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[ManaByte]

F13 has a really good write up on it, which sums things up nicely:
http://www.f13.net/index2.php?subaction=showfull&id=1135010041&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&

Not your father’s MMORPG
The most important thing to understand about DDO is Turbine is trying a different take on the genre. People looking strictly for a WoW clone in a D&D flavored wrapper won’t find it. For some that may be a good thing, for others not so much. Oh to be sure, it has a lot of the same trappings as your previous favorite graphical-Diku-mud; after all, most fantasy computer role playing games owe a little or very large portion of their structure to the granddaddy of all pen and paper rpgs, Dungeon & Dragons. So it comes as no surprise to find this game with familiar fantasy races, defined character classes, and easily recognizable fantasy monsters, magic items and spells. But, as I have grown fond of saying these last several years, the devil’s in the implementation.

Not only is combat paced differently, but also general movement is more active. You can jump, swim, climb, tumble, smash crates/barrels, trip, be knocked down, feather fall, and mantle (yes mantle) in this game. Swimming is directly affected by both your swim skill and your encumbrance, so taking off your armor is generally a good idea unless you like drowning (course, this being D&D you can obtain items of Underwater Action). All the movement options can come in real handy when faced with the various obstacles, traps as challenges you’ll find in various quest dungeons.

If combat pace is the #1 difference, the general advancement facet of the game is difference 1A. Ok, here’s the deal. Most mmorpg’s are known for their large leveling curves, cynically thought to exist purely for the purposes of customer retention. From EQ’s 50 levels, to WoW’s 60, to SWG’s huge skill box grinds, most gamers expect a pretty extensive leveling curve with lots of “Ding! Gratz!” along the way.

On release DDO will have 10 levels, period.

If you never played D&D before, recognizing a level 8 character as being “high level” requires an adjustment in thinking. That being said, you won’t go from 1-10 in a long weekend. Turbine has taken the standard 3.5 D&D experience curve and multiplied by a factor of 10 due to the nature of the game. So instead of it taking 1000 experience to reach level 2, in DDO is 10,000. To counter act the long time between levels and the corresponding lack of “ding” moments, Turbine has added 4 Action Points in each level. So, when you earn 1/5 of a level, you gain an action point you can spend at a class trainer to get an improved stat, skill, new ability or feat; in essence, they are mini-levels. You can only have 4 action point upgrades at one time, and you can trade up to more powerful versions of earlier action point abilities. By way of example, my cleric currently has the Dwarvern Faith enhancement (adds spell points), Energy of the Zealot IV (yet more spell points), a +2 Wisdom enhancement (upgraded from an earlier +1), and a Devotion enhancement which makes my level 1 and 2 healing spells 40% more effective.

Now, how exactly to you earn experience in DDO anyway? Only one answer my friends, questing. As of this writing, you earn experience only from completing story-focused quests, and all quests take place in private instances. There are no outdoor wildness areas with respawning mobs to hunt over and over (well Turbine is experimenting with a concept of freeform adventuring areas but it’s not going to be like hunting through any zone of WoW). Loot is pretty much only received from chests inside quest, quest completions or collection quests. This is another major adjustment in thinking, and coupled with the 1-10 level curve they comprise decision point #2.

So, what’s the catch?
Remember when I said you could basically tell people about DDO by what it doesn’t have by as much as it does? Well, here the other side. DDO is not a very “worldy” game at all. The non dungeon areas are basically public spaces for meeting up with other people and getting quests. There is no player economy to speak of (and no easy mechanism for one), no housing, no exploration beyond exploring the quest instances themselves, no pvp, no crafting, no elder game, and no wookie table dancing. In short, it’s a D&D quest and combat game. Some people have said it’s not even a “real” mmorpg at all, just a public hub and instance system like Guild Wars but personally, the semantics don’t bother me. I enjoy it for what it does differently than other MMOG’s.

Now, there is a concern about longevity. Right now, it’s projected that DDO will have about 130+ quests in it at launch, which doesn’t’ sound like enough. Even though a DDO quests is typically worth about 10 WoW “kill 20 raptor and bring me their teeth and I’ll give you another kill x quest” style quests, you could easily run out of content in a month or two if you’re a heavy player. Turbine has said they are focused on adding more content on an ongoing basis when the game is live, and based on their AC1 track record they may be able to do so, but I’m not sure to what degree. I am sure they are planning an expansion, which would raise the level cap as well.

Of course, being in beta, there are still plenty of bugs to fix and tweaks to make, but overall, I think it’s a fun game and worth checking out as long as you know what you are getting into. Having the right expectations of what DDO both IS and ISN’T will go a long way to making your decision to try it or not for you.

 

[CompositeMolar]

Sounds like a multiplayer rpg with a monthly fee to me.

 

[ToxicAdam]

Sounds H O R R I B L E.



I have played NWN MMORPGS that are better than that.

 

[golem]

Yeah it's kind of like a multiplayer RPG.. that you have to pay fees for. I think it will be fun if you can find a solid group to quest with, but I'm mostly a solo player and couldn't really advance in the Beta/too lazy to find groups.

 

[siege]

Doesn't sound very appealing to me.

 

[Suikoguy]

It comes down to whether or not that monthly fee your paying goes towards consistant monthly content.

 

[Mr Jared]

Monthly fees to what amounts to NeverWinter Nights meets Guild Wars? Super lame. I would totally give DDO a chance but a monthly fee for that? Bah.

 

[Teknopathetic]

Well, I know who I won't be seeing in PSU.

 

[krypt0nian]

Last week I ordered from Ebgames.com to get in the 10day beta.

They sent the code to get in a day later. I've since canceled the order after playing for the week. =*(

I was sooo looking forward to this.

What's the buzz on the next few MMO's, Mana? Vanguard? Marvel/DC? Tabula Rasa?

Age of Conan – Hyborian Adventures?

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Remember when I said you could basically tell people about DDO by what it doesn’t have by as much as it does? Well, here the other side. DDO is not a very “worldy” game at all. The non dungeon areas are basically public spaces for meeting up with other people and getting quests. There is no player economy to speak of (and no easy mechanism for one), no housing, no exploration beyond exploring the quest instances themselves, no pvp, no crafting, no elder game, and no wookie table dancing. In short, it’s a D&D quest and combat game.

"Dungeons and Dragons" indeed.

 

[Borys]

Sounds like they are afraid of WoW, but then - who isn't?

 

[rainer516]

It's kind of sad that because of WoW's success, every single MMO will use it as a template. Developers need to look at the fact that WoW brought a lot of things to the table, but now that they are there, people don't want more WoW clones. In other words, they need to look at games like EVE that are steadily gaining numbers by the day due to being a different experience rather than EQ2 which are losing people by the day due to SOE WoW-ifying the game. Also, SWG gets WoW-ified instead of fixed and now it's a complete clusterfuck of half assed ideas. And this only happened because WoW is now the template for success.

 

[siege]

I've heard so much praise for EVE. I think I may check it out one of these days.

 

[Wollan]

Age of Conan is definetly the next big thing.
Atleast quality wise.

It has already won several 'Best mmorpg @ E3' awards.

Pretty original too. Original universe: no firebreathing dragons, magic is not a cozy common thing, barbaric world, woman are sex objects(oh dear lord)..etc. Melee combat is 'hands on', formation combat important in larger pvp wars where one side can be defending a castle. Catapults, heated oil..etc

The first 20levels of the game is singleplayer with a deep story and when you hit 20 the gameworld suddenly opens up into this big mmorpg. It's like coming out of Midgar in FFVII only with other real people running around.

Trailer - WMV 30MB

Trailer - AVI 20MB

 

[AndoCalrissian]

I was somewhat interested in this game, but I just started up WoW for the third time (just can't stay away though I usually don't play for more than a month!) and am really getting into it. If I'd known it was going to be like Guild Wars I would have lost interest much sooner.

 

[AndoCalrissian]

IGNPC has some video with developer commentary up and while the game looks pretty good, they seriously stole the corpse run style directly out of World of Warcraft. Unless this is some sort of Dungeons & Dragons convention. Even the sound effect is the same.

You can watch it on the 2nd video.

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

game is ick


WoW is boring to me now



MMO FTL

 

[Doc Holliday]

Give me Online Shadowrun with an engine that requires actual skill and Ill gladly pay 15 bucks a month.

 

[monoRAIL]

No PVP = no point in playing.

Eve is the only MMO that's kept me interested for more than a month or two, and that's because of the vicious, non-consensual PVP. When you kill someone in Eve they very well may cry, because you've just blown up a ship that could have taken them weeks of work to save up for.

That said, Eve has some annoying features, like the very slow skill training times.

 

[Vieo]

Wizards of the Coast/TSR should stick to their bread and butter, the Forgotten Realms, when it comes to video games / movies. No one wants to play a video game set in Ebberon.

 

[argon]

Have any MMORPGs really matched UO (in its prime) in terms of scope and features?

Seamless, REAL overworld and dungeon areas.. no "instancing" bullshit.

True PvP.. this game didn't protect you from the bad people.. Players regulate each other for the most part through vigilante groups.. Guess what? That's pretty much how it was in medieval times out in the countryside..

Real estate and economy (which got all screwy, but it was there). I mean seriously, you could own a fucking castle and point out its location on your cloth map.

Skill-based rather than level based, no character classes. The best way to go if you ask me.

Excellent, diverse crafting system

I really don't see what new MMORPGs are offering beyond graphics and hack-n-slash gameplay.. but then again I haven't played WoW yet so maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Wollan]

Have any MMORPGs really matched UO (in its prime) in terms of scope and features?
Seamless, REAL overworld and dungeon areas.. no "instancing" bullshit.

EverQuest Online Adventures.

 

[ManaByte]

Wizards of the Coast/TSR should stick to their bread and butter, the Forgotten Realms, when it comes to video games / movies. No one wants to play a video game set in Ebberon.

Spoken like someone who has no idea what Eberron is an why it's vastly superior to FR for games and almost everything else.

 

[madara]

Ouch, sounds like another console plus game lacking real mmorpg experience from years back. Boy, Vanguard has alot weight on its shoulders everytime mmo game like keeps coming.

 

[Helznicht]

Looks Great, Love DnD, but........

No Drinking Ale and hitting on the ugly dwarven barmaid = No Sell!

 

[Black_Mamba]

Have any MMORPGs really matched UO (in its prime) in terms of scope and features?

None. And I guess we won't be seeing anything like UO in the next generation. The design was brilliant, but it lacks the comercial crap that seems to be a must for any MMO right now -- that is, hardcore leveling, grouping, pathetic goals and anything that induces serious addiction.

The best thing about UO was that it felt natural, with no strict rules and a lot of real freedom. It was up to the players to be creative and find what they wanted to do or how they wanted to play. MMORPGs are so stupid now, but they have never been so popular and profitable, so there's really no need to try matching UO.

 

[Suikoguy]

SWG came so close to matching UO, but was bogged down in stupidity and plain being unfinished and buggy. (I know many will disagree with me on giving SWG that much credit)

 

[Open Source]

None. And I guess we won't be seeing anything like UO in the next generation. The design was brilliant, but it lacks the comercial crap that seems to be a must for any MMO right now -- that is, hardcore leveling, grouping, pathetic goals and anything that induces serious addiction.

And maybe 3D graphics have something to do with it, too?

 

[golem]

SWG came so close to matching UO, but was bogged down in stupidity and plain being unfinished and buggy. (I know many will disagree with me on giving SWG that much credit)

SWG should have been the new UO.. but somewhere along the line everything went wrong...

 

[jett]

Age of Conan is definetly the next big thing.
Atleast quality wise.

It has already won several 'Best mmorpg @ E3' awards.

Pretty original too. Original universe: no firebreathing dragons, magic is not a cozy common thing, barbaric world, woman are sex objects(oh dear lord)..etc. Melee combat is 'hands on', formation combat important in larger pvp wars where one side can be defending a castle. Catapults, heated oil..etc

The first 20levels of the game is singleplayer with a deep story and when you hit 20 the gameworld suddenly opens up into this big mmorpg. It's like coming out of Midgar in FFVII only with other real people running around.

Trailer - WMV 30MB

Trailer - AVI 20MB

That sounds pretty awesome

 

[Open Source]

SWG should have been the new UO.. but somewhere along the line everything went wrong...

Raph Koster thought that playing as a pikeman or swordsman in star wars would be really great, and why don't we focus the team's resources on implementing houses and other buildings? Two promotions and several SOE releases later, and SOE still hasn't made a MMORPG worth playing...but at least they have Koster around to serve up self-centered pseudo-psychological web prattle about what a great MMO should be.

It is typical of many developers to repeat their one-trick-pony design (McQuaid, Koster, Garriott, etc.), because they don't even realize what made their game successful in the first place or the glaring flaws that have killed said pony in the time between that game and present. McQuaid thinks the original design of EQ was great, and now Vanguard will carry on the tradition of encouraging grinding and other absurd design decisions that plagued the original EQ.

 

[Tamanon]

Ugh, D&D online sounds absolutely putrid. Sounds like the first MMORPG without a timesink at least, but that's a good and a bad thing.

 

[Justin]

Have any MMORPGs really matched UO (in its prime) in terms of scope and features?
Seamless, REAL overworld and dungeon areas.. no "instancing" bullshit.

Asheron's Call 1. Best MMO ever.

 

[ManaByte]

why don't we focus the team's resources on implementing houses and other buildings?

The game had player houses since day one. Player run cities came at a later date.

 

[AndoCalrissian]

The game had player houses since day one. Player run cities came at a later date.

Well, IIRC player cities, vehicles, and mounts were all supposed to launch with it. They cut so much out of that game to release a beta version. And now they've gutted it.

 

[Open Source]

The game had player houses since day one. Player run cities came at a later date.

I am talking about before the game's release.

 

[Open Source]

Have any MMORPGs really matched UO (in its prime) in terms of scope and features?

Seamless, REAL overworld and dungeon areas.. no "instancing" bullshit.

Every single square foot of available land covered in housing...

Bugs that let people get into your castle and take all your (locked down) items...or even your castle...

Corrupt GMs who allowed--or even helped--players to screw you over

Overcrowded dungeons, pre-casting exploits and the tank-mage template, useless karma/reputation system, useless skills, overpowered skills...

I don't miss it, actually.

 

[Phoenix]

Asheron's Call 1. Best MMO ever.

Not the best, but easily #2 behind Ultima Online. Asheron's Call2 was such a letdown I actually gave it back to EBgames for $1.00. It didn't even deserve to be in my box of shame.

 

[Gahiggidy]

DS version??


I'd buy that.