kum-gulp wrote on Apr 12^th, 2016 at 10:49am:


I agree with this.
The problem is that Barbs were meant to be the "hardy" ones with higher HD and intrinsic DR.

The only problem with damage mitigation is that the combat system now seems skewed toward forcing healing, as getting hit is too easy and the damage is ridiculous (in higher end EE and LE).

Having too much dodge or displacement would require balance or it would become too powerful. I would not trust the current dev team to get this balancing even close given how little they know about the game and how it is played.

Heh yep I'd agree I don't exactly trust them on balancing it but then what is balanced now? Past point of believing that was ever realistically achievable, so don't really factor it any more. I just laugh at Warlock and move on.

Anyway, it's just my preference so there's more variety. There are other ways to achieve the same goals without relying on healing too. I just remember fondly my Dwarf Fighter mutt tactics build so it seems like a nice route to the right outcome.

Asheras wrote on Apr 14^th, 2016 at 12:07pm:


The debuffs are a tricky design area.
They can work in PnP because you're unlikely to have a min/max party of fully decked out debuffers.  I love the debuff concept as I played one in PnP and was an effective member of the team, but outside the typical stereotype roles.

In an MMO, I think back to the halcyon days of stat damage weapons and how they trivialised content when multiple players could CON damaged mobs into complete incapacitation.

This is the problem a game designer faces. 
The added problem that DDO faces is that it enables players to re-purpose their toons very easily and re-equip for a specific purpose easily.  So slight power shifts tend to see the game lurch from one extreme to another.  This is where the skill and talent lies in game design.  Devs that have little experience in the game and a tin ear to feedback are well behind the curve on achieving this.

So while I would like to see debuffs become another build option (because it works well in teams), it would mean DDO addressing the debuff extremes and keep it balanced.
On one hand (currently) debuffs do not last long enough to be viable.
On the other hand, they could be stackable and with a purpose built party, they could trivialise mobs and bosses.
It also needs to consider this as part of a multi-class or ED, where it just adds more power without any trade-off in capability elsewhere.

To get this right, I think they need to allow debuffs that last longer, but there needs to be some limit that is meaningful, but does not enable complete debilitation of enemy bosses (mobs should be able to be incapacitated).
I would posit a limit on the total stacks (like some ED's that allow up to 10), a limit on the frequency of a debuff application, or only allowing the first debuffer to apply subsequent debuffs (so two debuff builds in party need to select different targets).
You would also need to make a good debuffer require a deep investment in levels and enhancements (ie. specialise).

My main concern is the current dev team don't have the experience to do this properly and the DDO software probably isn't up to this level of complexity anymore (there is too much happening now which is causing the servers to grind to a halt and adding more tracking of persistent effects is not going to help at all).

Sorry Ash, but I think we have little chance of seeing this.

What about a CDG that works on prone enemies for Kensei? Bosses are already mostly immune to trip so it wouldn't trivialize them. I think.

Change the stunning bonuses from Vanguard to also add to trip. Then maybe there's some synergy between the trees.

If the animation used the shield for the CDG and you rolled a gnome it would be like GoT when Tyrion bludgeoned the shit out of that guy with a shield.

gibbon wrote on Apr 14^th, 2016 at 10:26pm:


Things die so fast when stunned on a Kensai, is this needed?

What about Superior Vorpal in the capstone or level 18 core?

Bigjunk wrote on Apr 15^th, 2016 at 10:57am:

I'd rather see a stacking armor piercing.  Or doublestrike.