Dungeons & Dragons Online. A relative good MMO - Now with a HARDCORE season.
SorcererV1ct0r
Member Posts: 2,176
Here is a video of a guy which reviews a lot of mmos reviweing DDO. For a brief view of his impressions, check 13:50 where he mentions the pros and cons and i agree with him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amz86lxRwlg
Initially, when i tested DDO, i stopped playing as a sorcerer at lv 11 because i din't liked much the high amount of cooldowns. After i read a thread on my cellphone while i was waiting and saw people who hated nwn2 ultra nerfed implementation of warlock but liked ddo iteration and said that you barely have to manage cooldown as one, i gave a shot, purchased the class once i was at home, which is behind a paywall and loved the class. Even reached epic level as one, stopped playing because a lot of content are behind pay wall and gear farming is not that interesting for me and when I got the news that they are including new warlock pacts, Celestial(electricity), Abyssal(negative) and Carceri Storm(cold), i decided to download it and re level up from the beginning, despite minor critiques like for eg, a water archelemental would be better than a frost demon for the frost warlock and that plane of shadows fit more negative than abyss, i loved a lot the new stuff.
Had a really hard time dealing with undeads, Helmed Horror which heals from force and cold are by far the worst enemy to my char. The unique skill which i have against then is black tentacles which the devs putted 20 sec cooldown, ddo is a decent game but could be great if it had spell slots instead of cooldowns and din't hate stat inflation...
One of the best aspects of DDO is the dungeon design. A lot of cool puzzles, verticality, non linearity and everything good.
Some screenshots bellow
About the hardcore league. With permadeath. For those who enjoy "no reloads" runs
I will not play HC since my internet is not stable enough but good lucky and please. Share your experience on hardcore mode if you gave a try. A hint : Don't play elite and reaper on HC
One last hint. Try using the cupon DDOfreequests " Coupon Code that will let you acquire all currently-available adventure packs permanently on your account(s)! However, you will need to act quickly, as this Coupon Code is available to redeem through August 31st, 2020." https://www.ddo.com/en/news/free-questing-coupon-and-vip-update-–-thank-you-standing-stone-games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amz86lxRwlgInitially, when i tested DDO, i stopped playing as a sorcerer at lv 11 because i din't liked much the high amount of cooldowns. After i read a thread on my cellphone while i was waiting and saw people who hated nwn2 ultra nerfed implementation of warlock but liked ddo iteration and said that you barely have to manage cooldown as one, i gave a shot, purchased the class once i was at home, which is behind a paywall and loved the class. Even reached epic level as one, stopped playing because a lot of content are behind pay wall and gear farming is not that interesting for me and when I got the news that they are including new warlock pacts, Celestial(electricity), Abyssal(negative) and Carceri Storm(cold), i decided to download it and re level up from the beginning, despite minor critiques like for eg, a water archelemental would be better than a frost demon for the frost warlock and that plane of shadows fit more negative than abyss, i loved a lot the new stuff.
Had a really hard time dealing with undeads, Helmed Horror which heals from force and cold are by far the worst enemy to my char. The unique skill which i have against then is black tentacles which the devs putted 20 sec cooldown, ddo is a decent game but could be great if it had spell slots instead of cooldowns and din't hate stat inflation...
One of the best aspects of DDO is the dungeon design. A lot of cool puzzles, verticality, non linearity and everything good.
Some screenshots bellow
About the hardcore league. With permadeath. For those who enjoy "no reloads" runs
ddo/hardcore wrote:The Hardcore League is a three-month experience from June 24th through September 22nd that tests the skill of players with the ultimate penalty for failure - permadeath!
During the Hardcore League, goals are set for players, and progress is based on two factors, each with their own ladder: One tests the player’s ability to conquer as many quests as possible, and the other tests the player’s ability to survive in the hardest mode ever brought to the game.
Here are the goals and rewards for the Hardcore League:
● Reaching a Total Favor of 1750 - Archon Helm
● Reaching a Total Favor of 5000 - Celestial Mount
● Gaining 10 Reaper Enhancement Points - Death Walkers Cloak III
● Gaining 20 Reaper Enhancement Points - Lantern Archonling War Veteran Certificate
A cosmetic prize will be awarded to anyone who can reach Level 20: Death Walkers Sash III. The top 100 winners of the two ladders will be immortalized in the Hall of Heroes.
Once you reach a goal, speak to the Hardcore League NPC to collect your reward! The reward will be unlocked for your account, and can be accessed by any of your characters on any of the servers.
For the third Season of the Hardcore League, we are making a change that will allow characters to earn a second and third resurrection if they die. A character earns one Extra Life at level 8, and a second Extra Life at 16. If a character reincarnates, the total number of Extra Lives is reset back to zero, and must be earned again.
Additionally, for the first time, all players can access the Hardcore League server regardless of their account type! Standard account restrictions apply based on whether you are a VIP or Season Pass holder. Note that all content is currently available through August 31st, and a free coupon is available to unlock existing adventure packs here.
When the Hardcore League ends, players will have a limited time to transfer any character from the Hardcore Server to any of the existing DDO servers of their choice - even characters who have died. These dead characters will miraculously find their way out of the Land of Lost Souls to reenter the world of the living and resume play like a normal character. It is not possible to transfer a character from another world to the Hardcore League.
source > https://ddo.com/en/hardcore
I will not play HC since my internet is not stable enough but good lucky and please. Share your experience on hardcore mode if you gave a try. A hint : Don't play elite and reaper on HC
One last hint. Try using the cupon DDOfreequests " Coupon Code that will let you acquire all currently-available adventure packs permanently on your account(s)! However, you will need to act quickly, as this Coupon Code is available to redeem through August 31st, 2020." https://www.ddo.com/en/news/free-questing-coupon-and-vip-update-–-thank-you-standing-stone-games
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Comments
That said, if you can put up with that, some quests are absolutely fun to play. Ravenloft content is especially awesome.
Some require a party, but i as a warlock with hireling and strategy managed to solo some of the "extremely challenging" dsungeons. The solo friendness depends a lot on the class and build. In general, divine casters with fighting capabilities are the most solo friendly classes being only underwhelming vs traps(which are deadly on DDO, is not like other mmos)
But the dungeons are great. with verticality and are not linear. Eg : Temple of elemental evil - level one - part one https://ddowiki.com/page/Temple_of_Elemental_Evil_Part_One
Since the game is F2P, i suggest downloading, you will not lose money if you don't like
Since I play on a "Roleplaying realm", I also can stop and listen in on groups doing what amounts to D&D sessions together, where they act out their characters in improvisational dialogues they're writing on the spot. People also write elaborate back stories for their characters I can click on and read if I choose, via an addon (sort of like a mod for an MMORPG).
It's never occurred to me to think that "WoW ought to have a single player mode". I mean, "multi-player" is right there in the genre name, right? If I want privacy while I play, I choose a game that's designed for that. I don't think a company can successfully design for both audiences at the same time if they want to have good sales and profit. A MMORPG market has expectations and needs that are very different from say, a single player game market like Baldur's Gate that also supports co-op play. It's like apples and oranges.
@kanisatha If I remember correctly, the game also features settings which allow you to block any incoming player interactions. Meaning others cannot trade, chat, invite or otherwise interact with your character. You will still see the global chat or other players running about. But at the very least they will not be able to bother you that way.
On WoW, the unique difference between 2 lv 70 warlocks is his gear, so they are clones wearing different clothing asnd nothing more.
About neverwinter mmo, i could't play it. Is nothing like D&D. DDO has some good stuff(Saves, Skill Checks, DC, spell levels, etc) and some bad stuff(cooldown, number inflation) but neverwinter mmo just has only the bad stuff.
The fact is is that most MMOs allow you to easily engage in 90% of their content solo. The only things you can't do on your own are current expansion dungeons and raids (which is to say, even old dungeons and raids are totally soloable after a certain time period). There is no need for a solo-mode because you spend the vast majority of your time soloing regardless. This may not have been true when Everquest and Vanilla WoW first came out, but it's absolutely true now, and has been ever since Wrath of the Lich King.
Since it's been on my mind since I've been playing them, I am struck by how MMO-like both Morrowind and Might and Magic VI are despite being single-player games.
It's because as MMOs age, the sheer amount of content they have available also, ironically, tends to become a disincentive for new players because the steep learning curve and the thought of all the "work" they'll have to put in to catch up with veteran players (and in most cases, you never will) discourages them from even joining the game in the first place. Naturally, this is something the developers want to avoid because any online game needs a constant influx of new blood to replace players that get bored and quit, or who are lured away by newer, shinier games. That's why many older MMOs have often introduced ways to speed up leveling and get new players to the "good stuff" sooner.
But leveling on DDO is not a endless farming of monsters like is in any other mmo. I never saw anyone using bots on DDO. Because leveling in the game is not pressing tab and spamming the same rotation over and over for 666 hours, Is questing, in dungeons with puzzles, 3d verticality, different enemies and so on.
And note that there are OHK spells in the game and just like PC's uses it, NPC's uses it too. My first death to a OHK spell was in a haunted library. In a quest about getting 3 books.
DDO is great but could be far better if it was more D&D like.
Effects like destroying antimagic fields and artifacts aren't implemented, but i loved to see that it is a spell which i can use not only for combat, but also to disable spell wards and traps on DDO are deadly mainly on elite and reaper. Traps aren't like on other mmos. Is good to have some spells to deal with traps and hidden stuff.
Then they must've changed the gameplay, because that is exactly what it was when I played it, there was little difference between it and a the next general mmo outside of a small gimmick here or there. And I always use the bot because for the most part it was quicker and easier than finding a team, let alone a decent team that either didn't out-level you or you were higher than them. I played the game quite a few times trying to get into it, it didn't help that there was a massive hindrance on question none member players could do after the first area
That is strange. On DDO you get ZERO XP for killing. To level up, you must do questing. Of course, you can re play the same quest many times(but the game reduces the XP) , even moving from normal to hard on a quest, changes some traps and will not be monotonous as any other mmo that i've played.
Don't get me wrong, DDO is not perfect. Nor good as BG1/BG2. Cooldowns and number inflation are huge problems. When i mean number inflation, just look into how much damage this red dragon is taking from my spells + eldritch blast and is not even epic level yet.
PS : I disagree about the hirelings. I love being able to use it instead of having to find a group in a decade old mmo.
Hehe, that was an amusing weapon in my arsenal as a DM. My NPC villains could use item destroying magic/spells/abilities freely, but my own players would adamantly refuse to do the same because doing so would mean destroying their own future loot.
Or have hidden artifact. The mage who casted will have to do a high DC or lose spell casting capabilities forever...
Anyway, reached epic levels on DDO. 600,000 XP to level up and most quests only give around 30k XP. But there are a lot of content for epic levels on DDO.
Pale master is very interesting. Here is a video explaining why.
You can actually play as an vampire, lich, zombie or wraith on DDO. But sadly they had to bend a little the lore and rule consistency for the sake of gameplay. For eg, "To call out that last point (& so this doesn't get lost in the shuffle below): One of the big changes here is that Undead players will now be healed 50% by Positive Energy spells. While it doesn't 100% fit Undead lore, we believe the positive benefit to survivability and party dynamics is worth the change."
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/506822-First-Look-U43-Pale-Master