Stay FAR away from this game

slask777 · November 2008

A bloody troll and hater. Bleh...

I enjoyed the few months I played this game before I got tired of it when it was new. It's not so bad as some of you want it to be. They did some stuff that broke the lore for the die-hard DnD fans though, but overall it was a little fun for a while. I have no idea how the game is now, but I don't think it changed that much since I played it.

Ignore the advice of this hater and try the game for yourself. You're the best judge on what you like anyway, not some random hater on the internet.

signetring · November 2008

Obviously none of you were at Gencon 2005 where Turbine had their D&D Online challenge. Beta accounts were given to players who could successfully defeat the Marut with a poorly equipped character. That was in August 2005, mind you. If I told you that I played it in August 05 even THAT would have been accurate. So its really laughable at the attempts to discredit me when the reality is, you can't argue with what Turbine has done to the game.

Their piss poor development cycle (six months in between ANY updates? come on thats absolutely ridiculous in today's day and age). You can go on and on about all the wonderful and vibrant content but the fact is that each dungeon is just a repeat of the one before. Stand at the door, go inside, avoid the trap and kill the boss.

Oh and by the way for those of you who are still learning about why D&D is such a waste... going into an instance and killing things nets you ZERO XP. The only way you get XP is by completing said mission, and it is a flat amount of xp each time (with small modifiers based on hitting all the objectives).

That's right.. you go through entire zones and fight swarms of monsters for ZERO XP, and ZERO loot. If you're stuck in a pug that sucks donkey balls (as I suspect some of the posters here represent) then you are assed out and get nothing for your trouble. Nothing at all.

Can't you see that the only reason they did it this way is because if they awarded XP per monster, players would hit caps EVEN quicker? I'm sorry but a week or two to level cap is ridiculously short on content. That's even WITH extensive gameplay mechanics that rate limit levelling.

So you really can't sit here and defend Turbine's approach to this game. They have created an artificial environment with false checks and balances that has only one end result:

Turbine's way or the highway.

For all the enhanced gameplay and all the possibilities that you talk about, there is still only one way to beat the levels: Turbine's way. Bosses with their blanket immunities (a Frost Giant immune to Fire? Say what?) and scripted mechanics (sorry you must kill X, Y and Z before you call kill A B and C) make this game a complete borefest.

And if you're lucky to get one of the above posters in your group, get ready for an even more annoying experience while they tell you how wonderful the game is and how grown ass men still get together on Tuesday nights to throw dice and drink Coors Light. Turbine has their niche alright, and it's a small, sad niche.

BesCirga · November 2008

Originally posted by signetring

Obviously none of you were at Gencon 2005 where Turbine had their D&D Online challenge. Beta accounts were given to players who could successfully defeat the Marut with a poorly equipped character. That was in August 2005, mind you. If I told you that I played it in August 05 even THAT would have been accurate. So its really laughable at the attempts to discredit me when the reality is, you can't argue with what Turbine has done to the game.
Their piss poor development cycle (six months in between ANY updates? come on thats absolutely ridiculous in today's day and age). You can go on and on about all the wonderful and vibrant content but the fact is that each dungeon is just a repeat of the one before. Stand at the door, go inside, avoid the trap and kill the boss.
Oh and by the way for those of you who are still learning about why D&D is such a waste... going into an instance and killing things nets you ZERO XP. The only way you get XP is by completing said mission, and it is a flat amount of xp each time (with small modifiers based on hitting all the objectives).
That's right.. you go through entire zones and fight swarms of monsters for ZERO XP, and ZERO loot. If you're stuck in a pug that sucks donkey balls (as I suspect some of the posters here represent) then you are assed out and get nothing for your trouble. Nothing at all.
Can't you see that the only reason they did it this way is because if they awarded XP per monster, players would hit caps EVEN quicker? I'm sorry but a week or two to level cap is ridiculously short on content. That's even WITH extensive gameplay mechanics that rate limit levelling.
So you really can't sit here and defend Turbine's approach to this game. They have created an artificial environment with false checks and balances that has only one end result:
Turbine's way or the highway.
For all the enhanced gameplay and all the possibilities that you talk about, there is still only one way to beat the levels: Turbine's way. Bosses with their blanket immunities (a Frost Giant immune to Fire? Say what?) and scripted mechanics (sorry you must kill X, Y and Z before you call kill A B and C) make this game a complete borefest.
And if you're lucky to get one of the above posters in your group, get ready for an even more annoying experience while they tell you how wonderful the game is and how grown ass men still get together on Tuesday nights to throw dice and drink Coors Light. Turbine has their niche alright, and it's a small, sad niche.

lol... I sense a hint of frustration.

signetring · November 2008

Originally posted by slask777

A bloody troll and hater. Bleh...
I enjoyed the few months I played this game before I got tired of it when it was new. It's not so bad as some of you want it to be. They did some stuff that broke the lore for the die-hard DnD fans though, but overall it was a little fun for a while. I have no idea how the game is now, but I don't think it changed that much since I played it.
Ignore the advice of this hater and try the game for yourself. You're the best judge on what you like anyway, not some random hater on the internet.

For the first time I'm actually going to quote someone in this thread. You brought up a good point. The game was fun for a little while, when it became apparent how Turbine was going to handle it came up quite early on.

Weeks after the game had been out, and after just about everyone had hit level 10, Sporkfire came online and addressed the community and basically was shocked that everyone had been burning through content faster than they had anticipated. Their ONLY remedy was to start slowing down the rate at which people could burn through content. By introducing immunities, more complicated (and in MANY cases, unnecessary) objectives, they could re-work old quests to slow people down.

Rather than produce new content, they decided to make old content slower (they nerfed pretty much all major quest XP by a factor of half during the first few weeks in an attempt to slow people down).

From the very get-go Turbine was a victim of its own success. Their business model was simply not built for rapid content development, and as such rather than just admit that and focus on other areas of the game, they artificially went back and made things harder. Forget new development--they said--just make the old content tougher. And there's where they spent a lot of their time.

My point here is that I gave them their chance. I was in the biggest guild on our server, and is still one of the VERY few Founder's guild left in the game. So I have seen far more people go, than ever came into the game. So with that, I'll take my leave now, no point in beating a dead horse. Just needed to let you know that you are free to do whatever you like, but if you take my advice you'll be $14.99 richer.

There are far more and better places to get your fantasy fix these days.

signetring · November 2008

Frustration? None at all, just telling people what to expect from this dud before they spend their hard earned money on it.

Normally you join a game and expect it to get better. On the eve of their 3 year anniversary, this game has gotten worse. Overpromised, under delivered, that's what DDO's about.

moorewr · November 2008

Originally posted by signetring

Oh and by the way for those of you who are still learning about why D&D is such a waste... going into an instance and killing things nets you ZERO XP. The only way you get XP is by completing said mission, and it is a flat amount of xp each time (with small modifiers based on hitting all the objectives).
That's right.. you go through entire zones and fight swarms of monsters for ZERO XP, and ZERO loot. If you're stuck in a pug that sucks donkey balls (as I suspect some of the posters here represent) then you are assed out and get nothing for your trouble. Nothing at all.

Let me correct a factual error for anyone still reading:

This has not been accurate since Mod 4. There are numerous "Explorer" zones which give xp for accumulated kills as well as explorer way-points visited and rare bosses killed. You could nearly cap just with these.. there's a hole around level 8 where you would need to complete a few quests.

Also, once again you seem oddly insistent that DDO be a WoW clone. No thanks.

signetring · December 2008

Originally posted by moorewr

Let me correct a factual error for anyone still reading:

This has not been accurate since Mod 4. There are numerous "Explorer" zones which give xp for accumulated kills as well as explorer way-points visited and rare bosses killed. You could nearly cap just with these.. there's a hole around level 8 where you would need to complete a few quests.

Also, once again you seem oddly insistent that DDO be a WoW clone. No thanks.

For those of you who aspire to achieve truth in its fullest context, allow me to point out this poster's attempt at puffing up these "explorer" zones for "accumulated kills" isn't something to be excited over. They are absolutely a joke.

Think of yet another instance but instead of going in some dungeon it's a "large expansive area" outdoors. Funny though, it takes about 5 minutes to run the circumference of it, but I guess to some that's MASSIVE. Further more, the quests depend on killing a set number of monsters before any XP is awarded.

On the low end, you have to kill 25 monsters before you get a tiny nominal XP award. The next achievement where XP is awarded is doubled every time until you get to 1500. By the time you get an XP award that's even a pittance worth the time and effort, you've killed 1500 useless monsters.

You call this a game that's unlike any other? Maybe you're right about that, but it's not in a good way. At least in other games, you don't have to do the hundreds (or in this case a thousand+) kills before you get anything at all. At least in other games you can get incremental advances to your character for each kill, which depending on the time you have in game, could be all that's required to hit the next milestone. To make matters worse, no corpses contain loot, there are just a few low-level chests in these areas because they are so easily "farmable". Then, after you've hit the chest 7 times, you start getting level 0 and level 1 items, until the 10th pull where you get nothing at all.

A side note of Turbine's awesome coding: This chest mechanic was broken for almost a year when they discovered that chests had NEVER reset. That's right, once you looted a chest in the world 10 times, that's it you could NEVER go back to it. That is until months of protests, petitions and bug reports, a developer begrudgingly said he would look into it after constantly reinforcing that everything was working as intended.

So the next time you want to "clear things up" you might want to put the focus on your own posts on not other people's. Because you sir, stepped in it.

moorewr · December 2008

Originally posted by signetring

Originally posted by moorewr

Let me correct a factual error for anyone still reading:

This has not been accurate since Mod 4. There are numerous "Explorer" zones which give xp for accumulated kills as well as explorer way-points visited and rare bosses killed. You could nearly cap just with these.. there's a hole around level 8 where you would need to complete a few quests.

Also, once again you seem oddly insistent that DDO be a WoW clone. No thanks.

For those of you who aspire to achieve truth in its fullest context, allow me to point out this poster's attempt at puffing up these "explorer" zones for "accumulated kills" isn't something to be excited over. They are absolutely a joke[..trolling]

Look, your statement was incorrect, and I corrected it. I find the explorer zones boring.. just like I find many open spaces in other games borin, but that's not the issue. Your statement was wrong and misleading.

You may resume your petty insults now if you like, you pimply nerd.

Impaqt · December 2008

Many quests also have optional Objectives that Pay XP as you COmplete them. Stormcleave for example.. Almost 2000XP in optional Objectives is available. ALmost all quests have some sort of optional you can get XP (And Loot) for completing outside of the Main storyline.

TUrbine has also introduced Collectable XP Rewards. Mostly lowbie type stuff righ tnow... But they are there.

mindspat · December 2008

Originally posted by signetring

Ref "Outdoor Adventure Areas":
To make matters worse, no corpses contain loot, there are just a few low-level chests in these areas because they are so easily "farmable".
So the next time you want to "clear things up" you might want to put the focus on your own posts on not other people's. Because you sir, stepped in it.

All Mobs have a chance of dropping "Treasure Bags". The items dropped can be turned in for wands, potions and all kinds of other random items. The loot that Mob's drop can also be used in a process to enhance your items to improve the damage, resistences, saving throws and even armor class. The "Treasure Bag" replaces the old "sparkly" graphic on slain mobs with an actual Treasure Bag that makes a loud Thud when dropped. This collectible system has been in the game since it launched although the Equipment Enhancement is a realtively new feature.

The chests in the outdoor areas are level specific and are only "lowlevel" if the characters are equally of a "lowlevel". For example, if the area is a level 5 questing zone then you'll get level 5 appropriate drops and if it's a level 16 area you're pulling loot from a lvl 16 loot table. Obviously, the level of the loot table does not mean you're going to be pulling golden eggs out of every chest even though a race restricted +1 Keen Rapier of Puntcuring is only a level 4 item. Regardless, the OP is just ass backwards - The Vale has 16 randomly spawning named bosses which each drop a chest and you can frequently find 7-10 in the area. Doing this as a loot run will make you upwards of about 7k-15k plat per run; 15k plat = 150k gold.

Beyond this it's quite hard to make obvious statements about the OP without succombing to his misinformative trollish intent. By all means, I enjoy discussing what's good, what could have been and what should be, but this person is a joke.

Doctorwhofan · December 2008

Signetring = Etkin?

Regardless.

However, I WILL defend the population. Mature for the most part, virtually no gankers. Most will giveyou the shirt off their back.

To the OP: you stuck around for THREE YEARS to finally say this? Methinks there is alot more to your rant (yes, it's a rant!) than you are telling. Perhaps you were banned, shunned, reported, or any of the above. Who knows? But i wonder...

Anyways, go play another game then. Apparently you wasted 3 years of your life playing it, and you would not be happy picking up again anyways.

A final word. DDO is DDO. To compare it to another MMO would be almost impossible. It doesn't play any other and to some they can't handle that. Of course, it takes them a little less than 3 years to figure that out.

Justicesar · December 2008

This game rocks.

Gardavil · December 2008

Originally posted by signetring

I'm thrilled that you disagree with my assessment, but I will just point out that after 2 months of playing the game if you are only level 8, then this game is PERFECT for you. DDO caters to the slow gamer quite well.
Considering that most people achieve level 8 in a matter of days (average gamer could do it in less than 3), your slow and thorough pace will ensure that this game (well, ANY game really) will always have something for you. So congratulations on finding another game to keep you occupied.
I will say this again, DDO is perfect for you. Most of the people I met in DDO were happy to be unguilded, happy to be soloing, and prefer pickup groups every time. If you see nothing wrong with that, then again, I really have to question what kind of gamer are you? Dungeon crawling, no spoilers, if I had to guess, you sound like a roleplayer (or worse, permadeather)... and we all know how the MMO world looks at that.
Let me first remind you that the pace at which you play is not the normal, not the average, it's actually in the slowest bracket that exists. With that said, much of your findings aren't really consistent with the MMO world.
The game itself, peaked after its first month of release. It has been on a steady decline for 2 years. DDO never saw a day where growth occurred. You can always judge a tree by its fruit, and DDO is pretty barren. Except for 5 raids that can all be done in one night, DDO succeeds only at failure for endgame.
Having played the game from October 2005 - February 2008, I've seen the good bad and ugly. The problem is, the only people that have stayed with DDO, are the ones who really aren't looking for anything special or unique in an MMO. They are looking for a game that plays slow (to match their pace of gaming), which DDO excels at.
Most gamers are going to have a serious problem with DDO, and that is the purpose of this thread. If you are bored/tired of WoW / AoC / WAR, DDO will drive you absolutely nuts. In just a matter of days you can see everything there is to see in the game.
The worst part about DDO is their marketing. No, I don't mean the lack okf marketing, I mean the way they sizzle a pile of dog poop. With statements like "doubled the content since release", or "winner of best persistent world MMO (DDO has no persistent world except one single town)", they have frequently made claims that they could not live up to. Coupled with the fact that development went from 10 new quests a month to 10 new quests per year, DDO is literally like the asscrack of MMO games. Sure there are dozens of other MMO's that get no updates, but those MMO's don't make the same claims as DDO. DDO sells itself as being an active, thriving MMO which it most certainly is not.
Module 6 and 7 introduced many, many bugs that STILL have not been addressed. DDO's updated/patchfix cycle is almost nonexistant. In between modules (between 5-8 months) they MIGHT (and this has maybe only happened a few times) release one patchfix release. So not only do they not come up with new stuff, they can't even fix the old stuff.
They changed their raid flagging mechanic on many raids so that groups could access them and repeat them much easier. They refused however, to make this change retro-active. It's these kinds of design flaws that make no sense to intelligent gamers.
But don't take my word for it, go onto their forums and see how many founders/long time players post on a regular basis that they are leaving because of X Y and Z. Turbine fans consistently turn into disgruntled customers. My opinions need no defense, the Turbine tree bears bad fruit. Just because your standards are low, does not make that game great by any means.
Back to your first point, DDO is unlike any MMO out there. No MMO has made such a big hype about so little. Everyone knows that without the success of LOTRO (which by the way still has many many cool features that were supposed to land at DDO), Turbine would have sunk DDO a LONG time ago. So you're right... unlike any MMO out there. This kind of disease is quite rare and unique and should not be shared with others.

Firstly I would like to say that I am NOT flaming your opinion signetring, but something you said got my attention. I decided to express my own DnD experience within this thread. Perhaps it can shed some light on why DDO is designed as everyone states.

I played Advanced Dungeons and Dragons v2.0 between 1982 and 1986. I was a player mostly, but also DM'd and still have my manuals. I have NOT yet tried DDO but have been considering it. My first ADnD character was named Arkanon, and through the years I have seen this name claimed by many MMO gamers. I always wonder if I knew these players back then...

In your first three paragraphs I see the viewpoint of the current MMO gamer, and nothing wrong with that btw. However ADnD, which is what DDO is supposedly based upon was not about racing through to any kind of level cap, nor was it about characters that were immortals, always being ressurected after a tough fight. ADnD was about a character making his or her way through the world created by TSR and/or the DM, it was about the journey itself, not just an "end game". Level 10 in ADnD took a long time to accomplish, experience was rewarded only after quest completion, etc. sounds like DDO is right as comparred to ADnD. If level 10 can be reached within only a few days, then that needs to fixed...that is way too fast for any virtual world built upon DnD.

Gameplay in ADnD was about careful planning and about imagining that you were there, that you wanted to achieve your goal without death. It was about emmersing yourself into the life of your character ...hence Roleplay. If you didn't want to roleplay ADnD, most DM's didn't want you in their campaigns. ADnD was also about Permadeath, at least it was with the DM's I played under, and if not permadeath, then I can guarrentee you that the DM was going to have you do a quest(s) with your other characters in his/her world to get your favorite main character back alive, and hopefully in one piece. Many of the DM's I played under would expect your character's Character Sheets turned into to them if your character died in their dungeon. I doubt many MMO gamers would relish that style of gameplay today yet I loved it. It made the game all the more immersive and ultimately enjoyable.

So if DDO is designed to be the massively online version of ADnD, then I can tell you that Slow leveling due to the journey of your character, Roleplaying, and Permadeath may very well be a part of this game. Any MMO gamer that does not desire to participate in a MMO designed around these concepts should probably find another game. From my point of view these concepts still have a place in MMOs today simply because it was DnD that holds a huge part of credit for how games evolved into the MMOs of today.

Not all MMOs should be cookiecutter versions of something else, and DDO sounds unique...yet familiar to me. Maybe I will recreate my old ADnD characters and see how they fare. I thoroughly enjoyed my years playing ADnD, and perhaps I will enjoy DDO as well. Other MMO gamers that do not enjoy DDO can of course leave the game, but from my vantage point I do not believe DDO was designed to be like other MMOs and that is a good thing.

Doctorwhofan · December 2008

Originally posted by Gardavil

Originally posted by signetring

I'm thrilled that you disagree with my assessment, but I will just point out that after 2 months of playing the game if you are only level 8, then this game is PERFECT for you. DDO caters to the slow gamer quite well.
Considering that most people achieve level 8 in a matter of days (average gamer could do it in less than 3), your slow and thorough pace will ensure that this game (well, ANY game really) will always have something for you. So congratulations on finding another game to keep you occupied.
I will say this again, DDO is perfect for you. Most of the people I met in DDO were happy to be unguilded, happy to be soloing, and prefer pickup groups every time. If you see nothing wrong with that, then again, I really have to question what kind of gamer are you? Dungeon crawling, no spoilers, if I had to guess, you sound like a roleplayer (or worse, permadeather)... and we all know how the MMO world looks at that.
Let me first remind you that the pace at which you play is not the normal, not the average, it's actually in the slowest bracket that exists. With that said, much of your findings aren't really consistent with the MMO world.
The game itself, peaked after its first month of release. It has been on a steady decline for 2 years. DDO never saw a day where growth occurred. You can always judge a tree by its fruit, and DDO is pretty barren. Except for 5 raids that can all be done in one night, DDO succeeds only at failure for endgame.
Having played the game from October 2005 - February 2008, I've seen the good bad and ugly. The problem is, the only people that have stayed with DDO, are the ones who really aren't looking for anything special or unique in an MMO. They are looking for a game that plays slow (to match their pace of gaming), which DDO excels at.
Most gamers are going to have a serious problem with DDO, and that is the purpose of this thread. If you are bored/tired of WoW / AoC / WAR, DDO will drive you absolutely nuts. In just a matter of days you can see everything there is to see in the game.
The worst part about DDO is their marketing. No, I don't mean the lack okf marketing, I mean the way they sizzle a pile of dog poop. With statements like "doubled the content since release", or "winner of best persistent world MMO (DDO has no persistent world except one single town)", they have frequently made claims that they could not live up to. Coupled with the fact that development went from 10 new quests a month to 10 new quests per year, DDO is literally like the asscrack of MMO games. Sure there are dozens of other MMO's that get no updates, but those MMO's don't make the same claims as DDO. DDO sells itself as being an active, thriving MMO which it most certainly is not.
Module 6 and 7 introduced many, many bugs that STILL have not been addressed. DDO's updated/patchfix cycle is almost nonexistant. In between modules (between 5-8 months) they MIGHT (and this has maybe only happened a few times) release one patchfix release. So not only do they not come up with new stuff, they can't even fix the old stuff.
They changed their raid flagging mechanic on many raids so that groups could access them and repeat them much easier. They refused however, to make this change retro-active. It's these kinds of design flaws that make no sense to intelligent gamers.
But don't take my word for it, go onto their forums and see how many founders/long time players post on a regular basis that they are leaving because of X Y and Z. Turbine fans consistently turn into disgruntled customers. My opinions need no defense, the Turbine tree bears bad fruit. Just because your standards are low, does not make that game great by any means.
Back to your first point, DDO is unlike any MMO out there. No MMO has made such a big hype about so little. Everyone knows that without the success of LOTRO (which by the way still has many many cool features that were supposed to land at DDO), Turbine would have sunk DDO a LONG time ago. So you're right... unlike any MMO out there. This kind of disease is quite rare and unique and should not be shared with others.

Firstly I would like to say that I am NOT flaming your opinion signetring, but something you said got my attention. I decided to express my own DnD experience within this thread. Perhaps it can shed some light on why DDO is designed as everyone states.

I played Advanced Dungeons and Dragons v2.0 between 1982 and 1986. I was a player mostly, but also DM'd and still have my manuals. I have NOT yet tried DDO but have been considering it. My first ADnD character was named Arkanon, and through the years I have seen this name claimed by many MMO gamers. I always wonder if I knew these players back then...

In your first three paragraphs I see the viewpoint of the current MMO gamer, and nothing wrong with that btw. However ADnD, which is what DDO is supposedly based upon was not about racing through to any kind of level cap, nor was it about characters that were immortals, always being ressurected after a tough fight. ADnD was about a character making his or her way through the world created by TSR and/or the DM, it was about the journey itself, not just an "end game". Level 10 in ADnD took a long time to accomplish, experience was rewarded only after quest completion, etc. sounds like DDO is right as comparred to ADnD. If level 10 can be reached within only a few days, then that needs to fixed...that is way too fast for any virtual world built upon DnD.

Gameplay in ADnD was about careful planning and about imagining that you were there, that you wanted to achieve your goal without death. It was about emmersing yourself into the life of your character ...hence Roleplay. If you didn't want to roleplay ADnD, most DM's didn't want you in their campaigns. ADnD was also about Permadeath, at least it was with the DM's I played under, and if not permadeath, then I can guarrentee you that the DM was going to have you do a quest(s) with your other characters in his/her world to get your favorite main character back alive, and hopefully in one piece. Many of the DM's I played under would expect your character's Character Sheets turned into to them if your character died in their dungeon. I doubt many MMO gamers would relish that style of gameplay today yet I loved it. It made the game all the more immersive and ultimately enjoyable.

So if DDO is designed to be the massively online version of ADnD, then I can tell you that Slow leveling due to the journey of your character, Roleplaying, and Permadeath may very well be a part of this game. Any MMO gamer that does not desire to participate in a MMO designed around these concepts should probably find another game. From my point of view these concepts still have a place in MMOs today simply because it was DnD that holds a huge part of credit for how games evolved into the MMOs of today.

Not all MMOs should be cookiecutter versions of something else, and DDO sounds unique...yet familiar to me. Maybe I will recreate my old ADnD characters and see how they fare. I thoroughly enjoyed my years playing ADnD, and perhaps I will enjoy DDO as well. Other MMO gamers that do not enjoy DDO can of course leave the game, but from my vantage point I do not believe DDO was designed to be like other MMOs and that is a good thing.

One thing- it's basted on 3.5 rules, not AD&D. Don't you to be upset when you see there is no THAC0!

thark · December 2008

Originally posted by signetring
Obviously none of you were at Gencon 2005 where Turbine had their D&D Online challenge. Beta accounts were given to players who could successfully defeat the Marut with a poorly equipped character. That was in August 2005, mind you. If I told you that I played it in August 05 even THAT would have been accurate. So its really laughable at the attempts to discredit me when the reality is, you can't argue with what Turbine has done to the game.
Their piss poor development cycle (six months in between ANY updates? come on thats absolutely ridiculous in today's day and age). You can go on and on about all the wonderful and vibrant content but the fact is that each dungeon is just a repeat of the one before. Stand at the door, go inside, avoid the trap and kill the boss.
Oh and by the way for those of you who are still learning about why D&D is such a waste... going into an instance and killing things nets you ZERO XP. The only way you get XP is by completing said mission, and it is a flat amount of xp each time (with small modifiers based on hitting all the objectives).
That's right.. you go through entire zones and fight swarms of monsters for ZERO XP, and ZERO loot. If you're stuck in a pug that sucks donkey balls (as I suspect some of the posters here represent) then you are assed out and get nothing for your trouble. Nothing at all.
Can't you see that the only reason they did it this way is because if they awarded XP per monster, players would hit caps EVEN quicker? I'm sorry but a week or two to level cap is ridiculously short on content. That's even WITH extensive gameplay mechanics that rate limit levelling.
So you really can't sit here and defend Turbine's approach to this game. They have created an artificial environment with false checks and balances that has only one end result:
Turbine's way or the highway.
For all the enhanced gameplay and all the possibilities that you talk about, there is still only one way to beat the levels: Turbine's way. Bosses with their blanket immunities (a Frost Giant immune to Fire? Say what?) and scripted mechanics (sorry you must kill X, Y and Z before you call kill A B and C) make this game a complete borefest.
And if you're lucky to get one of the above posters in your group, get ready for an even more annoying experience while they tell you how wonderful the game is and how grown ass men still get together on Tuesday nights to throw dice and drink Coors Light. Turbine has their niche alright, and it's a small, sad niche.

XP is rewarded upon completion to stay true to the D&D concept, and has nothing to do with how little content there is ..This is also one of the reasons why I like D&DO because it makes the game harder than the average MMO..This is one of the BETTER features of DDO.

...

Can you tell me something , you say it is possible to level from 1 to 16 in 14 days or so.

I said to you before that I was level 8 in a few months by playing the game a couple of hours here and there, maybe 2-3 hours a day at best..On 3 hours you will only get 1 or maybe 2 quests done, unless it's very long you would need more than that to complete the quest.
Unless you use cheasy tactics and rushy methods to reach your goal, I'd say it's impossible to level that fast in DD:O, in that case you are both right and wrong, you are right because it is possible, but just because something is possible it doesn't make it right to do so..

There has always been cheasy methods in games and even MMO's, in MMO's people coudn't use pure cheats, instead they used "holes" in the design, call it design flaws if you so like, and even exploits. For me I seldom or never do a quest twice, I try not to rush, and I never jump around in PUG's because there will always be a small chance i end up in one of those "rushy" xp groups..And I absolutly hate people that would even consider using exploits..

And last, I do not consider it my first duty in DDO to reach end game or cap, why bother with the end game when the journey just started and there is SOOOO MUCH to see and experience..

PS: Sure there is quests like the one you talk about in your example, but most quests in the game has been rather unique. If you can't see that while playing for so long as you claim I believe you lie about all you have said, and maybe only played a few quests in the beginning of the game or not at all..

/junker

Storman1977 · December 2008

Well, Signet, I'll admit, time you started playing varies from 15 - 30 days compared to open beta, and getting a closed beta key via the GenCon contest counts for that. That little bit of time is splitting hairs. As for the other aspects of the argument, remember, to act all high and mighty about a game that has the exact same problems as the majority of MMo's out there, is to say the least childish. You are not the only one acting as such, granted. But you claim that Turbines niche is, and I quote, "a sad, little niche" that you were apart of for over two years according to your own admission. So to act so superior is more than a bit hypocritical.

And of all the other MMO companies out there, I can think of only one company other than Turbine that has multiple games up and running simultaniously. That company is SOE. Now, DDO may not get the attention from Turbine that us loyal players would like, but its still the best game out there for us, and many others like us. You don't like the game any longer, fine. But before you go and bash the game and its player base, remember, it held you in place for two years before you left, which is still a better retention than every other MMO out there except for WoW and Everquest, and EQ doesn't really count because the first three years it was out, its only competition was Ultima Online.

And, if this game is so god awful bad, why has it managed to outlive a number of games that were touted as being the next greatest thing for MMOs. A few that come to mind that are either dead, or slated for execution in the near future: Vangaurd, Tabula Rasa, EQ2(rumored, nothing solid), and now, even AoC has been mentioned that its neck may be on the chopping block due to poor player retention and difficulty maintaining server stability.

As I see it, there is currently three heavy hitters in the MMO set right now: WoW, LoTRo, and WAR. After that, you get into the B-list games: EQ, DDO, GW, AoC, and CoH/V. I don't see this changing anytime soon, at least not until the new Star Wars MMO and Champions Online come out. But at least Turbine is trying to improve DDO and even if we are the redheaded stepchild to the Tolkien monster, those are still hand me downs that are worth a lot of mileage.

korvix · December 2008

srsly I lol'd hard reading some of these posts.

I resub to this game once a year maybe.

Its a fun game, its very niche and as such it has a pretty mature community. Its a very fun game if you are not looking to replace your REAL LIFE with it.

Srsly if you dont like it, move along. Stop wasting your time here making dumb posts, if someone is interested they are gonna pick up the trial and give it a go, nothing you can do about it.

Moroth · December 2008

Originally posted by signetring

Writing commentary about video games always poses this challenge: how does one communicate the obvious fact that a video game is a waste of time? This may sound redundant, but in the case of Dungeons and Dragons Online, there was never an MMO that had such potential that fell by the wayside so quickly. From the initial launch, to the difficult times right after, Turbine proved that the only thing worse than a bad launch is a bad finish.

Any new game will have a new feel and what appears to be endless possibilities, but rather than letting the game blossom and grow into its own, Turbine made a huge mistake. They made this game as a purely linear game with no options at all with the storyline.

The entire game is an instance. Why they felt the need to break out individual servers with a 100% instanced game is beyond me. The biggest impact of this is an empty game. Where normal MMO's tend to sputter because of pickup play, D&D was almost made for pickups. I have never met a more pretentious and annoying group of gamers in my life. They seem to thrive on not having any organization whatsoever. The game simply does not allow it. The guild functions and features simply do not even allow a basic feel of guild mechanics. No guild vaults, no guild rankings, no advantages whatsoever except a name. When you combine a small server broken down with players who prefer guilds and those who don't, you effectively halve the available playerbase. They should have taken a lesson from Guild Wars and at least made one big server with instanced city zones (which they have in game, but you never seen more than 1 or maybe 2 instances, ever.)

So an empty game is the first whammy. Then comes the slow pace of development. The game launched with 10 levels of character progression, and nearly 3 years later, they have only added 6 more. It took players only 3-5 days to max out the first time around, and with 3-4 months in between ANY new quests, every level cap raise they've had took only a few days (or in some cases hours) to hit the max. The problem with this becomes very obvious after only a few days gameplay. After out-pacing the missions, you find yourself either repeating the same dreary missions over and over, or you spend your time in lower level zones grinding out underpowered loot or looking cool in front of lower level players.

As far as aesthetics go, the game looks really dated. There are cookie cutter armors that just look horrible, the colors and the skins look like they have only had one pass from the day the game launched. Having played the game from the first day, I can honestly say Turbine is definitely lacking polish.

Some very simple features that you would expect in an MMO are simply not there. To make matters worse, they haven't made up for it in any other areas. There's never been an MMO where you paid so much for it and received so little. The game has the depth of a dixie cup stuffed with cotton balls.

The lack of gameplay, the lack of polish (for a nearly 3 year old MMO), and the lack of a good solid player base (there's always permadeathers and roleplayers) make this a game you would do well to stay far, FAR away from.

There are way better places to get your fantasy MMO fix these days. D&D Online plays like a 1st generation MMO with no endgame (except 4 or 5 raids with varying levels of repeatability). Too many player options lead you into groups with two-weapon wielding clerics and fighter classes with less hit points than a wizard. All in the name of D&D? Your D&D fix is best found in a good book.

Posts like this is just another piece of proof of the ignorance and intent to do harm to gaming companies that gets spewed all over these forums by certain players. Don't be so limited to expect certain things in a game because someone else does them. If your idea of fun is running around in a wide open land picking up excessively meaningless quests along the country side for nothing more than to gain experience than fine. While DDO isn't my cup of tea there are some innovative things they do very well. Like getting rid of all the meaningless time sinks and allowing you to get right into groups and experience the things that made D&D great. It can be a great game for those with limited gaming time. If what you find fun in games is getting in groups and doing dungeon crawls you may very well like this game, however, if you're bored of your favorite MMO and looking for a replacement that is very similar to what you're playing with a bit of a different flavor you may not like it.

The point of reviews is to point out the facts of a game so people can decide on their own.

It's amazing you've learned to write so well but remain so ignorant as to actually instruct people to stay away from something and tell them it's a waste of time without knowing everyone's personal preferences.

The hardest thing in life sometimes is to learn how not to be an ass on the internet.

Dymondy2k · December 2008

Wow.. I don't think I've ever read something that was more utter BS than the post of the OP, especially since he played 3 years before posting it. I mean I have played a few MMOs before and after DDO; AC, SW, WoW and LoTRO. I could pretty much tell I wasn't going to like the game after about a day of playing it and didn't go back. Wonder why it took him 3 years to have to door hit him in the tail?

Mystincloud · December 2008

Originally posted by Dymondy2k

Wow.. I don't think I've ever read something that was more utter BS than the post of the OP, especially since he played 3 years before posting it. I mean I have played a few MMOs before and after DDO; AC, SW, WoW and LoTRO. I could pretty much tell I wasn't going to like the game after about a day of playing it and didn't go back. Wonder why it took him 3 years to have to door hit him in the tail?

Possible reasons in my opinion...

1. He got banned for exploits, plat farmer, or selling toons.

2. He pissed off the community and they flamed him into oblivion.

3. He did like the game at first but got so frustrated with ... (insert reason here).

Reasons 1 and 2 are most likely IMHO. His posts are reminiscient of another person that was permanently banned from the game.

Reason 3, well, he could be like my hubby who prefers to play solo style games. My hubby enjoyed the content, the puzzles, graphics, and the combat but he hates people. Hubby played for nearly 3 years and finally gave up the ghost but he still thinks DDO is a great game, just not for him.

Dylannoone · December 2008

Originally posted by signetring

fighter classes with less hit points than a wizard. All in the name of D&D?

Wow u must know some crap fighters :P

Mystincloud · December 2008

The fighter is gimped beyond belief if that happened. Can you say constitution and toughness feats? Or how about racial toughness enhancements? Come on! You would have to seriously screw up to have hp less that a caster or the caster screwed up and can't cast crap.

Doctorwhofan · December 2008

A fighter with less HP than a Wizard?????

12 BASE per level for a Fighter

4 points BASE per level for a Wizard.

even if the figher was an elf and the Wizard was a WF, andthe both invested NOTHING in to Toughness or CON (either in items, Stat points, enhancements) the fighter would still come out ahead.

Dear lord, what guild was he in? The Gimp Players? Heck, my cleric has a CON of 14 and is sitting at 208 (Minos Legen) at 16.

That statement ALONE makes me really wonder about him.

Dymondy2k · December 2008

Originally posted by Mystincloud

Originally posted by Dymondy2k

Wow.. I don't think I've ever read something that was more utter BS than the post of the OP, especially since he played 3 years before posting it. I mean I have played a few MMOs before and after DDO; AC, SW, WoW and LoTRO. I could pretty much tell I wasn't going to like the game after about a day of playing it and didn't go back. Wonder why it took him 3 years to have to door hit him in the tail?

Possible reasons in my opinion...

1. He got banned for exploits, plat farmer, or selling toons.

2. He pissed off the community and they flamed him into oblivion.

3. He did like the game at first but got so frustrated with ... (insert reason here).

Reasons 1 and 2 are most likely IMHO. His posts are reminiscient of another person that was permanently banned from the game.

Reason 3, well, he could be like my hubby who prefers to play solo style games. My hubby enjoyed the content, the puzzles, graphics, and the combat but he hates people. Hubby played for nearly 3 years and finally gave up the ghost but he still thinks DDO is a great game, just not for him.

One word for your hubby...

Hirelings :P

I know I am looking forward to them.

grimfall · December 2008

Originally posted by Mystincloud

Originally posted by Dymondy2k

Wow.. I don't think I've ever read something that was more utter BS than the post of the OP, especially since he played 3 years before posting it. I mean I have played a few MMOs before and after DDO; AC, SW, WoW and LoTRO. I could pretty much tell I wasn't going to like the game after about a day of playing it and didn't go back. Wonder why it took him 3 years to have to door hit him in the tail?

Possible reasons in my opinion...

1. He got banned for exploits, plat farmer, or selling toons.

2. He pissed off the community and they flamed him into oblivion.

3. He did like the game at first but got so frustrated with ... (insert reason here).

Reasons 1 and 2 are most likely IMHO. His posts are reminiscient of another person that was permanently banned from the game.

Reason 3, well, he could be like my hubby who prefers to play solo style games. My hubby enjoyed the content, the puzzles, graphics, and the combat but he hates people. Hubby played for nearly 3 years and finally gave up the ghost but he still thinks DDO is a great game, just not for him.

Maybe he did a raid and his warrior lost a Vorpal Sword to a rogue for the third time in a week.

I do have to admit, that was a very well written crockk of BS. You don't realize he's full of it until the second paragraph, whereas normally the people with their misleading agendas come through right away.

Some of the other things he says makes me wonder if he's actually played any other MMO's. His context is certainly warped when he talks about things like graphics and polish.

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