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So this DDO thing is really how close to real DND?
Twohededboy
Member Posts: 200
So how close is this to real DND? I am not to thrilled with 3.5 DND but it will do. Do you distribute points for your stats? Are all the feats there? Do they use cross class and class skills? Is there really any role playing or is it all about the numbers, DPS and DOT? Did Mythic put in the solo content? I already play EQ2 and like the graphics on that and find DDO has similar graphics, but how is the performance for a 3.0ghz machine with 2gb mem and a Nvidia 7300 gs? Thanx for any info.
Comments
Mythic is not the developer for this game Turbine is,and there is some solo content, but a majority of it is group based, since DnD has generally always been about parties and groups. The performance for DDO is pretty good actually, I have almost the same setup as you do, and am able to run the game with close to Very High Settings.
Yeah, I just picked up EQ2 a couple weeks ago and I'm still tweaking options to get it to run smoothly. Turbine's engine flies on my machine, extremely smooth except for its texture pre-caching which causes hitches when loading new stuff suddenly.
As for how D&Dish it is... well, you're limited to Turbine's content obviously, so it's not the same as having a DM craft a storyline around your group. It's very hack-n-slashy too, but so is a lot of D&D content.
Here's what initially got me hooked: after playing AD&D and many other RPGs, then switching to CRPGs and MMORPGs, I've never been satisfied with mages/wizards. WoW's mage was the worst for me. I enjoyed watching what the others could do, but I absolutely hated actually playing one. So I got the DDO trial and made a rough approximation of my original AD&D wizard, and holy crap, finally spellcasting that looked and felt almost exactly like what I'd seen in my imagination during the PnP gaming. Some of the "bigger" quests I've done were more entertaining on an overall level than any WoW raid I ever did, it was very fast-paced and full of action, tight cliff walls, jumping over lava pits, etc. Almost like a Tomb Raider game, only multiplayer with D&D classes
That said, DDO is very much a niche game. Many D&D purists hate it, and a lot of MMO gamers don't like it (probably because they didn't know what they were getting themselves into beforehand) because DDO is fully instanced. But the players who do love DDO are very passionate about it, and very cool helpful people. The best community would probably be the official forums, MMORPG.com is the bridge all the trolls live under.
As for RP, Thelanis seems to be the unofficial RP server. I know Merlask (player) is always hosting new RP events there. Sir Lawrence (dev) hosts events on each server from time to time as well.
I played for quite some time and really enjoyed DDO. It's pretty faithful to 3.5e, and brings the world of Eberron to life in an enjoyably gritty fashion.
All that said, and I do think they did an amazing job with the game, it's limited by the lack of ... live storytelling. Every time you play, you're going to hit the same missions. There's nothing wrong with that, and the missions have been designed incredibly well, but because of the complexity of creating dungeons, you're not going to see tons and tons of new content every time you start a new character.
If you love D&D3.5e, play it. It's a fun romp in the D&D world, using the D&D mechanics as best as possible in an online game. It's about as close to really living D&D as we'll get prior to immersive VR. :P
So it does have a look and feel of DND. I will give the trial a shot and see what it is like.
As far as DnD Rules, feats, spells, weapons and armor, it has the core feel of DnD around you, set in a DnD Campaign known as Eberron, so I suppose it looks like DnD as well.
Best thing is what you mentioned, give it a shot and try the trial.
If you can play with a group of friends, then it is close to DnD. You can't really play DnD solo or just find people to group with, and that is true with DDO. I know they have made great strides with solo play, but when I play with a group of people I know, I really enoyed DDO.
Grouping with friends is the best way to go and the best way to give it that true D&D feel.
Grouping with friends is the best way to go and the best way to give it that true D&D feel.
Cant agree that people tend to do only those dungeons that give most XP. There is plenty of people doing any dungeons, this game is not designed the way to reach lvl 14 as fast as possible. And majority of the subscribers realize that, trying to enjoy every dungeon. If you had different experience, i guess you were just unlucky with the pugs.
REALITY CHECK
I need to go back and play again. I want to try Vault of Night as a level 14.