Why I play Dungeons and Dragons Online

[Lorichie]

Man, seeing all of the people who love DDO I now feel weird. I played DDO for a month and just couldn't get into it. I really dont know exactly what in the game kept me from that all important immersion factor, but it never came into play.

Also, MMO talk fits in pretty nicely over at Warcry.com

You can use your escapist username there too.

To be fully honest, as my first post detailing my experiences with DDO show, i took first little while and simply got used to game mechanics. Most people dont do that, they want to just jump right in for instant gratification, hell, we all do. DDO is just not the game for that, the learning curve is really steep. What you'll want to do is one of two things, go in with the mindset of slow and easy. Force yourself to experience every little nook and cranny, every little button, every little step. Its better like this becuase once you get that under your belt, you've through listening and watching others, and reading the forums how to do other things. Voice chat, get quests, choose end rewards, visit shops, use auction house, etc and so on. The last aspect that you wont have learned is the most important one and thats grouping. Once you done this, and are comfortable with it, and use voice chat to hear as well as talk, you'll be hooked. Really, as has been said time and time again, its the community and the grouping factor that makes the game as great as it is.

fwiw,

R

The thing is, I didn't run in for instant gratification. I have learned not to do that with MMO's and RPG's specifically. I took the time to learn the mechanics, even made some friends via chat(To be honest though, I dont know that you would have considered us a "group"). I just couldn't get into it.

Seriously though, you guys should check out Warcry.

I will do that, it sounds like you gave it a fair shake and it just wasnt for you, thats all that one can be asked to do.

R

 

[jboking]

Man, seeing all of the people who love DDO I now feel weird. I played DDO for a month and just couldn't get into it. I really dont know exactly what in the game kept me from that all important immersion factor, but it never came into play.

Also, MMO talk fits in pretty nicely over at Warcry.com

You can use your escapist username there too.

To be fully honest, as my first post detailing my experiences with DDO show, i took first little while and simply got used to game mechanics. Most people dont do that, they want to just jump right in for instant gratification, hell, we all do. DDO is just not the game for that, the learning curve is really steep. What you'll want to do is one of two things, go in with the mindset of slow and easy. Force yourself to experience every little nook and cranny, every little button, every little step. Its better like this becuase once you get that under your belt, you've through listening and watching others, and reading the forums how to do other things. Voice chat, get quests, choose end rewards, visit shops, use auction house, etc and so on. The last aspect that you wont have learned is the most important one and thats grouping. Once you done this, and are comfortable with it, and use voice chat to hear as well as talk, you'll be hooked. Really, as has been said time and time again, its the community and the grouping factor that makes the game as great as it is.

fwiw,

R

The thing is, I didn't run in for instant gratification. I have learned not to do that with MMO's and RPG's specifically. I took the time to learn the mechanics, even made some friends via chat(To be honest though, I dont know that you would have considered us a "group"). I just couldn't get into it.

Seriously though, you guys should check out Warcry.

I will do that, it sounds like you gave it a fair shake and it just wasnt for you, thats all that one can be asked to do.

R

any recommendations for other MMO's?

 

[Jay2o3]

any recommendations for other MMO's?

what type are you looking for? =D

 

[Swordsponge]

Not to say anything against DDO, because I have no right to poke an unplayed game, but I have a theory about why the DDO community is so "good:" DDO is relatively unheard of. Compared to WoW, which gets every online player and their mother, DDO is tiny. That's why WoW gets the jerks and those of questionable intelligence (Not to mention the "Srs Gamers") while DDO gets the good'uns.

My advice therefore is to not advertise it too openly. I think you're safe in a community like the Escapist, but giving out trials abroad may attract the jerks of MMO society...And I mean that in the best way possible (The warning, not the jerks...They really do have some jerks...).

ddo weeds itself out pretty quick. in ddo you need to be a group player. you can solo but

if you really want to advance you must be able to fuction as a team player. that is the

hardest part of ddo is the i am part of this team. you bring your toons ability into the mix

so everyone can complete the quest. i seen some weird group do the hardest quest and i seen

the standard group makups fail them same quest. without team work you will get nowhere fast

in ddo. on the over side if your willing to learn and say up front this is my first time

running this quest. many groups are very happy to have you onboard. they know you wont

forget and come back to fill there partys later. on the other hand if you just dont care

finding group are hard people dont have 2 hours to waste on a group that failed becouse you

dont give a rats and end content one player can fail a 12 man raid group which means you

just screwed over 11 over people and 2 hours of there time.

 

[Lorichie]

any recommendations for other MMO's?

what type are you looking for? =D

Yeah, give us an idea of what you are looking for. what your play style is, what games you did like (mmo's of course, sorry if i dont remember if you've played others or not, sleepy).
what you didnt like, others that you couldnt get into.

R

 

[jboking]

any recommendations for other MMO's?

what type are you looking for? =D

Yeah, give us an idea of what you are looking for. what your play style is, what games you did like (mmo's of course, sorry if i dont remember if you've played others or not, sleepy).
what you didnt like, others that you couldnt get into.

R

Ok, here we go. I played WoW, it kept my interest for around 3 months, but the community drove me away. So for a good MMO for me, I need a supported community. I can handle a generic MMO if it has high levels of immersion and has a good community surrounding it.

Other MMO's I have tried:
Runescape (oh to be in the 8th grade again, no longer playing, obviously)

Guild Wars(I'm still playing because there is no monthly fee. It is a good game for the amount of attention given too it by the developers, but some of the people are just uncooperative in game. I like grouping, but it is almost impossible to find people who dont act like asses there.)

Second Life(scared me away in under two weeks, it's a record. I blame the community. It was also a very odd game that seem to have literally no immersion)

DDO(not enough immersion for me)

Side note: I think I have realized what problem I had with DDO. I was expecting something...that something being D&D. I think I might consider going back.

 

[doctorwhofan]

I love to play NeverWinter Nights 2. What is the possibility of Player Strongholds in the future? It was one of the things when Obsidian was taking suggestions years back now that I was very determined to see happen. And now that I am finally playing it, I love every moment of act 3 and every bit of coin I am getting from loot is going into building my happy little Crossroads and I completely ignored the main story to find every NPC recruit that I could.

Oddly enough, I have been tracking the progress of a MMO called Love because of the player interactivity with its stylish enviroment built into the game.

It is one of those things that always struck me as very unique about D&D P&P in any version was that a DM would constantly be pulling their hair out because the players inevitably get totally deep into having their characters run a stronghold that they ignore the elaborate dungeons he set up before. Oh, does DDO have DMs?

Can you tell I played the heck out of Dungeon Keeper 2?

Other than that, please link me to some video of DDO monks doing some genuinely epic stuff, like doing parkour to accomplish a goal of a quest (or instance I think you called them) or something else that smacks of The Matrix or Jet Li/Jackie Chan stunts.

I guess, I am asking, does DDO do online play better than NWN2 (or NWN1)? Does it manage to still include the cool skills of swim, climb, jump, balance, and other skills that are the only reasons I care how stupid (INT score) my monk is? Even in regular D&D P&P it seems like some skills get big time ignored for the combat and don't seem to have good synergy with some stuff that could really make for some wow moments if they could be better worked out - only one I recall being synergistic was tumble. Oh and does the game allow for knock out/nonlethal damage? How about easier to grasp grappling rules?

Here's Monks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2mQRobbnBE&feature=related

Nice animations, quarter staff especially. That abundant step is good too, kept wishing for some slow fall on walls, wall running, tumbling, slides, rolls, flips... Hehe, IMHO, Jade Empire has the best monk animations I have seen so far but things like Assassin's Creed and this Freerunning game I saw on Youtube once do some really nice stuff as well. And anything is better than the basic monk animations of NWN1, totally had to find some fan made ones to replace those =P

So, anything on any of my other questions and comments?

Not mine. Slow the guy had slow fall on. He was just testing speed of attacks and other gifts that the Monk gets. Tumble is a skill that when invested into, you can do backflips.

 

[Lorichie]

any recommendations for other MMO's?

what type are you looking for? =D

Yeah, give us an idea of what you are looking for. what your play style is, what games you did like (mmo's of course, sorry if i dont remember if you've played others or not, sleepy).
what you didnt like, others that you couldnt get into.

R

Ok, here we go. I played WoW, it kept my interest for around 3 months, but the community drove me away. So for a good MMO for me, I need a supported community. I can handle a generic MMO if it has high levels of immersion and has a good community surrounding it.

Other MMO's I have tried:
Runescape (oh to be in the 8th grade again, no longer playing, obviously)

Guild Wars(I'm still playing because there is no monthly fee. It is a good game for the amount of attention given too it by the developers, but some of the people are just uncooperative in game. I like grouping, but it is almost impossible to find people who dont act like asses there.)

Second Life(scared me away in under two weeks, it's a record. I blame the community. It was also a very odd game that seem to have literally no immersion)

DDO(not enough immersion for me)

Side note: I think I have realized what problem I had with DDO. I was expecting something...that something being D&D. I think I might consider going back.

That very well could be, when i tried DDO, i tried to keep the game as its own entity. I still remembered a lot about my pnp days, tho they werent as vast as some other folks, but enough that it made the learning curve little easier.

I tried LOTRO for couple weeks, i'll let someone else tell you about its immersion and community, but as an example, that game wasnt for me. but i wont lie, no game is ever for me because ive yet to find any, any game out there that is remotely like DDO for me.
Lets see, other MMo's, im playing Eve online, its immersive let me tell you, and its learning curve is a thousand times greater than DDO, but its a game that you will play for years and years and still not reach the "end", although i am only at day seven, so i'm hardly one to really support it i guess.
Let me think a few as far as others Community is a big deal to me too, and honestly Turbine's communities are just simply vastly superior, imo, to whats out there.

R

 

[ghirmeshk]

I love to play NeverWinter Nights 2. What is the possibility of Player Strongholds in the future? It was one of the things when Obsidian was taking suggestions years back now that I was very determined to see happen. And now that I am finally playing it, I love every moment of act 3 and every bit of coin I am getting from loot is going into building my happy little Crossroads and I completely ignored the main story to find every NPC recruit that I could.

Oddly enough, I have been tracking the progress of a MMO called Love because of the player interactivity with its stylish enviroment built into the game.

It is one of those things that always struck me as very unique about D&D P&P in any version was that a DM would constantly be pulling their hair out because the players inevitably get totally deep into having their characters run a stronghold that they ignore the elaborate dungeons he set up before. Oh, does DDO have DMs?

Can you tell I played the heck out of Dungeon Keeper 2?

Other than that, please link me to some video of DDO monks doing some genuinely epic stuff, like doing parkour to accomplish a goal of a quest (or instance I think you called them) or something else that smacks of The Matrix or Jet Li/Jackie Chan stunts.

I guess, I am asking, does DDO do online play better than NWN2 (or NWN1)? Does it manage to still include the cool skills of swim, climb, jump, balance, and other skills that are the only reasons I care how stupid (INT score) my monk is? Even in regular D&D P&P it seems like some skills get big time ignored for the combat and don't seem to have good synergy with some stuff that could really make for some wow moments if they could be better worked out - only one I recall being synergistic was tumble. Oh and does the game allow for knock out/nonlethal damage? How about easier to grasp grappling rules?

Here's Monks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2mQRobbnBE&feature=related

Nice animations, quarter staff especially. That abundant step is good too, kept wishing for some slow fall on walls, wall running, tumbling, slides, rolls, flips... Hehe, IMHO, Jade Empire has the best monk animations I have seen so far but things like Assassin's Creed and this Freerunning game I saw on Youtube once do some really nice stuff as well. And anything is better than the basic monk animations of NWN1, totally had to find some fan made ones to replace those =P

So, anything on any of my other questions and comments?

Not mine. Slow the guy had slow fall on. He was just testing speed of attacks and other gifts that the Monk gets. Tumble is a skill that when invested into, you can do backflips.

And front flips! Also, Rogue Thief Acrobat rocks!

 

[jboking]

any recommendations for other MMO's?

what type are you looking for? =D

Yeah, give us an idea of what you are looking for. what your play style is, what games you did like (mmo's of course, sorry if i dont remember if you've played others or not, sleepy).
what you didnt like, others that you couldnt get into.

R

Ok, here we go. I played WoW, it kept my interest for around 3 months, but the community drove me away. So for a good MMO for me, I need a supported community. I can handle a generic MMO if it has high levels of immersion and has a good community surrounding it.

Other MMO's I have tried:
Runescape (oh to be in the 8th grade again, no longer playing, obviously)

Guild Wars(I'm still playing because there is no monthly fee. It is a good game for the amount of attention given too it by the developers, but some of the people are just uncooperative in game. I like grouping, but it is almost impossible to find people who dont act like asses there.)

Second Life(scared me away in under two weeks, it's a record. I blame the community. It was also a very odd game that seem to have literally no immersion)

DDO(not enough immersion for me)

Side note: I think I have realized what problem I had with DDO. I was expecting something...that something being D&D. I think I might consider going back.

That very well could be, when i tried DDO, i tried to keep the game as its own entity. I still remembered a lot about my pnp days, tho they werent as vast as some other folks, but enough that it made the learning curve little easier.

I tried LOTRO for couple weeks, i'll let someone else tell you about its immersion and community, but as an example, that game wasnt for me. but i wont lie, no game is ever for me because ive yet to find any, any game out there that is remotely like DDO for me.
Lets see, other MMo's, im playing Eve online, its immersive let me tell you, and its learning curve is a thousand times greater than DDO, but its a game that you will play for years and years and still not reach the "end", although i am only at day seven, so i'm hardly one to really support it i guess.
Let me think a few as far as others Community is a big deal to me too, and honestly Turbine's communities are just simply vastly superior, imo, to whats out there.

R

Hum, I forgot about LOTRO. If I give DDO another try and LOTRO a go, who knows. Next year I might just be voting for Turbine.

 

[Jay2o3]

Hum, I forgot about LOTRO. If I give DDO another try and LOTRO a go, who knows. Next year I might just be voting for Turbine.

ehehe, community-wise you can't go wrong with DDO
we have drama, we have "tutors", we have mercs, we have zergers, we even have our own player-based merchants!
immersion-wise you might want to try Perma-death play, it's more.... PnP like due to their rulesets

but if you want a free game that let's you grind your time away, MapleStory is definetely a choice to go for to waste time on

 

[Lorichie]

any recommendations for other MMO's?

what type are you looking for? =D

Yeah, give us an idea of what you are looking for. what your play style is, what games you did like (mmo's of course, sorry if i dont remember if you've played others or not, sleepy).
what you didnt like, others that you couldnt get into.

R

Ok, here we go. I played WoW, it kept my interest for around 3 months, but the community drove me away. So for a good MMO for me, I need a supported community. I can handle a generic MMO if it has high levels of immersion and has a good community surrounding it.

Other MMO's I have tried:
Runescape (oh to be in the 8th grade again, no longer playing, obviously)

Guild Wars(I'm still playing because there is no monthly fee. It is a good game for the amount of attention given too it by the developers, but some of the people are just uncooperative in game. I like grouping, but it is almost impossible to find people who dont act like asses there.)

Second Life(scared me away in under two weeks, it's a record. I blame the community. It was also a very odd game that seem to have literally no immersion)

DDO(not enough immersion for me)

Side note: I think I have realized what problem I had with DDO. I was expecting something...that something being D&D. I think I might consider going back.

That very well could be, when i tried DDO, i tried to keep the game as its own entity. I still remembered a lot about my pnp days, tho they werent as vast as some other folks, but enough that it made the learning curve little easier.

I tried LOTRO for couple weeks, i'll let someone else tell you about its immersion and community, but as an example, that game wasnt for me. but i wont lie, no game is ever for me because ive yet to find any, any game out there that is remotely like DDO for me.
Lets see, other MMo's, im playing Eve online, its immersive let me tell you, and its learning curve is a thousand times greater than DDO, but its a game that you will play for years and years and still not reach the "end", although i am only at day seven, so i'm hardly one to really support it i guess.
Let me think a few as far as others Community is a big deal to me too, and honestly Turbine's communities are just simply vastly superior, imo, to whats out there.

R

Hum, I forgot about LOTRO. If I give DDO another try and LOTRO a go, who knows. Next year I might just be voting for Turbine.

I will say this, if you go in with an open mind as far as the games go and "want" to be the best you can be in the game and really go after it; and if you can keep in mind that all communities, forum or game, have their bad apples too, you will see exactly how and why we feel the way we do.

R

 

[ghirmeshk]

Hum, I forgot about LOTRO. If I give DDO another try and LOTRO a go, who knows. Next year I might just be voting for Turbine.

ehehe, community-wise you can't go wrong with DDO
we have drama, we have "tutors", we have mercs, we have zergers, we even have our own player-based merchants!
immersion-wise you might want to try Perma-death play, it's more.... PnP like due to their rulesets

but if you want a free game that let's you grind your time away, MapleStory is definetely a choice to go for to waste time on

If you are interested in PD. There are some great guilds all with different Rules. Extreme Explorers on Sarlona, Sublime on Thelanis and Mortal Voyage on Argonessen are some of the ones I know off hand. I play in both EE and Sublime. If you would like info, please let me know.

 

[Jotchua7]

As much as I'm still dealing with my LotRO addiction(going for more than 2 years now), I have to say I've been impressed with the DDO people's fervour...I'm gonna' find some free time and download the trial and give 'er a shot. If I like it, the prospect of being a Drow Elf is very intriguing!

ooohhh! Converts from LotRO!! Thelanis Server... Ask for Trissa.

Will do, as soon as they sort out this latest problem and the free trial key is available again!

 

[RazorrX]

Nice animations, quarter staff especially. That abundant step is good too, kept wishing for some slow fall on walls, wall running, tumbling, slides, rolls, flips... Hehe, IMHO, Jade Empire has the best monk animations I have seen so far but things like Assassin's Creed and this Freerunning game I saw on Youtube once do some really nice stuff as well. And anything is better than the basic monk animations of NWN1, totally had to find some fan made ones to replace those =P

So, anything on any of my other questions and comments?

You get more attacks than you see in that video, there is a back flip kick later.

Quivering palm can 1 shot stuff, if they fail save, and is tied to Ki so not 1ce per day, etc.

You can climb ladders, jump on stuff, if you can jump high enough to a ledge you can pull yourself up. You can use terrain against your opponents. In DDO it is acceptable to use this to your advantage. SO you pull the baddy to a place you can jump/climb to and range them.

But then my halfling monk hates ranging things. I am here to go all Ong Bak on things, not pew pew pew shoot stuff. That is for those girly rangers.

Slow fall is my friend. I never use feather fall anymore. You can tumble and with Mobility feat it lowers your ac. Higher skill in tumble ends up being flips and such. No wall running though. In early beta they had where you could grab a ledge and kind fo shimmy along before you climbed up but took it out.

Jade Empire is awesome, I wish that Bioware did a Jade Empire Online rather than SW:TOR.

 

[t.tocs]

Dungeons and Dragons online has perma death? How is that possible? Your character dies and he is gone forever?

 

[ladytech]

Dungeons and Dragons online has perma death? How is that possible? Your character dies and he is gone forever?

There are several PD guilds in DDO. Basically as you stated if your character dies and there is no cleric in group able to raise dead/ ressurect then you delete your character and start all over again.

The game itself does not remove your character. It's done voluntarily on your part. I've played PD many times and it's an entirely different game experience much closer to DnD. The teams use more tactics, stick together much better and watch each others backs more frequently.

It's great fun. What's nice is you can have a character in a permadeath guild and also have several in a regular guild.

While I'm on it there are also guilds in DDO that are roleplaying guilds for those who are into that kind of thing.

 

[Redweaver]

Side note: I think I have realized what problem I had with DDO. I was expecting something...that something being D&D. I think I might consider going back.

Always remember three things with respect to D&D vs. DDO

1. Rule 0
2. Turbine is the DM
3. House rules



I've never played at a D&D game that went strictly 100% by-the-book (especially with the 3.x ruleset), so it was no surprise to me to sit down at DDO and find I was playing under some house rules.

 

[silverdraggie]

Ya know when the lag clears up on Thelanis we need another ladies night in Tempest or Velah...NAKID RUN!!! =)

I thought there was a ladies night this weekend actually. At least that is what my wife told me. I think it was a shroud run though. Not certain.

I'm running it, we have two spots left. Saterday 8 PM EST.

I'm not equipped to be a woman, so I'll let her know.

 

[silverdraggie]

I'm still going to try it. It does worry me though. I can't think of a single time where I checked the forums before selecting a game to play, played it, and found the "vocal minority" to be wrong. Most recently was LOTRO (which I started in November).

... sinp ...

Most people don't care so much about imbalance because they are more casual so I actually ignore the majority for the most part. Not to be rude to any casual players (I'm fairly casual myself) but generally they don't know too much about a class than what the intended function is. They rarely know if they adequately fulfill that function.

Fair enough. Would you like us to break down the classes for you, so that you have a better idea?