Dungeons & Dragons Online: Module 6 Preview

Stradden

News Manager Keith Cross recently had the opportunity to take an early look at Module 6: The Thirteenth Eclipse for Turbine's Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach. Today, he files this report on the new module as well as a quick look at the game since launch.

My journey through the world of Dungeons & Dragons Online began with a picture book tour of the game as it stands right now, up to module 5. I was briefly teleported to a number of different regions to see a snapshot of what each previous module added to the game, and how the game has evolved into its current incarnation. When DDO first launched, there were several things that seemed like they were missing. The game had plenty of dungeons, but where were the dragons? ‘Dragons’ is right there in the title, so one would think they should be there. And there’s an ampersand in the title too but I didn’t see any of those running around in the game either.

My guides explained the reasoning for the lack of dragons at first. Dragons are tough. They’re not really a fair challenge to lower level characters unless you water them down a bit. But watering down wasn’t an option for Turbine because they had decided to go with the 3rd Edition D&D philosophy that dragons were special. You won’t meet a dragon in a random encounter, and each dragon is unique, with their own name and powers. Their name is in the title after all, so it makes sense that they’re among the fiercest foes in the game. The first dragons that players could battle were added with module 4. A trio of young chromatic dragons that looked like they’d jumped straight from the pages of the Monster Manual.

Capturing the look and flavor of 3rd Edition D&D is something Turbine has done very well. During the initial tour we ran into several other classic D&D opponents, such as the Marilith and a Beholder with a spectral template, and they each looked exactly like pen and paper counterparts. The artistic devotion to D&D’s core books continues in Module 6, and I was excited to see Gnolls (a personal favorite) and a variety of Devils done in a style so true to the original sources.

Read the whole thing here.

Pyuk

So will there be explorable, open wilderness adventuring? I didn't catch that in the article.

Stradden

I didn't write the article, so I can't say with certainty, but I'm pretty sure they already have some of that...

Saurus930

Sounds good, I think it's time to get my hands on one of those trials and check this game out again.

Any Idea when this upgrade will launch? Sorry if I missed it in the article ...?

Szark

It launches tomorrow, January 30th.

crmznoutlw16

Best MMO in the market so far, and it keeps getting better, I encourage everyone to check out the trial and see for yourself .  All of those complaints that people had at launch of this game have been long resolved and the player is now left with an mmo experience unlike any other.

Pyuk

So what server has the biggest and friendliest population (roleplaying or otherwise)? With such a group oreinted game, I'd like there to be a big population to commune with.

tihokan

 

Originally posted by Puuk


So what server has the biggest and friendliest population (roleplaying or otherwise)? With such a group oreinted game, I'd like there to be a big population to commune with.

With the server merge last summer, there is no more dead (or, on the other side, signficantly bigger) servers. So pick whichever you like. You can check guild listings on the ddo forums as finding a guild is the best way to enjoy DDO's grouping experience.

 

I know for a fact Thelanis has a few RP guilds, and at least one friendly player (me )

Itaziadorre

I personally would have to say Thelanis is the most friendly server, but I am of course biased. I met folks from that server in a different game (it was not a game that inspired friendliness, but it was a very fun guild to smash other players with) and they pestered me very nicely to play DDO with them. So now I'm in a very friendly guild on Thelanis in DDO.

If I'm allowed to name the guild in the bargain, look up The Exploration Society on the DDO forums. It's a very fun group that's into some other games too.

we3ster

There are already a number of open adventuring zones, Searing Heights and Tangleroot Gorge to name 2. Each have a series of quests you can do solo or in a group. Explorer quests where you find points of interest around the landscape, slayer quests where you do the kill so many monsters etc. and rare named bad guys to discover and defeat.

If you haven't tried, download the trial, its a great game and I love it. If you are waiting for Age of Conan because of its combat, come and try DDO's and hope Conan's is at least as good!

Murdus

Originally posted by crmznoutlw16


Best MMO in the market so far, and it keeps getting better, I encourage everyone to check out the trial and see for yourself .  All of those complaints that people had at launch of this game have been long resolved and the player is now left with an mmo experience unlike any other.

/sign

chaintm

was a founder, I might come back to check this out, all the changes sound good. I did like the narrator thou, added to the fun immersion, is that still in with most new additions of quest?

Hvymetal

Originally posted by chaintm


was a founder, I might come back to check this out, all the changes sound good. I did like the narrator thou, added to the fun immersion, is that still in with most new additions of quest?

Yes they still have DM voice overs onmost (if not all, I really can;t recall right now, and honestly although I have much respect for Mr. Gygax, Delera's made me turn the DM voiceovers way down) oof the new quests.

Thillian

Im not sure why the reviewer is concerned about the future once they run out of the PHB. He could know there is PHB II also released. The amount of races and classes they can add is nearly infinite. The game also doesn't stop at level 20, there are rules for epic characters (20-40) and Eberron is a huge world. Xendrik is only one of the four large continents. The amount of spells, feats, items are almost infinite as well even if they would follow just the official D&D book releases.

Zakavar

Huh, I tired to retrieve my account info (I know my user name) but I never got the email.  Do they delete your account after a while of inactivity?

Viglin

Originally posted by Zakavar


Huh, I tired to retrieve my account info (I know my user name) but I never got the email.  Do they delete your account after a while of inactivity?

Ive heard of people comming back after being away for many months so l dont think thats the problem[actually this week many people have come back, most likely due t othe new mod release]

Best bet would be go back and try again or contact someone.

Oh when you do get it fixed,  you may find your characters elsewhere as their was a server merge several months ago.

 

chaintm

Originally posted by Zakavar


Huh, I tired to retrieve my account info (I know my user name) but I never got the email.  Do they delete your account after a while of inactivity?

yea not sure about this, I got my old founders account re-activated today with no problem. Thou servers are down for this new update I am looking forward to getting back in. I would contact customer support, did you change email sense the last time you were there? Or did you forget you sold your account or gave it to a friend?  I say it only because I have given my brother old accounts to other games before, illegal or not I have done it, he's family, but I kept my turbine account as it holds many different titles.

Also to the other poster that said the narrator is still in ( NICE ) I get why you turned it off, being you probably did allot of repeats, for me thou it will be a whole new experiance so this is nice to know. Thnx for informing, looking forward to diving into this new stuff.

 

Sevenwind

Originally posted by chaintm


 
 
Also to the other poster that said the narrator is still in ( NICE ) I get why you turned it off, being you probably did allot of repeats, for me thou it will be a whole new experiance so this is nice to know. Thnx for informing, looking forward to diving into this new stuff.
 

I think they were saying Gary Gygax does a horrible job at narrating the story of the dungeon. I totally agree, it is like he is just reading the story he doesn't try to emphasize anything. I said in another post that he may have helped create D&D, but just a bad vocal narrator, DM.

They added a womans voice as a DM to the new Necropolis areas and a lot of the DDO players enjoyed her voice. I haven't made it that high yet to see. But the original guy is very good at what he does in DMing a dungeon.

Votary

Originally posted by Zakavar


Huh, I tired to retrieve my account info (I know my user name) but I never got the email.  Do they delete your account after a while of inactivity?

Maybe the email address you had on file was not correct? Try http://support.turbine.com and put in a ticket for DDO, they should be able to help you out. I am sure they would do what they can for a potential reactivation

xaldraxius

I played DDO for a while and got to level 7. It's a good game, but a lot like CoH it's completely group based, and everything is instanced.  Many days I sat around trying to find a group, but everyone was too busy standing around at the auctioneer.  You have to repeat the same quests so many times that you get sick of them, and I found that the clerics either felt like they were the most important members of the team and you HAD to listen to them, or they were battle clerics and couldn't be bothered to heal anyone. The people all seemed pretty friendly, except for the clerics who, for the most part, were a bunch of elitist snobs. Mages do too much damage for a fighter to keep aggro off of them, and fighter taunts are almost completely ineffective.  It's an issue of the GM's trying to make each class capable of soloing, in a game where no one solos, and no one even knows the definition of 'support' class. That and the PvP is a joke. If you aren't a Mage or a Cleric, don't bother. Turbine should have stuck by AC2 rather than ripping it's costumers off, then making a bunch of niche' games. DDO has already done a server merge, and I feel it is headed for the recycle bin with AC2 pretty soon.

Jeff44

Kinda funny.

www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/01/28

uncus

Originally posted by xaldraxius


I played DDO for a while and got to level 7. It's a good game, but a lot like CoH it's completely group based, and everything is instanced.  Many days I sat around trying to find a group, but everyone was too busy standing around at the auctioneer.  You have to repeat the same quests so many times that you get sick of them, and I found that the clerics either felt like they were the most important members of the team and you HAD to listen to them, or they were battle clerics and couldn't be bothered to heal anyone. The people all seemed pretty friendly, except for the clerics who, for the most part, were a bunch of elitist snobs. Mages do too much damage for a fighter to keep aggro off of them, and fighter taunts are almost completely ineffective.  It's an issue of the GM's trying to make each class capable of soloing, in a game where no one solos, and no one even knows the definition of 'support' class. That and the PvP is a joke. If you aren't a Mage or a Cleric, don't bother. Turbine should have stuck by AC2 rather than ripping it's costumers off, then making a bunch of niche' games. DDO has already done a server merge, and I feel it is headed for the recycle bin with AC2 pretty soon.

Wow - I disagree with the majority of your post:

1. "Completely group-based"  After adding solo difficulty, HoT <which I haven't seen yet - does it work IN the instances?>, and some of the changes coming in Mod 6 [re-usible rest shrines in outdoor and lower level instances], DDO is soloable for much of its content.  I've only played my "main" to level 5, but have never grouped.  I've also only soloed in CoV [didn't care for CoH].

2. I agree that everyone is at the auctioneer and that repeating dungeons gets boring.

3. I haven't seen that problem with clerics nor seen it on the boards other than a few posters who were blasted off the boards with volleys of  "I'll heal you when you learn how to play your character and/or stay with the group instead of zerging"  I know that I've been uncursed, etc by random clerics while recovering in a tavern. [This was before curses etc wore off over time]

Now, a few questions for those who are CURRENTLY playing:

a.  Do you HoT while IN the instances or only while in town?

b. Do SP regen in instances?

I am probably going to re-sub [after almost a year off] in 3 weeks - gotta see what happens on the boards once Mod 6 goes live.

elvenangel

 

Originally posted by xaldraxius


I played DDO for a while and got to level 7. It's a good game, but a lot like CoH it's completely group based, and everything is instanced.  thats because D&D is inheritantly group based. 
Many days I sat around trying to find a group, but everyone was too busy standing around at the auctioneer.  Maybe you were on before the merger but this is so not true, my friend and I always put our group up in the Group Looking for More list and never have a problem except perhaps to late at night.
You have to repeat the same quests so many times that you get sick of them, and I found that the clerics either felt like they were the most important members of the team and you HAD to listen to them, or they were battle clerics and couldn't be bothered to heal anyone.  Not all clerics are this way just players that a pricks and theyh come in all forms of classes.   I've also never in my entire experience for the past year HAD to repeat a quest to progress.  BTW if your zerging and not staying with the group the cleric won't heal you, if your around a corner or a blocked they can't heal you. 
The people all seemed pretty friendly, except for the clerics who, for the most part, were a bunch of elitist snobs. Mages do too much damage for a fighter to keep aggro off of them, and fighter taunts are almost completely ineffective.  It's an issue of the GM's trying to make each class capable of soloing, in a game where no one solos, and no one even knows the definition of 'support' class.   Your either smoking crack or groupign with jerks or grouping people who just spam spells instead of casting a few to regulate aggro not to mention some tanks just have sucky builds.  I've grouped with a few bad tanks..you know your build is lame when a mechanic rogue out kill counts you.    
The GM's have never once balanced the classes for soloability...I've given up all hope of ever soloing with my rogue its just not possible once you get past the solo noob quests.  The assumption no one knows the definition of a support class is a LIE ... honestly how much more can you make up?  I know my place with my rogue and its not to tank and its not to heal.   I do what DPS I can and make sure no one gets blown to bits by traps.
That and the PvP is a joke. If you aren't a Mage or a Cleric, don't bother. Turbine should have stuck by AC2 rather than ripping it's costumers off, then making a bunch of niche' games. DDO has already done a server merge, and I feel it is headed for the recycle bin with AC2 pretty soon.   I agree the PvP is lame but they added in as something extra to do and instead of destroying the PVE game to balance it for PvP they simply left it as is....get over it its ment to be a pve game.  There's no point in DDO pvp because balanced & fair D&D PvP rules are basically none existant.  I wish people would get it into their thick skulls that D&D is about a group adventure either as bad guys or good guys depending on the campaign and its never been about Pwning the Mofo next to you.   If thats the game you want then there's a ton of ME ME ME games.

 You have to learn to work as a team or your group PUG or guild wise will fail.   If you want to solo the entire game get real...high level content is pretty much exclusively group based.   Even if you pug your entire carreer you still learn group skills if you try.   People are pricks and they're in every game, purposely making it out as if they're only this way in DDO is just blatantly lying to yourself and everyone else.

Considering the constant attention and love Turbine gives to DDO it won't be hitting the trash bin.   It'd of died already and they wouldn't spend money on the game otherwise. 

Sevenwind

A. You do not heal overtime in instances. I don't even think in Mod 6 you will heal over time in instances. Only in the city and in tavenrs do you heal over time. I think the heal has a greater regen in taverns than in the city, I could be wrong. Someone correct me if I am.

As of Mod 6 there is no more death penalty. Also I believe in Mod 6 rest shrines can now be used more than once, but are on a timer.

B. SP also do not regen in instances.

As for waiting to see on the boards to see how well Mod 6 goes over, to each their own. Some may hate it some may like it. My suggestion is find out by doing the trial and find out for yourself. Just use a different email account and give it a try. I'm willing to bet there is going to be a few hotfixes in the next few days of bugs that crept in at the last minute, but try it now.

 

 

elvenangel

I'm glad they're making the shrines more usable in 'some' cases wish they were allowing more use of them in all cases!

uncus

 

Originally posted by Sevenwind


A. You do not heal overtime in instances. I don't even think in Mod 6 you will heal over time in instances. Only in the city and in tavenrs do you heal over time. I think the heal has a greater regen in taverns than in the city, I could be wrong. Someone correct me if I am.
As of Mod 6 there is no more death penalty. Also I believe in Mod 6 rest shrines can now be used more than once, but are on a timer.
B. SP also do not regen in instances.
As for waiting to see on the boards to see how well Mod 6 goes over, to each their own. Some may hate it some may like it. My suggestion is find out by doing the trial and find out for yourself. Just use a different email account and give it a try. I'm willing to bet there is going to be a few hotfixes in the next few days of bugs that crept in at the last minute, but try it now.
 
 

Thanks for the update

 

The reasons I'm going to wait:   1. EVE - while I've never heard of another company so badly doing an update that the corrupt your boot,ini, I ain't takin' no chances

2. As you mention, I'll wait for the hotfixing to be done [so I miss any exploits, oh well, I solo, I'm not in some uber guild]

3.  I get a week off so I'll actually have TIME to play in 3 weeks

 

EDIT: I'm also looking forward to crafting!