D&D Online To Go Free This Summer

[Urizen]

Solo difficulties were added to many quests and dungeons a while back, but if you ask me around level 4-5 it becomes obvious that all they did was scale everything back ~20% and call it a day. There are solo dungeons I could not possibly complete with any build, and on solo difficulty you can't bring along a hireling. You will need a group for these levels and for any major questlines, which don't even have solo difficulties.

You run around as you do in most games, click to target and left-click (IIRC) to autoattack. Combat is fluid, enemies will move around and so can you, but you have a -4 penalty to attack while moving. You can block with the shift key to give yourself DR, which improves greatly if you use a shield. If you have the tumble skill you can enter a roll while blocking to get through or away from enemies.
Most other abilities are button-driven. As you amass spells and action points and usable items, you will probably end up with multiple quickslot bars on your screen. There are 20 bars provided for this reason.
There isn't a climb skill and you don't climb walls. There's a jump skill that determines how high you can jump, and a swim skill that determines how long you can stay underwater. Skills like intimidate and diplomacy will increase or decrease your threat, and are also sometimes used as dialog cues, but really not very often. There are nearly as many skills as there are in 3.5, with the exception of knowledge skills and the addition of haggle, a skill that influences buy and sell prices.

Thanks for this.

I appreciate it.

 

[yesnomu]

There's still no druid class, right? That was the thing that killed my interest the most when it first came out.

 

[Set]

There's still no druid class, right? That was the thing that killed my interest the most when it first came out.

Supposedly, there's a new class, but I haven't heard which one (and I remember the Warlock being floated as a possible back before it launched, so it could be that instead). I was also peeved that I couldn't play a Druid when it launched.

It's also more than possible that the 'new class' won't be available to free players anyway, only to VIPs.

I was definitely disappointed that DDO didn't include so many core classes and races, or some of the other Eberron-specific items (Changelings, Shifters, etc.).

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Quick question for you or anyone else familiar with it - who playable is it solo or with 2 people? Yeah, I know it's a MMO, but my wife and I really enjoyed WoW either on our own or just the two of us and would like to give DDO a try like that. We're not much into the big group stuff.

I am perhaps not the best person to ask that question, as I enjoy soloing even the really hard stuff, like The Pit.

I would say that if you are averse to grouping with folks, AND not particularly leet, you will at least want to have a cleric hireling. The hirelings work very well with just a few simple commands.

I am used to soloing everything up through about 8th level or so-- I am familiar with the game, well-equipped, and notoriously recalcitrant.

The addition of the hirelings has made a huge difference in the ease of soloing-- on the basis of Lanchester's Square Law alone, having another target to draw some aggro is indispensable.

Stick to quests of Normal difficulty, at your level or below, take a hireling (whether or not you play duo with your wife), and you'll have a great time without too much difficulty.

Wow, in 3 years I've never run across you on Thelanis.

The original Wulf Ratbane, being my first character, is both (a) 28-pt build and (b) not a very good build at that.

So you'd kinda have to run into him running back and forth from the bank to the mailbox, since he's been muled out for about 2 years.

You should just start having your storyhour in the Phoenix when they have RP nights.

I should have mentioned: I'm originally from Xoriat.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

That night we spent duo-ing the mushroom caves (I can't even remember the name of it now) was possibly the most fun I've had in an MMO, Wulf. If they go to pay-for-play, I'll have to reinstall and give it another shot. Being able to play for an hour or two here and there and not feel like I was wasting money when I didn' t play for a month would be nice.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

That night we spent duo-ing the mushroom caves

You swore we would never speak of that again.

... was possibly the most fun I've had in an MMO, Wulf.

Oh! You mean The Seal of Shan To Kar.

It's still one of the best quests in the game. Visually amazing.

I adapted the entire thing to my tabletop game.

Much fun.

If they go to pay-for-play

Free to play, you mean.

It remains to be seen how much content is free and how much is behind the for-pay firewall. There's no easy way for me to test that theory.

 

[JustKim]

Supposedly, there's a new class, but I haven't heard which one (and I remember the Warlock being floated as a possible back before it launched, so it could be that instead). I was also peeved that I couldn't play a Druid when it launched.

It's also more than possible that the 'new class' won't be available to free players anyway, only to VIPs.

I was definitely disappointed that DDO didn't include so many core classes and races, or some of the other Eberron-specific items (Changelings, Shifters, etc.).

The new class is the monk. Druids have been "planned" forever, but still no real news on them. The new content patch may be adding the druid, but I would not hold my breath. Wild shape and dozens more spells is a much greater undertaking than adding, say, an unlockable assassin class.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

The new class is the monk.

I don't think that's correct. For starters, the monk's not new. The monk is "premium content" however. (Personally I recommend folks save their money as the monk is a very "clicky" class to play properly-- moreso even than a spellcaster.)

I have seen rumors about what the new class is, but I think I might be under NDA on that point... so can't discuss.

 

[Panthanas]

Has anyone else signed up for and received an invite to play in the free beta test thingamajig? I'm downloading the game right now. Once done, I'll be LFG!

 

[blargney the second]

Yeah, I'm in as well.
-blarg