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Dungeons & Dragons Online Review: 2011 Re-Review - Edit
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| Pros |
 Decent graphics/audio Free to play option Frequent updates Great customization |
| Cons |
 Confusing for newbies Expensive item mall Iffy community No real PvP |
Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) is a popular MMORPG which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. Based on the popular table top role-playing game of the same name, DDO combines free-to-play (F2P) and pay-to-play (P2P) content to deliver a rich world full of lore, vast dungeons and frequent new content updates. As someone who has revisited this MMO frequently since its Beta launch back in 2006, I wanted to take a closer look at how DDO really stacks up against the current competition—as both a F2P, and P2P, option.
A Quick F2P vs. P2P Rundown
After a few years of mediocre popularity, Turbine decided to throw DDO on the F2P bandwagon (albeit a freshly designed bandwagon). This decision was met by the divided opinions you’d expect from the current DDO community, and I venture to say quite a few players left over the sudden conversion. While P2P is still offered by way of a “VIP” monthly subscription—which also awards you Turbine Points, the currency of the DDO item mall—there is no question that the overall feel of the community changed following this major overhaul.
Having returned to DDO for lengthy visits twice since the P2P/F2P conversion, I noticed two major things: The predictable, but unfortunate, high volume of players who consider the F2P version a throw-away MMO, who care absolutely nothing about being a decent player or a pleasant group member. Plus the fact that the P2P community has become much more “Elite” minded, with some very unfortunate views on how the game must be played, by everyone, regardless of personal opinions. Of course, these two examples aren’t the case with every player I encountered, but 50% or more fit into one of these two categories.
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The item mall is a bit pricy, but not to the point of being completely unreasonable to most players who were already willing to shell-out real life money for in-game items. One nice thing is that you can spend Turbine Points to unlock race options, classes, P2P-only dungeons and other features. Instead of farming favor, which basically means completing every quest on elite difficulty to unlock bonuses like the Drow race and Favored Soul class, you can simply purchase these additions in the item mall. Doing so spans all servers, whereas unlocking favor is limited to a specific server location, making the former option very handy for those of us who frequently server hop to game with a different group of friends. As I mentioned above, a VIP subscription gets you bonus Turbine Points—at a rate of 500 per month—so if you’re already paying roughly $15/mo, you might as well save of the points and buy yourself something shiny.
Character options, creation and customization.
DDO is based off the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition set of rules. This version of the game offers more core classes and races, and arguably a simpler system than the 2nd edition game (though not as simplified as the 4.0 version). This template has provided a score of options for players, from the eight race options—though some are available only to P2P members, or after the feature is unlocked with the favor system—to the eleven races. Unlike many MMOs, where combinations are highly limited, and class features are little more than a talent tree you unlock with mild variation between each character, DDO gives the player complete control over customization. You can have up to three classes in a “multiclass” combination, provided there are no alignment restrictions; for example, Bards must be Chaotic, whereas a Paladin must be Lawful Good. You can purchase most feats, train in most skills either as class or cross-class, and even use weapons you aren’t proficient in if you don’t mind the penalty to your attack.
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Unfortunately, DDO is one of the worst MMOs I have ever played for encountering players who want to tell you the optimal way to customize your character. These self-proclaimed experts, better known in the D&D community as “munchkins,” might know how to successfully min-max a character—but they do so with little creativity, and a disturbing lack of inspiration. One of the best features of DDO is that the D&D 3.x allows for players to abandon a cookie cutter mold and do whatever they want with their characters. Want to play a Bard who fights? Go for it. Think that a Wizard with a few levels of Paladin is a great idea? Sure, why not—it’s your time and potential money investment, play whatever makes you happiest. Just because you refuse to play what the munchkin community has deemed to be the “best” formula for a class doesn’t mean it’s not what you—the player—will enjoy the most, or that you can’t make it work.
Ultimately, that’s one of the basic tricks to enjoy DDO, whether you choose to play P2P or F2P: Enjoy your own character fully, and completely. Don’t roll a Cleric just because they get groups easily if you hate the class (trust me on this one). Don’t play a Rogue just because most of the high level instances require one. If you want to truly get the most out of this MMO, find a character combination which really suits your play style—and own it. Don’t let anyone tell you that your beloved Rogue requires a base Intelligence of 16, simply because they want you to have that oh-so-important +3 to your disable device and unlock skills. Likewise, don’t let friends, guild mates or random Pick-Up-Group (PUG) players lecture you that melee Rangers are useless, healing Bards are obsolete, and Wizards are superior to Sorcerers in all ways.
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DDO allows the most vast character customization options of any MMO I have played at length, and I must admit I miss that flexibility when playing many other titles. Take full advantage of this feature, and while understanding the D&D-based system can help you in your choices, designing a character 100% of your own enjoyment—arguably the only opinion which matters—is a wholly enjoyable endeavor. It’s a bit risky in terms of getting groups, considering the Elite mindset of many players, but enjoyable none-the-less.
DDO: A Different Kind of MMO
Another feature which sets DDO apart is the utter lack of click-to-auto action features. You can turn on an auto attack mode, but it won’t operate special moves for you, such as Trip or Sunder. It also won’t move you into a tactical position, block for you, or allow you to protect allies without acting moving between a monster and the Cleric. You can’t auto follow someone, sticking to them throughout the instance; macros don’t exist, customizable or otherwise.
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The DDO world is essentially without a real Player-vs.-Player system (PvP). Oh, you can go into a tavern with a PvP area, and go head-to-head against other players, but it’s an extremely small aspect of the game and not something most of the community takes very seriously. In fact, for the first several years after its release, DDO didn’t cater to the solo player any more than the PvP enthusiast. No doubt this is partly due to the underlining D&D theme, since traditional table top involves a group setting, and typically isn’t a player-vs.-player situation. This hasn’t seemed to be too much of a problem for players who were originally interested in DDO because of the D&D connection; for folks just wanting a new, fun game, that isn’t always the case. Fortunately, solo content is abundant now, and while certain classes are easier to play exclusively solo, you can manage it with literally any character.
The game relies heavily on instances, from sewers to sprawling dungeons, to outdoor areas like a jungle. If you are a solo style player, you may be encouraged to know that NPC minions are available, called “Hirelings.” These definitely come in handy, especially the Bards and Clerics, if you prefer to never group with a living person—and don’t mind a frequently frustrating tag-along. The game is very friendly towards groups, with a built-in voice chat, individual loot, a Looking-For-Group feature that the community actually uses, and a real dependency on a well balanced team of six. As an added bonus, quest dialog and storylines are actually fairly interesting in DDO, and while the monsters can occasionally be glitch—as with most MMOs—there is a great diversity in the species, and each really do require different techniques for pwning them.
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Another feature that was shamefully neglected up until the latest module was the player crafting system. The new design is promising, even if it is essentially a time and money sink—like all player crafting systems, arguably. You basically take a magical item, such as a +2 Flaming Long Sword of Pure Good, and strip one of the magical components off while destroying the item. Alternatively, you can strip a magical piece of loot down to its bare quality—a Long Sword, in this case—and add the attributes you want in a weapon thanks to crafting slots. It takes a considerable amount of time—and loot—to level up in this new system, but it is leaps and bounds ahead of the former crafting option. The system is still in the Beta phase, however, so please note that it may change drastically over the next few patches.
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DDO: In Conclusion
Dungeons & Dragons Online definitely offers a lot to both the casual and the hardcore players out there. Few MMOs can rival it in terms of customization, and that complete control over the spectrum of your characters’ proficiencies, abilities and talents is a refreshing change. The frequent updates introduce new monsters, zones and equipment into the game on a fairly regular schedule, so things don’t get too stale. If you’re looking for PvP or a stellar crafting system, you might want to look elsewhere; if you happen to be looking for a quality game perfect for a group of friends—or anyone bold enough to indulge in PUGs—then this one might be well worth your time to download. Considering the F2P offers a nice selection of options, you don’t have to invest a cent to give this one a try, and you don’t have to be a D&D player or rules expert to succeed (though it does help), there really isn’t anything to lose. And if you’ve tried this one out before, it might be time to take a second look—I’m certainly glad I did.
D&D Online is a truly great game, but it's only great if you play it with dedicated friends..Friends that may join the game for a coop adventure and If they do it with some house rules..
1 Never look for spoilers on the internet, Most of the dungeons are unique, complete with traps and bonus treasures, secret bosses and often great storyline and even some rather complicated puzzles in some cases..Needles to say if you read a spoiler you will spoil the game..
2. Run the game on hard, Normal is really to easy and takes away stategy..You get tons of spells as a wizard, on hard you may have to use most of them, while on easy a fireball and a web may be enough to solve your problems..
3. NEVER listen to any tips inside the game, they will try to help you but only in the wrong way,- look up maps here and use that weapon or spell, because everything else is useless yada yada etc..This is also beiing said in the re-rewiew of the game..
/junker
I agree, very interesting and fun social game. I would love to see an enhanced version (gfx, content, etc.) down the road. DDO is my is tied with LOTRO as my second favorite MMO (Vanguard is still first).
I definitely noticed that about the community. Though I'll say the l33tists have been in the game since beta.
It's definitely a fun game for a night here and there, particularly if you can meet up with some other good players.
Tried the game but it felt more like a single player game so didnt see much point in it. Ofcourse that could change at higher levels...
I have been getting back to DDO and I am having a blast. DDO and Lotro are my most favorite MMOs along with Guild Wars. The combat system is different and I really like the character customization you can do. I am actually glad that DDO does not have PvP since Dungeons and Dragons has always been about you teaming up with your friends/allies to complete a dungeon/quest.
Admittedly, DDO is probably for the more patient and cerebral-minded gamer as it takes some time to get into before you understand all the nuances. But, if you’re willing to take the time to peel back its layers, there is no more flexible, fun, and rewarding MMO on the market.
Total Biscuit's recent videos on DDO almost made me come back to it. Lack of free time prevented me.
Pretty fair review. One of the better games to play, not the best. (Although that's a very personal title for different people).
I quite like DDO. I'm playing Turbines other game, LOTRO, but DDO is sitll installed. I know the urge to play it's straight up FUN combat will come back sooner or later. I am surprised more MMOs haven't picked up on what makes D&D/DDO great: The multiclassing. It was always my favorite part of tabletop and the same applies for DDO.
I think there's something very alluring knowing that when you fill up that XP bar, MAYBE you'll get another level of fighter... but MAYBE you'll pick up a quick one of cleric. Maybe some Barbarian. The choices you make at character creation, while important, do not define you for the rest of your adventuring career. I think that's the very best part of the game.
Anyway, I love DDO, I dig how easy it (usually) is to get into a PUG and just run around doing stuff. In my experiences, most players were relatively easygoing, I think the lack of real PvP drives off most of those jerks before long. You do indeed see the occasional munchkin, but the contingent of tabletop RPGers is way higher than average in DDO (Or at least they are less afraid to admit it ;D)and I've witnessed them usually shooting down players lambasting others for a build.
I think everyone should try it. The combat won't appeal to everybody, but I think it's a great break from the drudgery of combat rotation (ugh) you find in most MMOs. A nice middleground between MMOs, Hack and slash games, all powered by solid Tabletop rules.
Too bad that like 40% of the Gamers who actually tried to get into this game, never made it because of the nasty Vista/Win7 Blackscreen-Bug of Doom.
ME INCLUDED. /frustated
As I have stated previously, due to lack of F2P content, do not expect to play this game for long without paying a dime. Getting to level cap without getting several adventure packs is completely out of the question unless you like running the same 3 quests constantly.
That being said, DDO is a good game and definitely worth a little investment. Just be smart about it, the item shop has the tendency to eat money. Stay away from the hairstyles, they look good in the front (exactly how the picture looks) but always look horrible in the back.
I have to question why "No real PvP" is considered a con, especially considering everyone knows it's a PvE game. Seems kinda arbitrary to include that con.
Regardless, some people like PvP so much that they won't touch a game that doesn't have any. Just because everybody knows something sucks, doesn't mean we have to accept it and not acknowledge that it sucks. Personally, I don't care about PvP, I could take it or leave it.
I liked DDO, and have fond memories. However, they concentrate too much on Epic content. With all the epics, and the gear that brings, they've pretty much guaranteed that level 20 will be the max forever.
The gameplay from 1-19 is very unique, and fun. However, past that, sans Reincarnating, the content is exactly like all the other raiding games.
Fun for a few months, but just wears thin, imo.
For the reviewer i must say please do not encourage people to build wizard/paladins. While you might feel that it is your time and money, which is fine if you solo, do not start whining when high level groups do not take you because your level split makes you a bad caster, bad fighter and bad character. Even a great player can build a character that is not much use.
You do not have to follow the "munchkin" group, oddly 5+ years of DDo and I never heard them refered that way let alone to the amount you claim they are. Might be a server specific term. But you should never tell people to build horrible characters that do waste that persons time and money.
I'm running Vista 64, I've got the latest drivers for my rig and DDO runs like a charm. One of my favorite games.
You should check your stats, get the latest drivers for your vid card at least and give it another shot.
I think your missing out on a really GREAT game.
Have to agree with everything said here. The best character builds are on the forums. People have listed exactly what they took and more importantly, if you do a little reading, they explain WHY they made the choices they did.
With a small time investment of reading and educating yourself on the game you can make a character not only accepted by groups but also be much happier with the character you play.
DDO is set using the 3.0 ruleset...partially. But it is VASTLY different from pen and paper play. There are reasons for this which only reading and learning the game will help you better understand.
Barring that, come to the Orien server and ask for Heliotrope and if I'm online I'll be happy to hop in a dungeon with you and explain as much as you'd like.
Interesting re-review.
Gotta say, I've tried DDO several times now; the first few times when it was still P2P only. Every other time since it went hybrid. There's so much about the game I really do like. However, there's so much else about it that just kills any chance at long-term enjoyment for me. This game is why I can understand when people say how they really "want to like" other MMOs. 'cause that's the case with DDO for me.
For one, the combat always just feels chaotic, clunky and rather sloppy to me. I have no trouble with real-time combat and enjoy it well enough in other games with similar system.. Something about DDO's system just always feels very unnatural and awkward to me.
I'm not a fan of the heavy use of instancing, though I realize that's the core of the game's design. As much as I've learned that they're a pretty much "here to stay" reality in MMOs, I just can't bring myself to like them. They fragment up the game world and turn it from a coherent and persistent shared world, to a series of private "universes" for individuals and/or their parties to exist in all by themselves. FWIW, I could never get into GW for very long for that same reason; too much instancing.
In all... I love the dungeon design. The environment design is good (not as good as LoTRO's which is masterful IMO, but still quite nice).
I wish I could enjoy the game more and, in fact, when I watch videos of others playing it, it looks like a lot of fun. It just doesn't translate for me for some reason. :-/
Just loaded this up a few weeks ago after growing tired of RIFT, and have been having a blast. It so reminds me of the old pen and paper. I am an alt-aholic so I love this game. The Character creation is deep, deep, deep. Graphics on highest setting I think look good. The game play is fun(I have not grouped that much yet, but you can hire npcs to roll with you).
I agree you need to play this on Hard setting. If you have a free account you will only have easy and normal. Depending on what class you pick this can kind of feel to easy.
I am starting to believe that MMORPG games need a few years to get good. They just need time to mature, work out the kinks etc. I wish that wasn't the case but seems to be in my experience.
In my view, he wasn't encouraging people to make a wizard/paldin, but rather, he was encouraging people to play what is fun for them, instead of playing what other people tell them is "good". Personally, I don't make my character to be useful to other players or their party; I make it for me to have fun (which can indeed include being useful). Of course, if you are constantly dying, being slain by monsters, and/or being refused from a group because you don't have the class and skills a party wants then you may not have much fun. You claim one does not have to follow the "munchkin" group (I've never heard that word either, but I'm also no DDO vet) , but then you essentially state that unless they do, they will not be joining your group with their "bad character". It seems the reviewers point holds true. I think the review was solid, as I think DDO is solid.
Green-Widow said "the best character builds are on the forum" , and that's great, but I like to play the game for myself, deciding on what is the most fun for me, which may not exactly be "the best" build. However, I do agree that one should probably do a little bit of reading about how to build a solid character; I just don't think they should be given an entire build and told what to do. Overall, a good, seemingly accurate review.
I did Enjoy D&DO playing it for almost a year and I stopped playing about 6 months before F2P came in. But I truly despise the setting of Eberron, it just feels very dry and soulless both here and in the PnP version.
If they were really so hellbent on avoiding Faerun, then Darksun would have been a far more interesting setting IMHO and they could have achieved a lot more with it.
The Min/Max crowd did piss me off also, getting booted from a group because you had the audacity to make a Human Fighter/Cleric instead of the "superior" Dwarven Fighter/Cleric got very old very fast.
I am actually really hoping for another D&D MMORPG (probably the only thing that will get me back to playing fantasy genre MMO's) one day soon, but with no end in sight to the Turbine Vs Atari Vs Hasbro legal battle over the intricacies of the franchise rights I doubt we will see it anytime soon.
There are good reasons for not building a character that has limited use in parties. I have odd characters that i solo with and group with guildies who know what I am trying or know me well enough as a player to know that even my gimp might have a purpose. People should not expect pick up groups to group with and then carry through some 10 wizard 10 paladin that fails to be any use at high level content.
1. This is a team game, building for that is not a bad idea.
2. Poor builds lose their fun quickly, if you have not played to high level you may not have noticed that the game gets a little tougher and poor builds will not be able to perform their primary function well if they multiclass poorly.
3. You do not have to build according to the forums or what other people want, but if you build something that lacks synergy you will get refused from groups and will find most of those characters fail to perform well past level 10. DDO is a pretty easy game and especially easy until the early teen levels. You can make a horrible build and see no issues the first 10 or so levels and think you built the best character ever.
I agree the min/max crowd that boots for not having the right race(they think) for a build is silly.
I have to totally disagree with this post.
The best thing about the game is the character customization... by letting other, lazy and basically stupid players dictate to you how you should create your character makes the game just vanilla crap.
There are guilds without mindless drones seeking the easiest way to do everything creating characters and parties, but you'll need to find them to enjoy the game to the fullest.
If they were lazy and stupid they would not spend the time they do making all the characters they have. Sorry but you are 100% wrong to call players you do not know names. Makes me think you spent a lot of time in DDO being rejected for parties with your 8cleric, 6 fighter, 6 wizard.
For $10/month you can open all content and get other perks. For a game where u can play unlimited amount of time, It's cheap. I started F2p, got bored with the repeating content-switched to P2P and have enough content to not repeat any-unless i want to solo more often. Much more fun this way.
Great game I'd recommend it to people but it is quite complicated in character customization.
The paladin/wizard multi was probably tongue in cheek-at least I hope so-but it does highlight one reason people leave the game and population never gets too high. The higher you level the more snobby and elitist the gamers get and it gets hard to get in a group. Most quests on normal or hard can be easily beat without a min/max group-especially if people know how to play their character, but most groups you see forming on the social panel require vets/TR or all these other unneeded requirements. For example, I saw Waterworks quest at 4th level on hard accepting only TR's, byoh, etc. -Me as wizard and 2 fighterss easily did the whole thing on hard at 4th with no problem.
The unnecessary elitism turns people off the game because it makes it hard to get in groups and learn how to play better. Also Ive been on plenty of these min/max groups that have been wiped so many times half the group quits because they run through zerging with no strategy, to save 5 or 10 minutes-but end up costing more time or never finishing it-I'm looking at you Vile Apopcraphy quest. If the vets on the game would relax and be more inclusive many of these newer player would become p2p and become good players giving a better community and more income to game so they can make it even better.
One does not have to follow the builds found in the forum. In fact, most of the builds suck. There are a few that are extremely powerful that someone, who I guarantee is not an idiot, found by way of research. Its better to follow the builds, because reinventing the wheel is silly, and most of DDO's feats are pure "newb traps" AKA useless.
A word of caution, one DOES have to make a functional toon. No group wants to carry a worthless lump, and its selfish to expect this. In fact, this is exactly the reason why most experienced players don't PuG at the higher levels. We're fed up with toons that offer nothing to the group.
To edit my above post, not talking about epic content, or needing a certain lev cleric or rogue, etc-or the high level quests that have secific needs-just the usual, n/h quests that just need full group. People in the game have been very helpful answering questions about building a stronger character, choosing feats or directing to good forum posts about class-but more inclusion of newer players would go a long way to improve their play and game.
Most of the people you see booting are what vets call Fake Vets. They put up LFMs stating know the quest or no newbs or some other dumb thing and then when you join them you see why they want someone who knows the quest, because they never bothered to learn the game. Those people give knowledgable players, be they vets or new, a bad name.
They act elite to try and get one elite person in the group who can carry them. DDO in general requires 2 people for most quests on hard and even elite in most cases. The game is not hard, but poor builds will make the game less fun and waste other peoples time.
The reason you see TR only groups is they are trying to avoid death so they do not lose any % of their EXP, problem is so many TRs are people who got carried to level 20 that they add nothing to the TR group. I have seen more people who are TR not know what they are doing then I have run into newer players who do not know. At least the newer player will usually ask a question if they do not know.
A big problem with vets and newer players is game speed. Turbine is horribly slow at adding new content, this has led older players to playing the game at a speed that destroys the fun of new players. These days when i make a new character I rarely even group before level 6 or so because I know I can solo most quests faster then if I get with new players who want to experience it for the first time and they should be able to do so without a player zerging ahead killing everything and ruining the fun of doing it for the first time.
If there is a LFM that says "know it" or whatever avoid it. If someone can't do the quest because they think they need a bunch of people who know the quest - you're probably going to fail, imo. Most established players are able to solo the quest. If we bother putting up an LFM it may indeed say BYOH or be self sufficient, because there is no healer in the group. Not because we are trying to be elitist. No vet is going to sit there and wait for a healer on sub-20 content.
I will say this, DDO is not a game you just run nilly willy in. One has to do a little bit of research. You just can't take any class and/or any feat, level up and be successful. You have to plan your character out in advance.
I suggest making a cleric or monk as a first toon. Both are very new player friendly, and some vets will take a cleric under his/her wing if they the cleric isn't an idiot.
And CON is not to be ignored.
this post is nice it makes me wanna check out the game again. i came back to my other favorite LOTRO although it seems that some of the retarded WoW crowd has infiltrated the game it's evident in general looking for fellowship channel on the nimrodel server, but it's fun for the most part i love skirmishes i can do solo for points without the need for group. I would hope that DDO devs learned from this model at some point (its been a year at least since i played DDO) and made it possible for beginners to do the things that used to take whole groups to complete. It was a fantastic game, i love puzzles and traps and tactics (when i say tactics i dont mean class crowd control or multiple tanks thats boring)
Golelorn,
I see your point, but i think what gets lost is that there isn´t a black-n-white situation. At what point do groups determine someone is ´too gimped´. I have never played DDO, but i know in games like WOW all it takes is a couple talent points, an enchant, or a few gem slots and a raid or group leader will admonish you for needing to be ´carried´. What you consider ´functional´someone else might say is too weak.
This game takes the boring aspects of mmo gameplay like combat and repetitive grinding, and combines it with a lobby game like diablo. It's not really an mmo, it's just lacking good parts of both single player rpgs and mmos. It's a lobby game, like guild wars 2.
It should have been buy to play, it's ridiculous for them to charge money for any aspect of it, and always was, and if you are paying money for it, then I truly pity you.
bards can be other then chaotic.mine is true neutral. no one wants to run with a gimp wiz/pally it will be good at nothing.lori was no clue as to what ddo is and what it is not.
munchkins =3
and lol did you just call Guild Wars 2 is a lobby game......when will people learn......
hopefully you got excited and typo the '2' :)
I do like DDO for popping in and playing the odd mission or two, and it's developing some complexity at long last with the crafting system. Not addictive like other games, but that suits me just fine for the occassional dungeon bash.
I just yesterday solved that. I have to disable my High Definition Audio Device and reboot to get DDO to actually log into a server. If I plug my USB headset in first, the blackscreen hang returns. If I plug it in after getting into the game, the game won't see it to use it, but continues to play just fine (without sound). Annoying. Turbine is aware.
Update: Turbine replied again telling me to uninstall "OpenAL" or "Host ADI (OpenAL)" because the game uses a modified version from Creative. After I did so, the game works perfectly and has sound.
I think the biggest problem of DDO is the same everywhere, if you don't have that specific build or gear a PuG leader is expecting then you will not have much fun. Most of the Vet players, like myself, have moved beyond that and mostly pride ourselves on getting any group through any instance on any difficulty.
At the end of the day, you have to be having fun to be able to invest so much time into DDO and that is where the guilds come in as they do everywhere else. A group of like-minded individuals who can chitchat while doing whatever it is they feel needs to be done.
After 5 years I am still engrossed in the game and no other game has ever held me hostage like DDO but the people are what make it.
So please go wild with the imagination when building characters and having your fun but remember that if you ever do break the mould then you will most likely be getting declined from those PuG's who aren't confident or who are just plain ignorant.
Expecting it now and then means it's not such a slap in the face when some idiot decides they know best and you don't. Most of the time I have found people to be genuinely interested in the idea behind a wierd build and some of those wierd builds have become commonplace. A melee Sorc, a battle cleric etc etc. It's generally the more newer players that refuse you admittance whereas I would welcome a strange build in to see how it plays.
Granted that most of my time now is spent sorting out guildies needs or doing a True Reincarnation or looking for that one item on a character, but if it wasn't for the people and the awesome active combat (ignoring that it's DnD'ish) I probably would never have stayed so long. I think the biggest part of the appeal is that it's all about your character and how well you play it and gel with it than the gear you have. Certainly some gear makes or breaks certain builds and gear is always a telling part of how effective you are, but nothing makes up for player skill which for me is better than clicking and watching a game. The entire time I'm running an instance I am busy and active and I love that the most.
Rasczak ~ Thelanis
Seems like a fair revview!
The word munchkin is really old and comes from the pen and paper version of D&D, havent seen is used much in ddo though.
There is even a hillariouse tabletop/card game called muchkin which makes fun of all the rpg cliches and sterotypes.
[quote]The predictable, but unfortunate, high volume of players who consider the F2P version a throw-away MMO, who care absolutely nothing about being a decent player or a pleasant group member.[/quote]
Exactly what I and many others have been saying about including F2P players on P2P servers all along. Bad idea, and very much serves to polarize players and create conflict betweeen them. The conflict isn't PvP conflict, it's real, and players feel dislike for the other person, not their toon in a roleplaying sense. That doesn't help anyone.
I don't generally go around accusing companies of putting alimighty profit over everything else, but putting F2P players on P2P servers smacks of at least ill-conceived planning, if not lack of caring about the players and the effect the situation has on them and society at large. these companies are at very least holding up their middle finger in gesture to the players paying a monthly fee that don't want those kind of players on their server.
Thanks, Turbine, that really makes me want to sign up for a game you offer again. Not.
Buying fluff toys with real money isn't a big deal, if it's kept to a minimum. Buying useful items, Classes, Races, unlocking dungeons by going to a store and paying extra money, that all smacks of paying your way to the top rather than earning it, and that puts the game on my "not worth playing" list even without the F2P issue. Maybe this is just an alternate way of doing expansions rather than offering them in a pack on an occasional basis, but even if that's the case I bet it's a far more expensive option. All hidden of course behind giving out "play money" that can be purchased directly with real cash.
Though I am not playing this now DDO is by far my fav Free to Play, I even like it better then lotro as I think DDO has better community. This really is a great free to play.
I liked the review, was well written and I agree with most of what was stated. On the subject of the community though I have to disagree. The community does have it's min maxers. As a whole though I'd have to say that those min maxers are just a big a gift as a curse. Take World of Warcraft, try to ask a serious question in trade or general chat and get a logical response........won't happen. The advice channel (on the server I played on anyways) would almost always get sound advice.......That might not seem like a HUGE deal, but for new players comeing into a game with such a steep learning curve, those min maxers can sure help. Over all I think the community is good, sure they have some rude people but nothing compared to games like WoW. The reviewer is correct though, play what you like. If you've never played D&D or D&D Online though, a cookie cuttuer spec/build might be a good idea until you have a better understanding of the game and what is or isnt' needed.
It is a good idea to learn a bit beforehand. I could see a new player making a cleric and investing heavily in the heal skill(makes sense that heal would be good) only to find out that it is a complete waste of skill points. Some feats are a waste and should be avoided. Some people like to learn on their own(some of us had no choice there) but not everyone does.
I have a Rogue/Wizard build. I have had a few times people saying I cant do the traps on elite but what they dont know is that I pump my rogue skills every level and use the action points to increase my rogue enhancements., I use Wizard to self-buff and to add substantial DPS to the party in the from of firewalls, etc. and Ddoors
Dungeons and Dragons (all versions) has is and always be a thinking man's game. Having played DnD for 30 + years on pen and paper as DM i can say that playing ddo is the most fun ive had in years. The choices in character selection and skill sets enables a player to create a toon that fist perfectly with the way that they want to play the game.
As for feeling like a solo game, did you look at the groups looking for players list? Did you try and form a group from within the game. Everytime i have setup a group looking for players its filled within about 10mins. Yes you get zurgers, you get that in every game. Yes you may not enjoy using PUG's. if this is the case join a guld and quest with guildies.
DDO gets 20 out of 10 from me. Get on and have a look. the combat is wicked. The graphics are awsome and the challenges never stop.