If you where a ddo producer what would you do?

[Glithanes]

My suggestion is here, Brand New Server No transfer, level 1 locked to create character creation, Iconic toons locked for 6-12 months, vet status locked for at least 6-9 months.

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...-Please-Turbin

Hey Turbine and all,

This is my Exp with DDO so far below and my strong suggestion idea to fix that for both brand new players like me, as well as old players to want to return, as well as the current players many whom are founders.
This below is what is wrong the most with this game, and then my solution etc even below that.



As a brand new player my feeling as below.
The main 2 issues of getting new players to play and stay and sub, spent money in cash shop as well as expansions .
Is all the current servers have all the decent to really good character names taken.
This as a brand new player like me as was all returning players all the names taken is major issue.


I must say, that today when the servers finally came up.
I was finally able to play all day and night but so farr its been Horrible due to have not been to find groups and every server I have tried on top of that just has a bunch of elite conceded players, that even asking questions in advice either ignore you or berate you for being a new player to the game.

I am hoping all these players many servers are not normal typical of DDO, that due to Holiday weekend being ruined by turbine with 28 hour downtime they are just angry still cause of that.
I do hope and pray I am, wrong cause as complex as this game is, I want to be here for next few years thru many new expansions, as I learn the game.
Like I said I signed up for 3 month VIP, but due to turbine delay, I cant seem to find a server that has good population as well as really good guilds and is mature as well as drama free, and helpful to new players, let alone even 1 guild being decent that takes new players and does not mind teaching them some here and there, as well as being to run groups in guild.

I am going to pray that all the servers and guilds aren't like what I dealed with today in the future


Most players like me that are from dungeon and dragon pen and paper background, feel very strongly in our character creation name and sur name it is what defines us so the fact that every, every decent name and sur name combos are taken here is my solution.

Next issue I posted below is the fact that on top of that all current servers most the current players are either VIP or have spent tons of money in the store to unlock as Preiium players and former VIp players, anyway they are all max level characters with multiple toons.
Basically most the servers are very unfriendly to new players this is a major issue Turbine.

This is not just and issue for Turbine money wise, but for us brand new players as well as other semi new players and old players that try to return and sub and spend money in cash shop and buy expansions.
Most of all these and brand new players like me as well as new players and old returning if you want them to stay and spend money on subs, expansions and cash shop a Brand new server with no transfer allowed for 6-12 months, also level locked at level 1, so vet status wont work or Iconic characters for like the 1st 6-12 months.

Basically by having a brand new server turbine you can make it sort of like a progression server, but since you maybe don't want to spend devs time on having the content locked on it, instead you just stop xfers to it, as well as make all characters start at level 1.

By doing this turbine not only would new and old players be happy but you can email all the old players to come back for the new server launch.

Also turbine by doing this you can relaunch DDO PR wise to all the gaming sites its free press to email and invite all the old players that have not played in years to return for the relaunch of DDO with a brand new server launch.


My idea is win/win for us players new and old, now I want to be clear to make a brand new progression server would take devs extra time and money to code it and test it.

To get around the devs having to spend extra time and money.
I suggest Brand new server, NO transfers for like 6-12 months, also the server is level locked for all players new and old they are forced to start at level 1.
Also turn off Iconic characters.
So instead of having to change all the typical stuff for a progression server, this way turbine gives us Brand new players and old players a place where we can all start and work together as brand new server community.

As a new player this would make me the most happy all the names are not taken, all of us players are starting out from scratch no monty hall loot piñata like all the old epic vets..

You turbine would get to market this relaunch of the new server with a semi DDO relaunch, the new server gives turbine tons of free gaming press to get all the players that have left over the years to other MMO's and Brand new players like me can find a good guild home , and most of all the old content that is still great on new server everyone will want to do it, help group, all the crafters are ljust starting out, then you Cryptic can have Iconic characters turned off till 6-12 months on this server.

This way we players can find a good home, and turbine would get tons of free press for both this and LOTR and new and pld players will come to this game to reroll or roll on the new shiny server with all those new and old players spending lots of money in DDO store as well as VIP, and expansion sales etc.


In closing I am sure maybe at some time this has been suggested but not only would I love this as brand new players but the current players and founders and old players that have given up due to many reasons this gives everyone a new chance to re see this great game, as well as again, and most of all with not all the names taken many by players that have not played in years, and everyone at level 1 is even playing field with the new transfer rule for 6-12 months as well level 1 lock to creat characters with no Iconic or vet character status is disabled on this server from 6-12 months.

Sorry for my long winded post all.

Thank you.

[shores11]

Edit: Never bloody mind

2. Refocus at least somewhat on Eberron or just ditch it all together.

I agree that since Turbine ill advisedly started DDO in Eberron they should maintain it and add new content from time to time. However Forgotten Realms (should have been DDO from the start) still needs lots of work and more content. Things I think still needed in FR.

1) More raids, I would like to see one added in the Underdark with some serious drow to fight. There is only one quest in there now.
2) FR Guild halls (no ships) advancing something like this:
>>>a. Camp
>>>b. House
>>>c. Hall
>>>d. Fort
>>>e. Keep
>>>f. Castle
3) Eventually content starting at level 1. Allow players to start a new character in Eberron (Korthos) or FR in a newbie area.
>>> At level 16 there could also be a quest line that gives players access to Eberron.
4) Content that moves a bit closer to one of the three major cities i.e. Tantris, Shadowdale or Waterdeep
5) I want to eventually see the real Titans in the game like in the northern part of Faerun.

[Raiderone]

Tolero isn't exactly anonymous, but I have a full summary that we review every week with senior executives.

I'll file these under too early to tell (and definitely not promised)...

- New class (we're discussing)
- Housing (we're discussing)

We have to choose where to invest, so if raids are really the thing and housing is useless let us know. Raids get a lot of forum traffic but not necessarily the player usage.

1) New Raids.
2) Shroud Epic.
3) New Class (depending on class).
4) New races: Tiefling and Ausimer.

[Raiderone]

1) New Raids.
2) Shroud Epic.
3) New Class (depending on class).
4) New races: Tiefling and Ausimer.

One more thing I'd like to see is New Weapon Types. Been waiting for new Weapons for a long time...
Halberd
Spear
Flail
Broadsword

[patang01]

Lets assume that you are a producer for ddo and you are given a directive to design a way to increase revenue for ddo. You can do this any way you want, you are given full liberties, from items, to game mechanics. What would you do?

Any changes must have a guaranteed return on investment and must use the existing game as a base, no starting over.

Named loot with a upgrade path ala greensteel. You got the basic - you add effects to it through whatever mechanism you need. Random remain what it is, but the named stuff can be granted set bonuses or whatever. A truly interactive way of doing what you want it to do within basic parameters.

Second a random quest in Wilderness areas. With Normal, Hard or Elite - each version adding a larger tile set based on the type of area you're within. A way to make sure there's always tons of quests around and most of them are unique. So regular quests are for story arch and named stuff, the random is to give reason to explore wilderness for these unique quests.

Random paths within quests. A truly secret areas without the need to come up with a convoluted reason to make secret fresh. Based on the diff setting each possible hidden area will be bigger and longer to explore.

That way each quest, old or random will be fresh while you grind out the loot the way you want it.

[visibleman]

- Housing (we're discussing)
We have to choose where to invest, so if raids are really the thing and housing is useless let us know. Raids get a lot of forum traffic but not necessarily the player usage.

Housing?!?!?

Are you serious?!

This is not Sadville!

You seem to have mistaken us for people who play with Barbie dolls. I think you'll find, we generally want to smash Orcs and topple evil empire etc.

Not go shopping for curtains and carpets and colour co-ordinated tea-sets.

I really hope you are joking.

Jeez.



OK so you want ideas. Every update should add new spells and new feats. I mean its not like you don't have a ton of D&D 3.5 material to mine for ideas. The creative bit is already done for you, all you have to do is pick something (pro-tip, if you can't decide - roll some dice) and code it.

[SisAmethyst]

1) New Raids.
2) Shroud Epic.
3) New Class (depending on class).
4) New races: Tiefling and Ausimer.

Yes I agree, Tiefling and Ausimer would be a nice addition

One more thing I'd like to see is New Weapon Types. Been waiting for new Weapons for a long time...
Halberd
Spear
Flail
Broadsword

... we somehow already have Spears, just miss some animations but Halberd would be indeed interesting!

[badkhan]

I would

- advertize the game
- totally rework the new characters "path" for newbies who dont want to customize their builds
- make new raids (please do that)
- make old raids epics (shroud first, but also tod, vod, hox, titan etc...) so that all the raids scale to max level
- make all the old raid loot upgradable by running new version of raids
- make more Eberron stuff but that's just me maybe people prefer FR in this case whatever
- finish/update systems (TOD loot, cannith crafting....)
- update graphics (?) dont know how expensive that would be
- stop changing the loot all the time for no apparent reason
- huge XP pass for the quests (some dont give enough at all)
- make some of the older packs f2p (sorrowdusk, splinterskull, restless isles...)
- get rid of the things that make grouping not as pleasant as it should be (10% xp penalty, scaling...)

[Zzevel]

If i wanted to play house I would play the SIMS, this is a game where I want more quests, more RAIDS, More EQ.. More Choices...LESS BUGS!

Start picking CLASSIC D&D Modules and implementing them into the game, bring D&D into DDO, a bit. This will bring back some of the D&D faithful who are unhappy due to the PtW or the PnP people who may not usually LIKE the MMO version of DDO...

Run some contests to design an area, a class, a race .. pick skills in a hireling... more like the dragonmarks contest. But DO NOT tell them you will give them something and then gimp out on the prize (the Masters Augment is NOT an upgrade of the Voice...)

Quit lying to the player base, tell it as it is.. Let them vote up / vote down what the developers should focus on.

Quit trying to be what you are NOT, focus on your nitch, you are not everyone else...

I DO NOT WANT HOUSES or PETS or OVERPRICED COSMETIC whatever.. I want diverse character creation and choices of what to do, what to wear and how to play, that is DDO.

That is all, thank you.

[magnefique]

Player made content.

I think it is time to create tools for players to make content.. it has always made sense for D&D and frankly I have been a bit unimpressed in the content since before expansion 1.

[erethizon]

Tolero isn't exactly anonymous, but I have a full summary that we review every week with senior executives.

I'll file these under too early to tell (and definitely not promised)...

- New class (we're discussing)
- Housing (we're discussing)

We have to choose where to invest, so if raids are really the thing and housing is useless let us know. Raids get a lot of forum traffic but not necessarily the player usage.

Given the choice, housing is much more important than raids. Player crafting is also more important than raids.

[toaftoaf]

open it up so grouped people can spar. i know the few times ive PvPed with friends us having up "ungroup" was real lame. this might help abit, but by far waiting for raids to fill is kinda a killer.

[Gremmlynn]

Lets assume that you are a producer for ddo and you are given a directive to design a way to increase revenue for ddo. You can do this any way you want, you are given full liberties, from items, to game mechanics. What would you do?

Any changes must have a guaranteed return on investment and must use the existing game as a base, no starting over.

Decline the offer as having to have a guarantee on investment means short term gimmicks.

Now, if I was allowed to do it right, it would involve setting a long term plan on how the game was to be developed in everything from story lines to player power and change the overall game to comply with that plan.

Things like gear would be codified so that augments, crafted, loot gen and named gear of various tiers would have a consistent relationship (for instance augments might always be X steps behind lootgen for their ML, while lootgen might be a step behind crafted, but not as restrictive as to what goes where and named items a step above with chain items having an additional minor property and raid items having an additional at level property, with falling within the parameters for loot of that level). Level progressions would be codified so that, while the particular details might be missing, we could extrapolate what a level 1000 character's, or mob's or gear's or trap's power (DPS, DC's, etc.) would be simply by following the planned rate of progression.


Basically, outside of the details, no more making things up as we go along.

That set in place, start looking at cleaning up mechanics.

[NaturalHazard]

Raids

Then Quests


Housing? not a big deal for me, some type of hall though does sound like a good idea for eveningstar.

[sephiroth1084]

We have to choose where to invest, so if raids are really the thing and housing is useless let us know. Raids get a lot of forum traffic but not necessarily the player usage.

Some questions regarding this comment.

1. How do you make this determination?
2. Are you talking about all raids, or just raids at cap?
   Note that the main focus for running raids is for the loot, for which you have an almost 0 chance of acquiring while in the level range for most raids, and once you're out of that range, most of the loot isn't worth continuing to run the raids for. This is even more true with the upwards adjustment in power level for random loot. Finding some way to scale more raids, and more raid loot, to be a challenge/worthwhile at cap would help here. A lot of players like many of the raids, but there's just little reason to run them, and it isn't much fun sleepwalking through something that offers both no challenge and no incentive.
3. Is this taking into account the poor loot mechanics in raids?
   As I mentioned above, the way raid loot works means that most players aren't going to gain an item they're at all interested in in under 10 runs, and it may be 20-40 runs before they acquire the item they really want. That this holds true even for raids 5, 10, 15, or more levels under the cap means that they are even less likely to attract players in the level range of most raids, and dissuades more casual players from running endgame raids from which they have little hope of getting something they want.
4. The lack of incentive to run raids well below the current level cap?
5. The ghost town the mid-levels have been turned into through a combination of XP stones, a raised level cap, epic destinies drawing attention away from TRing (the relatively smaller benefits TRing has at epic levels), characters being able to start past the low/mid-level game, and Bravery Bonus making it unattractive to run raids on normal or hard while leveling?
   Running raids once or twice while leveling can be fun, and challenging, but as the population across the relevant level ranges drops off, it becomes increasingly difficult to fill a party for a raid, particularly when they all require flagging (and many through quests that a lot of players skip for one reason or another).
6. The lengthy process required to gain access to most of the game's raids?
   Flagging puts a lot of people off. Being required to complete some of the least liked quests in the game in order to get into raids doesn't help either (Slavers of the Shrieking Mines, Chains of Flame, The Crucible, Coalescence Chamber...). Mind you, I don't dislike most of those, but many players do.
   
   Also mind that a lot of older raids require extensive knowledge and experience of the quest, or usage of quest guides. The Twilight Forge and Titan are essentially impossible to complete unless you have foreknowledge, while The Vault of Night is highly unlikely. Some of the newer raids have gotten better about this, but they still have their noob traps. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly dissuades players, particularly with the mentality that all quests should be completable on the first trip through them.
   
7. The lowering of the overall learning curve and difficulty of DDO, resulting in many players at end game who don't have the skills or gear to succeed in actually challenging raids?
   I ended my last point on this note: the way the game has shifted over the last few years, leveling has become easier than ever, between downward dungeon scaling, loot improving beyond the designed difficulty of quests at the same level, hirelings, and all sorts of other changes, the game certainly engenders a sense of entitlement--it's hard to fail a quest when leveling on casual, normal or hard (aside from a few exceptions), so many players aren't open to the possibility of having to retry something multiple times to succeed. Additionally, players getting to skip much of the leveling process (or speed through it) spend less time having to learn their characters and adapt to a greater variety of situations. It also means that they get to skip a lot of the "difficult for their level" quests.
   
   All of this means that raids come as an unpleasant shock to many, many players who aren't prepared for the increased level of difficulty, and degree of teamwork and skill required in those raids.
   
8. The focus raids have taken on DPS, focus-intensive mass-healing (a role that can only really be filled sufficiently by clerics and favored souls, and only some of the latter), and kiting (a really boring strategy)?
   A lot of old raids heavily involved puzzles, which didn't go over well with everyone. Some raids have done a good job of getting everyone involved without sidelining certain players or characters, but not all have. And while DPS is always going to be a major factor in a raid, there are many for which it isn't quite as big a focus, where there are other things at play (The Abbot is more about skill at reading and adjusting to his "tells" in addition to navigating the puzzles; Lord of Blades is about aggro management mostly). Then you've balanced the game against an arms race where player DPS, HP, AC (PRR, Dodge and Fortification) are continually on the rise, so monsters' damage and HP scale higher and higher to compensate. This results in healing becoming more and more important, while at the same time, you've only really given a few characters the tools to heal a raid party effectively. In tough content, only the best bards or druids are capable of filling the role of "main healer" while many favored souls don't feel inclined to focus so heavily in raid healing.
   
   Finally, kiting is boring as ****, yet it seems to be a primary recourse for raid designers. All it does is bore one person to tears while everyone else gets to do something interesting, and then punish the entire party if that one person screws up or suffers from lag. Yes, not all examples of this were necessarily intention (dogs in LoB), but if you add tough-to-kill, dangerous secondary creatures to a raid boss fight, where it's more efficient to kite them than kill them, that's the result you're going to get.
   
9. The fact that Caught In the Web was a major bomb in many ways, not the least of which was poor design?
   In so, so many ways, not the least of which is the fact that fighting Lolth is so anti-climactic. She's hardly the focus of the raid, you don't really interact with her directly; heck you can hardly see her when you're beating on her belly. Randomish attacks that can hit players well away from the action, even on the move, and that have little defense against them, and that punish are semi-non-renewable resource (spell points) aren't fun, or even especially challenging, just irritating. We're fighting in the domain of a goddess and the best she can do is throw the souls of monsters we've already killed at us? The environment itself should have been a major challenge here, and Llolth should have played a more important role throughout the entire raid, rather than largely being a set-piece. Notice that one of the persistent complaints about fighting Velah in VoN 6, ever since the raid opened, is that it feels less like fighting a dragon, and more like fighting a dragon puppet, thanks to her basically being planted in place. Lolth suffers from some of the same issue. Then, we don't even really defeat her: our entire purpose in the raid is to distract her long enough to escort someone out of the quest (and NO ONE likes escort quests, especially when the person you're escorting is more important/powerful than you) and then let HER defeat the foe you've been striving against through a dozen quests and a long raid. Not cool.
   
   

I think it's safe to say that The Shroud has been the most popular raid in DDO, in large part due to the variety and flexibility (and power) of the loot, in addition to the loots' persistently unique features (we still don't have Concordant Opposition available elsewhere, nor single items with +45 exceptional HP or +150 exceptional SP, among other things), but a large part of the raid's popularity has to be due to the design of the thing. Everyone participates for the entirety of the raid. Nuking and insta-killing casters are employed clearing relevant trash mobs in parts 1, 2 and 4 of the raid, DPSers of various stripes (good against constructs, outsiders, elementals, etc...) employed in parts 1, 2, 4 and 5 varyingly, group healing requirements that can be adequately handled (to some degree) by non-primary healers, a real use for ranged DPSers, and a fight based on DPS and attrition to cap things off, but combined with a mechanic that eases the burden for classes that have a difficult time with drawn-out, high damage fights (mana-replenishing pools). Not everyone digs the part 3 puzzles, but they serve as a nice break from the onslaught, and infuse the quest with some variety.

Raids should feature a degree of variety, and employ as many of the major skills we use throughout the game as possible in addition to greater teamwork. Too many raids don't care about insta-kills, crowd control, stealth, tanking, and loads of players' abilities thanks to an abundance of red- and purple-named monsters with immunities to many of the features we enjoy most on our toons, hence, raid leaders typically look to fill their raids with a narrow band of the available character combinations available in DDO, and players who don't like to feel like they aren't contributing are left with the tough decision of whether they can bring the character they want the XP/favor/loot on, or the character that offers the most to the raiding party.

It looks to me like a lot of players were disappointed in the absence of a raid in the U19 Xpack. Raids should be an important part of the game, a culmination of the conflict in a pack/area. If players aren't participating in raids as much as you'd like, perhaps you should being asking why that is, and seek to make adjustments, rather than abandon or sideline the things, because you don't want to be bothered.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

Every update should add new spells and new feats..

Well said. Great question OP!

Character development is this game's strength. Adding more spells alone would make the game(potentially all of the quests) more exciting.

Then add new monsters. A lot more monsters. Grandfather the new beasties into the bulk of the quests already made.

Crank up the D&D lore. Tell some stories.

Here's a list that I mentioned on the awesome Karali's Den podcast back in 2011.

Leslie's Top 5 wants in DDO
1. Crowd Control to mean something.
2. Crafting built into the character, selectable at character creation.
3. A real mapping system, including multi level zoom in/out. Think google maps. Sticki notes. Option to save maps or turn them off.
4. Personalized Teleport
5. DRUIDS <---- well we got that, but well yea Now I will slot GNOMES in here!

Dreams:
6. Player designed - MOD developed events. <--- contests/awards for the best designed event that goes to development.
7. Player-useable dungeon/quest development kit. Create our own quests!
8. Ninja class - mix of fighter, rogue monk.
9. Gnome race - Gnomes are naturally friendly, highly social and fun loving people. They are respected by Elves for their communion with nature and knowledge of arcane magic, admired by Halflings for their humor, and sought out by Dwarves for their gemcutting skills. (masters of illutions) make great bards!
10. Favor to mean something again - just not a big deal anymore: 2,500+ something you cant buy anywhere. 3,000 +3 tome, 3,500+ = extra feat, + 2 supreme tome

Bard Desires:

Retro is in order here. Revert the U9 timers on the will based spell school for ALL CASTER CLASSES to pre-U9 timers. (Wizards and some Sorcs may even recommend a national holiday throughout Eberron!) The new timers are self-defeating, not fun, and game-breaking to those who enjoy using these spells.

Medley: One song does it ALL! All available bard songs buffages are available in one (slightly longer) song. Naturally, you can still sing each song independently. A simplified, well laid out pop up window where you can check off who gets each of the individual buffs would be sufficient. It would be far more prudent and take far less time than to sing each of the single buffs on each specific party members each time, like we have to do now. How many times have you not cast your beneficial solo songs solely because you knew people weren't just gonna stand around twiddling their thumbs waiting for you to get out every solo buff. We all know that its broken.

Before releasing the new bard PrE, add new spells to the bard class. (This list is specific to Spellsingers):

Balagarn's iron horn (monster knockdown),
Improved invisibility (100% concealment until hit, then 50%),
Gust of Wind (knockdown and cloud/firewall disbursement),
Cloud of Bewilderment (Noxious air stuns mobs, AOE, Autocrit),
Whispering Capers (aoe sonic damage with compounded damage as you level bard),
Analyze Dweomer (alert party to what spell enemy spellcasters are about to throw, spell is visable above monster's head)
Project Image (cast illusionary double that you can control to cast spells!)
Irresistible Dance (back to its PnP definition, yes, irresistible.)
Mass Hold Person (if you are humanoid, you go night night!)
Tasha's Hideous Laughter (very similar to Mass Hold Monster, instead mob breaks out in uncontrollable laughter. AOE, Autocrit. the bard version of Mass Hold Monster)

Then, release the spellsinger PrE, which should focus on three areas, spell DC, mana reduction, and advanced sonic spell damage.

Spellsinger PrE III - +2 spell DC, Inspire Courage song now adds +1 spell DC to all party members, 20% passive mana reduction, 20% more sonic damage with 15% crit chance (if we are going to do sonic, let's do it right).

My idea for what crafting could have been:

Cannith Crafting:

I would have made it much more like the PnP version of crafting... That would limit how many powerful items are created, some people would not want to spend experience just to craft a really powerful item, while others would love it. You want a specific type of magical effect? Ok find out what you need to add that effect to your item, go grind until you find/get it, then make sure you have the ingredients, XP and PP to make the item. If you're not a caster then you should have to either find a caster or like the crafting system is now place the parts for it in the device place your hands on it, it drains the right amount of XP from the player character, and POOF you got your item. Each effect, +, or whatever has a XP+PP price

-- Choose between Craft and Profession skills. You have several Craft and several profession skills, each with its own ranks, each purchased as a separate skill.
-- The basic function of the Craft skill, however, is to allow you to make an item of the appropriate type. The DC depends on the complexity of the item to be created. The DC, your check results, and the price of the item determine how long it takes to make a particular item. The item’s finished price also determines the cost of raw materials and XP lost.
-- Craft (chemical), Craft (electronic), Craft (mechanical), Craft (pharmaceutical), Craft (structural), Craft (visual arts), and Craft (writing).


Craft skills are specifically focused on creating objects. To use a Craft skill effectively, a character must have a kit or some other set of basic tools. The purchase DC of this equipment varies according to the particular Craft skill.

1. Either farm raw materials or make a Wealth check against the given purchase DC for the object to see if the character succeeds in acquiring the raw materials.
2. If the character succeeds at that check, make the Craft check against the given DC for the object in question.
3. If the character fails the check, he or she does not make the object, and the raw materials are wasted (if its a dangerous item the crafter may become injured or die).

New idea: VIPs that have played at least 3 years can personalize their gear! <--- including those that come back for at least 90 days as a VIP.

[Firepants]

1. New feats, not new classes. Play the classes you've mastered in a different way.
2. More epic epic content. No more of this fighting stupid dogs with a billion hit points.
3. The whole Storm Horn chain becomes a lead up for Tempest Spine and put at level for that raid. No epic wolves or red/orange cats, you lazy shleps.
4. Clean up and unify all of the various half-baked crafting mechanisms. It's just embarrassing at this point.

You have a license to use D&D material. USE IT. Give me the Temple of Elemental Evil or Scourge of the Slavelords. Not Joe Beefcake kills some incredibly resilient wolves on a pretty mountainside.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

You have a license to use D&D material. USE IT. Give me the Temple of Elemental Evil or Scourge of the Slavelords. Not Joe Beefcake kills some incredibly resilient wolves on a pretty mountainside.

HELL YES.

Also... make Necropolis look like kindergarten with the introduction of MYTH DRANNOR.

[Nightmanis]

1.) More content. More Raids, more dungeons, more mini quests, more ways to gain xp. We need a larger endgame for the traditional endgame players, but we need a larger early and midgame for the True DDO Endgame: TRing.
2.) Take us up to level 30 (because 28 is not a pretty number to stop on) and invest money into making offshoots of destinies (think like 2 prestiges per destiny. One for each of the stats, so Shadowdancer would have an Int prestige and a Dex prestige) that would come out roughly about U25.
3.) Raise the xp given by some quests. Getting 12k from Elite Power Play is upsetting, to say the least.
4.) Invest some money into crafting to make the gains more noticeable and worthwhile.
5.) Rework the Cannith raid crafting system into a different version of the Shroud items. Do MONTHS of player polls, surveys, etc figuring up what would make these more attractive. Seriously Greensteel is still recommended for lvl 28 content for some people. LVL 28 CONTENT, 4(?) years and 10 levels after it was originally made.
6.) Upgrade some of the graphics in older quests to make them stand up better to some of the new age content.
7.) Make more alternatives to the top end weapons. Maybe such and such weapon is better for this raid and this chain, but is lackluster at this other chain. More varied content means more varied items needed to be the most efficient.
8.) To go with 7, our bags would be 5x10, instead of 5x4. Bank sizes would increase by the same amount.

Edit:
9.) Make our friends list an account wide thing. Not an individual character setup like it is now.
10.) Finish current prestiges, so we have 3 per class (4 in the case of Arcane casters).

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

One more thing about raids. GOOD raids can keep guilds occupied for many months, even years. It might be much more work to develop, but this should be about player retention. Shroud and Hound did WONDERS for player retention. The Abbot and The Twilight Forge, not so much.

Worried about new accounts? Dont change the game, change the payment plan. F2P plan needs to be more accessible for those that want to play free for a while. Why not make a one month ALL ACCESS PASS (just content)? ALL content free for 30 days? If they like the game, it converts to what we have now. That would reverberate on all gaming sites and be incredible free advertising. Throw ALL VIPs a bone, and returning ViPs a bigger bone if they come back for at least 90 days... such as the ability to earn extra monthly TP (based on how long they played before they quit...)