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Dungeons & Dragons Online
- Thread starter ManaByte
- Start date
Wafflecopter
Banned
Just did a couple of hours in the Preview. I like it well enough, but the instance....meh. Should've been in Forgotten Realms or Planescape. I like the combat, you have to actually use your shield and time when you should swing. Engaging combat FTW. Friends system is broken. Friends I add that are in my party come up a offline on my friends list.
ManaByte
Member
Wafflecopter said:
The game would've failed if it was in an established world like FR or Planescape. D&D fanatics already have their set ideas how everything in those worlds work and they would've bitched to no end if something was different. Offline RPGs in those settings are fine, but a MMO would not work.
Teknopathetic
Member
To be fair, calling DnD Online a MMORPG is misleading. It's no more a MMORPG than PSO.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Teknopathetic said:
No? So it's more like Guild Wars? With a monthly fee?
ManaByte
Member
Kung Fu Jedi said:
I've been playing it since the closed Alpha and it's never reminded me of Guild Wars. Just D&D 3.5 modified into a persistant world.
I've played most classes and each one is unique without much (if any) overlap in skills, and I think I'll be doing an Elf Wizard at launch.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
ManaByte said:
Well, I was confused by Teckno's comments about it not really being a MMORPG. I didn't think it played like GW, but that perhaps the set up was similar in that most of the areas were instanced once your party left town. I hadn't heard that was the case, which is what i was asking about.
ManaByte
Member
Kung Fu Jedi said:
The initial release takes place in Stormreach and works that way and is structured like a D&D module. Your merchants, trainers, and quest givers are in Stormreach and the quests take you into its sewers and outlying areas. The initial release of the game is just Stormreach city with a level cap of 10, but WOTC gave Turbine an entire continent of Eberron to use for the game so they're expanding from there.
THE ONLY WAY TO LEVEL UP IN THE GAME IS TO DO QUESTS. You can slaughter Kobalds all day in a quest, but not get a single XP point if you don't complete the quest. And then each quest has multiple hidden or optional objectives that you can do for additional experience and you can repeat quests with harder difficulty levels for more experience.
One cool thing they added was that all of the DM text is read by a DM who acts out the parts and everything. They're getting "celebrity" DMs such as Gary Gygax to do certain major quests like the Red Dragon one in the first live update.
They also added in-game voice chat for the parties so you no longer have to use Vent or Teamspeak.
ManaByte
Member
You can download and play the preview here:
http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/ddo_stormreach/preview/
It's only up until tomorrow, so you can get a day's play in.
http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/ddo_stormreach/preview/
It's only up until tomorrow, so you can get a day's play in.
ManaByte said:
Who cares? I'd be more concerned about the thousands of potential players who aren't D&D fanatics, but would be interested in playing an online game if it looked even remotely like anything they'd associate the term 'D&D' with.
The combination of a charmless setting like Eberron and old-school cameos from Gygax and Arneson seems bizarre to me, but I'm obviously not in the target market. I have no idea who is, though.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Sounds interesting Mana. Definitly has a different approach on the MMORPG. So how many people can you put in your party? Does the quest system work well? Does it adhere well to the D&D rules? What are your overall thoughts on it?
Not sure I'll get a chance to play, as I'll be taking part in the Guild Wars: Factions weekend, but thanks for the link. I still need to download the Empire At War demo too.
Not sure I'll get a chance to play, as I'll be taking part in the Guild Wars: Factions weekend, but thanks for the link. I still need to download the Empire At War demo too.
ManaByte
Member
Kung Fu Jedi said:
I don't know the maximum number for a party. I only actually grouped up once and it was to test the voice chat when it was added, and there were about six people.
They had to modify the 3.5 rules slightly. They added Ranks to each level. As you level up in a level you hit Rank marks that give you Action points to spend on things sort of like Feats but they're things like +5 to fire spells, +20 MP, etc. Each Rank gives you one of these points to spend.
The quest system is the best I've ever seen as the quests are written just like a D&D module and take the character's skills into consideration. For example, in the sewers my Dwarf Fighter didn't have that good of a sense skill so he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. But when I ran through the sewers with my Elf Wizard, who did have a pretty decent ability to sense stuff, he was able to sense a draft coming from somewhere which was a hidden area.
There are also puzzles in the dungeons. One of the newbie quests requires you to solve a rotating tile puzzle to deactive a force field that is surrounding the scrolls you need to recover for the quest.
D2M15 said:
Eberron is the new default D&D setting because it's so superior to settings like Forgotten Realms that have no originality left in them. Pick up the campaign book and then say it sucks.
Teknopathetic
Member
"I've been playing it since the closed Alpha and it's never reminded me of Guild Wars. Just D&D 3.5 modified into a persistant world."
There's not much of a persistant world. So far as I've played there's just a large hub city and each quest takes you into an instanced dungeon. It doesn't play like Guild Wars, but it definitely doesn't have the scope of any MMORPG. A really big PSO Lobby.
Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the preview, but there's definitely nothing massive about it. Hell, each server's not even really "one big persistent world" Each part of the city has multiple channels for the area like Guild Wars has. 1-Tavern, 2-Tavern, etc. etc. So you don't even see all characters at the same time. It really is more of an Online RPG more than a Persistant World MMORPG.
"but that perhaps the set up was similar in that most of the areas were instanced once your party left town. I hadn't heard that was the case, which is what i was asking about."
That's what I mean.
There's not much of a persistant world. So far as I've played there's just a large hub city and each quest takes you into an instanced dungeon. It doesn't play like Guild Wars, but it definitely doesn't have the scope of any MMORPG. A really big PSO Lobby.
Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the preview, but there's definitely nothing massive about it. Hell, each server's not even really "one big persistent world" Each part of the city has multiple channels for the area like Guild Wars has. 1-Tavern, 2-Tavern, etc. etc. So you don't even see all characters at the same time. It really is more of an Online RPG more than a Persistant World MMORPG.
"but that perhaps the set up was similar in that most of the areas were instanced once your party left town. I hadn't heard that was the case, which is what i was asking about."
That's what I mean.
Teknopathetic
Member
"The servers won't be massive. Turbine wants to limit them to 1,000 or so characters so you stand the chance of knowing most of the community."
And I can appreciate that idea. But when there's only 1000 characters or so on a server, only a fraction of those will be online at any given time AND the world's not a persistant state one where you interact with all characters online at the moment...well, MMO's slightly off.
And I can appreciate that idea. But when there's only 1000 characters or so on a server, only a fraction of those will be online at any given time AND the world's not a persistant state one where you interact with all characters online at the moment...well, MMO's slightly off.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
I have to say, this does sound intersting. I've played EQ, and currently play Guild Wars casually with some friends. The real killer would be the monthly cost. Anyone know how much they are planning to charge for this? GW has set the precident in this style with no monthly fees, while still adding new areas and quests. D&D Online sounds like it has more depth than GW, but not as much as say WoW.
ManaByte said:
Oh, the Realms had no originality left in them by 1988, but I never thought that was D&D's strength (which the enormous turnover rate of early-to-mid-Nineties original campaign settings seemed to prove out - though the world just wasn't ready for Spelljammer's genius).
I guess I'll have to wait for D&DO: Throwback Edition.
Teknopathetic
Member
"GW has set the precident in this style with no monthly fees, while still adding new areas and quests. D&D Online sounds like it has more depth than GW, but not as much as say WoW."
Oh no, more depth than WoW too, at least the character creation/customization. I think the monthly fee is 15 a month.
Oh no, more depth than WoW too, at least the character creation/customization. I think the monthly fee is 15 a month.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Teknopathetic said:
Ahh..so more depth to creating your character, which is cool, but less depth to the world, which is what I enjoy exploring in these types of games. I know I'm fairly unique, as most people want to gain levels and new gear, which I enjoy as well, but I can spend hours just exploring these expansive worlds. Doesn't sound like D&D:Online has that expansive world just yet.
For $15/month, I'd probably lean towards WoW, although the combat system sounds nice here. If it were $5-$10/month, I might think about it.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Wow! Thanks for the shots! *Urge to play beta rising*
That looks nice! Do they have any free play/explorable areas, or do all of those areas exist in the context of a quest/mission?
That looks nice! Do they have any free play/explorable areas, or do all of those areas exist in the context of a quest/mission?
Great Wasabi Man
Member
I'm a bit interested...oddly those images look better then I remeber.
Just there's not enought to pull me away from WoW. I heard that you only ge Xp from grouping and no PvP kinda kill it for me.
Just there's not enought to pull me away from WoW. I heard that you only ge Xp from grouping and no PvP kinda kill it for me.
ZombieSupaStar
Member
was in the stress test..... count me out on this one.
Stuggernaut
Grandma's Chippy
I have been testing it a long time now...I won't be buying it.
I will keep testing it, and keep helping find bugs etc...but it is not my kind of game so I will not be in on retail
I will keep testing it, and keep helping find bugs etc...but it is not my kind of game so I will not be in on retail
I purchased this and am going to give it a try. I did some reading on the DDO forums beforehand.. there are a ton of numbers and saves, etc. semi-confusing.. multiclassing really increases the confusion 10fold.
I'm reading the class description in the manual now and can anyone explain the to hit numbers.. for instance it says Barbarian has d12 to hit, and rogue has d6.. fighter d10, etc.
I obviously assume d stands for die but if you are d12 does that mean you have a high to hit factor? The enemy would have to roll a 12 to make you miss?
Also, some of the professions seem to overlap heavily. Like Barbarian.. they do more damage, ok.. wear lighter armor so they can move faster and dodge as opposed to tanking. It sounds like they are a rogue type to me. Why would you be a Barbarain instead of a Fighter? Or would you only use Barbarian for a few levels of your multiclassing to increase damage a bit? Seems awful confusing up front.. makes for a lot of customization though and that's nice
I'm reading the class description in the manual now and can anyone explain the to hit numbers.. for instance it says Barbarian has d12 to hit, and rogue has d6.. fighter d10, etc.
I obviously assume d stands for die but if you are d12 does that mean you have a high to hit factor? The enemy would have to roll a 12 to make you miss?
Also, some of the professions seem to overlap heavily. Like Barbarian.. they do more damage, ok.. wear lighter armor so they can move faster and dodge as opposed to tanking. It sounds like they are a rogue type to me. Why would you be a Barbarain instead of a Fighter? Or would you only use Barbarian for a few levels of your multiclassing to increase damage a bit? Seems awful confusing up front.. makes for a lot of customization though and that's nice
Teknopathetic
Member
"I'm reading the class description in the manual now and can anyone explain the to hit numbers.. for instance it says Barbarian has d12 to hit, and rogue has d6.. fighter d10, etc.
I obviously assume d stands for die but if you are d12 does that mean you have a high to hit factor? The enemy would have to roll a 12 to make you miss?"
Their hit die is what is rolled to determine how much HP they get per level. A Barbarian rolls 1d12, a rogue would roll 1d6, etc. So, on average, Barbarians have more hp than fighters, fighters have more hp than rogues, rogues more hp than sorcerers and wizards.
"Also, some of the professions seem to overlap heavily. Like Barbarian.. they do more damage, ok.. wear lighter armor so they can move faster and dodge as opposed to tanking. It sounds like they are a rogue type to me. Why would you be a Barbarain instead of a Fighter? Or would you only use Barbarian for a few levels of your multiclassing to increase damage a bit? Seems awful confusing up front.. makes for a lot of customization though and that's nice"
Barbarians have VERY little by way of skill points and one of the barbarians key features is raging which increases their HP and strength for a short amount of time. Barbarians also get natural armor which increases their Armor class. A barbarian definitely can tank.
Rogues have very little hp, don't have natural proficiency with some of the stronger weapons, but rogues get to sneak, they have sneak attack which adds damage to their attacks, and they get a BUNCH of skill points per level so they're very useful for things non-combat related.
Fighters are completely generic characters. Fighters get no special abilities while levelling up or anything, what they DO get is an obscene amount of feats with which you can customize a fighter many different ways. Fighters do have proficiency with just about all non-exotic weapons and armor
I obviously assume d stands for die but if you are d12 does that mean you have a high to hit factor? The enemy would have to roll a 12 to make you miss?"
Their hit die is what is rolled to determine how much HP they get per level. A Barbarian rolls 1d12, a rogue would roll 1d6, etc. So, on average, Barbarians have more hp than fighters, fighters have more hp than rogues, rogues more hp than sorcerers and wizards.
"Also, some of the professions seem to overlap heavily. Like Barbarian.. they do more damage, ok.. wear lighter armor so they can move faster and dodge as opposed to tanking. It sounds like they are a rogue type to me. Why would you be a Barbarain instead of a Fighter? Or would you only use Barbarian for a few levels of your multiclassing to increase damage a bit? Seems awful confusing up front.. makes for a lot of customization though and that's nice"
Barbarians have VERY little by way of skill points and one of the barbarians key features is raging which increases their HP and strength for a short amount of time. Barbarians also get natural armor which increases their Armor class. A barbarian definitely can tank.
Rogues have very little hp, don't have natural proficiency with some of the stronger weapons, but rogues get to sneak, they have sneak attack which adds damage to their attacks, and they get a BUNCH of skill points per level so they're very useful for things non-combat related.
Fighters are completely generic characters. Fighters get no special abilities while levelling up or anything, what they DO get is an obscene amount of feats with which you can customize a fighter many different ways. Fighters do have proficiency with just about all non-exotic weapons and armor
hmm, yah made a dwarf fighter real quick.. holy hell is this game ugly.. and I mean FFXI, actually probably worse. I liked the idea of "active combat" but at least so far it's not exactly what you'd call twitch skill.. if I swing my 1h mace I can't block thereafter for a good period of time.
Checking people around me I see about 75% Paladins, some fighters and wizards and a handful of clerics that's about it.. I saw a few rogues too.
I played a Bard in FFXI, but they were the uber buffers there. I like buffing people but it seems like perhaps paladins are best at that? Actually it seems like everyone is at least semi-good at most everything from the descriptions. Even ranger's can heal ( no idea how well but it states it in the manual)
I had thought about being a Pure Bard, or perhaps Bard/Cleric as that is kinda the role I enjoy.. I like buffing the heck out of people and doing some backup healing/curing but it doesn't seem like that's such a natural role for Bards. I saw a lot of Bard/Rogue posts or Bard/Fighter.
edit: btw thanks for the comments Tre and Mana.. I just quit WoW last week and was hoping to be out of MMO type games for a while. Honestly, I'm hoping from what I read that this is not a 20-40 hours a week necessary MMO.. i'd like to just play and have fun. Tons of customization is cool it's just gonna take a while to understand a lot of this. Oh yeah I joined on Adar as i guess it's the semi-official GAF server
Checking people around me I see about 75% Paladins, some fighters and wizards and a handful of clerics that's about it.. I saw a few rogues too.
I played a Bard in FFXI, but they were the uber buffers there. I like buffing people but it seems like perhaps paladins are best at that? Actually it seems like everyone is at least semi-good at most everything from the descriptions. Even ranger's can heal ( no idea how well but it states it in the manual)
I had thought about being a Pure Bard, or perhaps Bard/Cleric as that is kinda the role I enjoy.. I like buffing the heck out of people and doing some backup healing/curing but it doesn't seem like that's such a natural role for Bards. I saw a lot of Bard/Rogue posts or Bard/Fighter.
edit: btw thanks for the comments Tre and Mana.. I just quit WoW last week and was hoping to be out of MMO type games for a while. Honestly, I'm hoping from what I read that this is not a 20-40 hours a week necessary MMO.. i'd like to just play and have fun. Tons of customization is cool it's just gonna take a while to understand a lot of this. Oh yeah I joined on Adar as i guess it's the semi-official GAF server
Teknopathetic
Member
"as that is kinda the role I enjoy.. I like buffing the heck out of people and doing some backup healing/curing but it doesn't seem like that's such a natural role for Bards."
That's the exact role of a bard. Buffing and backup healing/spellcasting. They also get a lot of skill points.
"Actually it seems like everyone is at least semi-good at most everything from the descriptions. Even ranger's can heal ( no idea how well but it states it in the manual)"
Rangers can heal, but very little. Same as Paladins. None of them will really replace a cleric in a party.
That's the exact role of a bard. Buffing and backup healing/spellcasting. They also get a lot of skill points.
"Actually it seems like everyone is at least semi-good at most everything from the descriptions. Even ranger's can heal ( no idea how well but it states it in the manual)"
Rangers can heal, but very little. Same as Paladins. None of them will really replace a cleric in a party.
MightyHedgehog
Member
Yeah, still having fun with this game...moreso now than before. The game really grows on ya. I wasn't sure about commiting beyond the initial month, but after tonight, doing the Catacombs/Archbishop's daughter chain, I'm sold. Really fucking fun shit! At least, with a good group, anyway.
Grenn (cleric 3)/Azura (bard 2) on Adar. Will be on later this week.
Grenn (cleric 3)/Azura (bard 2) on Adar. Will be on later this week.
How are you guys doing, personally I'm still finding it boring but there is the chance that I will continue. It definately doesn't have that MMO feel but that's not the worst thing in the world. I pretty much play when I feel like it and that's nice.
The low level dungeons are pretty silly.. you might as well not bother with CC or enfeebling, etc.
The low level dungeons are pretty silly.. you might as well not bother with CC or enfeebling, etc.
MightyHedgehog
Member
I don't think the quests in the beginning are all that exciting or involving until you've hit the Marketplace side of town...and to get there, you have to do the first two parts of Waterworks. By then, you've gotten to level 2 or even 3 depending on how many times you've decided to run some quests. WW (all four parts) and Irestone Inlet (the quest you get from the ship captain/pirate-type dude) are the best ones in the proper harbor part of town, IMO. When you get to the Marketplace, the quests are MUCH better-designed, more exciting, and more complex and varied. They also really beg the use of a full and fairly balanced team of characters to go in.
Basically, the real game really doesn't feel like it starts until you get to the Marketplace...and everything before that is just training.
I should be on this weekend, so if you want, add me to your friends list and we can group up for some questing!
Basically, the real game really doesn't feel like it starts until you get to the Marketplace...and everything before that is just training.
I should be on this weekend, so if you want, add me to your friends list and we can group up for some questing!
Wafflecopter
Banned
Patch coming on the 14th and content update in April. Better be a fucking big one.
ManaByte
Member
First module announced:
http://www.ddo.com/index.php?page_id=20&pagebuilder[module]=article&pagebuilder[display_item]=391
http://www.ddo.com/index.php?page_id=20&pagebuilder[module]=article&pagebuilder[display_item]=391
Mana,
I've made 3 level 2 paladins now. First I made one and had stupid enhancement/feats whatnot so after learning more about the class I rebuilt as a halfling. As people said Halflings are the best at high levels.. I can see why with the +1 bonus save, and +1 ac etc. I didn't like being a halfling as a Paladin for character issues and rerolled as a Human.
The reason I like Paladin's is for the huge saves (immunity to fear).. fear is so incredibly annoying. They still seem to do almost as good of damage as war/Barb's early on although I'm sure they scale better with more feats and focusing on fighting predominately.
The reason I post is because I understand at level 4 Paladin's only receive 26ish spell points. That's barely worth it.. so I'm thinking of "splashing" a level of sorceror in there for the huge bonus SP's. I want to be a semi-caster like I think of Paladins as. Did you splash a level of sorc/cleric? I feel like otherwise with that low of spell points I might as well just make a big dumb warrior and bump my wis a few.. I'll still have crazy higher STR/CON/DEX than my Paladin does anyway.
I've made 3 level 2 paladins now. First I made one and had stupid enhancement/feats whatnot so after learning more about the class I rebuilt as a halfling. As people said Halflings are the best at high levels.. I can see why with the +1 bonus save, and +1 ac etc. I didn't like being a halfling as a Paladin for character issues and rerolled as a Human.
The reason I like Paladin's is for the huge saves (immunity to fear).. fear is so incredibly annoying. They still seem to do almost as good of damage as war/Barb's early on although I'm sure they scale better with more feats and focusing on fighting predominately.
The reason I post is because I understand at level 4 Paladin's only receive 26ish spell points. That's barely worth it.. so I'm thinking of "splashing" a level of sorceror in there for the huge bonus SP's. I want to be a semi-caster like I think of Paladins as. Did you splash a level of sorc/cleric? I feel like otherwise with that low of spell points I might as well just make a big dumb warrior and bump my wis a few.. I'll still have crazy higher STR/CON/DEX than my Paladin does anyway.