U75 Preview 2: Chill of Ravenloft Loot

[Anurakh]

Checking the math today, but I believe we'll be bumping the individual spell school Sun/Moon augments to be higher than the all-spell-school one.

Skills we're taking a look at as well, I think the numbers could stand to be higher than they are, but in several cases these are brand-new stacking bonuses that don't already exist elsewhere, and we do not want to go especially high with them for balance purposes.

I'm going to ask you not to do this. Caster stats, even specialist stats, are seriously bloated due to the extreme division that exists between each magic dc school and each damage element individually.

In comparison, weapon users only equip universal stats for their weapon type, and tactics are also universal, with much higher values than those of magic schools.

This makes equipping a caster, even a specialist, much more complex and complicated than equipping a weapon user. If we're talking about a generalist caster like a wizard, it's a complete and total nightmare.

We seriously need you to start grouping caster stats together instead of endlessly dividing them into individual schools and elements. Do you want to make the expansion useful? Start creating more items that simultaneously give value to multiple spellpowers and lores (such as Power of the Storm enhancing fire and electricity, etc.). And now we have critical damage too. Currently critical damage is a single item per element. It's crazy, Steelstar, and imagine this on a caster without immunity bypass who should be using their entire spellbook, like the Wixards. We need to contract spellcaster gear stats, not more divisions.

So please, don't put individual schools in sets now. No, please. Contract, don't expand. It's crazy.

Wizards and other generalist casters need your help, not you repeatedly penalizing them by pushing them into a specialization that doesn't work for them. It doesn't work, Steelstar. Please. Start designing for them. How many years has it been since you designed for generalist characters? I think it's been more than a decade. Please.

Don't do this. Create new items with stat contraction, please. Meanwhile, weapon users enjoy magnificent (higher values than spell school dcs) tactics with minimal investment, enjoying universal stats like Doublestrike/shot Melee/Range Power, while casters have to equip items for each magic school and each damage element. The difference is brutal. Brutal. Please. Stop the madness of the caster gear split.

Discard both spell DC and skill gems. There are too few solar and lunar slots for this to be viable. Instead, create ingredients from this expansion that we can use to create solar and lunar augments with two stats in them, to mimic the old sets. This way, we could use one ingredient from this pack and two pre-existing damage and attack gems to create a single damage and attack gem. Keep in mind that this existed in the old sets, and while this doesn't exist in the new lunar/solar system, this new system won't be able to replace the old one, only fill in the gaps.

Allow us to craft those dual gems with ingredients from this pack. Look at the old sets you designed. They were always attack and damage, Spellpower and lore, etc. Allow us to mimic them by combining pre-existing (and from this same expansion) gems with ingredients from this pack. Do this, and this expansion automatically becomes highly desirable instead of... meh.

You also have to consider that the old sets affected rings and weapons. What if this expansion introduced pairs of sun/lunar rings? And you can only equip one with solar and one with lunar? What if weapons have a solar and lunar slot if they're two-handed, and only one if they're one-handed, acting as a lunar if they're off-hand?

Make the expansion desirable, instead of so much rare loot, so many useless augments, and above all, once again pushing a specialization that's killing generalist characters. Please.

Oh, can you make a normal augment, probably topaz or emerald like the Gianthold topazes, but one that affects all schools instead of just one? I'm not asking for more numerical value. I'm asking for bonus grouping so that my wizard's augment slots aren't cannibalized by giant augments. These gianthold augments are level 24. We're talking gear level 34. Time for better augments that affect more schools at once!

Another thing I've noticed: once again, lores and insightful lores are sorely missing. Please add them to crafting.

 

[Anurakh]

Another thing I forgot. I don't like that 20% max HP item. You already increased the value last year with MD. You swore that stat squish was necessary to consistently increase all the loot values across levels. Don't start disregarding that statement now. Be consistent.

There are many things that are needed, and raw numerical increases regarding pre-existing loot are not one of them.

We also don't need mobs to gain brutal stats with this expansion. I have a main wizard with all the past lives, magnificent gear, full reaper trees, etc., and I see more fairules than I should with my spells. And let's not even mention the ridiculous number of HPs that all the NPCs in Threats Old and New have. No more stat bloat, neither for characters nor for mobs. Please.

 

[Anurakh]

I am not supporting rare loot or bloated tables, and Chill is just the the same or worst of MD experience. It's unfun, unfair and keeps me off the game experience.

You are departing from your casual crowd, it feels very bad for us. We wanted ingredients like a pity system, to get sun, moon or rare pieces, not to craft regular base running-water-staples.

We wanted Randall Lyric back, with sun/moons. I am not farming a quest months to try out a build and then tr into another build the next day. This is beyond preposterus.

All we get is a kind of ultímate corrupted wish, feeling very sad about it...

I agree.

And yes, bring back Randall Lyric!!! At very last with normal augments.

----

Edit:

Another thing I would like is for you to include two sets of filigrees that give the same DC to spells as Otto and Eye of the Beholder, but with stats like melee/ranged power, Doublestrike/shot, armor piercing, etc. They would be filigrees designed for hybrids, which currently have serious itemization problems, especially with fligrees.

 

[Hephaestas]

I Like the transparency of the drop rates and how things drop, that's cool thanks.

As others have mentioned, I do have some concerns on the congestion of the loot tables. Putting certain augments (or even adding rare gem augments to the drop table) of certain optionals would be really appreciated. More treasure based reasons to do optionals again would be really cool for the game.

As for gearing I'd like to see... As the game gets more and more busy with effects to have a d stack, and we approach more legendary content; I'd love to see more dual-spell type effects.

Some examples would be for effects we haven't yet seen that might make sense in a "high science" setting:

• Force + Fire
• Force + Lightning
• Repair + Healing
• Repair + Lightning
• Acid + Force
• Acid + Repair

Combining elements is really build-opening and helps our wide variety of classes and archetypes and trees. This would be really fun to play with. Looking forward to the gear tetris, the crafting looks solid!

 

[Maetrim of Cannith]

Just to point out for Devs who don’t play Ddo, a dodge cap increase without a dex cap increase is worthless and a trap.

I miss Lynnabelle; they actually understood and care about player experience.

The dodge cap works for those in cloth or no armour. But that is only a subset of players.

 

[Cowzrul]

I Like the transparency of the drop rates and how things drop, that's cool thanks.

As others have mentioned, I do have some concerns on the congestion of the loot tables. Putting certain augments (or even adding rare gem augments to the drop table) of certain optionals would be really appreciated. More treasure based reasons to do optionals again would be really cool for the game.

As for gearing I'd like to see... As the game gets more and more busy with effects to have a d stack, and we approach more legendary content; I'd love to see more dual-spell type effects.

Some examples would be for effects we haven't yet seen that might make sense in a "high science" setting:

• Force + Fire
• Force + Lightning
• Repair + Healing
• Repair + Lightning
• Acid + Force
• Acid + Repair

Combining elements is really build-opening and helps our wide variety of classes and archetypes and trees. This would be really fun to play with. Looking forward to the gear tetris, the crafting looks solid!

I would argue that there is no transparency on the drop rates, because they have proven out to not be the claimed 33%, with overwhelming statistical significance.

 

[John3000]

Hello, everyone! We have a new Lamannia today with your first look at items for Update 75: The Chill of Ravenloft. For those of you familiar with the Isle of Dread and the Dino Bone crafting system, you should find this system to be very similar - Named items have a number of Lamordia Augment Slots in place of base effects. Using ingredients you find in every chest in the expansion, you create Augments that can fit in those slots. We'll get into more specifics below!

Quick Overview on Feedback:

• This is the first look! It's very likely there are places where an item isn't great, or has a static effect that overlaps with the crafting system. Just let us know, and we'll make adjustments as needed.
• Feedback that actually tested on Lamannia is infinitely more valuable than feedback that didn't. Let us know if you got on the server to take things for a test drive!
• The feedback we're most likely to act on:
  • Tells us what you want to see. Just telling us you don't like something is fine, but we're more likely to act when knowing what you DO want to see.
  • Isn't hyperbolic or overly generalized. Feedback that takes the time to discuss specifics of what you do and don't like is more likely to be acted on than "this is trash" or "this is the best/worst thing ever" with no elaboration.
  • Any posts with personal attacks will be entirely ignored and the post dealt with per the forum rules.

Quick Overview on the Test Dojo:

• Most new items can be found on the vendor in the Test Dojo
• Crafted Lamordia augments are made using the crafting devices behind the Loot Guy or in the
• Weapon bases are made using the crafting devices behind the Loot Guy

Loot System Overview:
Items in The Chill of Ravenloft use the Viktranium Experiment Crafting System! While playing in Lamordia, you will find Named Items with Lamordia Augment Slots. Additionally you will find Bleak Parts, which can be used to make Lamordia Augments, as well as Calamitous Weapon Bases. In Ludendorf Town Hall (and the Test Dojo in this preview), you will find crafting devices, use your Bleak Parts to make Augments, which you can slot into your items!

As we've said above, this system is very similar to Dino Bone Crafting - We'll be listing comparisons below to help with understanding the system. One more important note before we get started: Unlike Dino Bone, this system exists in BOTH Legendary AND Heroic. Crafting systems in Heroic aren't usually worth sticking at a particular level for, but we're hoping to adjust numbers and rates as needed until making an item or two when playing through this content during a leveling pass becomes manageable.

Ingredients:
Ingredients have a 100% to drop in every chest in the expansion pack. Ingredient types are:

• Bleak Conductors (These are analogous to Fossilized Ankylosaur Ribs)
• Bleak Insulators (These are analogous to Fossilized Pteranodon Vertebrae)
• Bleak Alternators (These are analogous to Fossilized Raptor Claws)
• Bleak Resistors (These are analogous to Fossilized Triceratops Horns)

In the Wilderness, you can find Bleak Wires. (These are analogous to Fossilized Tyrannosaurus Teeth).

Certain special encounters will also drop Bleak Transformers. (These are analogous to Black Pearls. You can also eventually expect to find them in the Raid.)

Lamordia Augment Slots
There are four Slot Types in this crafting system:

• Melancholic (This is analogous to Scale slots)
• Dolorous (This is analogous to Fang slots)
• Miserable (This is analogous to Claw slots)
• Woeful (This is analogous to Horn slots)

These can come in multiple variants: Armor, Weapon, and Accessory. (i.e. Melancholic (Armor), etc).

Unlike Dino Bone, there are no Set Bonus Slots in this system - like the past few Updates, loot in The Chill of Ravenloft has Sun/Moon Augment Slots (see below).

Sun/Moon Augment Slots
Sun and Moon Augment Slots make their return here, appearing on the same item slots they have appeared in since Myth Drannor. (We do not plan to make changes to which slots go on which item types at this time).

There are thirty-two new Sun and Moon Augments in this expansion, as well as new drop locations for many of the existing ones! Check out the new Augments in the Test Dojo.

Lamordia Crafted Augments
The Augments for the above slots are all crafted. Check the Test Dojo for the full list, but as a guideline:

• Almost all recipes that existed in Dino Bone have an analogue here.
  • Most of those analogues have higher numbers than the Dino Bone version. Some remain the same.
  • Ingredient costs are 1:1 what they cost in Isle of Dread, just with Lamordia ingredients.
  • There's a fair few new recipes that weren't present in Dino Bone. We may have room for more, so let us know what you'd like to see!
  • Some recipes are modified for Heroic for balance, or do not exist in Heroic (because the thing they did just does not have a balanced way to exist at this level).
• Augments are ML8 on Heroic, and ML34 in Legendary, just like the items. If you put a ML34 Augment into one of the Heroic items, it will adjust the ML of the item.

Typical Items

• Standard Named Items typically have:
  • 2 Static Effects (regular effects like most items have)
  • 1 Melancholic Slot
  • 1 Dolorous Slot
  • 1 Sun or Moon Augment Slot if their item type typically has one
  • Typical number of Chromatic Augment Slots (red, blue, etc - This is usually 1 on Heroic and 2 on Legendary)
• Rare Named Items typically have:
  • 1 Static Effect
  • 1 Melancholic Slot
  • 1 Dolorous Slot
  • 1 Miserable Slot
  • 1 Sun or Moon Augment Slot if their item type typically has one
  • Typical number of Chromatic Augment Slots (red, blue, etc - This is usually 1 on Heroic and 2 on Legendary)
• Artifacts (which aren't on the rare list this time) typically have:
  • 1 Static Effect
  • 1 Melancholic Slot
  • 1 Dolorous Slot
  • 1 Miserable Slot
  • 1 Sun or Moon Augment Slot if their item type typically has one
  • Typical number of Chromatic Augment Slots (red, blue, etc - This is usually 1 on Heroic and 2 on Legendary)
    • Artifacts drop as Standard Named Items in specific dungeons in this Preview - There aren't many of them right now, we may add more before release.
• Calamitous Weapon Bases have:
  • 1 Melancholic Slot
  • 1 Dolorous Slot
  • 1 Miserable Slot
  • 1 Woeful Slot (Legendary Only - In Heroic, this is replaced with a static effect).

Treasure Tables:

• When opening a Quest End Chest:
  • You have a 100% chance of getting Lamordia-specific crafting ingredients
    • These are used to make Lamordia's weapons and Lamordia-specific Augments that go into the weapons and named/rare loot. See below.
    • You get 1d4+1/2/3 (on Normal/Hard/Elite) ingredients.
      • The ingredient you get is Bleak Conductors, Bleak Insulators, Bleak Alternators, or Bleak Resistors, randomly determined when the chest is rolled.
      • (This ingredient distribution is identical to Isle of Dread).
  • Additionally, You have a 10/16/33% chance (on Normal/Hard Elite) to get something from the Named Item Table.
    • Once you have reached the Named Item Table, you have a chance to get one of the following:
      • Standard Named Item A
      • Standard Named Item B
      • Standard Named Item C
      • Standard Named Item D
      • Sun/Moon Augment 1 (Sun/Moon Augments have a lower chance of appearing than the Named Items above.)
      • Sun/Moon Augment 2
      • Sun/Moon Augment 3
      • Small chance to upgrade to the Rare Item Table. (The odds of reaching this table are higher than in past content).
        • Standard Named Items listed above are unique to that dungeon, like most end chest items in the game.
        • Sun/Moon Augments listed above are a mix of brand-new Sun/Moon Augments (see below) and ones introduced previously (giving access beyond the packs they were introduced in).
        • Once you have reached the Rare Item Table, you have a chance to get one of the following:
          • Rare Named Item A
          • Rare Sun/Moon Augment 1 (In a few dungeons, this may be Rare Named Item B)
          • Rare Sun/Moon Augment 2

• When opening a Quest Optional Chest (from a significant optional objective in a quest)
  • You have a 100% chance of getting Lamordia-specific crafting ingredients
    • These are used to make Lamordia's weapons and Lamordia-specific Augments that go into the weapons and named/rare loot. See below.
    • You get 1d4+1/2/3 (on Normal/Hard/Elite) ingredients.
      • The ingredient you get is Bleak Conductors, Bleak Insulators, Bleak Alternators, or Bleak Resistors, randomly determined when the chest is rolled.
      • (This ingredient distribution is identical to Isle of Dread).
  • Additionally, You have a 10/16/33% chance (on Normal/Hard Elite) to get something from the Named Item Table.
    • Once you have reached the Named Item Table, you have a chance to get one of the following:
      • Standard Named Item A (unique to that optional)
      • Sun/Moon Augment A
      • Sun/Moon Augment B
      • Sun/Moon Augment C
        • There are no Rare tables for Optional Chests.

• When opening any other chest in a The Chill of Ravenloft quest:
  • You have a 100% chance of getting Lamordia-specific crafting ingredients
    • These are used to make Lamordia's weapons and Lamordia-specific Augments that go into the weapons and named/rare loot. See below.
    • You get 1d4+1/2/3 (on Normal/Hard/Elite) ingredients.
      • The ingredient you get is Bleak Conductors, Bleak Insulators, Bleak Alternators, or Bleak Resistors, randomly determined when the chest is rolled.
      • (This ingredient distribution is identical to Isle of Dread).

• Wilderness Chests and Wilderness Purple-Name Boss Chests are still being worked on, but they will not have Rare tables.

It may be very niche, but is there any chance you can fit in a dwarven axe with a str / con to hit and str to dmg.... In this or a future release, I'm sure there are many who would love to see that.

Cheers

 

[Glargfest]

Nothing looks all that interesting. I’m sure it’ll turn out to be really good, but crafting loot has always been one of the least fun aspects of the game for me.

I feel like there’s already enough customization with the sun/moon and chromatic aug system. And sun and moon augs are already enough of a chore to get as it is.

Since we’re keeping the customization, I would prefer items just have one customizable slot like in Isle of Dread.

 

[Bogrot]

I am going to add this expansion to the list of not buying along with MD. It's a shame as I am really interested in the potential story line, especially as Ravenloft remains my favourite expansion.

Whilst the horrendous rare loot scenario remains for otherwise normal everyday items I will keep my wallet tightly closed. When it appears in deep discount on a Black Friday sale, I may buy the Standard edition (previously I used to buy the Ultimate editions) as I don't need yet more cosmetics and mounts.

I have no problem with there being "rare" loot if it is a special item such as Jibber's, but for a sword/armour etc - no thank you. There are already ways to get special normal items and that is through raiding. MD and Chill are mere bumps in the road to level 40 and all those "rare" items will be replaced with another shiny trinket when the next expansion comes out. It is even more crazy to have "rare" items in heroics where you may use an item for just a few days.

If you buy the expansion and enjoy it then great, this is my own view on why I will not be buying.

 

[_fully_carroted_]

It has been 2 days, since no official has responded (or countered) to those datamined % chances, it is pretty safe to assume those numbers are real.

If this is the case, 33% (on Elite) chance to get into Named Item Table, and 6% to get into Rare Item Table, then the chance will be 33/100 x 6/100 = 1.98% chance to get into Rare Item Table.

There are 3 Rare Items in the Rare Item Table, if assuming an equal 33.33% per item, then the chance of getting the Rare Item that I wanted will be 1.98/100 x 33.33/100 = ~0.66% chance to get the Rare item I wanted.

If I run the quest once a day, and if I am lucky enough, it may take me 151 days (100/0.66) to get the Raid Item I wanted.

But wait, since this is just a probability calculation, there is no guarantee that the Raid Item will drop within 151 days.

*** The calculation may not be accurate, but it gives an idea of the "so-call" improved chance of getting the Rare Item.

The calculation is correct but only for overall averages.

50% of the time you’ll get your item after 104 pulls.

10% of the time it will take almost 350 pulls.

1 in 100 times in t will take almost 700 pulls for a specific named item.

If you need to farm up 14 items and 2 augments each, it’s just objectively worse than all pre-MD content.

And if you need 3 rare items and 2 rare augments, those 5 items will require 750 chest pulls on average. (And if you are even a little bit unlucky it could be 2000 pulls.)

This is no longer a game. Something has gone terribly wrong here.

 

[pirotessa]

The calculation is correct but only for overall averages.

50% of the time you’ll get your item after 104 pulls.

10% of the time it will take almost 350 pulls.

1 in 100 times in t will take almost 700 pulls for a specific named item.

If you need to farm up 14 items and 2 augments each, it’s just objectively worse than all pre-MD content.

And if you need 3 rare items and 2 rare augments, those 5 items will require 750 chest pulls on average. (And if you are even a little bit unlucky it could be 2000 pulls.)

This is no longer a game. Something has gone terribly wrong here.

By the time you get the item though, you'll have the ingredients to craft it...you're farming ingredients, not rares now .

 

[Dazling]

Hey everyone! Thank you for the feedback so far. Hitting a few quick points:

People correctly assumed we made one for every spell school, but you're right, there's not a lot of point in having this one.

I'm going to remove the Divination ones, and likely replace them with:
- Solar Gem of Elemental Absorption: Slotted Effect: +[3/10]% Artifact Bonus to Fire, Cold, Electric, and Acid Absorption.
- Solar Gem of Critical Confirmation: Slotted Effect: +[2/4] Artifact Bonus to Critical Confirmation and Damage.


Good list of ideas for crafting, will look at it. We do need enough to not exist in the system to make the base item static effects meaningful, but we'll take a look.

Alignment-based critical damage (including on past items) should be fixed in this Preview - If you see places where it still isn't, let me know and I'll fix them.

RE: Legendary Heartshard: Yes, though I'm considering either bumping that % down or elevating this item to be an Artifact. Thoughts on which?

Will consider the changes to the Amulet.

There's quite a few instances in this loot where static effects are Insightful or Quality because the Enhancement equivalent exists in the crafting system - We can do a review to see if there's spots where it makes sense to swap to Enhancement in the static effects though.

Shields are meant to have slots like other named items. There's some weirdness with the shields in general in this build, some of the changes we made to them don't seem to be in the build.

Warlocks certainly have a fair few gearing necessities, but we've been making adjustments to Eldritch Blast in the last couple of updates, and have plans for the future as well. Like anything else, these are just new options.


Will definitely consider item based bonuses to Blast Dice.


There are definitely fewer named Rare Items than there were in Myth Drannor. It's one of the pieces of feedback we've taken from the past few updates and worked in for this one.

Please let us know which ones and we'll get them fixed! Most items have fewer than normal due to the Lamordia Augment Slots, but if there are any that aren't following the scheme listed in the OP, let us know which ones specifically.


The "Treasure based on class" only applies to quest end rewards lists. Admittedly, it's a system I'd love to either revamp or eliminate someday - The lists are old, and classes are diverse enough in how they function these days where it isn't necessarily MORE likely to offer you things your specific build uses.


I'll take a look, thanks.


Myth Drannor had 3-4 in its Rare Tables depending on the dungeon. In some cases, it was 3 Rare Named Items and 0 Rare Sun/Moon Augments.

We've adjusted that in Lamordia by:
- Raising the rate of reaching the Rare Table
- Locking the number of Rare Items to 3
- Locking the breakdown of that table to 1-2 Rare Items, with the other 1-2 being Rare Sun/Moon Augments.

--------------

One further note: Standard Named Items are more likely to appear in end chests than Standard Sun/Moon Augments, but we're discussing adjusting that further toward the Named Items.

Keep the feedback coming! We'd love to hear more about static effects on specific named items, which ones you'd like and what's not on any that you'd like to see.

In the meantime, I'm going to get started on adjustments for next preview.

In regards to "Static Effects on Specific Names Items...", echoing something I saw from some other folks about dual-stat spellpowers/spell lores. IMO giving options for 2 spellpowers but counting as a single effect is a huge win for hybridization and more diverse playstyles. Having "Acid + Fire", "Electric + Cold", "Cold + Necrotic", "Sonic + Acid" "Acid + Necrotic", and stuff like that doesn't particularly benefit things like eldritch knights or caster sorcerers in terms of increasing the way they deal damage. But it has a huge impact on something like an archmage wizard or enabling generally different ED options. I really don't love that my caster wizard for example levels using all sorts of different spells since Queen's Sceptre into Barovian Sceptre provides enough oomph for heroic broad casting, but then when I hit 20 I have to choose which Draconic Element I want to pidgeonhole into for decent results.

I'd love to see some more centralized/synergistic effects on items personally. Stuff like those raid bracers from Threats that give fort, insightful fort, and quality fort. Think Insightful + Quality Insightful stats, Accuracy + Insightful Accuracy, etc. Can potentially be partially from the crafting stuff as well. I just find that those types of streamlined items have the most staying power and make gearing a lot more fun than when I'm juggling 6 different items to get all of my main stat for example.

Some more unique temporary effects reminescent of (or even just granting) some of the feats released in that last batch would be fun. Defensive Tumble for example is one that I always think would be fun, but in practice there are sparingly few builds where I can justify taking it over something like "No fail x save on a 1", "+10 PRR", or something more integral to the build. I could justify much easier slotting it in as an item.

While I doubt it'll happen since it hasn't in quite some time, I'd like to see more "Resistance" and less "+Reflex". A lot of times I find that I have a +14 Reflex type item or something that is doing nothing because I also have to get will and fortitude and it's best to just do that with a +10 resistance augment or using +12 resistance on a dino artifact. Guessing that'll be a similar issue here, and it just doesn't feel great piecemealing like that. I'd much rather see Resistance handled in one affix and then more interesting options like spell saves, enchantment saves, maybe trap saves, and the insightful variants of each.

I really like absorptions on items, but I really don't like when it feels useless because the value is so low. Piggybacking on myself in previous feedback where I said I'd much rather see like +34% fire absorption than +7% quality fire absorption, I'd like to see more of those distributed across different items. Greave's of Season's Warding was a great example of an item doing that in an interesting way with it giving all 4 at once. Personally, I think items with like +34% fire absorption and +17% insight fire absorption could be fun, or extra fire absorption and dual spellpowers or something. It's fun feeling like you're especially good against a certain element.

Personally, I really like clickies and wish more were around. There are the propulsion boots here, but otherwise it feels like clickies have been underloved recently. Personally I think it could be fun for there to either be an extra crafting slot for it (a la Legendary Greensteel), or just putting it on some items as a little bonus tack on without taking the value of a full stat. Like maybe pairing it with one of the little quality bonuses or something. Not every clicky has to be 2 minute haste/displacement or mass 30 minute deathward - stuff like jump, merfolks, or tumble could be fun. Maybe since ML 8 is relatively low have a series of items with Remove Blindness, Curse, Disease, Poison, Paralysis, and Lesser Restoration as clickies - at most they're saving you a few potions, but it could be a very fun vibe and not be totally irrelevant if it uses the instacast animation that some items have. Little healing effects or stuff like false life is fine too. Heck reuse pouch of jerky or the jungle cloak's regrowth effect. Maybe another ring of spell storing type one, or some elemental hits that could work for Inferno of the Damned. I just think clickies are fun.

I'd love to see new effects if that's on the table as well, even if it's just stuff like "Sound of Silence, but renamed and Necrotic Damage", or some of the more unique options folks have ventured (even if some are kind of AI-e).

Effects like hamstring and crippling are also always nice.

Perhaps some more stacking health/spellpoints as well? Take some of the greensteel wizardry type stuff.

 

[Glorgm]

Not sure if this has already been brought up, but since a lot of players dislike the low drop rates for rare Sun/Moon augments, has a trade-in system ever been considered? For example, allowing players to exchange 2 or 3 rare augments for the specific one they want — and perhaps a similar system for non-rare Sun/Moon augments as well. It could help ease the RNG frustration while still keeping the items valuable.

Or allow players to break them down into shards (like the reaper forge) and then have a trade in. Non-rare sun/moon = 1 shard; rare = 5 shards. Make purchasable non-rare cost 10/15 shards; and rare cost 30/45. Have different shards heroic/epic/legendary, and split by sun/moon.

 

[Aaumini]

Why do some vocal people think that buying the expansion entitles them to get exactly the loot they want in short order? You guys should’ve tried getting the very first epics in EQ.

 

[Spook]

Why do some vocal people think that buying the expansion entitles them to get exactly the loot they want in short order? You guys should’ve tried getting the very first epics in EQ.

Because there are already chase mechanics in the game such as reaper/mythic/cards so getting the base item should be easy

 

[pirotessa]

Why do some vocal people think that buying the expansion entitles them to get exactly the loot they want in short order? You guys should’ve tried getting the very first epics in EQ.

Epic quests for legendary weapons like EQ or FF14? Yes please.

New expansions typically mean new gear with at least a few items that make you drool over and can't wait to farm or get, not meh over, because it all stuff you have seen before.

At least a long time ago when I played, EQ got that right, so not really a good example to use except to point?

 

[Ying]

Why do some vocal people think that buying the expansion entitles them to get exactly the loot they want in short order? You guys should’ve tried getting the very first epics in EQ.

EQ epics get a pass because SOE created the MMO genre. Having done EQ epics 1.0-2.0 recently on Teek, it's much easier than it was in era when it first released. If EQ created epics in 2025, players would not tolerate the toxic environment it creates with contested mobs. It's not a model to compare for modern content.

 

[_fully_carroted_]

By the time you get the item though, you'll have the ingredients to craft it...you're farming ingredients, not rares now .

I’m talking about the sun/moon augments not the crafting materials augments.

Named loot + sun/moon + endless piles of crafting mats.

Regardless, if I have the quantities of augments wrong, it doesn’t change anything fundamental: if your build needs more than zero rare items, you must assume that it will never happen. And if you need 25 items or 35 items, it’s still a whole lot more than the Vecna system where you only needed to pick which set you wanted.

And don’t forget that just about nobody will pass you a rare item, because they will never see it a second time.

 

[_fully_carroted_]

Not sure if this has already been brought up, but since a lot of players dislike the low drop rates for rare Sun/Moon augments, has a trade-in system ever been considered? For example, allowing players to exchange 2 or 3 rare augments for the specific one they want — and perhaps a similar system for non-rare Sun/Moon augments as well. It could help ease the RNG frustration while still keeping the items valuable.

Or allow players to break them down into shards (like the reaper forge) and then have a trade in. Non-rare sun/moon = 1 shard; rare = 5 shards. Make purchasable non-rare cost 10/15 shards; and rare cost 30/45. Have different shards heroic/epic/legendary, and split by sun/moon.

“3 rare augments” represents 300 to 1000 chest pulls, so trashing them seems like an unpopular idea.

 

[Oliphant]

• Feedback that actually tested on Lamannia is infinitely more valuable than feedback that didn't. Let us know if you got on the server to take things for a test drive!

Even though you describe the gear scheme and folks will be posting the items soon enough, you basically want us to test out just how bleak farming the items and rares really is, basically. Saying this type of feedback is "infinitely" more valuable is bananas, tbh.