Sorry, for such a standard inquiry post, I know these things come up all the time.

After two and half years of playing EVE-online i am looking for something else. Eve was my first MMO, and i suspect that i wont really give it up but i am after a break for a while, time to do something different. I pretty much assume that i am a bit of a fanboy of eve that has just been worn down by the commitment.

I am currently in Europe, i have played D&D with pen and paper since the red basic box and a lot of the computer games. I no longer face to face game, after moving country lots, and getting a bit older, i found it hard to join in with new groups of gamer.

At this stage i want something fairly casual and entertaining. the problem is that i guess i have a mature attitude. I do like a fairly serious storytelling aspect along with a remotely relistic form of world, harsh death penalties, and if i hit someone with a sword i don't want to see blue sparkles i want to see blood. I am not keen on PvP. I suspect that i would like to solo a fair bit and only group casually unless a good rapport develops with a guild, then i may be interested in a weekly grouping to raid. I do like a bit of roleplay in a game, how good is the roleplay aspects? And no I don’t think “Hey, you cyber?” counts as roleplay.

The most encouraging thing i have seen so far about DDO is that XP is given on quest completion, not monster slaying. My favorite class in D&D has always been rogue, is there some quests that can be soloed by stealth and intrigue?

How important is picking the 'right' server? Are you locked into a server on starting the game? Or when starting a character?

How important is the starting with a plan of progression for your character?

What I don’t like from what I am hearing so far is the no evil alignment aspect, although I can kind of understand it.

I am not even going to try WOW due to the screaming kiddywinks and toon like graphics.

So is it worth me starting the trial for DDO? I mean, i am obviously an older elitist eve player who likes a darker story but wants something a bit more casual fun than eve.

Originally posted by nurgles

Sorry, for such a standard inquiry post, I know these things come up all the time.

After two and half years of playing EVE-online i am looking for something else. Eve was my first MMO, and i suspect that i wont really give it up but i am after a break for a while, time to do something different. I pretty much assume that i am a bit of a fanboy of eve that has just been worn down by the commitment.

I am currently in Europe, i have played D&D with pen and paper since the red basic box and a lot of the computer games. I no longer face to face game, after moving country lots, and getting a bit older, i found it hard to join in with new groups of gamer.

At this stage i want something fairly casual and entertaining. the problem is that i guess i have a mature attitude. I do like a fairly serious storytelling aspect along with a remotely relistic form of world, harsh death penalties, and if i hit someone with a sword i don't want to see blue sparkles i want to see blood. I am not keen on PvP. I suspect that i would like to solo a fair bit and only group casually unless a good rapport develops with a guild, then i may be interested in a weekly grouping to raid. I do like a bit of roleplay in a game, how good is the roleplay aspects? And no I don’t think “Hey, you cyber?” counts as roleplay.

The most encouraging thing i have seen so far about DDO is that XP is given on quest completion, not monster slaying. My favorite class in D&D has always been rogue, is there some quests that can be soloed by stealth and intrigue?

How important is picking the 'right' server? Are you locked into a server on starting the game? Or when starting a character?

How important is the starting with a plan of progression for your character?

What I don’t like from what I am hearing so far is the no evil alignment aspect, although I can kind of understand it.

I am not even going to try WOW due to the screaming kiddywinks and toon like graphics.

So is it worth me starting the trial for DDO? I mean, i am obviously an older elitist eve player who likes a darker story but wants something a bit more casual fun than eve.

 

To be honest I think EvE will have tainted you a bit or at least affected you enough that you will see DDO as something a bit "light" or "silly".

There really isn't a darker story to DDO. None that I could find or that I would consider "dark".

It's a fun game, don't get me wrong. But you have to alter your expectations and come to the game thinking "this is Turbine's campaign and they are essentially the Dungeon Masters". There are no harsh death penalties. When you have a game that one can play casually you tend not to see these things. I don't recall seeing blood so no luck there either.

It's sort of fantasy lite. Part of that is the fault of the setting or perhaps how Turbine interpreted it. I mean, when you see "magical" rings supporting pylons for buildings and somewhat cartoonish runes on buildings it gives a less than "serious" impression.

So, you have to ignore or just accept that stuff. Also, though you can solo, you will have to eventually group. At the moment this game is first and foremost a grouping game.

DDO is terrible.  Honestly, don't bother.

And either way, I think there are free trials out there, so try it and see.  But the game is barely hanging on by a thread (in terms of subscriber #'s), which should tell you everything.  Good games have players playing them.

Originally posted by andmiller

DDO is terrible.  Honestly, don't bother.

And either way, I think there are free trials out there, so try it and see.  But the game is barely hanging on by a thread (in terms of subscriber #'s), which should tell you everything.  Good games have players playing them.

 

Obviously not so dead, it isn't worth trying to flame it.

Originally posted by nurgles

Sorry, for such a standard inquiry post, I know these things come up all the time.

After two and half years of playing EVE-online i am looking for something else. Eve was my first MMO, and i suspect that i wont really give it up but i am after a break for a while, time to do something different. I pretty much assume that i am a bit of a fanboy of eve that has just been worn down by the commitment.

I am currently in Europe, i have played D&D with pen and paper since the red basic box and a lot of the computer games. I no longer face to face game, after moving country lots, and getting a bit older, i found it hard to join in with new groups of gamer.

At this stage i want something fairly casual and entertaining. the problem is that i guess i have a mature attitude. I do like a fairly serious storytelling aspect along with a remotely relistic form of world, harsh death penalties, and if i hit someone with a sword i don't want to see blue sparkles i want to see blood. I am not keen on PvP. I suspect that i would like to solo a fair bit and only group casually unless a good rapport develops with a guild, then i may be interested in a weekly grouping to raid. I do like a bit of roleplay in a game, how good is the roleplay aspects? And no I don’t think “Hey, you cyber?” counts as roleplay.

The most encouraging thing i have seen so far about DDO is that XP is given on quest completion, not monster slaying. My favorite class in D&D has always been rogue, is there some quests that can be soloed by stealth and intrigue?

How important is picking the 'right' server? Are you locked into a server on starting the game? Or when starting a character?

How important is the starting with a plan of progression for your character?

What I don’t like from what I am hearing so far is the no evil alignment aspect, although I can kind of understand it.

I am not even going to try WOW due to the screaming kiddywinks and toon like graphics.

So is it worth me starting the trial for DDO? I mean, i am obviously an older elitist eve player who likes a darker story but wants something a bit more casual fun than eve.

 

Hard to give you an answer, your requirements are certainly not a perfect match, however you might find it hard to find a match in MMOs generally for those requirements.

To start it is as casual as you want it to be, you can spend several hours locked in a quest with a group, or 10 mins in an explorer area. The quests are certainly more intricate and interesting than the standard fair offered up by most MMOs, the combat is a lot more active as well. Not a game for playing while trying to eat your dinner at the same time.

If you like stats and building unique builds there are plenty of them to play with, and your own ability to control the character (a bit tombraider like at times) can make a lot of difference. Two identical builds (very rare to find) seem very different in different peoples hands.

The concept is definitely more group focused, but if you like a serious challenge a lot of the group based content can be soloed, if you plan for it. That includes using stealth effectively, more important solo than in groups where you can be limited (not always) by the most visible person. There are also lots of puzzles and traps to get around.

You can have your maximum character slots on all servers, it is the sort of game that lends itself to altaholics. As far as planning your build, it is easy to make mistakes, best to try a few and then go for the one you like. There are so many situations where it is hard to min/max so you are always in a win situation, in fact personally I prefer an all rounder to anything over specialised.

The game certainly has the environment for roleplaying, but you would be better off identifying a particular guild for it. You will also miss a lot if you play the game too fast without reading the back stories and joining groups repeating quests.

So answer is you might like it, certainly worth a try to make your own mind up. Always good to have your own opinion.

p.s. The community is certainly mature, grouping is enjoyable and you don't have to put up with the usual brainless drivel.

Originally posted by andmiller

DDO is terrible.  Honestly, don't bother.

And either way, I think there are free trials out there, so try it and see.  But the game is barely hanging on by a thread (in terms of subscriber #'s), which should tell you everything.  Good games have players playing them.

 

***

OP, DDO has many quality features which are superb and outshine the current norm of online games.  Also, it does suffer from occasionaly non existent Q&A and is currently under going lag (network, code, it's lag either way) after a recent "fix".  Currently I find the game unplayable along with the majority of people who I game with on Ghallanda.

I also play EVE Online and have enjoyed it for upwards of 2 and a half years.  As of lately I would the lag in DDO has been worse then 300 ship fleet engagements and obviously less forgiving even though EVE's "death penalties" are more severe.

DDO is role play lite. While you can do more character based roleplay it's lacking a simple number of /emotes which should be present - anyone know the total number of emotes in DDO?

The thing that causes DDO to be the bastard child of MMO's the poor launch.  Other then that the game provides for one of the most dynamic character building systems within a personlized and perfected questing system while focusing on a tactile strategy control mechanism beyond simple WASD movement.  The directed experiacne to be had when running quests within your groups private instane is second to none.

If you ever had lag issues that made you not want to play EVE Online then I would advise treading with caution.  Hit the trial and see what you like.  DDO is an excellant game besides the poor management and non existent Q&A. 

Good luck with getting the game downloaded as being a European resident.  Codemasters handles the distribution and there's not a single account of praise for their method of delivery.

p.s. Can't wait till "Ambulation" goes live in EVE.  I'm also a fan of role play environments.

Just to point out the European servers are not suffering with the current US lag problems, Keeper is near on perfect, but there has been a reported problem on Devourer for a little while now around banks and AH, I believe.

Did somebody say harsh death penalty?

*rips his shirt open revealing a spandex suit and flies to the forums*

DDO's death penalty is almost non-existent, It used to be the usual XP debt but they swithced over to a new system that basically just costs you a little gold when you die. I don't know if there are any permadeath guilds on the European servers, but the American servers are just crawling with the little bastards. Permadeath guilds have self-imposed delete your character when they die rules that add a nice challenge to the game. Some play only permadeath, and many just have an alt or two for it. If you decide to stick with DDO you may want to check it out.

Thanks for all the helpful and constructive comments.

i do understand that nothing will be perfect for me, not only because my requirements are unique but also that my requirements are often contradictory. serious roleplaying world does not equate to casual solo fun.

I am glad to here that they is a strong aspect of grouping in the game, that is how D&D was always meant to be. It is also a heroic high fantasy setting. As such realism always went out the window. The permadeath guilds sound intriging, first lvl chars are very very fragile. Heroic durability is a nice help there.

Enhancements are something i am not familiar with, they obviously add a fair bit of versatility. do they have a prerequisite tree like feats? is there a simple and clear writeup about how they work?

how is the equipment/wealth grind? equipmet was very powerfull in the pen and paper game, same in the MMO? is there a big problem with RMT?

the lag issue is interesting, i will see how that turns out, it could be a killer for me. i stopped fleet battling in eve due to lag, did skirmishing and then turned into a station warrior.

From what i have seen of character creation so far, Drow seem unbalanced three +2s to stats, with only one -2, elf advantages and spell resistance, what is the downside/balancing factor? in the rules that i know it was harder for you to go up in levels.

Well one penalty the Dev's have added is that you cannot make Drow [or 32 point build] characters when you start - you need to unlock them via favor.  That said, I believe that many people have original 28 point builds that they still play - although changes to the game has made "optimum" builds change, causing min-max'ers to reroll.

Since you are a self-described elitist, you will probably be able to get into the game, get hooked up with an uber guild, and power-level to max in a week or so [unlocking the drow and 32pt builds along the way.]  On the other hand, if you decide to play casual, there are a few good guilds for that, too.

Advice noone should need:  Download and play the trial - see if you like the basic mechanics, and go from there!

The 32 point builds aren't required.  It only amounts to 2 to 3 more points in the attributes. Personaly, I think Intelegence and Wisdom are good candidates for these extra points.  A few more points into Int could add an extra skill point per level and Wis might give you a +1 to save on some spells.

My main is a 28 point Elven Sorcerer.  I would never be able to replace the gear if I were to recreate the character as a 32 point build.