U42 Preview 2: Named Loot

[Cetus]

Actually, at the time of Lamannia, that effect added 0 to your weapon's gold value - my placeholder of choice for stubbed effects as it is unlikely to cause problems (and DDO will not compile with an effect that does not modify at least one property!) The curse does not and did not do anything involving poison in the slightest. It's likely you had Colors of the Queen on or were in Shiradi/Prism Stance.

I did not have any of those stances on and the debuff had "curse" in its name I believe.

Regardless, I'm glad to hear that the effect is not intended to be what I was observing.

[Marcb81]

I hate to beat a dead horse, but I'm really curious if developers realize that it is kind of a major design issue when the main stat boost item and new minor artifact (Ws necklace) doesn't allow one to use the intended 3-piece druid set from the same expansion! I went back and checked the other 3-piece sets and likely associated minor artifact (ie Con artifact for Tanks, Str artifact for melee DPS, etc), and the druid issue is unique, which will result in a considerable relative decrease in ability of this class to keep up relative to other classes (more than currently). Will someone please acknowledge this and comment from the developer side, how this came to be and if it can/will be rectified. Maybe I'm biased, but this degree of internal inconsistency among the equipment of a single expansion seems like a larger problem then making minor changes so an item in this expansion is less redundant with Eq. from other expansions, and yet I see those changes being implemented all over the this thread.

Sincerely,
Marc

[Saekee]

Hmm odd, you said complete opposite few weeks back, telling me the expansion wouldnt sell when i said no power creep.

Correct; I recant.

I also have argued multiple times to pull stuff back now

[katz]

regarding the longbow... yes, another AA player weighing in here. it's a beautiful bow, it really is. but it's proposed stats are underwhelming. it follows the pattern of the other weapons.. 4 effects, however... keen as one of those effects? any self respecting weapon user of ANY type, ranged or otherwise, has improved crit to their chosen weapon type before they hit epic levels. no one relies on keen. wasted ability. poison? cute, but meh. i suppose it fits thematically with the weapon, but it's not wowing me for a weapon that, for the 29th level version at least, should be knocking Pinion off it's throne. (hint: it isn't) armor piercing is handy, yes. many archers i know already twist in destiny abilities or use other equipment/abilities that give them armor piercing.... the more the merrier. as long as this stacks, it's acceptable-ish. elasticity... decent. this at least gives you a shot at a bigger crit on 19 or 20.


i DO like the idea of acid spellpower and/or a stacking acid vulnerability proc, but acid lore isn't really needed unless you guys plan on rewriting how AAs work again. our elemental damage on arrows don't crit... PLEASE don't make this bow a "caster" item...bow users desperately need something that is a step up to take the place of Pinion (and to some degree Thunderforged, depending how the archer and the bow was specced out) to put them more on par with other ranged options currently in game (inquisitive, repeating x-bows, heck, even some of the shuriken builds), (technically, any bow becomes a caster item by default the second an AA picks it up, so making a bow specifically for a caster is sort of a waste... LOL)


possible ideas/suggestions:
instead of keen, give increased crit profile without keen (18-20/x3. heck, get silly. 19-20/x4 and drop elasticity for something else). instead of poison, give it the stacking acid vulnerability. leave armor piercing as is... or give it heaps of acid spellpower... like, a lot. leave elasticity... or add something interesting like nightshade venom...

if the bow stays as is, i'll likely collect it, just to have it (and probably mirror it... it IS pretty!), but throw it in my vault along with all my other longbows that i don't use in favor of the silver longbow/abbot longbow/pinion progression.

[The_Apocalypse]

Still no new named picks, I see. Been waiting for those for a very long time. Would have thought you would have added some for the Mines expansion, but no. Seems you just keep adding new named items for the same weapon types, over and over.

[Duhboy]

Still no new named picks, I see. Been waiting for those for a very long time. Would have thought you would have added some for the Mines expansion, but no. Seems you just keep adding new named items for the same weapon types, over and over.

I second that. Kinda disappointing.

[korgzz_bloodaxe]

Quick Weekend Roundup:

It has been changed to Quality.

I have swapped Threat Reduction out for Cannith Combat Infusion on the bracers.

Do you mean Bracers or Gloves? As far as I can tell there aren't any bracers with threat reduction apart from Reduced Spell Threat on the Esoteric bracers.

[Lynnabel]

Do you mean Bracers or Gloves? As far as I can tell there aren't any bracers with threat reduction apart from Reduced Spell Threat on the Esoteric bracers.

I did mean gloves, yes.

[DrawingGuy]

I did mean gloves, yes.

And I'm grateful for that. The forced threat reduction on the melee DPS set bothered me, and the Cannith Combat Infusion is a fun old proc that I miss. While it still wouldn't be bad to have a threat reduction option for melees, would much rather have none than forced on a melee set. Thank you!

I know with nearly 500 posts you don't have time to directly address everyone, but hope you had time to look at my post: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...61#post6204161

I bring up a fair bit in that post, but the two remaining "glaring problems" in my opinion are (other than the lack of Light casting armor which I talk about in the post):

- Staggershockers: EKs have haste and Artificers have Armor of Speed. This makes Melee Alacrity a wasted slot outside of saving that spell slot, but most that focus on melee would take it. Could this have an Electric Vuln proc? Or maybe Insightful Repair Amp.

- Platinum Knuckles: These I see as falling below the mark needed to make the sacrifice worth it. Considering the loss of the gloves slot, and that one slot is already used by one of the least needed bypasses, I think this can afford two more procs/abilities. These suggestions I feel would make them a serious consideration without being OP or the 'only BIS option'.
-- Bone Breaking faces two critical issues: Stat damage in epics is rendered nearly useless by stupidly fast stat recovery. Reaper further scales this down, often to ZERO. Unless both Reaper scaling is fixed for stat damage to always allow at least 1 and epics are drastically changed to allow for stat damage, this is a waste of a slot. Would much rather have the Lesser Boneshatter/Bonesplitter proc
-- Add Blunt Trauma. This has gone hand-in-hand with the bonesplitter proc, and would help the balance of the sacrifice
-- Add "Platinum Dust". For the epic item this would simply be the Legendary Dust proc. Heroics can be "Lesser Platinum Dust" with a disintegration proc.

[Skavenaps]

the raid heavy crossbow is really... disapointing. The light one from quest beats the one from the raid. How is this posible? why bother to farm it when is jewel food?

Undead killer? Thanks I already have a FREE one from Ravenloft.
RP on a level 3 cleric or fvs spell? Good for the 3 guys in the server that plays a divine crossbow user.

Please, it just needs a full revamp.

[Ballrus]

I did mean gloves, yes.

Thank you for this!

[Airmaiden]

Is there going to be another preview of the loot this week?

So hard to keep up on the changes that were suggested and the yes/ no replies from Lynnabel.

Looking forward to taking a look at the new preview.


Thanks,

[Dreppo]

I did mean gloves, yes.

Argh. This is disappointing. It always seems like anything that is interesting to an assassin rogue eventually gets taken away, often close to the end of a preview. First it was the dex skills on Celestial Amethyst Ring, then the insightful dex skills on Shadow Sprinters, now the threat reduction on Hammerfist. (Same thing happened back in RL with the Silent Avenger set.) These are important effects for certain builds. Not every item has to be perfect for vanilla melees. I do appreciate the argument that it was on a set item and so DPS melee was almost compelled to wear it. Can the threat reduction be moved to another item?? I don't have a specific suggestion in mind, I'll try to make one later when I have more time.

[Logic]

One thing great about DDO is that almost all the content is playable thanks to TRing and also due to the many unique and interesting items scattered throughout all the content. The recent balancing of end-game raids to try and make all the raids and items worthwhile was a great change.

However the Sharn item power creep seems to be taking a step backwards in this regard. Power creep tends to push out older content and items. Is this intentional? What is the reasoning?

I think power creep is unhealthy for a game because the players tend to only do the latest ~10 quests or latest ~2 raids for the newest and best items while ignoring most everything else. This can become very boring very quick.

If you can think of any ways to make the new items interesting and unique without strictly a power increase I would prefer it. Thanks for reading.

[SerPounce]

I agree with the consensus that increasing all the numbers over the current end game gear (e.g. stats going from 20 to 21) is really unnecessary. We're already getting a ton of power increase with the effect consolidation. Increasing the numbers on top of that is guilding the lilly. You don't need to include that kind of vertical power creep to make people want this stuff.

[Elearim]

One thing great about DDO is that almost all the content is playable thanks to TRing and also due to the many unique and interesting items scattered throughout all the content. The recent balancing of end-game raids to try and make all the raids and items worthwhile was a great change.

However the Sharn item power creep seems to be taking a step backwards in this regard. Power creep tends to push out older content and items. Is this intentional? What is the reasoning?

I think power creep is unhealthy for a game because the players tend to only do the latest ~10 quests or latest ~2 raids for the newest and best items while ignoring most everything else. This can become very boring very quick.

If you can think of any ways to make the new items interesting and unique without strictly a power increase I would prefer it. Thanks for reading.

Yes, true as i said earlier, the power level should be maxed out at Stats +20 from raid gear ect. like RL. (maybe +22 from Artifacts if limited to one per Toon)

Its sad to see Lyn put in so much efford into reviving the older raids like DoJ, MoD, etc. redoing and updating all those items and now make it obsolete by turning up the power level even more than RL did. Some of the old items were just been made interesting again for some builds, but are out of endgame power range again now.

So it seems like its good night again for the raiding scene soon.

[Alcides]

Power creep is inevitable and newer content should have better gear than before. I think resting on our laurels will kill the game due to the ensuing boredom. Now how much power creep is too much I dont know, but with Sharn essentially having Reaper v2.0 better gear options is necessary. Also allowing players to choose a stat or two makes itemization easier since it opens up more compelling choices. I think Lynnabel has it right except for some of the artifact sets missing stat bonuses. The tank set should have bonus con and the melee set should have bonus STR and dex since the other sets have stat bonuses or the set stat bonuses to all the new sets should be removed entirely. Either option keeps the playing field more level.

[Elearim]

... but it's proposed stats are underwhelming. ...no one relies on keen. wasted ability.

The interesting thing about keen on a lvl 29 Bow is not the crit range, but the 2 extra dice base damage you get !!! its a 40% Damage Increase (+2 Dice: from 5 to 7 Dice)

i DO like the idea of acid spellpower and/or a stacking acid vulnerability proc, but acid lore isn't really needed unless you guys plan on rewriting how AAs work again. our elemental damage on arrows don't crit... PLEASE don't make this bow a "caster" item...

NO !!! Spellpower/lore etc. on dps weapons pls. There is the Augment for Spellpower and there are the other Elementals (Fire, Elecrtric and Cold) as well as Force Arrows from AA, so acid whould be to narrow anyways. As i hinted before the range set from Sharn leaves the Belt slot free, you can use the Spellpower Belts from Ravenloft, those do stack with the spellpower augments. And if you really want an elemental spellpower Bow you can craft one with LGS as well.

possible ideas/suggestions:
instead of keen, give increased crit profile without keen (18-20/x3. heck, get silly. 19-20/x4 and drop elasticity for something else).

This is faaar inferior than the Keen Enchantment (18-20/x3 is 18% more dps than 20/x3 and 19-20/x4 is 18% again)

if the bow stays as is, i'll likely collect it, just to have it (and probably mirror it... it IS pretty!), but throw it in my vault along with all my other longbows that i don't use in favor of the silver longbow/abbot longbow/pinion progression.

atm, the Hunter of the Wilds (from Age of Rage) is the Bow with the highest base dmg in Game and its a Shortbow, all just because of the Keen enhancement it has and since it also has the elasticity enhancement, it is superior to all Longbows in the game regarding the dps imo (maybe the Chaosbow with its alacrity increase and Vulnerability is better idk), thats why we need a good dps Longbow with a good base dmg rating again with no spellpower (thats what the augments and other gear is for)

If anything, drop the Armor Piercing and add Vorpal, since there is missing a named Vorpal Bow for Heroics in the Game atm iirc.

Tyvm for reading

[Elearim]

Quick Weekend Roundup:

It has been changed to Quality.

I have swapped Threat Reduction out for Cannith Combat Infusion on the bracers.

While your on it, any feedback to this post whould be very appreciated as well Lyn
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...=1#post6205002

and Chapeau! for the artwork on Sharn btw, the Items do really look amazing! Im looking forward to mirroring the wepons like mad

Tyvm

[jimcricket]

yup drop keen on the longbow for better crit profile please

As for the calculations for keen v better critical profile without keen. Remember you can add improved critical ranged feat then too as mentioned.

19-20 x 3 via bow having keen is not improvable by having the feat, which is against all weapon focused build principles. and would mean going from 8 (when you can take imp crit feat(I think))-29 with the feat to be specced correctly then have the feat do nothing at end game.... that does seem odd to me.

And yeah the +2w is a thing but seeker and extra critical damage and on critical effects are also a thing.