Dungeons & Dragons Online

[Vergil]

Most quests aren't that much text (some can be large amounts), are you that slow of a reader? Besides, there are quest objectives listed AND a GM often narrates a lot of the story, not to mention the voiced dialogue of the NPCs. Not sure how this is a problem.

Okay come join a session and stop the group at every quest so you can read everything it'll be very popular!

Kind of explains your problem with the quest text.

Well your post and the game are both filled with a lot of uninteresting filler not worth my time to read I'll give you that.

[Xenich]

hate to break it to everyone, but there is no way to make story-based content work in a coop setting

[edit]
and the biggest issue with DDO quests is the lack of continuity between them, but I enjoyed them a lot. Play them solo, do it on a lower difficulty, go at your own pace.

Yes, they are easier to digest if you play them solo (unless the person is a hardcore mainstream ******, there is no hope).

Also, difficulty is a big thing. Some people are too "proud" to play on lower difficulties, but the reality is that the higher difficulties are for either VERY cautious/methodical players, or... people who have put a lot of attention into prepping for their quest.

You are right, the early quests have continuity issues (the old ones from original release) as they are spread out among various areas in the city, but reading and following the blinking check marks and doors helps with this. The later ones they made into hubs with all the quest NPCs standing around each other, even having a single NPC with a "multi chalice" marker that will direct you from each NPC to the next. That is why I said it is best if people sub and do the new content (ie Borderlands, Saltmarsh, etc...) until they get a feel for how the game is played and setup.

Biggest hurdle though is the system (classes, attributes, skills, enhancements, etc..) and understanding how those work (ie sound and visual being a component of sneaking, using bluff to open a mob for sneak attack, or using intimidate to taunt, or diplomacy to de-taunt), using potions/scrolls/wands as a non-magic user with UMD, etc..

DDO has a very large learning curve, but it has depth and longevity because of it.

[rusty_shackleford]

also the monetization is absolutely grand jew-tier
charging money for old expansions is scummy as ****

[Xenich]

Most quests aren't that much text (some can be large amounts), are you that slow of a reader? Besides, there are quest objectives listed AND a GM often narrates a lot of the story, not to mention the voiced dialogue of the NPCs. Not sure how this is a problem.

Okay come join a session and stop the group at every quest so you can read everything it'll be very popular!

Kind of explains your problem with the quest text.

Well your post and the game are both filled with a lot of uninteresting filler not worth my time to read I'll give you that.

Never led a raid? If you can't organize your group, get someone who can. If the group can't be organized, don't group with them. I know that defeats the purpose of this whole thing, but one of the basic concepts of gaming is being able to organize and coordinate. Surely all of you "expert" gamers can achieve this?

Again, your are proving my point. Those things may be "uninteresting", but they are relevant to play (and part of the problems you are running into).


Look, if you guys are just looking for a game you can run around, hack and slash, zerg and the like, maybe something else is better suited? Ascension? FPS game? Heck...<insert mainstream MMO here>

[Oyster Sauce]

Most quests aren't that much text (some can be large amounts), are you that slow of a reader? Besides, there are quest objectives listed AND a GM often narrates a lot of the story, not to mention the voiced dialogue of the NPCs. Not sure how this is a problem.

Okay come join a session and stop the group at every quest so you can read everything it'll be very popular!

Kind of explains your problem with the quest text.

Well your post and the game are both filled with a lot of uninteresting filler not worth my time to read I'll give you that.

Never led a raid? If you can't organize your group, get someone who can. If the group can't be organized, don't group with them. I know that defeats the purpose of this whole thing, but one of the basic concepts of gaming is being able to organize and coordinate. Surely all of you "expert" gamers can achieve this?

Again, your are proving my point. Those things may be "uninteresting", but they are relevant to play (and part of the problems you are running into).


Look, if you guys are just looking for a game you can run around, hack and slash, zerg and the like, maybe something else is better suited? Ascension? FPS game? Heck...<insert mainstream MMO here>

The suggestion that one of the responsibilities of a raid leader is to ensure the entire group reads all of the quest dialogue together is so funny I can only assume you're LARPing and have never played a video game. It's straight out of a cop drama show where they have to track down the killer through an MMO.

[Vergil]

Look, if you guys are just looking for a game you can run around, hack and slash, zerg and the like,

As one of the people actually playing the game with the group instead of writing novellas about how this MMO from 2006 changed the world, this is what 99% of playing the game is.

[rusty_shackleford]

"forced the raid to read all the dialogue" feels like a reason I'd get reprimanded in my old raiding guild

[Xenich]

also the monetization is absolutely grand jew-tier
charging money for old expansions is scummy as ****

Yeah, that is pretty ******. VIP will give all the standard content, but the expansions yes, I didn't realize you still had to buy the old stuff (I always bought them when they came out over the years).

They do have sales though.

https://www.ddo.com/expansions#PreviousExpansions

For the most part, only the base is needed (collectors and ultimates are mostly... fluff and things like gold seal hirelings/tomes/potions/extra space/etc...).

Saltmarsh is 14 bucks.
Feywild is 24 bucks.
Sharn 24 bucks.
The expansion trove (combined 3 expansions of Ravenloft, Shadowfell, and Underdark) is not on sale and its 60 bucks.

A sub covers most of the individual content and the standards will fill in the rest.

Yeah, it sucks... but I don't think DDO is a HUGE market, so those things keep it afloat (that and the whales).

[Vickers]

I have come here to register my complaints about DDO.

Start playing:
1) Home Counties Theater Kid shouts at me to 'come here', buttons don't work.
2) Woman talking about wizard nonsense. Can mute her so fine.
3) Hold down left click to delete everything.
4) See man with Keep on the Borderlands over his head, sent to shop.
5) Sub, do KotB. It's good and I can play on Not A ****** Mode now.
6) Spat out into multi-cultural hovel of 3ED splat-book ****-kin.
7) Told Hobgoblins want some work done.
8) Start installing LoTRO.

I can see the merit of its design. I would have already uninstalled a mediocre game that did this to me, so it can boast that achievement, but I have limits.

[Xenich]

"forced the raid to read all the dialogue" feels like a reason I'd get reprimanded in my old raiding guild

Funny, but you know what I meant. This is small group content, surely people can take the time to speed through the dialogues.

Besides, if it were a raid, all relevant information would have either been given to the raid pre-raid (ie here is the plan), or given on the forums as the strategy and roles.

I didn't know of any raids in EQ that were successful that didn't have a highly organized group who were instructed in detail as to their roles within the fight.

Well, maybe later on, but people sure as hell weren't doing the AOW pre-pop with a WoW zerg mentality.

[Xenich]

Look, if you guys are just looking for a game you can run around, hack and slash, zerg and the like,

As one of the people actually playing the game with the group instead of writing novellas about how this MMO from 2006 changed the world, this is what 99% of playing the game is.

So you zerg on Elite/Reaper with first lives? You should stop playing, you are too good for the game.

[Kalarion]

Look, if you guys are just looking for a game you can run around, hack and slash, zerg and the like,

As one of the people actually playing the game with the group instead of writing novellas about how this MMO from 2006 changed the world, this is what 99% of playing the game is.

It's just a result of the huge gap in play time and character development. Boontaker has multiple reincarnations and characters under his belt, so it's natural for him to rush through everything as fast as possible, he's done all this stuff a couple dozen times at this point

I enjoy the crawling aspect of dungeon crawling a lot too and I wish we were more deliberate. But I also suspect that one of the reasons everything is so fast is because we essentially still have training wheels on. Once we hit 10+ content, mobs will get resilient enough (and deadly enough), that a more measured, deliberate and exploratory approach will be preferred. As well as more challenge to encounters than, "mash biggest dps buttan repeatedly".

That's what I'm hoping, anyways

Edit - and also the fact that Boontaker's seen all of this stuff. The dungeon meta is solved for him, vs not for us. I suspect if we were doing an actual crawl, exploring and getting to know the dungeon, wary of traps etc, you'd have a different impression.

[Xenich]

Look, if you guys are just looking for a game you can run around, hack and slash, zerg and the like,

As one of the people actually playing the game with the group instead of writing novellas about how this MMO from 2006 changed the world, this is what 99% of playing the game is.

It's just a result of the huge gap in play time and character development. Boontaker has multiple reincarnations and characters under his belt, so it's natural for him to rush through everything as fast as possible, he's done all this stuff a couple dozen times at this point

I enjoy the crawling aspect of dungeon crawling a lot too and I wish we were more deliberate. But I also suspect that one of the reasons everything is so fast is because we essentially still have training wheels on. Once we hit 10+ content, mobs will get resilient enough (and deadly enough), that a more measured, deliberate and exploratory approach will be preferred. As well as more challenge to encounters than, "mash biggest dps buttan repeatedly".

That's what I'm hoping, anyways

Edit - and also the fact that Boontaker's seen all of this stuff. The dungeon meta is solved for him, vs not for us. I suspect if we were doing an actual crawl, exploring and getting to know the dungeon, wary of traps etc, you'd have a different impression.

Ok, I get it now. I wasn't putting 2 and 2 together and didn't realize boontaker was leading the group from a veteran player approach. I thought it was just people running around, clicking on quests, not paying attention, zerging through the dungeons, etc...

Yeah, playing this game with someone who knows everything can make it frustrating, especially if they are doing it with a seasoned toon.

I don't think levels are going to make a difference if Boontaker has multiple lives on his toon. Your character gets too powerful with each reincarnation (added bonus feats, increased point builds 28 point up to 36 point if they have enough lives) not to mention, gear and knowing how to tweak, etc...

It is kind of why I didn't really want to play so much as my pre-knowledge can ruin it for other people (as you already know, later DDO is all about speed running, not crawling).

What difficulty are you running anyway? I think elite was "tuned" down a while ago, so you might want do reaper. Reaper 1-2 is better, 3-4 will make your fights last a heck of a lot longer, but the reapers that pop (and the mobs) will hit like trucks and DCs will crush you.

[Xenich]

honestly, it sounds like one of you who knows nothing about the dungeons needs to lead, and those who know the dungeon just need to let the others figure it out, and be there as support otherwise it will feel like being power leveled and that is never fun.

I might join you guys sometime, but its on a different server, I only have two toons (and I won't transfer them, besides they would overpower the content for you and they are already around 30, so...).

Fact is, the "noobs" need to run the show and the veterans need to just follow along, help with any mechanics/features advice as needed. That is the best way for you guys to group.

edit:

Also, I would advise that you guys go to the dungeon entrances physically and don't "teleport in" through the group function unless you all know where the heck you are. That at least will reduce some of the confusion with where you are, what quests you are doing are, etc...

[Xenich]

Ok, servers are still down, but when I get the chance I will pop on and make a Favored Soul (doesn't look like anyone has one). That should help with Restoration (level drains and the like) as well as provide Death Ward, support healing, cures, etc...

I will edit this with the name once I have done. What level are you all at currently? I will either catch up, or use the Veteran function to catch up and just be support for anyone who needs it.

[Boontaker]

I try to keep things moving to help with playtime. If you take a slower methodical approach to DDO you'll complete maybe 3 quests every time you get together to play. Which will burn people out faster than the speed play I do IMO (imagine being level 6 for 2 weeks). Some of the DDO quests are frustrating and cause players to rage quit.

If we had a dedicated play night we could slow down and "experience" the game more. Also I can only play on the weekends so feel free to group up and snailtrail across the game anytime. I can always catchup if you guys outlevel me.

DDO is an all-in mmo, meaning you should really just play ddo and not distract yourself with other games until you put it down. The system are very complex and there are hundreds of different dungeon layouts to play. If you only play DDO 3 hours a week, while going back to gachaslop in-between play session you'll never "get it".

Also my character is only about 5% stronger than a first life (vip) build. However I know d&d and DDO very well so my build is min/maxed, and that does make a difference.

I think Tweed and Vergil do plenty of damage, it wouldn't make sense for my fighter to do less damage than someone with spell utility and trapper skills.

[Orvas Dren]

So, I am interested "honestly", what is "Mediocre" (ie inferior quality, ability)

Mediocre doesn't mean inferior. It means middling/average quality. You're going hard on the defense over a misunderstanding of a word's definition. Nammu probably would've called it subpar (etc.) if he meant inferior. He's saying the game looks par at best, with nothing that makes it jump out at him compared to anything else of the accepted standard.

Again, compared to what?

Idk the gameplay looks pretty similar to SWTOR and every other MMO from that time period except lacking all the cool stuff SWTOR has. It doesn't look like the worse MMO ever by any stretch but I don't see any reason as how its actually worth investing time into over something like swtor or eso which seem to have aged better

[Vergil]

DDO is an all-in mmo, meaning you should really just play ddo and not distract yourself with other games until you put it down.

Wow that sounds really appealing.

[Boontaker]

Mediocre doesn't mean inferior. It means middling/average quality. You're going hard on the defense over a misunderstanding of a word's definition. Nammu probably would've called it subpar (etc.) if he meant inferior. He's saying the game looks par at best, with nothing that makes it jump out at him compared to anything else of the accepted standard.

Again, compared to what?

Idk the gameplay looks pretty similar to SWTOR and every other MMO from that time period except lacking all the cool stuff SWTOR has. It doesn't look like the worse MMO ever by any stretch but I don't see any reason as how its actually worth investing time into over something like swtor or eso which seem to have aged better

All other MMOs "end" once you are max level, if you don't find a raiding guild that's it game over. DDO does not end, you can reincarnate and level and new build again while still gathering power. Because of this feature group play is actually very active for a game this old, I play a couple of times a week and I never have to play solo if I don't want too. The game also gets very challenging once you get over level 20.

Sure you can level an alt to max level is SWTOR but it's not the same as compiling power on your main.

BUILD FAGGOTRY
The other thing DDO has going for it is build diversity and power. No other MMO allows you to build a character that can solo raids (normal difficulty), no other mmo allows you to make a true jack of all trades build. Fighting, tanking, trapping, healing, utility spells. Also DDO is a game that let's you ride the powerfantasy like no other. It doesn't matter how much effort you put into your Sith warrior, he will always be limited by the balance design of the game. However in DDO you can make a sorcerer that one shots bosses (elite diff and lower), you can make a rogue that assassinates dragons. The satisfaction of crushing a boss in DDO far outweighs any other game IMO.

"The game must be to easy then!"

Let's be honest every single game is easy, darksouls, elden ring, ESO, cod shooters, japslop rpgs. All games are easy if you learn the systems and exploit them. Most MMOs don't have a scaling difficulty option, once you know the game you will never lose again unless you are drunk.

DDO has Reaper mode, which increases the difficulty of the game from 30%-70% depending on the level you choose. Reaper also gives you more experience, more character power, and unique item buffs along side it. Meaning it's not just a mode for try hards.

[Boontaker]

DDO is an all-in mmo, meaning you should really just play ddo and not distract yourself with other games until you put it down.

Wow that sounds really appealing.

Do you read 3 chapters of a book, put it down. Then pick up another book and read 3 more chapters of it? No wonder some of you guys have gamer ADD.

"OoOooOOooHhHH I'm Gunna GAAAAAAAAMMEEEE!!!"

******* Gameooners

[Vergil]

Do you read 3 chapters of a book, put it down. Then pick up another book and read 3 more chapters of it? No wonder some of you guys have gamer ADD.

This is more like saying RPGHQ is an all-in internet forum, meaning you should really just browse RPGHQ and not distract yourself with other websites until you put it down.
Treating the game like a job where I have to come home and clock in without letting other things I enjoy distract me (lol) from this video game is a good way to burn me out.

[Boontaker]

Do you read 3 chapters of a book, put it down. Then pick up another book and read 3 more chapters of it? No wonder some of you guys have gamer ADD.

This is more like saying RPGHQ is an all-in internet forum, meaning you should really just browse RPGHQ and not distract yourself with other websites until you put it down.
Treating the game like a job where I have to come home and clock in without letting other things I enjoy distract me (lol) from this video game is a good way to burn me out.

I only visit RPGHQ and /Pol

[Vergil]

and /Pol

I wouldn't recommend doing that in 2024. Might as well browse reddit.

[Boontaker]

and /Pol

I wouldn't recommend doing that in 2024. Might as well browse reddit.

I just go to see what the latest political drama being talked about is, only place I can get an accurate assessment of what's going on. Even right wing places are biased and fully infiltrated with goodest-goyim. But you are right modern day pol is trash

[LemonDemonGirl]

Yeah, which is why I was wondering. If you are coming from an EQ/WOW or any other MMO these days background, DDO is so different it turns people off.

I came from WoW and I have no problem with how DDO is done. It feels rather unique compared to the 'usual formula' of doing an MMO.

[Decline]

I came from a **** game and I have no problem with how **** is done.

Surprising!

[gastovski]

Guys, play neverwinter online instead

[Xenich]

Guys, play neverwinter online instead

I did on release, it is complete mainstream garbage.

[J1M]

The problem I had with DDO was the advancement stuff bolted onto D&D. Would rather have not had all of that stuff. Felt too much like the worst DM homebrew.

[Xenich]

The problem I had with DDO was the advancement stuff bolted onto D&D. Would rather have not had all of that stuff. Felt too much like the worst DM homebrew.

You mean the enhancement trees? Yeah... I was one of the people who were ****** when they moved away from the old system and implemented the "WoW" like talent trees. For a while it completely screwed up the progression of the game, ruined a lot of class builds, etc... over time, it has gotten better (yes, its still mainstreamed and I would have preferred a different approach, but overall comparatively speaking it works fairly well now).

That wasn't what really urked me about the game though. When they first implemented the RNG system, it killed the game for me. They removed all the placement of named items being in different chests for a while and you only got garbage RNG crap that always seemed to have the same stats listed in the gear. It killed the uniqueness of drops being attached to the adventure.

I stopped playing for a few years when they did that. It is better now as it looks like they went back to named rewards in all the adventures again.