Makes sense - Platinum is really easy to come by. Astral shards somewhat equate to money. Sort of, not really.

Either way the lack of gear on the regular or ASAH is insane.
There's been no dragon helms of any kind (nor have I managed to pull one) in weeks.
Most named gear is trash anyway, granted. But after the BTA shift on recent loot I think ShitonyourScreenGames has essentially killed trades/market like the rest of the game.

Like, ffs, at least scrolls/shards were something one could trade.
The new system is completely closed. You either grind it out, or you grind it out.
And to most of us, we don't give a fuck since we had billions of scrolls to trade in (which does take a week to do so griding might be preferred).

Some of the decent gear is also BTA. And insignificant raid gear that no one uses (ml9 ?) Is still BTC which basically makes it sentient weapon food, if even.

I guess for guide sake I should put together a leveling gear kit at some point rather than the current "use what you scrounge" approach.
At least for ml11+ I guess.

Anothersock wrote on Apr 17^th, 2022 at 10:47pm:


Anothersock wrote on Apr 17^th, 2022 at 10:47pm:


You mean like the dragon helms in the current meta? If I recall they were not updated and are still crap compared to CC at the same level.

Anothersock wrote on Apr 17^th, 2022 at 10:47pm:


Yeah, Astral Shards were an interesting idea but given the utter and complete LACK of things to trade/sell, what the hell is the point?

Yes, there are 5 or 6 rare items that sell. But what's the point? All you can buy are the other things, and they are hopelessly grindy to obtain in the first place. So there's no easy "farm a bunch of in-demand stuff and sell it to buy something rare" in DDO. So no actual market.

Anothersock wrote on Apr 17^th, 2022 at 10:47pm:


Please do. I would actually really love some kind of guide on must-have epic gear for EPLs.

That is the major upside to the revamp.

So when you say "desert" do you just mean the rare spawns or the quest loot?

Did the red dragon help get easier to obtain? I thought it was still an insanely-rare drop.

I actually have a red dragonscale docent and a shard to make 1 other thing. Haven't figured out exactly what to make yet since its still BtC. I of course have elven million FRDS because that is how many you get before landing a shard.

I think you need to go back to the DDO Forums and fail miserably before we bestow the fortuity to interact with the ancient foul wisdom that the vault can provide.

Alright so, being on the cusp of another gear swapparoo, let's note down what I find to be decent gear so far.

Of note, this gear isn't fit for reapers.
Either that, or between when I started this life and level 15 SSG went and increased the HP amount and damage on 1 skull reapers.
Running into a single carnage reaper in a level 10 quest (reaper 13) at level 14.
They are shredding though a sorc build with insane damage (like all sorc builds - one shots anything in elite) in one hit before they can be taken down which takes 2 to 3 hits.

Gear as follows:
Trinket
ML 11 - BloodStone
Ml 13
swap in - Litany
Or pale lav with beholder.
Ml 15
Shard of xoriat if sorc
Sustaining simbiolt if not.


Neck ml9 azure necklace of profecy (Raid)
Lighting lore 11%, magnetism 73, electric absorb 19%, resistance 20. (Wish I had the dragon eye on this toon to go with it).

Head ml 11.
Teraza's sight - wisdom 5, detect secret door clickie
OR
Totemic lavalier - int cha +6, 100 sp.

Head ml 13
Teraza's perfect sight ml 13 wis 6 true seeing.
Ml 15
Sage locket from PL, or random gen stuff.

Goggles, cannith craft with 2 slots at ML11.
Colorless - master's gift.
Yellow - fear immunity.
Blindness immunity for prefix
Insightful enchantment for suffix.
(If you can add in I insightful cha or int depending if you prefer wiz or sorc).
Ml 15
Possibly Sage spectacles from pl.


When you remeber to, cast deathward from visor of flesh render.

Docent:
Ml 8
gorgon docent. Con +4, earth guard (they'll nerf it because it kicks in always).
Ml 14
white dragon - fort 100, protection 5, shield 5, cold res 30.
Ml 15
Live wood core (normal) 110 fortification...


Breacers:

Ml 11
Bracers of wind if nothing else (necklace replacement)
Ml 13
Levik bracers - str 6, heal Amp 40.
Or
Wind howler. Situational if using bows.
Ml 15
Sage cuffs or skirmishes from past lives.
Thaarak bracelet maybe

Ring
Ml 11
Katra's wit - charisma 5, diplo 10.
Master artifice - wiz 154, recon 94, repair lore 14.
Ml 13
Katra's razor wit - cha 6, diplo 13.

Swap in spellstoring for 25sp hits when you are 1 fireball away from end quest but ran out. (Ml 11)
Ml 15
Master artifice upgrade,
Hint helix perhaps (Ml 14)

Boots:
Ml 11
Rock Boots. And that's all. Corrosion 94, acid lore, ans another prison guard that kicks off a lot.

Ml 13
Boots of innocent if you really cannot find another source of resistance +5 *this is ultimate vendor trash really*

Gloves
ML 11
Maenya's fists - str 5, intimidate 11. Completes the set. 20 artifact to spell power.
Ml 13
Maenya's iron first - str 6, intimidate 13 - set bonus again.
Ml 15
Guardians gauntlets.
Skirmishers gloves

Belt
Ml 11
Belt GS concordant opposition for a haste clickie.
Old-school thoughtful remembrance (new ones are Ml 13)Ml
Ml 13
Purging the pantheon for 100% fort until level 14 docent. (Literally because I didn't feel like vendor trashing it).
Ml 15
Guardians griddle
Sage's sash


Cloak
Ml 11
Cloak of flames - combustion 94, lore 14, fire absorption.
Clock of the zephir
Dream cloak
Cloak of ice for clickie.
Ml 13
Wretched twilight.


From level 9 onward a piece of gear is swapped around to keep fortification going. Usually either on the belt or on the docent/armor.


From level 14 onward it's Glass Cannon time.
With wondrous craftsmanship chain rewards providing +10 to stats (with a durability of 10, which doesn't really make them wounderours?)

Many pieces of gear are thus swapped to get pure Stat bonuses, even dumping artifact bonus from sora  Kell.

Wis, dex, str, and int all have their +10 until level 20.
Or possible 18 when you can swap back down for some other gear - will add to the list when I get to it.

This is also why most of my level 15 to 17 gear was fed to the sentient gem of recent.

Things will pick back up again at level 18 with shavarant ring/belt sets...


Weapons so far.
Ml 8
Whiching hour
Ml 10
Ancient vulkorim dagger dual world for set bonus (on rogues ofc).
Collapsible shortbow.
Ml 12
Master transmuters
Ml 14
Staff of flesh shaping
Staff of the petitioner.
Unwavering ardency.
Breeze
Too much trash to list. Also too situational. Or unimportant if you splice caster(s) into your build so you can get to 20 by nuking stuff.

Of note, 10 levels of wizards aren't that powerful since GOOD CC spells really come in well after that. I guess one can scroll mass holds, but that's just painful.
You run out of SP far too quick as pale master in a mixed class. That's just this build though.

goldgolem wrote on Apr 27^th, 2022 at 7:54am:


Your calculator broke.

this is what my alchemist is wearing.  I swap gear 3 times in heroic.  at 5/10/15.  It's so much quicker not to fuck about every level, just 3 regearings total.  I keep cloak of flames updated at 7,11,15

Level 5: put on fey gear all over.
Robe of the Autumn Winds (Blue: Sapphire of Moderate Fortification)
Crown of Fireflies
goggles cannith crafted trueseeing of undeerwater action
Amber Pendant
Green Dragonscale Bracers
Gloves of Tranquility (Yellow: Master's Gift)
Belt of th Ram
Red Dragonscae Boots
Ring of Falls Decay
Nocturne Ring
Scarlet and Blue Ioun Stone
Queens Scepter
+2 Devoted 59 Orb of Healing Lore 9


Level 10: put on Ravenloft gear, beacon of magic set and Adherent of mists set. 
Barovian Nobles Robe (Green: Sapphire of Heavy Fortification)
Astute 6 Helm of Resistance 5 (Blue: Masters Gift. Yellow Topax of Wizardry +96)
Summoners Spectacles (Green: Topaz of Blindness Immunity)
Kindred Pendant (Yellow: Topaz of Water Breathing)
Cloak of Flames (update aat 11)
Blurfingered Gloves 
Silverthreaded Belt (Blue: )
Flightfoot Greaves (Yellow: Topaz of FeatherFall)
Deathwarden (Blue: )
Ring of Nightfall (Green: Saphire of False Life 18)
Symbol, of the Slave Lords (Blue: Diamond of  Con 5 Green: Sapphire of Defence 12)
Barovian Scepter (Red: )
4 Dampening 20 Orb of Combustion 38d Orb (Red: Ruby of Devotion 70. White: Diamond of Heal 10)

Level 15: put on Sharn set.  Esoteric Initiate set.
Orders' Garb (Blue: Sapphire of Heavy Fortification)
Astute 8 Helm of Spellsight 16 (Colourless: The Masters Gift. Yellow: Topaz of Deathblock)
Dusk Lenses  (Yellow: Topaz of Blindness Immunity)
Supreme Tyrant Green Steel Necklace of Concordant Opposition
Cloak of Flames (Green: Saphire of Defence +16)
Aetherband (Green: Sapphire of Resistance +6)
Sunstone Gauntlets(Blue: )
Bronze Dragonscale Belt (Blue: Saphir of False Life +24)
werwe symbol of slavelords @ lvl 16
Celestial Topaz Ring (Yellow: Diamond of Dexterity +6)
The Shattered Only (Blue: Diamond of Vitality +20)
+5 Summoning 3 Orb of Conjuration 2 (Red: Ruby of Devotion 84. Purple: )

It's not perfect but it covers pretty much everything you need in heroics

SpaceGoat wrote on Apr 27^th, 2022 at 8:18am:


Don't own the packs, don't really plan too.
It's quintessentially a bad idea since I know the money I spend would never be used to actually *fix* broken stuff in game.

So maybe during a black firday Dale when it's $10 for the deluxe. Otherwise fuck that noise.

That said, for others who may have those expansions the feedback is good, so do keep it coming.

On the sorc you always run out. The 40 temp sp looks like a great way to use maximize all the time along with heighten. I'll look into it.

Lets see what else is wrong with your gear, especially if you refuse to get packs with decent gear

level 8: Augment for 100% fortification.  Buy from augment vendor for a few shards.  If you ever have less then 100% fort you are simply asking melee mobs (reapers) to kill you with a trivial to confirm Critical

Using visor of flesh render guards. There's a lvl 3 clicky with 3 charges/10 minst deathward from saltmarsh.

All that old loot you are quoting is basically trash.

@ level 10 with no ravenloft, cannith craft all the items you need . 
prefix, suffix, extra effect, 2 augment slots.

<head?> Int 6, Parrying/Resistance, Insightful Int 2.  & 2 augments
<neck?> Con 6, Sheltering, Insightful Con 2. & 2 augments

@ level 15 those become stat +8, Insight stat +3.
@ Level 18 those become stat +9, Insight stat +4.

When it goes on sale perhaps.

I'll have a deeper look at cannith crafting. I'm not into it at all, but if one can apply a level shard to upgrade the item withput recreating it entierly, it may be worth it.
If not I'd have to pull collectible bags to craft shit....

If you are going in for the XP with a pot running on a quest you don't know, you should either have 1000s pots banked, or not care about the pot running.

I think I ran one or 2 of the sharn quests at level 30. They weren't the fastest to run to begin with due to wierd objectives like finding stuff.

However on an XP for Min time table, I think wilderness areas will beat all quests outright. Except the pit maybe depending on how well you know it to just jump on top of the furnaces without falling down/starting over.