U81 Preview 1 - DC Initiative Wave 2

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Tonquin

of Lightning Hammer fame!
Hi all! With Update 81's Level Cap Increase, we're taking the time to make some adjustments to Spell Focus Feats to make attaining Spell DCs easier. This will coincide with the debut of a new feat, Legendary Spell Focus.

Current Spell Focus Feats Breakdown​

Feat NameFeat PrereqLevel PrereqDesc
Spell Focus+1 to a single spell school
Greater Spell FocusSpell Focus+1 to a single spell school
Epic Spell Focusany Greater Spell Focus21+1 to a single spell school
Spell Focus SpecialtyEpic Spell Focus31+3 to a single spell school, may not select one you have a spell focus feat for (note - antireqs currently busted!)

Proposed Spell Focus Feats Breakdown​

Feat NameFeat PrereqLevel PrereqDesc
Spell Focus+1 to a single spell school
Greater Spell FocusSpell Focus+2 to a single spell school
Epic Spell Focusany Greater Spell Focus (no longer has class requirements)21+2 to all spell schools
Spell Focus SpecialtyEpic Spell Focus31+3 to a single spell school, may not select one you have a spell focus feat for (antireqs fixed!)
Legendary Spell FocusEpic Spell Focus30+3 to all spell schools

With this change, all players will have their existing copies of Epic Spell Focus and Spell Focus Specialty replaced with Feat Respec Tokens, so they may select the new consolidated Epic Spell Focus feat or re-select a Spell Specialty they qualify for. As an important note, as we are fixing the bugged antireqs for Spell Focus Specialty, it will no longer be possible to "double up" by selecting a school you already have the Spell Focus feat for.

Spell Penetration Feats​

These have also been updated! Greater Spell Penetration now grants +4 Spell Penetration, and Epic Spell Penetration now grants +6 Spell Penetration. This means that if you have all three feats, you will gain a total of +12 Spell Penetration (+2 from the base, +4 from Greater, and +6 from Epic).

The major goal with this change is to make feat selection for casters a lot more streamlined and powerful.
 
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Monkey_Archer

Well-known member
Great changes, assuming I'm understanding it correctly...

Epic spell focus stacks with legendary spell focus for +5 total? Can they be taken multiple times?

EDIT: to answer my own question: yes they stack for +5 total, no they cannot be taken multiple times.
 
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Diaari

Well-known member
Tonquin, please discuss the nerf to Spell Focus Specialty with the other devs. The lack of an anti-requisite was left on purpose, since it still requires a lot of feats to do that. These changes feel like 2 steps forward and 1 step back because of nerfs like this.
 

Tonquin

of Lightning Hammer fame!
Tonquin, please discuss the nerf to Spell Focus Specialty with the other devs. The lack of an anti-requisite was left on purpose, since it still requires a lot of feats to do that. These changes feel like 2 steps forward and 1 step back because of nerfs like this.
I can say with complete certainty that those feats missing their antirequisites is 100% a bug.
 

Diaari

Well-known member
I can say with complete certainty that those feats missing their antirequisites is 100% a bug.
Post in thread 'Kali's Wizard Pale Master Insta-kill + CC Caster build'
https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?th...er-insta-kill-cc-caster-build.624/post-151012

Maybe I am misinterpreting the change and Steelstar’s comment? EDIT: I want to be clear I'm not trying to catch you in a 'gotcha' or suggesting this was intentionally misleading. More of a "hey wait a minute! Steelstar said I could have two cookies, not one!"
 
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after human

Well-known member
you know what, i gave SSG a lot of **** for their (failed) gear dc pass..

but this is actually a good change

the best change was fixing spell specialty pre-reqs, which was obviously broken and abused by all DC casters I know, so this nets +2 DCs to main school, which is fair and reasonable

as a DC main, i don't want DCs to go over the roof for no reason. but I have to again remind SSG that the problem is NUKERS not dc casters, i hope the next pass is spell DAMAGE...
 
I like the boost to spell penetration. That's very much needed.

The 2 step forward, 1 step back mode of revamping DCs is... not very enticing. My current DC caster would lose 1 DC in my main schools until I get the new feat, for example. After the new feat I'd get +2 to DCs across the board. Meanwhile, my old thrower build would be able to take legendary trick shot for +80 to ranged power. In isolation this change is positive (I especially look forward to freeing up 3 feats, as I count it, with a very slight increase in DCs) but casters are left even more in the dirt than they were before when you take in the whole picture.
Our DCs are not improving to the degree that we'd need to stay competitive, and our DPS will basically stagnate while ranged characters get another 40% of their base damage.

Imagine that the epic and legendary spell foci additionally gave +5 Max Caster Level each. My Gloomspear would go from MCL 29 to MCL 39, increasing damage by 34%. Still less than the increase ranged weapons can get (And ranged DPS is in a far better place than magic DPS).

Like with the DC rework in U80, this is fine in isolation. Unlike U80 however, this patch will add even more to melee and ranged characters, making the very meagre two steps forward, one step back mode simply insufficient.
I hope you'll revisit this area because this preview is underwhelming.
 

Glargfest

Well-known member
Alright changes. Haven’t played a nuker since the ED nerfs, but it seems like it’s gonna make all the spell focus feats mandatory, forcing the more DPS oriented feats to the sidelines.

At a glance, this isn’t gonna bring me back to nuking but it’s an upgrade
 

Tharminator

Well-known member
Shouldn't spell focus specialty be +5 to align and bring the 2nd school up to the same level as the primary school like it does today? otherwise why not just take the legendary feat instead? or is that a destiny feat?
 
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