I own GW and it is a great game. part of that is because it doesnt have a monthly fee. If it did i wouldnt buy it. So if D&D id GW with a monthly fee then why dont people just get GW and not have 2 pay the fee?
Originally posted by Painterman So if D&D id GW with a monthly fee then why dont people just get GW and not have 2 pay the fee?
Because the two games are nothing alike. People just like to say stuff. Most people wibble on about things from a place of absolutely no knowledge. Weird, innit?
GW reward PvP at the expense of PvE, which is unacceptable.
D&D is the source for EVERY game out there. Turbines however is a new company and I dunno if we can trust them, they smile nicely, but can they deliver the product?
Any aspect can be implemented at a later point, so a lack of races or class should not be considered to badly.
Instancing is a blessing, I wish they will put a few open areas, but nothing major...just a few places (like CoH if you want). Nobody should ever need to hunt outside of instanced, but well...
The small servers and the apparent inability to group with friend on others servers is a big problem however, no logic in a server restriction when the game is player oriented like DDO (rather than server oriented with no instancing). Small server is enforcing me to meet some folks, I can tell you if I find myself on the same server than let say...Afterlife, it will not bode well!
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
The city districts in DDO are basically the equiv. of the various hubs in GW. Slightly more filled out, but still very artificial, boring environments that do not make you feel you are experiencing a real, living fantasy world, but rather an artificial environment that strives for nothing more than to offer the minimum functionality required to support the instanced game content.
The instanced quests are the equiv. of the instanced content zones in GW. DDO adds in some interesting twists to dungeon based content missing from other MMORPGS, but the quests do nothing to make you feel you are immersed in a living fantasy world. GW does some creative things for outdoor mission based content, but once again does nothing to make you feel you are immersed in a living fantasy world.
Instanced hubs and instanced content prevent any sense that you are living and experience a virtual world and does not foster any sense of cadre with others that share your current circumstances in the world. In real MMOs, you bump into people as you go about your business and often you develop friendships with people you regularly find inhabiting the same zones as you and the people you randomly help or are helped by. Familiarity breeds social interaction which leads to friendships.
In GW and in DDO, the buildings in the hub environment might as well be empty building facades from a movie set. There are a couple places you can enter in DDO, inns and stores, but these are boring places that do little to immerse you in the game and are even more boring and dreary than the cantinas in SWG.
I would have to say that GW has better classes, combat and spell casting mechanics by far. GW could actually have been a great MMORPG if those mechanics had been placed in a real, competative and immersive game world. DDO doesn't even have that going for it.
DDO does not provide you with an immersive fantasy world. Instead of designing a creative, immersive world that PnP DnD was forced to simplify because of the constraints of the medium, the designers seem to have designed this virtual world on grid paper and consider the word, the city and it's citizens as nothing more than a bare bones support structure for instanced quests.
DDO does not provide you a fun environemnt where you can vent and escape from real world demands. In fact, it's a stressful game that had me dreading the grind after two days of testing.
DDO doesn't really provide any sense of reward and achievment. The mix of items is very limited and there is minimal difference between the best armor or weapon for your class you can afford by level 2 and the best armor or weapon for your class that you would expect to obtain at level 10. Progress in increasing character power is extremely slow and frustrating. The Action Point system just adds a ton of random abilities that don't at all make up for the lack of a sense of progress that a ten level cap provides. It also serves to blur the differences between the classes and offers ample opportunity to gimp yourself as you progress. The only sense of achievment one would feel for reaching level 10 would be that you were able to suffer through the drudgery and lack of fun long enough to get there. The achievment of a masochist.
DDO relies on the requirement for partying to force social interaction. However, the game world and instancing is totally nonconducive to meaningful social interaction. Aside from people you end up establishing as on going party partners, other players are just a random blur of who ever the servers happen to plop in your same city district instance. Go to an Inn and look around at the other players there. You may never see most of them in your same instance again or have any ability to make contacts through gradual familiarization. The social construct is the antithesis of one that would foster people's desire for natural social interaction.
DDO does put a lot of stress on group achievments through forced grouping. Because of the ways the game is not conducive to natural social interactions with other players and the nature in which players progress, the PnP grouping model is highly favored by this game. By this I mean that the most benefit and least stress will come from forming regular, established parties, with little variation in members, who will interact and party with each other. There is serious pressure to spend most of your questing time with this same group of people, because to level at a different pace will mean that you will outgrow or be left behind by your established adventuring party. This will reinforce the clique factor of established parties in this game and further discourage social interaction outside of the already established clique. Any advantage that could be gained in the realm of socialization by being based on an MMO framework is totally lost.
DDO does not foster any sense of or satisfaction from competition. Competition with members of your established group almost always leads to strife and as noted above, falling ahead or behind of the group on the leveling bell curve makes you a less desirable member of your group. Being a higher level than the others and more precisely than the level of the quest decreases the XP reward. Falling behind the group in level makes you a liability to the party. With social interactions with those outside of your group greatly trivialized, competition between groups is trivialized as well. Are you really going to feel competative with the player or group that fleetingly enters your cognizance in one instanced hub, only to vanish in the next, possibly never to be seen again for days or weeks, or to never be more than a random blip on your social radar?
DDO is a mixed bag for those that enjoy to analyse, understand and explore an MMO. On one hand, knowledge of quests and the ability to fine tune the min/maxing of equipment, abilities, feats, spells, skills and actions seems to offer a huge number of variations for those willing to create and advance many different characters. However, the drudgery of advancement, the need for established, regular adventuring parties and the fact that the world feels so completely finite and unworthy of exploration for it's own sake endermine and destroy any advantage that so many choices in character skills might offer. This is not a game that you are likely to want to replay once you have successfully navigated a character past level 5. Because of the slow, difficult progress of characters in the game and the desirability or even necessity to establish a regular group that does almost everything together, the variation offered by feats and action point choices only serves as a minefield that if not properly navigated can gimp your character. DDO offers nothing to do besides chat in an inn or quest, which also severly limits a person's ability to enjoy the exploration and understanding of new and varied things during game play.
The above are an articulation of the most prominent needs that a MMORPG fulfills. The ability of a MMO to address and then continue to fulfill these needs provides a strong foundation on which success needs to be built. The fact that DDO fails or is actively counterproductive in addressing these needs are objective reasons why I can say this game can not make it in the MMORPG market.
Could it still succeed as a DnD simulator? Perhaps. However any pretense that this game can ever be a successful competitor for the MMO market is just serving to lead to design decisions that lessen it's chances of ever succeeding in it's potential niche.
Every problem that you described here is present and in many cases worse in every other MMO that is currently out. I think you were playing a different game than me because I found the missions to great fun. GW instances consist of combat, combat and more combat, oh and a little combat too. Some of the ones I played in DDO included fighting, but there were also ones where you had to actually sneak around among other things. It is clear you don't like instancing but you'd better get used to it, because many future MMO's are going to use it extensively. You just cannot do the kinds of things they are doing in un-instanced areas.
As far as grouping and meeting people goes, I had no problems hooking up with any groups using the LFG option. Sure some were better than others but part of the fun of PnP is when you have thos catastrophic fuckups where a party member triggers a trap noone saw or attacks that monster that is too powerful to take alone.
If you think the leveling is too slow then I'm sorry but you're just too attached to the levelling treadmill. Break free of that idea that the higher your level the better it makes you. A level difference of 3 or 4 levels in D&D is really not that important and someone can still contribute in a meaningfull way to adventures.
Remember, this game is not PnP D&D, It's a Computer game, they can't have a live DM controlling all the NPC's for everyone everywhere all the time. Their citys are about as alive as any other MMO out there when it comes to NPC's and for you to expect any different is pretty sad really.
Also the servers will have a cap of 4000 accounts per server with 1000 people online at a time. that will mean there's a pretty good chance you will run into the same people often. As I experienced during the stress test. Not like that's really any different from any other MMO where you often don't even pay attention to anyone you don't normally talk to anyways.
Originally posted by Anofalye D&D is the source for EVERY game out there. Turbines however is a new company and I dunno if we can trust them, they smile nicely, but can they deliver the product?
Turbine has been around for about 10 or 11 years and created - Asheron's Call, Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty and Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings. Yeah... that last one is headed for the rubbish bin, though. In addition to DDO, they're making that LoTR Online (which used to be named Middle Earth Online). I don't think you could call them a "new" company.
Originally posted by fiontar .... DDO is a mixed bag for those that enjoy to analyse, understand and explore an MMO. On one hand, knowledge of quests and the ability to fine tune the min/maxing of equipment, abilities, feats, spells, skills and actions seems to offer a huge number of variations for those willing to create and advance many different characters. However, the drudgery of advancement, the need for established, regular adventuring parties and the fact that the world feels so completely finite and unworthy of exploration for it's own sake endermine and destroy any advantage that so many choices in character skills might offer. This is not a game that you are likely to want to replay once you have successfully navigated a character past level 5. Because of the slow, difficult progress of characters in the game and the desirability or even necessity to establish a regular group that does almost everything together, the variation offered by feats and action point choices only serves as a minefield that if not properly navigated can gimp your character. DDO offers nothing to do besides chat in an inn or quest, which also severly limits a person's ability to enjoy the exploration and understanding of new and varied things during game play.
The above are an articulation of the most prominent needs that a MMORPG fulfills. The ability of a MMO to address and then continue to fulfill these needs provides a strong foundation on which success needs to be built. The fact that DDO fails or is actively counterproductive in addressing these needs are objective reasons why I can say this game can not make it in the MMORPG market.
Could it still succeed as a DnD simulator? Perhaps. However any pretense that this game can ever be a successful competitor for the MMO market is just serving to lead to design decisions that lessen it's chances of ever succeeding in it's potential niche.
I'm very surprised by your afermaions after you say you played stress test etc. from what i see you entered that game with some ideas and get very disapointed it don't follow some stabilized paths.
Really I have seent that big worlds in most cases are only time sinks to cover lack on real content, DDO offer TON of content I like, dungeons are chelenging and interesting and it is not mindless kill feast what probably you need to relax, first part of game (where you probably stoped) look small but as i heared from other people who played it there is very big zones later on.
One think is that people cannot compare classes in D&D and GW as that is too apsolute oposites, D&D make classes complementary but not concurent , in GW you have to create classes that are balanced for PvP that is main focus of that game, lack of content and AI GW is covering with great PvP enviropment and even if it is quality game from my opinon, GW cannot be compared to DDO!
One of things you mentioned is difficult progress, DDO is created that you have content from start to end, you dont need LV xxx to be able to do something, you can group lv 5 and lv 1 and still both have great experience, both are usefull in group even if lv 1 is weeker.
Overall i have seen very low understanding of game and its targets and that you was not able to cach mechanic of game and tryed to play it on way you mindlessly play other mmorpg.
i can understand that this will not be game for everyone it will be game for more mature players, not a kids who like kill feast and are unable to figure simplest of puzzels.
You put it down and show your lack of understanding, but two years from now most of you will probably be subscribed to it. This game is doing something diferent, and from the looks of it, its doing it very well. Its not trying to doing something an MMO can't possably be i.e. an interactive, living world, it's being exactly what it is, a massivly multi-player online role playing game, game being the key word.
It may not make any sense at first but think, what would you prefer, an even bigger world to grind in, or interactive dungeons with real objectives and ways of getting around without having to fight for hours on end. In my oppinion, DDO is the closest MMO to capturing the spirit of exploration and adventure the genre was originaly intended to bring to the gaming market. Sure, it doesn't have PVP, sure it doesn't have grinding levels or armour, but who cares, isn't it better off without them, do you really like grinding that much, and PVP is better in FPS and RTS games anyway. If you really want MMO PvP then subscribe to a RvR game.
Personaly i find PvP gets in the way of the actual game, and that if it's not going to be the main objective, like in RvR, then it's just a hinderence for the game, because trying to please everyone is just annoying and has not been achived be any MMO. At least DDO will be able to do PvE very well, because PvE shouldn't just be fighting.
Ultimately, DDO isn't seeking to give everyone what they want, it's seeking to give the fans of D&D what they want, and hoping to be a good game in its own right. If you want PvP, then theres RvR games for you that you can fight to your hearts content in, but there not known for there PvE are they?
No MMO will ever give everyone what they want. Really develipers should pick a few aspects of the genre, such as combat or adventure, and work at them, rather than try to be great at everything at once.
I'm glad the game is instanced. I only want to do a dungeon crawl with 5 other players, not 50. I'm also glad the game won't include PvP. I do enjoy that sort of game play, but not in D&D since it wasn't designed for it. I'm also glad the the "I hate instances and I only want PvP" crowd will shun this game. That will make it so much easier to find a good group to go on a dungeon crawl with
Originally posted by wykkid79 It's just like Ken Troop said. PvP wouldn't work in this game for the sole fact that rebalancing of character classes for it would take away the fun of PvE, which is the focus of D&D. Yes, you could attempt to backstab someone in PnP, and that's such a lame arguement. The game rules are designed around Questing, Treasure and PvE. That's exactly what they wanted to do. They're not interested in adding tons of fluff. They are making the absolute best translation of D&D to a computer game they can, making the combat itself fun and exciting, and giving fantastic dungeons to quest in. That's all. If you want a game that has crafting, a huge persistent world, some instancing but not that much , crafting and includes an element of player skill, start looking at Lord of the Rings Online. If you don't like player skill, go back to WoW.
Its not Some instancing, its all instancing. D&D Online is like Guild Wars, with a monthly fee. Its all instanced.
Originally posted by Mandy Its not Some instancing, its all instancing. D&D Online is like Guild Wars, with a monthly fee. Its all instanced.
Yes it is instanced, but it is NOT in any way similar to Guild Wars, i think that you show very deep misunderstanding mandy and that you really have to read more about game before posting comments.
Idf you read more you will see taht target of this 2 games is different that combat is different, when DDO combat is server based, GW is not, what this mean is that in solo game all what you do is executed in GW on your own computer or in group play on some other person computer and in DDO instances are executed on SERVER!
Instancing in DDO is to enchant people experience and give ability of deeper gameplay and in GW insancing is way to keep you from overloading server as you PvE.
GW is based on PvP and DDO is based on D&D PvE ...
There is much more in this that what i mentioned but it is hard to explain in simple words but i layed GW and even if it is good game it is not even near in quality of entertainment that can be offered by one good D&D world and DDO promise to be on top of it :P
there are missing some races... but if you read, they say that they will come, and the classses will come, it is still in beta and is not out in stores. This game is not going to be a hack and slash but is trying to get it close to RPG as possible.
Originally posted by Mandy Its not Some instancing, its all instancing. D&D Online is like Guild Wars, with a monthly fee. Its all instanced.
Yes it is instanced, but it is NOT in any way similar to Guild Wars, i think that you show very deep misunderstanding mandy and that you really have to read more about game before posting comments.
Idf you read more you will see taht target of this 2 games is different that combat is different, when DDO combat is server based, GW is not, what this mean is that in solo game all what you do is executed in GW on your own computer or in group play on some other person computer and in DDO instances are executed on SERVER!
Instancing in DDO is to enchant people experience and give ability of deeper gameplay and in GW insancing is way to keep you from overloading server as you PvE.
GW is based on PvP and DDO is based on D&D PvE ...
There is much more in this that what i mentioned but it is hard to explain in simple words but i layed GW and even if it is good game it is not even near in quality of entertainment that can be offered by one good D&D world and DDO promise to be on top of it :P
lol.. no offense bro, but u have said nothing to further ur case of; "its nothing like gw instance" .... the only difference u mentioned was that ur bandwith usage will go down a couple MB's because the server will host the game, not the player... that being said, there is no difference between a instance on a server or on someones computer, and chances are u will get a better connection/less lag if its running of ur box, or someone else's......
Now, if GM's will enter the instance on a regular bases, to provide more Roleplaying interaction, then just having u talk to NPC's all day long, that might be fun, but if thats not included, then i dont see how its any different then GW... oh yeah, except for graphics, and this new combat system *which i personally think will not be all that great*
While i do agree that having a wide selection of classes and races is nice and *more interesting*. The appeal of some people to GW, is exactly the opposite, inthat u will need to decide which are the best skills to use on your own specific character, to make him the best for a certain given mission... in other words, u create the class basically, out of a Base Set of skills.... which might be a lot more interesting and appealing to some, but the opposite effect on others.
Swizard is a fanboy who knows absolutely nothing about this game. anyone who has been in the beta can spot that fact about two lines into any of his posts.
Well, everyone that feels DDO is Guild Wars, but with a monthly fee, can certainly play Guild Wars instead. I'm not particularly bothered by the fee, and if it's a good game I'll gladly pay it.
Turbine knows that after guild war' s fee less release they are pushing it requesting a full monthly fee.
Thus the reason they are giving us voice chat... so that the monthly fee seems more worth it. I don't blame them, it's a catch 22. You charge a fee people say you shouldn't if you don't people think your game must suck.
I don't know the server structure turbine is planning to use, but considering the game will be mass instanced which will reduce bandwidth costs by some extent their is no reason for them to charge a full price practically.
Once you buy the boxed game, the game is suppose to be paid for... I'm not saying that the producer has turned a profit yet but all MMO providers say the monthly fee is to support the service. As opposed to saying the monthly fee is charged to help recapture their investment cost.
If the bandwidth per person is $1.00 a month instead of $3 their is no reason for them not to pass that saving on to us. Expect for the fact that they don't have too, and if they did charge $12 instead of $15 once again people would think the more expensive game is inately better. And anyone that was willing to pay $12 to play DDO would likely just as easily pay $15. And any good business will charge as much as they can without getting complaints. Turbine wouldn't try to charge $16 because some people would play it an say "WoW is better and cheaper" or "Wow is just about as good, but cheaper." And then turbine work look greedier then other MMO companies. Of course that fact should already have been proven since they released the AC2 xpack (collected all the money from retail sales) and then a month later announce they are shuting down the game.
So does DDO=guild wars with fee? No.... very different game...
Does DDO need fees to work....? Yes...
If turbine charges $15 a month will they be making more of a monthly profit per person then WoW? Most likely... unless for some reason they dicide to pay their employees more or over schd shifts.
If it cost Blizzard $10 a person to maintain WoW, and turbine $8 a person to maintain DDO.... that a huge difference in profit per person considering every clinet pays $12-15. Any smart business WOULD TRY to ruduce operating cost as much as possible. So Turbine is doing the smart thing.
Comments
I own GW and it is a great game. part of that is because it doesnt have a monthly fee. If it did i wouldnt buy it. So if D&D id GW with a monthly fee then why dont people just get GW and not have 2 pay the fee?
shooooom
Because the two games are nothing alike. People just like to say stuff. Most people wibble on about things from a place of absolutely no knowledge. Weird, innit?
GW reward PvP at the expense of PvE, which is unacceptable.
D&D is the source for EVERY game out there. Turbines however is a new company and I dunno if we can trust them, they smile nicely, but can they deliver the product?
Any aspect can be implemented at a later point, so a lack of races or class should not be considered to badly.
Instancing is a blessing, I wish they will put a few open areas, but nothing major...just a few places (like CoH if you want). Nobody should ever need to hunt outside of instanced, but well...
The small servers and the apparent inability to group with friend on others servers is a big problem however, no logic in a server restriction when the game is player oriented like DDO (rather than server oriented with no instancing). Small server is enforcing me to meet some folks, I can tell you if I find myself on the same server than let say...Afterlife, it will not bode well!
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Every problem that you described here is present and in many cases worse in every other MMO that is currently out. I think you were playing a different game than me because I found the missions to great fun. GW instances consist of combat, combat and more combat, oh and a little combat too. Some of the ones I played in DDO included fighting, but there were also ones where you had to actually sneak around among other things. It is clear you don't like instancing but you'd better get used to it, because many future MMO's are going to use it extensively. You just cannot do the kinds of things they are doing in un-instanced areas.
As far as grouping and meeting people goes, I had no problems hooking up with any groups using the LFG option. Sure some were better than others but part of the fun of PnP is when you have thos catastrophic fuckups where a party member triggers a trap noone saw or attacks that monster that is too powerful to take alone.
If you think the leveling is too slow then I'm sorry but you're just too attached to the levelling treadmill. Break free of that idea that the higher your level the better it makes you. A level difference of 3 or 4 levels in D&D is really not that important and someone can still contribute in a meaningfull way to adventures.
Remember, this game is not PnP D&D, It's a Computer game, they can't have a live DM controlling all the NPC's for everyone everywhere all the time. Their citys are about as alive as any other MMO out there when it comes to NPC's and for you to expect any different is pretty sad really.
Also the servers will have a cap of 4000 accounts per server with 1000 people online at a time. that will mean there's a pretty good chance you will run into the same people often. As I experienced during the stress test. Not like that's really any different from any other MMO where you often don't even pay attention to anyone you don't normally talk to anyways.
Turbine has been around for about 10 or 11 years and created - Asheron's Call, Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty and Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings. Yeah... that last one is headed for the rubbish bin, though. In addition to DDO, they're making that LoTR Online (which used to be named Middle Earth Online). I don't think you could call them a "new" company.
Just sayin'....
I'm very surprised by your afermaions after you say you played stress test etc. from what i see you entered that game with some ideas and get very disapointed it don't follow some stabilized paths.
Really I have seent that big worlds in most cases are only time sinks to cover lack on real content, DDO offer TON of content I like, dungeons are chelenging and interesting and it is not mindless kill feast what probably you need to relax, first part of game (where you probably stoped) look small but as i heared from other people who played it there is very big zones later on.
One think is that people cannot compare classes in D&D and GW as that is too apsolute oposites, D&D make classes complementary but not concurent , in GW you have to create classes that are balanced for PvP that is main focus of that game, lack of content and AI GW is covering with great PvP enviropment and even if it is quality game from my opinon, GW cannot be compared to DDO!
One of things you mentioned is difficult progress, DDO is created that you have content from start to end, you dont need LV xxx to be able to do something, you can group lv 5 and lv 1 and still both have great experience, both are usefull in group even if lv 1 is weeker.
Overall i have seen very low understanding of game and its targets and that you was not able to cach mechanic of game and tryed to play it on way you mindlessly play other mmorpg.
i can understand that this will not be game for everyone it will be game for more mature players, not a kids who like kill feast and are unable to figure simplest of puzzels.
You put it down and show your lack of understanding, but two years from now most of you will probably be subscribed to it. This game is doing something diferent, and from the looks of it, its doing it very well. Its not trying to doing something an MMO can't possably be i.e. an interactive, living world, it's being exactly what it is, a massivly multi-player online role playing game, game being the key word.
It may not make any sense at first but think, what would you prefer, an even bigger world to grind in, or interactive dungeons with real objectives and ways of getting around without having to fight for hours on end. In my oppinion, DDO is the closest MMO to capturing the spirit of exploration and adventure the genre was originaly intended to bring to the gaming market. Sure, it doesn't have PVP, sure it doesn't have grinding levels or armour, but who cares, isn't it better off without them, do you really like grinding that much, and PVP is better in FPS and RTS games anyway. If you really want MMO PvP then subscribe to a RvR game.
Personaly i find PvP gets in the way of the actual game, and that if it's not going to be the main objective, like in RvR, then it's just a hinderence for the game, because trying to please everyone is just annoying and has not been achived be any MMO. At least DDO will be able to do PvE very well, because PvE shouldn't just be fighting.
Ultimately, DDO isn't seeking to give everyone what they want, it's seeking to give the fans of D&D what they want, and hoping to be a good game in its own right. If you want PvP, then theres RvR games for you that you can fight to your hearts content in, but there not known for there PvE are they?
No MMO will ever give everyone what they want. Really develipers should pick a few aspects of the genre, such as combat or adventure, and work at them, rather than try to be great at everything at once.
I'm glad the game is instanced. I only want to do a dungeon crawl with 5 other players, not 50. I'm also glad the game won't include PvP. I do enjoy that sort of game play, but not in D&D since it wasn't designed for it. I'm also glad the the "I hate instances and I only want PvP" crowd will shun this game. That will make it so much easier to find a good group to go on a dungeon crawl with
Its not Some instancing, its all instancing. D&D Online is like Guild Wars, with a monthly fee. Its all instanced.
Yes it is instanced, but it is NOT in any way similar to Guild Wars, i think that you show very deep misunderstanding mandy and that you really have to read more about game before posting comments.
Idf you read more you will see taht target of this 2 games is different that combat is different, when DDO combat is server based, GW is not, what this mean is that in solo game all what you do is executed in GW on your own computer or in group play on some other person computer and in DDO instances are executed on SERVER!
Instancing in DDO is to enchant people experience and give ability of deeper gameplay and in GW insancing is way to keep you from overloading server as you PvE.
GW is based on PvP and DDO is based on D&D PvE ...
There is much more in this that what i mentioned but it is hard to explain in simple words but i layed GW and even if it is good game it is not even near in quality of entertainment that can be offered by one good D&D world and DDO promise to be on top of it :P
there are missing some races... but if you read, they say that they will come, and the classses will come, it is still in beta and is not out in stores. This game is not going to be a hack and slash but is trying to get it close to RPG as possible.
Yes it is instanced, but it is NOT in any way similar to Guild Wars, i think that you show very deep misunderstanding mandy and that you really have to read more about game before posting comments.
Idf you read more you will see taht target of this 2 games is different that combat is different, when DDO combat is server based, GW is not, what this mean is that in solo game all what you do is executed in GW on your own computer or in group play on some other person computer and in DDO instances are executed on SERVER!
Instancing in DDO is to enchant people experience and give ability of deeper gameplay and in GW insancing is way to keep you from overloading server as you PvE.
GW is based on PvP and DDO is based on D&D PvE ...
There is much more in this that what i mentioned but it is hard to explain in simple words but i layed GW and even if it is good game it is not even near in quality of entertainment that can be offered by one good D&D world and DDO promise to be on top of it :P
lol.. no offense bro, but u have said nothing to further ur case of; "its nothing like gw instance" .... the only difference u mentioned was that ur bandwith usage will go down a couple MB's because the server will host the game, not the player... that being said, there is no difference between a instance on a server or on someones computer, and chances are u will get a better connection/less lag if its running of ur box, or someone else's......
Now, if GM's will enter the instance on a regular bases, to provide more Roleplaying interaction, then just having u talk to NPC's all day long, that might be fun, but if thats not included, then i dont see how its any different then GW... oh yeah, except for graphics, and this new combat system *which i personally think will not be all that great*
EDIT: @guy with the post about classes
While i do agree that having a wide selection of classes and races is nice and *more interesting*. The appeal of some people to GW, is exactly the opposite, inthat u will need to decide which are the best skills to use on your own specific character, to make him the best for a certain given mission... in other words, u create the class basically, out of a Base Set of skills.... which might be a lot more interesting and appealing to some, but the opposite effect on others.
Okkkkaaayyyyyyyyyyyy
GW got very few "classes" and DDO is under greation for alot more, and there will be more races.
i like to be able to choose from alot of "classes" not just 6, thats why i more like SWG than WoW
Well, everyone that feels DDO is Guild Wars, but with a monthly fee, can certainly play Guild Wars instead. I'm not particularly bothered by the fee, and if it's a good game I'll gladly pay it.
Turbine knows that after guild war'
s fee less release they are pushing it requesting a full monthly fee.
Thus the reason they are giving us voice chat... so that the monthly fee seems more worth it. I don't blame them, it's a catch 22. You charge a fee people say you shouldn't if you don't people think your game must suck.
I don't know the server structure turbine is planning to use, but considering the game will be mass instanced which will reduce bandwidth costs by some extent their is no reason for them to charge a full price practically.
Once you buy the boxed game, the game is suppose to be paid for... I'm not saying that the producer has turned a profit yet but all MMO providers say the monthly fee is to support the service. As opposed to saying the monthly fee is charged to help recapture their investment cost.
If the bandwidth per person is $1.00 a month instead of $3 their is no reason for them not to pass that saving on to us. Expect for the fact that they don't have too, and if they did charge $12 instead of $15 once again people would think the more expensive game is inately better. And anyone that was willing to pay $12 to play DDO would likely just as easily pay $15. And any good business will charge as much as they can without getting complaints. Turbine wouldn't try to charge $16 because some people would play it an say "WoW is better and cheaper" or "Wow is just about as good, but cheaper." And then turbine work look greedier then other MMO companies. Of course that fact should already have been proven since they released the AC2 xpack (collected all the money from retail sales) and then a month later announce they are shuting down the game.
So does DDO=guild wars with fee? No.... very different game...
Does DDO need fees to work....? Yes...
If turbine charges $15 a month will they be making more of a monthly profit per person then WoW? Most likely... unless for some reason they dicide to pay their employees more or over schd shifts.
If it cost Blizzard $10 a person to maintain WoW, and turbine $8 a person to maintain DDO.... that a huge difference in profit per person considering every clinet pays $12-15. Any smart business WOULD TRY to ruduce operating cost as much as possible. So Turbine is doing the smart thing.