I like the way Saltmarsh gearing works

[Wizard1406]

Since you can upgrade heroic -> epic -> legendary there is "bad luck protection". The only disadvantage is that the gear is lvl 30 not 29.

If you ransack the legendary chest you can just get an alt, can even be a low level, to speed run heroic and then upgrade it. Hay is really no problem with the explorer chests. Star fragments are rarer but you are guaranteed 5 or the saga, enough for one item.

Also there are no super long quests with 5-6 items (looking at you "Just Business" or "Toxic Treatment"). It's all 3 to 4 items, which makes it easier to get a specific item. And only really Danger at Dunwater is still long, even if you do the shortest possible path.

Artifacts are pretty easy to get too. Because there are many explorer chests and good drop rate from Saga.

Wish gear from other packs wasn't so hard to obtain. I Hope SSG can apply "bad luck protection" for other packs/expansion packs too. Either like Saltmarsh with upgrading, or a different system like collectable turnins.

[Bonulino]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I have wasted many hours trying to get specific named items that just never drop no matter what I do. This process is a lot more agreeable to me and it allows you to get named items that can be upgraded as the character advances.

[Wizard1406]

Yes. I don't remember the math but getting 1 out 6 items with ~32% of dropping any at all , has a really low chance.

And I really like that Saltmarsh has 3 different sets heroic - epic 20- legendary 30.

Hopefully SSG will implement Saltmarsh way of gearing in future packs or at least (mini)expansions.
Regular packs don't seem to go that way (yet?), if we look at "Hunt or be Hunted".

Unless storage is dramatically increased I'd prefer less level differences for items, so lvl 1-5-10-15-20-29/30 gear and eventually 31/32(+) with Level Cap increase.

[jskinner937]

I believe salt marsh is only non-raid legendary items that are ML30. I like how the set bonuses work as well where they are all bundled. But only having one set bonus for a 5pc and no tiered unlike Fey was a bad step backwards imo. Rarely wear much SM gear for that reason.

[rabidfox]

I believe salt marsh is only non-raid legendary items that are ML30.

All of the old s/s/s loot has ML30 gear (both raid and non-raid items). The SM gear upgrades were made parallel to the s/s/s revamp and use the same system for upgrading.

[Fauxknight]

But only having one set bonus for a 5pc and no tiered unlike Fey was a bad step backwards imo. Rarely wear much SM gear for that reason.

Saltmarsh is too poorly itemized to wear 5 pieces, so yeah the set bonus is pointless as is.


At least most of the other level 30 gear offer much more viable set bonus, particularly the Sands 2pc sets.

[Wizard1406]

Yeah the way to aquire the gear is great, some of the items and set bonus leave a little bit to be desired.

[MyStiK-GaMeR]

Yeah the way to aquire the gear is great, some of the items and set bonus leave a little bit to be desired.

They should have tiered it like feywild gear. All or nothing five piece is inflexible and DDOs greatest strength is flexibility and customization.

[Zuldar]

Since you can upgrade heroic -> epic -> legendary there is "bad luck protection".

That's not really bad luck protection. It's a useful feature being able to upgrade a piece of gear as you level to be sure but bad luck protection is being more likely to get a piece of gear every time you don't get it. For most items you're no more likely to get it the second or third time than you were the first.

Raid runes are a better example since every time you run a raid you get a little closer to getting a piece of gear. Having expansion based runes or even just generic named item runes that could be turned in at a variety of vendors for named items would be a good addition that would provide real bad luck protection.

[Wizard1406]

^ Yes what I meant is, if you are dead set on getting legendary item X this week, you can use any low level chars, even brand new iconic in starter gear and run the quest a hundred times and then upgrade the heroic item.

For other quests, once you have ransacked the quest you are SOL until next week unless you have multiple chars able to solo legendary elite.

Of course "quest runes" would be better in any regard except bag/bank space.

[SoVeryBelgian]

I mean, I like the equip spread, but the set bonus overlap has me either clinging to Sharn / RL loot (lol) or using Fey Sets and jimmying around with the new S/S/S sets.

Also some weapons have lackluster effects imo.

I do like the continued obsession DDO seems to have with Pirate aesthetics though hah, better looking that Crystal Cove stuff for sure. I'm a fan of the Brass Admiral as a Glamer.

[droid327]

I actually wish there was a way to downgrade items from Epic/Legendary back to their Heroic versions

So much of the newer content is endgame-relevant in its Epic versions, and I dont mind running Feywild or Saltmarsh on my L30 alt, as I'm farming for SXP snacks and RXP. But its a pain to have to grind gear at L3 or L5 when you fly through those levels and have to either blue-bar yourself and keep grinding, or run it over-level just for the drops. I wish I could just run the L30 version with a L30 char, and then when I get my item, bump it down for my HTRing char

[axel15810]

I actually wish there was a way to downgrade items from Epic/Legendary back to their Heroic versions

I just put together an epic 5 piece set for ETRs and yeah, I agree there should be a downgrade path. I ended up farming out the items running heroic way overlevel. Would've been nice to be able to farm that stuff out running at legendary. On reflection I think they should've just kept the system they had at release where both heroic and legendary dropped heroic items. But in the current system some way to downgrade would be a solid improvement.

[Dilbon]

Yea caving in to the complainers and making legendary quests drop level 30 loot instead of upgradeable level 3 items was one the worst mistakes ever made in this game.

[droid327]

Yea caving in to the complainers and making legendary quests drop level 30 loot instead of upgradeable level 3 items was one the worst mistakes ever made in this game.

I think that was more about not being able to get Reaper/Mythic versions when they were only acquired by upgrade, but yeah its still annoying

[axel15810]

I think that was more about not being able to get Reaper/Mythic versions when they were only acquired by upgrade, but yeah its still annoying

I was wondering if that was their reasoning. Then again, you lose mythic/reaper bonuses when upgrading the new S/S/S gear and those quests drop heroic items while running epic level versions of the quests.

[Bjond]

Saltmarsh is too poorly itemized to wear 5 pieces

I put it on melee and ranged with minimal tetris effort. I have not tried to make it work for my PM. Instinct flings a big "NO" at me for that one, probably because so many pieces for PM are highly idiosyncratic and you only get 3 "free" item choices if you use sharn+salt, one of which has to be the minor artifact.

The L30 v L29 problem is a major issue, though. IMHO, all current L30 items should be retagged L29 -- it's a serious annoyance regearing at L29 and then again at L30 and all items that are L30 have absolutely nothing about them that is better than a L29 item. Same stats. Same number of lines. If the power is the same, why push it out?

Ignoring the L30 v L29 issue, Salt gear is fantastic. The choice to make it all double-augment is what makes it so versatile and easy to adapt without excessive tetris effort. It would be very nice if they extended that double-slot decision to everything in game, including random trash.

[elvesunited]

Personally I found

1) The lack of any quality bonuses of any kind on any saltmarsh item
2) healing Amplification being only provided by cloth armor
3) for spell caster no artifact or insightful DC
4) some insight bonuses are tied to items that appeal only to specific builds

So far I have done the equipment tetris challenge for a few characters. I always end up losing the challenge. ( very quickly with spell casters )
Maybe the new augments can help with this but for the most part the augments don't have the bonuses I'm looking for.

[jskinner937]

Personally I found

1) The lack of any quality bonuses of any kind on any saltmarsh item
2) healing Amplification being only provided by cloth armor
3) for spell caster no artifact or insightful DC
4) some insight bonuses are tied to items that appeal only to specific builds

So far I have done the equipment tetris challenge for a few characters. I always end up losing the challenge. ( very quickly with spell casters )
Maybe the new augments can help with this but for the most part the augments don't have the bonuses I'm looking for.

For casters, you might use the ring....dodge and ehnaced ghostly. Then put a colorless set bonus augment on it.

[elvesunited]

For casters, you might use the ring....dodge and ehnaced ghostly. Then put a colorless set bonus augment on it.

The ring is a perfect example of what makes saltmarsh difficult to gear:

Invisibility 3 Charges (Recharged/Day:3)
Enhanced Ghostly
Speed +30%
Dodge +13%
Reflex Save +11

Invisibility is a fluff clickie. Potions are easily obtainable. Speed is an easily obtainable augment. Dodge is also obtainable via augment. ( though more expensive ) Reflex save is just a standard save bonus. Unless you also get fort and will through other equipment you'll just slot a resistance augment anyway making it completely redundant. That leaves enhanced ghostly. An ability of limited use as reaper mode shreds it.

It's insight and quality bonuses that you can't get via augments that you need to fill and saltmarsh is lackluster on the insightful bonuses and outright non-existent on the quality bonuses. So it will be other gear that will need to provide them.

Note: Unless they've changed the way it works. Never put a set augment on a piece of gear that is part of a set already. You've got to put set augments on gear that doesn't belong to any set. Also set augments are notoriously painstaking to get.