Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 quishadi Dec 30, 2009 9:13:39	I play and judge in a fairly large LFR gaming group in northern NJ.  The other day about a half-dozen of us were sitting around talking about what we were going to be judging and playing, and we pretty much all came to the same conclusion: there are some mods that are over played because everyone wants to get the "good" loot.  We also noted that some really fun, well thought out mods are played less often because they give comparably weaker bundles.  This got me to thinking, and I know this'll never happen, but... I think it's fine for mods to include items that can be used during the adventure, but I don't think they should include set loot bundles. I'd like to see the following loot rules: A character can take/keep only one found item per character level (already there). At the end of each mod, if the character has an open found-item slot, then he/she can take any player legal item of up to current level+1. At any given time, a character can have only one item of his/her current level+1, and one item of his/her current level. With the money a character finds or gains by selling unwanted items, he/she can purchase non-consumable items of up to his/her level-1, and consumable items (potions, scrolls, ammunition) of any level within his/her current play tier (heroic, paragon, epic). I think that this would lead to... ...more variety in the mods that are actually played. ...more emphasis on the story line and less worry about loot. ...xp (and maybe tolerance for challenge) being the only deciding factor when determining low/high-tier play. ...more variety in character items. ...less character min/maxing. Deep down, I wish that something like this would happen, but I know it probably never will.
#2 Dragon9 Dec 30, 2009 21:24:19	This seems to be more of a problem with some of the initial mods.  Although I will admit that I only play once a month and haven't played the majority of the mods.  The more recent ones seem to have more "choose a weapon/implement/item of x level or lower" rewards than before.
#3 Uthrac Jan 04, 2010 11:13:13	Well, I played 2 of the newer H1 mods this past weekend. One only offered (almost exclusively, I think) Level 2 and Level 3 items. The other had a Level 7 Weapon. Guess which one I expect to see requested to replay? ;)
#4 Alphastream Jan 04, 2010 12:09:12	I noticed the same thing. I was blown away that the admins allowed that high an item in an H1 mod... It is funny to see the effect of players choosing specific mods. For Weekend in the Realms I judged a pretty new group of players and they all had +2 or +2 Vicious weapons... they were absolutely destroying the final combat.
#5 corwynn Jan 04, 2010 15:24:31	I noticed the same thing. I was blown away that the admins allowed that high an item in an H1 mod... If it was just one item, I think that follows the writer's guidelines pretty closely actually: "For example, a levels 1-4 adventure with 4 magic item bundles should have one magic item that’s levels 2-6 specified for the low-level version only, 2 magic items that are levels 4-6 for all versions, and one magic item that’s levels 4-8 specified for the high-level version only." They could have given a level 8 item instead! For Weekend in the Realms I judged a pretty new group of players and they all had +2 or +2 Vicious weapons... Note that they can't wield an item more than 4 levels above their own.  If they're new, they might not be able to actually wield that +2 Vicious weapon. Outside of LFR (as well as creating a high-level PC from scratch), the game actually assumes that you'll occasionally give out items of level+3 to the PCs.  See DMG pg 125 for example. In short: if the PC can wield it, then it's okay. And let's face it, in LFR if you give out items that are *not* above the PCs level, then it probably doesn't make sense for a PC to choose them.  The player is almost always better off saving their magic item slot and choosing "More Gold" and buying the specific item (of their level) that is best for them.
#6 Alphastream Jan 05, 2010 0:26:16	Regarding +2s, it is really just that I thought the admins had hinted that they were holding back from providing the next + item too early, based on seeing the effects those early mods had. I know in my adventure (first core for paragon) a higher + weapon was removed and a lower one added. It was within the guidelines, but they swapped it for a lower power weapon. I actually am for that, now that I better see the effects of high + items (and you might be right that they were too low to use the item, but I'm not sure. They were not level 1s, but it is possible that they were not within the rules). This is just one of the replay issues. Players want to hit, want to deal damage, so they naturally have that inclination to play the adventure with the high + items again. I can't blame them.