f13.net

I think everyone knew it was only a matter of time.  Basically cutting number of servers in half.

http://www.ddo.com/article/904

I played for about 2 more months back in May and while i enjoyed it, it's definately not for everyone.  Had a lvl 8 barb and 7 cleric this time through.

Whenever I think of maybe trying this game, I just remember samprimary's comic.

Choose your character!
Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, fighter, cleric, trap finding bitch

Minigame: Choose the right feats or restart 15 hours in!
Right? Right? Right? Right? Maybe?

The server merge was actually a good thing.  The base of players on my merged server is alot more fun then the old.  I never had problems before, but then I was also in a guild of about 60.  Now there seems to always be a nice spread of LFM's up where before there wasn't much.

As for the game itself.  Right now it's the only MMO I play anymore.  I just dig the combat system and the ability to tweak my characters in tons of different ways.  It doesn't have alot of the "fluff" I hate in other games and I think now that it's had a year and a half of development after launch there's quite a bit to have fun with.  Now mind you, powergamers are still gonna blow through the game just as much as they would any other, especially with things like crafting and the travel times pretty much negated out of the game.  Although crafting is on it's way. 

How's the content compared to beta?  I got annoyed and stopped playing once I'd done every dungeon a couple of times and they were made impossible to solo at a reasonable level (in alpha I really liked the challenge of soloing as a rogue and was pretty happy to rerun dungeons trying to improve on my stealth technique).  The hassle of digging up a group isn't worth it if there isn't the thrill of a new quest every once in a while, though. 

If they finally added enough dungeons that you no longer have to do each mission twenty times with a group to progress through the game, though, I'd be willing to give it another shot.  I just have no urge whatsever to wade through the goddamn kobold-infested sewers for the hundredth time at this point.

I recently picked up the 10 day trial with a friend, and we are having a great time. The game seems much improved. As to the quests, im not sure, I only got to level 2 in beta. They did add solo difficulty to all the quests I have seen so far.

The solo difficulty was added not to all the quests, just most of the low level ones.  Solo just makes the enemies easier for a corresponding exp penalty.  It's generally unneccessary as most lower level quests can be solo'd by a decently equiped character or any duo on normal difficulty.

Samewise, while they have added several new quests each "module" the new quests are generally aimed at level 5 and up.  i.e. they added levels 11-14 but I wouldnt say there's 40 % more content top to bottom.  If you played to mid levels before, you will be doing all the same quests again just like I was once I finally unlocked my drow and made an alt.

That's by far the biggest downfall of the game; not enough content to keep the dungeons new and interesting.  Running waterworks 1-4 or Splinterskull keep 1-7 once is fine, even if you basically had to do it once per character I could live with that.  That is what old school dnd was like come to think of it.  But planning the game so you want to run each quest at least 3 times per toon (on normal, hard and elite), lead directly to the no-talking-blitz through style of play that just rubs people the wrong way.  People even grind run the 3 intro Goodblade quests for pity's sake. 

Where's the fun of being the only party member who can spot and disarm traps if every single player know where they all are just from endless repetition?  Or having non spell casters tell you what to memorize and cast for the same reason?  Where the fun of using 3 dimensions in design well, or water elements and encumbrance, if everyone already has feather fall and water breathing items? Argh.

I like the game play of DDO, and far pefer the "play through a dungeon with definate goals for an hour" as opposed to "grind mob spawn points in an outdoor zone" style of most mmorpg's, but in a game that should be all about the fun of the journey, it fell head on into LCD crap of the end being all.  (That being said, the amount of content needed to make the game flow what I wanted would have meant they needed 10x the content which is mucho expensive for handcrafted dungeons, but i can dream can't I?)

Well DDO is definitely a niche game.  There is dungeon repetition, but you really don't need to repeat dungeons as much as you used to.  There is definitely enough content to where you may only have to do some dungeons a few times, but that is mainly because they give out the best xp per time put into them.  The main reason people run missions on the different difficulties is to get the favor from them, which can be bypassed by getting in a group that is running elite quests.  The addition of outdoor areas also gives you some places to run around and get xp if you are tired of dungeon running or just have a little time to play.

I think like most mmo's you get sick of the starter quests, the more you reroll/start new characters the more you are going to get tired of the same old stuff at the beginning.  Mind you, you can blow through it pretty fast once you know what you are doing though.  The game really is more fun at the higher levels.  The quests get better as the game goes on as the devs have definitely gotten better at making dungeons.

Solo wise this isn't really the game for you.  You can pretty much do alot of soloing at the lower levels but once you start getting higher in level it becomes a bit harder to manage.

IMO you have to look at the game a bit differently. This isnt a normal MMOG where you want to log in every single day and play all day (as a lot of people do in warcraft) there just isnt the content. But I log in a few times a week, run a dungeon or 5 with 2 to 4 of my friends and then log out. Its great fun.