Skill Tomes

[Trillea]

A few questions that I think the Devs need to answer:

1) If a character eats a Skill Tome then TRs, will the skills stay like current Stat Tomes or will they disappear like the old Stat Tomes?

2) Since it states that the bonus to skills doesn't stack with other tomes with an inherent bonus, does that mean that a character that ate a +4 Con Tome and a +3 Concentration Skill Tome will get a +5 Concentration bonus or only a +3 Concentration bonus?

You would have a +5 because the +4 CON tome adds to the stat and has nothing to do with the direct skill bonus. What that phrase means is a +2 concentration tome won't stack with a +1 concentration tome, the +2 will override it.

[~Hexfax]

You would have a +5 because the +4 CON tome adds to the stat and has nothing to do with the direct skill bonus. What that phrase means is a +2 concentration tome won't stack with a +1 concentration tome, the +2 will override it.

That would be my guess also, but it wouldn't hurt to have a Dev to clarify it.

[Wizza]

Four things:

1) If they drop in chests, nice addition.

2) IF they drop in chests, they should be unbound or it will be a PITA to store them all.

3) I surely hope you put UMD there.

4) If they are a store only item, and again I'm against this option, you better don't go overboard with the prices. We have 20 skills. When Spellcraft will be added, 21. This + the revamp to Heal/Repair/Perform will make us want at least 6~10 tomes out of 21 skills on most chars (trappers even more).

Let's say I'm a sorc, I want:

Concentration, Balance, Heal, Spellcraft, Repair, UMD.


Now, let's say I'm a rogue:

Concentration, Balance, Bluff, DD, Hide, Listen, MS, OL, Search, Spot, UMD.

11 skills. Too many if the prices of the tomes are over 200 TP each. (that would still be a ~2k TP points spent if I decide to buy them all from the store, pretty big)

[esheep]

This is the next big money grab, along with cosmetic armor/goggles/and helms. Next will be feat tomes, opening up epic seals and shards to be traded on the astral shard auction house, cosmetic shields and pet gear, and a half baked expansion pack.

Cosmetic armor/goggles/helms/shields/pet gear, how is this a bad thing, 100% optional (tbh every item in the DDO store is 100% optional in the sense that you don't need the items to complete content aside from adventure packs).

I wouldn't mind a cosmetic shield, if green steel was still relevant at higher levels I'd be asking for cosmetic weapon skins/models.

Kinda sounds like anything Turbine does that might turn them a profit will be a 'money grab' if one is to view things from your perspective.

Let's not forget that we so far don't know what the intended methods of acquisition are for these tomes... if they drop similarly to ability tomes there shouldn't be any problems, unless people are looking for something new to complain about.

Let's say I'm a sorc, I want:

Concentration, Balance, Heal, Spellcraft, Repair, UMD.

Key word being want... lets not forget we managed to do everything in the game before Skill Tomes ... so regardless of what acquisition method is used, you won't NEED to buy them, unless you really really want to (which is on you imo).

That said I am in the camp that will be disappointed if they do not drop from chests as Ability Tomes do. In the event that they are store only I'll simply do without them as I expect most will. (Similarly to how I've done without most all of the DDOStore items.)

[~NiborRis]

The power creep on a few specific skills is rather evil, but I suppose we can live with it.

In my opinion, these should drop similarly to stat tomes, but less rare - since we only have 6 stats, but ~20 abilities, dropping at 3x the rate would be perfectly reasonable.

It would be very nice to find out the initial drop ranges for each level of tome, much like we have with stat tomes, and what the highest available skill tome will be to start with. If a +3 is min lvl 9, I will guess that +1 is min lvl 3 and +2 is min lvl 6. If that pattern is right, we could see +8 at min lvl 24 and +9 at min lvl 27 with the expansion - those are some REALLY big boosts; Intimidate, UMD (or will UMD be the oddball again?), all the spellpower skills when/if that change rolls out, all would see a power creep; even open lock and disable device would, but I think you can already no-fail every lock and trap in the game if you really want to so that may not really matter. But +6 tomes don't exist yet, and +5s didn't exist until recently, and it wasn't THAT long ago that there were no +4s either, so I kind of suspect they'll roll these out slowly as well. So what's the initial highest available skill tome?

[~Ferrir_Mule_S]

Nice!

If a +3 is level nine we might get skill tomes all the way up to +10 (at level 30).

Everything that is on the roll price list also drops from chests, so alto still speculation these skill tomes probably do drop from chests.

Btw I would buy a supreme skill tome that would add +10 to each skill at level 30 for a reasonable price.

[~SeikojinSama]

They should drop like tomes. +1 skill is pretty valuable later on, so I am sure they will be in the same vein as stat tomes.

[dejafu]

3) I surely hope you put UMD there.

I can verify that UMD is one of the skills - got a UMD upgrade tome on a dice roll the other night.

[Wizza]

I can verify that UMD is one of the skills - got a UMD upgrade tome on a dice roll the other night.

Thanks.

We gotta see if they drop in chests then. +3 UMD is nice.

[Cetus]

+3 free umd? You gotta be kidding me

Anybody and their mother can pretty much get no fail heal scroll use with minimal investment.

I used to half justify my completionist feat based on that umd use toward no fail heal scrolls on a pure class investing into a cross skill.

Turbine better make those uber heal scrolls currently in the ddo store available in game with a 44 UMD check or something.

Amazing thought process here: "Hey, lets make everyone use this new skill called spellcraft and use heal to impact your spellpower too - and NOW lets sell tomes that boost those skills for ddo store points!".

[Bolo_Grubb]

mmm not sure what I think of this.

At first I thought hey a great way to boost the skills on my rogue splash multi-class characters. I guess it depends on how high these skill tomes end up going. I mean a +3 or 4 will help a character that is only 75% on a scroll or improve the odds for a disable device or open locks attempt.

The character for these skills will still have to have a decent investment in the skill or the skill tomes won't really do anything for them right?

[Wizza]

I can verify that UMD is one of the skills - got a UMD upgrade tome on a dice roll the other night.

So UMD is or isn't there?

[~quintino]

So UMD is or isn't there?

not sure with the rolls, but on the one I got which let's you choose which skill to get, there wasn't any listed in the choices, it all ended in tumble and there wasn't a page 2.

[Wizza]

not sure with the rolls, but on the one I got which let's you choose which skill to get, there wasn't any listed in the choices, it all ended in tumble and there wasn't a page 2.

Well, the quoted message says UMD upgrade. If there are only upgrades and not the base ones, I wonder what's the point..

[seebs]

So UMD is or isn't there?

It appears that UMD tomes exist, and that generic skill tomes exist which work for everything that isn't UMD.

So if you get a +2 UMD tome, it's +2 to UMD, and never to any other skill. And if you get a +2 skill tome, it's selectable which skill you want it to modify, but it can't be UMD.

[Uska]

Four things:

1) If they drop in chests, nice addition.

2) IF they drop in chests, they should be unbound or it will be a PITA to store them all.

3) I surely hope you put UMD there.

4) If they are a store only item, and again I'm against this option, you better don't go overboard with the prices. We have 20 skills. When Spellcraft will be added, 21. This + the revamp to Heal/Repair/Perform will make us want at least 6~10 tomes out of 21 skills on most chars (trappers even more).

Let's say I'm a sorc, I want:

Concentration, Balance, Heal, Spellcraft, Repair, UMD.


Now, let's say I'm a rogue:

Concentration, lBalance, Bluff, DD, Hide, Listen, MS, OL, Search, Spot, UMD.

11 skills. Too many if the prices of the tomes are over 200 TP each. (that would still be a ~2k TP points spent if I decide to buy them all from the store, pretty big)

You want more skills as a sorc then have a higher int these are a terribly stupid idea loot or store this game is really starting to go down hill

[Qezuzu]

Other than UMD, I can't see skill tomes actually being useful.

They'll only be sought after by the ******** "I NEED TWO MORE POINTS IN STRENGTH OR I'LL NEVER BE VIABLE" crowd. This isn't a power creep, this is putting a drop of power into a lake of power.

[Ryiah]

They'll only be sought after by the ******** "I NEED TWO MORE POINTS IN STRENGTH OR I'LL NEVER BE VIABLE" crowd.

Because everyone who seeks different things in game than you is ********? Personally I would readily grab a UMD tome for my completionist. The others aren't quite as important but still beneficial.

[Panserbjorne]

I would like to see an interface for SKill/Stat tomes similar to the Monster Manual. I am hoping that it adds something to these new skill tomes instead of just a number to acquire.

I posted this suggestion in Skill Tomes Interface under Suggestions (as not to deride this thread) but I think that someone mentioned about being concerned that the next step would be purchasing feats. I referenced this exact topic and a solution at the end of the thread for anyone that is interested!

If you read it, and would like to see it posted in this thread or another thread in the "Lammania items" section for those on Lammania/Mournlands, I would be happy to re-post it or specific selections from it.

[Qezuzu]

Because everyone who seeks different things in game than you is ********?

I didn't say that. There's a difference between "I want this item/potion/tome/necktie because I want a higher X" and "I want this item/potion/tome/necktie because I want a higher X, and I'll pursue it at all costs because I NEED IT TO RUN EPIC ELITE GIANTHOLD." It's also different from "I just want it because it could be useful." I'm talking about people who see any bonus to any aspect of their character, no matter how small, and automatically see it as a necessity.

These skill tomes provide a *very* insignificant bonus. With the large number of bonuses to skills and the difficulty of EE, there are almost no places where your skill is either more than enough or completely useless. There's no reason to get all flustered that they're being sold in the DDO Store because they are even less useful than the +1 or +2 to a stat that the ridiculously rare +5 stat tomes give.

Personally I would readily grab a UMD tome for my completionist. The others aren't quite as important but still beneficial.

Correct, UMD is the only tome that's useful enough to warrant getting.