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Author Topic: Necropost! Some changes I have found...  (Read 25579 times)
Xilren's Twin
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on: December 17, 2008, 04:34:19 PM

One of my kids recently decided he wanted to resub to Dungeons and Dragons Online, so I’ve been playing again and wanted to drop some information for other who may have played a while ago and didn’t know what’s changed.  I didn’t know any of this stuff before logging back in.  Not sure of the timelines when all the below were added but that game is close to 3 years old.    I am not a paid shill for DDO, but I always did like this game so call me a fanboi.

Level cap has now gone up to 16, and they have added a bunch of higher level quest chains and raids (though raids in DDO are 12 people not 60).  We are up to Module 8 now.
They added the monk class, so munchkinism as back in full force (more on this later).
They added bags for collectibles, gem bags, and quivers.  Finally.

They added item crafting where you can make things like this ridiculously powerful item.  Apparently you have to collect rare drop ingredients and craft items through stages, adding effects as you go.  I guess this is the reason maxed out players continue to raid.  Not my cup of tea.

Redid the entire intro area:  All new introductory quests on an island that’s being blockaded by a white dragon, which is being controlled by a mind flayer with an artifact.  Apparently someone figured it would be a good idea for a dragon to make an early appearance in a D&D game.  You get to see both the mind flayer and dragon up close but you don’t get to fight it (considering your level 2 at the time, taking on a CR26 dragon would have been a short encounter).

The intro area also has one of the redone “adventure zones”.  These are open areas you can wander around in that have 3 quests types: slayer, explorer, and rare encounters.  Slayer gives you rewards for killing a certain number of foes, so first might be 10, then 25, then 50, then 100, etc.  Explorer gives you exp for discovering specific points of interest.  And rare encounters are killing named NPCs for exp and chests (like many optional parts of regular quests).  This area also has 5 normal quests entrances in it, so you are supposed go through it as part of your learning experience.  I liked the new quests because that’s my favorite part of DDO: figuring out and completing dungeons I’ve never done, usually solo.  Which brings me to my favorite addition…

Hirelings.  Yep, in true old school fashion you can how hire NPC’s to do quests with you.  You are restricted to only using Hirelings of your level or less, and they can’t travel in public areas.  It’s basically like getting a specific pet that any character can use to make their own group.  Enter a dungeon, then use their contract to summon them.  You can a control bar for their behavior, and they actually work really well.  They use their abilities as appropriate, use healing potions they come with, you can command them to interact with items (such as triggering levels and such) and they can use shrines to heal, replenish mana, and rez them if needed.

Since I like to solo, this was a godsend for me.  I rolled up a Rogue/Wizard and hired a level 1 warforged barbarian and went to town in several quests that would have been too tough otherwise.  This is so much better than summon monster or charm person spell.   (Since you can pick from a variety of classes, I chose the warforged tank because I can heal him myself with spells/wands.)   I even had one quest where I got critted to -1 HP, my barb hireling promptly comes over and stabilizes me with a healing kit, getting me back to 1 HP so I could go shrine up.  Handy suckers.

They can’t swim, but if you park them and swim to another area, you can summon them to you.  I think they can continue in a quest chain as long as it doesn’t take you back to a public area.  Generally speaking, the coin loot from 1 or 2 chests more than covers the cost of hiring them.

You can hire fighters, paladins, barbs, clerics, wizards, sorcerers basically everything but rogues and bards I think.  It takes a bit of getting used to, b/c one group I got in the leader kept trying to find a cleric, and after 2 minutes we just decided to hire one to fill out the group and move on.  Worked just fine and he didn’t complain about being a heal bot 

There used to be a point from about level 5+ that it becomes increasingly difficult to solo in DDO, but that’s my bread and butter so I am now very well pleased.

I’ve made it up to level 4 (1 Rog/3 Wiz) thus far, and the harbor and marketplace seem largely the same (though the huge tent in the marketplace got destroyed somewhere along the way, and the “the twelve” house opened up.  I’m sticking with the new toon for now and well see.  I may break out my level 8 barb to see some of the higher level stuff soon.

Oh yeah, for the Christmas season, chest now drop copper, silver and gold festival coins in which can be turned into a Jester for a random reward.  Mostly monster shaped cookies that give a one shot spell.  Some of them are quite fine, nothing like casting a level 12 Ice Storm from a cookie at level 2.  I even got a cookie of resurrection and candy canes of heal moderate wounds.

Class based vs Skill based.  This occurred to me while reading the sand box thread about the difference between a skill based system and a class based system.  You would think DDO would be straight class based, but since you can multi class for up to 3 total with no penalties for doing so, and split the levels however you like, it’s not nearly as restrictive as what you normally think for class based.  Makes me wonder if other games would benefit by allow more multiclassing if they could, rather than strictly regimented classes with only variations with talent trees.

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
Stormwaltz
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Reply #1 on: December 31, 2008, 12:34:19 PM

They added item crafting where you can make things like this ridiculously powerful item.

My wife's comment: "I would think wielding a longsword would improve anyone's Haggling skill."

How I love her.

Nothing in this post represents the views of my current or previous employers.

"Isn't that just like an elf? Brings a spell to a gun fight."

"Sci-Fi writers don't invent the future, they market it."
- Henry Cobb
Merusk
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Reply #2 on: January 01, 2009, 06:37:32 AM

  I am not a paid shill for DDO, but I always did like this game so call me a fanboi.

The first thing a mole would say.  How clever of you, mr Mole.  You subbed and posted for nearly a year prior to your shill game being released, but we've caught you now! Ha ha!  DRILLING AND MANLINESS

Actually it sounds pretty cool.  If I did I not have wow-crack in my veins currently I might be tempted to try it out. I always wanted to try multiclassing in an MMO.

The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
Samwise
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Reply #3 on: January 01, 2009, 05:43:41 PM

Have they added a greater number of different quests per level and/or decreased the amount of XP required to level?  That was my biggest gripe -- in a game where quests are the main source of XP, you gotta have lots of different quests or they get old quick.

The hireling stuff on its own might be enough to get me to sub for a month, though.  Can you have more than one at a time?

"I have not actually recommended many games, and I'll go on the record here saying my track record is probably best in the industry." - schild
Xilren's Twin
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Reply #4 on: January 05, 2009, 05:38:15 AM

Have they added a greater number of different quests per level and/or decreased the amount of XP required to level?  That was my biggest gripe -- in a game where quests are the main source of XP, you gotta have lots of different quests or they get old quick.

The hireling stuff on its own might be enough to get me to sub for a month, though.  Can you have more than one at a time?

The bulk of the new stuff they have added over time has been aimed at level 8 and up.  Since the cap now goes to 16 and soon to get bumped to 20, i wouldnt say they have added many truly new lower level quests.

Hadnt tried summoning two hirelings but i doubt it.  Probably limited to one per player, but i wonder if you had a group of 3 if each person could summon their own.

Since the bulk of the playerbase is old players, getting in group usually means people zerging through the whole thing because they've all done it so many times they have it all memorized and are trying to get back to level cap and raiding.  Not ucommong at all for a group to wanted to do the same quest Normal, then Hard, then Elite for maximum favor.  Thats not what i enjoy.

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
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Reply #5 on: January 05, 2009, 10:19:23 AM

Level 16?  Interesting - one of the main detractions for me was the low levels.  I am tempted to give it another whirl.

No Nerf, but I put a link to this very thread and I said that you all can guarantee for my purity. I even mentioned your case, and see if they can take a look at your lawn from a Michigan perspective.
Samwise
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Reply #6 on: January 05, 2009, 05:32:33 PM

Since the bulk of the playerbase is old players, getting in group usually means people zerging through the whole thing because they've all done it so many times they have it all memorized and are trying to get back to level cap and raiding.  Not ucommong at all for a group to wanted to do the same quest Normal, then Hard, then Elite for maximum favor.  Thats not what i enjoy.

Heh, I had that problem even during beta, and it was the biggest thing that turned me off.  Even before I myself had had a chance to get bored with a quest, it was already pretty much spoiled by the fact that everyone else in the group was running it for the 20th time.

"I have not actually recommended many games, and I'll go on the record here saying my track record is probably best in the industry." - schild
Xilren's Twin
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Reply #7 on: January 29, 2009, 07:08:56 AM

Update for those that care.  My Wizard/Rogue is now level 8 (7 and 1 respectively) and I’m still enjoying playing. I can do traps/locks on most Normal and Hard level quests so I can cover if the group doesn't have an actual rogue plus my broad spell choices.  Have done a bunch of quests I had not done before which is the main attraction still.
 
Hirelings are fine (once they fixed a couple of bugs with zoning into multi-part quests) but I am not soloing as much as I expected.  It's not uncommon for me to login and be able to hop in a group LFM, and even get tells from people directly asking if I want to group up, even at my oddball play hours.  Bit of nice surprise considering only about 5 servers.
 
The Mutil-Class character keeps rearing it's head in odd ways.  As mentioned, I have 1 level of rogue (and may add 1 more around level 10/11 just to keep my disable/picklock skills high) so I can be fairly flexible in a party.  It's pretty common to see people splashing 2 levels of Monk or Rogue in all kinds of templates, even a couple levels of Pally, Fighter etc.  Flavor of the month templates are all the rage, with the current king of the hill being a Dex focused, dual wielding Ranger/monk combo.  Reasons being for example, getting levels of monk grants you the Evasion feat (Reflex saves that would normal reduce damage to 50% on success now reduce to 0 damage), Wisdom granting bonus AC, etc. If I had to guess I'd say probably 50% or more of the characters I see are multi vs. pure.  In the next module (update) Turbine is adding "capstone" enhancements for pure class characters who make it to level 20, I think to try and slow down this rampant splash builds to cherry pick feats/skills.  In other words, there are munchkin D&D players; who knew?
 
Two other factors also contribute to make DDO probably one of if not the most flexible character systems in an MMORPG.  One is the skill Use Magic Device (UMD).  For non D&D peeps, equipment is restricted by class, race, alignment, feats, and/or combinations, but every item has a UMD rating.  If you attempt to use an item you normally could not use, the system makes a skill check (D20 + your UMD skill) roll vs. the item's UMD rating.  If you succeed on your roll, you can use it.  So if I have a Wand of Cure Light Wounds with a UMD rating of 20, and my character has a UMD skill of 11, I can successfully use it 55% of the time.   Since this can apply to ANY piece of equipment, if you incorporate this skill into your character build you can do a lot more than otherwise.  I.e. my Wiz/Rog can heal himself with a wand, other high UMD characters can use Heal and Raise Dead scrolls with no Cleric ability, etc.  UMD is a Charisma based skill so certain templates can utilize it very well (Sorc, Clerics, Pallys, Bards) even though it's only a class skill for Bards and Rogues.  You can always invest your skill points in a cross class skill for half value too.
 
The other factor is equipment: specifically "clickys" and magic item diversity.  A clicky is a piece of equipment that can cast a spell effect a certain number of times per day (per rest shrine use actually) that you put on your hotbar.  You can find clickys for almost any spell in the game, so again, characters can do a lot more.  A straight fighter class with the right clickys can Haste himself, cast buffs such as Resist Fire, Blur, Rage, etc, or even toss out offensive spells like Webs, Magic Missiles, Fireballs, and help themselves and others with Cure Disease/Curses/Wounds and the like.  It's not uncommon for most people to travel with a dozen or more of these and swap them around as needed.
In the same way, there's a ton or weapons and armor that have specific attributes that can be used to fit the situation.  So our same fighter might carry weapons that are cold based, fire based, greater banes, pure good, vorpal, seeking (better critical change), puncturing (stat damage), curse spewing, transmuting (avoids Damage resistance), Shattermantle (reduces Spell Resistance), etc etc.  You might carry 10-20 weapon sets around to deal with different circumstances and equip them from your action bars..  Armor is harder to swap on the fly, but its not uncommon to have a couple of sets of that too i.e. a good shield for tanking bosses and such.

All 3 of those things make DDO depart very much from true D&D, but it definitely makes for interesting gameplay.  The last factor is money.  Since there are so many elder characters that can earn lots of money, most characters travel with a bunch of healing potions and things like barkskin is they don’t have the clickys.

On the whole, DDO characters are incredibly self sufficient, which you wouldn’t expect in a D&D based game.  I’ve done Hard and Elite level quests with no true cleric and no true rogue; Gary Gygax must be turning over in his gave (…though he might be a lich now).

And I still love the activeness of combat (which is generally one of the weaknesses of most mmorpg’s).  Being able to intelligently use your environment and spells/abilities is just miles different than straight DPS’ing down mobs with your one best weapon or spell.  Have a high evasion character pull mobs into traps, or door fight to limit mob access to the healers/casters in the back. Wall of fire is probably one of the most popular spells in the game for this reason; get some tanks to block a choke point and have a wiz drop an extended, empowered or maximized wall of fire past the door frame and watch the carnage mount.  Most of the spells they have taken from D&D have been translated to work very well in this game (including meta magic).  Tons of options for crowd control, combat spells (including instant kill spells like Phantasmal Killer and Finger of Death), buffs, debuffs, and utility stuff.  There are some basics I’m expected to always have memed as a Wiz (such as Firewall, Haste, Magic Missile and Web) but otherwise have lots of flexibility.  Combat is still rather hectic paced, but it beats the combat in any other mmorpg I’ve tried to date.  Haven’t done any raid bosses, but that’s not really my thing.  They might be the sort of nonsense other games raid bosses are.

Still wish there were more over all quests; not a huge fan of repeating the same quest a higher difficulties but that’s pretty much how it’s designed.  And there are definitely some quests that are considered worthwhile and a bunch of others no one runs.

We’ll see how long my sub lasts this time.

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
Xilren's Twin
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Reply #8 on: February 10, 2009, 06:48:36 PM

Insert my standard DDO fanboi disclaimer here.

Ok, I’m level 10  (which was the original level cap)  and still liking my wizard - cone of cold, cloudkill, feeblemind and teleport are my latest spells to play with.  I have decent stuff, money and was invited to a casual guild so there are generally people to play with.  So I finally did my first dragon raid in DDO last night, and on the whole, thought it was a nice build up to a whole lot of nothing.  The raid on Velah the Red Dragon did not exist when the game launched prompting lots of snickers about there being no dragons in a game named “Dungeons and Dragons”.  So Turbine added this as on of their early modules (updates).

The whole series is called The Vault of Night (VON) is a complicated story about locating the gang of 5 to help break into the House K vault blah blah blah.  At any rate, basically there are 4 quests you have to do to be able to do quest 5, the pre-raid which then launches into 6, the raid itself.  The first 4 quests are pretty decent normal ones: locate an illegal arena, replace some gladiators and fight in it to steal the prize, enter a crazy woman’s mind to locate items to jog her memory (that was a neat one; think cloud city where you cannot fall off or you fail plus wind traps),  a jungle run to a large dungeon filled with drow, beholders, trolls and constructs (hardest one by far), and a warforged factory that you have to go through and escape before it self destructs.  Decent challenges, experience, and loot.

Quest 5 is a raid level, which means you can have 12 people instead of the normal 6.  You go into a heavily guarded, trapped, and puzzle filled vault.  Totally would have been lost without some people who had done it before, and you need a good group makeup to get through some of the puzzle sections.  At one point you have to split into two groups that each have a high STR char, a high WIS char and someone who can range a target so you can all hit switches, runes, levers at the same time to open locked doors.  Another one you needed 4 people to launch 2 via a fire cannon to a high place to let down a ladder, etc etc.  Coordination headaches, but with voice chat not that big a deal.  We had 3 Wizards, 2 Sorc, 2 Clerics, 1 Rog, 1 Bard and 3 tank types so other than some random people falling into lava here and there, we all made it to the final room to take on a HUGE adamantium golem, and here’s where it starts to go south….

Rather than a 12 man epic battle to take this sucker down, the strategy was simple: casters stand in the corner and hide, fighter types surround him so he can’t move and beat him down with specific non elemental weapons (since elemental damage would actually heal him).  So the casters and 1 cleric buff the group with some resists, haste, blur and bard song, and go watch the action.  Kinda anticlimactic I thought.  On the plus side, that one quest gave me 20% of my next level, on the other hand, not exactly pulse pounding action.

At any rate, big drops, portal opens to the dragon’s area, we zone in and hear the master plan.  “Nobody move; I’ll take it from here”?!?  Turns out, there are 3 pillars feeding energy beams to the dragon area that protect her; all 3 have to be destroyed within a few seconds of each other to take down the shield and they are all guarded by reavers and mephits.  There is also a timer for taking down everything including the dragon or your fail.  I’m sure this was intended to make the party split into 3 groups and operate under time pressure for more challenge.  But what actually happened is we got bored out of our skulls.  One tank was buffed and ran to pillar one, grabbed agro from everything, ran to pillar 2 did the same, then went to pillar 3 and tied up all the monsters there.  While he’s dragging mobs around, one other tank runs to each pillar and smacks it down to 5% health.  Once done, repeat the processes of sending out 1 guy at a time to each pillar then all 3 take them down simultaneously.  So basically 3 characters got to do stuff, the other 9 sat and watched for 15 minutes.

Oh well, that was lame but hey now we take on the dragon!  Epic fight!  Carnage!  What’s that?  The strategy for killing this huge red dragon is to send in 1! tank, while the rest of the party stands over there and heals and buffs him?   Are you serious?  This is a “safe” area and if you move to far you spawn a bunch of elementals that will wipe us out? Okay then…

Sure enough; the two clerics took turns healing, 2 of the casters kept the tank hasted and fire protected, and in short order the dragon goes down.  Bleh.  1 person fights a dragon.  Lame.  5 quests of buildup to a basically sitting on my butt for the last parts.

Initially, my reaction was to blame the players who had all this figured out to the second, but in truth I don’t think it’s their fault; they simply learned the pattern and do it as efficiently as possible.  I think the problem was the design of the whole last part.  If you build in a golden path, the players will figure it out and render any challenging obstacle rote because there’s no variance.  We are rewarding them for taking the easiest path.
Take the pillar example above.  If you actually tried to send a group to a pillar, you would fail.  If more than 1 character is on a bridge that leads to a pillar, the dragon breathes a fireball on it destroying the bridge itself.  And I’m sure the first groups that got to this point tried (and failed) all kinds of things before figuring out the best way to beat it.  But now that is know, so the hardest part is getting the people new to the quest to NOT experiment and do things that make everyone fail.  Most exciting thing I did was open the chest at the end and taking some screenshots.

The entire last two parts of this series just struck me as overly complicated puzzles and I didn’t enjoy them nearly as much as the first 4 quests.  Where’s the fun in epic things that are actually more boring than regular questing?

I don’t generally raid in MMO’s usually because they take too long.  I wanted to do this one because a 12 person raid that can be done in an hour and half or less is doable for me, rather than a 60 person cat herding monstrosity.  But if all raids are designed around this sort of mentality, I can’t say im sorry to be missing them.  Im pretty sure other raids have some randomness to them, but im not sure if even that makes a ton of difference.
How do you make raids fun?
 
I have slain the dragon! Hear me yawn…

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
Bandit
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Reply #9 on: February 11, 2009, 05:59:16 AM

Initially, my reaction was to blame the players who had all this figured out to the second, but in truth I don’t think it’s their fault; they simply learned the pattern and do it as efficiently

I tried DDO a couple of times and always leaving for this reason.  I would join groups, get excited for a dungeon crawl - and the group would be doing it a light speed.  I was actually having a tough time keeping up with them.  The game itself (besides crazy barrel smashing) looked OK, but I couldn't handle that.

Great stories and updates though, sorry about the let down of the dragon.  Post screenshots if you have em.
Xilren's Twin
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Reply #10 on: February 11, 2009, 10:11:37 AM

I tried DDO a couple of times and always leaving for this reason.  I would join groups, get excited for a dungeon crawl - and the group would be doing it a light speed.  I was actually having a tough time keeping up with them.  The game itself (besides crazy barrel smashing) looked OK, but I couldn't handle that.

Great stories and updates though, sorry about the let down of the dragon.  Post screenshots if you have em.

Here's a few.  You can see in the first one anothe player saying "so all I do is sit here til it's done?"









"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
Bandit
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Reply #11 on: February 11, 2009, 11:15:30 AM

Dragons may look similar, but I thought that one looked crazy similar to a blast from the past....



Dungeons & Dragons Basic
Ard
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Reply #12 on: February 12, 2009, 09:59:10 AM

So people are still actively doing the lower level raids from over a year ago?  I was worried that if I went back, I wouldn't ever see them since people would have been long since done and over with them.  What server are you playing on, and is there any one that's more active than the others, like in lord of the rings?  None of my characters previously had gotten much above like level 6, so rerolling wouldn't exactly kill me.
Xilren's Twin
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Reply #13 on: February 13, 2009, 05:58:17 AM

So people are still actively doing the lower level raids from over a year ago?  I was worried that if I went back, I wouldn't ever see them since people would have been long since done and over with them.  What server are you playing on, and is there any one that's more active than the others, like in lord of the rings?  None of my characters previously had gotten much above like level 6, so rerolling wouldn't exactly kill me.

Im playing on Argonnessen, but from reading the boards all 5 US servers seem about the same activirty wise.  I think the reason the lower level stuff still gets used heavily is rerollitis.  The game practicalty encourages it: i.e. once you gain 400 favor, you unlock the drow race so people then start drow characters, and once you hit 1750 favor you unlock 32 point starting characters (as opposed to 28) so again, people start new toons.  Plus, people with  a max level 16 are always trying a new build and leveling up again.  I guess you could consider that a positive thing with a short level curve.

I have also found it helpful to let people know when im doing a quest for the first time, else the assume everyone knows it and knows what to do.

BTW, the servers are extra packed this weekend b/c turbine is doing a +25% Xp and +1 loot grade weekend.  They say for Valentines, i think its more of an apology from some server issues they had last month.  Didnt really affect me but lots of gripes on the boards about it.

So I am actually going to do the dragon quests series again, even though the ending sucked, b/c with the +25% xp weekend and my +5% xp item, it's really good xp.

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
Ard
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Reply #14 on: February 13, 2009, 09:15:28 AM

I might try this again when I get bored with lord of the rings then.  This was always my favourite MMO, but I the people I normally play them with didn't like it that much.  Might have to actually put some effort into finding a guild this time though.
KallDrexx
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Reply #15 on: February 15, 2009, 07:27:45 AM

I tried DDO a couple of times and always leaving for this reason.  I would join groups, get excited for a dungeon crawl - and the group would be doing it a light speed.  I was actually having a tough time keeping up with them.  The game itself (besides crazy barrel smashing) looked OK, but I couldn't handle that.

Ditto about that.  I first saw DDO played when visiting one of my friends, he had a consistent group of 3-4 of his friends to play with and run through the dungeons.  I watched them play and explore the dungeons and was like "this is sweet".

Then I subbed when I got home from the trip and every group I got in knew the dungeon and th game quickly became unfun.
Xilren's Twin
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Reply #16 on: February 16, 2009, 05:39:43 AM

Ditto about that.  I first saw DDO played when visiting one of my friends, he had a consistent group of 3-4 of his friends to play with and run through the dungeons.  I watched them play and explore the dungeons and was like "this is sweet".

Then I subbed when I got home from the trip and every group I got in knew the dungeon and th game quickly became unfun.

It does depend heavily on who you play with.  Best thing I can recommend is a combination of solo play (which is much more doable with hirelings now), or looking for a like minded group to play with.  For instances, the guild i was asked to join is definately a casual guild; there's one level 15 character and everyone else is level 11 or less. probably the bulk in the 4-8 range.  Considering my casual playing butt just hit level 11 this past weekend I fit right in.  There are other gulds that make it a point to not zerg through stuff; you can see in one of the screen shots below another player who's guild name is "We do not run thru dungeons".  I've grouped with a bunch of them several times.  There's also a fair number of perma death guild who by nature, play much slower and more carefully that zergers.

I did some content that was new to me this weekend to get to level 11!, a 12 main raid called Tempest Spine which was much better that the dragon raid in terms of fun.  Fighting your way up from the base of a volcano to the giant mage at the top.  Lots of battles, puzzles, traps, and the like.  In the screen shot below you can see the final boss, and the tile puzzle he is standing on.  Some players had to engage him while others worked on the puzzle.
I also did a rather long quest called "the pit" which was ... rather different.  You have to go into this huge underground facility and perform a series of 9 steps to restart the complex mechanism.  Not too much fighting but tons of running about and puzzling solving, and with no one in our group having done it before, it took like 2 and half hours to figure it all out, but we got it done.  Some parts were very platformy, i.e. restarting a furnance with a fire elemental which required you to get launched off steam outlets to higher and higher parts of the strucure.  Feather fall came in very handy.

The other screen shot is a cool flesh door from the quest series the Cult of Six.




   

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
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Reply #17 on: February 20, 2009, 07:28:01 AM

That screenshot of the giant really doesn't do him justice.  He's 50x taller than you, and randomly makes everyone levitate (and theres spikes on the ceiling in some parts!  DRILLING AND MANLINESS), and then after you kill him theres a mastermind puzzle that has to be done in so many moves or the self-destruct goes off and you get no loot.

The whole "we just sit here?" thing on the dragon is actually true for most people unfortunately, but the dragon fight is only about 10 minutes tops, and everyone is needed for the 6 quests leading up to the dragon that are quite interactive.
Xilren's Twin
Moderator
Posts: 1648


Reply #18 on: February 26, 2009, 07:06:39 PM

I'm up to level 12.5 (highest ive ever made it).  Greater herosim plus haste plus rage plus any bard or cleric buffs makes the fighters in parties shredding machines....

For DDO's 3 year anniversity, they are bumping XP rates by 50% this weekend, and +1 loot, then keeping +10% XP for two weeks after.

I may actually cap a toon in this game.

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
ghost
The Dentist
Posts: 10619


Reply #19 on: February 28, 2009, 07:43:57 PM

Yeh, I've been rolling through this some too.  I gotta say the combat is rather refreshing.  The big thing for me is that it almost plays like a solo game so far, but I'm only level 3.  With a few changes this game could be really nice. 

Any word on which servers are the most populated?
Xilren's Twin
Moderator
Posts: 1648


Reply #20 on: March 02, 2009, 05:01:25 PM

Yeh, I've been rolling through this some too.  I gotta say the combat is rather refreshing.  The big thing for me is that it almost plays like a solo game so far, but I'm only level 3.  With a few changes this game could be really nice. 
Any word on which servers are the most populated?

Based purely on forum posts, I'd Say Kyber, Argo, Thelanis, Sarlone and Ghallanda in that order, but they are all pretty close.

Squeezed in some decent play hours during the +50% XP weekend and am now level 14.  Shocking even to me.

Have been doing a ton of quests in Gianthold, and finally got in some decent dragon battles.  Much better than the VON raid, there's a long gianthold quest you have to do 3 others to prepare for, and has 3! optional dragon fights.  Cool thing about those was both the battle and then the dragon hoard after ward.  Yes, theres a chest, but you can also click on all of these piles of gold and gems lying around to collect loot.  Mucho dinero.  You can see the hoard in the sshot below.  Lots of giants, hobgoblins, Rhakasa's and assorted stuff in this zone.

Dragon's Gold



This quest involved protecting a giant mystic while he shattered an enchanted crystal.  It helps to make him invisible, but if you look closely you can see him doing his mystic dance:



Giant Skeletons!  Oh my!


"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
Ashamanchill
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2274


Reply #21 on: March 03, 2009, 09:49:15 PM

I had a character on Khyber but I couldn't find any low level groups.  I don't have that problem on Sarlona though.  Then again, this is just a sample size of one.
Gary Gygax must be turning over in his gave (…though he might be a lich now).
Hehehe

A poster signed by Richard Garriot, Brad McQuaid, Marc Jacobs and SmerricK Dart.  Of course it would arrive a couple years late, missing letters and a picture but it would be epic none the less. -Tmon
Furiously
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7199


WWW
Reply #22 on: March 18, 2009, 11:38:46 PM

Game would be great to play with 5 friends one or two nights a week. Casual.

Not really the game to play hardcore.

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