noamineo wrote on Sep 16
th, 2017 at 9:59pm:
So I don't know how long you've been playing DDO, but back when cap was 20, people(shockingly) stayed at cap for a while! You had the old style Epic weapons to grind out(Shard/Seal/Scroll made it feel like progress) plus grinding out your Green Steel items for next-life.
I remember when the cap was 25 I liked it even better, because I was also earning Epic XP while getting prepped for my next life. That I think was the butter-zone of the game for me. Not that I don't like ETRs.
Incidentally, I saw the old days when the cap was 20 to be the "golden age" of DDO. I realize that not everything was perfect, but they had a
decent endgame system. Shroud was the premier endgame raid and clearing it at elite was truly an accomplishment worth working for, and something that was rewarding--because after all, everyone makes good use of Green Steel. I loved those days; far more people playing the game (community overall seemed more fun-loving and less uptight back then), better game balance, and better progression.
I've always thought that DDO would've been better serviced by building off of that system, rather than radically and fundamentally altering the endgame system to becoming what it is now. Say what you want about the new epic level progression, but cleaving the game into essentially two different games (heroic and epic) was one of the worst things Turbine ever did. Back before MOTU, the endgame felt like more of an
extension or
capstone to the heroic game, rather than a separate game altogether.