Wizard's Ward Spell orb

[FranOhmsford]

Exactly.

Orbs are not a purely cosmetic item. They are intended to provide bonuses to your character comparable to what you could otherwise find on an item that is equipped to one hand.

Staves, simply put, are designed to provide power to spellcasters equal to two hands worth of items.

While we can understand that players may want the thematic aspect of being a badass spellcaster with a staff of arcane power in one hand, and a swirling orb of thunderous fury in the other, that's something that we could only reasonably offer if orbs were a cosmetic item that conferred no in-game bonuses.

Unfortunately, that is not in our current vision for these items. We intend them to be paired with one-handed weapons, such as scepters, and the statistics on these items are balanced for that purpose.

Sorry Feather But the person who brought up Rune-Arms is right!

X-Bows simply cannot be wielded in one hand! We're not talking Drow Hand X-Bows here but Heavy Repeaters!

Rune-Arms provide a massive power boost to Artificers that no other class in the game gets!

And you're telling us that this is all fine and dandy {even though completely unrealistic} for Artificers But you're not gonna let Arcane Casters hold a staff one handed?

I assume you do know that when in Zombie form a Pale Master wields his quarterstaff one handed?
Just use something like this ^ for having Staff and Orb equipped rather than making said caster not be able to defend himself physically at all.

We still don't have Wizard Hats {Except for Elminster that is} which we've been asking for for years.

Wizards and Sorcs are not Acrobats or Monks as someone said.

And as for Staff and Orb - Well I'm guessing that there's going to be redundant bonuses - I haven't personally seen the War Wizard's Staff and have only had a glimpse at the Orb the Op's talking about - but even if they complement each other perfectly for casting = This is how it should be at Epic Levels!

[Trasak]

Realistically the power of a random staff is not equal to the power of the right random one-hander and another one-hander. The crux of this argument is that it is unlikely to have all of the stats on a random staff be exactly what you want and you cannot have two blue suffixes but with two 1 hand weapons you can. I would suggest having orbs only have blue suffix effects and have them equip able with staves. Secondly I would like to see wands equip able with a staff as well so that a caster can have a real auto attack when out of SP. And before it is said named staff may or may not be balanced against named 1hand + 2nd 1hand or orb total depends on the developer making them,
*cough* ESOS *cough*.

[Vordax]

Rune-Arms provide a massive power boost to Artificers that no other class in the game gets!

And you're telling us that this is all fine and dandy {even though completely unrealistic} for Artificers But you're not gonna let Arcane Casters hold a staff one handed?

So what your saying is that arcanes are underpowered and need a boost?

[MindSpecter]

Would it be too outlandish to just keep the staff 2handed while giving arcanes/divines a set of one handed animations? I'm not too upset over the whole orb thing, but I would really like a one handed staff animation.

[OldCoaly]

Why can't I use a greatsword in my main hand, and a khopesh in my other hand at the same time?

I don't think you're quite getting the point of the OP.

[Hendrik]

People make a request, and developers respond with sarcasm instead of an actual answer. Then they wonder why we get so snarky.

Well if that's the tone that Feather wants to set, fine. Here's mine:

While the original idea is cool, if they let casters equip a stave and an orb, but be unable to melee attack with them, we would soon have useful developer feedback like this:

• Staves. Yes we know. Here is my known issue for staves. Staves in assorted flavors are borked.

Note: the original comment this is based on is here.

Consider how the players treat the DEVs in these very forums, it's about **** time they stuck up for themselves!

Kudos FoS!!!!!

[Alaunra2010]

Why can't I use a greatsword in my main hand, and a khopesh in my other hand at the same time?

Because you haven't coded the Monkey Grip feat yet. Get to it!

[chrisdinus7]

So why introduce orbs at all? Why not simply make shields with casters stats on them, why spend time on fluff if it has no new mechanic attached to it?


Also, the question stands: why-the-bard-hate.

Not that I have the orb yet, but my understanding is that in addition to caster stats, it grants energy resist and save bonuses instead of AC and DR. Presumably to give it the full caster feel, instead of giving physical defense bonuses that wouldn't matter to most casters.

[Kaldais]

Exactly.

Orbs are not a purely cosmetic item. They are intended to provide bonuses to your character comparable to what you could otherwise find on an item that is equipped to one hand.

Staves, simply put, are designed to provide power to spellcasters equal to two hands worth of items.

While we can understand that players may want the thematic aspect of being a badass spellcaster with a staff of arcane power in one hand, and a swirling orb of thunderous fury in the other, that's something that we could only reasonably offer if orbs were a cosmetic item that conferred no in-game bonuses.

Unfortunately, that is not in our current vision for these items. We intend them to be paired with one-handed weapons, such as scepters, and the statistics on these items are balanced for that purpose.

Sorry, but you failed to convince me.

The current thurmaturgy staff has 3 pres and 1 post effects, one of which is always potency versus two sceptors 2 pres and 2 post effects. The potency effect can be had on many different slot items, where as the 2 post effects sceptors offer are unique to weapons, thus making the staff a pretty much useless item in end game.

Now if you include offhand orbs equiptable with 1/4staff and requires magical training only. And perhalps only allow 1 effect to appear on randomly generated orbs, then I fail to see how that would be inbalanced. Make only the orb to have special set of caster enchantments, such as arcane argumention, power absorb, lore effects, focus effects, elemental absorbtion, etc.

[ArkoHighStar]

Exactly.

Orbs are not a purely cosmetic item. They are intended to provide bonuses to your character comparable to what you could otherwise find on an item that is equipped to one hand.

Staves, simply put, are designed to provide power to spellcasters equal to two hands worth of items.

While we can understand that players may want the thematic aspect of being a badass spellcaster with a staff of arcane power in one hand, and a swirling orb of thunderous fury in the other, that's something that we could only reasonably offer if orbs were a cosmetic item that conferred no in-game bonuses.

Unfortunately, that is not in our current vision for these items. We intend them to be paired with one-handed weapons, such as scepters, and the statistics on these items are balanced for that purpose.

this should have been your answer on your first post

I disagree with your reasoning but at least its a reason not a snarky remark

On a side note this derails my plans to have my five year hold a walking stick and a baseball and smite a my little pony figure and post the picture

[Spoonwelder]

This is along the lines of cake - you know - you can't eat it and have it. Well unless you are bulimic and extremely gross.

It'd be like asking why my Barb can't self-heal, cast displacement and dual wield battle axes since he has 80 Str and can lift a small city.

It's the rules. They are there for balance so we all don't just play one uber-class all the time.

That said I hate the fiddliness of swapping stuff so I generally find two sticks and a ring cover most of my casting needs and I have 2-3 sets of them for different situations. The thaumaturgy stuff didn't work for me due to having skivers on my casters that I just haven't gotten around to regearing around.

[Saravis]

Not that I have the orb yet, but my understanding is that in addition to caster stats, it grants energy resist and save bonuses instead of AC and DR. Presumably to give it the full caster feel, instead of giving physical defense bonuses that wouldn't matter to most casters.

+6 to both, from what I understand.

While +6 to saves is nice, +6 to energy resist is a joke.

[WyntherKnight]

Well one solution.... since you made a new item (orb), which somehow replaced shield for arcanes, the why not make another new item, a one-handed staff? Just code over the scepters with a visual look of a staff and viola! A caster can now have an orb and a one handed staff equipped.

Put some limits on the one-handed staff, like damage is 1-1, can only be used by arcanes, very low durability, etc.

I'm not a programmer or encoder so I don't know how making a new one-handed staff item will work.

It's not gonna be game breaking since you can use an orb and a scepter, just change the look of the scepter to look like a staff but still have the abilities of most scepters or staff abilities with limits.

[Spoonwelder]

Sorry, but you failed to convince me.

The current thurmaturgy staff has 3 pres and 1 post effects, one of which is always potency versus two sceptors 2 pres and 2 post effects. The potency effect can be had on many different slot items, where as the 2 post effects sceptors offer are unique to weapons, thus making the staff a pretty much useless item in end game.

Now if you include offhand orbs equiptable with 1/4staff and requires magical training only. And perhalps only allow 1 effect to appear on randomly generated orbs, then I fail to see how that would be inbalanced. Make only the orb to have special set of caster enchantments, such as arcane argumention, power absorb, lore effects, focus effects, elemental absorbtion, etc.

How many single handed sticks give you the same potency at a similar ML to a staff?

[FranOhmsford]

So what your saying is that arcanes are underpowered and need a boost?

Options would be a better way of putting it.

But:

I don't really subscribe to the Class = Power ideas in DDO - I do feel that WF FavSouls have it very easy and have done so since I started playing DDO.
I realise that WF Sorcs and Liches can power through content no matter what the difficulty if wielded by a good enough player.
However I also realise that so can a bard or a Ranger or even a Paladin in the right hands.

The vast majority of people playing DDO are not powering through Epic Elites on any class!

When I started playing Dungeons & Dragons oh so long ago I played characters that were nothing like I am in real life - I played powerful characters when possible - I played roleplaying builds when I wanted to.

I once joined a group {Some Science Fiction game NOT D&D} and played a character with high Diplomatic stats - I was extremely unhappy when the DM insisted I do the Diplomacy myself as I've never been good at talking to people.
But the DM ignored the Dice rolls and insisted on me talking my way through - Wouldn't even let me explain what my character was getting at - I had to do it myself.
Well I never went back.


Sometimes I feel DDO has issues like this {nowhere near as bad}.
If I've put 23 skill points into Jump I shouldn't be falling off ledges in Coal Chamber every two seconds OR If I've put 23 pts into Move Silently I shouldn't wake up every single scorpion in Claw of Vulkoor even when sneaking.

Character skill should beat player skill!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since finding DDO I've played Every class in the game at least up to Lvl 7 {Druid}.

Ease of Levelling for me:

1. Artificer - Highest Lvl reached - 16 {got annoyed with Dog glitching out constantly - semi retired}.
2. Cleric - Highest Lvl reached - 21 {3 Fighter Levels}.
3. Monk - Highest Lvl reached - 21 {Shinto}.
4. Fighter - Highest Lvl reached - 17 {With Stone of XP}, 13 {Without}.
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5. Paladin - Highest Lvl reached - Capped a completely gimp Pure HotD and TRd - Now Lvl 12 {2nd Life HotD}.
6. Wizard - Highest Lvl reached - 18 {2 Rogue Levels - Had 4 but Lesser ressed}. 17 {Pure}
7. Rogue - Highest Lvl reached - 20 {with 3 Arti and 2 Fighter Lvls}, 17 {with 2 Monk and 2 Fighter Lvls}, 15 {Pure}.
8. Bard - Highest Lvl reached - 15 {WF Spellsinger}.
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9. Ranger {Tempest} - Highest Lvl reached - 15 {before starting on Fighter Lvls} 15/1 still.
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10. FavSoul - Had a 4th Level fighter I decided was favoured by the Gods when I bought FavSoul - He ended up capped 16/4 - TRd him into a Paladin as I realised that's basically what I was trying to play.
Highest Lvl Pure = 13.
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11. Druid - Not got past lvl 7 yet - Still learning - May end up much higher.
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12. Sorc - Never Levelled a Sorc of any type past Lvl 8 - I have a Stoned Lvl 16 Ice Sorc who I can't bring myself to gear up.

So frankly - Yes I do think Arcanes need boosting.

[Hendrik]

So why introduce orbs at all? Why not simply make shields with casters stats on them, why spend time on fluff if it has no new mechanic attached to it?


Also, the question stands: why-the-bard-hate.

Again, to give players OPTIONS.

And there are shield with caster stats on them now.

[DeafeningWhisper]

Again, to give players OPTIONS.

And there are shield with caster stats on them now.

How does creating a brand new item give new options, when you can give all the effects you find on it on a shield, that A: doesn't prejudice against bards and B: doesn't require all the work that had to go into making said new item?

Also had they just given the effect of orbs on shields they *would* have given people more options, because as they stand now they are scepters with class limitations... If anything they reduced the choices for bards by taking away caster options every other arcane has access to now.

[fco-karatekid]

So why introduce orbs at all? Why not simply make shields with casters stats on them, why spend time on fluff if it has no new mechanic attached to it?...

I'm guessing to try to stay in closer to PnP - a player would likely have no issues with the logic of a caster carrying such a magical item as an orb, but the thought of a castus-interruptus shield would seem kinda silly.

[ComicRelief]

Because you are lazy and didnt put Monkey Grip in the game.

^^^This. I think it should be added to an Epic Destiny. I'd love to be able to dual-wield great swords/axes/clubs.

[swimmer11]

+6 to both, from what I understand.

While +6 to saves is nice, +6 to energy resist is a joke.

only while actively blocking...so in sense to a caster useless as well cause not many casters block