Free Module 9's HUGE pre-Release notes

Sarr

Post from Turbine's quite new DDO Executive Producer, Fernando Paiz: 

Hello! My name is Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer for DDO. I am pleased to be able to present to you the preview release notes for Module 9! Although you will continue to see a lot of Kate, I thought this was a fitting occasion to write a letter to players and re-introduce myself to the DDO community. So first a quick introduction: If you are a long-time fan of Turbine’s games, chances are you may have seen my name around before today. I’ve been with Turbine for four and a half years; the first three and change I spent as Director of Game Technology driving technology development for both DDO and LOTRO. Last year I had the great opportunity to transition to my current role on the DDO team. Not only do I have the pleasure of working closely with my wife, Kate (who you already know), I am also able to spend more time with my favorite Turbine game: DDO! Now, on to the good stuff! The Lamannia Module 9 release notes have been posted to the Compendium: click here! Module 9 raises the level cap to 20, adds a ton of new features, and we’re sure you’ll notice the sheer number of fixes and polish improvements as well! From the addition of a ‘Loot All’ button for chest windows to making ranged monsters not run away from you forever, the team was able to address many top community requests while fixing bugs to make the game better than ever! Mod9 is more than just another release for DDO - it represents a major investment as we prepare the game for future growth. The DDO team is proud and excited to preview these changes for the community and ask for your help to make Mod9 as good as it can be by playing the new update, starting this week on our new preview server, Lamannia. We’ll let you know how to get started playing on the Lamannia server in the next few days. The preview release on Lamannia marks an important milestone for us on the road to releasing Module 9. We know it’s been a long wait and we thank you for your patience and support. We’ve worked hard to make DDO even better and are gearing up for an aggressive push to grow the game in 2009! This is only the beginning of many great things which are planned for DDO this year! From Kate, myself and the whole DDO team, we hope you enjoy reading the release notes and playing on Lamannia. We appreciate your ongoing support and we look forward to hearing your feedback on the latest updates to DDO. See you in game! Yours, -Fernando.

Trust me, it's too huge even in this pre-Release Notes state to quote, so I'll just link it again:

http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Release_Notes_Lamannia_Update_9.0_Official 

Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Sarr


Post from Turbine's quite new DDO Executive Producer, Fernando Paiz: 



Hello! My name is Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer for DDO. I am pleased to be able to present to you the preview release notes for Module 9! Although you will continue to see a lot of Kate, I thought this was a fitting occasion to write a letter to players and re-introduce myself to the DDO community.
So first a quick introduction:
If you are a long-time fan of Turbine’s games, chances are you may have seen my name around before today. I’ve been with Turbine for four and a half years; the first three and change I spent as Director of Game Technology driving technology development for both DDO and LOTRO. Last year I had the great opportunity to transition to my current role on the DDO team. Not only do I have the pleasure of working closely with my wife, Kate (who you already know), I am also able to spend more time with my favorite Turbine game: DDO!
Now, on to the good stuff! The Lamannia Module 9 release notes have been posted to the Compendium: click here!
Module 9 raises the level cap to 20, adds a ton of new features, and we’re sure you’ll notice the sheer number of fixes and polish improvements as well! From the addition of a ‘Loot All’ button for chest windows to making ranged monsters not run away from you forever, the team was able to address many top community requests while fixing bugs to make the game better than ever! Mod9 is more than just another release for DDO - it represents a major investment as we prepare the game for future growth.
The DDO team is proud and excited to preview these changes for the community and ask for your help to make Mod9 as good as it can be by playing the new update, starting this week on our new preview server, Lamannia. We’ll let you know how to get started playing on the Lamannia server in the next few days.
The preview release on Lamannia marks an important milestone for us on the road to releasing Module 9. We know it’s been a long wait and we thank you for your patience and support. We’ve worked hard to make DDO even better and are gearing up for an aggressive push to grow the game in 2009! This is only the beginning of many great things which are planned for DDO this year!
From Kate, myself and the whole DDO team, we hope you enjoy reading the release notes and playing on Lamannia. We appreciate your ongoing support and we look forward to hearing your feedback on the latest updates to DDO. See you in game!
Yours,

-Fernando.






Trust me, it's too huge even in this pre-Release Notes state to quote, so I'll just link it again:
http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Release_Notes_Lamannia_Update_9.0_Official 

 

They need to release notes about the quests and how much real content is being added. Right now Mod 9 looks like too much polish and not enough new content.

almerel

Your right that it seems like a lot of polish but they are adding a whole lot of new content as well. I hope they do give us more info on the content but it should be fun to figure it out as well without really knowing everything there is about it.

Rokurgepta

Originally posted by almerel


Your right that it seems like a lot of polish but they are adding a whole lot of new content as well. I hope they do give us more info on the content but it should be fun to figure it out as well without really knowing everything there is about it.

 

They can keep the details about the content hidden for all I care. What I want is a count of the quests and the raid zone. The notes they released are very little of real content added. There is polish and changes but content in a quest driven game like DDO is quests. If they do not have enough to keep people busy this MOD could be hurtful to Turbine. They are taking half a year to put this one out and players will wait, but the wait has to be justified. Turbine has gone into a shell over the last year with less communication and less updates. These things need to be corrected or at least rectified by this MOD being the best yet. So far from the changes it seems like they did a lot of work, but quests are what are needed, polish should be done between MODs as small updates.

Bennyblyfot

Jeez when will the ddo fan-club realize that they will only get 4 new quests and 1 raid, untill i am proven wrong i will stick with my solid opinion that they are bloody bastards that only put an effort in fluff and crap that noone wants....  GIVE US CONTENT FFS

Sarr

Originally posted by Bennyblyfot


Jeez when will the ddo fan-club realize that they will only get 4 new quests and 1 raid, untill i am proven wrong i will stick with my solid opinion that they are bloody bastards that only put an effort in fluff and crap that noone wants....  GIVE US CONTENT FFS

I want more polish . And Polish too, hehe.

From my perspective, high level content is not so important at all. It's not against any of you, I like you all. I'm just a player who haven't capped (and didn't care to cap) any character to date. So for newer players, person like me, or especially for absolutely new player, high level content in Mod 9 isn't needed at all .

And knowing that Turbine puts much effort to bringing new players, I think they'll have great fun with DDO post Mod 9. And that it will last for long, I bet most won't complete all quests before Mod 10 comes - with some more content.

I know that point of view is hard to accept to you, who are getting bored with DDO now - having completed all of the content and such. But I think I have the same right to care about other things than high-level content which isn't even on my Top 10 list. And this is absolutely natural for newer player, I think.

So I'd wish more veteran players could show us, newcomers, more respect (I'm not much of newcomer, but oh well). Let's try to understand each other.

Concluding, I think that high level content may not be as important to the game itself as you, fine people, might think. Another proof of it is that people say the same each new Module, and each isn't enough. If you were right, DDO would be dead now, not having it's 3rd Anniversary and new investment now, as announced by DDO's Executive Producer, Fernando Paiz.

This is with all due respect. Please try to understand my point, as it is much how new player thinks and looks at it. And new blood is always the future for any MMO game... long timers always get bored and leave for some time, or for good sometimes . I'm one of them, I got bored with some other MMOs out there. DDO is keeping me more active than any other game ever, though.

Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Sarr

Originally posted by Bennyblyfot


Jeez when will the ddo fan-club realize that they will only get 4 new quests and 1 raid, untill i am proven wrong i will stick with my solid opinion that they are bloody bastards that only put an effort in fluff and crap that noone wants....  GIVE US CONTENT FFS

I want more polish . And Polish too, hehe.

From my perspective, high level content is not so important at all. It's not against any of you, I like you all. I'm just a player who haven't capped (and didn't care to cap) any character to date. So for newer players, person like me, or especially for absolutely new player, high level content in Mod 9 isn't needed at all .

And knowing that Turbine puts much effort to bringing new players, I think they'll have great fun with DDO post Mod 9. And that it will last for long, I bet most won't complete all quests before Mod 10 comes - with some more content.

I know that point of view is hard to accept to you, who are getting bored with DDO now - having completed all of the content and such. But I think I have the same right to care about other things than high-level content which isn't even on my Top 10 list. And this is absolutely natural for newer player, I think.

So I'd wish more veteran players could show us, newcomers, more respect (I'm not much of newcomer, but oh well). Let's try to understand each other.

Concluding, I think that high level content may not be as important to the game itself as you, fine people, might think. Another proof of it is that people say the same each new Module, and each isn't enough. If you were right, DDO would be dead now, not having it's 3rd Anniversary and new investment now, as announced by DDO's Executive Producer, Fernando Paiz.

This is with all due respect. Please try to understand my point, as it is much how new player thinks and looks at it. And new blood is always the future for any MMO game... long timers always get bored and leave for some time, or for good sometimes . I'm one of them, I got bored with some other MMOs out there. DDO is keeping me more active than any other game ever, though.

 

The problem with that is DDO does not advertise so most of the new players come there because or word of mouth. The long time players of DDO make up most of the player base and not adding content is making many of them upset. The lower level part of DDO is not bad, all of us long time players got through it just fine, but I understand them polishing it more.

They can not afford to ignore the long time players though, the newer players simply do not make up a large enough portion to be catered to MOD after MOD. DDO is going to level 20 this MOD and so the content to get there has to be in place to make those levels fun for the vast majority with 1 or more capped chars.

If high end content was not important Turbine would not be adding PrE, Capstones, new spells and level 20. Try to remember this game is now 3 years old, the polish should be nearly finished and the content should be rolling in fairly frequently. I

Sarr

Originally posted by Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Sarr

Originally posted by Bennyblyfot


Jeez when will the ddo fan-club realize that they will only get 4 new quests and 1 raid, untill i am proven wrong i will stick with my solid opinion that they are bloody bastards that only put an effort in fluff and crap that noone wants....  GIVE US CONTENT FFS

I want more polish . And Polish too, hehe.

From my perspective, high level content is not so important at all. It's not against any of you, I like you all. I'm just a player who haven't capped (and didn't care to cap) any character to date. So for newer players, person like me, or especially for absolutely new player, high level content in Mod 9 isn't needed at all .

And knowing that Turbine puts much effort to bringing new players, I think they'll have great fun with DDO post Mod 9. And that it will last for long, I bet most won't complete all quests before Mod 10 comes - with some more content.

I know that point of view is hard to accept to you, who are getting bored with DDO now - having completed all of the content and such. But I think I have the same right to care about other things than high-level content which isn't even on my Top 10 list. And this is absolutely natural for newer player, I think.

So I'd wish more veteran players could show us, newcomers, more respect (I'm not much of newcomer, but oh well). Let's try to understand each other.

Concluding, I think that high level content may not be as important to the game itself as you, fine people, might think. Another proof of it is that people say the same each new Module, and each isn't enough. If you were right, DDO would be dead now, not having it's 3rd Anniversary and new investment now, as announced by DDO's Executive Producer, Fernando Paiz.

This is with all due respect. Please try to understand my point, as it is much how new player thinks and looks at it. And new blood is always the future for any MMO game... long timers always get bored and leave for some time, or for good sometimes . I'm one of them, I got bored with some other MMOs out there. DDO is keeping me more active than any other game ever, though.

 

The problem with that is DDO does not advertise so most of the new players come there because or word of mouth. The long time players of DDO make up most of the player base and not adding content is making many of them upset. The lower level part of DDO is not bad, all of us long time players got through it just fine, but I understand them polishing it more.

They can not afford to ignore the long time players though, the newer players simply do not make up a large enough portion to be catered to MOD after MOD. DDO is going to level 20 this MOD and so the content to get there has to be in place to make those levels fun for the vast majority with 1 or more capped chars.

If high end content was not important Turbine would not be adding PrE, Capstones, new spells and level 20. Try to remember this game is now 3 years old, the polish should be nearly finished and the content should be rolling in fairly frequently. I

 

I see it differently. For me, this game still lacks the polish, and that's why people go away the most. I have seen it on my own eyes, I tried to "convert" many of my friends. It all lacked polish and that "wow" factor (not WoW).

Yes, I know that opinion. I don't think Turbine is ignoring long time players. They just get goodies more equally with newcomers. And that isn't enough because Turbine isn't the army of Blizzard, and because there's so many capped characters with their players.

Will this be "doom" to DDO? I don't think so. But I don't have any way to proove my point. So all we can do is wait and see. I'm almost sure DDO will get some adverising soon, and that it won't be doomed even with Turbine continuing this way of design.

As I said, I'm sure Turbine has statistics that say otherwise (that we don't), and I've seen for myself why they take care of first impressions, UI, looks, feels, etc.

Only time will tell, though, and I may be proved wrong as well - if DDO will be dying. We all make mistakes, and I know and admit I do - like we all.

Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Sarr

Originally posted by Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Sarr

Originally posted by Bennyblyfot


Jeez when will the ddo fan-club realize that they will only get 4 new quests and 1 raid, untill i am proven wrong i will stick with my solid opinion that they are bloody bastards that only put an effort in fluff and crap that noone wants....  GIVE US CONTENT FFS

I want more polish . And Polish too, hehe.

From my perspective, high level content is not so important at all. It's not against any of you, I like you all. I'm just a player who haven't capped (and didn't care to cap) any character to date. So for newer players, person like me, or especially for absolutely new player, high level content in Mod 9 isn't needed at all .

And knowing that Turbine puts much effort to bringing new players, I think they'll have great fun with DDO post Mod 9. And that it will last for long, I bet most won't complete all quests before Mod 10 comes - with some more content.

I know that point of view is hard to accept to you, who are getting bored with DDO now - having completed all of the content and such. But I think I have the same right to care about other things than high-level content which isn't even on my Top 10 list. And this is absolutely natural for newer player, I think.

So I'd wish more veteran players could show us, newcomers, more respect (I'm not much of newcomer, but oh well). Let's try to understand each other.

Concluding, I think that high level content may not be as important to the game itself as you, fine people, might think. Another proof of it is that people say the same each new Module, and each isn't enough. If you were right, DDO would be dead now, not having it's 3rd Anniversary and new investment now, as announced by DDO's Executive Producer, Fernando Paiz.

This is with all due respect. Please try to understand my point, as it is much how new player thinks and looks at it. And new blood is always the future for any MMO game... long timers always get bored and leave for some time, or for good sometimes . I'm one of them, I got bored with some other MMOs out there. DDO is keeping me more active than any other game ever, though.

 

The problem with that is DDO does not advertise so most of the new players come there because or word of mouth. The long time players of DDO make up most of the player base and not adding content is making many of them upset. The lower level part of DDO is not bad, all of us long time players got through it just fine, but I understand them polishing it more.

They can not afford to ignore the long time players though, the newer players simply do not make up a large enough portion to be catered to MOD after MOD. DDO is going to level 20 this MOD and so the content to get there has to be in place to make those levels fun for the vast majority with 1 or more capped chars.

If high end content was not important Turbine would not be adding PrE, Capstones, new spells and level 20. Try to remember this game is now 3 years old, the polish should be nearly finished and the content should be rolling in fairly frequently. I

 

I see it differently. For me, this game still lacks the polish, and that's why people go away the most. I have seen it on my own eyes, I tried to "convert" many of my friends. It all lacked polish and that "wow" factor (not WoW).

Yes, I know that opinion. I don't think Turbine is ignoring long time players. They just get goodies more equally with newcomers. And that isn't enough because Turbine isn't the army of Blizzard, and because there's so many capped characters with their players.

Will this be "doom" to DDO? I don't think so. But I don't have any way to proove my point. So all we can do is wait and see. I'm almost sure DDO will get some adverising soon, and that it won't be doomed even with Turbine continuing this way of design.

As I said, I'm sure Turbine has statistics that say otherwise (that we don't), and I've seen for myself why they take care of first impressions, UI, looks, feels, etc.

Only time will tell, though, and I may be proved wrong as well - if DDO will be dying. We all make mistakes, and I know and admit I do - like we all.

 

I really do not think DDO is dying or in danger of it right now. I think DDO population is on an upswing myself. People are not leaving because of lack of polish the most. Saying that with no proof other than a few friends who may have said it really proves nothing. DDO has not advertised in 3 years. They are long past the time where advertising might have pushed the game to huge numbers. They make mention of a Vast and Mysterious and Super Secret things and maybe it is an expansion and a big push with advertising(I doubt it but that would be nice).

Yes the devs have more information than we do, but the facts remain they have made many decisions that they changed later because they were simply wrong. New blood is not always the life of a game, what keeps DDO going is the core of people who have been around since the early days because without them DDO gets no advertising and very little new blood. Look at all the things the player base does for DDO that Turbine does poorly or not at all. Without the long time players who have built the Wiki and the Character generators and the crafting compendiums DDO would have died before you even started playing.

Those players, and I do not fit since I quit for a year and a half, are what kept DDO going when it was forced to merge servers and people were leaving for any game they could. DDO now seems to be getting an influx of new players and that is good, but Turbine just reworked the NPE to make a new starting area and give new players some very useful items and make the learning easier. I am not against polish and fixes, but they should be done as updates between MODs and not be what so far seems to be the bulk of what is now the longest and most anticipated MOD in DDOs 3 year history.

Aganazer

I can understand both perspectives. They want to keep the older players and make them happy. They also want to bring in new players. If ALL they did was try to retain the old players then its a losing battle. People will always leave for one reason or another. The ONLY way the game can continue to remain profitable is to bring in new players. Its a tough balancing act though.

The DDO community is a strange bunch. It seems like most of the players (but not all) have no experience with other games outside of DDO. Most of them have no reference for what new players would be expecting or experiencing when they first start to play the game. Its like they have totaly forgotten what it was like to be a new player in DDO or they now see it through rose colored glasses. They have gotten so well adapted to knowing every dungeon, every rule, every build option and are so used to twinking their newbies with limitless cash and a full set of tomes. Its like they don't even see all the odd and unpolished bits of DDO anymore.

But when anything changes in the game, even if its a change that most people agree needs to happen (like the w/p nerf), then all holy hell breaks loose. No matter what decision the devs make people start throwing down the "quit" word and posting the most assinine crap on their forums. For what is such a mature group in the game, its ironic to see this behaviour on their forums.

There is only one thing that everyone seems to agree on and that is the need for content. Mod 9 has 4 normal quests and one raid and people will be gaining four levels on that meager amount of content. They should have raised the cap 2 levels and saved the capstones for mod 10. The game needs more content for every level starting at around 11 or 12. Imagine how well WoW would be doing if the only way to level from 60-65 was the big raids like Onyxia, Molten Core, and Nax. Repeating content and forming up raids for the end-game is one thing, but repeating content and raiding just to level up in the mid levels probably isn't the best way to attract new players.

For a game that has the best and most ingenius dungeon experience on the market I am constantly baffled at how much they screwed up otherwise.

Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Aganazer


I can understand both perspectives. They want to keep the older players and make them happy. They also want to bring in new players. If ALL they did was try to retain the old players then its a losing battle. People will always leave for one reason or another. The ONLY way the game can continue to remain profitable is to bring in new players. Its a tough balancing act though.


The DDO community is a strange bunch. It seems like most of the players (but not all) have no experience with other games outside of DDO. Most of them have no reference for what new players would be expecting or experiencing when they first start to play the game. Its like they have totaly forgotten what it was like to be a new player in DDO or they now see it through rose colored glasses. They have gotten so well adapted to knowing every dungeon, every rule, every build option and are so used to twinking their newbies with limitless cash and a full set of tomes. Its like they don't even see all the odd and unpolished bits of DDO anymore.


But when anything changes in the game, even if its a change that most people agree needs to happen (like the w/p nerf), then all holy hell breaks loose. No matter what decision the devs make people start throwing down the "quit" word and posting the most assinine crap on their forums. For what is such a mature group in the game, its ironic to see this behaviour on their forums.


There is only one thing that everyone seems to agree on and that is the need for content. Mod 9 has 4 normal quests and one raid and people will be gaining four levels on that meager amount of content. They should have raised the cap 2 levels and saved the capstones for mod 10. The game needs more content for every level starting at around 11 or 12. Imagine how well WoW would be doing if the only way to level from 60-65 was the big raids like Onyxia, Molten Core, and Nax. Repeating content and forming up raids for the end-game is one thing, but repeating content and raiding just to level up in the mid levels probably isn't the best way to attract new players.


For a game that has the best and most ingenius dungeon experience on the market I am constantly baffled at how much they screwed up otherwise.

 

I generally ignore the I will quit posts simply because most of those people have made the same threat in the past. But if there is really only 4 quests and 1 raid zone in MOD 9 there will be people who have not made that idle threat before leaving.

As for polish DDO needs it and always has, but the better way to do it would have been a bit here and there between MODs instead of most of the patch notes so far being about changes and fixes instead of new stuff. There are plenty of parts of DDO that should have been fixed long ago, floating MOBs and things like that chief among them that make DDO look shoddy to new players.

I would also like to see new low level dungeons, I roll new chars quite a bit and would love to have new things for them to do. If DDO was adding a bunch of those to go with the high end content I would be happy, but fixes and polish do not excite me at a time when they expect us to level to 20 on 4 quests and a raid zone plus whatever wilderness/explorer area they add. My hope is the explorer area has unlisted quests that can be found out there and they are not in the list yet, that would make the leveling less grindy then it will be if 4 quests and a raid is all we get.

As for the w/p nerf it has no effect on me I have a couple they are crossbows and I have never used them yet. The new CON rules still sound ok to me. Auto crits at zero con make my DPS smile.

Dr.Rock

Slight tangent but they also need to find a way of pulling in the rarely played quests, without putting named loot in them if possible. For instance Dreams of Insanity is a very good quest, tombraider button pushing under beholder fire is pure insanity, but it is very hard to get a group to do it. They have to leverage the content they have better as well as add more.

Sarr

Originally posted by Dr.Rock


Slight tangent but they also need to find a way of pulling in the rarely played quests, without putting named loot in them if possible. For instance Dreams of Insanity is a very good quest, tombraider button pushing under beholder fire is pure insanity, but it is very hard to get a group to do it. They have to leverage the content they have better as well as add more.

And you know what it means - not enough new high-level quests for those who completed it all, once again . Though I agree with you completely, that this should be taken care of.

Aganazer, Rokurgepta -> I understand. But I think something got better with Mod 9 nevertheless. Just imagine what if those vast "out-of-new quests" improvements were left out for the sake of new adventures. I think this is likely to happen now, as they've done almost everything the UI might need, and fex fixes (if needed) won't be so time consuming, I guess. So maybe Mod 10 will be huge quest-wise .

I think Turbine decided they need to do it for the future of DDO, and the sooner the better. So they started with Mod 8, and then made huge changes in Mod 9. Next Mods may bring more fun for end-game content, once these "modernization" is taken care of.

Other than that, me and Nospheratus from DDO EU came to the conclusion, that this new DDO Downloader thing may allow Devs to... release new quests while you play the game! So maybe Turbine will want to try it? Imagine quests added one by one, as they're ready. This could be absolutely innovative, real-time approach that every other games could be envious of .

Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Sarr

Originally posted by Dr.Rock


Slight tangent but they also need to find a way of pulling in the rarely played quests, without putting named loot in them if possible. For instance Dreams of Insanity is a very good quest, tombraider button pushing under beholder fire is pure insanity, but it is very hard to get a group to do it. They have to leverage the content they have better as well as add more.

And you know what it means - not enough new high-level quests for those who completed it all, once again . Though I agree with you completely, that this should be taken care of.

Aganazer, Rokurgepta -> I understand. But I think something got better with Mod 9 nevertheless. Just imagine what if those vast "out-of-new quests" improvements were left out for the sake of new adventures. I think this is likely to happen now, as they've done almost everything the UI might need, and fex fixes (if needed) won't be so time consuming, I guess. So maybe Mod 10 will be huge quest-wise .

I think Turbine decided they need to do it for the future of DDO, and the sooner the better. So they started with Mod 8, and then made huge changes in Mod 9. Next Mods may bring more fun for end-game content, once these "modernization" is taken care of.

Other than that, me and Nospheratus from DDO EU came to the conclusion, that this new DDO Downloader thing may allow Devs to... release new quests while you play the game! So maybe Turbine will want to try it? Imagine quests added one by one, as they're ready. This could be absolutely innovative, real-time approach that every other games could be envious of .

 

The downloader is tech they are borrowing from LOTRO. It is so bad that LOTRO stickied the workaround to ignore it and DDO will likely have to do the same.

 

The problem Sarr is that in a year very little has now been added, DDO is getting slower to create new MODS and their communication is pathetic. They won the developer battle last year and things got worse, so this year they bribed people to vote for them and if things do not improve MOD 9 could be a breaking point for many people.

Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Dr.Rock


Slight tangent but they also need to find a way of pulling in the rarely played quests, without putting named loot in them if possible. For instance Dreams of Insanity is a very good quest, tombraider button pushing under beholder fire is pure insanity, but it is very hard to get a group to do it. They have to leverage the content they have better as well as add more.

 

Other than named loot what options do they have with those quests? If people do not like the quest they are not going to do it unless there is a good reason. It is a shame because I always liked Black Anvil Mines and since I came back 3 months ago have seen one LFM for it.

Aganazer

Originally posted by Sarr



Other than that, me and Nospheratus from DDO EU came to the conclusion, that this new DDO Downloader thing may allow Devs to... release new quests while you play the game! So maybe Turbine will want to try it? Imagine quests added one by one, as they're ready. This could be absolutely innovative, real-time approach that every other games could be envious of .

 

I would gladly pay cash money for individual quests. $1.00 for a short quest, $2.00 for a medium, $3.00 for a long, and $4.00 for a very long. It would still be significantly cheaper than going to a bar and more fun too! Actually those amounts are probably a little high, but the idea is fine by me although some people get the heeby geebies when microtransactions are mentioned. Of course those people can keep right on playing the DDO classic content.

The most significant feature in this mod is the difficulty scaling. It makes soloing much more viable and should help my somewhat gimpy 4 player static group. We were ready to quit after running three quests in a row that we could not finish. I mean, my wife and I are hooked up since I'm a forum troll, but my friends aren't. Between being new players and not being optimized with our party, characters, and strategies, this game is HARD at level 10! Hopefully the difficulty scaling will bring us back into the game.

If not... well.. The Chonicles of Spellborn rocks! Skill based like DDO, but with huge shared zones. It needs about another six months to stew, but I can see it bringing in a lot of us fools who can't stand auto-attack combat systems.

Dr.Rock

Originally posted by Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Dr.Rock


Slight tangent but they also need to find a way of pulling in the rarely played quests, without putting named loot in them if possible. For instance Dreams of Insanity is a very good quest, tombraider button pushing under beholder fire is pure insanity, but it is very hard to get a group to do it. They have to leverage the content they have better as well as add more.

 

Other than named loot what options do they have with those quests? If people do not like the quest they are not going to do it unless there is a good reason. It is a shame because I always liked Black Anvil Mines and since I came back 3 months ago have seen one LFM for it.

It is a tricky one, but I would start with something simple like character titles that are unlocked by doing certain quests. I would also start some sort of in game diary that fills out with story and monsters stats as you do quests, a RP version of the favour system with illustrations.

I would also start to tie more collectibles in to quests that give more things you can take to an armourer  to change simple things like the colour or look.

Nothing huge, just things people will enjoy. I mean people might do BAM more often if they stood a chance of a black dye component. Technically it is loot but it doesn't inflate an already loot centric game.

Dr.Rock

As time goes on I am more and more convinced the only thing that could push DDO from niche status is to add a quest builder. Especially seeing the affect the Architect change in CoH is having, and that is actually pretty basic. I.e. you have to pick from existing maps, not create your own. DDO could quite easily start with pre-built maps.

seabass2003

 Any idea when this mod is coming out? I must have missed the release date. I am thinking of coming back with a friend and figure I might as well wait until this mod hits. Thanks.

Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Dr.Rock

Originally posted by Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Dr.Rock


Slight tangent but they also need to find a way of pulling in the rarely played quests, without putting named loot in them if possible. For instance Dreams of Insanity is a very good quest, tombraider button pushing under beholder fire is pure insanity, but it is very hard to get a group to do it. They have to leverage the content they have better as well as add more.

 

Other than named loot what options do they have with those quests? If people do not like the quest they are not going to do it unless there is a good reason. It is a shame because I always liked Black Anvil Mines and since I came back 3 months ago have seen one LFM for it.

It is a tricky one, but I would start with something simple like character titles that are unlocked by doing certain quests. I would also start some sort of in game diary that fills out with story and monsters stats as you do quests, a RP version of the favour system with illustrations.

I would also start to tie more collectibles in to quests that give more things you can take to an armourer  to change simple things like the colour or look.

Nothing huge, just things people will enjoy. I mean people might do BAM more often if they stood a chance of a black dye component. Technically it is loot but it doesn't inflate an already loot centric game.

I like these ideas. They are the minor non game changing things that a lot of people can enjoy. Though from experience in a couple of games that made black dye rare the price on that will make you rich if you sell a couple. Nice ideas.

 

Rokurgepta

Originally posted by seabass2003


 Any idea when this mod is coming out? I must have missed the release date. I am thinking of coming back with a friend and figure I might as well wait until this mod hits. Thanks.

 

No date has been given, but it is on the tesy/preview server so I would guess another week and a half.

seabass2003

 Cool thanks, I'll keep an eye out for when it goes live.

miramira2

I am a returning player (just resubscribed a month ago) stuck at lvl 6 and I appreciate everything that makes this game more solo-friendly. Difficulty-scaling will help a lot.

Rokurgepta

Originally posted by seabass2003


 Cool thanks, I'll keep an eye out for when it goes live.

 

Scratch  my guess of a week and a half and expect MOD9 in June.

Nebless

It's kind of interesting from a new player's point of view at seeing the same types of items come up in other games.

Here we have a fairly established game (3yrs) with a player base that looks like a point down triangle.  Few new players on the bottom and many high levels on the top and a major mod coming out that fixes what many see as minor low level problems that are way behind them and as such don't really help.

This is pretty much the same problem Star Wars Galaxies had way back when but the developers went the other route.  In SWG you had numerous problems and glitches that really affected newer players (no levels there, but if you think new toons = DDO low levels the idea comes across).  But so many players had gotten a BIG foot up with the help of their guildies and had either blown through or by passed the lower content that the never ending mantra was 'MORE HIGH CONTENT, MORE HIGH CONTENT' and the developers heard and blew off fixing the lower end problems and added high end content.

So as the updates kept coming out it was one high level quest after high level quest and the lower end problems never did get fixed.  Problem was you still had new players coming into the game, but it became a vicious cycle in that they couldn't play through the unfixed problems and ended up having to join high end guilds to skip over it.   Even now in the post-NGE era there's plenty of high end stuff but life is lacking at the lower end except as a step up towards the high.  Many players and it seems the dev's / GM's too don't believe the game has any non-level 90 (top end) characters in it.

That is truely one of the signs that a game is on the slippery slope of heading down.  No matter how fun a game is NOW, how big it's upper player base is NOW, it still needs fresh blood to keep it going.  Either to provide cash to develope more stuff or just to replace those that leave for what ever reason.

Some of the release note items seem to be fixes to problems that have come up from adding other stuff in.  Hirerlings acting weird, levers in the wrong places etc....  You say polish and I say bug fixes.  Either way fixing them is a good thing.  Now if the mod was all about fixing grammer, than I'd say WTF as that's not real useful but fixing the structure prior to building more on it is always a good thing.  They put in the new tutorial island setup and it's not surprising it caused ripple effects that needed tweaking. 

I will agree a big fix update shouldn't be considered a major mod unless it was sold as such from the beginning.  Pirates of the Burning Seas did one, but it was always listed on the schedule as a large bug squash fest.  Nothing more, nothing less.

Since they are introducing Pvp why not do something like this as a major update:

I don't know how the player base feels about it, but the large Devil's playground quest area sounds like it could be used as a Pvp zone (I'm not a Pvp'er so I've no stake in it one way or the other).  The manual, rules, character creation all talk about after assigning a family name to your character that you then choose an alignment.  Granted I didn't get and can't seem to get that choice so I don't know what's up with that, but if alignments are still in the game than the lawful go to stop the devils and the evil go to aid them.  This could be done PvE or Pvp.  You take a PvE quest and if no one's around you do it in peace, but if other players are there they try to stop you.  Open warfare, might work.

Sarr

Originally posted by Nebless


It's kind of interesting from a new player's point of view at seeing the same types of items come up in other games.
Here we have a fairly established game (3yrs) with a player base that looks like a point down triangle.  Few new players on the bottom and many high levels on the top and a major mod coming out that fixes what many see as minor low level problems that are way behind them and as such don't really help.
This is pretty much the same problem Star Wars Galaxies had way back when but the developers went the other route.  In SWG you had numerous problems and glitches that really affected newer players (no levels there, but if you think new toons = DDO low levels the idea comes across).  But so many players had gotten a BIG foot up with the help of their guildies and had either blown through or by passed the lower content that the never ending mantra was 'MORE HIGH CONTENT, MORE HIGH CONTENT' and the developers heard and blew off fixing the lower end problems and added high end content.
So as the updates kept coming out it was one high level quest after high level quest and the lower end problems never did get fixed.  Problem was you still had new players coming into the game, but it became a vicious cycle in that they couldn't play through the unfixed problems and ended up having to join high end guilds to skip over it.   Even now in the post-NGE era there's plenty of high end stuff but life is lacking at the lower end except as a step up towards the high.  Many players and it seems the dev's / GM's too don't believe the game has any non-level 90 (top end) characters in it.
That is truely one of the signs that a game is on the slippery slope of heading down.  No matter how fun a game is NOW, how big it's upper player base is NOW, it still needs fresh blood to keep it going.  Either to provide cash to develope more stuff or just to replace those that leave for what ever reason.
Some of the release note items seem to be fixes to problems that have come up from adding other stuff in.  Hirerlings acting weird, levers in the wrong places etc....  You say polish and I say bug fixes.  Either way fixing them is a good thing.  Now if the mod was all about fixing grammer, than I'd say WTF as that's not real useful but fixing the structure prior to building more on it is always a good thing.  They put in the new tutorial island setup and it's not surprising it caused ripple effects that needed tweaking. 
I will agree a big fix update shouldn't be considered a major mod unless it was sold as such from the beginning.  Pirates of the Burning Seas did one, but it was always listed on the schedule as a large bug squash fest.  Nothing more, nothing less.
Since they are introducing Pvp why not do something like this as a major update:
I don't know how the player base feels about it, but the large Devil's playground quest area sounds like it could be used as a Pvp zone (I'm not a Pvp'er so I've no stake in it one way or the other).  The manual, rules, character creation all talk about after assigning a family name to your character that you then choose an alignment.  Granted I didn't get and can't seem to get that choice so I don't know what's up with that, but if alignments are still in the game than the lawful go to stop the devils and the evil go to aid them.  This could be done PvE or Pvp.  You take a PvE quest and if no one's around you do it in peace, but if other players are there they try to stop you.  Open warfare, might work.

This was very well thought opinion before you edited and added a few things. I still agree with most of it, but not everything.

In my opinion Module 9 can't be considered "bug fix Mod" no matter how you'd try to look at it. Of course, there's large number of bug fixes, but that's very normal with DDO - this game is so complex with D&D ruleset, etc. that no other MMO can compare. So no wonder why there's so many bug fixes each Module.

But Mod 9 has a long list of new features, especially UI ones. And this was only "preview" Release Notes for Lamannia test server. By no means this is all what Mod 9 has to offer. Have you seen any mention of quests? No, becuase they are yet to be uploaded on test server. First phase was without new "quest" content, to make testing more streamlined and useful, and soon quest content will be added. This is not all, and still I'd not say it's moslty about bug-fixing.

In other words, this aren't full release notes of official Module 9. This is preview for test server alone, yet still it's huge. I guess more release notes will come when Lamannia gets adventure areas and quests / raid(s).

PS: PvP is present in DDO . This change is only UI one, adding an option of instant PvP challenge system from wherever you are. So you won't need to look for / run to arenas anymore. Who knows, maybe this way PvP will get more popular?