Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Dungeons & Dragons Online: DDO Early Game Review
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
MMORPG.com reviewer Stephanie Morrow takes her first look at Turbine's Dungeons and Dragons Online.
At the time of this re-review, DDO will have almost met its three year release mark, being brought to the general public February 28th 2006. Over the course of time many changes have been implemented, one of which was a revamp to the starter area on November 6th 2008. I'd love to say that I was one of the many who started playing from the start and to be able to explain the changes in great detail as they've occurred but the truth of the matter is that DDO was not one of the games I picked up, so this re-review will be a new players perspective of the game and the starter areas. Hopefully readers count this as a good thing, fresh gamers on scene can bring about a perspective that you may not have looked at before and shine a little light.
)
Read the DDO Re-Review
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
If your gonna review the game, make sure your PC works... mine isystem AMD 3.0ghz 4gig ram 4830hd blows the game away... you have a pc well enough to run this game smoothly.. maybe try some virus scans.. sounds like your videocard might actually be overheating .. check your fans as well..
Lol you make me laugh...
No wait, you make me a SAD panda.. who laughs at your review
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=2062727#p2062727
here is what DDO players think of your "Review"
I played DDO for two months a year or so ago. I loved the combat system, LFG tool, and class/skill customization. But I found that once I got to level 6 or so everything really spread out and it became pretty tough to find groups for all those quests in my log. At that point I got pretty bored and unsubbed, but I think if you have a regular play group or a good guild it's probably a lot more entertaining.
Wow! You completely failed to notice...
-A level of interactivity found in the dungeons that is simply not found in any other MMOG on the market today
-A character development system that is more complex and flexible than any other MMOG on the market today
-A gear system that has more variety of attributes and abilities than any other MMOG on the market today
-A combat system that is much much more involved than the "stand still and click abilities" that every other popular MMOG uses.
-AI that reacts to sight and sound rather than a simple agro radius
-A stealth system that works
Wait, let me guess. You played Korthos Island then ran Durk's and the Butcher's Path and then decided to write a review? Pathetic.
I would like to add that the author of this review made one of the worst mistakes that the author of any MMOG can do. She didn't experience enough of the game to fully understand what makes the game compelling. It would be much more fitting if the "review" were renamed "impressions".
I just started DDO about a month ago. I've been playing MMOG's in all my spare time since the release of Ultima Online and have been playing D&D CRPG's since '91. I can tell you for a fact that the author's comments of "nothing specific that I could name as being unique to this particular MMO" are so far off base that its like some practical joke. DDO is a deep and intelligent MMOG that many people simply won't be able to fully understand. It has its share of flaws for sure, but for anyone looking for a game that goes beyond the mundane aspects of mainstream MMOG's will find a lot of like in DDO.
But, think about this...
If someone just started the game, they would see the same thing. No matter how long you play a game, your impressions off the bat shape the rest of the game.
As to the comment about performamce. I have a 4870, Dual Core 6mb cache, 4 gigs and yes, it does not run well. But, maybe you are happy with skippy performance for a game that is 3 years old. I would prefer better.
Now, the DX10 does add some flavor, and they have enhanced the game some...but there is no doubt in my mind that this should be a free to play title like Guild Wars. It does not offer the "world" feel of a real MMO.
Cheers
Agreed.
If you are going to review the game... you should actually do so.
You're card is overheating, it happened to my 8800GT so I got my old ATI 1950 and game runs as smooth as ever.
Your review of the community is also terrible. I don't think you even mentioned the LFG tool that is the best in any MMORPG out today. You probably were playing on a non-populated server, but on the populated ones, say Argonessen, the community is the best in any game I've ever played. I found a guild within a few days of playing after a month post-release and still talk with them for an hour or two once in a while.
I don't know what you were thinking when you wrote this review, because it wasn't about the DDO that I play(ed).
no worries, fixed.
no worries, fixed.
What is funny is...I agree with that sentiment.
Most MMO's today are pretty boring, and have you doing the same thing over ...almost kinda like running a dungeon over and over.
Still does not change the fact that DDO is not worth a monthly fee.
Why so much hate over a review? A review is nothing more than the reviewer's opinion of the game. To disagree is fine, but to flame her just because you don't agree with her? Immature.
The reason that I left DDO was one of the issues she had with the game and that was the lack of people to group with. After the first few dungeons, you have to have a group to continue playing. Yes, the LFG system is nice, but if there are no people your level playing, it doesn't do any good. The low level areas are essentially empty.
I would love to still be playing DDO, but I'm not going to waste my time and money sitting around trying to find someone to group with.
Ion
no worries, fixed.
What is funny is...I agree with that sentiment.
Most MMO's today are pretty boring, and have you doing the same thing over ...almost kinda like running a dungeon over and over.
Still does not change the fact that DDO is not worth a monthly fee.
The updates to DDO, which used to happen every month (monthly new content, every three months extra super more content with a level increase) are included in the monthly fee. So when gameX releases an expansion that gives 10 more levels for $50, DDO offers that for free. Just because it does not offer a world feeling doesn't mean anything regarding a monthly fee, thats crazy talk. AoC doesn't feel worldy either, but that also deserves a mothly fee.
well, maybe not AoC. but you catch my drift maybe.
I actually enjoyed the GM voice-over while in the dungeons, to me it added a great deal to the whole experience of the place.
Have to agree with the other posters, sounds like your PC has issues as my own PC never suffered any lag issues whatsoever in the game, dual core/3 gig of ram/8800 gtx/vista 32.
I found the pace of the game quite refreshing aswell, no more grinding on endless mobs to lvl up, I actually had to do quests which had real stories attached to them to progress further.
However the one thing I didn't enjoy was grping up with veteran players who just wanted to rush through the dungeon to get the exp, I enjoy taking my time, even if I've run the dungeon multiple times, then again I'm that guy on Titan Quest who has to explore every single bit of the map just to see if there is something to kill or some goodies hiding there.
Also please name those F2P games that offer the same as DDO as I'd love to give those a shot aswell as I'm a bit low on funds right now and haven't been able to find any game that offers anything like DDO for quite sometime.
Funny, i play the game regularly, and i have to turn down groups left and right, it's actually super-easy to find groups, i have never had the luck 'or lack of it' of not finding groups..
She left out what makes DDO so different than others, and to say she couldnt find anything that doesn stand out in this than any other MMO on the market... I don't think so.
We're not flaming either, its mere discussion about the review.
I just started playing DDO a month ago. It took about 1 hour to realize that its nothing like any other MMOG. As soon as I hit the gong and the icy floor broke, I knew that DDO was nothing like any other MMOG that I have played before. How is this not clear to the author of the review? Have they even played other MMOG's?
I'm not even going to re-hash what others are saying, i'm only going to say the following:
Make up your own mind. Even a 12 year old can read this and see that this review is poorly written, and quite honestly, if one cant take the time to write a review worth reading, one certainly didnt take the time to actually gather data to support their conclusions.
Say what you will, but make up your own mind about this game and every one out their for that matter.
R
You probably have a higher level toon. I can assure you that groups in the newbie area are difficult at best to find.
As an experiment, you might roll a new toon and see how easy it is to get into groups in the newbie area. Remember, the reviewer was starting a new toon and this was the environment that she found. So, you need to compare apples to apples.
Ion
Personally I think the reviewer is either an idiot or incredibly biased towards another MMO. DDO is nothing like any other MMO out there, as has been described in other posts above.
Just ignore this review and try the game, its better then anything else out there.
Vireche
I really didnt like DDO at all, and will never ever play it again.
But I must admit this reviewer is a serious noob...now im not sayig anything offensive about her....im trying to say that she obviously didnt take much time in the game, didnt hit high end content, and its obvius she wasnt in a guild....very very bad review
I play all ghame
Agreed.
If you are going to review the game... you should actually do so.
You're card is overheating, it happened to my 8800GT so I got my old ATI 1950 and game runs as smooth as ever.
Your review of the community is also terrible. I don't think you even mentioned the LFG tool that is the best in any MMORPG out today. You probably were playing on a non-populated server, but on the populated ones, say Argonessen, the community is the best in any game I've ever played. I found a guild within a few days of playing after a month post-release and still talk with them for an hour or two once in a while.
I don't know what you were thinking when you wrote this review, because it wasn't about the DDO that I play(ed).
Yeah she needs to play the game for an entire month before reviewing....
. Also, the LFG tool was mentioned and it was also mentioned she would be forced to play solo regardless whether the LFG tool was used because of non-population. I have tried this game more than once and tend to agree with what was said.
-----------------------------
Real as Reality Television!!!
My computer specs was an AMD 64 3700 single core with a NVIDIA 7300 GT this was nine months ago and when I use to play the game I never got any freeze ups when I ran it with high settings. That is a problem with your computer not the game.
Repeating dungeons is grindy, so Killing X amount of mobs to get drops is better. Not only that you contradict yourself with;
Pros:"Plenty of dungeons" with
Cons: Repeating dungeons is ‘grindy’
Your review barely mentions the dungeons.
Pick one or the other if you have plenty of dungeons than tell us how is it grindy. 200+ dungeons and its grindy how many did you complete 10, 20 over and over again.
Examining someone who was wearing plate at level 11 looked much the same as someone wearing plate at level 2. I have to agree on this part Turbine just reuses the same 2-3 yr old textures for high end armor most in my opinion are hideous.
Customer Service and numerous unexpected downtown is a problem the player base knows it , Turbine just seems to ignore it.
Another person who does not enen know how to properly write a review.
Back to fourm luker mode.....
Quite easy to understand Ironraptor. She realizes there are many dungeons in the game so that is a pro but she also realized the dungeons she played were very grindy which is a con; however, from your information about system specs her performance problems do not make sense.
-----------------------------
Real as Reality Television!!!
The reviewers take on this game is her opinion and I will not debate that, but the fact that she attributes the freeze up issues to the game is ludicrous. Do you really think anyone would be playing the game after three years if the performance the reviewer experienced was the norm?
I've played this game on three different systems (including a laptop with lower specs than the reviewers pc has) and not experienced the issues she had.
For those of you who haven't played it I will tell you the game has a lot to offer. The combat system is very fluid and the graphics are very good. This game truly shines at higher levels. An effort has been made to make the game more new user friendly, but more still needs to be done.
I would recommend to the managing editor that before a review is released that issues in the performance area be confirmed (for any game) prior to release of the article.
Not true. I just started playing a month ago. If I stand still for more than a few minutes in the starting area then I get invites from all kinds of people. Considering that I brought a group of friends with me and don't need nor want to pick up random people, all the extraneous invites were even somewhat annoying.
At level 7 my wife's cleric can't even log in to check the AH without a steady stream of tells asking her to join groups. Honestly, I think she was getting more group invites in DDO than we ever did in WoW, AoC, or WAR.
While I love DDO, I am far from a Fanboy, and if you have listened to DDOCast and some of my comments on the show during Group discussions or some of my rants, you will now that I can be quite harsh or Critical of Turbine when warranted.
That being Said.
My counters to your review:
1) Performance:
Sounds like you had technical problems with your computer, and not necessarily all of your lag issues were from the Game. Not sure when you were "re-reviewing" the game (can you call it that, if you never played it before?), but if you had bothered to check in on DDO.com forums recently you would have known that they were having some severe technical difficulties with their servers, that were not enitrely within thier control. I play DDO jsut fine on both my cheap Dell Laptop with only 2GB of Ram and VISTA Home and a low end Intel processor just fine (except for the tiny monitor).
As far as the problems you experienced getting booted from the world with little to no warning, it rarely happens. When it does happens it is because there is a severe enough problem, that if they brought the game down any slower it could result in serious issues to the servers or the database or something.
2) Graphics:
The visuals are simply STUNNING! PERIOD! And it is not nearly as gaudy or goofy looking as the MMO Giant WoW. I had a hard time taking WoW seriously when I tried it recently because the graphics were so terrible.
As for your comments about he "clone" equipment and not being able to see any difference between High Levele Characters and low level characters. Some equipment looks the same yes, but that is part of D&D. High Quality normal items are enchanted, but the base product is the same. But there are plenty of Unique Armor sets available later on in the game, that you cannot find early on. Dragon Scale Armor for one. Special Named Armor (and weapons as well) often do not use the regular armor skins. They just are not as prevelant early on in the game, when you are using normal equipment. Try playing farther into the game for your next review.
3) Sound.
How isthe UI sound such a big deal if you can turn it off if you do not like it? Seriously? Is that what you want to lead off with and focus on? I couldn't tkae that section of your reveiw seriously after that.
The DM voiceovers serve a huge purpose in the game, as they can provide incredibly valuable clues to your surroundings and the quest if you pay attention to them. Not to mention it is part of the D&D experience. I can't think of another game that uses this mechanic to inform you of your surrounding in such a helpful way.
4) UI.
Nothing you really said there is really worth commenting on. I can see how the combat might throw a hitch into the gameplay of a traditional WoW player, but the ACTIVE COMBAT SYSTEM is incredible. It offers so much more to the game instead of the same old run up to the mob, and sit there trading blow after blow, while waiting for cool downs to use your abilities. This should be WOW FACTOR #1, that sets it apart from other games.
Why does the UI need to be overly complicated as your opening statement implies? More is not always better. Sometimes LESS IS MORE!
I'll get into your game statistics comment in a minute.
5) Gameplay: I'll give you that there is some repetitiveness to the game, but at least while you are doing each iteration it feels like ou are actually making some sort of progress and contribution. It is much better than a HUNDRED Quests that have you go out and collect X number of A, B and C and kill Y of D, E and F. Or my personal favorite run half way around the gmae and give this message to so and so, and then run all the way baack to me before I give you this assignment. These seems to be the Staples of WoW and its like. A lot of time filler quests. DDO is about action and getting things done AS A GROUP!!!! The Solo aspect ofthe game is an after thought, andit is meant to be that way.
The repetiveness is only there if you want it to be. Doing each quest on the different Difficulty Levels provides for a great difference in the challenge presented by the quest, as the mobs often not only get tougher , but they get more abilities to use aginst you, which you might not be prepared for if you are not the right level, but can provide quite the fun and interesting challenge if you are up for it.
6) Community/Cusomer Service
You mentioned that it was hard to find as group in DDO. Obviously you did not try very hard, because DDO has a very active player program that actively seeks to help new players find groups. all you need to do is ask in game or place a message on the forums and people will bend over backwards to help you if you ask nicely. And the number of people immediateluy available in the starter area is no less than either WoW or LOTRO.
Customer Service is no worse than any other game if you need help. And like any customer service department for any company, they are usually over worked and understaffed.
Other Thoughts: Tings that SET DDO apart form toher MMOs, and DO NOT MAKE IT a WoW CLONE -
- Active Combat
- Richly Detailed and Complex Character Development System. No other Game has as many options. And Most importantly there are no restrictions on class or Race combinations, like WoW. Yes the learning Curve can be quite high, and Turbine has done quite since the game launched to really reduce it. Each Character is fully customizable, and not just their physical appearance. You have an almost limitless number of options when it comes to choosing your Feats and Skills. If you want a Sneaky Healer you can make that. If you want a Arcane Caster who wields a swrd you can make that too. Most importantly is the simple fact that each lcass has a variety of roles it can fill. The choice is yours, not the Developers.
The Enhancements system allows you to further customize your character even more. No more identical characters for EVERY RACE AND CLASS, like WoW!!! What fun is it knowing that every Tauran Shaman you run into that is your level will be essentially identical?
- Built in Voice Chat! Not enough can be said about his nice little feature.
- Fully Instanced. No more wasting hours waiting for a rare spawn to appear so you can kill it and finish the quest, only to have have another player not in your group beat you to it.
- Designed around Group, NOT SOLO play. What good is a Massively Multiplayer Online Game if you spend the vast majority of your game time playing by yourself? This game is designed around playing as a group, not as an individual player. If you want to play by yourself, pick up a deck of cards and play some Solitaire.
- Sense of Progress and Experience. Experience is almost entirely given out UPON Completion of the quest. Yes, you can obtain a few experience points here and there in the quest for finishing various optional objectives, but the bulk is given out for completing something, rather than KILLING a million small monster 1 at a time and getting a precious few XPs.
The Game is about Getting things accomplished and not running aorund doing minutia or other trivial things. Lets get tot he dungeon go in and complete the quest, and not spend hours getting there, and then even longer getting back.
- The Game is not for everyone obviously, but it not a clone of WoW or EQ. It is purposely different and is quite frankly the only game of its kind. Too bad most of the 11.5 Million WoW players have no idea what it is they are missing.
Steiner-Davion
I hope MMORPG.com reviewers get paid for all the forum abuse they receive.....seems like everytime some new reviewer pops up (read: fresh meat) they are rapidly devoured by all the HOFFs (highly opinionated forum fiends).
Okay, now that that's out of the way....
I'm another on-again-off-again DDO gamer who wishes desperately that this game were something more than what it is, but respects that it does what it aims for very well. I'm a big-time tabletop gamer, and dislike the fact that the system is not as true to it's namesake as it should be, even allowing for differences in media. I was on Thelanis server every time I have played before, and I always have a lot of fun until about level 5-6, when the game seems to slow to a crawl. Grouping opportunities seem to happen for some people easily, but not for others....I've been on at times when I'd get 2-3 invites within minutes of logging on. Other days, not a peep. And this is not a game you can advance in without a group after a point, unfortunately. I like to solo games a lot.....DDO is simply not for loners.
Anyway, I enjoyed the review, hope the reviewer doesn't take too much umbrage with the snide commentary of the forum posters, and works to get a srtronger review in next time.
Current MMOs: Rift, GW2, Defiance
Blog: http://realmsofchirak.blogspot.com (old school tabletop gaming and more)
Is it too early to ask that Stephanie not publish a review for this site again?