Sharn Raid 2 Preview: 7/9-7/11

[lyrecono]

Haven't the devs already said that they won't use itemization to fix playstyle/system problems? Personally I would rather they fix the specific playstyle, then make the itemization to complement it rather giving a miniscule bonus to a currently limited niche...

True.

So i will be with holding feedback on 2h wwapons and melee gear untill:
A) Feedback is equally apriciated (e.g. the sharn loot thread where caster feedback was used and melee advice got ignored),
B) 2hf has been fixed,
C) 2handed waapons get the apropiate enh and oomph back ( i'm seriously questioning if feather of the sun was that bad of a weapons dev)

[Corion]

Sure. If no one else shows up with a good enough reason to not do this, I'll make the swap.

Hey Lynnabel, in my opinion it would be really nice if the raid necklace does everything that the non-raid necklace does but a little bit better and maybe with a little something extra since it is raid loot after all.

So on the non-raid necklace we have:

True Seeing
Armor-Piercing
Deadly
Relentless Fury

As far as I know the raid necklace has:

Quality Assassinate
Insightful Armor Piercing
Deadly
Deception

This means that to equip the raid necklace most players will have to re-arrange their other gear to include regular armor-piercing as well as TS - Relentless Fury would also be nice but could be lived without for most particularly since it doesn't really help with red named / boss fights and killing trash is not too hard for most folks anyways.

That's a lot of re-organization just to equip an item that is intended to be an upgrade to an item you already have.

What I think would be ideal for the raid necklace is it it had the following:

True Seeing
Armor-Piercing (slightly better value than non-raid)
Deadly (slightly better value than non-raid)
Doublestrike 24%

This would make it very highly sought after by pretty much every melee that is wearing the PotF set and would not require every char that acquires it to go back and jump through all the loot Tetris hoops again just to equip it.

Thanks for your consideration.

[Corion]

Hey Lynnabel, while we're discussing raid loot it would also be nice if Attunement's Gaze could be buffed up a little. Currently it is effectively a raid item with two effects, as a reduction in spell point cost at this point in the game is pretty irrelevant. With the SP souls in Reaper, running out of SP (particularly on a DC caster) is rarely if ever a concern.

Consider that the non-raid Aetherband give SP 9 and In SP 5, both of which are an upgrade of 1 over the values on Nightmothers which almost all DC casters will still be using as it's really the only place to currently get In SFM. Nightmothers also has SFM 7 and In SFM 4, so it would be nice to see a similar upgrade on the goggles - SFM 8 and In SFM 5. Then even with only two material effects it would still be really nice. Doesn't solve the problem that any caster that has currently equipped the Dusk Lenses will need to find another source of spell power when they go to switch to the raid goggles (to the extent they care about that at all which most will at least to some extent), but asking for raid goggles to have SFM, In SFM, potency and insightful potency is probably a little too much.

Thanks in advance

[Thar]

nm.

[jskinner937]

True.

So i will be with holding feedback on 2h wwapons and melee gear untill:
A) Feedback is equally apriciated (e.g. the sharn loot thread where caster feedback was used and melee advice got ignored),
B) 2hf has been fixed,
C) 2handed waapons get the apropiate enh and oomph back ( i'm seriously questioning if feather of the sun was that bad of a weapons dev)

Agreed. I have always preferred THF over any other playstyle. That has been dead since the introduction of reaper unless you exploit wolf. I feel ya.

I remember back in 2009 my first toon was a WF Frenzied Barbarian. I loved it but healers hated me. Give me my reason to give divines a reason to exist.

[jskinner937]

nm.

Haha. Not even edited. Just a straight nm. +1

[entropyspinner]

Finally a Quality Assassinate item to be introduced to the game. Now it seems there is a concerted effort to have the ability removed. I don't agree with making a more general item aligning it more closely with the vast generalizerd named items already out there.

Assassin populations may not be the flavor of the month but without assassin gear being introduced, they will struggle to keep up as a viable play style.

[jskinner937]

Finally a Quality Assassinate item to be introduced to the game. Now it seems there is a concerted effort to have the ability removed. I don't agree with making a more general item aligning it more closely with the vast generalizerd named items already out there.

Assassin populations may not be the flavor of the month but without assassin gear being introduced, they will struggle to keep up as a viable play style.

^^

And how about monk QP take advantage of this bonus since they suck again.

[SerPounce]

Finally a Quality Assassinate item to be introduced to the game. Now it seems there is a concerted effort to have the ability removed. I don't agree with making a more general item aligning it more closely with the vast generalizerd named items already out there.

Assassin populations may not be the flavor of the month but without assassin gear being introduced, they will struggle to keep up as a viable play style.

Agreed. It's great to consider feedback and ideas from the players, but they need to be super careful to not let the masses playing FOTM builds dictate gear. That just puts the FOTM builds even further ahead and everything else in the dust. Assassinate gear is something that should exist and be supported even if it's not super popular at the moment.

[Malusny]

Hey Lynnabel, in my opinion it would be really nice if the raid necklace does everything that the non-raid necklace does but a little bit better and maybe with a little something extra since it is raid loot after all.

So on the non-raid necklace we have:

True Seeing
Armor-Piercing
Deadly
Relentless Fury

As far as I know the raid necklace has:

Quality Assassinate
Insightful Armor Piercing
Deadly
Deception

This means that to equip the raid necklace most players will have to re-arrange their other gear to include regular armor-piercing as well as TS - Relentless Fury would also be nice but could be lived without for most particularly since it doesn't really help with red named / boss fights and killing trash is not too hard for most folks anyways.

That's a lot of re-organization just to equip an item that is intended to be an upgrade to an item you already have.

What I think would be ideal for the raid necklace is it it had the following:

True Seeing
Armor-Piercing (slightly better value than non-raid)
Deadly (slightly better value than non-raid)
Doublestrike 24%

This would make it very highly sought after by pretty much every melee that is wearing the PotF set and would not require every char that acquires it to go back and jump through all the loot Tetris hoops again just to equip it.

Thanks for your consideration.

In regards to your post. I am not going to spend a lot of time on saying what I don't like , I already wrote it a few posts ago about that necklace.
I think that it would be a good idea to keep the same type of bonuses on the raid necklace (family set piece) and add something that every melee could use , not only assassins.
so I would suggest something like that:

True Seeing
Armor-Piercing (slightly better value than non-raid)
Deadly (slightly better value than non-raid)
Insigthful Seeker (?)
or Quality Seeker (?)
or Nearly Finished (so that you could craft for example a quality ability.

I think this setup would be the most universal = it would give an opportunity for many melee builds to be able to use it without having to completely re-arrange the other pieces of gear.

Please consider my suggestions.

Utmost regards

[Paladin_of_Power]

Don't mind if I do. And....here we go.

Eldritch Gloves of the Bygone Era Raid Gloves
Minimum Level: 29
These gloves belong to Zulkis Crowspire, they crackle and glow with purple Eldritch energy. They are well worn, but dusty and have been left behind. You can faintly make out the characters #MWGA drawn on them.

• +20% scaling on your Eldritch Blasts
• Your Eldritch Blasts do an extra 4d6 damage and your Pact Damage is increased by 4d4
• Souleater's Stricken and Consume spell power scaling increased by 25%. Your Consume adds a 2 MRR debuff per tick, 30 second duration. Your Stricken adds a stack of Vulnerability.
• Halting Attacks: Enemies hit with your Eldritch Blast have a 10% chance to inflict Hold Person on enemies, 6 second duration no save

[blerkington]

The explanation above was not constructive, so I didn't engage with it. I don't like responding to nonconstructive feedback.

At worst that post could be described as unvarnished. It's certainly not rude and it made some very good points about itemisation which should have been quite obvious before to the people designing this gear well before now. Admitting that there were serious shortcomings with Sharn itemisation and thinking about how it could be done better is the best path to better gear in the future.

Not responding to people you consider rude is fair enough, but I really hope this isn't an admission that we are at the point where feedback that will improve the game is being ignored because it wasn't couched in the terms developers want to hear it. In my view that would be extremely unproductive and unprofessional. Now cue the predictable excuses and howls of outrage about how 'the developers are only human' and 'it's all the fault of mean people in the community' as the usual justifications.

The decisions you make regarding item design and how you handle feedback affects the entire community, not just people who are raising these points in ways you'd prefer they didn't. So deciding to punish people you consider rude by ignoring such feedback also affects the polite and 'good' people of DDO and prevents your product from being better too.

Thanks.

[droid327]

[*]"Stickerclick, the Bitter Hail of Bolts" (Raid Repeating Heavy Crossbow) has had it's effects overhauled and now has the following effects: "Sovereign Vorpal", "Bleeding 10", "Ranged Alacrity 20%", "Nearly Finished: Fetters of Unreality".[/LIST]

What's the point of putting Alacrity on a Repeater? It does very very little for RXBs since the majority of their animation is Reload, which Alacrity does not affect.

Its things like this that make me think the devs arent giving Repeaters adequate thought, like they dont even think how the mechanics work - and thus repeaters are woefully behind GXB and DXB and Shuri...

Alacrity does little for RXBs because of the way it affects animations. Doubleshot does little for RXBs because of the arbitrary nerf imposed on it. The only stat that meaningfully scales Repeater damage is RP. Maybe the xbow should have 20 RP instead of 20 Alacrity.

Not that anyone's using Repeaters at endgame anymore instead of just being Inquis...

[Lynnabel]

What's the point of putting Alacrity on a Repeater?

I just wanted to make a level 30 version of Needle, hence the alacrity. I can swap it for something else if you'd like, just let me know.

[Arkat]

I just wanted to make a level 30 version of Needle, hence the alacrity. I can swap it for something else if you'd like, just let me know.

I think the question is whether Alacrity actually works on a repeater? Does it really speed up the firing rate by 20% (or something close to it)?

If it does, leave it.

If it doesn't, replace it with something much more useful like Keen V.

BTW...what was wrong with Impetus, Driven Across Stars? It looked very attractive to use.

[PublicEnemy]

Follow up, do you guys have suggestions on how to make the Adamantine Gauntlets more unique or situationally useful?

Aligned gloves of metalline...? X)

Or maybe something like that?

Gloves of the Hex soldier
Minimum Level: 29
Fetters of unreality or Inevitable fate : When struck, the enemy realises it's facing its impending doom, slowly turning it into a shadow of its former self, only wanting more and more to embrace the sweet deliverance of death :
On each hit, one stack of Inevitable fate : -2 on each save (fort/reflex/will), -10% fighting speed, -5 damage, stacks up to 5 times , each stack lasts 10 seconds.

Demise of the Fallen : The Hex soldier find his true power in the suffering/death of those he has slained : (now, ONE of the two) +50 temporary hp each time you slay an enemy, 5 stacks , each stack lasts for 10 seconds
OR +10 PRR per stack, 5 stacks , each stack lasts for 10 seconds.

Melee power :+15

Doublestrike : 23% (because there's like only two real choices to gear that somewhere as of now).

[IlmerSilverhilt]

Cormyrian Musicians Gloves Raid Gloves
Minimum Level: 29
These Gloves look well worn and used, but you feel there are more songs left in them.

• Action Time : When using your last Action Boost this becomes AoE for nearby allies, duration in seconds equal to number of Action Boosts.
• For Cormyr : Gives one additional charge.
• Inspiring Echoes : When a Bard wields this item, Anthem abilities that restore Bard songs over time restore then 40% faster (for example, an ability that restores a Song every 5 minutes would restore one Song per 3 minutes instead).
• Human Beat Box : If you are a Human (or PDK) Bard and you run out of Songs, there is nothing left but to Human Beat Box : The Target(s) of your last Song are granted 1W per Bard lvl1 8 14 and 20, duration in seconds equal to number of Bard Songs.

Just a few fun ideas I had, obviously this is totally catered to my main and might be Best in Slot for her haha

[droid327]

I think the question is whether Alacrity actually works on a repeater? Does it really speed up the firing rate by 20% (or something close to it)?

If it does, leave it.

If it doesn't, replace it with something much more useful like Keen V.

BTW...what was wrong with Impetus, Driven Across Stars? It looked very attractive to use.

Alacrity speeds up firing animations but not reload animations. So it speeds up a portion of the firing cycle by 20%. But that portion is only the "plink plink plink" part, which is a small fraction of the overall cycle - so the benefit of Alacrity is only a small fraction of the listed 20%.

The affixes on Impetus are nice - the problem is with Repeater mechanics in general, which I mentioned above. They just arent going to be able to compete with comparable ranged builds when they only get 1 of the 3 multiplicative DPS scaling factors (speed, ranged power, doubleshot) working at anything near full power. Then, insult to injury, most of the attractive debuff effects like Vuln-on-hit have ICDs which means that Repeaters usually apply them *slower* then GXB/DXB/shuri, since RXB fires at ~1.2 second cycles where the others can apply every ~1.0 secs.

[Xyfiel]

Raid feedback:

First room is bland. The raid doesn't lock until the second room advances so it doesn't need to be there for that. It does have some raid information and continues the "we don't know what hit us" story line. I am not saying it needs removed or needs monsters added. I believe a Dev said on Lam that this room still had work to be done.

There is a decent amount of information given by the second area with the NPC and magic mouth. Being able to look around the room and the general chat messages are very helpful. With that said it will still take people an amount of time to really understand the raid. Of course this will vary and is greatly reduced by having someone experienced in the raid. The only issue with this area is the first time people not knowing the dimension door is behind them. Not a big deal.

The main room gets chaotic until you have a plan and people know what they are doing. This isn't a long term issue though and doesn't need to be changed. While soloing would be extremely difficult, smaller parties should work in theory and some small groups already completed on Lamannia. This is great for when you want a completion during off peak hours or smaller population servers. Another issue arises though in that many times people don't have anything to really do, at least before the Devils spawn. You clear the constructors and then work on boss dps. But you can't always work on boss dps. Maybe this will get better over time with better strategy.

Aesthetics: I liked the look of everything with two exceptions: the first area and the lack of anything in the Vault.
Music: I was too busy learning the raid and wasn't able to turn the music up to hear it. I will listen on live at some point.
Monsters: Constructors are boring and annoying. The four bosses are fun and varied in their attacks. The dimension door counter to melee is interesting. Elemental's are fine although air isn't fun. Why do we only hurt the Devil boss and not kill it? Why don't we kill the Gnome?
Story: I enjoyed the Fallen. I didn't like the Gnome/Puzzle failure condition. It feels like it will only be an issue for the first few runs.

I would like to see the Gnome added into the mix. Maybe throw Radiant Forcefield on a constructor to keep it alive longer, cast reconstruction on constructors, or throw cure admixtures on the bosses if the constructors are currently dead. Have her send her Homunculus to the battle when the constructors spawn. She can respawn it multiple times just like player Artificers can.

Overall an enjoyable experience.

[Corion]

In regards to your post. I am not going to spend a lot of time on saying what I don't like , I already wrote it a few posts ago about that necklace.
I think that it would be a good idea to keep the same type of bonuses on the raid necklace (family set piece) and add something that every melee could use , not only assassins.
so I would suggest something like that:

True Seeing
Armor-Piercing (slightly better value than non-raid)
Deadly (slightly better value than non-raid)
Insigthful Seeker (?)
or Quality Seeker (?)
or Nearly Finished (so that you could craft for example a quality ability.

I think this setup would be the most universal = it would give an opportunity for many melee builds to be able to use it without having to completely re-arrange the other pieces of gear.

Please consider my suggestions.

Utmost regards

I think we're on the same page - sounds like we'd both like to see the raid necklace essentially cover the same bases as the non-raid necklace, and then add a little something something to reflect that it is after all a raid item. Whether that something extra is doublestrike, or one of the effects you listed, it would all be good. Maybe even insightful or quality combat mastery. Or maybe even two of them - one can hope. Something good to make it an upgrade over the non-raid necklace but pretty please don't change most of the effects so that you'd have to re-arrange much of your gear just to equip it once you've lucky enough to pull it (or dedicated enough to buy it with runes).