hit" damage would help such effects be universally useful on all weapon types.

I can speak specifically to the critical profile of shurikens - which inherently is exceedingly low, but can be increased to a modest standard. (There is a lot of variability on this front to be sure - some fighter levels in a shuriken build for example may increase this profile, a pure monk thrower will reach some crit-enhancements, as may a halfling). Were the electric-on-crit damage only apply on confirmed criticals, this weapon effect seems far better-suited for the other items containing similar effects (Great crossbow, heavy repeater) with naturally higher critical ranges. There is added discrepancy when this Sharn heavy crossbow has keen, clearly demarcating the shuriken as having the weakest base critical profile of these "on-crit" weapons.

If this "on-crit" damage effect indeed adds no damage per-hit, but only on confirmed crits, it seems far more appropriate for a keen heavy repeater or a great crossbow. It does not seem appropriate for a shuriken, in many cases. There are outlets with which a shuriken thrower can increase their critical threat range, but there exists such a variety with shuriken builds (and rarely are crits focal on a weapon type that inherently excels with rate of fire / double shot) that such an effect is not used to its proper potential on a shuriken.

Does this on-crit damage effect provide passive effect damage? Would the shuriken be too powerful, to have keen --- or an otherwise increased base critical threat range to make better use of this effect? I apologize if these have already been answered. I welcome any criticism + information regarding these concerns (especially as I'm relatively new to this posting business.)

-Sean-Fatbo

[Kilgrave]

@ Lynnabel

As the title say: Is the complete absence of Acid in set bonuses and gear intentional or an oversight?

I ask because I play a pure Sorc Earth Savant / EK. If it was intentional please simply reply as such so I know I need to find something else to play. If it was an oversight, I think it can be addressed.

Summary:

Acid is left out of every set bonus and no items have acid spell power or lore of any kind on them. (The staffs say they do but on Lam they do not.)

As an Earth Savant /sadly I can not find a single piece of gear in the expansion that I can slot that does not make me go backwards - this includes the minor artifacts. I am not a gear guru and I may well be missing some awesome combination but I find it very disheartening that in an entire update there is not one piece of gear that I want to get. The main problem is that acid being excluded from all set bonuses means that I have to keep a 5 piece slavers set and the 2 piece mountainskin set.

Consider this:

Tanky Spell DPS set bonus:
50 Electric, Fire, Force, Repair Spell Power, 10% Electric, Fire, Force, Repair Spell Lore, 4 Artifact bonus to Intelligence, 3 Artifact bonus to Spell Focus Mastery

Total +50SP, +10% lore, + 5DC (+ advantages of 2 extra stat such as spell points and saves)

v.

Slavers Sorcery set bonus:
2 Int/Wis/Cha, 10 artifact bonus to Spell Power, 4 artifact bonus to Spell Focus Mastery
Mountainskin Set:
30 Exceptional bonus to Acid Spell Power, 15% Exceptional bonus to Acid Spell Lore, Stoneskin proc

Total +40SP, +15% lore, + 5DC (+Stoneskin proc)


As you can see the 3 piece Arcsteel Battlemage is roughly equal to 7 pieces or existing gear.

The problem with the minor artifacts is that both the Charisma items are completing with slavers slots. Mountainskin competes with a slavers slot as well. This boils down to slot either Charisma minor artificat I need to move a slavers item or give up the slavers set or give up the mountainskin set. Moving a slavers set item results in slotting a mostly useless slavers item and giving up whatever is in the slot it lands in. Alternatively, I could choose to slot a less useful minor artifact but I still have the problem of loosing whatever is currently in that slot.

This problem can be addressed if there was at least one set that an acid sorc could use. Needing only 3 pieces to replace 7 pieces for about the same set bonuses allows the freedom to slot some of the new gear.

This is why I suggested adding Acid, Cold and Charisma to the Arcsteel Battlemage set. The set as is works great for Artificers, is good for Wiz EKs, but does not work well for sorc EKs - especially acid and cold.

In a previous post, you said you added Staggershockers Raid Gloves to support EK builds - can we modify the set to support both Wiz EKs AND Sorc EKs please?


A final plea: I gave up tanking after years of frustration as a tank and how they fit in DDO and took most of last year off (though never cancelled my VIP) The EK pass gave me something to come back to. I have played Wiz EKs and other Savant EKs but for some reasons (some out of DDO) Earth really resonates with me and even though it is arguably the worst choice I really enjoy it. I know it sounds a bit childish, but seeing all the new toys and not getting to play with any of them is likely more than I can handle. Also, when I say play something else - I don't mean a different game. I have already purchased Sharn and am looking forward to playing. I just really want to look forward to some loot as well. Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading this far

+1