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Friends don't let friends play solo...
brihtwulf
Member UncommonPosts: 975
... until July. Then you can play solo because we changed our minds. Way to backpeddle and make yourselves look like complete asses. They really put their foot in their mouth on this one. They practially swore that they would not be adding solo content because the game was meant to be group-focused. But after realizing that most players were leaving and many of them complained about lack of solo content, they had to reconsider their previously concrete statement that there would be no focus on solo content.
And with all the things the game could use (and I know this has been said at some point), they chose to add in Drow. Could they add any other race? No. They're just going to re-skin the elf model and call it a new race. They don't allow you to be evil, but somehow there are now dark elves in the game. Sure, Ebberon doesn't specificly have the rule that Drow are evil, but it's a widely accepted concept that they are. And Ebberon was a stupid choice for campaign setting to begin with. Why not go with something more popular like Forgotten Realms?
They have broken their own rules and disappointed even their most devoted of fans. Now all we need to do is wait for their announcement that they will be closing the servers just like their failed attempt to make Asheron's Call 2. Who knows what they'll come up with next...
Comments
The Turbine takes carefully aim at foot. FIRES! A hit! A hit!
I was in the closed Beta for DDO. So was a guy that goes by the tag Sir Bruce. Now, Sir Bruce regularly studies the MMORPG industry and publishes some numbers about subscriptions. As far as I know, he is the only third part source for subscription numbers.
Sir Bruce posted a long thread on the Beta Forums. One important point that Sir Bruce made was this game was heading for a failure. His general point was that people play a MMORPG different than they play a table top game. He cited the lack of solo play as a barrier for many players of MMORPGs.
Turbine knew at the time that their game included what some saw as a serious flaw and made the choice to release the game in any case. I guess they must have been running out of money. I think there chances of making any money in the future won't be good until they learn to listen.
Captain John Matin
Royal Red
If you read the info they put out... They are only putting in Solo play in the very early stages of the game... As they say to make it easier for the new player to get into teh forced grouping thay will come. So as I ststed before, they are really not putting it, solo play, into the game. Just trying to make it seem so to trick more people into paying for the game.
LOL
And yes, solo play is one of *many* things Turbine made bad decisions about in development. However, I would argue that solo play is the LEAST of their problems. They could easily fix solo play issues by just adding in NPC's you can group with like Guild Wars does.
Then again they'd just get called copycats and the folks saying "DDO is just like Guild Wars, why should we pay" would have even more ammo
"Can't get a group? Fine, go take those NPC's over there with you, poof, instant group".
Problem solved, no balancing act, no re-tooning already working classes designed for group play, etc. Just grab a group of NPC's. It's so brilliant in its simplicity that I'm stunned nobody ever thought of it before Guild Wars did.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
In America I have bad teeth. If I lived in England my teeth would be perfect.
Basically this is true.
For them to expect ppl to come back as paying customers requires a total overhaul of even the core of the game which means a back to drawing board scenario.
They released a game with less features then guild wars and were hoping the name D&D will drive many ppl to pay for it.
Nah!Hopefully this will stand as a lesson for those who think licence alone can carry the game
But it only took me three weeks to get to max level and after that the only thing I could do was either cancel the account or start another character. I think in the end I knew everything D&D had to offer and creating another character just wasn't an option.
Maybe if the game gets more content I'll come back and try it out again in a few months. Thats the beauty of MMORPS I suppose.
I vote for more solo content, that would be a plus.
Ian is pretty much right on. They are only releasing a bit more solo content to get new players into the game more. The game will not change its focus. Its a group game for better or worse more or less like pnp D&D. The only difference with D&D is usually you already have your friends and are ready to go when you all get together. With any MMO there is always a wait time assembling groups but it does make DDO feel a bit less D&D trying to get your party together unless you really roleplay it.
One of the better DDO times I had was with a pure roleplay group. The leader used the typical lfg mode in game but each player had to come to the Lobster tavern and meet up and we sat at a table and pretty much made our own story. That is where D&D and DDO really deliver but you really can't code that. That comes from good players and groups. Which is also why being in a good guild is very important for DDO. Pickup groups are just not that much fun unless you have good players.
Plus the main thing DDO does need besides solo quest content would be more traditional modes of solo activities ie crafting or resource gathering and some form of pvp that gives players something else to do while they are not doing the main group quests. This is what most traditional mmorpg players want out of DDO and I think they can add it in without losing the DDO group game that they developed.
Originally posted by Shurijo
Originally posted by Ashlyn55D&D Online just needs tons of more content period. I really liked the game. I enjoyed finding hidden doors and unlocking chest. I also liked shotting arrows and casting spells with my wand. D&D was a nice Neverwinter Nights style game that I could play online. But it only took me three weeks to get to max level and after that the only thing I could do was either cancel the account or start another character. I think in the end I knew everything D&D had to offer and creating another character just wasn't an option.Maybe if the game gets more content I'll come back and try it out again in a few months. Thats the beauty of MMORPS I suppose.I vote for more solo content, that would be a plus.
That pretty much sums it up for me too. But I was in Alpha and Beta testing, so I saw all the content back before it was released. They've added 12 more dungeons since then, but I'm waiting until they build up a few more months worth of content before heading back. Maybe by then, the box will just be $29.95.
If i can find Lineage 2 for $4.99 at EBgames which has tons and tons of content, than surely Ddo will be even less. Probably will be sitting next to Horizons for $1.99. Feel bad for these Game pushers where they order a bunch of copies from the manufacturers for crazy prices and they just sit on their shelves for ever. Games like this are going to end up putting distributors out of business or they are just going to stop ordering Mmo's all together then we will be screwed out of bargain bin deals. At the rate these garbage games are being pushed out months before they should be released we are going to see a complete drop of actual good mmos in the stores. Sure the suits (publishers) are to blame for alot of this, but soon they will realize that trying to cash in faster because the next Eq clone is being released and they want to get the money first strategy does not work any more. Gamers are not the sheep they think we are, well most of us, can still notice a sheep here and there on these forums lol.
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The kid who runs the local EBGames is a family friend. He said that he's had 28 copies of DDO in his inventory since the first part of April. He can't move them. He's really hoping that in the next few weeks they'll send him a price drop on them just he can get them out of inventory.
He's thinking that if they wait much longer to do the price drop, the DDO box will end up like the MxO box was just before SOE bought that game from Monolith. I bought my copy of MxO from him for a penny.
I dont know if this is the right thread to post this but...
I just tried out the 7 day free trial and Im half way through (3 days now) and it's boring for me. It was fun the first couple days remembering the PnP days of my first characters and their adventures and trying to recreate what I thought they looked like in my mind's eye. It would be fun every once in a while to hop on DDO and make a character and build it up; but a monthly fee for this? There is no persistant world that I can make my mark on or change in anyway. Maybe others have found more value in DDO than me...
But I give it a thumbs down - it has less activity for a character than Guild Wars plus a monthly fee. No thanks.