All Posts by mindspat

Originally posted by Whitewalker 

If you searched the forums a little more carefully you would have read that the game will be released with a 14 day free trial from the day GO. So you don't need to worry about losing any money, if the game doesn't work for you, just don't play it. How more simple can they make it for you?

So, there's going to be a Free Trial without purchasing it?  That's VERY cool! 

How are they going to distribute it - if they're going with a 14 day trial at launch it sounds as if they're retaining publication and ownership while planning to focus on digital distribution of the product.  Sounds like a win-win to me. 

Isn't this game in Beta?

Do all the textures look like or are these issues with the LoD manager?

AoC had a similar issue with the LoD not functioing properly - not sure if it's been fixed.  Hell, the xbox 360 does this in a lot of games, one being Mass Effect. 

Originally posted by Doctorwhofan

Originally posted by Mystincloud

Originally posted by Doctorwhofan

Cuz Human men look  (and run) ugly, and for the dwarves...shudder!

Of course, I'm a girl...

Ummm... I am also a gamer girl... For those who do not play DDO and want to try it... I warn you now! There are alot of ladies in the game and we kick booty!

BWAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!  Women RULEZ!!!

Well, not that childish but there is alot of women players in the game.

Which one of you has the pet chicken!! There's this gal who plays on Ghallanda, it's been a while since I've grouped with her, and there would always be this manic sounding chicken in the background making all kinds of noise.  :D

Yeah, there's a lot of female gamers who actively play DDO.  Ghallanda used to have regular Ladies Only groups during the evenings - don't let them kid you they're getting sloshed on their white zin!

Originally posted by Arawon

I love to solo so never took a serious look at this game. Is the game still group centric ?

The game is very group centric.  That being said, you can solo if you want to but you shouldn't expect the same experiance. If you absoslutely refuse to play with others there could still be the possibilty you'd enjoy the content. 

There are Outdoor Adventure Areas which give some decent loot and are better suited for solo players that contend with sporadic schedules.  I'm not aware of a "solo guide" or if it's even possible to solo to the max level in the game.  I do a lot of soloing at my main character's max level although I generally make the quests availble to guild members since most of us just enjoy the chance at good loot and an opportunity to laugh at each other when someone dies. ;)

If youre stuck on playing solo then why not buy a Nintendo DS. If you have a jaded experiance with online gaming environments then that's something you'll have to overcome. The community in DDO is well natured enough to assist others and even work around someone needing time to change a diaper or take a phone call.

If you solo the content be prepared for an extremely challenging environment.  There will be a few quests where you need 2 or players due to puzzles, traps, levels, etc, but you could abstain from those quests.

Originally posted by signetring

Ref "Outdoor Adventure Areas":

To make matters worse, no corpses contain loot, there are just a few low-level chests in these areas because they are so easily "farmable".

So the next time you want to "clear things up" you might want to put the focus on your own posts on not other people's. Because you sir, stepped in it.

All Mobs have a chance of dropping "Treasure Bags".  The items dropped can be turned in for wands, potions and all kinds of other random items.  The loot that Mob's drop can also be used in a process to enhance your items to improve the damage, resistences, saving throws and even armor class.  The "Treasure Bag" replaces the old "sparkly" graphic on slain mobs with an actual Treasure Bag that makes a loud Thud when dropped. This collectible system has been in the game since it launched although the Equipment Enhancement is a realtively new feature.

The chests in the outdoor areas are level specific and are only "lowlevel" if the characters are equally of a "lowlevel".  For example, if the area is a level 5 questing zone then you'll get level 5 appropriate drops and if it's a level 16 area you're pulling loot from a lvl 16 loot table.  Obviously, the level of the loot table does not mean you're going to be pulling golden eggs out of every chest even though a race restricted +1 Keen Rapier of Puntcuring is only a level 4 item.  Regardless, the OP is just ass backwards - The Vale has 16 randomly spawning named bosses which each drop a chest and you can frequently find 7-10 in the area.  Doing this as a loot run will make you upwards of about 7k-15k plat per run; 15k plat = 150k gold. 

Beyond this it's quite hard to make obvious statements about the OP without succombing to his misinformative trollish intent.  By all means, I enjoy discussing what's good, what could have been and what should be, but this person is a joke. 

First off, I've been going through a lot of dental floss.  I'm the kind of person who flosses after every meal, including snacks, and feel as if it could use one more pass.

DDO has come a long way since it was launched.  We all know that the game suffered terriably due to misdirection.  Two and a half years later, and an unfortold amount of floss, the game is starting to feel as if it's where it should be.  But, there's a proplem.

Those who play know this.  Those who don't play only know of what was.  There's a longstanding problem with the mechanics in DDO and it's coming around to bite it in the ass.  The game allows for a random mechanic which permits an effect called "Wounding of Punturing" to appear on items.  This is EXTREMELY rare although once a player acquires such an item it permits them to employ an entirely different playstyle - one that's based upon an attribute statistic (is, Constitiution) instead of HitPoints - to kill the mob 10x faster then if they had used pure DPS. .

What we have is a legitimate disbute that covers many different players and playstyles.  Here's the link to the current discussion on the live server:  click for link

The obvious issue is multi-fold.  We have a problem where Hitpoints have been inflated to the point where players are compensating by finding alternative means of melee-mechanics yet an issue with melee character's DPS becoming less effective due to this "compensation" while Casters, which are stronger in pen & paper systems then DDO, are merely standing idle.  

Look through this thread.  What do you think would make a difference based upon the oppinions expressed on the official forums? 

I for one think there's many different adjustments that need to be made: reduce hit points, increase number of mobs, increase a chance of a Rare Named mob that would be immune, decreased hitoints to faciliate the importance of "dps", expand upon the dyanmics and faciliate more options rather then "nerf" a function and playstyle.  Allow for more ways to the play game while facilitating the obvious. 

What do you think?

 p.s. please pardon type-o's and missplellings, beer is good, herb is better and DDO is fun as hell!  :D

Originally posted by piotrsan
The only game with some good story , good quests and d&d which is way better then any mmorpg except the skill based ones like UO and rip wish online. Yeah stay away from this game if you like brainless repetitive games that most of the other mmorpgs are. But if you like good storyline and meaningful quests and something that is deeper then the usual primitive mmorpg gender go right ahead. The game has its drawbacks , its short but its much better being short then being one of the do 12k quests of type "Bring me 12 pristine boar tusks".DDO is a very good exception amongst the primitive gender which relies on either grinding or poor mans pseudo questing amongst vast fields of clueless wondering monsters , big maps unlogical filled with monsters with few nods for quest gathering.And people wonder why every new mmorpg is a failure .

This is thie the best post in this entire thread, including the OP's purposely trolling creation that led to the creation of this discussion; everyone realizes the OP is troling these forums, right?

Originally posted by levsix

People LITERALLY run the same quests HUNDREDS of times. I am NOT exaggerating when I am telling you people run the same quest 500 times. If you are that kind of person, you might find lasting happiness. If not, you could still have a ton of fun, it just probably won't have the staying power you're looking for.

PS "HASTE! HASTE ! HASTE!" or "FIRE RESIST" or "HEAL HEAL" then "HASTE HASTE!!!" hahaha.The character customization isn't all that great. Once you've played the game a while you realize there are only a handful of viable builds per a class. You can get as creative as you want, it doesn't mean they'll be viable (ie a rogue with a returning dagger).

I agree that the game facilitates player's who strive to contiusously build better characters and agressively improve upon them, but this is kind of contradictive of the Power Gamer mentality of building templates based on Current activites (ie, fotm) and content then gripe to hell and back when new content would otherwise cause them to rethink their character's applications.  The wonderfull thing is you aren't required to play like this although if that's your wish then the option is availble to do so. 

I have a rebuttal regarding this statement: "The character customization isn't all that great. Once you've played the game a while you realize there are only a handful of viable builds per a class."

The italized comment is a problem with power gamer mentalities and not with actual mechanics.  The character I play is proof to this; 28 point elven sorcerer, light armor profecientcy & weapon finesse Feats, 46 ubuffed AC, no spell failure, Action Points maxed out fire/cold dmg, 30% Acid, full enhancement line of Maximize Metamagic effecientcy, nothing spent on Arcan Fludity.  It's not difficult to visualize this build and say "wtf!?!?" although I generally get an equally resounding "WTF!!!" when others play with me for the first time and see how effecient the character actually is.  Now, I'll be the first to point out there's lot's of flaws with my character even though I made it when the game launched and my only knowlegde of DDO was from the AD&D rule system.  This character has come a long way and is nothing compared to how it was originally spec'd out or how I percieved it, it was built and fine tuned around my playstyle.  My point is: There's More Then One Way To Skin A Cat.

The "Viable Builds" you speak of are more likely "fotm" builds and do nothing to suit a playstyle while only serve to exploit the holes in the game mechanics.  For some reason I'm thinking of Defense Stackers in pre-cu SWG or Nano Ships in EVE Online and I'm sure anyone can give equal comparrisons - Evasion Builds in DDO.  These things generally come to pass...   

In all fairness, I believe Levsix's statement "Once you've played the game a while you realize there are only a handful of viable builds " is more relative to a playstyle then anything else because the worst player with the best build is still bound to have massive problems.  Those enforcing that there's only one way to play a character are also likely to be in the area of Min/Max character builds.  There's nothing wrong with it, but it's easy to forget how many play simply for fun and a Halfing Wizard with a Greatsword just might be what you enjoy playing.  

p.s. Theme Guilds!    Last one I was in we had the requirement that everyone used a Repeating Crossbow.  Lots of fun and loads of laughs.  :D

Originally posted by moorewr

Originally posted by mindspat

Originally posted by gestalt11

I personally will not be doing the green steel item grind.  Nor will I run reaver 50 times to get a chattering ring. 

Anyway, you can play DDO however you like and be ok.  It has a good bit of longevity with multiple builds and alts and what not.  And you should not really feel like you have to "keep up with the jones".  Don't get me wrong there are tons of twinks around and definitely elitists but a significant portion of the game have not bought into that idea as well.  So it is not a given.

I mean DDO has perma-death guilds that delete their chars on the first death.  You really can play however you like. 

Green Steel item crafting is a grind.  No question about it. Oddly enough, it can be a lot of fun when running with well natured people.   ;)

You can run the Reaver a Bazillion time and you're not going to get the Chattering Ring, but that's because it's in the Twlight Forge and you have to defeat the Titan for a chance to loot it.  :P

 

 

Say what you will about Mod 8, but the 'crafting' does avoid the ingredient grind.. insofar as it is random and you are guaranteed a complete item if you complete all four 'refuge' quests and the optional at the end of Stealer of Souls...

I'm ok with Mod 8's crafting although someone did drop the ball with the design of the rune sytsem.  They should have introduced Named Runes which provide specific affects on items.  These Named Runes should have been in the Optional Chests for the three prerequisite quests for Stealer of Souls.   This would have encouraged more people to run the quests, the optionals and SoS.

Originally posted by signetring

This post was not written for those who love the game, but for those who are seeking to try it out. 

 

You refuse to answer questions and much of what you've typed reads like a blatant lie.  

Ghallanda seems pretty good.  There's usually around 20-25 LFM's up on a Sunday afternoon; pacific time zone during prime time.  We usually have around 15-20 people logged in during fridays, saturdays and sundays around US Prime Time hours; Guild: Lifetakers & Heartbreakers.

During the evenings there's normally 4-10 LFM's up at any given time. 

Originally posted by signetring

Except for 5 raids that can all be done in one night, DDO succeeds only at failure for endgame.

Having played the game from October 2005 - February 2008

Module 6 and 7 introduced many, many bugs that STILL have not been addressed. DDO's updated/patchfix cycle is almost nonexistant.  So not only do they not come up with new stuff, they can't even fix the old stuff.

My opinions need no defense, the Turbine tree bears bad fruit. 

Signetring, answer these questions please:

How is being able to complete 5 out of the 10 raids in a single night a problem?

Could you please do everyone reading these forums a favor and list the bugs you claim that have been present since module's 6 & 7?  It would be interesting to hear what's broken besides "I said so".  By all means list the specific bugs unless you're simply making it up.

You're opinions don't need to be defended, but your false claims and constant misinformation deffinitely do. For the most part it reads like incestant trolling based on the constant inacuracies you alledge.

Originally posted by gestalt11

I personally will not be doing the green steel item grind.  Nor will I run reaver 50 times to get a chattering ring. 

Anyway, you can play DDO however you like and be ok.  It has a good bit of longevity with multiple builds and alts and what not.  And you should not really feel like you have to "keep up with the jones".  Don't get me wrong there are tons of twinks around and definitely elitists but a significant portion of the game have not bought into that idea as well.  So it is not a given.

I mean DDO has perma-death guilds that delete their chars on the first death.  You really can play however you like. 

Green Steel item crafting is a grind.  No question about it. Oddly enough, it can be a lot of fun when running with well natured people.   ;)

You can run the Reaver a Bazillion time and you're not going to get the Chattering Ring, but that's because it's in the Twlight Forge and you have to defeat the Titan for a chance to loot it.  :P

Originally posted by aleos

I loved this game at launch and dont remember exactly why i quit, but every now and then i will resub and i cant find a group when a group is absolutly needed. The ideas in this MMO make it totaly rad though.. on my turbine accounts it says this game is 9.99 a month...is that true?

They offered a 6 month Subscription for 9.99 a month about 6 months ago, not sure otherwise. $60 Dollars for a 6 month subscription on a game that you can purchase for $10 is pretty damned good.  Not to mention that as a new player there's so much content that it deffintely keep you busy for six months. 

To our Aussie homie, have you tried playing on the Western servers?  DDO Korea plays here/there and as being a member of The Older Gamers (.com) I think AU/US play times overlap nicely enough to allow for a little more of a community between our continents. 

Originally posted by Loke666

That is true, but the big question is: Why shouldn't people get Guildwars instead? Same instances, but only one server for each language(well, 2 for english), no monthly fees, better programming and loads of content?

D&D is made so it should work perfectly in computer games and DDO have some nice ideas. But the game is to similar to Guildwars which costs less and is a better game.

Guildwars does NOT have content remotely similar to the scale and amount that's availble in DDO.  I have both games and I fail to understand how this claim is true. 

DDO is a tactile dynamic strategy game whereas Guildwars is a point and click button masher. I'm not saying one is better/worse or more/less fun then the other, just that they are completely different games as much as Checkers is to Chess.

As for "better programer", do you program for both games?  The nature of the either game makes this arguement one of those Apples to Oranges examples.  The two games are at far oposites of the spectrum in much the same way EVE Online is to World of Warcraft.  I would saying EVE and DDO are similar to each other whereas Guildwars and WoW are as well.  I actually think Guildwars' gameplay is a little less complicated then WoW, if that's even possible.

Originally posted by signetring

Turbine made a huge mistake. They made this game as a purely linear game with no options at all with the storyline.

I have never met a more pretentious and annoying group of gamers in my life. They seem to thrive on not having any organization whatsoever. The game simply does not allow it. 

They should have taken a lesson from Guild Wars and at least made one big server with instanced city zones (which they have in game, but you never seen more than 1 or maybe 2 instances, ever.)

So an empty game is the first whammy. Then comes the slow pace of development. The game launched with 10 levels of character progression, and nearly 3 years later, they have only added 6 more. 

As far as aesthetics go, the game looks really dated.

Some very simple features that you would expect in an MMO are simply not there.  

The lack of gameplay, the lack of polish (for a nearly 3 year old MMO), and the lack of a good solid player base (there's always permadeathers and roleplayers) make this a game you would do well to stay far, FAR away from.

D&D Online plays like a 1st generation MMO with no endgame (except 4 or 5 raids with varying levels of repeatability). Too many player options lead you into groups with two-weapon wielding clerics and fighter classes with less hit points than a wizard. All in the name of D&D? Your D&D fix is best found in a good book. 

Enteresting first post to troll the DDO forums.
 

The above quotes showcase how disenfranchised this alledged player is with the game.  I'll touch on a few issues:

Story is linear in a sense that there are not permenant archs that players branch out from if they might the right or wrong decissions - please name some MMO's that have dynamic story lines, I would be very interested in them.

No organization, pretentious & most annoying community?  This is so far from fact that it's proof of intent to troll these forums.

I agree with the concept of a Single Server game and love EVE Online for this. As for the number of instances, I frequently see 2 or 3 instances of a zone although it's generally on a friday evening.  The server I play on (Ghallanda) isn't even reported as being the most populous.

Empty game and no progression?  Complaining about "6 levels" is not only foolish it showcases the complete lack of knowledge the OP professes to posses about the game.  When a level in DDO equates 4 ranks of progression (lvl 1 rank 0, rank 1, rank 2, rank 3 rank 4, level 2 rank 0, level 2 rank 1, etc) those 6 levels play out as 30 different states of progression.  When you count the 16 levels present in the game it's fair to gauge this as if it had 80 levels!  It's fuzzy math and can be confusiong, but is generally quite clear to anyone who plays the game.

Game looks dated?  Ok, it's obvious why this post was made by a first time user - they intended the account to be banned for trolling.  The game updated it's graphics to DX10, yep, dated...

Features that are not present in DDO?  Player structures.  We could argue that there's no crafting besides the collectible reward system, but very few games have crafting as it was present in pre-cu Star Wars Galaxies and even then That system is no longer availble in That game.  I'll give the op this - DDO lacks the ability to own player structures and there's no crafting of consumables in the game.

Lacking Polish, Gameplay and a Good Player Base?  The first two are arbitrary opinions with the first being easily countered although the third is another example of blatant misinformation and trolling.

No End Game - Am I the only one who identifies the oxymoron of lacking an end game while there being too many character options?  PnP allows you to multi class and create unique characters and so does DDO; pretty close to sandbox proportions.  Claiming wizards have more hitpoints then a fighter type and that this is a flaw by design is the most gross case of misinformation the OP has expressed so far, unless the OP is using an extreme example of a lvl 16 wizard's hitpoints to a lvl 1 fighter's, which is nothing other then an attempt to distract how truely dynamic the game is. 

There's a Total of 9 Raids and 1 outdoor/underground Raid area.  Claiming there's only 4-5 raids is more proof the OP is less informed then the average user who has access to Google.

The OP is full of bias, misinformation and trolling remarks that does nothing to touch upon the few areas of the game that could be improved upon.  It's a shamefull waste of a thread...