My suggestion & bug log

[calouscaine]

So, a lot of things were remedied with the last update to lords march, I'm still looking through the upgradable stuff and such. . .good job there.
I really wish there were a more in-depth road map so that I might not post about things which might already be planned or in the works.


Suggestions for future legendary:
Lower necropolis - might want to revise that rat maze dungeon first though
Korthos, and maybe add in a part for return to korthos where you play from the dragon hunting parties perspective as well? I just think that might be neat.
I don't fully know what all has been updated to legendary yet, so I'm not going to randomly spit out dungeons which may or may not have been updated yet, but I am betting a lot of the harbor stuff still needs it.
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Race suggestions:
Allow for tieflings to not have horns or tails in char creation, not all tieflings displayed such heritage or had giant bull horns. . .and allow for actual eyes not colored blobs
Fae-ri
Kobold (I'm sure I can't be the only one who still wants to play a kobold)
Fae (summer and winter courts)
Dhamphirs (they've been around since 2nd ed, could be a ravenloft expansion bit)
Avriels (sp?) (winged elves)
Satyr
Pixy
Bullywog
Gnoll
Now I realize that new races require a ton o f work, given armor and such, but I think they would be neat additions.
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Expansions:
Mythdranor
Icewind dale
Baldurs gate and the sword coast
Lamordia (ravenloft, the adam quest line - it's kind of frankenstien-ish)
More ravenloft content - there is a whole host of stuff for ravenloft and areas which could be added
More faerun content, not just drow
Dragonlance - war of the lance is a great era for this - krynn content, after all we do wander through the planes
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Improvements and such:

Bring back the toee crafting and drops

Ui scaling and lock able quick bars, swtor has a pretty good example of how to do this, check it out and see if it can be done with ddo in a future update.
Graphics glitches and texture flashing, this needs to be fixed. It's occurring in eveningstar, in the isle of dread dungeons, and so on. Maybe some issue with modern cards and old game rendering, I'm not sure, but textures will flash in and out depending on where you move. I keep setting on max.

Guild halls and character housing with buff or other options. Guilds could even make dungeons in their halls for other players to run, this has been done successfully with guild/player housing in the superhero mmos, swtor, and others. It's about time that there was a little upgrade/addition in this department. Yeah, I know it's a lot of work, but you could always add in trap packs, treasure packs, npc/monster packs, and so forth that people could buy in the shop to flesh out their player made dungeons as well as a leader board system for them. Besides, I bet some players could make some really neat stuff.

More bank space - seriously, this is needed. Every time content is added and updated there is more one wants or needs to hold onto for reincarnations, bumping base bank space up to 200 shouldn't be that much of an issue before the kundark quests.

Some dungeons seem to be set up on a trigger system (over in the isle of dread by most appearances) where the mobs will stay unhostile and not trigger, locking you from progressing, this needs to be fixed. No mob should ever be immortal and unhostile in a dungeon if it is meant to be killed to continue through the dungeon.

Add a platinum monthly dice roller with better rewards. Higher xp, maybe the chance at those +3/4 racial tomes, maybe otto's boxes on rolls of 100, and so forth. And don't put the bigby's hands in it, those things are so useless.

Do something about the pet and mounts that you can get on a lucky dice roll, I have like three or four nightmares now, all bound to account, and nothing to do with them since you can't keep adding them to your stable or trade them with other players. Maybe something like the cosmetic deal, shred them and turn the bits in for a different mount?

Add a Jack of all trades feat, this essentially allows you to put points into any skill as if it were a class trained skill, even open lock and disable device. Mind, it doesn't increase your point pool based on class, just allows for you to allocate your points any where with out the half bit or leave you class restricted on skills which shouldn't be. So, you probably won't ever be an amazing trapper as a wizard or fight, but at least you could do most normal content with out having to get a dumberling that doesn't work half the time or try to pug to get a bonus in regular dungeons.

The level 3 perma cleric from the catacombs pack? Ravenloft pack? Where ever it was from seems to have expired and vanished. . .please fix this. It's irritating for something to randomly expire and vanish that was never meant to. Especially when it was paid for.

Up to +5 racial and universal tomes - in the store. . .

Allow for epic levels to progress base classes if multi classed past their lock out at 20 if desired. Why this wasn't done initially is a bit beyond me. Mind, I think the epic system is neat, but it's pretty inaccurate for d&d.

Epic heart of blood/wood - when playing a base race and class and you reach 32, a heart that lets you get your racial and class when reincarnating, but not epic. Just me being lazy and wanting something to stream line reincarnation here.

Otto's boxes: Please, please, please. . .leave them in the store longer. For some reason I almost always miss them.

Allow for all past epic life toggles to be used at the same time.

Please adjust or fix the hireling ai - they are constantly blocked even when in front of a door or trap, or just stand there drooling on themselves.

Please fix the enemy ai, the constant running in circles around you is getting old and annoying. If they're going to attack me, then they should do that, not run in circles for twenty seconds and then maybe attack something. This is happening every where.
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Class bits:

These can be extensions to current classed like the skin deal or hunter deal or how ever you'd like to work it, or even trees.
Oracle - yeah, I know it's more of a pathfinder thing, but I think it would be pretty neat for a cleric or favored soul option to be a debuffer.
Dread necromancer
Hex blade
Soul knife - though there is something that seems pretty similar with the shadow blade deal. But the imbue weapon with shadows has to constantly be reapplied every transition or rest. . .it would be nice if it could just be toggled on.
Arcane trickster
More clerical domains/gods/etc, to reflect the other planes - i.e. faerun deities, ravenloft deities, etc.
Ahhh. . .I'm sure others have some better ideas for class things. . .to be honest I think the current class bits are pretty good, but lacking in being able to level them all the way and lacking points for trees, not to mention the open lock and disable skills be locked to very specific classes - which shouldn't happen.

I'll add more over time, probably a lot of this will actually be checked/fixed in regards to issues as time passes. Looking forward to future updates!

 

[calouscaine]

So, this whole dungeon alert, since it's 'update' I've been noticing a great deal of entering a quest and immediate green alert, or entering a portion of a quest and immediate green to yellow alert, and the alert doesn't go away when you kill the mobs it seems in most cases. This isn't due to zerging, there's simply that many mobs I guess when running dungeons on hard or elite? It's been noticeable across the board in some fairly low level quests, under level 10.
So, I'm not really sure what the fix or update was meant to do at this juncture other than to debuff the player in an extreme manner and slow their movement speed to an excessive snails pace while super charging mobs and apparently calling for everything in the dungeon to attempt to converge on you. Basically it feels more like players are being punished for even entering a dungeon at this point and this useless and needless alert system which is obviously the source for a great deal of the lag on servers was put in place to drive players away from the game. The system itself was designed poorly to begin with, has never accomplished the purpose of preventing zerging, and now is causing problems with playing the game normally due to even worse implementation.
My suggestion is that the dungeon alert system is removed until the devs can actually come up with a system which , 1.) works, 2.) doesn't bog down server processing, 3.) has been actually tested before thrown in.
But if the goal is to drive away new, returning, or old players by using a system that lags out the game to an extreme then I guess it's on point.
At no juncture of walking through a dungeon as it was designed should an alert be triggered dungeon wide - perhaps with the exception of that horrid quest 'stealthy repossession'. Mind, that quest would be perfectly fine if stealth and invisibility worked correctly and didn't break simply by touching something or picking something up, but apparently that couldn't be properly implemented either. But, I digress, there is simply no possible way to avoid a dungeon alert in that dungeon.
Then there are other dungeons where you enter an area and it's an instant alert. I am guessing it is triggered with mobs larger that 6? Might need some verification, I'll start counting to see if I can get an accurate count and actual dungeon names where there are entry alerts. Still, this problem shouldn't have even occurred. It might be advisable for someone who can do math to actually look at the coding in this situation, as who ever updated it didn't pay very much attention to the spawn rates vs alert triggering.

 

[calouscaine]

I'm not overly sure what's going on lately with the game, maybe it's lag or intentional poor coding? But toggles really seem to be spazzing out, deactivating, or not working. Pets are randomly despawning. Dungeon alerts are constantly going off for no apparent reason.
There have been noted issues with imbue toggles, specifically with the arcane knight not working as they use to when it comes to damage per hit. Some times they register the elemental damage, but more often they don't. One out of every three hits give or take depending on the weapon.
Bow speed has become so sluggish that it's not even worth using one now it seems.
Mobs seem to be able to attack through walls, hills, rocks, doors, and so on with ranged weapons, but players ranged weapons always lob into the ground instead of at the target. This is also happening with spells, even when something is hard targeted.
Enlarge is not working with knights form. Warlock aura isn't working with knights form. Toggles seem to be now canceling each other out and turning one another off. The mantle from magus of the eclipse seems to stop working when swapping weapons and has to be reapplied for some reason now.
Death aura still procs correctly on pet skeleton and mobs, but now only procs on the player 1 per three other procs on mobs/pet.
Vip benefits are on hold or have been completely discarded so far as any update goes, can't even get a straight answer about when or what to expect.
I really am unsure what's going on now with this game, but it seems to me like things are intentionally being broken to either stop multi-classing, or to drive players away from the game.
I do know one thing, if the coding issues aren't intentional then that means that some one doesn't know how to do their job, if it is intentional, then it's pretty deceitful. I realize SSG has never really been transparent or honest about what to expect when, or even about their stealth nerfs, but it's becoming very apparent that something is seriously wrong.

 

[calouscaine]

Just ran 'The druids curse', heroic elite, apparently halsame can split himself into his human form and an immortal bear form, which stays around, can't be killed, and keeps attacking even after the quest is completed.
So, that quest might be broken now for some reason. Never seen that happen before, but I would hazard to guess that the spirit bear form simply refused to despawn when his human form reappeared. And since it's immortal (auto heals every time it reaches about 10% and can't go lower), it will just keep attacking and there's no way to stop it.
Here's a pointer to devs, stop making things immortal. It's poor coding and design in a game.

 

[calouscaine]

I've noticed that I rather enjoy riding around the saltmarsh epic explorer area with the music, makes me feel like I'm in a Conan movie. If only the rares would give up that shield.

 

[calouscaine]

I would like to suggest lamanian chipmunks for mounts, mhm.

 

[Altra]

I would like to suggest lamanian chipmunks for mounts, mhm.

OMG! That's an adorable idea. Love it!

 

[calouscaine]

System change suggestion:

I was mulling about this, and yeah, I know I've brought it up before.
Stealth and invisibility - update the skill and spell to break on attack/damaging instead of interaction.
When interacting with something, simply apply a stacking debuff to hide and move silent, 20 sec duration, -5 to each, stack up to -60.
This would vastly improve the viability of stealth tactics while still having the potential of getting caught. I believe this would work better than the current system where nearly anything breaks invis or stealth, which isn't how either should work.

 

[calouscaine]

Spell suggestions: These may not be considered, but throwing them out there
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Mage Hand: 5-pound telekinesis. - can be used on interactable objects, doors, levers, etc. even through gates.

Transmutation
Level: Brd 0, Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One nonmagical, unattended object weighing up to 5 lb.
Duration: Concentration
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
You point your finger at an object and can lift it and move it at will from a distance. As a move action, you can propel the object as far as 15 feet in any direction, though the spell ends if the distance between you and the object ever exceeds the spell’s range.
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Mirror Image: Creates decoy duplicates of you (1d4 +1 per three levels, max 8).
We've seen it being used in salt marsh by npcs, but I'm not sure how it would work for characters unless it just makes temp npc copies that draw aggro, which would still be pretty useful.

Illusion (Figment)
Level: Brd 2, Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal; see text
Target: You
Duration: 1 min./level (D)
Several illusory duplicates of you pop into being, making it difficult for enemies to know which target to attack. The figments stay near you and disappear when struck.

Mirror image creates 1d4 images plus one image per three caster levels (maximum eight images total). These figments separate from you and remain in a cluster, each within 5 feet of at least one other figment or you. You can move into and through a mirror image. When you and the mirror image separate, observers can’t use vision or hearing to tell which one is you and which the image. The figments may also move through each other. The figments mimic your actions, pretending to cast spells when you cast a spell, drink potions when you drink a potion, levitate when you levitate, and so on.

Enemies attempting to attack you or cast spells at you must select from among indistinguishable targets. Generally, roll randomly to see whether the selected target is real or a figment. Any successful attack against an image destroys it. An image’s AC is 10 + your size modifier + your Dex modifier. Figments seem to react normally to area spells (such as looking like they’re burned or dead after being hit by a fireball).

While moving, you can merge with and split off from figments so that enemies who have learned which image is real are again confounded.

An attacker must be able to see the images to be fooled. If you are invisible or an attacker shuts his or her eyes, the spell has no effect. (Being unable to see carries the same penalties as being blinded.)

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Tiny Hut: Creates shelter for ten creatures.
So, the idea for this is to make a d-door that can go to a small rest area and back, maybe put a hour cool down on it or such. But I think it would be super useful.

Evocation [Force]
Level: Brd 3, Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 20 ft.
Effect: 20-ft.-radius sphere centered on your location
Duration: 2 hours/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
You create an unmoving, opaque sphere of force of any color you desire around yourself. Half the sphere projects above the ground, and the lower hemisphere passes through the ground. As many as nine other Medium creatures can fit into the field with you; they can freely pass into and out of the hut without harming it. However, if you remove yourself from the hut, the spell ends.

The temperature inside the hut is 70° F if the exterior temperature is between 0° and 100° F. An exterior temperature below 0° or above 100° lowers or raises the interior temperature on a 1-degree-for-1 basis. The hut also provides protection against the elements, such as rain, dust, and sandstorms. The hut withstands any wind of less than hurricane force, but a hurricane (75+ mph wind speed) or greater force destroys it.

The interior of the hut is a hemisphere. You can illuminate it dimly upon command or extinguish the light as desired. Although the force field is opaque from the outside, it is transparent from within. Missiles, weapons, and most spell effects can pass through the hut without affecting it, although the occupants cannot be seen from outside the hut (they have total concealment).

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Make it so that create undead can be used to raise pale master skeletons (which act more like summons than pets, have no stat page, no gear page, and shouldn't count as a pet due to such- but sense they are we need a way to bring them back with out having to rest every single time they die.)
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Spell Turning: Reflect 1d4+6 spell levels back at caster.

Abjuration
Level: Luck 7, Magic 7, Sor/Wiz 7
Components: V, S, M/DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Until expended or 10 min./level
Spells and spell-like effects targeted on you are turned back upon the original caster. The abjuration turns only spells that have you as a target. Effect and area spells are not affected. Spell turning also fails to stop touch range spells.

From seven to ten (1d4+6) spell levels are affected by the turning. The exact number is rolled secretly.

When you are targeted by a spell of higher level than the amount of spell turning you have left, that spell is partially turned. The subtract the amount of spell turning left from the spell level of the incoming spell, then divide the result by the spell level of the incoming spell to see what fraction of the effect gets through. For damaging spells, you and the caster each take a fraction of the damage. For nondamaging spells, each of you has a proportional chance to be affected.

If you and a spellcasting attacker are both warded by spell turning effects in operation, a resonating field is created.

Roll randomly to determine the result.

d% Effect
01-70 Spell drains away without effect.
71-80 Spell affects both of you equally at full effect.
81-97 Both turning effects are rendered nonfunctional for 1d4 minutes.
98-100 Both of you go through a rift into another plane. (shadowfell? or other random sort of effect?)
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Mage’s Sword : Floating magic blade strikes opponents.
I think this would be a pretty useful alternate summon personally.

Evocation [Force]
Level: Sor/Wiz 7
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect: One sword
Duration: 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes
This spell brings into being a shimmering, swordlike plane of force. The sword strikes at any opponent within its range, as you desire, starting in the round that you cast the spell. The sword attacks its designated target once each round on your turn. Its attack bonus is equal to your caster level + your Int bonus or your Cha bonus (for wizards or sorcerers, respectively) with an additional +3 enhancement bonus. As a force effect, it can strike ethereal and incorporeal creatures. It deals 4d6+3 points of force damage, with a threat range of 19-20 and a critical multiplier of ×2.

The sword always strikes from your direction. It does not get a bonus for flanking or help a combatant get one. If the sword goes beyond the spell range from you, if it goes out of your sight, or if you are not directing it, the sword returns to you and hovers.

Each round after the first, you can use a standard action to switch the sword to a new target. If you do not, the sword continues to attack the previous round’s target.

The sword cannot be attacked or harmed by physical attacks, but dispel magic, disintegrate, a sphere of annihilation, or a rod of cancellation affects it. The sword’s AC is 13 (10, +0 size bonus for Medium object, +3 deflection bonus).

If an attacked creature has spell resistance, the resistance is checked the first time Mage’s sword strikes it. If the sword is successfully resisted, the spell is dispelled. If not, the sword has its normal full effect on that creature for the duration of the spell.

Focus
A miniature platinum sword with a grip and pommel of copper and zinc. It costs 250 gp to construct.
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Of course there's also the array of bigby's spells, which have been suggested else where.

 

[calouscaine]

Love the update notes ahead of time for the update, great job there devs!

 

[calouscaine]

On a side note, ran heroic Siegebreaker on elite today, the named water elemental was using electric surge and doing 125 + dmg a tick, this is with my character having 40 electric resist. Another possible spell from player side unedited and given to mobs like black dragon bolt?

 

[GamerTagRoid]

A LOT to read here, but just wanted to comment on one of the things, expansion/adventure ideas...

For me, please, no more out of world stuff. Either go back and 'update' current content to more modern values (XP and quest rewards), or do more for Eberron itself. This IS supposed to be based in that world, so why do we keep getting expansions that technically have nothing to do with it? I mean, I know it's probably a money thing, but I'd rather pay out more for Eberron stuff.

 

[calouscaine]

A LOT to read here, but just wanted to comment on one of the things, expansion/adventure ideas...

For me, please, no more out of world stuff. Either go back and 'update' current content to more modern values (XP and quest rewards), or do more for Eberron itself. This IS supposed to be based in that world, so why do we keep getting expansions that technically have nothing to do with it? I mean, I know it's probably a money thing, but I'd rather pay out more for Eberron stuff.

I wouldn't mind seeing more ebberon stuff myself. Maybe visit Droamm?

 

[calouscaine]

Expanding on this from one of my other posts:
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This might be a random thought, but if they made a system where you could mine, skin, lumber jack, and so forth and make items from scratch (with appearance setting), and worked it in to work with the current crafting, then I bet that would boost the platinum exchange. . .or maybe just end up on the shard.
Basically you could farm for base materials from monsters and areas, then you could set to forging/leather/metal working to make the base item. Say there was a selection for different parts of said item to choose from for appearances, and then a color range to choose for said parts. Then you would take that item and do your cannith crafting on it, or buy a mirror of glammoring to turn it into a cosmetic. It doesn't need to be super complex, but it could offer a host of things for customizable item appearances for players to have fun with.
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I.e. hilt appearances, guard appearances, shaft appearances, blade appearances for weapons
Base shield, lining on shield, symbol on shield
Base armor type, plating, cloth, symbol, etc.
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This is a pretty rough approximation, but should illustrate the idea as it was done in older games:

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That said, rare types of parts could be added as quest rewards or put in the ddo store, so could colors, and so on. There is a lot of potential with this that could add a whole new layer to the game. On top of that, materials could be added to wilderness areas only, so that the placement/modification of content wouldn't be super intensive on the dev team.
We already have cannith, so this would simply be create the base item sort of thing for prep for cannith crafting on it. Maybe, if you got good enough with this there could be a chance for gem slots or mythic boosts.
Just throwing it out there.

 

[calouscaine]

So, my two cents.
I don't mind supporting the game, and the new 'supporter pack' I think is designed for that purpose. But it costs more than an upcoming triple A game at $72 for top tier.

Mind, I think it looks absolutely amazing, and I think who ever worked on it deserves props and to be recognized.
But that said the price from a marketing stand point is too excessive to generate substantial income across the board. If the pack went in $10/$15/$20 so far as tiers then more players would be willing to buy it and it would generate more money over all than charging the current prices. This is just my opinion from the stand point of having an MBA and studying economics and international business, especially with the current economy. . .some awareness of the common state of the country and world as a whole would be prudent in marketing as opposed to tossing out a high price tag and hoping it generates revenue streams by labeling it as limited time and hoping people jump on the band wagon.

I did buy it, because I have the extra funds. But we live in an economy where a cart of groceries can run up to $700-800. . .a little thought and foresight would benefit more than what ever the current marketing strategy is.

 

[calouscaine]

On a side note, if you apply the 'supporter pack' top tier to a new toon, you still cap out at 100 character bank space if you didn't buy the store spaces before applying the pack.
My guess is that the store checks the character to see how many bank slots they have and then removes which ever packs might have already been covered. This is just my guess, but it seems accurate with my current experience.

In this case it means that I paid for something which I didn't get, that attributes to false advertising or fraud. The last company that did something like this to customers was bethesda. . .I'm sure people know how that ended.
Mind, I am only putting that out there because if customers keep getting screwed over then everyone is going to loose out and the game will cease to exist. And I rather enjoy playing it. So, please. . .put a little more effort and attention into things before creating a hot mess.

 

[calouscaine]

Onyxia2016
The term Pay to Win is an old gamers quote, that in the beginning was just that, games that you could not advance to the higher levels unless you dropped a boat load of real money. Now days it simple mean someone who just spends a lot of real money on a game.
As for how it affects us regular players, it is the price point things are set at. Lots of us cannot or simple will not spend that kind of money every few months for the latest expansion/content/cosmetic packs.

To further your tomato analogy, if some people with lots a cash want to by tomato plants to start their own garden and are willing to pay $200 per plant so all the farm stores set the price at $200.

So are you going to spend the same so you can have tomatoes? I doubt most would so the whales get the good stuff and the rest of us are left without.

The mount would be the tomato plant and the only way you can get it is by spending $200. Since SSG knows there are people willing to spend that, we regular folks do without. As I mentioned in my previous post I do not care for this mount and the bank space would be my only interest but not at the price they are wanting. I will just roll another bank mule.

So the term Pay to Win should not be taken literally word for word in this case.

Hope this clarifies things a bit.

https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/introducing-the-underdark-patrons-coffers.1357/page-7#post-12610

(not sure at this juncture how to move a quote on this forum, so I just copy pasted)

Yeah, supply and demand is a pretty common theme in business.
The issue with digital products is that there is no shortage of supply other than what the seller alots, meaning they can engage in price fixing (which by the way is illegal in multiple countries), meaning simply that they create a product that has a demand and then set the price at an absurd number and force people to pay it if they want something. Since there is no competition or other sources, this price will remain fixed at usually a looming figure which grossly over values the product.

My experience with pay to win was usually on asian type mmo's, people with money could by the latest and greatest gear as soon as it arrived, or be able to buy off their levels, or buy special abilities. Now all of this could be earned - 6-18 months worth of effort, or you could spend hundreds of dollars each month/sale/event to stay at the top tiers. Of course everything was very transparent on these sorts of mmos, you knew what you were paying for, there was no rng with it, no random stats, no gotchapon sort of tactics, etc.

I do think you're right though, now days pay to win seems to only mean a person willing to spend money.

In simple business one would consider a lower price which could reach more people a better deal, as you would make more money by allocating a price which more people would be willing to pay, thus raising profits. With digital products this is very easy, as you only have the initial cost of production - something like this pack should not factor into the day to day cost of running the game, it's an extra. The day to day cost of running an mmo and the majority of it's profits 'should' typically come from it's subscriptions, meaning a $10-20 a month sub which provides enough of a tangible enough benefit that the majority of players are willing to pay it. This service can easily net millions to tens of millions of dollar a month with reasonable prices on bonus/expansion content and then of course the cash shop with mounts, cosmetics, etc. WOW still makes an estimated 32 mil a month based on this strategy, and graphically is pretty much the same as ddo. . .I won't say anything about systems on this front. . .

The vip benefits have been beaten to death for a while now, people don't seem to believe they are getting any or enough value out of subscribing so they either won't sub or they are canceling their subs.
This boils down to more than just subscription benefits, at least in my mind. Stealth issues with invis and stealth breaking with interactions prevents one from truly playing a stealthy character on some levels. Mobs sizes 7 or more instantly triggering dungeon alerts which sometimes don't go away even after killing a mob and buffing every spawn in a dungeon. Certain abilities like some meta magics not working at the same time as a mage tree's form (eldrich knight). The bugs and system design are causing a course chafing among players and several quality of life issues which should have been addressed over the last decade have not been. Ui improvements, bank and inventory space and management.

There is a great many things which should have and could have been improved with this game over the last decade which simply haven't been.
Storm reach should have been remade and done as more of an open world sort of area with updated textures.
Character creation should have been improved, had sliders added, more hair and other options added, and so forth. Something similar to fallout's character creation should have been done. The game engine itself could have been updated a great deal, not just graphically, but coding wise to allow for easier more progressive advancement of additions not only to spells, classes, archtypes, but also creatures and areas.
It's fine to get comfortable and to enjoy using a specific system, but if it constantly falls behind then customers will leave for the bigger and better things.

But I digress, sorry, I tend to ramble. The heart of the matter is that the cost doesn't cater to the majority of players, thus the majority of customers may not spend money on it. So, instead of generating as much as one could off a product they have limited themselves to a smaller number of customers and lower profit margins off what is essentially an unlimited product. A first year business student would even be able to figure out this was a bad strategy from the get go.

 

[calouscaine]

Suggestion:
Add in a logger function so that players can export combat logs and statistics for bug reporting. This should assist in isolating and solving issues.
The logger should include basic combat, combat rolls, spells cast, damage numbers, any sort of bypassing, resistances, etc. The more information we can get and provide the more it will help the dev team.

 

[calouscaine]

Mini expansion idea:
I love walking around the large wilderness zones, but in some there is a lack of things to do/explore.
I went through upper necropolis and was reminded once more of the random areas, or therenal the small pop in and out dungeons, and wondering to myself - why isn't stuff like this in ravenloft, kings forest, feywild, etc. Those are some of the best parts in the wilderness, when you find something and get that excited 'lets check this out!' feeling.
Adding some mini expansions to preexisting areas would be a great thing to give the game more life and excitement. It doesn't have to be a long complicated dungeon, just something quick, witty, and fun. Maybe even toss in some odd named items. The trash can lid in sharn was great, the broken bottle and keg in the isle of dread, wonderful. Simple little things are always good.

I still love the bowling area in upper necropolis.
Add in some random vendor shops in the random buildings, maybe level 7,8 or 9 scrolls for sale? Or a secret weapon or armor vendor with something unique. Little things with some details can go a long way. Maybe there's a gem cutter that needs help and in exchange they'll give you a level appropriate augment gem as a reward? There's literally limitless ideas that can be applied which can give areas more life and color.

 

[calouscaine]

Theory:
If the base stats, bypasses for fort, and so forth are the same, then the creatures are now hitting more often due to dodge/concealment bypass due to changes(if this has occurred), whether it's buffs from difficulty raising or alerts or reaper. It's likely that the mobs/spawns are simply hitting more often as opposed to actually becoming stronger for some reason.

 

[calouscaine]

you know, when you go into strahd's castle and he's playing, this should have been the audio:

Imagine this playing until you open the doors and walk in, it suddenly stops, and then strahd turns to you. "Ah, my guests have arrived. Welcome."