U42 Preview 2: Named Loot

[noinfo]

Good post, thank you Jotmon. I'd like to add my support to those people asking for light armour that is part of a solid DC caster set.

I hope this preview hasn't been left so close to the last minute that feedback you're receiving from a significant number of people who have bothered to participate can't be accommodated. It seems like this is an issue for a large number of fairly mainstream builds that haven't had much love for a while now.

Also still waiting on gear designers to offer good solutions for casters wanting to use staves. They either need to offer the same amount of effects as two one-handed weapons, or if you won't do that, create some sort of container item that allows casters to combine two one-handed items into custom staves. Then you could keep on just making decent one-handed items and let us make our own caster staves.

Thanks.

Have been asking for something like this for so long.

The very last good staff before this was TF with the +1 extra dc over the 1 handed. Since then really nothing. Situationally Reflections of wave but they have tried and imo failed with dps staffs, when they could really have gone in the dc direction.

I would love to see what they have done with the Raid staff but there are no complete stats for that weapon, and likely it won't support insightful stats so IIRC there are only 2 insightful sources at this point 1 goggles that preclude the very ordinary raid goggles (which should have insightful on them) and the other is the orb which precludes the 2 handed weapon.

[Fivetigers33]

Glittering Waistwrap Belt
Minimum Level: 15/29
Charisma +8/+21
Bluff +16/+22
Anthem
Anthem Resonance: If you have equipped 3 or more copies of anthem, your inspire courage has +1 more attack and damage



Could we get rid of Bluff and add Resonance? That's a reasonable request isn't it?

[Ulfo]

The STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA, should be +8 on the level 15 item right??

+5 Ability score for ML15 version is correct value? Must be +8 at least, CC have +8 at ML15! 8)

That's probably correct, I'm too tired to check but I'll trust you on this one.

Already asked... and answered. 8)

[noinfo]

Set 7 (Spell DPS) - Esoteric Influence:
Set Bonus: +2/4 Artifact to Spell Focus Mastery, +20/50 Universal Spell Power, +2/3 to INT/WIS/CHA, +10/20 MRR Cap

Order's Garb Outfit
Minimum Level: 15/29

• Fortification +94%/+214%
• Physical Sheltering +19/+54
• Exceptional Spell Power +10/+30
• Exceptional Spell Lore +3%/+10%

Enigma Core Docent
Minimum Level: 15/29

• Fortification +94%/+214%
• Physical Sheltering +19/+54
• Exceptional Spell Power +10/+20
• Exceptional Spell Lore +3%/+10%

Aetherband Bracers
Minimum Level: 15/29

• Insightful Spell Penetration +2/+5
• Spell Cost Reduction +5%/+10%
• Reduced Spell Threat +25%/+62%
• Shield Bonus to Armor Class +8/+21

Dusk Lenses Goggles
Minimum Level: 15/29

• Potency +60/+154
• Insightful Potency +30/+77
• Enhanced Metamagic - Empower
• Enhanced Metamagic - Maximize

Attunement's Gaze Raid Goggles
Minimum Level: 29

• Spell Focus Mastery +7
• Insightful Spell Focus Mastery +4
• Enhanced Metamagic - Embolden
• Enhanced Metamagic - Heighten

So looking at a few things from a DC wizard point of view.

First is the set bonus right? Set Bonus: +2/4 Artifact to Spell Focus Mastery, +20/50 Universal Spell Power, +2/3 to INT/WIS/CHA
as it seems to be different to the other set bonuses.

Second is that this still seems to be inferior to the 5 piece slavers +shadow scale but I suppose it only needs 3 so some may downgrade for that.

Third is the fact that the raid goggles are still trash. There seems to be 4 sources of insightful casting stats particularly int from what I can see. Orb (precludes use of staff), goggles (precludes use of set bonus), bracers (precludes use of set bonus) and raid cloak.

Currently I am not seeing any reason or option to shift from nightmothers stick, since orb is the only practical item to use with insightful unless the staff has some use and even then to use the staff you would have to either give up the set bonus by using goggles or bracers or use the raid cloak. and lose the black velvet cloak.

The raid goggles have 2 effects of equal power to the nightmothers, and 2 that are really really bad. Please consider removing one or both of those for an inisghtful casting stat and something else useful.

[Cantor]

As previously stated in this thread, light armor wearing DC casters, such as Warlocks, have been overlooked in the past several updates with respect to not having light armor options that fit well into appropriate gear sets. I feel like such players deserve a partial refund for the pre-purchase/purchase of Sharn because we are not getting the full/best experience the game has to offer. C'mon Man! It seems like this would be a simple addition (and would not destroy the future of the game as previously asserted). Not sure why there is so much resistance to this common sense improvement that players really want. Do other MMOs treat their customers this way? OK, now the horse is dead. LOL

I'm actually ok with DC sets not getting a light armor option. It's a build choice, you go more defense or more DC. It annoyed me with Ravenloft, but I've come to accept it as a good design choice, even if it doesn't give you everything you want (in fact that is what defines a choice, if you get everything you want there is no choice). (It also gives WF a tiny advantage of being able to get set bonuses from docents and choose a body type)

If there is a light armor choice, there might as well not even be a robe. The spell failure is trivial to mitigate and MRR cap is a huge consideration.

[noinfo]

Raid weapons effect

Would like to see Guardbreaking as an effect particularly on the scimi.

[Zites]

Man these forums need some new blood, all you hear from is meta players about their meta builds. Monk this and DC caster that BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[Jetrule]

I am a fan of dc casters having trouble with squishiness, or atleast not being able to max dcs and have solid defenses. It feels like D&D to me. Giving up a few dc for better defense seems like a good build option. Trade off costs currently being cited like feat costs or spell failure or AP spends are much easier to overcome and minimize with very little loss in dc's.

[Zites]

This is precisely what we are trying to avoid, and why we didn't release roughly 20 sets to cover 90% of the playstyles in one go. There's a lot of room for fun and interesting niche between the bsae fundamentals in this suite without overloading you guys. We on the development team spend a lot of time thinking about the long term, and this is part of that.

When this starts to happen then you guys will finally have time to fix augments, imagine a Expansion where you overhaul and upgrade the entire augment system and come out with a slue of new powerful fun augments

[noinfo]

Man these forums need some new blood, all you hear from is meta players about their meta builds. Monk this and DC caster that BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Except you know, we are the ones who fund the game?
And BTW some of us have played our classes when they were not meta, my wizard has been a wizard since 2007, through the times of trash dc casting.
My ranger through the time of weak tempests, infact some of use actually have capped toons of all classes fully geared an playable in reaper. Perhaps those people understand what it is they are after and can provided specific feedback. Whether or not devs agree and make the change you can guarantee the players themselves will have a far better understanding of the interaction of the new gear with classes and characters then the devs will which is why the devs ask for feedback.

[Madja]

I'd also have loved to build quite a few other sets in release - such as Undead Melee, or Defensive Light/No Armor, or Sneak Dice focused Melee DPS (likely limited to light/no armor like Silent Avenger), or Warpriest/Warsoul hybrid divine melee, or specifically wildshape focused mDPS that really likes you being in Wild Shape

God.. these sound like my wet dream. I really hope they make it into later releases! Desperately need something less cookie-cutter to play

[lyrecono]

Man these forums need some new blood, all you hear from is meta players about their meta builds. Monk this and DC caster that BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Because those get dev replies.

True me, i have been vocal about other stuff (and got ignored for my troubles).


Anyway, why is there gear out there with a sunder & improved sunder bonus?
If you need sunder, chances a big that you won't live long enough to enjoy the benefifs off the sunder debuff. Aka in high reaper.

And who has room for it anyway? A fighter? Not likely.

Why not change all the 3 combat bonus type into 1?
Or give some of the items a stacking combat bonus instead.

[lyrecono]

Except you know, we are the ones who fund the game?
And BTW some of us have played our classes when they were not meta, my wizard has been a wizard since 2007, through the times of trash dc casting.
My ranger through the time of weak tempests, infact some of use actually have capped toons of all classes fully geared an playable in reaper. Perhaps those people understand what it is they are after and can provided specific feedback. Whether or not devs agree and make the change you can guarantee the players themselves will have a far better understanding of the interaction of the new gear with classes and characters then the devs will which is why the devs ask for feedback.

The chicken or the egg?

If melee was as much fun in higher settings as other playstyles then maybe those people have a reason to stick around and spend money. Instead of ragequiting due to the ballance issues and only comming back when there is a major update or overhaul.

As it is now, monks, ranged and casters seem to hold a lot of power, so it makes sense to play those for grinding past lives and reaper points, the devs know this, it's by their design after all. It saves production costs.

Not understanding what frontline melees go through when there isn't a nany cc bot around, let allone a dedicated healer doesn't bother them, nor the fact other playstyles zerg reaper with relative impunity.

The monks/casters/ranged builds atract them fat cash yo'll!

[Ballrus]

Anyway, why is there gear out there with a sunder & improved sunder bonus?

Artificer.

[noinfo]

The chicken or the egg?

If melee was as much fun in higher settings as other playstyles then maybe those people have a reason to stick around and spend money. Instead of ragequiting due to the ballance issues and only comming back when there is a major update or overhaul.

As it is now, monks, ranged and casters seem to hold a lot of power, so it makes sense to play those for grinding past lives and reaper points, the devs know this, it's by their design after all. It saves production costs.

Not understanding what frontline melees go through when there isn't a nany cc bot around, let allone a dedicated healer doesn't bother them, nor the fact other playstyles zerg reaper with relative impunity.

The monks/casters/ranged builds atract them fat cash yo'll!

Rubbish I am more than happy to play my tempest ranger, barbarian, rogue, monk, swashbuckler in any level of reaper, my fighter is currently still not fully geared so would be hesitant and my pally got TRed.

Its always the grass is always greener etc. I have ranged toons too, and while the level of threat offered to them is less, the dps output of melee is just higher particulary in higher skulls.

I love the way people say when there is not a nanny cc bot around but do you know how a dc caster goes without dps in legendary reaper?
You might want to take a look at melee in high reaper they are doing very well.

[Tist]

I already posted way back at the thread start that there is nothing of interest for my toon. This wasn't a problem when we're talking about a pack - Age of Rage druid focused and some other missed builds, didn't bother me at all. White Plume with all it's lower level epic stuff. Again, I still got it.

This is an expansion. It's very disheartening to know there's 1 item I will be looking to pick up from a whole expansion. I definitely regret getting 2 ultimate packs at this point, and I don't know if I'll get any pack for my remaining 2 accounts.

If loot lists are a problem, put in an npc that will exchange one item for an alternate version. Hand in those electric / whatever bonus set items and get back the acid/sonic set items that are totally missing. I'd rather not have mythic or reaper bonus (cos trade in would ignore it no doubt) and actually have a reason to look at this content. Even better get the npc to replicate mythic and reaper bonuses across when exchanged.

Saying that, I think you could put in drop that is just "prototype light armor" with no stats and then trade it with an npc for light armor (appearance 1) or light armor (appearance 2), etc, and then have the set bonuses be added using tokens as was suggested. or have it traded for "light armor [xyz set] (has appearance #1)", "light armor [abc set] (has appearance 2)" etc.

Ravenloft sets had something for everyone for the most part. Spell dcs, defensive, dps. Now we have more focused / specialsed sets offered and as a result more people are directly left out because it's too much. This is an expansion and should be looking good for everyone with more specialised or niche things coming in follow up packs. When I don't have any items in a whole huge pack of gear, I don't care about theme or loot lists, that is a dev concern - in fact it's a dev error or mis-step. I care that there's nothing of use for me.

If you want specialised sets, you should be covering all the bases, and the cost of that is more items. If you make sets more generic, they cover more people with less items. You are going half way, not the whole way. Again, it's an expansion, not a pack.

Edit : added acid set reference which is actually my concern. Reading back, seems like I am bothered about light armor, which I am not, but I understand it's a problem for others.

[LargoKeyWest]

I'm so done with this thread, now.

bye Felicia

I am amazed at how quickly people start self lobbying for changes and additions that are literal "I want this for MY build"....

I see a ton of posts that are definitely looking for changes and additions that would benefit the community.... others just delude themselves into thinking they smell blood in the water

[Aredharr]

Hi all,

A theme I've been picking up along this thread is definitely that you need an "extra" incentive to use a robe/outfit or a staff on a caster.

First part: the robe/outfit

I feel everyone's deception with the lack of caster light armor, but I think they will come up with something soon that'll blow our mind since it makes total sense.

In the meantime, however, why not throw a bigger bone at those casters wearing robes/outfits so we really think before using an armor?
One suggestion could be to add a 10-20% faster casting or to reduce spell cooldown (similar to the epic past life feat). This would thematically fit the spell DPS set since it's about blasting spells.^^ e.g. "I know I'm a bit more squishy so i'll pew-pew-pew-some-spells-a-bit-more-quickly before dying/hiding behind a wall."

Second part: the quarterstaff

As many pointed out, using a quarterstaff on a caster never really compensates the loss of an off-hand weapon or orb. That's fine but so sad at the same time: would you imagine Elmister, Raistlin or even Gandalf going around with 2 scepters? Right?!?! A staff is what makes those casters so rad.

I see four potential ways to make the new staves more appealing:

1. As a start, staves should come with at least 1 more augment slot than any 1-handed weapons. They should probably also include a type of "spell focus/power/lore" that is unique to a staff, like the TF staff had. And this has been mentioned by many.

2. Without just pilling up all possible / FOTM boosts, they should have a "unique" ability. Recently, this has been brilliantly achieved with the KT and WPM staves. Here are some examples of unique abilities that could be added to the staves, e.g.:

Spell absorption (similar to the staff of Irian)
Temporary spell points on "type" of spell cast (similar to the Meridian Fragment)
Extra MRR and/or PRR when blocking (similar to the mirror shield)
Staff-typed saves when blocking (similar to orb extra saves when blocking - there could also be a cool visual when staff-blocking!)

3. Bring on a list of spells, similar to one of my favorite: the Arcane Power staff. Make the spell list themed and let's make the spells useful so they scale with caster level and attribute.

4. For the Eclipse Itself staff, we could also have the ability to upgrade the nearly finished slots with "master of XXX" feats. Imagine putting acid focus on one slot than adding Master of earth on another. THAT WOULD BE SO RAD!! It could also be added on a forth slot.

To Lyn: since you are least happy with the raid item, this would be a cool way to keep the flavor and huge customisation potential of this staff.

Knowing that it's late in the development stage, I did not bring up anything too intense or novel - which I should probably take time to do at some point - but things that I think could be realistically implemented given the time frame.

Cheers all!

[Lokeal_The_Flame]

I had been thinking of proposing something similar to go along with Limbchopper on Starcaver that used the technology for Manslayer to grant temporary hit points.

Cannibalism: Whenever Limb Chopper triggers on a humanoid opponent, gain 400 temporary hit points that last for one minute or until depleted by incoming damage.


Greataxe: Starcarver - Limb Chopper, Untyped Damage , Cannibalism - upgrade to add Fetters of Unreality

This may be a bit too dark for Sharn or even DDO but I'm proposing it anyway

Dude, there's a curse theme, Lynnachu confirmed it below too!

That's why I proposed legendary soul eating because it matches the whole cursed object theme!

[Systern]

Do most of these items really not have augment slots?