A Look Ahead - Producer's Letter January 2020

[SirValentine]

Sorry, PB, I have to spread more rep around before I can rep this post.

All of the existing endgame gear has been completely invalidated.
...
There isn't enough current endgame content, so only a tiny smattering of builds that can get ahold of decent endgame gear are valid for endgame now.

Yes, I expect that once again they will move the goalposts and invalidate everything that has come before with some half-done new "shiny", instead of expanding what they already have.

1. Adding new legendary feat options.
2. Adding new epic/destiny feats.
3. More expansion of the sentient weapons system.
4. A new epic destiny circle.
5. New universal enhancement trees.
6. Account-based options

I agree that at least 5 of those 6 are far better options than to "push past level 30".

[GeoffWatson]

Increasing the maximum level sounds really bad.

When you increased the level cap to 30, and massively increased the XP requirements for Iconic and Epic TRs, I gave up on my alts, as the grind was too much.

This may cause me to give up on the game altogether.

[AlmGhandi]

I agree that at least 5 of those 6 are far better options than to "push past level 30".

Which 5?

[AlmGhandi]

This may cause me to give up on the game altogether.

Can I have your stuff?
Halflings must stick together.

[Gniewomir]

Dear devs, please try this challange: create new character, without any easy buttons like free xp pots etc. farm all possible past lifes. Then cap rxp. Then cap sentient gems.

Then think a bit and let us know if you still believe more character based progression is something so cool.

[AlmGhandi]

Dear devs, please try this challange: create new character, without any easy buttons like free xp pots etc. farm all possible past lifes. Then cap rxp. Then cap sentient gems.

Then think a bit and let us know if you still believe more character based progression is something so cool.

The more $$ you spend... the easier it is.
That is what motivates.

[droid327]

I also have to voice my trepidation about progression "past" 30. Cap should be cap, and progression at that point should be horizontal, not vertical. Even if you keep the xp needed for an ETR the same, if you're merely calling 30-40 "super epic" and adding a third layer of reincarnation, that's still just vertical progression.

If it's a horizontal system like Sentience, or something like Paragon in D3 that doesn't change your functional level, that'd be great something for players at cap to do, without changing what's considered cap.

[droid327]

Dear devs, please try this challange: create new character, without any easy buttons like free xp pots etc. farm all possible past lifes. Then cap rxp. Then cap sentient gems.

Then think a bit and let us know if you still believe more character based progression is something so cool.

New content is always great and necessary to keep the game alive

The problem is that older hamster wheels, the ones old vets have long since completed, need to be accelerated when new ones are added. It should be zero sum - there shouldn't ever, IMO, be more than about a year of grind to get essentially caught up, per character.

And really, it's only the PL system that needs tweaking right now. Destinies and Sentience are still reasonable. Create some way to boost chars with low lives, but not chars with high lives, and things are a million times better

[brian14]

We also have user interface improvements planned for the Shared Account Bank to make it easier to store, sort, and access the items you've collected.

Is sorting Shared Bank all that important? I would think sorting Reincarnation Cache is a much bigger deal.

And... once again I have to ask: Can we get the functionality to export a character's inventory, including bags and quivers and such, into an external text file? So that I do not have to go through every toon to find where I stuck that particular ML 13 Cold Iron Sword of Chaotic Outside Bane, or something?

[Talon_Dragonsbane]

I also have to voice my trepidation about progression "past" 30. Cap should be cap, and progression at that point should be horizontal, not vertical. Even if you keep the xp needed for an ETR the same, if you're merely calling 30-40 "super epic" and adding a third layer of reincarnation, that's still just vertical progression.

If it's a horizontal system like Sentience, or something like Paragon in D3 that doesn't change your functional level, that'd be great something for players at cap to do, without changing what's considered cap.

I have to agree with this post. Anymore xp grind, and I will quit this game. Good luck attracting new players with an even more massive grind wall. Final nail in the coffin for alts.

[phillymiket]

We are quite a ways out from being prepared to announce specifics on our plans for character progression past level 30. What we are willing to say at this point, however, is that one of our goals is to NOT increase the amount of XP required to complete an Epic Reincarnation.

Interesting.
That doesn't sound like there'll be a level 31 to me.
Anyone have guesses what it could be?

Anything I can think of basically boils down to "super destinies".
Which could be fun.

Feywild sounds great.
Protecting forest creatures in a psychedelic wonderland and whatnot.

[Fnordian]

Thank you for the producers letter, Severlin.

Epified Delera's sounds cool, and the Alchemist class is intriguing. Like the Monk, it seems to be a class where figuring out good combos increases overall effectiveness.

Interface and other QoL improvements, especially for the bank, are always a welcome addition as are new adventure and adventuring locations.

But what about our poor pets? Will they ever get a pet makeover?

And will we ever see a DDO version of Tomb of Horrors or are we doomed to no tomb?

[HastyPudding]

1. Alchemist, I'm excited about. I tested it on Lammania and it was pretty fun. Catacombs and Deleras is hit or miss, but more mid-level epic content is always welcome.

2. Hardcore server....I don't give tuppeny cuss about. I didn't like it then, I won't like it now.

3. 64 bit client...I'm don't understand much, but as long as it increases performance, I'll be happy.

4. Account bank upgrades are nice. I'd be much more excited if it was TR cache upgrades.

5. The gatekeeper pack looks to be fun. Sounds like a low level pack.

6. Feywild expansion, huh? Guess I'll have to wait a little longer for a trip to Dal Quor. I don't mind the feywild, so long as there's fairies and pixies.

7. Shifters? I'm less-than-enthusiastic about shifters. If we're going to the feywild it would have been more suitable to add eladrin, but I guess we don't need more elves.

8. Above level 30? Why? Not really excited for this, at all. If it's not broke, don't fix it.

[TitusOvid]

Why is the information so vague?! How can you write something like this when you know what it will do to the forum folks?! Speculation will run wild. Again. I really really don't want to insult you. But calling this an unwise move is just too meek. It is plain stupid.

We are quite a ways out from being prepared to announce specifics on our plans for character progression past level 30. What we are willing to say at this point, however, is that one of our goals is to NOT increase the amount of XP required to complete an Epic Reincarnation.

What does this mean?! You have no idea where this concept will be going?! You just throw this out and wait for the ****storm to happen?! Do you crave forum uproars?!

If this means raising the lvl cap, it is a big deal. For some possibly a game breaker. This needs specifics now and not in 2 month.

I remember the feedback discussions about Sharn gear and stats 20+. I am pretty sure someone from SSG said a raise of the level cap is not planned. This begs the question: did you lie on purpose? or do you just change your strategy and opinion with a dice roll? or are you incapable of sensing the consequences of your actions for the near future?

EDIT: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...=1#post6132917

Angry Titus.

[Capricorpus]

The introduction of the Feywild sounds like it could be a great opportunity to create content that features both unique new landscapes and quests/raids that actually feels like the sort of thing that we should be doing at level cap. I'm excited to see what it looks like!

Season One of the Hardcore League was met with enthusiasm and excitement, so we're making it a recurring event!

I genuinely enjoyed hardcore but whether or not this is something that was visible in your server activity statistics, during the event there was a drastic drop in the amount of people playing at level cap (at least on Cannith). Please consider radically shortening the duration of the event to prevent that drop in activity from being a thing for 6 months out of every year, in the long term I could very easily see it driving people away from the game.

...doing so will gain you the experience necessary to push past level 30 for the first time in DDO history

This is also cool, but I'm concerned about what it means as far as endgame content goes; over the past several years the endgame scene has been slowly revitalized with the addition of more raids with usable gear and a lot of level 30+ quests.

If the Feywild expansion includes a level cap increase to, say, 35 along with ML34 gear it would wipe out a lot of the progress that's been made by (once again) reducing the "endgame" to a very small subset of content. I'd love to get some sort of confirmation that that isn't the plan!

[Cetus]

I genuinely enjoyed hardcore but whether or this is something that was visible in your server activity statistics, during the event there was a drastic drop in the amount of people playing at level cap (at least on Cannith). Please consider radically shortening the duration of the event to prevent that drop in activity from being a thing for 6 months out of every year, in the long term I could very easily see it driving people away from the game.


This is also cool, but I'm concerned about what it means as far as endgame content goes; over the past several years the endgame scene has been slowly revitalized with the addition of more raids with usable gear and a lot of level 30+ quests.

If the Feywild expansion includes a level cap increase to, say, 35 along with ML34 gear it would wipe out a lot of the progress that's been made by (once again) reducing the "endgame" to a very small subset of content. I'd love to get some sort of confirmation that that isn't the plan!

I agree with these concerns. The level cap increase sounds awesome! I trust that the developers of this game are much more adept at predicting the consequences of these things than in any other time in this games history, but it still pays to mention that a level cap raise does run the risk of thinning out the juicy and florid landscape that is our current endgame.

Regarding hardcore: Yea...it's fun. But the cost of a thinning endgame population for months on end does pose to be problematic.

[Vorachtin]

Dear devs, please try this challange: create new character, without any easy buttons like free xp pots etc. farm all possible past lifes. Then cap rxp. Then cap sentient gems.

This has all been done already, to death.

Looking forward to pushing past 30.

[Melkazar]

I'm struck by the wording "push past" level 30. It may not be an increase to the actual cap at all. When you cap in Elder Scrolls you then start accruing champion points which you can spend on various abilities. I would be onboard with something like that.

[PsychoBlonde]

Which 5?

Your favorite 5.

[PsychoBlonde]

I'm struck by the wording "push past" level 30. It may not be an increase to the actual cap at all. When you cap in Elder Scrolls you then start accruing champion points which you can spend on various abilities. I would be onboard with something like that.

Yeah, it's pretty vague still.