Valtrick's Thoughts - 2 year player, first time poster

[Arctigis]

Do you mean generic or balanced .

Balance is a unicorn - especially in a game as complex as DDO.

Not quite sure why everyone is so desperate to have only 2 viable loot set.

Loot in L20 - L27 range is mostly garbage. They could have fixed that. It says it all when
people STILL wear Sharn heroic sets until L29. I'm not what it is they 'fixed' exactly with
the stats squish.

I bet all the people moaning about the loot squish would have been fine if they had just boosted the numbers on everything else to balance the gear rather than dropping it .

Too right. This would also have helped with the issue of the transition between heroic and
epic levels.

I am nerfed . Screw you all ......

It's trust issue. They've lost mine.

[boredGamer]

It's not unrealistic that they'd read the room and make a smart business decision. Overwhelmingly unpopular. Games are supposed to be....fun.

The time misspent is a sunk cost. Don't send good after bad.

I’m not even going to read these whole threads anymore. You’ve only been here 2 years so I’ll give you a pass. Nearly every single update the sky has been falling. Teeth have been gnashed. Wails have been wailed. Players all threaten to quit.

Then the update lands , the game is actually more fun, the sky clears, and we all look to the next update to wail over.

I’d relax at least until it actually drops. At the worst you roll a new build. Which is the original fun you pointed to anyway, right ?

[Vish]

the reapers invaded 4 years ago

now, the overlords are preparing their coup de grace

the null magic field has encapsulated eberron

soon, a negotiation will take place

that will put down the resistance

either you can stay to continue the fight,
or realize that dreams are just that,
and find another plane to inhabit

[Marshal_Lannes]

Loot in L20 - L27 range is mostly garbage. They could have fixed that. It says it all when
people STILL wear Sharn heroic sets until L29. I'm not what it is they 'fixed' exactly with
the stats squish.
.

That's people either being lazy or stuck in their rut. To claim L20 loot is garbage is a radical misinterpretation of the new gear. Both Sands and VON L20 gear is excellent. Combine this with Borderlands and early epics are loaded with useful items and set bonuses that outclass heroic Sharn.

[Shavron]

OP.
Try the updates for yourself maybe you will like it.
I know that i will not but unlike many here i have many other games to return to once this update hits.
Many people here this is their only game and i feel for them really.

And the Devs will not answer you let alone change any thing.
It was a stupid vanity project to begin with and when i watched 2 of them on a stream before they seemed bored out of their minds so i don't think that they give a **** really.
They seem to listen to a specific discored based audience of elite players and they are the ones calling the shots....at least that what i heard from some trusted sources.

They say that this will bring new players "you did read it right" to this very nich game of small population of whales as if we are stupid to believe that or if they really mean it...jeez these devs must be smoking something hella strong.

So if you hate the idea of U51 then yah prepare to have other options for your entertainment.
Finaly fantasy 14 seems like a good alternative with "i know a world's different" with developers that actually does give a **** about their player base.
For your D&D you can't do better than NWN 1 with hundreds of modules and many amazing persistent worlds such as world of greyhawk and ravenloft.

[krimsonrane]

Changes are bad!

That's where you lost me. Who says that about anything but statues and paintings? /S. Everything changes over time.
There are some things I don't like about the upcoming adjustments to EDs. Like a loss of AOE for rogues without consume or manipulate or whatever its called. But I'm willing to see where they are going. They seem to be listening to the players of late. In the 14 years I've been here, for the first 13 I got two forum replies from devs and the only PM I had with them was a forum warning. This past year they've answered half a dozen of my forum questions, helped me in PMs with a big technical issue, and kinda made me feel like I mattered a little.
Until 2021 I assumed they didn't care one bit about the customer base outside of being represented on graphs.

[GeneralDiomedes]

Quite a few things have changed since launch, generally for the better and generally as part of a larger plan. I agree that the active destiny system if kind of clunky but there are some things I like about it such as twists of fate.

As long as it lets me customize my destiny to accentuate my build, I will be happy.

I believe they have already listened to players and stepped back from the combo/charge system, which I was personally not a fan of as I don't like managing charges.

[Arctigis]

That's people either being lazy or stuck in their rut. To claim L20 loot is garbage is a radical misinterpretation of the new gear. Both Sands and VON L20 gear is excellent. Combine this with Borderlands and early epics are loaded with useful items and set bonuses that outclass heroic Sharn.

Some things:

I didn't claim L20 loot was garbage. I claimed L20 -L27 was mostly garbage.
Some new S/S/S gear is decent - I don't think the set bonuses outclass Sharn though.
VON gear is essentially Raid gear.
KotB gear should have been the standard to ramp up the L20 - L26 gear rather than flattening
the top end, IMO.

[Wayoff]

U51 will be a good thing for this game I bet you will enjoy it.

[Tsutti]

instead of a being a first-time poster can you go back to being a zero-time poster?

Did someone hurt you as a child? Just trying to figure out why you felt the need to post this. This kind of thing will drive away players and kill the game, this utterly insane toxicity for literally no reason. If you disagree with what he says, try having an intelligent discussion in which you provide your argument and explain why you disagree. Don't expect people to know why; if they disagree with you, then obviously your point of view is not obvious to them as the "correct" point of view, and if you expect them to "know what they did" or "know why they're wrong" then you aren't likely to keep many friends or be taken seriously when you do share your opinion.

[Valtrick]

In the approximate words of Michael Scott, "It takes a big man to admit his mistake. And I am that big man."

In all seriousness, my concerns have been completely erased. I am enjoying the new destinies and view the changes as a positive and not negative or even neutral.

It's a lesson to me to be more patient, though I do think feedback is important. I also think that too many big changes like this too often would become a bit much.

I am sorry for those who aren't enjoying the changes. Their feedback and perspective are valid and important.

Now I'm off to enjoy the best MMORPG there is.

[FengXian]

They are not going to cancel U51. That's an unrealistic request. If there is something specific about U51 that you dislike you should post that (while offering suggestions on an alternative) in the appropriate Lam discussion section.

1) It's not on the players to offer suggestions/fixes. One can definitely merely complain about an issue, and that's already constructive criticism, we don't have to provide solutions (and yet often we do).

2) Lamannia previews are 90% set in stone. Yes some things have been changed (the insane builder/spender system), but many many more have not.

3) A lot of U51 is made of bugs that weren't even on Lamannia in the first place. The release was RUSHED, even for modern game standards.

4) Yes ofc cancelling an entire update is not gonna happen and tbh I don't think it's necessary. At the same time pretending everything's fine or even acceptable is counterproductive.

The game doesn't have to die in a blazing fire of outrage with people dramatically leaving over one single update. It will die because only the hardcore fans will be left to play it, stretched over 40 levels, because of poor game design choices, bad CS and terrible communication.

[erethizon]

It's not unrealistic that they'd read the room and make a smart business decision. Overwhelmingly unpopular. Games are supposed to be....fun.

The time misspent is a sunk cost. Don't send good after bad.

You might just be in a room of unhappy people. I encounter more people that like the changes than dislike them. Then again, I am rarely in a KT raid, which is much more likely to be filled by people that have been playing for years, had super powerful characters under the old system, and didn't want anything to change. Overall I encounter a lot of happiness about Update 51. Usually people miss one or two things from the old system but are happy overall. When it comes to "reading the room" I would expect more people to be upset about rolling back to the old system than sticking with Update 51.

[ChaosBuddha]

u reallly asking them to roll 51 back lol? no way no how. 51 is fine if they just fix the bugs.

[FengXian]

You might just be in a room of unhappy people. I encounter more people that like the changes than dislike them. Then again, I am rarely in a KT raid, which is much more likely to be filled by people that have been playing for years, had super powerful characters under the old system, and didn't want anything to change. Overall I encounter a lot of happiness about Update 51. Usually people miss one or two things from the old system but are happy overall. When it comes to "reading the room" I would expect more people to be upset about rolling back to the old system than sticking with Update 51.

Hey, I like the changes more than I dislike them (if we're talking strictly U51, that is). Doesn't mean I'm happy.

Would you consider a 51/49 like/dislike ratio to be satisfactory? 65/35? 80/20? What if we look back to U49 and consider all 3 updates as a whole?

U51 improved some very outdated and pointless aspects (like the power jump from 19 to 20, while the stat squish fixed the one from 28 to 29, kind of). But such aspects had been introduced just to sell the product in the first place (Epics, then Legendaries).

Let's make a prediction: will levels 31 and 32 keep a steady progression like current epics (kind of) or will there be another power jump so that they sell more? According to what the devs have been saying it's the former.

We will see.

[Ganak]

Now I'm off to enjoy the best MMORPG there is.

Thanks for closing the loop on this one Valtrick, and certainly big of you to share the mindchange, and super glad you are enjoying the update.

See you in game!