DDO....the good, the bad and the ugly

[Red October]

The Beta for DDO ends tommorow (for me at least), so I decided to give my impressions of the game.

Good:
LFG system is very nice, love the ability to list a quest your lfg for.

Colorful and not too draby like EQ2, but not to cartoony like WoW.

Dungeons are instanced...NO Camping! *roaring crowd cheers*

Quests are very interactive. Traps, puzzles, etc. VERY GOOD IDEA. I almost would leave EQ2 for this.

Bad:
EVERYTHING (save intro quests) requires a group. Granted groups should be the main-stay, but sometimes I'm in such a pissed mood, I don't want to group, for my sake and the sake of everyone else.

Combat system is not interactive enough. In EQ2, I'm breaking a sweat, mashing buttons when health is red or orange and so is the mob's. DDO, I hit the auto attack button...and a few more buttons and before the fight is over I pretty much know if I'm going to survive or die. Rolling a d20 on PnP is not the same online (you at least felt like you were involved when you roll the die).

Nothing to do while your LFG. In EQ2 I throw the LFG tag up and work on either crafting, solo quests or old group quests that I leveled and never got around to.

No place to heal in a dungeon except the "Shrines" and potions. I would just assume to be rid of the shrines and allow us to eat food and drink in the dungeon and recharge, even at a slower pace. Whats the point of food when you can only use it in the Tavern when your recharging there already?

The Ugly:
They really need to stabilize the chat server. Communication is essential for groups.


Conclusion: If they fix the "bad" parts I would drop EQ2 for this game. And here's the clincher, EQ2 is moving towards more instances (less camping) and more interactive quests. So eventually, the advantages of DDO over EQ2 will no longer be there.

[OneManArmy]

so its a shitty game but it comes in a pretty box with a manual... woo...

[Ghryphen]

I tried it for about 2 days, instancing every time you turn a corner is really annoying. I rather have 30 servers with one tavern that you walk into than zone into one of 30 tavern instances.

[Heavygain]

Ehh, if I get into an MMO its A) hardcore like EQ1 or B) Revolutionary. DDO obviously isn't "hardcore" if its instanced, and definately not revolutionary.

[Hamma]

I'm not a fan of all the "instancing" in games. I mean you pay money to play online and you are making it more and more like a single player game

[Lonehunter]

what the shit is DDO

[Hamma]

Dungeons and Dragons Online.

www.ddo.com

[Red October]

I don't mind the instancing on "dungeons" as it eliminates camping (re-spawn timers 2 hours or more...and another group is waiting ahead of you) and farming. It gives more immersion...kind of hard to feel that way when you got 50 people in a dungeon destroying mobs that re-pop every so often. Once you kill them, they should be dead...and there shouldn't be 50 other people in this dungeon. Outdoor zones is another story...no instances there unless were taking on some named mob in a cove or something. But still...way too much in this game.

But what really bothers me, Turbine is also making Lord of the Rings Online...I sure hope they dont take DDO and slap LOTRO on it.

[Hamma]

I doubt it.. I think LOTRO went into production well before DDO didn't it?

[Red October]

Originally Posted by Hamma

I doubt it.. I think LOTRO went into production well before DDO didn't it?

Yeah....as Middle Earth Online (MEO), it would have been out last month. But somewhere down the line they aquired some license's and they re-did the whole thing. From what I read though...no zoning in or out. Its all going to be "one zone". Supposedly it will take you 10 hours in real time to cross from one end to the other...and thats only a small part of the world. Buildings, homes, etc. will be instanced/zone however.

[Hamma]

Sounds interesting.

Probably much more pressure on them to make it right than DDO.