A D&D 3.5 MMORPG

[DonTadow]

Why should he have to back it up with numbers.. the reality is that Eberon.. be it a godsend or a waste of paper is no where near as developed as either FR or Greyhawk. The bigger question here is which world is most new player friendly yet offers enough hooks to set it apart from Azeroth?

Personally of the three I'd vote for FR as it has the widest resource material.. largest body of work and longest success (sorry to Grayhawk apologists.. but that's just my opinion) Eberon offers the best hooks to set it off from traditional fantasy games. There is a feeling of mystique and newness that is not relying on the old Tolkienesque conventions.. hence I believe the reason Turbine and Wizards choose to set the game in Eberon.

WoW has the benefit of a widely supported world with a rich backstory but the game design is what makes it king not just the setting. WoW (at least until the endgame) is a vibrant world that allows players to easily pick up and play and form impromptu groups for adventures. If Eberon can capture this they will have a shot.

Just my two cents here.. as someone who enjoys both mediums.

From a fan perspective I thoughti t was a bad move to make ddo Eberron instead of more traditional and fleshed out worlds such as the Forgotten Realms. However, from a marketing perspective I can see why. They are putting out more eberron books and eberron is seen as the "updated" version of D&D. They announced that DDO was going to be Eberron well before Eberron had been established. Same with the RTS.

Setting is very important. Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk are established settings and from a marketing perspective, not very newbie friendly. Imagine playing a forgotten realms head for the first time. This happened to me. You feel lost in the conversation and the world because your knowledge isn't as great as someone else. But a new setting such as Eberron, with little history, is more accessible. There's only two or three real books so what happens online can really write what happens in the books. Plus races such as the Forged, Shifter and Changlings add a different dimension to the game from the traditional half-orcs and half elves.

 

[jester47]

About DDO,

From what I understand WotC when they did the setting search was looking for a world that would make a good MMO setting. They went with Eberron because the culture of eberron is largely modern american culture. Eberron is very much geared to have leet speak running around and not seem too out of place. Thus you don't have people talking in flowery voices and such or trying to adopt a medieval air. Its 'merican. Stogie smokin, nazi punchin, 'merican.

Eberron is probably the best setting for an MMO as it forces role play by making L33T D00Ds that just want to kill things and take their stuff part of the culture of the world.

At least that is what I have been led to believe. Correct me if I am wrong.

Aaron.

 

[Black Omega]

I'm with MerricB on this. WoW had a big boost from a built in customer base and using their recognized world. But it's so huge because the game is excellent. A namebrand world and poor game play won't translate into long term profit. By SOE's own admission, Star Wars online was not drawing enough peple to make much money, even with the popular movies.

WotC would have their work cut out for them, simply because no matter what setting they use, they'd need to get a company that can actually code an excellent game. And Lucas Arts among others have proved this isn't necessary easy.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

At least that is what I have been led to believe. Correct me if I am wrong.

I think a more significant factor is that Eberron is highly zoned. They even have several areas that are meant to be "outdoor dungeons" (like that place where you can't heal).

It also has things like magical transport from area to area, common in MMORPGs. Artificers promote magic items for sale, again common in CRPGs. And there's even a couple of high level "expansion" contients clearly aimed at high level play.

It's really a very good fit for an MMORPG.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

DDO may havea big launch with all the D&D fans wanting to try it out. But form what I've read it sounds like it will suck. And people wont be staying around. One of the biggest6 things that will shoot them in the foot, is the need for grouping. Making solo content rare, will kill a fan base. Lots of poeple dont have the time to always track down a group, and do an adventure. They want to hop on and get to it. By making it a group only game they are removing virtually all the casual gamers from there market.

Unless everything else about it rocks I wont play it past a couple months. If I only play when I got time to group, I wont be playing consistently. If I'm not playing consistenty, my playing schedule drops even more. I'll soon reach a point where I am not playing enough to justify the monthly fee. If they had henchman like guildwars does, it could work. They don't so it wont.

Also the instanced for every quest thing sounds good on some levels, yet it seems to make it less of a world to explore. And world exploration is a big thing in these games for me. And as a minor complaint there isn't any crafting in the game.

 

[DonTadow]

DDO may havea big launch with all the D&D fans wanting to try it out. But form what I've read it sounds like it will suck. And people wont be staying around. One of the biggest6 things that will shoot them in the foot, is the need for grouping. Making solo content rare, will kill a fan base. Lots of poeple dont have the time to always track down a group, and do an adventure. They want to hop on and get to it. By making it a group only game they are removing virtually all the casual gamers from there market.

Unless everything else about it rocks I wont play it past a couple months. If I only play when I got time to group, I wont be playing consistently. If I'm not playing consistenty, my playing schedule drops even more. I'll soon reach a point where I am not playing enough to justify the monthly fee. If they had henchman like guildwars does, it could work. They don't so it wont.

Also the instanced for every quest thing sounds good on some levels, yet it seems to make it less of a world to explore. And world exploration is a big thing in these games for me. And as a minor complaint there isn't any crafting in the game.

YES!!!! Finally a different MMORPG. What you just said is the reason I think DDO will succeed is because its different. Its like, youre saying, "its not going to be good because its not like all the other MMORPGs". And I"m saying that is why people will want to play it. The group element is especially important and something I've always said was needed to make MMORPGs closer to their tabletop big brother. It can be done and I think ddo will do it successfully. From waht I've heard, if you can't find a group and your friends already in a dungeon you'll be able to join them in their instanced dungeon for less XP and gold. The perfect solution for those who want to just get on and play. This is the first game with a true focus on group. The thing that makes Final fantasy XI such a good game is its heavy emphasis on partys.

I"m glad they don't have crafting as I hated being forced to either spend time and boatloads of money instead of playing the game. It seemed like every mmorpg i played i had to sit thruogh 20 minutes of tutorial just on showing me how to craft a shirt.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Forced grouping is terrible IMO. City Of Heroes tried to impliment that model more in the last update, changing the difficulty and XP value of solo missions to "encourage" grouping. It just encouraged me to quit playing, along with other changes I must add. If I can't do a solo mission then I'm not even going to look at it.

 

[DonTadow]

Forced grouping is terrible IMO. City Of Heroes tried to impliment that model more in the last update, changing the difficulty and XP value of solo missions to "encourage" grouping. It just encouraged me to quit playing, along with other changes I must add. If I can't do a solo mission then I'm not even going to look at it.

Why pay 40 bucks a month for cable modem, $200 bucks for the hardware, 20 bucks a month on the game just to play alone? I can see if you couldn't do anything until 3 people came online, but the game is expected to not have a problem finding groups and partys with its smaller servers. Cool thing is that you'll know a great deal more of the people on the servers and it will be easier to organize play times.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Why pay 40 bucks a month for cable modem, $200 bucks for the hardware, 20 bucks a month on the game just to play alone?

Kinda like how I'd rather enjoy a martini in a bar than drink a bottle of vodka alone at home.

The social aspect is there if I want it, but I don't always want it.

 

[DonTadow]

Kinda like how I'd rather enjoy a martini in a bar than drink a bottle of vodka alone at home.

The social aspect is there if I want it, but I don't always want it.

Drinking alone is still never good

I think this game will really bring group adventuring to a new level and it will cater to those whom want the group atmosphere. Now if we can have an 25 and older server we'll be happy.