BeauNiddle said:
One of the thing many of you are underestimating is just how easy grouping is in this game. You are either in the city of stormreach or you are adventuring. This means all people looking for groups are already in the same area. Chances are they are in the same pub so finding a group isn't the half an hour task that most games make it. Since every quest is instanced and the instance entrances are in town getting to the quest is 2 minutes at most, not the multiple hours running through scenery that you've already seen. Also all the quests tell you before you start their length (short, medium, long, very long) so you know what you are letting yourself in for before you start. It is entirely possible to log on, find a group and complete a quest in half an hour.
There are also danger zones where you individually join and there are constant quests on going much like standard MMORPGs so if you just want to kill a few things you can (they have slightly more story than that but you get the idea).
Normally I dislike grouping in MMORPGs but DDO makes it actually viable.
The main problem with soloing is they then need to remove traps as you may not be a rogue. They need to drop the number of monsters as you may not be able to cast healing magic. They need to drop the power of the monsters as you may not be a combat master. And so pretty soon they have removed everything unique and interesting about the game and you just end up with another MMORPG like all the others.
Oh and DDO has built in voice chat since I remember some people asking about that a few posts back.
I would like to add a little to BeauNiddle comments, as I have been playing in alpha/beta for almost 3 months now. I will try to stick general comments and/or facts that have already been released, to not violate my NDA.
1. the quests are scripted, though there are many similiarites (i.e. too many dungeons and sewers), most have interesting twists to them, which makes them difficult to add/remove monsters/traps/triggers/etc. for different play styles.
2. there are many quests that you can solo if you are one-two levels higher and still be a challenge. Though you will miss some or most of the optional content that only certains classes can access (int trigger for Wiz, open lock for rogue, charisma check for sorcerer, etc.), and of course the all important high check search just to find secret doors...
3. In general the medium-to-very long quests are balanced for full parties of 6 (rogue, caster, healer, tanks). Most of the short-medium quests can be completed with smaller parties of 2-4.
4. There are quests where rogues are essential and quests where the tanks dominate, etc.
5. It's very easy to find a group at levels 1-6, beyond that I don't know, between wipes for testing new engine/DB/world versions and I found I like testing out new builds quite often. Generally my experience I have found that I can log in and be in a group in less than 5 minutes. Sometimes I don't even have to turn on LFG and someone is already asking me to join a party. The fastest was like 1 min, I booted up, choose a character, hit enter and my PC had not even loaded on the world on screen and I got the "ding" of a invite already.
Also if there is something "I want to do" I create a group notice up that want to form a group to do quest so and so. People join up if they are interested and I send "/tell"s to individuals that are LFG if they are interested, sometimes its no, but generally its yes.
6. I found that the "majority" of betatesters are much older than your typical MMO game, probably in mid 30s to 40s. The most common "afk" I get, is "my kid (son/daughter) needs so and so, be back in 5 min..." From voice chat I found a surprising number of female players.
7. Idiot players/griefers/pain the butt individual, are very rare. People are ready to say in group which players not to invite. I keep a sticky on my PC with the names of players (three thus far) never to invite into a group. For three months this seems pretty good, compared to the issues my friends had in WoW, AO, EQ I and II, and COH.
8. Content, hmm guess I am "very" casual player. I see players (powergamers?) complaining all the time about the limited number of quests open in beta. Despite the limited number of quests I still have not done them all. At most I play 3-4 hours 3 nights during the weekdays and maybe 4-6 on Sundays and less on Saturday.
9. While the combat is closer to FPS style, than other MMO games; it does have a "heavy" dose of D&D flavor to it. Flanking bonus is in, rogues crit, tumbling, shield is actually much more useful in DDO than PnP D&D. There is sword & shield, two weapon, and 2-handed weapon styles. A lot of PnP D&D's combat tactics have ported over to DDO. Use sleep to bring down the mob and hack the sleepers; go for the casters quickly else suffer their spells while their tanks hold you off. You shoot arrows, they shoot arrows back or throw javelins at you. There are tunnel fights, fighting on ledges, on bridges, on hill slopes, on ships, and more. Good party tactics determine if you characters die, clerics and mages run of spell points early, or party gets through to the final boss in good shape. I have seen a full party 6 of lvls 3-4 decimated in a certain quest, where a well led party with good teamwork of lvl 2 easy made it through with no KIAs.
Voice chat has really improved the experience, especially when a party is explorering a new quest and party rogue yells out trap!. The party stops immediately and everyone wonders where the trap is and what will it do to you...
10. the environment can kill you if you are not careful, a good swim skill is necessary for many quests...
So will I buy the game? Probably, every new alpha/beta build of the DDO game has added new features and enriched the game. I dont' believe it's in Turbine's best interest to make a game for a wider audience (i.e. too much solo) content, it will divide their resource too much and mitigate their advantage in crafting very interesting, often novel, challengeing quests. That is where IMO they should maintain their focus. They can't make a game appeal to everyone. My friends have all dropped WoW, not so much for the mechanics of the game, but primarily for the poor social environment of the gamers there.
I came looking to DDO looking for the "D&D" experience in a online format. Thus far I feel they have delivered it.
If you have tried DDO and don't like, well look around besides WoW, EQ, GW, UO and others, there are more games to be released next year:
Vanguard (don't know anything really about this one, but I see people posting that it will compete with DDO and LOTR next year),
Conan (this one seems to be filled with PvP type players, not my type of people, but the scenary looks fantastic, the characters less so. I like Robert Howard's Conan series, but the PvP focus is a real turn off for me.), and
Lord of the Rings (I am sorted turned off by this one, its PvE focused, but from reading the open boards I have not grasped what type of game they are going for. I feel that a game based on Tolkien's middle-earth really needs a lot of flavor and history to it. What little has been released just does not convey that "feel" and thus has not inspired me to hang out too often on their boards.).
