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Kaddish
Feb 7, 2002
I've been kinda sorta looking for a mmorpg and I love D&D. Would this game be good to get into so late?

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Truga
May 4, 2014
Lipstick Apathy
If you have a couple friends to play this with, I highly recommend it, because the first run through this game with friends who are also new is straight up amazing. Doubly so for d&d players.

e: Getting into a group with a bitter vet who has multiple TR'd characters is not as amazing though. Even with a brand new character with newbie gear, they will somehow run through the dungeon faster than you run with haste, while also killing everything before you catch up, so you might want to ask your friends if any already play and explain to them that you're new and would like to go slow :v:

Truga fucked around with this message at 15:36 on Jan 13, 2015

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
First version of the Mysterious Remnant vendor is up, has:
Tawny Lion Cub pet (10k), Lasting Stat potions (250), haste/rage/jump/waterbreath potions (35), heal/harm scrolls (35)

Not super impressive, but it's supposed to be added to as time goes on and they got it in pretty fast from when it was first mentioned.


Truga posted:

Even with a brand new character with newbie gear, they will somehow run through the dungeon faster than you run with haste, while also killing everything before you catch up,

I think it's because once you've run the quests "enough" (for whatever you consider enough) you're not looking around you anymore. You know when stuff will spawn, where to go, how hard it is to kill things in that quest with your power level, etc. So you're spending a lot more time moving than trying to figure out what to do.

Kaddish posted:

I've been kinda sorta looking for a mmorpg and I love D&D. Would this game be good to get into so late?

What they said above is pretty true. DDO is still more or less unique in the MMO space, and it's a fantastic game, but the social part can be difficult due to age and the mechanics. If you've got at least one friend who wants to play with you, it's a hell of a lot more fun.

Truga
May 4, 2014
Lipstick Apathy

DemonMage posted:

I think it's because once you've run the quests "enough" (for whatever you consider enough) you're not looking around you anymore. You know when stuff will spawn, where to go, how hard it is to kill things in that quest with your power level, etc. So you're spending a lot more time moving than trying to figure out what to do.

Yeah, dungeon knowledge is the largest part of "skill" in DDO, that's why I wrote that part. Especially since unlike most mmos where even trash takes 20 seconds to take down and never hits hard, in DDO they kinda have to die in 3 hits, since that kobold shaman's lightning bolt will hit like a truck and sometimes even wipe parties... and there's 3 of them in the room.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
So about Barbarian self healing awhile back...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8f25JzGhqg

Looks like it's pretty drat solid. That's well geared EE, but I imagine moderately geared EH should go as well. The key is the Ravager tier 5 ability Blood Strength. 12% chance on hit to heal for Barbarian levels, each time you kill an opponent you heal for 20. Scales 100% with melee power.

Guy is using a variation of this build.

[Edit] Apparently there's a bug with the Golem's Heart augment that helps proc some extra healing here, so not sure how viable this is as shown after 24.1, but I can't imagine a barbarian having trouble with EH regardless.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 06:03 on Jan 20, 2015

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
So we're getting all new quests in Epic Vale, not just upped levels on the current ones:

quote:

The plan for the next chapter of Vale's history will be new dungeons. If we decided to reuse dungeon space it would be mostly for flavor so it felt like you were revisiting some older spaces after an "event" altered the Vale. The raid plan is to update the Shroud's level and extend the Shroud so it will remain somewhat intact in its new incarnation with a new encounter at the end.

That said, my issue for "coal" chamber wasn't climbing the spiral once, it was the mechanic where you ended up climbing it over and over which got old for me.

As an aside, Tolero used to troll me by convincing me to run coal chamber with her. Until I caught her recording my voice comments when I heard her typing every time I said something. That put an end to that. True story.

Sev~

This also applies to the Amrath, no epicifying old content, just new quests in those locales. Awesome. From a production standpoint I can understand epicifying stuff, and I'm actually totally behind having heroic/epic versions of new quests, but it sucks when a content patch is 80% the same old content we've run before.

Also hopefully when they're looking at the Shroud they can look into making part 1 less boring. Yeah it was failable when Shroud launched and all, but it was never that exciting.

eth0.n
Jun 1, 2012
Been away about a year (after playing since F2P), but curious to check out the game again. Mostly, to check out the new Bard stuff. On Khyber, so no playing with you guys, unfortunately.

I have a Human TWF Khopesh Bard 15/Rogue 3/Fighter 2, that was my main for quite a while. I know TWF Khopeshes make zero sense now, so I'm wondering what I should use my LR+20 to turn into.

I definitely want to stick with melee Bard (don't like spellcasting that much). Leaning towards pure Bard, STR-primary, SWF Rapier (and Celestia) with 41-point Warchanter, 20-ish in Swashbuckler, and a splash of Spellsinger. Is that a sensible way to go? Are the buffs worth it? If not, going primarily Swashbuckler is quite appealing, especially since it would mean I don't have to give up Evasion.

Or is my original class split still viable, and I should just do a plain LR?

Also, am I right that Precision is clearly better than Power Attack for a Bard, nowadays?

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Going dex based with single weapon fighting and precision is the way to go. I'll bug Valisti to post in here but she basically did a dex version for our bard TR of this build. I don't remember if there was any compelling reason for 16 vs 15 bard, think it was mostly spell slots.

And yes precision is flat out better. Dex just gives you all the benefits of strength and then a few more on top of it. Run divine crusader and use its cleave combined with bard abilities.

Also if you're running solo consider going stronger Swashbuckler. Slap in the face followed up with coup de grace is pretty awesome.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Feb 24, 2015

Kawaii Kiwi
Sep 22, 2004
I'm a sad panda too.
Valisti here.

I just got done doing the dex-based swashbucker to Caisha's strength based warchanter and I feel like of the two, I was probably the stronger character. We had the same class splits, the difference was I ended up taking precision over power attack and took dodge and mobility instead of cleaves. By the end of things, I had about 12-13 higher reflex save and AC, better skills, and about 25% dodge to his 15% or so while I did slightly higher damage on things than he did since I crit more and ignored more fortification than him.

The reason for precision instead of power attack is because a tier 5 swashbuckler talent gives you +5 weapon damage with precision going, meaning you get the benefits of precision AND power attack. Also, slap in the face can be used to stun nearly anything since the DC is perform skill based, it also stops even bosses from casting spells and you can follow it up with coup de grace to instantly kill things, which is amazing. Finally, I mentioned I crit more, which is due to the fact that each time you DON'T crit on a swashbuckler, you get a buff which makes it easier to crit on your next attack, and this stacks until you do finally crit.

All told, I feel a dex based bard with 2 rogue for evasion who invests heavily into swashbuckler and keeps their offhand empty is the way to go. You could probably make a case too for taking shield-related feats and enhancements and using a buckler in your offhand, but you might end up only breaking even on the double strike or falling a little short and all you'd gain are the stats on a shield, which can be nice but aren't going to be all that meaningful.

edit

You can also make funny screenshots like this one due to all the funny stacking bonuses you get from swashbuckler:

Kawaii Kiwi fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Feb 24, 2015

eth0.n
Jun 1, 2012
Cool, thanks. Sounds like I'll just go for the plain LR now, switch to Dex-based, and try how my current class split goes. Only concern is if pure Bard is ultimately better for end-game (rather than for TR, which I'm not into) thanks to better buffs for Raids, but I'll still have my LR+20 to use if I find that's the case.

Kalas
Jul 27, 2007
I did pure 20 bard, dex high, dark elf and murdered everything I saw. Human would be good too, I did like shruiken expertise with all that dex.

Unless you absolutely have to do traps, it's better to go full 20 and get evasion from capstone.

As far as shield goes, a crystal cove swashbuckler (or anything with the guard breaking ability) is flat out broken for bards. The En Point skill with guard breaking can daze everything in front of you.

The only melee I played that felt as nuts as that bard was a vanguard pally (pre holy weapon nerf, TRed before that, so not sure now). Vanguard did more damage but didn't have Coup de grace.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Today until March 8th, we've got a new event going called Mimic Hunt!

Looks like the rewards you get are from Mabar, with nothing new added from the little I'm seeing so far. You get motes from a mimic turn those into a vendor for cards that combine into a Mabar reward. It's kind of a cool concept, but I was looking forward to new stuff.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Also getting some rogue tree changes:

Assassin
Acrobat

Looks some solid buffs all around, nothing drastic they were already pretty decent, but good changes.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Rogue Mechanics changes (and traps since that's why it was held up).

Also we should be seeing U25 hit Lammania early next week if nothing else holds it up.

Morglon
Jan 13, 2010

Safe and sound, detached from reality.
Just like your posting.
Crafted traps? Does anybody actually use those?

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Nope that's why mechanic was held up so they could make crafted traps worth a drat in theory.

Fenris13
Jun 6, 2003
My biggest complaint about repeaters is how badly they fell behind when enhancement trees came out. They got a few gimmick abilities if you splashed enough ranger, but otherwise both their primary trees sucked. Looks like that will finally change with this update, as long as you are willing to commit at least 18 rogue levels. In fact, I finally have to make real choices and sacrifices as to where I put my points, since I really want 10 or 15 more AP to spend even as a pure rogue.

Truga
May 4, 2014
Lipstick Apathy
Also, traps are poo poo because you have to set them then pull things back onto them. As opposed to just killing them outright. They also don't benefit stealth in any way I can see, and most things at high levels will just save.

Meanwhile, noisemakers are super effective if you play stealth and need things to move, and I love them.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
First Update 25 look is on Lamannia, with the Temple of Elemental Evil. Release Notes.

Mostly it's Temple, Ranged Power being added to epic levels and destinies, and the rogue changes.

[Edit] Loot first look.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Mar 19, 2015

Fenris13
Jun 6, 2003
That loot first look is really disappointing. The idea of fewer effects but higher damage is ok in theory, but a ton of elemental damage just isn't that appealing for the ml 27 weapons, I suppose they are meant to be ghetto easy to farm alternatives to the thunderforged stuff, but I am just not seeing the value in investing dev time in creating these things. Putting a bane on all of the named weapons seems like it shoehorns them into either being really good vs there bane targets at best, and worthless all the rest of the time. After the cool loot that came out of haunted halls, I see this as a real big step in the wrong direction.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
I had the exact opposite reaction to you. They're better than T2 thunderforged when maxed out, and since they're not raid items they're not meant to replace T3 thunderforged. They look super fun and cool. I love the AE elemental effects I'd just rather the proc chance was higher. And having Lesser Displacement on the armor is nice, as that's currently only available on Ring of Shadows EE, it's 25% blur/displacement, which is nice though a clicky is obviously way better. Also think it's cool the caster weapons have riposte on them, extra saves and I guess extra AC and little bit of damage on an item that's otherwise a really solid casting item.

I mean the upgradable melee weapons have 3 damage effects, plus vulnerability, and a purple slot. On top of 5W which is a good sized increase in damage. All of the actual named items are more niche, but interesting and useful for that niche for people who want to carry around a golfbag of weapons. And hopefully we'll get some cool models too for glamouring.

Of course I won't use any of it until the cap is 30, which they also said they want to make more interesting than 2 new levels and a feat or two. So that's good. Especially if they actually raise the overall experience requirement (there was some thinktanking about just keeping the experience cap the same and smoothing it out 20-30, which I am a fan of).

And sadly the heroic version is super low level too, I thought they were all going to be 12-18 for the near future, so disappointed in that. We'll probably only run it very rarely due to ML7/28 being the banding. Which sucks =-(

Fenris13
Jun 6, 2003
Remember than the weapons are just elemental vulnerability, not the good vulnerability that is on TF. Still I suppose I will reserve finale judgement until I can see them working. The level 7 armor is probably pretty good, but I doubt the epic version will see much use. I do agree on the odd leveling choices. There are a boat load of level 10 and under quests, setting the range at 10-13 would have been great for smoothing out the leveling experience. I think the reason they are setting the epic levels to 28 is that they want to make sure there are plenty of quests to help you get to 30, but I wouldn't mind a little more help getting from 26-28.

I do agree that their plans on raising the cap to 30 once they have something more substantial for the levels that what we got with the last 3 is positive.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
For people who haven't seen until April 5th the Mysterious Remnant vendor has the new Mysterious Cloak/Bracers on them.
1k for level 7: 15 Exceptional (stacking) healing amp, 11 competence (stacking) MRR, Green/Colorless
4k for level 14: 30 amp, 18 MRR, Green/Colorless
8k for level 21: 45 Amp, 25 MRR, Green/Colorless

Note if you can't afford the higher tiers there's nothing lost buying the lower ones if you'd use them. Upgrading from 1k to 4k takes 3k and the bracers so you might as well. Don't know if I could really find a slot for the 21 version but the 7/14 are great for (I)TRing.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Mar 30, 2015

Cynic Jester
Apr 11, 2009

Let's put a simile on that face
A dazzling simile
Twinkling like the night sky
Is the guild still active? Rolled up a dude on Argonessen and want some buffs and a guild chat that doesn't cause cancer.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
There's a few people, but we don't really have an active group at this point. You're welcome to join and get buffs, but it's pretty quiet most of the time. You can leave a character name here and someone can invite you even if you're offline.

Cynic Jester
Apr 11, 2009

Let's put a simile on that face
A dazzling simile
Twinkling like the night sky
Aight, please send an invite to Adair Eoth por favor.

Also, dual wielding Fintan's Bite is the best dumbest thing ever at level 2.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Sent you an invite yesterday or whatever, should be in your mailbox next time you log on.

Cynic Jester
Apr 11, 2009

Let's put a simile on that face
A dazzling simile
Twinkling like the night sky
Durr, I mispelled the name, it's Edair, not Adair.

Edit: I logged into an older character and it had the Classic D&D Red Box. Can I still do something with these cards? According to the wiki they linked them to the event, meaning they're worthless now, no?

Also had some Traveller tokens. Have they announced when that'll be this year, considering this is easter weekend?

Cynic Jester fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Apr 3, 2015

Pooncha
Feb 15, 2014

Making the impossible possumable
Just so you know, if you're in a good-sized party running part 2 of ToEE on Epic Hard (and you should, because it's easy barring the final fight), for the love of God don't open more than one door at a time! Dungeon scaling generates a fuckton of mobs, which causes lag at best and may crash your client at worst.

We're talking 100+ mobs behind a door. :stonk:

Pooncha fucked around with this message at 09:03 on Apr 8, 2015

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Yeah they're looking to get that fixed next week I think. [Edit] Looks like they're aiming for tomorrow.

Also:

quote:

+20% Heroic XP
+20% Epic XP
+5% VIP XP

Through next Wednesday, April 15th (shut off the morning of April 16th Eastern time!)

And there will be new bonuses enabled when that gets shut off. They'll be doing them back to back like that for the month.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Apr 10, 2015

Cynic Jester
Apr 11, 2009

Let's put a simile on that face
A dazzling simile
Twinkling like the night sky
The cargohold is empty :smithicide:

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
I'll renew stuff down there in a little while. The buffs from the deck still help a ton, just won't let you waltz through traps and spells without a care.

Fenris13
Jun 6, 2003
I through down the guild chest in the cargo hold, thinking it might have some unbound shards for you new guy, but no luck and My crafting alt is unavailable at the moment. Maybe DM will take pity on you and craft a few more sets.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
You actually got the wrong guild chest! I bought us a large one again, there are some shards (I added some more) on page 2 of it. Also put up a month~ of +30 resist shrines.
I'd get us non decaying guild storage but it costs 150 astral shards (800~ TP) which is a bit much since we don't overly need it right now.

Also the patch is coming this morning at 7am EDT.

Cordovan posted:

Notes:

This is to get some fixes in ahead of the weekend. We'll have notes tomorrow, but this will fix Fred, some ToEE ingredients being found in the wrong difficulty, TWF and unarmed, a Monster Manual IV bug, The Crucible, Druid/Arty pet enhancements, some ToEE tweaks (including the Red Dungeon Alert thing), and a bit more as well.

Oh, and some loot updates for Temple of Elemental Evil.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 08:46 on Apr 10, 2015

Cynic Jester
Apr 11, 2009

Let's put a simile on that face
A dazzling simile
Twinkling like the night sky

DemonMage posted:

You actually got the wrong guild chest! I bought us a large one again, there are some shards (I added some more) on page 2 of it. Also put up a month~ of +30 resist shrines.
I'd get us non decaying guild storage but it costs 150 astral shards (800~ TP) which is a bit much since we don't overly need it right now.

Thankies for the shards. Now I just need another disenchantable scimitar so I can rock double murder weapons. I will miss the body feed effect greatly though. 15 temp hp on crit on an 18-20 weapon was fun.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Also for the Easter event thingy:

quote:

We do not currently have Crystal Cove set for this quarter, but yes, it will absolutely return in the future.

Also, we're expecting to activate the Egg Hunt and Degenev Brothers later this week.

Game_Whino
Jul 16, 2007

Let's drink until we can't feel anymore!
Holy crap this game has gotten good again. I haven't had this much fun TRing since before Epic TR came out.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
For the foreseeable future it looks like you'll want be using Character Builder Lite for planning out builds. Short version is that Ron doesn't have the time to work on the planner right now, Dragon took over for awhile but then quit DDO. So there's been no real work on Ron's planner in months. This one isn't nearly so detailed, but it works and it should be simple for the author (or others in theory) to keep updated unless there's a huge system change.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
More rogue updates after Turbine did some testing:

Rogue:

quote:

Sneak Attack damage now scales with 150% Melee Power or Ranged Power (depending on weapon). Previous: 100% Melee Power or Ranged Power.

Rogue - Assassin:

quote:

Innate Abilities
Lethality - (Removed all old functionality.) While wearing light or cloth armor you gain +1 Insight bonus to critical damage multiplier to any weapon you are wielding.

Tier One
Poison Strikes - a new Assassin's Mark now refreshes the duration of an existing mark.

Stealthy - Movement speed during stealth is increased to +25/+50/+75. Previous: +20/+35/+50%

Tier Three
Shadow Dagger - the saving throw is now 10/14/18 + Rogue Level + the greater of Intelligence or Dexterity bonus. Damage now scales with 400% of Melee Power. Previous: the saving throw was 10/14/18 + half Rogue level + Intelligence bonus, and damage scaling was 200%.


Tier Four
Execute - Extra damage now scales with 400% Melee Power. Previous: 200%


Tier Five
Assassinate - the saving throw is now 10 + Rogue Level + the greater of Intelligence or Dexterity bonus + bonuses to Assassinate. Previous: the saving throw used 10 + Rogue level + Intelligence bonus + bonuses to Assassinate.

Measure the Foe - now gains 6 Melee Power per stack. Previous: 4 Melee Power per stack

Deadly Strikes - now adds +10 damage against enemies with an Assassin's Mark. Previous: +5

Rogue Thief-Acrobat:

quote:

Innate Abilities
Cartwheel Charge: After tumbling you gain a +2 Morale bonus to Strength and Dexterity for 12 seconds. Passive: +2 Maximum Dodge, +20% Doublestrike. Previous: +5% Doublestrike.


Tier One
Acrobat Staff Training damage with staves increased from +1 to +2.


Tier Three
Acrobat Staff Training damage with staves increased from +1 to +2.

Sweeping Strikes - +1/3/5(W) to all nearby enemies and trips them. The trip DC is 10/14/18 + Rogue Level + Dexterity Mod + Trip Bonuses. The enemy rolls Balance to negate the trip. Previous: +1/+2/+3(W), the Trip DC was 10 + half Rogue level + Dex Mod.


Tier Five
Acrobatic Staff Training: +10 Melee Power, +3 to hit and +3 damage with quarterstaves. Previous: No Melee Power.

Rogue - Mechanic

quote:

Tier One
Sharpshooter: Non-repeating crossbows increase the damage to +2 and add one Sneak Attack die.


Tier Two
Sharpshooter: Non-repeating crossbows increase the damage to +2 and add one Sneak Attack die.


Tier Three
Sharpshooter: Non-repeating crossbows increase the damage to +2 and add one Sneak Attack die.


Tier Four
Sharpshooter: Non-repeating crossbows increase the damage to +2 and add one Sneak Attack die.

Leg Shot: Requires level 4. Previous: Required level 12.

Tier Five
Sharpshooter: +3 additional damage and one Sneak Attack die with all non-repeating crossbows. Now requires level 12.

Sniper: Non-repeating crossbows increase this to 3 Sneak Attack dice and also gain +2(W).

Mechanical Reloader: Fixed a bug where the +20% Ranged Alacrity with non-repeating crossbows wasn't working.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 02:31 on Apr 24, 2015

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Fenris13
Jun 6, 2003
I was real excited about the prospect of trying both a pure rogue acro and mechanic with these changes, but where turbine givith, turbine also takith.

Severlin posted:

Lethality will be changed to only work with one handed weapons.

Sev~

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