[Mod 15] What we like to see

brewald

Hi @Devs

This is few points what we like to see in next mod:

1. Possibility to have more than one main char on character choose page. We know you are working on.

2. Possibility to have an account bank shared for Rafinement points, like ADs...

3. A new area map.
Current map is really charged and it become a real limitation, for you to add new area, for us to have a good exploration experience. If you change the current one to a new map who go from Icewind to Waterdeep, it would be a really good update. Lot of players don't know the Sword Coast and it will be a good experience to see the travel to go from Neverwinter to Icewind or to Waterdeep, not only a click on the bubble.

4. ...

Thx all for you attention,
Brewald

iainus

I think it's definitely time for an additional class - monk or bard, preferably - and possibly a new race.

majorcharvenak

A bug free, stable game with new maps and challenging content would be greatly appreciated. If you can work any rebalancing of classes or hold off on a bunch of ridiculously overpowered items which make the new set we're currently grinding for obsolete, that would be nice too.

greywynd

All bugs currently known, fixed...

gripnir78

For the first time I dont expect anything. Guessing its kind of disease since Ravenloft....

gromovnipljesak

I want a level cap increase. Genuinely. Last few mods were pretty good, and Ravenloft has been great.
And with all the flat % damage bonuses, I believe that's what will happen.

Also, finally a different DPS neck/waist/arti thing. What, 6 mods now with orcus?

ibz4ez

greywynd said:

All bugs currently known, fixed...

Wot r u chattin' m8 ? ! .,

greywynd

ibz4ez#9773 said:

Wot r u chattin' m8 ? ! .,

A delay in any new content and attention directed at known bugs for the next mod.

namelesshero347

I love bugs. The only ones I think the devs should prioritize are ones that prevent a well-geared group from completing the end-game run. All other bugs I use to convince lesser groups to vote abandon instead of keep trying till some miracle happens.

majorcharvenak

namelesshero347 said:

I love bugs. The only ones I think the devs should prioritize are ones that prevent a well-geared group from completing the end-game run. All other bugs I use to convince lesser groups to vote abandon instead of keep trying till some miracle happens.

You so bad! >:)

gripnir78

greywynd said:

ibz4ez#9773 said:

Wot r u chattin' m8 ? ! .,

A delay in any new content and attention directed at known bugs for the next mod.

Sorry but that wont bring us more money, so sorry but no.

Sincerely
Devs Team

cdnbison

I am actually *really* surprised that Genasi haven't been added in as of yet. You can reskin existing models, and adjust stats as needed, and you end up adding a total of 4 new races for players. I fully expected them to come out around the time of EE, as it would have been in line thematically.

kriptical1

I’d like a return to the Omu style of campaign progression. This whole pseudo quest grocery list style system makes staying awake the greatest challenge.

Also +1 for adding monks..but only if they can feign death.

Bring pulling back!!

arod7932

I think it would be cool if they added the Cat-like people like Copper Bell as a playable race (Tabaxi?). Also, I hope they do another "Rocktober" of bug fixes like last year.

jdizzle4469

More than 1 dungeon or 1 skirmish or raid at a time.

thefiresidecat

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

I want a level cap increase.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

thefiresidecat

I just hope they put back the two tier system of dungeon for people. a N and M. a reintroduction of all the dungeons they took away that they promised to put back would be nice as well.

gromovnipljesak

thefiresidecat said:

I just hope they put back the two tier system of dungeon for people. a N and M. a reintroduction of all the dungeons they took away that they promised to put back would be nice as well.

That would probably go in line with level cap increase. Leave dungeons as they are, introduce new harder versions of them at lvl80. Ravenloft has been great, so I guess they can do good. As long as it's not M6 take #2.

majorcharvenak

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

As long as it's not M6 take #2.

That's what I'm afraid of; that level cap increase will be Mod 6 (v. 2.0), and the same problems we had with that level increase will rear its ugly head again. I want to be positive. I'd like to think that Cryptic took those lessons learned, and would not repeat that fiasco and that a level increase would be welcome. I look at the improvements like the Hunts in Mod 14 and I nod and smile thinking that they're coming up on a good formula. Then I read that over in STO (the other game I play) they're introducing their version of Random Queues for the group PvE content and I'm left shaking my head. Yes, I know, different game but the 'Good-idea Fairy' seems to hop back and forth between both. Personally I would prefer they take 'baby steps' like I and others have suggested - fixing what's is/has been broken, giving us new places to adventure and explore, and fixing/buffing any underperforming classes. They should knock that out BEFORE taking on something a little more ambitious like a level increase or adding new classes as both are bound to have problems after they're introduced. My two coppers.

gromovnipljesak

majorcharvenak said:

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

As long as it's not M6 take #2.

That's what I'm afraid of; that level cap increase will be Mod 6 (v. 2.0), and the same problems we had with that level increase will rear its ugly head again. I want to be positive. I'd like to think that Cryptic took those lessons learned, and would not repeat that fiasco and that a level increase would be welcome. I look at the improvements like the Hunts in Mod 14 and I nod and smile thinking that they're coming up on a good formula. Then I read that over in STO (the other game I play) they're introducing their version of Random Queues for the group PvE content and I'm left shaking my head. Yes, I know, different game but the 'Good-idea Fairy' seems to hop back and forth between both. Personally I would prefer they take 'baby steps' like I and others have suggested - fixing what's is/has been broken, giving us new places to adventure and explore, and fixing/buffing any underperforming classes. They should knock that out BEFORE taking on something a little more ambitious like a level increase or adding new classes as both are bound to have problems after they're introduced. My two coppers.

But how else can they improve but by going out and trying some more ambitious things? I mean they can keep "practicing" with mods like what M13 (or rather, M12c) was, and then never release any big content update, while giving more OP gear like Shadowstalker rings.

A whole new 10 levels would make newer players able to catch up with us 17-18k beasties, it would give us a whole load of new stuff to play with (powers, feats, lots of new gear, content options, levels of difficulty, dungeons and generally muuuch more breathing room), and if you noticed the 1st few things I mentioned, and that's powers and feats. Let's compare 2 DPS classes - one from the top, and other from the bottom - TR and CW.

Let's say TR does exactly 50% more DPS than CW overall, all scenarios together. Now, if you give the TR new feats, one of which is let's say 5% better than one of the previous feats, that would make TR 55% better (not really, but bear with me). And make the other new feat gold gain or smth, projecting Ezio and wallet stealing.

Now, you could make 2 feats on CW that make the CW a grand total of 50% better than it was, you bring back a class from the dead. Sure there's still 5% difference, but then again you can't have 100% matched classes anyways.

Also, if the devs never increased the level to 70, do you think we'd have some awesome mods? The game would've stagnated into oblivion. There's a reason WoW is so successful with the expansions.

They (usually) bring a LC increase, for all the nerds to nosh their shiny Paladin bollocks over, so you get a lotta more new "starts" which is what this game needs. We don't need another piece of gear that's +38 trillion % more DPS. I also miss set bonuses to some extent, however I dont miss the stat rebalancing.

Having problems with balance is the 1st step to getting properly balanced. This is something a few modders in the DotA community talked about - Valve made a mistake when they released 2 heroes at the same some time ago.

One was OP and everyone wanted to play it (dark willow) and the other was just meh (pangolier). They had a LOT of feedback on the Dark Willow since everyone likes being OP, but not a lot on Pangolier as it was weak and they slightly nerfed DW and buffed Pango. DW became fairly well balanced, and Pango became OP, at which point everyone started playing it, and they then got a lot of feedback on Pangolier, then nerfed it just enough to make it balanced.

It's natural they wanna make things ever just so slightly OP - look at SoD and debuff double dip. That was kinda stupid, now it's fixed because of the feedback and every TR should be happy now cause they're still the tippy top of DPS, but now not as stupid as before.

That's why we have Preview server. Make level 80. Put it up alone for a month with no content updates, so we can test balance. And only then go to the next thing. That's how it should be. Is there a better beta tester than some nerd that would cream his pants over being able to hit for 300 mil or being able to solo buff you to 250k power or something? This way you get thousands of beta testers, some of which (eg Sharpedge, RJC, Janne, and all other actual maths nerds and minmaxers) would give you some really, really damn good feedback.

kingkevin

I just really want them to make and release a new class and race in mod 15, long overdue

majorcharvenak

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

majorcharvenak said:

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

As long as it's not M6 take #2.

That's what I'm afraid of; that level cap increase will be Mod 6 (v. 2.0), and the same problems we had with that level increase will rear its ugly head again. I want to be positive. I'd like to think that Cryptic took those lessons learned, and would not repeat that fiasco and that a level increase would be welcome. I look at the improvements like the Hunts in Mod 14 and I nod and smile thinking that they're coming up on a good formula. Then I read that over in STO (the other game I play) they're introducing their version of Random Queues for the group PvE content and I'm left shaking my head. Yes, I know, different game but the 'Good-idea Fairy' seems to hop back and forth between both. Personally I would prefer they take 'baby steps' like I and others have suggested - fixing what's is/has been broken, giving us new places to adventure and explore, and fixing/buffing any underperforming classes. They should knock that out BEFORE taking on something a little more ambitious like a level increase or adding new classes as both are bound to have problems after they're introduced. My two coppers.

But how else can they improve but by going out and trying some more ambitious things? I mean they can keep "practicing" with mods like what M13 (or rather, M12c) was, and then never release any big content update, while giving more OP gear like Shadowstalker rings.

A whole new 10 levels would make newer players able to catch up with us 17-18k beasties, it would give us a whole load of new stuff to play with (powers, feats, lots of new gear, content options, levels of difficulty, dungeons and generally muuuch more breathing room), and if you noticed the 1st few things I mentioned, and that's powers and feats. Let's compare 2 DPS classes - one from the top, and other from the bottom - TR and CW.

Let's say TR does exactly 50% more DPS than CW overall, all scenarios together. Now, if you give the TR new feats, one of which is let's say 5% better than one of the previous feats, that would make TR 55% better (not really, but bear with me). And make the other new feat gold gain or smth, projecting Ezio and wallet stealing.

Now, you could make 2 feats on CW that make the CW a grand total of 50% better than it was, you bring back a class from the dead. Sure there's still 5% difference, but then again you can't have 100% matched classes anyways.

Also, if the devs never increased the level to 70, do you think we'd have some awesome mods? The game would've stagnated into oblivion. There's a reason WoW is so successful with the expansions.

They (usually) bring a LC increase, for all the nerds to nosh their shiny Paladin bollocks over, so you get a lotta more new "starts" which is what this game needs. We don't need another piece of gear that's +38 trillion % more DPS. I also miss set bonuses to some extent, however I dont miss the stat rebalancing.

Having problems with balance is the 1st step to getting properly balanced. This is something a few modders in the DotA community talked about - Valve made a mistake when they released 2 heroes at the same some time ago.

One was OP and everyone wanted to play it (dark willow) and the other was just meh (pangolier). They had a LOT of feedback on the Dark Willow since everyone likes being OP, but not a lot on Pangolier as it was weak and they slightly nerfed DW and buffed Pango. DW became fairly well balanced, and Pango became OP, at which point everyone started playing it, and they then got a lot of feedback on Pangolier, then nerfed it just enough to make it balanced.

It's natural they wanna make things ever just so slightly OP - look at SoD and debuff double dip. That was kinda stupid, now it's fixed because of the feedback and every TR should be happy now cause they're still the tippy top of DPS, but now not as stupid as before.

That's why we have Preview server. Make level 80. Put it up alone for a month with no content updates, so we can test balance. And only then go to the next thing. That's how it should be. Is there a better beta tester than some nerd that would cream his pants over being able to hit for 300 mil or being able to solo buff you to 250k power or something? This way you get thousands of beta testers, some of which (eg Sharpedge, RJC, Janne, and all other actual maths nerds and minmaxers) would give you some really, really damn good feedback.

Fair enough and I not opposed to a level increase, I just hope that if it were in the cards that its done similar to how Cryptic implemented the increased levels in STO and not repeat the mistakes of Mod 6. I also think Cryptic would do itself a world of good doing that after the other fixes so the focus is on the level increases and any associated problems not trying to do too many things at once. Call it an irrational fear of mine of juggling too many things at once. Anyways, we'll just have to wait and see.

cerberusforces

Drop, only better drop.

tatq

Rip for all your wishes...

froger

I’d like to be able to transmute gear (armor, helm, boot, neck, shirt, pants, arm) from any class to my character. A seal vendor summons from VIP. More side quests with story.

snotty

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

A whole new 10 levels would make newer players able to catch up with us 17-18k beasties

Bull. All it will do is let you "beasties" become even more beast while the newer player will continue with the same problems.

gromovnipljesak

snotty said:

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

A whole new 10 levels would make newer players able to catch up with us 17-18k beasties

Bull. All it will do is let you "beasties" become even more beast while the newer player will continue with the same problems.

Nope. If we have new powers, items, we're ALL starting from much less than we've had before.

On the same level, you can have 2, maybe 3 better items per mod - M13 was an example of this with Shadowstalker rings and fured kuino etc. With a new level cap, you have got to get all new gear if ya wanna be competitive, just like the rest of the playerbase.

Endgame players will ofc have an easier time, but that's a given since they have more time invested in the game. We all still had to get here, this just gives you a chance to do it more easily. If ya wanna be lazy, be lazy.

majorcharvenak

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

snotty said:

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

A whole new 10 levels would make newer players able to catch up with us 17-18k beasties

Bull. All it will do is let you "beasties" become even more beast while the newer player will continue with the same problems.

Nope. If we have new powers, items, we're ALL starting from much less than we've had before.

On the same level, you can have 2, maybe 3 better items per mod - M13 was an example of this with Shadowstalker rings and fured kuino etc. With a new level cap, you have got to get all new gear if ya wanna be competitive, just like the rest of the playerbase.

Endgame players will ofc have an easier time, but that's a given since they have more time invested in the game. We all still had to get here, this just gives you a chance to do it more easily. If ya wanna be lazy, be lazy.

So it sounds like you ARE asking for mod 6 (v 2.0) kind of level increase. No thanks. I nearly quit the game the last time they moved the goal post that far.

gromovnipljesak

majorcharvenak said:

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

snotty said:

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

A whole new 10 levels would make newer players able to catch up with us 17-18k beasties

Bull. All it will do is let you "beasties" become even more beast while the newer player will continue with the same problems.

Nope. If we have new powers, items, we're ALL starting from much less than we've had before.

On the same level, you can have 2, maybe 3 better items per mod - M13 was an example of this with Shadowstalker rings and fured kuino etc. With a new level cap, you have got to get all new gear if ya wanna be competitive, just like the rest of the playerbase.

Endgame players will ofc have an easier time, but that's a given since they have more time invested in the game. We all still had to get here, this just gives you a chance to do it more easily. If ya wanna be lazy, be lazy.

So it sounds like you ARE asking for mod 6 (v 2.0) kind of level increase. No thanks. I nearly quit the game the last time they moved the goal post that far.

Nope, I'm just asking for a level cap increase.

What I listed is what comes normally with a level cap increase. You can't (well, can - but probably shouldn't) have lvl80 characters with lvl 70 gear. For the same reason you ain't using lvl60 gear right now.

They don't even need to make the new gear something unique. The only thing they'd have to work on is new powers and feats, and if they want the class balance to remain identical, they can just make equal or worse powers for every class.

I never said anythin' about M6 and you do seem to be focused on it. And a game that never moves on is a game that stagnates.
For games, stagnation is equal to regression, since every other game will be trying to improve itself and give players something to strive for.

I mean, unless they decide to give us a Ring of Shadowstalker +10, which totally wouldn't be overpowered, and in that case, carry on. It seems no one gives a damn about power creep, which is the main reason half of my friends list left back during the bonding nerf. And getting more Lvl70 gear that people would actually want would mean more lvl70 gear that's more powerful than the current one.

I don't think we really need a new iteration of Hags rags with 13249% more damage.

majorcharvenak

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

majorcharvenak said:

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

snotty said:

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

A whole new 10 levels would make newer players able to catch up with us 17-18k beasties

Bull. All it will do is let you "beasties" become even more beast while the newer player will continue with the same problems.

Nope. If we have new powers, items, we're ALL starting from much less than we've had before.

On the same level, you can have 2, maybe 3 better items per mod - M13 was an example of this with Shadowstalker rings and fured kuino etc. With a new level cap, you have got to get all new gear if ya wanna be competitive, just like the rest of the playerbase.

Endgame players will ofc have an easier time, but that's a given since they have more time invested in the game. We all still had to get here, this just gives you a chance to do it more easily. If ya wanna be lazy, be lazy.

So it sounds like you ARE asking for mod 6 (v 2.0) kind of level increase. No thanks. I nearly quit the game the last time they moved the goal post that far.

Nope, I'm just asking for a level cap increase.

What I listed is what comes normally with a level cap increase. You can't (well, can - but probably shouldn't) have lvl80 characters with lvl 70 gear. For the same reason you ain't using lvl60 gear right now.

They don't even need to make the new gear something unique. The only thing they'd have to work on is new powers and feats, and if they want the class balance to remain identical, they can just make equal or worse powers for every class.

I never said anythin' about M6 and you do seem to be focused on it. And a game that never moves on is a game that stagnates.
For games, stagnation is equal to regression, since every other game will be trying to improve itself and give players something to strive for.

I mean, unless they decide to give us a Ring of Shadowstalker +10, which totally wouldn't be overpowered, and in that case, carry on. It seems no one gives a damn about power creep, which is the main reason half of my friends list left back during the bonding nerf. And getting more Lvl70 gear that people would actually want would mean more lvl70 gear that's more powerful than the current one.

I don't think we really need a new iteration of Hags rags with 13249% more damage.

I'm focused on Mod 6 because I remember what a pain in the backside that level cap increase was. I'm not saying the game shouldn't have one. I'm just saying that the way they did it last time, it was much more infuriating than the level increase Cryptic performed in STO - which took place at around the same time. Over there, you didn't have gear that you worked hard to achieve suddenly become worthless. You could use what dropped or craft and upgrade your current set. The level cap for new gear was set at the previous level of 50. The ship tier WAS also raised one level, but Cryptic provided an upgrade token that boosted your current endgame vessel half way between the old and new tier - just with some slightly reduced features. Those upgraded ships are still in use and still viable in spite of the fact that Cryptic just had another level increase from 60 to 65. From my perspective, it was pretty seamless. If they increase the powers, feats and boons, that's okay, but like you said, they'll probably have gear and items that drop during the level progression phase from 70 to 80. Just like they did in MOD 6. As long as they allow the current endgame gear to be viable (or better, incrementally increased but capped just below BiS) during the level progression phase, then I'm fine with it. As long as they don't change the salvage cap then I'm fine with it. As long as they don't drop trash gear (green) that's statistically far better than current endgame gear, then I'm fine with it, but if they follow the previous pattern of a level increase then I'm probably going to bow out.

Plus, like you said, 17-18K demigods and goddesses will probably have a much easier time of it since they already have max enchants, boons from campaigns completed, previous powers at max tier, max mounts and companions with top insignia and max bondings, so by definition the new players WONT be able to catch up with the 'beasties'. They'll just have to grind out both the level increase AND still update all the rest either via grind or become whales. It just sets the goal post for them a bit farther back. Two more coppers.

gromovnipljesak

majorcharvenak said:

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

majorcharvenak said:

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

snotty said:

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

A whole new 10 levels would make newer players able to catch up with us 17-18k beasties

Bull. All it will do is let you "beasties" become even more beast while the newer player will continue with the same problems.

Nope. If we have new powers, items, we're ALL starting from much less than we've had before.

On the same level, you can have 2, maybe 3 better items per mod - M13 was an example of this with Shadowstalker rings and fured kuino etc. With a new level cap, you have got to get all new gear if ya wanna be competitive, just like the rest of the playerbase.

Endgame players will ofc have an easier time, but that's a given since they have more time invested in the game. We all still had to get here, this just gives you a chance to do it more easily. If ya wanna be lazy, be lazy.

So it sounds like you ARE asking for mod 6 (v 2.0) kind of level increase. No thanks. I nearly quit the game the last time they moved the goal post that far.

Nope, I'm just asking for a level cap increase.

What I listed is what comes normally with a level cap increase. You can't (well, can - but probably shouldn't) have lvl80 characters with lvl 70 gear. For the same reason you ain't using lvl60 gear right now.

They don't even need to make the new gear something unique. The only thing they'd have to work on is new powers and feats, and if they want the class balance to remain identical, they can just make equal or worse powers for every class.

I never said anythin' about M6 and you do seem to be focused on it. And a game that never moves on is a game that stagnates.
For games, stagnation is equal to regression, since every other game will be trying to improve itself and give players something to strive for.

I mean, unless they decide to give us a Ring of Shadowstalker +10, which totally wouldn't be overpowered, and in that case, carry on. It seems no one gives a damn about power creep, which is the main reason half of my friends list left back during the bonding nerf. And getting more Lvl70 gear that people would actually want would mean more lvl70 gear that's more powerful than the current one.

I don't think we really need a new iteration of Hags rags with 13249% more damage.

I'm focused on Mod 6 because I remember what a pain in the backside that level cap increase was. I'm not saying the game shouldn't have one. I'm just saying that the way they did it last time, it was much more infuriating than the level increase Cryptic performed in STO - which took place at around the same time. Over there, you didn't have gear that you worked hard to achieve suddenly become worthless. You could use what dropped or craft and upgrade your current set. The level cap for new gear was set at the previous level of 50. The ship tier WAS also raised one level, but Cryptic provided an upgrade token that boosted your current endgame vessel half way between the old and new tier - just with some slightly reduced features. Those upgraded ships are still in use and still viable in spite of the fact that Cryptic just had another level increase from 60 to 65. From my perspective, it was pretty seamless. If they increase the powers, feats and boons, that's okay, but like you said, they'll probably have gear and items that drop during the level progression phase from 70 to 80. Just like they did in MOD 6. As long as they allow the current endgame gear to be viable (or better, incrementally increased but capped just below BiS) during the level progression phase, then I'm fine with it. As long as they don't change the salvage cap then I'm fine with it. As long as they don't drop trash gear (green) that's statistically far better than current endgame gear, then I'm fine with it, but if they follow the previous pattern of a level increase then I'm probably going to bow out.

Plus, like you said, 17-18K demigods and goddesses will probably have a much easier time of it since they already have max enchants, boons from campaigns completed, previous powers at max tier, max mounts and companions with top insignia and max bondings, so by definition the new players WONT be able to catch up with the 'beasties'. They'll just have to grind out both the level increase AND still update all the rest either via grind or becoming whales. It just sets the goal post for them a bit farther back. My two coppers.

The only possible issue I can see here is adapting the change from 70 to 80 in terms of content - something that can work for everyone in between, without the issue of having the >7 lvl difference resistances applied (eg lvl70 toon in lvl80 area would basically make you squish like a sponge).

They'd have to introduce 2 campaigns, or make 1 campaign and split it into 2 parts - up to lvl75, and then from 75 to 80.

Eg, Waterdeep is a massive content update, and that's what they've been hinting at for a while now, and that would definitely be fitting - there's plenty to explore there, and if they did it like M12 and 13 (or 12c, as I like to call it) - both are Chult, and if Soshenstar was up to 75, and Omu was up to 80, it would be perfect. That would be enough content to cover everything needed, minus the god awful boons we got there.

Also, to explain why lvl80 would make it easier for lower tier characters - let's look at M14.
When you entered the area, you were given certain pieces of gear. Those were really good for an alt, and the chest piece is BiS for CR due to the 5% DPS boost.

So if they did the same in M16 or whatever would Waterdeep be - they give gear that's mandatory to be competitive on lvl80, and replaces our current gear in a great majority of cases - we'd get rid of the OP, hard to get gear we currently have.

That would put our gear on the same level as everyone else - be it fresh max level toon or someone who has had maxed gear from before. Enchants are a different thing, but they can't give out end-game stuff for free - they still need something to make "end game" truly end game.

So the previously endgame characters would definitely have an easier time getting the gear, the newer ones would be able to attempt to get the same.

Let's make a hypothetical situation.
You have your average, relatively fit guy vs Usain Bolt in a relay race. However, whoever reaches the 1st "pass" (or relay, or whatever it's called) has to stop until the other guy catches up.

So Usain Bolt obviously finishes 1st, but then waits for the other guy for a few seconds, and then goes off again. Sure Usain will get to the next "pass" faster, but then again he trained for this sort of thing, so it's justified - AND it has given the other guy time to catch up.

The same would apply here - 16k+ players are now very far ahead because all of our gear is hard to get and we've played a lot for it. However, if you got everyone on lvl80 the same starting gear, you'd have the endgame players start from the same spot newer players are, just with a bit of a speed advantage due to the rest of the gear (enchants, pets, bondings...) being better.

However, everything else being the same gives new players a chance - as newer players can't hope to get Jawrippers, Fured Kiuno, Enduring boots and so on very quickly.

Now, some of the new gear could definitely stay viable due to the % damage increase (and I think that's why they added so many of those on new gear), however it DEFINITELY shouldn't be BiS or anything remotely close.

That way you get the same thing you got before with High Vizier or Grand Templar whatever those sets' names were - I can't remember, I'm senile. They'd just get nerfed and then thrown into oblivion. I still miss my Draconic weapons :c