SteelStar Asks: (U69.3) What Effects Are Hard To Find On Quest Loot?

[_fully_carroted_]

An affix like +quality will save probably won't ever be desirable. But that's not a good reason to remove it. I still say that non-optimal affixes have an important place in the game, because life is more than that! Have some excitement! Sing the body electric!

Great affixes sometimes make an item FUN rather than STRONG. It's why Blackrazor is my favourite THF weapon! The occasional instakill is cool, and linking it thematically to the captured souls effect really elevates it. But the instakill isn't strong in any meaningful sense! Sure, it'll occasionally kill a mob for you but it's better to think of it as

• occasionally impactful, but
• mostly just kinda neat.

The big problem with proc-style affixes like this is that both saves and frequency make them too expensive to be mechanically desirable, so here are my two requests:

1. Gamebreaking procs should be adjusted so that they always do something. E.g. stun if they fail, slow if they save. Then adjust the frequency to a reasonable level. I don't think it's reasonable to change old items, but maybe look at new procs this way. Blackrazor's effect shouldn't fail on save - instead, it should add a captured soul when they save. Legendary Nightshade Shooter is a great example of this (been a while since I ran a crossbow build so I hope I'm remembering the details properly):
   • First, it has Wounding 3 for 3 constitution damage on hit. Second, Its Twining Hemlock poison effect has a DC 70 Fortitude save, so in practice it acts as a 5% knockdown for living creatures. That seems like a pretty good balance even though it doesn't do anything 95% of the time. The flavour text says This weapon is poisoned with a deadly strain of flowering plant. Hits by this weapon have a chance of putting your foe to sleep.
   • How to improve it? Simple!
     • Remove Wounding
     • Change Twining Hemlock to combine both effects, keeping the save or changing it to a flat 5%
       • On save / on hit: 3 constitution damage but stay awake
       • On fail / 5% chance on hit: 3 constitution damage and take a happy little nap
       • This weapon is poisoned with a deadly strain of flowering plant. Hits by this weapon will weaken your foe and may put them to sleep.
   • It feels more fun, and the constitution damage has no significant effect either way.
2. Damage procs shouldn't have any save at all! None of this 'reflex for half' stuff! Just let it happen! It means you can balance the damage more easily, or even promote the affix to the level of "meaninful contribution to damage"

Interesting & unusual effects more than pure power creep! A mix of effects I want more of & ideas for some new ones;
- Tendon slice, crippling, limb chopper - all fun for some defacto crowd control & since they have no save, are actually still viable & effective in reaper difficulty, especially since they stack It'd be nice to get some more options with those.
- Shattermantle - having it on weapons to support your caster teammembers or for hybrids is fun, but an item that gives shattermantle on spellcast would be great for casters to use a one-two punch, especially combined with one of the spells that does a debuff even if they make the save, eg. hypnotism with it's will save debuff.
- Felling the oak - no-save knockdown on vorpal is great & having this inherently on great xbows is fun.
- Any of the effects like telekinetic etc. that have an effect with a save (including DC that's low enough to be unreliable at best) could be adjusted to be a no-save with adjusted duration or proc chance to help keep them relevant.

- Jerky. Sometimes it's nice to have a meaty snack in the middle of a quest between shrines. You could add a vegetarian/vegan option too I guess.

 

[Shear-buckler]

Permanent divine power effect. No one should use scroll or clickies to reach full bab at cap.

 

[mikarddo]

There's never been magma on a non-raid item, so I assume it's not gonna suddenly happen now.

You never know unless you ask - and there is a first time for everthing. It would be a sad world if nothing new ever could happen

 

[Wini]

As long as rare solar augments exist (and cover what already exists on other sets stat-wise), all new items will be tainted by that for me. The grind for solar spell crit augment broke my fun; to the point where some days I just log in, roll my dice, and log off (my of most time spent in game lately has been on lam & Cormyr). Any items I get will mean I need to hit RNG lottery to replace any existing set based gear I have and that's going to influence my fun with any upcoming gear. For the sun/moon system to be something I want to engage with, all the current rare augments would need to be put on regular loot tables; and if you want rare augements they should be something like 'rare augement gets non-rare value( plus 1)'; where it's just slightly better than the easily obtainable version. This issue effects both heroic & legenedary gear desirablity to me. Who's going grind heroic MD (or future packs) for a less than 1% chance for a rare solar augment vs just using existing fey/dread/ravenloft/sharn/etc. gear for leveling?

The augement system itself is cool on paper and could be great as a universal system going forward. But the lack of availability and grind has me checked out of the game entirely now.


A heroic intercession ward item that's not a weapon would be hot; right now we've only got attonement in heroics for that.

This, so much this.

As long as a system does not use ingredients to trade for augments, I am not interested on such system.

I'm a casual player and I don't care about min/maxing, time sinks or uber stats, I just need 4-5 pieces to cover the main role of a build and then a couple of small mini sets or crafting sets (just like Vecna) to fill the gaps.

I don't like MD loot system and I think I am done collecting new gear till we see a change. And if it doesn't change because everyone loves this, well, I think I will carry ML32 gear till the end of days, lol.

 

[Shear-buckler]

This, so much this.

As long as a system does not use ingredients to trade for augments, I am not interested on such system.

I'm a casual player and I don't care about min/maxing, time sinks or uber stats, I just need 4-5 pieces to cover the main role of a build and then a couple of small mini sets or crafting sets (just like Vecna) to fill the gaps.

I don't like MD loot system and I think I am done collecting new gear till we see a change. And if it doesn't change because everyone loves this, well, I think I will carry ML32 gear till the end of days, lol.

What rare augment specifically do you need to be able to use the augment system?

 

[_fully_carroted_]

Great idea!

A basic, integrated melee set (and a caster one, and a ranged one) that’s good enough to function without missing major affixes. My instinct is to keep them significantly behind current gear so people will want to replace them. Maybe farmable in mid epics. Good enough to contribute if you’re not a DC caster, anyway.

Should be reasonable to farm it too - not 33% named chance x 25% chance of a specific item x 14 gear slots = 168 average chest pulls to fill the set. At that point, there’s no point to it.

Perhaps something like borderlands caster sticks; it’s so trivial to farm them that it’s not worth keeping the items in the bank.

The elevator pitch goes like this: Add a turn-in token to all epic content, with a drop rate like Borderlands tokens. One token can be used to buy a mid-late epic gear piece in an integrated set, so everyone can get to a solid baseline with all important affixes, able to contribute in legendary quest groups. It will help newbies just as much as veterans with alts.

Not exactly a specific effect, but I'd like to see a full piece set, as in all 10 equipment slots + armor and preferably also a weapon, that is a matching set, and a few different versions for different general archetypes. When I've gotten new players into the game, a frequent concern we hit at higher levels is that the gear tetris is so onerous

That way when a new player is at high levels, their paladin/monk/fighter/eldritch knight can all just be told "Use the Martial Combatant set to start, you grind it from this area", and they have a gearset that assures they won't have a gaping hole in their setup for endgame.

 

[Vox]

Exceptional spell power

 

[Loromir]

Spell Crit Multiplier would be cool

 

[Phaaze]

"Unwieldy" for 2 reasons:

1. I like big-ass weapons for cosmetics

2. As a negative effect it allows you to make the item stronger than normal in other ways.

Also "Suppress Madness" so that you could have a set of items with penalties and a few more bonuses than normal and also a way to "fix" the penalties where its almost like an item set but different. I always liked that group of items.

 

[Nickodeamous]

As of U69.3, what effects are you looking for that are hard to find in Quest Loot?

A few guidelines for discussion:

• We're talking about Quest Loot specifically here, not Raid Loot
• Some effects are intentionally uncommon on Quest Loot, as they're considered Raid-tier effects.
• We're giving some preference to effects that didn't appear in Myth Drannor and would synergize well with those items.
• Sun and Moon Augment Slots are likely going to continue to exist on new items!
• As a result, in the near term we're not likely to do new Set Bonuses, as Sun and Moon Augments fill that role on those items.
• We still do not intend to make combined Sun+Moon Augment Slots, or add Sun or Moon slots to item slots that didn't get that slot in Myth Drannor (no Moon Slots on Helms, Sun Slots on Boots, etc).

Giving this is shot:

1. there aren't enough sun/moon augment slots to completely remove sets, or even replace them. Give rings a sun or moon augment slot, and this may fill this need. For most of this, without this ability, we need to keep sets intact.
2. augments/effects needed (not bound to weapons please...if augment, needs to be able to be placed in gear only) - Superior Reinforced Fists, FOM, Cannith Combat infusion, Relentless Fury, Enhanced Bloodrage, quality effects, quality abilities.
3. "As a result, in the near term we're not likely to do new Set Bonuses, as Sun and Moon Augments fill that role on those items." We need more sets in future expansion packs. These crazy rare augments are defeating the purpose and will to grind for gear, plus you are limiting to what 8 or 9 effects vs. sets can can have more effects by far.
4. something like dripping with magma, but other elements please
5. more filigrees please

Thanks!
Nic

 

[saekee]

named items for gear (like gloves etc) that are craftable, have no affixes but a ton of augment slots. By named items it would mean it could drop with mythic and reaper bonuses. It would be the ultimate filler for gear tetris. Have it on every item slot.

 

[Purr]

I forgot to mention, but sources of melee power are rare in heroics, which makes every helm except one a heck of a lot less desirable than they should be.

Pls don't nerf it, it would be nice to see the MP tiers of augments reworked so that +10 enhancement to MP was a slottable augment at level 8 instead of 20 and +5 at level 4.

 

[Habreno]

Stat of Insight Stat items. Something like (ML 13) "DEX +7, Insight DEX +3, [Third Mediocore Effect], [Augment Slot]" as a ring, for example. Gearing Tetris in heroics can be difficult if you aren't a crafter and adding pieces like this that give you all of your stat at once (in essence) can ease that burden quite a bit, especially for newer players. This is a piece I wouldn't likely use (as I am a crafter, so I would be able to make a ring with "CHA +7, DEX +7, Insight DEX +3" and have two augment slots on it) but it's an important filler piece. Aligning a set of six to their commonly-crafted slots (for example, say, INT and WIS on cloaks, CHA and DEX on rings, STR and CON on belts) and giving them a third effect and a singular augment slot would go quite a way to helping out on gearing.

For current level cap - An item or two that has +trance charges on it. Some trances aren't charge-based (Harper Agent), but some of them are based on charges (Falconry) and having some way to get a few extra ones of those wouldn't be a bad idea. Could do something like +1 in heroics and +3 at legendary if you wanted scaling, putting breakpoints at level 20 and 30 for giving an additional +1 over the heroic versions. Possible augment fodder?

 

[ACJ97F]

1: Like to see Mortal Fear from Thunderhome actually be useful, or on another item. Since legendary became a thing, it's about as handy
as a bikini on a cactus. Half the monsters in a mission die in seconds, so that's not too much to ask for non-monster-melting builds.

2: Blueshine or similar material. Having weapons that don't get melted without having to niche into the ED, would be useful.

3: Perfected anything that ISN'T an Artifact. They ruined the usefulness of a potentially good item for most people, by forcing the upgrade.
Now that even more Artifacts exist (with more slots), it's disposable considering the effort.

 

[FVSHasBeenEvenMoreGutted]

• insightful ability scores, preferably in augment +6 form
• quality bonus to ability scores hopefully on goggles
• insightful/quality spell focus mastery on goggles
• crafting item for quality bonus to 1 ability score of choice (like collective sight)
• extra lay on hands items
• insightful accuracy on different slots
• profane/quality combat mastery
• quality sheltering (even 1 type)
• insightful radiance and nullification lore not on orb slots
• raging strength
• insightful/quality double strike and doubleshot
• profane sneak dice
• profane doublestrike and doubleshot
• improved deception goggles
• new quiver
• insightful reduced threat items
• enhanced bloodrage
• insightful/quality seeker on actually useful items
• enhancement/insightful/quality spell crit multi
• profane hp
• draconic reinvigoration
• monk exclusive effects like the stance ones
• permanent FoM on non boot items
• insightful armor piercing
• items that give imbue dice more than +1
• insightful corrosion/nullification on 1 item
• blighted lore/spell power/insightful spellpower
• quality accuracy and deadly
• lifeblood of the undead prince (different name obviously, also insightful and quality of this too!)
• stormreavers thunderclap
• sovereign lightning strike
• rune arm charge rate
• rune arm DC
• insightful/quality assassinate
• legendary elemental energy
• different favored weapons
• melody imperial resonance
• dr bypass augs with other effects like deconstructor
• sea/fire attunement, greater water elemental form
• alchemical attunements

 

[Svirfneblin]

Something for our Warlock friends.

• When your Pact Damage crits it applies Crippling effect
• When Pact Damage hits, 10% chance to slow (stacks with Faltering Blast)
• When Pact Damage hits, 10% chance to apply 1 negative level (stacks with Enervating Shadow)
• +% Pact crit chance
• +% Pact crit damage
• +3 Eldrich Blast dice
• Item doubles effects and duration of Tainted Spellcasting!
• Item increases speed of Eldrich Blast
• Boost to Bewitching Blast process rate

Spell crit Multiplier
Quality, Sacred, Profane bump to DCs
Intercession Ward
Something to reduce or remove Poison Immunity for those using Poisions.

 

[Archest]

Lore and spell power of the same type on a single item

 

[Greatpumpkin]

I don't see them used too much at higher levels, but what about a Summon Monster +5min timer extension item/augment?

Not game breaking, limited usefulness. Maybe future VIP?

 

[Shear-buckler]

Feat: Whirwind attack

 

[Greatpumpkin]

Enemies affected by Curse spell/effect the same way we are.

(this might better belong on the Cormyr forum)