Epic Item Review: Part 1, the Carnival

[sirgog]

Now that we can craft +5 Holy Burst Silver Greater Lawful Outsider Bane weapons, the epic Antique Greataxe looks even worse; even if it is given Righteousness and an upgrade to 3d12 base damage, and the player slots it with a +7 augment, it's then only just level with the crafted weapon in DPS.

Granted the (buffed) eAG would be able to be used on eLailat too, but if the player has a crafting alt skilled enough to make the +5 HB GLOB, they can very cheaply make a +5 HB cold iron GCOB weapon for her.

I don't see anything reasonable I can suggest, except maybe changing the weapon to 20/x4, +6, Force Burst, 2d12, Righteousness, Red slot, Colorless slot, Metalline. Even that doesn't out-perform a +5 HB silver GLOB falchion.

[Astraghal]

Now that we can craft +5 Holy Burst Silver Greater Lawful Outsider Bane weapons, the epic Antique Greataxe looks even worse; even if it is given Righteousness and an upgrade to 3d12 base damage, and the player slots it with a +7 augment, it's then only just level with the crafted weapon in DPS.

Granted the (buffed) eAG would be able to be used on eLailat too, but if the player has a crafting alt skilled enough to make the +5 HB GLOB, they can very cheaply make a +5 HB cold iron GCOB weapon for her.

I don't see anything reasonable I can suggest, except maybe changing the weapon to 20/x4, +6, Force Burst, 2d12, Righteousness, Red slot, Colorless slot, Metalline. Even that doesn't out-perform a +5 HB silver GLOB falchion.

Maybe give it a damage proc like Disintegration.

[Genasi]

All right, I've finished my pass on these items- I may still come back to them, so do respond to the decisions I've made if you feel strongly, but these were my initial changes and the thoughts behind them.

Epic Antique Greataxe: Added Righteousness, increased base damage to 3d10, re-added Adamantine property (which was replaced by Metalline for the Epic version). I realize that the +5 Holy Burst of Greater X Bane weapons that will be possible to make through the crafting system offer this weapon some serious competition, but I'm content for it to stand somewhere between a Min II and the best of the best crafted weapons, which is where I believe this will put it.

Epic Kronzek's Cruelty: Added Lightning Strike and Improved Destruction. It won't quite hit the DPS of a Lit II khopesh, but I think the Improved Destruction will give it a very nice Epic-specific advantage.

Epic Phiarlan Spy Dagger: Added Improved Paralyzing. Like I said, I thought this was a fine idea to give this weapon some extra utility, so now it has it.

Epic Noxious Fang: Added Disintegration. Yes, making a throwing dagger desirable for Epic is mostly an exercise in futility, but I figured I'd give it a little bump regardless.

Epic Garos' Malice: Replaced normal Incineration with Greater Incineration (procs about twice as often as normal Incineration, for the same amount of damage). Greater Incineration should do DPS in the neighborhood of Lightning Strike, albeit in a damage type that a lot of enemies are resistant/immune to. As a tradeoff, it procs quite a bit more often for smaller chunks of damage, so you will get fewer "wasted" procs. And I do hope this becomes a go-to weapon for fire-weak enemies.

Epic Brimstone Verge: Replaced Fireball with Delayed Blast Fireball, added Epic Combustion VII (60% damage boost to fire spells). The spell also has a DC that is 12 higher than a normal item-triggered Delayed Blast Fireball would be (although this effect was added some time ago), as well as a special, totally new effect: Wand Maximizing, which causes the wand to do 100% extra damage (as though the spell were maximized). Unfortunately, due to the method of implementation on this, it will not stack with the enhancements which increase your wand damage; perhaps we can address that at some point, but for now, at least you will be doing 25% more damage than the highest tiers of those enhancements can provide.

Epic Roderic's Wand: Now grants Augment Summoning while held. This affects the monsters you summon with the wand as well as the ones you summon from your own spells, just as though you had the feat. The spell has not yet been changed to summon all the creatures that are now available for its level range, but those plans are in the works (as well as changing the normal wand to do the same).

Epic Brawn's Spirits: Added Incite 10%, Exceptional Con +2. I think Incite 10%, from what I've heard from posters, appears to be the way to go, simply because it's a more difficult effect to slot than Incite 20%.

Epic Grim's Bracelet: Replaced the natural armor bonus with Dodge +3. This seemed the best way to go that wouldn't escalate the player/monster AC arms race. Sorry to those who have worked hard for a Chattering Ring, but at least you have another way to slot this effect besides running Titan now.

Epic Mask of Comedy: Improved Healing Lore to Major, Devotion is now Superior VII. I'm hesitant to go top-of-the-line on the Lore because these are still some of the easier Epics to run.

Epic Mask of Tragedy: Improved Void Lore to Major, Potency is now Superior Nullification VII. See Mask of Comedy above for reasoning on the Lore.

Epic Phiarlan Mirror Cloak: Improved Spell Resistance to 30, added Spell Absorption (5 charges, 1 recharge per rest, same as Mantle of the Worldshaper), added Greater Light Resistance (30 resistance against light damage). Hey, this one may become desirable for Pale Masters for those quests where Searing Light and Sunburst just can't be avoided. Oh, and I did remove the Blurry, though I don't think it will be particularly missed.

Epic Ring of Elemental Essence: Added Epic Combustion/Glaciation/Magnetism (60% damage boost each), added Inherent Resistance 5 to fire, cold and electric. Pretty straightforward; the ring now gives damage boosts that fall between the highest you can get statically and the potions/Amrath clickies that give 75% temporarily. Some will find that useful, others won't.

Epic Shimmering Pendant: Increased Charisma boost to +7, increased skill boosts to +20. That makes this item the only +20 source of the two skills it provides (diplomacy/perform).

The Wand Maximizing effect (as well as the +12 to DCs) has also been applied to the Epic Cacophonic Verge and the Epic Winter's Wrath. The eWinter's and eBrimstone are now doing about 200 damage on a failed save, and the eCacophonic does about half that with Greater Shout, though it can also apply the stun, of course.

[rest]

All right, I've finished my pass on these items- I may still come back to them, so do respond to the decisions I've made if you feel strongly, but these were my initial changes and the thoughts behind them.

Epic Antique Greataxe: Added Righteousness, increased base damage to 3d10, re-added Adamantine property (which was replaced by Metalline for the Epic version). I realize that the +5 Holy Burst of Greater X Bane weapons that will be possible to make through the crafting system offer this weapon some serious competition, but I'm content for it to stand somewhere between a Min II and the best of the best crafted weapons, which is where I believe this will put it.

Epic Kronzek's Cruelty: Added Lightning Strike and Improved Destruction. It won't quite hit the DPS of a Lit II khopesh, but I think the Improved Destruction will give it a very nice Epic-specific advantage.

Epic Phiarlan Spy Dagger: Added Improved Paralyzing. Like I said, I thought this was a fine idea to give this weapon some extra utility, so now it has it.

Epic Noxious Fang: Added Disintegration. Yes, making a throwing dagger desirable for Epic is mostly an exercise in futility, but I figured I'd give it a little bump regardless.

Epic Garos' Malice: Replaced normal Incineration with Greater Incineration (procs about twice as often as normal Incineration, for the same amount of damage). Greater Incineration should do DPS in the neighborhood of Lightning Strike, albeit in a damage type that a lot of enemies are resistant/immune to. As a tradeoff, it procs quite a bit more often for smaller chunks of damage, so you will get fewer "wasted" procs. And I do hope this becomes a go-to weapon for fire-weak enemies.

Epic Brimstone Verge: Replaced Fireball with Delayed Blast Fireball, added Epic Combustion VII (60% damage boost to fire spells). The spell also has a DC that is 12 higher than a normal item-triggered Delayed Blast Fireball would be (although this effect was added some time ago), as well as a special, totally new effect: Wand Maximizing, which causes the wand to do 100% extra damage (as though the spell were maximized). Unfortunately, due to the method of implementation on this, it will not stack with the enhancements which increase your wand damage; perhaps we can address that at some point, but for now, at least you will be doing 25% more damage than the highest tiers of those enhancements can provide.

Epic Roderic's Wand: Now grants Augment Summoning while held. This affects the monsters you summon with the wand as well as the ones you summon from your own spells, just as though you had the feat. The spell has not yet been changed to summon all the creatures that are now available for its level range, but those plans are in the works (as well as changing the normal wand to do the same).

Epic Brawn's Spirits: Added Incite 10%, Exceptional Con +2. I think Incite 10%, from what I've heard from posters, appears to be the way to go, simply because it's a more difficult effect to slot than Incite 20%.

Epic Grim's Bracelet: Replaced the natural armor bonus with Dodge +3. This seemed the best way to go that wouldn't escalate the player/monster AC arms race. Sorry to those who have worked hard for a Chattering Ring, but at least you have another way to slot this effect besides running Titan now.

Epic Mask of Comedy: Improved Healing Lore to Major, Devotion is now Superior VII. I'm hesitant to go top-of-the-line on the Lore because these are still some of the easier Epics to run.

Epic Mask of Tragedy: Improved Void Lore to Major, Potency is now Superior Nullification VII. See Mask of Comedy above for reasoning on the Lore.

Epic Phiarlan Mirror Cloak: Improved Spell Resistance to 30, added Spell Absorption (5 charges, 1 recharge per rest, same as Mantle of the Worldshaper), added Greater Light Resistance (30 resistance against light damage). Hey, this one may become desirable for Pale Masters for those quests where Searing Light and Sunburst just can't be avoided. Oh, and I did remove the Blurry, though I don't think it will be particularly missed.

Epic Ring of Elemental Essence: Added Epic Combustion/Glaciation/Magnetism (60% damage boost each), added Inherent Resistance 5 to fire, cold and electric. Pretty straightforward; the ring now gives damage boosts that fall between the highest you can get statically and the potions/Amrath clickies that give 75% temporarily. Some will find that useful, others won't.

Epic Shimmering Pendant: Increased Charisma boost to +7, increased skill boosts to +20. That makes this item the only +20 source of the two skills it provides (diplomacy/perform).

The Wand Maximizing effect (as well as the +12 to DCs) has also been applied to the Epic Cacophonic Verge and the Epic Winter's Wrath. The eWinter's and eBrimstone are now doing about 200 damage on a failed save, and the eCacophonic does about half that with Greater Shout, though it can also apply the stun, of course.

Giggity.

I'm digging that ring now, and the wand too. Augment summoning wasn't feasible to fit in. Now I can carry it with me

The bracelet's dodge +3 maybe should have been 4 simply because level 9 loot that outclasses epic items is kinda silly, but I understand why you did it. AC arms race and all that.

Lightning strike + improved destruction on a scimmy looks sweet for my 16/2/2 melee FvS. Luckily I didn't ever get him any GS longswords. Also frees up a feat for me! (WSS)

Nice work. Now about all those crappy desert and fens items...

[Noelemahc]

Epic Brawn's Spirits: Added Incite 10%, Exceptional Con +2. I think Incite 10%, from what I've heard from posters, appears to be the way to go, simply because it's a more difficult effect to slot than Incite 20%.

Only thing I would change about this is change exceptional con 2 to exceptional str 2 maybe. Any tank that will use this will have, or should have, the epic claw set which would make the con 2 redundant and make this item still not worth actually using. I personally wouldn't wear this item just for the incite 10% since my tank doesn't even need the incite. However it wouldn't be a bad side bonus with the +2 str. I think the str 2 would have more synergy with the incite 10% anyway. Just my thoughts coming from a tank (being that this would be a tank item).

[bbqzor]

This is largely a very useful item pass, better than several in recent memory. While a few of the changes may cause some frustration (removing the blurry, for example, several I know specifically desired that effect) the overall changes are all in a positive direction. And even the ones which may cause woe are paired with item changes which offer new and appealing effects.

This gives me hope that the other passes, when similarly weighed, will result in a much, much better overall balance for epic gear and epic level itemization in general. Thanks for taking the time to look at it and address the issues. Its especially nice to see some of the long running annoyances, like the reduction in hardness from the missing adamantine relative to the non-epic version, finally fixed.

You've measurably revitalized my interest in a previously worn out area, resulting in more content I can use and more fun options for character building; both positives from a design perspective. However, every time I have to run back and forth to hail Brawnpits fat hide, Ill be shaking my fist at you! Really though, thanks for the item pass.

And double thanks for the heads up here, as soon as you were able, so that we can adapt to future changes without getting 'surprised' by a sudden change in an update. That forward communication of changes so that players are able to avoid as much 'playing in the wrong direction' as possible is perhaps my most desired request with respect to changes in old/established content/mechanics. Cheers.

[Bladedge]

Epic Grim's Bracelet: Replaced the natural armor bonus with Dodge +3. This seemed the best way to go that wouldn't escalate the player/monster AC arms race. Sorry to those who have worked hard for a Chattering Ring, but at least you have another way to slot this effect besides running Titan now.

Couldn't resist saying this :
How about giving the Titan Raid items a overhaul... a Major Over haul.

[Crazyfruit]

Many of your changes make me sad. You probably should ignore me though, I'm likely quitting next week after seeing how easy (unfun for me) the game has become. I do like Brawns getting constitution +2 though, the upgraded fang, and the new direction for the cloak.

Specifics:

Brimstone Verge. Some people loved the old one. When I'd put up a Small Problem lfm, most people would say "I hate this quest but I'm really hoping for a Brimstone Verge seal". Dunno if they'll love this one.

Garos' Malice. What is the proc rate of incineration? From our testing it was currently on par with Lightning Strike dps wise, other than being a worse element & other greensteel effects.

[Tocawe]

Epic Phiarlan Mirror Cloak: Improved Spell Resistance to 30, added Spell Absorption (5 charges, 1 recharge per rest, same as Mantle of the Worldshaper), added Greater Light Resistance (30 resistance against light damage). Hey, this one may become desirable for Pale Masters for those quests where Searing Light and Sunburst just can't be avoided. Oh, and I did remove the Blurry, though I don't think it will be particularly missed.

Really like flavor of the Light Resistance. Maybe add Lesser Light Resistance on the non-epic version too?

I also like that there will be more sources for Dodge +3, but I suspect the Titan raid might be run even less now.

[bradleyforrest]

Epic Mask of Tragedy: Improved Void Lore to Major, Potency is now Superior Nullification VII. See Mask of Comedy above for reasoning on the Lore.

Not a fan of losing Potency from this. I can see the thematic reasoning behind it, but I'd rather keep the old version for Potency.

Overall, I think you did a good job with these, but you missed the mark on this one. Also, Epic Robe/Docent of Shadow is just better for the vast majority of players that are going to be concerned with Negative Energy.

[Sarisa]

Not a fan of losing Potency from this. I can see the thematic reasoning behind it, but I'd rather keep the old version for Potency.

Overall, I think you did a good job with these, but you missed the mark on this one. Also, Epic Robe/Docent of Shadow is just better for the vast majority of players that are going to be concerned with Negative Energy.

I agree. I know a few people in game who have made Epic Masks of Tragedy, and they made it solely because of the Potency in the helmet slot.

In addition, I feel that anything with a seal coming out of A Small Problem should be higher on the power scale than the rest of the pack, due to the much higher difficulty of that quest compared to the other three.

[SableShadow]

Them's some nice lil' daggers yah got there now. Thank you!

I suppose the upgrade will clear slots, though...oh well, I can get moar tokens.

Epic Phiarlan Spy Dagger: Added Improved Paralyzing. Like I said, I thought this was a fine idea to give this weapon some extra utility, so now it has it.

A thought on the spy dagger: Deception (at the cap anyway) is generally a rogue's "beat on a red while I have agro" weapon rather than a "clean up trash weapon".

Maybe replace with a Corrosive Salt proc (e.g. Polycurse dagger)?

Imp Para has me thinking of the possibilities of adding cc on an "if needed" basis ... though there is the "skating" effect that held mobs get with a Deception proc...this may make it unpopular in parties...

However ... I'd be pulling 'em out for pretty much every boss fight if they had Corrosive Salt on them. Moar synergies.

Granted, though, that the last couple of new "roguish" weapons (Poly and Small blade) have had the Salt proc...it's just such a nice flavorful proc.

Epic Noxious Fang: Added Disintegration. Yes, making a throwing dagger desirable for Epic is mostly an exercise in futility, but I figured I'd give it a little bump regardless.

You're selling yourself too short.

That's a very nice upgrade to the weapon's utility. Will it be primary dps? Nah. Situationally awesome with that proc (e.g. "Who will rid me of this troublesome shaman?" on that ridge in eVon3)? Yes!

P.S. Thank you for looking at all the items and spending the extra time with the community with regards to the item changes. It's really First Class of you and the team.

Also, this.

[mystafyi]

I love the fact that yall are upgrading the worst epic items... but...
why in gods name are you content with so many epic weapons being WORSE then greensteel(min level 12)? Epic Items worse then min lvl 18 clickies?

but as crazy said above ... im dropping vip and going free to leach. have already reduced my playtime and could possibly stop altogether due to lack of challenging content from constant nerfs and easy buttons.

[Kza]

Really fun and decent improvements. Nj :-)

[Genasi]

Nice work. Now about all those crappy desert and fens items...

Don't worry, we'll get to it. Sentinels is next, though: go check out that thread if you haven't yet for my plans for those ones. http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...6&postcount=52

Only thing I would change about this is change exceptional con 2 to exceptional str 2 maybe.

You know, I actually did have the thought of going strength instead of con for this, but given the fact that tanks like their HP high, I figured con was the way to go. But it's true the eClaw already provides that. I can change it to strength, that isn't a big deal and certainly still goes along with the item's theme.

While a few of the changes may cause some frustration (removing the blurry, for example, several I know specifically desired that effect) the overall changes are all in a positive direction.

I'm not too attached to either keeping the blurry or leaving it, so if people found it was a desirable effect on the item, I can give it back. Mostly I just felt it was starting to get too many different effects.

Many of your changes make me sad.

I'm curious as to which changes, exactly, you're disappointed by. The Brimstone Verge is getting much better than it used to be- well, aside from being its proper minimum level 20 now, of course. Epic items aren't meant to be twink items, I'm afraid. But it's going to effectively have a Maximized Delayed Blast Fireball now instead of a normal Fireball, and it will give you a static boost to your fire spells that almost no other item can currently provide.

As for Incineration, it does less than half the damage of Lightning Strike but only procs slightly more often- it's definitely behind Lightning Strike, even before resistances are considered. I don't think having an Epic-level fire damage effect that procs more frequently will be out of line.

I can see the thematic reasoning behind it, but I'd rather keep the old version for Potency.

Really? There's so many sources of Potency in the game already, but not many for neg energy. The Mabar stuff, for instance, while superior for neg energy when fully upgraded, is not available year-round, although it's tough to argue that there's anything more worth wearing than that for a Pale Master. Having Potency in the helmet slot is unique, but it kind of surprises me that people would be willing to settle with the Greater Potency VII over Superior VI in another slot, unless you're saying it's been sought after just to boost level 7 spells. I can keep the Potency as it was if that's what most of you feel would be better.

[bradleyforrest]

Really? There's so many sources of Potency in the game already, but not many for neg energy. The Mabar stuff, for instance, while superior for neg energy when fully upgraded, is not available year-round, although it's tough to argue that there's anything more worth wearing than that for a Pale Master. Having Potency in the helmet slot is unique, but it kind of surprises me that people would be willing to settle with the Greater Potency VII over Superior VI in another slot, unless you're saying it's been sought after just to boost level 7 spells. I can keep the Potency as it was if that's what most of you feel would be better.

It's true that Potency is all over the place, but it's the fact that it's on the helmet that matters. The other side of it is that there aren't a whole lot of level 7 Negative Energy spells out that that benefit from this that make it worth while.
Off the top of my head, I can think of Mass Inflict Serious (does anyone cast this?), Finger of Death & Destruction (and you don't cast those for their damage).
In other words, there just isn't enough reason to justify SupNull7.

[rest]

Don't worry, we'll get to it. Sentinels is next, though: go check out that thread if you haven't yet for my plans for those ones. http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...6&postcount=52

Really? There's so many sources of Potency in the game already, but not many for neg energy. The Mabar stuff, for instance, while superior for neg energy when fully upgraded, is not available year-round, although it's tough to argue that there's anything more worth wearing than that for a Pale Master. Having Potency in the helmet slot is unique, but it kind of surprises me that people would be willing to settle with the Greater Potency VII over Superior VI in another slot, unless you're saying it's been sought after just to boost level 7 spells. I can keep the Potency as it was if that's what most of you feel would be better.

I saw the changes to the Sentinels stuff. Not too shabby. Now riddle me this: in the past when items have been changed to be BETTER than they currently are, you had to remake the items: the change was not retroactive (notable exception being the tier 3 ring from Crustal Cove). However items that were considered overpowered and were consequently 'nerfed' were changed retroactively. What's the situation with these items?

On my cleric, he has Greater Potency 7 on his DT outfit because he likes the Staff of the Petitioner and the torc so much. I had considered making the epic helm with Greater Pot 7 on it just so I could put a slightly more useful sovereign effect on my DT outfit. I didn't get him a pirate hat with Sup Pot 6 because I was toooo burned out getting everything else to bother even turning in to get any hat on him. For me, the loss of 10% wasn't such a huge problem that it's a deal breaker, and changing it from potency to nullification means I certainly won't be making it. He has the fully upgraded Mabar robe if he has need of a boost for his negative energy spells. I understand not everyone had the opportunity to get that robe, but there are other sources of Sup Null 7 (Twisted Talisman, I'm looking at you.) In fact, it's even Superior Nullification 8!! Booya!

Thematically, Sup Null is a nice counterpoint to the Sup Dev on the other helm.

In other news, how about a +7 wisdom item that ISN'T the VoN 6 helm?

[Asketes]

I'm not too attached to either keeping the blurry or leaving it, so if people found it was a desirable effect on the item, I can give it back. Mostly I just felt it was starting to get too many different effects.

Personally I'll miss the blurry, use it on a few of my toons when i'm running a muck.

That and the SR were the only reasons I made them, to high value targets found on one item. (one of the few epics I've thought were worth making on some toons)

just my thoughts though

The light Resistance is REALLY nice for things like coal chamber and such (not much that I've noticed in epics cast it though right?)

the Spell absorption is neat as well..


Personally I'd like to see this stay as you've changed it and see new effects like blurry come from augment slots.

This will allow epics to truly become a bit more advanced, versus all your random normal effects.

Either way you choose, the blurry is really something I used and will find the cloaks being banked.

P.S. Thank you for looking at all the items and spending the extra time with the community with regards to the item changes. It's really First Class of you and the team.

[BoBo2020]

The Greater Light Resistance on the Cloak is very interesting and very attractive to my PM!

[LeLoric]

All right, I've finished my pass on these items- I may still come back to them, so do respond to the decisions I've made if you feel strongly, but these were my initial changes and the thoughts behind them.

Epic Antique Greataxe: Added Righteousness, increased base damage to 3d10, re-added Adamantine property (which was replaced by Metalline for the Epic version). I realize that the +5 Holy Burst of Greater X Bane weapons that will be possible to make through the crafting system offer this weapon some serious competition, but I'm content for it to stand somewhere between a Min II and the best of the best crafted weapons, which is where I believe this will put it.

A good change, with the slot going to +7 now this gains +3 to hit and 6.5 average base dmg increase. I agree thats a good spot for it to fit in.

Epic Kronzek's Cruelty: Added Lightning Strike and Improved Destruction. It won't quite hit the DPS of a Lit II khopesh, but I think the Improved Destruction will give it a very nice Epic-specific advantage.

Also good change here. It shouldn't do the dmg of a lit II khopesh imo but it should rival the lit II scimitar which it does. Imp destruct is really nice for lower to hit mobs. Elf FS are gonna love this.

Epic Phiarlan Spy Dagger: Added Improved Paralyzing. Like I said, I thought this was a fine idea to give this weapon some extra utility, so now it has it.

Still a pretty mild weapon here. It's hard to make someone wanna use a dagger not sure this does it.

Epic Noxious Fang: Added Disintegration. Yes, making a throwing dagger desirable for Epic is mostly an exercise in futility, but I figured I'd give it a little bump regardless.

Situationally decent youre right throwers are hard to make useful.

Epic Garos' Malice: Replaced normal Incineration with Greater Incineration (procs about twice as often as normal Incineration, for the same amount of damage). Greater Incineration should do DPS in the neighborhood of Lightning Strike, albeit in a damage type that a lot of enemies are resistant/immune to. As a tradeoff, it procs quite a bit more often for smaller chunks of damage, so you will get fewer "wasted" procs. And I do hope this becomes a go-to weapon for fire-weak enemies.

Fills a niche I guess. Thers really not very many fire weak mobs in epic content however. Possibly up to sneak attack +6.

Epic Brimstone Verge: Replaced Fireball with Delayed Blast Fireball, added Epic Combustion VII (60% damage boost to fire spells). The spell also has a DC that is 12 higher than a normal item-triggered Delayed Blast Fireball would be (although this effect was added some time ago), as well as a special, totally new effect: Wand Maximizing, which causes the wand to do 100% extra damage (as though the spell were maximized). Unfortunately, due to the method of implementation on this, it will not stack with the enhancements which increase your wand damage; perhaps we can address that at some point, but for now, at least you will be doing 25% more damage than the highest tiers of those enhancements can provide.

Nice its useable both for the effects and the clickie.

Epic Roderic's Wand: Now grants Augment Summoning while held. This affects the monsters you summon with the wand as well as the ones you summon from your own spells, just as though you had the feat. The spell has not yet been changed to summon all the creatures that are now available for its level range, but those plans are in the works (as well as changing the normal wand to do the same).

Useful love it with the epic wholf whistle if it works for other item uses

Epic Brawn's Spirits: Added Incite 10%, Exceptional Con +2. I think Incite 10%, from what I've heard from posters, appears to be the way to go, simply because it's a more difficult effect to slot than Incite 20%.

Good changes. Not sure if I'd use it on my tank as i use gem there and keep +2 dodge on bracers but useful for some.

Epic Grim's Bracelet: Replaced the natural armor bonus with Dodge +3. This seemed the best way to go that wouldn't escalate the player/monster AC arms race. Sorry to those who have worked hard for a Chattering Ring, but at least you have another way to slot this effect besides running Titan now.

Still wich this wasn't a neck slot. It precludes all stalwarts from using it and many paladins would want something else here too.

Epic Mask of Comedy: Improved Healing Lore to Major, Devotion is now Superior VII. I'm hesitant to go top-of-the-line on the Lore because these are still some of the easier Epics to run.

Better could possibly go to epic devo here though and not bee too strong.

Epic Mask of Tragedy: Improved Void Lore to Major, Potency is now Superior Nullification VII. See Mask of Comedy above for reasoning on the Lore.

Outclassed by the mabar robe for pale masters and not that great for others. still needs something here.

Epic Phiarlan Mirror Cloak: Improved Spell Resistance to 30, added Spell Absorption (5 charges, 1 recharge per rest, same as Mantle of the Worldshaper), added Greater Light Resistance (30 resistance against light damage). Hey, this one may become desirable for Pale Masters for those quests where Searing Light and Sunburst just can't be avoided. Oh, and I did remove the Blurry, though I don't think it will be particularly missed.

Very nice. Unique usable item. My fav of all these changes

Epic Ring of Elemental Essence: Added Epic Combustion/Glaciation/Magnetism (60% damage boost each), added Inherent Resistance 5 to fire, cold and electric. Pretty straightforward; the ring now gives damage boosts that fall between the highest you can get statically and the potions/Amrath clickies that give 75% temporarily. Some will find that useful, others won't.

Could we get acid on this too so we arent leaving out one savant type? Otherwise decent.

Epic Shimmering Pendant: Increased Charisma boost to +7, increased skill boosts to +20. That makes this item the only +20 source of the two skills it provides (diplomacy/perform).

A fairly unique item but still has really tough competition at that slot.

The Wand Maximizing effect (as well as the +12 to DCs) has also been applied to the Epic Cacophonic Verge and the Epic Winter's Wrath. The eWinter's and eBrimstone are now doing about 200 damage on a failed save, and the eCacophonic does about half that with Greater Shout, though it can also apply the stun, of course.

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