Stormreach Chronicle 01-19-09

[Tarrant]

Welcome to the Chronicle - a weekly look at what's happening around the forums! Read on for tips, community spotlights, Turbine info, and more!

Letter from the Editors

"This week we'll be having two Chronicles! Be on the look out for the second Chronicle later this week, which will feature community spotlights, including excellent work being done in the Compendium by some very dedicated players! As promised, this week's Chronicle features a sneak peek at patch 3 release notes... check the Town Crier!"

- The DDO Community Team

The following guilds are looking for more adventurers. Learn more about them here!

Bloodlords, of the Argonnessen server

Compendium Page: http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Bloodlords

"Over 100 members, hundred of characters at all level ranges. With a focus on end-game content, but support for lower-level characters. Easily one of the largest and most prominent guilds on Argonnessen, while maintaing the close-knit family environment."

Brothers of Absoulte Character, of the Ghallanda server

Compendium Page: http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Broth...lute_Character

"We are a smaller guild, that seems to be growing daily. You will usually find us online around 5:00am during the weekdays, and on Friday nights (EST/EDT) doing guild events. Any time after that is random, but usually someone's online.

We are a pure only guild, so multi-classing is not permitted."

Sword of Shadows, of the Khyber server

Recruitment Thread: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=169399

"We are accepting new members at this time. We have about 250 members now with 12 Officers. Send Dmail to "Muzzy" to talk about the guild."

Gravis Negotium, of the Sarlona server

Compendium Page: http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Gravis_Negotium

"We kick Arse and enjoy doing it while flinging rude jokes let and right. No kids, no virgin eared puritans nor anyone should.....A) Oppose the will of Bruttus "The Benevolent Overseer"; B) Question the Wisdom of Annahita nor C) Try to outzerg Magnicallis.....simple really."

Raiders of Xen'drick, of the Thelanis server

Compendium Page: http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/ROX

"Raiders of Xen'drick is a small guild, originally a Founders guild on Xoriat, having lost most of its membership. Now consists of 6 of us friends and family in real life. Usually at least one of us is one every evening. Plus one stay at home (dad) that is on almost constantly. Contact: Raelg Iron-Fist (leader)."

Over 500 guilds have pages available in the Compendium! Read more about guilds in the Compendium by clicking here!
Looking for a guild? Looking for recruits? Be sure to visit the Guild Matchup forum!
Have a guild you want featured? Send Tolero and Tarrant a PM with a short description of your guild and a link to your recruitment thread or Compendium page!





Looking for a character design? Unsure which feat you should take next? Seeking build feedback? Join other aspiring builders as we take a look at this week's user-created character builds!

• Featured Build: The Machinest
• Featured Build: Bloodmonk
• Featured Build: Tempest Zealot

For more character builds, Be sure to stop by the Class Discussion forum



Are you a new or returning player seeking help? The Academy highlights community efforts to assist incoming and returning players!

For many users, DDO offers very unique armor options. In some cases, these options are different than traditional MMO equipment. There are pros and cons to various types of armor, and you must weigh your choices carefully. In some cases, it is not that one piece of armor is "better" than another, but a matter of what your personal character goals are. This week at the Academy, we take a short look at three basic aspects of armor:

Armor Class: This indicates how well the armor protects you against physical attacks. The higher the number, the harder your enemies have to work to land a hit on you.

• PRO: Armor with a high armor class can help you avoid getting hit. If a monster can't hit you, it can't deal damage to you! There are many ways to keep monsters from hitting you, but Armor Class is a basic and straight forward one.
• CON: Very often armors with a high armor class are heavy! They also can suppress some classes special abilities, such as Monk's being centered. Often, they have penalties associated with them affecting your physical abilities.

Armor Check Penalty: This indicates how much of a penalty you'll take to some of your more physical activities, such as jumping, swimming, balancing, and tumbling. The higher the penalty, the more these skills are affected.

• PRO: If you like your character to be more active, you may want to select armor that has a lower armor check penalty so you don't impact your physical skills. This armor also can be lighter weight, meaning less weight you have to carry around!
• CON: The trade off is often that the armor is more mobile, but not as good at preventing enemy attacks from piercing it, having a lower armor class bonus. Your character will need to mitigate damage in other ways as a result if you select this kind of armor.

Max Dex Bonus: This impacts the amount of bonus you can receive from your dexterity score. For example, if you have a 16 dexterity score, typically you will be granted a +3 bonus to things such as reflex save, balance, and more. If your armor has a Max Dex Bonus of +2, then you will only be able to receive a +2 out of your dexterity bonus, rather than the full +3.

• PRO: If your character is a very active character, or relies heavily on bonuses provided by your dexterity, you may want to select armor that has a high max dex bonus. Depending on how you build your character, you may even have a higher armor class using your dex than the actual armor can grant! The armor can also be lighter and thus make your character's encumbrance smaller. That means you have more room for other treasures!
• CON: The trade off is that often the armor is not as high of an armor class bonus. If your character was not made to take extreme advantage of your dexterity bonus, you might be better off relying on the protection of a higher armor class bonus.

Ultimately how you want to protect your character from harm is up to you, and you have a lot of choices available! Always be sure to investigate your options when you're presented with a choice of armors.

Do you have tips for new or returning players? Be sure to visit the Newbie Q&A forum, Guest General Discussion forum or Newbie Harbor, where you'll find new and returning players who might have questions, and your tips can help!

For more help be sure to visit the Newbie Q&A forum and Game Play Guides

Game Tip of the Week

Remember that armor has weight too! Holding a lot of heavy armor in your inventory can burden you if you're not strong enough, so keep this in mind as you loot treasure!

• Festivult is drawing to a close. Be sure to keep gathering up your coins while there's still time!
• There will be a game patch tomorrow to address issues with the mail system, Hirelings, Prey on the Hunter, and more. Curious about what's in the patch? A sneak peek is available in the Compendium!
• Don't forget to stop by this week's enhancement preview: Assassin & Mechanic preview

Looking for updates and information from Turbine?
You can follow along with the latest Turbine talk right here on the forums! Be sure to visit:

• The Dev Tracker
• News & Announcements Forum
• The QA Lodge

Tune in next week for the Stormreach Chronicle! Also visit the Compendium for an archive of previous issues of the Stormreach Chronicle!

[DaveyCrockett]

Keep em coming!

[Aspenor]

Hey Davey, what will you give me as a signing bonus to join BL?

[DaveyCrockett]

Hey Davey, what will you give me as a signing bonus to join BL?

Not sure.. Shall we go make a thread to discuss that in dramatic fashion?

[Lithic]

Hey Davey, what will you give me as a signing bonus to join BL?

Hey I've got a few characters unguilded myself...

[Aspenor]

Not sure.. Shall we go make a thread to discuss that in dramatic fashion?

Only if said thread includes references to Tony Danza and Magic Johnson. Make it happen.

[BurnerD]

"The plane of Irian is shifting, and is no longer in perfect alignment with Eberron. Sun Flasks are no longer quite so bright, and other items with effects tied to the plane of light seem to be slowly weakening."


so besides the sun flasks weakening are the rez cakes reverting back to raise dead? or will they remain resurrect? hmmm

[smatt]

Ahhh, some maintanence tomorrow.. Thanks for the heads up....


I would like to comment on the armor thingy though.... You forgot to say that rather than wasting your time wearing armor and shields,a nd incurring the w2ieght and armor checks... One can obtain just as much if not moreAC and arguably far more DPS, by forgoing armor and shields and just using the easy button Ranger-Rogue/MonkRogue splash , 2 weapon fighting easy button build . This would save a lot of new players the total waste of time in building any kind of a fighter class.

[Dexxaan]

Gravis Negotium isn´t really recruiting, but thanks for the free advertising.

[Kistilan]

Not sure.. Shall we go make a thread to discuss that in dramatic fashion?

I'll pay his entrance fee.

Not but for real, I'll pay for him to join so no one gets stomped in the coin purse.

Oh! And I really like the sneak peak section, and good work breaking down armor class for new players. Very useful info devs!

[Gratch]

Some excellent hirelings fixes in the patch. Glad they finally figured out the quest entry/exit loading screen lockup.

No mention of Eladrin's preview on Monk's 17-20 abilities that he added last week?

[Lorien_the_First_One]

Keep em coming!

Hey Davey... I read over BL's profile and I'd love to hear more about this "Rading Philosphy".

That must be a new concept of some kind...

[Tolero]

No mention of Eladrin's preview on Monk's 17-20 abilities that he added last week?

That's because in true Ninja form, he stealthed them into another thread

I would like to comment on the armor thingy though.... You forgot to say that rather than wasting your time wearing armor and shields,a nd incurring the w2ieght and armor checks... One can obtain just as much if not moreAC and arguably far more DPS, by forgoing armor and shields and just using the easy button Ranger-Rogue/MonkRogue splash , 2 weapon fighting easy button build . This would save a lot of new players the total waste of time in building any kind of a fighter class.

That's territory I'll let you guys explore with them. No sense overwhelming them all in one sitting. And I figured our resident builders would be quick to chime in with more armor tips ^^ The more tips the merrier!

[Deathseeker]

That's territory I'll let you guys explore with them. No sense overwhelming them all in one sitting. And I figured our resident builders would be quick to chime in with more armor tips ^^ The more tips the merrier!

This was a nice addition to the Chronicle for the more casual gamer. People forget just how many people play this game from levels 1 to 8, and at those levels armor is quite important, regardless of the end game debate. I highly doubt the powergamer is looking to the chronicle for their build ideas...so I think this section was very good for a big chunk of the target audience...the new casual gamer.

Let me suggest that next week a DR section be included similarly next week. DR is a mystery to many casual (and not so casual) players, so a nice general high level overview would be nifty.

Keep up the good work!

[DaveyCrockett]

Hey Davey... I read over BL's profile and I'd love to hear more about this "Rading Philosphy".

That must be a new concept of some kind...

Man.. the sharks!!

A brother can't even leave an 'i' out these days.

[Tolero]

Let me suggest that next week a DR section be included similarly next week. DR is a mystery to many casual (and not so casual) players, so a nice general high level overview would be nifty.

Ooo I likes! So it is written, so it shall be done and yes DR can be confusing for beginners or people who never played pen and paper.

[Ustice]

That's territory I'll let you guys explore with them. No sense overwhelming them all in one sitting. And I figured our resident builders would be quick to chime in with more armor tips ^^ The more tips the merrier!

And if you follow on DDO Reports, you would get the head's up as well. (Of course in this case the DevTracker would work great too)

[/shameless_plug]

[Aesop]

Man.. the sharks!!

A brother can't even leave an 'i' out these days.

or an o

[DaveyCrockett]

or an o

o?

[Ustice]

Ooo I likes! So it is written, so it shall be done and yes DR can be confusing for beginners or people who never played pen and paper.

DR is confusing to a lot of experienced P&P players too.