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Questions about DDO
Enkmar
Member Posts: 46
I was right on board for DDO when it was in the works, but when I heard things like it was going to be in Eberron (I didn't mind so much, but the more I read into it, the more I didn't like it so much) and then when I heard devs say there would be no PvP to speak of, it just didn't sound like it'd be the D&D that I played.
Anyways, that brings me to now. I'm fiending for a D&D fix. I'm also an online gamer, so I'm considering giving DDO an honest try. So here are my questions. If any of you answer, it'd be really appreciated.
How is the roleplay? Are there taverns where I can interact? Do people RP their adventures?
Are there RP servers? Is there an unofficial RP server?
I see they've implemented pvp, and I see your guild hosts tournaments. How is the pvp?
This is a big one... I kind of like to chart the progression of games that I'm going to play. Since release, what modules have been released? What general content did they each bring? I don't need the entire patch notes, but just a few major additions to the game with each module would help.
What is on the horizon for this game? What new content do they plan to add? Any new races or classes, player housing, world content, more pvp content? That sort of thing.
Thanks in advance.
Comments
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I think the LFG window is the best I've seen in a mmo. It is super easy to use and to see what the current group has that you are interested in, and also who is in it. If you want to avoid a said person you will know if they are in the group before you join. Unless they join after you get in haha.
Anyways, DDO isn't for everyone it seems. I have a lot of fun in it. The trial is the best way to go. If you like the game find a good guild that fits your playtime and playstyle. These forums here are very anti-ddo. I would suggest asking same questions in the DDO forums in the Guest and Trial Forums at the main site. You can post there and not have to be a subscriber.
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Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.
DDO is fun only if you run with your friends or join a great guild. Even then it will lose its charm in a few months maybe longer if you are more of the caual gamer. The roleplay is limited to what you and the party set for yourselves. The game is devoid of roleplaying itself. The pvp is only in tavern brawling areas and many of the spells have been deactivated. So it can be alot of fun but alot of it will depend on what you bring to it as well. As far as your "fix" I would say DDO is like methadone when you are a heroine junkie. It will calm your physical twitchyness but wont get you high.
Enigma id love to run a campagin with ya! Do you do any internet D&D like openRPG or play by post? Also I dont want any further comment about losing your virginity on game night.
haha, that's an awesome quote.
If you have any love for the original game, avoid this one at all costs. It will not only disappoint you, but will ruin your hopes of ever seeing another D&D game online MMO again. WotC pushed the Eberron campaign (huge mistake) to help boost sales for that new environment in PnP. The environment isn't what makes DDO bad, it's the fact that they can't agree on core rule changes they want to implement in order to make the game viable as a video game.
I don't know about other people, but the Customer Service I have experienced in the game is some of the worst customer service I've ever experienced. They will close a ticket you've opened without even speaking with you about the issue most of the time. They are somewhat lazy in the sense that they don't keep logs on a lot of the things you do in the game (i.e. loot pulled, monsters killed, combat logs, etc.) and therefore can't do anything when you open a ticket stating that you're missing a piece of loot. Right now they are experiencing a bug that when you mail/transfer an item to another player, your weapon loses it's bane effect (if it has one) or disappears entirely. This isn't happening to everyone of course, but there are enough people it IS happening to that many of them (including myself) have decided to leave the game. They have not designed or implemented a fix for this particular bug so for all those current players out there, don't mail/transfer anything of value and lock it down in your inventory or bank lest you lose your +5 Mithral Full Plate.
Anyways, your questions pertained more towards the gaming/rp'ing aspect rather than CS so let me address those issues as well.
As for the gaming, it's an MMO, do not expect it to be anything like the PnP version in any way. It's only 1 1/2 years into the game and everyone is already overpowered. Almost everyone past level 12 in the game has a vorpal, a banisher, a disruptor, a smiter, or some other uber god weapon to use in the game against specific foes that makes boss encounters ridiculously easy. The devs cannot seem to agree on one system of mechanics and they introduced something that's entirely out of the scope of the game called the "Enhancement System" that adds to the already horrid balance issues that exist in the game. First, you could equipment 4 enhancements, then they realized too many people were overpowered with this system, so they nerfed a ton of the enhancements, then people were still overpowered, so they completely revamped the enhancement system and changed elements of it that many players had already come to depend on. They have changed casting times, animation times, bonuses from feats and enhancements too many times to count. They also waste their time implementing things that aren't supposed to even be in the game such as the favor system. They make almost no use whatsoever of the Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Bluffing skills while also implenting a "passive" skill system such as haggle, listen, spot etc. Instead of rolling a d20 haggle or a listen check as you would in a regular game, your skill rank has to be equal to or greater than the DC of whatever you normally would have rolled against.
For example, in PnP the DM tells your rogue to roll a spot check. You roll d20 and 12 is the result and your mod is +5 for a total of 17. The DC on the spot check is 15. Therefore whatever it is that the DM wanted you to roll against, you actually see. In DDO, spot (which is only used for spotting hidden monsters, doors, and traps) is considered a passive skill. Therefore if the DC of whatever you are trying to spot is 15, unless your spot skill is 15 or greater, you won't be notified that you are spotting something.
Because of this inability to implement the skill system correctly, skills are far less valuable in the game than in PnP especially when it comes to RP'ing.
The reward/xp system is also FUBAR'ed. There are lvl 6-8 quests which seem hard as hell to complete with a group of lvl 6-8 players and the xp is crap. Like less than 1000xp (which you get more than that in lvl 1-2 quests). On the other hand, there are lvl 14 quests (like Prison of the Planes) that offer a base of 14,000 xp that can be upped when you run it on elite (+50% xp) that can be completed with a decent group in under 45 minutes. So as a result, no one wants to bother playing through the crap levels of 6-10 because the xp/loot rewards aren't worth it and you end up getting a lot of lvl 1-5 players and a lot of lvl 10-14 players all running the same handful of quests that offer the most bang for the buck.
Finally, they recently had something called a Welcome Back Weekend, where they were trying to get people who had left the game to come back and play again by offering an additional 50% xp to all quests and additional +1 to all loot. (which they fucked up the loot tables to begin with, but let's not get into that) Keep in mind the level cap is 14 for the next few statements.....
On the Friday it started, the servers were slammed and everyone was running all the lvl 16 quests they possibly could to get the lvl 17 loot and people were pulling some crazy stuff, but then all of a sudden, the admins told people that half the servers were going to be taken off line for a while. The next Saturday, the lag was horrible and people from the the downed servers joined up on the servers that weren't down for stuff to do. The downtime turned into a 4 hour session on Saturday and a 4 hour session on Sunday. When they finally got everything worked out they gave everyone on all servers an additional day (Monday) to have the +1 loot and +50% xp. It was a nice try, but too many people were already so pissed at the development and tech team that it might have done more damage than good to the game overall.
As far as RP'ing goes, because of the way the game is set up, it is almost non-existent and very difficult to find groups that are willing to rp rather than just do loot/xp farming.
/flame on if you disagree
"If you have any love for the original game, avoid this one at all costs."
That's a matter of opinion. I play PnP almost every week, have played all editions, and I think DDO is very good with the atmosphere it brings. Of course I think this or that should be changed, but overall it FEELS like a real-time D&D. I could explain that better, but I'm just typing this quick.
Eberron is a little too steampunk-ish for me, but there's not much I can do about that.
Besides, they do have a free trial. I don't understand why there are so many "should I play this or that" threads for games that have free trials.
"For example, in PnP the DM tells your rogue to roll a spot check. You roll d20 and 12 is the result and your mod is +5 for a total of 17. The DC on the spot check is 15. Therefore whatever it is that the DM wanted you to roll against, you actually see. In DDO, spot (which is only used for spotting hidden monsters, doors, and traps) is considered a passive skill. Therefore if the DC of whatever you are trying to spot is 15, unless your spot skill is 15 or greater, you won't be notified that you are spotting something. "
That's not a good example at all. Spot SHOULD be a passive skill. If you're playing PnP, the DM says roll a spot check, you miss it, and then says you don't see anything, you are metagaming by knowing something is really there.
The dumbest skill roll ever is having seen someone roll low on a search for traps and then says, "Hmmm, this looks like a dangerous place. I'm going to search for traps again just to be sure." It's just stupid.
Good DMs have the players write their main skills down and then HE rolls for things like that behind the screen.
Honestly, people come up with the dumbest crap when trying to slam DDO.
Actually, Spot is an excellent example. I'm not saying that they HAVE to notify when you miss a spot check. I'm saying that a "Spot check" isn't technically a Spot check roll. In DDO it's simply equip as much crap in loot as you can and hope that your skill lvl is as high as the DC of a given spot. Whereas in PnP, even if the DM rolled for you, at least it's a roll. There's an element of chance there. They've removed that element of chance entirely from the skills system in DDO. Granted spot could stay a passive skill, but at least there should be some kind of a roll behind the scenes that the player isn't aware of unless he succeeds at the roll. This would help eliminate the whole "Well your spot has to be at least 42 to be able to see that trapbox on elite dude." If the DC of a given spot is say 20, in PnP even someone with 0 spot skill can at least make a roll if the DM allows them to try and spot something that doesn't look quite right in a room/area/dungeon or wherever they are.
Even so, the fact that at this point, everyone in the game knows where almost every single trap/trap box, and hidden door is already, it's pretty much too late to make any significant changes to that particular skill. I'm not faulting people for likeing the game, if it's your cup of tea, that's fine, but to me the game is D&D in name only and doesn't realize any of its true potential. You are right about it being a matter of opinion, but that's why I said what I said, because it's just MY opinion of the game.
Former Wizards of the Coast employees are running this game into the ground. They have no concept of old D&D rules and are constantly scaling the architecture down to adapt to the problems with their few members. Entire guilds boycotted events like +50% XP. The Sarlona server did not have very many people on it and it was very difficult to find a group. Many believe that the people in charge of the game only listen to a couple of members that have been with the thing since its inception.
If you played Diablo then DDO is the same type of game. Run around and kill. Most people do not ever have to use their quest journal as it means absolutely nothing. (Diablo and DDO comparisons are not even close..that would cheapen Diablo too much). I played for 8 months with DDO and was hoping that after countless downtimes and server crashes, patch after patch and change after change that these former WOTC employees would get it....but they have no clue.
Roleplay=NO, Plot-NO, Storyline=NO, Evil Characters=NO (its politcally incorrrect to mention evil in this day and age of terrorism).
$19.95 retail and $14.95 a month=NO