DDO compared to Guildwars pve wise?

metalhead980 · November 2008

How is this game compared to guild wars Pve wise?

looking for someone who played both to tell me how DDO is better than GW pve.

Right now i don't know if its worth it to play DDO since GW is free and both games are similar.

mindspat · November 2008

It's been a whle since I've played Guildwars. I think I bought the second expansion although never played either enough to cap more then a single character.

I ilked the PvE in guild wars. The graphics were sweet, the pathing was simple and it played very casual. From what I recall the combat was based on "pulling" mobs and spaming a series of attacks. If you agressed a mob that was too close to another you'd pull both.

DDO is vastly different. The game is played in X, Y and Z coordinates. Jumping is a tacticle action that can be used to grasp a low hanging ledge, to jump over traps if the rogue wasn't able to disarm them, and/or even to avoid getting hit while a Mob is swinging at you while shield blocking to mitigate the damage. The Mobs react to your character through Sight and Sound. They hear you and not only react to your presence they also react to other mob's presence as well. If one mobs hears you, they will investigate the sound and if they agress it tends to alert the other mobs who will also investigate and enventually attack you as well. Cast fear and watch then all run away or flesh to stone and let them sit. EXP is gained for completing a quest, not for each kill.

Combat consists of several different factors. Melee is a real time action and the speed and number of attacks (a round is 6 seconds) is governed by the character class, the character level and any possible buffs cast on the character. When swinging a weapon, you general Swing Like Mad Till It's Dead!! When casting spells, you have to use judgement and precision or you end up wasting spell points which are not regained imediately at the end of combat. Hit Points and Spell Points do not regenerate when running adventures, you gain them back by "resting" at Shrines. This causes the game play to be better orchistrated then GW and challenges players to work together while developing unique strategies based upon the partie's current make up of characters.

Persistant AoE spells, does GW have these? A caster can cast a spell like "Wall Of Fog" which causes hostiles to move slowly and miss their targets more often, then your allies could fight the mobs in these - It looks like a big spherical foggy cloud. Glitter Dust is nice, it blinds mobs who enter it if they fail a saving throw vs Will and there's other spells which could cause a negative to Will Saves. When a FireBall hits its target it explodes and damages all the mobs in the immediate vicinity, or you can. You can do all these at the same time and in some situations you might actually need to.

Loot is typicall gained at key points of a quest and isn't given out per mob that's killed and you almost always get a choice of random rewards once the quest is completed.

The areas in GW is very similar to DDO. You enter and progress through it until you reach a goal or exit. While DDO has something like 7-10 out door areas they are not the mainstream questing areas for the most part, although a few areas are frequently traveled to enter a quest. Quests in DDO tend to be very personlized single instanced zones, much like GW, but in a sense that as they are completed you exit where as GW feels like there's more emphasis on zoning through mutliple outdoor areas. DDO does not give the same feeling although it's more of a presentation then it is by design.

I like DDO more then GW for a few simple reasons. Character dynamics in DDO are incredible. There really is an endless option to how you can multi class and build a character. Loot is very similar (ie, items that enhance stats and functions) to GW but it's more broad and allows for incredibly unique character builds. You can also take the GW approach and create very streamlined min/max charcaters if that suits you although these types of builds tend not to have as many options in the end game due to loot being more applicable to diverse playstyles.

I'm positive there's more to say...

They are similar although I prefer the higher dynamics of DDO and high strategies enforced by the content. I would say GW is like an extremely light version of DDO. Of course DDO costs a monthly subscription fee.

Talyn · November 2008

They're only similar in the sense that both are designed for groups not soloing (DDO does have a solo difficulty on some quests, and in GW you have to work up to a specific build to solo certain zones or certain mobs) and both use towns as public lobbies while the actual adventure/quest/dungeon are all private instances for your group.

DDO is kinda a mix between normal Diku-MMORPG and console-ish action RPG with some Tomb Raider on the side. You have to make each swing, each dodge or block, and it's very fast-paced. (I guess you could consider the pace another similarity with GW.) Jumping, climbing, grabbing ledges, detecting and disarming traps (or using the traps against the mobs) all come into place here.

Most quests are dungeon crawls, though some are in pretty big outdoor areas with smaller dungeons located within them. There are several "wilderness landscapes" which would be similar to any world zone in GW.

Wait til Turbine puts the new trial out with the brand new starter area they released a few weeks ago and give it a shot then. Occasionally they run promotions to get DDO for $10/month too.

I play both DDO and GW but other than the technicalities of being instanced with public lobbies, they both are very very different games and each plays very differently from the other.

If you enjoy the dungeons in Eye of the North, and/or if you enjoyed dungeons/raids in normal MMO's you might like DDO. There's no travel times, everything is similar to "map travel" to get where you're going, but all the adventures take place in hand-crafted dungeons or zones kinda like EOTN.

Both games also offer a ton of customization. GW is all about how you put your skills, gear, and attributes together for a specific (or general) purpose. DDO is D&D so it's all about the levels, but like GW you can multi-class (up to 3 classes I think?) and there's a ton of customization available. A lot of DDO players get really into creating new builds, just like GW players do.

Rokurgepta · November 2008

Originally posted by metalhead980

How is this game compared to guild wars Pve wise?
looking for someone who played both to tell me how DDO is better than GW pve.
Right now i don't know if its worth it to play DDO since GW is free and both games are similar.

I played both for a couple of years and to me DDO is the more fun MMO. GW is a nice game and worth having for any MMO player.

I found the hirelings in GW to be better as party members than most people I grouped with. I found very little content that I could not get past with just hirelings and heros. GW has its strong points. With the size of the world due to all the games that fit together/expansions you do have a pretty large world to play in.

DDO is more group dynamic oriented and takes working with a team to really shine. They have added hirelings, but I have not played with them but I would hope they do not ruin the dynamic of teamwork that is one of DDOs strongest points.

Yes both games are instanced but the combat and dungeons in DDO to me are much better done and if you have not played DDO before you will definately get your monies worth for a year if not more at this point.

levsix · November 2008

I've played both heavily to end game and I prefer DDO. DDO has a lot more depth, in my opinion. There's really no comparing the two. The two posters above gave some good explanations as to why that is. I definitely list it as one of my all time favorite online games.

Unknown · November 2008

I have played both and like both.

I think the most important thing is: they are not pretty similar.

Now yes its true the they are both mainly designed around stand alone instances but beyond that they are very different. The instances are very different, the way they reward is very different and the combat is very different.

IMO Guild Wars class design is the best in the MMO industry. Their interface and net tech is also top grade. DDO will not really touch GW in that regard. But almost no game does.

However DDO has a FPS like system that is simply unique. There is no MMO game that works like it and for fast paced action it is pretty good. In that regard GW and DDO are pretty similar but the action feels much different. Sure in both games you can dodge an arrow, but in DDO everything else in the combat system also follows that idea. GW is much more of a auto target game than DDO. Which seems bakwards but its true.

The instances are actually less of a world than GW in that GW instance connect to form an overland route. However DDO instances are much more involved dungeons crawls. I am not gonna say they are better of more complex. Some people will say that but that is because they don't know jack about GW. However the feeling of them is very different they are more 3D and more directed and paced.

Anyway the point is they are different and offer quite a different feeling. They do have some similarities and i think someone who likes the action of GW may appreciate DDO . But they in no way can substitute for each other.

I personally believe GW is a higher quality game in many many respects and there is not soubt it is the best value on the market for this subsection. But it doesn't give me what DDO does so that is basically the end of the story really. No other game does.

Rokurgepta · November 2008

Originally posted by gestalt11

I have played both and like both.

I think the most important thing is: they are not pretty similar.

Now yes its true the they are both mainly designed around stand alone instances but beyond that they are very different. The instances are very different, the way they reward is very different and the combat is very different.

IMO Guild Wars class design is the best in the MMO industry. Their interface and net tech is also top grade. DDO will not really touch GW in that regard. But almost no game does.

However DDO has a FPS like system that is simply unique. There is no MMO game that works like it and for fast paced action it is pretty good. In that regard GW and DDO are pretty similar but the action feels much different. Sure in both games you can dodge an arrow, but in DDO everything else in the combat system also follows that idea. GW is much more of a auto target game than DDO. Which seems bakwards but its true.

The instances are actually less of a world than GW in that GW instance connect to form an overland route. However DDO instances are much more involved dungeons crawls. I am not gonna say they are better of more complex. Some people will say that but that is because they don't know jack about GW. However the feeling of them is very different they are more 3D and more directed and paced.

Anyway the point is they are different and offer quite a different feeling. They do have some similarities and i think someone who likes the action of GW may appreciate DDO . But they in no way can substitute for each other.

I personally believe GW is a higher quality game in many many respects and there is not soubt it is the best value on the market for this subsection. But it doesn't give me what DDO does so that is basically the end of the story really. No other game does.

I think DDOs Dungeons are better and more complex than GW and having played both feel I can give that opinion.

GW you can get through almost the entire game with some smarts and the hirelings. DDO takes more human skill to get through. Now maybe DDO gets hirelings to the point where you can basicly go through the game with just them but I hope not. To me one of GWs weaknesses was the fact that very little of the game required other people when the hirelings tended to do their role in a group better than most people.

Sarr · November 2008

[quote=Rokurgepta]I think DDOs Dungeons are better and more complex than GW and having played both feel I can give that opinion.

GW you can get through almost the entire game with some smarts and the hirelings. DDO takes more human skill to get through. Now maybe DDO gets hirelings to the point where you can basicly go through the game with just them but I hope not. To me one of GWs weaknesses was the fact that very little of the game required other people when the hirelings tended to do their role in a group better than most people.[/quote]

No, I've tested their versions from last hireling event . And I can assure you that they won't be able to replace players in a dungeon.

Using hirelings in DDO isn't as automated as in GW, where you can focus only on yourself. DDO hirelings are more relying on your own skill in using them. So, DDO just got another level of complexity, but I don't mean that controlling a hireling is hard . It's pretty easy as soon as you've learned how they differ from GW version.

One DDO unique thing: the traps . Hireling will fall into almost every trap if you won't command him appropriately. This means, if you don't know a dungeon (doing it first time), you will have to learn from your mistakes and be careful like you were solo. It's easy to die in DDO if you're rushing like in Quake or Diablo, and it's as easy to die for a hireling.

But, commanding hireling to wait while you sneak ahead and maybe pull monsters is a great tactic. I particularly love this one: I sneak as a rogue to the door, living my hireling with command "Stand Ground" and with "Active" stance in the middle of a room. Then, staying on the side of the door, I open it and activate "Sneak" again on my rogue (opening door deactivates sneaking, so I switch it on as soon as door is open).

The effect? Monsters see only my hireling (I prefer Warrior or Paladin), and run to attack him. As soon as monsters get really close, he starts to defend himself, and I'm right behind every monster's back! So, being in stealth mode (sneak), I can sneak attack monsters for great damage, while my hireling tank concentrates their blows. This way they don't even know I'm killing them from behind, because they don't even get to see me - real backstabbing like in PnP .

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