DDO is dead!

[Remus Lupin]

Well heck, I just downloaded it to run on my iMac with Windows Parallels, and it WON'T load! i get some strange message: "corestrings.dll is missing string ID 131>[131]

Grr. I've got a message into tech support, but this may be the end of my DDO experiment.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Well heck, I just downloaded it to run on my iMac with Windows Parallels, and it WON'T load! i get some strange message: "corestrings.dll is missing string ID 131>[131]

Grr. I've got a message into tech support, but this may be the end of my DDO experiment.

You'll thank yourself later. I mean - what were you thinking?

 

[Remus Lupin]

I was thinking I'd like to take a look.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I was thinking I'd like to take a look.

Nothing to see here. Move along... Move along...

I personally set City of Heroes aside for the first time in months and started up WoW again.

 

[haakon1]

Unfortunately, Turbine -- which is the most prominent publisher of MMORPGs that have gone belly-up -- tried to sell everyone half a loaf.

The D&D players got something that wasn't quite D&D.

The former D&D players got a setting they didn't recognize and that didn't fit the tropes they remembered from back in the day.

The MMORPG players got something that didn't really work the way they wanted an MMORPG to work.

The IP is so good, it'll be back. Hopefully the developers will know who their audience is, instead of trying to compromise and get everyone, which usually succeeds in getting very few people at all.

Exactly. One of my friends (a long-time D&D player who I've never gamed with) and his 8 year old son showed me DDO, but I was not much interested, because it just wasn't D&D. The 8 year old was having fun, but only fairly limited amounts of fun. The elements that, to me, sucked, were the elements of non-D&D:
-- no encumbrance limited, so lots and lots of gear
-- PvP arena with respawning
-- automatic healing for walking around
-- act by yourself, instead of in teams
-- what you do doesn't matter to the universe -- everything resets after you leave.
-- uninspired setting with no "historical" value
-- rules sort of sound like D&D, but aren't.

Perhaps some of these issues (no parties and resetting universe) are inherent to MMORPG's, but the least they could do is follow D&D rules.

What's interesting from all this is whether WOTC will take its clue from the failed DDO in WoWing up D&D, or if it will realize that "new Coking" things is bad for business. We'll see.

 

[haakon1]

And, frankly, given how badly Atari has botched almost everything associated with the D&D license, I have no problem tarring and feathering them with this one, too.

As a former shareholder, I gotta say Atari . . . well, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all, but dump the shares, like I did. Hopefully somebody more competent will buy the name.

 

[Remus Lupin]

You'll thank yourself later. I mean - what were you thinking?

OK, I give. Tech support was no help, and it's not worth the tsoris just to play a game that's getting so widely panned.

 

[Green Knight]

I was recently invited to play in an Eberron campaign, so I thought I'd give DDO another try, just to get myself into an Eberron mood. But man, this thread killed that desire quite nicely. Thanks for saving me $15.

 

[MarauderX]

OK, I give. Tech support was no help, and it's not worth the tsoris just to play a game that's getting so widely panned.

Sorry, it probably something to do with playing on a MAC. I don't think Turbine is investing the depth to get the MAC players on board.

 

[MarauderX]

The elements that, to me, sucked, were the elements of non-D&D:
-- no encumbrance limited, so lots and lots of gear
-- automatic healing for walking around
-- act by yourself, instead of in teams
-- what you do doesn't matter to the universe -- everything resets after you leave.

A few things that are included:
Encumberance, so you think twice about picking up a set of plate mail just to sell it in the market. And you don't have lots and lots of gear as you need to quest to gain backpack slots.
Healing for walking around is slow, but met a wide-spread demand for it as an MMO. And you don't heal this way when you are in zones where nasties can show up.
As with all MMOs, you need to be able to do some quests solo, as many players like to solo through the game.
A fair number of quests and quest givers allow you to gain status, items, and access to new quests. It is an MMO, so the whole game world isn't rocked by your 14th level bard failing to kill the CR 18 dragon.