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Dungeons & Dragons Online: MMORPG.com Preview
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
News Manager Jon Wood has been playing Dungeons and Dragons Online by Turbine recently. After much consideration, he's filed this report on the game based on his beta experiences.
;) Turbine Entertainments Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach has inspired many mixed opinions from the community. Some players seem to love this game, touting its closeness to the Dungeons and Dragons tabletop game. Others fault it for its use of instancing, and perceived lack of content. Now, Ive had a chance to hop into their beta test, and their NDA has been lifted, Im free as a bird to talk about it.
I find myself feeling a bit mixed on this game. There are parts of it that I really do enjoy, but there are also aspects that make me think that I might not put my time or money into this game. So, Im going to divide the article into gripes, mixed feelings and enjoyable. |
You can read his preview here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
To say, DDO for me was a major disappointment for me, is like saying living on the Lunar Surface you might feel a little discomfort without a spacesuit. The lack of anything original, except the twitch fighting, the lack of the number of quest, the lack of any color other than brown and yellow, and just the plane lack of any feeling of exploring and of finding new and rich environment, left me stunned. It looks like they tried to make the City of Heroes of the fantasy MMORPG.
Quiet frankly, Turbine has dropped the ball with this one. This is Dungeons and Dragons. I'll let that sink in for a bit.
This is the father of everything fantasy, Lord of the Rings being the granddaddy. This "game" of theirs shows a lack of vision and shows Turbine's inability to know what kind of title they are dealing with. The game designers should be fired and working at Burger King next week. Sure, you're going to have fans of D&D shouting from the rooftops saying "This is the greatest game ever!" They will learn. Granted they follow 3.5 Rules fairly well, but the bottom line is the game is flat, and unappealing. Graphics and interface are sub-standard, quests are small and unimaginative, and on top of it you have to "re-do" these horrid quests to make a decent EXP/hour. They have a cap at level 10? Who are you kidding? This should be 20 and the first expansion should have Epic level content. Then again maybe they should keep it at level ten; with all the add-ons they might be able to make their money back. This is a complete and utter failure. This game should be scrapped and completely reworked, or put to the console and forgotten about. Turbine is going to get embarrassed again; I foresee an AC2 future for this game.
If I left anything out I'm sorry, it's probably just all the disgust I feel for this title.
Wow...a couple of very angry reviews, I can't wait to try this game, Turbine hasn't spit anything worth dealing with since AC:DM, and sadley, it seems like they won't. Thusley, I add this poll, hoping I will prove some sort of point, I have had high hopes for Turbine after AC, but was droped on my head with ACII. DDO or LOTRO better be DAMN good if I'm ever gonna buy another one of their games. But other than that...DOO I understand is staying "loyal" to the PNP DnD genre. The review was great, and hopefully I will have the same opinion and finally find a good game to play after that WoW abomination. What a waste of time.
Let it be known that I am D&D fanatic
And Ebberon is actually quite good setting. With some innovative aproaches to D&D ( like action points , new look at alignments , and new look at clasic races )
Although I would never chose Ebberon to bear flag of first D&D MMORPG - it is surely not a reason for DDO's demise.
Anyway I would not give any reasons (since pople wrote them over and over again) , but I will not touch DDO with ten foot pole. And same goes for most of D&D fans.
I can only say one thing... wait for NWN2
"Before this battle is over all the world will know that few...stood against many." - King Leonidas
Finally someone who agrees with me abotu WOW! I haven't played the game much more observation than playing it has made me think it sucks. I mean I a bigger fan of adventure and RPG's than MMORPG's but I think if someone is going to take the time & effort to create such a complex set of worlds they ought to put some effort into it for goodness sakes. try Tribes 1 or 2 or Guild Wars, or even System Shock (which isn't an MMORPG just and RPG but it's still pretty good). I haven't had the opportunity to check other MMORPG's lately but I think that DDO will be a good game for what they want to accomplish and I think that all this negative stuff that has been "floating" around is just sutpid trying to take a postivve attittude for once or at least keep an open mind give me a break woudl you? Just because it's not exactly the same as the orginal D&D or uses a different world or you can' t cutomize every little thing doesn't mean it's a bad game. I frequently played Might and Magic 6: The Mandate of Heaven up until my computer decided to go completely balliistic that is...at any rate you can cutomize the names and differnt faces (by clicking through different genders) their weapons/spell abilties, and change such things as intellect, accuracy,. If you took out the element of fine tuning the characters faces it would take away a little bit from the game but that's the point of these games. The point of DDO is teamwork and your skills as I see it. That's what D&D has always been about, don't theses people realize that orginally there were no game pieces people basically chose from different races and depending on who was playiing that was the gender. You had to have some sort of imagination and intellect to play this game.
If that element were to be taken out or given less importance that woudl be a shame. On a side note a lot of games today (it seems to me a lot of MMORPGs but not just these) have you just running around mindlessly killing thinsg. I know that's fun and all and yeah who doesn't like do that once awhile? But seriously where's the engagment there? Where's the fun in only doing that, give me something to do for cyring out lould!
Well enough of my ranting and just so everyone knows this is just my opinion so dont' bash me for it. If you don't agree post something refuting (not bahing) my argument and then I'll listen. THanks
Heidi
QUITE frankly nice way to get your post count up without actually contributing anything
The author is underestimating the "twitch" side, with no label on the cover saying it, they even dare put "Real D&D" on the cover of a twitch game.
I dunno Eberron well, but a guy was saying Sharn is prolly 1 of the biggest city in D&D and then he state stuff from Forgotten Realms in comparaison, the most underpopulated world with DL and DS. Mystara prolly have dozen of cities more populated than Sharn...and Sigil is prolly bigger as well. But yes, Eberron is not really much inside DDO. So on top of having peoples angry that they pick Eberron, they doesn't rally Eberrons fans...lazy lazy devs.
Customisation: Well, the face has enough customisation, but beside that, the author is right.
D&D rules: The other is a noob about D&D!
Cleave is the single most important feat (if you have to name only 1) and it translate into an AE attack! LOL. + 20 hps to all!!!! Mana(LOT of it, TONS of mana)! No XP per mob! I see that as an EXTREMELY poor translation. I could argue with you that EQ2 is closer to the D&D 3.5 edition in PRINCIPLES than this DDO thing...as soon as you go deeper than the superficial layer! Turbines doesn't understand the "Vision" behind D&D. I mean, come on, + 20 HPS to everyone, it completely destroy any D&D feeling right away, a wizard level 1 has the same HPS as a wizard level 10! LOL. If you give +20 HPs to wizards, than you should give 70-75 HPs to barbarians...a Wizard should be challenging, not gaining tons of HPS to compensate the "twitch" aspect of the game.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
the review mad me rethink of playing that game.
now that i got into beta i can see how is it like.
i
Wolfang, the lvl 50 Guardian of Splitpaw - EQ2.
SuRfer of Werner - Planetside
Sharn is the largest Eberron city, but DDO is set in Stormreach - a small, but the only real port on the continent of Xen'drik.
Eh, unfortunately the game is just not that interesting.
Bartle test wise, who is the game going to appeal to?
Killers - no pvp
Achievers - frustrated by the slow and limited advancement
Explorers - only one city to explore
Socializers - maybe, are they enough to carry a game?
Yea...the whole review on having to do a quest more than once per level is just annoying. Plus, that realy kills my RP ability, what am I supposed to pretend? The first time into the dungeon for the same item was a dream? I dunno that would bug me. But none the less, everyone is expecting them to make a game EXACTLY like D&D, but the truth is...it's a video game, and they don't have ANYTHING alike. Maybe in the year 3200 we'll have video games that can shoot videos into your eyes and keep the game PURELY based on your imagination, but not today, and especially not by Turbine...ouch. Anyway, besides that, I am hessatant to try it...but I am SO damn desperate for a good MMORPG, I'll try it, and if it's THAT bad...I won't play it any longer, and Turbine can take my $50 + whatever the monthly fee is, and put it towards LOTRO. So don't base opinions on other people, try it yourself...I feel it's worth it.
I think this right here might be the biggest problem with picking Eberron for the setting. For the most part Xen'drik, the landmass DDO is set on is pretty unknown. What is really know about the landmass is that elves were first enslaved her before going to the main landmass of Eberron, Khorvaire.
So far for Eberron there are a few landmasses. Khorvaire (the main landmass for Eberron where almost all the content for the pen and paper game is about, pretty detailed and extremely interesting), Sarlona (anicent home humans before coming to Khorvaire, said to be taken over be some other race now), Argonnessen (belongs to dragons, outside of that nothing is really known) and last is Xen'drik. Xen'drik is talked about in a pretty vague sense. Word is that Xen'drik is being kept vague on puropse. I guess to give players of the game more freedom when creating adventures. This is perhaps why it was used as the setting for the game Dragonshared and now DDO. The freedom it gives, it's vague so whatever is said about it in DDO could be ignored by sourcebooks, other video games and the novels (one has touched out it a small bit but really fast and another novel is suppose to touch on it again. The second novel is being done by the settings creator (2nd book in his trilogy).
So if DDO even lacks the Eberron feel this is why since to get it you'd have to have a lot of connections with the main landmass Khorvaire. There doesn't seem to be that connection from what I'm healing. Xen'drick is kinda an endgame type of place, I gues you could look at it that way. Some place you want to go at the end of an adventure. If not you'd have to put in a lot of time and work to really make it look interesting since not much is known about it.
Had they picked Khorvaire as the play for DDO, it would have been a LOT different and for the better I'm thinking. Even if they just stuck to one kingdom or area.
As for Sharn, the place in huge. I think it's actually the Waterdeep of the Eberron setting. For those that know about the Forgotten Realms setting I believe that is the largest and most populated city in that setting.
For all this, I don't even play the pen and paper game. Just like reading the setting books. Pretty good reads.
Ive been in the beta for months, and every patch it has become less fun. The game continues to move further and further from the PnP rules. I dont play very often, and usually have more fun in the IRC channel for dndradio than playing the game. The only real strong point the game has is some of the other folks that play.
Although I understand peoples complaints about Eberron as the setting, I actually really like the setting... in PnP gaming. Its a very intriguing setting with a lot of action and great focus on the players, unfortunately what little of Eberron made it into DDO does not give me the same feeling.
Unless something spectacular happens in the last 9 days of beta Ill be saving my money for Oblivion, NWN2, and Age of Conan.
Ok... my turn
Honestly, as many, I went into the D&D Alpha... to Stress... with high hopes. I mean, its D&D... how can you mess that up? They even explicitly stated... we will hold true to the classic PnP D&D play style. Yet, how come I just dont feel like anything, other than the names of races, feats, places, etc, even reminds me of the glory days of PnP D&D?
I think the biggest turnoff, for me, would have to be the world scale. Sure, the world is big enough, but as even the author stated, what is there to do? There is no free roaming, not even random battles. If I was just a random adventurer, looking to test out my new sword, I have to jump into a huge dungeon just to do anything.
I agree, the instancing of quests is a nice addition, but come on. The game, to me, feels like GW with D&D rules thrown in (aside from the combat system). Everything I do, I feel so isolated... even though theres hundreds of people around me. What do I mean? When I play other MMORPGs I will walk around, and randomly find someone who may need a helping hand, and join their cause. In DDO, if you think about it, how can you really forge a relationship? Unless I want to sit around the pub all day, I really cant. When you randomly meet that new person, and fight together for the first time, you bond. I just dont feel like the scale of the world in DDO lets me achieve that.
For that reason, im sorry Turbine, but DDO is not ever going to be on my buy list
Just thought I'd point out that the surname for your character is optional, as it says fairly plainly on the character creation screen. As such, the only name that is checked for acceptability (uniqueness/non-vulgarity/etc) is your first name. That would explain why you couldn't use Melissa: someone else already had it. In that respect, DDO is no different from any of the other MMORPGs on the market...none let you duplicate names on the same server. So...not really sure why this is a gripe...might as well complain about having to play online. It's inherent in the genre.
I'm also not sure what was meant about the common areas gripe...from my experience (which was just the recent stress test), it was basically just standard MMORPG players. The number of players in an indoor area before they start instancing could probably be toned down (so it seems less crowded), but you're still going to get poor behavior. Although, reading the paragraph again, it seems the crowding was more of the issue, which I could agree with (I never went searching for a particular player, so it wasn't a problem for me.)
To me, the biggest problem was the lack of soloability (warforged fighter). I normally prefer to solo (don't like waiting on strangers, don't like grouping with strangers...it's just not my cup of tea), and I ran into some fairly serious roadblocks on that front.
I played a bit of the DDO stress test, and then again, I tried a bit of the beta. While the beta version I played did show more polish and kept me interested a bit longer, in both cases I was ultimately underwhelmed.
I find myself agreeing with some of what the reviewer said and have some thoughts of my own.
First, I am not a fan of the "instanced everything" mode many MMORPGs are going into. If anything, it feels inconsistent. Even in Guild Wars, which is arguably not a MMORPG (by the devs' own say-so), it just feels "wrong" to see a bunch of people all crowded in Ascalon, Ashford Abbey, etc.. and then as soon as you leave, it's a huge empty landscape save for some random NPCs, some mobs, yourself and/or your party. It kills the MM part of the genre for me.
DnD has always been about adventuring, and getting to your destination is as much part of the adventure as what you do once you get there. The idea that you're instantly teleported to your quest area, no matter how far, in DDO just seems counter-intuitive to one of the most basic aspects of AD&D. If they at least gave the option of being able to travel to your destination or be instantly teleported there, for the more "are we there yet?" types. Actually, I think Guild Wars handles this better. At least you have to actually travel and survive the trip to an area before you can "unlock" it.. and the option of travelling on foot exists even after you've done so. At least there's some exploring to be done.
Next, I agree also with the unrestricted movement in the "common" areas.. people on top of bars, etc. They could easily make those areas off-limits. Or have the bartenders react in some way, yelling at them to get off the bar... a guard coming and warning them to knock it off, etc. Walking into a tavern and seeing a bunch of PCs standing on bars, tables, etc.. just kills any chance at immersion.
The port area you start in (once you've left the starting island), meh. Cluttered, claustrophobic, uninteresting. Do not like that setting at all. It's the kind of place I'd find myself frustrated being in more than an hour in real life.
The voice overs are a nice touch... but are unnecessary and really don't add anything to the experience, IMO.
Finally that Monk and Druid are unavailable, and it's impossible to choose any Evil alignment - there's no PvP in the game that I'm aware of and being of an Evil alignment could certainly play into how certain NPCs act towards you.. I guess they had their reasons for omitting those things... but again, I place that in the same category as instant teleports to your quest area. It's just counter-intuitive to what ADnD is to me.
In the end, I likely won't be playing DDO.. It just doesn't excite me at all. I'll wait for NwN2 for my AD&D fix.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Having read the preview and spent some time in the beta I can say I agree with all of the points in the preview. Character creation was a big let down. It felt like everyone in the world playing a human rogue would have a different head but on the same body as mine. wearing the same clothes. No difference, no customization on starting equipment, very cookie cutter-ish.
I do enjoy playing the game. The lack of content at this level is not a problem, it can easily be added to over time. There should be more added quickly though. The location is new to me and I don't have a problem with it, it will be fun getting to know it well. I play on playing for a while to see what will happen with it. If Turbine is slow in developing content with this game, it will be unbearable and they will loose many customers.
All in All, I agree with the preview it is not a genre shattering installment for a highly recognizable game and maybe it should be, but I will give it a chance.
I find it strange that people are complaining about content in a game thats in beta. I thought content in beta was intentionally scaled down so as to test certain game mechanics to make sure they work before the full version is released to the public?
Also i'm finding it funny that some people are complaining that it doesn't stick to the DnD PnP tradition then the same people are moaning because you cant do things like other tradional mmorpgs. I was always under the impression that DnD PnP was about getting together with a bunch of mates and exploring a dungeon, I never realised that that included wandering round country side killing stray mobs and having your GM RP your treck across fields and roads to get to the dungeon in the first place?
DnD is what it is, a simulation of a PnP game. It's never gonna be a true PnP because it's just not possible and it's never gonna be another WoW because thats not what DnD is about. I for one am gonna give it a try when released and make my own mind up. The only worry I have about DDO is that it will turn into an Expansion cash cow with new ones being released every six months, if that does happen then it will be the nail in the coffin in my mind.
Hey, the games not perfect no doubt, but no need to start lying. First off, IMPOSSIBLE to max your character beyond level 6 in the 10day beta. Secondly if you attempted to fly threw it (power grind) then yeah, in no way is this title for you, might I suggest RF online. A pvp grinders dream.
DDO is ok, just ok..I am not really interested, but let's not start adding lies to it, no lies needed, it's not that great, but for some who like this pace of game. They will probably love it.
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
Well, in a traditional PnP game, the players really have carte' blance to do, or try to do, anything they want. That would include wandering the country-side killing any living creature they come across if they felt like it. It's up to the DM to moderate and keep things interesting.
So... having open fields to explore, hunt in, whatever, would be perfectl fine in that regard. You could RP your Fighter, and they want to train in their sword work.. Hey.. practice makes perfect, and there's no shortage of things to practice on! Of course, in reality it would be people grinding to get to max level (because it seems that's all many peopl care about in MMOs anymore.. throw 100 unique things at them and their first and only concern is, "how fast can I get to max level?"... but I digress). The point is, it would not be at all out of place.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I agree with what was said. The instancing without any explorable world irks me a little more than the reviewer.
Perhaps with expansions this will change a bit. It could be easily solved by simply adding some map areas that can be accessed in the future. Heck, they might even introduce some PvP areas. Some areas could just be there for good old exploration. Perhaps they could have multiple part quests where you get a lead from an NPC somewhere and do a bit in a dungeon here, and then travel a short distance to another location (a tower or a keep, etc) and do a bit more of the quest there. The inbetween areas might almost be a part of the overall quest with some things to figure out and some monsters to overcome, but since it is an open part of the world (uninstanced) you might find more or less creatures (which usually is an annoyance in a part of a MMORPG quest where you are looking for monsters) but in a quest where you are just trying to complete it for the experience you wouldn't even mind if some group had cleared out most of the monsters before you came through. You could even have parts of the world that you would sometimes have to pass through that were open PvP but there could be many non-combative ways to get through there, like going invisible, etc which would just provide more interesting planning and decision making. Speaking of decision making, such multiple layered quests could even have some branching options along the way, and just like in the old PnP version you would have to decide which option to take for whatever reasons.
The great thing about doing something like this is that they can keep their instances so no one can ruin quests for others, but there are also those in-between areas where you could actually run into other players and actually INTERACT with them along the way. This is either by avoiding them (which they should make fairly easy) or by working with them to get through a particualarly dangerous bit of area (a cave or pass through the mountains to another part of the map). You might even exhange goods or services on the fly since you got some extra potions of mana you don't need and they have a healer who would take them and heal you all up for the favor. Then you both go off on your merry way to the next instanced part of your respective quests having had some INTERACTION with other players. Some truly random encounters with REAL people. To me that is one of the greatest aspects of an MMORPG. Otherwise it feels a bit like a chat room for trading and grouping, and then just little modules for the group to play through. A lot like a NON-massively multiplayer cooperative mission type game.
Maybe even throw in some cooperative epic quests where individual instances produce parts of an arcane artifact that one faction or another can collect before another to produce some sort of change or effect or new area in the world. Nothing earth-shattering but something that might bring certain groups together to work towards the outcome that suits them best. Maybe players would even have to work TOGETHER to unlock some new content that could then be accessed by EVERYONE through instances but isn't availiable till the players get it opened.
Wow, I'm throwing out some pretty good ideas here in a surprisingly unbiased way seeing as how I usually LOATHE instancing. Perhaps it COULD be done right. Never seen it yet, but perhaps.
IronOre - Forging the Future
*Deleted: Nevermind, I'm a dum@$$ and totally misread that line*
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Played: Age of Conan, DDO, Saga of Ryzom, SWG, DaOC, MxO, EQ2, and so on...
Wish List: Jumpgate Evolution, Star Wars: TOR, Star Trek