State of the Warforged?

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By Ralsu



A few months ago, I took a look at the sad state of the warforged race
in Dungeons & Dragons Online. The plain and simple fact is that a
lot of DDO players href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=274">refused
to group with warforged.



Soon after Ten Ton Hammer ran the DDO Poll on warforged, I had the
pleasure of conducting one of two interviews with DDO Lead Game Systems
Designer David Eckelberry. In my first interview, I asked him the
question I had heard so many times on the forums and in emails to me:
"Can you tell us why warforged should be desirable for a party as they
are?"



Eckelberry's response highlighted the imbalance in favor of warforged
at lower levels:

The game balance side of things for warforged is still very
positive.
Players have the ability to create a character with +8 AC and 2 damage
resistance at Level 1. That is very intense. It's very easy to have a
fun time in the first few levels because warforged are well
nigh-indestructible. Their natural armor works against Sneak Attacks.
And sure, other classes can eventually get the same resistances as a
warforged through equippable items later in the game, but warforged use
Enhancements to get those resistance and can equip other items to boost
their stats with those item slots. This provides balance.

This response didn't satisfy very many warforged fans.



When href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=319">I
next spoke to Eckelberry, he had some big news: warforged were
going to be fixed in Module 3! He revealed exclusively on Ten Ton
Hammer, "All existing warforged characters and all new warforged will
be born with all of the Eberron resistances as part of the racial
traits. Players will not need to spend any Feats or Enhancements to
acquire these resistances." I took this as a huge victory for the
players and the game. My only question is, style="font-style: italic;">What is the state of the warforged now?

The Case that Things are Great

Warforged get a multitude of immunities at birth and nice natural armor
Feats. A carefully designed warforged tank can have a ton of hit points
and be a valuable damage dealer for the party. The alternative of an
caster caster warforged build that specializes in healing other
warforged is still viable. Because warforged immunities can keep a
warforged party member healthy when another race would require a Cure
spell or Remove Poison/Disease, they are much lighter on spell points
than before Module 3. Now more than ever, a full party of warforged is
a mighty wrecking crew. Now is a great time to be a warforged!

The Case that Times are Still Hard

Giving warforged their immunities at birth was a good start, but they
still can have trouble finding a group. Old prejudices die hard, and
clerics are still not fond of healing warforged with diminished
results--regardless of how many ranks of Healer's Friend the warforged
has. Arcane casters are no keener to waste spell slots on the Repair
line and play nurse for warforged characters. Finally, warforged racism
still exists. It sounds ridiculous and melodramatic, but some people
still think that gamers who choose to play warforged are stupid and
treat them as a lower class of human being. Warforged have it some
better now, but the going is still tough.

The Case that Turbine Got it Right

The Eberron campaign makes warforged hard to heal for a reason: it
offsets all of those immunities and armor bonuses. Players who choose
warforged as their race should understand that they are getting
powerful benefits for an equally powerful deficit. In time, more people
will come around and recognize the brilliance of the warforged
characters running around Stormreach. A few players will still be so
ignorant as to avoid warforged, but the rest of the community will
value their contributions to a party. Turbine got it right, and
warforged are as they should be!

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Turbine made some big changes to
warforged, but were they enough?
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What is the current state of the warforged?

• Turbne's fixes make them too powerful.
• They're better, but they are still a hassle to heal.
• I still won't group with warforged.
• Turbine got it right. Warforged are balanced now.