TOPIC: Dragonscale

I wonder if Jeff has ever considered adding to the exit survey for players the following question:  What character class did you play and why?  Sure seems like it would settle some things.<br /><br />Kim

They tracked Party Cards last year - but it sounds like they were not tracked this year...<br /><br />The stats of who did what are posted someplace in the forum archives...

I thought I'd seen a post saying that (maybe for last year) that the Druid, Monk, and Barbarian were the least played characters.  So the Druid isn't being fought over to be played.  This year was the first anyone in my group even played the Druid.  I'd guess if you have multiple people in the group with all 3 Dragonscale Items and a Keen Edge Scimitar they might be fighting over the Druid, but how often will that happen?  I'm pretty sure I'll never run into that situation. 

I've said this before, but the exit surveys are really quite poorly designed. They seldom end up really asking the questions that I think TD would be interested in. Or at least asking them in a way where you get useful, unambiguous information out of it. At one point before gencon '07 I suggested that someone point the exit-survey on the forums for feedback, but it slipped my mind to bring it up again as the event got closer. Someone make a note of it this time around and maybe we can see if there can be suggestions or a review of the one for '08.

<br />I thought I'd seen a post saying that (maybe for last year) that the Druid, Monk, and Barbarian were the least played characters.  So the Druid isn't being fought over to be played.  This year was the first anyone in my group even played the Druid.  I'd guess if you have multiple people in the group with all 3 Dragonscale Items and a Keen Edge Scimitar they might be fighting over the Druid, but how often will that happen?  I'm pretty sure I'll never run into that situation.  <br />

<br /><br />You're mistaken. Well, sort of. There was a post but it was completely annecdotal. As in, someone said they thought they saw more druid, monk, etc cards left behind on the tables. There was no systematic data collection reported to date.

Gary,<br />     I think the why people play certain characters is important and could really help to shape things.  The party cards, while being very wonderful, do not track that.<br /><br />Kim

As a general rule, I strongly oppose threads that suggest reducing a characters ability.<br /><br />If you haven't visited a forum of one of the games like Everquest or Warcraft you have no idea how "Nasty and personal" the attacks get.<br /><br />  

More reason just to change it and not tell anyone.

<br />Gary,<br />     I think the why people play certain characters is important and could really help to shape things.  The party cards, while being very wonderful, do not track that.<br /><br />Kim<br />

<br /><br />That is a great point, Kim!  I know a lot of the people that I've played with are naturally drawn to certain characters and enjoy playing them - especially people that enjoy the Wizard, the Bard, the Cleric, and the Thief, and a number of people that don't want to mess with remembering spells and just want to hack and slash their way through the adventure and play the Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, or Barbarian.  Nobody in my group has every had the desire to play the Monk (even back when we had few tokens), and nobody until me this year had a desire to play the Druid.  Several people I TD with are very used to playing the same characters every time and greatly enjoy it.  Maybe because of the D&D / GURPs background, where you establish a character and play that character every time.  Everyone in my group that has played a character with healing has always been very generous about healing whomever in the group needs it the most, so there's never been any competition to play the healing characters as everyone knows they'll get healed if they need it.  <br /><br />And I concur with George about the counterproductiveness of such threads. 

I think we are being productive...I mean the Bard rule allowing Mage Armor and Armor to work together is "FIXED."<br /><br />I agree the Druid seems to be broken from the STATs standpoint, and the Monk could be a tad more buffed...

A couple of things to keep in mind with the Druid.<br /><br />People talk about the Druid's AC.  This AC is only with UR that is no longer in print (Dragonscale Armor).  So really, if you look at it, the Druid AC isn't that powerful for a majority of the True Dungeon players.  <br /><br />Second, for all its power, the Druid still isn't that a popular class.  I have heard it mentioned ranking down with the Monk and Barbarian several times.<br /><br />I think if you want to open the "character play balance" can you need to start with the Cleric who is clearly the most powerful in the set.  Access to plate, decent damage, and 50 HPs of healing is beyond the curve in terms of power relative to other characters.

Ya. Contrary to George's take, I don't recall any real screaming when the bard got neutered for AC with the whole mage armor debacle.