Let's Talk: Enhancements!

[Scraap]

Maybe a PrE that is ddostore only... I can't imagine turbine making so many changes without selling something in the ddostore

Up the character slots to 22?

[eeveefan127]

this sounds great, a tree style will really help with making decisions for AP enhancements.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

Paladins is not spelled favored souls. I can't imagine favored souls getting a power up as they are extremely powerful right now.

Oh, Palis can certainly use some more love, why not But, I still can build various effective palis, something Im sure you can do very good as well. Im not a big fan of FvS's palette atm. I know they are extremely powerful at end game, but anything is overly powerful in the right hands... Im also not worried about how powerful anything is if they are re-shuffling the game balance. I'd reckon that Cleric vs FvS balance will be part of the equation when they get to that part of the project.

I may buck the odds on this one Leloric, but I favor clerics' versatility (not an intended pun) over FvS anyday, but thats just me. With inherently low skills, and lack of spell variety, and only one PrE, I'd like to see more options. Again, the ability to UNTIE PrEs from class would really make for some awesome new healer types.

[lathreborn]

Not to get completely off subject, but have any of you noticed that the only people COMPLAINING are people that have been dealing with the system AS IS for years????

And on to what I wanted to add...

The UI is so cumbersome that it makes the enhancement process less fun.

I have to agree that the UI is very cumbersome. However, most people I know have used the external character generator, myself included, for a long time. I started using it to plan my characters a few years ago, BEFORE the change to the UI that showed all the extra AP lines. I will CONTINUE to use the character generator even if the UI is streamlined. Although it would be nice to not have to look at all the fighter kensai APs on my cleric.

I also have to agree that having ONE AP line for the stat enhancements makes more sense in the long run than forcing players to choose between equally valid, and expensive, options.

Here's a thought that doesnt get brought up enough...

Prestige Enhancements should be broken away from their base classes ....

There's no reason a Fighter shouldn't be allowed to go Tempest, and no reason a Ranger shouldn't be allowed to go Kensai. This concept is already used for Arcane Archer (All Elves can take it, regardless of class). Imagine a drwarven defender Barbarian, fortifying one of their weaknesses... for example...

If you take all the right feats or invest in all the right skills and stats, all PrEs should be available to take for any class as long as you meet the required feat/stat/skill/enhancement abilities.

This was how it was done in PnP and how it should be done in DDO.

The main benefit of course is MORE CHOICES. More ways to build the fighter/caster/healer/custom pimp my ride ___________ that you want to play. The other benefit I see is potentially greatly minimizing game balance issues tied to class PrE vs class PrE and minimize your headaches at the same time "this PrE is for fighters, so we need to balance that with another for paladins"...

Agree totally. Variety is the name of the game when it comes to character creation; if there are not enough options, people will either find a way to get what they want, or go to a different game that DOES give them more variety.

I would be very careful in what gets changed and why. If there is no valid reason to change something, leave it alone.

[Flavilandile]

Reposting something I posted somewhere else and expanding a bit. ( not telling where it was posted, it's Fight Club Material )

To expand further what I suggested... and to try to explain that we already have something tree shapped so, it mostly need to have the presentation layer tinkered with.

First some definitions :
- a Tree : something with a trunk and some branches.
- a Trunk : in our case an enhancement without any requirement.
- a Branch : an enhancement that requires a trunk or another branch.

Note that in such instances I fully expect branches at some point to require several trunks.

So in a previous post I gave a general hint of something that could be nice ( something that works like Civ Tech tree, that is you select what you want to reach and let the game points you the requisites. Note the : WORK LIKE, I want something more complex than the Civ Tree with at least 20 trunks ( base enhancement that opens the others up ).


Now to be honest the enhancement system already more or less tree based, but it's not that obvious, as the trees are reversed :

 										Improved Heal I		Life Magic I 			    Charisma I 
                                                                                        |			|				|
                             Divine Vitality I----\     Improved Turning I	Improved Heal II 	Life Magic II	Empower Healing	    Charisma II
                                                  |            |			|			|		|	      |
Prayer of Incredible Life I<----Prayer of Life I  \---->Radiant Servant I <-----------------------------------------------------/	      |
|                                      |                      |										      |
\------------------------------>Radiant Servant II <------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------/

In the above example : Prayer of Life I, Divine Vitality I, Improved Turning I, Improved Heal II, Life Magic I and Charisma I are Trunks ( no requirements )
Any you end up with a nice Radiant Servant II tree.

So if you look at what could be a tree system :

Prayer of Life is a requirement for Prayer of Incredible life... So Prayer of Life is a Trunk and Prayer of Incredible Life is one of the Branches. And Radiant Servant II is a Branche from multiple trees.

[quijenoth]

Not only directed at you Memnir

ou guys know the enhancements already use a tree system eh? It's shown quite well by Natean..from what I understand their not changing how taking enhancemnts works just giving a more user friendly UI and adding some more/repairing old less used & broken enhancements.

Remember when they changed the group UI? nothing changed in the machanics behind the scenes but its still a bone of contention with many players (especially healers) who find it hard to read (especially mana when ki is there as well).

Changing UI is certainly not one of the Devs strong-points if history serves us.

On specific Enhancement display issues the biggest problem I see is Fighters/Favored souls and weapon specializations, the fact each weapon is detailed gives a MASSIVE list over other classes.

On existing Enhancements Pale Master Skeleton Summon abilities need addressing. Right now they are useless AND expensive.

[Rian]

This will be the second overhaul of the enchancement UI system?
Not counting rebalancing or adding of enchancements, but the way we do enchancements.

It is incredibly irritating to use it as it is.
When I'm doing enchancement respecs I have to keep the character window open so I can see what I want.
Otherwise I may mess it up and have to wait to do it all over again.
It doesn't feel organized either.
It's not really "friendly" I suppose would be the word.

To the divine faith lines as enchancements themselves, there's really nothing beneficial to them except for PrE/AP progression and sucking down 6 APs that could be going to something else. I'd like to see that changed to be more useful. Right now they're all +1 to hit then some activated enchancement that costs 4 AP with a 10 minute cooldown, yet you need them for the PrE (at least for paladins, never played a cleric ).

I don't think anyone actually uses the Bladesword Transformation, it's basically a paladin/cleric's version of Tensors Transformation to give bonuses that are not worth the penalties. I've only ever used Undying Call or Unyielding Sovereignty because they're actually useful, still not a fan of the timer though. I'd like for them to actually have a reason aside from AP and PrE progession to take them. Maybe allow paladins to increase their damage with their weapon of faith and clerics to increase their casting capabilities based on their faith?


On another note I hear a lot of people hollering about melee, yet so few only for ranged. My ranger has been my favorite character since the Titan first came out and I've adapted him the best I could so that he could fit my playstyle and still serve a purpose in game. I've found that Arcane archer was pretty much a duct tape fix, at least the way I see it anyhow. I feel that AA should be changed so that slaying arrow isn't the only choice endgame. There have been a few suggestions on AA that you could look at and brain storm. A viable Deepwood Sniper PrE too please


So in summary: MOAR PREs! LESS BROKEN STUFF! GOOD LUCK!

Hopefully something in this post makes sense!

[luvirini]

As for the UI, I definitely agree that it is clumsy to use.

As for changes to enchantments, I see a lot of fury in future..

Few notes on the actual enchantments:

There are few Prestige classes that are definitely sub-par my list of those would mosly be: mechanic and deepwood sniper.

The different spellcasting classes have different methods of enchanting their spells, wizard/sorceror buy them by element, but bard/cleric/fvs buy in "packs". Would make sense if they were the same method.

There are also quite many enchantments where the raising cost does not make sense. Like take the racial fear resistance III for halflings. There is no way it is worth a total of 6 ap to gain +3 to resist vs. fear. So taking a close look at any of 2/4/6 and 1/2/3 and similar cost progression things might be a good idea.

And ofcourse prestige classes in general.. there seem to be a lot of half ready and missing ones. One way to do "easy fix" on the racial one would be to make them like the elven arcane archer is ranger arcane archer. Thus a drow Scorpion Wraith would be assasin, Dwarven Defender would be Stalwart Defender and so on.

[karl_k0ch]

To expand further what I suggested... and to try to explain that we already have something tree shapped so, it mostly need to have the presentation layer tinkered with.

+1 for pointing that out in such a nice way.

While a change in UI might be inconvenient at start, I see that a graphical representation of the enhancements will make things much easier than the current list with listed prerequisites.

[slimkj]

Some enhancements will remain the same, but many will be new. The changed enhancements will also help balance out many classes (think augmentation here, not nerfs). I appreciate that forced change can be very stressful and realize that this will be major inconvenience for those who don’t enjoy having to make a ton of decisions – especially when there are ‘new’ enhancements to digest, but have no doubt it will be worth it in the end.

Agreed about the UI and I can see it being daunting for a new player who hasn't grown up with it. I can only hope/urge that you don't, intentionally or otherwise, reduce build flexibility as this develops, as it's a major pull for the game and what keeps many people coming back after the content is no longer novel for them.

[Aelonwy]

Agreed!
While my favored soul certainly benefit from this change, I don't see it happening. Dividing up the damage lines into light, good, chaos, law would just show how lacking the offensive divine spell selection is in DDO. Divine casters would go 7/6/6 in light and ignore the others. If Angel of Vengeance III or Exorcist of the Silver Flame are ever released (not holding my breath after years of waiting), then we might see some divine spell additions accompany them.

I was not so much concerned with the separation of the Light/good/chaos/law lines but with the balance of the benefit versus the AP cost. Currently wiz/sorcs get +20% with 1 AP and an additional +5% with each additional AP whereas clerics get 10% to healing/negative for instance with 1 AP and it costs 2AP for an additional 10%, 3AP for the next 10%, 4AP for the last 10%. So for wiz/sorcs currently spend 7AP for +50% damage to their favorite damage spells, and clerics spend 10AP for only 40% bonus to healing/harm. Since clerics/favs souls don't really have an enormous number of damaging spells nor damage types it may possibly make sense to keep them in small groups similiar to what we have now but with adjusted AP costs like wiz/sorcs enjoy. Perhaps keep healing/negative energy together, have light/good together, and have law/chaos together. If not then so be it. Personally as a cleric, my favorite character, I'm really only concerned with healing, light, and blade barrier/destruction/implosion.... the last of which I currently get NO enhancement bonuses to whatsoever. I hope that in the future cleric/Fvs will get at least some enhancement bonus to these spells even if comparatively its not anywhere near as substantial an enhancement line as our regular ones.

[azrael4h]

Personally as a cleric, my favorite character, I'm really only concerned with healing, light, and blade barrier/destruction/implosion.... the last of which I currently get NO enhancement bonuses to whatsoever. I hope that in the future cleric/Fvs will get at least some enhancement bonus to these spells even if comparatively its not anywhere near as substantial an enhancement line as our regular ones.

Well FvS already get bonuses to Blade Barrier damage, via their single current PrE, AoV. They get 20% to everything not covered under the smiting lines on tier 1, another 10% on tier 2. I don't know if those affect spells like Implosion or Destruction, on the damage on save parts. My sole active divine is currently on a TR run back to 20, so I can't check.

Another thing I thought of:

Clerics need a new capstone. The current one is situational at best, and one of the best situations have been removed from game as it is. One with +2 to WIS would help push them back in-line with FvS as far as DC goes. It would also mean that a 18/2 Cleric/Monk is only on par, in ocean stance, as a 20 Cleric, DC-wise. There's still plenty to speak for the 18/2 split however.

[Ralmeth]

MadFloyd,

Your list of goals sounds great to me! I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Ralmeth

[Failedlegend]

Why not take this opportunity to get the PrE's out of the game altogether and replaced with actual Prestige Classes?

No the way DDO handles Prestige Classes is 1000x better than the way 3.5 handles it characters with char sheets like this 1/3/2/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1,etc. were banned from my games and before I switched over to 4e I was trying to manufacture something similar to what DDO has (this was before I knew about DDO) except it wasn't reliant on classes.

I'd be fine with PrEs relying completely on skills, feats and enhancements and not on class but I'm 100% against them becoming actual classes

A few random thoughts:

1 - While I believe the thought is to change the UI to more of a streamlined "can-actually-find-****" model rather than the "big honkin' list" we have now, I think it's important to reiterate many people's concerns: DO NOT MAKE ANY ALTERATIONS WHICH FORCE PLAYERS INTO CERTAIN ENHANCEMENT PATHS. DDO's variety of build options are what makes this game, more than anything. No other MMO allows me to build a raid-healing capable character which is also capable of mixing it up in melee. No other MMO allows a buffing support character to provide either crowd control or melee dps, or in some rare, heavily geared cases even able to operate as a tank. Any change which reduces the number of viable builds is bad for both long and short term player growth and retention. MMOs die because eventually they do not offer anything new to their players, and people leave.

Agreed DO NOT change the way enhancements are taken just give it a better visual representations Natean's example is great...although I'd rather it starts at the top and goes down

2 - Merge identical enhancements. You did it with Improved Skill enhancements; but many classes share identical enhancements which are not compatible with each other. Others have noted that this can create incompatibilities with certain multi-class builds and PrEs. Stat enhancements, for example. Rather than having Ranger DEX and Rogue DEX, have a single 'Professional DEX' with a level requirement in Rogue or Ranger. Instead of Cleric Improved Turning and Paladin Improved Turning, have "Professional Improved Turning" with x levels of Paladin or Cleric for prerequisites.

Add Action Boosts to that and it will also allow for alot of combinations that don't work currently ie. Battle Engineer/Assassin

Also Human Versatility should be able to substitute any action boost pre-req and the damage boost needs to be updated (it's still only +# instead of +%)

Lastly it would be cool if you multiclass to a class with the same class ability like turning you get to continue advancing that ability so a 6Paladin/4Cleric would Turn undead like a Lvl 10 Cleric or Paladin as well as any related enhancements (ie. improved turning) your Paladin or Cleric Level would be 10 in terms of a level pre-req.

3 - Higher-tier enhancements need to have AP costs reduced. Racial/Class Toughness IV is often not taken because it costs 4ap... compared to 1ap for tier 1. I actually like the thought of the first tier costing a bit more, while subsequent tiers are cheaper. Racial Healing Amp is horrendously expensive for the benefit of 10% on the third tier. I could go on. But in general; higher tiers should not cost 3-4x as much as the first but not provide any more benefit.

Personally I think 1/1/2/2 would suffice for the HP enhancements or even 1/1/1/1.

4 - Some classes need a serious looking into.

Rangers need animal companions similar to Arty constructs and ranged combat needs to be improved once this is done...make Rangers choose their combat specialization either ranged or melee.

4a - Barbarians could use a bit of help, every Barbarian is the same currently.

They don't really need help but they do need variation and honestly I think only PrEs could do this ie. Occult Slayer I would love playing a Barb if they were Mage Killers...less overall DPS (because your not taking frenzy) for Innate Silence-esque abilities (ie. smack with flat of blade cause bludgeoning damage and inability to cast for 5seconds) and utilities like increase speed(+5% or 10% per tier), spell evasion (works like evasion except for spells only and works in medium armor) and redcution and eventual removal of AC penalty during rage

4b - Monks need some cost reductions for stances and strikes, and something worth spending AP on at the low level so they're not stuck taking Improved Spot for a couple of points.

Yeah one of my main problems when I try to multiclass with monk or roll a pure monk is the first couple levels I find I don't even bother visiting the AP trainer.

I think a enhancements similar to SP increases would work but in smaller increments of course so like each tier adds 3 stable ki to your ki bar for a total of 15 at tier 5 make the first 2 tiers available @ Lvl 1 & 3 than tier 3 at 7, tier 4 at 12, tier 5 at 18.

4c - Paladins need a total-workover on their enhancement list; there is simply no way to take what you want and fit in useful racial enhancements like Racial Healing Amp. HotD is too expensive, AP wise, for a line which has limited value outside of a niche. Right now, the only general Paladin PrE I would consider is DoS, and that only post upgrade. KotC is nice... in specific content. As DDO grows, I hope to see plenty of non-Devil/Daemon content, which the more we get, the weaker KotC becomes. They also need a new capstone, since Artificers basically replace much of the functionality of their current one.

I haven't had much experience with Paladins except my Pally Tank I play in a static group and honestly the only reason I went with Pally over Fighter is because I was making a Knight character theme wise and Paladin fit better..its also the reason I opted against an Evasion tank since that wouldn't work in heavy armor. So both Paladins and Non-Pajama Tanks need a boost.

4e - Fighters need some work just to make their lines readable! Unlike the others, I think Fighter has a strong line of enhancements, but it's painful to even look at.

I'm hoping the Tree "grows" intelligently...so only current/availble enhancements show with the option of showing unavailable branches. IOW once I take Heavy Repeater Mastery the other weapons disappear...honestly though I'd rather it get changed into Slashing, Bludgeoning, Piercing or Ranged instead of each weapon individually.

4f - All primary melee classes should have at least two tiers of healing amp. Throw us Divine players a bone. 'Course, I doubt anyone will give up their precious "DPS" for being 20% easier to heal, but that's expected. They can just sit and cry about not having anyone to hjeal them. 2ap per tier.

Also let Heal Amp effect ALL forms of healing be it Repair, Positive or Negative

6 - Racial weapon enhancements are both too expensive, and too weak. 6ap for 2 to-hit? 6ap to 2-4 damage? To top it off, unless you are Horc and get all THF damage boosted, you're not getting boosts to the most common, high dps weapon type in-game; the Khopesh. Even for THF, the best you have now is a Greatsword. So only Horc's get bonuses there.

My suggestion is to reduce the costs, mainly on the second tiers (see #3). Add a third tier either increasing the critical range, or the multiplier on a natural 20. Perhaps both; though that may be a bit powerful. Then again, we're talking 6ap for each line (attack, damage, with each having a crit enhancement at the third tier). this would give Elven, Drow, and Dwarven melee a bump in dps with their racial weapons.

I think more weapons should added as well (added weapons in orange)

Dwarves - Axes, Hammers and Picks
Halflings - Thrown, Daggers and Kukri's
Warforged - Unarmed
Tinker Gnomes - Q-Staves (make it a magic boosting effect simlilar to potency), All kinds of XBows, Gnomish Hook Hammer (or Sickle)

7a - Drow could add their SR enhancement lines back in, allowing them to actually have a higher SR than others. With Epic casters having such a high CR, I don't know where the balance would be at to have "not completely worthless in epic" and "not completely immune to spells in non-Epic".

I think it would be cool if Drow got Spell Damage Reduction working the same way that Monk Earth Stance or the Shield Mastery feats work except for spells..each tier adds 5% with 4 or 5 tiers available

7 - Elves, more than any race need some help.

I think Elves ability to reduce ASF should be less clunk, Also they should be able to get choose one of their Caster Level and increase it based of their other classes (Divine Classes don't count...interesting thing to add to dwarves)

ie.

Rank 1 - Other Arcane Classes increase you chosen Class CL by 0.5 and reduces all sources of ASF by 5%

Rank 2 - Other Arcane Classes increase you chosen Class CL by 0.5 and Non-Caster/Hybrid Classes increase it by 0.25 while you reduce all sources of ASF by 5%

Rank 3 - Other Arcane Classes increase you chosen Class CL by 0.5 and Non-Caster/Hybrid Classes increase it by 0.25 while you reduce all sources of ASF by 10%

Rank 4 - Other Arcane Classes increase you chosen Class CL by 0.5 and Non-Caster/Hybrid Classes increase it by 0.25 while you reduce all sources of ASF by 20%

Progression would be 1/1/2/4

7b - Mentioned before, by myself and others, here and elsewhere. Give Drow an exclusive racial line for INT, CHA, or DEX, rather than just DEX. This will give them a DC edge as a Sorcerer, Bard, Artificer, or Wizard.

Personally I'd prefer if they were made a +2 Cha. -2 Con 32pt. Race and they release an Int race like Tieflings or Tinker Gnomes

9 - More PrEs!

I'd say at least two COMPLETED PrEs for each class w/ a general idea of what the theme of the third ones will be ie. Arty B-Engineer and Construct Master completed but while Runic master is unreleased it specialize in UMD and Rune Arms or w/e

Also take a look at some less useful PrEs like Virtuoso, Acrobat, Mechanic, DWS,etc.

Another random thought: if melee are to be the sustained ability sub-group, how about modifying the extra x boost lines to more along the lines of regens? Say, 5 minutes for 1 action boost for the first tier, 3 for the second. Might make that 12 and 16 points spent a bit more attractive.

5 - Action boosts are a great way to give players a more active job when playing melee dps roles. However, unless you are a Horc Fighter Kensai, you only get 5-7. Even those only get what, a half-dozen more? I suggest reworking the "Extra Boost" lines into recharging boosts instead. Horc's can keep the extra boosts, since I think every class which gets an action boost also gets a class extra boosts line.

How about having the action boost length increase with each rank 1 (ie. Rank 1 30 seconds, rank 2 40, rank 3 50, rank 4 1 minute) and have the actions boosts regain one for ever Natural 20 which is also a confirmed crit you get.

Maybe a PrE that is ddostore only... I can't imagine turbine making so many changes without selling something in the ddostore

No

[color=lightgreen]Remember when they changed the group UI? nothing changed in the machanics behind the scenes but its still a bone of contention with many players (especially healers) who find it hard to read (especially mana when ki is there as well).

Changing UI is certainly not one of the Devs strong-points if history serves us.

I actually LOVED the first UI and dislike the fact that they changed it again

[voodoogroves]

No the way DDO handles Prestige Classes is 1000x better than the way 3.5 handles it characters with char sheets like this 1/3/2/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1,etc. were banned from my games and before I switched over to 4e I was trying to manufacture something similar to what DDO has (this was before I knew about DDO) except it wasn't reliant on classes.

Heh ... those are gimps. There are plenty of deep PRC splashing folks who aren't ... but if you don't know what you're doing you're going to end up in trouble.

I'd be fine with PrEs relying completely on skills, feats and enhancements and not on class but I'm 100% against them becoming actual classes

I'd love to see non-wizard pale masters (cleric anyone?), non-sorc savants (Bard Air Savant would amuse me), etc. Care would need to be taken to ensure costs are balanced, etc. It'd rock. Some should maybe stay restricted, but others I'd love to see opened up. Kensai. Tempest.

[Failedlegend]

I'd love to see non-wizard pale masters, non-sorc savants (Bard Air Savant would amuse me), etc. Care would need to be taken to ensure costs are balanced, etc. It'd rock. Some should maybe stay restricted, but others I'd love to see opened up. Kensai. Tempest.

Yeah I'm not suggesting that EVERY class should be able to easily get every prestige but it should be less retricted maybe make it "Power Source" ie. Arcane, Divine, Martial, Hybrid

[azrael4h]

Add Action Boosts to that and it will also allow for alot of combinations that don't work currently ie. Battle Engineer/Assassin

Also Human Versatility should be able to substitute any action boost pre-req and the damage boost needs to be updated (it's still only +# instead of +%)

Those were only quick examples, ALL identical enhancements should be merged in such a fashion, both for readability and for PrE compatibility.

Lastly it would be cool if you multiclass to a class with the same class ability like turning you get to continue advancing that ability so a 6Paladin/4Cleric would Turn undead like a Lvl 10 Cleric or Paladin as well as any related enhancements (ie. improved turning) your Paladin or Cleric Level would be 10 in terms of a level pre-req.

Makes sense, though there's simply not too many classes with a specific ability like turning.

Rangers need animal companions similar to Arty constructs and ranged combat needs to be improved once this is done...make Rangers choose their combat specialization either ranged or melee.

The arty dogs are only slightly less crappy than regular summons. Take away their dual focus that they have now and they would be so far below what they are now that you may as well remove them from the game. The ONLY saving grace of the Ranger is having both full TWF and Manyshot available. Animal companions will not change this. Arguably, it will make them weaker. Ranged will not ever become a viable stand-in for melee given the devs' stance on the matter, so will remain primarily situational tactical use with Manyshot.

Let me reiterate; making Rangers suck so bad that only completionists and Drizzt noobs would play them is NOT the way to "fix" them. They need an increase, not raping them further into worthlessness.

They don't really need help but they do need variation and honestly I think only PrEs could do this ie. Occult Slayer I would love playing a Barb if they were Mage Killers...less overall DPS (because your not taking frenzy) for Innate Silence-esque abilities (ie. smack with flat of blade cause bludgeoning damage and inability to cast for 5seconds) and utilities like increase speed(+5% or 10% per tier), spell evasion (works like evasion except for spells only and works in medium armor) and redcution and eventual removal of AC penalty during rage

That's the main help I referred to; more variety. I also think they should get the %-based damage reduction because the other three main melee classes can get it far more easily than the Barbarian. While I don't think Barbarians should ever have a tanking PrE, as they are a pure DPS class, as a divine player I will not shun Barbarians becoming less squishy and easier to heal.

Also let Heal Amp effect ALL forms of healing be it Repair, Positive or Negative

Repair vs healing already has advantages over positive energy healing, as does PM Undead form "healing", and is already strong enough that outside of scroll healing a tank, they are generally overkill in all but the most dire situations. As the bulk of the games actual healing abilities are positive energy, Healing Amplification should remain unique to positive energy healing.

I think more weapons should added as well (added weapons in orange)

Dwarves - Axes, Hammers and Picks
Halflings - Thrown, Daggers and Kukri's
Warforged - Unarmed
Tinker Gnomes - Q-Staves (make it a magic boosting effect simlilar to potency), All kinds of XBows, Gnomish Hook Hammer (or Sickle)

Curious about why Unarmed for WF, but agreed, more weapon choices is a good thing. No gnomes though. Tinker Gnomes are Dragonlance specific critters, and all Gnomes are only good for setting on fire, loading into a catapult, and flinging into an enemy city.


I think Elves ability to reduce ASF should be less clunk, Also they should be able to get choose one of their Caster Level and increase it based of their other classes (Divine Classes don't count...interesting thing to add to dwarves)

Personally I'd prefer if they were made a +2 Cha. -2 Con 32pt. Race and they release an Int race like Tieflings or Tinker Gnomes

Drow stat layout is fine as is; it's matching their PnP counterpart. The problem lies in the fact that at current their stat bonuses only match Human/Helf in the end-game, they have few viable enhancements, and their penalties (not a 32pt build, -2 CON) outweigh the gains. Making them a +2 CHA/-2 CON race would kill what little of an advantage that they have now, may as well remove them then.

Again, Tinker Gnomes are Dragonlance-specific, and like all gnomes are useful as food and little else. Except Devil Whiskey's Gnomes, which are cute. I'll sign adding Tieflings for a +2 INT race.

How about having the action boost length increase with each rank 1 (ie. Rank 1 30 seconds, rank 2 40, rank 3 50, rank 4 1 minute) and have the actions boosts regain one for ever Natural 20 which is also a confirmed crit you get.

That would work as well. Just trying to make the boosts more useful and sustainable.

[Coldin]

Looking forward to seeing what it looks like. Hopefully these changes will balance out the power of different enhancements.

[Failedlegend]

The arty dogs are only slightly less crappy than regular summons.

I disagree the arty consrtuct aside from a few bugs (I still maintain Arty Pets are the tiral run for familiars, animal companions,etc.) is a quite effective ally...sure he's no where near a PC Tank but honestly If they were I'd be calling for a nerf. IF you disagree well I'm guessing you just had a bad experience with a bad player.

Take away their dual focus that they have now and they would be so far below what they are now that you may as well remove them from the game. The ONLY saving grace of the Ranger is having both full TWF and Manyshot available. Animal companions will not change this. Arguably, it will make them weaker. Ranged will not ever become a viable stand-in for melee given the devs' stance on the matter, so will remain primarily situational tactical use with Manyshot.

The only reason their dual focus is needed is because they don't have enough spells nor do they have their companions as well as the fact that ranged combat is borked overall (although a well built ranged arty can give some barbs a run for their money DPS wise) if ranged combat and animal companions were added Rangers would be OP and the separation would be required.

Curious about why Unarmed for WF, but agreed, more weapon choices is a good thing.

Warforged have the ability to alter their bodies and one of the things they can do is enhance their fists so I figured making unarmed a racial weapon for them could reflect that

Another thing to think for the future is when a druid shapeshifts they drop their weapons but Warforged druids can meld those to their arms so they don't lose them when they shift they don't lose the benefits

Overall I just want to see more body modding enhancements for Warforged

I hate Gnomes

Good for you

Tinker gnomes don't beling in Ebberon

I disagree with you but thats not really the point...the point is +2 Con/-2 Str is a useless stat spread so I'd rather they have their old school stats of +2 Int...which in 3.5 is tinker gnomes +2int/Dex, -2Str/Wis. I could care less if Turbine just calls em Gnomes as long as they keep the stats

[sebastianosmith]

We’re re-doing it – replacing it with a tree-based design that should make character planning and advancement much better and also have the added benefit of making it easier for us to implement new enhancements (PrE’s anyone?).

I'd really like to see an entire character planner in-game. Ron Hiler's work is fantastic and much appreciated by the community (many, many thanks Ron), but having to depend on his continued good graces, generosity, time and effort to support what has become in essence the third rail of DDO seems somewhat short-sighted of Turbine. Making the act of character creation less, for lack of a better term, clunky would lower the barrier to entry of the game as a whole and may draw new players.