[rant mode on]

Started playing DDO again about last week, after a few months-long hiatus. Nothing better to do at the moment and I figured I'd check in again. So started a new character, and realized that I'd really want to get some good gear for her before she TRs. Fast forward to my hunt for the elusive Pale Lavender Stone.

Fuck this. Just fuck it all.

For starters, Ioun stones used to have a chance of appearing on every completion of Dreaming Dark. Now they apparently only appear ever 3 completions. Ok. Fuck you Turbine for making an unannounced, completely unnecessary change.

Then I found that the old "abandon quest if you don't want the given Ioun Stone" trick had been patched, unannounced of course. Ok. Fuck you again, Turbine for making another completely unnecessary change.

Especially when we still have the fucking ladder bug, lag problems despite DDO having a laughable population, an extremely overpowered, game-breaking class, an abundance of extremely underwhelming, weak enhancement lines, shameless money grabs being more and more ubiquitous in the game with every update, and so many more things that are actually wrong with the game and would be great to have fixed.

But no, what's Turbine spending their time and resources on?

Fucking over players by exacerbating an already annoying, boring, tedious bullshit grind system. You know what, I actually don't mind the typical quest completion mechanic: you complete a quest chain three times and you're at least guaranteed an item off of the loot list, like with Tangleroot or TBC quests. At least that way, the system is making it a point to reward hard work over luck of the draw. I can accept grinding in that circumstance because I know that hard work pays off. Problem with DD, chest loot, and other BS in this game is the whole RNG component which nobody likes. You can work as hard as you want, but there's still no guarantee that your work will amount to anything at all. It's a maniacally cruel, twisted, masochistic, and nihilistic commentary on the nature of life which would make Kefka Palazzo proud.

About six hours of completing Dreaming Dark and finding my fourth Dark Blue Ioun Stone (you know, the one that gives listen and spot... the one that nobody fucking wants) and I've just about had it with this fucking ridiculous loot mechanic.

And you know what's really the worst thing about this whole ordeal about PLIS? The fact that I'm only trying to get one to deal with one specific monster, the beholder. You know, a monster which bears little in common with its PnP variant and is a complete game-breaker in its own right. A monster which features only one method of consistently reliable counterplay, namely spell absorption items. (Yes, ranged works, but not every build I do is ranged; spellcasting is hit or miss, since sometimes lag strikes and/or they antimagic you before you can cast a spell; greater/restoration isn't always available.) And oh, please, remind me again, what's the only viable spell absorption item to use? PLIS is the only item which truly counters beholders, and for that matter, beholders are basically the only reason I need one in the first place.

This is one of the first times I've legitimately gotten angry at this game and Turbine's ludicrousness. Everything about this situation just makes me want to punch my computer in frustration: a stupid RNG-loot mechanic, the bullshit design of beholders in the first place, and above all, Turbine's constant and flagrant mismanagement of this game that I, and many others, used to love. The Ioun Stone problem is only the tip of the iceberg, and is merely symptomatic of a much deeper, much more ingrained problem which many here at the Vault have noticed.

Turbine doesn't care about the players who actually enjoyed the game and the core of what it represents.

Turbine doesn't care about making an enjoyable game.

Turbine doesn't care about fixing obviously long-lasting bugs and aspects which clearly and directly adversely affect gameplay.

Turbine only cares about iron-fisted control over their game and living in an echo-chamber where only those who are sycophantic enough to suck the big Turbine dick on a daily basis are allowed to express their obviously biased opinions. They don't care about legitimate criticism about the game from those who know more about it than they do themselves; they just care about keeping up the veneer of professionalism and the comfort of living in a safe-space, a fucking hug-box where their game is going to die. At its current rate, nothing they do will save DDO from perishing within the next few years.

So fuck you, Turbine. This is just one of many obvious instances of you slowly and surely killing your own game, and you being too apathetic or arrogant to care.

[/rant]

Well, there's Invaders and Dreams of insanity ( Von 3 I'd always save for epic ) - and SF neck is enough for that and beholder(s) in Rainbow, TS, In the flesh or Threnal.

After 23 it's Jeweled cloak ( Von 3, Inferno in MoD, beholder in Deathwyrm, Mirror beholder and such ). Fuck the Ioun stone and get SF neck.

Sorry to hear the disappointment though, much better to do the grind for crap you need in small doses.

The stone-reward-after-three change was announced. Ioun stones flooded the AH. Still do.

Wipe wrote on Nov 8^th, 2015 at 8:03am:


Problem with those though is that Eye of the Beholder only has 8 charges and doesn't have the equivalent power to PLIS: Eye doens't prevent Antimagic, whereas PLIS and other spell absorption items can. And in terms of spell absorption items, PLIS is by far and away the best due to its good slot (trinket) and sheer number of charges.

Revaulting wrote on Nov 8^th, 2015 at 8:44am:

Didn't know that. I stand corrected. Still a BS change though, esp considering all the other things they COULD be doing.

Of all things, why make the game harder?

Why make it harder than necessary?

Turbine should see the enduring popularity that Shroud has had, and it shouldn't take a genius to figure out that GS's popularity is due in no small part to its half-decent loot mechanic. What I mean is, people still run Shroud, and have been doing so for years, whereas raids like Titan, ADQ, ToD, HoX, VoD, MA, LoB, VoN6, CITW, Reaver's Fate... you know, just about every other raid, have fallen to obscurity and are barely, if ever run anymore. With that in mind, any reasonable person/developer would say, "okay, this is what's popular, so we should try to emulate this and perhaps adjust some of this older, worse-thought-out content accordingly (such as Ioun stones, Dragontouched, and Alchemical)."

But no, that'd be the actual intelligent and rational thing to do from the perspective of retaining a playerbase and being half decent human beings.

From a business perspective, it's idiotic to estrange and enrage your playerbase with stupid mechanics that they hate. And from the common sense, being a half-decent human being, it's idiotic to sadistically change your quests willy nilly while leaving actual bugs and errors unattended.

Quote:

I agree 100%

I didn't play every day, or even every week, but I spent the majority of my DDO play time for a 6 month chunk grinding for a PLIS for a TR. I happen to like DD and used it to level a couple of alts who were still in heroics so I got more than just the shot at the PLIS, but still, by the time I pulled my 4th CHA stone I was pissed.

And the joke is on Turdbin, because as long as I'm spending my time grinding their moronic low drop rates for stuff in old quests, I have no need to buy new packs or classes. So I still don't own Warlock, TOEE, etc. even though I'm sitting on well over 10k TP.

I still need Supreme Shards, too, so there is another grind that keeps me too busy to need new packs or classes. And by making the game so buggy that I only want to play it a couple of times a week, cycling between 3 or 4 adventures I know well isn't boring enough to drive me to new material. I haven't had to use a duped bypass timer in forever 

Plus, when I'm pissed at them for the insanity of the grind, I actively avoid rewarding them with purchases.

So yeah, their approach is just concentrated fail, good job Turdbin.

DropBear wrote on Nov 8^th, 2015 at 10:19am:

Jeweled Cloak still the same as it has always been. Absorbs 1 spell for one charge.

Meursault wrote on Nov 8^th, 2015 at 10:55am:

You bought the TP so they could care less what pixels if any you spend it on. YOU are the only one losing. So the joke is actually on you. They have their money.

OldCoaly wrote on Nov 8^th, 2015 at 3:31pm:



Oh that sounds soulcrushing, there a some quests I haven't gotten near in years, so boring.

Erofen wrote on Nov 8^th, 2015 at 2:50pm:


Well yeah, got my first PLIS a few years back before it was changed and I had been unaware of the change since then. Call me a slowpoke or whatever, but I still think my criticisms are valid.

[] wrote on Nov 8^th, 2015 at 12:10pm:


I really am that clueless. Shame on me.

Erofen wrote on Nov 8^th, 2015 at 2:56pm:

LOL, no, because it used to be I bought TP regularly to support the game, my balance was up to like 80k at one point. If it got low enough I might be tempted to buy again if there was a decent sale.

But the fact that I have so much, spend so little, and don't want to reward them means they are extremely unlikely to get more money from me within the period of employment of the current crew.

Statistically, the customers most likely to spend money on a game are the ones who have already spent money on the game. Losing a few paying customers isn't a big deal, but if that gets common it indicates big trouble for a company. If you can't keep the customers proven to pay, you are unlikely to entice new players to pay.

Turdbin paid big bucks to get a consultant to tell them how to maximize money from customers, I'm sure they know how serious this is, though being Turdbin they probably have their fingers in their ears and are saying "La La La I can't hear you".

OldCoaly wrote on Nov 8^th, 2015 at 3:31pm:

Pretty much this. They squeezed too hard, and the result is much less instead of a little more.

Quote:

Drop rate was ass. Every third changed that to a guaranteed ioun stone drop rate of at least 33%. Yeah, it's frustrating. You didn't get the one you want. It's still better than before: running the same amount, getting fewer ioun stones, and no PLIS.


Meursault wrote on Nov 8^th, 2015 at 7:06pm:

"La La La I can't hear you" is what the consultant told them would maximize money.

Revaulting wrote on Nov 8^th, 2015 at 10:05pm:



What?