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Disappointed
komarr
Member UncommonPosts: 214
I gotta say I'm really disappointed in this game. When it was announced I was excited, as I was a long-term Asheron's Call player. When it first came out I bought it and subscribed, but didn't stay past 2 months. Being an old fart who played pen & paper D&D it was a bigger letdown then some of the other MMO stinkers that have come out over the last few years. The controls and UI were below average, the graphics only fair and the movement was stiff. As to the last, the dwarves in particular were bad, moving with all the grace and fluidity of a teletubby on the moon. The grouping system was a big problem as well. Now before anyone starts flaming, yes I play MMO's to group and (usually) enjoy grouping. What I didn't like was that I was forced to group. If there were no level appropriate groups available there was little to nothing to do since any solo efforts were an exercise in frustration.
So, I quit. But I kept track of it. While I heard relatively few ringing endorsements of their efforts from the player base, most agreed the devs were putting forth some decent effort into improving the game. Obviously things did not improve enough for a lot of people since they had to go F2P.
When DDO went F2P I gave it another shot. Just a free account to see what changes had happened. I thought if it was good enough I would buy some adventure packs, but doubted I would go to the extent of resubscribing. Well, it's not good enough. The group/solo situation is improved, but things like the UI are no better. Other aspects like mail and the auction house are still subpar. I didn't sweat those in the beginning because in the pressure to meet a release date, some things have to take a back seat. But not in a game that's been out over a year. My biggest dissapointment however is the lack of content. Now I understand that DDO rewards repeating quests on higher difficulty, as well as repeating to get all the optional side missions/critters. I also understand some people like running a dungeon multiple times, working out the nuances and being able to beat it smoothly. But you shouldn't HAVE to repeat content to level. Even if your a full subscriber, there just doesn't seem to be enough content to level up without at least hitting every single quest, if not repeating some. One way other games like Warhammer or WoW keep folks paying and playing is that with your second or even third character you can still find brand new adventures. The sad part is that Turbine knows better. After 10 years Asheron's Call is still chugging along, one reason being the vast amount of content in that game.
While I may keep playing a while longer (or at least until something better catches my eye), They're not going to get any more of my money.
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
~Omar Khayyam
Comments
Well I've only ever repeated a dungeon 3 times, after that I move on.
Not enough for me to get bored of it.
1) I do like the fact you have a lot of freedom to build any type of character you want.
2) Easy to get groups or solo with hirelings.
What I don't like
1) Is that mob resists are quite high as opposed to other games. So spells when you need them to work often don;t work - so this sets up the min maxxing - and really having to know game mechanics. And even then you have to give up a lot to get one thing over something else.
2) Doesn't seem to be a lot of tactical strategy to fights like EQ1 - just wade in and kill. I'm only lvl 4 - so hopefully this part of the game gets better.
3) Not a big fan of instancing
4) Wish I had a clearer indication of who my target was - it kind of operates like a mouse over - takes getting used to - it;'s a small grip
Overall for F2P I do like the game - could it better yes...
But is it worth playing?
I think it's better than a lot of games I've payed for.
Character customization is a big selling point for me.
I'm hoping end game is better than CoH, because that game felt really repetitive to me.
Ah Asheron's Call was about sitting in the same dungeons killing the same respawns for hours and hours on end. So not sure what you are talking about there. Usually sitting in the same spots or making the same circuits that would ensure the respawn times.
There is no repetetion necessary to level-up unless you are a free player. There is so much XP in this game that you will hit level 20 before you run it all. It does slow down in a few spots but lack of content is no longer an issue.
But the Auction House could use some work and I'd love to see them start supporting UI Skinning again (and let us resize the damn windows! ), they have not released the basic components to edit since mod 8 a year before Unlimited.
What are your issues with the UI by the way? I've been using it so long I could play with my eyes closed so I'm bound to overlook some them
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DDO Permadeath guilds
2) If you play in PUGS (Pick Up Groups) you will see mostly mindless zerging. Post on your server's forum that you are looking for other players that like to think when playing
Permadeath guilds are one (but not the only) option, players in these guilds work together and discuss strategy about fights.
4) Turn off Soft Targeting and Auto Targeting in your UI Options, then use Tab or your mouse to select your target. It's an annoying feature that was added with Unlimited that is on by default.
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DDO Permadeath guilds
Once you hit gianthold the options for leveling do become limited though. You are going to repeat quests. DDO still lacks content and always will because crafting the quality dungeons they have is harder than making quests to kill 10 chickens and bring back their beaks.
I'm sorry but AC was much more than that, according to my experience. Forget dungeon crawls, my favorite part of Asheron's Call were the immersive quests that I had to do, and if you read the quest log properly, were just as captivated as I was. It was innovative for its time because, unlike Everquest, it made questing fun and interesting.
Housing was another favorite feature. I loved how I had to camp outside a house for 2-3 days until the house became unlocked for purchase, that is, whenever they added a new house neighborhood. I'd have to scurry for the random material to purchase the house, but I had the writ, and money required. When I finally purchased that house, it was a sense of accomplishment beyond any I ever felt in any video game, and this was for a house, not gear, pvp, etc. Don't even get me started on gear in this game.
As far as pvp was concerned, I loved the option of turning into a red dot whenever I wanted (altar of balth'azar), and the awesome pvp raids at subway, and various other places in the game. The subway raids were AWESOME, pvp battles were INTENSE, required precision, accuracy, and intelligence to pursue and annihilate your target. Even a one vs one pvp battle took at least ten minutes, if not that, then MORE.
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"Your pride, good sir, far exceeds your worth." -x3r0h
Oldest mmorpg.com member with the least amount of post counts. That counts for something, right?
I'd have to disagree on the repetition of this game. I just came from world of warcraft because friends finally made me crack to actually play that game (never really cared for it). So I leveled to 80th with a warlock and with their new system they have I was doing the same damn 12-15 dungeons over and over again. It was disgusting. Not only was I doing the same dungeons, I just clicked a button and was magically teleported there from anywhere in the world (can you say lack of immersion).
Now that's repetition. So I hear that D&D is free to play, and lone and behold, the dungeons are way more developed and challenging than world of warcraft, and there's so many of them that even after a few months I haven't even seen half of them. So you tell me, a game with way more character development and choices, with way more dungeons and that's free to play or very little if you buy a few packs. Or go to world of warcraft and grinding the same stupid dozen dungeons until your eyes bleed.
Nuff said.
DDO auto travels you as well so that point is moot.
The issue with DDO repetition is this, it offers gamers nothing to do outside of dungeon crawling, while the dungeons are great the game is basicly the same no matter your level. Options besides combat would help make DDO much better and more widely played.
Once you reach higher levels DDO is the same grinding the same dungeons until your eyes bleed or roll a new character that will play the same dungeons you played the first time. I fail to see how DDO has more content then WOW. Better content? Yes I think so but more? DDO is really not a very large game.
Turbine has taken almost all the need to think or use strategy in DDO out of the game.
I never understood and never forgive Turbine for making instead of a fully explorable world like most mmorpg's have(eq,wow,L2,Uo,DF) they preferred to make everything instanced.
Icant imagine something more addictive than a huge world to explore,adventure in a D&D setup and ruleset. The possibilities were enormous. But No.. No.. Turbine was lazy and just made a city with just loads of dungeons. They choosed the easy way..The hell with them..
I never been a fan of instancing unless it fits into a game . And it fits into Ddo online , cause i couldn imagine a way how the dungeons could work without being fresh each time a new player or group enters . Each dungeon has his own shrine places ,treasury , traps, monsters, hidden doors . You would have to make a different game without thoose instanced dungeons. Its a different approach at least since rogues actually are usefull in disabling traps, the only thing getting old is that every dungeons is always the same no changes a diablo style random deungon system would have been nice.
What game do you play where you don't have to repeat content to level? EQ, WoW, DAoC, EQ2, etc, all have you killing the same stuff in large quanities to level.
There are many flaws in DDO, but repeatable content is in every single MMO.
Strange that DDO has so little content when LOTRO is absolutely packed with content. There are almost two many quest in LOTRO. Same company. In my opinion DDO and Asheron's Call 2 were just testing grounds for most of the things that would later appear in LOTRO. I agree it's a shame so little effort is devoted to DDO but Turbine have proved they can make a content packed game in LOTRO. Will LOTRO a steady and stable success i doubt they'll go back to DDO.
They did create a fully explorable world, it's called Lord Of The Rings Online.
A Huge world to explore?
er..
Well there are plenty of games out there like that, I liked AD&D PnP for the dungeons!... the traps, the puzzles... and oh yes, the treasure!!
DDO Does this very well (now) also the verbal commentry of the storyline makes some of the adventures unforgettable...
I'll never forget the story of the traiterous Jacoby Drexelhand!!.... "He's not alive... but he's not quite dead"... lol, classic!
If your disapointed then you've come with the wrong expectations, I've never had such good dungeons since Eye of the Beholder on the Amiga.
Agree with this. DDO for me was never about the huge explorable world (tabletop D&D never was either) it is about dungeon crawls and monster bashes in the traditional sense, working from the base of a village or town and going back there to brag, rest up and plan the next adventure. In that respect DDO is exactly like D&D.
/agree
You just can't have traps and environmental dangers like DDO has out in the open world. If people think instancing ruins immersion and big world feel, imagine having a room where the floor gives way and reappears again every 5 minutes...
There are no shortage of things I dislike about DDO... the collector vendor system probably being at the top, stuff like constantly firing off arrows by accident, etc. But the instancing fits into the game just fine.
While I agree that the static dungeons tend to get stale, Diablo style randomization never really did anything for me regarding replayability of a game. It just made games like Torchlight and Hellgate feel trivial to me. Maybe something more like the LotRO skirmishes would work well; with randomized secondary quests within the dungeons...
pretty much agree.
I could definitely do without the barrel smashing... can't remember which of the games started that, as though Donkey Kong mechanics fit into DnD... but yeah... instancing was the only way to go with DDO.
Turbine slowly and steadily increased the content within DDO. You got more quests and areas now to explore.
The quality of the quests/dungeons is by far better than you see in the average MMO (filled with riddles, traps, simple and complex dungeons layouts). But once you have visited them all, it really get's boring routine.
Turbine tried to incorporate outdoor areas and random elements ("pseudo random" events/encounters, "pseudo random" trap positions). But they didn't really try hard. Every dungeons had a set number of traps. Turbine just randomly determined which of the initial traps will actually be "active" and which not. So far about random trap positions. Encounters are mostly the same (with dungeon scaling there is a little variance though). Most ambushes happen in the same places (the occasional sneaking stalker exists too though). The outdoor areas don't offer much besides XP for killing a certain amount of monsters and running from point A to Z to get XP for Exploration points or "rare" Encounters.
What they added long time ago is an armoury like feature (so you can have a look the equipment of your fellow players). Maybe you will like their "facebook" interface or want to be informed when a fellow player visited a dungeon restroom. ,)
Turbine is trying hard to implement tools for the meta game. Some people like these features, some not.
The latest cry is reincarnations. You can reincarnate your in-game character (which will slighty be improved) and have to redo all quests again to get to level cap. This way you practically reroll your character and don't loose "precious" loot. It's a nice thing to do for veterans, but Turbine could have done more to increase the replay value.
As it is now, the "end-game" is the same as in every other MMO. Hunting for equipment and "achievements" (dungeons with epic difficulty).
Some kind of crafting-lottery exists in the game, but you'll have to redo certain quests for ingredients.
DDO's a good game, and compared to other MMOs I think it stands out. I strongly suggest the VIP monthly payment scheme instead of buying adventure packs, though. I believe that it would cost about $150 to purchase enough Turbine Points to buy all the currently offered packs....if you think you'll play longer than 10 months, I guess that's an option.
DDO suffers for its brand name; if this were not D&D it would rock....but it is derived from D&D, and as such tends to draw players (like myself) more familiar with the paper and pencil edition, which is by default always going to be more robust and versatile than what a PC game has to offer. I have a long list of issues I'd like to see changed/implemented in DDO to make it just a bit more like the D&D I know and play (weekly) at the tabletop....but I also accept that that visceral quality that makes face-to-face gaming with dice so much fun is very elusive in PC games. For that reason, I prefer to judge DDO against other MMOs, and in this regard it stands out as an A grade product. (imo)
Current MMOs: Rift, GW2, Defiance
Blog: http://realmsofchirak.blogspot.com (old school tabletop gaming and more)
I love repeating the dungeons... some of them are great fun, and when you get a good team together and do a tough dungeon in Elite, it really does make it exciting.
It isnt very 'solo' friendly your right, and if you insist on soloing your gona have to repeat a lot. Which may not be to your liking but they bring a smile to my face =]
In anycase, sorry to hear your disapointed, its not going to be to everyones liking, a good job you didnt have to pay anything!
I have fun playing DDO, Sure I play it once in a blue moon but its f2p so what does it matter if it doesnt hold me for months at a time.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Heh, it's interesting. Folks raise some good points in this thread. I also posted this (the original post) on the DDO (free player) general discussion board. Literally the same post: copy & paste. Here: discussion, folks agreeng and disagreeing with part or all of my statements. There: Outrage and attacks that I insulted "teh greatest game evah!!11!!". Lots of calling me a WoW fanboy, since three paragraphs in I mentioned that I thought WoW has a lot of content. Including several people intimating or outright stating that I was obviously an employee of Blizzard trying to sabatoge the game. While I expect a game's official forums to have more ...enthusiastic...supporters of a game then a general MMO site like here, this was really over the top.
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
~Omar Khayyam
for me,
DDO has much more tactical strategy than EQ2 or WOW
there is -zero- regen of health and mana in dungeons
(unless you use a shrine inside the quest)
theres a few quests with no shrines or only one shrine with 1 use if on hard+ difficulty
you need to manage your health/mana --- and decide when its appropiate to use available shrines
I'll sometimes SKIP dungeon rooms because it would deplete my health/mana too much
there's also quest experience penalties,
if you die..
if you die and re-enter dungeon...
these kinds of things keeps you mindful about avoiding death more
- in WOW i didnt care if i died
yes i had to run back to where i died and gear repair -- but i dont suffer any experience penalties
EQ2 fan sites
The tactic in DDO now seems to be hack, hack, hack. Its quite simple now unfortunately.
Shrines used to be one use only no matter the dungeon difficulty, yet another sign of Turbine making DDO too easy.
There is no penalty for dying really. That 10% was a recent addition for no one dying. SO if you lose it you really are just getting what the quest was always worth anyway. There used to be a real EXP debt for every death that made playing DDO somewhat slower a must for many more people. Now as long as you can be rezzed death has no penalty in DDO any more.