Dungeons and Dragons Online

Gimlor · Post by **Gimlor** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 8:34 pm

Anyone here part of the beta or stress test?
if not today is your last day to sign up, must be a filepalnet subscriber.

NO PVP at all in DDO btw focused on group play theu quests.

if you want to try it out, now is the time

Stress test subscribers automatically get in. and vcan play from today till friday at midnight. test termination was extended from weednesday, and may be extended again!.. maybe.. no promises

Simius · Post by **Simius** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 9:48 pm

Can we have a little more information about this DDO? Maybe a link?

Gimlor · Post by **Gimlor** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 11:37 pm

DDO= dungeons and dragons online

http://www.fileplanet.com to sign up for the stress test
ddo.conm for the official page

apandapion · Post by **apandapion** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 1:54 am

I don't beta. It feels too much like work. But let me know what you think.

bolo · Post by **bolo** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 4:39 am

Tried it out at Gencon this summer with my nephew. What I saw was very promising.
We both went away wanting to buy it and play together.

Tigg · Post by **Tigg** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 7:13 am

It scares me much more than WoW or NWN2....

On the other hand if it was a mmorpg on that scale with any sort of decent RP it would be a first.

Cindare · Post by **Cindare** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 7:31 am

Tigg wrote:It scares me much more than WoW or NWN2....

On the other hand if it was a mmorpg on that scale with any sort of decent RP it would be a first.

Unfortunately, it'll never happen because the RPG that comes after MMO is a misnomer -- roleplaying on MMOs is all but ridiculed by the leet majority. They tried removing dumb kids from the equation by making folks use credit cards, but that didn't work. A quick summary of my first moments on EverQuest back in college, circa 1999...

Cindare: "Greetings, noble elf! A fine day for a hunt, isn't it?"
Imapwnu: "lol fag n00b"

(apologies to Pure Pwnage)

It got fun when I started raiding with a good guild, but it wasn't much of a roleplaying experience. Same goes for my stint on Final Fantasy XI. For that reason, I think I'll pass up D&D Online. Small NWN persistent worlds are really where it's at, imho.

"I told you kids that crack is some bad shit!"

((Disclaimer: if this post is incoherent, then please forgive me. I've had a few drinks and it's past my bedtime. Good night, and good luck.))

slave_of_emotions · Post by **slave_of_emotions** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:05 am

Yes the MMORPGs are all together more MMOFAGs (Fantasy Action Games) i tried EQ2 for almost two weeks and have not seen one person say anything IC, even when people flag them there as roleplayers they dont stay IC at all. Evryone seems to be busy in OOC chat, guild chat and group chat.
There are alot guilds but those have no meening, you can not have fights between groups and if they would then it would not be for IC reasons anyways and Sony does not even enforce roleplay on they RP prefered servers....

... if you are looking for roleplay then stick to NWN here you will actualy find what all the single games have to offer, MMOs are a waste of money and time. And for all the money they get paid, they dont even have any sort of DMs.

Big Rave to Bioware for making it possible creating such a large community with so many worlds !

Micah · Post by **Micah** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 5:05 pm

Cindare wrote:It got fun when I started raiding with a good guild, but it wasn't much of a roleplaying experience. Same goes for my stint on Final Fantasy XI. For that reason, I think I'll pass up D&D Online. Small NWN persistent worlds are really where it's at, imho. :D

werd.

slave_of_emotions · Post by **slave_of_emotions** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:35 pm

another reason against MMOs: http://mmosupplies.com/

I was just reading a interesting article on the german website gamestar, so are for example children in some countrys forced to play multiplayer games, level up the characters and get as many items possible, so that they can be later sold on auctions.

For those knowing german: http://www.gamestar.de/magazin/reports/27707/

Gimlor · Post by **Gimlor** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:46 pm

money they get paid, they dont even have any sort of DMs.

Incorrect for DDO, they do have online DMs,

I finished the stress test and got into the closed Beta, I can't talk about the game, but I can say that whilel there were those who wer interested in running around and killing stuff, it took me all of 30sec to find palyers like myself, (RP) join up and adventure thru a dungeon. with the slow rate of advancement, and no PVP many of the l337 doodz wont stay long.

also each party member is needed. A warrior wotn last long in a quest instance by himself etc.

I will say that so far, Avlis /Copap is the best for RP. but DDO seems to be really good so far

Jhevon · Post by **Jhevon** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:56 pm

slave_of_emotions wrote:http://mmosupplies.com

"WoW Honor Killing Service - 800 kills per day PvP"

Wyrmwing · Post by **Wyrmwing** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:14 am

Jhevon wrote:
slave_of_emotions wrote:http://mmosupplies.com
"WoW Honor Killing Service - 800 kills per day PvP"

That's where you end up if you play to win

It makes me appreciate Avlis all the more

bolo · Post by **bolo** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:53 am

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/dungeons-drago ... 411p1.html

This talks a little bit about some gameplay experience from the game.Sounds better than I expected.

Gurky_Bogglewig · Post by **Gurky_Bogglewig** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:55 pm

Where's the gnomes at ?!

Arcsylver · Post by **Arcsylver** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:45 am

I am in the current Beta as well and as stated by the other tester I am under a non disclosure agreement.

All I can say is that the game has a lot of promise from a gameplay point of view and it's non standard system will possibly change things a bit in the MMO world if it catches on.

PGers are definitely not an option in DDO. And Partying is a MUST.

Post by **Orleron** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 4:39 pm

I have not looked into DDO and can't say anything about it specifically, but I gotta tell ya.... I think we're living in the days where graphical MUD's are pay to play just like the days where text MUD's like NWN and Gemstone were pay to play. There's a lot of similarities, and Richard Bartle talks about them in his book on virtual worlds (Bartle, 2004).

Back in the days of Gemstone and the text NWN, there were free muds, but no one had access to them unless they lived on a college campus. CompuServ,, AOL and Prodigy made killings by charging people by the hour for dialup service which the people spent on playing these games.

Nowadays, it's not too different. Big-time game studios can make big-time MMORPG's for millions of dollars and charge people to play them. I do not believe it will stay this way, however. Just like dialup access was hard back then, engine access and game design skill access are kinda hard now.

All it takes is for someone to release a good game engine that can be built on in an Open Source fashion and to have that engine get picked up by some skillful designers with experience. What you will then see is the arrival of THOUSANDS of smaller graphical MUD's, many of which will either be free or much cheaper to play than $12.99/month.

Players will then be presented with a choice, a lot like the choice many of you make when you play Avlis over WoW: You can pay a lot of money to play a game and get (hopefully) decent customer service with that game. OR You can play for FREE (or nearly free) with shitty or non-existent customer service, but free is free.

And I propose a second choice:

You can pay a lot of money to do a levelling treadmill with the inevitable l33t doodz and 10 year olds in the game. OR You can play for nearly free in a controlled community that has no bones about saying "people under 16 cannot play here, we don't want their money."

The holy grail of MMORPG's (for people like us) would be a big-time pay to play game that somehow was able to filter out the young kids and the immature adults and to somehow control the RP and community. I have not seen evidence that this is possible on a large scale yet, though I'm sure DDO will try for it. Time will tell how well they've succeeded.

Defender · Post by **Defender** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 5:44 pm

Just a quick reference to your comments boss. While everything you say there makes sense, I do have a question pertaining to this $12.95 a month price tag.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I believe the days of $12.95 a month have past us by about 1 or 2 years ago. I refuse to pay to play a game online after I have already gave good money for the retail version of it, so I dont know about prices for online play, but it seems to me that every game now-a-days costs $15 smackers a month now.

And I still refuse to play any of them.. BTW, I havent done alot of looking into it, but I know that Guild Wars is a free online game. Not to sure about the children and the group playing it though, though it does appear to have some fantastic graphics.

Thanks, Defender

PlasmaJohn · Post by **PlasmaJohn** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 5:59 pm

Defender wrote:Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I believe the days of $12.95 a month have past us by about 1 or 2 years ago. I refuse to pay to play a game online after I have already gave good money for the retail version of it, so I dont know about prices for online play, but it seems to me that every game now-a-days costs $15 smackers a month now.

They charge what they can get same as any other business. Once a lower cost alternative that offers the same experience comes along then they'll attempt to price match, live with the loss of customers or fold.

And I still refuse to play any of them.. BTW, I havent done alot of looking into it, but I know that Guild Wars is a free online game. Not to sure about the children and the group playing it though, though it does appear to have some fantastic graphics.

Guild Wars really doesn't qualify as an MMO. It's an IG lobbying service. Once your party goes off to adventure, you've stopped running on their servers and have gone peer-to-peer (or formed a sub spoke and hub network).

Nob · Post by **Nob** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:10 pm

Orleron wrote: You can pay a lot of money to do a levelling treadmill with the inevitable l33t doodz and 10 year olds in the game. OR You can play for nearly free in a controlled community that has no bones about saying "people under 16 cannot play here, we don't want their money."

The holy grail of MMORPG's (for people like us) would be a big-time pay to play game that somehow was able to filter out the young kids and the immature adults and to somehow control the RP and community. I have not seen evidence that this is possible on a large scale yet, though I'm sure DDO will try for it. Time will tell how well they've succeeded.

I know how you hate regulation and the like, but I can't help but wonder if the ESRB rating system enforced to its hilt like some industry people want it (and I happen to agree, as it would be self-regulating rather than governmental regulating) couldn't help in this filtering process.

If a MMO were to be slapped with high enough rating so that kids couldn't buy it in stores, and then had content that didn't particularly appeal to the GTA crowd, wouldn't that help as an alternative?

Grunt · Post by **Grunt** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:27 pm

Per-month charges will exist for as long as said games require paid staff, electricity, servers, internet access, and advertising.

Paying 40-60 dollars for a game and THEN paying 15 per month is not worth it to me. Give me the game for free and let me sign up for pay to play, and it could be considered... but not bloody likely.

Sure you can play the customer service card. But what the hell do they care that you just got pwned 10 minutes into your gaming session? So long as it's not something they can get sued for, who gives a pair? I'll take service and administration that I don't always agree with the decisions of, when I know it's made up of people who have an emotional investment in the world they run, over script monkeys who "yes sir" and "I'm sorry you feel that way sir" and are watching the clock and watching the bottom line. Every day of the week.

I'll still read up on D&DO, just to see what it is all about. Doubt I'll subscribe though.

PlasmaJohn · Post by **PlasmaJohn** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:34 pm

Nob wrote:If a MMO were to be slapped with high enough rating so that kids couldn't buy it in stores, and then had content that didn't particularly appeal to the GTA crowd, wouldn't that help as an alternative?

http://www.esrb.org/esrbratings_guide.asp

esrb.org wrote:MATURE
Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, and/or strong language.

ADULTS ONLY
Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.

The problem with these two is that they tend to attract exactly the wrong crowd of people (omg!!111!!l33t!) mostly out of purient interest and repel the desired audience.

chamalscuro · Post by **chamalscuro** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:48 pm

I think we need to be careful with the age stereotyping.

Yes, I'm no fool, many (most?) of the kids are too immature for RP. But my daughter has been a great PnP RPer since she was twelve. She'd write up eloquent character histories, and frankly RP better than her hack-n-slash giddy father & uncle.

I've lost her lately (age 16) to the high school social scene, but I hold out hope to recover her later.

dougnoel · Post by **dougnoel** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 7:16 pm

Nob wrote:I know how you hate regulation and the like, but I can't help but wonder if the ESRB rating system enforced to its hilt like some industry people want it (and I happen to agree, as it would be self-regulating rather than governmental regulating) couldn't help in this filtering process.

Heh. That made me laugh. Hoo....that's a funny one.

I've submitted...oh at least 50 various games to the ESRB for rating. Here's how it goes:

1.) You download a big 'ole questionaire about the content of your game.
2.) You fill that questionaire out.
3.) You video tape 30 minutes of "typical" gameplay.
4.) You send your form, your $$, and the video tape to the ESRB, and tell them what rating to put on your game.
5.) They send you approval and a graphic.

In some cases, you can skip step 3.

The ESRB is completely self-regulated by the industry. Probably because if anyone were to screw up, the regulation rules would ighten up considerably. This also shows you how responsible game publishers are when it comes to rating their products...

Post by **Orleron** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:23 pm

Nob wrote:
Orleron wrote: You can pay a lot of money to do a levelling treadmill with the inevitable l33t doodz and 10 year olds in the game. OR You can play for nearly free in a controlled community that has no bones about saying "people under 16 cannot play here, we don't want their money."

The holy grail of MMORPG's (for people like us) would be a big-time pay to play game that somehow was able to filter out the young kids and the immature adults and to somehow control the RP and community. I have not seen evidence that this is possible on a large scale yet, though I'm sure DDO will try for it. Time will tell how well they've succeeded.
I know how you hate regulation and the like, but I can't help but wonder if the ESRB rating system enforced to its hilt like some industry people want it (and I happen to agree, as it would be self-regulating rather than governmental regulating) couldn't help in this filtering process.

If a MMO were to be slapped with high enough rating so that kids couldn't buy it in stores, and then had content that didn't particularly appeal to the GTA crowd, wouldn't that help as an alternative?

Yes, Nob. A porn MMORPG would be wildly successful.

I just havent' found myself a team willing to do it.