The Reaper XP problem

[songswrath]

Not true. We sometimes run R10 lives straight from harbor to cap. Just for the extra challenge.
Also a lot of people just straight up solo R3-R4 because it's almost as fast and gives at least double RXP. And that stacks up quite fast compared to R1 runs.

WHAT? Stat crunch was one of the worst things they ever did.
1) There was no real reason to do it. We're already way beyond the scope of pen and paper.
2) Instead of creating a proper linear stat progression from 1 to cap they only squished the very top.

So now we have +8 gear at 15, +10 at 21, +11 at 27 (hello orchard my old friend), +13 at 29 and +14 at 32. So instead of linear or exponential progression of gear we have logarithmic. You can't squish only the top. All it did was make low/mid epic gear outside of weapons mostly pointless. So people still get sharn gear at 15/17 depending on the set, and keep that all the way to 32.

So what was fixed? And why was this even attempted? We'll always be in an arms race. New expansion comes out. The gear from it has to be incentivizing players to buy the expansion and run the content. So it'll be at least equivalent to previous gear of same level. Maybe a bit better. Then since gear is a bit better, mobs get a bit tougher. Hence the difficulty disparity between old and new content.

i disagree the stat crunch should have been bigger. it made gear from older set useful all over with out redoing everything . +21 gear we getting out of hand and it was like this cause of all the new packs of the years. each dev had to make sure their loot was the most sought after.

 

[Guntango]

1. Learn the quests so you know what works vs each mob, and more importantly, what doesn't work.

2. Play an effective build. Go deep and narrow with a build to be the best you can with it, rather than a jack-of-all-trades. Newer content is much less forgiving when it comes to monster saves. So your DCs for abilities need to be a focus, not an afterthought. If you're melee, you need to be breaking DR.

3. Farm out the gear you need, ideally before you play it. DDO provides excellent gear with set bonuses that doesn't require raiding. You can solo if you chose, but that leads to the next tip. Cannith Crafted gear is ok for leveling, but it's not going to hold up in mid-high reaper skulls.

4. Bring a full group. The game is infinitely easier with more people in the group: Mobs die faster, which means there's a smaller window for them to do damage which in turns you're minimizing the chance that you're going to die. More people also means more hands in the chest to pull named items.

Past lives are not required for reaper XP. Hardcore proves that season after season, where folks run R4 Legendary quests with first life characters.

You don't need to run R10 to accumulate reaper points. I soloed my way to wings on one character just running R1 while leveling and R3 Legendary content each life -- because of #1, #2, and #3 above.

Like many things you might have difficulty with or an aversion to at first, sometimes a friendly, direct checklist of what to do next (and a kick out of the nest) is all you need.

Do this and have more fun.

 

[Ying]

If you don't run Reaper at all you never cross the point where R1 is easier than Elite.

There's never a point where R1 is easier than Elite.

 

[Guntango]

They did stat crunch because somebody opened their mouth on the forums and opined that the gear was so good that it made past lives look weak by comparison.

I haven't been as straightforward since that mistake.

No. They stat squish to make room for more. More is better, and resetting the baseline before more is even more better. This is not unique to DDO.

 

[Fizban]

Nothing I wrote is true for the 6 people you run with. It is true that the vast majority of people that play R10's at legendary consider it a waste of time to run anything higher than R1 as they level up. You see this all the time on most servers. Some of these people even go so far as to complain that "heroic is boring because it is too easy" as these R10 players run R1 just because it is fast. The problem isn't that these people are not capable of higher reaper in heroics, it is that they do not feel like they are getting the reward they need to bother with it because it pales in comparison to what they get at the cap for R10's. There is no good reason to keep it this way and it should be fixed.

Again your post is completely false. My circle of players is 30 - 40 or more accross multiple guilds. The 6 folks you run with are not a proper sample. Additionally, you can't speak for the vast majority of players as you don't have that clout.

 

[Orchidblossomwasgutted]

Git Gud it aint that hard, its just your head making it seem that way.

 

[Airmaiden]

I would vote for:

1. Add 30% RxP for Reaper 1-5. (this will be a "catch up Mechanic for low reaper xp toons/ new players)
2. Add Champ Reapers to Reaper 6-10 (this would add challenge)

3. FIX that fact that Dim Door kills all reapers (this should have been done a year ago!!)

4. ADD Cosmetics for reaper point 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225, 250, 275, 300

 

[Ying]

Please, get real. SSG is not going to create cosmetics for the literal handful of people silly enough to get 300 reaper points on one toon. The economics don't support it.

I still haven't heard the rationale for "catchup mechanics". Catchup to what exactly? Reducing the amount of time it takes to get through past lives or reaper points is antithetical to SSG's business model. You'd have a way more compelling argument if you pushed for a hardcore season where all characters had all past lives and reaper points, where players had to gain favor in ever increasing reaper difficulty mode.

 

[Tosicamir]

I would vote for:

1. Add 30% RxP for Reaper 1-5. (this will be a "catch up Mechanic for low reaper xp toons/ new players)
2. Add Champ Reapers to Reaper 6-10 (this would add challenge)

3. FIX that fact that Dim Door kills all reapers (this should have been done a year ago!!)

4. ADD Cosmetics for reaper point 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225, 250, 275, 300

And equalize Reaper and Elite character EXP yields. Then, it'd be a true "self challenge only" system.
Otherwise, it feels forced, and becomes overly community divisive.

 

[Airmaiden]

Please, get real. SSG is not going to create cosmetics for the literal handful of people silly enough to get 300 reaper points on one toon. The economics don't support it.

I still haven't heard the rationale for "catchup mechanics". Catchup to what exactly? Reducing the amount of time it takes to get through past lives or reaper points is antithetical to SSG's business model. You'd have a way more compelling argument if you pushed for a hardcore season where all characters had all past lives and reaper points, where players had to gain favor in ever increasing reaper difficulty mode.

The Cosmetics would give a "never ending grind" and "Carrots along the way" with NO Power Creep! (it should not take a lot of resources to make a bunch of cool cosmetics for people starting at 76 Reaper points to chase)

 

[Guntango]

SSG is not going to create cosmetics for the literal handful of people silly enough to get 300 reaper points on one toon.

 

[Ying]

You overestimate the draw for cosmetics as an e-peen reward compared to the insane grind it takes to get 300 reaper points.

"It shouldn't take a lot of resources to..." is just as ignorant as "All you have to do is...." If changing reaper wing colors was so easy/fast/cheap, we'd have a rainbow of colors already. There's something called opportunity cost that everyone conveniently overlooks.

 

[Reaped and Ravaged]

R1 is easier than elite with enough points(More HP, Reflex Saves, PRR, Free Spell Points, etc). R2/R1 Heroic 1st time XP should be less than Elite with a little bit of a bump for R3. This would be a better catch up mechanism for new players joining Reaper groups in heroics.

 

[Ying]

Catch up to what, and for what purpose? It's some arbitrary ever-shifting goal post.

 

[Reaped and Ravaged]

The OP was talking about the challenge of onboarding new players to reaper. R1 is such an awful experience for new players it probably should have the delving bonus removed. Making R3 in Heroics the default LFM reaper mode with a 300% delving bonus for RXP and the minimum level for a heroic delving bonus would go a long way to making reaper leveling higher value for new players. Giving R3 a buddy bonus would be golden as well.

 

[EdFactor]

I find you do not need great gear to do R1, a few reaper points helps and you can get a dozen reaper points just leveling at R1 a few times.

 

[Kimbere]

Reaper mode is not the problem. Never has been.

You could give a new player 100 reaper points, their pick of any ten past lives, and automatic level 20 upon the creation of their first toon on a given server. Let's assume they level from 20 to 32 in a month. They're still going to be a newbie who knows jack and poo about the intricacies of the game.

Those 100 reaper points and ten past lives would be like putting a brand new driver's ed student in a base model Honda Civic with racing slicks. Throw the student driver onto a race track and in the end it's still going to be a slow Honda Civic with poor lap times.

Have a veteran player create a brand new toon and give them the same 100 reaper points and 10 PLs. They'll be level 32 and rolling in R10 groups in a week or two depending on luck with gear farming. That's like putting a professional driver into a race car running standard all-season street tires. They'll be a little slower than they would with racing slicks, but they'll still lap the Honda Civic repeatedly.

The learning curve to this game is massive and unnecessarily complex and continues to get worse every time SSG introduces some new system, mechanic, effect, etc. that they pile on top of the existing mess. That's the core problem facing new players.

Simplifying the learning curve is the only thing that will make DDO more newbie friendly.

 

[Cyran]

The vast majority of the power from the reaper tree you get fairly early in the progression so I don't really think much need to be changed there. On the opposite end I would hard cap it at 200. Add cosmetics awards at 100,125,150,175,200. After hitting cap give a reaper fragment every x amount of exp. Keep that number static and call it a day. For people already over 40 million you can go ahead and give them the reaper fragments they would of earned on day one and then lower them to 40 million cap.

Personally I would just keep it the trees but if they decide to go the linear path then I would just keep the hard cap at 200 but would change the soft cap to be Level*5. That way you get additional benefit when you level all the way up to 40.

Personally I hate endless system and rather them just set a hard cap and move on to a new system if we need more to do. (I personally don't consider giving a reaper fragment every x reaper exp a endless system if that the only thing you get for earning more)

 

[erethizon1]

3. FIX that fact that Dim Door kills all reapers (this should have been done a year ago!!)

Meaning what? If you use a dimension door all the reapers in a dungeon disappear?

 

[Archaic]

RXP should be allowed to be SPENT on crafting legendary gear from blanks made from named loot that retain their set bonuses.
Each affix should be expensive. Not just in XP but in rare crafting materials.
Increasing their minimum level should also be an option pushing a level 40 cap.
When you Spend your XP it's gone forever and has to be earned back.
Also the Ability to make major artifacts so you could have equipped one major and one minor artifact should be a thing.