A D&D 3.5 MMORPG

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Is the option there on the tabletop version? A big staple of the tabletop version of D and D is grouping. To even offer an option is to destroy a large part of the flavor of the game.

Not really. Quite a lot of us have played one on one D&D games in our time.

As previously stated there are 15 to 20 such mmorpgs you can solo in.

Simply not true.

it would hurt the integrity and display of teh game to make too many solo missions.

And also not true.

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

Why pay all that and wait to play? Because that's what forced grouping is: Lots of sitting around, hoping someone else comes along, wanting to do what you want to do, praying they're of the "right" classes, so that you can actually PLAY.

Designs that hinge on being bored will do progessively worse and worse as more and more viable alternatives emerge. Compare EverQuest 2's numbers to World of Warcraft's. Both build on successful game franchises, and EQ2 builds on the previously most successful North American MMORPG. But it's also a game full of waiting to have fun, whereas Blizzard lets you head right to the fun parts. (This breaks down a bit at the higher levels, but breaking down at level 60 compared to breaking down at level 5 is orders of magnitude in difference.)

Forced grouping is a great idea, in theory. In practice, paying customers don't want to be forced to wait for what they want. On Demand and similar cable/satellite options are turning into a very nice business model because of that.

...and to add to this, even if DDO attempts to avoid the waiting by letting you jump into an existing group, this doesn't alleviate all of the issues. First, what if I don't want to take the experience hit and miss part of the adventure? Now I'm back to waiting. Second, what if the already adventuring group is made of individuals who I don't want to adventure with? Now I'm back to waiting.

Once again, there is nothing wrong with this method, as long as we realize that this is going to limit the customer base.

BTW - I run solo games a lot. So, one player adventures are nothing new to tabletop D&D either. On the computer, the software is the DM, so one player should also be acceptable.

 

[spiritkeeper]

I use to play EQ2 and from the beginning it was a great game to my experience, and i noticed as time passed they made it even more solo friendly in addition to the hundreds of solo content in the game. In EQ2 there is much to do , tons of quest, crafting, exploring as to waiting fro other so u can do that epic/heritage quest where you need a million ppl to complete it...lol. From what i read about DDO it seem good and the Dev's are making this game from there point of view as im sure if any of you was in the same boat would be doing the same, everyone has there views of how this game should be made, some very good ideas from what I have read and other soso to the ones sounding completelt stupid, but 1 thing i dont agree on is the instancely warping you to the area or that dungeon, I mean you should have the option of traveling there or if your in a hurry warp there instantly, I mean part of D&D is the exploration, thats part of the adventure. Me personally, I think the Dev's should rething this.....

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

As previously stated there are 15 to 20 such mmorpgs you can solo in.

I don't know the number of games, but I will agree that there are a number of them (many of them poor quality). I suppose that I will have to stick with that as it appears that DDO will not fulfill my needs.

The only part of this that bothers me is that it is D&D and I play D&D, so I want this to be something that I will play. I guess that DDO will just become the MMORPG version of the D&D movies for me (and WoW will be the LotR of MMORPGs).

 

[spiritkeeper]

One thing I have learned from all the MMOG I have played is that all of them have had things I liked and things I did'nt like, for me it's kinda like finding the perfect woman, we all know everyone has there flaws but those things that make a person so wonderful is what we treasure the most and are willing to deal with those petty things that bug us to death. Whether someone likes me or not is'nt the issue as long as the person whom im with can get along and work through the difficulties. I am sorry for all those veteran D&D players out there who are looking at DDO as an Online compliment to what there acustomed to on PnP cause it wont be, we will have to accect it for what it is and what it becomes in the future. I'm not a verteran player but i have had my share of RPG's out there traditional as well as fantasy, but it's kinda like they use to tell us in the military when i was overseas, ("If this is your first duty station, then your gonna be hating life once you get back to the states") thats becasue they do things totally different and its relaxed alot depending on where you are. I have pre-ordered this game and i do have high hopes for DDO but im not going to get ahead of myself where i make it out to be more than it is ( like a high-school kid looking forward to prom or child waiting for santa) only to be dissapointed. I will accept it for what it is and report my views on the game to the GM hoping that they at least think about my ideas to make it a better game, thats all I can hope...and to everyone else TO EACH HIS OWN =p

 

[DonTadow]

Why pay all that and wait to play? Because that's what forced grouping is: Lots of sitting around, hoping someone else comes along, wanting to do what you want to do, praying they're of the "right" classes, so that you can actually PLAY.

Designs that hinge on being bored will do progessively worse and worse as more and more viable alternatives emerge. Compare EverQuest 2's numbers to World of Warcraft's. Both build on successful game franchises, and EQ2 builds on the previously most successful North American MMORPG. But it's also a game full of waiting to have fun, whereas Blizzard lets you head right to the fun parts. (This breaks down a bit at the higher levels, but breaking down at level 60 compared to breaking down at level 5 is orders of magnitude in difference.)

Forced grouping is a great idea, in theory. In practice, paying customers don't want to be forced to wait for what they want. On Demand and similar cable/satellite options are turning into a very nice business model because of that.

If a game is going to be based off of something, it should be more like the product it is being based off of. Dungeons and dragons isa group adventuring tabletop game. Any product that uses the d&D name should incorporate these things. There is not too many dungeons and dragons campaigns that have ONE PC and ONE DM. If this ddo is truly going to stick to the flavor of dungeons and dragons it has to stray away from being a typical MMORPG and focus on To say that ddo shouldn't focus on group adventuring . Its so wierd to hear professional gamers talk about a game "not" being able to do something. As if the designers havn't imnputed ways to prevent people from waiting around on groups. There are ways in place to join a group in progress and many locales to find groups.

I agree they should have a good mix of static and adjusting dungeons, both of which are in the flavor of dungeons and dragons. It kind of leaves me speechless to hear die hard dungeons and dragons fans willing to pimp out their game so that is is more like a Warcraft or more like Everquest.

The innovatinos are meant to draw in those whom hate the typical mmorpg. What I"m saying is, if you don't like the style of the game, there are 15 other optional mmorpgs with soloing you can play.

It is my hopes that ddo is not for everyone. I really don't want DDO to be the MMORPG of the moment. i don't want it to be a typical MMORPG with the name dungeons and dragons slapped on to it (like they did Final Fantasy with the spirit within). Just as Elders Scroll found a niche in the RPG market (many didn't think the first one, ARena, would work) I want DDO to find the same niche.

 

[spiritkeeper]

If a game is going to be based off of something, it should be more like the product it is being based off of. Dungeons and dragons isa group adventuring tabletop game. Any product that uses the d&D name should incorporate these things. There is not too many dungeons and dragons campaigns that have ONE PC and ONE DM. If this ddo is truly going to stick to the flavor of dungeons and dragons it has to stray away from being a typical MMORPG and focus on To say that ddo shouldn't focus on group adventuring . Its so wierd to hear professional gamers talk about a game "not" being able to do something. As if the designers havn't imnputed ways to prevent people from waiting around on groups. There are ways in place to join a group in progress and many locales to find groups.

I agree they should have a good mix of static and adjusting dungeons, both of which are in the flavor of dungeons and dragons. It kind of leaves me speechless to hear die hard dungeons and dragons fans willing to pimp out their game so that is is more like a Warcraft or more like Everquest.

The innovatinos are meant to draw in those whom hate the typical mmorpg. What I"m saying is, if you don't like the style of the game, there are 15 other optional mmorpgs with soloing you can play.

It is my hopes that ddo is not for everyone. I really don't want DDO to be the MMORPG of the moment. i don't want it to be a typical MMORPG with the name dungeons and dragons slapped on to it (like they did Final Fantasy with the spirit within). Just as Elders Scroll found a niche in the RPG market (many didn't think the first one, ARena, would work) I want DDO to find the same niche.

Lets not forget this is a MMO and there goes alot in makiing one work and lets not forget about the investors and it takes money to keep it up and running. Not so much in PnP and they want this to be successful and make lots of money also, unless your more like GW and runnin off servers already in the mix.

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

Its so wierd to hear professional gamers talk about a game "not" being able to do something.

I'm going to pick a bit, but I don't get paid to play.

It kind of leaves me speechless to hear die hard dungeons and dragons fans willing to pimp out their game so that is is more like a Warcraft or more like Everquest.

I would hope that after reading from the various threads on this forum that you would realize that not everyone wants the same thing out of a tabletop game. What makes you think that the responses would be any different for a computer based game? Just because we are D&D fans doesn't mean that we want the same thing.

 

[buzzard]

What I get from reading the DDO forums is that you can probably solo in early quests, but for higher level stuff you will need groups. This is no different from WoW. I'm hoping they pull it off well.

Personally the aspect I look forward to the most is the instanced mission business. The tedious trudging around in a cartoony world that passes for exploration in WoW bored me to tears when it didn't piss me off beyond endurance. I also won't miss crafting either. That was another annoying time sink.

I started by MMO experience in CoH (which has since changed enough that I dropped it) and the beauty of that game was that you could just jump right in and have fun. I find it interesting that someone in this thread (I think) mentioned that EQ was much more time wasting focused than WoW. I shudder at the thought of what pain that must be. I couldn't bear to tolerate WoW for even the month that came with the game. I cancelled after 20 days. I guess maybe I don't have the patience or the masochistic streak required for the game.

Right now I'm waiting to see if there's a MMO which won't annoy me. Maybe it will be DDO, or maybe Auto Assault. We'll just have to wait and see.

buzzard

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I find it interesting that someone in this thread (I think) mentioned that EQ was much more time wasting focused than WoW. I shudder at the thought of what pain that must be.

IIRC, it took at least an hour to accomplish anything useful in EQ once you'd gotten up in levels past, oh, 5th or so. And crafting...at least, from what I understand, almost everything craftable in WoW is useful, or at least you can make money off of it. In EQ, I spent hours and tons of plat so I could work my blacksmithing skill up by making nail files. Ugh.

Interestingly, Sony sent me an e-mail stating they'd re-opened my account and would give me three weeks for free, so long as I logged onto EQ. That was amusing.

Brad