D&D Online

Just got the game and fired it up. It takes a bit of getting used to, as it is most definitely NOT WoW or any other MMORPG. You basically can't solo, for example, and need a group. On the other hand, if you have folks you want to play with, it can be an absolute blast. I was able to party with my buddies from Toronto (I'm in Alberta atm), and it has full voice chat, so we could actually talk to one another as we were playing. It was great-- brought back the days of sitting in my basement, rolling 20-siders.

Anyway, if anyone's interested, I'm on the Ghallanda server. Look for a Paladin named Hurin Thalion :)

Cheers

I have been thinking about picking this up... Could you give a more detailed sample of the gameplay??

From what I've read of it it's pay-to-play like World of Warcraft, yet 100% instanced like Guild Wars.

In other words: D&D Online is total extortion and a terrible value for one's dollar, in my view.

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Originally Posted by Navaros

... yet 100% instanced like Guild Wars.

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I'm a newbie to this genre (played Guild Wars only) - can anyone tell me, what does "100% instanced" mean in this context?

It means whenever you go into an area a new "instance" of it is created for you and your party- no one else can follow you there and you wont come across any other players while in it.

Thanks - now I'm wondering why an instanced game is necessarily a "total extortion"? (Unless you really want to fight other parties?)

I've been thinking about getting this game and like the idea of instances. If I play, I don't want other players screwing up my experience. From what I've read on the D&D Online forums over the past six months, there was great debate about whether to allow player vs player action. I know there are people who prefer that, but from discussions and articles I've read player vs player just allows for abuse by player killers. Maybe it isn't as bad as the things I've read claim as I have no actual experience with these MMORPGs yet. But playing in an online world with just my friends and I has much appeal for me.

H_R, how is the feel of the play? Does it feel like D&D? One thing that has alway bothered me about computer RPGs is the "hurry up" feeling like you need to get to the next room or monster as fast as you can. Only the turn based The Temple of Elemental Evil has felt like the closest thing to real pen and paper D&D to me. What say you?

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Originally Posted by Simon Appleton

I'm a newbie to this genre (played Guild Wars only) - can anyone tell me, what does "100% instanced" mean in this context?

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The game creates a special closed instance of the program just for you, and the members of your party. It's your private copy of one specific part of the game world. There may be community areas also (like Guild Wars) where people can meet before going into "instanced" areas.

I like the WoW concept better, where the game world is a huge space shared by all the players, and only the largest and toughest dungeons are instanced. Then you get the best of both worlds -- random interactions and grouping (if you want) with other players, and private dungeons where you're only interacting with a small group.

The random interactions in WoW make the game world feel more alive and "big." I can be in a solo battle where I'm about to be killed by some scary monster, and suddenly another player will appear out of nowhere to help me out. We both wave afterwards, and he rides away. Or I might detour on my travels to help out someone else who is in trouble, or offer to join a quick ad-hoc group to handle a tough encounter. That kind of stuff goes on all the time in WoW. Also there can be world events that everyone shares, like the recent opening of the AQ gates, or holiday events.

Non-instanced games like WoW are usually easier if you like to solo, and don't always want to be forced into partying. I play WoW with my wife, and together we can handle most of the game content up to level 50 or 60... basically anything but the big raid dungeons at the endgame level caps.

OTOH, the big downside of non-instanced MMORPG's is that they're hard to scale up to huge server loads, and that's WoW's biggest problem right now... not being able to cope with the crush of people wanting to play it. A mostly instanced MMORPG is much easier to manage, in terms of network load.

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Originally Posted by Zenicetus

I like the WoW concept better, where the game world is a huge space shared by all the players, and only the largest and toughest dungeons are instanced. Then you get the best of both worlds -- random interactions and grouping (if you want) with other players, and private dungeons where you're only interacting with a small group.

The random interactions in WoW make the game world feel more alive and "big." I can be in a solo battle where I'm about to be killed by some scary monster, and suddenly another player will appear out of nowhere to help me out. We both wave afterwards, and he rides away. Or I might detour on my travels to help out someone else who is in trouble, or offer to join a quick ad-hoc group to handle a tough encounter. That kind of stuff goes on all the time in WoW. Also there can be world events that everyone shares, like the recent opening of the AQ gates, or holiday events.

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Yeah, immersion is the big plus of non-instanced gaming. You can be out in the middle of nowhere and still possibly come across another player doing their own thing.

OTOH, the drawback to non-instanced play (and PVP) is the greifers (people who gain enjoyment from ruining other people's game experience). Even in GuildWars, where PVP is in a seperate area, I dont enjoy it that much since you have all the 12yr olds calling everyone who doesnt spend 60hrs/week playing newbs, idiots, ect if you ever make a mistep- kinda sucks the fun out of it for me. As for non-instanced play, you have to worry about kill-stealing or spawn campers, ect.

That's a downside to non-instanced design, for sure. There are always idiots running around.

Some of this can be dealt with in WoW by choosing your server class. I play on an RP (roleplaying) server, even though I'm not really into hardcore roleplaying. The players seem to be a little more mature, there is no forced PvP, and there are dedicated battleground areas set up for people who do want to PvP. I still get the occasional resource camping, or being yelled at by someone in a pickup group because I don't know some minor detail. But it doesn't happen very often on the RP servers. Overall, it's a fairly polite crowd. It's more of a zoo on the dedicated 100% PvP servers in WoW.

I seem I will not like D&D Online just as I couldn’t love Guild Wars, and all for same reason; grouping.

I would love an MMORPG where I can log in and play for an hour or so and give up then if I have work to do, which is generally the rule. I haven’t played WoW for two months now, out of a simple reason that I cannot single out as much time as other people can. They all level up much faster then I do, since they hang on the servers for hours and hours. After a while, we can’t go to the same instances, and the pickup groups are the poison. And after some time, gaming there feels more like working.

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Originally Posted by Simon Appleton

Thanks - now I'm wondering why an instanced game is necessarily a "total extortion"? (Unless you really want to fight other parties?)

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Others have done a great job explaining instancing etc. Just to further clarify my extortion point: for someone who really wants to play a 100% instanced game, then it makes far more financial sense to go with Guild Wars instead of D&D Online, because Guild Wars has no monthly fee yet D&D Online does.

If one really wants to spend $15 USD or so every month just to play a game that he has already purchased, then it makes far more sense to go with World of Warcraft rather than D&D Online because the scope and non-instanced content available in World of Warcraft make it a much better game than any 100% instanced game could even hope to be.

Seems to me like the makers of D&D Online are trying to charge premium price for their game whilst at the same time not delivering premium content to make it worth that price. A very distrurbing trend which I hope fails so that other games do not follow suit. D&D Online and Guilds Wars are more along the lines of Diablo II rather than World of Warcraft, hence they should be free to play like Diablo II is.

In conclusion: a 100% instanced game is akin to "a poor man's MMORPG", hence it is unreasonable for one to charge a monthly fee that is comparable to a real MMORPG.

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Originally Posted by Voigtkampf

I seem I will not like D&D Online just as I couldn’t love Guild Wars, and all for same reason; grouping.

I would love an MMORPG where I can log in and play for an hour or so and give up then if I have work to do, which is generally the rule. I haven’t played WoW for two months now, out of a simple reason that I cannot single out as much time as other people can. They all level up much faster then I do, since they hang on the servers for hours and hours. After a while, we can’t go to the same instances, and the pickup groups are the poison. And after some time, gaming there feels more like working.

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I've found that to be the case as well. It is why I am looking forward to Oblivion so much - a new single player RPG!

The point of DDO is to attempt to recreate the feeling of a PnP dungeon crawl with friends. It's not meant to either feel like nor compete with games like WoW; it's a different market segment that they're trying to fill.

That said, I don't know if they've succeeded or not since I'm not playing it.

Let me reiterate that this game is not for everyone. I only decided to play it cuz my buddies back home are mental for D&D. I was HIGHLY skeptical of many of the design decisions: I loved PvP (or more properly Realm vs. Realm) combat in DAoC, and thought I would miss it in DDO. I don't. D&D was never really about PvP anyway (except for a few unfortunate instances when the party thief thought it would be fun to steal from my dwarf fighter; it didn't turn out well). I thought the instanced thing would bug me, but it doesn't. You still see everyone else when you're running around the town looking for quests, and you still meet lots of people. But when the quest starts, it goes for an instance and you just have you and your party. Also, I thought the fact that you can't really solo would really bug me, but its not that bad. It still is a bit of a hassle, but if you can get into a good guild with lots of good folks to play with or (like me) have buddies who are ready to form a balanced party, it is fantastic.

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Originally Posted by Gregoshi

H_R, how is the feel of the play? Does it feel like D&D? One thing that has alway bothered me about computer RPGs is the "hurry up" feeling like you need to get to the next room or monster as fast as you can. Only the turn based The Temple of Elemental Evil has felt like the closest thing to real pen and paper D&D to me. What say you?

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It feels a lot like D&D to me. The even have a dungeon master (computer controlled) chime in and tell you stuff like, "The floor here seems rotten and smells of decay" or "You sense evil ahead". So that really takes me back. You also see the 20-sided die roll when you attack or make saves. Cool. Also, the treasure is pure D&D (though 3.5 ruleset rather than the old stuff) and pretty easy to get used to if you've ever played pen and paper D&D.

On the other hand, there are a few non-D&D aspects to it. For one, the combat is real time and in fact slightly twitchy. I disliked this at first, but now that I've gotten used to it, I'm liking it more and more each time. I'm figuring out how to block and time my attacks to take advantage of the monsters in between their swings. I'm taking a lot fewer hits now than I used to.

Overall, it seems to me that people either love the game or hate it. Most of the reviews I've seen gave it very high ratings-- fantastic, excellent, etc.-- but those that disliked it really HATED it.

Ultimately, one of my goals in posting this thread was to see if anyone else is playing so we can all group up. This game lives or dies on whether you can find a good group; if you can, it is a total blast.

Just my $0.02.

For other reviews, see here:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/ddonl...ml?sid=6145431

Thanks H_R, I appreciate your insight. :bow:

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Originally Posted by Gregoshi

Thanks H_R, I appreciate your insight. :bow:

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No problem. If you or anyone else decides to give it a try, get on the Ghallanda server, and send me a tell (I'm a Paladin named Hurin).

Beta TesTed iT.

Hated it.

Cancleed my preoRder.

Not to be a jerk, buT its like any other fantasy roleplaying game thats based on levels except that you :

-have To pay

-must almost always team, which sucks on level based games because it requires you to befriend people you dont know, and sucks because you cant always find someone your level to do what you want to do. Level based MMORPGS make me sick, and I certainly donT want to have multiple characters for multiple occasions and levels because then its not roleplaying and I hate leveling anyway

-its twiTch based vs AI that dodges and parries, which sounds good until you lag because of server stress or because everyone in your gRoup is casting spells and the graphics slow the game or gives you a seizure. Good luck hiTtIng Those NPCs

And as far as no PVP, they could have at least put in duels or an arena or sometHing.

I played with 3 RL friends foR a bout Two weeks for an hour or two a day, and started a Thread here, dont remember my level it was 6 or 7 or sometHing. Despite there being 4 of us we sTill got bad parties, and dont get me startted on the voice chat. I want tO talk to FRIENDS in voice chat, not some kid with a north african accent and a lisp.

Also, the character customization was lame

Of course, maybe I'm just pickey. Hated revamped SWG when they added levels, and I hated City of Villans/Heroes because you cant own anything and the bases dont work, and iTs level based too so you get pwned in PVP.

Good luck playing, and dont make a female toon unless you want dorks saying "may I buy you a glass of meade m'lady" everytime you enter the tavern. I swear to God, this game is gonna have serious problems witH the voice chat regarding harassment, foul language whether intentional or a slip resulting in a ban, and best of all cybersexxing

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Originally Posted by Slyspy

I've found that to be the case as well. It is why I am looking forward to Oblivion so much - a new single player RPG!

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That was old star wars. You got sklll points, you spent them on various skills in various classes whose cost tapered down the higher you went, you crafted your guy to play exactly how you wanted to play, when you logged on you could go to non instanced points of interest or instanced missions or base raids or pvp or go hang in the tavern and watch the dancers and musicians, or decorate your house, or spam funny stuff in Theed, or talk in guild chat, and mopst importantly -- it want based on levels. you could never tell what someone else was until you fought them or they told you. Of course, groups helped with somethings as they should. But people started whinign about waiting at starports and shutytleports (10 minutes if u missed the train) and after that it was downhill for streamlinging.

Wow, I just hijacked the thread with a rant about the good old days, sorry guys.

Maybe I'll try Auto Assault or Star Trek online

I just bought it last night. Flipped through the manual and saw the classes only go up to level 10. :annoyedg:

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Originally Posted by kekvitirae

I just bought it last night. Flipped through the manual and saw the classes only go up to level 10. :annoyedg:

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They've said they plan to raise the level cap to 11 or 12 pretty soon, and on their website they have spells you could only get at levels 10-20 (they give Paladin spells to 4th level, for example, when at tenth you can only get second-level spells).

Just FYI.

I played good bit of D&D "back in the day", may have to give this a try.

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Originally Posted by Hurin_Rules

They've said they plan to raise the level cap to 11 or 12 pretty soon, and on their website they have spells you could only get at levels 10-20 (they give Paladin spells to 4th level, for example, when at tenth you can only get second-level spells).

Just FYI.

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NWN goes up to 20, and Hordes of the Underdark increases it to 40. Why must D&DO be restricted so badly?

Game balance I'm sure, it's in the rule books and the game is based on the old paper rule books.

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Originally Posted by Eternal Champion

Game balance I'm sure, it's in the rule books and the game is based on the old paper rule books.

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No, it's based on the new paper rulebooks. If you played back in the day, then you may be disappointed with this.

The only MMORPG worth its money was "the realm"
Dont bother with that now though..
codemasters killed it.

GPVP Lives On !

I've had it for a week now and have not been able to create a character yet. It's nothing regarding time; I've had plenty of free time for it. It's about the launcher crashing after selecting the server. I tried everything, and I'm about ready to give up.

I'm still waiting for the Legends of Conan:2thumbsup:

I'm still waiting to login T_T