The Totally NEW Team Corwin Thread

Just a reminder, I am leaving in am and out next week for sure and possibly the following. Don't wait for me would be the best.

I have an appointment this afternoon. While theoretically I'll be home in time, don't be surprised if I'm late. I suggest torturing Corwin via DA run.

We'll figure it out. We need to keep the same party split, at least at the beginning, since the 4-player party did not run Garls 2 yet. Pretty sure CM was in the 5-player party last week (I know it was me, JM, and Leywind, but I'm having a total brainfart for our fourth), so her absence tonight probably doesn't affect that.

I think I was the fourth, but will check when I get in game. I gather we're continuing with the lowbies this week?

Edit: I was the 4th ... have both Garl's completed.

Nope, I remember you were in the group-of-5 with Peter and Corwin and Nathan. It must have been Az that was in the 4 because it wasn't CM. Having both Garl's done proves it wasn't you because the group-o'-4 didn't get to Garls Pt2 due to me losing electricity for the night.

You're right, I'm mixed up ... I was in the other group, and we did complete.

I was with your group last week, you crashed in Ghost of a Chance.

azraelck said:

I was with your group last week, you crashed in Ghost of a Chance.

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yeah, JM and CM zerged me thru Ghost the next day, so I'm back even with that portion of the group.

For those who got hammered the night before and slept in, we finished Garl's Tomb on the L8's, then we all ran several different bar quests, including Caged Trolls, Purge the Heretics, Valak's Mausoleum (Dead girl), Mirra's Sleepless Nights, and Dead Predators. We then grouped up for a Chronoscope, which went well actually.

After, some of us continued on some 14's and 15's, and ran around in GH for a bit.

Release notes out

Release notes are out: Update 27 Release Notes

Things of interest:

Warlocks got a nerf, not sure how bad till I go in game & try it:

• The Magic Missile Ward portion of Enlightened Spirit's Shield enhancement no longer disappears after a few minutes.
• Enlightened Spirit Warlocks will no longer immediately die when trying to resurrect.
• The Tainted Scholar's Enervating Shadow negative levels no longer affect bosses.
• Eldritch Wave now breaks breakables properly.
• Spiritual Retribution now works on unarmed attacks.
• The Spell Power scaling of Eldritch Burst and Spirit Blast is now 120% (instead of 150%.)
  [*]Shining Through now grants temporary Hit Points equal to 12x your Constitution Score (was 15x.)

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New Mysterious Remnant Rewards (I'll pass on these, way over-priced):

The Monster Hunter in the Hall of Heroes now offers two new Defense Tomes and three new Offense Tomes in exchanged for Mysterious Remnants:
+1 Tome of Magic Resistance
+1 Tome of Physical Resistance
+1 Tome of Melee Power
+1 Tome of Ranged Power
+1 Tome of Spell Power
He also offers Upgrade Tomes that increase the +1 to +2.

• Each +1 Tome costs 5,000 Remnants.
• Each upgrade to +2 costs 7,500 Remnants.
• The bonus from these tomes, once consumed, shows up on your character sheet in the form a Feat. Upgrades cause you to gain the feat an additional time (mousing over the feat will show you acquired it 2 times).
• Like other Tome bonuses, these feats persist through Reincarnation.

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There's a new Monster Manual (free to VIP's)

Spells:

Power Word: Stun and Power Word: Blind now works on monsters above 100,000 hit points.

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UI:

• The Full Screen check box in the Graphics Options has been replaced by a Screen Mode drop-down menu, from which you can select Windowed, Full Screen, and (in Windows) Full Screen (Windowed), which runs the game in a borderless window at desktop resolution.
• There is now an option under UI Settings to show a "stand your ground" banner for hirelings and class pets.
• There is now an NPC in the Hall of Heroes and on guild airships that allow a character to temporarily suspend their Bravery Bonus. This is a toggle, and will remain in effect until toggled again by speaking to the NPC. The Bravery Bonus will not reset nor increment when suspended.
• There is now a Search box and a "Show All" button at the top of the Options Panel, allowing you to show only options matching particular text.

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I'd have much preferred they add search boxes to the character bank & cache & augment bags, but hey, obviously their priorities are different from ours.

I'm so happy they're continuing to add to the Monster Manual. Really, they should be charging for those--it's one of the few things I think pretty much everyone would pay turbine points to get.

You know, for a while there it was like Turbine wasn't even trying. They still break shit every time they touch the code and they still have too much lag, but I at least get the feeling these days they're actually trying to make things better for the average user. I'm sure they're constrained by years of crappy code stacked on crappy code, but if they can manage to unwind some of the knots they might really improve the game.

U27 finally ready to being downloaded. Only 2 hours late.

Game servers up again

I'm sure there will be at least one hotfix in the next 24 hours!!

DDO is being updated with a hotfix right now. Will be back online about 12pm EST / 6pm CET.

Corwin called it first.

Tomorrow

I believe CM is still out this week. How about we try the new quests. They've got some very nice loot in them, and are actually worth doing.

If we decide to do them, and depending on how many we're going to have, I suggest inviting a few folks to do them with us so we have full parties. Hirelings are still pretty useless, except as deathward pots. We should be able to handle EN and probably EH without problems.

The raid is another story. We should put that off till they fix the lag and other issues in there.

We can easily do EH. Aletys and I we duo EH without problems. Difficulty is similar to epic Necro 4 quests. It means EE is possible with a full group. Shortmanning EE can be tricky, though. Especially Demon Assault which is trickier than The Archon's Trial or the Devil's Delivery.

The Archon's Trial is the first in the new chain. This quest is a bit like Crucible where you have a few tests that the Archons will put you through so you can prove to them you're capable of helping them fight the devils and demons.

Test of agility is the first where you can select either a jump test (quite easy) or trap test (easy with a trapper).

Then you have test of Endurance which is a series of small battles ending with a boss fight (Bebilith). Also quite easy.

Third is the test of intelligence. This is a series of tile puzzles. Also quite easy and most of us can solve these. To add some flavor you have red tiles that will set off a trap if electricity is sent to them.

Last you have test of strength where you will fight the Archons (not in a deadly fight, just down to 10%) to prove you're strong enough to deal with the devils and demons in future quests. You need evil weapons to bypass the DR. Well, not 100% bypass, but enough to do decent damage. So artificers are popular. Otherwise you might have to find your old greensteel weapons. On EN or EH you still do some damage, but on EE you only do damage on crits if you don't have evil weapons. The archons can be nasty if we stay close since they sometimes cast stun around them. So splitting up the group is best so we don't get stunned at the same time.

Loot in this quest is quite nice:
Epic Arm of the Archons (Rune Arm): Force Shot, Maximum Charge Tier: V, Rune Arm Imbue: Force VI, Impulse +150, Sheltering +30, Immunity to Fear, Magical Resistance: +2 Quality, Green Augment Slot

Epic Light Unending (Quarterstaff, 5[1d6]): +12 Enhancement Bonus, Solar VI, Vertigo +15, Metalline, Improved Banishing, Purple Augment Slot, Holy VI

Epic Scraps of Enlightenment (Handwraps): +12 Enhancement Bonus, Holy VI, Solar VI, Impact V, Greater Reinforced Fists, Purple Augment Slot

Halcyonia (Helmet): Quality Wisdom +2, Devotion +150, Magical Efficiency 10%, Healing Lore X, Insightful Heal +2, Green Augment Slot

Token of the Proven (Trinket): Invisibility Guard, Fortification 150%, Lesser Displacement, Insightful Fortitude Save +2, Green Augment Slot, Feather Fall

Demon Assault is a clone of Devil Assault except the portals are moving once you've cleared the waves coming out of one portal. It's a little like the first part of Shroud except you don't destroy the portals, but you instead kill what comes out of it.

After 6 portals or so you get to a rest shrine where you can either get directly to the boss fight or via a cave. If you go via the cave you fight a marilith and get a junk chest. Not worth it unless you want the xp. The boss is a Glabrezu which is not that difficult. Need good weapons to break DR. The problem in the boss fight is constantly respawning trash (renders etc.). If we all focus on the boss we get too much trash and get dungeon alerts. Then we get lag and wipe. So it's important to put some people on trash duty. On EE groups will struggle if they don't have good enough dps to get rid of the trash fast enough. That means AoE or CC spells. On EH / EN most groups should manage.

Nice loot here too:
Epic Bleeding Edge (Khopesh 5[1d8]): +12 Enhancement Bonus, Limb Chopper, Bloodletter VII, Vampirism, Red Augment Slot, Orange Augment Slot

Epic Shield of the Demonic Soldier (Small Shield): +12 Enhancement Bonus, Dazing VII, Impact V, Magical Resistance: +2 Quality, Melee Power +6, Purple Augment Slot

Epic Buckler of the Demonic Soldier (Buckler): +12 Enhancement Bonus, Dazing VII, Impact V, Magical Resistance: +2 Quality, Melee Power +6, Purple Augment Slot

The Band Immaterial (Ring): Illusion Focus V, Enchantment Focus V, Insightful Enchantment Focus II, Insightful Illusion Focus II, Green Augment Slot

Eloquence (Helmet): Linguistics, Bluff +20, Intimidate +20, Good Luck +3, Seeker XII, Green Augment Slot

Pendant of Quiet Movements (Necklace): Lesser Displacement, Dodge +11%, Insightful Will Save +2, Seeker XII, Yellow Augment Slot

Epic Rod of Mythant (Club): Spellcasting Implement +36, +12 Enhancement Bonus, Evocation Focus V, Kinetic Lore X, Impulse +150, Wizardry XI, Orange Augment Slot