Penny Arcade takes on DDO

Asmor · Jan 30, 2008

Jürgen Hubert said:
Penny Arcade is apparently able to make a living for not one, but two people, which is extremely rare among webcomics. And they apparently make enough money to donate $10,000 just to make a point. So they are clearly doing something right.

No one was doubting their success. But success and quality are not the same thing. Seriously, though, $10,000 is just the tip of the iceberg. The Child's Play charity they're solely responsible for starting (though, to be fair, it could probably go on on its own now without them) has raised well over $3 million, for the last two years it's been raising over $1 million a year, and if it continues to rise at its current growth rate (keeping in mind the 2007 figure in the linked article isn't a final number) it won't be long until that's over $2 million a year.

I used to hate Penny Arcade, but it's really grown on me. Tycho's writing is unique and fantastic, while Gabe's artwork has progressed from mediocre to high art, and continues to progress.

Wik · Jan 30, 2008

PA is awesome, in my humble opinion. It's probably the only webcomic I check at all regularly - the recent one involving someone stealing a plastic deer had me laughing so hard, I couldn't breathe. It's still my wallpaper image.

I love how they set up jokes. So, yeah, good on them.

Regarding the OP... I'm not into MMRPGs. If I'm gonna play an RPG, it's at a table, and if I'm gonna play a video game, it's either Hockey or Halo. But my general understanding of the matter is that, well, it turns out D&D isn't a good rules base to use for MMRPGs, and I recall my brother being VERY disappointed with Stormreach (and, mind you, while he played WoW, he was never that into it, compared to some of hte other MMRPGs he plays with).

Jürgen Hubert · Jan 30, 2008

Asmor said:
I used to hate Penny Arcade, but it's really grown on me. Tycho's writing is unique and fantastic, while Gabe's artwork has progressed from mediocre to high art, and continues to progress.

I had the same experiences. Many years ago I saw it, bookmarked it, and then forgot about it again. But in recent times I had another look at it and was blown away.

One of my favorite strips is this one:

I mean, other webcomics have characters who are exceedingly violent as well. But in them, the most they'd do is threaten to kill the offending party. But this threat here is so over-the-top (note the glowing red eyes!) that it is sheer brilliance.

What's not to like here?

vongarr · Jan 30, 2008

As a former DDO player, I thought the knock they made against the game wasn't necessary. The woman didn't seem desperate. But it's PA, and they take things to extremes. It's what they do.

DDO is good fun. It's way better if you have 4 or 5 friends who you only play with to have a regular group for. Just like the real thing. The stuff ultimately caused me to quit playing was the death penalty and the players only re-running things for progression. Which is understandable. Who wants to spend 3 hours on a dungeon that ends up being a wipe, and lose experience? Or even a level? It sucks.

I hope for DDO2 they take the same format, and make it better. I'd hate to see it go the way of WoW.

Anyway, PA is great, but so is DDO. I just didn't enjoy the abuse someone who only does PUG's like me gets.

vongarr · Jan 30, 2008

Jürgen Hubert said:
I had the same experiences. Many years ago I saw it, bookmarked it, and then forgot about it again. But in recent times I had another look at it and was blown away.

One of my favorite strips is this one:

I mean, other webcomics have characters who are exceedingly violent as well. But in them, the most they'd do is threaten to kill the offending party. But this threat here is so over-the-top (note the glowing red eyes!) that it is sheer brilliance.

What's not to like here?

What makes that comic even better is the righteous bitch-slap all warhammer fans feel when someone calls it a rip off of Warcraft. They were so obvious with their "tribute" to warhammer that they were going to put a steam tank in warcraft 3.

John Q. Mayhem · Jan 30, 2008

vongarr said:
What makes that comic even better is the righteous bitch-slap all warhammer fans feel when someone calls it a rip off of Warcraft. They were so obvious with their "tribute" to warhammer that they were going to put a steam tank in warcraft 3.

No no; they did put a steam tank in WCIII.

III also had way more transparently taken from D&D than previous versions did. Still a good game, though.

Set · Jan 30, 2008

PA is hilarious. Particularly when they riff on WoW, which they do mercilessly, with the surgical precision that only someone who plays the game addictively can manage.

As for DDO, I've played EQ, EQ2, DAoC, CoH/CoV, DDO, WoW and SWG, and DDO was the only game I *finished in beta* and didn't have any reason to play after release. As a D&D player of 20+ years, it was the MMO I've been awaiting for literal decades. Such a crushing disappointment. We *tried* to love it, and stick with it, desperately even. Considering the various degrees of success of other fantasy MMOs, which would probably not even exist but for the groundwork D&D laid, it's just a little bit heartbreaking that DDO was so limp.

(SWG was also a fast game, not through lack of content, and pretty much shot themselves in the head with their New Game Experience, making them an amusing case of MMORPG suicide.)

vongarr · Jan 30, 2008

John Q. Mayhem said:
No no; they did put a steam tank in WCIII.

III also had way more transparently taken from D&D than previous versions did. Still a good game, though.

Well, I'll be...

I seem to recall a unit called "Steam Tank" that was taken out during development for whatever reasons. Guess I was wrong. I also remember it looking different.

Asmor · Jan 30, 2008

Jürgen Hubert said:
I had the same experiences. Many years ago I saw it, bookmarked it, and then forgot about it again. But in recent times I had another look at it and was blown away.

One of my favorite strips is this one:

I mean, other webcomics have characters who are exceedingly violent as well. But in them, the most they'd do is threaten to kill the offending party. But this threat here is so over-the-top (note the glowing red eyes!) that it is sheer brilliance.

What's not to like here?

You know, it's funny, but that's the specific one I always think of when I think of Tycho's writing.

Plus, the last line was the inspiration for the Dissonant Chorus, a religion I posted on my blog last month.

HeavenShallBurn · Jan 30, 2008

Asmor said:
You know, it's funny, but that's the specific one I always think of when I think of Tycho's writing.

Some of their best posts are riffing on Warhammer or Warcraft in some way.

When I think of PA it's this strip

Penny Arcade takes on DDO

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