I quit playing DDO because it was so difficult to get into groups at the lower levels. I know that the dungeons are soloable, but I don't play MMOs to solo. I have plenty of single player games if I want to do that. Also, some of the more difficult dungeons require a group; there is no option to solo. Is it still hard to get into groups? I really would like to come back as I like DDO, but not if it still is mostly a solo game. Ion
I've never had trouble getting into a group an have been playing for most of the last 2 years; I take occasional breaks as I do with all online games. To assist with grouping here's a few recomendations:
Get into a guild - Do this by asking other's you're playing with about the number of members they routinely have logged on in their guild. The guild I'm currently in (Lifetakers & Heartbreakers; Ghallanda) has anywhere from 10 on slow night to 25-30 on a heavy one. Most guilds have alliances which consist of other guilds and that share a chat window for purposes of putting together groups and organizing events.
Looking For More - Advertising you're looking for a group (ie, LFM) is a better way to get a group going then waiting for someone else to list theirs. If you're in a guild you could easily advertise to the guild and list the LFM. You can also activate a LFG option on your character although I find this to be less then effective.
Hirelings - these can be very usefull although there's still some issues with them. I frequently run content without a full party, depending upon who's in the group, and rarely use them other then when we're goofing off. The Paladins and Clerics seem to be VERY benneficial to groups although my favorite is Kern Killer-of-All. More times then not if I'm running something that I know other players occasionaly find difficult I will list an LFM just for the sake to give others the option to tag along.
Ionselon, when was the last time you've played DDO?
I've seen situations where my guild has had 20+ people logged in and my friends list had close to 30 non guildies while only 3 or 4 LFM's were being advertised. When it comes down to it, it's all about timing. Some other good advice is to be patient 'cs it's not uncommon to wait 5-30 minutes to form a group even when being filled by guild members. I usually hit explorer areas for loot when waiting for the group to get ready.
From my latest experiences, I would rather recomend a few other games to you than DDO. DDO is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but I think there might be better options out there now.
It would have been nice of you if you had. The only other games I could recomend are vastly different then DDO similar to how Chess is to Checkers. Could you please list your other recomendations with a little support to as why?
I cannot recomend AoC, WAR, SWG, EQ2 or WoW, but I could deffintely recomend EVE Online and DDO. These two provide completely unique gaming experiances along with a plethora of unique character designs that can be catered to a person rather then where the previous titles actually require the player to cater to a character. Based purely on immersion and dynamics I think DDO and EVE Online are two MMO's that should not be overlooked.
I'll admit that I enjoyed DDO's combat system best from all other combat systems.
That said, my group of freinds and my main problem with DDO was the lack of content. Sure there are lots of dungeons but we played since lauch as a group (and I played from closed beta till I quit in December) so we did all the content. We just got tired of running the same thing over and over. And then when DDO finally added their version of crafting... more like grind the same content until you get enough components... I think that was the end of the fun for us.
I don't want to do the same content in a game over and over for any reason. DDOs original promise was that the game would not have grinding, yet it became a grinding game. Will it remain that way? I don't know but my friends and I were so bored with what content there is, we decided we didn't care to find out.
Why wouldn't you recommend WaR? I've got a 40 rune priest and building up a couple other characters and find it quite fun. There is so much versitility in the game, if you get bored doing one thing you can go find something else to do.
Get tired of solo questing? Go oRvR. Get tired of oRvR? Craft with all the components you've been collecting. Tired of crafting? Go into a scenario. Tired of scenarios? Go do a PQ. And everything helps your character to be better at what he does. If you don't want a game that makes you have to do the same thing over and over... well that is on of the few out there.
I've tried DDO a few times and in all honesty I just not tolerate it passed level 5. I would like more of a world to explore. If I wanted a hub with instances I would play GW. I also notice a severe lack of lower level groups but again that could have been a server issue or just the time I was playing. I've played a lot of mmos and unfortunately all I am left with is WoW. IT is far from being a sand box which is not necessarily a bad thing but I love exploring the game worlds. Would love to play LoTRO online again but wife's computer doesn't like it so we went back to WoW.
Why wouldn't you recommend WaR? I've got a 40 rune priest and building up a couple other characters and find it quite fun. There is so much versitility in the game, if you get bored doing one thing you can go find something else to do. Get tired of solo questing? Go oRvR. Get tired of oRvR? Craft with all the components you've been collecting. Tired of crafting? Go into a scenario. Tired of scenarios? Go do a PQ. And everything helps your character to be better at what he does. If you don't want a game that makes you have to do the same thing over and over... well that is on of the few out there. (BTW, I hated eve... )
"Verisitility" is not an attribute I'd ascribe to Warhammer. I played the tier 4 content to death and it's painfully shallow and generic. Anyone who played DAOC in its glory days would never look at War as anything worth praising. The 10s of thousand of people who have already left would agree with me.
DDO is solid and those who say Guild Wars is a viable alternative obviously haven't explored both games much.Guild Wars is decent, if not a bit dated. They are just very different, aside from the hub & instancing thing.
DDO is a huge time sink , even when compared to most MMOs. I have solo'd a lot of the game, including higher end content, but it really is group dependent. You will find yourself waiting for Timmy the Rogue to buy more bolts from the vendor or for Sammy to walk his dog, etc. It's annoying. If you have some friends to play with the grouping is also precisely what makes it a blast. SO, it is both a huge strength as well as a weakness.
You need to be proactive if you can't find a group, use the lfg interface. People look at it and use it.
I will completely agree that all of the vets have run the same quests 50,100, or 200 + times. It borders on a serious mental problem. It's like shooting up for the 50,000th time and expecting to recapture what you felt the first time. DDO should be used in moderation , especially if you want it to be fun for a long time to come.
I just resubbed and played from launch to late 07. I've dropped in a few times since. I will probably play for a few months.
I've played almost everything out there and DDO is one of the best. It has many flaws and the quest repetition factor can get very boring and lame. You should get at least a year of play out of it before that becomes an issue. That is, unless you're unemployed for life or very young. If you fit into those categories, this probably won't appeal to you anyway.
DDO has the best combat out of any game that I've played.
HAVE A WINNER, everyone!
Have a winner and don't go on a game over! Does your avatar make you powerful in real life? Check out the Mystical Enders gaming community. www.mysticalenders.com
Why wouldn't you recommend WaR? I've got a 40 rune priest and building up a couple other characters and find it quite fun. There is so much versitility in the game, if you get bored doing one thing you can go find something else to do. Get tired of solo questing? Go oRvR. Get tired of oRvR? Craft with all the components you've been collecting. Tired of crafting? Go into a scenario. Tired of scenarios? Go do a PQ. And everything helps your character to be better at what he does. If you don't want a game that makes you have to do the same thing over and over... well that is on of the few out there. (BTW, I hated eve... )
"Verisitility" is not an attribute I'd ascribe to Warhammer. I played the tier 4 content to death and it's painfully shallow and generic. Anyone who played DAOC in its glory days would never look at War as anything worth praising. The 10s of thousand of people who have already left would agree with me.
DDO is solid and those who say Guild Wars is a viable alternative obviously haven't explored both games much.Guild Wars is decent, if not a bit dated. They are just very different, aside from the hub & instancing thing.
DDO is a huge time sink , even when compared to most MMOs. I have solo'd a lot of the game, including higher end content, but it really is group dependent. You will find yourself waiting for Timmy the Rogue to buy more bolts from the vendor or for Sammy to walk his dog, etc. It's annoying. If you have some friends to play with the grouping is also precisely what makes it a blast. SO, it is both a huge strength as well as a weakness.
You need to be proactive if you can't find a group, use the lfg interface. People look at it and use it.
I will completely agree that all of the vets have run the same quests 50,100, or 200 + times. It borders on a serious mental problem. It's like shooting up for the 50,000th time and expecting to recapture what you felt the first time. DDO should be used in moderation , especially if you want it to be fun for a long time to come.
I just resubbed and played from launch to late 07. I've dropped in a few times since. I will probably play for a few months.
I've played almost everything out there and DDO is one of the best. It has many flaws and the quest repetition factor can get very boring and lame. You should get at least a year of play out of it before that becomes an issue. That is, unless you're unemployed for life or very young. If you fit into those categories, this probably won't appeal to you anyway.
DDO has the best combat out of any game that I've played.
HAVE A WINNER, everyone!
Sure it's versital. As I explaned above when you get bored with one thing you can turn to another. Not many games give those types of options. In my book that is versitility.
BTW, my memory of DAoC is constant nerfing and lots of lag... and I ran a high end computer back then. I do recall some fun small squirmishes but once we got up to 30+ players, I seem to remember a very choppy, not so fun game. On WaR, maybe since you've played the heck out it, that enjoyment is gone for you. I've not reached that point.
I do agree that DDO has a great combat system (and I've played or at least tried most MMO's since the mid-90's) Back when one of my friends and I were playing AOLNWN we talked of a combat system that was twiched based and how fun that would be. DDO has almost achieved this and we found it to be quite fun. As I said though, after two years of playing together, the game just ran out of content and we decided to move on. BTW, the only game I've ever remained playing longer then DDO at this point is EQ1. Something I find quite interesting (I think UO may be a close second to DDO's time played).
Why wouldn't you recommend WaR? I've got a 40 rune priest and building up a couple other characters and find it quite fun. There is so much versitility in the game, if you get bored doing one thing you can go find something else to do. Get tired of solo questing? Go oRvR. Get tired of oRvR? Craft with all the components you've been collecting. Tired of crafting? Go into a scenario. Tired of scenarios? Go do a PQ. And everything helps your character to be better at what he does. If you don't want a game that makes you have to do the same thing over and over... well that is on of the few out there. (BTW, I hated eve... )
The classes felt generic. I REALLY liked the Public Quests and think it's something that future games will incorporate into the game play mechanics. This one area alone is the gem of WAR. RvR was kind of fun but it's just button mashing and when the common issue with WAR being a RvR environment with lop sided populations it makes for a very predictable gaming experince. There were other things I liked about the game although the combat mechanics and dyanmics felt extremely stale.
I don't have a problem with DDO's content even though it's agreeable there's plenty of room for improvement. While there's a lot of content I do repeat I've never felt it was something I absolutely had to do. While everyone is grinding on raid loot and collectible items to trade in for rewards (crafting is not such) I think I have less then 7 completions on the Shroud and maybe 22-23 on both the Reaver and the Titan. When I play I normally do it for a tactile gaming experiance and dynamics that's enhanced by a solid community - yes there are the occasional jerks but they are easy to avoid.
It's the combat and dynamics of character creation that makes DDO a great game for me. I have yet to experiance another mmo that even remotely comes close to the gameplay, maybe pre-cu SWG and we've all heard how everyone hated that game.
(EVE is a monster with an extremely steep learning curve and can be very boring for a new player who doesn't have someone to show them the ropes.)
I just resubbed and played from launch to late 07. I've dropped in a few times since. I will probably play for a few months. I've played almost everything out there and DDO is one of the best. It has many flaws and the quest repetition factor can get very boring and lame. You should get at least a year of play out of it before that becomes an issue. That is, unless you're unemployed for life or very young. If you fit into those categories, this probably won't appeal to you anyway. ....
....
I do agree that DDO has a great combat system (and I've played or at least tried most MMO's since the mid-90's) Back when one of my friends and I were playing AOLNWN we talked of a combat system that was twiched based and how fun that would be. DDO has almost achieved this and we found it to be quite fun. As I said though, after two years of playing together, the game just ran out of content and we decided to move on. BTW, the only game I've ever remained playing longer then DDO at this point is EQ1. Something I find quite interesting (I think UO may be a close second to DDO's time played).
....
Sounds to me like you are agreeing. I have played DDO since beta and to be honest I can't see me not playing it for the foreseeable future. Do I get annoyed by it, yes, do I take extended breaks, yes, but then I don't really expect a MMO that tries to do tailored quests to keep up with my demand, and I am a very casual player.
My problem is when I try other MMOs the combat, quests, builds feel so painfully shallow that it feels like instant grind from day one. The fact I find PvP very boring, tends to limit what is available as well.
I guess I am saying I would rather be patient than do sub-standard MMO content.
I just resubbed and played from launch to late 07. I've dropped in a few times since. I will probably play for a few months. I've played almost everything out there and DDO is one of the best. It has many flaws and the quest repetition factor can get very boring and lame. You should get at least a year of play out of it before that becomes an issue. That is, unless you're unemployed for life or very young. If you fit into those categories, this probably won't appeal to you anyway. ....
....
I do agree that DDO has a great combat system (and I've played or at least tried most MMO's since the mid-90's) Back when one of my friends and I were playing AOLNWN we talked of a combat system that was twiched based and how fun that would be. DDO has almost achieved this and we found it to be quite fun. As I said though, after two years of playing together, the game just ran out of content and we decided to move on. BTW, the only game I've ever remained playing longer then DDO at this point is EQ1. Something I find quite interesting (I think UO may be a close second to DDO's time played).
....
Sounds to me like you are agreeing. I have played DDO since beta and to be honest I can't see me not playing it for the foreseeable future. Do I get annoyed by it, yes, do I take extended breaks, yes, but then I don't really expect a MMO that tries to do tailored quests to keep up with my demand, and I am a very casual player.
My problem is when I try other MMOs the combat, quests, builds feel so painfully shallow that it feels like instant grind from day one. The fact I find PvP very boring, tends to limit what is available as well.
I guess I am saying I would rather be patient than do sub-standard MMO content.
Let’s be clear here, I agree to a certain degree. Three things I liked about DDO:
1) Development of the character. Hands down, best system. Being able to choose what class and skills you want at each level is the ultimate in character creation and development. I’m even willing to look at all that bland colored armor to have this ability. However, I was quite frustrated with all the nerfing the devs did at the beginning. One of the things I liked was being able to build interesting multiclassed characters. What I didn’t like was the nerfing of their abilities so I would delete and start over. Rerolling (i.e. having to build a new character) is not fun after the third or fourth time.
2) Melee combat. Most enjoyable melee combat out there but they need to add weapon speed factors. Magic system not so fun. I wrote my opinions on the magic system on the DDO boards back whenever...
3) Dungeon crawls. Instanced dungeons are a great way to build a community based game. DDO did it... OK... I don't recall the original devs name but he blew it when he developed the normal, hard, elite system because he thought gamers would want to redo the same thing over and over. Randomize... that is the solution... keep the dungeons fresh each time they are entered. Also make those traps deadly instead of run through and heal. That's what will keep the dungeon crawl a dungeon crawl. The only time I really enjoyed dungeons were when they were new and I was with a group that no one had done the content before... then the thrill was real. And no, I’m not a zerger… something DDO has taught young MMOers to do well…
So you’re a patient guy with DDO. Great... I applaud you. I was patient too at one point. After I did the beta I convinced my group of friends to come to DDO and I convinced them to stay as long as we did. But my friends and I don’t enjoy redundancy. We don’t deal with it in the RW (when I was young, I’ve quit jobs that required redundant work), so why would we want it in a virtual world? For us, enough waiting was enough waiting. The content now comes at a snails pace and since we played out the current content to our satisfaction, we were through.
Now some of us are in WaR, some are in LotRO, some are just taking a break... We've discussed maybe coming back and most have said... no.
BTW, my list of things I didn't like about DDO is much longer...
I guess it comes down to what annoys you more, my number one absolute hate is a game that doesn't allow me to dodge projectiles or attacks, and the moment I get hit through scenery it is more or less game over.
Now I am sure that doesn't bother a lot of people, in the same way people bang on about instances like it is some big deal. Now to me instances is how it should be done, not zone instances but proper quests designed for a party so that they can properly interact, not wide open places with random spawns, where the most social interaction you are going to get is being attacked. Camping or forming a queue for a spawn point how mind numbingly stupid is that as a concept!
Add to that as I mentioned PvP is boring for me, and tends to ruin PvE content, you can see for my personal tastes I don't have a lot of choice. I have however tried quite a few MMOs, including LOTRO (didn't bother with WAR because of the PvP focus) and although I can see why people like them they really do nothing for me.
So it really comes down to taste, if you got a few years out of DDO then you got your moneys worth and there is no point playing it once you have reached the point it is no longer enjoyable. I wouldn't even attempt to convince you otherwise.
There is no right or wrong, just personal tastes. Lot of people seem to forget that.
BTW, my list of things I didn't like about DDO is much longer...
I'd be interested to hear a summary of what you didn't like or what you found to be the most disruptive aspects of the game. The three things you liked are core elements to any game and I'm suspecting your dislikes must have been a variety of individualy trivial "issues" in of themselves but when compounded make the game frustrating.
Comments
I've never had trouble getting into a group an have been playing for most of the last 2 years; I take occasional breaks as I do with all online games. To assist with grouping here's a few recomendations:
Get into a guild - Do this by asking other's you're playing with about the number of members they routinely have logged on in their guild. The guild I'm currently in (Lifetakers & Heartbreakers; Ghallanda) has anywhere from 10 on slow night to 25-30 on a heavy one. Most guilds have alliances which consist of other guilds and that share a chat window for purposes of putting together groups and organizing events.
Looking For More - Advertising you're looking for a group (ie, LFM) is a better way to get a group going then waiting for someone else to list theirs. If you're in a guild you could easily advertise to the guild and list the LFM. You can also activate a LFG option on your character although I find this to be less then effective.
Hirelings - these can be very usefull although there's still some issues with them. I frequently run content without a full party, depending upon who's in the group, and rarely use them other then when we're goofing off. The Paladins and Clerics seem to be VERY benneficial to groups although my favorite is Kern Killer-of-All. More times then not if I'm running something that I know other players occasionaly find difficult I will list an LFM just for the sake to give others the option to tag along.
Ionselon, when was the last time you've played DDO?
I've seen situations where my guild has had 20+ people logged in and my friends list had close to 30 non guildies while only 3 or 4 LFM's were being advertised. When it comes down to it, it's all about timing. Some other good advice is to be patient 'cs it's not uncommon to wait 5-30 minutes to form a group even when being filled by guild members. I usually hit explorer areas for loot when waiting for the group to get ready.
It would have been nice of you if you had. The only other games I could recomend are vastly different then DDO similar to how Chess is to Checkers. Could you please list your other recomendations with a little support to as why?
I cannot recomend AoC, WAR, SWG, EQ2 or WoW, but I could deffintely recomend EVE Online and DDO. These two provide completely unique gaming experiances along with a plethora of unique character designs that can be catered to a person rather then where the previous titles actually require the player to cater to a character. Based purely on immersion and dynamics I think DDO and EVE Online are two MMO's that should not be overlooked.
I'll admit that I enjoyed DDO's combat system best from all other combat systems.
That said, my group of freinds and my main problem with DDO was the lack of content. Sure there are lots of dungeons but we played since lauch as a group (and I played from closed beta till I quit in December) so we did all the content. We just got tired of running the same thing over and over. And then when DDO finally added their version of crafting... more like grind the same content until you get enough components... I think that was the end of the fun for us.
I don't want to do the same content in a game over and over for any reason. DDOs original promise was that the game would not have grinding, yet it became a grinding game. Will it remain that way? I don't know but my friends and I were so bored with what content there is, we decided we didn't care to find out.
Why wouldn't you recommend WaR? I've got a 40 rune priest and building up a couple other characters and find it quite fun. There is so much versitility in the game, if you get bored doing one thing you can go find something else to do.
Get tired of solo questing? Go oRvR. Get tired of oRvR? Craft with all the components you've been collecting. Tired of crafting? Go into a scenario. Tired of scenarios? Go do a PQ. And everything helps your character to be better at what he does. If you don't want a game that makes you have to do the same thing over and over... well that is on of the few out there.
(BTW, I hated eve... )
I've tried DDO a few times and in all honesty I just not tolerate it passed level 5. I would like more of a world to explore. If I wanted a hub with instances I would play GW. I also notice a severe lack of lower level groups but again that could have been a server issue or just the time I was playing. I've played a lot of mmos and unfortunately all I am left with is WoW. IT is far from being a sand box which is not necessarily a bad thing but I love exploring the game worlds. Would love to play LoTRO online again but wife's computer doesn't like it so we went back to WoW.
"Verisitility" is not an attribute I'd ascribe to Warhammer. I played the tier 4 content to death and it's painfully shallow and generic. Anyone who played DAOC in its glory days would never look at War as anything worth praising. The 10s of thousand of people who have already left would agree with me.
DDO is solid and those who say Guild Wars is a viable alternative obviously haven't explored both games much.Guild Wars is decent, if not a bit dated. They are just very different, aside from the hub & instancing thing.
DDO is a huge time sink , even when compared to most MMOs. I have solo'd a lot of the game, including higher end content, but it really is group dependent. You will find yourself waiting for Timmy the Rogue to buy more bolts from the vendor or for Sammy to walk his dog, etc. It's annoying. If you have some friends to play with the grouping is also precisely what makes it a blast. SO, it is both a huge strength as well as a weakness.
You need to be proactive if you can't find a group, use the lfg interface. People look at it and use it.
I will completely agree that all of the vets have run the same quests 50,100, or 200 + times. It borders on a serious mental problem. It's like shooting up for the 50,000th time and expecting to recapture what you felt the first time. DDO should be used in moderation , especially if you want it to be fun for a long time to come.
I just resubbed and played from launch to late 07. I've dropped in a few times since. I will probably play for a few months.
I've played almost everything out there and DDO is one of the best. It has many flaws and the quest repetition factor can get very boring and lame. You should get at least a year of play out of it before that becomes an issue. That is, unless you're unemployed for life or very young. If you fit into those categories, this probably won't appeal to you anyway.
DDO has the best combat out of any game that I've played.
HAVE A WINNER, everyone!
Have a winner and don't go on a game over! Does your avatar make you powerful in real life? Check out the Mystical Enders gaming community. www.mysticalenders.com
"Verisitility" is not an attribute I'd ascribe to Warhammer. I played the tier 4 content to death and it's painfully shallow and generic. Anyone who played DAOC in its glory days would never look at War as anything worth praising. The 10s of thousand of people who have already left would agree with me.
DDO is solid and those who say Guild Wars is a viable alternative obviously haven't explored both games much.Guild Wars is decent, if not a bit dated. They are just very different, aside from the hub & instancing thing.
DDO is a huge time sink , even when compared to most MMOs. I have solo'd a lot of the game, including higher end content, but it really is group dependent. You will find yourself waiting for Timmy the Rogue to buy more bolts from the vendor or for Sammy to walk his dog, etc. It's annoying. If you have some friends to play with the grouping is also precisely what makes it a blast. SO, it is both a huge strength as well as a weakness.
You need to be proactive if you can't find a group, use the lfg interface. People look at it and use it.
I will completely agree that all of the vets have run the same quests 50,100, or 200 + times. It borders on a serious mental problem. It's like shooting up for the 50,000th time and expecting to recapture what you felt the first time. DDO should be used in moderation , especially if you want it to be fun for a long time to come.
I just resubbed and played from launch to late 07. I've dropped in a few times since. I will probably play for a few months.
I've played almost everything out there and DDO is one of the best. It has many flaws and the quest repetition factor can get very boring and lame. You should get at least a year of play out of it before that becomes an issue. That is, unless you're unemployed for life or very young. If you fit into those categories, this probably won't appeal to you anyway.
DDO has the best combat out of any game that I've played.
HAVE A WINNER, everyone!
Sure it's versital. As I explaned above when you get bored with one thing you can turn to another. Not many games give those types of options. In my book that is versitility.
BTW, my memory of DAoC is constant nerfing and lots of lag... and I ran a high end computer back then. I do recall some fun small squirmishes but once we got up to 30+ players, I seem to remember a very choppy, not so fun game. On WaR, maybe since you've played the heck out it, that enjoyment is gone for you. I've not reached that point.
I do agree that DDO has a great combat system (and I've played or at least tried most MMO's since the mid-90's) Back when one of my friends and I were playing AOLNWN we talked of a combat system that was twiched based and how fun that would be. DDO has almost achieved this and we found it to be quite fun. As I said though, after two years of playing together, the game just ran out of content and we decided to move on. BTW, the only game I've ever remained playing longer then DDO at this point is EQ1. Something I find quite interesting (I think UO may be a close second to DDO's time played).
The classes felt generic. I REALLY liked the Public Quests and think it's something that future games will incorporate into the game play mechanics. This one area alone is the gem of WAR. RvR was kind of fun but it's just button mashing and when the common issue with WAR being a RvR environment with lop sided populations it makes for a very predictable gaming experince. There were other things I liked about the game although the combat mechanics and dyanmics felt extremely stale.
I don't have a problem with DDO's content even though it's agreeable there's plenty of room for improvement. While there's a lot of content I do repeat I've never felt it was something I absolutely had to do. While everyone is grinding on raid loot and collectible items to trade in for rewards (crafting is not such) I think I have less then 7 completions on the Shroud and maybe 22-23 on both the Reaver and the Titan. When I play I normally do it for a tactile gaming experiance and dynamics that's enhanced by a solid community - yes there are the occasional jerks but they are easy to avoid.
It's the combat and dynamics of character creation that makes DDO a great game for me. I have yet to experiance another mmo that even remotely comes close to the gameplay, maybe pre-cu SWG and we've all heard how everyone hated that game.
(EVE is a monster with an extremely steep learning curve and can be very boring for a new player who doesn't have someone to show them the ropes.)
....
I do agree that DDO has a great combat system (and I've played or at least tried most MMO's since the mid-90's) Back when one of my friends and I were playing AOLNWN we talked of a combat system that was twiched based and how fun that would be. DDO has almost achieved this and we found it to be quite fun. As I said though, after two years of playing together, the game just ran out of content and we decided to move on. BTW, the only game I've ever remained playing longer then DDO at this point is EQ1. Something I find quite interesting (I think UO may be a close second to DDO's time played).
....
Sounds to me like you are agreeing. I have played DDO since beta and to be honest I can't see me not playing it for the foreseeable future. Do I get annoyed by it, yes, do I take extended breaks, yes, but then I don't really expect a MMO that tries to do tailored quests to keep up with my demand, and I am a very casual player.
My problem is when I try other MMOs the combat, quests, builds feel so painfully shallow that it feels like instant grind from day one. The fact I find PvP very boring, tends to limit what is available as well.
I guess I am saying I would rather be patient than do sub-standard MMO content.
....
I do agree that DDO has a great combat system (and I've played or at least tried most MMO's since the mid-90's) Back when one of my friends and I were playing AOLNWN we talked of a combat system that was twiched based and how fun that would be. DDO has almost achieved this and we found it to be quite fun. As I said though, after two years of playing together, the game just ran out of content and we decided to move on. BTW, the only game I've ever remained playing longer then DDO at this point is EQ1. Something I find quite interesting (I think UO may be a close second to DDO's time played).
....
Sounds to me like you are agreeing. I have played DDO since beta and to be honest I can't see me not playing it for the foreseeable future. Do I get annoyed by it, yes, do I take extended breaks, yes, but then I don't really expect a MMO that tries to do tailored quests to keep up with my demand, and I am a very casual player.
My problem is when I try other MMOs the combat, quests, builds feel so painfully shallow that it feels like instant grind from day one. The fact I find PvP very boring, tends to limit what is available as well.
I guess I am saying I would rather be patient than do sub-standard MMO content.
Let’s be clear here, I agree to a certain degree. Three things I liked about DDO:
1) Development of the character. Hands down, best system. Being able to choose what class and skills you want at each level is the ultimate in character creation and development. I’m even willing to look at all that bland colored armor to have this ability. However, I was quite frustrated with all the nerfing the devs did at the beginning. One of the things I liked was being able to build interesting multiclassed characters. What I didn’t like was the nerfing of their abilities so I would delete and start over. Rerolling (i.e. having to build a new character) is not fun after the third or fourth time.
2) Melee combat. Most enjoyable melee combat out there but they need to add weapon speed factors. Magic system not so fun. I wrote my opinions on the magic system on the DDO boards back whenever...
3) Dungeon crawls. Instanced dungeons are a great way to build a community based game. DDO did it... OK... I don't recall the original devs name but he blew it when he developed the normal, hard, elite system because he thought gamers would want to redo the same thing over and over. Randomize... that is the solution... keep the dungeons fresh each time they are entered. Also make those traps deadly instead of run through and heal. That's what will keep the dungeon crawl a dungeon crawl. The only time I really enjoyed dungeons were when they were new and I was with a group that no one had done the content before... then the thrill was real. And no, I’m not a zerger… something DDO has taught young MMOers to do well…
So you’re a patient guy with DDO. Great... I applaud you. I was patient too at one point. After I did the beta I convinced my group of friends to come to DDO and I convinced them to stay as long as we did. But my friends and I don’t enjoy redundancy. We don’t deal with it in the RW (when I was young, I’ve quit jobs that required redundant work), so why would we want it in a virtual world? For us, enough waiting was enough waiting. The content now comes at a snails pace and since we played out the current content to our satisfaction, we were through.
Now some of us are in WaR, some are in LotRO, some are just taking a break... We've discussed maybe coming back and most have said... no.
BTW, my list of things I didn't like about DDO is much longer...
I guess it comes down to what annoys you more, my number one absolute hate is a game that doesn't allow me to dodge projectiles or attacks, and the moment I get hit through scenery it is more or less game over.
Now I am sure that doesn't bother a lot of people, in the same way people bang on about instances like it is some big deal. Now to me instances is how it should be done, not zone instances but proper quests designed for a party so that they can properly interact, not wide open places with random spawns, where the most social interaction you are going to get is being attacked. Camping or forming a queue for a spawn point how mind numbingly stupid is that as a concept!
Add to that as I mentioned PvP is boring for me, and tends to ruin PvE content, you can see for my personal tastes I don't have a lot of choice. I have however tried quite a few MMOs, including LOTRO (didn't bother with WAR because of the PvP focus) and although I can see why people like them they really do nothing for me.
So it really comes down to taste, if you got a few years out of DDO then you got your moneys worth and there is no point playing it once you have reached the point it is no longer enjoyable. I wouldn't even attempt to convince you otherwise.
There is no right or wrong, just personal tastes. Lot of people seem to forget that.
I'd be interested to hear a summary of what you didn't like or what you found to be the most disruptive aspects of the game. The three things you liked are core elements to any game and I'm suspecting your dislikes must have been a variety of individualy trivial "issues" in of themselves but when compounded make the game frustrating.