So... What have you heard about the Dungeons & Dragons Online game?

[Troll Wizard]

FYI regarding the combat mechanics

Here are some recent designer quotes on the state of the melee/combat system for DDO.

Currently, the controls for two-weapon fighting are the same as they are for one-weapon fighting -- you click the mouse to attack.

The mechanics are where it gets interesting.

First, a little bit of background for our melee system in general: when you attack something in melee, you start a progression, or chain, of attacks. The number of attacks in your sequence depends on your base attack bonus (BAB), which is determined by your class and level.

This system is our way of handling the multiple attacks you get in PnP D&D as your BAB increases. So, for instance, a character with a +1 BAB might have a two-swing attack progression, while a character with a +10 BAB might have a four-swing attack progression.

Now, when you're wielding two weapons, your attack animations are obviously different, but the attack progression system is still the same. The difference, of course, is that you're wielding two weapons, so on some of your attacks, you'll get an off-hand attack on the monster. As you get better at two-weapon fighting (with feats like Improved Two-Weapon Fighting), you'll get the off-hand attack more often.

All of the other PnP rules for two-weapon fighting -- the to-hit penalties, the reduction in penalties if your off hand weapon is a light weapon, having only 1/2 of your Str bonus to damage in your off hand, etc. -- should apply in DDO.

Of course, keep in mind that this is our current system, and is subject to change based on alpha and beta results. But this is what we're doing right now.

and more

More answers:
The default key to block is currently Shift. You'll probably want your RMB for other stuff.


You perform a shield bash by attacking while blocking.


If you shield bash without the Improved Shield Bash feat, you lose at least some of the benefits of blocking while you're attacking.

and yet more

If you're wielding two weapons, you'll be attacking with both of them if you're attacking, or blocking with both of them if you're blocking. No options for anything too fancy like attacking with one weapon while blocking with the other.


Yes, you do need to block in order to get your shield bonus right now. To compensate for this, shields in DDO give much more of a defensive bonus than they do in PnP D&D. If you're not using a shield, you can still block, but you don't get as much of a bonus for doing so. Note that it is definitely still possible to be hit while blocking though.


Blocking's pretty much instantaneous --you hold down Shift, and you go into a blocking pose. You let go of Shift, and you switch back to a regular pose. As you get used to the system and to monsters' attack patterns, it becomes fairly easy to anticipate an attack and hit the block key before it lands. The trick is to not be in the middle of an attack when the monster attacks you, because you can't cancel out of an attack in order to block.


The individual attacks in a chain are faster than separate, single attacks, but you can't move or change targets in the middle of a chain. However, if you stop clicking during your attack chain, you'll stop attacking after you finish your current animation. (I'm not sure if you automatically stop attacking if your target dies, but this would make sense too.)

from this thread

 

[Nylanfs]

I was just reading through the developer posts on the DDO forums, and god-damn, these are the people I want to design the game. When a developer comes right out and says


Sure, it may make min-maxing an ultimate goal of the game. But it also makes roleplaying a lot more feasable. No MMO has come close to the character options and flexibility that DnD offers, I'm glad to see that's changing.

Update: I want to have this designer's children:

Hate to disagree with you but Anarchy Online is pretty damn flexible, If you can get the skills to use a weapon or armor what ever you can use it.