Game Homebrew Effects DDO Has That Should Be Reverted

[Certon]

Evasion:

In PNP Dungeons and Dragons the Evasion feat doesn't care what kind of armor you are wearing--you still get to make your evasion check if you are in full plate with a tower shield, the balancing factor being the maximum dexterity bonus allowed from these cumbersome armor types severely reduces your saves. The penalties to evasion were ALREADY built into the game! (Note that the Insightful Reflexes feat would not be affected by max dexterity bonus, because you're not evading with instinct and fast movement anymore: you are predicting what is going to happen and avoiding it, and it lends itself to being superior to the base evasion feat with dexterity because, well, you're using TWO feats and SHOULD get some benefit!)

Scroll Rarity:

Shouldn't be a thing anymore. All scrolls should be available somewhere. With all the Epic and Legendary NPCs wandering around now, there'd be a MARKET for it. Sure, level 8 and 9 spells might be much more expensive in scroll form, but they should STILL be available.

Evil Alignments:

As the world has become more inclusive, the game should also be more inclusive. Allow players to be evil and choose evil deities and powers. Let the players figure out why they'd help the Eladrin as evil players. The motivation to do so is up to them. Just let it happen already.

Missing Feats:

Still Spell (no ASF for affected Somantic spells)
Durable (+1 CON; double CON bonus HP/level--this is what toughness SHOULD be--epic CON should be DOUBLE this.)
Prodigy: Skill (one cross-class skill becomes NOT cross-class. Basically, for every point you spend in the selected ability you'd get one full rank instead of half--it doesn't give you more skill points to spend at level, and if you spec out of the Feat, the game would just convert the points back to the .5 per level they were previous--no big deal)
Crusher, Piercer, or Slasher: Critical hit damage with the said weapon type(s) is(are) lucky.

[AlcoArgo]

Evasion:

NO, this is DDO, not D&D. This would be game breaking because you would end up with toons running around with 500 PRR 250 MRR PLUS evasion.

Scroll Rarity:

This is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. 95% of scrolls are purchasable and the rest can be easily taken when leveling.

Evil Alignments:

Why do people bring this up every few months? It's like DDO herpes - we can't seem to get rid of it permanently. To summarize:

1) The Devs have said over and over and over and over and over and over again that there will be no evil alignment as this will encourage griefing.

2) Very, very few people play DDO "in character" as it really isn't possible. I personally have never met a player who roleplays their alignment since I started in 2006. Alilgnments exist solely for class choice, deity choice and item penalties... maybe one or two other minor things I missed that is it. Nothing to do with gameplay.

3) Nearly every quest in the game is geared towards good or at least neutral aligned characters. Are evil characters supposed to skip them?

4) If Necromancy isn't an evil power then I don't know what is. This already exists.

Missing Feats:

Another solution to a problem that doesn't exist. ASF is on augments, items, and enhancements. There is no need for more CON in the game. We just had a pass to reduce it. There are no builds that I know of that suffer from a lack of cross class skill points. Even my pure fighter with dumped CHA gets enough UMD to cast scrolls at level. There is no need for more critical damage - see CON argument. If you want more critical damage invest in the Kensai tree.

[Discpsycho]

AlcoArgo isn't wrong in refuting your points, but there's a larger issue: all of these changes you're suggesting are based on 5e. DDO is based on 3.5e - among other things, the way skill points are allocated should make this difference abundantly clear.

- Evasion does require light or no armor

- Not all scrolls are available on the random loot tables, but Scribe Scroll exists in 3.5e. How could DDO realistically implement this? Making them cost plat anchors the free market and isn't a great translation from 3.5e. Making them cost shards amps up the pay-to-win

- Frame challenge: have you ever played in an evil campaign? I've only played in one, in which, like the countless stories I've heard, players quickly devolved into murderhobos. That alone makes it a poor idea, never mind the logistical implementation issues to create WOW-like factions or simply double the total number of NPCs.

- Your missing feat list is entirely pulled from 5e. Still spell is a thing (albeit different from the one you describe), but somatic components aren't (thankfully), so there's no great reason to implement it.

[dredre9987]

DDO is based on 3.5 NOT 5E. I would not like to see 5E ported into the game. I would hate to see what they would have to go through to be able to get licensing for 5E.

[Dendrix]

Evasion:
Evil Alignments:

As the world has become more inclusive, the game should also be more inclusive. Allow players to be evil and choose evil deities and powers. Let the players figure out why they'd help the Eladrin as evil players. The motivation to do so is up to them. Just let it happen already.

No. Just No. Never. Never ever under any circumstances.

People will intentionally screw up your questing and will intentionlly grief you, "because I am evil"

They will pick up a needed quest item to advance and stand there doing nothing in the quest "because I am evil" and you cannot complete the quest. Their autohotkey macro will keep their character active for hours on end and there is NOTHING you can do.

They will generate red alert and train the monsters onto you at the shrine "because I am evil"

They will intentionally cause things you have to protect to be killed or destroyed "because I am evil"

And the reason you are asking for this is because YOU THINK IT WOULD BE FUN TO DO THAT TO OTHERS.

[Nugaot]

No. Just No. Never. Never ever under any circumstances.

People will intentionally screw up your questing and will intentionlly grief you, "because I am evil"

They will pick up a needed quest item to advance and stand there doing nothing in the quest "because I am evil" and you cannot complete the quest. Their autohotkey macro will keep their character active for hours on end and there is NOTHING you can do.

They will generate red alert and train the monsters onto you at the shrine "because I am evil"

They will intentionally cause things you have to protect to be killed or destroyed "because I am evil"

And the reason you are asking for this is because YOU THINK IT WOULD BE FUN TO DO THAT TO OTHERS.

While I can’t speak for the OP’s reasoning, I do want Evil alignments and it’s not to grief anyone. Frankly your assertion that griefing would be the only reason why one would want Evil alignments is silly at best.

Besides the obvious fact that the alignment on one’s character sheet has no bearing on their behavior, nothing is currently stopping anyone from doing any of these things right now. Your character’s alignment isn’t known to other players unless you tell them, if Evil alignments were in the game you would have no idea if they actually were Evil or not.

One could even go as far as to say that the vast majority of characters should already BE Evil, if there were alignment shifting. There are dozens of quests where human enemies beg for their lives as you kill them. Several NPCs mention your particular penchant for violence. In nearly every quest with just a few exceptions the objective is to kill, not to capture or subdue, your enemies. In the Slavers quests you can breeze past the slaves, leaving them to rot in their shackles while you run merrily along murdering anything that looks at you funny. The MOTU ones are even worse, you can choose not to target the Drow Slavers and kill the mind-controlled slaves instead. It’s more efficient xp/hr to skip the optionals, after all. Wouldn’t want a few innocent lives getting in the way of your bloody quest for greater fame, power, and wealth, would we?

These are just a few examples, and there are plenty more. Perhaps instead of asking why an Evil character would want to join adventuring parties with Good and Neutral characters, ask yourself if your Paladin is really as Good as you think?

[Pandjed]

Evasion:In PNP Dungeons and Dragons the Evasion feat doesn't care what kind of armor you are wearing--

That's entirely wrong. If we base it on the edition DDO is based on and has the license for, it's very important.

Evasion (Ex). At 2nd level and higher, a rogue can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If she makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the rogue is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless rogue does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Evasion (Ex)At 9th level, a ranger can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If he makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the ranger is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless ranger does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Evasion (Ex)At 2nd level or higher if a monk makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if a monk is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless monk does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Don't know why they included the light armor with monks, but hey. Check your Player's Handbook again. If you played it without armor concerns, it was the houserule of your table.

What you may mean is "The Ring of Evasion", which can be argued with that this one doesn't say a line about armor. As DDO lacks a Ring of Evasion, it doesn't matter though.
Btw, most of the reason why MRR exists and is capped by armor is to counter the imbalance Evasion gave on the game at some point, even while it was rightfully gated to light/no-armor.

[sebastianosmith]

People will intentionally screw up your questing and will intentionlly grief you, "because I am evil"

They will pick up a needed quest item to advance and stand there doing nothing in the quest "because I am evil" and you cannot complete the quest. Their autohotkey macro will keep their character active for hours on end and there is NOTHING you can do.

They will generate red alert and train the monsters onto you at the shrine "because I am evil"

They will intentionally cause things you have to protect to be killed or destroyed "because I am evil"

Can't players already do all of this regardless of character alignment? I'm not advocating for adding evil for the sake of adding evil, but the same social mechanisms which prevent players from running amok currently would also apply to any evil characters as well. There would be no change in the game mechanics and only the tiny fraction of players who actually RP in game would even notice after a while.

I really have no strong feelings about it one way or another, but these claims are simply a slippery slope argument.

[Memnir]

No.
I agree.
No.
Sure, why not.

[SoulDustar]

Evil Alignments:

As the world has become more inclusive, the game should also be more inclusive. Allow players to be evil and choose evil deities and powers. Let the players figure out why they'd help the Eladrin as evil players. The motivation to do so is up to them. Just let it happen already.

Alignment on a character sheet is hardly representative of a players alignment behind the keyboard. Ask the Pally who set a bomb on the end chest in undermine on hardcore and wiped the rest of the party. Hahaha that's lawful good alright.

The monk who spam shares quests as you start to attack the end boss during a raid is always fun to deal with since you cannot just ignore the shares and since you took the shares you just broke your chain sequence and have to hope someone will open them for you provided they are not like sharn and are progression based.

[Firepants]

DDO is based on 3.5 ed D&D, as has been mentioned previously. Things work differently in 3/3.5 rules than 5 and evasion was much more powerful in 3.5, which became very obvious back in the early days of DDO where monks tanked raid bosses and nobody used heavy armor at "end game". It's better now.


I don't have a problem with including evil alignments, there's some cool build mechanics that could be alignment gated. Personally I hate that we have pale masters/other PC undead options. They're really not in the spirit of a heroic RPG. Same for warlock pacts that are all "you're sworn to serve a power of the abyss/hell/the spaces between stars" and all the "evil badass" gear/cosmetics. It's such a crappy trope in fantasy MMOs (the "cool" black spiky death dealer look, the glowing red eyes, all of it). So much art dept effort sunk into making scary/cool stuff to please the children instead of decent looking stuff that might conceivably be worn by the type of person who would make a career of defending and helping the common people. I'd like to see some more toned down gear. Like a nice, sturdy, set of half plate without ostentatious colors and patterns. Just steel gray and leather. Every other toon is like hovering in a cloud of darkness with glowing eyes and may or may not be an undead monster. It's so juvenile.

[voxson5]

Evil Alignments:

As the world has become more inclusive, the game should also be more inclusive. Allow players to be evil and choose evil deities and powers. Let the players figure out why they'd help the Eladrin as evil players. The motivation to do so is up to them. Just let it happen already.

Stormreach is in the wilds of Xendrick, we're the trespassers - think about all the "monsters" players have straight up murdered when they've done nothing except trying to live their lives in their homes.
Not only that, we can straight up slaughter refugees, make pacts with the fiends of the abyss, and reanimate the dead without consent, but we can't be evil?

[Xgya]

Evasion:

This is D&D 3.5. Wearing heavy armor or carrying a heavy load cancels Evasion the same way being Paralyzed or walking a tightrope does.

Scroll Rarity:

This is more about certain particular scrolls than most of the ones that are considered rare at this point. I agree most scrolls should be available, but a few exceptions should remain.

Evil Alignments:

No need. It also breaks immersion. Frankly, alignments do so little in DDO the only reason they remain is to limit a few class combinations. Asking for more when we should in fact ask for less..

Missing Feats:

You named a bunch of 5th edition Feats. This is not the game DDO is based on.
Fun fact: in 5e, feats are an optional rule. If the DM says no feats allowed at his table, he's not breaking the rules by saying nobody has feats.

[Certon]

This is D&D 3.5. Wearing heavy armor or carrying a heavy load cancels Evasion the same way being Paralyzed or walking a tightrope does.



This is more about certain particular scrolls than most of the ones that are considered rare at this point. I agree most scrolls should be available, but a few exceptions should remain.



No need. It also breaks immersion. Frankly, alignments do so little in DDO the only reason they remain is to limit a few class combinations. Asking for more when we should in fact ask for less..



You named a bunch of 5th edition Feats. This is not the game DDO is based on.
Fun fact: in 5e, feats are an optional rule. If the DM says no feats allowed at his table, he's not breaking the rules by saying nobody has feats.

You're right on some of those feats, but not all:


Still Spell - 3.5e players handbook -- Remove somantic component from spell--thereby bypassing ASF from armor
Education skill - from the Eberron setting 3.5e handbook -- 1st level only. cross class skill becomes non-cross class skill.

[Xgya]

You're right on some of those feats, but not all:

Still Spell - 3.5e players handbook -- Remove somantic component from spell--thereby bypassing ASF from armor
Education skill - from the Eberron setting 3.5e handbook -- 1st level only. cross class skill becomes non-cross class skill.

The Feat you named was Prodigy, which was the reason I said you pulled it from 5e.
The Education feat only works on Knowledge skills. Those don't even exist in DDO.

The Apprentice feat is nominally what you would be looking for, essentially letting you pick two thematically linked skills to add as class skills. It was mostly considered a roleplaying option because it gave your character a mentor you had to work with in order to keep the benefits of the feat. (of course, you also had to pay your teacher)
The Feat also stopped fully working once you reached level 5 and basically finished your apprenticeship.
The designers had been VERY careful about keeping class skills separate in 3.5. Having access to certain skills was considered a relevant class feature, at least as far as Disable Device and Use Magic Device are concerned.

There are other options, all of which are linked to other subsystems.
...or you could always just multiclass :P
----
As for removing ASF, DDO has a multitude of valid options, we don't exactly need the feat, and it would mostly be a newb trap. We need less of those, not more.

[Certon]

The Feat you named was Prodigy, which was the reason I said you pulled it from 5e.
The Education feat only works on Knowledge skills. Those don't even exist in DDO.

The Apprentice feat is nominally what you would be looking for, essentially letting you pick two thematically linked skills to add as class skills. It was mostly considered a roleplaying option because it gave your character a mentor you had to work with in order to keep the benefits of the feat. (of course, you also had to pay your teacher)
The Feat also stopped fully working once you reached level 5 and basically finished your apprenticeship.
The designers had been VERY careful about keeping class skills separate in 3.5. Having access to certain skills was considered a relevant class feature, at least as far as Disable Device and Use Magic Device are concerned.

There are other options, all of which are linked to other subsystems.
...or you could always just multiclass :P
----
As for removing ASF, DDO has a multitude of valid options, we don't exactly need the feat, and it would mostly be a newb trap. We need less of those, not more.

The game should be FULL of 'newb traps' as you call them.

MORE choices, not less. I take Eschew Materials on a LOT of my builds because I don't want to deal with components. Does it make me less efficient? Yes it does. Does it make the game more fun to play. Yes it does.
Being able to cast spells without ASF from armor goes along the same vein. You don't NEED it with a feat, but if you have the feat to spare, GREAT.

By the way, I'm not suggesting that some pure wizard should be able to trap. The trapfinding feat rogues and artificers get assures that is impossible. I'm saying that if you play a rogue hybrid, there be a feat you can take that will give you 1 full point in an ability that would normally give you .5 because its cross-class for the class you are CURRENTLY leveling. And as far as UMD goes? A CHA based Sorc with UMD trained to 11 can read resurrection scrolls with no fail. It doesn't matter.

[Xgya]

The game should be FULL of 'newb traps' as you call them.

MORE choices, not less. I take Eschew Materials on a LOT of my builds because I don't want to deal with components. Does it make me less efficient? Yes it does. Does it make the game more fun to play. Yes it does.
Being able to cast spells without ASF from armor goes along the same vein. You don't NEED it with a feat, but if you have the feat to spare, GREAT.

By the way, I'm not suggesting that some pure wizard should be able to trap. The trapfinding feat rogues and artificers get assures that is impossible. I'm saying that if you play a rogue hybrid, there be a feat you can take that will give you 1 full point in an ability that would normally give you .5 because its cross-class for the class you are CURRENTLY leveling. And as far as UMD goes? A CHA based Sorc with UMD trained to 11 can read resurrection scrolls with no fail. It doesn't matter.

It's not about choices. It's about meaningful choices.
When was the last time you took Skill Focus (Bluff)? Or Alertness, for that matter? Those ARE available choices. Which you would do very well to tell newer players to stay away from.
The game should have less of those.
We don't need multiple ways to reach the same thing. We need more ways to do many things. Unique builds, not convergence.

Meanwhile, solving the skill issue with a feat removes meaningful choices. It suddenly matters less when you take that 2nd Rogue level. One choice that used to matter, now matters less, because you can achieve the same result in yet another way.
Should you spend the extra character points on Int so you can max out your skills while you're multiclassing or not? Can you plan ahead to make sure your skills will keep up? Adding the new option suddenly makes that early decision less meaningful.

[Lokeal_The_Flame]

4) If Necromancy isn't an evil power then I don't know what is. This already exists.

**Quickly shoves Cold Ethyl back into the freezer**

Hey, necromancy isn't evil, it can be used for love too!

It's more chaotic neutral than anything :3

[Mindos]

you cannot just ignore the shares

We need "Share Protection". A key binding, turns off/on allowing to receive shares. If it's on, you don't get a share, but you do get a small transparent notice on screen out of the way that someone tried to share with you. Prevents this problem, lets you quickly keybind change it off and on, and so on and so forth...