Impressions of Dungeons and Dragons Online

[Ironwood]

Well, at the end of the day if you don't like being a fansite, someone can write a counter article called 'D&D Online; Shite In A Box' and frontpage it too.

You know, for balance.

[Hoax]

I'd try to write something about the dangers of subscription based revenue spreading to ALL games speaking in some kind of philosophical vague terms but that really is something I'm not qualified for.   Haemish on the other hand...   

But seriously the magic missile the darkness quote was the only one that did anything for me other then Xil's.  Because that movie was fucking hilarious.  Where are the Cheeto's!

[Roac]

There are some interesting concepts there.  Few levels and quick leveling are a plus, because that means their focus is going to have to be on quests not grind.  Good.  Not getting XP until completion of a quest?  I like that.  I don't think it's necessarily better or worse than the per-monster route, but should make the gameplay different.  Action oriented combat is a potential big plus.

Downside?  Apparently no other real content outside dungeons (city building or participation?  Home ownership?  What about building a magical research library?).  I also don't get a good impression of what the point might be after getting level ten.  Ok, so it doesn't take long to level, which means it's probably a fun trip up.  But if there is not much game outside the dungeons, what do you do when you don't need to go questing for xp?  Without much economy even getting rich doesn't appear to be much of a motivator since having a dozen Hand of Vecnas won't do me much good. 

Be nice if someone from Turbine wants to throw a beta my way too, btw.

[Xilren's Twin]

Thanks for the feedback.  I tried to stick to actually gameplay relevance rather than "top 5 sexiest NPCs in DDO" (especially since SirBruce had beat me to it anyway :-p).

At any rate, do I think it's worth subbing to?  For me, sure.  It's different and fun so the lack of the "worldy" part doesn't bother me overmuch much the same way CoH appealed to me.  I dont play many crafter roles or game the auction houses anyway so missing those for me isn't saying much.  It's the 95% of time you spend fighting/questing that needs to be fun.

By way of comparison, my son still plays WoW so this past weekend I fired up my 40 rogue just to see what quests I still had on my log.  The "travel way over there and kill lots of gorillas until one drops the perfect piece of sinew.  Be warned, this will take a while.." one just reminded me that these really are very different gameplay experiences.  (I know, there are some good quests in WoW, there are just so many "kill X quests" in outdoor hunting areas...)

Xilren

[Samwise]

Downside?  Apparently no other real content outside dungeons (city building or participation?  Home ownership?  What about building a magical research library?).  I also don't get a good impression of what the point might be after getting level ten.  Ok, so it doesn't take long to level, which means it's probably a fun trip up.  But if there is not much game outside the dungeons, what do you do when you don't need to go questing for xp?  Without much economy even getting rich doesn't appear to be much of a motivator since having a dozen Hand of Vecnas won't do me much good. 

Speaking as a big fan of virtual world and economy and city building type stuff... I think it's a good thing that they decided to leave these out altogether.  If SWG has taught me anything, it's that it's better to do one or two things and do them well than try to do twelve things and botch all of them at once.  At worst, the lack of worldy stuff means that I'll spend a few months getting a couple of characters to level 10, say "well, that was fun", and then unsub with no hard feelings.  Much better than hanging on to a shitty game for a year because you've invested too much into the world to leave it.

[Slyfeind]

I find it most ironic that most every MMO out there has a D&D feel to it, EXCEPT DDO.

Anyway, played it a bit during the Penny Arcade Expo, was impressed, I think I met John Hanna without realizing it, probably gonna be picking this up if I got the income.

I have a friend whose major barrier into MMOs is the monthly subscription fee. I mentioned DDO to him and he practically peed his pants. Yeah, there's a non-MMO fanbase out there for DDO; let's hope this doesn't disappoint them.

[Roac]

I agree with you Samwise, that if any game dev (MMOG or otherwise) is going to put a feature in, it has to count as a feature.  Broken features make the whole game feel broke.  Nor am I asking for a UO-esque "...and the kitchen sink" approach.  My big question is, once you get to level 10, what's next?  What's the goal?  What's the hook to keep you playing?  It sounds like all they're offering to answer is "quest for the sake of quest", which doesn't seem like much.  XP and loot - the byproduct of quests - have little to no practical purpose after 10.  So what's left?

[Samwise]

So what's left?

The answer might well be "roll up a new character" or "unsub".  That doesn't particularly bother me, though.  I think expecting a progression-based game to last forever is a bit foolish.  It means either an infinite number of levels (with an exponential curve) or some sort of broken endgame.  No thanks.

[tazelbain]

It bothers me if they are trying to get me to pay a subscrition fee to play a single player game with multiplayer co-op.

[Nebu]

It bothers me if they are trying to get me to pay a subscrition fee to play a single player game with multiplayer co-op.

Seems to be working for Blizzard.

[Signe]

It was a really good review and I can't find anything to really argue about.

Dammit.

[Arthur_Parker]

I'm a wee bit pissy.

Edit: Motherfuck! Does that actually say "Character customization in DDO is fun. My human female came complete with 30 different hairstyle choices?" Someone tell me I'm on drugs. Please. Someone. Anyone. Oh well, at least our sentence was the longest. Or something. Sigh.

Page at www.ddo.com has been changed, original quoted below from the ddo forum post (just cause I think it's funny and it might disappear too).  It refers to MMO news sites now instead of fan sites, also the Human female hairstyle bit is no longer quoted. 

First Impressions
Over the past few weeks we have allowed a select group of our fansites to have access to the Beta. After allowing them to play for a bit we have now asked them each to write an article detailing their first impressions of Dungeons & Dragons™ Online: Stormreach™ .

Here are the first impressions written by our fansites:

“One of the biggest challenges in the game is healing and restoring spell points. To stick to D&D, you can’t just rest anywhere and suck down potions to restore your points. There wouldn’t be any challenge at that point.”
DDO Warcry

“Character customization in DDO is fun. My human female came complete with 30 different hairstyle choices.”
DDO Ten Ton Hammer

“First thing I noticed is that the game uses all the D&D rules and regulations, specifically the modern-day d20 system and that’s a good thing.”
The Arda Post

“Luckily Turbine took a different route, and created ways to make it feel like you had a GM with your group, and if you don't think the GM messages work, just wait till you're reading them, and trying to figure out if they are a trap, or a treasure.”
DDO Ogaming

“And while there is an auto attack button, you’d be a fool to actually use it. Not only is combat paced differently, but also general movement is more active. You can jump, swim, climb, tumble, smash crates/barrels, trip, be knocked down, feather fall, and mantle (yes mantle) in this game.”
F13.net

“I was a little taken aback to discover that a right click caused my adventurer to attack the air with his weapon. Take that, air! Next I shall cast magic missile at the darkness.”
GamerGod.com


Edit: Just to be clear...DDO's NDA is still in effect. These First Impression articles were written by fansites as part of a special "First Impressions" feature. Please do not post about the game until the NDA is lifted.

[schild]

Funny how that works.

[Hoax]

This is from one of the forum threads, nice work Xil, somehow I am pleased because some of the praise rubs off on me or something... 

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First impression of the assmeblage is grammatical inconsistency. I found some errors throughout the collection. This gives me a feel for who is behind the story. Deep thoughts come from deep people. Random thoughts come from haphazard typists. Another bit of criticism is the abundance of "Experience Summary" literature already available. I was hoping for intuitive and thought provocing insight. Two articles gave me cerebial satisfaction.

F13.net's article by Xilren's Twin gives a good overall look at the pros and cons of DDO's version of a MMORPG. OGaming's article by Wrom has an introduction that engages and touches the heart. Both individuals are literary gems of the genre.

[Xilren's Twin]

This is from one of the forum threads, nice work Xil, somehow I am pleased because some of the praise rubs off on me or something... 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First impression of the assmeblage is grammatical inconsistency. I found some errors throughout the collection. This gives me a feel for who is behind the story. Deep thoughts come from deep people. Random thoughts come from haphazard typists. Another bit of criticism is the abundance of "Experience Summary" literature already available. I was hoping for intuitive and thought provocing insight. Two articles gave me cerebial satisfaction.

F13.net's article by Xilren's Twin gives a good overall look at the pros and cons of DDO's version of a MMORPG. OGaming's article by Wrom has an introduction that engages and touches the heart. Both individuals are literary gems of the genre.

Heh.  What's funny about that quote is a) I am a terrible typist despite using a keyboard daily (and is shows in everything I write up) so the "hapharzard typist" shoe fits, but b) that poster mispelled cerebral and provoking so he's right there with us.  :-D  [Or, it could be a second language thing, an excuse I only wish I could use...]

Xilren

[Kageru]

Twitch combat and living in Australia means I probably don't have to even consider bothering
with it. Part of the reason twitch works for FPS games is because setting up local servers is
easy, something this game clearly won't have.

An endgame that involves waiting on the next content patch? That should be interesting to
watch. It will also be interesting how the masses "optimize" the process of getting to max
level with the launch content available. I'd even say the reducing XP is as much about limiting
the effects of dungeon complexity imbalance and possible exploits.

[Xerapis]

I enjoyed it right up until the point where my warhammer "worn out" in the middle of combat. I was left using my fists against two gray oozes.

Two things happened shortly after that. My character died. I uninstalled DDO.

[Velorath]

I enjoyed it right up until the point where my warhammer "worn out" in the middle of combat. I was left using my fists against two gray oozes.

Two things happened shortly after that. My character died. I uninstalled DDO.

Do you uninstall every game you suck at?  Sounds like you just didn't know the game mechanics and you paid an understandable price for your ignorance.  Am I getting the point of your post right, or were you trying to make some sort of statement about the game itself?

[Shockeye]

I enjoyed it right up until the point where my warhammer "worn out" in the middle of combat. I was left using my fists against two gray oozes.

Two things happened shortly after that. My character died. I uninstalled DDO.

Do you uninstall every game you suck at?  Sounds like you just didn't know the game mechanics and you paid an understandable price for your ignorance.  Am I getting the point of your post right, or were you trying to make some sort of statement about the game itself?

I think the point is: carry a spare weapon.

[MrHat]

Wish I could play.

[Shockeye]

Wish I could play.

I don't. I enjoy reading you whines multiple times per day. Err.. wait. Yes, I wish you could play.

[Velorath]

Pretty pointless of me to say anything after this point then, NDA or not. I wanted to burn ideas into everyone's minds before they played....But now that they gone and decided for themselves, my knowledge is right back to where it started: Useless. Wtf.

Feel free to PM me your thoughts on DDO sometime.  I'm actually pretty curious about how you'd rate it against your experiences in WoW.

[Cheddar]

Sounds a little like what NWN should have been.

Interesting.

This is a LOT like the original NWN.  Yeah, the one that came out in the mid '90's.  I dunno, I am pseudo ambivalent to the game currently.  I do have a beta invite, just not sure if I will use it.  I like Turbine a LOT.  Hopefully they succeed and bring in more new meat to the market.

[Margalis]

Give your beta invite to me.

That's an order, not a request.

Edit: Don't make me download and play "Flyff" - I swear I will!

[schild]

Chibi anime characters? I'm downloading Flyff right now. The number of games I've never heard of is astounding. Gotta play'em all.

[lariac]

I played this during the stress test over the weekend and one thing that really stood out for me was the interface (trying not to break NDA here)

Granted, I didn't delve into the details, but I think Turbine really needs to take a look at WoW in regards to the default interface. I think the interface provided the details needed (I don't really know who their target audience is), but I did find the interface counter-intuitive and it took me a bit to figure out some of the things that it presented.

I did like many other aspects of the game though.

[schild]

Ok, Flyff sucks.

[Margalis]

I ran around and killed bat creatures and mushrooms for an hour. Flyff is a MMORPG where all you do is auto-attack - the entire game. I got to level 5, already the grind is killing me. I could read a book while playing. The entire game is double click on a monster and heal if you are low on health.

Plus the music gets really annoying really fast.

I think there is room in this world for a cool, cutesy style MMORPG - but not this one.

[schild]

I thought R.O.S.E. would be it. But it wasn't. Ragnarok was it for like a day. Until the towns started filling up with text bubbles and nothing else. I bet Nippon Ichi could make a kickass one.

[Signe]

Fate would make a cutesy MMO.  Throw in some cute emotes, like /shy, /blush and /giggle, and some crafting and we'd be SO GODDAMN FUCKIUNG ADORABLE!!!   And schild could fish. 

[Tebonas]

Balance would be hell though!

Nerf charm, my shield/defensive magic build is gimped.

[El Gallo]

I predict fun D&D balance whines in the future.  Does D&D still follow the old "some classes (wizards) suck at the beginning and roxxor at the end while others (fighters, rogues) roxxor at the beginning and are kind of bleh at the end" balance scheme?  Not so cool for the bleh guys when you spend 1 month levelling up and a year at max level.

 The more I think of it, the more I think D&D is not the greatest model for a MMO.  It's riddled with balance problems but they don't matter because a decent DM will always balance the game to make it fun for all the players.  If you have a gimpy race/class/skill combo, the DM can plop in encounters expressly designed to make that guy useful.  Not easy to do in a MMO.

It will be interesting to see how many changes they need to make to the rules.

[Murgos]

I predict fun D&D balance whines in the future.  Does D&D still follow the old "some classes (wizards) suck at the beginning and roxxor at the end while others (fighters, rogues) roxxor at the beginning and are kind of bleh at the end" balance scheme?  Not so cool for the bleh guys when you spend 1 month levelling up and a year at max level.

I'm picturing lots of alts.  Lots and lots of Alts.

[jpark]

Thanks so much for that write - up.  I was delighted to hear too about the attention to unique graphics.

I have one concern about the questing:  Can they be shared?  Will extensive chain quests create barriers to grouping with friends unless they are at the same point in the quest chain?

[shiznitz]

That is a great question. Players should get credit for completing an instance whether or not the actual quest was ever initiated.