D&D online beta begins

[SuperPopTart]

He's a moderately intelligent, fat, ugly fuck who just so happens to have a big _____ . That's fascinating? 

I saw Ron Jeremy on the season of the Surreal Life he was on (along with Erik Estrada, Vanilla Ice, Tammy Faye Baker and some other now nobodies). He and Estrada were the most down to earth and interesting guys in the whole damn house. He's a funny guy.

Ron Jeremy and I could be buddies. He's so funny. He's like Mario.

[stray]

He's seems like good company, I'll give him that. I'm just not so sure about "fascinating". At the very least, not Oxford Union "fascinating". If they were going for the lowest common denominator level of "fascinating", they should have went with Harvey Pekar instead.

[Sky]

Unbunch your panties or go back to Politics.

[stray]

Unbunch your panties or go back to Politics.

Umm....What?

I'm talking Politics now? How so?

[edit] Geez Sky, the Harvey Pekar thing was merely an attempt at semi-serious humor.

How about you unbunch your panties?

Actually, what you need is a good asskicking.

[Major Ninja Edit] I'm going to admit that that last part wasn't very nice. Hold it against me if you will. I'll just say that it's always been a little personal theory of mine that anyone who's so quick to snap on others for silly comments hasn't been put to check enough in real life.

Me? I was beat senselessly when I was a kid.

Anyways, I would have never beat your balls in the first place if I didn't like you, Sky. If I was seriously trying to have an argument, I would have been much shittier.

[Samwise]

I think by "unbunch your panties" he means stop forming opinions of people based on their former occupations.  Which might not be what you're doing, but that's kinda how it comes off.  I'm sure this is just another instance of everyone else being too ignorant to decipher your true meaning.  Murgafurgh!

[stray]

Murgafurgh!

I made jokes asking about why he's fascinating. That he has a big dick and fucks lots of women? That he's hairy, funny, and fat? What? Then I made a joke about Pekar (look him up) being a better candidate for lowest common denominator at the Oxford Union.

Want to get offended about it and insult me? Ok, but don't tell me to get my panties out of a bunch.

[Samwise]

That was supposed to be "Murgafurgh" in the formal mode, not the subjunctive derogatory voice.  Sorry, my accent still needs some work.   

[Signe]

I saw Ron Jeremy on the season of the Surreal Life he was on (along with Erik Estrada, Vanilla Ice, Tammy Faye Baker and some other now nobodies). He and Estrada were the most down to earth and interesting guys in the whole damn house. He's a funny guy.

I have no words. 

[stray]

The rest being said, here's me with my panties in a bunch:

Just because they're gone, you will not make me a replacement for Strazos or Geldon. Don't even try to fuck with me like that. I'm not going to be the new punching bag for everyone's bullshit.

[Signe]

Don't worry, I'll protect you. 

BACK OFF, YOU BAD MEN. 

[stray]

I'm just a kitten, really 

[Nebu]

I'm still amazed that this thread made the transition from DDO to Ron Jeremy.  That deserves an award or something.

[Pococurante]

[Samwise]

Just because they're gone, you will not make me a replacement for Strazos or Geldon.

Nobody, not even God himself, could "make" someone else into a new Strazos or Geldon.

[Rasix]

As good as a time as any for this..

[stray]

Heh, I think that's the first time that pic actually made me laugh.

[Signe]

I miss Strazos.  Where is she?

[stray]

I miss Strazos.  Where is she?

He posted in the Fantasy Hockey Thread last night actually.


If you've ever spoken to him on Teamspeak, he's not nearly as irritating! 

[Signe]

I have spoken to him in TS and I think he's a sweetie.

[Margalis]

Gamespy has a little writeup on D&D Online, sounds interesting.

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/dungeons-dragons-online/668411p1.html

At least they are going for something fairly different than the typical MMORPG.

[OcellotJenkins]

Gamespy has a little writeup on D&D Online, sounds interesting.

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/dungeons-dragons-online/668411p1.html

At least they are going for something fairly different than the typical MMORPG.

Sounds fairly interesting.  One question, and I realize there is an NDA but I'm not up on the publicly released information, is there a vast landscape to explore (instanced or non-instanced)?  This is important to me.  If the game consists of one city based quest hub and dungeons then I probably won't enjoy it.

[Sky]

Murgafurgh!

I made jokes asking about why he's fascinating. That he has a big dick and fucks lots of women? That he's hairy, funny, and fat? What? Then I made a joke about Pekar (look him up) being a better candidate for lowest common denominator at the Oxford Union.

Want to get offended about it and insult me? Ok, but don't tell me to get my panties out of a bunch.

See? They're bunched, man. Relax. Maybe smoke some pot.

He's fascinating because of things like his notebook. If you'd seen the movie, you'd understand. There's a hell of a lot more to him than the obvious stuff you list. I find the workings of the minds of successful people in interesting fields who are very eccentric, fascinating.

I'm talking about Ron Jeremy because

[Hoax]

I dont care either way because no pvp = no care but I think the concern of limited content is a quite valid one.  I mean eventually people will get to level 10, then what?  Eventually people will have read write-ups or completed most of the quests (esp. those with good rewards, or good scripting) then what?  Is there any random element at all?  Anything dynamic involved?  If not how can they possibly hope to create content faster then players devour it?

[Nija]

Shh don't ask hard hitting questions like that before release. You might spark some actual thought and then people won't buy this turd.

Hard hitting questions should be covered by the NDA as well!

[stray]

I'm talking about Ron Jeremy because

Ah.

Anyways....I can't say that I'm familiar with the notebook. By movie do you mean some biopic thing?

[HaemishM]

Shh don't ask hard hitting questions like that before release. You might spark some actual thought and then people won't buy this turd.

Hard hitting questions should be covered by the NDA as well!

Don't be a dick. As long as the hard-hitting answers don't break NDA, answer away.

[Samwise]

Anyone who thinks that a MMOG is going to be fun forever is delusional and setting themself up for a very bitter cancellation.  I'd much rather my game have a fun part and then an "end" than a grind and then an "endgame", especially since the "endgame" invariably sucks even larger donkey balls than the grind did.

[Hoax]

That position makes no sense to me, I say it every once and awhile and I'll say it again.  Why play a MMO if you dont believe that the other players are the content?  Whether your interaction with them be the social ties of good friends/guildees, or a group of ub3r achievers who have done everything three times over FIRST.  Or you they might be the sheep to your wolf as you slaughter them mercilessly for fun and/or profit, while other players enjoy the role of protector from the evil peekays.  Better yet, other players are your consumer base as you amass great fortunes because, well, you can?  And thanks to IGE you can make some RL cash doing it if you are that lame.  Finally, you can be like most players, enjoy bits and pieces of all those aspects and more and hope that eventually your character is one that other people recognize and admire/fear/love/hate/respect or at least think looks cool with your matching armor of rareness and a big glowey sword.

There seem to be a bunch of people on these boards who hate all the other players yet play MMO's.  You guys have problems.  Go play single player rpg's.  Where the story is more engrossing, there is no monthly fee and the world is usually bigger, with more variety and better minigames.

[HaemishM]

Just because we hate everyone doesn't mean we don't like playing with other non-retarded people at times. We just don't want to always be forced into playing with them every single minute of every single game session.

It's about having the option of playing with ourselves or playing with other people. You know, like sex.

[Hoax]

Well I am engaging in some degree of hyperbole but still I feel my point holds water.  Samwise acts like I'm crazy to question the idea of a subscription based MMO that so far seems to have no crafting, the same level of social areas as Guildwars and no player conflict?

I'd much rather my game have a fun part and then an "end" than a grind and then an "endgame", especially since the "endgame" invariably sucks even larger donkey balls than the grind did.

Yeah me too, unless I'm paying $15/mo for it in which case I expect a little more then a fun part followed by an ending, I expect the player interaction elements I listed above to be flushed out and I expect there to be some hint of worldliness.  If DDO works the way I'm pretending I know it does, then why shouldn't every game just call itself a MMO and charge people monthly?

Either the grind is going to be mercilessly long, to make it impossible for even mighty catass' to grind lvl10 in under 6 months, or people are going to be out of things to do in a hurry.  So once they are, they quit, and whoops there goes the whole point of being a MMO.  The endgame usually doesn't work too well, but there is a reason it gets so much air-time.  It being a necessary component of maintaining the player community, which is the goal of the medium.  If everyone just finishes and quits, your going to have a dead game within a year wouldn't you say?

[HaemishM]

If everyone just finishes and quits, your going to have a dead game within a year wouldn't you say?

That would depend on how many new players they can bring in as compared to the number of players they lose.

[Samwise]

Samwise acts like I'm crazy to question the idea of a subscription based MMO that so far seems to have no crafting, the same level of social areas as Guildwars and no player conflict?

No, I think it's crazy to suppose that "infinite playability" is a reasonable requirement for a game.  How many games do you own that have never gotten boring?  The home video game has been around for 20 years or so; if even one percent of one percent of the games released in that span had that quality, you'd have too little time to look for new games since you'd be playing all of those perfect games instead.

The "grind + endgame" thing is a cheap way to milk subscription dollars out of a gullible playerbase.  Make them toil away for a couple of years by enticing them with this "endgame" thing that might resemble a magical virtual world or somesuch.  By the time they finally get there and realize that the emperor has no clothes, they've "invested too much time to quit now", so you can keep them around for another year or so while they whine about cancelling their ten accounts but never actually do it.

Call me crazy, but I think making a fun GAME first and foremost (even if it's finite in length) and worrying about the mythical "infinite endgame" later is an admirable approach, if for no other reason than that it doesn't insult my goddamn intelligence.

[Sobelius]

It's about having the option of playing with ourselves or playing with other people. You know, like sex.

And why I think a lot of people find MMO's as addicting as sex can be for some people. It pushes that pleasure center button of the brain in a funky way -- and when it doesn't push the pleasure center in the right way, watch out -- people get just as pissed. In one simple sentence, H-man, I think you've distilled down possibly why MMOs bring out the crazy thinking/behavior in some folks -- and why they're not like typical computer games for some folks.

The MMO experience, especially lack of truly interesting storyline content and repetitive gameplay, has had me going back to some single player RPGs, like Morrowind, for entertainment (and I find myself eagerly awaiting ES IV: Oblivion).

[Samwise]

Continuing my earlier train of thought, because this might not have been clear in my sweeping condemnation of the endgame concept:

I LOVE the idea of a rich "virtual world" (whatever the hell that means) with a healthy and interesting economy, a good crafting system, player justice, ways to make a name for oneself, and all that.  If you can take that and attach it to something that's also a game, more power to you.

HOWEVER, after seeing the attempts thus far in areas like this, my feeling is that if you aren't planning to do much better than what's already been done in those areas, don't fucking bother.  I'm not interested in playing another game with anything as good or worse than the SWG crafting system, because the SWG crafting system, although initially promising, was not fun.  From what I hear, the WoW crafting system is not any more interesting, so WoW's crafting system holds absolutely zero appeal for me.  Similarly, if DDO added a crafting system that was like WoW's or SWG's, I wouldn't care, because it wouldn't be FUN.  There's no point in tacking on an unfun crafting system just so you can say your game has one.  Do it right or don't do it at all, and spend that effort on making more FUN things (like those oh so lovely handcrafted dungeons).

Same goes for dynamicaly generated dungeons or whatever.  Are they more fun than the handcrafted ones?  No?  Are they at least significantly more fun than the "dynamic dungeons" that I've seen in other games and got bored with after ten minutes?  No?  FUCK 'EM THEN.  Again, no point just tacking them on.  If you didn't put a whole shitload of thought and effort into making them better than the other failed experiments in this area, I don't need them in the game I'm playing.

Maybe someday somebody will make a game that has all these pie in the sky ideas and does them right.  However, until someone decides to hunker down and really make that a priority, it's goddamned asinine to criticize every game that gracefully omits them rather than making half-assed attempts.

[Hoax]

Again I didn't even criticize I just questioned applying the subscription model to a game that has less longevity as far as I can tell then any fps/rts on the market.

If a Tony Hawk game came out that allowed you to skate with/against other players online, but no additional gametypes/content would you expect to pay $15/mo for it?