In order to have nice solo playing, solo high end need to belong to soloer. EQ never plan on handling the soloers the solo uberness, and never will, and any game that dont hand the soloing uberness to soloers is not focusing on solo playing on the mere fact it allow it to somewhat survive in a prenatal state. EQ solo instancing is for level 1-50, and eventually when it will get to the highest level, it will still be a ghetto way to progress, where you still get a much better solo reward by grouping or raiding then by soloing, thereby it is not at all solo centered, friendly or whatever the wording you choose.
Same apply with any other aspect of the game. Group uberness need to be 100% achieve in groups. Same with raids, PvP and tradeskill. We are talking of 5 extremely differents HIGH END and playstyles that have absolutely nothing in common with each others.
- "Coercing? No no, I assure you, they are willing to bring my bags and pay public transportation just to help me, it is true!''
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
I just got back from GenCon in Indianapolis where two of the D&D online devs were giving 1/2 hours demos every two hours of what they have. Release is first half of 2005. (EQ II was also there showing low level areas).
In terms of gaming niche D&D online is a non-PvP version of Guild Wars but a very good one. Everything centers around groups solving the instanced dungeons and I mean SOLVING them with proper tactics. For example you can distract a hoard of MOBs by the sound of an arrow hitting the wall behind them so that they all run towards the sound. All wood is flamable and can be set on fire and then put out with water. The time to solve different dungeons ranges from 15 minutes to hours. The realism in the dungeons is amazing.
Some MOBs charge characters and bowl them over if the character does not roll out of the way.
No player crafting for the initial release of the game.
The graphics are great being in-line with the upcoming online games.
I could care less about PvP. D&DO looks great and it could be very fun. The video released showing gameplay footage looks very nice. It's a great start and I can't wait to learn more about it as time goes on.
As for the abuse of the term "carebears" in this forum... what did the care bears ever do to you?!?!
Screenshots and videos are necessary for first impressions, but what you can't see in them are the things that matter the most.
The one thing that holds D&D above online mmorpgs, for me, has always been the ability to multi-class.
Simply put if D&DO is released without a healthy amount of class choices and the ability to multi-class to my hearts content then its a failure in my opinion.
Comments
I read mucho here that I disagree.
In order to have nice solo playing, solo high end need to belong to soloer. EQ never plan on handling the soloers the solo uberness, and never will, and any game that dont hand the soloing uberness to soloers is not focusing on solo playing on the mere fact it allow it to somewhat survive in a prenatal state. EQ solo instancing is for level 1-50, and eventually when it will get to the highest level, it will still be a ghetto way to progress, where you still get a much better solo reward by grouping or raiding then by soloing, thereby it is not at all solo centered, friendly or whatever the wording you choose.
Same apply with any other aspect of the game. Group uberness need to be 100% achieve in groups.
Same with raids, PvP and tradeskill. 
We are talking of 5 extremely differents HIGH END and playstyles that have absolutely nothing in common with each others.
- "Coercing? No no, I assure you, they are willing to bring my bags and pay public transportation just to help me, it is true!''
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
I just got back from GenCon in Indianapolis where two of the D&D online devs were giving 1/2 hours demos every two hours of what they have. Release is first half of 2005. (EQ II was also there showing low level areas).
In terms of gaming niche D&D online is a non-PvP version of Guild Wars but a very good one. Everything centers around groups solving the instanced dungeons and I mean SOLVING them with proper tactics. For example you can distract a hoard of MOBs by the sound of an arrow hitting the wall behind them so that they all run towards the sound. All wood is flamable and can be set on fire and then put out with water. The time to solve different dungeons ranges from 15 minutes to hours. The realism in the dungeons is amazing.
Some MOBs charge characters and bowl them over if the character does not roll out of the way.
No player crafting for the initial release of the game.
The graphics are great being in-line with the upcoming online games.
I could care less about PvP. D&DO looks great and it could be very fun. The video released showing gameplay footage looks very nice. It's a great start and I can't wait to learn more about it as time goes on.
As for the abuse of the term "carebears" in this forum... what did the care bears ever do to you?!?!
Screenshots and videos are necessary for first impressions, but what you can't see in them are the things that matter the most.
so...
The one thing that holds D&D above online mmorpgs, for me, has always been the ability to multi-class.
Simply put if D&DO is released without a healthy amount of class choices and the ability to multi-class to my hearts content then its a failure in my opinion.
Anyone interested in DnD Online should check out the trailer for it over at: http://www.gametrailers.com
From what the trailer shows of ingame action it loks promising.
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.