Duneseeker
I'm not that Smart
I usually come to the party late each time something big gets rolled out. I like to wait until the kinks get ironed out. Just wondering how the New Dungeons, Crafting, and 36th level gear is for Gear Tetris.
How is Terror of Demogorgon and the new Catalyst System?
- Thread starter Duneseeker
- Start date
Tyrande
Well-known member
The new expansion and the new Catalyst system actually rearranged all my character's gears.
So, I'll have to regear everyone of my characters with new gear using the DDO loadout optimizer. The link is somewhere on this forum.
P.S. So far, I have only seen two Catalyst drops in 8 weeks (since release) in my character's name; but my characters were running R10s.
2nd P.S. I am not using the Catalyst items as required gear, as they only add very tiny benefits.
So, I'll have to regear everyone of my characters with new gear using the DDO loadout optimizer. The link is somewhere on this forum.
P.S. So far, I have only seen two Catalyst drops in 8 weeks (since release) in my character's name; but my characters were running R10s.
2nd P.S. I am not using the Catalyst items as required gear, as they only add very tiny benefits.
Tumideon
Founder
Drop rate is similar, maybe a tad better, than MD and Lamordia Rares. I've pulled 4 Heroic Catalysts and 1 Legendary (on my second run of Back to the Abyss no less).
Gear-wise, for the catalysts I pulled, it's pretty meh but some of the items are pretty cool for flavor - Null Blade, Abyssal Compass, Perfected Drow Weapons, and Bloody Boulder (though I'd argue the Perfected Blood Stone is a bit better) are some I took a look at. Wouldn't want to target farm it though, I just grabs Catalysts as they drop and sell most of them.
Just glad they didn't make them Minor Artifacts so you can slot a few of them in, the Drow Weapons in particular would be sweet with a MD/Lamordia/Dino Bone weapon on a TWF or a SWF swap item if you needed to stack Imp. Destruction and Vulnerability on something.
Gear-wise, for the catalysts I pulled, it's pretty meh but some of the items are pretty cool for flavor - Null Blade, Abyssal Compass, Perfected Drow Weapons, and Bloody Boulder (though I'd argue the Perfected Blood Stone is a bit better) are some I took a look at. Wouldn't want to target farm it though, I just grabs Catalysts as they drop and sell most of them.
Just glad they didn't make them Minor Artifacts so you can slot a few of them in, the Drow Weapons in particular would be sweet with a MD/Lamordia/Dino Bone weapon on a TWF or a SWF swap item if you needed to stack Imp. Destruction and Vulnerability on something.
Darkwolfer2002
Well-known member
There's a couple of spot pieces but most are downgrade from other in-slot items.
Sarlona Raiding
Well-known member
There are quite a few nice commons across the content. The catalysts are all rare so it's a bit of a project to get those, although I am at 7 or 8 total right now.
I was lucky and had these catalysts drop for me and along with a cannith crafted ring and the feat changes - it boosted my sorc quite a bit:
But you can sell some of the catalysts for quite a bit of AS so that might be a better use depending on how much you value the items.
There are some really nice artifacts - some are very specialized
but some work well with many builds:
I was lucky and had these catalysts drop for me and along with a cannith crafted ring and the feat changes - it boosted my sorc quite a bit:
But you can sell some of the catalysts for quite a bit of AS so that might be a better use depending on how much you value the items.
There are some really nice artifacts - some are very specialized
but some work well with many builds:
Blaster
Well-known member
Gear-wise I feel like this is the beginning of completely getting away from non-Solar/Lunar augment gear at endgame. Now, that doesn't mean you can't still use older gear, but I feel like with this new stuff there's enough in it that a lot of builds I like to use are now fully switched over to this system. Builds vary, so some might get more mileage out of this stuff than others, but yeah, I think it's time for people to start moving on.
(Having said this, I believe in the future the auto-granted Legendary XP will be taken away from us, so I wouldn't junk your old stuff, as it's going to be useful to have a gearset from the 30ish range to switching at Demogorgon at 35 to full Solar/Lunar, and staying with that system until the bi-yearly cap increases hit 40 -- if the game makes it that far -- and if SSG aren't smart enough to introduce a new system to force us to have to re-gear again.)
Content-wise, well after two years of eating cold sh*t sammiches, eating a bowl of warm puke is a nice change of pace, I guess. Like with anything, I like some of the quests and don't like others. The scaling wilderness is nice for gear hunting, but I rarely see people using it for slayers, but that may change once the auto-granted XP is taken away. It's certainly a more graphically pleasing expansion than the awfully drab and dull Lamordia.
Overall it's worth getting the base version at least for gear that you might be using for the next couple years until the next level cap increase. Again, your enjoyment of the content depends on what kind of questing you like. (Additionally, more reaper XP at cap is never a bad thing.)
(Having said this, I believe in the future the auto-granted Legendary XP will be taken away from us, so I wouldn't junk your old stuff, as it's going to be useful to have a gearset from the 30ish range to switching at Demogorgon at 35 to full Solar/Lunar, and staying with that system until the bi-yearly cap increases hit 40 -- if the game makes it that far -- and if SSG aren't smart enough to introduce a new system to force us to have to re-gear again.)
Content-wise, well after two years of eating cold sh*t sammiches, eating a bowl of warm puke is a nice change of pace, I guess. Like with anything, I like some of the quests and don't like others. The scaling wilderness is nice for gear hunting, but I rarely see people using it for slayers, but that may change once the auto-granted XP is taken away. It's certainly a more graphically pleasing expansion than the awfully drab and dull Lamordia.
Overall it's worth getting the base version at least for gear that you might be using for the next couple years until the next level cap increase. Again, your enjoyment of the content depends on what kind of questing you like. (Additionally, more reaper XP at cap is never a bad thing.)
Sarlona Raiding
Well-known member
My opinion is that they won't take away legendary xp - they would get way too much pushback. But assuming they offer legendary reincarnation then you still want a level 30 gear set. I am keeping every good legendary gem combo even if I don't need it right now.
Duneseeker
I'm not that Smart
This is my fear as well. I am keeping old stuff just in case.
Bjond
Well-known member
IMHO, it's a somewhat kinder system than the outright rares in MD and absolutely more clever and profitable for SSG.
You need the base item. Regular farming with or without astrals as usual, but SSG is counting on astral demand.
BUT, now you need the ultra-rare catalyst. I doubt anyone is farming those directly. Instead, I suspect they're doing what I would do: buy from ASAH, which creates even more astral demand but has no farming attached.
With that said, none of the demo items (catalyst or regular) have turned up as a potential tetris fit on any of my recent rebuild checks since demo released. I've got a minor QOL fit with Reign (on my caster -- go figure), but it's so low on my list of things to do in game that the next expansion is likely to release before I get around to it.
Demo also doesn't seem to make nice melee sets from scratch -- just rebuilt a melee completely and ZERO demo items fit into the set. IMHO, the entire expansion weighs in at about the "meh" level for gear.
BTW, the one thing that would change that might come in the future: multi-line solunar gems (eg. All+3 Artifact, 30 MPRR, etc). I suspect they're holding those out for 38 or 40 because it will revitalize ALL solunar items game-wide when they do it.
You need the base item. Regular farming with or without astrals as usual, but SSG is counting on astral demand.
BUT, now you need the ultra-rare catalyst. I doubt anyone is farming those directly. Instead, I suspect they're doing what I would do: buy from ASAH, which creates even more astral demand but has no farming attached.
With that said, none of the demo items (catalyst or regular) have turned up as a potential tetris fit on any of my recent rebuild checks since demo released. I've got a minor QOL fit with Reign (on my caster -- go figure), but it's so low on my list of things to do in game that the next expansion is likely to release before I get around to it.
Demo also doesn't seem to make nice melee sets from scratch -- just rebuilt a melee completely and ZERO demo items fit into the set. IMHO, the entire expansion weighs in at about the "meh" level for gear.
BTW, the one thing that would change that might come in the future: multi-line solunar gems (eg. All+3 Artifact, 30 MPRR, etc). I suspect they're holding those out for 38 or 40 because it will revitalize ALL solunar items game-wide when they do it.
Grimscore_Riffstorm
Shreds Licks Way Beyond His Capabilities
The biggest issue with all the rare DDO stuff is that the items are bound. The catalysts; however, are the first time they didn't do that. I very much like the gameplay, story and dungeons. The artwork is fantastic as well. I find it leaps and bounds over MD and Chill. There is even a little hidden treasure hunt and weapon upgrade system. Probably the worst thing about the whole thing is that your mount is suppressed at the bank because some emotionally unintelligent folks lose control of their behaviors and they don't know the targeting keybinds.
I think that the quests are fun to play.
As for Gear, Baphomet's Reign is pretty great, 15% legendary conditioning (Frees up feat if you normally take Titan's Blood), Legendary Deadly +3, Unstoppable Staggering Blow, Quality Sheltering +11, 3x Aug slots, 5x Filigree Slots.
From the Catalysts, Null Blade and Legendary Null Blade are pretty cool on Warchanter / Swash, THF / SWF (Specialty) / Shield Mastery (Specialty). The Catalysts are rare drops, but they can be traded, and most of them sell for quite a lot of AS, so if you pull some that you wont use, can sell them and then buy one that you would use.
As for Gear, Baphomet's Reign is pretty great, 15% legendary conditioning (Frees up feat if you normally take Titan's Blood), Legendary Deadly +3, Unstoppable Staggering Blow, Quality Sheltering +11, 3x Aug slots, 5x Filigree Slots.
From the Catalysts, Null Blade and Legendary Null Blade are pretty cool on Warchanter / Swash, THF / SWF (Specialty) / Shield Mastery (Specialty). The Catalysts are rare drops, but they can be traded, and most of them sell for quite a lot of AS, so if you pull some that you wont use, can sell them and then buy one that you would use.
Spellsinger
Well-known member
I've gotten one cata for drow weapons early on but not any lately.
Varr
Well-known member
Got a couple. Want the Lantern Ring still, but got the other one I wanted. The Elemental Victory. I've a sweet Helm overlay of the Elemental Victory, but turned it into xp long ago.
Now I'm on run 11 with 5 bots lagging behind In ToEE: Depths of the Temple looking for another. No rush, they are giving me things to farm which is always fun.
Now I'm on run 11 with 5 bots lagging behind In ToEE: Depths of the Temple looking for another. No rush, they are giving me things to farm which is always fun.
norriskwondo
Well-known member
Although there's lots of people that disagree with me, I've played the saga through once will never play it again. I prefer drannor over it. Everything is compartmentalized and hard navigate the wilderness off the main path, and it hardly spawns monsters for slayer count. All the worst parts of gianthold, wheloon, and cogs rolled up in one. In the quests, everything is cramped with little to no room to maneuver in a fight. Everything is set up to suit melee and none of the other play styles. So if you play dragonlord you'll be fine, anything else you're going to hate it most likely. There was absolutely nothing needed for a rogue, and cramped quarters makes it hard for casters to dodge attacks. The art work is fabulous on the plus side.
I found the Wilderness pretty easy to navigate, it is a fairly small area, and the quests are in a circle around the edge. Mob density is too low to make this a go-to for slayers, but the rares give sentient xp (legendary weapons), and the purple names are challenging.
Quest: Low XP, variety of story, fun to play. Stealing from sorcere is my favourite that I keep ransacking as much as I can.
Raid: Short raid like FOM, loot are OKish for me in preview 2.
Loot:
Melee got a nice ring artifact. Good items around that doesn’t require farming materials. Works for range dps too.
Caster got nice DC boost on 13+7 items. The evo ring and enchant gloves are not too bad to get.
Lam gear gives ins&qua crit dam so they are better than demo items.
Ooze weapon is unique cosmetic and it’s an OK endgame weapon that I am planning to use.
Catalyst:
I did like 4 r10 saga, 2 catalyst drop for me, both useful. But I don’t see myself farming for any of the catalyst item.
Raid: Short raid like FOM, loot are OKish for me in preview 2.
Loot:
Melee got a nice ring artifact. Good items around that doesn’t require farming materials. Works for range dps too.
Caster got nice DC boost on 13+7 items. The evo ring and enchant gloves are not too bad to get.
Lam gear gives ins&qua crit dam so they are better than demo items.
Ooze weapon is unique cosmetic and it’s an OK endgame weapon that I am planning to use.
Catalyst:
I did like 4 r10 saga, 2 catalyst drop for me, both useful. But I don’t see myself farming for any of the catalyst item.
woq
Well-known member
Quests have been generally speaking well received. The saga doesn't feel too long, optional chests have useful stuff in them and the quests are intuitive and there is plenty of variance in gameplay and appearance in quests. Some quests even showed love toward the pacifists out there - Sorcere is a cool albeit somewhat divisive quest that can be completed with close to no violence and is quite unique among its kind. I'm a huge fan of some of the quests and end fights in this expansion, and there aren't many quests that make you feel "I hate this" or a forced saga skip.
Most quests are fairly medium length. Some are much faster to do when splitting up. Experience is not great.
Creatures hit hard, some quest bosses/optionals can be quite tanky. There are quests that reward many types of characters - ranged have their moment, melee have their moment, and DC casters make some quests extremely effortless, but soloers need good damage in Legendary Reaper questing. Damage Casters despair because it's a lot of demons - they're natively resistant to elements and especially in Legendary they're high level monsters => tanky to damage in general.
Some good loot, some stellar artifacts that are not on rare loot tables and can be acquired in saga end rewards which is awesome. Catalysts are really rare and many - hell, i'd argue most - of the best items are behind rare drops or the slayer area purple rare bosses. The upside is that the catalysts are tradeable, the downside is that most people want the same rares so they're expensive. The upside is that you can trade them to people for a lot of shards if you get a jackpot one you don't want. The downside is that you're unlikely to get one - if they were easy to get, they wouldn't be as high value.
The expansion is required for slime weapons which are excellent for non-raid endgame weapons and you can farm multiple copies easily once you've done the first step which theoretically allows cursefarming as well if you really wanted to go that way.
No filigrees, but a lot of named items (weapons, artifacts, regular items) => not bad for sentient xp/rfrags.
Crafting the craftable attribute is extremely simple and materials are plentiful, but you can't recraft - once you make a choice, that's it. If you have second thoughts, need to refarm => crafting stat on the catalyst items induces gnashing of teeth.
----
The raid on lamannia has been a bit of a letdown, but I think it'll be fun to run once it goes live and expectations no longer sour the experience. It really could've used an optional and more interesting non-gear loot - tomes (racial/fate/stat... ones) - interesting augments, and just something to make it more than 3 slugfests - we already just had raids like that so it doesn't really fill a different type of raid niche for us at all.
You go in there and kill the enemy, loot and leave - no puzzles, no secrets, no optionals, no curiosities - unless we missed them or they add them between lamannia and live.
----
Overall, I'd still rate it the best expansion experience in a decent while, but it's all subjective. I don't regret buying it with $$ early rather than waiting to buy it with points, even before the raid has released.
Most quests are fairly medium length. Some are much faster to do when splitting up. Experience is not great.
Creatures hit hard, some quest bosses/optionals can be quite tanky. There are quests that reward many types of characters - ranged have their moment, melee have their moment, and DC casters make some quests extremely effortless, but soloers need good damage in Legendary Reaper questing. Damage Casters despair because it's a lot of demons - they're natively resistant to elements and especially in Legendary they're high level monsters => tanky to damage in general.
Some good loot, some stellar artifacts that are not on rare loot tables and can be acquired in saga end rewards which is awesome. Catalysts are really rare and many - hell, i'd argue most - of the best items are behind rare drops or the slayer area purple rare bosses. The upside is that the catalysts are tradeable, the downside is that most people want the same rares so they're expensive. The upside is that you can trade them to people for a lot of shards if you get a jackpot one you don't want. The downside is that you're unlikely to get one - if they were easy to get, they wouldn't be as high value.
The expansion is required for slime weapons which are excellent for non-raid endgame weapons and you can farm multiple copies easily once you've done the first step which theoretically allows cursefarming as well if you really wanted to go that way.
No filigrees, but a lot of named items (weapons, artifacts, regular items) => not bad for sentient xp/rfrags.
Crafting the craftable attribute is extremely simple and materials are plentiful, but you can't recraft - once you make a choice, that's it. If you have second thoughts, need to refarm => crafting stat on the catalyst items induces gnashing of teeth.
----
The raid on lamannia has been a bit of a letdown, but I think it'll be fun to run once it goes live and expectations no longer sour the experience. It really could've used an optional and more interesting non-gear loot - tomes (racial/fate/stat... ones) - interesting augments, and just something to make it more than 3 slugfests - we already just had raids like that so it doesn't really fill a different type of raid niche for us at all.
You go in there and kill the enemy, loot and leave - no puzzles, no secrets, no optionals, no curiosities - unless we missed them or they add them between lamannia and live.
----
Overall, I'd still rate it the best expansion experience in a decent while, but it's all subjective. I don't regret buying it with $$ early rather than waiting to buy it with points, even before the raid has released.
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Varr
Well-known member
Welp.........one labor day weekend and got everything sorted.
Loot collected, all.
Got the Elemental Victory on run 21x6 (with killing the bots, got this run down to 8 min on R3 as the loop.) Leg Crown of Ion.
Got the Kings Cruelty Shadow Armor on run 5x6. Leg The Shadow King's Cruelty.
Got Leg Cata for Ring on run 23X1 with 9 rerolls as I started to get antsy, final reroll got it. Leg Lantern of the Abyss.
This messed up my gear so need to farm 4x1 with 12 rerolls the Leg Grip of the Marilith. Gloves given to me by party member.
Couple weeks and 300ish shards of rerolls for gear got me home. None of the bot accounts flagged for GravenHollow so I did spend some shards on the Merilith Rare as super annoying to farm it. Gl all! I liked the Cata addition as the gear is fancy enough to make worth grabing the core stuff. I had to go get both the Armor and the Helm.
These 4 plus the Leg Cracked Symbol of Lolth, Leg Tail of Dem, and Orcus's Reign has me wearing 7 items from newest area. Nice set up.
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