FYI: Fixing TBM Itemization Bugs/Issues is a Focus For the Team

I have generally been a pro-EQ type of person throughout the years, giving devs the benefit of the doubt. Supporting them when many others have not.

This expansion, however, I have been more critical than in the past. While it is nice that Roshen has come here to create a generic statement, I can only end this post with one simple comment-

Actions speak louder than words.

Probably due to vacation + holidays since they just launched an expansion

Thanks for the update.

Ruven

Yay the eq 'team' does still exist and we've not been totally abandoned yet!

I knew it was going to be a good day and year!!

lol wish they would change patch days, now i got two weeks of lost days off

Fortunately there's still plenty of time to get stuff done.

The main reason why releasing a nov/dec expansion is because the holidays people take vacations less gets done etc. However I do recognize it has to be this way because that is when most people would buy it.

This expansion should of been delayed items were not done but its too late for that.

A ton of people pre-ordered so I don't really know if the holiday season encourages more or less sales. Personally, I'm spending a junkton on gifts and meals in Nov/Dec so any other time is actually better. That just might be me I guess.

In product releases, or how stuff gets done, there are 3 variables that management juggles. Time, cost, and quality. Management can reliably fix one of the three variables, and DGE chose to fix, time, with a hard release date.

That left 2 other variables, quality (or lack their off), and cost (high or low). Cost, how much money, and effort was put into the expansion, I believe was low. I am basing my statement on the downsizing massive downsizing that happened in DBG in Feb 2015, the concurrent release of the FTP server with the expansion release. and the shortened beta (as compared with previous betas). With less labor resources to allocate to the expansion, a fixed release date, and other concurrent tasks drawing on the same limited resource pool, the bill payer was the expansion quality, i.e. stuff not done right, or just not done.

Roshen, thank your for informing us of DBG's intentions, I do not expect everything to be perfect, but I do expect to not see stupid stuff, like items missing slots, range focus put on waist slot, extra slots on items, and type 5 augmentations working on range and charm slots. I also expect the quality of the expansion to brought up to late beta release standard; what in the past was the two weeks prior to release, where players were locked out of beta, and developers put the final touches and fixes to the product prior to release.

the whole team is on item fix now? I thought the item dev was on holliday seems not so all devs was away for 6 weeks after expansion launch good work

God forbid the game devs want to take holidays around the Christmas season. Don't blame the game devs for taking time off. While I agree software should be released in a finished state and any fixes pushed out promptly I would rather see staff get their vacation and family time in first.

What about the 6+ months before that (supposedly when they were already working on it) and the month of Beta? I'd like to point out again that the Item dev did not post ANYTHING during beta. So... are we really surprised about itemization? So yeah, some of the blame definitely falls on the dev(s) and acting like what happened is okay is... not okay. But sure, please explain the excuse for all that.

Also, this is a product they are selling for money. This isn't something they're releasing out of the kindness of their hearts. There are certain expectations.

Honestly, I think I'd love to work at DBG. They seem to get the most holiday vacation time from any company I've ever known.

I think the real test is how "fleshed out" TBM becomes before it is called done and the next expac is developed. Looking back there are ups and downs in the quality and depth of past expansions depending on how you liked to play.

If I got to sit in the Daybreak boardroom my live server to-do list would look like this:
1. fix TBM bugs and finish anything not done.
2. enhance TBM features (i.e., more tradeskills, advertised features all working as intended/expected or better).
3. rabbit out of hat time and add more zones to each tier (doesn't have to be Sul lore either). Possibly add an additional harder tier of zones that only the most Uber* will have a hope of doing in-era. The zone pyramid can be very narrow at the top as long as there is enough interesting steps getting you almost there (and content should be not-so-uber beatable within a decent timeframe after the expac era).


*said as a non-raider (for years... I used to).

Among other fixes, the following itemization corrections will be in the next patch.

Obviously this doesn't address every issue and we are still working on getting everything corrected.

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The highest ranks of passive AA effects activated via items found in The Broken Mirror, such as Expanding Mind, Knowledge of the Past, etc, have been updated to function.

Rogue usable daggers found in The Broken Mirror have had their intended backstab damage and backstab skill modifiers added.

Type 5 augmentations found in The Broken Mirror now fit into primary, secondary, range and charm slots.

Non-progressive two-handed weapons usable by melee classes found in The Broken Mirror have had a type 5 augmentation slot added in addition to their existing type 4 or type 8 slot and have had their type 3 augmentation slot removed.

Non-progressive two-handed blunt weapons usable by casters and/or priests in The Broken Mirror have been changed to consistently have augmentation slot types 3, 5, 8, and 8 for raid weapons and types 3, 4, 5, 7 for group weapons.

Removed the type 9 augmentation slot from the Shield of Dreams. The type 9 slot is intended to be used for scaling equipment and its inclusion on this item was an error.

Removed the type 21 armor ornamentation slots from a number of non-visible armor pieces that errantly contained them.

Non-progressive shields found in The Broken Mirror have had their armor class values increased by approximately 20%.

Raid shields found in The Broken Mirror have had a type 5 augmentation slot added to them.

Raid bard instruments found in The Broken Mirror have been changed to consistently have augmentation slot types 3, 5, and 8.

Non-progressive bows found in The Broken Mirror have been changed to consistently have type 3, 4, 5, and 7 or 8 augmentation slots.

Rotbow of the High Bokon has been renamed Totem of the High Bokon and has had its graphic and icon changed to reflect the fact that it is intended to be a ranged armor item and not a bow.

Items found in The Broken Mirror that were missing proper skill damage modifiers have been corrected.

Helmets found in The Broken Mirror have been fixed to function as light sources and helmets that previously lacked Faerune have been fixed.

Fulcrum and Vengeful type 9 augmentations found in The Broken Mirror have had 42% haste added for Elegant and Stalwart (level 75 and 85) tiers and 43% added for Extravagant (level 90) and higher tiers.

Corrected berserker usable gloves found in the Broken Mirror that did not have throwing damage focus.

Several painting housing items were renamed to be more consistent.

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The following weapons found in The Broken Mirror have had their spell effects changed:
- All progressive weapons (items that contain type 6 and type 9 augmentation slots) have had their proc and focus effect spells removed (excluding Improved Dodge on bows). In order to provide better scaling, proc spells, and in some cases focus effects, have been added to type 6 augmentations.

- New variants of some type 6 weapon augmentations have been created specifically for priests and casters. Weapon augmentations with archetype specific variants can be cycled through the various archetypes via the item conversion feature.

- Stalker's Guillotine proc changed from Force of Magic IX to Vampiric Strike IX.

- Scepter of Dark Dedication proc changed from Hand of Holy Vengeance IX to Alleviating Burst IX, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Force of Magic XIII to Sympathetic Force of Magic XI.

- High Priestess' Purifier proc changed from Force of Magic XII to Force of Magic XI, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Strike of Flames XIII to Sympathetic Alleviating Burst IX.

- Beater of the Teeth proc changed from Calming Strike XII to Force of Magic XIII, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Calming Strike X to Sympathetic Force of Magic XIII.

- Removed the focus effect Sympathetic Strike of Venom XIV from Bureaucracy Cleaver and fixed the proc Strike of Venom XII.

- Removed the focus effect Sympathetic Force of Magic XIV from Adan's Reach and fixed the proc Force of Magic XII.

- Added Improved Dodge V to Bow of Hope, Armsman's Bow, Pestilent Shortbow, and Festering Fusillader.

- Six Note Blade proc changed from Healing Burst IX to Vampiric Strike X.

- Blood Fire proc changed from Strike of Flames IX to Strike of Flames X.

- Spined Dragon Claws proc changed from Force of Corruption IX to Force of Corruption X.

- Tarantella proc changed from Strike of Venom IX to Strike of Venom X.

- Bone Razor proc changed from Force of Magic IX to Vampiric Strike X.

- Interrogator's Pestle proc changed from Force of Anger VIII to Blessed Rune XI.

- Likato Fistwraps proc changed from Blessed Rune VII to Vampiric Strike X.

- Dark Feral Ravagers proc changed from Strike of Flames IX to Strike of Flames X.

- Removed the focus effect Sympathetic Vampiric Strike XII from Soul Leech, Dark Sword of Blood and changed the proc from Vampiric Strike X to Vampiric Strike XIII.

- Removed the focus effect Sympathetic Strike of Flames XII from Monsoon, Sword of the Swiftwind and changed the proc from Strike of Flames X to Strike of Flames XIII.

- Removed the focus effect Sympathetic Burst of Ice XII from Frigid Pike of Isolation and changed the proc from Burst of Ice X to Burst of Ice XIII.

- Removed the focus effect Sympathetic Force of Magic XII from Curtaincaller and changed the proc from Force of Magic X to Force of Magic XIII.

- Barbarian Spiritist`s Hammer proc changed from Force of Corruption XII to Force of Corruption XIV, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Force of Corruption XII to Sympathetic Force of Corruption XIV.

- Staff of the Earthcrafter proc changed from Burst of Ice XII to Burst of Ice XIV, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Burst of Ice XII to Sympathetic Burst of Ice XIV.

- Withered Totem of Widdershins proc changed from Healing Burst XII to Remote Healing Surge XIV, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Hand of Soothing IX to Sympathetic Remote Healing Surge XIV.

- Terror Condenser of the Faceless proc changed from Strike of Flames XII to Strike of Flames XIV, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Strike of Flames XII to Sympathetic Strike of Flames XIV.

- Trepidus Evocator proc changed from Strike of Venom XII to Strike of Venom XIV, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Strike of Venom XII to Sympathetic Strike of Venom XIV.

- Added Improved Dodge VII to Gilded Prodigal Harrier, of Fear, Poignant Pestulator and Imperial Messenger.

- Truesight Hammer proc changed from Banish Summoned to Banish Soulless XII, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Burst of Ice XIV to Sympathetic Alleviating Burst X.

- DawnFire, Morning Star of Light proc changed from Banish Undead to Banish Soulless XII, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Strike of Flames XIV to Sympathetic Invigorating Burst X.

- Staff of Undead Legions proc changed from Banish Undead to Banish Soulless XIV, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Invigorating Burst VII to Sympathetic Strike of Flames XIV.

- Evensong proc changed from Calming Strike IX to Burst of Ice X.

- Increased the proc rank of the following items from X to XI: Feather of the Lady, Sharpened Scale of Emollious, Spike of Lasting Vapor, Feverpitch Martel, Celestial Rotwarder, Shimmering Quill of the Lady, Pallid Billowing Defiler, Sliver of Emollious, and Steaming Mitts of Grannus.

- Crusty Club of Emollious proc changed from Burst of Ice X to Vampiric Strike XI.

- Peacock Feather of the Lady proc changed from Strike of Flames X to Vampiric Strike XI.

- Skinflayer of Boromas proc changed from Blessed Rune XI to Blessed Rune XII.

- The Incorruptible proc changed from Calming Strike X to Burst of Ice XI.

- Removed the focus effect Sympathetic Force of Magic XIII from Grannus' Grumblecruncher and changed the proc from Force of Magic XI to Force of Magic XIV.

- Removed the focus effect Sympathetic Strike of Venom XIII from Echo of the First Schism and changed the proc from Strike of Venom XI to Strike of Venom XIV.

- Removed the focus effect Sympathetic Force of Corruption XIII from Malintent and changed the proc from Force of Corruption XI to Force of Corruption XIV.

- Removed the focus effect Sympathetic Strike of Disease XIII from Blightforger and changed the proc from Strike of Disease XI to Strike of Disease XIV.

- Removed the focus effect Sympathetic Vampiric Strike XIV from Zealator's Ambition and changed the proc from Vampiric Strike XII to Vampiric Strike XV.

- High Bokon Mangling Staff proc changed from Force of Magic XIII to Force of Magic XV, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Remote Healing Surge XII to Sympathetic Force of Magic XV.

- Grannus' Steamcleaner proc changed from Hand of Holy Vengeance X to Remote Healing Surge XIII, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Invigorating Burst XIV to Sympathetic Invigorating Burst XI.

- Removed the focus effect Sympathetic Vampiric Strike XIII from The Shattering Maw and changed the proc from Force of Corruption XI to Force of Corruption XIV.

- Fleshburner of Boromas proc changed from Strike of Flames XII to Strike of Flames XIII, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Alleviating Burst XIV to Sympathetic Strike of Flames XIII.

- Excommunicator proc changed from Force of Magic XII to Alleviating Burst XI, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Surge of Corruption XIV to Sympathetic Alleviating Burst XI.

- Demagogue's Crutch proc changed from Hand of Holy Vengeance X to Remote Healing Surge XV, focus effect changed from Sympathetic Invigorating Burst X to Sympathetic Remote Healing Surge XV.

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The following items found in The Broken Mirror have had their spell effects modified:
- Added Sharpshooting VII and Tiny Companion to Blackmarrow Hooks, Oozing Bone Spike and Shade's Phase (replaces Knowledge of the Past XVIII).

- Replaced Knowledge of the Past XVIII on Exalted Earring with Geomantra XVII.

- Replaced Knowledge of the Past XXII on Trophy of the Scapegoat with Geomantra XXI.

- Added Sharpshooting IX to Soulcatcher Earhoop and replaced Knowledge of the Past XXIII with Tiny Companion.

- Replaced Knowledge of the Past XXIII on Sensitizing Thought Orb with Soothing Breath XX.

- Added Brass Resonance 26 to Preserving Protector's Helm.

- Increased the ranks of Form of Endurance on raid masks from XX-XXII to XXII-XXIII.

- Increased the rank of Form of Endurance on Mask of Immortal End from XXII to XXV and Echo of Anger V on Hardened Mask of Immortal End to VI.

- Removed right click effects from neck armor. Added Taelosian Guard to Strifetorn Necklace. Added Ancestral Memories III to Tallow-smeared Locket and Deadeye Matrix.

- Replaced all right click effects on shoulder armor with appropriate ranks of Myrmidon's Skill.

- Added String Resonance 26 to Preserving Protector's Vambraces.

- Added Cleave VII - 26 (Scaling) to Imbrued Platemail Vambraces and Crypt-Hunter's Loremaster Vambraces.

- Removed Cleave from necromancer, wizard, magician and enchanter arm armor.

- Increased the ranks of Illusionary Spikes on raid cloaks from XVIII-XIX to XIX-XX.

- Replaced all right click effects on range armor and weapons with appropriate ranks of Prismatic Ward.

- Added Percussion Resonance 26 to Preserving Protector's Gauntlets.

- Added Finesse II and Instrumental Combat focuses to Kelin`s Seven Stringed Lute, Marrow's Song and Lyssa`s Darkwood Piccolo.

- Added the following activated effects to the corresponding instruments. All three instruments share recast timer 3 on a 90 second timer:
- Kelin`s Seven Stringed Lute - Ervaj's Defensive Refrain Rk. III
- Marrow's Song - Aria of Absolution Rk. III
- Lyssa`s Darkwood Piccolo - Fermata of Preservation Rk. III

- Replaced all right click effects on rings with appropriate ranks of Form of Defense or Knowledge of the Past.

- Added Fortitude Discipline Duration to Indicolite Breastplate.

- Added Deflection Discipline Duration to Valorium Chestplate.

- Reduced the focus Deflection Discipline Duration from raid tier to group tier for Crypt-Hunter's Soulrender Breastplate.

- Added Wolf Spirit Duration to Vermiculated Tunic.

- Added Impenetrable Discipline Quickening and Earthforce Discipline Quickening to Shiverback-hide Jerkin.

- Added Thousand Blades Quickening to Imbrued Platemail Breastplate.

- Added Executioner Discipline Quickening to Woven Shadow Chestplate.

- Added Brutal Discipline Quickening to Shadow Rage Tunic.

- Added Ferocity XI (Scaling) to Imbrued Platemail Greaves and Crypt-Hunter's Loremaster Greaves.

- Removed Ferocity from necromancer, wizard, magician and enchanter leg armor.

- Increased the rank of Ferocity on raid leg armor from XII to XIII.

- Added Secretion of the Mamba to Woven Shadow Greaves, Crypt-Hunter's Shadowscale Leggings and Deathseeker's Shadowscale Leggings.

- Added Singing Resonance 26 to Preserving Protector's Boots.

- Replaced all right click effects on belts with appropriate ranks of Expanding Mind.

- Special worn effects have been added to tier 2 raid belts:
- Runed Belt of Boromas - Sympathetic Force of Corruption X
- Emblazoned Belt of Boromas - Boon of the Seeress
- Bolstered Belt of Boromas - Tendon Slice
- Cured Flesh Sash of Boromas - Overdrive Punch

- Added Healing Burst X to Runed Flesh Shield of Boromas.

Thanks for the update, Dzarn!

I like how of Fear gets censored.

http://lucy.allakhazam.com/item.html?id=147409

Several housing painting items were renamed. But Dichotromic spells still do not evolve.

Glad the priorities are in place

WTH why?? Rune proc was just fine. That weapon is mine and no one will do anything to it! Keep the Rune Proc.

Thank you in advance!!

Also you do realize that the Spike of Lasting Vapor proc is 1 grade under the Leatum? Not that I care because I dont want it but maybe some others will care.

While I do appreciate the fact that the EQ team is trying something new with itemization in an effort to make the content more accessible to lower levels, I really hope that this route isn't taken again. Itemization has been a huge mess for 2 months after launch now, and reading over the changes posted by Dzarn it looks like the rest of the issues will take another month or longer. I really don't think there are any level 75's out there hunting the gear. I've personally only seen some level 105's farming the stuff for their lower level alts...I haven't seen any real groups of low levels playing in TBM. That's not to say it's not happening, but it's definitely not common enough to justify the massive mess this round of itemization has caused for ALL players.

Thanks for all you do, EQ team, but for future content releases please save the time and go back to the standard itemization we have came to expect, with a few "chase" items thrown in to spark interest. I honestly believe that's what's best for the game at this point.

Thanks for the update Dzarn. Honestly as long as I have been playing, March 1999, no expansion has gone off with everything working. I am still having fun but... this expansion was no where near as expansive as I was expecting.

I am an EQ junkie though and will take any new fix they give us as long as it keeps coming :b

Rain of Fear ended up being pretty awesome in the end even though it was spread out in 4 parts. I think I would rather have that than this even though I did not feel that way back then.